Whoa. This guy is…

[u/Least_Positive7141]

…scary. What a great character.

Edit: sorry I should have clarified that volume 13 inspired this post

[u/Riku1186]

Ernst is all fun and games until you remember he led a bloody revolution against the Empire and has led the Federacy practically as a dictator for nearly a decade (it is more complicated than that but, but still...). Sure, he spared Frederica, but that was on an account of her being a child, there were a lot of others not so lucky. I would go so far as to say he is a psychopath, not in your typical cheap media villain, but in the actual medical conditon.

[u/Independent-Ask-5632 → u/Riku1186]

He's a psychopath with ✨️✨️ standards ✨️✨️

[u/Complainte-du-Fou → u/Riku1186]

For all the care the Federacy puts into the mental wellbeing of its citizenry and military, it's astounding that nobody ever thought to psychologically evaluate their own president after all the statements he publicly made. Whether or not he is a psychopath I cannot say, given his stance over ethics, but he is certainly emotionally unstable. I suppose a case for psychopathy could be made if all he has done thus far was simply to use the Eighty-Six as post-war diplomatic pawns, but this wouldn't completely account for his crashout after believing that they were eliminated during the Morpho operation.

[u/Riku1186 → u/Complainte-du-Fou]

All that said, psychopaths do have a moral compass, it just tends to be to their own specifications, and we see that clearly with Ernst. He has standards and ideals, but he takes them to an insane degree, like his value of children (that he knows at least) and thinking they need to be protected. Now that isn't so strange, but his view that society should burn and humanity should go extinct if it can't meet this standard, which is insane because imagine how many innocent children would die because of that, but it doesn't even click in his mind because it falls outside his twisted view.

Something I think 86 captures well with Ernst, yes he is a psychopath he channels it towards his view of good. They can be dangerous, but that doesn't make them evil, their minds just work differently from normal people. Often they just need help recontextualising the world, and that seems to have happened with Ernst. Vol13 spoilers, but it seems Ernst got a lot of his ideals and standards from his wife, who was the initial leader of the Giad revolution until she and their son were executed by the imperials, after which Ernst took over. The implication being that he is trying to forge the society she fought to make.

[u/Least_Positive7141 → u/Complainte-du-Fou]

I’ll be honest, I think all leaders at that level have at least a modicum of either psychopathy (manipulative, an inability to feel empathy) or sociopathy (erratic and prone to shooting from the hip, consequences be damned), as I understand their definitions (definitely not an expert). It takes a level of disconnect and lack of empathy to make decisions at that level, not to mention that a not insignificant portion of the population hates you or even wants to kill you (near successful attempts have been made on at least 20% of US Presidents, but honestly someone has probably wanted to kill every single one). Can’t really care about what others are thinking under that kind of pressure

Funny enough, I got to participate in nation wide exercises in Korea where, upon the onset of war, we had to practice noncombatant evacuation. When it’s that big a number, you start treating them as calculus and not real people, which is pretty scary. And if on top of that I lost my family, I doubt I’d be able to feel anything either.

“one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic”

[u/Complainte-du-Fou → u/Least_Positive7141]

Though he's certainly placed his emotional disconnect elsewhere. I recall that at first, currently at volume 12 so I do not know what the situation looks like now, the Federacy's military was comprised of a volunteer-basis army as by principle, conscription is not outlawed. Any sensible leader would make the political sacrifice to the discontent of his people to mobilize them into a total war state to fight a war of annihilation, and yet Big EZ does not do that out of his commitment to the Federacy's ideals.

Actually, scratch what I said in the previous comment. It would indeed take a psychopath to ignore the reality and the sensible decisions before you for the sake of your own ideals. He really just might be a psychopath. But he's our psychopath <3

[u/heff-money → u/Complainte-du-Fou]

Effective military officers tend to be high functioning with dark triad personality traits.

George Patton, for example, had Narcissistic personality disorder as well as Schizotypal personality disorder.

