Beatrice

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Beatrice
Identification Details
Japanese	ベアトリーチェ
Nicknames	Beato (herself, Lambdadelta) Riiche (Gaap)
Titles	Golden Witch Endless Witch
General Information
Born	November 29
Age	19 (physically) 1000+ (mentally)
Gender	Female
Fantasy Race	Witch
Portrayal
First Appearance	Legend of the Golden Witch
Japanese VA	Sayaka Ohara

"Just try and deny me, Battler Ushiromiya!!!"

— Beatrice against Battler

Beatrice (ベアトリーチェ, Beatorīche) is the Golden Witch who haunts Rokkenjima and commits bizarre murders in a ceremony to resurrect herself. Much of Umineko no Naku Koro ni centers around her clashes with Battler Ushiromiya, who claims that all of her murders are possible with human tricks.

Profile

The Golden Witch, who has lived a thousand years.

She has surpassed the limits of humans and, like demons, will sometimes appear in response to the summons made by humans, to offer her power in exchange for a price.

She likes black tea and ice cream. She hates boredom and people who deny her existence.

Appearance

"If she'd had normal black hair, I might've assumed it was a portrait of my long-deceased Grandmother in her prime. However, she had beautiful blonde hair and didn't look Japanese at all."

— Battler seeing the portrait of Beatrice for the first time in Legend of the Golden Witch

While most other characters look the way they are for artistic reasons, Beatrice's appearance as a Caucasian woman with ginger-blonde hair and blue eyes is meant to be taken literally. She also wears a bow adorned with a rose in her hair, a choker, and ballgown-like dress. Her dress constantly switches from brown to dark brown across the different adaptations, appearing brown in both the anime and PS3 game, while the dark brown in Ougon Musou Kyoku and the original visual novel. She also wears the successor ring on her left middle finger. She is also sometimes seen holding a gold kiseru. In Ougon Musou Kyoku her outfit has a ribbon added to her lower back. In Pachi-Slot Umineko no Naku Koro ni, she has long nails polished red.

Her human form wears a collared shirt with a cropped jacket and tie, a ruffled miniskirt, striped stockings, and boots and usually holds a cane with an eagle head as the handle. In End of the Golden Witch, she is seen as her witch form, but with her hair down. In Dawn of the Golden Witch, her "chick" form is seen as her witch form, and her "elder sister" counterpart is seen as her human form.

Personality

On the front, Beatrice is a very cruel person, who loves to torture and kill people just for the sake of fun, a being so terrifying that even in the Meta-World she is feared from heavens to hell as one of the cruelest witches ever. She is at times very composed and majestic, and at other times very disgraceful and insightful with a creepy laughter and a demonic smile.

However, as the saga goes on, more sides of her character are revealed. She proves to have a very joyful attitude and quite a childish side. She is in fact described by her teacher as a naive child who loves to play with toys without the fear to break them and also with a power so big that she hardly realizes she can handle. She shows this side primarily with Virgilia and Ronove which have a very parent-like attitude with her and less with Battler which she'd feel embarrassed with to act so. Quite common is, in fact, to see her sobbing on Virgilia's chest when things don't go her way.

Skills and Abilities

As the Endless Witch, Beatrice has the ability to control life and death, able to revive and kill people as she pleases. She can also repair damaged objects. She uses her golden pipe as a wand and in Twilight of the Golden Witch can transform it into a golden duel sword, as seen when she fights Erika. Beatrice also has outstanding resilience and defense, as seen during her duel with Virgilia when she gets impaled by several spears only to heal herself soon after.

Despite having these powers, Beatrice typically relies on familiars to act for her. She uses the Stakes of Purgatory to carry out the murders on the island, later employing the Chiester Sisters Imperial Guard Corps. She also summons goat attendants to perform basic tasks for her, with Ronove acting as her head butler. Beatrice can also summon massive Shoulder Towers to fire dozens of projectiles at her opponents, with an even more massive army of giants to protect her.

As the Game Master, Beatrice can use the Red Truth, Blue Truth and most likely Golden Truth.

