Here is a picture of an Episode 1 TIPS screen.
Do you want to try again?
Please note how it is sawn off, and how a one handed reload (I assume reload refers to loading the next shot) is specifically mentioned.
No, I know what the tip says. The one handed reload refers to the fact that a lever action rifle can have the bullets rechambered by using the firing hand to push down and forward to put another bullet in the chamber and simultaneously eject the old cartridge. You need to use your other hand otherwise you canāt do that. It is actually impossible.
The better question is, why am I choosing this hill to die on? There are multiple tricks later in the Episode that seem to require accomplices from where Iām sitting (like the phone calls) so I donāt see why Iām even fighting this fight.
In other news, [quote=āSeraphitic, post:242, topic:31ā]
Iāve come up with 3 other ideas but if other people can think of others then Iād love to hear them.
[/quote]
There could have been 8 people in the room: 6 victims, an accomplice and the primary culprit. The killer could have shot the first 5, had their accomplice restrain the sixth and then shoot this last victim once they finished their reload.
Your first scenario could have contained an accomplice that knew they would be killed.
True enough. Good alternate possibility.
While this is true I canāt really think of anybody that specifically has a death wish from what we know about them in the story. Obviously we could reply that Beatrice would want to die (since it seems that way in the Tea Party) but as to which of the characters that would be, I canāt really think of any. Plus, if that were the case then āBeatriceā would simply be an accomplice to the main culprit, which doesnāt seem to make much sense. Canāt rule it out but Iām not too sure about it.
Men die for less foolish reasons than wanting to leave this world @Seraphitic.
What other emotion often leads to death despite not being directly related to it?
The thing is, on paper at least, there isnāt anybody that I can think of that would have any reason to want to die. Nobody is suicidal. Nobody (aside from Kinzo who is already dead) wants to ājoin their lover in deathā or something like that. Everybody seems to have learned to live with their regrets. Nobody seems to really feel the need to atone for a sin by killing themselves. There are probably infinitely many reasons why someone might kill themselves but I canāt really think of a particularly probable one for any of the characters that were supposedly in the room.
People have yelled at me. I will now stop.
Giving away too many secrets were we, @Pictoshark?
You know my theory for who the murderer is does require me to believe that the murderer does have some kind of death wish anyway, right? I just donāt think that that person is one of the people in the room.
Hello 
A couple weeks ago, after finishing Episode 3, I claimed I was hooked on Umineko. This was not true.
It was true that I was thereafter more interested in Umineko than I had ever been previously. It was true that I wanted to read Episode 4, not partially because of a book club, but because I genuinely 100% wanted to know what was going to happen. But I was not hooked.
I know what it is like to be hooked. I canāt stop thinking about it, and the more I think about it, the more I want to read more. It requires a sense of excitement. And I am here to say, I have finally found that sense of excitement toward Umineko.
In terms of pacing and negative points of this Episode, I did find myself a little bored with how drawn out (and at times repetitive) the Ange and Maria parts were. However, this has existed in every Episode, and is something that Ryukushi struggles with in general. Iāve seen it in every Umineko episode, Ive seen it in Higurashi, and Ive even seen it in Luciaās route in Rewrite. Its just something I force myself to look past in order to enjoy all the other amazing parts of his writing.
Speaking of which, there were so many parts of this episode that literally made my jaw drop, usually out of awe for a new mystery. Namely
What did Ange see in the captainās store that gave her a reason to go to Rokkenjima?
What was Battlerās āsinā that brought about this terrible crime?
WHO IS BEATRICE?
The number of solid theories you all have come up with really amazes me. Many of them donāt sit well with me, but theyāre very well thought out nonetheless. I personally havenāt been able to come up with a complete theory, but below are all my little comments and things I thought of while reading the episode and while reading all of your posts!
First, as related to āwho is Beatriceā and āhow is she related to Battlerās sinā:
In the lore of the Golden Witch Beatrice, the name āBeatriceā is passed down. We know for certain that at least 4 beings (Virgilia, Beato, EVA, ANGE) have had this name at some point. While, since witches are not real, we could be tempted to ignore this as part of the untrustworthy magic scenes, this name passing ritual is a main point in Ep 3 and cannot be overlooked.
Not only that, but Kinzo seemed to have recognized two separate human bodies as Beatrice. We cannot of course believe this homunculus, witch cage bullcrap. BUT we could see that situation as one Beatrice passing on her name to another Beatriceā¦
Furthermore, we see the concept of name-passing brought up again, when Battler proposes that people claimed they saw Kinzo, but Kinzo was dead. āThe name Kinzo is passed down to the Head of the Ushiromiyas.ā Beatrice accepts this as valid. But as we know from ???, most of the theories Beatrice accepted as valid were not true. And after all, who would all of the people in the dinning hall possibly all accept as the head of the family? But the theory was accepted nonethelessā¦
Now, lets take into consideration the red truths of Battlerās sin:
The sin (ā¦) is not between Ushiromiya Battler and Beatrice.
