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Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (light novel)
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Feb 28, 12:07 PM
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Jun 2021
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(Updated 3-29-2025)
The idea of Regulus as having "no character" or "not being that deep" Is a confusing take that I'm shocked to see so much of since this recent episode dropped. I thought the overwhelming consensus among novel readers was that Regulus is one of the best antagonists in the series. Don't get me wrong, I can see that most people still love his character, but I've been seeing a surprising amount of people now saying he isn't actually that deep or nuanced. Which is an absolutely insane take to me, and I felt the need to defend my goat. The cause of this controversy over his character is clearly a result of cut content in the adaptation, and how it's "harmed" Regulus as a character. I guess in order to defend the adaptation completely, you have to argue that the cuts don't actually make a difference because "pathetic" is all Regulus ever was. Personally I think that the adaptation hasn't done him full justice. I've been enjoying it a lot (especially cour 1, and the recent episode) but there are definitely some issues I see with it. I personally don't think Regulus's character has really been "changed," it's just harder (as it always is in the anime) to see the nuance because so much has to be cut out. I just wanted to talk about my own take on Regulus as a character and how it's "changed" in the anime, and ask what anime onlies and novel readers think of him, and see how those perceptions differ. This post contains no novel spoilers, only discussions of cut content.

My interpretation of Regulus's character as a novel reader:

In Hunter x Hunter, Gon is described as being "consistently inconsistent" and this applies quite aptly to Regulus. He prattles endlessly over nonsense, contradicting what he said two lines prior, sometimes he's menacing and sometimes he's pathetic, and sometimes he'll kill you for breathing wrong yet in the recent episode, he never seemed to be putting significant effort into killing Emilia and Subaru even after they embarassed him for two episodes straight. But all of this is actually quite in line with his character.

Basically, Regulus separates himself. He exerts outwards influence but does not want to be touched. He pushes outwards because brutally forcing himself all over everyone and the world is his only way of hiding from the pathetic, lonely, emptiness of his existence, and covering up his insecurities. Regulus views everything as an attack against himself, thinking you view him as “pathetic” or “lower” (this is the core aspect of his personality that causes all his problems). The novel makes this quite evident during Regulus's death rant, where he brings up his childhood. "The father who despite his poor earnings was plagued with bad drinking habits, the mother who prattled on endlessly complaining day and night, and the greedy brothers who used to ravenously eye the portion that rightfully belonged to me" made up his family, and then, later, he claims "The father who despite his poor earnings was plagued with bad drinking habits and yet still occasionally buys gifts for me is scum better off dead. A mother who prattled on endlessly complaining day and night while saying obvious things like “apologies I’ve troubled you” is scum better off dead. The greedy brothers who despite ravenously eyeing the portion that rightfully belonged to me used to divide my part of their bun when my food got spilled are scum better off dead. Stop you shits, being arbitrarily kind towards me. Being kind, it must mean that you think I’m low, that you’re looking down on me." Regulus takes everything, even kindness, as an attack on himself. The extent of his condition isn't quite as clear in the anime. I'm disappointed these lines were skipped (even a shortened version would've been fine) because they contextualize a lot about his character. They show that he's always been twisted, his behavior isn't a result of the environment or the witch factor. This indicates that Regulus is someone who has never changed and has no desire to change or acknowledge his own flaws. They make clear that Regulus himself is the source of the issues plaguing him, and it shows the extent of his problems, that Regulus has an extreme inferiority complex as he cannot possibly see kindness as anything other than pity for the "low." Regulus is shown to be an inhuman, warped person, as the archbishops tend to be.

Regulus views everything as an attack on himself, even kindness. He's entirely incapable of accepting his flaws, changing as a person, being wrong, or facing “negativity” in the slightest - pain, hunger, fear, embarrassment, pity, all of the above. Because Regulus cannot bear these feelings in the slightest, he resorts to the most dramatic and powerful method of escapism possible - hypocrisy, delusion, and unstoppable violence.

To Regulus, words are hollow weapons. He yaps and yaps and yaps, but it's all meaningless drivel. The goal of speech for Regulus is to make himself feel better, stronger, and smarter than you. The words he says don't actually make sense, they don't have to, they're just a twisted nonsensical escapist logic that he uses as a way of making himself feel like he's conquered you, ideologically. He just needs to feel like he's won the argument, regardless of what the actual outcome was. Honestly this idea is best shown in the breaktime episode. He just starts yapping and gets incredibly self-absorbed and two minutes later he finishes things with his classic "that's a violation of my rights!" because Regulus will find an attack in everything you do so he can use it as an excuse to fuck you up. He doesn't even care about the idea of rights, certainly not other people's, it's just the easiest way for him to find an excuse to project his will onto you by acting like he's been "attacked." Because forcing himself and his worldview all over everyone is his way of making himself feel like he's right, and that's the most important thing to him, as we see in his death scene, where he enters a fetal position and tries to hide away from everything, repeating to himself "I'm not wrong!" Because being wrong would be the ultimate destruction of his worldview, shattering everything he's built up and forcing him to confront his issues.

Anyone who doesn’t mesh with his worldview, who “disrespects his rights” is violently assaulted by him. But the more they disrespect him, the less he tries to obliterate them instantly. Because Regulus needs to satisfy his ego. Regulus needs you to surrender to him, to be destroyed by him ideologically before he can destroy you physically. Because if you disrespected him on a deep level and he didn’t avenge that disrespect in his eyes, he would have to live with that disrespect forever, and it would be more difficult to escape - like his loneliness. (This is not to say Regulus is lonely and wants friends, but rather, Regulus has to avoid considering of himself as a lonely person because that would make him feel unpleasant). Regulus wants to “escape” the world but that would require facing that he is, in fact, escaping. So he pretends he’s not. He forces himself aggressively onto the world. He craves attention, he needs validation. He needs you to surrender to his worldview and acknowledge him. If you contradict him, if you make him think you think he's "wrong" he'll crush you.

