#riddlefacts

Riddle 1 - Upbringing (pt1)

Riddle 2 - Upbringing (pt2)

Riddle 3 - Overblot (pt1)

Riddle 4 - Overblot (pt2)

Riddle 5 - Book 1 (pt1)

Riddle 6 - Book 1 (pt2)

Riddle 7 - Intelligence vs Common Sense(pt1)

Riddle 8 - Intelligence vs Common Sense(pt2)

Riddle 9 - Riddle and Food

Riddle 10 - Riddle and Leona

Riddle 11 - Riddle and Idia

Riddle 12 - Unique Magic and Violence

Riddle 13 - Riddle and Azul (pt1)

Riddle 14 - Riddle and Azul (pt2)

Riddle 15 - Riddle and Azul (pt3)

Riddle 16 - Riddle and Floyd (pt1)

Riddle 17 - Riddle and Floyd (pt2)

Riddle 18 - Riddle and Jade (pt1)

Riddle 19 - Riddle and Jade (pt2)

Riddle 20 - Phantom Bride and Ortho

Riddle 21 - Riddle and Ace (pt1)

Riddle 22 - Riddle and Ace (pt2)

Riddle 23 - Prologue, Hedgehogs, Book 6

Riddle 24 - Riddle and Cater

Riddle 25 - Riddle and Trey (pt1)

Riddle 26 - Riddle and Trey (pt2)

Riddle 27 - Riddle and Trey (pt3)

Riddle 28 - The Rules and Vil

Riddle 29 - Riddle, Jack and Kalim

Riddle 30 - Riddle, Deuce and Crosswords

Riddle 31 - Riddle and Sebek

Riddle 32 - Halloween and More

Riddle 33 - Riddle and Malleus

(also catalogued on twstnote.com!)

There are 810 rules at Heartslabyul (In Japanese 8 can be pronounced “hah” while 10 can be pronounced “toh”, and in katakana hah + toh = ハート, which means “heart”), and Riddle can recite them all.

He expects even people who are not students at NRC to know “at least a hundred of them. At LEAST.” Rule 23, One must never bring a cat to a formal affair Rule 53, When something is stolen from you, you must take it back! Rule 89, Never eat a tart without the Queen’s permission Rule 124, When you get soaking wet, you must dry off with a run im the ocean Rule 153, No black tea at night? (a little vague) Rule 186, Never eat a hamburger on Tuesday Rule 228, Flowers in gardens must never be picked on Wednesdays Rule 249, Flamingo caretakers are to don pink attire Rule 256, No drinking honey-sweetened lemonade after 8pm Rule 271, One must leave the table within fifteen minutes of completing their lunch Rule 339, The post-meal beverage is to be lemon tea with two sugar cubes Rule 346, Croquet must not be played after 5:00pm Rule 412, When you see a pair of moving glasses in the forest, never go back the way you came

Rule 469, When throwing a party for new friends, one must decorate with both red and white roses Rule 529, If you eat a steak on the night of a full moon, a cat must play the violin afterwards Rule 562, One must never bring a chestnut tart to an unbirthday tea party Rule 648, One must brush one’s teeth twice over after eating turkey Rule 703, Anyone who comes in second in a croquet tournament must serve the queen tea the next day

Vil tells Riddle that his “glass half-empty approach is basically an advertisement for (his) personal issues”, and we learn Vil may have suspected Riddle’s instability from the start, saying, “That boy is a disaster waiting to happen” in a flashback with a 1st-year Riddle.

In the same flashback we also see Vil giving Riddle advice on wearing high heels and gifting him with a bandaid for a blistered foot.

Riddle says that the very night he received the bandage from Vil he ordered a manual on proper walking technique and he considers it a “win” that he was able to show Vil that he is capable of dancing in heels, as, “one can’t let a poor impression go uncorrected indefinitely.”

Vil responds, “And here I thought you’d mellowed out considerably since those days. I suppose some things never change.”

We learn from Vil that housewardens are permitted to adjust their dorm uniforms as they see fit, and that previous Heartslabyul housewardens would wear sneakers like the rest of the dorm.

Riddle says that it bothers him when people assume he wears heels to make himself look taller, which is not the case: he had his uniform tailored to match that of Heartslabyul’s first housewarden, as he believes that “the head of a dorm honoring the Queen of Hearts should abide by tradition, which includes dressing formally.”

