During the third witches’ tea party, many details are revealed about Satella, who is also known as the Witch of Envy. Satella is the one who is responsible for the deaths of many witches, yet there isn’t any bad blood between them all. Except for Echidna.
The real identity of Satella is currently up in the air, especially due to her unexpected behavior and obsession with Subaru.
In this article, we will be uncovering whether Emilia is Satella, the witch of envy. Be warned, that the following article may contain spoilers from Volume 12 and 13 of the light novels and Season two of Re: Zero anime. Keep reading at your own risk.
In case you need a little catch-up, here is a little run down of what Re: Zero is about, before we delve into its complicated world.
Re: Zero focuses on the life of Subaru, who is one day summoned into a fantasy-like world. Soon after arriving, he is killed while trying to befriend Emilia, a half-elf.
A few hours after being killed, he is resurrected a few hours in the past. After dying a couple of times, Subaru realizes that he can turn back time after his death.
Subaru helps and befriends Emilia, and the pair form a close bond. Subaru uses his powers to protect Emilia so that she remains safe. Every time he dies, he can remember what happened before, while everyone else forgets.
Who Is The Witch Of Envy?
Satella is known as the Witch of Envy, who is responsible for the Great Calamity that took place over 400 years ago. She has been sealed in the Evil Sealing Stone Shine,
However, Satella and the Witch of Envy are actually two different personalities. The Witch of Envy is a completely different personality that was absorbed into Satella. This is because she absorbed a witch factor that was incompatible with her.
By absorbing the incompatible witch factor, it caused Satella to suffer a mental abnormality and the Witch of Envy personality was created within her.
The information surrounding Stella’s split personality, cannot be found in any of the legends. We only learn about this revelation in the light novels, during the tea party by the third witches. Yet the anime have brushed over this character development.
The Witch of Envy has been the underlying antagonist throughout the series, who has appeared in almost every arc that has been introduced. While Satella was first introduced in Arc 4, as a supporting character.
Satella has various powers, including immortality and shadow control. Satella can be injured or defeated, yet her external body can’t be destroyed. This is why she has been sealed away, as no one could think of a way to kill her before Subaru was summoned.
Alongside this, Satella can control and create shadows that destroy everything around her. They can even destroy abstract things like memories. Thus, Satella can manipulate other characters’’ thoughts and feelings with ease.
Finally, the most important thing about Satella and the Witch of Envy, is that they gave Subaru his gift of Return by Death powers. However, the Witch of Envy didn’t grant Subaru these gifts so that he could save his friends’’ lives.
While the true purpose for Subaru being granted these gifts hasn’t been expelled yet, we believe that it is about challenging fate without any fear of death.
Satella/Witch of Envy and Subaru
The two personalities are known for fighting each other, yet both of them love Subaru. After Subaru meets Satella for the second time, Subaru comes to realize that Satella cares for him deeply.
She even came to the second tea party to thank Subaru for saving her life, but that he should value his own well-being and life as well. Satella tried her best to watch out for Subaru but took offense when he exclaimed he favored other Witches of Sin over her.
It is clear that Satella cares for Subaru, while the Witch of Envy is more aggressive in the ways she cares about him. We are told, due to Beatrice, that before her imprisonment the Witch of Envy has been starved for her love.
As yet, we don’t know why, but she was obsessed and in love with Subaru. Yet, Subaru hasn’t met her before in his lifetime.
When the Witch of Envy was back home in the shadow world, she would sit and just repeated ‘I love you’, over and over. This is a glimpse of the obsessive behavior that the Witch of Envy has for Subaru.
This love for him made her possessive over him and wouldn’t allow him to tell anyone the secret of the Return by Death. Her eyes were only on Subaru, and no one else was important.
The way Satella behaves around Subaru raised more suspicion surrounding Emilia and Satella being linked in some way to each other.
Is Emilia The Witch Of Envy?
There have been a lot of fan theories and clues throughout the series that there is something connecting Emilia to Satella and the Witch of Envy. For example, Emilia’s name literally translates to envy in Latin.
Also, Echidna hates them both, thus you can’t blame fans for thinking that Emilia and Satella are the same people. However, where all the theories stop making sense is due to the fact that the timelines don’t always match up.
It seems apparent that Emilia was meant to be a Witch of Envy. It is believed that Emilia was chosen at a young age to be the vessel that contained the Witch of Envy. This would then separate Satella and the Witch of Envy from one another.
However, due to the involvement of Puck and the Great Calamity, this didn’t happen. Also, with this theory, it is then understandable why Satella and Emilia look so similar.
Moreover, the dialogue that is seen draws these two characters together. Satella speaks to Subaru, and thanks him for saving her.
Yet what she is talking about hasn’t happened yet to Subaru, but once it has happened, it was Emilia that Subaru saves, not Satella. This then makes fans think that these characters are one person.
There are a lot of theories surrounding Emilia and Satella, and they all contain timelines and other worlds. However, at the moment thanks to Season 2 there is a fav favorite theory that is rapidly growing in popularity.
Emilia Travelled Back In Time Or A New Reality
A lot of fans are supporting the theory that Satella is actually Emilia who has traveled back in time so that she can save Subaru’s life. However, we know that there is the possibility of alternative timeless existing.
This has been hinted at during Subaru’s second trial where we see Emilia, Beatrice, and Rem among other characters grieving over Subaru’s dead body. Yet, if the world resets, then events like that shouldn’t be happening.
