Marcos’s Reviews > The War of the Worlds > Status Update

The reason I began reading War of the Worlds was because I have been getting into Gundam and thought it might be fun to read alongside it. The reason I bring this up is that Wells captures one of my favorite things about the main Gundam timeline: the focus on the consequences of war and fighting on the people that the soldiers are trying to protect (I am well aware Gundam came way later, however makes me curious to learn more about Tomino’s inspirations for the show). In Gundam these consequences takes various shapes however specifically for this comment I’ll refer to the environmental damage caused from the use of mobile suits and nuclear weaponry, the mindset of the end justifying the means that the military employs. In War of the Worlds we can see this pretty clearly through the Martian’s behavior. At the start of the book we learn that Mars is becoming uninhabitable for the Martians and that is why they first come to the Earth, however once there you can see that even if they win the war through their massive weapons advantage the Earth would similarly be doomed to become uninhabitable. For example, their weapon of choice is the Heat-Ray a weapon that indiscriminately destroys everything in its path. From their first attack on the humans not only do they instantly kill the crowd of spectators but manage to burn down the forest they landed in. In the chapter where this update ended we saw the first destruction of one of the Martian’s machines, in which the taking down of these machines caused an explosion launching materials like metal everywhere as well as causing the Heat-Ray to activate upon collision with the ground causing even more damage not only to the environment but the humans there. In Mobile Suit Gundam, while the mobile suits were the pinnacle of military power they were incredibly horrible for the people and the environment. We see in Char’s Counterattack and Victory Gundam that the Earth has been polluted beyond recognition due to the war’s use of the mobile suits to the point that at various times in the timeline the only solution presented is getting humanity off-planet until the planet recovers. These weapons not only easily accidentally kill civilians in their fights but also pollute the planet upon their destruction similarly to a nuke. However in both WotW and MSG we see that for the military employing these weapons, having this power advantage and the possibility of winning their wars as soon as possible is worth all the death, pollution and destruction. Even before the Martians land on Earth their first strategy is to shoot super hot gas towards the Earth, which sure would kill the humans on it but would also probably wipe everything else on it and create just another wasteland. Although I suppose Martians wouldn’t miss the trees and of course it’s not like I've finished the book so we’ll see how off the mark I am.