Leona’s Dream

Kifaji is a unique presence in Leona’s dream: a creation of Leona’s own mind that knows he is dreaming and wants him to wake up. Ortho observes that the dream-Kifaji is possibly representing what Leona’s perceptions and/or wishes are, and Kifaji’s dialogue is fascinating when viewed through the lens of Leona reprimanding himself: 

Leona’s dream becomes Leona shaming himself for his failure to realize a prosperous future for his country, for treating people as pawns, for failing to work with those around him, for never recognizing anyone but himself as competent, for not taking action, for his retainers growing weary of him, for even Ruggie preferring Falena, etc.: Leona reprimanding himself.

When Leona attacks Ruggie in his dream in a recreation of Book 2 it is also Leona who saves Ruggie from himself, in the form of dream-Kifaji.

By the time the dream-infiltration group arrives in Leona’s dream his family is dead. Leona explains the efforts he took to develop the kingdom he “grudgingly” inherited (“I never wanted the crown”), only for his every explanation to be met with a reprimand by the Kifaji of his own mind, calling himself out for his own failures.

Ortho confirms that the leader of a protest outside is a version of Ruggie who was also crafted from Leona’s mind, like Kifaji, unlike NPCs of previous dreams who would flatter the dreamer into remaining asleep: Leona rising up against himself and asking, “Who needs a king?”

Idia and Ortho discuss how they established that Leona can recognize easily when he is dreaming in Book 6 but seems unaware of it in Book 7 (“and in a very deep state of slumber”) and Idia explains that Malleus’ arcane realms are not regular dreams.

The characters question why Malleus’ “happy” dream for Leona has been distorted into a timeline where he lost his family and became reviled by his own people instead of one where people cheer him as their king, and Idia suggests that it is because Leona’s dream is different from everything else they’ve seen: a sandbox game.

“In Malleus’s arcane realm, as long as you’ve got the imagination for it you’re guaranteed an ultra-realistic, fully immersive gameplay experience…the smarter you are, the more addictive the gameplay becomes.”

And Leona is, canonically, one of the smartest characters in the cast (Vil: “(Leona) wasn’t wrong when he said he was smarter than the rest of us”).

Ortho explains, “he’s keenly aware that rapid urban development carries major risks,” and when Jack asks why he pushed through despite that awareness Ruggie suggests, “I bet he did it BECAUSE he knew better. It’s like when you’re sneaking a bite of pizza late at night and you think to yourself, ‘I really shouldn’t…’:

Leona took environmental damage and negative public sentiment into account and chose to indulge in amusement and guilty pleasure regardless, with his dream possibly less so reflecting happiness than it does the satisfaction of acting contrary to the restraints that have been placed on him by societal expectations, much as he is seen doing in reality (and later Ortho explains to Deuce, “We’ve seen no shortage of dreams that were a distorted interpretation of what the dreamer really wants,” possibly in a reference to the most recent dream they have seen: Leona’s).

And there is more that makes Leona’s dream unique: Idia explains that dreams only generate NPCs and scenery in areas that the dreamer’s imagination covers, which is why straying too far from a dreamer in their dream leads to dead ends and abyssal pits. But Leona’s dream “is ludicrously huge. It’s basically generating the entire Sunset Savanna at all times.”

Idia theorizes that Leona’s ideas led to enormous amounts of work that were then hit with resources and food shortages, at which point he stopped knowing exactly what to do and lost his motivation.

Azul observes, “You mean he knew deep down it’d never work, but chose to go through the motions anyway. What an utterly vexatious—ah, I mean to say, complicated individual.”

The dream-infiltrating team attempts to force Leona awake by animating a decoy of Cheka via Ruggie’s unique magic that fails to fool Leona, leading to him turning on Ruggie, whom he does not seem to recognize.

Leona then saves Ruggie from himself via Kifaji, whom Ruggie guesses is a person that Leona sees as someone who is never afraid to call him out when he is wrong. Leona meets up with NPCs made of darkness who promise they are his only true friends and drag him into a deeper sleep.

The deeper level of Leona’s dream is a recreation of Book 2 where he and Ruggie were successful in their plot to trample Malleus before the inter-dorm spelldrive tournament. When the darkness-Savanaclaw students say they want higher placement on midterms as well Leona encourages them to “pick off whoever’s likely to score better,” shocking Jack. 

Silver tells him to stay calm, as “the darkness is tainting Leona’s thoughts right now” and he is not himself, but Ruggie suspects otherwise, saying, “Deep down, he’s definitely the type that would consider it. I’d know; I am too.”

Ruggie wonders if they might leave Leona asleep long enough to see Savanaclaw win the tournament but Jack responds, “(Leona)’s not the type to ever be satisfied. Even if he did become king, he’d still find something to be unhappy about. If he swiped a throne through dirty tricks, that throne would just be a hollow symbol,” echoing Leona’s own sentiment of, “When it comes to kings, what they’ve done matters way more than their title.”

Ruggie concedes, saying, “I guess even if Leona wins the tournament in this dream, he’ll launch right into the next thing to complain about before touching the trophy.”

The group awakens Leona by recreating the climax of Book 2 and Jack telling Leona to remember who he is.

When the dream begins to collapse the darkness catches only Ruggie, who begs Leona not to let him go (“The last thing I want is to go out like this!”).

For a moment it seems that Leona is about to give up when he cannot physically force the darkness to let Ruggie go (“Wait a minute…you wouldn’t! Are you gonna cut me loose again?!”), but then Leona sacrifices himself to the darkness to save Ruggie, instead.

In the abyss Leona is met with an overblotted version of himself bemoaning how unfair it is that he will never be king. He observes, “Is that…me? Man, I’m pitiful.”

When the overblotted, darkness-Leona claims he would be a thousand times better king than Falena Leona responds, “A thousand times? That’s a pretty bold claim to make…For a guy who looks down on everyone, you’re pathetically desperate for recognition…And you never put in any effort to earn it…I can’t stand the sight of it. But I guess that’s me, huh.”

The overblotted-darkness-Leona agrees, saying, “I act like I’m better than everyone else, but I never try to compete on my own merits. Because if I competed seriously and lost, the pride l’ve been so desperately protecting will be left in tatters.”

The darkness encourages Leona to stay with it forever but Leona refuses, saying, “I guess you’re gonna stay somewhere deep down inside me, whining about wanting to be king. For my whole life, refusing to ever give up, even with your teeth and claws shattered…fine. I’ll let you in. And I’ll give you what you want someday…a throne and a pride to call my own!”

Leona describes his overblotted self in his dream as “a hideous monster” and the last thing he ever wanted to see, saying that it might have been a nightmare created by his own inner darkness (for himself and for all those who were draggged into the abyss).

After emerging from the abyss the Kifaji of Leona’s mind tells him to go back to where he truly belongs. Leona responds, “Who are others to decide who I am? Get outta here with that. Where I belong and how I live are for ME to decide.”

In contrast to the sleeping Leona in his dream-kingdom saying, “I am the king,” the newly awoken Leona says he is not a king, and he knows it.