#tatariakashi

Rika’s Definition of a Witch

In When They Cry, the first use of the term "witch"  comes from the original Higurashi. Rika uses the word early in Minagoroshi to describe herself as a being who has experienced multiple worlds, and therefore can predict events before they happen.

Note that Rika here isn't describing a specific kind of magic being that exists, with established rules and specific powers and whatnot. She's using the term as a label she made up (or possibly heard from Hanyuu) to try to make sense of her own experiences.

Throughout Minagoroshi, Rika continues thinking about herself in these terms - herself as a tired, cynical witch who has lived for a hundred years, versus the emotions and hope she hasn’t completely left behind.

Eventually, Rika comes to the conclusion pictured above. That thinking like a witch - that seeing herself as separate from the events around her - has made her forget her own agency in those events.

Saikoroshi takes Rika's thoughts from Minagoroshi and Matsuribayashi and expands on them. This is the first arc to explore the idea of Rika's "Frederica Bernkastel" witch side as a separate being from "Furude Rika," the human who lives in a Fragment.

It's... kind of heartbreaking, actually. Rika eventually comes to believe she (the witch Rika) has replaced the Rika that was supposed to be in the Saikoroshi world, and she starts to want to erase her own personality in order to give the body "back."

But would such a thing even be possible? If so, did the witch Rika possess Saikoroshi Rika and make her kill her mother? And at the end, did Rika actually separate her witch side into a being that exists on a higher plane? Who knows! Turns out the scenario was just a dream Hanyuu made Rika have to teach her a lesson.

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Still, within just these Higurashi scenes, we have all the seeds of what witches are in Umineko. We have the idea that witches are something no longer human, and specifically inhuman because of their perception of multiple worlds. We have the idea of a witch as a spectator distantly observing events, rather than a human participating in them. We have the idea of the witch as a shattering of one’s psyche, and of internal conflict brewing between the “witch” and the “human” sides of one’s personality.

And we have the idea that being a witch is fundamentally not a good or happy thing. It is power and psychological distance at the cost of one's emotions, agency, and humanity.

But so far, we only have one "witch." What happens when there are multiple witches?

Lambdadelta’s Definition of a Witch

The short story “Memoirs of the Lambdadelta” is looking more and more retconned with each episode of Sotsu, but even so, I think it’s still valuable in this context.  While Rika defined witches as passive spectators, the following excerpt has Lambda define them as beings that exist in between two extremes.

(Also note the intriguing flip in perspective - in Higurashi, Rika attributed agency to the humans, while gods like Hanyuu were incredibly passive. But Lambda - and arguably Umineko as a whole - see it in opposite terms.)

The ones tossed about by fate are the humans. Fools, helpless, can’t create anything.

…...However, they have a ground to firmly step under their feet. And that ground will never betray them, thus, they can live their whole existence without the fear of the terror of falling to hell.

The ones who create fate are the gods. And the Creator.

......However, the fact that they create everything and are freed from all restrictions means they don't even have a restriction such as the ground under their feet.

Beings that have completely lost all constraints... In exchange for gaining everything, they have lost even the limitation of their own 'meaning'.

...When even the notion of life and death and the meaning of existence has been lost... they reach the level of zero. Or rather, they fall down to it. Crash down. Crumble. Vanish like mist.

I think the ones placed in the middle are us, the witches. We create fate and play with it. We move around in that interstice. However, we accept certain restrictions and limitations, leaving ourselves some footing so that we won't tumble down.

To the witches who are not afraid of it, the ones who are far, far ahead of me... these restrictions don't exist.

So the emphasis is a little bit different, but we’re still circling the idea of a witch as a being caught between planes, a being that has ties to the physical world but isn’t quite as bound by its rules.

Now, that’s all well and good, but it’s not very close to Eua’s description, is it? After all, Satoko has been dipping in and out of the Sea of Fragments and playing with fate ever since Satokowashi.

Indeed, there isn’t anything in Umineko that perfectly matches Eua’s definition. But there is, however, this exchange with Lambda from Umineko Episode 6:

Beatrice: "Th, there's no need to say 'so long'...! We'll... we'll think of a trick right away, and the game will resume! We won't take up your time...! So stay here a little longer...! Please...!!" Lambda: "...We've heard those same words from many witches in the past. And I've heard of hardly any who've actually managed to resume their games. As far as I know, the only two are me... and Bern." Beatrice: "Why... why would a person who knows about that hell [the logic error] throw another person into it?! Just because you're bored? Is that all?!" Lambda: "...Yeah, that's all. It's to escape from boredom. Because when we get bored, we remember. We remember that hell. And, you know, by throwing someone else down into that hell, we realize that, oh, we're the ones on the throwing side, and that means we aren't in that hell ourselves. If we don't keep doing that, then the fear of that hell will overwhelm us..."