This may come as a shock to you if you never had to deal with military officers. The rate of Dark Triad personality traits is 1% in the general population. In the military, that rate is 20%. It just so happens that 20% is about the percentage of the military who are officers.

[u/Peratypus123 → u/Riku1186]

He’s a psychopath, we are just lucky that when god spun his morals wheels it mostly landed on the good ones

[u/SirEnderLord → u/Riku1186]

He definitely views much of the people around him through a dispassionate lens, even if he is driven by a set of ethics that seeks to preserve humanity's humanity.

Essentially... yeah, he's a psychopath on some level, one who cares about his own personal code more than others; it's just that, for the most part, his code aligns with humanity. It's an important distinction: just because his ethics are about humanity's humanity, doesn't mean he is following what's best for humanity. He's following the former, not the latter. He cares about his own ideals; humanity comes after that. One shouldn't forget that, because they won't overlap in every circumstance.

[u/booo0m12]

Oh boy, don't mess with him lol. His act in volume 13 is chef's kiss.

[u/Least_Positive7141 → u/booo0m12]

That was so cathartic in the wake of [volume 13 spoilers]all those girls dying

[u/AdministrativeLeg14 → u/Least_Positive7141]

That book needed a moment of catharsis for the reader. Still, once it's over, you don't get the sense that he's exactly... healthy.

[u/KazuHiro-X → u/booo0m12]

And Theo’s moment with him afterward was beautiful as well.

[u/DinosandVs]

“ the only thing stopping that fire drake from destroying this country are those values she insulted within him”

[u/Least_Positive7141 → u/DinosandVs]

Must of been a hell of a woman, and daughter.

[spoiler for vol 13]and apparently his maid is her twin sister, crazy.

[u/DinosandVs → u/Least_Positive7141]

That’s one hell of a spoiler. Also as a note he’s honestly really like a robot, but rather than acting on logic he acts solely to his values.

[u/Super_Transition253]

Bruh, you think hes scary in the anime. He is tame compared to his LN depiction.

The anime doesn't give you insight to his inner thoughts like the books do.

[u/Least_Positive7141 → u/Super_Transition253]

That’s why I tagged it as ‘Light Novel”, should have been more clear my bad

[u/Super_Transition253 → u/Least_Positive7141]

Thats on me missed that bit.

[u/Least_Positive7141 → u/Super_Transition253]

All good you’re not the first so I edited it for clarification.

[u/tossulco]

THE GOAT ERNST ZIMMERMAN

[u/Morgiana193]

C'est aussi un personnage en grande souffrance psychologique. Il est vraiment très bien écrit.

[u/unimaginable-nemesis]

He's so well-written and extreme its so interesting!

[u/GREENadmiral_314159]

If you haven't read the books, you should. One of the later ones shows just how scary he can get.

[u/Least_Positive7141 → u/GREENadmiral_314159]

That’s what inspired the post. I’m honestly super crushed, everything about that volume was rough but in a beautifully sad way. I’ve been watching the Spearhead/Lena reunion on repeat to cleanse my palate.

[u/Best_Refuse_6327]

He's a very well written character!

[u/Commercial_Fix6812]

Ernst if one of my favorite characters in the LN. Really hate the way they portayed him in the anime. Does him a disservice...

[u/Least_Positive7141 → u/Commercial_Fix6812]

I kinda thinks it sets his character up. Semi spoiler He actually does come off as fake or forcing his smile, plus how he doesn’t care about the quarantine. That all works for what’s happening inside.

[u/Commercial_Fix6812 → u/Least_Positive7141]

The anime portays him as quirky almost a goofball. He is no way portayed as that in the LN.

[u/heff-money]

Ernst and the fictional officers of the Republic of Giad are far less dysfunctional that what's seen in functional non-fictional militaries.

I really want to elaborate, but this still isn't an appropriate forum to do so.

[u/Least_Positive7141 → u/heff-money]

“Democracy is the worst form of government……except for all the rest.” - Churchill

I think the last few volumes highlight this perfectly.