And, he needs to feel loved. Or, his perspective of it. Something, like how he views the rest of the world, as purely one directional. His wives have absolutely no impact on Regulus whatsoever. They can't smile, they don't really talk, they certainly don't talk back. They're dolls for Regulus to use in his fantasy, a crutch for him to use to fight his war of delusion on everything that could possibly displease him. They're numbered because he doesn't respect their individuality at all. In his death flashback, we see their faces identical, their hair identically styled, with its colors muted, and all of them wear the same thing, with the same expression and pose, further exemplifying his denial of their individuality. He's also obsessed with their virginity, which I take as a result of his desire to project his values onto everything around him. Since he values the idea of purity highly he needs them to reflect and embody that or he'll start viewing their mere existence as an attack on his values, believing that they think he's "wrong." I think the other behaviors he displays surrounding his wives probably relate to his relationship with his first wife. Regulus has been messed up from the beginning, but his first wife is the source of much of his trauma. This is mostly relying on Tappei's tweets-Regulus, upon obtaining his authority, killed her family and took her as a bride. She never smiled except for when she died (by suicide, to spite him) which Tappei calls Regulus's "ultimate trauma." From that point, he never wanted the wives to smile, likely because they reminded him of that trauma. Regulus made a grave for his first wife, (the only wife he made a grave for) but it wasn't out of kindness-like everything else he does, it's self-serving. He just did it to feel like a good husband. This all serves to show that Regulus's very idea of "bonds" is totally warped. Love to Regulus is "a pretty face" because that's all he needs it to be at any moment, he doesn't actually want "human" wives who have agency and exist as people, he just wants them to admire like anime figures that let him pretend he's "loved" while not actually dealing with the hassle of human interaction. To Regulus, everything is a weapon of perfected escapism.

I occasionally see confusion as to the reason for the inconsistencies in Regulus's behavior, why sometimes he seems like ready to blow his fuse at the slightest disrespect and sometimes he has such patience. The simple answer in my opinion is simply that how he acts depends on his mood. He's usually chill but sometimes is looking for problems. When he gets angry it's because he thinks he's always justified. Being in the right is the most important thing to him. As he proclaims, he doesn't like being angry or violent, but he has this idea that it's his right to respond to an "attack" with force. Being right is his number one priority so he's willing to be violent even though he doesn't enjoy it (though whether or not Regulus really does find enjoyment in violence is another question)

When he went to the forest with Pandora, Regulus got angry very easily and quickly. The most logical answer for why this happened is because Pandora is ordering him around. That Pandora is "above" Regulus can't be something easy for him to accept, so he was probably just looking for someone who he could fuck up in order to make himself feel better. In this case, it was Fortuna and Geuse, and later, Pandora herself. He knows there's little he can do to Pandora psychologically, but he can at least blow her to bits as he pleases. Comparatively, in arc 5, Regulus was probably feeling quite chill until his wedding was crashed, and because of the extent to which his day was ruined by it, he felt it much more necessary to satisfy his ego before simply brutalizing his opponents in that case compared to in Elior Forest.

Amazingly, Regulus's ability perfectly reflects his entire character. The isolation and escapism, as he shuts himself off from the external world. The one directional influence he seeks, wanting to be able to mess you up without being hurt himself. The overwhelming "rejection" of everything else in the world, as nothing you do is able to affect him at all. His lack of true emotions and bonds, as his heart is frozen, not having beat in centuries - only the fake hearts that he shoves in his wives (also in a one-directional manner, as they have no say in it) beat for him, a fake love that only serves himself. Even the name "Lion's Heart" is an ironic jab at how brave and immovable he tries to come off vs how fearful he is of everything on the inside, and "Little King" fits his character for similar reasons.

On top of his ability, his character design is extremely well done. Regulus is described as a person you wouldn't be able to spot in a crowd, with no distinguishing features at all, not particularly ugly or handsome, with no particular style, a totally forgettable person. His color overall is white which could be seen as a representation of both his self-proclaimed "purity" so to speak but also his emptiness. Looking up "color symbolism in literature" will show this exact dichotomy - white is a symbol of holiness, cleanliness, and purity, but underneath, coldness, emptiness, and isolation. This was something that was actually done really well in the anime in this episode, where his title card is shown on a white background unlike the rest, with his name just totally blending into it except for the "ko" character in Corneas, which I assume is a play on "ko" meaning child. I saw several other people coming to the same conclusion, I think that was a really nice move by the production team. Although his main color is white, his other is gold, seen on the edges of both of his outfits in the show. Gold is a color associated with royalty and status, but also greed. The only other particularly striking thing about his appearance is his singular blue earring. The earring is likely a a symbol of his vanity. it's pretty out of place with the rest of his color scheme which seems intentional. The color blue tends to be associated with wisdom, stability/tranquility and cleanliness, probably the earring is an indicator that Regulus preaches these values superficially, it being a random out of place adornment he throws on to feel extra smart and perfect. Of course on the other side of things, you have blue as a representation of sadness/melancholy, which hints at the underlying nature of his character. Blue is the color of water, and Regulus is a water-like character in my opinion, having no actual solidity as a person, just molding himself in whatever way fits the situation. Him only wearing one earring accomplishes several of these same ideas, highlighting his underlying incompleteness as a person despite how he decorates things. The last interesting thing about his design is the infinity symbol at the front of his collar, I assume as a nod to his unchanging/eternal nature, both as a person (the underlying "consistency" to his inconsistecy, not being able to change himself) and in his authority of greed.

