Re:ZERO Episode 28

Re:ZERO Episode 28

Subaru-kun and the Seven Witches

Re:ZERO episode 28 didn’t really make me any less confused after the events of episode 27. But at the same time, I wouldn’t say it made me any more confused either. And at the very least, it appears to back up a few of my claims from the previous review, including the idea that Roswaal and Echidna have a common goal.

However, before we get to that, there are some other topics I’d like to discuss, starting with the seven witches. Echidna gives us a brief rundown of the witches, including their names and what they’re known for. The witches are as follows:

  1. Daphne, the Witch of Gluttony – Created beasts to save the world from starvation.
  2. Carmilla, the Witch of Lust – Granted emotions to non-humans.
  3. Minerva, the Witch of Wrath – Healed people in a war-torn world.
  4. Sekhmet, the Witch of Sloth – Drove away the dragon.
  5. Typhon, the Witch of Pride – Judged criminals.
  6. Echidna, the Witch of Greed – Embodied the thirst for knowledge.
  7. [Satella], the Witch of Envy – Killed the other witches and attacked the world.
The Witch of Greed, Echidna from the anime series Re:ZERO season 2
The Witch of Greed, Echidna

Echidna doesn’t mention Satella’s name, but we can infer that she’s the final witch mentioned. Satella has been called the Witch of Jealousy before (Crunchyroll’s original subtitles for season 1), but jealousy and envy are basically the same thing. We also know that the people of the world hate her and she’s still alive, so her background matches up with this final witch.

But what’s most interesting is that aside from Satella who killed the other witches, the rest of them don’t necessarily seem evil. It appears that Satella just gave them all a bad reputation. Typhon and Echidna are implied to be morally grey characters, but that may also tie into their “mythologies.”

I’m not sure who Satella is a reference to, but the other witches (except Carmilla, who’s named after a vampire) are named after mythological figures and deities. Typhon and Echidna were the parents of monsters in Greek mythology, which could explain their moral greyness.

The Witch’s Graveyard

In this episode, we learned that the true nature of the Sanctuary is actually the Witch’s Graveyard. Specifically, it’s the tomb of Echidna — or at least it was only stated to be Echidna’s tomb, not the tomb of all the witches. This also explains why Subaru was able to meet with Echidna upon entering.

And, just as I predicted last week, it turns out that the Sanctuary is a place where demi-humans gather. But, contrary to what I believed, it doesn’t seem like the demi-humans who gather here do so by choice. Echidna’s tomb has a special barrier around it that prevents demi-humans from leaving once they’ve entered it.

Or, at least that’s what we’re told. It seems like there may be part of that explanation that isn’t quite right. The villagers of Roswaal’s domain have always been implied to be human, so based on this explanation, they should have no problem leaving.

Garfiel from the anime series Re:ZERO season 2
Garfiel

As far as I can tell, the only people who shouldn’t be able to leave are Emilia and the demi-humans already within the boundary. Subaru and Roswaal (as far as we know) are human, and Ram is a purebred oni, so she shouldn’t be considered a demi-human.

Also, there’s something strange going on with the demi-humans who live within the boundary. They don’t seem to want to be there, including Garfiel who even states that he would take on the trial to free everyone if only he could complete it. However, just prior to that, he threatened anyone who failed the trial with eternal imprisonment.

According to Crunchyroll’s subtitles, Garfiel is going to personally hold everyone captive if they fail. It really feels like there were a bunch of mistranslations during this whole explanation. I think whoever did the terrible job translating all of the test explanations in Tower of God was also given the job of translating this episode of Re:ZERO.

Roswaal and Echidna

So what’s the deal with Roswaal and Echidna? Echidna’s tomb lies within Roswaal’s domain and his family has been the protectors of her tomb for generations. There even seems to be some sort of personal relationship between the Roswaal and Echidna, as he insisted on calling her by name.

My guess is that Roswaal is attempting to finish what the witches (other than Satella) started. We know that his goal is to defeat the dragon, and as we learned from Echidna, the Witch of Sloth was the one who drove the dragon away in the first place so that there could be peace.

Or, it could simply be that he wants to kill the dragon so that Satella can’t bring it under her control. But either way, he seems to be allied with the “good” witches who were killed by Satella.

Ram and Roswaal from the anime series Re:ZERO season 2
Ram and Roswaal

I’m also going to predict that Roswaal has the Witch Factor of one of the witches. I would have said that he has Echidna’s Witch Factor, but we know there’s already an Archbishop Sin of Greed. So maybe he has Sekhmet’s Witch Factor since she’s the one connected to the dragon?

But why do I think Roswaal has a Witch Factor in the first place? Because he’s not a demi-human. We’re told that demi-humans are the only ones capable of taking on the trial, and yet Roswaal did it. But, it’s implied that the reason Subaru can also take on the trial is due to his Witch Factor, so that would explain how Roswaal could too.

Conclusion

What did you think of Re:ZERO episode 28? Aside from the fact that I basically had to retranslate Crunchyroll’s subtitles because they were so bad (I actually just canceled my subscription as well because their service has become so bad), I thought the episode was good. I really liked the information Echidna gave us about the witches.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

4 Replies to “Re:ZERO Episode 28”

  1. Yeah from what I read, the Villagers, Ram, Roswell, and Subaru can leave. But Garfiel and the other half breed Demi Humans are holding them captive so they can be released.

    Also Roswaal would not have Sekmats Witch Factor as Subaru has it, as the Sloth Witch Factor belonged to Petelguese.

    1. That’s a good point about Subaru already having Sekhmet’s Witch Factor. I briefly forgot Sekhmet was the Witch of Sloth when I wrote that part.

  2. Your memory is off, DoubleSama. Roswaal’s goal is not to defeat the dragon. He wants to KILL the dragon, But this is a very BAD thing if you remember what Beatrice said in Season 1, that the legendary dragon, sage, and hero, sealed the Witch of Envy because they could not destroy her body. Assuming that the sage and the hero are dead because they died of old age, the dragon is the last part of the seal on the Witch of Envy, and therefore, killing the dragon would unseal Satella, bringing ruin to the world.

    I don’t know how you came to the conclusion that Satella wants to control the dragon, but I can assure that this is almost certainly false.

    According to CrunchyRoll’s translation, Sekhmet drove the dragon past a great waterfall because she wanted to rest instead of having to deal with it, and that means she and the dragon were enemies, and given that the dragon is good, that means Sekhmet was also evil. Echida called herself a very evil magic user, so I don’t think it’s right to assume that all of the other witches were good.

    1. My memory is frequently off when it comes to Re:Zero, as I have been told countless times over in our Discord server.

      So, sure, that’s wrong. But I’m still not convinced all the witches are bad. Echidna stating that she’s a very evil magic user seemed tongue-in-cheek to me. It felt like she was playing up what people assume all witches are like, not how they actually are.

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