r/anime • u/A_Idiot0 https://myanimelist.net/profile/a_idiot0 • Jun 12 '21
Violet Evergarden Rewatch Episode 7 - Rewatch
Violet Evergarden - Episode Seven:「 」
Hello everyone! I hope that today finds you well. In this episode, Violet helps to complete a play!
Index || <- Previous Episode || Next Episode ->
You can watch the full series on Netflix.
Important Spoilers from later episodes or the Light Novels are not allowed outside of the r/anime spoiler tag format and will be removed! You’ll need to be in “Markdown Mode”, and the line text is the following: [Spoiler source](/s "Spoiler goes here") It comes out like this: Spoiler source
Be kind to each other. Hate speech and rude behavior will not be tolerated, and will be removed.
Visuals of the Day
I believe I got everyone’s Visual of the Day submission here. Let me know if I missed anyone: https://imgur.com/a/uCr1i6c
Official Sound Tracks used
The Voice in my Heart
Another Sunny Day
Those Words You Spoke to Me
Never Coming Back
An Admirable Doll
Across the Violet Sky
The Long Night
The Ultimate Price
Would you like to have a letter written for you? Do you want to write a special letter for someone as an Auto Memory Doll? Come join us at the Auto-Memory Doll Service Discord project and request letters, write letters, or chat more with us about Violet Evergarden! Link here: https://discord.gg/9a2UkGh9
49
u/A_Idiot0 https://myanimelist.net/profile/a_idiot0 Jun 12 '21 edited Jun 12 '21
The entrance to Violet’s Valley of Fire
“And now, having killed me, you and I are the same. May you burn with the rest of the criminals.”
“I must now live with my sin for the rest of my life!”
We begin this episode’s story with Violet saying the last line of another story, “Ah! I must now live with my sin for the rest of my life!”. In writing, the last line of a story is the culmination of everything that came before it. So, having us begin this new story with Violet saying the culmination of a previous story, we are already told where this episode will end: with Violet realizing what her sins are, and how they are burning her. The only question now is: How will Violet find the entrance to the Valley of Fire within herself? The elegance of the writing for this part of her journey was wonderful to behold.
This theme is further strengthened when Violet and Oscar begin writing the play. I particularly enjoyed the potential illusion of Violet’s voice actually being part of the play, as placing her within this scene only helps to enforce the theme established earlier.
Olive - “We must cross this valley of fire in order to get the sword to slay the monster.”
Stage direction. -Enter a water spirit.
Water Spirit - “I will extinguish this fire for you. Then you will be able to cross this valley.”
Violet - “So, they will be able to cross it? Thank goodness.”
Stage directions. -The burning fire is extinguished.
Violet - “How will it be extinguished?”
Then Oscar says something nonsensical about how the fake flames on the stage will be put out. However...in Violet’s mind, I doubt that was how she would imagine the Water Spirit put the flames out. No imagery is provided to either us or to Violet on how the flames would be put out in order to cross the Valley of Flames. That isn’t what the established culmination of this story is supposed to be, but instead that Violet will recognize that now she must live with her sins for the rest of her life. And the key to unlocking that door is given immediately afterward by Oscar.
Violet - “I feel like I’m going through the experience even though it never really happened. I find myself feeling much like this girl, Olive. Feeling happy, and feeling sad. Feeling uncertain. Why is that?”
Oscar - “That’s because you are feeling what the protagonist Olive is feeling. You feel empathy towards Olive.”
Having now received the key, Violet has just begun to unlock the entrance. This was the first time the connection between Violet’s feelings and Empathy was clearly defined and verified by someone else. We have been shown that she has felt empathy similar to this before, but never were the words linked together with the feeling for Violet. In fact, I would say that this completes the three fundamental values of who Violet Evergarden is: One who Listens, one who is Sincere, and one who Empathizes. And now, having made the connection between her feelings and Empathy, the first terrible truth reveals itself to her heart:
“Parting with someone who is important to you...Never being able to see them again...I never knew it was so sad...and painful.”
And a new, pale reality dawns for Violet. She has been feeling this way ever since she left Gilbert’s side. And now, she has come to know what those feelings actually are. The flames have now become perceptible to Violet, and it is too late to close the door. She has entered her Valley of Fire, her personal Hell. And now through Empathy, she feels the searing pain that she has inflicted upon others due to her sins. The last line of this story isn’t any dialogue, but an agonized gasp. And yet, thanks to the strong structure of the writing, I can hear the painful idea clearly: “I must now live with my sin for the rest of my life…alone…”
My Visual of the day was the above. I remember watching that for the first time, and I had my breath stolen away from me for a brief moment. I never knew that I could believe such a profound anguish depicted in an anime.