Re:ZERO Episode 36

The Taste of Death

Starting this review of Re:ZERO episode 36 off with the title, it seems to be referring to Emilia kissing a dead Subaru at the end of the episode. It’s been a tough 36 episodes, but I’m glad our boy Subaru finally got to kiss (or be kissed by) Emilia. This is truly the best timeline for him.

But he died, so he’ll have to do it all again. And this is where my theorizing already comes into play. Throughout this entire Sanctuary arc, every time Subaru resets, things just seem to get worse for him. It’s gotten to the point with this most recent timeline that I really have no idea how he’s going to get out of it.

Elsa and Maylie at the mansion are a bigger problem than I initially thought, Roswaal is breaking Emilia and summoning the Great Rabbit, and someone else appears to be messing with Subaru behind the scenes (whoever took his letter). I figured that once Subaru got Betty on his side, everything would fall into place. But that hasn’t happened.

However, even though I said I have no idea how Subaru is going to get out of this one, there is one possibility. I just don’t know how viable it actually is.

Subaru going to the mansion hasn’t worked out. But, if he doesn’t go to the mansion, Frederica and Petra are almost guaranteed to die. So I think he needs to go to the mansion and have Betty teleport him, Frederica, and Petra to the Sanctuary as she did to him in this episode. Once they’re gone, Betty should survive against Elsa and Maylie due to her contract to protect the library.

The only problem is that Roswaal will have already began to make it snow by then.

Betty Receives the Rem Treatment

Let’s talk about Betty next. I had to rewatch the episode to really soak in all the information from the scene with Betty. But before I get into that, I do want to point out that while I was right about Betty dying, I was wrong about how it happened.

So, one of the big reveals is that Betty is contracted to Echidna. I don’t really think that was too surprising though, as I’ve already mentioned how I thought they were connected in the past. What was more shocking to me was the revelation that the Forbidden Library is actually Echidna’s library and that it stores the knowledge she collected.

That seems like a big detail. I’ve previously mentioned how I thought that Echidna was the owner of the original Tome of Wisdom. And now that we know that it’s her library Betty watches over, it makes a lot of sense for Betty and Roswaal to be the ones with the two, true copies of the Tome.

Also, mixed in with all of Betty’s crying about wanting to die was another detail I haven’t seen anyone bring up. The “that person” didn’t refer to anyone in particular. And it didn’t even refer to the person who’s going to kill Betty. It refers to the person who can choose Betty and her happiness over everyone and everything else.

Basically, Betty was asking Subaru to choose her over Emilia just as Rem did in the first season. And if Subaru agreed to be “that person” for Betty, she would then be free from her contract with Echidna. Basically, her contract states that she must protect the library until someone comes along and promises her a happy life.

And of course, Subaru shot her down for Emilia.

Also, less important is that we saw Betty use two dark magic spells and a teleportation spell which I assume was light magic. This isn’t that shocking because she’s a spirit like Puck, and he’s been shown to use multiple types of magic as well.

A New Challenger Approaches

Maylie was finally revealed, and she’s exactly the character I previously wrote a theory about. I would like to point out, however, that Maylie’s identity wasn’t my theory, it came from Rain., a member of my Discord server. She thought the girl suspected of being Maylie looked familiar from season 1, and I just happened to point her to the right episode to confirm it.

There are some interesting things we get with the introduction of Maylie, and even from Elsa shortly before Maylie appeared. First, Elsa specifically mentions that their targets are Betty, Frederica, and Petra. That means their primary goal is to kill those three, not to obtain a copy of the Tome or access to the Forbidden Library.

That may have seemed obvious originally when Elsa mentioned that her targets were maids and a shut-in. But at that point, I still assumed there was some greater goal and that killing them was just to get them out of the way. If their killing was itself the goal, then that calls into question who Elsa’s employer is even more.

I really like Maylie’s design. But, I’m bringing up her design here because of the color scheme. Purple, white, and black are colors we’ve seen associated with the witches. So is Maylie a cultist? It’s possible, but I’ve never really gotten the feeling that Elsa was associated with the cult, so why would they be teaming up?

Also, why would the cult want Betty, Frederica, and Petra dead? I don’t think they’re even on the cult’s radar — except for maybe Betty.

Who Hired Elsa and Maylie?

Who else would want Betty, Frederica, and Petra dead? And who else would know of Betty’s existence in the first place? I’ve seen Roswaal’s name be thrown around a lot, but I just don’t see it being him. He’s the one who told Subaru to go get Betty’s help. And he clearly doesn’t want Subaru to die in Elsa’s attack.

If we consider that Elsa was also hired to obtain Emilia’s royal selection insignia at the start of season 1, it begins to paint a different picture. Someone wanted Emilia out of the royal selection, but didn’t want her killed. And yet, they want those who support Emilia to be killed.

I think it’s very possible that another royal selection candidate is behind all of this. And perhaps the reason they want Emilia left alive is so that they can make an example out of her (the half-elf) once they win the thrown.

Priscilla is the only one who hasn’t helped Emilia’s camp in some way. Just saying.

