Theresia van Astrea – Thorough Watch

Re:Zero Episode 64 (Season 3 Episode 14) – Analysis and Important Details

Posted on March 15, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

This was an interesting episode even if it was a bit cliché how Theresia fell heads over heels for Wilhelm at first sight. Personally, that happened to me too, so I can’t complain about it being extremely unrealistic. Sometimes something just clicks immediately when you meet someone, and you are engrossed by them. I didn’t see anything that was obviously foreshadowing future events aside from what happened when Reinhard drew the Dragon Sword, which seemed very interesting. In a flashback, Theresia ignored Wilhelm’s question about what she’s doing out there at that time of day and instead asked him whether he likes flowers, and after learning that she fell in love with him at first sight, that may be ’cause her asking that is the equivalent of asking about the whether the moon looks beautiful given how precious flowers are to her.

Back to the fight, Wilhelm acknowledges that before Theresia picks up a sword she may have doubts, but never once it is in her hand and that she knew that better than he did given she deliberately cut Wilhelm on the shoulder so that he couldn’t stop her from going to battle against the White Whale. She had made a promise for when they come back, and Wilhelm declares that he will fulfill it. Wilhelm then gets into an advantageous position with him having Theresia on the backfoot, but Heinkel stumbles into the area, distracting Wilhelm, causing him to take a big slash through his right leg, which obviously means he can’t handle her anymore. Theresia then motions to kill Heinkel before she is stopped by Reinhard.

Interestingly, the first thing Heinkel thinks is what he did wrong (to deserve this?), and I’ll delve more into this later. Reinhard, fully aware of Theresia being a corpse soldier, muses that the dead shouldn’t move and that he will not allow such an absurdity, and I thought it was very curious how as Reinhard drew out his sword, part of the wall it panned to looked as if it was being cut from the act of drawing the sword, and the world shook as it were phasing in and out of existence, almost as if the Dragon Sword rewrites the world itself when drawn. If that’s the case, how can such a sword even exist? Did it even originate from this world? Wilhelm pleads to Reinhard to not kill her since that’s his Theresia, and Reinhard just says what the family has been telling him since he was a young boy, that Theresia died by his hand fifteen years ago, a testament to what a horrible grandfather and father Wilhelm and Heinkel have been. After slashing her with the Dragon Sword, Theresia’s eyes finally brighten to indicate that the mind control was beginning to end, and we get another flashback to when Theresia was younger.

Apparently, Theresia inherited the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint when she was twelve years old after she had just finished tending to a flower field. Her uncle had her defeat her brothers with wooden swords to confirm that, but given he was watching her when she received it, he probably knew she was indeed the one that got it. Her uncle urged her to take the Dragon Sword, but she feared it and swords in general. She had though her older brother who trained every day with his sword would’ve been a better recipient of her Divine Protection, and she loved him for his dedication and effort.

Theresia’s first campaign came two years later during the Demihuman War, Lugunica’s greatest and most horrific civil war. If you recall from Season 1, Theresia did her duty as the Sword Saint to protect Wilhelm, who had nearly died in this war, citing she didn’t dislike the idea of fighting to protect someone else, probably Wilhelm most of all since she loved him. At the time of the flashback, Theresia still hasn’t gone out to fight, and her older brother says he understand if she’s afraid since she’s the sort of sweet girl who wouldn’t even hurt a fly. Her brother revealed that although he was initially frustrated by his defeat to her two years ago, he was grateful to be born into the Astrea family and also grateful to the sword, his way of life. He said he’d protect her if she didn’t want to do this as her old brother, and due to Theresia’s refusal to do her duty, all of her brothers as well as her uncle, the previous Sword Saint, died during that campaign, but she still wasn’t allowed to step down as the Sword Saint since the Sword Saint is the moral support for the kingdom. She thought back to her uncle’s words about drawing her sword, and after picturing a flower next to the sword, which symbolized her foregoing her way of life to be the Sword Saint, she drew it, thinking back to the day at the flower field when she met Wilhelm, showing her inspiration for drawing the sword was to protect Wilhelm, the one she fell in love with at first sight.

We then get a flashback that covered material covered in the first season and more with Wilhelm defeating her in a duel, and saying he would inherit her reason for wielding a sword, showing that for the sake of Theresia he became the strongest in the world since he knew how much she didn’t want to be on the battlefield. Of course the series rehashes Wilhelm being too emotionally stunted to say that he loves Theresia, much like how it was implied in Season 1 that he never told Theresia he loves her while she was alive. They were happy though and had a son, Heinkel, who got married to a beautiful blonde woman, who gave them a grandson, Reinhard.

