Umineko

June 6, 2021•1,682 words

The Epitaph

Behold the sweetfish river, running through my beloved home of old.
You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream in search of the key.

As you travel down it, you will see a village. In that village, look for the shore the two speak of.
There the key to the Golden Land sleeps.

You who laid hand upon the key must journey as follows to the Golden Land.

On the first twilight, sacrifice the six chosen by the key.
On the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close.
On the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my noble name.
On the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill.
On the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill.
On the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill.
On the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill.
On the eight twilight, gouge the leg and kill.
On the ninth twilight, the witch revives, and none shall be left alive.
On the tenth twilight, the journey ends, and you shall reach the Home of the Gold.

The witch shall praise the wise, and bestow four treasures.

One shall be all of the Golden Land's gold.
One resurrects all the dead people's souls.
One even revives all the love they possessed.
And one for the witch to eternally rest.

Rest in peace, my beloved witch, Beatrice.

Speculations

Suspect(s)

The suspect is most likely one of the 18¹ people on the island, most likely male. Then the killer ¹ could possibly be the boatman. Hired by one of the families.

Definite not-suspects: Battler, Natsuhi, Rosa, Maria, Kyrie(?)

Krauss, Rudolf, Eva, Hideyoshi: possible suspects, after the gold. Could be misinterpreting the epitaph for its literal meaning (kill people).

Gohda, Nanjo², Genji², Kumasawa, Kanon, Shannon: wildcards. Could be incredibly loyal to Kinzo, but also plotting something behind his back. Most suspicious of committing the locked rooms due to key access.

Kinzo, George, Jessica: suspicious in their own way. Each one of them has a quirk³ which makes me think they're somehow involved with the killer.

^[1] At start of Episode 1, Kyrie hints at there being a possible 19th person on the island. In episode 2 we know Beatrice 'exists' or is on the island (in quotation marks because she could be possessing the person or possibly we're seeing the actual suspect as Beatrice, while in reality she only exists in the meta-dimension).

^[2] Both of them are suspicious, there's some hints regarding the smell around Kinzo's study. Both of them could be working together to keep him drugged/delirious for their own benefit.

^[3] Kinzo has 6 toes on his feet. George is too normal and also (romantically) involved with Shannon, who is using Beatrice's magic. Jessica has asthma which could be hinting at something.

What is going on

The typhoon has locked everyone on the island where they have to solve the Epitaph to stop Beatrice's killings. The rules are such that everyone is stuck in a timeloop/alternate timeline until there is a winner. Most likely possible win condition for Kinzo is someone (Battler) realising what's going on and solving the Epitaph, hence gambling on him (extremely unlikely to happen/miracle¹). Possible win condition for Beatrice is Battler giving up.
However I feel like Beatrice is not really the bad person here. There could be something else forcing her to act this way (still feels sympathy towards Kinzo).

Kanon going red-eyed during Episode 2 makes me think there is some kind of zombie/cannibal² virus/infection going around. Could be used as an explanation for some of the locked rooms too.

^[1] Funny thread on Reddit

^[2] Could be an insect similar to the fungi Cordyceps. An insect possessing the corpses could possibly explain the fear of cobwebs.

Suspicious events/items

The torii + mirror
Natsuhi's mirror
Weird smells around Kinzo's study

Unexplained phenomena

The magic circles drawn with the locked rooms
The Tea party
???
Orphanage
Jessica's asthma
Natsuhi's headaches
Kinzo's 6 toes
Servants' power/furniture
The one true element (love)

Gibberish & ¬Gibberish

The story has some alludes to Platonism. There's references to the (true) forms of items and people. Also there's the mention of the one true element (love).

Kinzo is known to have a mistress who possibly lived on the island. Given the fact that his own room has a special locking mechanism it's not unreasonable to assume that the whole mansion, or even island, has such rooms and spaces. Possibly, after her passing away he delved in the occult.

Everyone has their own personal witch/spirit, Beatrice is probably Kinzo's and for some reason he's betting on her losing which would help out both of them(?) We're most likely fighting against someone else really?

Episode 3

Locked room 1

Episode 2

Locked room 1

Locked room 2

Locked room 3

Locked room 4

Episode 1

The marks on Natsuhi's door are actually from Shannon.

Locked room 1

Locked room 2

Locked room 3

Infodump

Character profiles

Name	Character profile	Episode 1 Death	Missing	Episode 2 Death	Witches profile	Possible motive
Kinzo	The aged head of the Ushiromiya family. Brimming with energy, despite being pronounced to have only a short time left to live. Amassed a vast fortune, but has never made any announcement to his inheritance, which worries his children. Strongly influenced by the West and a rabid fan of the occult. His study is packed with mysterious grimoires.	Burned in the incinerator, with a weapon resembling an ice-pick having been rammed into his forehead. The old mage's wish scattered, ungranted. This is but one possible result of the gamble he always knew was not in his favour.	Disappeared from his study unnoticed. Kinzo's study has everything from a bed to a toilet to a bathtub, so it is extremely rare for him to go outside. However, he does sometimes go out for a walk on a whim without telling anybody, which on several occasions has led to a huge uproar throughout the house. He usually comes back as soon as he gets hungry... Usually...	ep2	A self-taught human mage. His natural talent and level of knowledge are nothing special, but when his nearly insane powers of concentration and dedication were transformed into magical power, he awakened as a great mage. His power is at least great enough that he was able to summon Beatrice and form a contract with her. Though his power is great, it is also extremely lopsided. In particular, he specialised in summoning and barriers, so perhaps it is fitting to call him a summoner instead.	motive
Krauss	Kinzo's first child. Leads the family conference, as the eldest of the four siblings. However, the other siblings suspect that he plans to claim the entire family fortune for himself, and the antagonism between him and the others grows increasingly severe. A real estate investor, he has put a vast amount of money into the development of a resort. However, his results have been harshly criticised.	Corpse found inside the rose garden storehouse. The direct cause of death is unknown, but it seems the side of his head was smashed after his death. We start where it all begins.	X	Placeholder	Placeholder	Stuff
Eva	Kinzo's second child. Hostile towards her brother Krauss and opposes him in almost everything, from issues dealing with the family fortune to the question of who will succeed the family headship. Normally, she would have lost her place in the Ushiromiya register upon her marriage, but she managed to forcibly overcome this by having her husband take her family name.	Found on the bed of a guest room inside the mansion, with a weapon resembling an ice-pick having been rammed into her forehead. The windows and door to the room were locked from the inside, and even the chain was set. No way could a human have killed her.	X	X	X	X
Rudolf	Kinzo's third child. Along with his sister, Eva, he intends to make his voice heard during the family conference to prevent their elder sibling, Krauss, from keeping all of their father's wealth for himself. Lost his former wife, Asumu, six years ago, and married his current wife Kyrie, straight after that.	Corpse found inside the rose garden storehouse. His face seems to have been smashed after his death. He has the right to lament his ill fortune.	X	X	X	X
Rosa	Kinzo's fourth child. By far the youngest of the four siblings. It seems that this gives her a weaker position at the family conference. She manages a design company, but she has yet to start taking it seriously, and its financial situation is far from favourable.	Corpse found inside the rose garden storehouse. Her face seems to have been smashed after her death. I'l be seeing her again. So, I'm not lonely.	X	X	X	X

Episode 1 deaths

First twilight:

Krauss (face half destroyed)
Rudolf (face fully destroyed)
Kyrie (face fully destroyed)
Rosa (face almost fully destroyed)
Shannon (face partially destroyed)
Gohda (face almost fully destroyed)
Deaths