A Broken Emilia

Upon originally viewing the scene of Emilia going crazy and telling Subaru that she loved him, I thought this supported one of my previous theories. Last week, I mentioned how I thought that Emilia and Satella could be one and the same. And while I’m not going to say that’s out of the question now, I will say these scene doesn’t reinforce that theory.

In this scene, whenever we’re shown Emilia’s eyes, it looks like they’re full of witch’s miasma. So, I took this as a hint that perhaps some of Satella’s influence was leaking out from within Emilia, or that she was otherwise being controlled. After rewatching the episode, I don’t think she was being controlled in any way, but the visuals of her eyes are still interesting.

There are a few reasons why I backtracked on that idea. First, Roswaal and Subaru specifically state that Emilia was mentally broken because she was vilified by Garfiel, isolated from the villagers, and felt abandoned by both Subaru and Puck. This definitely would have impacted her, as she’s finally been able to befriend the villagers and rely on Subaru and Puck when she’s in need.

The second reason I have for this is because Emilia wasn’t acting like she was being controlled by Satella. Satella wouldn’t want to pretend to be Emilia in order for Subaru to love her. She would want Subaru to love her as Satella. And, the things Emilia said definitely sounded like she was revealing what she has always worried would happen — that she would be all alone again.

The question is then, why is this what Roswaal wants? What does he get out of isolating and mentally breaking Emilia? Well, what if this is the state Emilia needs to be in if she’s going to have any chance of clearing her trial? Her trial most likely involves confronting the last time she was truly alone — before Puck found her in the forest.

Maybe Roswaal wants to put her back in that frame of mind to undergo the trial.

Roswaal’s Inhumanity

At the end of the episode, not only did Roswaal do some crazy things, but he revealed some very important information as well. The first crazy thing he did was kill Ram and Garfiel specifically so they wouldn’t interrupt his conversation with Subaru. He did this knowing that Subaru has the ability to reverse that event.

And this brings us to the first big piece of information, which is the confirmation that Roswaal knows about Subaru’s ability. However, he doesn’t know how it’s triggered, and he actually appears to believe it’s something Subaru can activate on demand.

This is important because it backs up what I said about Roswaal not wanting to get Subaru caught up in Elsa’s attack. If Roswaal hired Elsa, he wouldn’t send Subaru to the mansion because as far as he knows, if Subaru actually dies, it’s over. And if Roswaal ever did learn how Subaru’s return by death ability worked, he would undoubtedly capture him and kill him every time something didn’t go according to his plan.

Also, speaking of killing, did you notice that Roswaal mentioned that he vowed to give someone a soul when he killed her? What was that about? Did he mean that he promised to give Ram to Garfiel?

Anyway, the second crazy thing Roswaal did was allow himself to be killed by the Great Rabbit. This might not be crazy if Roswaal would keep his memories after the reset, but as he told Subaru, the Roswaal after the reset is effectively a different person. This Roswaal is going to die here. Roswaal is fine with dying as long as someone effectively external to himself fulfills his goal one day.

When he did this, he also told Subaru that he needs to throw away his humanity and focus on the one thing he cares about.

What Does Subaru Care About Most?

At first, the question of what Subaru cares about most might seem obvious: Emilia. But I don’t think that’s quite right. Roswaal knows what Subaru cares about most deep down, otherwise he wouldn’t have said that. And if what Subaru cared about most was Emilia, it would directly conflict with Roswaal’s plans.

Roswaal wants Subaru to leave the Sanctuary and head to the mansion. He wants Emilia to feel isolated and abandoned by him. So if Emilia was what Subaru cared about most and is what Roswaal was telling Subaru to focus on, then Subaru wouldn’t leave Emilia’s side.

Subaru is actually a pretty standard protagonist when it comes to his personality, and I think that’s the big hint here. What does Subaru care about most of all? His friends. All this time, Subaru has done everything in his power to prevent a single one of his friends from dying permanently. And that’s why Roswaal sends him to the mansion.

Roswaal wants Subaru to focus on rescuing Betty, Frederica, and Petra. Specifically, he wants Betty to be rescued from her contract with Echidna. And before you say that’s impossible because he’ll never choose Betty over Emilia, he doesn’t have to. He didn’t choose Rem over Emilia, and yet their relationship is (was) better than ever. He was still able to make Rem happy.

But, if Subaru goes to save Betty and the gang, doesn’t that leave everyone in the Sanctuary to die? Not necessarily.

Consider the following: What if Emilia completes the trial before the Great Rabbit appears? Perhaps that will awaken some hidden power within her that will allow her to defeat it. So, I think Roswaal’s point was that Subaru needs to focus on saving those who are in the most danger and then rely on Emilia’s strength to save the Sanctuary.

Conclusion

What do you think of Re:ZERO episode 36? Do you think Subaru will be able to set Betty free without killing her? Who do you think hired Elsa and Maylie? And what are your thoughts on my theory about Roswaal breaking Emilia so that she can complete the trial(s) and save the Sanctuary while Subaru protects the mansion? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.