A middle-aged Wilhelm then said that he’s against Theresia fighting the White Whale, blaming Heinkel for putting silly ideas in her head, showing he’d rather have his only son die than let Theresia go out on the battlefield, which is quite a horrible stance for a father to have. He seems more and more ill-suited to being a parent as the episode goes on. She said calmly that neither he or herself have the right to say what he did given the White Whale suddenly appeared, and he, the leader of the Imperial Knights, the Sword Demon, was unavailable due to being tasked with searching for the princess of the Royal Family that had been abducted, making her the Sword Saint the right choice for the job as Heinkel indicated. The relevance of this is not lost to me given we are finally given a timeline regarding the princess’s abduction, which we didn’t get in Episode 51. Reinhard had said earlier in the episode that his grandmother died by his hand 15 years ago, and Felt was 15 in Season 1, so if she had been abducted when she was a year old, it makes sense why Reinhard said he personally reveres Felt as queen in Season 1, and that’d be ’cause he believes her to be that princess who had been abducted. Theresia then scratches Wilhelm’s shoulder on purpose so that he can’t follow her, and when he protested that he would no matter how bloody he got, she said but that would render what she did to him meaningless. She then says she’s the second strongest swordmaster after him, even if that’s merely ornamental since he’s truly the strongest, and as he still protests, she shushed him and told him that she loves him and wants to hear the words he couldn’t say to her at the moment the next time they meet, which is “I love you”.

As the battle begun, Theresia lost the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint and fell back to the rear as the order to retreat had begun. The whole strike force was lost without that Divine Protection, and she had realized that it had passed on to Reinhard. Pandora then makes an appearance, and Theresia instinctively believed that she was an enemy, so she rushed towards her, thinking at the same time that she hoped Reinhard wouldn’t be tied down by the sword and will have more encounters in life outside of his duty, much like she did. After Theresia seemingly cut off Pandora’s head, it was revealed that that was not actually the case, and she put her arms on Theresia and said, “I want to understand you”, which resulted in Theresia losing all of the strength in her body and dying with her last thought being about Wilhelm.

As for how Pandora killed Theresia, I have two theories:

Beatrice mentioned in Season 1 that curses require physical contact with the target, and given Pandora had both arms on Theresia, she could have launched a curse that drained all of Theresia’s mana similar to how Subaru died in his sleep to the Ulgarm curses in the second arc, so her saying she wants to understand Theresia might not have had to do with anything, and Theresia lost all the strength in her body due to running out of mana.
Theresia may have been hoping to be released from the burden of having to fight since she hates fighting, and Pandora made that a reality by killing Theresia with her Authority once she made herself understand Theresia. If Theresia were to die, she’d never have to fight again, and so, it happened. I have no idea what Pandora’s powers are, but I felt this could be plausible. This could be the reason she couldn’t make the Seal open in the reconstruction of the past in Emilia’s first Sanctuary trial since Emilia wished to respect Fortuna’s wishes.

After Theresia wakes up, she probably remembered her promise to Wilhelm and motioned for him to tell her something, but Wilhelm interrupted and said that his being bad with words, which manifested in his inability to tell her what she wanted to hear, ’caused her suffering. As tears began to stream down his face, Theresia comfortshim, implying him that his eyes, voice, bearing, and actions all this time have shown that he loves her, and after they exchanged an “I love you”, she started dissipating and some of her mana took the shape of flower petals, which I assume is an artistic liberty, much like in Episode 19 when the soldiers eyes were blinking as if they were cameras taking pictures, in Episode 37 when the animators animated the madness in Emilia’s eyes, showing that her mind had broken, and in Episode 61 when a green light coming from Liliana was meant to show that her music was resonating, not that she had some special singing power outside from her Divine Protection of Telepathy that lets her share how she feels. As she fades away, she thinks that her life was blessed from beginning to end given she had so many people supporting her and since she was able to meet Wilhelm. She believes that they’ll all be fine despite what we know of their current situation and that she’ll always love them.

After the ED finishes playing, Heinkel, like a douchebag, asks if Reinhard is satisfied since the title of Sword Saint is now his both in name and substance he defeated Theresia, which is clearly him acting out since Theresia was the heart of the family and perhaps his only emotional support 15 years ago. He then taunts Reinhard saying now there’s no denying the rumour that he let the previous Sword Saint die and stole her Divine Protection. Reinhard of course says he has no idea what Heinkel is talking about, and Heinkel interjects that he knows what what he saw, that Reinhard cut down his mother, and he’ll make sure everyone knows that so he isn’t accepted as the Sword Saint as it’s ridiculous that the Sword Saint killed his own flesh and blood. This makes sense that Heinkel feels this way since he was unconscious and not with the main strike force when it revealed that there were corpse soldiers among the Witch Cult’s ranks. Reinhard then shared that it couldn’t have been her since she was just a corpse that had been reanimated, and Heinkel spilled out drivel about the reproachful glare she had given to him and Reinhard, and given how happy she looked when she was fading it, it was probably his way of processing with the loss given he had a terrible reputation and wanted to believe Theresia was disappointed in him for falling to this point and in Reinhard for killing her since his mother was the most precious person to him in the world.

