#fate go

Finally the last Part of Ordeal Call 3 is here. This time I did not procrastinate and instead went right in since it’s Bartholomews Big Moment! Still my Review Post comes one Day delayed as I was busy yesterday reading everything. But! Without ado, let’s go in!

A little foreword: I want to mention that I never viewed Bartholomews Writing and Treatment in Ordeal Call 3 as a Redemption as some call it but as a conclusion. We had many different moments in previous stories, as well as his MyRoom Lines or Material that showed that this was planned from the beginning.

Also as usual this Post contains spoilers and I won’t mark spoilers but speak freely.

But enough of it now, let’s go right in for real this time:

Right after we defeat Archetype: Earth we get right to business and Bartholomew already sensing something is wrong was already a little taste onto his further role. Also maybe you remember my previous Posts for the other Parts of the OC, but Bartholomew is incredible attentive and we see it here once again with him taking note of such a small yet important detail!

This is one of the most important Lines about him, not only for what we learn about him but his Character in general so please remember this Sentence well!

I remember back then I was surprised by the mention of Casinos since Bartholomew was someone known not being fond of gambling. But when Bartholomew dropped that he was half joking to lighten the mood I was really happy because back then we only could speculate and interpret certain scenes as such but now we read that he actually does it to lighten up the mood. It’s like „it’s unspokenly clear but when you get the 1:1 confirmation it just feels so good“.

The Fact he was really just joking and not poking fun around becomes clear when we meet Xu Fu. Bartholomew does not mention anything Mekakure/Eye Covering Bangs related but went full serious mode and straight to the point. In general I was very glad they really kept the Mekakure Jokes at bare minimum here and focused on showing that he is serious here. Even tho we know for sure now that he mostly does Mekakure Jokes to lighten up the mood or the fun and whimsy, I still thought it’s important to keep it more serious so people who weren’t familiar with him already wouldn’t get distracted by the Mekakure Jokes again and focused on actually him. But I also thought it was a nice little throwback to Summer 4, the Las Vegas Summer Event. Because in this Event Bartholomew walked around the different Casinos to look out for his Pirate Colleagues, since he was worried they could drown in a gambling addiction, so we met him several times and he gave us a little review about how hard they are. I can imagine it was a nice little homage to it!

Now here is where his big Moment starts. Bartholomew voluntarily stays behind with Kiara. This has two big reasons. The first one is that he knows Kiara underestimate him, so this was the perfect opportunity to get more information and hold of the Situation while seeming like easy prey and Kiara could let her guard down. The other Reason is that he thinks, due to him viewing himself as the weakest in the Group, he was sure he wouldn’t bring us strong damage to the Group if we would face against each other.

And here I want to highlight a specific Scene we had a few minutes before this…

While this Scene is mostly seen as a way to demonstrate how Kiara’s Domain works and how powerful she is, I think Bartholomews Reaction is very telling: His Act already started here. Because he knew Kiara would underestimate him or maybe hoped she would. And so he pretended to be captured by it. We later see that he was able to dodge the flesh he should eat by not swallowing it and I feel like he did the same here. He saw this pink air around her and stopped breathing for the moment or was aware enough to not let it delude him. In any case this was the perfect act to let her think he is an easy target and that she gets him in the coming scene with ease (which is not the case).

Finally the Lore Dream with Bartholomew where we get a deeper insight into his Life and his Thoughts. I want to give Fate here credits because this is all incredibly on point. We have several depictions of Bartholomew Roberts in different pop media based on his Legacy but not based on the actual Man. So Fate once again did a really great Job portraying him.

So we start the Dream with Bartholomew getting asked about his state and here we are actually the first time confronted with the fact: Bartholomew isn’t just the cheerful guy we know and he sure has a lot of darkness he carries with him. If you played the Interlude for example or read the MyRoom Lines or Bond CE you could already tell there was more to this cheerful facade.

We learn even more how negatively Bartholomew thinks of himself and how much of his act is calculated. Bartholomew puts his mind into everything, being a strategic and quick witted mind, but also does not think too much about it if he can allow it. This is less because he doesn’t want to think. Rather the opposite. In his capacity Bartholomew wants to stay useful, but if he starts worrying too much, he will spiral down in negative thoughts. We already witnessed this at the beginning of OC3 when we often seemingly met a dead end and while he started to think more and became more worried he also started talking himself more down. But he isn’t very effective if he starts not being able to appreciate his strength anymore, quite the dilemma.