Six years ago (for Battler) no person called Beatrice existed.
So, when Battler committed this sin, he did not commit it against a person who was called Beatrice. Yet, Beatrice is clearly distressed. This is a turning point in the episode. The person who is committing the murders goes by the name of Beatrice. She is doing so because of Battlerās sin. The fact that Battler cannot even remember the very reason she is committing the murders is of course upsetting.
I wonder, do you see what I am getting at? The person who Battler sinned against 6 years ago (or more?) was not named Beatrice at that time! The name Beatrice was, while Battler was gone, passed on to this person. This of course does not solve the mystery of Battlerās sin, or who it was against. However, it does explain why Beatrice was so upset, and why his sin could have caused people to be murdered by a person named Beatrice, which was particularly bugging me.
Because it ended up actually being disadvantageous for Battler to base all of his theories around Kinzosā being dead. Although it provided us with new clues to look at character in different ways, it caused Battler to believe that there was an ā18th person Xā that was committing all the crimes, when in fact there were no more than 17 people on the island to begin with.
Im still a fan of Maria found the letter (and umbrella) in her bag. No one directly handed them to her. She proclaimed that Beatrice gave it to her because Beatrice has given her things before (e.g. candy).
In fact, perhaps let me go another step further: The Beatrice that Maria claims to know has never interacted with her directly! Through Mariaās wild imagination, and through indirect acts such as giving her candy and writing in her notebook, Maria believes and tells people that she has been interacting with a witch named Beatrice who looks out for her.
I was about to argue that this isnāt true for Episode 4, but then I thought of something. While Kanon is confirmed to have died nineth on that day, his specific time of death is not confirmed. We assume that he died when we saw him in the magic scene: before Kyrie called Battlerā¦ but we donāt know that for sure. This would mean that Kyrie didnāt actually die when her conversation was cut off eitherā¦ but that actually makes sense. I donāt know if this was bugging anyone else, but Battler was supposedly on the phone with two people when they died, but neither time did he hear a sound; it just cut off. Kyrie was probably killed by a gun, but youāre telling me Battler didnāt hear it over the phone?
Hereās what actually happened: Kyrie did not die in that guest room. Or if she did, it was after Battler had hung up. Actually, we donāt even know if that phone call was made from the guest room. It could have been made from the dungeon. Or perhaps the five were never in a dungeon at all. The phone call could have come from any phone in the mansion, and Battler will never know.
Im not sure if Im fully on board with Beatrice on the game board = Kanon, but if that is so, this point certainly supports that.
Hmmm, I originally thought of Fragments as the worlds of the many-world interpretation of quantum mechanicsā¦ but perhaps that is much more grand than reality. Starting in Episode 3 and again in this episode, the fact that āmany different truths can exist at the same time,ā and āthe truth can differ for each personā has been emphasized constantly. The Braun tubes, Mariaās interpretation of Rosa being different than Angeāsā¦
So perhaps, could each Fragment be āthe truthā for each personā¦? That would make it kinda hard to explain how drastically different things seem to be able to be in each Fragment (like a person being alive or dead), but I donāt think it is a completely impossible definition.
(Seems @pik3rob and @Aspirety seem to have come to the same conclusion as I)
Can we talk about the use of stakes in this Episode? Not only do they not follow the Epitaph as usual, but two of them are just laying on the ground next to the victim!! What could this mean!
Well, one, it could mean the killer was in a rush. This seems plausibleā¦ but if they were in so much of a rush that they couldnāt quickly stab the victimsā¦ why drop the stakes at all? Aha, why donāt we turn the chessboard around? Maybe the killer wanted it to seem like they were in a rushā¦ I unfortunately donāt have any idea why they would want thisā¦
Discuss!
Ok so most people here seem to be going along with the Kanon theory, so I just wanted to voice my main problem with it. What is Kanonās motivation? I assume youād say something like āHeās tired of being furniture, etc.ā But hereās the problem: Ushiromiya Battler has a sin. Because of (this) sin, people die. Kanon did not work for the Ushiromiyas when Battler left, so I think we can assume Battler did not meet him until arriving on the island in 1986. So how is Battlerās sin connected to Kanon then?
I also really donāt like the āKanon isnāt his real nameā trick for getting around his being confirmed dead in readā¦ but I guess with a lot of word play you could still get around that, so I donāt knowā¦
That said, I do have something in support of the Kanon=Shannon theory, as well as the āKanon is actually a girlā (as much as that theory doesnāt sit well with me either). Despite what someone said earlier, Kanon is not an uncommon Japanese nameā¦ but it is usually a girls name. Interpret that how you like.
