TIPS - information
"People are riddles.
They want someone else to solve their riddle.
The live life wanting someone to solve what riddle that they are--the most difficult riddle in the world."
-Willard H. Wright
STATS
» NAME: Beatrice
» FANDOM: Umineko no Naku Koro ni
» AGE: 19.
» GENDER: Female.
» CANON POINT: ROUTE: Episode 8. ZODION: Episode 4, Tea Party.
”......I certainly will not separate myself from the detestable image of a witch that you hold. However, I show good will to those who respect me. Aren't humans the same? Although I doubt there is a human who would repay your squaring off at them with good will, right?"
The first impresssion that most characters have of Beatrice is cruel. Cruel, unusual, tempermental, cold, and yet, high spirited. She seems to be without mercy for those who disrespect her--manipulating others in order to get what she wants. After all, in canon, she had used Shannon’s love for another in order to regain her power, and then finish a ceremony.
Not only does she seem to be manipulative, but she will not hesitate to use others for her own amusement--reducing men into nothing more than mere servants and shaming them to the point where they lose any will to fight back in order to show off her victory against them in a game.
Her speech pattern is odd--she speaks harshly, and in riddles more often than even that. However, at the same time, she speaks in an optmistic manner, whether she is insulting them or not.
However, this is only the outer shell of Beatrice. If we were to talk about fairy tales, Beatrice would certainly fit in with other cruel witches that we have come to know within those tales. Though, one of Beatrice’s goal is to be acknowledged as a witch.
And so, she will act as a cruel witch in order to be acknowledged as one.
This isn’t to say that her cruelty can indeed be part of her nature. But, it isn’t because she’s evil. Although she claims to be one of the cruelest witches in existance, and can be terrifying towards others when she wishes to be, there is much more to her than just that cruelty. Beatrice is a mystery altogether. The Golden Witch is indeed the key to understanding Umineko no Naku Koro ni. And for that reason, understanding her story may be a way in understanding those layers that Ryukishi has given to her.
"Fuffufufufufufu, *cackle*! Furniture is a thoroughly pitiful existence. So you have no dreams, no future, and even no love? Good, good, there is nothing better than knowing your place. *cackle*cackle*!"
Beatrice is a witch, in the beginning, that scoffs and laughs at love--often tearing lovers apart for what she claims to be her own amusement. However, Beatrice herself is a witch that believes that she can never be loved. As the one who waits for a promise in place of the other servant, Shannon, she is chained to one place until the person she was born for returns to her. However, by the time that Battler returns to Rokkenjima, he has forgotten his promise to her. As someone who waited and waited for a promise that could perhaps never be fulfilled, she has come to believe that she can never be loved. Her human half is said to have a body that can never be loved, and because of that, she believes that she is nothing more than furniture. Furniture is someone who does not have a complete soul--someone who has never had the chance, or will have the chance to love while they are not within Beatrice’s Golden Land.
The Golden Land is a place where magic can be used freely. In Shannon's words: it's a world where no one is ever lonely, furniture are no longer furniture, and any miracle that a person wants can be granted. It's a beautiful place that only those invited by Beatrice herself can enter.
Beatrice is a witch that specializes in Wastern magic. As alchemist of the Ushiromiya family, Beatrice can create any amount of gold as she pleases.
As an Endless Witch, however--her abilities are far more dangerous.
"......I have been told not to break vases. ...But that's why I wanted to break them. .........Then I gained the Endless Magic. ...When I knew that I could fix it back to normal no matter how badly I broke it, ......I was surprised at how fun it was to break a vase..."
As an Endless Witch, Beatrice can break an object, only to repair it as many times as she wishes. While Virgilia, her teacher, had first taught her the art of Endless Magic in order to help Beatrice bring happiness to herself and others, Beatrice began to misuse these powers. If a child can break a toy over and over again, only to fix it after, than shouldn't it be fine? And what about human lives? Isn't it fine to break them as much as one desires, if you can fix them right after?
Though, this is also part of Beatrice's development. After laughing at the acts of cruelty that Eva-BEATRICE had commited against Rosa Ushiromiya and Maria Ushiromiya, she slowly began to learn that human lives do hold value to them. That, even though they can be broken easily, fixing them can prove to be far more difficult.
"I don't need this mountain of gold. I don't need money. I don't need the headship of the Ushiromiya family. I just... want him to come back... And so, all I wish for is to continue to wait here."
Although Beatrice was originally 'born' from Yasuda--a servant of the Ushiromiya family--eventually, her life begins to have much more meaning than being the ghost of Rokkenjima's night. As said earlier, Beatrice's purpose is one that is not revealed until later on in the Core arcs. Her goals are connected with Battler Ushiromiya.
After waiting, and waiting for him to fulfill his promise (that very promise to be to take her away on a white horse), only to find out that they could not keep it in the end--it may have only made sense that Shannon exchanged her love--that very burden of pain onto someone else in order to move on. And so, Beatrice's appearance changed and took form to be a woman that Battler would love and desire. Although the chance of being loved by him was extremely small, Beatrice wanted nothing more than to love him--for Battler to remember that very promise. To be acknowledged by him, and even the rest of the Ushiromiya family. In fact, it isn't even an exaggeration to say that Beatrice's existence revolves around Battler himself. Her final form was created for him, after all.
In the end, when Battler shows that he cannot remember his promise, she eventually gives up everything, and surrenders in a fight against him--allowing herself to lose. In other words, it's an attempted suicide. And in the end, she becomes nothing more than a living corpse, waiting for Battler to fulfill his last promise to kill her.
