Echidna

This page is about the Witch of Greed Echidna, for the Artificial Spirit, see Echidna (Artificial Spirit).

Echidna (エキドナ) was the Witch of Greed. Mentioned throughout the series, particularly for her connection to Roswaal and Beatrice, she formally debuted in Arc 4 as a major supporting character and later secondary antagonist.

Throughout Arc 4, her soul served as the overseer of the trials to remove the magic barrier surrounding Sanctuary. Learning of Return By Death, she attempted to get close with Subaru, but he cut her off after discovering her motives. At the end of the arc, she achieved complete rebirth by transferring her soul into a clone and named herself Omega.

Appearance
Echidna's barely-exposed skin was porcelain-like and pure white, so white that it seemed any semblance of color had been completely bleached from her existence. Her black eyes shone with intellect and were the only part of the woman that looked alive. Her long straight hair reached down to her back and was as white as her skin. and a black butterfly hairpin (jade green in the anime). and Anyone who saw her would be instantly captivated by her striking beauty, although the sight of her would inject overwhelming fear into a person's soul. Although her spirit is nineteen years old, her slender body appears as though it is in its mid-twenties.

The only parts of her body that were visible was her head, neck, and hands, as the rest of her figure was wrapped in clothing most of the time. The contrast between her black clothing and the whiteness of her skin helped express her striking beauty. During her meeting with Subaru in the trial of his past, Echidna wore clothing fabricated from Subaru's memories. The outfit she donned was the female version of the school uniform worn at Subaru's high-school in Japan. The ensemble consisted of a white dress shirt, a navy-blue blazer with the school's crest sewn onto the left breast, a red ribbon tied around the shirt's collar, a grey pleated short mini-skirt, knee-high white socks, and white uwabaki slippers with brown soles. Instead of her usual hair ornament, Echidna wore a smaller red butterfly clip in her hair.

Despite her extraordinary beauty, Echidna induces overwhelming fear in everyone "lucky" enough to meet her, to the point people start vomiting in her presence. It is worth mentioning that, while he somehow did not receive that side effect, Subaru did note her presence felt as dangerous or more so than the White Whale or the Sin Archbishop of Sloth.

In actuality, Echidna from four centuries ago and Echidna from the Castle of Dreams were stated to be two separate entities. Accordingly, their appearances slightly vary–while being mostly identical, Echidna from four centuries ago is noted to be in her mid to late twenties, rather than late teens. Her face was almost the exact same as Trials Echidna, save for a much calmer and wise air it gave off.

She was often seen smiling and acting very nonchalantly, until the topic shifted to something she was genuinely interested in. Due to her beautiful appearance, she often gave off a maidenly impression.

Personality
Echidna's curiosity toward the unknown and her thirst for knowledge are the two things that define her behavior. She refers to it as love, and currently directs those feelings toward Subaru's Return by Death, which she is interested to the point that she longs to become his advisor to record the many possibilities created from his ability.

At first glance, she is polite, understanding, and even a bit childish. She is stated by the other Witches to be quite clumsy like the time when she accidentally set the forest on fire, nearly burning to death, as she was trying to warm herself. She is also somewhat forgetful in regards to daily tasks, almost forgetting her pyroxene crystal necklace that contained the souls of the other Witches and would've left it had it not been for Colette and Palmyra bringing it to her. The other Witches also mentioned that she once forgot to change from her nightgown, and accidentally went out in public.

Described as being black hearted, she cannot understand the feelings of others, and can be seen as a sociopath by normal standards. If it is to get a hold of more knowledge, she has no problems with employing sophistry, lying, and deceiving others. She is reasonably polite and even jovial to Subaru, whenever the two interacted. Even after the reveal that she is pretty much a sociopath and after Subaru called her a monster, she keeps acting like an affable individual, even keep aiding him, thus heavily implying that this is genuine of her. However, she interacts with ill will only toward three people in the world: Emilia, Satella, and one other unnamed individual.