Riddle and Vil also share a conversation about the “unique benefits” offered by heels, such as how it is “pretty gratifying to watch the Heartslabyul students instantly straight up when they hear my footsteps. That kind of clarion clacking only comes with a good pair of heels.”

Riddle may have an unusual relationship with food that is similar to Azul: during Halloween Floyd comments on how little Riddle has eaten and Riddle responds, “I consume my recommended caloric intake every day without any excess or deficiency!”

Floyd says that, “Maybe if you ate better, you wouldn’t have an angry scowl glued to your face 24/7.”

Silver catches Riddle's interest by mentioning a cake, leading Floyd to forcibly drag him over to where the food is laid out.

This “recommended caloric intake” habit was likely established by his mother, who would prepare food for the purpose of improving cerebral function, refusing to allow an 8-year-old Riddle to eat any more than 600 kilocalories per meal and comparing strawberry tarts to poison.

This likely connects directly back to present-day Riddle’s interest in strawberry tarts, cakes and candy.

In a voice line we learn that Riddle tries fast food for the first time in his life at the age of 17.

Epel tells Riddle about Halloween celebrations in his hometown where everyone would share a giant platter of food, and Riddle responds, “But then how would you know how much is polite to eat?”

Riddle says, “The Queen of Hearts’ Rules state that you may eat whatever you like and speak freely on your birthday. Isn’t that grand?”

It is possible that Riddle’s mother’s strict caloric restrictions have something to do with his small stature: he says that he bought a slightly larger gym uniform than what actually fits him in anticipation of growing taller, but it has not happened. (Possibly as a result of childhood malnourishment?)

Riddle is sensitive about his height, with Floyd describing him as “so teeny” that Azul could keep him as a pet.

Riddle is delighted when Floyd gets rejected by Eliza, saying, “Let that be a lesson: It is folly to pick bridal candidates solely based on height!”

All four members of Heartslabyul change between “Housewarden” and referring to Riddle in their own specific way: “Housewarden Rosehearts” for Deuce, “Housewarden Riddle” for Ace, “Riddle-kun” for Cater and just “Riddle” for Trey.

Riddle refers to all first- and second- year students by their first names without honorifics and uses “-senpai” with the third-year students, with exceptions: he never uses honorifics with Trey or Cater and, during Leona’s overblot, drops the honorific from Leona’s name as well.

When no one is overblotting, however, Riddle refers to Leona as "Leona-senpai".

Leona refers to Riddle by his first name with no honorific, as he does with everyone.

Idia has two different names for Riddle, which he seems to change depending upon whether or not he thinks other people can hear him.

When speaking normally, Idia will refer to Riddle as 教官 (kyoukan) in the original game, which is a title for people in higher education who oversee things like research or education, and for people who teach specific techniques (driving instructors are 教官, for example), but Idia is probably just using it to mean a teacher who is very strict.

EN translates it into two different words in the English adaptation (“Taskmaster” and “Instructor”).

Idia’s private name for Riddle is 鬼教官リドル氏, which is just “instructor” again with the word “oni” (demon) in front of it, for merciless/ruthless/unsympathetic/etc instructor Riddle-shi.

Riddle has a voice line of, “I read that the Queen of Hearts had a very amicable marriage. If there’s a secret to that, I wish I could share it with my parents.”

We do not hear much about his father, though he do know that both of his parents were (past tense?) famous magical healers.

Trey says that “Everyone where we’re from knew their names. His mom was especially talented, and she really wanted Riddle to live up to her legacy.”

We learn from Trey that every aspect of Riddle’s life growing up was planned down to the minute, including what he ate, wore, what soap he used and who his friends were.

Trey says that Riddle obediently completed every task he was assigned in order to please his parents, mastering his unique magic by the age of 10, and turning the enforcement of strict rules into a major part of his own personality.

When asked what job he would like to have in the future Riddle responds, “A…medical mage, I suppose”, saying that he was raised to take up the same mantle as his parents, but after serving as Heartslabyul’s housewarden he has taken an interest in the legal profession.

Riddle has a similar conversation with Azul, saying that becoming a medical mage was his original plan but he has developed an interest in the law. Azul recommends that he gets licensed in every field that interests him, saying, “Wth your talent, you could excel in any field you wanted. It would be a waste to settle for just one!”