However, there's still much more to Beatrice than just that much. Although Beatrice is only 19, she believes that she is the manifestation of all the Beatrice's that have resided within Rokkenjima. Beatirce believes herself to be Beatrice Castoliongi, Beatrice II, and Yasuda. Because of that, she often makes comments referring to what she considers her first and second life, though never revealing anything about her third. Exposing her heart further would expose herself as an illusion.
If we were to summarize Beatrice passed the more tragic side of her, and the more devious aspect that she tends to show, we could describe her in a few words. She's charismatic, childish, high spirited, opitimistic, and naive. Although she does appear to be knowledgeable of many things, Beatrice has never once set foot outside of Rokkenjima, and has yet to see the outside world. The only way that she's been able to travel is through books. And even then, her naivety shows in other ways. Only giving things during Valentine's Day to expect something in return for White Day.
She is prone to throwing tantrums and taking her anger out through violent means if she doesn't get her way. In some ways, she's nothing more than a bully--showing that she enjoys feeling like she has power over others. Some of her "furniture" look identical to the servants who had bullied her human side in the home that she had grown up in--Beatrice often abusing said furniture if they do not do as she asks, or upset her.
She also has quite the habit of being nosy and pushing her nose into other people's business. In her words, there is nothing more sweet than another person's love life. If there's anything a witch hates, it's boredom. So, why not find a way to entertain herself when speaking with others? She is, after all, a prankster. One who is fond of tricks and surprises. Teasing and making others fluster to her is a treat in itself.
Though, there is still that kind side of her. Beatrice shows softness to those she's fond of. And despite the fact that she had waited so long for one person, she forgave them completely--finally marrying him at the end of the Sixth Episode. She even forgave Natsuhi Ushiromiya for tossing her from a cliff when she was nothing more than an infant. That single sin that Natsuhi had committed had been enough to make the wheels of fate turn, and give her the tragic life that she has had.
Though, without understanding Beatrice, it may be difficult to understand why a few characters--Will, Lion, and Battler have come to respect her so greatly, despite the crimes that she has commited. Of course, understanding her motives and personality beyond that cruelty may be the key for that much.
The line without anger, without sadness, without love--the truth cannot be seen is something said in Umineko often.
And certainly, this line follows not only believing in magic in Uminekoverse, but understanding Beatrice's heart, and solving Umineko's mystery altogether.
"The truth was, I couldn’t really fool myself so easily.
When will he come back?
When will he come back for me?
When isn’t the question. Will he come back for me… ever?
If I start moping right now, the sadness and uncertainty will probably tear me apart.
But, they’ve taught me.
This is a test to see if I really believe in him or not.
The fact that I feel uncertain and anxious is a betrayal of my resolve… and of his promise to come back for me someday."
-Shannon
Without Anger, Without Sadness, Without Love.... The Truth Cannot Be Seen.
The theme of love is stated many times throughout Umineko no Naku Koro ni, which seems to be similar to the theme that the previous When They Cry series had. Instead of friendship being the heart of what felt to be a horror/mystery series, Umineko is about love. Not just one type of love, however--the love of a sibling (Ange and Battler), the love of a child to their parent (Maria and Rosa), and the struggles through each of these themes. However, one of the love that is probably the strongest, most shown and developed is the love of those who feel as though they cannot love. Whether it be Shannon and George, Kanon and Jessica, or even Beatrice and Battler. Just as the previous themes of love cannot be completely ignored to understand the characters, understanding Beatrice, Shannon, and Kanon is part of this.
Now, you can like the series for the mystery aspect, the fantasy aspect, however--to say that it is not about love at all is false.
This post is about understanding Yasu, and the very heart of Umineko altogether. If you want to avoid spoilers, I advise for you to skip this post.
Before I begin, I would like to say that I think that Yasu is a brilliant character. To be able to create a character who seems completely unrelatable and then turn them into something that many people can sympathize with, and even change them into a heartbreaking character? A memorable one? One of the more impressive and human characters that you would find in a fantasy/mystery sound novel?
It’s one of the many reasons why readers and writers have come to respect Ryukishi07. A character like Yasu isn’t one that someone would ordinarily see in a popular (what was very popular at the time) story. However, Ryukishi has stated that he is writing about what he himself wants.
For myself, Yasu has touched me on many emotional levels, moreso than any other fictional character has. Of course, when I speak about Yasu, I mean Beatrice, Shannon, and Kanon as well.
“That wasn’t the fate I wished for.” “Oh, but it did make your heart pound~!”
From the very beginning of the Umineko series, even Kyrie mentions that figuring out a woman’s heart is the deepest mystery of them all. It might be silly to call it “foreshadowing”, but it certainly did turn out that way about Umineko, didn’t it? From turning the cehssboard over, to the bit about human promises, it seems that from the very beginning, Ryukishi has given us many different hints throughout the story to help us know what the mystery is. If there’s a motive, it’s love. Love, which Beatrice says is the single element that makes up the entire universe. Something powerful enough that Shannon, in Episode 2, would risk anything to have even a taste of it.
Beatrice even says herself in Episode 7 that she doesn’t want anything else except for Battler to come back--she doesn’t need gold, nor being the head of the family. As for the family, who were more than likely the culprits who continued to carry out the murders...
… Isn’t greed something known to drive people to kill in everyday life? During the scene when the adults are discussing the inheritence, Ryukishi makes it very clear that they need money very badly, not knowing that the gold is indeed worthless.