#like MY DUDE UR SONS RIGHT THERE 😭😭😭😭 U FUCKING IDIOT 😭😭😭😭

[suffarustuffaru]

why heinkel hates reinhard but still replaces reinhard with schult: speculation + analysis

i may have written too many words of anime fanfic about them but im gonna talk about this completely unprompted anyway. 👍 i was in an essay writing mood again.

so. basically. we all know heinkel hates reinhard’s guts and is overall an abusive father. but heinkel STILL replaces reinhard with schult. why would he do that if he hates reinhard so much, given how similar schult is both visually and personality-wise to reinhard? and when you pair it with the fact that heinkel USED to love reinhard, it gets more complicated. of course theres the fact that theresias death and wilhelm deciding to blame reinhard for it caused this landslide effect when it comes to heinkel and reinhard’s relationship, but we ALSO know heinkel actually defended reinhard at first. heinkel DEFENDED reinhard from wilhelm when wilhelm blamed reinhard for theresia’s death. but of course, we all know how well heinkel and reinhard’s relationship turns out later. but why? we know the core trauma that triggered it all (theresia’s death and wilhelm’s response to it) but it still doesn’t entirely explain everything until you look deeper.

i think the answer is actually that heinkel separates reinhard into two parts—reinhard the person, and reinhard the sword saint.

reinhard the sword saint becoming the sword saint helped caused theresia’s death. reinhard the sword saint killed theresia. reinhard the sword saint publicly defeated heinkel in a duel (we dont know the specific circumstances of this duel but we do know that public perception of heinkel was ALREADY bad even before the present day and losing a duel to your five year old son does not help matters). reinhard the sword saint saves the day, is regaled as a hero with the van Astrea name, while all these rumors going around about heinkel crushes him on top of the fact that his only support system (his wife) is gone with no cure for her condition in sight. along with the fact that his son Seemingly killed his mother. and this is AFTER the fact that heinkel begs theresia to go on the white whale mission in his stead. meaning that heinkel ALSO helped theresia to her death. and then reinhard the sword saint swoops in to be the kingdom’s beloved hero while failing to fix Any of these issues. reinhard the sword saint is a monster to heinkel, especially when you remember that reinhard kills theresia Again in front of heinkel at the end of arc 5.

reinhard the person, however, is different. reinhard the person is the son that heinkel knew—the son he loved dearly. thats why schult as a replacement is the perfect choice. schult’s a young kid with a resemblance to a younger reinhard and a similar timid personality. on top of that, schult is normal. schult doesnt have any world-ending, mind-bending superpowers that affect Everything about him. schult is everything that heinkel missed about reinhard Without any of the baggage. Without anything that makes reinhard difficult to love now. heinkel even says it himself:

kids should stick to being kids, instead of going off and becoming a hero that betrays you. because i think that heinkel thinks that being the sword saint warped reinhard. why wouldnt it, when the whole situation where reinhard Gained the sword saint dp is theresia’s death? the innocent little kid that he had as a son is gone in his eyes. and it’s just a monster that’s left. he Misses reinhard the person—reinhard, his son—but he loathes reinhard the sword saint, who seemingly destroyed everything they had. and i think this especially shows when you remember that heinkel 99% of the time says the sword saint instead of reinhard’s name.

this division that heinkel likely has about Past Reinhard and Present Reinhard also has to be what caused heinkel to go from a very loving father to a very abusive one. why is it now easy for him to be so cruel to someone he doted on whenever he could? it’s because to him, that person became a Monster. reinhard betrayed him, from his point of view, over and over again. theresia’s first death. the duel he and reinhard had. and then theresia’s second death. theres a chance even, that heinkel’s anger towards present reinhard may also partially be because present reinhard stole past reinhard from him. to heinkel, the only thing of reinhard left is the sword saint.

and schult being heinkel’s replacement for reinhard does show that heinkel misses reinhard. you wouldnt need a Replacement for someone unless theres a void that needs to be filled. and heinkel’s choice of replacement specifically says a lot about him and his relationship with reinhard.

wilhelm’s choice of replacement also says a lot about him. but that’s for another essay akdndndn

#rezero #heinkel astrea #reinhard van astrea #once again talking about them. cries. i remembered this bit of analysis i did in my head about their relationship and rhen decided to write #it down. in something that isnt just ao3 fanfic. cries. #its just so. interesting. how heinkel loathes reinhard and fhen turns around and gets out schult widnsndnd #like MY DUDE UR SONS RIGHT THERE 😭😭😭😭 U FUCKING IDIOT 😭😭😭😭 #sigh. i will write that ‘why wilhelm uses subaru as a replacement’ essay soon i have some thoughts.