Witch

The Witches of Sin (大罪魔女 Taizai Majo) is a term in the Re:Zero world, used for a set of individuals who were previously tasked with governing over each of the Seven Deadly Sins.

We currently only have information regarding the individuals who were the last ones associated with the said term; seven women who governed over Greed (強欲 Gōyoku), Pride (傲慢 Gouman), Wrath (憤怒 Fundo), Gluttony (暴食 Bōshoku), Sloth (怠惰 Taida), Lust (色欲 Shikiyoku), and Envy (嫉妬, Shitto); as well as two individuals who govern over Vainglory (虚飾 Kyoshoku) and Melancholy (憂鬱 Yū'utsu), the two archaic sins.

History
The last known main Seven Witches of Sin were active four centuries ago before six of them died, leaving the Witch of Envy the only one standing. At roughly the same time as the other Witches' demises, an unspecified event happened which caused the Witch of Envy to go on a bloody rampage, destroying half of the world in an event that would soon become known as the Great Calamity. In order to stop her from completely destroying the world and not slaughtering the entire population of that time, the first Sword Saint, the Divine Dragon, the Sage and the Sage's apprentice formed an alliance and defeated the Witch of Envy. Due to Satella's immortality, however, the heroes were unable to kill her, so they opted for a different way of stopping her – sealing the Witch of Envy in a shrine made out of Evil Sealing Stones, which is located near the Pleiades Watchtower in the Auguria Sand Dunes, and was watched over by the Sage's apprentice, where she had been located for the last four-hundred years. Following the events of Arc 6, the partial ruin of the Watchtower and Shaula's loss of humanity, the Tower and the Witch's Shrine are currently being protected by the Divine Dragon resting at the very top of the tower.

The Witch of Vainglory, having likely survived the ordeal, continues to wander the world in pursuit of her own goals, whilst the Warlock of Melancholy seemingly disappeared from historical records and hasn't been spotted, noted or referenced in any major ways for decades, if not centuries.

Information
Well before the Great Calamity, the concept of Witches governing over the seven deadly sins wasn't unheard of, though it is not known who the previous Witches were, when they lived, what their personalities were, what their legacy is, or when and how they perished.

Roughly four hundred years ago, Sekhmet, Typhon, Daphne, Carmilla, Minerva, Echidna and Satella roamed the world. They were considered calamities due to their actions and their consequences: Typhon went around different towns and cities killing everyone who deemed themselves a sinner, Carmilla was the cause of countless unnecessary deaths of people who accidentally laid eyes on her, and with every usage of Minerva's Authority of Wrath, a natural disaster hit a random location in the world. While not necessarily evil at heart, they were directly or indirectly the cause for many hardships and catastrophes. Perhaps the least calamitous Witches were Echidna and Sekhmet, as Echidna spent her days satisfying her Greed, learning new things and acting as an all-knowing encyclopedia for people all around the world, Sekhmet spent her days in languid Sloth, not moving a muscle and not causing any disasters despite her being the second strongest of the witches.

The Witches shared a rather intricate and at times wholesome relationship. Typhon regarded Sekhmet as her "mommy" and often bathed her since the latter couldn't bother with such trivial chores. At least once per year, all seven Witches got together and had a calming tea party hosted by Echidna, which always took place in a different location in the world. It goes without saying that the area usually suffered a huge disaster and all the people in the large vicinity had to evacuate for safety reasons.

Occasionally, a Witch would go on a rampage, destroying entire towns and areas, killing hundreds or thousands of innocent people, directly or indirectly. Typhon was the most prone to such behavior since her childish view of the world and her values often conflicted with the common mindset. Sekhmet was usually sent to calm her down but she usually did more harm than good, more often than not doubling or tripling the damage and deaths. Daphne often went on rampages, eating everything in existence similar to the Oousagi. With her Authority of Lust clouding everyone's minds to the point of creating instant chaos and/or killing them in a matter of minutes, Carmilla inadvertently turned peaceful areas into devastated war zones with many casualties in their wake, toppling larger cities one after another.

Each witch has two image colours that represent them; Echidna's were white and black, Minerva's were blue and white, Sekhmet's were black and grey, Daphne's were black and purple, Typhon's were blue and green, Carmilla's were red and pink, Pandora's are gold and white, and Hector's are gold and brown.

