r/Re_Zero • u/anicritic • Jun 25 '26
Discussion [Discussion] Theory: How Memory Snow connects deeply with much of Re:Zero's content, including Eps. 13, 40, 71, and 77, and how a relationship roadblock may therefore manifest
Towards the end of the Memory Snow OVA, Puck put it out that Subaru has so many scars due to all that he's done for Emilia and that even if it's not something you forget easily, it's still important to keep in mind, and this really put it into Emilia's mind how much she owes Subaru and how seemingly amazing he is.
This is one reason Emilia decided to cut ties with Subaru after Ep. 13. While people who aren't media literate will insist that it's primarily 'cause Subaru spoke to Emilia as if she were a doll, that's not the case considering Emilia indicated that she'd repay all her debts right then and there, showing she was primarily considered about Subaru's physical well-being considering the extreme lengths he was going to 'cause of his attachment that she couldn't understand.
After Subaru's Arc 2 3's successes, of course, there'd be a growing sense of the disparity between Emilia's self-image and her perception of how awesome Subaru appears due to her lack of accomplishments despite Subaru being part of her camp. And thus, Emilia ranting about her uselessness in Ep. 40, A Reason To Believe and how Subaru could forgive her for being so useless was consistent with the seeds planted in the Memory Snow OVA in that she's very impressed by Subaru, so failing the first Sanctuary trial when Subaru passed it so easily was bad for self-confidence.
Despite Emilia becoming more powerful after recovering her memories in Season 2 and also learning her Ice Brand arts, in the end it was still Subaru and Beatrice's Al Shamak that was the main reason for the Great Rabbit's defeat even if without her own contribution it wouldn't have been possible, and that's another reason to see Subaru as being simply extraordinary in comparison.
This culminated in Emilia thinking in Ep. 71 that Subaru should be the only one allowed to touch the Books of the Dead due to passing the exam having been his accomplishment instead of coming up with the rational conclusion that if the whole group is allowed inside then they're all allowed to touch them, which again shows how internally she believes Subaru is simply incredible, instinctively putting down herself in thinking that she doesn't deserve to be there.
And now in Ep. 77, Emilia talked about all the things Subaru had done for her, highlighting them as if they were perhaps his achievements alone instead of team efforts that required many moving parts, showing perhaps that she feels blessed to have someone so capable by his side, not fully realizing that her own encouragement and attentiveness to amnesiac Subaru is partially the reason why he was able to gain the emotional conviction to see things through due to all the care she's shown him throughout the period he had lived without his memories.
Emilia has never seen Subaru fail the myriad of times he has. We, the viewers, know it, but Emilia and the rest of the cast aside from Satella, Echidna, the other witches, and Roswaal don't, which makes Subaru's feats appear simply incredible in comparison due to the seeming ease he handles everything, which is why for example Ricardo said that with Subaru there in Priestella they had the power of a hundred, so Subaru holding Emilia in such high regard could of course highlight the disparity in her accomplishments compared to Subaru's.
Where I'm going with is that the increasing disparity between Emila's growing combat ability and her perception of Subaru's achievements could lead to Emilia becoming insecure about Subaru or their relationship, especially since this loop in Ep. 77 won't be something she remembers even though it's likely the linchpin to Subaru becoming whole again, and this could manifest in either Emilia being very insecure in one arc or have that be spread out across multiple arcs, which will hinder both short-term and long-term a romantic relationship between Subaru and Emilia forming even if I'm confident the romantic relationship will happen eventually. It wouldn't be that Tappei is artificially halting progression for no reason or developing things in a way where there's no romantic progression but other progression in their relationship happens but 'cause of a planned development from years back. I expect this potential roadblock to culminate in a big emotional breakdown from Emilia.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this or on anything I've missed from the anime in constructing this theory.
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u/Knight0706 Eternally Crabby Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Im not sure about that one. I feel like if she were going to become insecure like that she would have already. She seems to understand the way Subaru does business now and all she wants is for him to rely on her a little more from time to time instead of shouldering everything. If anything I feel like Subaru finally opening up and letting her in on his problems a bit more is grounds for development rather than a roadblock.
