Pandora

Pandora (パンドラ) is the Witch of Vainglory who has a connection to the Witch Cult. Due to her seeming command over the Cult, she can actively be described as one of the main antagonists of Re:Zero.

She played a part in several atrocities throughout history, including the attack on Elior Forest as well as the death of Theresia van Astrea at the hands of the Hakugei.

Appearance
Pandora appears as young girl and has long, transparent platinum hair with dark blue eyes, and long eyelashes. She only wears one white cloth over her petite body. She gives off an important aura and her voice has a magic like charm that seems to bind the bodies and souls of others. Just by being looked at or talked to, one can experience happiness enough to die for.

She is beautiful enough to be said to make other tremble with her beauty and that even God would hesitate to touch her. Humans have an ideal of beauty, and Pandora is the answer to that beauty. Also, if beauty could kill, Pandora would be that beauty.

Personality
At first glance, Pandora is dignified and graceful, with a generally calm demeanor. This calm exterior hid an extremely selfish and sociopathic personality, whom was willing to do anything to achieve her goals. She had no problem with manipulating Petelgeuse into killing his beloved Fortuna and driving him into insanity, and even told Emilia that she would rip up Elior Forest to open the seal if she did not comply with her demands. Despite these traits, she never showed anger toward anyone, sending Regulus away when he turned on her and speaking calmly toward Emilia despite the latter repeatedly killing her.

She had an abject lack of guilt stemming from her actions, showing no form of remorse when she caused someone mental or physical pain or even when she killed innocent people and concocted catastrophes. The Witch only saw the people around her as pawns or pets, not actually viewing them as intelligent creatures worthy of being considered her equals in any way.

History
Pandora's origins and goals are shrouded with mystery, as history has no mention of her. At an unknown point in time, she became the Witch of Vainglory, and set out on a path of destruction.

Approximately 100 years ago, she instructed Regulus Corneas, the Sin Archbishop of Greed, to accompany her on he visit to the Elior Forest, with the intent of opening the seal, guarded by the elves living in the forest. They arrived to find Fortuna, the Guardian of the seal, and Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti, the leader of the moderate Witch Cult faction. Pandora explained to the pair her intentions of opening her seal. After their initial hostile interactions, Petelgeuse ordered Fortuna to escape and make sure Pandora doesn't get the chance to interact with Emilia and use her for her vile plans. After the pair successfully escaped, Petelgeuse then revealed a box containing the Witch Factor of Sloth, and despite being incompatible with the genes, took them in, gaining the Authority of Sloth. Pandora commended him for his efforts, giving him the title of the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, but the newly corrupt spirit rejected it, saying he accepted the power only to protect what he loved. Petelgeuse then dueled Regulus, however, Greed easily defeated Sloth, severing off his right arm and utterly destroying his legs, rendering him unable to even move. Just as Regulus was about to stomp Petelgeuse's head, ending the spirit's life forever, Fortuna came back to save him. As Regulus prepared to slaughter the pair, Pandora intervened, stating that she would not allow him to harm him as they held significant importance for her plans. Regulus, enraged, hurled dirt at her, which blew her into bits of gore, however, Pandora brought herself back to life and removed Regulus' presence from the forest which automatically reverted all the damage he had done, including disfiguring Petelgeuse.

Pandora then managed to subdue Fortuna and Petelgeuse, and made her way to the Seal where she met Emilia. Pandora revealed that she had been controlling the minor spirits that Emilia followed, and told her how no one had to be hurt and that all she had to do was open the seal. To the Witch's disappointment, Emilia told her that she had made a promise to Fortuna not to open the seal, to which Pandora replied she would tear the forest apart and open the seal forcefully. Seconds before Pandora succeeded in convincing the child, a heavily injured Fortuna attacked Pandora, killing her time after time after time, but to no avail. As Fortuna yelled at her to stay away from Emilia, Petelgeuse joined the fight. The newly promoted spirit and the Guardian of the Seal then prepared to finish the Witch once and for all however, Pandora used her Authority to confuse Petelgeuse who accidentally used his Unseen Hands to rip a hole into Fortuna's chest, destroying her vital organs and sending her to death's door. With the illusion broken, Petelgeuse realized what he had done, and was subsequently driven completely mad due to the unbearable guilt. Pandora then asked Emilia to open the seal again. Pandora then revealed she had been controlling the minor spirits that had played with Emilia and led her to the seal. Emilia, witnessing these events, unleashed her magic, and continuously killed Pandora in her rage, as Pandora came back repeatedly and attempted to calm her down. Emilia then lost control and froze the entire forest, thus ending Pandora's assault.