Many people wonder how the title of “Greed” fits Regulus, rather than pride. The answer is put pretty well by Emilia this episode. Regulus literally does nothing but “want.” He wants to destroy you, he wants to yap, he wants to be right, he wants you to be his wife, he wants to not have to face his insecurities, he wants to be “perfect.” He wants to pretend that he’s everything he’s not, that he’s not greedy, not insecure. And he wants to be able to do all this without difficulty, without change, in the most “perfect” manner. Regulus’s fantasy is by nature greedy. It’s also prideful, since being greedy kind of naturally can just be stated as some form of “thinking you’re worthy of x” rather than “I want x” but the greed seems more in line with Regulus as a character - a guy who could not stand one single bad thing about existing, requiring the most “flawless” life possible for himself to go on. Re:zero has loads of parallels to the Divine Comedy that I'm confident are entirely intentional (Beatrice is obviously a reference to both Dante's Beatrice, and Umineko's as well, which itself is a reference to Dante's), which I plan on analyzing at some point, but one that may help show why Regulus is greed rather than pride is that, in Inferno, Dante tends to place sinners in the circle of hell that most deeply reflect their sin, what can be seen as the root of all their problems, even if they express multiple different sins. Regulus is indeed prideful, but pride isn't the root of his problems, it's a result. The cause itself is his greed. Well the cause is actually that he's fucking insane but you get what I mean.

This is my analysis of Regulus's character. I think most of this information was imparted to the audience in the anime, but the issue with the anime adaptation is how it puts too much emphasis on the "pathetic" part of Regulus, making him goofy and unserious, which makes it seem like his character is equally unserious and simple. This makes it much harder to pick up on a lot of his character. In contrast, the novel portrays him in a more threatening manner. All of his scenes where he seems to be an actual danger were cut - when he blows off Reinhard's leg, when he crushes his shoulder, when his attacks inflict massive damage upon the city. We know that Regulus is pathetic just from his words and actions in the novel, while still understanding that he's an immense threat. In the anime, his cartoonish portrayal just goes overboard in that direction.

But Regulus's character within the context of the story, and the functions it serves, are something that I don't think the anime would be able to properly portray no matter how it's adapted, it's just something the watcher/reader has to pick up.

Irony is the key aspect of Regulus’s treatment within the story. Regulus's character is filled with irony. His utterly backwards way of living produces the exact opposite results, so to speak. The strongest archbishop accomplishes nothing. He destroyed the city (large portions of it, at least, in the novels, though this was cut in the anime), but didn’t even manage to kill Subaru once. His weaponized wives survived without even needing to be killed to deactivate his ability. Funnily enough, this all would've been irrelevant if he actually treated them in a way that made them respect him and want to help him. Instead, they were all willing to offer up their lives just to kill him. But even funnier is that they didn't even end up needing to die. Only through Emilia could this feat be accomplished, and Regulus (along with Pandora) are the ones who set her on this path to begin with. In a similar vein, Geuse gave up everything, even his sanity, to hold of Regulus, and gets his revenge in the end. Regulus makes fun of Geuse, but Geuse gets the last laugh, because that mocking was what gave Subaru the idea to use Invisible Providence to defeat him. Literally everything Regulus does comes back to bite him in the end. And when he’s finally defeated, the last bit of irony is that his final wish is for Emilia to not remember him, to not take joy in her revenge achieved for Geuse and Fortuna. And his last wish came true. Emilia didn’t even remember where she knew Regulus from, as he left no lasting imprint on her heart. He wanted to be left alone, and in the end, as he's dying in a hole, defeated in every imaginable sense of the word, he got his wish. It's just the most hilarious, final "fuck you" to this guy.

The purpose of this irony within the story is meant to illustrate just how horrifyingly, comedically tragic Regulus's character is, in the sense that he's literally just so god damn pathetic when all of his defenses have been peeled off that you see him in a whole new light. He becomes, like a lot of the re:zero cast (mainly the archbishops) more like a representation of abstract ideas rather than a more down to earth character. He is pure insecurity, and a portrayal of the most extreme possible method of avoiding your flaws and change and displeasure. This depiction of Regulus as an idealized form is what emphasizes his parallels with other characters, which form the meaning of his character as a whole within the story.

Regulus serves as a reflection of core aspects of Subaru's character (at the beginning of the show). Both are filled with insecurities. Subaru uses comedy and banter as a distraction from his own insecurities. Regulus uses violence. There's a curious parallel between the two as well in their use of hate to distract themselves. During arc 3, Subaru used his violent hatred of Petelgeuse, who he viewed as the source of all his problems, as a distraction from confronting his own issues. Petelgeuse was a perfect form of escapism for Subaru, because someone so horrifically evil in every way was an easy target to pretend to be the reason everything went wrong. Though Subaru felt that everything around him was forcing him to confront that "this is the result of your actions" as Petelgeuse said, Petelgeuse's own existence as the "enemy" stopped Subaru from feeling that way. Regulus, interestingly, does something similar right before his death. After losing everything, at his absolute lowest, Regulus is curled up in a fetal position, repeating to himself "I am not wrong! I am not at fault!" but when Reinhard appears above him, his mood immediately shifts from denial to hatred, as he glares at Reinhard and calls him a monster. I found this to be a nice possible callback to Subaru in arc 3.