Background

In Banquet of the Golden Witch, Beatrice's past as a child is shown, where she was referred to as "Princess". On a certain day she broke the vase of an unnamed master. Virgilia, the current Beatrice at the time, helped her by fixing the vase using her magic. Fascinated, "Princess" asked Virgilia to become her teacher, training and eventually receiving the titles of Endless and Golden Witch. Beatrice claims that afterward, she lived for centuries and met Kinzo, who fell in love with her and sold his soul to her for 10 tons of gold. Because he loved her so much, he sealed her in a cage of flesh and was released when it was destroyed by Rosa.

See Yasuda's page for more information.

Some point after the aforementioned events, when Shannon was doubting her relationship with George, Beatrice gave her a golden butterfly brooch in return for destroying the mirror in the shrine. She and Shannon would later often have tea together. She also befriended Maria, who later became her apprentice. Together, they created furniture such as Sakutaro and founded the magical compendium Mariage Sorciere. She would also perform magic for Maria in front of Doctor Nanjo, Kanon, Shannon, Genji and Kumasawa.

At some point after these aforementioned events, Beatrice planned out the Rokkenjima Massacre and created an uncertain amount of forgeries which all set her as the culprit. Her only known forgeries were Legend of the Golden Witch, Turn of the Golden Witch and finally, Land of the Golden Witch, which was never revealed as it became lost at sea. In 1986, Beatrice puts into motion her murders.

Relationships

Overview

• Kinzo Ushiromiya (summoner, acquaintance)
• Battler Ushiromiya (opponent, furniture/slave, ally, love interest, husband )
• Bernkastel (friend, enemy)
• Lambdadelta (friend, witch guardian)
• Stakes of Purgatory (furniture)
• Ronove (furniture, butler)
• Gaap (friend)
• Virgilia (mentor, predecessor)
• EVA-Beatrice (successor) 
• Maria Ushiromiya (student, best friend)
• Chick Beato (piece, Beatrice who was born to love Battler)
• Beato the Elder (Beatrice based off of legend Kumasawa told)
• Zepar (friend)
• Furfur (friend)
• Shannon (alternate persona) 
• Kanon (alternate persona)
• Yasuda (true form/persona)
• Lion Ushiromiya (alternative existence)

Battler Ushiromiya

Beatrice opposes Battler's anti-magic stance and does whatever she can to make him submit and accept magic. She relishes in seeing Battler cry and scramble to form theories, even humiliating him at one point by making him into furniture.

Maria Ushiromiya

Maria is a vocal believer in Beatrice and enjoys playing with her when she visits the island. Beatrice has taught Maria all sorts of magic, giving her assistance in Alliance of the Golden Witch by enabling Maria's revenge and constant torture against Rosa.

Shannon

Shannon is one of the few people who actively stands up to Beatrice, and so Beato likes to insult her love with George and is always reminding her that she's furniture.

Role in the Story

Legend of the Golden Witch

Beatrice isn't seen throughout most of the episode, though her presence is felt due to the huge portrait of her in the hall of the Ushiromiya mansion, the rumors surrounding her existence, and the golden butterflies. The anime adaptation has Beatrice appearing in the rain with an umbrella. She gives Maria the umbrella and a letter, using her to announce plans of committing murder if the witch's epitaph is not solved.

Beatrice makes her first proper appearance in the Tea Party, making herself known when Battler claims that she doesn't exist because nobody actually saw her. Even when faced with the Golden Witch herself, Battler still refuses to accept her, and thus Beatrice challenges him to a game to prove that the murders were possible for human beings. The game should continue for all eternity until one side surrenders or gives up.

The ???? has Beatrice inviting Lady Bernkastel to join her game, who decides to become her opponent and help Battler.

Turn of the Golden Witch

Before the family conference of 1986, Beatrice helps Shannon and Kanon in their endeavors to obtain true love. Shannon is ordered to destroy a mirror inside a shrine that restricts Beatrice's power, and the servant is given a magical butterfly brooch as a reward, using it to build a relationship with George. Kanon then takes the brooch and uses it when he goes to Jessica's school and pretends to be her boyfriend, later destroying it when Beatrice taunts him about it.

Once the family conference of 1986 starts, Beatrice inserts herself as the 19th guest as a way of disproving Battler's claim that Beatrice doesn't exist because nobody actually saw her.