Here, we finally have the idea of a witch as a creature wallowing in self-pity, and hurting others to do it.  And it’s interesting, isn’t it?  That Lambda, of all characters, is the one who ultimately sees witches the most similarly to Eua…

(Also this has nothing to do with anything, but while rewatching the scene to get the screenshot, I just noticed that what’s translated as “so long” here is... “gokigenyou.” That sure hits different now!)

Witches As Internal Conflict

[Warning! This section contains major Umineko spoilers!]

So much for Lambda. What about the other witches in Umineko?

I have a feeling that in the coming weeks, we’re going to be seeing a lot of arguments that Satoko is being possessed by her witch self and that the real Satoko is innocent. And I really don’t like that interpretation.

Because while Higurashi briefly flirts with that idea in Saikoroshi, Umineko comes down very hard on the side that witches are not an excuse, but a metaphor for internal conflict.

There are a few minor witches in Umineko that take the idea from Saikoroshi of the “witch” as a separate being and go even further. Eva, for example, personifies the ambition and determination of her younger self as a witch. That younger self even has her own sprite and dialogue arguing with the adult Eva. Maria, meanwhile, conceptualizes the abuse she experiences as a “Black Witch” that possesses her mother.  

But the thing both these witches have in common is that they’re metaphors and externalizations. Maria’s big epiphany at the end of Episode 2 is her coming to understand and accept that both the good and bad sides of her mother are one person. And as far as I know, there is not a valid solution to Episode 3 where Eva isn’t a killer - which means Eva’s arguments with her younger self are representations of her inner struggle and guilt over the murders she commits.

...Of course, Eva and Maria pale in comparison to the queen of this example, Beatrice. One of the most brilliant aspects of Umineko is the way that in hindsight (or on re-read) all of the conversations and magical battles between Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice can be read as externalizations of Sayo’s arguments with themselves. Sayo’s different personas don’t just have separate sprites, they even fight and kill each other in spectacular fashion!

But as much as Sayo tries to cordon off parts of their personality into separate characters, they’re all still fundamentally Sayo. And the struggle of being forced to choose one, and only one, “self” to live as while discarding the rest - that’s part of what makes them self-destruct so badly.

Perhaps we may eventually see Rika and Satoko split off the witch side of their personalities into fully separate consciousnesses. But if so, I suspect it’s going to take some serious, non-metaphorical magic to make it happen.

(...And it would explain why Lambda and Bern are such a mess, if they’re half a person set adrift...)

(Also yes, I am aware of the CPP characters in Ciconia. They are not the same thing as witches. Though your guess is as good as mine at what’s going on with that alternate Miyao…)

[end major spoilers]

Erika’s Definition of a Witch

Now, while many witches in Umineko are metaphors for internal conflict, not all of them are. In particular, Erika and Ange come at the idea of a witch from a slightly different angle than the characters discussed above.

This is an exchange between those characters in Episode 8, so obviously some minor spoilers, though nothing about Beatrice or the main mystery.

(Ange’s narration) From the theatergoer's perspective, our individual lives are hardly worth anything at all. If they're writing down an entire world in a single volume, then my life probably isn't even worth a single line.

Ange: "But we're the main characters. I am, and so are you."

Erika: "That's right. Even if the tale of the gods doesn't mention us, the main character in the story we write for ourselves is always us. Becoming aware of that fact is the first thing that separates witches from humans."

Yeah, remember how I said that different characters have different definitions?

As it turns out, Erika’s definition of a witch is almost exactly the opposite of Rika/Bern’s. While Rika considered the witch to be the side of her that retreated from her own story, Erika sees becoming a witch as confirming her importance to her story.

For what it’s worth, other characters in Episode 8 note how rare it is for Bern to actually participate in events herself rather than remaining as a spectator. So yes, Umineko’s Bernkastel is still implied to have the same mindset as Rika did in Higurashi.

The point is, witches as a concept are very much tied to a character’s perception of their agency within their life. But how they see that relationship can vary!

Ange’s Definition of a Witch

One last excerpt, and perhaps the most telling one of all. 

This is a continuation of the scene in the previous section, so the same spoilers apply.

Ange: "...What?" Erika: "So, you really did make a deal, to throw away your life to learn the truth." Ange: "...I had nothing to gain from life. It was easy for me to trade away the time I had left." Erika: "My master really does take to idle whims. To think she would make a contract for the meaningless life of a powerless girl." Ange: "...Heh."

