Umineko: When They Cry/Characters/Witches

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The witches of Umineko: When They Cry are enigmatic, powerful beings who observe and have control over several aspects of the game board. Each of them have their own motivations for interfering with the game board, but all of them are Trolls of a certain caliber, especially towards Battler. Each of them has a certain power which allows them to draw out the truth based on the rules of the game board.

A human may ascend to witch level once they have figured out the truth of the game board, and will have the privilege to become the Game Master. While the vast majority of the witches in the series are female (that is, all of them except Battler), it's noted in a TIP that the term "witch" is gender-neutral; any human, male or female, can become a witch.

Beatrice

Beatrice III/Yasu

The Golden Witch, Endless Witch, Witch Who Has Lived A Thousand Years

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara

"...But, at least in your eyes, I want to be a witch."

Also known as the Golden Witch and the Endless Witch, she is the main antagonist of the series although by EP5, not anymore. She claims to have given Kinzo all of his wealth, and so when the family is gathered, she issues them a challenge: find the gold that Kinzo hid in the Ushiromiya estate or else she would collect it, with their lives as interest. She then further forces Battler to replay those days in a game with her. She tells him a story of how she murdered them using magic, and he needs to disprove her story.

Beatrice, Shannon and Kanon are heavily implied to all be the same person, having been created as personas of Yasu.


Bernkastel

The Witch of Miracles, The Cruelest Witch

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura

"I am the cruelest witch in the world. I will make any opponent of mine surrender without fail. Even if that opponent is the Endless Witch Beatrice. So you must do your best as well. You won't bore me, will you?"

The Witch of Miracles, and the most powerful witch in the universe (multiverse?). An enigmatic figure who offers Battler her help in defeating Beatrice during the tea parties for nonhumans. She has the power to create miracles as long as the possibility of the event occurring is greater than 0. She has a long-standing rivalry with the witch Lambdadelta, who was formerly the most powerful witch until Bernkastel beat her in a game. She is instrumental to Ange's, and later Erika's, involvement in the story. Arc 5 appears to reveal that everything she and Lambda did in Beatrice and Battler's game was out of boredom, though later arcs could contradict this.

She has become the Game Master of Episode 7 by Featherine's request, because Featherine wanted to "look at the answers". At the end of Episode 6, it is implied that she was previously Featherine's piece in another game. By escaping the logic error, she earned the title of "Witch of Miracles."

