The Valkyria Chronicles series is a gripping piece of World War II historical fiction that puts a personal face on some of the darkest aspects of the war. The newest iteration, Valkyria Chronicles 4, even goes so far as to explore the morality and ethical implications of the war’s most infamous creation: the atomic bomb.
The key difference between the world of Valkyria Chronicles and our own is the existence of the mineral known as “ragnite.” Ragnite is able to do everything from powering tanks to healing people’s grievous injuries. It is the most useful item on the entire planet and one certainly worth fighting wars for.
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But adding a wrinkle to the whole situation is that, in the distant past, there was a race of people whose bodies absorbed and emitted ragnite energy: the Valkyria. With this ability, they wielded advanced weapons (that for all rights and purposes might as well be magic) and were nearly invincible on the battlefield.
By the time of Valkyria Chronicles, however, they are little more than legend—and would likely be thought fictional if it weren’t for the ruins of their once great civilization found all across Europa. But then the second Europa war begins.
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The East Europan Imperial Alliance–which are basically the Nazis mixed with imperial Russia–start a war with the Atlantic Federation (the allies). Soon, the Empire also invades the small, neutral country of Gallia (which is basically Belgium) to gain control of its rich ragnite resources. Spearheading their army is Selvaria Bles, a Valkyria of legend armed with the weapons of the ancients–and only a rag-tag group of militia soldiers have any hope of stopping her.
But as we learn throughout the series, Selvaria is not the only Valkyria to play a pivotal role in this alternate take on World War II.
Within this setting, the series has explored several touchy subjects of the second world war. The first game dealt with concentration camps. The second was centered around extreme antisemitism. The third game focused on the dehumanizing hell of being in a penal unit.
But even with this history I never imagined that Valkyria Chronicles 4, a Japanese game, would confront the ethical ramifications of Japan’s most taboo subject: the Atomic bomb.
**Major spoilers up to and including the end of the game to follow**
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Valkyria Chronicles 4 is the story of EZ platoon, a ranger squad in the Atlantic Federation army made up mostly of Gallian volunteers. To protect their home, they begin an ambitious campaign to press the imperial forces back far past Gallia and strike at the capital of the Empire itself (aka the Valkyria Chronicles world’s version of Moscow). But while they are at the center of many early victories, they are stopped by the same thing that stopped both Napoleon and Hitler in our world: the Russian winter.
However, unlike the winter those two faced, this one has a more supernatural origin as it is brought about early by the enigmatic “Blizzard Witch”–a Valkyria of such power that she can destroy entire armies in a single attack. And with an elite tank unit and countless infantry soldiers to back her up, the allies find themselves completely unequipped for the battle that they face.
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With the army lost (and EZ platoon only surviving because they were late to the battle), our heroes find themselves rescued by a trio of prototype battleships. These ships are the “Plan-B” in case the land invasion failed. Far more powerful than any other ships of the era and able to sail through even a frozen ocean, they are capable of taking EZ squad to the gates of the Imperial capital itself.
The reason the ships are so powerful, however, isn’t because of some type of new, top-secret ragnite reactor as is originally claimed. Rather, it’s because in the core of the reactor is a young child Valkyria whose power is being harnessed to drive the ship. In other words, it is this world’s version of a nuclear reactor–though with an admittedly horrible twist. And if you can build a nuclear reactor, you can also build a nuclear bomb.
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This is the real plan–though EZ squad itself is ignorant of that fact for most of the game. One of the ships will beach itself on the streets of the capital and then set the reactor to self-destruct. The resulting explosion will wipe out not only the entire city but the royal family and much of the governmental structure as well. By cutting off the head of the snake, the war will end–along with the Empire’s ability to make war in the first place.
Of course, it’s not that easy in execution. Over the course of their journey north, two of the battleships are lost, leaving only the Centurion–which sustains major damage to its reactor. It’s during this time that the crew befriend Angelica, an amnesiac war orphan (who is, of course, the Valkyria child from the reactor). Eventually, she steps willingly back into the reactor to save her new friends. She is even willing to be the core of the bomb if it ends the war and stops the need for those like herself and her friends from being used as tools in a bloody war.
So, in the end, the plan is a success, the Centurion sits beached in the middle of the capitol and the enemy forces have been scattered by EZ squad. The only ones left on board are Angelica (in the reactor), Claude (the commander of EZ squad), and Riley (Angelica’s big sister figure and Claude’s love interest). Thus to end the war, all Claude has to do is pull a switch–killing himself, an innocent child, the woman he loves, and the population of the capital.
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Through Claude, we see first hand the struggles of a man trying to deal with the ethical ramifications of what he is supposed to do. It weighs on him and there is no easy answer to be found.
But, like Angelica, he does the black arithmetic and knows that more will die in the war if he doesn’t pull the switch–and more innocent children like Angelica will be used as tools by both sides. So he decides to activate the bomb.
However, just before he pulls the lever, a message comes over the city’s loudspeaker system: a ceasefire between the Federation and the Empire has been reached.
The war is over.
Suddenly, the situation and resulting moral dilemma are very different. The war may be over, but the Empire is far from defeated. It is a massive country and much of it is completely untouched. There is nothing stopping them from spending a few years licking their wounds before renewing the attack once again.
Yet, in Claude’s hands is the ability to change all that. He can stop the next war right now. And just as it was moments before, all it would take is killing himself, a child, the woman he loves, and a city of innocents. But he just can’t do it. After all, they were fighting for peace, not the annihilation of the Empire. And Riley surprises him by agreeing with his decision.
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Riley is the daughter of the scientist responsible for the theories behind the Valkyria reactor and bomb (basically Einstein). She has every reason to want revenge as imperial soldiers killed her father and stole his research. But she, just like Claude, can see the clear ethical line. There is a difference between using a WMD to end a war and using a WMD to prevent a possible one: one is a desperate chance for peace, the other is wanton mass murder.
It’s then that another squad member, Minerva, bursts in and attempts to activate the bomb herself.
Minerva is a latecomer to Claude’s squad. Originally Claude’s rival at the Royal Military Academy, she graduated second in her class (after losing the top spot to Claude). She then rose through the ranks to become his immediate commander as well as the leader of her own squad. Unfortunately, with the exception of Minerva and her tank driver, her entire squad was eliminated when the land invasion plan failed.
Watching Claude give up on activating the bomb is the ultimate betrayal. Those she cared about and were responsible for are all dead–sacrificed for the sake of the mission. Now, with the ceasefire, the mission has been rendered meaningless. And, in her mind, if the mission is meaningless, then so were the deaths of her squad. But even now, if the plan succeeds and the Empire is beheaded, then they all died for something–and she will die, able to face them in the afterlife. She’ll be able to tell them it was all worth it.
She is willing to commit an atrocity just to prove that there was a point to all the suffering the war caused–that in the end, the good guys won. It is only the knowledge that her companions would never have wanted her to do something so horrible in their names that allows Claude and Riley to talk her down.
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And with this, the game’s ethical stance on the atomic bomb becomes clear. It is forgivable–perhaps even understandable–to use a nuke to end a war. (A somewhat shocking conclusion for a game made by the descendants of the victims of such a situation.) On the other hand, using one as a preemptive strike or for retaliation or revenge is unforgivable.
However, the game works hard to show that things are far from black and white, that even good people struggle with the issue and come to different conclusions. While it has its opinion, it’s clear that the game wants you to think hard about the moral ramifications of the atomic bomb and reach your own conclusion just as its characters do. And that is an ambitious thing for a video game to do.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 was released on March 21, 2018, for the PlayStation 4 for in Japan. It will be released worldwide on October 16, 2018, for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
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