This episode packed a huge emotional punch in several ways, while revealing quite a bit and clearing many things up. Revelations that shocked me and also made me really sad. :/
Beatrice being a spirit contracted by Echidna makes so much sense. She’s the one protecting the library of knowledge, has a not-Tome that gives her the knowledge she needs, and the ones that have these books are all connected to Echidna. Knowledge, Echidna greedy for knowledge… It makes perfect sense and I can’t believe that I didn’t even think of it! I am surprised that Beatrice’s tome was blank, but seeing her true desire and emotions brought forth broke my heart. For hundreds of years Beatrice has been on her own, waiting for “that person” to arrive and free her from her contract, which for her means to end her life. I can’t even imagine how lonely Betty was this whole time, cooped up in this library on her own with her book being completely blank, waiting for the day “that person” Echidna mentioned would arrive and free her. But she had no idea when they would come and so it ate her up inside, so her greatest desire was to finally die. Her desperation and breakdown as she voiced these thoughts to Subaru just broke my heart, but she finally got what she wanted eventually when Elsa stabbed her. But I still get the feeling that Beatrice still knows certain things, and she’s still finding things out somehow even if her book is blank. Still, poor Betty…
Meili, the blue-haired girl from the village, being a mabeast user doesn’t surprise me at all. It was pretty obvious after she was the one that held that little mabeast puppy that bit Subaru’s hand in the first season, and then she suddenly disappeared after that. Way too suspicious so it’s no surprise she’s another assassin. Also rip Petra, Frederica, and Rem again. -___-
We still don’t know who sent these two after the mansion since Meili didn’t answer, but I still think it’s Roswaal. In his conversation with Subaru, he admits that he’s willing to do basically anything to be able to fulfill his own desire. His inhumanity, his schemes, assistance, etc., he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants…even if it means to send assassins to the mansion? What for? To have Subaru get rid of them himself? Roswaal is still such a big enigma and I’m still not sure what to even make of this guy. What I do know is that he’s pretty terrifying and not one to totally trust all the time, depending on what he’s trying to seek. I think I should just be afraid of literally any mysterious character voiced by Koyasu at this point because there’s a good chance they’re insane.
Roswaal also officially reveals that he knows Subaru’s ability based on his reaction to him killing Ram and Garfiel, and of course based on his words. One thing that did stand out from that scene was what Roswaal said to Ram. “I am a man of my word. I shall offer this soul to you.” with Ram smiling before dying on top of Garfiel. I still don’t quite understand the relationship between these two but I suppose this was a bit of a clue but I can’t really come to any conclusions. Like I said, Roswaal is an enigma and that includes his relationship with Ram. Also I have to say, Garfiel panicking and trying his best to heal Ram and save her was really sweet and touching. Goddammit Roswaal…
While Beatrice’s book is blank, Roswaal is still following what the book tells him to do. Instead of Puck creating the snow, it’s actually Roswaal’s doing as the book told him to do so to make the villagers and Garf go against her, as a random snowstorm in the middle of an area related to a witch would be highly suspicious and easily point fingers at Emilia. They would isolate Emilia and her mental stability would break, but what would be the point of that? Hmm…
Also it just breaks my heart that all this time, in almost every single time loop we’ve had, Emilia has completely lost her mind. I had initially thought that maybe it was Satella controlling Emilia and having her act that way, but in reality my poor girl has just lost her mind. With Puck gone, the only person Emilia had to lean on was Subaru but because the letter was destroyed/stolen?, Emilia completely lost it because she thought Subaru had abandoned her and she was truly left on her own. Roswaal didn’t seem to understand what Subaru was talking about when it came to the letter, and I don’t think he was lying considering he was laying out the complete truth to Subaru the whole time so why would he need to lie about that? So it means that the letter was destroyed, or stolen, because it never reached Emilia. If it had, she never would have lost her mind. She’d be upset for sure but she would at least know that Subaru never abandoned her. Without that letter, it just seems that Subaru just up and left because she was a failure at the trial and it broke her when she was already at her lowest, facing her traumatic past and disappointing everyone else. Subaru was all she had, so losing him was the breaking point. So what happened to the letter? And…damn it. My poor girl doesn’t deserve this and it just hurts so much. Please, Emilia doesn’t deserve this, she doesn’t need to suffer any more than she already has in her life! Grrrr! And that ending scene was so haunting and unsettling it just made me feel worse. I don’t think Re:zero is officially classified as a horror but it may as well be with how fantastically directed that last scene was with the filter, the sound effects, and the chilling music. Re:zero really excels in that department and really scratches the horror itch I have. It just made me feel even worse, especially when the first kiss Emilia and Subaru share isn’t a romantic one at all. As Subaru lays there, dying from the bleeding and wounds from the rabbits (it’s a miracle he even made it there), and Emilia mentally broken.
