The Major and His Everything (少佐と彼のすべて, Shōsa to Kare no Subete?) is the first chapter of Violet Evergarden Volume 2.
Summary[]
When Gilbert was five, his father took him and his older brother Dietfried to the military training grounds to observe the soldiers. As sons of the Bougainvillea family, the two boys are expected to follow in their ancestors' footsteps and join the army. However, Dietfried rails against that fate and confides in Gilbert that he wants to become a ship captain instead. Gilbert doesn't understand why Dietfried is so angry, as they are born into the Bougainvillea family, which means it was a given that their lives were fixed since birth. This causes his brother to lament that he has been "brainwashed."
The chapter flashes forward to Gilbert's first meeting with Violet. Despite his misgivings, he ends up taking Violet from Dietfried even after witnessing her murdering grown men because he recognizes the value of having someone like her to help him rise up the ranks. He is unnerved by her gaze and confesses that he is scared of her and that it might be better to kill her, but he wants her to live.
There is another flash forward to Violet's demonstration of her abilities in front of Gilbert's superiors. As he watches her brutally murder the criminals, he tells himself that there is no other choice, as this is the only way he could keep her safe from others and allow her to survive. While thinking he should only treat Violet as a tool, after the demonstration is over, he takes her to a deserted corridor and embraces her. He asks her if she truly wants a master like him.
Before the final battle of the war, a superior officer ordered him to send Violet on a solo mission to eliminate an arms dealer. Gilbert protests against this and asks that a group of capable personnel be sent instead. The officer counters that Violet was chosen because she is good at killing and that she will have improved even further after all these years under Gilbert's guidance. The officer questions if Gilbert, a Bougainvillea, is living up to his family name. Gilbert eventually agrees, but asks that he be sent with her, as she would only listen to his orders.
Violet and Gilbert carry out their mission at night. They kill everyone in the building they are sent to and stay there for a while to rest. Gilbert is angry that the higher ups are treating Violet like a tool for murder, but knows that he is in no position to blame others, as he was the one who raised and trained her himself. He realizes that Violet has grown taller and feels an indescribable pain in his chest. He suddenly asks her if she hates him. When Violet, confused, asks him if she had failed at something, he tells her that there is nothing to blame her for, and that he is the one to blame for forcing her to kill for his sake. Violet is still confused by this and states that she is a tool, and therefore meant to be used. Gilbert feels pain over her answer and tells her that to him, she isn't a tool devoid of feelings.
Before long, Gilbert realizes that he had fallen in love with Violet, and that she had become everything to him. On death's doorstep, he realized that everything that had happened up to this point was fate, and that his purpose in life was to teach what love is to her. Through her, he found a new meaning in his life beyond doing what was expected of him. Wanting to protect her and keep her alive were the first things he did out of his own will in his life.
After the final battle, Gilbert wakes up in a hospital bed with one eye and arm gone. Hodgins, who also survived the battle, is at his bedside, and he shows him Violet lying asleep on the bed next to his. Violet had lost both of her arms and had them replaced with prosthetics. Gilbert cries at the sight and asks Hodgins for a favor.
Characters[]
- Gilbert Bougainvillea
- Dietfried Bougainvillea
- Lord Bougainvillea
- Violet Evergarden
- Claudia Hodgins
Trivia[]
- The beginning part of the chapter was adapted in Violet Evergarden: The Movie.