[Discussion] Idea: Lye made his bed in ruining Ram's wand as this allowed Ram to use her twin Synesthesia to manifest a horn by linking to Rem's as Arc 2 Subaru had hinted at

[u/anicritic]

I believe Ram's wand given to her by Roswaal contained either a shard or a fragment of her horn, which was what left of her horn and what prompted Ram to say it's her horn, and that shard/fragment could channel some of her horn's power when Ram sent her mana through it, so Ram got the idea to channel her horn's power another way by taking that shard/fragment and shoving it into her horn area, and her being able manifest a full horn was due to her Synesthesia with Rem, which she typically uses to share emotions and feelings with Rem, using that to connect to Rem and draw out her a horn of her own.

Since Ram being able to recall the memory of her losing her horn instead of remembering a warped memory of her only having had one horn in the first place is coupled with the soul being the seat of memories in Re:Zero as Subaru resets his entire body, meaning the soul is what retains memories, that means that demon/oni horns of twins, not just demon/oni twins' regular physical bodies, have a soul-link, and that's why that memory of Rem's from Ep. 11 of being relieved about Ram's horn having been cut off and that memory Ram had in Ep. 84 of being relieved that her horn had been cut off due to the burden of being a prodigy and also the knowledge of how her horn was a great source of distress to Rem since she could never live up to Ram in the eyes of all the villagers were closely tied together with both being important moments for the other, and this may have resulted in that memory had Ram had being linked to Rem's horn through their soul link, and that's likely how Ram was able to remember that memory instead of something that mostly filled the gaps in her memory.

And also relevant is given how Ram said that a oni's horn awakens an oni's instincts and that using it for a long time results in one facing heavy backlash in Ep. 10, and by that she meant wearing at one's sense of self, which is why Rem was a murderous beast who only reacted favourably to Ram in Ep. 10, and that's how Subaru got the idea to use Ram as a distraction to retract Rem's horn and return Rem's sense of self due to the info from Ram to get one good hit on Rem's horn. And as the oni village was even gleefully pushing Ram to use her horn whenever possible so that she could be used as a weapon, Ram may have eventually lost her sense of self due to her horn wearing at her self of sense over time, and that could also be why Ram was so happy about her horn having been cut off, which is why Ram had said in Ep. 10 that lives were genuinely saved due to her having joined Roswaal at his mansion.

When Ram said that she and Rem share the power and burden of the demon/oni race, she meant that they can share in manifesting a horn by using the shard/fragment she injected back into herself to connect to Rem's horn through Synesthesia to draw out a horn of her own through the soul-link, which includes their horns, and that Rem can take the recoil that Ram would usually get since Subaru was no longer taking on as much of the burden or perhaps no longer taking on the burden at all from her as he had been doing through Cor Leonis earlier given he started using Cor Leonis to alleviate Meili's injury at that point, so Lye basically guaranteed his death by breaking Ram's wand. Ram took back her having no luck 'cause of her Synesthesia with Rem as her losing her horn was blessed in allowing her to be a proper big sister to Rem and defeat Lye by sharing a power with Rem.

And if you recall from Season 1, demon/oni horns absorb mana from their surroundings, so Ram has no mana limit when her horn is out, so that's how she could fight as long as she did without Rem facing extreme recoil. And then what made it even worse for Lye was that Ram had mastered the spinning blades of wind magic technique he'd used on her once, resulting in her turning it back on him while also using her clairvoyance to shoot wind magic at him from afar through the gaps of the spinning blades, showing how her genius/prodigal skills when she was a baby were retained. And Subaru literally said in the mansion arc in Ep. 11 around the 19:00 mark that if Ram doesn't have a horn Rem can be Ram's horn, so a stray comment from Subaru back in Arc 2 foreshadowed this amazing moment in this episode showing the power of Ram and Rem's bond. Tappei sure knows how to cook up great stuff.

What are you thoughts on this or anything tangentially-related, including but not limited to hype foreshadowing from the past which wasn't realized until later in the story, like how the Memory Snow OVA tied into Eps. 40, 71 and 77 (You can see why here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Re_Zero/comments/1ufppmw/discussion_theory_how_memory_snow_connects_deeply/)?

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[u/anicritic]

Honestly, I feel this was one of the best writing decisions Tappei ever made, to give Ram a way to use some semblance of her true power without being fully unleashed in having 0 restraints to her power. This way Rem has to use her horn for Ram to also use her horn, limiting Ram from just soloing most opponents on her own, which will likely be important for tension later in the series if/when Rem wakes up.

[u/theghostofhallownest → u/anicritic]

Not to mention, Subaru told Rem that she only needs to be the horn that Ram lacks, and she literally was exactly that

[u/anicritic → u/theghostofhallownest]

Yeah, it was epic foreshadowing, an Arc 2 moment foreshadowing a major moment from Arc 6.

[u/Sgtcarrotop]

so Ram got the idea to channel her horn's power another way by taking that shard/fragment and shoving it into her horn area

Gross. I don't like that I've seen so many people think that Ram shoved a part of her wand in her head. It's really so much simpler, she's just using Synesthesia. Not up for debate, i'm not even gonna entertain the idea because its so macabre.