Sigh…
One last thing I want to say is Beatrice being a contracted spirit for Echidna kind of concludes something for me but it could possibly be a spoiler if people haven’t watched the Re:zero prequel movie, Frozen Bond. And it’s just a theory from me, but I’ll hold off on it.
This episode was pretty fantastic and pretty emotional. We’ve learned lots of things, and it looks like Subaru might have enough information to succeed in the next time loop but again, who knows. You never know when it comes to Re:zero so I’ll shut my mouth. But please…stop making Emilia sad. I’m begging. T_T
I’m not convinced that Subaru will succeed in the next time loop. I think he will only succeed when he finally pushes Beatrice to ask the question and affirms that he is that person, and he didn’t even do that this time even though Roswaal pretty much spelled it out to Subaru. I wonder if Subaru can even find the resolve to put Beatrice first before Emilia or whether Beatrice will be satisfied with him merely saying that he will even if he won’t actually put her first. Subaru is usually quite rude to Beatrice, so it would be interesting to see a change in their dynamic. I wouldn’t be surprised if he dies 1 or 2 more times before he finally solves everything given that he still needs to figure out Garfiel’s secret and defeat the Great Rabbit attack and the Elsa attack, which are supposed to happen at the same time. My guess is that Subaru needs to verbally tell Emilia he’s leaving and evacuate Rem, Frederica, Petra, and Beatrice to the sanctuary since that will force Elsa and Maylie to attack the Sanctuary. That way, Subaru won’t have to be in two places at once.
Poor Beatrice just wants to have affection and attention and to have fun, and I think this has been pretty obvious since Season 1 when Beatrice looked out the window longingly at Subaru and Emilia doing radio calisthenics. I just hope that if Subaru does affirm that he is that person that he treats her right and makes her want to live instead of wanting to die.
I wonder who took Subaru’s letter to Emilia given that it wasn’t Roswaal judging by Roswaal’s reaction. Maybe it was someone from the conservative faction of the Sanctuary that doesn’t want the Sanctuary to be liberated which viewers have only heard about but not seen. Re:zero definitely doesn’t have enough time in the rest of this cour to solve everything, so maybe we’ll see some things in more detail in the second cour, including seeing the people from the conservative faction for the first time.
I forgot to note that Elsa apparently has multiple lives given that Beatrice supposedly killed Elsa before she came back to life to stab Beatrice through.
I think the reason Roswaal decided to break Emilia mentally was to show Subaru that he needs to take into account Emilia’s mental state more. That’s probably why he said Subaru could never distance himself from her if she were to lean on him. What Subaru has been obsessed with this arc is finding the time to do the trial in Emilia’s place, not taking into consideration how she feels. I think the key to this arc might be for Subaru to give Emilia the emotional support she needs so that she can pass the trials.
I had assumed that the not-quite-Tome of Wisdom would tell the current loop’s future, but according to Roswaal this episode, it is Subaru’s actions that are deviating from the book, implying that Subaru needs to make the future in the not-quite-Tome of Wisdom happen, so this means that the not-quite-Tome of Wisdom tells the future of the “good ending”. Echidna has previously said that Subaru’s save point will only change when he avoids death, and it looks like if that is the case, Subaru is destined to succeed in making whatever the good ending at the end of Re:zero’s story will be.
When Beatrice refers to “mother” I’m not 100% sure but I think she’s talking about Echidna. Which is interesting because Emilia and Puck have a parent/child dynamic going on as well. I wonder if that’s a fairly common thing between spirits and those they contract with. Early on in the books when Emilia was telling Subaru about spirits she described lesser spirits as lacking a strong sense of self. Whereas Greater Spirits like Puck started out as lesser spirits and over hundreds or thousands of years developed their own identity. It makes me wonder if lesser spirits who contract with a spirit arts user have a bit of a parent/child relationship with them.
Having just read the book that covers the events of this episode I noticed a few lines of dialogue missing that would have helped make some things more clear. Even so I think the episode conveys the gist of it. Although you might have to read between the lines a bit.
