Breaking Free from Lizbeth’s Shadow

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 24 is the final episode of the season. And, unsurprisingly, this episode is all about Philomela. She’s finally able to break free from her grandmother’s shadow with the help of her friends.

But, a lot more happened than Philomela simply rejecting her grandmother’s wishes. That was arguably the most important part because it allowed what followed to occur. However, Philomela also used The Testament of Carnamagos to defeat the foreign god. She summoned a monstrosity of her own to devour it.

Now, is using the Testament like that going to have a negative effect on Philomela? I’m going to guess not. But, it should considering what we know about the book. This is a book that’s banned for a reason. Reading it is enough to cause someone to go mad. But, Philomela seems fine.

Once Philomela defeats the foreign god, that also kind of wraps things up for Chise. Morrígan tells Chise that she won’t ask for anything else because Chise gave her a good battle. All Chise needs to do is provide the agreed-upon mistletoe around Christmas.

And, in case anyone’s keeping track, yes, my prediction about this was wrong. I assumed mistletoe was a euphemism for Chise’s firstborn child or something. Though to be fair, it could have been if things didn’t turn out so well with the foreign god. If the battle wasn’t enough for Morrígan, who knows what she would have wanted.

Finally, Lizbeth dies before she’s able to reveal why she ordered the Webster Tragedy. And, her death opens up more questions. A werewolf child beheads her and steals the Testament before fleeing. Then, later in the episode, we see they were acting on Veronica Rickenbacker’s orders.

Christmas at Chise’s

After all those events, Philomela wakes up in an unfamiliar house. Well, unfamiliar to her. It’s a very familiar house to us, Chise and Elias’s house. Instead of going back to the college, Chise and Elias figured it would be better to unwind at home.

Philomela’s not the only one there, though. Lucy and Zoe are, as well. And, Rian even shows up after the lockdown on the college is lifted. So, it looks like there’s going to be a Christmas party at Chise’s this year.

Of course, this occasion is special for both Chise and Philomela. Neither of them has ever spent the holidays with friends before. And so, they both have activities that they want to do with the others. Most notably, Philomela wants to make potpourri with Chise as they promised.

The thing is, Christmas break eventually has to come to an end. And, I’m interested to see what happens when it does. Will Chise and Elias be returning to the college with the others? Or, was that the end of their college arc? I assume they’ll return. But, I don’t know that for certain.

Would the college even accept them back after they disobeyed orders and left? I get that they’re mages, not sorcerers. But, you’d think they would still be expected to follow the college’s rules. So, I could definitely see Chise getting expelled and Elias getting fired. Or, that might only happen to one of them.

Either way, the Carnamagos incident also isn’t exactly wrapped up. Sure, the students are no longer having their mana sucked dry. But, the college never got the Testament back. Isn’t that kind of a major issue? Something similar could happen again at any moment unless they find it.

Philomela Reborn

I don’t know which episode review it was in and I’m not going to go back to find out. But, in an earlier review, I mentioned how Philomela might become kind of a different person.

Previously, she didn’t have her memories of her childhood or her parents. And, if you didn’t have memories of your formative years, that could seriously affect you. Wouldn’t you be a different person without those experiences? Now that Philomela has “her memories” back, she might not be the same Philomela we once knew.

Well, that’s kind of what we see happen at the end of Episode 24. But, I’m not going to sit here and try to say the change in Philomela is only due to her memories. That’s definitely part of it. However, there’s more going on here than just that.

So, first, how do Philomela’s memories change who she is? She has happy memories now. She can look back on her life and remember it wasn’t all bad. There were good times, too. And, that’s undoubtedly going to have an impact on how she views her future. She’s no longer drowning in despair.

Second, the fact that she’s free from her grandmother is going to be a huge weight lifted off her chest. Even if she didn’t regain her memories of the past, she would know that the future isn’t going to be as bleak. She’s the one in control of her life now.

At the very end of the episode, we see something that illustrates this change in Philomela. For the first time in the present story, she smiles. Before this, we only saw her smile during flashbacks of when she was a child. She never smiled as a teen until now.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 24? Were you surprised by Lizbeth’s death? Do you think the Rickenbacker family has something to do with the Webster Tragedy? And, are you ready to experience happy Philomela? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

Alcyone’s Recordings

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 23 is the second to last episode of the season. Yes, I know the next episode is a “part 1.” But, that doesn’t mean anything. Season 1 ended on a “part 1” episode, as well.

