This page is about the character. For the anime episode, see Episode 40.
Otto Suwen (オットー・スーウェン) is a former merchant and the current internal affairs officer of the Emilia Camp. He has played a supporting role in Arc 3, Arc 4, Arc 5, Arc 7, and Arc 8.
Born the second son of the heads of the Suwen Company, he became a traveling merchant, after having been essentially banished from his hometown Picoutatte, in hopes of eventually starting his own store. After his path crossed with that of Natsuki Subaru and Emilia, however, he joined the Emilia Camp, hoping to shield them from the dark dangers of the world, with his wariness pointed in particular at the backer of the camp, Roswaal L. Mathers.
Appearance[]
Otto has grey hair that frames his face and falls just below his chin. He has sharp, bright blue eyes and a fair skin tone. He is considered to be somewhat handsome if he has a serious expression. However, he is usually either retorting, shouting, or panicking, ruining his looks. He has a medium build, but has trained himself since he used to work as a merchant. Particularly being clad in green, he wears a green, belted wardrobe, as well as a dark green hood, held up by a red bow. He also wears a green Ushanka, decorated with a white feather. His hat is rimmed with gold and so is his outfit to an extent. As he comes from Picoutatte, he gives off a slight Arabian flair.
In the events of Arc 5, due to his legs being severely injured by Lye Batenkaitos, his movements were severely hindered until they were healed.
Personality[]
Otto is quite an unlucky person, first shown when he almost drowned in his first bath; he was accordingly born under an unlucky star. When he was young, he was treated as a pitiful child by others due to his Divine Protection, as they thought he was talking to imaginary objects. He is generally on the receiving end of jokes, with some people, such as Natsuki Subaru, suggesting that they use him as a shield, but despite this, he is loved by the others. He's easily embarrassed, sensitive, and considered weak or pathetic, which can lead to others underestimating him. Though Otto can be timid and prone to panic, as shown when he pushed Subaru out of his cart after learning that the White Whale was after Subaru in a failed loop, he is intensely loyal to his friends and can be very courageous when it comes to protecting them. He helped Subaru in the Sanctuary even though it could've cost him his life, that not being the first time he's risked himself for his friends. He will even become angry on his friends’ behalf, especially when certain enemies mock the memory of those who were close to his friends.
Otto often tends to worry about the people he is close to, to the point that he becomes frustrated with them. This is most dominantly seen when dealing with Subaru’s actions, as he showed visible distress and anger when seeing his interactions with Roswaal or when he decided to protect Spica. He is also willing to play the villain when needed, acting as the wall before the naive Subaru and Emilia so that they don’t act recklessly or become needlessly involved in danger. On top of that, he is also a constantly wary person when dealing with people he can’t trust, as he went to restore the Book of Wisdom Roswaal owned in order to determine the plans he’d set up prior to the events of the Sanctuary.
History[]
Twenty years before the beginning of the story, Otto was born in Picoutatte. To his "luck", he was blessed with a Divine Protection of Soul Language, which allowed him to hear voices and communicate with non human beings. However, ever since he was born, Otto's life was a living hell. He would always hear different sounds and voices, screams, and death cries. It was so bad that even when his parents picked him up and talked into his ear, Otto was unable to hear them, let alone understand the meaning of their words and actions. As a result, Otto grew up without any emotions. He did not cry, he did not get angry, he did not get happy; all because, to him, everything sounded like the exact same thing. His parents strived to understand what was wrong with their son, but to no avail. At the end, their love for young Otto slowly faded and they started to pay more attention to his siblings. When Otto was five years old, his older brother presented him with a notebook and a pen and began teaching him how to write and communicate without speaking. Due to Otto's inability to hear, it took him ten times longer to learn how to write than it took an average kid, but that did not demoralize him, as he saw it as a way to kill some time. One day, he presented a piece of paper in front of his parents saying "thank you for everything," which utterly broke them. Coincidentally, it was also the first time Otto cried since he was born, as he finally realized the love his family harbored towards him and it opened up his heart.
When Otto turned 8, he was able to differentiate the human and animal worlds much much better than before. Sadly, his late realization meant his knowledge and education was far behind his age group. However, to everyone's amazement, he showed significant talent and will for learning. But sadly, things didn't go as smoothly as everyone hoped; Otto fell behind in a subject called "human relations" and was gradually isolated from his age group, leaving him without any friends.