Another interesting parallel between the two is their childhood. Regulus's childhood was again unfortunately cut from the anime, but it's interesting seeing how the two contrast with knowledge from the novels. It's safe to say Regulus's childhood was, objectively, worse than Subaru's, but both have the same issue of being unable to accept the happiness around them. Regulus had a tough but still loving family but was seemingly unable to fathom their love to any extent, instead seeing it as them looking down on him. He viewed them as enemies. He viewed everyone and everything as enemies, out to get him, filling him with an extreme sense of anxiety, paranoia, and stress, so strong that it turned his hair white. Subaru had a slightly different issue, where his family was so kind and loving that he had difficulty accepting their love, not thinking he deserved it. Instead, he wanted his family to berate him and put an end to his idleness, so that someone else would be Subaru's "enemy" rather than himself. In the novel, "Because he lacked the courage to give up on himself, and because he wanted to be the tragic hero rather than the villain of his own world, without saying a word, he had silently waited for someone else to volunteer to be the villain." In other words, both Subaru and Regulus were unable to confront their own issues and instead made everyone around them the villain. In Subaru's case, it was because he couldn't accept his family's love, and for Regulus, he couldn't recognize it as such. When both were "blessed," Regulus with his authority, and Subaru with his summoning, they both used it as a way to escape their past.

From that point on the parallels only increase. Both objectify women. Subaru especially in arc 3 views women like NPCs, as he uses them to fuel his hero complex and treats them like crutches for comfort, something he can rely on. Regulus also treats women like crutches, as a way of escaping his insecurities. In many ways, Regulus is something of a traditional overpowered isekai character - with an unstoppable ability and a harem of wives. In this way he forms an interesting contrast to Subaru, showing what he could've ended up like if he were not willing to address and overcome his flaws - because that's what separates Subaru from Regulus. Subaru faces his insecurities, he acknowledges his hero complex and obsession over Emilia. Regulus is like a Subaru who never develops, a traditional isekai Subaru. Both have an "overpowered" ability, so to speak. Subaru's causes him immense pain, but allows him to overcome things through willpower and by facing his issues (which then lets him make progress through his loops in better ways). Regulus's authority literally divorces him from pain and change. Instead, he simply blows his problems away. He does this up until his death, when he finally met his match in his polar opposite. The one who defeated Regulus was the person who embodied everything he stood against, everything he wanted to avoid, a person who faces his fears and fights through his pain for his friends. The simple takeaway is that Regulus's way of life is flawed. It ended in disaster for him, and made his life empty. He never had any substance as a person, all he did was hide from his problems until the bitter end. And it was, very intentionally, a brutal end - organs crushed, bones crushed, a mishapen blob of flesh beneath the city, caught between drowning and heart failure. (And in case any anime onlies didn't catch what happened, after Reinhard hit him, Regulus started boring through the ground due to his ability, but if he didn't turn it off he would die of heart failure, so he had to turn it off eventually, and when he did, he immediately was impacted by all the force of his fall. It was a lot more violent in the novels than it looked in the anime. After the water starts flowing in, he starts drowning, activating his ability in intervals to escape the pain until either the drowning or the heart failure killed him.)

Regulus parallels the other two members of this matchup as well. There's a strong contrast between Regulus and Reinhard through the arc. Both can be seen as a representation of "absolute strength," and experience a sense of isolation due to that immense strength. However, Reinhard struggles to accept his own strength and status as the sword saint, wanting to be treated as normal (which is why he's so happy when Subaru tells him "I'll try to cover any areas you're lacking"). Reinhard is extremely humble and doesn't think of himself as "worthy" per say, whereas Regulus is the opposite, an extremely prideful and self- assertive existence who will literally crash out and start blasting if you treat him any worse than he views himself deserving of because he thinks he's peak and can't accept being told otherwise by anyone. Where Reinhard finds satisfaction in being treated as "normal," Regulus uses it as an excuse to be an utterly depraved individual. Another contrast between the two centers around their "freedom." Reinhard is a character who is "constrained" in countless ways during the story. Because of his immense strength, he isn't allowed to go to other countries. He constantly faces situations where his strength is insufficient to solve the problems. Especially because Reinhard is further constrained by collateral damage. Had Reinhard simply blown the city away, Regulus's wives would've died, followed by Regulus himself, but Reinhard cannot do this due to his character. Similarly, Reinhard was unable to defeat Sirius because doing so would kill everyone around him. His strength is also insufficient to solve any of his family issues, which further serve to limit Reinhard, along with his own mentality towards his position as the sword saint. Regulus, on the opposite side of the spectrum, is a completely free existence, not held back by anything or anyone. He views the "rights" of others as an external force inhibiting his absolute freedom, which he cannot accept, so he blows them away with everything else. Regulus is an individual not limited by any considerations or sentiments towards others, totally distinct from Reinhard, a person with equally immense power, but held back by his mentality towards everyone around him.

Their self-perception parallels each other nicely. Regulus is "strong" but has an inferiority complex which he covers with his facade of overwhelming power. He is "strong," but struggles to accept that and has to force himself onto the world around him to be able to. His goal is to affirm his power for himself. Reinhard is the opposite, possessing a similar inferiority complex and struggling to accept his nature, but where Regulus goes out of his way to assert his superiority, Reinhard will always downplay himself, believing himself unworthy of the title of Sword Saint.

Emilia herself is incredibly interesting to compare to Regulus because of how they serve as a foil to each other and their beliefs, especially within the context and themes of arc 5 (and the whole series).

For background/parallels, Emilia is a person who did not believe she deserved happiness, thinking she's ugly, irredeemable, selfish, and conceited. She had low self-confidence, and her willpower relied on having people around her for support. She struggled to behave independently until late arc 4. (In comparison, Regulus is a boastful, entitled person who, despite caring about nothing but himself, and feeling that he needs nothing but himself, the pinnacle of "independence" one could say, also literally requires other people in order to live, both his wives for his authority and other people for validation.) Emilia rejected others' kindness, Subaru's for example, out of concern for their safety, and confusion towards why someone would help her of all people. She doesn't want it for their sake. Regulus rejects others' kindness because he can't stand it.

