Ram’s Wish

For an episode that was 95% dialogue, I feel like there was a surprisingly small amount of new information that I didn’t already suspect. The first of these new pieces of information is that Ram’s goal is to save Roswaal from being deceived by “the witch,” which in this case likely refers to Echidna, not Emilia.

Although, she does also refer to Echidna as Roswaal’s teacher. So maybe when she uses the phrase “the witch” she really is talking about Satella. I’ve been pretty positive that Roswaal is connected to the Witch’s Cult for a long time. For now, I’m going to say that Ram was referring to Echidna, though.

This revelation regarding Ram interests me for three main reasons. First, it shows that Ram isn’t just a blind follower of Roswaal. Up until this point, the series had been portraying Ram as completely subservient to him. And while she still is to an extent, there’s more to it than him simply being her employer or savior.

The second reason it’s interesting has to do with that last part about Roswaal being Ram’s “savior.” I’ll be going over this more in the following section, but it was previously implied that Roswaal took Ram and Rem in after their village was attacked. So you could have thought that she served him out of obligation. This idea seems to have been shattered.

And finally, how much is Ram’s stated goal affected by the fact that she’s forgotten about Rem? Would her goal actually be to save Roswaal if her memories of Rem weren’t erased? Something tells me that her main goal would be to protect her younger sister if she had her memories. Is rescuing Roswaal from the influence of the witch connected to protecting Rem in some way she currently forgets?

Ram vs. Roswaal

I’m sure that Roswaal admitting to being the one who attacked the oni village probably came as a surprise to some of you. This didn’t surprise me at all. In fact, way back on September 30th, 2020, I predicted that Roswaal was behind the attack. That’s the date the final episode of Season 2 Part 1 aired.

Now, I didn’t mention that in the review. But I did mention it on Discord, where you can see the message for yourself. It’s still there and unedited.

While I wasn’t surprised when Roswaal revealed this, I was somewhat surprised that Ram would still want to save him despite this being the case. Why would Ram want to rescue Roswaal, the person who slaughtered her clan and destroyed her village, from being deceived by the witch?

There are two possible reasons I can think of. It could be that Ram doesn’t necessarily blame Roswaal for what happened. She may blame the witch for deceiving him and causing him to do it. Since we know that Roswaal doesn’t do anything that isn’t laid out in his copy of the Tome, that makes sense.

The other reason could be that despite what Roswaal did to their people, he willingly took in Rem. And this is where we get into the whole “is Ram’s wish currently distorted by her forgetting Rem?”

We know Ram is very protective of Rem. When they were kids, she hated how the other villagers would always put down Rem for “taking” half of Ram’s power. So if Roswaal accepted both Ram and Rem with open arms, that would probably make her view him favorably.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that Puck teaming up with Ram was surprising. I don’t see Roswaal being able to defeat the two of them in his current condition.

Reunion of Roars

I’ve had mixed opinions on Garfiel ever since he was introduced. And my worst opinion of him probably came when it was revealed that he’s actually 14. Maybe making him a year younger than Subaru would have been good. But making him be 14 seems too much like a gag for me to take it seriously.

At the end of this week’s episode is probably when I thought the highest of Garf. His character developed pretty quickly, as Roswaal pointed out to him last week. But I do think it was good development.

I like Garf’s role as a protector. First, he considered himself to be the protector of the sanctuary — even if it was due to his own refusal to recognize the truth. And now, he’s shown up at the mansion to protect his sister, Petra, Rem, and Betty from the threat that is Elsa (and Maylie).

Considering how Elsa was able to fight off everyone in Old Man Rom’s shack at the beginning of the series, I think Garf will have his work cut out for him. But, and maybe I’m giving him too much credit here, I do actually think Garf will be able to beat Elsa.

He’s not going to kill her, or even badly injure her. I can’t see him beating her to that extent. However, I think it’s entirely possible that Garf will be able to fight back enough that Elsa needs to withdraw. She also may withdraw simply to regroup with Maylie, in which case I don’t think Garf could beat them both.

I’m definitely looking forward to next week’s episode, though. We should get some good action between Ram and Puck fighting Roswaal, Garf fighting Elsa, and maybe even someone else (Otto and Subaru?) fighting Maylie.

