I’m suffering and this flashback still isn’t even done yet. Agh, my heart…I don’t know how much more it can take.
Before going back to Emilia’s trial, we get to see a quick backstory for the original Ryuzu Meyer as well as Beatrice. We got a little snippet of it but it was cute to see them get along in their own way, as well as a much younger Roswaal. The Sanctuary before it was called such seemed like a peaceful time until it collapsed, which we’ll probably see next time.
Pandora seems like a terrifying character. She’s as pale as a ghost, practically translucent, and it seems that she can’t even die. I’m not sure if I’m correct, but I feel like whatever Pandora’s power is it’s similar or the same as Subaru’s. It looked like she died twice, by Fortuna and Regulus, and yet she came back as if nothing happened. The powers may be similar in that sense, but there’s definitely more to it with whatever she did to Regulus and her being able to “transport” herself to the seal. It also seems that she can just rewrite things in reality, like Regulus’ actions that affected Betelgeuse. So I’m not sure whether it’s death by reset or she can manipulate time and/or reality. She’s starting to sound like a Jojo character now. :/
It’s not just that, but she seems to have a lot of authority. As the Witch of Vanity, she granted Betelgeuse the title of Sloth after he took its power and it seems like her words are set in stone. This is the first time we’re seeing her and both Fortuna and Betelgeuse were shocked and terrified in seeing her. If she’s not named as one of the seven witches, then she must hold some insane power.
She wants the “key” and the seal. The seal we know is in the forest, and the key is most likely Emilia herself. If the seal were to open, it would mean the end of the world. With Emilia being the key, it would make sense that Fortuna and the others would want to keep her isolated, and why people would “hate” Emilia because she’s basically a bomb that would mean the end for all of them when in the wrong hands. Of course none of this is her fault, and it broke my heart when she kept saying this about herself to Archi. Ahh…poor Archi. T_T
The goodbye between Emilia and Fortuna broke my heart, because we know Fortuna doesn’t keep her promise. Which is why promises are so important to Emilia, why she calls Fortuna a liar, and why she’s so terrified of being alone. Literally anyone would react and think this way, especially a young child like her. It’s a terrifying and traumatic experience, and it’s only going to get worse from here on out. Ugh, just all the crying between them and present Emilia made me emotional, and I’m just stressed for next episode. Gah!
I’m looking forward to learning more about Pandora’s character next time. We’re slowly getting the whole story and we might come to its conclusion next time, but I’m not sure. And I’m not complaining, these episodes have been fantastic. I’m just preparing myself for the inevitable pain, with Fortuna’s demise, Geuse losing himself, and whatever is going to happen between Emilia and Pandora. What will Pandora’s impact to the story be?
I’m going to try to rewatch the episode and see if I can figure out how Regulus’s ability works given he sometimes can be hit and other times can’t. Most of the time, it seems like his ability protects him when he is consciously aware of the need to protect himself, so it’s likely an ability that requires him to actively put up something that can defend him/destroy people who try to touch him. I wonder whether there is any hint in the episode about how it works at all.
I failed to find out how Regulus’s power works. Fortuna called him noisy, but that probably isn’t a hint about his power but rather him being a guy who likes the sound of his own voice.
Regulus mentioned that Petelgeuse is a spirit, so I guess that’s how Petelgeuse has survived this long and even knew Beatrice. Given Beatrice has been stuck in a library for 400 years, Petelgeuse and Beatrice probably met around that time or maybe even before that.
Regulus didn’t seem too happy about Petelgeuse taking in the Sloth Witch Factor. I wonder if it has anything to do with Petelgeuse actually being diligent rather than slothful whereas Regulus is super greedy in that he dominates speaking time and has multiple wives, which would indicate he has an actual harem. Subaru really isn’t slothful either, and after Subaru used his Invisible Providence, he coughed a lot of saliva out and felt awful. Maybe how your personality matches up with the Witch Factor you have influences whether you’re a good fit for it. Petelgeuse was straight up bleeding after all from using the Unseen Hand, and he works very hard, which might be the reason it took such a heavy toll on him.
Pandora’s power seems to straight up be the power to rewrite reality given that she undid her deaths and rewrote reality so that Regulus never even appeared, which erased the damage inflicted on Petelgeuse by him. Given that she didn’t overwrite Petelgeuse taking in the Sloth Witch Factor, I would describe her power as the selective rewriting of reality given she doesn’t have to undo everything that happened, only erasing any physical damage Regulus dealt in this situation. I wonder what the limits of her powers are given that she needed to speak to make it so that Regulus never came to Elior Forest in the first place, and she needed to describe a specific situation with knowledge of Regulus’s personal life to send him back home.
Hmm that’s a pretty interesting thing to point out. Regulus is the definition of greedy with how narcissistic he is, so that might play a factor into the compatibility of the witch factors. It also could be that Betelgeuse simply wasn’t ready for the sloth witch factor or he wasn’t concentrating hard enough, but his personality not being compatible with it is also a really great idea.
Good point. Her power probably can only extend to what is possible with her realm of knowledge, like you said, sending Regulus back to his home which she knows about. Pandora’s pretty OP with what we know, so I hope she does have some limitations (and I suspect she does).
I also caught a line from Fortuna that was off.
Fortuna said Al Fula, which is a wind-magic spell, but considering that she sent a huge ice projectile, it should have been Al Huma, a water-magic spell. I think it’s pretty clear beyond any reasonable doubt that this is a mistake regardless of where in production the mistake came from.
I also find it interesting that Regulus has not seemed to age at all since this flashback, and I assume that he isn’t a spirit, so if there’s something keeping him young, I think it could be the Greed Witch Factor. Perhaps Witch Factors extend the livesof their carriers. Maybe this means Subaru will start to age very slowly.
Petelgeuse also said that he was sorry to Flugel-sama before taking in the Sloth Witch Factor, and I’m assuming he promised this Flugel to never take in the Sloth Witch Factor. If you recall from the first season, the people referred to the tree that the strike force burned down to trap the White Whale as Flugel’s tree, and Rem indicated that Flugel planted the tree hundreds of years ago. Given that Petelgeuse knows both Beatrice (who got stuck in a library 400 years ago) and Flugel, maybe we will get eventually get more flashbacks to that period of time 400 years ago.