As for how she breaks down Regulus's beliefs, broadly, Regulus hates others' individuality, whereas Emilia embodies it. Emilia throughout her life had struggled because of how others defined her under the shadow of Satella/the Witch. This projection was something Emilia found impossible to escape from. Everywhere she went, the world failed to recognize her individuality, seeing her as "Satella" rather than "Emilia." This is what led to Emilia's feelings of shame, and the idea that her existence is a burden to others, as she recognized she was responsible for the freezing of Elior forest, and after waking up, the relentless fear and hatred the people in the local village felt towards her further amplified her perceptions. After arc 4, however, Emilia was able to better understand and appreciate herself, gaining confidence and being proud of herself and her appearance rather than shamed by it. This was thanks to Subaru. By supporting her, he was able to put her in a place where she needed less support in order to function. In arc 5, Emilia then pays this forward to Regulus's wives. Regulus had been oppressing their individuality, which Emilia recognized and connected to her own experiences, so she felt inclined to help them the way Subaru helped her. So, she asks for Sylphy's name. The importance of names is something consistently developed throughout the series, both in-story and on a meta level through Tappei's "named chapters." Names are an assertion of individuality and will. Regulus calls them by numbers rather than names because Regulus can't stand others' individuality and will, since he's unable to accept things different from him, and names are a powerful representation of that. Instead, he calls them numbers, the ultimate form of dehumanization. Emilia breaks down this shadow Regulus has cast onto his wives and helps them regain their sense of identity once again. What Regulus destroyed, Emilia rebuilds using the exact thing Regulus tried to eliminate from them. It's also interesting to see how Subaru and Regulus contrast within this context. Subaru's belief in Emilia, (a central theme in arc 4, with the ending literally being "Believe in You") allows Emilia to gain confidence, self-respect, and individuality. It was his ultimate expression of love towards Emilia. He loves her because she's her. After Emilia expressed her concerns about confronting her past, fearing she may become a "different person" so to speak, ("When all those memories come back...what will I do then? Is who I am right now really me? I forgot so many precious things, I forgot about Mommy...is who I am right now wrong?" ... Was a life underpinned by false memories not wrong in every respect? If the point of origin was wrong, did that not make the path walked and the destination reached all wrong as well?) Subaru thought back to his mothers' words, that it's not the beginning or middle that matters, it's the end, and he decides that the path walked can't invalidate the end, and nobody can decide if the path is right or wrong until the end. He tells Emilia that he'll love her no matter what, and that she'll always be her, and that he'll always love her. Finally, with his kiss, he's able to give Emilia a reason to believe.

Subaru stated that he loves her, giving Emilia courage. Regulus's "love" on the other hand is the opposite, he doesn't "love" his wives for who they are, he loves them for how they make him feel, he loves them like dolls, playthings, tools. The wives' "signing of a divorce" in the form of the freezing of Regulus's false hearts in them perfectly encapsulates this, as they reject Regulus's self-serving "love" in favor of Emilia's "love," pure belief in them as human beings.

(As a side note, another nice element of "love" is how Regulus's status in this arc is (in the novels at least) overshadowed by Theresia's chapter, which is the conclusion to the battle for Priestella. Theresia's chapter is basically a big middle finger to Regulus's love. After seeing Regulus express the most misogynistic, self- serving, delusional "love" conceivable, Theresia comes in and slams Regulus with the most badass, romantic, heartwarming love story ever.)

Another interesting element of all of this is how it relates to a key aspect of arc 5, how characters leverage the past to help them in the present. Emilia uses her experience in Elior forest to save the wives without casualties. She also uses her experiences and development from arc 4 to empathize with the wives to begin with, giving them the courage to sign their divorce. As mentioned previously, upon Regulus's comment about Petelgeuse, Subaru remembers him, and the witch, which gives him the idea to use Invisible Providence. He even calls it "Unseen hand" here rather than IP, a nod to Petelgeuse. Subaru uses his star knowledge from back on earth to figure out Regulus's authority as well. Meanwhile, Regulus is the antithesis of these concepts. Regulus shuns the past and future, living exclusively in a single moment. As soon as he gained his authority, he destroyed his country and cast off all remnants of his old life. He literally isekai'd himself. While other characters take advantage of the past, and how much they've changed, Regulus doesn't change, he can't, because changing would mean admitting that there was something imperfect about him, which he can't accept. So he remains a totally static character, acting as if he's a perfect existence. Why would a perfect existence need his past? Thus, while his opponents use the past to help defeat him in the present, he does nothing, having the utmost faith in himself and none in others.

Speaking of faith, this is another concept in this arc and arc 4 that serves to contrast Regulus with Subaru, Emilia, and Reinhard. There's a reason the penultimate chapter of the fight bears the title "faith." I'm repeating myself at this point, but Emilia's faith in Subaru is embodied in the IP scene, where she leaves herself open, trusting him wholeheartedly. She leaves her heart in his hands, even though he could've easily killed her. Regulus embodies faith in a more distorted way. Regulus also places his heart in others' hands, so to speak, but he does so with no danger to himself. He needs to do so to retain his invincibility, so he amasses wives like dolls and mentally breaks them so that they can't resist him. Subaru and Emilia's faith is an absolute trust in each other through love, but Regulus's faith is nothing more than a stockpile of extra lives. He doesn't trust them with his heart, so he needs enough of them that that won't be an issue. With that, he proceeds to put on his guise of a loving, faithful husband with loving, faithful wives, fooling nobody except himself.

This scene with Subaru, Emilia, and Regulus also is reflective of the one which occurred a hundred years prior, with Geuse, Fortuna, and Regulus. There are probably a bunch of different ways to interpret this, but the simplest one in my opinion is that the new scene is meant to portray the proper use of the authority of sloth. Both Geuse and Subaru, neither really compatible with the authority, tried to use it to defeat Regulus and save the people they love. But Geuse used it as a combat weapon against Regulus, despite the futility in doing so, whereas Subaru used it on Emilia, phasing through her harmlessly, to crush Regulus's pseudo- heart inside her. Geuse had the right sentiment but the wrong method, but he gets a chance at redemption through Subaru.

