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This article is about the Witch of Miracles appearing in Umineko When They Cry. For the writer of poems in Higurashi When They Cry, see Frederica Bernkastel.
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This article is about a character in
Umineko When They Cry.
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Overview

Bernkastel (ベルンカステル Berunkasuteru) is an extremely powerful witch that has lived a thousand years. She first appears in Legend of the Golden Witch to become a spectator for Beatrice's game.

Profile[]

The Witch of the Fragments, who has lived for a thousand years.

It is said she lives in a world where the concepts of fate and possibilities can be visualized.
She observes the fate of humans and sometimes interferes.

In other words, sometimes she is you, and sometimes she is your only friend. ...Understand?

She likes wine and spicy foods.
She hates boredom and people who never learn.

Ber

Appearance[]

Bernkastel has long steel-blue hair and emotionless purple eyes. Her attire is that of a black and white Gothic Lolita dress with a blue ribbon, a white petticoat, cotton socks and black Mary Jane shoes. She seems to have a black cat tail with a blue ribbon tied on it.

In the original visual novel, she is depicted as an individual around her teens, whereas in the remakes, she is depicted as a child, almost half Ronove's height.

Personality[]

Bernkastel initially appears emotionless and gets bored easily. She has forgotten the concept of pain and fear after centuries of being superior to others.

Deep down, Bern is sadistic and willing to kill or sacrifice anything or anyone for her own amusement. She treats her piece Erika like garbage when the latter fails to achieve any worthwhile results. She is just as, if not even more, playfully cruel than Lambdadelta, who shows a great fondness towards her and outright states that she loves her several times.

She has a tendency to hold grudges and that even a century won't make her forget the humiliation she suffered. As a result of this, she then creates a game where there won't be a happy ending, in the case when she lost a game to Beatrice.

Abilities[]

Bern can use "magic of miracles" to reset a bad situation, as long as the chance of it becoming favorable is not zero. She has experienced having been played with and imprisoned in a cruel fate in the past by Lambdadelta when she was a human being. Hence, it seems she can't ignore the fate of those in same circumstances. Her weapon is a long black scythe, which separates miracles from reality.

She possesses the ability to transform into a cat and to evoke an apparently infinite number of cat furniture, such as in Golden Fantasia with her move "Here Kitty Death lords" where Bern summons kitty death lords to fire beams at her opponent. She is also capable of combining her cat furniture to create the monstrosity known as the Leviathan, such as in Golden Fantasia with her move "The Heartless Leviathan that Consumes All" where Bern summons a giant snake to swallow the opponent.

She can also manipulate Fragments as weapons and transform them into defensive tools. During her battle against Lambdadelta in Twilight of the Golden Witch, the cohesion of her powers with those of the Witch of Certainty proved to be able to create and destroy entire narrative universes.

Background[]

Before becoming a witch, Bernkastel suffered through a logic error in a game board created long ago by an unnamed Game Master. After struggling for a long time, Bern escaped her Logic Error and earned the title of "Witch of Miracles".

In Twilight of the Golden Witch, Lambdadelta suggests that Bernkastel was originally a cat of Featherine Augustus Aurora, who was turned into a witch. Legend has it that Bernkastel wandered the sea of Fragments endlessly, searching for any Fragment that can revive her master from the pits of death called boredom, if even for a moment. Eventually, the cat revived her master.

Relationships[]

Overview[]

Lambdadelta[]

Bern loves Lambda and Lambda has a great interest in her. Lambda wants to have a mutual understanding with her since they've both suffered through logic errors in the past.[2] According to Whose Tea Party, Bern used to be much different and started opening up when Lambda started playing with her.

The two witches often banter with each other through cruel yet lewd remarks. Bern sometimes loses control of her emotions, and so Lambda has to keep her calm.[3]

Featherine Augustus Aurora[]

Bern has served Featherine the longest out of all her mikos, having been granted her witch form by her in the past. She credits Featherine with having taught her how to tear up guts and drag them out.[4] Bern is arguably more impolite than Ange, but Featherine still likes her and is grateful to Bern curing her boredom so long ago.[5]

Erika Furudo[]

Erika is the creation and piece of Bernkastel to act as her self-insert and double. Erika adores her creator and master more than anything, sometimes getting jealous of Lambdadelta's relationship with Bern. Erika is desperate for her master's approval and tries her best to live up to her expectations. However, Bernkastel cares little for Erika, as after Dawn, Bern banished her to oblivion due to losing to Beatrice. No matter how much she is abused, ignored or thrown into oblivion by her master, Erika will continue to admire and serve Bern.