Also, its easy to focus all on Battlerās sin know that we know that is a causeā¦ but we still donāt know why the culprit is committing these murders in such an elaborate way. If the goal is to get some sort of revenge on Battler for his sinā¦ then why mess around with all this Epitaph, closed room, etc. stuff? Even if the murder doesnāt actually consider themselves Beatrice, the Legend of the Golden Witch Beatrice is clearly very important to them for some reason.
I assume by āweā youāre referring to the podcast. I havenāt listened to that yet, but thats interesting because Ive been wondering about that kind of theory since the beginning, but especially in this episode. It seems very unlikely, but its interesting to think about: what if everyone except Battler (or maybe except the cousins) are in on it together? That of course begs the question, why the fuck would everyone agree to being killed like this. A prank gone badā¦ would explain it, but I really canāt come up with a reason for it āgoing bad.ā
Of course it does. After all: No one escapes, all die. and The only one alive on this island is you. Unless we assume someone else with a death wish kills the original murdererā¦ or could it be trap X, kihihhihi.
Speaking of No one escapes, all die.
Does this not conflict with the ending of Episode 3, in which Eva āescapesā? Im confused, because that would have huge implications on the Ange of 1998ā¦ but as @Aspirety said it would silly to completely disregard 1/3 of an episode. I guess this could only apply to Episode 4ā¦ but then, does Battlerās sin as well only apply to Episode 4? That doesnāt make sense either.
I guess we could argue semantics here. The red truth says Because of (this) sin, people die.
and A great many humans on this island die. It does not say that āa great many humans on this island die because of this sin.ā And it does not say āa great many humans die on this island.ā So of course, all of the humans on the island will die at some point, but not necessarily while on the island. That is the only argument I can come up with.
TL;DR: I comment/add to a few theories people have already proposed, and also bring up a few new discussion points people havenāt talked about in this thread yet (there is so much going on its no surprise weāve missed stuff)
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Iād love to hear your additional thoughts after youāve taken a listen to the podcast.
I too will wait until you finish the podcast before commenting. Iām looking forward to discussing this with you.
So Iām currently rereading Umineko and was originally planning to only make another gigantic post once I finish, but thereās something I wanna get off my chest because itās in the end not that important for the big theories Iām going to most likely spin.
So in the beginning of episode 3, thereās this scene where a vase gets broken and stuff. It wants us to believe that thatās Beatriceās distant past. It also is the first appearance of Virgilia. So I was thinking if this scene actually shows the very first time where Maria meets Beatrice. It would explain why that character calls the old man āgrandfatherā (This wouldnāt make sense with real life Beatrice, which is the other most likely interpretation). The person that first poses as Beatrice there is probably Kumasawa, as there are already many hints that Virgilia is based of her. Another point for this theory is the servants in general admitting in I think episode 1 that they were keeping the legend alive for the children through various acts, so it is very possible that that very first occasion with the vase was just like that. Perhaps there wasnāt even a cat to begin with.
From this theory we can make various different claims saying that either Beatrice explained her different look with the portrait that the portrait shows her in a different time, or that several different servants pose as Beatrice and that they look different through magic (and Maria would believe that).
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Just saying to throw a wrench in your theory (well you can probably work around that) the backgrounds used for that scene are that of Kuwadorian and not the main mansion.
Well, if anything itās definitively something worth thinking about.
Iām not there yet, so this is more distant memory, but I think the same goes for the Mariage Sorciere scenes in episode 4, so itās not much of a wrench.
But okay, assuming I misremember. Rosa found her way to Kuwadorian by chance, perhaps Maria did too and perhaps there were still servants keeping Kuwadorian clean even after real life Beatrice died.
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Interesting actually about Mariage SorciĆØre.
When you get to it, Iād like you to confirm that.
Thanks!
Now Iām wondering where your thoughts will lead you to Vyse.
So I just got a crack idea that no one has really discussed yet (I think) and that I havenāt really thought about full implications either, so I kinda wanna throw that idea out here so that others might be able to do that thinking while I focus my endeavours on my reread for now. So here goes nothing:
What if Kinzo and Genji switched positions at some distant point in the past?
It would be an alternative explanation for that scene in this episode where supposedly the entire family accepts someone as āKinzo Ushiromiyaā. But again, I havenāt really thought about full implications of this yet.
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Mmmmm I guess itās possible. I guess my main question would be, what about the toes? Granted, we donāt know the number of toes that Genji has. However, we do know that a corpse was found that did have six toes. If I remember the reds right it is guaranteed to be Kinzo (or at least the person people think is Kinzo).