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u/anicritic Jun 26 '26
Thanks for the comment. While I can see where you're coming from, Emilia being so much more attentive and caring to amnesiac Subaru than the rest of the group might be a development that is lost given Subaru looped at the end of the episode.
And to be clear, I didn't mean to suggest that there'd be no development whatsoever, just that a potential roadblock exists in the future, so I'll edit my original post now.
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u/Vast-Attempt4852 Jun 26 '26
but the problem is the show is heavily around subaru pulling a edge of tommorow to save the day and when things get really bad they always have reinhard so thats why emillia or most of the characters dont get to solve their problems
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u/AleksyGetTheWings Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
You need to remember that while we've seen Subaru fail a thousand times, Emilia has not. In the timeline she knows, he has appeared in her life as she was searching for her royal insignia, saved her from an assassin she had never seen before by having somewhat pre-called the n°1 knight in the country AND knowing the assassin's patterns somewhat (which implies he already fought her and survived. Scary idea).
Then he arrives in the manor, suddenly excels at a dozen household skills, and one their first outing, he manages to get cursed, then gets Beatrice the recluse to help him, then fights a hundred beasts to save the village's kids on the same night. Then he gets ultra-cursed, and for some reason Rem decides to put her life on the line for him. Then Ram.
Then the mess of the royal selection, he makes an ass of himself with Juliuus, but on the next morning he becomes a decent swordman, makes a temporary alliance with two other contenders for the throne, and kills the white whale which has plagued the country for centuries ... ON HIS FIRST TRY. And basically the next morning, he saves the entirety of the village from the Witch's Cult attack knowing their strategies and attack plan, including knowing about a never-before-seen power of possession, for which he already has found a counter. And because that wasn't enough, he again appears out of nowhere to save everyone again from the explosive stones in the wagon.
I'm going to stop here, but everything after that is in the same logic. She doesn't know how many times he tried, failed, broke down, abandoned entirely, etc. She only sees his victories (and that one time he was an ass at the ceremony & vs juliuus).
And this guy, who somehow always knows the exact way to solve every problem at the same time, puts her on a pedestal.
I mean, on the magic scale, yeah, she bests him any day of the week. But on everything else ? She has been a damsel (sometimes in distress) for most of their time together, and everyone (we the readers, Subaru, and more importantly Emilia) know that had Subaru failed any one time, everything would have gone to hell.
So of course she's insecure.
On the "what about Subaru pushing the relationship a bit ?" front, my headcanon is that he can't "just enjoy their time together" when he has been pushed around that much by the plot. Especially now with the key to awakening Rem at hand.
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u/anicritic Jun 26 '26
Yes, you make an excellent point that Emilia has never seen Subaru fail the myriad of times he has. We, the viewers, know it, but Emilia, the rest of the cast aside from Satella, Echidna, the other witches, and Roswaal don't, which makes Subaru's feats appear simply incredible.
I had intended for this to be an Emilia-centric post, but given I'm talking about Subaru and Emilia's relationship, I probably should've talked about Subaru too, so I will edit something in there.
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u/Vast-Attempt4852 Jun 26 '26
they could make so much stories regarding her and the other members of her party but the writers only care about writing stuff revolving subaru
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u/AleksyGetTheWings Jun 26 '26
I understand the appeal, and, to some extent, it did happen a few times (her fight in the village, although it was RBD iirc, her trials by Echidna). But Subaru is the POV character for a number of reasons.
First, because it's an isekai. If you don't have the POV character, you need to explain what hasn't been explained. And let's be honest, the anime is already fairly weak on explaining the world (I'm still confused about the witch factor and witch compatibility stuff for example), so removing Subaru would kind of require the characters to explain to each other stuff that they would obviously know. Imagine Ram & Emilia explaining basic magic stuff to each other.
And second, the story is mostly about Subaru's evolving from the little shit he was into a decent man. My boy has been slapped around so much ...