After Heinkel kept continuing on his rant, Wilhelm urged him to stop. He then put the remaining ashes from her body into the outer layer of his outfit that he had taken off during Heinkel’s rant. Reinhard wanted to console Wilhelm, but he just told him to stay back. He asks him whether he regrets killing his grandmother even though it was a merely a corpse soldier with her soul, which I guess isn’t surprising since this episode has clearly shown that Theresia was the entire world to him, and Reinhard merely says he did what was right and that he’d never regret that, which has Wilhelm begrudgingly, not that he believes it, says that Reinhard is right and that he is wrong, so he has nothing more to say to him as his strength will surely be needed elsewhere in this battle. When Heinkel actually showed concern for Wilhelm for the first time in the show given the state of his injuries, Wilhelm merely dismisses him saying that he should focus on his own safety, which is such an incredibly disrespectful thing to say to a family member, and it’s no wonder Heinkel just says that all of them, as in Reinhard and Wilhelm, should just die, given how cold and distant they were in what should have been an emotional reunion. From Heinkel’s perspective, it seems that Reinhard and Wilhelm are both forces of nature with ridiculous determination, and he’s the normal guy who just wants to feel like a normal person, as who wouldn’t be upset that their husband, mother, or grandmother just died. Although it’s obvious that Heinkel has fallen from grace, the blame probably has to go to Wilhelm for initially blaming Reinhard all those years ago when Heinkel needed an adult figure who he respected to give him guidance, and given what a terrible father and grandfather Wilhelm was, Heinkel spiralled into the person he is now.

I believe this episode was a fitting closure for Wilhelm and Theresia given Wilhelm clearly regretted not being able to tell Theresia he loved her, and it was clear that for the two of them, at least initially in Theresia’s case, the other was their entire world aside from their respective passions. As for Reinhard, he clearly told Regulus that he was a monster that hunts other monsters, and it’s no surprise he’d believe that given what his father and grandfather had been saying to him since he was young, so he of course ended up as cold and detached as he is now, as that’s what he feels he should be due to his upbringing. I hope that Theresia gets her wish that he will experience more than just living for his duty and that Heinkel eventually stops being such a mess.

Re:Zero Episode 63 (Season 3 Episode 13) – Analysis + Important Details

Posted on March 7, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

This episode has a number of interesting implications as well as good character work that had been set-up since the premiere of Season 3. Not going to lie, I enjoyed all of that stuff more the last part of the fight between Garfiel and Kurgan, which was animated by Vincent Chansard, who I am not a fan of due how hard he makes it to understand what’s happening on screen.

The episode starts with Garfiel emerging in beast form from the black mass Capella had left there to trick them into believing she was there. As I noted in one of my previous write-ups, it’s a good thing Capella wasn’t also there as both Wilhelm and Garfiel would die if she had been present. I know some people will believe this is plot armour, but if my theory that Gospels are meant to keep the world on a particular path rather than being true texts that show how the holder can attain their dreams, then this is all part of the grand plan from characters 400 years ago to shepherd the world to a good future. Garfiel sees some demibeasts, but as they prepare to strike him, he again sees his hallucination of Elsa, asking if he can really kill them since they bore no grudge to him and were once humans. If you recall from my write-up from Episode 51, Garfiel has trauma both from killing Elsa and from having a bit of imposter syndrome due to the circumstances in which he defeated her since he won due to luck to an extent. It’s no surprise that a teenager like Garfiel struggled with processing his first kill, and I applaud Re:Zero for going in this direction when a lot of series would not even dare broach this topic. Garfiel then backed off, only for Kurgan to kill the demibeasts. You would think since they are on the side of the Witch Cult that he’d leave them alone, but it seems Kurgan still has some sense of individuality despite being a corpse solider and wanted a fair fight, which is why he killed them for interfering. Garfiel flinched at seeing those demibeasts die, which is no surprise since he doesn’t want to see people die as he even gave Elsa a chance to repent after all in Season 2 before continuing his fight with her. He then rushed at Kurgan and got beat down badly with Kurgan knocking Garfiel down many floors of the control tower.

Then it flashed back to the Otto and Felt group against Lye Batenkaitos, and Otto got multiple water dragons to attack Lye after he did a particular step with his feet. The group didn’t know how Otto did that, so I’ll explain it now. It was revealed in Season 1 and reaffirmed in Season 2 that Otto has a Divine Protection, specifically the Divine Protection of the Soul of Language that lets him speak to and understand all living creatures, even those regular people can’t. If you recall from Episode 58, Otto took a day off from the rest of the Emilia camp to go to the man who can repair what was Roswaal’s not-quite-Tome of Wisdom. He probably spoke with water dragons during that time in case the city came under attack since it surely doesn’t take a whole day to speak with one man. I’m guessing he bribed the water dragons with food or something since there isn’t anything else he as a merchant can offer them. Otto then asks why Felt is here in particular and name-dropped Heinkel, and Felt immediately interjects that she left Camberley to watch Heinkel, and I’m guessing that is the the last of three thugs that attacked Subaru in the alley in Season 1 since Rachins is accounted for. Felt was on her way to retrieve something they left at the inn, a powerful metia that a sorcerer in her camp gave to her.