Anyway, onto the episode at hand. This week, Alcyone dies. But, that’s actually a good thing, in a lot of ways. It turns out, Adam implanted a curse within Alcyone that would attempt to kill her destroyer. And, naturally, Adam expected this destroyer would end up being Lizbeth.

So, the first way Alcyone’s death is a positive is that it’s bad for Lizbeth. Though, due to the circumstances, the hex didn’t exactly get to do its job. But, I’ll get to that in the next section. The second way Alcyone’s death is good is arguably more important.

You might remember that Philomela said she couldn’t remember her parents’ faces. She also implied that this wasn’t because it’s been a long time since she’s seen them. And, she implied that it wasn’t due to her trauma. Instead, she says Lizbeth must have deemed those memories unimportant.

So, Lizbeth seems to have erased Philomela’s memories of her parents. And, we know that Philomela’s parents couldn’t keep photographs. That leaves Alcyone’s recordings the only evidence of Philomela’s happy childhood. And, it’s these recordings that Alcyone gives to Philomela as her parting gift.

Alright, but why is this important?

Well, think about how different of a person you’d be if you lost all of your happy memories. That would fundamentally change who you are. Up until this point, Philomela has been living as a shell of herself. Why was she always depressed? All she knew was suffering. That’s no longer the case.

Hex and Goddess

Alright, let’s talk about the hex and the goddess. So, it makes sense that Adam would implant a hex into Alcyone. He specialized in hexes and knew that his mother would try to harm Philomela. And, to harm Philomela, Lizbeth would likely have to go through Alcyone.

Unfortunately, “Carnamagos” got in the way of the hex working and killing Lizbeth. So, the hex and the ancient goddess Morrígan had to team up to fight it. But, even their combined power isn’t enough. As the Testament’s user, Philomela needs to play a role, too.

But, why aren’t Adam’s hex and Morrígan (and Ruth) strong enough to take down “Carnamagos?” There seem to be a few things at work here. First of all, Adam’s hex is merely a hex. It may work against humans. But, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be able to kill a god.

Second, as an ancient goddess whose name has been forgotten, Morrígan isn’t at her full power. Even equipped with a spear made of the anti-Lizbeth hex, she doesn’t have the ability to kill a god. Again, Philomela has to be the one to do it (somehow).

But, what exactly is the god they’re trying to kill? In my review of Episode 22, I called it Carnamagos. However, in this episode, Elias claimed it wasn’t Carnamagos. It’s some new deity that doesn’t have a name. Since it doesn’t have a name, I’ll be calling it “Carnamagos” for simplicity.

I believe it was Morrígan who referred to “Carnamagos” as traveling across time and space. So, that implies that it’s not a new deity. It’s a deity that shouldn’t exist in the present time and place at all. This could be why it’s so hard to kill.

An Inside Job

There was one thing that stood out to me among everything that happened in Episode 23. That was the werewolf implying that the Webster Tragedy was an inside job. This is a pretty huge revelation. Though, it doesn’t answer one of my biggest questions.

Previously, I had wondered how Lizbeth got her hands on The Testament of Carnamagos. Originally, the implication was that Philomela stole it from the college. But, we then learned that Lizbeth actually gave it to her to bring into the college.

And now, we’re learning that Lizbeth got the Testament from a member of the Webster Family. So, sure, that tells us where Lizbeth got it from. But, it also just moves the goalposts. Now, we have to wonder where this member of the Webster family got the Testament from.

Since Lizbeth received the Testament from the Webster family, I have to assume it’s a copy. I’m also assuming the original was missing from the college long before anyone noticed it. But, as of right now, we don’t have definitive answers. And, I’m not sure if we’ll get any — at least not in the anime.

There’s a new mystery afoot, though. Why would a member of the Webster family have given the Testament to Lizbeth? Were they just selling it to make money? Were they complicit in the following massacre of their clan? And if so, did they survive?

This also means that the Webster Tragedy may not have been so Lizbeth could get her hands on the spiders. Instead, she may have wanted to prevent anyone else from also getting their hands on a copy. And, killing the person/people who gave her the book served to cover her tracks.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 23? Did you stop to think about how Philomela’s childhood “memories” are all going to be in the third person? Where do you think “Carnamagos” came from? And, do you think the Webster Tragedy was an inside job? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 24 is available now.

Raising a Sacrifice

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 22 was all about Lizbeth’s plan to trade Philomela for Adam. As I’ll get to in the next section of this review, Lizbeth is obsessed with her son Adam. And so, she’s been working toward sacrificing Philomela to revive him.

