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One of the great things about theThe Beginning After the Endanime adaptation is how it handles Arthur’s past as King Grey. In the manhwa, Grey is seen as much more charismatic than in his previous life, being a king who seized power and was willing to retire after witnessing the futility of it all.
The Beginning After the Endanime has added additional scenes to the story’s beginning that make it clear upfront that Grey is more of a morally complicated character. These scenes, while subtle, give a greater depth and meaning to his new life as he learns the importance of love and family. Let’s examine what these subtle additions reveal about King Grey and now Arthur’s character in this new adaption.
King Grey’s Cold Past
What These Scenes Tell Us About Grey’s Character
Right from episode 1, the anime has gone out of its way to showcase how King Grey in his past life was a killer with unclean hands. This characterization starts when it shows scenes of Grey’s kills, one being a woman bleeding out on the floor. A visualization is also shown to emphasize the corpses that were necessary for Grey to sit on his throne.Episode 1 also saw Greyordering a mass bombing of an entire city, showing his callousness for innocent lives.
The anime makes a strong casefor viewing Grey as not purely a victim of his assassination but a morally conflicted character who has a better reason to seek redemption in his new life as Arthur. The purpose of these scenes is to both show a greater contrast between Arthur’s two lives and also to make it more impactful when he discovers the unconditional love of his parents and friends, something he never found or understood in his old life.
This trend continues into Episode 2, where we are given an extended scene showing King Grey standing in judgment over a man and his family after the man had done something against him.
“Wait, please! It’s true that I attempted to harm the king! But that was my crime alone! I beg you, spare my wife and child… Please, spare them, King Grey!” -Man accused of trying to harm the king.
Based on how the scene is set up, the audience might expect Grey to show mercy by letting the man’s family avoid the punishment and go free. However, instead, we seeGrey unleash his own version of mercyby coldly executing the man’s family in front of him instead of letting them be deported. This scene, more than any so far, shows how ruthless Grey was before his reincarnation.
A New Dynamic
How This Makes Grey and Arthur More Interesting As Characters
This extra depth is an interesting layer for Grey’s character. It makes Arthur,who in the manwha adaption,feels more like a goofy and lighthearted fish-out-water character in the beginning, now more like the monster the adults jokingly describe him as. We see firsthand how Grey was willing to dish out destruction in cold blood and wonder if Arthur will grow up to do the same.
These scenes also give additional flavor to certain actions that Arthur takes. For example, when he sacrifices himself at the end of Episode 2, he is intent on inflicting the same pain on his attacker by dragging him down the cliff with him. In a version where Arthur is morally empathetic, this seems like a way to ensure the attacker cannot hurt his mother after he falls. However, in the anime, it feels more like Grey is exacting cold, ‘eye for an eye’ vengeance against the attacker for himself despite his selfless act of sacrifice.
“I won’t go down without taking you with me.” -Arthur Leywin.
While the characterization these scenes add is subtle, it feels like a solid direction forThe Beginning After the Endanime. It will be interesting to see how future plot events grapple with Grey’s highlighted past, which ismore of a focus in the story.
