Leona and Effort

Despite being infamous for never trying, there are multiple examples in the game of Leona putting effort into what he does: Leona’s favorite subject is ancient incantations, which heavily involves the deciphering of dead languages.

Leona explains, “Making out individual characters is hard enough, let alone grasping the meaning of whole words or enough grammar to understand sentences. You just gotta keep inching forward, analyzing what’s there and comparing it to what’s already been deciphered, looking for similarities.”

Cater asks for tips on how to get better at deciphering ancient incantations and Leona says he has always liked doing it, ever since he came across an inscription back in the palace where he grew up: “A really long string of words etched in an ancient tongue…First time I saw it, I had no idea what it meant, but I decided to try and figure it out just to pass the time.”

Leona says that the inscription was just a history of the country that was no different than what could be found in any textbook, but when Cater asks if it was anti-climactic Leona responds, “The words themselves may not have been anything special in the end, but puzzling out what they said was more fun than l’d had in a long time.”

It was not the goal that he enjoyed so much as putting in the effort required to reach it.

We see an example of this is a vignette where Leona applies himself to deciphering what is written in a history book from an unspecified eastern country, using a dictionary and working through the grammar of a dead language.

The topic of the book is revealed to be how to preserve food during periods of intense cold. Despite presumably not being something that Leona can particularly relate to, he says, “It’s been a while since I found a book this good,” staying up through the night to read it until the end. 

Also in contrast to Leona’s image of never caring enough to try is his Book 2 line, “Ain’t nothin’ I hate more than someone tellin’ me ‘you can’t win’ before I even begin to fight.”

Being one of the more private characters on the cast this is possibly something about Leona that those who scold him for not putting in effort simply do not know about him, and he does not seem interested in correcting them, and might be actively hiding it: when thinking aloud about his plans for practice with the spelldrive team Lilia comments that he seems to be in a good mood and Leona says that he is on his way to go babysit his clubmates. Lilia observes, “You could just say you’re eager to get to practice……You are truly never honest.”

Later Leona talks more about developing a new formation he has introduced to the team and flattering Vargas to earn them more practice time, despite the hassle, so it seems Leona does actively put effort into things he does, just not always into the things that other people think he should and/or where they can see.

Vil scolds Leona in Book 7 for presumably failing to take his 4th-year internship seriously and Leona reveals he has already submitted his application, long before the rest of them.

Vil is surprised when Leona agrees to aid Jack Skellington with Halloween and Leona explains, “It’s the most efficient option. I’m just picking the path of least resistance,” tying into a Fairy Gala comment from Vil: “So you CAN give an earnest effort, but only when it makes your life easier.”

This is repeated in Book 7 when Jack tells Leona that he doesn’t need to say Idia’s incantation to instigate his overblot form as he can fight Malleus fine on his own and Leona responds, “It’s a waste of effort. A game-throwing play…I’ll choose the ridiculous incantation if it makes it even slightly easier to hurt that guy.”

Leona’s apparent lack of effort is a significant part of the catalyst behind Jack’s decision to betray Savanaclaw in Book 2, and he gives up on the spelldrive tournament entirely when his plan to remove Malleus from the running fails. 

Leona explains, “If Malleus is able to take the field then we got no chance of winning,” and he is proven correct.

Characters like Jack and Ruggie will ask why Leona does not seem interested in making an effort, but Leona has explained himself multiple times, saying, “most of your life’s decided for you from the moment you’re born. There’s no point in workin’ hard,” “All that matters is the order of your birth. Hard work and talent basically mean nothin’,” “Doin’ stuff we already know we’re capable of is pointless,” and even if he were to get serious, “It wouldn’t change a thing.”

This seems to be a significant part of Leona’s inner turmoil: born into a situation that will never get any better or any worse no matter what he does or doesn’t do, surrounded by people telling him to try while the person who has the only thing he wants has achieved it without having to try at all.