History
A long time ago, Echidna worried about everything, thinking of them as children that needed to be protected. She thought it was easy to control a world where things broke apart with the swing of a hand, however she decided to put her efforts into protecting things instead. Despite this, no matter what she tried, she was unable to do anything by herself, making her experience how powerless she was. Although she despaired, she didn't give up, knowing that she could reach her goal if she had more people with common interests. From that point on, she kept persevering, no matter how much she lost or was hurt, all to reach her goal.

Over 400 years ago, she served as a tutor for young Roswaal after saving him. In the following years, she created three Artificial spirits and started researching means of immortality by transferring her soul into a body which belonged to someone else. Throughout the years, she gathered humans and demi-humans alike, in order to create a perfect "sanctuary" which would be able to support the barrier. When Roswaal was 16 years old, he faced off against Hector and after being defeated and nearly killed, Echidna saved his life and engaged Melancholy. After Ryuzu Meyer, the Apostle of Greed, sacrificed herself in order to bypass the requirements and instantly activate the barrier, she successfully fended Hector off and saved the lives of everyone in the Sanctuary.

According to Echidna, royals of every country came to visit Echidna to borrow her wisdom at some point in the past when she was alive.

After the deaths of Typhon, Minerva, Daphne, Carmilla, and Sekhmet, 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, however she initially states that the Witch of Envy killed her and the other five Witches, though this is later contradicted when how the other witches died was revealed.

Abilities
Authority of Greed (強欲の権能 Gōyoku no Ken'nō): Echidna was able to use the Authority of Greed.
 * Book of Wisdom (叡智の書): Book of Wisdom is a white book that allowed her to draw knowledge from the world's memory. The book didn't just know the present and past, it also knew what will happen in the future, and drew its needed information from there. The mind of an ordinary person attempting to read it would be fried by the sheer amount of knowledge flowing into the reader's mind. It is implied that the Book of Wisdom is connected to her Authority of Greed in some way, most likely being made with the usage of Echidna's special power. She later crafted two complete copies of her Book of Wisdom, giving them to her creation Beatrice and apprentice Roswaal.

Magic (魔法 Mahō): Echidna was able to use all six elements and was extremely skilled in all of them with–at the time–unparalleled mastery. She was capable of using every spell that existed at the time, and even created her own spells to use. Even following her death, no one ever came close to her overall skill with manipulating magic, until Roswaal L Mathers became the first and only person who surpassed her in magical knowledge and proficiency. It should also be noted that there exist individual beings who're stronger in the usage of a specific magical element, such as Puck, who was noted as the most powerful Fire Magic user in the series, with the raw power of his spells even surpassing that of Roswaal's.
 * Goa (ゴーア): Echidna was able to manifest a blaze of fire to incinerate foes.
 * Jiwald (ジワルド): Jiwald is a Yang Element magic that allows Echidna to fire heat rays from her fingers.
 * Healing Magic: Echidna summons water mana to heal the wounds of herself and others, however it only affects physical ones.
 * Al Shario (アル・シャリオ): Echidna was capable of casting a spell that literally brought down the stars down to earth, massacring her opponents. The speed of the stars was described to be almost impossible to evade. She once used this spell to massacre a swarm of around 100 silver dragons.
 * Soul Transference: It is a lost forbidden magic art that allows a person to move their spirit from one body to another by over-writing the soul of the target body with their own. By doing this over and over to extend their life indefinitely, the user can achieve what Beatrice termed as "subjective immortality". However it has one major restriction in that for it to work, the person whose soul is overwritten must be of blood-relation to the caster. The spell was originally created by Echidna to gain immortality, but she could not complete it before her demise. Instead, it was finished by Roswaal who had been using it to survive until the present era.

Item/Life Construction: Echidna was capable of creating a variety of items and beings due to her vast intellect and absolute mastery of magic.
 * Artificial Spirit Creation: Echidna was capable of creating the Artificial Spirits Puck, Beatrice, and Eridna. It is unknown how she created them, but it is stated that she turned Puck into an artificial spirit.
 * Clone Creation: Echidna was capable of creating Ryuzu Meyer copies through unknown methods by using the original Ryuzu Meyer as a basis for an experiment to research immortality. According to Ryuzu Alma, the clones' bodies are made of mana instead of flesh and bone, which is an artificial "Od" that is surrounded & together with mana. After the Sanctuary's fall, it is revealed that Echidna has slowly been latching more and more of her soul onto Shima, untill she successfully hijacked her body, later renaming her Omega.
 * Meteor Creation: Echidna created many Meteors before her untimely demise, which are used to the current day, namely by people who are unable to channel magic. One of these Meteors is Echidna's Meteor Staff, which is currently used by Felt.