  • Adaptation Dye Job: Like Rika from Higurashi, her hair is indisputably blue in the games/manga, and weird purple-blue color in the anime.
  • Animal Motifs: Cat. The narration tries to compare her to one, she has a cat tail, and actually transforms into one at one point. Story progression has her exemplify the idea that Cats Are Mean. In Episode 8, it's revealed that she's actually Ikuko's pet cat.
    • She even uses her cat familiars as projectiles in Ougon Musou Kyouku Cross.
  • Bad Boss: Acts like this towards her piece Erika when the latter fails to achieve any worthwhile results. The manga amps this up even further.
  • Bad Samaritan
  • Big Bad: Assumes the position in the fifth arc, and solidifies it with each consecutive installment.
  • Bokukko: At least in her character song Seizensetsu, she refers to herself with 'boku'.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: There are a few scenes where it's intentionally unclear if she addresses Battler or the player. In the anime, Battler is nowhere to be seen during that scene so she's clearly talking to the viewers here.
  • Break the Cutie: In EP6, Lambda says that Bern was originally a piece in a game that the Game Master made Unwinnable. (Lambda did not explicitly say whether the game was of the Unwinnable By Mistake or the Unwinnable by Design variety.) The Game Master then abandoned Bern as a piece and left her to fend for herself. Bern eventually ended up winning the game anyway and gained the title of Witch of Miracles. The mentioned game may or may not have been Higurashi. While this does explain her cruelty, it's no excuse for it.
  • Cats Are Mean: Her Animal Motif - she has a tail, and truly horrific cat minions.
  • Catgirl: Borderline, considering her cat tail. No ears, though.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Bringing them about is at least one aspect of her power.
  • Curtains Match the Window
  • Dark Is Not Evil: The more we learn about her, the more brutally this trope is subverted.
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness
  • Dummied Out: Bernkastel was apparently originally going to be included on Ougon Musou Kyouku alongside with Rena Ryuugu, but was eventually scrapped, with only a portrait and a standing sprite left.
    • On April 20th, 2012, Bernkastel was included in version 2.30 of Ougon Musou Kyouku Cross.
  • Emotionless Girl: Apart from her eyes moving, she literally has no expression on her face until the EP4 Tea Party, where she laughs. Fans shat bricks. And then, in EP5, she suddenly gains a lot of new expressions.
  • Expy: Of Rika from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
  • Enigmatic Empowering Entity: To Ange, although she did this just to be a Bad Samaritan.
  • Fallen Hero
  • Friendly Enemy: The true relationship between her and Lambadelta. More the former then the latter, to stave off boredom.
  • Good Powers, Bad People: She's the Witch of Miracles, right? Able to create a miracle as long as the probability isn't zero. But a miracle is just something that the odds are against. No one said anything about those miracles being 'good'.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Ougon Musou Kyouku Cross has Bern relying on weaponized fragments, hungry black cats, and blue serpent beams as part of her arsenal of moves.
  • Karma Houdini: Gets away with a few punches to the face.
  • Kuudere: She's this, but she's more Cute and Psycho. Her deredere side can only be seen when around Lambdadelta.
  • Leitmotif: Haze is equally associated with both Ange and Bern, specifically during the skyscraper scene.
    • the_executioner, although it only ever plays once during a scene in which she directly does something, is still quite heavily associated with her, as the title can really only be referring to her.
  • Little Miss Snarker
  • Manipulative Bitch: She is responsible for making Ange's life miserable so that she can have a piece to use against Beatrice (and eventually Battler). In EP8, she also manipulates Ange into thinking that Battler is just toying with her, causing Ange to go on a rampage and start the Golden Land's destruction.
  • Meaningful Name: Bernkastel was the type of wine that Rika would drink.
  • Ms. Exposition: At least in the early arcs, she tends to serve in this role.
  • Mysterious Watcher: Until EP5.
  • Pet the Dog: Psycho Lesbian Unholy Matrimony though it is, her relationship with Lambdadelta actually serves to humanize Bernkastel, as it's the only thing in the entire series that's shown her to be capable of love of any sort, twisted though it may be.
  • Pass the Popcorn: She orders some for the final showdown in End of the Golden Witch. This becomes a running joke by EP7 where Will frequently comments that Bern's probably enjoying his deductions from some unseen location with a large bucket of popcorn.
  • Psycho Lesbian: In EP5, Bern directly tells Lambda that she loves her, and if true, she and Lambda would make a Psycho Lesbian couple. Although it sounded quite genuine, it's also well within Bern's character to be sarcastic about such things. YMMV as to whether Bern or Lambda is the better example. As of EP5, Lambda is certainly much more Yandere than Bern. However, Bern is also much more outright malicious than Lambda ever was.
  • Psychotic Smirk
  • Reality Warper
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Lambda's red.
  • Rogue Protagonist
  • Sore Loser: Her displeasure in losing becomes apparent in Chiru as the games progress further.
  • Troll: Hence the fandom's nickname "Trollkastel" or "Bernkastroll".
  • The Stoic: In most situations, she can be icy cold. But, certain situations can turn her to be very, very Not So Stoic.
  • Villainous Breakdown: EP8. And it is glorious.
  • Weapon of Choice: Scythes.
  • Winds of Destiny Change: Her power.
  • Yandere: Shows signs of this in EP6. "If this is some new joke of Lambda's, I'll cover her whole body with honey using my tongue as a reward. And then, I'll stick parasol chocolates into her eyes and tell her to never do it again."
  • You Bastard: She says, to the reader, something to the effect of "It's more interesting to have Eva make Ange's life a living hell, isn't it? That's why you're reading this far, after all."
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair


Lambdadelta

The Witch of Certainty

Voiced by: Fuyuka Ooura

"I, Lady Lambdadelta, am super-paper!"

The Witch of the Absolute, who has the power to kill unfailingly. Formerly the most powerful witch in the universe, she now harbors an intense grudge against Bernkastel, who took that title away from her. She sometimes offers Battler help during the tea parties for nonhumans, and yet half the time appears to be working against him. Although she acts very childish in general, she is not to be trifled with, as she is incredibly powerful. Arc 5 reveals that her childish behavior was largely an act and that everything she and Bern did in Beatrice and Battler's game was out of boredom,.

She was replacement Game Master for Episode 5. By Episode 6, it is implied that she was Featherine's opponent in the game where Bernkastel was trapped.


Virgilia

Virgilia/Beatrice I (Publius Virgilia Maro)

The Witch of the Finite

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue

The former Endless Witch/Beatrice, and Beatrice's mentor who taught her all about magic. Although she dislikes how Beatrice uses the power she has been bestowed, Virgilia is nonetheless loyal to her student and works to help Beatrice achieve victory.

From an anti-fantasy perspective, she is Kumasawa, the one who taught Yasu all about mystery novels and about magic/Beatrice.