Azul says, “It’s frustrating to see so clearly the difference between me and someone who’s worked hard their whole life,” and Riddle responds that he doubt that Azul would have the same ambition and drive that he does to day if he had focused solely on his studies that way that Riddle himself did as a child. 

Azul warns, “One moment of inattention and you might find me giving the valedictorian speech at graduation,” but Riddle responds, I’ll continue to stand at the fore as long as I’m in school—and after it as well. I won’t lose to anyone, ever. Not even you.”

Azul makes a comment on how “one has to make sacrifices to make their dreams a reality” which seems to resonate with Riddle.

Riddle is good at crossword puzzles because they were the only form of entertainment that he was allowed growing up. Riddle says that, as a child, he started creating his own crossword puzzles so that he could give them to Trey and Chenya one day. (He was never allowed to see Trey and Chenya again, however, prior to NRC, which would explain why he now has a collection of over 3,000 handmade crosswords.)

There are occasional references to how Riddle is still learning things about normal, everyday life for a student his age due to his harsh upbringing: he apologizes to Deuce for failing to “learn the appropriate customer etiquette” while purchasing mystery bags during News Year’s, which he heard from Cater is “a popular youth activity.”

Riddle says that he never participated in the Halloween events for children in his hometown so he is not well-informed on what goes on, but he does say that he only ends up drenched when bobbing for apples, so he may have some experience from somewhere.

Riddle says his household “wasn’t overly concerned with holidays” so they didn’t do anything in particular for Halloween.

“In fact, I wasn’t even allowed to walk around outside on days like this. I was a little jealous of kids who could dress up and go trick-or-treating.”

Epel responds, “Your parents sound really strict. But you don’t have to follow their rules now that you’re here at school, right? This is your chance to let loose and have fun!”

Floyd calls Riddle “goldfish-chan” because “he’s red and tiny and unsavory”, on EN, but this explanation is a little different in his actual dialogue, where he says “食べるところなさそう”, which is something closer to “it doesn’t look like there is any part of him you could eat,” i.e. there is no meat on his bones (when translated literally).

Riddle has repeatedly expressed disapproval of the name.

Jade has a line about Floyd causing “a bit of a stir” at their orientation, and Vil says that Floyd and Riddle “have been at each other’s throats ever since orientation."

During Beanfest, we learn what happened: Floyd explains that Riddle used magic to blast him through the air at their orientation. “All I did was razz him a little, and he just SNAPPED…next thing I knew, there I was, laid out on the floor. Jade burst out laughing when he saw me.”

During preparations for a party Trey tells Riddle, “I have noticed Floyd following you around a lot lately, with that big grin on his face.”

Riddle says that he pleaded with Jade to keep Floyd out of Heartslabyul for the day, and “just thinking about Floyd irritates me.”

Floyd spends the entirety of a vignette teasing Riddle, asking him to “chit-chat” instead of study.

Riddle refuses, and Floyd offers to escort him to the book he is looking for instead. The book is revealed to be on a high shelf, but Riddle insists upon finding a stool rather than ask for Floyd’s help. Floyd boxes Riddle in (“My arm just needed a little stretch is all”) and ultimately runs away with the book, encouraging Riddle to chase after him.

In exasperation Riddle asks what it is that he has done for Floyd to treat him as he does and Floyd suddenly stops, passing him the book and wandering away. Riddle reflects, “I can’t tell if I upset him, or if that was yet another one of his mood swings.”

We see Riddle and Floyd interact for the first time in the main story during Book 2 when Riddle expresses displeasure in getting anywhere near either twin, but “especially Floyd.” The group resorts to running away from them, with Riddle explaining that the twins have baffled him ever since he enrolled at NRC.

(This scene includes some confusing additions/changes to dialogue on EN to make it sound like it is taking place at Octavinelle, when the characters are standing in the courtyard. This is unique to the EN adaptation.)

Floyd and Riddle overlap again, briefly, in Book 4, when Floyd teases a depressed Riddle about staying at the school for the holidays. Riddle assures him that that is the last thing he needs, but Trey points out that, after arguing with Floyd, Riddle at least “got his moxie back.”

Riddle seems to have a problem with Ace’s general appearance, saying that “Ace looks quite the gentleman when he dresses properly. If only he’d do it more often.”