The mysterious 19th visitor who appeared at the family meeting. She uses the same name as the Golden Witch who gave gold to Kinzo. The reasons and goals for her coming are unknown. She was ushered into the honored guests' room that no one was allowed to use.

Beatrice later gives letters to Maria and Rosa, announcing her plans to commit murders just like the previous game. Inside the chapel at night, Beatrice's existence is acknowledged by the adults of the Ushiromiya family, who become victims for the first twilight.

In the meta-world, Battler and Beatrice debate over the closed-room murder in the chapel. When Battler doesn't make any theories because of a lack of information, Beatrice introduces the Red Truth, where anything spoken in red is the absolute truth. Beatrice lays out several statements that make the chapel murders possible for humans, and Battler pins it all on the 19th person X. As Beatrice continues her murders, she summons The Goat Butlers and the Seven Stakes of Purgatory to kill for her. Beatrice provides more red truths amidst the myriad display of magic, but Battler is unable to come up with any credible theories and gives up in trying to deny the witch. Battler on the gameboard also gives up in trying to find the culprit when Rosa keeps pinning the blame on the servants.

At 24:00, Battler meets Beatrice in the study and submits to her. Beatrice treats Battler like a slave, dragging him around naked and chained like a dog. Beatrice then hosts a grand Halloween party for a crowd of goat demons, who devour Battler and the other survivors.

In the Tea Party, she prepares a special banquet for Rosa, giving her food made out of the blood and flesh of her siblings and Maria's head, trying to make her surrender as well. Battler, disgusted by this scene, regains his will to fight, and he stands up to Beatrice once more.

In the ????, Beatrice also invites to her game Lady Lambdadelta, her protector and ally against Bernkastel. Lambdadelta seems to point out that Beatrice made it so that Battler would regain his will to fight on purpose.

Banquet of the Golden Witch

A glimpse into Beatrice's past is seen, where as a little girl, she wished to become after a witch after seeing what her teacher Virgilia was capable of doing.

Beatrice continues her game with Battler and introduces another one of her furniture: Ronove, who acts as Beatrice's butler. On the gameboard, the adults talk about a rumor that Beatrice used to live in a hidden mansion in the forest, and Rosa explains that Beatrice did exist, having killed her long ago. As Rosa tells her story, Beatrice shows the same events to Battler.

Beatrice used to be bound to the island by Kinzo and had killed herself to escape. Kinzo had taken her soul and bound it into a human body, losing her memories and living in the hidden mansion Kuwadorian. 19 years ago, Rosa had met this human Beatrice in Kuwadorian, who had little knowledge of the outside world and believed the forest was dangerous because wolves lived there. Rosa reassures her that wolves don't actually live in the forest, and Beatrice goes with her to see the outside world. They go to a cliff overlooking the ocean, and Beatrice slips and falls to the ground, dying. Beatrice's soul is then released, and she thanks the horrified Rosa for setting her free. In the meta-world, Beatrice confirms with red that she really did exist as a human on Rokkenjima, and that no more than 18 people exist on the island. The events of Requiem of the Golden Witch explain that the human Beatrice who died that day was Kinzo's daughter by Beatrice Castiglioni and the mother of Lion Ushiromiya.

During the first twilight, Beatrice encounters Virgilia, who wants to take back her powers and title because of Beatrice's mishandling of the Endless Magic. However, Virgilia is defeated, and Beatrice continues her murders. Even so, Virgilia arrives in the meta-world and acts as Battler's advisor against Beatrice.

Eva eventually solves the epitaph, and Beatrice takes Eva's younger self and passes on the headship and her titles of Golden and Endless Witch, christening her as EVA-Beatrice. EVA commits murders in Beatrice's stead, and Beatrice takes on the nickname Beato since she passed on her name.

When EVA uses her newfound powers to murder Rosa and Maria over and over, Beato laughs at their deaths with glee and Battler slaps her. He's unwilling to continue with the game if Beato is going to be laughing at the murders of his family like that, so Beato gives merciful deaths to Rosa and Maria while telling EVA to ease up on her cruelty. Battler still doesn't find it enough, so Beato has Ronove take her place as she leaves the meta-world, aiming to make herself into a good witch.