Otto then interrupted her, likely ’cause he heard one of the water dragons crying for help, and it almost escaped the building the water dragons had slammed Lye into but was dragged back into it, which would most likely end in its death eventually. Felt then reveals after some prodding from Otto that Old Man Rom believes the metia is so powerful that even Reinhard would take damage from it, which Otto believes is a good benchmark for what could turn the tides in this fight, leading to him proposing that they stay here while Felt retrieves the metia. Lye then finishes off the last of the water dragons that attacked, and he said that gourmands can be particular about their appetizers, which is again different from how Roy Alphard approaches things. Felt even decides to leave Gaston, the most brawny of three thugs that attacked Subaru in Season 1, who if you recall from a previous episode, has a pregnant wife, with them. Lye then attacks as Felt is running away, and Gaston takes a hit from Lye in place of Felt, using mana flow to strengthen his body to prevent Lye’s attack from doing damage to him. After seeing Gaston’s battle prowess, Lye realizes what sort of plan they actually have. He then notes that with Felt gone that there are three that Rui might like, Otto, Gaston, and the person I presume is the leader of the White Dragon’s Scales. Otto then makes a meta remark that he’s had to fight more this year than most low-level fighters, and he wonders what kind of merchant makes him.

Back to the Al and Capella fight, the beginning of the scene with Capella and Al showed their shadows fighting with each other. After Al does significant damage to Capella, and she starts regenerating, Al says that couldn’t be more disgusting since he isn’t into gore. Capella remarks that nobody likes boys who speak too bluntly and wonders aloud whether all people who scheme in the shadows are like that, accusing Al to be the one who opened the watergate right as everything looked doom for the heroes and the one who killed off the other nine members of the Council of Ten who knew where the remains of the Witch were one by one with no involvement whatsoever from her. Al motions as if he has no idea what she’s talking about even if he probably opened the watergate and factually killed the Council of Ten as Priscilla hinted at in Episode 59. Capella then says she’ll forgive Al for playing dumb if he’ll take off his helmet, take her to bed, and love her, which may be showing that Al is her type of guy, and he just brushes it off while speaking in a higher-pitched voice that he appreciates the sentiment but that they don’t know each other well enough and that he doesn’t want his friends spreading weird rumours. Capella with some snark indicates that she doesn’t believe she’s such a bad option for masochists who are into being strung along by women given she has a penchant for reading into people’s type of ideal woman which has Al protesting only for him to be cut off as Capella transforms into Priscilla after changing her hair colour and probably age as well multiple times to suit Al’s tastes.

Al says that’s a repulsive thing to do and asks where she has seen the princess before, and Capella says she has never seen or have been aware of her, but judging the gestures you give off, the reactions you give, and the bearing you prefer is what she does best. Capella says everything about her should be in line with Al’s tastes, and he just playfully dismisses that by saying that the human race isn’t ready for that sort of expression of love, which is irritating Capella, leading her to ask why he is resisting her and what about her he dislikes, and he just trolls her by saying he doesn’t care, only to confirm that he finds her disgusting, so he actually hates her, to inflict maximum pain on her since Capella seems into him for some reason. Al then uses earth magic to fight Capella, cuts her head off and explodes her body to pieces, thinking that was enough, but it clearly wasn’t. Capella says her opinion of him has skyrocketed for sharing his intent to keep going even when the going gets though, showing that she is still really into him, but Al just keeps resisting her by saying he is more afraid of Priscilla in a bad mood than anyone, even someone who keeps changing appearances, which really pisses Capella off for daring to speak about another woman in her presence, and so she says she’ll teach him some manners with the interaction ending with Al saying the stars sure are aligned against me today.

Regarding Al not knowing the extent of Capella’s regeneration, I think this directly calls into question the theory that Al is a future Subaru since he should know Capella’s powers if that were the case. Thus, I believe this blindspot in Al’s knowledge is due to him actually being born as Subaru’s younger brother by blood and the previous iteration of the hero of the story with Subaru being frozen in time for hundreds of years. Al notably said the stars are aligned against him today, which shows he also has an awareness that his true name, Aldebaran, is based on a star, meaning he probably is an astronomy nerd much like Subaru was, and may have been named specifically due to his relation to Subaru.

Now I will explain how Al factors into this. Subaru means Pleiades in Japanese, and Pleiades is referring to a star cluster in the Taurus constellation. Al’s true name, Aldebaran, is a star in the Taurus constellation that follows the Pleiades star cluster in the night sky. In Arabic, Aldebaran means the follower for that reason. While some of the Arabic meanings for certain stars hint at the powers of Sin Archbishops, perhaps it would be better to consider Al’s name in relation to Subaru since Aldebaran isn’t a Sin Archbishop.

Since Aldebaran follows the Pleiades star cluster, perhaps he was given that name because he was Naoko and Kenichi’s next son after Subaru, which showed a fixation from at least one of his parents on their first son who disappeared. Al told Priscilla not to call him Aldebaran in Episode 16 of Re:zero, and that might be because that name is a constant reminder that his parents loved Subaru more than they loved him.