Conclusion

What do you think of Re:ZERO Season 2 episode 46? Is there another reason you can see as to why Ram is devoted to Roswaal? Were you surprised when Roswaal revealed that he was behind the destruction of the oni clan? And do you think Garf has a realistic chance of beating Elsa? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.

Mana Swapping

It’s probably not surprising to anyone that I thought this was a good episode of Re:ZERO. But what you may be surprised by is that my favorite part of the episode was actually the music. There were a lot of good music choices in this episode, including quite a few songs I believe we heard for the first time.

Now, moving from something I enjoyed to something I have mixed feelings about, there’s the intro scene of Roswaal and Echidna. I’m not a huge fan of the choice to make that scene black and white (with the exception of Roswaal’s blush). However, I do understand why it was done — at least in part.

I think the primary reason they did this was to differentiate it from the flashback that comprised the main portion of the episode. This was a flashback within a flashback. And since Roswaal and Echidna look the same in both flashbacks, the older one was made to be visually distinct so the viewers could tell the difference between the two.

Not only did this intro scene show us why Roswaal is a devout follower of Echidna, but it also explained that he suffered from having too much magic. This concept was previously explored with Puck in the Memory Snow OVA. And, I think Emilia has the same condition, but to a lesser extent (I forget).

But most important of all, we can now officially say that Re:ZERO and Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya take place within the same universe. Why do I say that? Because in both series, mana can be transferred from one person to another via bodily fluids — most notably, saliva.

Checkmate, anyone who says Prisma Illya is gross just because it has lolis swapping mana.

Hector, Devil of Melancholy

Something I kind of like about Re:ZERO is that it introduces characters and ideas that are major twists, but acts like they’re no big deal. We previously saw this with the introduction of Pandora. And we now saw it with the introduction of Hector. Hector is kind of a big deal.

Crunchyroll’s translation of Hector’s title is Devil of Melancholy, which could have been correct. Roswaal referred to Hector as “Yuutsu no Majin.” One of the ways to write that is 憂鬱の魔神, which literally translates to Devil of Melancholy. However, I checked the official kanji writing of Hector’s title in the novels, and it’s actually written 憂鬱の魔人. The difference here is that rather than being a devil, he’s a demonic person.

But, what does this title mean within the context of the series? Well, the word for witch is “majo” (魔女). Both majo and majin come from the root “ma” (魔) which is a demon or evil, magical spirit. There are also other terms that come from this that you may be familiar with such as mahou (魔法) and maou (魔王) which mean magic and demon king respectively.

Basically, both the Witches and Devils are evil magic users. But, I would like to point out one other thing regarding the term majin. While it doesn’t really translate to wizard or warlock (the male versions of witches), it seems to effectively be used as such within context. All of the Witches are female and the only known Devil is male.

Also, Hector’s name probably comes from the 624 Hektor asteroid, which would make sense considering the origins of the Witches’ names. However, the fact that Echidna is afraid of Hector may imply that the Devils are stronger than the Witches. Or, at the very least, Hector is stronger than Echidna.

And one final thing I want to mention about Hector is that Roswaal seems to have combined with him. Modern-day Roswaal dresses like Hector, has one eye that’s the same color as Hector’s, and even speaks with the same voice inflection as Hector.

Sanctuary’s Core

After writing about Hector, writing about Ryuzu Shima becoming the core of the Sanctuary’s barrier feels pretty mundane. But, this part of the episode was still very good. As some of you may know, Betty is my favorite character in this series. So any development she gets is good as far as I’m concerned.

I’ve been enjoying all of this Betty background information despite the fact that she’s back at the mansion in the current timeline. We didn’t get any Betty info last week, but two weeks ago we were introduced to the fact that Betty and Ryuzu Meyer were friends 400 years ago.

Then, in this week’s episode, we saw that Ryuzu volunteered to become the core that powers the Sanctuary’s barrier. While Betty knew that Ryuzu could fulfill this role, it seems that she didn’t believe it would actually happen. However, it was implied that Echidna always planned to use Ryuzu for this purpose.

Anyway, why does any of this matter? Well, Ryuzu’s combining with the magic crystal to make the barrier’s core is probably what caused Roswaal and Hector to fuse into one being. I’m not sure exactly how. But maybe in order to not be repelled by the barrier, Hector somehow jumped into Roswaal’s body and then Roswaal regained control.

Also, it means that Betty is likely to ally with Subaru after this whole business in the Sanctuary is complete. She allied with him before, but that was in a previous timeline. In this timeline, she’ll probably ally with him much more willingly.