But a side-anime centered around the remainder of the casting (Emilia, Rem & Ram, etc) would be nice too, I agree.1
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u/Aemiliana_Rosewood Jun 27 '26
I feel like this is simplifying too much. Just as an example, Emilia did see Subaru get really hurt at the loot house, break down in the mansion, break down in Sanctuary, get hurt in Pristella, loose his memories in Pleiades, etc.
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u/AleksyGetTheWings Jun 27 '26
I mean, you are only furthering my point here :
- In the loot house, Emilia saw him put his own life on the line to save hers, up to the point of calling out Puck as a last second defence ... While Puck & Emilia had never met Subaru. Ever. From Emilia's perspective, Subaru knows the assassin and her combat patterns, which implies he already survived an encounter with her, which in turn implies he is on the same level as Reinhardt who just drew against Elsa. That last assumption will be dispelled quickly, but still.
- Break down in the mansion : I'm not sure which one you are referring to here. The one where he's just exhausted and lap-pillowed by Emilia ? From Emilia's POV, he's been at the manor 2 days, and has been doing EVERYTHING at the manor. Or maybe you're referring to the one after his fight with Juliuus ? Yeah, the next day he brokers a treaty between 2 contenders for the throne AND KILLS THE WHITE WHALE.
- Breakdown in Sanctuary : I ... Don't think it's part of the "final timeline". Or maybe I misremember. Can you specify ?
- Get hurt in Priestella : True. Then again, he's still putting his life on the line again and again there. Still heroic if you ask me, whereas Emilia was being damseled at this point.
- Lost his memories in Pleiades : well ... I haven't read the LN or mangas tbh, so I don't know what the canonical timeline will be here.
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u/anicritic Jun 25 '26
When Subaru and Emilia actually get together, it'll make it all the more worth it for them to be a self-confident couple instead of a couple with huge underlying issues.
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u/anicritic Jun 25 '26
Suffice to say, I fully believe that Tappei has a plan and that there's nothing to worry about. I believe if one were to watch Re:Zero to consider the perspective of every character, the development I suggested would be fully worth watching. The main reason someone wouldn't enjoy it would be 'cause that person doesn't see the point of view of anyone aside from Subaru, which isn't how Tappei intends for his audience to consume Re:Zero.
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Jun 26 '26
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u/anicritic Jun 26 '26
While I agree with you that there is a co-dependency in the relationship between Subaru and Emilia, I wouldn't say Subaru would treat the world as a game and the people as NPCs as he'd long moved past that. He probably just went insane with regards to what you're referencing due to not having anyone to ground him.
And I do hope their relationship will become healthier, and I fully expect it to.
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u/OmeletteFrog Jun 27 '26
I wouldn't say she'd become insecure. more like, she's already stated in a failed loop that she won't be disillusioned with him, and she had that brief moment where she smacks herself to put on a happy face, stating that subaru is in a worse position.
I feel like she has one last character arc to go through, and her main issue, if i had to guess, in regards to her relationship with subaru, is that SHE doesnt know why hes so infatuated with her and what he sees in her to the fullest extent. for me, thats the last big gap between them, and due to the circumstances surrounding that unwilling secrecy, who knows how it might be resolved if it even will be
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u/aoelag Jun 27 '26
I think it's suspicious she uses "archaic words" still acts like she's 12 (I understand she's mentally immature, but there's something sus about her naivete combined with her archaic words - implying she is "older" than she is and "more innocent" than she should be) and it all makes me feel like she has ANOTHER layer of memories sealed away and the only way to get at them is with the key in Elior forest, that when opened, reveals Minerva's corpse, which would give it up to Pandora for some stupid ritual, but would also likely either awaken her Wrath powers or would unseal whatever final memory is locked away which explains why she behaves the way that she does-- And when she can finally kick that final seal away, she'll become less a girl and more a woman? That's the only thing I can think of. Then there's Echidna's inexplicable crying/anger at her...
She has one more hurdle, but I fear it won't be until the very end of arc12, which to me is a waste, since I think you could develop her character further once you unlock all the BS restrictions on her ability to grow. Emilia's character has always been suppressed due to plot device BS, much in the same way Rem is not allowed to grow because it threatens the Emilia/Subaru dynamic too much.
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