Thus, the theory that Emilia goes back in time is gaining so much favor. The theory is that something terrible happens to Subaru that causes him to die. As we know, Emilia is deeply in love with Subaru.
It is assumed that Subaru has either killed the Witch of Envy or failed in preventing the death of the Witch of Envy. Either way, he has lost his Return by Death abilities.
Emilia doesn’t have the powers to revive him herself. Heartbroken and desperate, Emilia absorbs a witch factor that allows her to control time. It is believed that Emilia wants to go back in time to a point where she can save Subaru’s life.
Yet, Emilia may not know how to fully control the witch factor, which could have reacted badly to be absorbed by her. Thus, she may have gone further back than expected.
The witch factor might have either sent her to an alternative timeline or back about 400 years.
In this theory, we can’t be sure how many witch factors Emilia consumed. As she was desperate to do anything to bring Subaru back, she may have consumed more than one.
However, the number of factors that she does take could lead to her losing her mind and going berserk. Therefore, by the time she showed up 400 years ago, she could have been suffering from a split personality, due to the witch factors she had consumed.
This then explained the sudden appearance of the Witch of Envy, who appeared out of nowhere.
It is common for people to not be able to control the witch factor and as a result, they go berserk. This can be seen with Peteleguese Romanee Conti, as the witch factor made his personality change drastically.
Therefore, if Emilia did consume any witch factor, the same could have happened to her.
Emilia and Satella Are One Person
If we continue with the theory that Emilia goes back in time. Then Emilia in our current timeline could possibly go on to become Satella, or go to an interactive timeline and become Satella.
If Emilia did manage to go back in time but ended up going too far, then she may be heartbroken that she can’t find Subaru. This could then cause the witch side of her to go berserk, and then this could cause the Great Calamity.
Emilia would then understand that she has a split personality, and she has become the Witch of Envy. As she knows what happens next, she would call herself Satella and be sealed by Volcanica the dragon.
It has been hinted since the first episode of Re: Zero that Emilia may one day go by the name Satella. This is because Emilia introduces herself to Subaru as Satella. Also, this theory explains all of Satella’s actions during the third witch tea party.
Just before the collapse of the dream palace, Satella complains to Subaru that it would be him in the end who would kill her. This is due to Satella, who is really Emilia, having already seen this happen in her own timeline.
Again, Emilia being Satella also explains Satella’s strange obsession over Subaru. The reason Emilia wanted to come back to save Subaru was that she loved him so much. Also, it explains why Satella thanked Subaru for events that hadn’t even taken place yet.
Emilia and The Return By Death
We know that Emilia doesn’t know what the Return by Death is or how it works. So if the theory we have been talking about is true, then every time Emilia becomes Satella she perfects her powers.
She then brings Subaru into this world and gives him the Return by Death ability. She may think that this ability will save Subaru from dying, and then he can have a better outcome and future than the last time.
Also, fans have pointed out that Subaru is summoned to the world. When he is standing outside the store he sees glimpses of Emilia lying in blood with himself promising to save her.
Now, this is a strange vision to have, considering Subaru hasn’t experienced this moment yet. There is a possibility that Subaru is experiencing this because they are Stella’s/Emilia’s memories being transferred to him as he is being summoned.
This is because Emilia has already experienced this moment before and has traveled back in time to become Satella.
We are aware that Satella is mentally unstable and wants Subaru all for herself. She doesn’t want to lose Subaru again after she has worked so hard to get him back and keep him alive.
With this theory, we’re in an endless loop, because no matter what Emilia does, Subaru will always die. Then she will drink the witch factor and go back in time to try and stop this happening, and then the loop never ends.
The only way that this loop would stop is if Subaru manages to find a way to save himself and Satella. This is because if Satella dies, then Subaru loses his Return by Death abilities.
Body Swap
As mentioned previously, it is believed that Emily was supposed to be the vessel for the Witch of Envy. Thus separating Satella from the witch factor that created a split personality within her.
We know that Satella was sealed into the Evil Sealing Stone Shine, however, another theory is that Satella has managed to take over Emilia’s body.
It is possible that Satella’s body may be trapped by her consciousness and escape and either take on a new identity and name herself Emilia. Or took over Emilia’s body. This theory hasn’t been as thought out as the previous one, but it is like the previous theory. Especially as Emilia loves Subaru so much, and Satella is known for her obsessed love for Subaru as well.
Echidna’s Hatred
During the novels, we know that Echidna has a hatred of both Emilia and Satella. This then fuels ideas that they are the same person. Also, Echidna is in possession of the book of knowledge.
This book knows the truth about the world. As a result, Echidna may know the truth between these two characters and how they are linked.
This theory is only a guess at the moment, there could be another reason that Echidna hates both Emilia and Satella.
Final Thoughts
There have been hints that link Emilia and Satella together. At the moment, nothing is confirmed, but if the theories are correct then these characters could be the same person.
The creators and writers are doing their best to keep everyone hooked on this storyline, as there are subtle hints, but nothing has confirmed anything yet.
Satella is known as the Witch of Envy, a character with a split personality, who is deeply in love with Subaru. We know that if Satella dies, then Subaru will lose his Return by Death powers.
Thus, he could die and that would cause Emilia much heartbreak considering she is so in love with him. The fan theory that Emilia has traveled back in time and became Satella to save Subaru, seems the most plausible out of all the theories circulating.
There is no denying these characters also look pretty much identical as well. However, the writers could be deceiving us.
There is a chance that these characters could be one person, however as nothing is confirmed, we have to keep watching to discover together.