In the end, each Witch met their end in very different ways with most of them not being connected with Satella's rampage:
 * Typhon drowned when she was trapped within Priestella's defences.
 * Sekhmet fell off the Great Waterfall while fighting the Divine Dragon.
 * Daphne starved to death in the Augria Sand Dunes.
 * Minerva was lured into a trap by a group of elves that were sent by an unnamed person. She ended up going mad and subsequently died at the hands of Satella, during the Great Calamity.
 * Carmilla burned to death in an unspecified location.
 * Echidna later collected their souls and went to the Sanctuary where Volcanica sealed her off in her tomb. Her death has not been stated yet.

Currently, only the locations of Typhon and Echidna's remains are known. Typhon's remains are located in the Great Temple under the Watergate City of Priestella and Echidna's resting place is located in the Witch of Greed's Tomb located in the Sanctuary.

Despite their status as calamities, the Witches left quite a legacy after their deaths, with three in particular memory. Echidna created a lot of Meteors that are used to the current day, namely by people who are unable to channel magic. Daphne's legacy is perhaps the most destructive and negative as she was directly responsible for the creation of all Demon Beasts. Despite good intentions, Daphne failed to understand or even consider common mindset and morals, creating a plethora of monsters that would go on to do everything other than what they were created for. Instead of solving famine and hunger, the beasts have destroyed towns and larger cities, leaving many areas uninhabitable. The Three Great Demon Beasts have proven the most disruptive by far, ravaging the lands of the known world for centuries. Typhon on the other hand, seems to be rather popular in certain cities all over the world, as she has a cult following from a criminal organization situated in Flanders.

There's generally one rule of thumb that everyone has been keeping in mind: Do not publicly talk about other Witches besides Satella and avoid publicly announcing the possession of a Witch-related artifact. The Witch Cult does not tolerate any other Witch besides the aforementioned Witch of Envy. While they do acknowledge their existence, the Witches themselves (even their names) are taboo, and violating that said taboo will lead to a very painful and often fatal judgement. Perhaps the best and most well known example of that would be the Garkla incident, which occurred 15 years before the start of the main story, when the infamously unbreachable Vollachian fortress city of Garkla was single-handedly besieged and destroyed by the Sin Archbishop of Greed despite being garrisoned by thousands of soldiers and the Vollachian War God, all thoroughly prepared for battle. Rumour has it that a Witch-related artifact was being auctioned in the city square. It's unknown whether the rumour was true or if someone just made it up so they could bring the Witch Cult to the city, but the unprecedented incident serves as a warning to the Four Great Nations to this day.

Throughout the years, people developed some common misconceptions regarding the Witches; specifically regarding the Witch of Envy. Perhaps the most common mistake people make is contributing the creation of the Demon Beasts to the aforementioned Witch, common belief being that she created them in order to clean the world and get rid of humanity, which is untrue as Daphne is the true creator of the Demon Beasts with an entirely different purpose in mind. Rumours like these spawn further questions of just what other false information is circling around the world regarding the Witches.

Alongside the aforementioned Witches of Sin, two more made their rare appearances; Hector of Melancholy and Pandora of Vainglory. Contrary to other members of the Witches of Sin, there is next to no written historical information about them, not even their current statuses; Hector's one and only appearance predates the Great Calamity and Pandora's last appearance can be traced back to the failed subjugation of the White Whale and the previous generation's Sword Saint's death from 15 years before Subaru's arrival. On top of that, Pandora seems to be working with the Witch Cult, being heavily connected with their activities and overall intentions through the last four centuries, using the Sin Archbishops to carry out her biddings.

Witch of Envy, Satella
The Witch of Envy, Satella, was easily the most powerful among the Witches of Sin. Despite taking in the Witch Factor of Envy and developing an Authority of Envy, she was actually incompatible with the Witch Factor, which resulted in the creation a separate personality known as the Witch of Envy, following her absorbing the Witch Factor. Whereas one personality was fairly approachable, her alternate personality was the embodiment of Envy - possessive and remorseless, capable of easily slaughtering people en masse without a shred of regret. The capabilities of her Authority of Envy remain unclear, although she was also noted as a capable Yin Magic caster, able to control shadows in terrifying manners of both amazing offense and dense to the point of being able to manifest two thousand shadow hands at once, and having immortality that was so seemingly-flawless that not even the Great Sage Flugel could not conceive a method to bring about Satella's death. Furthermore, it's been heavily implied she can turn back time as well as seemingly freeze time.

