'Violet Evergarden' Episode 5

This episode revolves around Violet writing a string of love letters on behalf of Princess Charlotte to Prince Damian. Two members of royalty that is expected to be married as a political move to bring peace between the two respective countries. Straight from the off it is uncomfortable to watch as Charlotte is 14 years old while Damian is 24 years old. Two very uncomfortable ages to be thinking when it comes to love and marriage. Within the lore of the show itself the age at which a member of royalty is allowed to marry is the age of ten, most likely so that the rulers would be able to use the children as political chips in the larger political game. Though this information does not make it any easier to digest whether it reflects the times in our own history or not.

Beyond these sentiments the episode explores emotion and love in an interesting setting, the political setting. While the first episode touched on this type of love, in this episode it takes centre stage, and that is romantic love. Although, in this setting they are meant to communicate the love that they have for each other by means of letters, Charlotte’s being written by Violet that will also be read out to the general public. The logic behind this is to reassure the people of the countries, to bring them a sense of hope for the future, and improved relations between the two representative countries.

When it comes to a relationship between two people where it is the relations between the countries that is at stake, it would be easy for those who are looking to be sceptical about the pairing and how strong the connection is between them actually is. Not only is this something that the public would be concerned about, this is a concern that Charlotte herself is not sure about either. The reason why, is because the letters are being written by Doll’s, and so the emotions run artificial as they are interpretations of emotions rather than a direct expression of them. This in turn frustrates Charlotte as she knows who the real Damian is after having met him on her tenth birthday.

What is really evident is the depiction of how powerful a single moment can be, how a single unexpected meeting could in turn change the course of your life. Unlike many, Charlotte did not stand by, instead she went about making sure that her dream of being with Damian would come true. As such after four years, during which the war had prevented her from being married, she went about making sure to convince her parents that a marriage to Damian is the best course of action. With the effort being so one sided, it is only natural to doubt the feelings of the other, especially in a royal setting, where actions would be carried out as duty as opposed to what someone would want.

Violet recognises the style of the letter that is sent by Damian, and so manages to convince Cattleya to let the Prince write his own letters while Charlotte would write her own. This improves the communications of each others feelings that much more to the point that they are able to to get on the same page and know that they both feel the same way about each other. Thus resulting in the marriage at the end of episode.

What is also present in the episode is the love between a mother figure and a child. In this case between Charlotte and Alberta, who is the personal maid of Charlotte, the woman who raised her in the absence of her mother. The bond that they share is a special one that is closer to that of an actual parent and child, as is so beautifully conveyed in the scene where Charlotte is getting ready for her wedding.

We finish the episode with Violet arriving back home on the ship to find Gilbert’s brother, Dietfried, the man who originally gave Violet to Gilbert in the first place. During this encounter we see just how much he hates Violet and the reason why. During their first encounter she was responsible for the death of many of his men.