Why is that? Because by helping to take down the Sanctuary’s barrier, Subaru will have effectively freed Ryuzu from her 400-year imprisonment. I guarantee that Betty will be thankful to him for that (even if Emilia is the one actually completing the trials).

I should also point out that I don’t think Ryuzu Meyer will be returning as a character. Her body will probably disintegrate or something when the barrier is released. But in death, she’ll be free.

Conclusion

What do you think of Re:ZERO Season 2 episode 45? Would you rather swap mana with Echidna or Roswaal? Do you think Roswaal has the power of a Devil within his body? And what do you think Betty’s response will be to the Sanctuary’s barrier being destroyed? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.

What’s Up with Pandora?

Pandora is, obviously, a pretty big deal. She’s allegedly a witch — that technically hasn’t been confirmed yet. But at this point, I think we all kind of understand that she’s a witch. Pandora’s abilities far surpass anything we’ve seen from the Archbishops.

As for what those abilities are, she seems to have three (so far). First, we saw that she’s able to “remove” or “reset” things at will. Some people have posited that she can simply state anything as fact and it happens. But I don’t think that’s the case. If she could do that, she could have just made it so she had the key to the seal.

Second, she’s able to manipulate what people see. She made Fortuna believe that she hit Emilia when she really hit Pandora. She also made Geuse believe he killed Pandora when he really killed Fortuna. And third, she has the ability to seal or erase memories as we saw her do to Emilia.

What do all three of those abilities have in common? Reality manipulation. She can make things that happened not have happened. She can make people see things that aren’t real. And she can alter what people remember about reality.

With all of this laid out, we can begin to understand the enigma that is Pandora. Why was she not at the Witch’s Tea Party? And why did nobody ever mention there was another witch? My guess is that it’s because Pandora uses her abilities to hide her existence.

I think the other witches genuinely forgot about Pandora’s existence. And Echidna has only now remembered Pandora because she saw her within Emilia’s memories. And, I’m going to say that there probably isn’t a ninth Witch of Acedia. Pandora seems like a final boss. Adding another previously unknown witch alongside her would lessen that to an extent.

Though, you could also argue that all of the witches are as powerful and dangerous as Pandora. But I’d counter that by saying seven of the witches are dead and one is sealed. Pandora seems to be very much alive if I’m correct in believing that Satella is what’s sealed in the forest.

The Permafrost of Elior Forest

Let’s start off this section by pointing out some of my correct predictions. The big one here is that I said Emilia was the one who froze the entire forest due to her magic going out of control. I feel like that was obvious, though, if you’ve seen The Frozen Bond.

On top of that, there were some who claimed that me placing significance on Echidna referring to Emilia as the “witch’s daughter” was a mistake. They said that Echidna was simply teasing Emilia by saying that. Well, Pandora also called Emilia the “witch’s daughter” and even said that it was “obvious.”

It’s still been argued that both Echidna and Pandora were teasing Emilia for her similar appearance to Satella. However, while this could somewhat make sense for Echidna — who claims to hate Emilia — Pandora has no such malice towards her specifically. And, if two of the witches are saying something, it’s probably significant.

Now, I’ve made it known that I believe Emilia is actually the daughter of Echidna, not Satella. Yes, she does look exactly like Satella. But I think that’s more to throw us off and explain why people fear her. If people kept saying Emilia looks like Satella simply because they’re both half-elves, and then we saw Satella and she looked nothing like Emilia, it wouldn’t have the same effect.

Meanwhile, Echidna seems to be protecting Emilia from something in her own way. She really doesn’t want Emilia to complete the trials. She purposefully said hateful things to her to make her give up — which she didn’t do to Subaru. But is that really because she hates Emilia?

Go to around 18:15 in the episode, when Echidna says she has no interest in talking to Emilia. There’s a shot in which it seems like saying this hurts Echidna. Like she wants to be able to tell Emilia everything, but she’s holding back for some reason. I think this is her way of trying to protect Emilia, her daughter, from getting involved any further.

Subaru’s Insignificant Friend

I wouldn’t call it overlooked, but I think the ending scene of the episode involving Otto meeting Roswaal hasn’t gotten as much attention as I would have expected. At least, from what I’ve seen.