One day, the Witch began a ceaseless destructive rampage that resulted in the decimation of half of the world. As she could not be killed, Satella was imprisoned in a shrine at the edge of the world for all eternity. Her actions changed the course of history forever, and she was considered the most evil individual to have ever been born. Four hundred years later, in the present day, a boy named Natsuki Subaru was summoned to the new world and Satella bestowed a power on him that prevents him from dying. Though it is currently unknown who exactly summoned Subaru, it is heavily implied to be the Witch of Envy herself. Although her motives remain unclear, Satella claims she gave Subaru the ability to Return by Death because she loves him.

Omega
Following her unspecified demise four centuries ago, the Witch of Greed's soul was imprisoned to her tomb, where she had been resting for the past four centuries. Despite being dead, however, Echidna was still able to converse and interact with people from the world of the living, as long as they had entered the tomb and possessed the qualifications necessary for entering her "Tea Party". Roughly 10 years before Subaru's arrival to the new world, however, Echidna successfully managed to latch a part of her soul onto Ryuzu Shima, and continued to pour more and more of her soul into the half-elf for the entirety of the following decade. On the day of the Sanctuary's fall, Echidna successfully managed to possess Shima's body, and thus the Witch of Greed was once against unleashed to the world, alongside the remaining deceased Witches' souls stored away in a pyroxene crystal.

She decided to go to Kararagi, her goal remained unknown. While on her journey, Omega met Colette and her friend Palmyra. The two girls decided to travel with Omega, and are currently in Gusteko.

Witch of Greed, Echidna
The Witch of Greed, Echidna, had a thirst for knowledge that was never quenched regardless of how much she learned. In life, the bountiful wisdom she offered attracted many great men and women to earn her favor. She created the Artificial Spirits Puck, Beatrice, and Echidna for an unknown purpose (however, Puck was made to watch over Emilia), and made a vow with Puck that forbade him from forming a contract with Emilia on his own. Echidna created the Ryuzu copies (such as Omega and Sphinx) by using the original Ryuzu Meyer as a basis for the clones in an experiment to research immortality, with her copying her memories and knowledge to the copies. Her experiment, however, was never completed because she died before she could ever finish it. In her life, Echidna also crafted many Meteors, which are used to the current day, namely by people who are unable to channel magic.

Although the exact specifications of her Authority of Greed remain unclear, her mastery of all six magical elements was unparalleled save for possibly Roswaal L Mathers. The abilities of her Authority of Greed have yet to be revealed, however, it is implied that the Book of Wisdom is tied to it, having created two copies of it for her apprentice Roswaal and her creation Beatrice. Echidna located, collected and preserved the souls of the five other Witches of Sin after their deaths inside her tomb, allowing them to manifest in her Castle of Dreams. Her body was eventually sealed by the Divine Dragon Volcanica within the Sanctuary inside her tomb, although her death has yet to be stated, the Witch of Greed herself claims that Satella devoured her. Her Witch Factor was inherited by Regulus Corneas, then later inherited by Natsuki Subaru.

Witch of Wrath, Minerva
The Witch of Wrath, Minerva, cared about nothing more than healing the physical ailments of wounded or sick people she encountered in her travels. Excluding Satella, Minerva was the most dangerous out of the Witches of Sin and caused the most damage, although she never actually sought to. Despite her reputation, Minerva was caring and fairly compassionate towards normal people.

In the past, people in the world around Minerva were constantly fighting, causing her to cry. Eventually, she realized that crying wouldn't solve anything and decided to train herself in order to gain enough power to be a deterrent to fighting, though that still didn't change anything. As she fought, she came to understand that she'd been crying out of rage and not sorrow, causing her to start punching people, resulting in their wounds being healed. From that moment on, she traveled the world to heal people wherever she found people in need. Many nations sent troops after her, trying to capture and/or defeat her, but no one was able to successfully catch her. Minerva also has some kind of history with elves as she cared deeply about Emilia and the other elves.

Her Authority of Wrath allowed her to heal a person's wounds by striking them with a part of her body. However, the damage healed would be distributed randomly somewhere else in the world. In other words, for every person she saved another random person in the world would die. Minerva was aware of this, but as she only cared about the wounds she could see in front of her, she never ceased her crusade. She was eventually trapped by a group of elves and driven mad and killed by the Witch of Envy, although another claim suggests Satella devoured her. Her Witch Factor was inherited by Sirius.

Witch of Sloth, Sekhmet
The Witch of Sloth, Sekhmet, was the very embodiment of the sin of Sloth. She was so lazy that she rarely did anything other than relaxing. She was considered the second most powerful Witch after Satella, and was apparently capable of defeating every weaker Witch simultaneously with ease. She was also the least dangerous to encounter by far and possessed the most common sense out of any of her comrades. Sekhmet was rather protective of the young Witch of Pride Typhon.

