End of the Golden Witch/Solution

Overview

Summary

Characters

TIPS

CG

Colored Text

Solution

MAJOR UMINEKO SPOILER WARNING This article or section contains untagged major spoilers for all of Umineko When They Cry, possibly including the manga. Readers who have not completed the story are advised not to proceed further.

This article attempts to describe solutions to the gameboard's mysteries in End of the Golden Witch. It is primarily based on Erika's blue statements that aren't countered against in Chapter 20: Battle in the Chapel 1 and Chapter 21: Battle in the Chapel 2 of the manga version of Twilight of the Golden Witch, which Ryukishi07 has stated to be an official answer from him.

This page only aims to describe the whodunnit and howdunnit of the mysteries. There is a wealth of additional emotional subtext behind many of these scenes that will not be described here due to its greater reliance on reader interpretation of the scenes themselves. We strongly encourage rereading the story in order to discover this for yourself.

Overview

Role	People
Culprit	Sayo Yasuda, who appears as Shannon and Kanon.
Common Accomplices	Genji Ronoue, Chiyo Kumasawa, Terumasa Nanjo, and Maria Ushiromiya.
Accomplice Roulette	Everybody except Natsuhi Ushiromiya and Erika Furudo.

Rule	Description
X	Different coconspirators each time. All adults are in need of money. Buying their cooperation is easy.
Y	Any lies that all parties agree upon are depicted as reality. Even better when it pertains to locked rooms. Those who see golden butterflies are either on the culprit’s side or dead. Those who haven’t been bought off will not see the butterflies until thirty minutes before their death.

Rule Z is omitted because this is a game with a different motive for the murders.

"The fifth game was one in which the GM, Lambdadelta, had the culprit, Beato, do something that "she wouldn't do but could if she wanted." And that act was buying off the pawn of Battler.

Beato's original purpose was to make me solve her riddles. Buying me off and making me a co-conspirator wasn't an option. She could have done it but wouldn't. It was a game with no opponent or purpose. As Ronove called it, a game without "love" or a "sense of honor".

Because the opponent was bought off, there was no need for the witch's letter about solving the epitaph. It did not show up. Solving the epitaph would not stop the murders. The priority was on the criminal perspective, not the witch's perspective. Instead, the revenge against Aunt Natsuhi and the slaughter of the family is carried out without resistance.

It seems implausible that I would be bought off in order to screw over Aunt Natsuhi, given my disinterest in money. But if there was a deal between the culprit and the adults to make me the pretend mastermind of faked murders in order to force Natsuhi to admit to covering up Kinzo's death, then it's possible they could have manipulated me into doing it."

— Battler in Twilight of the Golden Witch (manga) Chapter 20: Battle in the Chapel 1.

Before Solving the Epitaph

Red Truths

• Knox's 8th, it is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not PRESENTED! Until now, you have been the DETECTIVE! Was it ever shown that you were not the detective this time, and that you were an observer capable of inserting his own personal IDEAS?!! Unless it was, you do not have the right to falsify your point of VIEW!!
• In this game! When I figured out the device connected to the epitaph's riddle, I witnessed Grandfather. ...As has already been shown in red, Grandfather doesn't exist. It was impossible for me to witness him! Therefore, it has already been shown that my viewpoint wasn't objective!!
• There's the red truth that Beato showed during the 4th game!! No person would mistake Ushiromiya Kinzo by sight!
• In other words, on this island, all illusions which might lead someone to mistake something for Grandfather, including someone else pretending to be Grandfather, 'most certainly cannot work'.
• Because of the right granted by Knox's 9th, anyone is allowed to mistake a sheet in the wind for anything else and tell about it. ...However! Mistaking it for Grandfather in particular is not permitted in this game due to the red truth!!

Erika landed on the island and met Maria in the garden while the latter was alone around the time Sayo would meet Maria in the first four games. When Erika was greeting everyone in the parlor, Battler saw Shannon and Kanon together. This was possible because Battler is not the detective in this game, therefore his perspective was not objective. Meanwhile, Erika was told that Kanon was doing something else.

After dinner, Erika and Battler solved the Witch's Epitaph. Battler saw Kinzo speaking to him for the same reason that he's not the detective in this game.

The Calls and the Autumn Card

Red Truths

• [Natsuhi] never told anyone except Shannon that [she] like[s] autumn.