These are just a few reasons why I think Regulus and arc 5 as a whole are really underrated by the community, because of how well they build on the themes of previous seasons and arc 4 mainly. Regulus embodies stagnation while the rest of the cast uses how much they've changed to defeat him. Core arc and character themes return as parallels. Finally, Regulus is the absolute antithesis of the titular theme of the arc, engraving yourself in history. Subaru and his team become the heroes who saved the city with minimal casualties, whereas Regulus drowns far underground, leaving absolutely no impact on anyone. A little, pitiful, pathetic existence that dies a horrible death, forgotten almost instantly even by the person whose life he did immense damage to.

Although Regulus almost comes off at first glance as something of a one-note villain, a bizarre and obnoxious asshole, I think he's an incredible villain with insane dynamics in the story, and easily one of the most unique and enjoyable antagonists I've ever seen. The anime definitely made it more difficult to decipher his character but that's sort of to be expected. My main issue was that it throws Regulus as being "pathetic" in your face constantly, when it's already displayed in how he acts and would've come up in his death scene regardless. If you made it this far, holy fuck, why did you read all this. Thanks. What are your thoughts? Is there anything here you disagree with, or would like to add?
mohamedo_abuduruMar 29, 12:32 AM
Feb 28, 12:39 PM
#2
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Jul 2021
999
That’s a really cool interpretation. I’ve been debating dropping the anime since most of the characters feel basic to me, but I wanna try reading the novels sometime
Feb 28, 12:42 PM
#3
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Jan 2021
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Kelly32723 said:
That’s a really cool interpretation. I’ve been debating dropping the anime since most of the characters feel basic to me, but I wanna try reading the novels sometime

Basic is hilarious. Subaru is literally one of the best written Protagonists in anime. Aside from that the female cast and the villains are fantastic.
Petelgeuse, Regulus, Capella and especially Echidna or Roswaal are some of the most interesting villains ever
Feb 28, 1:05 PM
#4

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Jan 2017
81
I found Regulus very intriguing as a villain but I always felt like something was off. Thanks to your analysis, I was able to realise that the adaptation wasn't able to do his character complete justice. The voice actor and staff still did a fantastic job despite some of the content being cut off.
The increased emphasis on making him constantly look nothing more than a cartoonish asshole drained the "threatening factor" (for me at least). Coupled with the stakes not being as high as Season 1 and Season 2, this made it not as good as the fight with the menacing Betelgeuse. I kind of wish we had a couple of extra episodes...
Well, all said and done, I still enjoyed watching his character the most in this season.
P.S. This was a really great character interpretation! Loved it.

Feb 28, 1:38 PM
#5

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Apr 2021
66
I read the whole thing, thanks for explaining his character in such great detail. As an anime only, I really did see him as not much more than a pathetic loser.

To me it seemed, that while his family wasn't particularly good, they really were not bad enough to bring forth such a dispicable person. So to me, it therefore looked like he's just your typical villain, who for no deeper reason brought great harm to his world, which disappointed me quite a bit, as I was hoping for him to have at least some kind of reasonable backstory or specific twist in character.

Your interpretation gave me exactly that: his twist in character is primarely him seeing everything people do as an attack on himself, plus him never experiencing any pain or change for hundreds of years.

This actually reminds me of all these "sigma males" that we saw appear on the internet over the past couple of years. The way they talk makes it seem like every single person around them is their enemy. They do videos on how to sit in a chair like a sigma, or on how to always keep a straight face. It's as if they are constantly being assessed and are living surrounded by enemies, who are just waiting for them to leave an opening so that they can come and get them. Regulus is just an overexaggeration of that.

Regulus and Subaru being similuar, with the key difference being Subaru actually being able to change, is also a great interpretation. It's like the matchup that Regulus and Subaru found themselves in was completly unfair. They share a lot of weaknesses, but Regulus had centuries more to prepare and an incredibly powerful ability. The main difference in their strenghts is Subarus ability to change that you mentioned, yet this difference in the way they think and therefore developed, was enough for Suburu to win against such an opponent. That's quite poetic.

So overall I really liked your interpretations of Regulus's character. Also thanks for reading if you've made it this far.
Feb 28, 2:25 PM
#6

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Apr 2021
1598
interesting viewpoint. I'll try to use this.
Feb 28, 3:24 PM
#7
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Jan 2017
271
eh, he's not as deep as people seem to claim imo. he's just an incel who got far too comfy being reprehensible bc he had god mode on. I'd call him a good foil to subaru but he's neither a reincarnated character nor has a similar power set to subaru so it's hard to give him credit for that.

meh. I'm at least glad they killed him. one less rambling nutjob.
Feb 28, 3:25 PM
#8
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Nov 2020
93
great read (character limit)
Feb 28, 4:23 PM
#9
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Jul 2021
999
AshTheChamp said:
Kelly32723 said:
That’s a really cool interpretation. I’ve been debating dropping the anime since most of the characters feel basic to me, but I wanna try reading the novels sometime

Basic is hilarious. Subaru is literally one of the best written Protagonists in anime. Aside from that the female cast and the villains are fantastic.
Petelgeuse, Regulus, Capella and especially Echidna or Roswaal are some of the most interesting villains ever

I agree that Echidna and Rooswaal are some very exceptional characters, but besides that, I don’t agree. It’s not like the characters are unlikeable, I do like a good amount of characters, especially Ram and those 2, followed by Rem, but I still don’t think the rest of the characters aren’t exactly exceptional. And even with those I mentioned above, I only consider Echidna and Rooswaal to be very well-written, the other 2 are just likable for me. Well, except Regulus of course, based off of how the op described him in the novels, he definitely seems like a very interesting villain
Feb 28, 4:44 PM