Since names have power in Re:zero, Aldebaran as a name could very possibly mean that Aldebaran would be the next person to be summoned after Subaru was. For more on why I am partial to Al being Subaru’s brother and the immediate previous iteration of the hero, read this:

A Re:Zero theory: Why Subaru was summoned and Al, quite possibly the brother Subaru never knew and a previous iteration of the Hero

Assuming my assumption about Al is correct, this episode shows either that Al had minimal involvement in fights with Capella when he was the hero of the story or that Capella wasn’t the Archbishop of Lust when he was the hero of the story as otherwise he wouldn’t believe that cutting off her head and making her body explode would kill her. In my theory, it’s mostly the hero and the heroine of the story who are different when the world is reconstructed after its destruction, but there are perhaps other small differences as well, as part of the world’s attempt to break the cycle of being destroyed and reconstructed may involve changing a few things up with the hope that the next iteration of the world will be the key to the end, which would account for something such as Capella being the Sin Archbishop of Lust in the current world but not in the previous iteration of the world.

Back to the Garfiel and Kurgan fight, Kurgan is standing there waiting for Garfiel, who is back to his normal form, to be battle ready again, showing he wants not only a fair fight but also a good fight. We then get a flashback to Garfiel calling Kurgan a living legend. He says that demihumans typically have a high aptitude for magic but that the many-armed race is an exception with comparably low aptitude, so even in the Vollachia Empire (the subs said Volakia in an earlier episode, so I’ll be using Vollachia from now on) where demihumans are a protected class, the many-armed race faced discrimination. It was Kurgan who turned that around when the local lord’s soldiers tried to kill them, turning the tables on all of them by himself, getting his race the acknowledgement they needed. Wilhelm interjected that most members of the many-armed race have four or five arms, but Kurgan was abnormal with eight of them, making him an outcast even among his own tribe, and despite that, he will took up the sword to protect his people. Garfiel indicated that his swords were referred to as Devil Cleavers, and Wilhelm said that he only draws them all against opponents he deems worthy, bringing those opponents great honour. Basically, Garfiel realizes that Kurgan wasn’t treating him as a serious threat. Garfiel then also starts using mana flow to boost the power of his legs, and he was able to get a large scratch on one of Kurgan’s arms in exchange for several blows. He also chips the main sword Kurgan is using before getting pushed to the area close to where the water is flowing out since they’re in the sewers, and as Kurgan strangles him, Garfiel musters up the strength to use mana flow again to destroy the ground underneath him so that they both fall into the water.

Then there’s a rupture in the wall of one of the shelters where Garfiel’s half-sibling are, and a demibeast finds its way into the shelter. As the citizens run to the opposite end of the shelter, Garf’s half-siblings fall to the ground, and Garfiel’s trauma regarding killing rears its ugly head again. He looks toward his brother and sister and finally gets the courage to kill the demibeast and the hallucination of Elsa with the hallucination saying she loves Garfiel with Garf replying that he doesn’t love her since she isn’t her (Ram), the one he actually loves, a callback to Season 2 when Garf let Elsa know he loves Ram during his battle with her. This makes Kurgan a foil to Garfiel since while Garf wasn’t outright an outcast like Kurgan was, he still decided to fight those he wanted to protect, his brethren, even to kill others for the sake of them, while being somewhat of a third wheel since his mother doesn’t remember him and started another family without him. Tappei clearly loves writing Garfiel’s character, and I believe the characters who suffer the most will have the biggest payoff at the end with those characters being Subaru, Crusch, Rem, and Garfiel.

Kurgan then also arrived at the shelter, and after seeing the dead demibeast and the whole shelter cheering for Garfiel, he honours him as a worthy opponent by drawing the rest of his Devil Cleavers. During the fight, Garfiel uses mana flow to launch himself to the ceiling while using earth pillars to block Kurgan’s arms, and in doing so, he managed to ruin one of Kurgan’s eyes in exchange for a slice to his abdomen. Then the strange directing began, and Garfiel rushes up towards Kurgan again using earth pillars to block some of his arms, and he used all the strength he had to destroy two of Kurgan’s Devil Cleavers in exchange for breaking his arms in the process. Kurgan thought he was about to finish off Garfiel, but he didn’t notice that one of his left arms wasn’t working well due to the large scratch Garg had done to him earlier before they reached the shelter in the sewers since he is a corpse soldier and can’t feel pain, and Garfiel uses mana flow again to launch himself to the ceiling and use the earth pillars to block Kurgan’s arms and descend down to bite through one of Kurgan’s arteries in his neck by attacking Kurgan from his left side due to eye being disabled, which was really, really hard to see, and I had watch that more than once with me not understanding until I saw a piece of his neck gone later after the fight had concluded, and I blame the lackluster directing there on my gap in understanding. Kurgan commended Garf and then crumbled to pieces like stone, which I’m assuming is ’cause the corpse soldier magic involves earth magic. Garfiel also looked like he couldn’t believe that he won during that scene, so that plays into his trauma regarding imposter syndrome for feeling that he won against Elsa due to a fluke. After that, Garfiel said noble doesn’t even begin to describe it, probably ’cause Kurgan didn’t use to cheap tricks and just wanted a fair, and more importantly, a good fight. His younger sister than calls for a healer as Garf collapses.

