A realization I had where I recognize that a Camelot Holy Knight had the better death compared to his colleagues.
I've been rewatching Episodes 12-14 of 4KOTA Season 1 earlier today (covering Volume 5 of the manga) and it made me realize how better off the Holy Knight Ardbeg was in how he went out compared to many of his other fellow Holy Knights serving under Arthur at the moment who died in many other ways.
I couldn't imagine a scenario how Ardd would be able to leave being a Chaos Knight unscathed once he got off the Kool-Aid effect Arthur had on him (and everyone else who fell for his words). For one thing, it would be so easy for any of the Four Perils to take him out remotely like what happened with Teaninich.
He also probably has access to Camelot so letting him live is out of the question.
Worst scenario for him (and for Anne) is if his Chaos staff suddenly began acting out and then merging with him to become a creature of Chaos. When I first watched the episode following Ardd's death, I thought Lancelot was being a little cold-hearted to Anne when he destroyed what was left of Ardd, which was the staff that she took along with her when the group left the demon village en route to Liones.
While I understood his reasons of doing so at the cost of Anne getting mad at him, watching Grudge of Edinburgh recently just made me realize how truly serious Lancelot was at not wanting any thing Chaos-related to be in his group's possession because he has seen what a Chaos staff can do firsthand (and was almost a victim of it as well). Lancelot is not good at showing people that he cares but with that bit of backstory about him in mind, I now know that he does care.
So yeah, in conclusion, we were saved from having to witness a more horrible fate for the guy, knowing what we all know now. Choosing to take the bullet to save Anne and die a hero's death was truly the best way for Ardbeg to die. =(
Posted Feb 21, 2025, 1:58 AM UTC