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Daphne (ダフネ) was the Witch of Gluttony. Mentioned throughout the story, she formally debuted in Arc 4 as a supporting character.
Contrary to popular belief, it was she, not Satella, who created the Demon Beasts. Following her death 400 years ago, Echidna brought her soul to the Sanctuary. In Arc 4, she helped Subaru defeat the Oousagi by giving him valuable information and later to accept himself and change his views on Return by Death. After the arc, her soul was transferred into a crystal and she is currently travelling with Omega.
Appearance[]
Daphne had shoulder length ashen hair which she had tied in two tails. Her appearance was that of a 13 or 14 year old child. She was dressed in a pitch-black straitjacket which she wore over her white clothing, that were chained to her coffin. Both of her eyes were completely covered by a blindfold, wrapped to cross over the center of her face, which lent to her appearance having a more witch-like aura as opposed to other Witches of Sin. Despite her eerie and off-putting aura, she could be quite adorable at times. Her eyes were golden yellow, with her left eye resembling a closed mouth with teeth, whereas her right eye had a visible pupil and resembled an open mouth.
Daphne herself was chained to a black coffin which was mostly seen standing vertically. Daphne named it the Centipede Coffin. On her command, the coffin's lower part would open up and reveal eight crab-like legs that would move itself and its host anywhere Daphne wished to go. She stated her coffin operated on her sweat, saliva, and other bodily wastes produced by her. Subaru described it as a living being, similar to crabs or spiders but more repulsive. The coffin itself was actually a Demon Beast created by Daphne long ago, for the sole purpose of serving her as transport.
Personality[]
As the Witch of Gluttony, Daphne's reason for living was to feel full, causing her to care about the amount more than taste and hunger. She was also stated to repeatedly vomiting out food and eat it again, although she seems to have indulged in such acts only when there was no more food left. If that option failed, she would resort to eating objects she could chew, such as rugs, curtains, clothes, etc. In an effort to try and get rid of the never ending hunger, Daphne created the Demon Beasts but soon after lost control of them and accidentally released them into the world. Despite the threat the Demon Beasts present, they were created with a positive mindset - to save the world from hunger. Her view on hunger was bizarre and weird, stating that those who try to eat others should be wary of being eaten themselves, therefore she was unable to comprehend Subaru's counterarguments to her self-serving theory.
Daphne's speech was described as incoherent and surreal. Talking with her eye to eye was practically impossible for anyone who wasn't suffering from extreme hunger, as she did not understand the basic human mindset and values. Her only goal was to save the world and herself from hunger, no matter the cost. Subaru described her mentality as animalistic and not something a person should possess. Her manner of speech was usually cheerful and childish, indicating her age. She also likes to give nicknames to people, such as Subarun to Subaru, Dna Dna to Echidna, Met Met to Sekhmet, Ner Ner to Minerva, Mila Mila to Carmilla, and Tyu Tyu to Typhon. She regarded Gluttony as the most important craving in life, stating a person is unable to live without eating. She rarely showed emotions or the will for basic human functions apart from indulging in her Gluttony. The author has stated that Daphne doesn't care about other people.
Following her death, Daphne accepted her demise and didn't care much about "dying again". Hence, she was perfectly willing to go against Echidna in her Castle of Dreams, even if it meant her one last destruction, most likely by Sekhmet's hands.
History[]
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. Her body could supposedly not die,[1] 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.
It was claimed that over 400 years ago, Daphne died of starvation in an unnamed desert. Echidna later proceeded to locate and collect her soul, allowing Daphne to manifest in Echidna's Castle of Dreams.
Abilities[]
Authority of Gluttony (暴食の権能 Bōshoku no Ken'nō): Daphne is able to use the Authority of Gluttony.
- In the Web Novel, Daphne can be seen using her Authority of Gluttony and making people feel extreme hunger by touching or looking at them. Just one eye was enough to force Subaru to experience it, causing him to eat his arm and try to lick his own blood while ignoring everything other than the thought of eating. Despite this, Echidna described Daphne's left eye as "nothing much", stating that she was a terror if she used her right eye or if she "ate" him. This ability has been removed from the Light Novel, hence should not be considered as canon until stated or proven otherwise.
Demon Beast Creation: Daphne is able to create living things out of nothing. She creates Demon Beasts when her mood is "woozy" from her "Third Mouth". Through her ability she has created all Demon Beasts, including the Three Great Demon Beasts, the Hakugei, Oousagi, and the Kurohebi. The Hakugei has the ability to erase anything it touches with its mist of elimination from existence. The Oousagi has an insatiable hunger and only eats living things, and there are as many of them as there are water droplets in mist as it can multiply infinitely as long as at least one of them is alive. It leaves no traces of the people they have eaten, and is said to reduce land to a barren wasteland. The Kurohebi can plague its victims with a hundred diseases just by touching them, and any ground that it slithers over is cursed, making anything except Demon Beasts unable to live on it. A person that came into contact with its tongue was scarred with reddish black burns, another had their skin from the neck up covered in reddish black spots that gushed black blood, and another had their body dried up to the point that touching them might break their body apart.
Great Power: Considering Daphne is ranked just behind Typhon in terms of strength, it's safe to assume she holds considerable power. The author has stated that Daphne cannot create anything stronger than herself, meaning she is individually stronger than anyone of the Three Great Demon Beasts. She could eat the entire White Whale in a single bite.
Trivia[]
- Like the other Witches (with the exception of Satella), Daphne's namesake matches both an asteroid and a mythological being.41 Daphne is the name of a large asteroid located in the solar system's asteroid belt. The mythological Daphne was a minor naiad in Greek mythology.
- She ate her own parents.
- Daphne was shown to recognize Subaru as a Sage Candidate. It's not known what makes her think that but she's not alone as it's implied that Sekhmet recognizes him as a Sage Candidate as well.
- In a Q&A, the author stated that if Daphne and a Sin Archbishop of Gluttony were to fight, it would most likely end in a draw. It is unknown if this answer was either stating that Lye Batenkaitos, Roy Alphard, and Rui Arneb would reach a draw against the Witch of Gluttony if they fought her all at once, nor is it known if the resulting draw would only come from a match with one of them.
- The author has stated that Daphne has a beautiful voice, and if she was a normal girl, she’d likely enjoy karaoke.
- In 2014, the author stated that Daphne was among nine known characters introduced in the story up to that point who had the highest capacity for holding mana. However, he chose to not rank Daphne or any of the other listed characters in order.[2] It is unknown if the list has changed since then.
References[]
- ↑ At that pace, she would starve to death. Her body, which cannot die, would starve to death. Arc 6, Chapter 26, Section 1.
- ↑ “Emilia, Roswaal, Echidna, Typhon, Carmilla, Daphne, Ferris, Priscilla, and Mimi have a large capacity. It’s scary to rank them, considering the future, so I will stop…” 2014 AskFM Q&A
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