Roswaal is surprised by the appearance of Otto with Subaru simply because he has no idea who Otto is. That means that Otto isn’t mentioned in Roswaal’s copy of the Tome of Wisdom. Why would that be? Is Otto somehow special in some way that’s yet to be revealed?

Personally, I don’t like the idea of Otto being any more special than we already know him to be. He was a blessing that lets him communicate with non-human creatures, and that’s enough for me. I like how, other than that, he’s a relatively average person.

Why Otto wasn’t mentioned in the copy of the Tome is definitely an interesting mystery. Is it really because he’s considered insignificant? I doubt it considering he’s one of Subaru’s main allies. There must be another explanation — one that Subaru appears to understand.

Did the copy of the Tome not account for the power of friendship between Subaru and Otto? That seems somewhat likely. It was in a previous timeline that Otto beat up Subaru and called him his friend. That got reset, and so the copy of the Tome didn’t consider them to be close friends this time. But, Subaru called Otto his friend in the current timeline.

To me, that discrepancy seems like it could explain how the copy of the Tome was wrong. And it would also be a possible explanation for why Subaru knows what’s going on. Subaru knows his friendship with Otto is different this time around, which means Otto is, therefore, more important now than the Tome thought he was.

Conclusion

What do you think about Re:ZERO Season 2 episode 44? Do you think Pandora is the one who made the King and his children suddenly disappear, thus starting the Royal Selection? Have I convinced you yet that Emilia is Echidna’s daughter? And why do you think Otto wasn’t mentioned in the copy of the Tome? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server so you don’t miss out on any future content.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.

Betty and Ryuzu

As is usually the case when it comes to Re:ZERO, Season 2 episode 43 dumped a lot of information in our laps. So, let’s begin sorting through it with the flashback of Betty and Ryuzu Meyer. We weren’t given a time period for this flashback, but since Echidna was alive, we know it’s at least 400 years ago.

Surprisingly, I don’t actually think the Betty and Ryuzu content of this flashback is all that important. Or at least, it doesn’t have any importance to us right now. It might become important later. I just don’t see how at this point.

The important parts of the flashback are the mention of the Sanctuary’s true nature being revealed around that time and the appearance of Roswaal.

First, we know that the Sanctuary was Echidna’s laboratory. That much has been established since we learned of Ryuzu Meyer’s existence, but it was confirmed here. However, it was implied that there was a secret reason for the existence of the Sanctuary as well. And I’m guessing this isn’t simply that Echidna was searching for immortality.

If I had to guess, I’d say that the secret of the Sanctuary has to do with the barrier that was erected around it. Perhaps Echidna was attempting to seal something, and the barrier is the product.

As for Roswaal, we’re actually given some conflicting information about him. Ram states that the Roswaal in Ryuzu Meyer’s memories is the Roswaal of a previous generation. However, current Roswaal states that he knew Echidna. So is Ram simply making an assumption without knowing that Roswaal is actually over 400 years old?

That’s possible. But I think it’s also possible that Ram is correct and that when Roswaal mentioned meeting Echidna, he meant during a previous attempt at the trial.

The Day Betelgeuse Laughed

With a title like “The Day Betelgeuse Laughed,” I assumed that we were going to see the point at which he snapped and became the maniac he was first introduced as in the series. That didn’t happen. But it was sort of implied that the Witch’s Factor is what eventually caused him to become that way.

However, the big takeaway from this part of the episode for me was that Betelgeuse didn’t have the Witch Factor before this. Well, he had it in his possession, but he didn’t have it if that makes sense.

Why does this matter? Because when Subaru fought Betelgeuse, the latter mentioned that his unseen hand was granted to him by Satella herself. But in this episode, we’re shown that he has the Witch Factor in a small box and then uses it on himself. It seems pretty clear that it wasn’t given to him by Satella.

So what gives? Why would Betelgeuse have claimed that he received his Witch Factor from Satella? Did Satella give him the box? Unlikely. He probably received the box from the church. And the fact that he hadn’t used it earlier may mean that he was initially tasked with locating someone worthy of accepting the Witch’s Factor.

His line about being given the power by Satella was likely in reference to him being able to wield it. Over time, he most likely came to believe that he was chosen by Satella. When in fact, the Witch’s Factor would have infected anyone it came into contact with.

After all, we saw that he was rejected by Satella when he met her within Subaru’s “soul” or whatever that was. I am interested in learning how Betelgeuse came to acquire the Witch’s Factor in the first place, though.