  • Beam Spam: Entirely possible in the fighting game through Gungnir.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Trust me, you don't want to see her with her eyes open. In the anime, it's more like Eyes Always Half-Open.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Her arsenal of weaponry in the fighting game includes daggers, the divine spear Gungnir, mirrors, and candlesticks.
  • Mad Eye: What she looks like with her eyes fully open. It's actually less "mad" and more...kind of deformed. (The image in question is the third from the bottom in the center column.)
  • Mentors
  • The Mole: Third arc.
  • Nice Hat: A Southern Belle-tastic one worn at a jaunty angle, no less. Some theorize that the hat is actually eating her head.
  • No Fourth Wall: During the infamous Krauss vs. Goat scene.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: Shares this with Kumasawa, her "real world" form, along with many expressions.
  • Out-of-Character Moment: Virgilia of the fourth arc acts very differently from Virgilia of the other arcs. Arguably Justified in that it was obviously intentional and Played for Laughs.
  • Painting the Fourth Wall: In the fourth arc, she is sometimes aware of the user interface.
  • Pimped-Out Dress
  • Sexy Mentor
  • Summon Magic: Her meta-super summons fricking Odin and throws a giant spear at her enemy. On a minor scale, she can summon the goats to aid her.
  • Team Mom: Despite the fact that she's not technically a mother (and there are four actual mothers in the cast), Virgilia takes this role, gently smoothing out problems with Beatrice's furniture, nurturing the goats and Siestas, chastising Beatrice, and brewing black tea for anyone miserable. It makes sense when you realize that Kumasawa, whom Virgilia is based on, was the closest thing to a parent Yasu had.
  • Theme Naming: She named herself after the Roman poet Virgil, as in Dante's guide to Beatrice.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Mackerel, just like Kumasawa. It's seen more often in Ougon Musoukyoku, though.
  • Tsundere: Will suddenly and viciously morph into a type-B when in the presence of Gaap.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Fourth arc
  • White-Haired Pretty Girl
  • Yamato Nadeshiko


Eva-Beatrice

The Endless Witch, Black Witch

Voiced by: Miki Ito

"Why don't you just give up and die?"

Appears as a younger version of Eva and is in some sense, an embodiment of Eva's desires and lack of satisfaction of her place in the family and in general. The way she describes her ability is the power to turn anger into miracles. She also represents all the theories which place Eva as the culprit.

She makes her first appearance in the third arc, where after Eva manages to solve the epitaph and becomes the family head, she manifests on the island and orchestrates the remaining murders. In the fourth arc, she reappears as a representation of hatred born from the Ushiromiya family, called by Ange as "The Black Witch". She makes her final appearance in Twilight of the Golden Witch, where it turns out that Eva cared about Ange all along; Eva-Beatrice's actions in the previous arcs were only twisted by Ange's (and everyone else's) perception.

  • A God Am I: "My Power is a God's Power".
  • Ambiguous Innocence: Present when she kills Rosa by twisting her happiest dreams, but mostly dropped after that in favor of playing up a more aggressive form of insanity.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: She's essentially the personification of hate, revenge and greed. She also symbolizes the "Eva Culprit theory
  • Ax Crazy
  • Bait the Dog: Aw, she's so happy with her new title. That's right, Battler, feel free to applaud!
  • Black Magic: According to Ange in the 4th arc. The general rule of thumb is that black magic heals pain by shoving pain onto others. White magic heals pain by creating good things to distract you.
  • Blue Eyes
  • Catch Phrase: Heso kande shinjaeba?! ("Why don't you just give up and die?!")
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: What happens to the people she kills. Repeatedly.
  • Cute and Psycho: Since initially, we only get a bit of an inkling on how cruel she can really be.
  • Enfant Terrible
  • Full-Contact Magic: Eva uses surprisingly little magic on Ougon Musoukyouku compared to the other Beatrices, most of her attacks involve clubbing and kicking the enemy to death. Altough this can be explained since Eva herself is very good at martial arts.
  • Groin Attack: Her grab in the fighting game.
  • Heel Face Turn: During EP8. It's probably more accurate to call it a Heel Ange Turn, though.
  • Imaginary Friend: She was this to Eva, according to EP3.
  • Kids Are Cruel: More evident in the VN, but this theme is hit a few different times with her in the third arc. Most obviously during her conversation with Eva after she's killed Hideyoshi.
  • Leitmotif: Happiness of Marionette.
  • Large Ham: Especially after she gets her Endless Witch powers; she practically breaks into Ham-to-Ham Combat with Beato after that. Not to mention that Miki Ito tends to get fairly creative with the delivery of her Catch Phrase.
  • Letting Her Hair Down
  • Literal Split Personality
  • Morality Chain: It at first looks like Hideyoshi might be this for her, but this is then subverted. With blood. Later played straight, arguably, with Ange.
  • Nice Hat
  • Oh Crap: Her reaction to Beatrice denying the existence of all witches near the end of EP3 has her panicking. She gets held down by Ronove as Beatrice finishes the denial, and there's nothing Evatrice can do about it.
  • Older Than They Look: Kind of. She's technically about as old as Eva, despite appearing as a younger version of her.
  • Pimped-Out Dress
  • Shadow Archetype
  • Simple Staff: It acts as her own version of the Ushiromiya Emblem.
  • Smug Snake: She's incredibly arrogant, treats her allies poorly whenever they fail to entertain her and she acts like a total jerk when she feels safe. So naturally, she's reduced to a screaming mess when the situation inevitably ceases to go her way.
  • Villain Protagonist: On Ougon Musoukyouku at least, all of her endings but one involve her killing everybody.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Experiences this several times, especially when she learns that she can't destroy Beatrice's heart but tries to squash it beneath her foot anyway, as well as her Oh Crap moment near the end of EP3.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity