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Jun 2021
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Reply to Oni_Zokuchou
eh, he's not as deep as people seem to claim imo. he's just an incel who got far too comfy being reprehensible bc he had god mode on. I'd call him a good foil to subaru but he's neither a reincarnated character nor has a similar power set to subaru so it's hard to give him credit for that.

meh. I'm at least glad they killed him. one less rambling nutjob.
@Oni_Zokuchou "this character isn't that deep, he's just (insert dumbed down description of character)" how do you possibly think this is a good argument. I literally just gave you all the answers and you're like "nah" and pretend they don't exist? you're literally regulusing right now.
Feb 28, 4:52 PM
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In other words, Regulas was, from the very beginning, the scum of the earth that will never change his ways therefore he is one of the greatest villains fiction has to offer
Feb 28, 5:57 PM
i like re zero

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Oct 2021
139
fantastic analysis. I'm quite sad the animes portrayal of him feels so bare bones
Feb 28, 8:43 PM
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3812
I'm glad you took the effort to write that wall of text, but I ain't reading all that, I'd rather have the anime present me with interesting villains, I don't want anyone else explaining what the anime tried to do with those one dimensional villains because to me the anime failed in that aspect, maybe the fault lies in the source material, who knows, but I won't read the source material, I'm sticking with the anime.

This season isn't bad, it's actually pretty good, but ReZero has crap villains unfortunately, the only villains that I like so far are Elsa "Bowel Hunter" (she's awesome), and Capella. I had high hopes for Regulus but in the end he turned out to be a generic, uninteresting one dimensional villain that rambles crap and all that rambling from these crappy villains gets me bored pretty quickly, it happened with Petelgeuse, the mummy girl, and now with Regulus, just no, less rambling please, that shit gets me bored.

One dimensional villains that rambles crap ain't what I consider an interesting villain, maybe you do, but I don't, if you want my definition of a good written villain then take a look at Arcane S1, Silco is what I consider an amazing, interesting villain.
Mar 1, 1:49 AM
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Dec 2022
14
Thank you for this analysis. He’s one of my favorite characters, so this was a fun read. Really helped me understand his character better!
Mar 1, 3:09 AM

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13141
I also noticed that despite being a literal Archbishop of Greed, he has the simplest and modest design out of all archbishops we have seen so far, that makes him look like a regular human. Perfectly contrasts his personality.

Mar 1, 3:58 AM

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Jun 2021
405
Reply to Piromysl
I also noticed that despite being a literal Archbishop of Greed, he has the simplest and modest design out of all archbishops we have seen so far, that makes him look like a regular human. Perfectly contrasts his personality.
@Piromysl Yeah, this is 100% intentional on the author's part, in the novel this is pointed out a lot. Regulus is described as a person you wouldn't be able to spot in a crowd, with no distinguishing features at all, not particularly ugly or handsome, with no particular style, a totally forgettable person overall. I think his design is really good, his color overall is white which could be seen as a representation of both his self-proclaimed "purity" so to speak but also his emptiness. This was something that was actually done really well in the anime in this episode, where his title card is shown on a white background unlike the rest, with his name just totally blending into it except for the "ko" character in Corneas, which I assume is a play on "ko" meaning child. I saw several other people coming to the same conclusion, I think that was a really nice move by the production team. There were some other highlights from the episode too, like how Regulus in his rant about his wives shows up in a totally white world, and he looks completely isolated there.
Mar 1, 4:55 AM
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Jan 2020
2203
yapping like regulus
Mar 1, 5:14 AM
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Oct 2020
280
bro wasn't lying when he said 'yap incoming'
Blah blah blah blah .... So annoying. Are you bastards in heat or something?
- Sakata gintoki
Mar 1, 5:54 AM

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Jun 2021
405
Reply to literallyeurope
fantastic analysis. I'm quite sad the animes portrayal of him feels so bare bones
@literallyeurope i kinda get it, there are time constraints on how much he can yap, and honestly i didn't have a problem with his presentation until cour 2 started, most of the scenes with him in cour 1 and pre-s3 were fine. i do think it would've been interesting to have it like the break time where you can just hear him talking in the background offscreen during the fight. i think the main way the anime's adaption of his dialogue struggled was that it tended to not effectively show the insanely self-indulgent way he goes on and on, or the nonsensical line of logic he uses to reach his conclusions, they just boiled it down to a few lines and made him sound like a karen or whatever. but that wasn't my main issue, I just didn't like his presentation in episode 10 and all the cut content
Mar 1, 6:49 AM
i like re zero

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Oct 2021
139
Reply to mohamedo_abuduru
@literallyeurope i kinda get it, there are time constraints on how much he can yap, and honestly i didn't have a problem with his presentation until cour 2 started, most of the scenes with him in cour 1 and pre-s3 were fine. i do think it would've been interesting to have it like the break time where you can just hear him talking in the background offscreen during the fight. i think the main way the anime's adaption of his dialogue struggled was that it tended to not effectively show the insanely self-indulgent way he goes on and on, or the nonsensical line of logic he uses to reach his conclusions, they just boiled it down to a few lines and made him sound like a karen or whatever. but that wasn't my main issue, I just didn't like his presentation in episode 10 and all the cut content
@mohamedo_abuduru Yeah, Regulus in the WN (I haven't read the LN yet) was still extremely threatening despite his utter lack of combat experience due to just how absurdly overpowered his ability is.
I feel like my biggest issue with the season is; even with the substantial amount of cut content, Season 1 and Season 2 did a fantastic job setting the tone and developing the psychological horror aspects and character drama, with plenty of room to let a lot of scenes breathe. It's how the anime became my favorite in the first place, even before knowing that the novels were better. Season 3, while having less cut content, fails to have a darker tone and it just feels like a lot of things are happening? Watanabe's direction at least let the first 2 seasons stand pretty proud as standalone anime, while season 3 kind of just feels like it leaves a lot of anime only viewers questioning the depth of the series moreso.

