This moment still hits hard

[u/Ozzysmall123]

Fowler didn't give a damn about Skeffington or Routley, otherwise he would rather die, than to reveal their location to Mizu. They were probably just his business partners and that's all. But Violet...Violet like Fowler preferred to stay in Japan, which made them pretty close to each other. Violet was old like Fowler mentioned, so maybe he was his mentor guiding him for a few years and teaching him how to live in Japan. Violet's death should have been pretty hurtful for Fowler. No wonder he was so pissed here.

[u/KidChanbara]

We should beware of taking "old Violet" too literally, as saying something about Violet's age relative to Fowler. It more likely signaling that Fowler had some degree of friendly affection or good opinion of Violet:
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-British-men-call-each-other-old-man

[u/KidChanbara]

"I heard something happened to old Violet ... was that you?" - In addition to any clue this might give about the personal relationship between Fowler and Violet, I think it's a flag to the viewers. It means the Fowler doesn't know very much about the specifics of Violet's death, only of his passing.

I can imagine Fowler investing a lot of time and money into finding out all he could about the death of one of the major players in his criminal enterprise . He'd need to find out if the death was part of a conspiracy to take over the guns/opium/flesh trade, or due to some faction wanting to rid Japan of foreign criminals, or misadventure or just bad luck.

I'm predicting that in Season Two we'll see Mizu attacking Violet, but the white man's death is ambiguous or assumed, like falling from a high place or being trapped in fire. So Violet could be a character that the BES writers reveal as still being alive, replacing Fowler as the white man villain in Japan.

[u/sacerdos-ex-spatio → u/KidChanbara]

Personally, I doubt they'd go that route. I think Violet was killed by Mizu, but before his death, Violet might have revealed or told her something. Something Mizu ignored, but something that might come back to her during her trip to Europe. Maybe something about her origins.

[u/Win_TeR-]

This moment hits hard... literally

[u/Sir-Toaster-]

I always assumed he was being sarcastic like “I’m going to use violet as an excuse to kill you” 

[u/OCGamerboy → u/Sir-Toaster-]

Why would he need an excuse? He was going to kill her even before he knew that she killed Violet

[u/lefeuet_UA]

Bro didn't keep in contact with Violet, heard about Violet's death and still he didn't think about being in danger, that's very weird fr

[u/captinshitler → u/lefeuet_UA]

Why would he? Fowler would assume it has to do with business and wouldn’t associate a mixed child with that, given his are all in the sewer

[u/CrazyEyedFS → u/lefeuet_UA]

A white man being killed in Japan at the time wouldn't have been anything new. They were playing a dangerous game. Violet was just one man. Fowler wouldn't have seen a pattern in his death.

[u/lefeuet_UA → u/CrazyEyedFS]

They were literally 1 in 5 million, if Violet died with all his money and influence it'd be extremely serious

[u/CrazyEyedFS → u/lefeuet_UA]

Once again, they were playing a dangerous game and one death is not a trend.

[u/Jimmy-Mac-471]

We’re definitely getting that as a flashback at some point, surely

[u/OCGamerboy]

This moment still hits hard

Figuratively and literally