Red Truths (Manga)

• In the fifth game, the call to Natsuhi on the morning of the fifth was not from Battler. There was indeed a threatening phone call.
• But the caller was not any of the eighteen: Not Kinzo, Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie, Rosa, Jessica, George, Battler, Maria, Nanjo, Genji, Shannon, Kanon, Kumasawa, nor Gohda. Of course, it was not Erika Furudo either!

Type	Information
Erika's Blue Truth	"The "autumn" card!? You had four different cards already placed in the room and could have directed her to the location of each one depending on how she answered. Or X, who heard the answer directly from Natsuhi, could have placed just the autumn card. In any case, Natsuhi has a habit of locking her room, so a master key would be required to place the cards, but X has a master key, so that's not a problem in the least. It was the true culprit, who assumes a witch's reputation by using the multiple-name trick!! And in this game, the ability to use multiple human names while here on this specific island belongs only to one person!}
Additional Information	It is likely that Battler was the first caller and could have been told Natsuhi's favorite season by Shannon. In any case, Shannon used her master key to enter Natsuhi's room and hide cards for every season in the event that Natsuhi's answer was different. Sayo, the real "man from 19 years ago", was the caller in later calls. She either passed the calls as herself or in her Beatrice persona.

The Knock and the Letter

Red Truths

• Before the family conference, Erika, George, Jessica, Maria, Nanjo, Gohda, and Kumasawa left the mansion and moved to the guesthouse.
• Of those who remain, only Krauss, Natsuhi, and Genji were in the second floor corridor, while all others were in the dining hall.
• Krauss, Natsuhi and Genji did not even touch that letter!
• Not a single person in the dining hall...no, there's a simpler way to say it. Among all those inside the mansion at 24:00, not a single person placed that letter in the corridor.
• Neither Krauss nor Natsuhi nor Genji knocked! This isn't the limited meaning of them knocking on the door, okay? It means they didn't use a pillar to transmit the sound or push the play button on a cassette tape they'd recorded or create that knock sound by any means! Of course, this applies to direct, indirect, intentional, coincidental, and unintentional means!

• At 24:00, excepting Krauss, Natsuhi, and Genji in the second floor corridor and all of the people in the dining hall, no Humans existed inside the mansion.
• In addition to Krauss, Natsuhi, and Genji, none of those in the dining hall knocked on that door. In this sense, 'knock' includes all direct, indirect, intentional, unintentional, and coincidental events that could create a knocking sound.

• In short, this means it was impossible for any character within the mansion to be the source of a knocking SOUND. ...And 'any character' refers even to unobserved people that no one has noticed.

• No one in the mansion placed the letter in the hallway.
• No one in the mansion placed the letter in the hallway. This includes doing so by all concepts, such as directly, indirectly, intentionally, coincidentally, and unintentionally.

• At 24:00, only Erika, George, Jessica, Maria, Nanjo, Gohda, and Kumasawa existed outside the mansion.

• The letter never existed on the ceiling of the hallway.
• Know that the letter never touched the serving cart.
• It was impossible for anyone outside the mansion to influence anything inside the mansion after the family conference began.

• None of the characters misidentified a knocking sound.
• Misidentifying a knocking sound means this: they would not mistake a sound very similar to a knocking sound for a real knocking sound. Hitting a pillar to make something similar to a knocking sound is no good. When you record a knocking sound on a cassette tape and play it back, it becomes 'the sound of the tape with a knocking sound on it', and not a knocking sound. So that's no good either! In other words, every one of them would correctly recognize a knocking sound of something truly hitting the door, and they definitely wouldn't mishear it. It's totally impossible that any sounds except hitting that door directly would be misinterpreted as a knock!!
• 'To knock' means someone hitting a door with their hand.

Type	Information
Erika's Blue Truth	Midnight of October 4th, the fifth game! The culprit held a meeting in the dining room with the accomplices to concoct false murders in order to force Natsuhi to admit to covering up Kinzou's death! All the adults present were hard up for money, and if they got Natsuhi's confession, they could either blackmail the eldest in line or knock them out of the squabble for inheritance. The date the offer was made is unclear, but because it was agreed the murders would be faked, it would have been easy to sway the accomplices to the culprit's side.
Additional Information	Everything shown to happen in the dining hall at that time could be made up because no detective was present, especially when Shannon and Kanon were depicted to be present at the same time. If the talk between Rudolf and Battler about the latter's birth really happened, it was likely to refer to the truth that Battler was not borne by Asumu but by Kyrie, with Rudolf believing that Kyrie might respond poorly to this. He frames his confession of this fact to Kyrie in the same way in Twilight of the Golden Witch.

