“The worst of the matter was to be unable to recall what should have shaped his choice: he had committed no mere act of passion. He had acted with deliberation. He had also been pardoned, Temeraire had urgently told him, pardoned and even restored to the the list of officers; but Laurence felt that he would have given up that pardon, given anything only to feel again the sentiment that had driven him to such an extremity.”
I can’t believe I cried over a character named Albert Harebrayne but listen…
His whole story is just one long, drawn out heartbreak.
The Professor has his hypothesis that he wants to believe in it no matter what. In his mind it’s possible. And he put so much time, effort and heart into it. And the Great Exhibition was his chance to show it to the public and prove that all his effort was worth something. But to realize his dreams, Professor Harebrayne needed money. So he got an investor.
But then the demonstration went wrong, and it ended in the death of that investor.
So then Albert Harebrayne ends up in court. His old friend Barok van Zieks is on the prosecution side. And he asks his defense lawyer Ryunosuke to prove what he believes: that the science he did was real, but it resulted in an accident.
And as the trial goes on, he holds on tight to his scientific theory, even if it means implicating himself, or outright confessing to murder.
It’s only by admitting he didn’t build the device (needing an engineer to do so) that the Professor has to face the truth - his demonstration was nothing but an elaborate trick conjured up by his “partners” to get government grant money for a new discovery.
Albert had to admit that he was deceived to even have a chance of avoiding a murder charge. A chance he only got because Barok van Zieks gave him one more chance to tell the court what really happened.
The Professor’s whole world just got turned upside down and the case isn’t even over yet!
Ace Attorney cases do have a good track record for ending on a happy note, so maybe all isn’t lost for the Professor. Susato arriving to save the day makes me even more hopeful that all will be well in the end.
But the emotional rollercoaster is real and I felt all of it!
OH MY GOD. the episode fucking OPENING w patia’s arm being torn off. Zerseus’ hubris in the form of believing that everyone can wants to be saved. fucking evandrin. all the interactions with the kids. vespin fucking chloras just being a mage who fucked up. layrenn and quay getting remarried in their last moments. cerrit giving the ring of brass the mercy of being forgotten…. anyway i’m gonna go listen to hadestown and bawl my eyes out some more now
I knew this was coming from the anime and it still made me cry again😭.
One thing I appreciate about this style of character and why I’ve been drawn to so many of them as my favs in various media over the years is the will and determination and drive and conviction, that they are just themselves despite everything and everyone else, and it always makes me so sad when that’s not just enough and they have that moment where they realize it.
Like this moment is SO fucking heartbreaking because like at it’s core it’s about him not being enough as he is, or at least that’s his perception, and being forced to change and being scared of that I just find it so upsetting.
I just finished listening to the The Adventure Zone: Balance for the second time (as in, finished Story and Song Part Three like 5 minutes ago), and folks.