I wonder why Kurgan retained some individuality while Theresia ended up being a killing machine. Kurgan obviously still understands the concepts of honour, respect, and glory given he notably killed the demibeasts that were going after Garfiel ’cause they interfered with his fight, showing he still understood the concept of honour and wanting a fair fight. Later on in the fight, when Garfiel was laying down on the ground, he waited until Garfiel was ready to get back up before fighting, which showed he not only wanted a fair fight but a good fight, which was again shown when he demonstrated respect for Garfiel by fighting will all his Devil Cleavers, but Theresia is just a one-note killer now.

We then flash back to the fight between Wilhelm and Theresia, and he gets a fresh wound from her with him saying he never expected to last long in this fight, which was implied to be due to the old wound he got from her, and he says that he will have plenty of time with his wife when he joins her on the other side but that he will not dream with her being beautiful being why she can’t exist now since she was middle-aged when she died.

Re:Zero Episode 58 (Season 3 Episode 8) Analysis + Important Details

Posted on November 23, 2024 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

Okay, I ended up being right that Otto may have been in possession of the not-quite-Tome of Wisdom originally used by Roswaal, but I was wrong about the details. I thought it seemed too convenient that he ended up being where Felt, Reinhard, and Heinkel was while having his zodda bugs ready to distract Heinkel, but it seems it really was a coincidence like Otto had said it was. Apparently, the tome was left with a professional trying to restore it to a usable state, which was the reason Otto split up from the group in Episode 51.

And in comes Liliana with her new song that she came up with right on the spot, “Crazy Obsessed With Everything About You”. Given Reinhard revealed that he can wish for any power, and he will gain a Divine Protection for that power, resulting in him gaining his new Divine Protection of Judgement, which allows him to see and understand what Divine Protections other people have and what they do, Reinhard saw that Liliana has the Divine Protection of Telepathy, which may show that Priscilla is into Subaru. It’s possible that Liliana came up with this song ’cause she felt Priscilla’s affection for Subaru during the short time they were together outside and felt Priscilla’s mood improving as she approached the meeting place where Subaru would be. Priscilla notably announced that she is giving Subaru another reward for calming Priestella’s citizens down in allowing herself to be included in the group’s plan. She may have called his broadcast ugly, but ultimately respects results, but I think part of her just wants to be involved with Subaru. Given how Priscilla poked at Liliana later in the episode to get her to agree to accompany her in fighting Sirius, she may have been trying to poke at Subaru in a similar way to assess his manhood or banter with him, but Subaru still has deep insecurities over his self-worth. Priscilla even said after Subaru began to remark about how Priscilla must also be here ’cause of Liliana’s presence that of course she came here in person, most likely ’cause of his broadcast despite on the surface calling it ugly, addressing him as “fool”, much like she did in Episode 56. Maybe she has a thing for fools given Heinkel is a part of her camp.

Liliana’s songs tend to have meaning with her singing a song about a lonely wanderer (herself), age differences in love (regarding Subaru and Beatrice even though they aren’t romantically interested in each other), the Sword Demon’s Love Ballad (when Wilhelm was known to have visited the city), a song about dragon blood, and a song about how awesome life is to ease the mind of the city’s citizens, insulating them from Sirius’s Authority of Wrath, so I find it hard to believe that Liliana randomly decided to sing a love song for no reason but was inspired to do so. That’s what makes me believe the song is about Priscilla being into Subaru. Priscilla also notably gave Subaru two rewards on the same day, clearly showing Subaru favour. Liliana may have noticed how Subaru being around lifted Priscilla’s mood during the short time they were together in addition to whatever effect Subaru’s broadcast had on Priscilla, and that would be her inspirations for the new song.

Priscilla also made a good observation that Al was helping that group instead of accompanying her and forcing her to look for Schult on her own shortly after she made her entrance, calling Al and Schult rude for making her do that, but I believe part of it is show to demonstrate her lording over her power to outsiders due to her possibly carefully crafting her image to be this way. Al certainly has his own agenda, whatever it is, given his independence from his master. When Priscilla declared her intention to join the battle against the Witch Cult, he tried to talk her down from doing it, which is similar to how he wanted Emilia to be coddled and protected by Subaru instead of strong and independent. Given this recurring behaviour of how he wants a woman protected by a man and to tamp down their confidence/strength, it wouldn’t surprise me if he indeed lost to Roswaal if he was the immediate previous Hero of the story as I pose with how Roswaal wanted Emilia to be completely dependent on Subaru. Re:Zero Season 3 Breaktime Episode 4 also showed that Subaru physically needs Beatrice around due to his gate being destroyed making it so that his body can’t regulate its mana levels, and given we know Al does not need to hang around a spirit, Al’s gate most likely didn’t break when he was the hero, possibly ’cause he faced a crushing defeat to Roswaal, which set up his heroic delusions remark to Subaru.