First Twilight

Red Truths

• Anyone looking at George, Jessica, Maria, Rosa, or Genji's corpses could confirm at a glance that they are dead.
• At a glance, anyone could confirm that these corpses are dead, so it's absolutely impossible that they are just playing dead.
• In other words, after Kumasawa returned to the guesthouse, she never went to the second floor until morning.
• In other words, after Gohda returned to the guesthouse, he never went up to the second floor until morning.
• At 24:00 in the guesthouse, George, Jessica, and Maria were alive and in the second floor cousin room. Nanjo, Gohda, and Kumasawa were on the first floor.
• George, Jessica, Maria, Rosa, and Genji really are dead.
• At 24:00, Natsuhi, Krauss, and Genji were in a corridor on the second floor of the mansion. All the remaining people were at the family conference in the dining hall. Of course, at that point in time, no murder had occurred. Genji was also alive.

• From 1:00 AM to 3:00 AM, Erika, Nanjo, and Gohda spent their time in the lounge on the first floor of the guesthouse.
• After 24:00, Erika was with Nanjo the whole time until 3:00 AM.
• Both your seal and your red truth are perfect. Nanjo had the alibi of being with Erika until 3:00 AM. And he didn't leave his room after 3:00 AM until morning.

• Ushiromiya Battler returned to the cousin room at 3:00 AM and fell asleep. After that, until the discovery of the crime, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened in the room!
• In other words, it was impossible for Battler to commit murder or damage the corpses.

• It is impossible for someone to reach the second floor of the guesthouse without anyone in the lounge noticing it. ...Though of course, this only refers to reaching the second floor from inside the building.
• It was impossible to reach the second floor of the guesthouse without passing through the lounge, and impossible to reach it at all without Erika, who was in the lounge, knowing about it!
• At 24:00, Natsuhi, Krauss, and Genji were in the corridor on the second floor of the mansion. The rest of them were in the dining hall on the first floor. (...) Of all the people in the dining hall, not one of them left the dining hall until 1:00 AM...!
• The red truth is simply truth, and there is no need to provide evidence, proof, or room for a counterargument!!
• When Genji finished transferring the call, he immediately returned to the waiting room. That's just a cold, hard truth, without any evidence, proof, seals, or alibis, got it?

• At 1:00 AM, Eva sealed Genji's waiting room, and that seal was broken by Kanon and Kumasawa in the morning when the crime was discovered.
• During the short break at 1:00 AM, the first two to leave the dining hall were Rosa and Eva. Until Eva returned, everyone in the dining hall remained there. After seeing Rosa off, Eva went to the waiting room and sealed it. Of course, she did not enter the room at all at this time.

• Genji never left the mansion after 24:00
• Ushiromiya Natsuhi is not the culprit!
• Ushiromiya Krauss is not the culprit. And he was killed long ago, shortly after you heard his voice over the phone, get it?
• Due to the above, the seals are guaranteed to be PERFECT. <Miss> Erika's seals were not broken by anyone, and deception is IMPOSSIBLE!!
• Eva's seal was of the same type as <Miss> Erika's. That is because this method of sealing was one that <Miss> Erika and Eva conceived of together after DINNER.

• It is impossible to tear off any of the seals by any method without leaving marks.
• There were no suspicious marks on any of the seals...!
• All of Erika and Eva's seals were not tampered with in any way that hindered their ability to act as seals, such as being scraped off.

• Knox's 3rd. It is forbidden for hidden passages to EXIST! As the detective, <Miss> Erika sealed all ENTRANCES. Passages that the detective cannot find are hidden PASSAGES. Therefore, there are no entrances that <Miss> Erika cannot find!!