Riddle may a thing for proper etiquette in general, and with Ace in particular.

Riddle fixes the prefect's tie in the main story and reprimands Ace both in a vignette and during Phantom Bride for his “uncouth language.”

When Ace goes missing during Vargas Camp Riddle says, “I’ll need to instill a sense of Heartslabyul propriety into him…again.”

He also has a voice line threatening Ace with a beheading for not properly taking care of the dorm’s hedgehogs.

This is possibly a reference to a vignette where Ace helps hunt down Heartslabyul’s hedgehogs after they go missing (he had been on hedgehog duty) and when Riddle thanks him for his efforts he responds, “Wish you’d flash me that nice little smile more often instead of nagging me nonstop.”

When Riddle asks him to repeat himself Ace reacts with, “I said that for our esteemed Housewarden, I would gladly do this and more!”

Both Ace and Sebek are taken out early in Beanfest by Riddle, who says that the effort required “didn’t even amount to a pre-teatime workout.”

In a vignette we see Ace perform sleight-of-hand tricks for Riddle in an attempt to distract him from the fact Ace is not studying but the plan fails.

Ace tries to trick Riddle in a different vignette as well, painting only the fronts of rose trees red at Heartslabyul on the assumption that Riddle won’t notice the backs.

Riddle seems to be fairly used to Ace’s attempts at trickery, calling him out during Phantom Bride for trying to steal Rook’s idea to impress Eliza.

Riddle volunteers Ace as a suitor and he refuses, so Riddle dismisses him back to Heartslabyul and tells him to “tend to the hedgehogs or something. I’ll be fine with Epel here. Because unlike Ace, you possess actual bravery.”

Riddle continues with, “Pity my dorm’s freshmen are such cowards. You have more courage in the tip of your pinky than they do in their entire bodies. I suppose it’s the best of we don’t have any of those spineless worms tagging along. They’d just slow the rest of our team down.”

This successfully tricks Ace into volunteering to join the team.

(Rook’s nickname for Ace is “Monsieur Heart”, and it seems that this confused the EN team in this scene. In Rook’s original line he is commenting on how contrary Ace is, as Riddle was able to trick him into joining the team by insinuating he would fail. On EN, however, it seems they assumed Rook was referring to Riddle as “Monsieur Heart”, and so they changed the word “contrary” to “devious.” Rook’s nickname for Riddle is, however, “Roi de Roses”, so Rook is confusingly calling Ace devious after he gets tricked by Riddle on EN.)

Riddle insists upon Ace participating in Fairy Gala IF, with Ace explaining, “I tried to say no, and he got so mad he nearly had my head!...Since I’d suffer either way, might as well make sure the housewarden owes me.”

Riddle nominates Ace after being impressed by his sleight of hand trick the earlier vignette, and Ace says that he may have gotten carried away because it was one of the few times that Riddle openly complimented him.

Ace tells Riddle, “I hope you show some proper appreciated when I get back.”

During Book 6 Azul says that he is confident that he could take Riddle on without magic (“My arms are quite powerful, unlike yours.” Floyd has also insinuated that Azul is much stronger than he looks as, “octopi are all muscle.”)

Riddle takes offense at Azul saying his head is “harder than a diamond.”

Riddle has a comment about their endless battles with the caged phantoms not being pointless, contrary to Azul’s opinion, as “while our school offers numerous practicums on offensive magic, we rarely have the opportunity to be first-responders in a genuine emergency. This experience will serve us well.”

In a sudden change of heart he says that Azul is right to use targeted strikes to conserve his magic and he will try to follow Azul’s example.

Riddle ends up asking for Azul’s help to lift the thunder spear before the battle with the titan, and the two students share a moment of mutual relief when they win the fight.

When Azul expresses surprise at Riddle’s ability to fall asleep in such a situation, Riddle explains that it is past his bedtime.

Riddle finally explains the misunderstanding that led Azul to believe that he is being coddled: Riddle says he is protecting the rules, as practicing medicine on individuals who are under the effects of transformation portions is illegal without a specialist license. “Which means that if you got injured here, I would risk running afoul of the law. And that must be avoided at all costs! Hence, I cannot let any injury befall you.”

Azul says that Riddle should have just said as much, and he had been convinced that Riddle just thought he was weak.

“Your absurd adherence to the rules isn’t intuitive to most other people.”