It feels like I'm making a pretty niche complaint, but it's really important for the next arc, if Shinohara ruins my baby arc 6 I'll be quite sad hahaha
Mar 1, 7:49 AM
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Mar 2020
6
Thanks for the unadapted insights into his character! You gave me a more well rounded view of his character
Mar 1, 8:29 AM
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1
why does he have an earing?
Mar 1, 9:15 AM

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Jun 2021
405
Reply to Karkatloveramong
why does he have an earing?
@Karkatloveramong like story wise? no real answer, This Twitter Post from just the other day is a fun theory, regulus's whole relationship with his first wife is something really interesting that I might update this analysis with at some point. there's a bunch of stuff i didn't talk about as much as I should've, like his obsession with purity/virginity, his false humility, and the way he frames literally everything around himself. thematically though, the earring is probably just a sort of a symbol of his vanity. it's pretty out of place with the rest of his color scheme which seems on purpose, the color blue tends to be associated with wisdom, stability/tranquility and cleanliness, probably it's a sort of indicator that regulus preaches these values superficially, it being a random out of place earring he throws on to feel extra smart and perfect. Of course on the other side of things, you have blue as a representation of sadness/melancholy, which hints at the underlying nature of his character. him only wearing one of them has similar effects, maybe highlighting his underlying incompleteness as a person despite how he decorates himself. or maybe tappei just thought it looked cool.
mohamedo_abuduruMar 1, 9:45 AM
Mar 1, 12:45 PM

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Reply to literallyeurope
@mohamedo_abuduru Yeah, Regulus in the WN (I haven't read the LN yet) was still extremely threatening despite his utter lack of combat experience due to just how absurdly overpowered his ability is.
I feel like my biggest issue with the season is; even with the substantial amount of cut content, Season 1 and Season 2 did a fantastic job setting the tone and developing the psychological horror aspects and character drama, with plenty of room to let a lot of scenes breathe. It's how the anime became my favorite in the first place, even before knowing that the novels were better. Season 3, while having less cut content, fails to have a darker tone and it just feels like a lot of things are happening? Watanabe's direction at least let the first 2 seasons stand pretty proud as standalone anime, while season 3 kind of just feels like it leaves a lot of anime only viewers questioning the depth of the series moreso.

It feels like I'm making a pretty niche complaint, but it's really important for the next arc, if Shinohara ruins my baby arc 6 I'll be quite sad hahaha
@literallyeurope i don't think it's quite as bad as it seems since even in the novels arc 5 was never as dark as any of the previous 4, overall it was focused more on hype scenes, and i think that should carry into the adaptation, being more "epic" rather than dark/dramatic like previous seasons. but even though i am enjoying the season, and the early action was good, the regulus fight is kinda the meat of the arc and that lost a lot of the "epic" factor in the adaptation. and overall, this season is simply nowhere near as well directed as season 1 in particular. other than emilia i like the new character designs (season 1/frozen bonds emilia just looks the best, she's way more expressive there) but the atmosphere feels less well crafted and the art direction and overall animation style doesn't compare imo. not to mention the cut content. seasons 1 and 2 had loads of it too ofc but the changes in season 3 feel like a result of bad decision making rather than just time constraints. the scene in ep 8 where emilia doesn't fight back against regulus and instead does the exact same damn thing as sylphy did, just looking like she's accepting death, is such a horrifically awful and totally unnecessary change. i'm not gonna lie bro i would really not get your hopes up about arc 6 lol. if arc 5, a fairly standard action arc is having this much trouble, then i have no idea how they'll adapt the next one in a satisfactory manner. i hate being such a complainer about things but i really feel like arc 5 if adapted well had the potential to demolish the seasonal charts and ratings. the fights are so awesome in the novels.
Mar 1, 9:10 PM

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11
This is the amount of detail I love to see in an analysis! Thank you!! I kind of understood his character, but there was clearly a whole lot I missed since I only watch the anime (which is why I want to start reading the LN eventually). I honestly like Regulus more now after reading this.

Mar 2, 8:50 AM
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great analysis, I think what's also kind of cool about Regulus is how he sorta feels like a foil to Reinhard as well, both became isolated due to their immense strength. However, Reinhard has that strength humble him, making him appreciate gestures to him from those who are weaker than him that treat him like a normal person, while Regulus lets such strength further damn him with how wicked his mentality is.
Mar 2, 9:43 AM

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Jun 2021
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Reply to jacobofruina
great analysis, I think what's also kind of cool about Regulus is how he sorta feels like a foil to Reinhard as well, both became isolated due to their immense strength. However, Reinhard has that strength humble him, making him appreciate gestures to him from those who are weaker than him that treat him like a normal person, while Regulus lets such strength further damn him with how wicked his mentality is.
@jacobofruina i actually wrote a couple sentences about reinhard in my original but took it out when i posted it here for the sake of space, and because I didn't have fully formed thoughts about it, just a vague impression of how regulus is this incredibly flawed guy pretending he's a perfect being while reinhard the guy who's considered "perfect" only ever talks about his own inadequacies. i like how you put it better, reinhard wants to be treated as normal because he doesn't really feel like he lives up to the sword saint title, which is why he was so happy when subaru told him "i'll try to cover any areas you're lacking," he's really humble and doesn't think of himself as "worthy" persay, whereas regulus is the opposite, if you treat him any worse than his standard he will just crash out and start blasting because he thinks he's peak and can't accept being told otherwise from anyone. and the way they use their overwhelming strength is very different. this was really helpful thanks

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