Oh, and it was stated that Betelgeuse was a spirit — because everyone seems to be.

The Black Serpent

This section is going to be shorter, but I did want to touch on the Black Serpent. We’ve heard about the Black Serpent two times before this. The first was during The Frozen Bond, and the second was, I believe, when Subaru spoke to Daphne during the Witchs’ Tea Party.

As we should have expected, the Black Serpent doesn’t really look like a normal serpent. The White Whale was a giant, flying whale that could create clones of itself and the Great Rabbit is actually about a million normal-sized rabbits that eat anything that gives off mana.

The Black Serpent appeared to be a mass of black tentacles more than snakes. I didn’t notice any snake heads. But it’s also unclear as of right now whether it’s one physical entity or a bunch that work together like the Great Rabbit.

And, we saw that once someone is poisoned by the Black Serpent, there’s nothing that can be done. I believe this was also hinted at in The Frozen Bond, though.

Pandora, Archbishop Sin of Vanity

Maybe you don’t agree with this, but I think the introduction of Pandora was the biggest part of the episode. She wasn’t introduced as an Archbishop Sin, but I’m pretty sure we can infer that’s the case considering she has an overpowered and unknown ability and referenced the Witch of Vanity when granting Betelgeuse his title.

Before I get any further into Pandora herself, who’s the Witch of Vanity? Well, Crunchyroll’s subtitles like to use different words for things. For example, Satella was originally referred to as the Witch of Jealousy, but now she’s the Witch of Envy. The same thing happened here.

Typhon is the Witch of Vanity, but she was previously referred to as the Witch of Pride. Vanity and Pride are interchangeable terms here.

Pandora’s name is in reference to Pandora, one of Jupiter’s moons. She’s the first of the Archbishop Sins not to be named after a star in a seemingly relevant constellation. I doubt that difference between her name and the names of the others is that important, but I figured I’d point it out.

Obviously, the big thing about Pandora is what I assume is the power granted to her by her Authority of Vanity. She can reset things. However, she doesn’t reset things like Subaru does. When Subaru dies and resets time, it was implied he creates a branch timeline in which only he has memories of the other timelines.

With Pandora, she can reset portions of the current timeline, and anyone within that timeline is very much aware of it. For example, she didn’t reset time so that the confrontation between Regulus and Betelgeuse never happened. But she did reset Regulus’s involvement in the situation, which means anything he caused — such as Betelgeuse losing an arm — is reset too.

She was even able to reset her own death. So it’s unclear what the limitations on her ability are. Could she simply reset someone out of existence? And if she can reset her own death, does that make her effectively immortal? If she died from old age, couldn’t she reset herself to a younger age?

Pandora definitely seems to be the strongest Archbishop Sin we’ve met. I think she could defeat all three of the others at the same time.

Conclusion

What do you think of Re:ZERO Season 2 episode 43? Is the Roswaal we saw in Ryuzu Meyer’s memories the same clown we know and love in the current timeline? Why do you think Betelgeuse was carrying the Sloth Witch Factor in a box? And what’s your first impression of Pandora? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.

A Journey Through Memories

I have a lot to say about Re:ZERO Season 2 episode 42, but I don’t want this review to go on for too much longer than usual. So with that in mind, this week I’ll be focusing on three sub-topics that combine into one main topic rather than the episode as a whole.

The main topic for this week’s review is: What happened to cause everything to go wrong? I know, that’s a loaded question. And based on the end of the episode, you may assume that Regulus is the cause. However, I don’t think that’s the case. I think we’ll find that while Regulus is a catalyst, he’s not actually the one who ruined everything.

As for the sub-topics that go into this, I’ll be going over who Betelgeuse seems to be, Emilia’s connection with lesser spirits, and the mystery of the seal.

(P/B)etel(Geuse)?

With Betelgeuse, the very first thing I have to bring up is his name. We’ve previously known him as “Betelgeuse.” However, I think the author has stated that his name is actually “Petelgeuse.” For now, that distinction doesn’t really matter. I’m going to be calling him “Betelgeuse” and “Geuse.”

As you may know, the witches are all named after astrological bodies (planets, asteroids, etc.). Originally I thought they were named after gods and goddesses (which the astrological bodies are named after), but I was corrected about that by someone in a comment (I couldn’t find the comment, but tell me if it was you and I’ll credit you).

