And Garlemald wouldn't have been invaded in the 8th Umbral Calamity timeline if he'd been smart enough to shore up his hold on the country instead of immediately invading a foreign country, like, two seconds after he barely won a war of succession. You do understand that being invaded to the point where he has to use the death gas is also a failure, right? If someone can make it to your doorstep and the only way you can fight them off is to kill everything including yourselves, you lost.