Featherine Augustus Aurora

Featherine Augustus Aurora/Toya Hachijo/Ikuko Hachijo

The Witch of Theatergoing, Drama and Spectating

Voiced by: Michiko Neya

Left: Featherine. Right: Toya

"For one such as I, who knows everything, everything is boring. ......However, I don't dislike letting the ignorant read my works to see what kind of reaction they have."

Both first appear in Arc 6. Toya Hachijo is a human mystery writer from 1998 who (in-universe) wrote each of Arcs 3-6. Ange meets up with her before going to Rokkenjima, but Ange had no recollection of having asked to meet her. She claims to have reached a certain level of truth, allowing her to write stories on par with the original two message bottles that washed up.

Featherine Augustus Aurora is the Witch of Theatergoing, Drama, and Spectating. It is strongly implied that Toya is Featherine, or at least Featherine is her Author Avatar. Because of her age, Featherine wears a horseshoe-shaped device around her head that stores her memories. She is also apparently Bernkastel's mentor. Ange becomes her miko. Bernkastel is also her former miko. At the end of Episode 6, she requests Bernkastel to become the new Game Master so that Featherine can "look at the answers".

In reality, "Toya Hachijo" is the alias behind two people, the manuscript writer, Ikuko Hachijo, and the story writer, Toya Hachijo, who is in reality Battler, who lost his memories and was discovered by Ikuko after the Rokkenjima incident.

  • Author Avatar: Featherine is implied to be Toya's avatar.
  • Composite Character: Episode 8 reveals that "Toya Hachijo" is actually two people: Ikuko Hachijo, the writer, and Tohya Hachijo/Battler, the story writer.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Delivers one to Lambdadelta in Episode 8.
  • Detached Sleeves
  • Evil Mentor: Implied to have been Bernkastel's in the ???? of EP6.
  • Expy: Some people consider them/her an expy of Hanyuu because Featherine's memory device looks like horns, the number "eight" (both "hachi" and "ya") in Toya's name, the Alternate Character Reading of the name "Hachijo" is "Yashiro", the name Augustus Aurora, "Hanyuu" means "feather," Toya and Featherine both address people as "Child of Man," and Featherine says that Bernkastel used to be her miko.

Beatrice: Thank you very much, Augauau......umm-"

""Bernkastel:"" ....Featherine Something Auaurora...."

  • Greek Chorus: With Ange in EP6.
  • Innocent Cohabitation: With Toya Hachijo/Battler.
  • Leitmotif: Toya's: Love Examination. Featherine's: A Single Moment.
  • Literary Agent Hypothesis: All of her forgeries are written as if "Maria Ushiromiya" wrote them and they apparently describe the events that occur from "Banquet" to "Dawn".
  • Mysterious Watcher
  • The Omniscient: Well, she is one of the authors, after all. Whether or not she actually knows everything, or else is incredibly mistaken, is up to the audience.
  • Physical God
  • Purple Eyes
  • Rewriting Reality: Toya's stories somehow describe what happened in every arc from the third to the sixth.
  • Story-Breaker Power: Literally.
    • If you want to know how literal it is, when Lambdadelta tries to attack her with magic, Featherine just says that she doesn't like the development of the story; she stops time, takes out the script of the story, erases and rewrites the part where Lambdadelta uses her magic, and edits the script to defeat Lambdadelta instantly. She doesn't even think about how she beat Lambdadelta. She says she'll "figure that out later."
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