Otto and Subaru have a 1-on-1 conversation as Al brings Priscilla up to speed, and Otto reveals he picked up the charred remains of the not-quite-Tome of Wisdom a year ago ’cause he wants to check its contents due to him not trusting Roswaal as far as he could throw him. He said that aside from what had engineered at the Sanctuary, Roswaal had all sorts of schemes that others let slide. Subaru then implies that they don’t let him get away with everything but that they need his strength. Otto says that it’s fine and that he’ll be wary enough of Roswaal for both him and Emilia. He said that as Subaru’s internal affairs officer, Roswaal didn’t behave as if he were up to any conspiracies or schemes that would weight on his conscience, but he was worried that Roswaal had set up some plans with a time lag so that they wouldn’t be able to see them coming. Otto wanted to ensure that nobody from their camp could be hurt by Roswaal again, which is very good reasoning that makes him a very good ally to those he believes in, although the Emilia camp probably doesn’t have anything to worry about unless Roswaal loses his desire to live due to the curse on his soul that will incinerate his soul ’cause of him losing his bet to Subaru in Season 2. Otto revealed his intent to retrieve the not-quite-Tome of Wisdom and that he could do it without any help from the group after Subaru remarked about not being able to spare anyone to help him do it since they’d be focused on the control towers, reminding Subaru that he was able to navigate around this danger-filled city and bring them the Sword Saint. Wilhelm then called for Subaru ’cause Crusch requested that he fetch Subaru.

When Subaru is in Crusch’s room, Felix tells him not to push Crusch given she’s in critical condition. Felix has blood on his face and clothes, which shows he probably tried to forcibly take the dragon blood out of Crusch’s body with that intervention failing completely and utterly. Everything below Crusch’s head and even part of her face have completely changed colour and filled with many veins, which shows she got the short end of the stick compared to Subaru with the curse of the black dragon blood. It’s hard seeing someone who was so charismatic and a natural leader end up like this. Subaru upon briefly touching Crusch’s left arm was in pain and transferred some of Capella’s black dragon blood from Crusch’s body into his own. When he saw that this improved Crusch’s condition, he did it again but for a longer portion of time by touching her face, and it resulted in Crusch’s face becoming normal again. As I indicated in Episode 56, it appears Subaru has a resistance to the curse to his dormant Ulgarm curses from Season 1 fighting with the black dragon curse, which weakens the black dragon curse so that Crusch saw more relief than Subaru gained in symptoms of the curse. Subaru intended to do more for Crusch, but Crusch wisely dissauded him as if they both become unable to fight the outcome would be fatal. She tells him to instead to assure that she can leave everything to him, which he does. All throughout that entire interaction, Crusch was looking to Subaru since him being okay had resulted in him being her hope. She not once looked towards Felix, her knight, and that must’ve really hurt Felix, which Felix alluded to with how he was powerless to do anything to help the one he wants most when Subaru said that there still many people who will require Felix’s aid.

When Subaru finally stepped back outside and showed Wilhelm his hand, which Wilhelm was undoubtedly grateful for, Wilhelm shared the identities of the two strong Witch cultist who were with Capella, “Eight-Arms” Kurgan, formerly the Vollachia Empire’s most powerful swordsman, and Theresia van Astrea, the previous Sword Saint. Wilhelm revealed during the demihuman war several decades ago when he was in his youth there was a person who used the forbidden art of corpse manipulation. He revealed that that individual is long gone but that the art still exists and that those resurrected were referred to as corpse soldiers. Wilhelm pleads to Subaru not to tell Reinhard about Theresia. He reveals to Subaru that the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint is a Divine Protection that is inherited, which makes it different from all other Divine Protections. That Divine Protection was passed on to Reinhard when Theresia was fighting the White Whale, and ’cause Wilhelm was adamant that Theresia give up fighting since it was his job as the stronger of the two to protect her, she suddenly became very ordinary on the battlefield, which he clearly regretted since he indirectly caused her to die.

If you recall from Season 1, Wilhelm insisted that ’cause Theresia had a face like hers that she was not suited to the battlefield and that he would take the sword away from her. That flashback always pissed me off and came across as really sexist and was a big yikes despite it taking place in a medieval setting. Theresia also notably said in the flashback when Wilhelm defeated her in a duel that she wants to hear him say he loves her, and Wilhelm promised to do it someday with it being implied that it never happened as he only said it after he killed the White Whale… I’m glad to see that Wilhelm has wised up and realized that him preventing Theresia from fighting in an effort to protect her given his views led to her being mostly helpless after she lost her Divine Protection of the Sword Saint due to Reinhard inheriting it. It shows he has changed with his realization he caused her death. Even if Theresia personally didn’t want to continue fighting, which is probably she constantly asked Wilhelm if he likes flowers and why Wilhelm said she never wanted to pick up a sword, I believe she should have at least trained herself in self-defense instead of fighting. He rebuked Reinhard when he inherited the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint as he could not forgive young Reinhard for being saddled with a fate far too heavy for someone still mourning his grandma. Wilhelm says clearly that Reinhard bears no responsibility for Theresia’s death, which rings true since the rift with Reinhard was one of his three biggest regrets that were alluded to in Episode 51. Wilhelm doesn’t want Reinhard to be burdened with having to deal with Theresia, and it shows the love he has for his grandson. When Subaru says that they don’t know when the corpse soldiers will show up, Wilhelm asserts that Theresia will definitely come find him, most likely ’cause he believes in fate.

