note that the lone King is in the "wrong corner", but the Knight and War Elephant still manage to checkmate.
Indeed. This is possible because the move patterns of WE and N complement each other so well that together they can cover 5 of the 6 squares needed for an edge mate. So that the King needs only to cover a single square. So checkmates farther from the corner are possible, and the threat of these can be used to prevent the King from escaping through f1, rather than needing a piece to keep f1 under attack. So the Knight gets two moves to switch its attack from f1 to h1, rather than the single move it would have in combination with an FA (which would be impossible because of the Knight's color alternation).
Indeed. This is possible because the move patterns of WE and N complement each other so well that together they can cover 5 of the 6 squares needed for an edge mate. So that the King needs only to cover a single square. So checkmates farther from the corner are possible, and the threat of these can be used to prevent the King from escaping through f1, rather than needing a piece to keep f1 under attack. So the Knight gets two moves to switch its attack from f1 to h1, rather than the single move it would have in combination with an FA (which would be impossible because of the Knight's color alternation).