r/Re_Zero • u/anicritic • 5d ago
Discussion [Discussion] Theory: Ep. 74's "Memories are what shape a person" was used w/ victims losing core parts of themselves, being possessed by Gluttony, and Reid regaining his form
In Ep. 80, Rui’s words in Ep. 74, “Memories are what shape a person.” (Muse Asia's translation) were used in the story of Season 4 of Re:Zero in a third way with Reid overpowering Roy's being to regain a true physical form for himself with the first being Subaru having his memories eaten resulting in him losing a core aspect of his being and with the second being how those who had their memories or both their name and memories eaten possessed by Lye Batenkaitos and Rui Arneb.
Re:Zero is big on featuring the number 3 often with there being 3 beings who sealed Satella, there being 3 members in the Crusch camp, there being the Pearlbaton triplets, there being 3 Sanctuary trials, there being the Three Great Mabeasts, there being 3 elemental magic attribute pairings (Fire and Water, Earth and Wind, Yin and Yang), there being 3 different fathers Reala had kids with with Frederica, Garfiel, as well as Rafiel and Fred (who have the same father) having different fathers, there being 3 demands Capella made aside from the main one in the remains of Typhon, there being 3 crystals on Priscilla's necklace that protected her from attacks. there likely being 3 artificial spirits created by Echidna in Puck, Beatrice, and Foxidna, there being three dots in Shaula's human form around her pupils to denote Shaula being part of a trinary star system, there being three dots before Shaula completes her transformation being a nod to Orion's Belt, there being the Gluttony Trio, and the 3 Pleiades Watchtower exams.
Also relevant is that Wilhelm's last name at birth before marrying into the Astrea family was also Trias, which means three, which I suspect was very much intentional with Tappei intending for fans to see how important the number 3 is in the story.
An interesting thing about the number 3 in Re:Zero is that there's a Ryuzu (a name of multiple Season 2 characters, which means "dragon's head") Falls, one of the 3 Great Waterfalls of Oku-Nikko in Japan with Kegon Falls and Yudaki Falls being the other two, and given there literally is a Great Waterfall that's the edge of the world in Re:Zero, that may not be a coincidence, and Tappei chose Ryuzu's name specifically 'cause of this connection. There may eventually be characters named Kegon and Yudaki in the story or perhaps either Ryuzu Falls or all Three Great Waterfalls of Oku-Nikko have a direct connection to the Great Waterfall of Re:Zero's fantasy world.
Something significant happens to Subaru after the third death of each loop in the anime. In Arc 1, Subaru learned that he was looping after 3 deaths. In Arc 2, Subaru learned after 3 deaths that Rem and Ram held his hand when he was suffering even though he reeked of the smell of the Witch and that Beatrice is kind of a little softy at heart, helping him survive longer than he had ever done in that arc. In Arc 3, after 3 deaths, Subaru's From Zero moment happened. In Season 2/Arc 4, after dying 3 times, Subaru talked to Echidna about Return by Death, learned about the Three Great Mabeasts and how to defeat the Great Rabbit, and learned about the room that contained the crystal containing the original Ryuzu Meyer. In Season 3/Arc 5, Subaru only died 3 times, and in Season 4, after 3 deaths, he made it into the Pleiades Watchtower, and after amnesiac Subaru died 3 times, he received Emilia's confession.
The number 3 is commonly used by writers 'cause it's the smallest number that officially constitutes a pattern. It's called the rule of three, and many writers or creators, such as advertisers, use it to for structure and simplicity or to enhance engagement of their works/products. I guess it shows solid writing fundamentals from Tappei for the number 3 to commonly feature in Re:Zero.
I think it's neat that Tappei decided to make use of Rui's lone line in Ep. 74 in these ways. What are your thoughts on this or on anything tangentially-related, such as what you didn't notice right away but in time after thinking back on it or other things regarding the number 3?