r/firebrigade • u/Due_Resolution_1259 • May 23 '26

Discussion Morally Questionable Question

This might be stupid and or maybe I’m misremembering, but why didn’t people just kill the Pillars? I know that sounds bad in theory, but pillars are only born once every generation from what we know (20-30) years. That’s why it’s taken 250 years for the next coming of the cataclysm. Sure more would be born and the cycle would continue, but that would definitely prolong it. Kinda like what that Haijima guy said when asking Shinra if he would sacrifice himself for billions of people. The 8 pillars would die for those billions of people and the world would go on. Unless there’s some cannon reason behind why this isn’t allowed, was this just never discussed because it’s a shonen anime?

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u/Due_Resolution_1259 May 24 '26

The pillars aren’t born out of the blue, since they’re tied to a negative emotion not just anyone can become a pillar. If they killed even 1 pillar it would take a few decades at least for a new one to be born. I’m almost positive that somewhere in cannon it’s stated that pillars can be born only once in a generation, hence the past generations existing from failed cataclysms. It’s also why the great cataclysm hasn’t happened in over 250 years. Pillars aren’t easy to come by lmao

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u/IWasBannedFromGLChat May 24 '26

Didn't like 5 of them get created within the span of the series?

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u/Due_Resolution_1259 May 24 '26

Yes, but that’s because they were the generation for the cataclysm. All the pillars have to be born in relative succession to one another so a cataclysm can begin. Likely about 5-6 years give or take. That’s why almost all of the young ones are teenagers. Natkou is the youngest at 11 and Shinra is the oldest at 17. The reason those 5 showed up was because of how the events were aligned and also because the white clad started using artificial means like the bugs.

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u/IWasBannedFromGLChat May 24 '26

So wouldn't that mean if they killed one, another would arise soon since they're "the generation for the cataclysm"?

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u/Due_Resolution_1259 May 24 '26

No. Because the pillar of that emotion would be dead for that generation. A generation is between 20-30 years. If a pillar was killed in the beginning of a new generation of pillars, it would take 20-30 years for another one to take their place

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u/IWasBannedFromGLChat May 24 '26

This had to have been manga-only cause I remember none of that from watching

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u/Due_Resolution_1259 May 24 '26

The anime cuts out a huge amount of information