Ange chuckled, not bothering to argue. That was exactly right. How incredible that Bernkastel would lend her power to a worthless life that was trying to throw itself away.

Erika: "Well, my master is the witch who controls miracles. ......So, it makes sense that she'd appear even for a worthless girl like you." Ange: "Good point. Even if Bernkastel hadn't appeared, I would've still taken that step off the edge that day." Erika: "...You really are a cheap woman, aren't you?" Ange: "Well then, just how much are you worth?" Erika: "Me?! Hahaha, ahahahahahahahahahaha..."

The way Erika cackled was disturbing. Still, Ange realized that this was her way of answering the question. People don't become witches of their own choosing. If they're capable of living, all people want to live their lives as humans.

...When something comes along to trip up that life, that's when the road to living as a witch opens. Even Furudo Erika, who calls herself the Witch of Truth, must be like this. The two Witches of Truth, sitting here drinking tea without even looking at each other, are exactly the same.

And there we go. This, as far as I know, is the most straightforward definition of a witch in the series. And it exactly describes what happened to Satoko.

Once again, a witch is not a happy existence. Much like in Madoka Magica, a witch is the end point of (often suicidal) despair.

Indeed, I’d argue that the term "witch" almost implies too much freedom, in a sense. With Voyager Witches especially, they're more like timeline-juiced ghosts, endlessly repeating and re-inflicting their traumas on themselves and those around them.

(The Sea of Fragments is beautiful, but oh so very haunted.)

In Conclusion

"What is going on with Satoko's breakdown in Tataridamashi" is something I've been worried about how the anime would handle ever since the reveal that Satoko was the culprit. I never in my wildest theories suspected it would be used to finally drop the W-word!

But honestly, I think I do like the scene. As ambiguous as it is.

Because the contrast between Eua's cruel laughter, compared with Satoko's sobbing for someone to save her and for it to stop...

The contrast within Satoko herself, the tormentor and the tormented...

What's happening here?

I was watching this episode with a friend, and he liked the idea that this fight for control was piece!Satoko rebelling against her player. That witch!Satoko might be making a piece act against its nature, so the human Satoko was refusing. 

Basically, a hard magic take on Umineko's players, pieces, and game board rules.

And... yeah, I can see that interpretation. The visuals sure made it look like the human Satoko was being possessed by her witch self! (Or like two Ciconia CPPs having an an argument, for that matter...)

But personally, I don't like that idea. I think it makes the character conflict less human and more absurd and fantastical. Rather than Satoko being a complex person who is struggling with her conscience and how she's changed so much she no longer recognizes herself... we'd get a story about evil body snatching witches erasing the poor, innocent Rikas/Satokos of the Fragments.

So I'm still firmly of the opinion that I had in Sotsu Episode 8 - what we're seeing here is an internal conflict played out via witch-y metaphor. Exactly as it happens to multiple characters in Umineko!

Is human!Satoko gone?

Even though she got shot here, I doubt we've seen the last of human!Satoko. There's too much of the anime left to introduce a development like this and end it all in the same episode. And the Satoko in Episode 16 and 17 of Nekodamashi sure looked and sounded a lot more like the tormented human self we see here....

So what does it mean that witch!Satoko shot her other self?

If you like the "piece Satoko rebels against her player" interpretation, it might be that the witch has to fight and subdue the original Satokos of each world to possess them. Though the human Satoko here knowing who Eua is and what in general is going on suggests against this idea.

But in the "internal conflict" interpretation, I think it's extremely similar to a certain Umineko character. [Major Umineko spoilers for the rest of the paragraph] Indeed, I almost opened this post with "In this episode, we see Sayo kill Shannon off, leaving behind only a witch to methodically carry out the remaining murders on the game board." We barely ever see Sayo in that state, stripped of their personas - it's really just stuff like Confession or reading between the lines that implies it - but to me, the chilling emptiness of Satoko during the credits just felt SO like that situation. [End spoilers]

And, of course, there's the whole argument beforehand, a witch fighting with a side of herself that believes in love and wants to stop the murders. Of course, the side of the character that wanted to stop lost the battle - or we wouldn't have a story now, would we?

Unfortunately for witch!Satoko, mortal things like "guns" or "brain damage" don't really matter in the Sea of Fragments, so it's not going to be quite that easy to make her guilty conscious shut up. Even 100 years couldn’t kill Rika’s heart either.

The fight in this episode sure makes for a dramatic visual of a character rejecting their past self, though. As usual, When They Cry loves to take its psychology and drama to bloody, violent extremes.

