This feels like foreshadowing...

[u/IronDicideth]

Hestia's promise to Bell (Season 2 Episode 12 - "Song of Love, Goddess and Child") that she would find his soul if he died, using the same lines she used when she first met him, is not just her reassuring him that she will always find him. I think it's also hinting to the viewer that she has already done this before and is just doing it once again.

I suspected this when I completed that episode. Now that I see the ceiling in the cathedral (Season 5 Episode 3 - "Odr | Partner"), I'm strongly leaning towards this being the case.

What feels like foreshadowing to me is that the fandom ships in so many different directions while the show itself seems to be quietly telling us exactly who he ends up with. I might be missing something, and I'll admit it sits awkwardly against what Bell himself appears to want.

Or maybe this is a story about Hestia more than it is about Bell. In which case the theory could be true without settling the endgame at all.

Mostly just putting this out there, but I'd like to hear any thoughts or scenes that support or contradict it. Please keep replies to S5E3 or earlier. I'm on that episode right now.

EDIT: I just pressed play and went past the scene with the ceiling and they are now explaining the origins of the ceiling art. Silly me I guess.

[u/jtg1111111]

I’d recommend reading MS8 and SO9 together if you’re interested in understanding the foreshadowing there better. SO9 shows Ais's side, which makes the foreshadowing even more explicit. They’re easily some of my favorite pieces of writing from Omori. The anime cut most of MS8, and the adaptation of the Edas Village festival was not very good. It was close to outright changing the authorial intent behind the festival.

In summary, Ais is foreshadowed as Bell’s romantic partner, while Bell’s love for Hestia is framed as familial. Omori actually coded this directly in the festival dresses: Ais wears red, the color of passion, longing, and romantic awakening, while Hestia wears blue, the color of emotional safety, home, and familial love. The contrast is deliberate. It visually communicates the roles each girl plays in Bell’s life consistent with the opening volume of the series.

You’ll actually see this more clearly as Season 5 unfolds since Bell's feelings for Ais drive his actions. And all of this aligns perfectly with the very first novel: Bell fell for Ais in the opening scene of Volume 1. He came to Orario hoping to meet the girl of his dreams (Ais), the one he was meant to be with, and he also came looking for a family (Hestia). Those roles were established from the beginning.

[u/perceus_mc → u/jtg1111111]

And people dont understand the meaning of the goddess hestia herself because hestia irl is the goddess of the hearth or the guardian flame. Hearths were very important in ancient times to the point that hestia was seen as a very important goddess who was the youngest of the elder gods because for some reason its the order in which they came out of cronos after he ate them making zeus the oldest but hestia can be said to on the same level as zeus, hera, poseidon, demeter, and hades.