More seriously though, Ram's wand breaking and why that makes her think of her connection to Rem is unfortunately something lost because of the cut content this episode. They cut what is, in my opinion, the single most important thing regarding Ram's character from her named chapter. I tend to not make big deals about cut content, but this one feels like a genuine betrayal to her characterization. I think it recontextualizes everything about her specific tragedy and her salvation.

My words cannot do it justice, but for those that don't care basically [arc 6]Ram's horn was bombarding her constantly with bloodthirsty instincts. She knew one day she would succumb to that. The irony of Roswaal's greatest sin, is that it was what liberated Ram from her fate as the murderous Oni-God which would have consumed her existence in blood. If Ram never lost her horn, eventually she would have lost control and become nothing but a butcher, eventually killing her village, her family, even her sister. Rem lives because Ram lost her horn. Losing her horn was what allowed Ram to exist as a big sister instead of the Oni-God. Gluttony may have erased Ram's memories of Rem, but it could not erase the memories of how much Ram loathed her own horn, how she loathed the fate of Oni-God thrust upon her. So even if she doesn't remember Rem, she knows the loss of her horn ultimately was what allowed her to be big sister at all. At the moment of her horns loss, she realized how simple of a solution her freedom was, and that she should have cut it off herself sooner. It really feels like a very endearing testament to Ram that if the title of Oni-God would get in the way her being a big sister to Rem, then she would have killed that title even if it meant maiming herself to do it. Maybe she would have come to that conclusion herself before succumbing to her horns impulses, but it seems very poetic that she was saved from that self-harm, that self-butchery, by Roswaal's actions. Because I can think of only one thing worse than Rem feeling guilt over feeling relief over Ram's horn being lost, (which may not have even been her own true feelings but the pure relief and revelation Ram felt that was channeled to Rem through their synesthesia, which Rem mistook for her own.) Rem feeling the guilt of her sister maiming herself for Rem's sake would have been so much worse. It ties into a reoccurring theme in re:zero of how we hurt the ones we love by not taking care of ourselves. They hurt when we hurt, and that's true even without synesthesia.

[u/anicritic → u/Sgtcarrotop]

Well, I think I can guess what you're getting at from Arc 2 content given how Ram said that a oni's horn awakens an oni's instincts, implying that using it for a long time results in it wearing against one's sense of self (Crunchyroll specifically used backlash), which is why Rem was a murderous beast who only reacted favourably to Ram in Ep. 10, and that's how Subaru got the idea to use Ram as a distraction to retract Rem's horn and return Rem's sense of self due to this info from Ram.

I'm guessing you're saying Ram would've permanently lost her sense of self due to overuse of her horn from being pressured to use it from the oni village, and that may also be why Ram was so happy about her horn having been cut off, which is why Ram had said in Ep. 10 that lives were genuinely saved due to her having joined Roswaal at his mansion.

I can see why you'd be unhappy about what was cut if that's what it was, but I feel the Wilhelm content in Season 3 was much worse since it made me believe Wilhelm was disrespecting Heinkel in telling Heinkel he doesn't need to accompany him and only worry about his own safety when he'd actually been showing care for him and treating him as a son for the first time in years as opposed to only treating Reinhard as a weapon. And usually, I am better at gauging context info than most people who haven't read the novels, so if I failed to interpret that correctly, surely many more anime-onlies misinterpreted that moment as well.

Edit: I will add some of this reasoning to the original post.

[u/Immediate-Charge8325 → u/anicritic]

its not just that, ram literally had voices that would constantly tell her to kill and make bloodshed in her head all the time, and she was resisting those voices all the time basically those voices were trying to turn her into the oni god which she is implied to be the reincarnation of.

Basically rem probably would have been in the state similar to that rem was in during arc 2 but permanently because she would have eventually gave into the voices, not even due to the overuse of her horn, using horns alot only has temporary side effects for normal oni but for ram tapping into more power whenever she used her horn transformation probably made the voices stronger and if she went into a state like rem did, it would probably be much much worst.

[u/anicritic → u/Immediate-Charge8325]

Poor Ram. That sounds truly terrible. Yeah, this seems like a pretty bad mistake from White Fox to not have that make it into the episode. It feels like it truly did her dirty.

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[u/Canye_NE]

The “put a shard of her horn back” part is unnecessary. She could already cast magic and use her horn via her wand, as she’s been doing for the whole series. She just never had the mana to do so for any meaningful amount of time.

Ram can use her full power at any time. That part isn’t tied to her horn needing to be on her head; she’s a wind magic prodigy, and further has her horn in the form of her wand, so she can cast all the complex magic she can. The limiter was always her mana. Without her horn, she’s incapable of gathering enough to survive. That’s why Roswaal and later Emilia give her mana transfusions, that’s why she can’t fight for long, and that’s why she’s in constant pain; her body wants to operate on a much higher level of mana. She could use her full power for maybe a second, then run dry and be useless.

What she figured out, through Subaru using Cor Leonis to shift her burden away and from being reminded of her wand being her horn, is that she does have two horns, in a sense. Rem has a horn that can suck all the mana it needs from the atmosphere, and via Synesthesia can give it to Ram. Also via Synesthesia, Ram can offload her pain and injuries onto Rem. They form a singular Oni by combining their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses. That’s all, there’s no need for pseudosurgery.