Beato then revives Shannon and reunites her with George, but they're both killed by EVA and her own furniture. Beato then revives Kanon as a ghost and sends him to guide the blinded Jessica to the parlor, and EVA tries to kill them both. Beato defends the parlor with all her might, enduring the Chiester Sisters' golden bow, and is reduced to just a beating heart. EVA is then dragged into the meta-world by Battler, who commends Beato for holding out and proving that she's a good witch after all.

Beato assists Battler in finding evidence to use against EVA, and after a fierce debate, Battler is pinned down by EVA's web of red truth and is unable to come up with theories. Beato sacrifices herself by denying witches in red, and Battler covers his ears while the meta-world disappears. Battler and Beato then reunite in the Golden Land, where the Ushiromiya family and all the furniture are awaiting them. Battler is asked to sign a document recognizing Beato as a true witch, and he realizes that Beato had tricked him the entire time. Dropping her facade, Beato reveals that she truly was pretending to be a good witch to make Battler believe in her. Their discussion is cut short when Ange suddenly invades the meta-world, aiming to deny Beatrice as well.

Alliance of the Golden Witch

During this fourth game, Beato makes Kinzo exit his study to commit murders, trying to dissuade Battler's claim that Kinzo is dead all along and an 18th person X is taking his place. She also grants Battler the use of Blue Truth, allowing him to make proper theories. During the game, Kinzo gives tests to the four cousins, and Beatrice is revived by Kinzo's ceremony. Beato then shows up in person to give Battler his test, asking that he choose between his life, _____'s life, or everyone else's lives. Battler doesn't take it seriously and puts Beatrice's name into the blank space, and Beato instead asks that Battler remember his sin; his sin is what caused everyone on Rokkenjima to die. Battler is unable to remember, and Beatrice leaves, disappointed. Beatrice then kills Kinzo by burning him alive, leaving Battler alone as the last survivor on the island.

In the meta-world, Beatrice asks that Battler think about his sin one more time, asking that he repeat "Battler Ushiromiya was born from Asumu Ushiromiya" in red. Battler is unable to, and Beatrice suggests that Battler may not actually be Kinzo's grandson, as she had opened the game to fight said person. Battler is unable to accept that Asumu isn't his biological mother, and he disappears from the meta-world. Beatrice also disappears from the meta-world, going to the Golden Land and planning to stay there forever with MARIA.

Ange goes to the Golden Land and tries to make Beato leave and resume her game with Battler. She revives Sakutaro, which Beato was unable to do, and MARIA reunites with her beloved lion, leaving the Golden Land and forcing Beato to return to the meta-world. Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, who were acting as spectators for the game, bring Battler back from despair and Ange sacrifices herself to tell him that he's still Rudolf's son, therefore making Battler Kinzo's grandson and eligible to fight Beatrice. Ange is ripped to shreds, and Battler swears to engage Beatrice in one last debate.

In the Tea Party, Battler and Beatrice engage in a debate spanning the mysteries throughout the first four games. Battler still believes that Kinzo was dead all along and that an 18th person X is taking his place. Beato initially shows weak opposition to Battler's blue truth stakes, and when Battler asks her to fight with her full power, Beatrice uses red to confirm that Kinzo really is dead and there are no more than 17 people on Rokkenjima, thereby nullifying all of Battler's theories.

After another fierce exchange of red and blue, Beatrice becomes impaled on a massive stake, unable to destroy Battler's blue truths. She uses the last of her power to present Battler with one final riddle, saying that Battler is all alone on the island and yet Beato will kill him: "who am I?"

Beato's spirit embraces Battler as he swears that he will solve that riddle and kill her.

End of the Golden Witch

Beatrice is rendered comatose, having used up all of her spirit in fighting Battler. Battler seeks to find a peaceful way to kill her, and with her absence Lambda takes over as Game Master. During the game, Natsuhi is at risk of the family members discovering that she and Krauss had been hiding Kinzo's death, and a piece version of Beatrice appears to help her. Piece-Beatrice duels with Erika Furudo and Eiserne Jungfrau, trying to prevent them from destroying Kinzo's spirit when they attack the study. Piece-Beatrice and her furniture also try to help Natsuhi by hiding the corpses of the victims of the first twilight.