Back in the group’s meeting room, Priscilla insists she will take on Sirius from the Fourth District with Liliana’s help. Priscilla believes Liliana’s singing can counter Sirius’s Authority, and when Subaru wondered there was a way to test that, Reinhard received the Divine Protection I mentioned earlier in this episode and saw that Liliana’s ability would indeed be able to stop Sirius’s Authority, so the group finally settles on Priscilla fighting Wrath when they were deadset against it at first. Next Subaru brings up that the Lust faction with the two strong cultists and the demi-beasts are probably where most of the Witch Cult’s forces are concentrated, and he wants Wilhelm and Garfiel to be the ones to take them on. When Garfiel protests, saying that they need to save Emilia, Subaru reminds him that he has his own score to settle as it was due to those two cultists that Mimi is close to death. Wilhelm volunteers himself to fight Capella’s faction, but Reinhard objects ’cause he believes Wilhelm’s mind isn’t clear right now due to what happened to Crusch. Wilhelm says a bunch of things to get the point across that he is not to be underestimated and urges Subaru to choose him for the task, which Subaru was already going to do as he wants Reinhard fighting Regulus since it’ll be a fight with the strongest against the invincible. Garfiel begs Reinhard to help Subaru and Emilia, and Reinhard agrees as long as Garfiel promises that he will see through the mission at all costs and that they will both win. Garfiel probably needed to hear that due to him being low on confidence after letting Mimi get hurt so badly and having his punch be easily blocked by Reinhard, and having Reinhard in addition to Ricardo in Episode 54 put their faith in Garfiel might be just what Garfiel needed. Subaru says he’ll do whatever he can to cover for Reinhard in areas he’s lacking, which has Reinhard shocked, as he has probably never been told that before due to his immense strength ever since he was a young boy and him saying he will have faith that Subaru will fill in in the areas he will fall short might be the first time he has ever placed his faith in another person. Julius then says that he and Ricardo will take on Gluttony, but they still don’t know that there is more than one Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, so I wonder how that will go.

At Regulus and Emilia’s wedding, Regulus is amazed at Emilia’s beauty and remarks that he was right to keep seat number 79 open. He remarks that there was a woman he thought was the perfect fit for that seat when he first met, but he deemed her unsuitable before they married and left it open. I had previously speculated that Regulus chose his wives’ positions subjectively based on who he finds most attractive, but this episode calls that into question with this info likely showing that he chooses wives to fill particular seats based on particular physical characteristics. Regulus says that as a wife of his, Emilia will be forbidden from smiling and having any change of expression ’cause some women become ugly when they smile, and it might be the case that seeing a woman genuinely happy with a man who will treat her right pisses him off since it reminds him of his own failures as a man. This might be why Regulus was so enraged after seeing Fortuna return to fight with Petelgeuse in Season 2. Pandora told Regulus to calm his anger due to beauty of the love Fortuna and Petelgeuse had together, which resulted in him striking Pandora with all his might with the intent of killing her. Emilia then talks about how she believe marriage is supposed to be a happy thing, a ritual embodying the desire two people have for each other to be together. She then asks Regulus why he addresses his wives using numbers, and Regulus retorts by saying that being fixated on what people called is the same as being fixated on looks, the most shallow form of relationship there is, which shows extreme hypocrisy since looks are all that matters to Regulus with him even threatening to erase anyone who moves from the neck down since he doesn’t want to destroy a beautiful face once Emilia repeatedly brings up Subaru, much to Regulus’s chagrain. Regulus’s wives were terrified during the entire exchange as they fear Regulus and his temper deeply. When Emilia finally responds by saying she won’t be Regulus’s woman, Regulus is infuriated and is about to kill her right as Reinhard kicks open the door of the venue and knocking Regulus away. Subaru and Reinhard both had to introduce themselves given Regulus probably doesn’t remember Subaru due to seeing most men as ants who are beneath his attention, and Subaru coolly ends the episode by saying that he objects to the union. It was great that Emilia talked back to Regulus in such a manner as I’m sure none of his other wives were willing to do so out of fear of him. It goes to show how she has such faith that Subaru will save her and that she will eventually fall for him, not wanting to live a life where she is subservient to Regulus.

I guess this is as good of a time as any to take a break before Re:Zero Season 3 returns in February. I wonder whether Subaru will die any more times given the OP of the first part showed him looping after going right at Regulus, but that might have been misdirection since it showed him with Beatrice, who is out of commission due to being low on mana.

An association between some Re:Zero characters’ names and flowers and a prediction for far into the future

Posted on November 19, 2024 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

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.