At the same time, another confirmation how much of his Mekakure and silly Otaku thing is an act. Thag doesn’t mean it’s all Fake. The special thing about Bartholomew is that he is not necessarily lying but he also just doesn’t speak fully truthful and open all the time - In Short, he is secretive about himself, the reason what he likes about Mekakure; Secrecy. So Mekakure and the reasoning why he likes it already was a hint to his true colours and how much of it we should take serious and what not. It was a cleverly hidden detail.

Now we start shifting. The Sky turns red and now it’s not Eliza anymore but Kiara (We can assume that it was never truly Eliza but Kiara pretending to be Eliza to get Bartholomew in this vulnerable state). And I think at this point we can tell that Bartholomew knew too. Not only because he lied about his regret here but also the way he also started open up way more in a faster way. Bartholomew probably knew very early on what this place is and so he calculated already what to tell her.

“That idiotic thought was the first thing out of my mouth after I reluctantly took my first bite“ is a very important sentence. Because it shows that even in a Situation where Bartholomew does not have much time to think about his actions and has to act quickly, one of the first „cope“ mechanisms or ways to deal with it is playing it more dumb/down in an idiotic matter. But it’s was once again what helped him, his survival instinct. Because this was what seemed convincing enough for Kiara as well.

And so we arrived here. I have to say that I went insane over the expression on the right, I always call it fondly the BEN DROWNED Expression but even tho it was all an act I was glad we got a menacing Bartholomew.

Anyways what I found interesting here is that if you put Attention to everything Bartholomew does here, it’s all just a warning to us. We were about to ring the Gong. But not only did Andersen told us that we should wait for an opener we later learn that this wouldn’t have worked. Something Bartholomew figured out already at this point.

And I think because of that he did send a warning shoot. Not only to play his role convincingly but also to stall us. If we would already ringed the gong Kiara would probably have been extra cautious. And not only this he did make a Mekakure remark, something that probably was supposed to give away that he is still our Bartholomew who is joking around to lift up the mood.

And if you didn’t already knew he was just playing along and gave out warning signs the Skill before the big cinematic Moment happened should be the last giveaway for this.

And here we have his big Moment! I don’t have much to say about it, but I really wanted to include it! No matter how often I see it I always get shivers down my spine, he is so cool!

And here is the big reveal. And something I also found very important for the Bartholomew Guda Dynamic. Because Guda never doubted Bartholomew. This isn’t just based on trust they built up during their time in the Ordeal Call. I please beg everyone who hasn’t done it so far to play the Interlude because we also already saw a glimpse of the Bartholomrw Guda Relationship here and that also explains to us why Guda never doubted Bartholomew. And that’s also how you can tell his writing was planned to be like this from the beginning. Someone you are meant to underestimate through his silly act and him not being an open book, a walking secrecy, basically the Mekakure we made along the Way LOL.

Here we have a deep dive once again to his view on the things. And I think this is also important. Bartholomew is someone who talks himself down but also acknowledges the skills he has. And you can tell this also in his Skill. I mentioned it in my previous posts but it’s really:

He is a Support and a DPS - That’s what he is. A Captain for the People. He is strong against Low Rarity Servants? - While this is a fun gimmick against Blackbeard this also shows that Bartholomew thinks down on himself, thinking he can’t hold a candle against stronger Heroic Spirits even when they are Caster or definitely should be weaker against him. But he also acknowledges his own Skill, which is why at least he takes pride in something where he 100% knows he is good in it.

But also this Speech is a Masterclass in showing that Bartholomew is what makes him so Human. In a Chapter that’s all about Humanity, its achievements and flaws, Bartholomew truly fits the bill in a symbolic way. He represents what humans can do when working together but also what one human can do alone but he also represents one of our biggest weaknesses: Our own Mind. Bartholomew hits way closer to home because his Life was also dictated by a lot of luck. He was a regular Human just like you and me and he shows this even as a Servant. Does this Situation sound similar to you? Because the Situation at the beginning of OC3 was basically a reflection of his actual historical Events. He only had limited resources, basically with the back to the Wall but he never gave up and tried thinking positive. Like Humanity always tries to find a Solution, no Mather how hopeless the Situation seems. And all that he does for Us/Humanity. Like he mentioned in Atlantis: He wants to be a hopebringer.