Before she was born, Sekhmet's clan, the Giants, expected things from her, wanting to bring back their founder known as God. However, after she was born, she disappointed them, causing them to hold her in disdain and abandon her as punishment. Many years later, upon hearing of a wild woman in the mountains, men came and captured her, taking her down to the city. While there, she gained knowledge, a way of life, and emotions. Eventually, not understanding at the time that what she felt was gratitude and obligation, she snapped the necks of the men in the place she lived in and left. Returning to her homeland, she proceeded to kill her entire clan, not understanding at the time that what she felt was hatred and a desire for revenge. She then returned back to her previous home to give the men she killed a proper burial, and once she was alone, she felt a peace of mind, which she felt happy about.

The Authority of Sloth allowed her to produce an invisible force field of sorts that was capable of crushing almost anything that stood in her way. She eventually fell from the Great Waterfalls to her death while fighting the Divine Dragon Volcanica, although another claim suggests Satella devoured her. Her Witch Factor was inherited by Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, then later inherited by Natsuki Subaru.

Witch of Gluttony, Daphne
The Witch of Gluttony, Daphne, had a bottomless stomach that always craved substance. It didn't matter what she ate, whether it was animals, furniture, or even people. She was a strong believer in survival of the fittest, citing that every life should have a fair chance at surviving, not just the sentient ones like humans. With her power, she was responsible for creating the man-eating monsters known as Demon Beasts so as to end world hunger, although the claim of creating such monsters became known as the Witch of Envy's own accomplishment so as to destroy the world.

A long time ago, a man was afflicted with an incurable disease, and, as he was afraid of dying, he began using various methods to try and prolong his life. Daphne was one of the many people he used in his experiments, and eventually he succeeded in achieving his goal by using her body. In his joy, he forcibly undid her binds, and when she came to her senses she found herself all alone in the man's castle, suffering from hunger. To satisfy her hunger, she began eating everything in the castle, including things like the throne and the carpets, and resorted to eating what she threw up when necessary. As she was immortal, she couldn't die, however she felt like she was going to die from hunger. Eventually, she somehow began creating Demon Beasts in the castle, which she considered to be illusions at the time, and started to use them as a food source. After a while, her binds broke from the fighting between her and the beasts, allowing her to leave the castle. The Demon Beasts also left and spread across the world.

Aside from her ability to create Demon beasts, the exact abilities bestowed by Daphne's Authority of Gluttony remain ambiguous. With the possible exception of the Witch of Envy, Daphne was presumably the most morally ambiguous of the Witches as her form of logic is incomparable to that of other humans. She eventually starved to death in the Auguria Dunes, although another claim suggests Satella devoured her. Her Witch Factor was inherited by the siblings Louis Arneb, Lye Batenkaitos, and Roy Alphard.

Witch of Pride, Typhon
The Witch of Pride, Typhon, was a young girl with a naïve outlook on the world. The daughter of an executioner, Typhon judged and delivered lethal punishment upon those she deemed guilty. However, her youthful outlook on justice led her astray, as she judged people as guilty even if they felt only a shred of guilt over something in their past that wasn't worth punishing. As judge, jury, and executioner, Typhon would conduct many massacres.

The Authority of Pride allowed her to sense who felt guilty and completely shatter the bodies of those who did. With her power, Typhon was considered the third most powerful Witch after Satella and Sekhmet. She was eventually trapped in the Watergate city Priestella and drowned by a flood, although another claim suggests Satella devoured her. Her Witch Factor was supposedly inherited by Stride Vollachia, although he never displayed use of his Authority and the current holder of Pride is unknown.

Witch of Lust, Carmilla
The Witch of Lust, Carmilla, was a timid young woman who despite representing the sin of Lust had a complete disinterest in love. That being said she recognised the importance that love had on life and would help people realize the love that others had for them if they couldn't notice it themselves. Her captivating beauty was the catalyst for many conflicts where whole factions or even nations would war for the right to possess her. According to Echidna, Carmilla only cares for herself and holds deep grudges if you were to harm or trick her in any way regardless if she's in the wrong. In the past, Carmilla was the reason why her village, the neighboring villages and cities and even the great country she lived in, were engulfed in the flames of war. Everyone desired and loved her but she desired none of it, hence she left everything and everyone behind in search of the love she lost.