Later on, Lambda holds a court session in the meta-world, trying to pin Natsuhi as the culprit. Piece-Beatrice tries her best to defend Natsuhi, but she fails and is torn apart by goats. Battler also tries to defend Natsuhi, but he is impaled by Dlanor's red longsword. After court has ended and everyone has cleared out, the real Beatrice walks up to Battler, thanking him for trying to save the integrity of her game and disappears.

Dawn of the Golden Witch

Battler has discovered the truth and become Game Master, using his powers to try and revive Beatrice. However, she instead is revived as Chick Beato, acting very kind and innocent with none of the haughty personality that the original Beatrice had. Chick Beato assists Battler in his game against Erika, later witnessing him getting trapped in a logic error. In the midst of the game, Chick Beato tries to discover how to be just like the real Beatrice, eventually meeting Beato the Elder. The two Beatos try to learn how to become just like the original Beatrice, and they get involved with a love trial held by Zepar and Furfur.

At the end of the love trial, the two Beatos fuse and Beatrice fully revives, heading to the meta-world to interrupt Erika's wedding to the comatose Battler. Beatrice finds a way for Battler to escape his logic error, and the two of them engage Erika in a final debate where, even if Erika were to join the humans on the island, there are only 17 humans on Rokkenjima.

In the Tea Party, Battler and Beatrice are finally able to get married.

Requiem of the Golden Witch

The true origins of Beatrice are revealed in this episode. After her death in End of the Golden Witch, Beatrice returns in the body of Clair Vaux Bernardus to confess her crimes to Willard and Lion. She tells her story that she was once a young servant named Yasu and the struggles she went through after falling in love and waiting 6 years for Battler. Afterward, she goes into her final battle with Willard who tears apart her mysteries and answers her question of "Who am I?". With this, Beatrice is finally able to die and be put to rest. 

In the Tea Party, Beatrice attempts to bring about the Rokkenjima Massacre she depicted in her message bottles. She gives Maria a letter and challenges the family to solve her riddle. The siblings solve the epitaph and go to the gold room, where Beatrice reveals her plans and surrenders to them. However, a scuffle arises between the adults, ending with them killing each other save for Rudolf and Kyrie. Beatrice is then seemingly shot and killed by Kyrie, who goes with Rudolf to kill the remaining family members.

Twilight of the Golden Witch

In this arc, the Beatrice from Dawn of the Golden Witch appears as the 19th person on Rokkenjima once more, as part of Battler's game for Ange.

The aftermath of the Rokkenjima Incident is shown, where on October 6th, 1986, Beatrice had survived getting shot by Kyrie and guides Battler through Kuwadorian's underground passage and towards a speedboat. Beato gives Battler a gold bar she took from the gold room and wants Battler to leave her behind, but he takes her into the boat so they can explore the world together. As they drive towards a nearby island, Beato distracts Battler by giving him a kiss, soon jumping into the ocean and using the gold bar to weigh herself down. Beato wishes to drown herself, believing that she is unfit to live in the human world after committing so many sins, but Battler dives after her, not wanting to leave her alone. They embrace and float towards the bottom of the ocean.

Trivia

• Beatrice's original name is uncertain, given Virgilia's former name was Beatrice as well and the name was passed down to Beatrice along with the title of Endless Witch. When Beatrice was young, Virgilia called her Princess, though it is unconfirmed if that was a title or a nickname. When Beatrice passes her name and titles to EVA-Beatrice, Battler continues to call to her as "Beato", the nickname that both he and Maria previously referred to her as, when she demands that he give her a new name. However, it was confirmed in Clair 's narration of her life till 1984 that her actual name is in fact, Lion.
• Nickname "Beato" is the actually Italian male name and it can be translated as "blessed".
• Unlike other witches the name Beatrice is actually part of her title. 
• Beatrice's name is pronounced the Italian way, as "Be-a-tr-ice" (Be-a-to-ri-che [ベアトリーチェ] in Japanese phonetics) rather than the English way, as "Be-a-triss".
• Beatrice, out of eight characters, has had two portraits of her featured in it.
• The embodiment of Beatrice as Battler's ideal woman is most likely a reference from La Divina Commedia in which Beatrice Potinari is also Dante's ideal woman.