But, why does she need Philomela for this? Why couldn’t she sacrifice any of her other followers? After all, she’s the head of the Sargant family. If she told one of her followers to sacrifice themself for her, they would. What makes Philomela so special?

As Lisbeth explains, she needed something that proves Adam existed. Though, it’s a bit unclear if that thing that proves Adam existed also needed to be the sacrifice. It’s possible that she needed something that proves he existed and a sacrifice. And if that’s the case, Philomela killed two birds with one stone.

Why do I say that Lizbeth may not have needed to sacrifice the thing that proves Adam existed, though? Well, Philomela was the backup plan. Lizbeth seems to have wanted to use herself as proof of Adam’s existence. But, she doesn’t count. Just because she exists doesn’t mean he did.

That’s not true for Philomela. As Adam’s child, Philomela can only exist if Adam also existed. And so, she’s the proof Lizbeth needed. Using Philomela as the sacrifice may also have simply been an easy way for Lizbeth to get rid of her. After all, Lizbeth hates what Philomela represents.

You’d think that Lizbeth would adore Philomela since she adored Adam. But, that’s not what we see. In reality, Philomela’s existence reminds Lizbeth of how Adam betrayed her. Philomela literally wouldn’t exist if Adam hadn’t betrayed Lizbeth and eloped with Iris. She’s a constant reminder of Lizbeth’s failure.

Irresistibly Adorable and Intensely Repulsive

Alright, so let’s go over Lizbeth’s obsession with her son. It all started before Adam was even born. Despite being the heir to the Sargant family, Lizbeth didn’t have an heir of her own. And, this seems to have been a major issue.

After all, why would she be named as the next leader of the family if she had no heir? That would mean the bloodline would die with her, which isn’t what you want. This resulted in others within the family treating Lizbeth like a failure. Sounds familiar, right?

In a lot of ways, Adam’s birth saved Lizbeth from going down the same path Philomela has. With his birth, Lizbeth proved that she wasn’t a failure and instead was worthy of leading the family. But, this also means that the most important aspect of Adam is that he’s alive.

All Lizbeth wanted (or needed) was an heir. Once he was born, as long as he stayed alive, Lizbeth didn’t really care about what happened to him. He already fulfilled his role, as far as she was concerned. And, we see this in how she didn’t interact with him for the first few years of his life.

She even described him as “intensely repulsive.” But, at the same time, she called him irresistibly adorable. And it’s at this point that her obsession with him began. Like many parents, she seems to have begun viewing him as an extension of herself.

This is why Adam’s betrayal hurt Lizbeth so much. She didn’t view him as an individual. She viewed him as a part of her. So, how dare he betray her? Lizbeth doesn’t want to revive Adam because she misses him. She wants to “get him back” and show that he belongs to her.

Philomela Wants to Live

Surprising absolutely nobody other than Lizbeth, Philomela decides that she wants to live. She realized that being a sacrifice actually doesn’t sound like so much fun. I mean, even if her father comes back to life, she won’t be around to enjoy it.

So, naturally, Chise decides to save Philomela. Even if Philomela wasn’t her friend, Chise would have done this; it’s in her nature. But, the problem is that Chise’s up against something very dangerous. Lizbeth’s spell doesn’t simply trade Philomela for Adam. It summons a deity, in this case, Carnamagos, to facilitate the transaction.

At least, I assume the monster we see coming down from the ceiling is Carnamagos. It looks like Carnamagos. And, we know that the Testament of Carnamagos included instructions for reviving the dead. It’s a pretty safe bet. But, also, this may be the first time we’ve seen Carnamagos referred to as a deity.

Anyway, Chise turns Isaac’s magic key into a hammer. Then, she imbues it with Ruth’s fire. And finally, she uses it to smash the magic barrier surrounding Philomela. She does all this not only because she needed to break the barrier, but also to protect herself.

At first, Chise reaches out toward the barrier and is stopped by Elias who warns her that it will suck out all her magic. And, as we know, this is what Carnamagos specializes in. So, Chise needed some way to breach the barrier without touching it herself.

Hooray! Philomela is saved! But, that doesn’t mean the danger is gone. Lizbeth is still there, after all. But, what’s likely a bigger issue is Carnamagos. Did breaking the barrier re-seal Carnamagos? Or did it free the monster? My money’s on the latter. But, the preview for the next episode suggests something else.

Final Thoughts

If you watched the next episode preview, you saw that Lizbeth appears to be Carnamagos’ new vessel. Did she allow this to happen on her own? Did Carnamagos force its way in? Or, is this the result of a rebounding hex? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out.

Anyway, if you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 23 is available now.