A long time ago, Carmilla was a normal girl who was loved by the people in her village and even had a fiancé. However, one day a man of power came to the village and desired her. Angered by the man's actions, the villagers rose up in defiance and fought against him, eventually burning him with his mansion. The cities and villages around theirs began to regard them as dangerous, causing the fighting to spread, and soon their force was toppling countries, all the while claiming that it was for her sake. Carmilla began to be regarded as a heavenly maiden, nevertheless, she didn't desire such a thing, and saw that they were being misled by their own fantasies and manipulated by their ideals. After they had toppled a large country, her fiancé proposed to her at the top of the castle, though she ignored him and left everything behind, despairing that what she had originally wanted no longer existed.

The Authority of Lust, which was dubbed the "Faceless Bride," allowed Lust to manipulate the minds of others so that they saw her as whoever they loved. Additionally, anyone who laid eyes on her would be completely captivated by her to the point that they would forget anything else. Most people who met her would die as they would forget to breathe in her presence, although the Witch was hardly perturbed by this. She was eventually burned at the stake, although another claim suggests Satella devoured her. Her Witch Factor was inherited by Capella Emerada Lugnica.

Witch of Vainglory, Pandora
The Witch of Vainglory, Pandora, represented one of the two "archaic" Deadly Sins, namely the sin of Vainglory. She had a distinct lack of empathy and was rarely seen to lose her composure. With her serene nature and unmatched otherworldly beauty, the Witch of Vainglory was comparable to a figure of divine origin. Like Hector of Melancholy, Pandora's role in history was unrecorded and her relationship with the other Witches remains ambiguous.

Her Authority of Vainglory allowed her to 'rewrite' events to her liking. With this tremendous power, Pandora could resurrect herself, manipulate the memories and senses of other people, and teleport people to distant locations among many other things. Out of the Witches, Pandora was the only one confirmed to have survived the Great Calamity, and has since been involved with the Witch Cult that worships Satella.

Warlock of Melancholy, Hector
The Warlock of Melancholy, Hector, was one of the two "archaic" Deadly Sins and was the only known male member of the Witches of Sin. Befitting the sin of Melancholy that he represented, Hector had a gloomy outlook on the world and disdained to work in a similar way to Sekhmet. He detested many things, including violence and exerting himself, although he wasn't above committing himself to either if it furthered his goals. Hector's role in history has been nearly forgotten, with only a handful of individuals remembering his existence.

The Authority of Melancholy seemed to give Hector the capability to manipulate gravitational fields, allowing him to apply a crush on anyone or anything that he wanted to. He had some sort of history with the Witch of Greed Echidna, which eventually broiled into a conflict between the two of them. Following his and Echidna's faceoff, some time before the Great Calamity, any and all traces of his activity have vanished. His fate still remains unknown.

Trivia

 * All names of the Witches of Sin are related to asteroids, except for Satella, whose name is scheduled to be explained in the last Arc.
 * According to the author, all the witches will reappear in Arc 11.
 * According to Tappei, the strength ranking of the 7 Witches of Sin is as follows: Satella >> Sekhmet >>> Typhon > Daphne >> Echidna = Carmilla >>>>> Minerva (Minerva being by far the weakest in offense due to her healing abilities).
 * According to Tappei, the degree of risk among the 6 Witches (not including Satella) is as follows: Minerva > Daphne > Carmilla > Typhon > Echidna >>>>>>> Sekhmet.
 * According to Tappei, in terms of common sense, the Witches are ranked as follows: Sekhmet > Carmilla > Daphne > Echidna > Minerva > Typhon; Satella isn't included because she doesn't even have a word like that in her dictionary.
 * Beatrice and Echidna initially states that she (Echidna) and the other Witches were killed by the Witch of Envy, but later it is revealed that most of their deaths (with the exception of Minerva, who is the only one actually stated to have been killed by the Witch of End) had no involvement from the Witch of Envy.
 * According to Wilhelm van Astrea, the term "witch" was used for certain individuals in the four centuries following the demises of last batch of the Witches of Sin – namely for magic users who sided with the Demi-Human Alliance during the Demi-Human War four decades before the start of the main story. One of these Witches was Sphinx.
 * The Sacrament of the Immortal King is an ancient and incredibly powerful spell, created by an unknown Witch ages ago. Originally, the spell was thought to be capable of fully reviving a dead person, and there are legends of the aforementioned Witch being supposedly capable of bringing back people exactly as they were before their demise.

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