While scolding Azul for being overly cautious during most of their descent, Riddle compliments him on his prudence after Azul saves him from a Phantom attack.

Azul says that it only worked because Riddle is so predictable.

At one point during their journey Azul says that he considers Riddle a friend but Riddle counters with, “I’m not very knowledgeable about the rules of friendship, but I thought friends would be more—” but he is interrupted by a Phantom.

(On JP we then get a moment of Azul calling Riddle’s name without his usual “-san” honorific, which he never does for anyone who is not Jade or Floyd.)

Azul reveals that he had been using Riddle as bait to draw the Phantom closer.

After their second attack on the titan Riddle says he is low on magic and stamina and has accumulated a lot of blot. They take shelter to charge the thunder spear where Azul falls asleep on Riddle.

After the drama of Book 6 Riddle repeatedly expresses concern about Azul’s physical well being, telling Trey and Cater that he could have ended up like Vil “if not for Azul’s quick thinking.”

Azul gets Riddle an aroma light for his birthday.

In a vignette we learn that Jack respects Riddle immensely: he attempts to serve Riddle tea despite being a visitor to the dorm, and he becomes flustered by Riddle’s defending him against Ace when Ace claims he looks out of place at Heartslabyul.

When Ace mistakenly assumes Jack is from Sunset Savanna Riddle calls Ace out for making himself sound narrow-minded. Riddle notices that Jack is staring at his face, and Ace asks why he is suddenly sweating.

Jack calls Ace out for cheating and Riddle compliments him for being able to notice, despite Ace’s high dexterity. Jack’s tail begins to wag (“So hard that it’s sending the cards flying!”) and Ace asks why he has been acting off ever since they arrived. Jack responds, “I really…r-respect…Riddle,” much to everyone’s confusion, comparing him favorably to Leona.

Jack says, “I’ve looked up to you ever since I saw you practicin' that spell to change the length of rose thorns…I’ve practiced the same thing with cacti, so I know how it goes.” Riddle offers to teach Jack sometimes, which Jack says “would be like a dream come true.”

Riddle compliments Jack for being “a diligent and upright young man…unlike some of our freshmen.” Riddle assigns Ace the task of laundering all the ceremonial robes belonging to everyone in the dorm as punishment for cheating, and Jack volunteers to watch over him to make sure he doesn’t sneak away. Ace says he regrets bringing the two together.

Early Book 2 of the Main Story Jack says that Riddle “looked like a wuss,” but no -he believes him to be “one scary dude,” and at the end the two companionably agree to compete against one another with their full effort in a Spelldrive tournament.

Riddle and Kalim do not seem to be particularly close, despite being two of the school’s three 2nd-year Housewardens.

When Riddle meets Kalim in the school store Kalim explains that he was appointed “the vizier of shopping” after trying to decorate the tables with gold and jewels.

Riddle quietly acknowledges, “So they found a tactful way to throw you out.”

Riddle tells Kalim to not forget his position, as “it hasn’t been long since you assumed the role, but you’ve yet to make an effort to act the part. I recall some VERY loud yawns at our last meeting.” Kalim explains that whenever he yawns in Scarabia, Jamil prepares his bed.

In Riddle’s original dialogue he has a line about the sons of wealthy families being ill-suited to becoming housewardens, but this was changed on EN with the part about “sons of wealthy families” removed.

Kalim comments that Riddle seems on edge, and Riddle reminds him that he is lucky to have Jamil to look out for him.

Kalim insists on inviting Riddle to a banquet despite Riddle’s multiple refusals, finally convincing him with the promise of a ride on his magic carpet.

Riddle says that he will have Trey prepare a pie for him to bring, and leaves the conversation reflecting that Kalim’s boundless positivity might befit a housewarden after all.

Kalim cancels a party to which Riddle was invited in another vignette, and it seems that Riddle had never intended to attend in the first place. In the end, however, Riddle does attend Kalim’s gathering, saying, “There’s something about Kalim’s pushiness that throws me off, since I know his motives are entirely pure…”

In a voice line Riddle references yet another banquet that Kalim intends to host, saying “I’ll have to thank Jamil personally later.”

We also see Riddle and Kalim dancing together during Halloween, and Phantom Bride begins with Azul and Riddle attempting to tutor Kalim (though Kalim insists that they were all studying together).