I mentioned in my mail yesterday that the relation between Reinhard
and Siegfried Kircheis is "brotherhood", not lovers. This time I want
to elaborate on this.
Reinhard can't be a lover. It seems that Reinhard never
understands how to get in love with somebody. This point becomes all
the more apparent when Prime Minister Franz Mariendorf suggests
Reinhard should get married (to ensure there will be a successor to
the throne). Perhaps all he knows about is illustrated in the
following words he once tells Siegfried Kircheis:
"No, I'm not going to have anything to do with these (aristocratic)
ladies. They are cakes and dresses!" He is not attracted by the beauty
of these ladies even if they have any. This is apparent even in the
case of Hildegard von Mariendorf, his wife and Kaiserin in the future.
He is attracted by her wisdom. It seems that he never notices her
beauty! The marriage is due to his "sense of guilt and obligation",
not the love between lovers. He atones for "abusing" his power as
Kaiser to seduce Hildegard on a certain night when he's drunken.
Nevertheless, he is not impressed by the victim's beauty that night.
Only after the marriage does he start learning about the love between
lovers, albeit very slowly. We can say that outwardly, as Kaiser and
soldier, he has grown up very quicky; inwardly, he is always a child
until he gets married. I think the ladies are to blame. First of all,
it's Annerose. She is too beautiful. She out-shines any other woman.
Moreover, she is the mother figure for Reinhard, who is always under
this shadow. Then how can Reinhard know that kind of love? Then we
have to blame the aristocratic ladies for not providing an ideal lover
for Reinhard. In the case of Hildegard, she is neither cake nor dress
but she is an ideal ReichsKantzler. To add to this, most of Reinhard's
mind is occupied by the plan of winning the whole universe, as
mentioned by Rol Kran. Also, Reinhard does not have Mittermeyer's good
luck of being close to a nice daughter of a commoner. That's why
Reinhard can't be a lover.
Siegfried Kircheis is a lover but his lover is Annerose. It is too
obivous. Even on the battlefield, he can get lost in his thoughts
about Annerose when his adjutants are working madly! His strange look
when he sees the roses outside the house of Annerose in Episode 4 is
another piece of evidence. Annerose, too, is in love with Siegfried.
Though she never talks about it, her face tells it to Reinhard during
their communication in Episode 26. That's why Annerose cannot forgive
Reinhard for Kircheis' death. That's why Reinhard has to apologise
for borrowing Kircheis from Annerose for so long when Reinhard is
dying. It is also unfortunate that Kircheis has no chance of
expressing his love with Annerose explicitly to her. Mr. Tanaka tells
us with his pen that Kircheis is happy (after the death of
Friedrich IV) because he can always see Annerose. This is yet another
piece of evidence of the love. Another thing that I wish to remind
the readers is that Annerose is not in any way "destroyed" by
Friedrich IV. I can say it with 99.99% of confidence. Again Mr. Tanaka
tells us with his pen that Friedrich IV never ____ (the f-word: please
forgive me for expressing it in suchvulgar way.) her because he fears
that there will be a political struggle for the position as his
successor if Annerose bores him a child. So Annerose's job is to
attend balls, operas, etc. with him. Occasionally she has to sleep
with him. But that's all! Reinhard and Kircheis knows it well. Perhaps
she has talked to them about it to ease their nerves and especially to
refrain Reinhard from planning the murder of Friedrich IV.
So the situation of the ideal "Siegfried lives" scenario is:
Siegfried Kircheis and Annerose are married. Kircheis becomes Prinz
von Gruenwald, Reichskantzler. In times of hostility with the FPA, he
is also the vice-chief-commander of all the forces of the Reich.
(Reinhard is still the chief-commander. Thus Oberstein is frustrated
again and again with the arrangements.) The relation between Reinhard
and Hildegard develops as in the original scenario but in the end,
Reinhard accepts the wise advise of Kircheis and Annerose to get
married with Hildegard.
Reinhard-Siegfried