Is White Fox trying to make thirty minute episodes the new standard? For if they are I am most definitely not opposed as I like having a meaty episode to dig into each week. We also have the appearance of the new ending for the cour which admitly is far better than the new opening. Looks to be representing the more hopeful outlook of the second cour and the song has a nice beat that reminds me of the first ending but more uplifting. Otherwise today we have yet another flashback which I previously stated White Fox would be better avoiding as things have been slow with numerous flashback episodes. That said today’s episode was good and perhaps the change of scenery mitigated the stagnation of another flashback episode. Regardless this looks to be the end of all the flashbacks and we can finally move forward with resolving the problems of the Sanctuary.
I wonder if there is a pattern forming with the antagonistic forces in Re:Zero as we have the reveal that Roswaal has been doing all this for Echidna. The first flashback shows that he harbored romantic feelings for her along with a debt of gratitude for curing his disease. So looking at things now we have had four antagonists who are motivated by one sided feelings. Satella for Subaru, Guise for Satella, Echidna for Subaru and Roswaal for Echidna. Considering this series has been taking jabs at the target demographic you could take this to be symbolism for toxic fandom though I have theorised about that aspect before with Satella. Though with this recurring so often perhaps I was closer to the mark than previously thought? Well I will reserve calling it until we find out that Pandora, Elsa and Regulus have love obsessions as well. What makes Roswaal’s obsession rather tragic however is that he is just being manipulated right from the beginning as the cinematography of the scenes in the flashback make sure to hide Echidna’s eyes for the entire flashback. During the times with Subaru there were shots where Echidna’s eyes were hidden from view, marking her as untrustworthy. But the key aspect is that Subaru was far from her first victim and Echidna’s ability to gain followers literally willing to lay down their lives by their own accord for Echidna’s agenda is remarkably frightening.
Looking at the situation it’s fair to say that Echidna likely manufactured quite a bit of it as I am certain she always intended for Ryuzu to be the core of the barrier. I would make a guess that she may have lured the new representative of the now nine sins, Hector Demon/Warlock of Melancholy/Acedia but considering their interaction and history that doesn’t seem likely. On that I originally thought Hector was the previous archbishop of Sloth considering his complaining about being tired and his powers similarity to Sloths unseen hand. So while Hector may be out of Echidna’s plans, her obtaining Roswaals affection is certainly intended. I didn’t think I would see mana transfer outside of Fate but here Echidna is giving a kiss that has a bit too much detail.(Somebody had fun with this) Likely she did it to obtain a powerful magic user on her side and she certainly did well considering Roswaal is still obsessed even four hundred years later. I would guess he has at least figured out that he was manipulated but is likely too far gone to care at this point. Indeed it may be the reason for his twisted outlook to begin with, as he now views such feelings as weakness to chain others much in the same way that Echidna chained him and currently has Ram’s loyalty using the same tactics.
That does explain Roswaal quite a bit and why he’s placing so much on Subaru with the episode itself making a pretty blatant parallel between them. However what remains a mystery is just why did Roswaal begin to imitate Hector’s mannerisms and clothes. Perhaps it could be a sign that Roswaal inherited Hectors witch factor as a break time episode featuring Beatrix has her mention that witch factors tend to turn people and spirits alike strange.(Again if you haven’t, I actually recommend you check out those break time shorts. They actually do contain some pretty relevant info.) Though in Roswaals case it seems to be clearly more of an act and I would wonder just what compelled him to copy the person that beat him half to death. I don’t understand that but I can understand his stubbornness at sticking to his plan despite deviations happening in front of him. You may be asking why Subaru is trying so hard to convince Roswaal of this but if you are I would say you are not taking the situation into account. Roswaal is the source of the entire problem so if Subaru can convince him then Roswaal can call off the assassins and if he doesn’t make snow then he won’t draw the white rabbit to the Sanctuary. Everything is essentially resolved if Roswaal just stops sabotaging the situation and it’s rather amusing to have a mastermind whose so determined to ruin their own plan. If the opening isn’t a lie then a fight with the assassins is likely and I have doubts that white rabbit is going to still be around after this arcs completion. The question becomes when is Subaru going to convince Roswaal? After he deals with both these problems? Or will he only need to take down the assassins and have Roswaal help with killing the rabbit? I don’t really see a way of wiping out the rabbit without his help as he’s the only one I feel is capable of it.
From what I gleam from the dialogue, Echidna and Hector dated in the past. That’s why she said he still hasn’t changed since they parted ways, which lead to Hector remarking that she still doesn’t know how to talk to him properly followed by him saying that Echidna was adorable back then. I’d like to know the history of their relationship that went wrong.
What? He specifically mentioned that she used to talk to him with respect and that she was cuter back then. Both of these are fairly typical statements for a parent or older person to make about a child. He seems to be pretty clearly implying that he knew her when she was a little girl. No idea how you managed to get dating out of that.
On a rewatch, I see that Ryuzu actually implied that the true purpose of the Sanctuary is to keep Hector away from Echidna because of their past history together. That’s why she told Beatrice that you can’t win against Hector just by fighting and that it’s why Roswaal sacrificed so much. She then proceeds to say that’s what the Sanctuary is for, which suggests the Sanctuary was made to be a deterrent to Hector. This interpretation is backed up by Echidna saying the Sanctuary barrier would drive Hector out to Ryuzu when they were in the cabin together. Given how Ryuzu didn’t outright say that Hector was the reason the Sanctuary was made, I could see this point being lost on a lot of anime-onlies. Even I didn’t catch this until my second watch of that scene.
I don’t buy into that theory of Roswaal inheriting Hector’s Witch Factor and believe it has close to 0 plausibility.
I think Roswaal might have chosen to imitate Hector because he was jealous of Hector’s power and also, if I’m right, of Hector once having dated Echidna. A big point of this episode was that Roswaal is fixated on people being weak, so he might dress and talk like Hector because the encounter with Hector showed to Roswaal how powerless he actually was, leading to Roswaal gaining the strength he has in the current day because he reminds himself constantly of that beatdown from Hector long ago.
Roswaal becoming stronger by reminding himself of a moment of weakness is a common trope in anime, so I am more into my theory than any theory about Roswaal being the next Devil/Warlock of Melancholy given Ryuzu said they couldn’t beat Hector just by fighting, which makes Roswaal defeating him even if he had Echidna’s help very unplausible. The whole point of the Sanctuary was to keep Hector away after all.
Roswaal also said in this episode that Emilia and the Witch of Envy share the same lineage, so they have a common ancestor and clearly aren’t the same person, not that I have ever thought they were the same person because ever since I heard what Petelgeuse said about Emilia in Season 1, I had formed the opinion that Emilia and Satella are not the same person.