Also to add a little extra Sugar: Bartholomew throughout the whole Chapter was considerate of Gudas Feelings and also made other Servants aware of those feelings, to pay attention to Master and not act reckless. It’s like I mentioned in the Part 2 Post with Passionlip. Bartholomew sees you, Bartholomew cares for you and pays Attention to you. No matter how vocal you are with your feelings. He is empathetic and can read people and their desires well; this makes him also such a great Pirate. Bartholomew makes sure no one is left behind as long as it’s in his capacities, be it physical or mental.

Now let’s move on to the last Part. The end of the Chapter and also his relationship to Eliza aka Ship Guide.

This happened mostly in the background and at the end of it we only see the Result of it. But Bartholomew bonded a lot with the Ship Guide. It’s a very sweet relationship and I think it’s also one of the reasons why Bartholomew had so much Empathy with the AI's and a way better understanding. Of course he is empathetic, but the fact that there is also an AI he cared about and bonded with and who probably told him a bunch of things too helped as well.

This explains also why Bartholomew always seemed to know and understand so much when it comes to the People and the Story of Moon Dubai. Not only was he attentive he also collected intelligence in the background while also forming his own Bond. Bartholomew gave the Ship Guide the feeling of being needed and she gave him the feeling of being wanted. But also Vice Versa.

This is a bit long, but it’s basically his last voyage with Eliza. He has a last talk with Edison, displaying once again how well he can read others and his curious spirit. He asks questions that makes others think and give us extra conclusions, Bartholomew thought of thinks that never crossed my mind, which shows how far he thinks and how he thinks in bigger pictures too. His mind is like a sea map. Open and wide. Also we see here a way more dynamic conversation and understand more how Eliza and Bartholomew spent most of their time together. Edision even mentioned how sync they are with their dynamic.

At the End it is thanks to Edison that we learn that Eliza revealing her name to Bartholomew was something very intimate. Therefore I think you can tell that him talking more open to „Eliza“ in his Dream was an even exchange of intimate informations. He showed himself more open and vulnerable the way she gave away her name. While Edison thinks Bartholomew might not be aware of it I do think Bartholomew was aware but would know Eliza wouldn’t want him to make a big deal out of it. Even more I think Bartholomew handled the situation with the respect that is expected from him.

Tho I do think Edison has a point. Bartholomew is probably not aware on what a Charme he has on others, not only limited to Women.

In the end Bartholomew even delivered Eliza’s Final Message. And this also shows how much they seemed to talk about everything. Trivial Stuff, Lore about this World, Lore about Bartholomew and also the current Situation. But Bartholomew never made a big deal out of it the same way he never made a big deal out of it how well he went along with BB Cosmo. I do think it’s because he doesn’t make a difference. You are a person and he sees your value. He can see your flaws like with Blackbeard and that is destroying but on base he sees everyone’s worth and cherishes this as such.

In the end, even with the Memories gone, the feeling stayed. And that’s also the Case for us. In the end. Bartholomew Roberts, you don’t know how loved you are.

Well so much to that. This was a long journey. But I am glad I finally was able to talk in Detail about what was sitting in my mind for Years. In the end I didn’t said much about the Translation differences. Honestly they were great. Tho something funny I can give you is this difference LOL:

Left is the Fantranslation once again provided by YouTube Channel NeoBenedict and on the right the official Translation. I think they decided to keep any room for funny misinterpretations or misinterpretations in general out and focus on the seriousness of this character, which honestly worked really great. My heart was beating the same way as it was beating two years ago. I can’t really complain, I do love how all the translations were done.

Thank you for everyone who was reading so far. I hope you enjoy Bartholomews Character as much as I do. I love Bartholomew a lot and are glad that with the EN release more people can appreciate the greatness of his Character now!

If you haven’t read my summaries and deep dives for the previous parts as well as the Summer Event I do recommend reading them here for the full experience and to have a whole picture!

Bartholomew in Summer 9 (OC3 Prologue):

Bartholomew in OC3 Part 1:

Bartholomew in OC3 Part 2: