I started looking up the names of Re:zero characters after the episode, A Flash Of Sloth, which was Episode 22 of Season 1, given it had multiple instances of sloth, like how Petelgeuse was going on and on about showing proof of love, which resulted in Mimi and Tivey launching a joint attack on the Sloth camp’s stronghold in the Roswaal domain and Petelgeuse’s main body being killed by Wilhelm in an anticlimatic fashion, the joint Witch Cult hunting force suffering casualties due to their guard having been lowered with their belief that Petelgeuse had been killed, and the hunting force falling under Ram’s spell when they were on their way to the mansion.
Since Theresia made a big fuss about flowers, that was the reason I looked up Re:zero names for associations with flowers. Aster is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The aster flower is also associated with Astraea, a Greek goddess of innocence and purity that is closely associated with Dike, the Greek goddess of justice.
If Wilhelm’s words are to be believed, Theresia never wanted to take up the sword but was probably forced to because she became the Sword Saint as indicated by him saying that the sword loved her more than anyone, which maybe ties into Astraea being innocent and pure. Astraea’s association with Dike may be the reason Tappei made the Astrea family to be the one that produces Sword Saints. I have no proof of this, but I believe that Tappei did not have Reinhard in mind when he first thought up the concept for the Astrea family, meaning he came up with Reinhard after he had decided on the concept and naming of the family.
Asters are symbols of love. Trias, Wilhelm’s birth surname, is a genus of orchids. Orchids are also symbols of love. That should be obvious how this relates to Theresia and Wilhelm since the two were a part of a love story. The yellow flowers the pair were always looking at were yellow wood sorrels. Wood sorrels are symbols of health and healing, which might be a sign that Tappei intended for Wilhelm to live healthy well into his senior years and for his heart to slowly heal once he got his revenge on the White Whale.
Emilia is a genus of herbaceous plants in the sunflower family, known as tasselflower or pualele. They can bloom even throughout a significant portion of the year. From what I can see, sunflowers are symbols of fertility, wishes, health and wisdom. So given that Emilia seems to be Subaru’s ideal woman, I can see that being related to wishes and fertility as she is probably the one he wants to bear his children. Given that elves are long-lived, allowing them to learn much about the world, I can see that playing a factor in why Tappei gave Emilia some elven blood from Fortuna’s brother since elves are typically quite healthy and can gain significant wisdom over their long lives.
Scilla can be short for Priscilla, and scilla is the Italian word for squill flower. I don’t know how reputable this information is, but I see that the squill is a symbol for money, protection, and the breakage of hexes based on some sites that seem to be big on dabbling in magic, and being rich and lucky fit the money and protection parts to a tee. It won’t be clear whether Priscilla can break/undo hexes until someone Priscilla cares about is under the influence of a hex, allowing for us to see if she has such a power.
Why I am focusing on this is that I believe Subaru might fall under a hex and have his soul corrupted, turning him evil based on Emilia’s third trial having Garfiel say that he’ll kill Subaru in a glimpse of the future. I believe Priscilla can break/undo hexes based on scilla being the Italian name for the squill flower, so she could make him normal again if Subaru is affected by a hex in a future arc. Given Beatrice confirmed the existence of hexes in Season 3, I look forward to seeing a hex actually being used.
For why Subaru’s soul being corrupted would matter, Subaru’s entire body resets when Return by Death activates, meaning that the seat of memories and the mind in Re:Zero is the soul. All physical damage to Subaru past a save point is eliminated, but something that affects his soul in that sort of manner should be possible, and since his soul is continuously sent back into his body after physical death, his soul would remain corrupted after using RBD.
Given I believe that Subaru and Priscilla will be the endgame couple, maybe it’s no surprise that I ended up making this connection. I’m still convinced that Emilia will be dead at the end of the story based on Season 1 and Season 2’s content, and I will stand my ground on this no matter what happens.