At the age of 10, Otto finally learned how to truly differentiate between voices, which gradually led him to a realization that he possesses a Divine Protection. As soon as he confirmed his assumptions, he darted towards his older brother, whom he trusted the most, and explained everything to him. His brother was rather impressed with Otto's ability, but warned him of the dangers that could appear if he ever revealed his ability to others; Divine Protections are god's gift and some people would feel extremely jealous and start hating him for his power. Low and behold, 3 days after the conversation with his brother, the news of Otto's Divine Protection spread around the entire town after his younger brother carelessly told his friends about Otto's Divine Protection. Otto was forced to demonstrate it in order to prove that his younger brother was not lying and from that day onward, he gained a new nickname; Zodda bug bastard.
Throughout the following years, Otto slowly managed to conceal his depressing past and got rid of the vile nickname. But of course, Otto's luck soon ran out when he was accused of a "crime" he did not commit for supposedly being in a love affair with Diadora Regundra, a daughter from Picoutatte's powerful Regundra family. Otto called forth his bug friends, who explained the truth to him, and Otto carelessly revealed it to the whole town, saying she slept with eight different guys and he was not among them. Out of rage and shame, Diadora hired an assassin to kill Otto. Otto lost every ounce of respect and was hated by everyone. He was also subsequently exiled from his hometown. His father managed to get a friend of his to take Otto under his mentorship and, at the early age of sixteen, he set out into the world as a travelling merchant.
Throughout the following four years, Otto's bad luck really came forth; if he was transporting fruits, bad weather would come forth; if he took a shortcut, random bandits would attack him; and so forth. Luckily, Otto was born with a mercantile talent as great as his luck was poor. He rarely lost bets and deals, no matter the odds and, of course, he never went bankrupt. One day, Otto misread the market trends and got into a lot of debt after the price of the oil he was transporting plummeted. Luckily, a friend of his told him about a great offer; one where he'd only have to transport someone to a specific place. But once again, Otto's luck ran dry and he was captured by the Witch Cult. Just before he was about to be killed by the Witch Cultist, Ricardo Welkin came to the rescue. After his successful rescue, Otto Suwen met Natsuki Subaru.
Priestella Reconstruction Journal[]
Following the Battle for Priestella, Otto was one of the ones who remained behind due to his injuries. When Garfiel Tinzel and a group of others were tasked with the retrieval of the remains of the Witch, Otto eventually found his way into the catacombs they were in and successfully helped them retrieve the remains. Shortly after, Otto went to the magic restorer Darts to retrieve the previously damaged Book of Wisdom.
Stand by me Pleiades and Missing Child Search[]
After the successful Pleiades Watchtower Expedition, the group returned and revealed the disappearance of Subaru and Rem to Vollachia. After having Clind drop of and retrieve the people necessary, the majority of the camp arrived in Picoutatte to smuggle themselves into the country. Unfortunately, Otto still had his issues to settle with the city’s main family’s daughter, Diadora. However, after the two apologized to each and managed to settle their grudges, Diadora and the Suwen Company assisted them in their goal.
Shortly after, the group passed through the Everlasting Darkness with the mole-people’s guidance. However, they ran into trouble when the representative of the molepeople, Musica, interrupted their travels in hopes of using their group as hostages in order to speak to Emilia, not knowing she was present among them due to her disguise. Thanks to the efforts of Petra Leyte, they were able to continue traveling and made it into Vollachia.
Abilities[]
Divine Protection (加護, Kago):
Otto has the Divine Protection of the Soul of Language (言霊の加護, Kotodama no Kago), which allows him to communicate with creatures and comprehend their speech. In his formative years, the words of creatures were incomprehensible to Otto, who had no explanation for the constant chattering he heard. However, as time went on, he began to understand more and more of what the animals were trying to say until he eventually fully understood their speech. He also learned to block his power to a certain extent, giving himself reprieves from the constant background noises. Similarly, he learned to concentrate on the sounds in specific directions using “channels,” as Subaru calls them. Although he was unable to control the actions of creatures, he was able to make them do what he wanted if they themselves wanted to. By communicating with the birds and the insects always hidden from view, Otto possessed a sort of intelligence network that could tell him about circumstances happening far away.[1] However, as he speaks in the language of the creature he's talking with, it makes him look shady to others while he's using it. As Otto can't use it properly, he normally keeps it disabled. Continuous use of this Divine Protection causes him to bleed out from his nose.[2] While it doesn’t completely prevent this negative side effect, the physical boosts provided by Yang Magic can help reduce how much he bleeds, which allows him a greater amount of time with which he can use his Divine Protection continuously.
