Some thoughts after finishing Umineko Episode 6
MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS THROUGH EPISODE SIX OF UMINEKO. Don't read if you are planning to play the games!
Layers of Reality in Umineko
This is how I perceive the concept of "reality" (by this I mean "the closest existence to the truth possible) in the series after reading Episode 6. I do not think we've witnessed a scene that fully took place in the real world yet, and we probably won't until the very last Episode, when we reach "the good end". However, starting from the top are the ones closest to the reality.
1998 - Episode 6 - Ange, Amakausa, Hachijo
1998 - Episode 6 - Meta World - Ange-Beatrice, Featherine, visitors to Featherine's world
1998 - Episode 4 - Ange
1986 - The Golden Land - Sorcerer Battler, Witch Beatrice
1986 - Meta World - Meta Beatrice, Meta Battler, Meta Erika, Lambdadelta, Bernkastel
1986 - Episode 6 - Meta World - Furfur, Zepar, Jessia, George, Kanon, Shannon, the two Beatrices
1986 - The Game Board, All Versions - The Pieces (including the different Piece Beatrices)
It's probably way more complicated than that, and I think it's possible that the Golden Land is higher up there, perhaps just below "true reality". I could be pretty off with this cosmology, too, and maybe it's not a good idea to think of it in a hierarchical fashion at all. One thing I feel really certain about though: what we've been perceiving as "reality" (1986) has in fact been the least realistic of all, because it really is, in the end, JUST A GAME. Death doesn't mean anything in the gameboard. The actions of pieces on the gameboard can be nearly endless revised by the residents of the Meta World. 1986, as we know it, is an entirely fake existence.
Unsolved Mysteries/Questions in Umineko
- Who wrote the epitaph?
- What is Kinzo's beloved hometown?
- Who was the Beatrice who gave Kinzo the gold after the war?
- Who was the Beatrice whom Rosa met in the '60s in Kuwadorian? The first Beatrice's daughter with Kinzo?
- Did that Beatrice really fall to her death as Rosa remembers?
- Did Natsuhi and Krauss' adopted baby really fall off the cliff and die?
- If so, who was it who called Natsuhi and claimed to be that baby?
- Who is Battler's mother, if it's not Asumu? Kyrie? Or is he the adopted baby?
- Are Shannon and Kanon really the same person (as heavily implied in episode 6)? If so, how do you explain the scene in Ep 5 in which everyone was in the same room together?
- Is the memory of Beatrice the witch's "creation" from the end of Ep 6 really Shannon's?
- What happened "19 years ago"?
- What is the meaning behind Kumasawa's notes on the epitaph?
- What is the device which Erika and Battler manipulate to find the gold in Ep 5?
- What is the secret which Rudolf wanted to tell Kyrie and Battler during the family conference (the truth of Battler's parentage?)?
- Does Amakusa kill Ange in 1998?
- What is the disaster that ensures everyone's death (and causes the bodes to be almost completely unidentifiable) in 1986, irregardless whether or not the murders take place? Is the bomb theory correct? Is the area of the mansion and guesthouse truly leveled by 1998, as it appeared to be in the map in the anime?
- Who wrote the first two message bottles, if it wasn't Hachijo?
- (PROBABLY NOT GOING TO BE ANSWERED ;_;) Was Hanyuu one of Featherine's pieces in Higurashi? Or Featherine herself? DOES THAT MEAN HANYUU IS AN EVIL WITCH? *cries hysterically*
Layers of Reality in Umineko
This is how I perceive the concept of "reality" (by this I mean "the closest existence to the truth possible) in the series after reading Episode 6. I do not think we've witnessed a scene that fully took place in the real world yet, and we probably won't until the very last Episode, when we reach "the good end". However, starting from the top are the ones closest to the reality.
1998 - Episode 6 - Ange, Amakausa, Hachijo
1998 - Episode 6 - Meta World - Ange-Beatrice, Featherine, visitors to Featherine's world
1998 - Episode 4 - Ange
1986 - The Golden Land - Sorcerer Battler, Witch Beatrice
1986 - Meta World - Meta Beatrice, Meta Battler, Meta Erika, Lambdadelta, Bernkastel
1986 - Episode 6 - Meta World - Furfur, Zepar, Jessia, George, Kanon, Shannon, the two Beatrices
1986 - The Game Board, All Versions - The Pieces (including the different Piece Beatrices)
It's probably way more complicated than that, and I think it's possible that the Golden Land is higher up there, perhaps just below "true reality". I could be pretty off with this cosmology, too, and maybe it's not a good idea to think of it in a hierarchical fashion at all. One thing I feel really certain about though: what we've been perceiving as "reality" (1986) has in fact been the least realistic of all, because it really is, in the end, JUST A GAME. Death doesn't mean anything in the gameboard. The actions of pieces on the gameboard can be nearly endless revised by the residents of the Meta World. 1986, as we know it, is an entirely fake existence.
Unsolved Mysteries/Questions in Umineko
- Who wrote the epitaph?
- What is Kinzo's beloved hometown?
- Who was the Beatrice who gave Kinzo the gold after the war?
- Who was the Beatrice whom Rosa met in the '60s in Kuwadorian? The first Beatrice's daughter with Kinzo?
- Did that Beatrice really fall to her death as Rosa remembers?
- Did Natsuhi and Krauss' adopted baby really fall off the cliff and die?
- If so, who was it who called Natsuhi and claimed to be that baby?
- Who is Battler's mother, if it's not Asumu? Kyrie? Or is he the adopted baby?
- Are Shannon and Kanon really the same person (as heavily implied in episode 6)? If so, how do you explain the scene in Ep 5 in which everyone was in the same room together?
- Is the memory of Beatrice the witch's "creation" from the end of Ep 6 really Shannon's?
- What happened "19 years ago"?
- What is the meaning behind Kumasawa's notes on the epitaph?
- What is the device which Erika and Battler manipulate to find the gold in Ep 5?
- What is the secret which Rudolf wanted to tell Kyrie and Battler during the family conference (the truth of Battler's parentage?)?
- Does Amakusa kill Ange in 1998?
- What is the disaster that ensures everyone's death (and causes the bodes to be almost completely unidentifiable) in 1986, irregardless whether or not the murders take place? Is the bomb theory correct? Is the area of the mansion and guesthouse truly leveled by 1998, as it appeared to be in the map in the anime?
- Who wrote the first two message bottles, if it wasn't Hachijo?
- (PROBABLY NOT GOING TO BE ANSWERED ;_;) Was Hanyuu one of Featherine's pieces in Higurashi? Or Featherine herself? DOES THAT MEAN HANYUU IS AN EVIL WITCH? *cries hysterically*