Battler Ushiromiya[]

Role in the Story[]

Legend of the Golden Witch[]

Bernkastel first appears in the ???? serving as Beatrice's guest to view her games to kill her boredom. She also gives the reader a hint about Beatrice before leaving.

Turn of the Golden Witch[]

At the end of the episode, Bern attends Beatrice's Halloween party wearing a goat disguise. Bored by the festivities, Bern leaves soon after.

In the ????, she speaks to Battler and helps him regain his strength to fight Beatrice. She establishes herself as not just a bystander and wants to help Battler win.

Banquet of the Golden Witch[]

She briefly shows up during EVA-Beatrice's coronation ceremony.

In the ????, Bern heads to the world of 1998 and enlists Ange's help in defeating Beatrice and getting her brother back.

Alliance of the Golden Witch[]

Bern helps Ange enter the meta world and become part of Battler and Beatrice's game, on the condition that she not reveal her identity. However, Ange is forced to break this rule in order to save Battler, who'd fallen into despair.

In the ????, Bern is lying in a bed with Lambda talking about Battler's theories. They laugh them off and then proclaim that Beato shall not win, and a miracle will certainly not occur.

End of the Golden Witch[]

Bern takes a more active role in the plot, taking Battler's place in game against Lambda, who has become the new Game Master. She's played the game up until the second day, using her piece/self-insert Erika Furudo. Battler resumes his position soon after.

Throughout the game, Bern starts showing off her cruel side. She uses red to deny that Natsuhi was ever having tea with Beatrice before 1986, leaving Battler to complain since it had no bearing on the mystery.

In the Tea Party, after Battler is pierced with the red truth and Natsuhi is declared guilty, Bernkastel bestows Erika with a scythe and the title Witch of Truth.

Dawn of the Golden Witch[]

Bernkastel spectates Erika's debate against Battler and later Beatrice. When the Witch of Truth eventually falls, Bern renounces ownership of her and sends Erika to oblivion.

Requiem of the Golden Witch[]

Bernkastel puts together a miracle fragment made of several other fragments, and invites Willard H. Wright to come and investigate the mystery behind Beatrice's past. Bern doesn't allow him to leave until he can solve Beatrice/Clair's story.

In the Tea Party, Bern shows Ange and Lion the truth of what really happened on Rokkenjima, displaying the Rokkenjima Massacre; Ange is unable to handle the sight and falls apart into a pile of meat, much like her death in Alliance. After that Bern sends Lion in their world where another Rokkenjima Massacre takes place. Lion almost dies, suffering from the same injuries that they had in that Massacre; Will saves them before it can happen. The two try to escape, and Bern chases after them with a swarm of cats.

In the ???, Bern makes herself the Game master of Beatrice’s game and declares in red that this game won’t have a happy ending.

Twilight of the Golden Witch[]

Bern is invited to Battler's party and plays a game with him and Beatrice. Afterwards, Ange falls into the game and is later rescued, being convinced by Bern to join her and retrieve the Book of the One Truth. Bern and her companions then launch an attack on Rokkenjima, summoning hordes of goats to devour it.

The Book is retrieved and taken to the City of Books, where Ange reads it and commits suicide upon learning the truth of the Rokkenjima Massacre, much to Bern's amusement.

Ange then revives in the Golden Land and heads to the City of Books with Battler and Lambda to retrieve the Book before Featherine can reveal its secrets to the world. Bern engages Lambda in a fight of cosmic proportions, with the two witches becoming evenly matched; Featherine gets involved and kills Lambda, who falls to pieces.

Bern continues to guard the Book of the One Truth, and Battler and Ange confront her in a final battle. Bern initially kills Battler after assaulting him with closed-room mysteries, and he is swiftly revived once Ange accepts her role as the Witch of Resurrection. Ange then resurrects her entire family and all of the illusions, who had previously died when the Golden Land crumbled, and defeats Bern with a single strike, reducing her into a simple cat.