Fourteen years before Subaru's arrival, Pandora assaulted the soldiers in a conquest to kill the Hakugei via directing it toward the party. She then approached Theresia van Astrea, the former Sword Saint, who had been injured from fighting the Demon Beast, and recently lost her Divine Protection. It's heavily implied that Pandora then proceeded to finish her off.

Abilities
Authority of Vainglory (虚飾の権能 Kyoshoku no Ken'nō): Pandora is able to use the Authority of Vainglory.
 * Though Pandora's Authority remains largely unexplained, she can seemingly rewrite certain phenomena in her favor as many times as she wants, as long as the conditions are in her favor. Using this, she can negate her death, bury people into the ground instantly, erase a person's presence without leaving any trace of their actions behind and change people's memories. Although she can't control the Black Snake with her power, she is able to direct it to wherever she wants.
 * Phenomenon Manipulation: The main application of the Authority of Vainglory is the power to seemingly manipulate phenomena at will, although there are conditions in place for the ability to come into affect. One example of Pandora manipulating phenomena was when she 'rewrote' the fact that Regulus had attacked Elior Forest and badly wounded Petelgeuse in the process. The moment Pandora used her power, Regulus was no longer in the Forest. Instead, he found himself frolicking in his mansion with his wives. As Regulus had never technically attacked, the wounds on both Petelgeuse and Fortuna ceased to exist. Despite the newly-forged fact that Regulus had never attacked, Petelgeuse, Fortuna, and Pandora all retained memory of the lost event. When manipulating phenomena, Pandora would usually state what she wanted to happen similar to a narrator and whatever she said would come to pass.
 * Memory Manipulation: Using her Authority, Pandora could seemingly manipulate the memories of another person to a certain extent. By making contact with her victim's head, the Witch could erase memories of her choice and also implant fabricated ones. She demonstrated her power of memory manipulation when she made Emilia forget any knowledge of the Witch of Vainglory's existence. However, this aspect of the Authority wasn't all-encompassing, as Emilia in her later years would occasionally remember disjointed fragments of the memories she had lost.
 * Self-Resurrection: In the event that Pandora was somehow killed, her demise would somehow be rewritten. Ultimately, this application of Vainglory's power that the Witch could evidently use posthumously ensured that Pandora would never be permanently felled by any known physical attack. Her power to self-resurrect was best demonstrated during her attack on Elior Forest. During the assault, she resurrected without a scratch on her after the Regulus used his Authority to turn her into bloody paste. Later, she suffered numerous brutal deaths at the hands of the young Emilia, only to return each time instantly.
 * Sense Manipulation: Pandora was capable of utilizing her ability to seemingly manipulate phenomena to alter her target's senses to potentially perceive things differently to how they were. In this way, Vainglory could manipulate her targets into believing she was somebody else. Similarly, she could also alter people's senses into believing that other people were her. During her attack on Elior Forest, Pandora was able to make Fortuna mistake her as Emilia by making Fortuna perceive Pandora as the young girl. The Witch was also able to trick Petelgeuse into mistaking Fortuna as herself and Emilia as Fortuna, therefore goading him into killing the former.

Trivia

 * Pandora's name refers to the 55 Pandora asteroid.
 * The name also refers to the first woman in Greek mythology who unwittingly released evil into the world, but closed the box before hope was released.
 * Pandora in Greek means "all gifted" or "all giving." This is either a reference to how Pandora was given a blessing by each Greek God before being sent to Earth or a reference to how she gave all the evils to mankind. The former in particular would be a fairly appropriate name for a Witch associated with Vainglory.
 * According to one of Petelgeuse's fingers, Pandora has supreme command over the Witch Cult, but is also regarded as a taboo. Both extremist and moderate factions of the cult which existed at the time never dared to mention her, with Regulus even treating her with respect.
 * It is highly implied through Fortuna's wording that Pandora was responsible for the deaths of Emilia's parents.