Anyway, the point of me bringing that up is that the Archbishop Sins are named after stars. Betelgeuse is the red star in the constellation Orion (the only constellation I can actually identify in the night sky). Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo. And Baten Kaitos is the yellow star in the center of the Whale constellation (very fitting).

So why am I bringing all of this up? Because it might actually tell us something about Betelgeuse within Emilia’s past. Everyone calls him Geuse at this point, and that’s even what Betty has called him in the past. So is Geuse his actual name and Betelgeuse is his Archbishop name? Or is Geuse simply short for Betelgeuse?

If it’s the latter, that’s either a major coincidence that another person named after a star became an Archbishop Sin, or it means that Geuse is already an Archbishop Sin by this point.

Now, I know that it seems unlikely for Geuse to be a Witch’s Cultist already considering his personality. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Subaru — which may be intentional considering Subaru now has Geuse’s Authority. But, my guess is that Guese’s manic personality later on isn’t a result of him being a cultist. I think he already was one.

Emilia the Spirit User

Geuse aside — I’ll come back to him in a moment — this episode shows us that Emilia has had an affinity for spirits since she was very young. This is important because I believe it’s connected to everything that went wrong within this memory of Emilia’s past. Notice how the lesser spirits are the ones leading Emilia around.

They led her to the seal in the forest and they led her to Geuse. Why would they do that? I think it’s clear that these aren’t some random lesser spirits playing around with Emilia. When Puck broke his contract with Emilia, didn’t he break up into lesser spirits that all drifted away?

I’m pretty sure that this collection of lesser spirits that have been guiding Emilia around is Puck. But of course, Emilia doesn’t know who Puck is at this point.

Speaking of Puck, my first instinct was that Puck is what was sealed within the forest. There’s ice all around the seal — which is Puck’s specialty. And the lesser spirits guided Emilia there as if they wanted her to break the seal. This could also explain why everyone in the forest was frozen. That would probably happen if Puck was unsealed.

And, you could argue that Emilia and Mother Fortuna being frozen by Puck is what caused Geuse to go crazy. He obviously cares deeply for the two of them. But, the more I think about it, the more I think Puck isn’t what was within the seal — or at least he wasn’t the primary thing within the seal.

What’s in the Box Seal?

To figure this out, let’s put on our thinking caps and piece together the information we have. First, we can be pretty sure that Emilia is the “cause” of the seal coming undone. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t blame herself. We also know that the other villagers lied to her about “something” because Mother Fortuna tells her that in episode 39.

There’s the fact that Betelgeuse — a future (and maybe “current”) member of the Witch’s Cult — is obsessed with Emilia already. He’s also very interested in the state of the seal. And he’s not the only cultist to show up, as Regulus does as well. As you may be starting to see, the seal might have something to do with Satella or one of the other witches.

Last week, I said that I think Emilia is Echidna’s daughter, not Satella’s. But obviously, I don’t actually know for certain. She could be the daughter of some random people who don’t matter. However, I find that unlikely.

Continuing on with the evidence, there’s actually more from episode 39. Emilia tells Subaru that the reason she got involved with the royal selection is that Roswaal said that if she becomes Queen and helps with his goal, he may be able to thaw the forest. And again, what do we know about Roswaal’s goal? He wants to slay the dragon.

I’ve gone over this many times, but Roswaal has a known connection to at least one witch. And we know the dragon helped to seal Satella. So killing the dragon is probably necessary to unseal Satella.

Now that all the evidence is out on the table. The natural conclusion for me is that Satella is sealed in the forest. The only person we know who’s been sealed is Satella. And the seal in the forest is the only seal we know of. It’s also of interest to Witch’s Cultists and is connected to Emilia, whom the cultists want to use as a vessel for Satella.

Perhaps the reason they identified Emilia as a potential vessel is that she was able to partially undo the seal, thereby freezing everyone in the forest. And how was she able to partially undo the seal as a child? Because the blood of a witch runs through her veins, which is what the forest villagers lied to her about. They lied about who her parents were and what happened to them.

Conclusion

What do you think of Re:ZERO Season 2 episode 42? Was Betelgeuse already a Witch’s Cultist during this flashback? Are the lesser spirits guiding Emilia actually Puck? And what are your thoughts on my conspiracy theory that Satella is sealed in the forest? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.