In the Tea Party, Bern accepts her defeat and bids farewell to Lambda after sewing her back together, saying they may meet again when something else cries.

Other Appearances[]

Golden Fantasia[]

Bernkastel is a playable character and has a story mode with Lambdadelta, Erika, and Willard. She is also available as a system voice.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Tsubasa[]

Bernkastel appears in several stories within Tsubasa. Bernkastel's Letter has her speaking to a friend about the rules of Beatrice's game.

The Witches' Tanabata has Bern granting a Tanabata wish for a young Ange, resulting in the relationship between Ange and Eva turning into a negative one.

Trivia[]

  • Bernkastel shares many similarities with Rika Furude and Frederica Bernkastel from Higurashi When They Cry.
    • Rika and Bern have similar blue hairstyles, and Bern wears a cat tail and transforms into a cat while Rika has referred to herself as a cat on many occasions in Higurashi. At one point, Bern uses Rika's catchphrase and verbal tics and acts like it was something she used to say.[6] Additionally, Bern and Rika have the same birthday, both eat spicy food[1], and share the same voice actress.
    • When asked about the relationship between Rika and Frederica Bernkastel, Ryukishi07 said thatBernkastel is composed of all the negative emotions and memories from the Rika that endured 100 years of torment. He also says he enjoyed making Rika evil to see BT's reaction.[7] A similar comment is said in Episode 8 Shinsou Kaimei Dokuhon.[8]
    • 07th Expansion All Character Settings Collection uses "Frederica Bernkastel" as Bern's full name.[1]
    • Bernkastel refers to Featherine as "Auaurora", referencing Minagoroshi whereHanyuu is introduced with her tendency to mutter "au au" when irritated or scared. The manga version of Banquet of the Golden Witch's Tea Party where the witches discuss their ostensible experiences with Santa Claus features Hanyuu appearing with Bern.[9]
    • In Dawn of the Golden Witch, Lambda and Erika talk about how Bern was trapped in a logic error in the past. The manga adaptation shows what looks likeRika wearing her dress and Hanyuu with her shrine maiden outfit, along with imagery related to dice and counting years.[10]
    • In the final episode of Higurashi Sotsu, Rika and Satoko's final conversation mimics the end of Umineko, where Bernkastel and Lambdadelta go separate ways and promise to reunite when something else cries. The last lines of Rika and Satoko's dialogue are verbatim Bern and Lambda's.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 07th Expansion All Character Settings Collection
  2. Dawn of the Golden Witch Chapter 16: The Demon Wedding Ceremony. Lambda to Erika: "...You don't understand anything about Bern. ......No matter what kind of ruthless, cruel, horrible scum Bern may be, ...I want to be the one person who knows what she's truly like. ......And the same goes for me. ...I think that kid, as a fellow survivor from hell, is the only one who can understand what I'm truly like. ......It sounds like you're jealous of the relationship we have, but give it up. The hell you think you've trudged through is nothing more than a blink compared to the one we crawled out of."
  3. Dawn of the Golden Witch Chapter 13: Detective Proclamation
  4. Dawn of the Golden Witch ???.
  5. Twilight of the Golden Witch Chapter 17: Ange Makes a Choice
  6. Turn of the Golden Witch ???. Bern: "...Umm, in times like this, what did I used to say again? ......Umm, uh, ......g-go for it, yay. Mii, nipah~☆ ......It's so embarrassing, doing this."
  7. ACen 2015 07th Expansion Panels
  8. Episode 8 Shinsou Kaimei Dokuhon page 20: "Perhaps, she is the persona of the hundred year witch that Rika parted ways with in Saikoroshi-hen. She must be the one who was separated in the Sea of Fragments and crystallized with only the most brutal part of the hundred year witch remaining. The relationship between her, Lambda, and Featherine, the witches of the top layer, is something I've set up in my brain in great detail."
  9. Banquet of the Golden Witch manga, chapter 21.
  10. Dawn of the Golden Witch manga Chapter 20.
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