Vast Intellect: As the embodiment of knowledge and Greed, Echidna was obsessed with gaining knowledge and was in possession of The Book of Wisdom which could show her the world's memory. Echidna possessed one of the greatest intellects in the world, and had conducted numerous experiments with magic, creating powerful meteors. Numerous people from every nation used to come to her, seeking her knowledge when she was alive. She possessed vast knowledge about the older era, to the point she could boast there is nothing she didn't know.

Miasma: Echidna was known for emitting intense miasma that caused people to throw up in her vicinity. If exposed to it for too long, one would be at risk for falling into madness and even dying. She used this miasma to kill eighteen bandits in thirty seconds, as soon as she left the Sanctuary. She also noted that someone with the qualifications to become a Sage would be able to resist her miasma. It is worth mentioning that, while he somehow did not receive that side effect, Subaru did note her presence felt as dangerous or more so than the White Whale or the Sin Archbishop of Sloth.

Castle of Dreams: A special space outside the world, which Echidna has control of, is mentioned to be her dream. Echidna's and the other five Witches' souls manifest within this space. The Castle of Dreams primarily takes the form of a seemingly limitless empty grassland with a little hill, although, Echidna can change its appearance at will, being able to turn it into a dark empty void as if a curtain had fallen upon the world. She is capable of creating portals in and out of the Castle of Dreams. Due to it being outside of the world, Subaru suffers none of the penalties from Return By Death while within the Castle of Dreams.

Memory Manipulation: Echidna is capable of searching through the memories of others, shown in Arc 4 where she rummages through Subaru's memories to recreate a Japanese high school girl uniform. She is also capable of erasing memories, as seen in Arc 4 where she temporarily seals away Subaru's memories of their meeting in the Castle of Dreams to follow the rule about it being forbidden to talk about their "little tea party" until his trial went underway. It is unknown whether this is part of her Authority of Greed or a completely different ability.

Trivia

 * According to the author, Echidna's birthday is January 24.
 * Like the other Witches of Sin (with the exception of Satella), Echidna received her namesake from a celestial body. 42355 Typhon I Echidna is the name of a large moon that orbits the scattered disc 42355 Typhon.
 * Echidna used to live in different mansions she owned. One of those was on a floating island that she created.
 * In Re:Zero Prequel: Loving the Days Gone By, Tosca ventures to Echidna's mansion which is located high on a mountain, peaking above the clouds. According to Puck and Beatrice, Echidna made it so it's nigh impossible for a mere human to access it.
 * Echidna is the only person to have been born a witch.
 * The author stated that Echidna started calling herself the Witch of Greed after killing a "certain Witch".
 * According to the author, there was one book that Echidna held very dear to her heart, to the point that saying it changed her fate wouldn't be too far from the truth.
 * According to the author, Echidna's favorite color is silver.
 * The author has stated that Echidna is tone-deaf, much like Emilia.
 * The author has stated that Echidna's favorite witch is a spoiler.
 * According to the author, the witch that Echidna gets along the most with is Minerva.
 * According to the author, Echidna from the Castle of Dreams and Echidna from 400 years ago should be considered as two separate entities.
 * The author has stated that the one Echidna fears is Emilia.
 * Tappei once stated that Echidna's tea is in fact something similar to her saliva, as it doesn't have any taste.
 * Echidna's Japanese voice actress, Maaya Sakamoto, only took one take to record the Witch of Greed's long-winded speech in episode 37 of the anime adaptation. Echidna's English voice actress Anairis Quiñones recorded the monologue in sections and took multiple takes. That being said, Quiñones also stated that it took less time to record than she thought it would.

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