Opposites Yet Again

When Rika is at her lowest point, she becomes passive. She cynically gives up on her life and those of others. Fitting, then, that when her identity fractures, the witch!Rika goes so far as to give up on her very own name and identity. That's what happens in Saikoroshi - the looper Rika stops believing she can call herself Rika any more, and so she takes on the name "Bernkastel".

Meanwhile, as usual, Satoko's approach to the same situation is the direct opposite of Rika. Satoko (and Lambda's) whole thing is "certainty," so it makes a twisted kind of sense that she doubles down. Rather than giving up on being "Satoko", the witch becomes overbearingly (and foolishly) confident in her selfhood and her identity as the "real" Satoko.

And I suspect witch!Satoko will continue insisting as such - meaning this is also a very cheeky way to avoid saying Lambda's name - until something else forces her hand.

Though given that Eua not only seemed unsurprised, but actually quite pleased with this development... I wonder if we might still get a little more of those lore-tangling "what was Satoko before she was Satoko?" hints. Is witch!Satoko now acting more like whatever identity she used to have when Eua first met her?

(If Mitsuyo == Jestress's real name... then yeah, witch!Satoko sure does seem to share her "the ends justify the means" coldness and determination...)

A Review of Witch!Rika

Rika, at least for the moment, seems to have a better relationship with her witch side compared to Satoko. But even though her personas haven't started attacking each other (...yet), that doesn't mean her psyche hasn't fractured in a similarly painful way.

I consider "Furude Rika" and "Bernkastel" to be two personas of the same character. (To such a degree that I might be something of an outlier in the fandom, actually.)

And so does Rika herself. In fact, outside of spin-offs, we never really meet a true "Furude Rika." Every time we get "Rika's" narration - even in Saikoroshi - it's always the looper Rika. The witch Rika. Every time we see "Furude Rika" happily playing with her friends, it's an act and a mask that the witch is consciously wearing. She even admits this when it starts to slip!

The "Rika" we knew was already struggling with a division within herself.

[More major Umineko spoilers] 

This, by the way, is what I meant during Gou by saying that Satoko fell in love with Bernkastel's "furniture."  Whenever we see her, "Furude Rika" is an idealized "this is what people want me to be" act much like Shannon.

Meanwhile, "Bernkastel" seems to be more like Beatrice - the recipient of the pain Rika couldn't bear, and simultaneously the powerful, emotionally distanced witch. Although, given how much Bernkastel represents Rika at her most pessimistic and passive, it also seems like Rika may have shoved everything else she disliked about herself into that persona too - meaning it's somewhat reminiscent of Kanon as well.

(I’ve also long had a silly headcanon that while the full Rika is bisexual, she might have tried to stuff her lesbian/kinky desires into Bern... which may be why Umineko’s Bernkastel is Like That.)

[End spoilers]

That's why I still hold by my theory that Rika's behavior at St Lucia was likely caused by her witch side's existence. At St Lucia, Rika was intoxicated by finally being able to be "Furude Rika" while also incorporating the maturity and philosophical side of herself that had previously been confined to "Bernkastel." She was taking a healthier route to re-integrating the two sides of her personality, rather attempting to destroy one side as we see Satoko do here.

But will Rika be able to keep that up now that she's been forced back to Hinamizawa?

I talked a little about it during Gou, but Rika's theorized split from Bern in Saikoroshi never sat right with me. I didn't find it a satisfying conclusion, when all I knew of it were secondhand wiki explanations and theories. And even the full Saikoroshi arc didn't change my opinion.

The idea is supposed to be that Rika is putting aside her looper memories to more fully embrace her final timeline. A good thing.

But to me, it looked more like she was pushing her trauma into another persona and then suppressing it so she could live as only "Furude Rika." Denying that "Bernkastel" was part of her, rather than actually processing what she went through and how it changed her.

It seemed more like what we saw Satoko do in this episode - rejecting and denying the witch - just in a less flashy manner.

But if Saikoroshi didn’t separate Rika from Bernkastel, then what will? And will that be a good or a bad thing for her?

In Conclusion

But anyway, bringing this back to today's episode. Ironically, despite arguing this whole post about how much I don't consider the witch sides and the human sides of Rika and Satoko to be different people, I still fully expect both witches to end up as separate existences by the end of Sotsu.

(Because if not, then where do Lambda and Bern come from?)

I guess the main thing I'm trying to get across here is that I don't necessarily consider that separation an "everything's fixed, happy end!" deal.

Even after what we see in this episode, I don't see witch!Satoko as a wholly evil being that needs to be overcome and erased. I don't think Satoko insisting one half or the other isn't herself is a good thing, regardless of which side comes out on top.