Magic (魔法, Mahō): Due to tutoring he received as the son of a merchant, Otto has the capability to use Earth Magic.
- Dona (ドーナ): The user summons one earth wall from the ground. It is typically used for defense, but it can be applied for offense and evasive movement.
- El Dona (エル・ドーナ): The user conjures a swarm of earth mana and pinpoints it at a target, which then bursts into spikes inside them expanding outward. This magic was cut from the Light Novel.
- Ul Dona (ウル・ドーナ): Otto is able to lift thick walls of earth around himself in a shape of a dome.
- Al Dona (アル・ドーナ): User summons an enormous blast of violent earth mana that shreds a target and the surrounding area upward. It's strong enough to pulverize the surrounding trees. Otto cannot use Al Dona normally, because he barely has above average magic talent.[3]
Keen Intellect: Otto is an intelligent man with shrewdness befitting a merchant. Aside from his skills as a businessman, he is also trusted as an adviser within his own camp, and Subaru and several others have even teased him for being a wartime adviser, as when it comes time for the camp to step onto the battlefield, Otto is one of the key strategists. In fact, in the non-canon Gluttony IF, the different members of the Emilia Camp agreed that Otto was the most dangerous one because of his intellect, believing that given enough time, he could come up with a way to counter most predicaments.
Skilled Negotiator: As a merchant, Otto is accomplished when it comes to negotiations in most affairs. He has used these skills to complete transactions for the camp, ensure others that it is beneficial for him and his camp to be present, and even to attempt trick someone like a Sin Archbishop to follow him into a trap; though in the last case, he failed due to a slight in his expression.
Equipment: Otto keeps fire magic stones on his person as an in-case backup plan for if he becomes cornered. While he might keep some in a pouch, he also has some sewed into the seams of his clothing.
Trivia[]
- According to the author, Otto's birthday is March 24.
- Otto likes spicy and bitter things.
- He has a talent in soccer, though it does not exist in his world, so it can not blossom.[4]
- Although Otto can speak with lesser spirits using his Divine Protection, he gets ignored by them.[5]
- In the Emilia Camp, Otto plays a rather interesting role; whenever someone has some trouble regarding something specific, they always ask Otto for advice.
- In Arc 4, Otto, for some reason, did not appear in Roswaal's Book of Wisdom, which completely threw Roswaal's plan off, resulting in Subaru gaining a chance to defeat him and win their bet.[6] He is the only character who has not appeared in the Book of Wisdom.
- Otto has his own named chapter in Arc 4, in both the web novel and light novels, as well as a named episode in the anime.
- In some of his earlier appearances in the web novel, prior to the publication of his character design, Otto's eye color was mentioned to be green. After the character designer made them blue, the author declared the previous description obsolete.
References[]
- ↑ "The language Divine Protection essentially allowed a person capable of conversing with any living things" Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 9: Chapter 5. Section 4
- ↑ "The oozing nosebleed might have been from pushing his brain beyond its capacity" Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 13: Chapter 5. Section 3
- ↑ "As a result of employing magic that should have been beyond his reach in this lifetime, Otto was out of breath." Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 13, Chapter 5, Section 3.
- ↑ “He actually has a talent for soccer, but soccer doesn't exist in that world, so it will never blossom.” April 4, 2019 Twitter Q&A
- ↑ “He gets ignored by the lesser spirits.” July 27, 2014 AskFM Q&A
- ↑ "Coming under Roswaal's attention for the very first time, Otto's face faintly stiffened. His words made Roswaal draw himself up, twisting his neck with a rare expression of simple confusion." Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 14: Chapter 5. Section 2.
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