[Triple_R]

Windermere's top civilian and military people have said plenty about why they're waging this war. And with the exception of some internal disagreements, what they've said has been very consistent, over multiple episodes. They have also been consistent in multiple contexts - Formal declaration to all, informal answer to a presumed traitor and two enemies, formal declaration to all Windermereans (but only Windermereans, other than one allied earthling), informal private discussion among themselves. Here are those quotes:

“Children of the Protoculture! We, the Windermere Kingdom, hereby declare war on the New United Government! Forty years ago, the New United Government reached out to us Windermereans. However, under their cooperative guise hid true evil. They crafted a profoundly unequal treaty and sought to monopolize all profits. Having struggled for many long decades, we rose up against the foe seven years ago and successfully took back our mother sky. Nevertheless, as long as they exist in this Brisingr Globular Cluster, we may never find true peace! Rise and spread your wings to freedom!” - Chancellor Roid, Episode 5

“We fight for the great goal of establishing the Starwind sector and emancipating the planets of the Brisingr cluster. We're liberating the people who have been annexed by the Unified Government.” - Aerial Knight Bogue, Episode 8

“They took everything from Windermere on that day. Our wind. Our lives. Our pride. That shameful day our land was scarred. But the days of shame will soon be over. Today, we mobilize all our forces to annihilate the earthlings and those allied with them. We will retake all the ruins and secure the Starwind sector. We, the true inheritors of the Protoculture, shall free the globular cluster! May the wind grant us glory!” - King Gramia, Episode 11

“As long as we have the ruins and this ship, we have a valid claim to being the heirs of the Protoculture. We can negotiate with the NUNs on equal terms.” - Chancellor Roid, Episode 12

“They don't give a damn about the Protoculture. ...I'll fight until the very end, even if I have to eradicate all earthlings in the cluster by myself.” - Aerial Knight Keith, Episode 12.


Now, are these quotes also consistent with Windermere's actions? With one notable exception that I'll get to later: Yes, they are! So their statements are consistent, in multiple contexts, across their top leadership and their elite soldiers. And those statements are almost entirely consistent with their actions. So here's a wild idea: Maybe we should simply take them at their words?

So, judging by their words, these appear to be their motivations:

1. Revenge.

2. Restoring their wounded sense of honor.

3. Completely ridding the Brisignr Cluster of the presence of NUNs or Earthlings. Though Roid perhaps could be negotiated into something less extreme.

4. Strong hints of racial supremacist thinking. Both Roid and Gramia speak to being the heirs of the Protoculture. Keith doesn't seem to care as much about that, but he also seems to be very hard-line on getting rid of all Earthlings.

5. Territorial conquest. A logical necessity if they truly do wish to rid the Cluster of all earthlings, and also consistent between Bogue's quote and Gramia's declaration to his people. This is also consistent with their actual actions of conquering multiple planets. There is now every reason to believe that Windermere wants to conquer the entire Brisignr Cluster. One can perhaps be hopeful that they would be benevolent rulers, but I don't see much reason to doubt that they do in fact want to rule.

There's a sixth motivation, going by their words, and that's "liberating" other planets in the Brisignr Cluster. However, this is the one area where their actions obviously contradict their words. Conquering alien planets, and through the use of widespread mind control (i.e. Var) is obviously the very opposite of "liberating".


So, there you have it. There are their five motivations.

Put simply: Revenge, Honor, Removing all earthlings, for the Glory of their people, and Conquest.

Some care more about "revenge" than "glory of their people", and some are the opposite, but broadly-speaking, these are the 5 motivations of Windermere.

Now, let's use an analogy - If Britian's Queen, Britian's Prime Minister, and two of Britian's most famous top soldiers, were all basically in agreement over why Britian was waging a particular war, and their military actions were largely consistent with their reasons given, would you or would you not take them at their words? Personally, I think it makes sense to take them at their words. Sure, Windermere is prettying it up some for public consumption, but they do seem to really mean it. If they're hiding some secret motivation, in all of these contexts, from all of these people, one really has to ask - Why?

Until given good reason to think otherwise, I'm going to take Windermere at their words. And going by their words, I don't find them particularly sympathetic. I don't doubt they were mistreated some by NUNs, but that doesn't justify what they've done, particularly to worlds that probably had minimal if any involvement in Windermere's war of independence.