Wow, Iām not quite sure where to start with this episode. Iām tempted to jump right to the end and start talking about āWho am I?ā but I suppose I should touch on the rest of the episode leading up to that first. Apologies if I repeat things that have been thoroughly covered, I wanted to get my mostly untainted thoughts out there before going all the way down the rabbit hole of this 260 post thread. I see the problems with pacing that people have with this episode, but overall I really did enjoy the story of Ange and Maria. There may have been a few parts where it went on a little longer than it needed to, but overall, some great stuff which certainly did a lot to deepen my understanding of magic.
As for the actual game, itās really hard to tackle because instead of neatly finding new crime scenes over the course of the day, weāre just fed a magic narrative and then can only verify the aftermath once itās all over. It puts into doubt not just the nature of the deaths, but the timing as well. I think that the key to the mystery is multiple people entering the dining room with guns, killing some people, and then coercing the others into feeding Battler the magical narrative. The only closed room weāve got to deal with here is with Kumasawa and Gohda in the storehouse. I believe this can be explained by a transfer of key to someone they thought they could trust, and then subsequent murder.
Now, on to the big questions: Who is Beatrice? What is Battlerās sin? Who is the culprit?
Even before what we get at the end of this episode, I think that the episode gives us a lot to build off of in terms of establishing Beatrice as a single individual, or at least establishing a single individual who claims to be Beatrice. This comes primarily from Beatriceās connection to Maria, and the ability to connect Mariaās grimoire to the bottles and letters. So if we look at this from the perspective of āBeatrice is Mariaās friendā, then how can we work from that to find out their identity?
In the first three episodes, Maria claims to be given a letter by Beatrice. In the beginning I thought that there were so many ways to write this off, but now Iāve come to think that there really is someone on the island that Maria identifies as Beatrice. And this being the case, I want to turn my attention to the one time that Maria actually interacts with Beatrice in front of Battler: when Maria runs to Beatrice to be with her at the end of Episode 1. If we assume, for a moment, that this is the real āBeatriceā, the one Maria knows, then we can narrow down this personās identity by quite a bit. Kinzo, Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie, Rosa, Nanjo, Genji, Gohda, and Kumasawa are all, as far as I can tell based on the red truths and evidence, very dead. Kinzo is dead all along, Kraussā death would be very hard to fake, everyone without a face is confirmed dead by red truth, and I believe Eva, Hideyoshi, and Natsuhi can be ruled conclusively dead because of the red stating that a homicide took place at all. Jessica, George, Battler, and Maria are of course all accounted for. This really only leaves Kanon and Shannon. The possibility of Kanon faking his death was something that I noted as far back as Episode 1, but kind of fell to the side as I focused more on those without faces. I believe the red truth we get in this episode supports the idea that Kanon didnāt actually die. Every reasonable cause of death is ruled out, so I think the simplest conclusion is that there simply wasnāt a death. Iād be content with calling Kanon the culprit, but when I revisited key scenes with increased skepticism after reading Episode 3, I couldnāt help but notice that Shannonās death is not confirmed by Battler, and I canāt help but think that this is a deliberate move. Itās a well hidden fact, because itās not something that a reader would necessarily think about while reading Episode 1, but which becomes much more obvious with the knowledge of how the narrative likes to mess with you.
I think that one of these two being Beatrice lines up really well with the other things that we know about Beatrice. It casts a whole new light on those scenes from the beginning of Episode 2, thatās for sure. Though Iād love to know if anyone has a counter as to how the Beatrice that appears at the end of Episode 1 is someone other than these two. Iām not sure how to narrow it down further. Iām leaning towards Shannon because of the fact that she was actually around to know Battler six years ago. Beatrice even references Battlerās middle school English in her phone call in Episode 4. I think that itās entirely possible to smash through the twilights of the first two games using Shannon as a primary culprit and a few accomplices (Rosa being key in Episode 2), but Episode 3 is tricky, and makes me believe that there really are name games going on with the red truth, or Iām totally off base.
And as something of a side note: whoever Beato is, it would appear that she spent time as a child in Kuwadorian according to her Episode 3 flashback, which to me means that whoever it is has more going on in their past than weāre lead to believe. Thereās a reference to a āgrandfatherā, and thereās only ever been one grandfather on Rokkenjima, as far as we know. If sheās Kinzoās granddaughter, Iām leaning towards her being the child of āhomunculusā Beatrice, as I donāt think any of Kinzoās known grandchildren fit the qualifications to be Beatrice. Though thereās the possibility that any one of Kinzoās children could have a child that through some strange circumstance ended up being raised in secret in Kuwadorian. Which, regardless of parentage, points me back to Shannon and Kanon again, as they fit in the right age range to be Kinzoās grandchildren.
As for how Battler dies at the end, Iām going to go with an explosion. I donāt know if I would have thought of it independently while trying to solve the murder, but while trying to reconcile the body parts, the incident being an accident, and the talk of lost books on Rokkenjima, I came to the theory that the incident on Rokkenjima ends with a bang.
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