There’s a couple of points about Roswaal’s knowledge and motivations that I want to clarify that I feel were depicted in the episode but are much more explicit in the book so I thought I should give fair warning. The first point is that Roswaal is obviously aware that Subaru can redo things. The thing that is more explicit in the book is that Roswaal doesn’t know that Subaru needs to die first. He thinks Subaru has to consciously trigger the reset himself. This was why Roswaal was beating the tar out of Subaru because he was trying to get Subaru to start things over.
The second point is in regards to Roswaal’s motivation. What Roswaal wants is a Subaru who will sacrifice anything for the sake of Emilia and getting her to the throne. Roswaal has created a trap that he feels will force Subaru to choose who to save. Forcing Subaru to make that choice is the first step in shaping Subaru into the “partner in crime” that Roswaal is seeking. At some point in his life Roswaal came to the conclusion that the only way to achieve your life’s ambition is to dedicate yourself that ambition at the expense of anything else. To not allow any kind of distraction or weakness prevent you from achieving your goal. Roswaal has basically admitted that he knows he’s going to hell but he plans to achieve whatever his goal is first.
Yeah I had the same idea as well. Seeing as how Beatrice is a spirit and not a human like I thought, I immediately thought that the “mother” she was referring to was Echidna, and it makes total sense. It’s more explicit when you remember awhile ago when Beatrice said that her mother was the one that gave her that book, and knowing that Echidna was the one that gave it to her, that basically confirms it.
Have you seen the prequel movie, Frozen Bond? It goes into Emilia and Puck’s relationship, and the whole father/daughter thing is explained and is a bit different from Beatrice/Echidna. Though that is an interesting theory.
Ahh well that explains that scene then. I just thought Roswaal beat the crap out of Subaru…well, I’m not sure. He’s kinda insane so I just thought he was being an ass. Hmm, and for Roswaal to really be there for Emilia really does explain why he had to isolate her and mentally break her if he wants Subaru to help her get to the throne. What a clever and terrifying man…
I’ve seen Frozen Bond a couple of times now. The first time I watched it I thought it was bit boring but I enjoyed it a lot more on second viewing.
I can’t remember if the books or the anime stated how spirits come to be but I think they might just form naturally out of the mana in the air. Which would mean they don’t really have parents. I think that normally they just exist in a relatively mindless state drifting through existence and require some kind of outside catalyst to develop a mind of their own. I suspect that spirit arts users who contract with lesser spirits help nurture those spirits to develop their own minds and personalities over time. Which would normally place the spirits arts user in the parental role with the lesser spirit as the child. The Puck/Emilia relationship may be a bit of an exception.
Yeah I’m not too sure how spirits come to be either, and I’m not sure if the anime ever explained it, but I basically had the same thought as you. Whenever they’re summoned they just come from the air so I just assumed they were always drifting around. Them thinking their user is their parent is a nice thought.
Thanks for the comments but try to keep them together, pretty please. ^^;;
I agree, Subaru needs to be there for Emilia. Like you said, he hasn’t really given Emilia’s feelings into consideration when it comes to the trial and to some extent her mental health regarding her failures. Either Subaru needs to stay by Emilia’s side and really be her rock or at least tell Emilia he’s going to be leaving like you said. And I’m surprised that he never did that before. I know Subaru loves Emilia but the way he’s been acting has been pretty frustrating.
When it comes to the letter, I’m not sure if we have any clue of who it could be. I’m guessing that it could be one of the Ryuzu clones but I highly doubt it. It could possibly be one of the people in the conservative group since Ram did say to watch out for them episodes ago. I’m trying to rack my brain to see if there was any hint.
And now that you mention, again, I’m a little annoyed that Subaru didn’t ask the damn question. I hope he’ll be able to remember it in the next time loop when he sees Beatrice again. And yeah, I’m sure Beatrice just wanted to have fun with the others, I feel so bad for her. :/
Berry, I think I finally understand why it snowed in episode 8 after 4 episodes. It was not because Subaru was sent to the future. It was also not because Puck had turned huge and made it snow everywhere before being eaten by the rabbits. I think it’s moreso likely that Roswaal makes it snow whenever Subaru decides to leave before the trials have been completed to punish Subaru for not providing Emilia the emotional support she needs to complete the trials.
Roswaal’s talk about casting aside everything else for that one thing most important to you is probably Roswaal’s way of telling Subaru to focus on Emilia because if Subaru doesn’t, Roswaal will make it snow, leading to everyone being eaten alive by the Great Rabbit.
Yup that’s definitely it. With that in mind, Subaru’s really going to have to think twice before thinking of leaving the Sanctuary or else the same thing might happen again. :/