• Lady Erika's lookout in the lounge was perfect. There were no small gaps or carelessness or times when she looked away for even a second.
• Therefore, during their entire meeting in the lounge, only Rosa went up to the second floor!
• Knox's 10th, it is forbidden for a character to disguise themselves as another without any CLUES! There have been no hints suggesting that someone had disguised themselves as Rosa! Furthermore, Erika has confirmed that she wasn't carrying any luggage large enough to hide a human IN!
• Knox's 1st. It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the STORY!
• Knox's 4th. It is forbidden for unknown drugs or hard-to-understand scientific devices to be USED!!
• Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not PRESENTED!!
• Knox's 6th. It is forbidden for accident or intuition to be employed as a detective TECHNIQUE!!
• Knox's 7th. It is forbidden for the detective to be the CULPRIT!!
• Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not PRESENTED!!
• Knox's 9th. It is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions and explanations be heard!
• Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not PRESENTED!!
• All victims' deaths were homicides.
• No examination of the corpses could have been mistaken.
• No corpses exist except those of characters who have appeared in the story.
• The red truth is simply truth, and there is no need to provide evidence or proof.

• Ushiromiya Natsuhi is not the culprit!!!
• Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.
• The red truth from the 4th game that I'm not the son of my mother Asumu. The feeling that Dad was hiding something in both the first game and this game. In particular, in this game, it was made clear that there were some special circumstances having to do with my birth.
• During that one hour, you were in the dining hall of the mansion!!
• It has not been specified that the time of death was between 24:00 and 1:00.

• From 1:00 AM until the discovery of the crime, it was impossible for any criminal action to occur in the cousin room!!
• Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not PRESENTED. If the crime actually was carried out in the cousin room, clues must have been SHOWN. Because clues were not given to the detective, Lady Erika, who was on the watch for any abnormalities inside that room until morning, such a crime is IMPOSSIBLE...!!

• The death of the four in the cousin room has been proclaimed with the red text!!
• The deaths of the four people in the cousin room have been proclaimed with the red truth!! Furthermore, those corpses were witnessed by a large number of people!!
• Furthermore, it's already been proclaimed in red that no examination of the corpses would lead to a mistaken result...!!
• When this court was opened, Lady Lambdadelta made a proclamation. She said this was a 24:00 answer session!

• ...Ushiromiya Kinzo is already dead at the starting time for all games!
• After George's death, his corpse was never moved!
• After Jessica's death, her corpse was never moved!
• After Maria's death, her corpse was never moved!
• After Rosa's death, her corpse was never moved!
• After Genji's death, his corpse was never moved!
• After Krauss's death, his corpse was never moved!
• Therefore, the corpses couldn't have vanished after being discovered!! Your theory about Kinzo carrying the corpses away fails!

• Knox's 2nd!! It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique! If you would show that Kinzo has died with the red truth, then I demand that you display proof of a Human's truth which could be used to make that point...!
• Presentation of evidence. I'll present a corpse which could possibly be identified as Ushiromiya Kinzo's...!!
• In this closed-off Rokkenjima, there is no objective way to show that this corpse is Grandfather's.
• I guarantee that this corpse is Ushiromiya Kinzo's corpse...!!
• Because of this, Grandfather's absence has been verified, and the dishonorable relationship between Aunt Natsuhi and Grandfather has been removed from consideration!! Aunt Natsuhi is pure and faithful! I won't permit this vulgar tale you're all so fond of!!

• Furthermore, because we've raised doubts about the time of death for all who have died so far, the alibis for everyone besides Aunt Natsuhi go back to square one...!! If you try to argue that the crime was impossible for everyone except Aunt Natsuhi, it won't work!!
• However, in the cousin room, [Battler] witnessed corpses which were impossible to MISIDENTIFY...! Are you trying to say that was a LIE?! ...Knox's 7th, it is forbidden for the detective to be the CULPRIT!!
• Furudo Erika is the detective, and the [Battler] in this game isn't one!! And by Knox's 9th, it is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions and explanations be heard...!!

Red Truths (Manga)

• The culprit killed Krauss after the call with Natsuhi.
• [Erika] searched the mansion later but was unable to find them.
• Their six bodies were not moved at all after death.

Type	Information
Erika's Blue Truth	Playing the victims would be George, Jessica, Maria, Rosa, Krauss, and Genji. Those who weren't accomplices were told it was going to be a prank on Erika Furudo. For the ones in the cousins' room, either Rosa could contact them, or they could be called from the dining hall. While I was in the lobby until 3:00 A.M., the four in the cousins' room decorated the walls according to the script and went to sleep. And on the morning of the fifth, Battler woke up at the agreed-upon hour and pretended to discover the incident! Then you "saw" the people playing dead as actual corpses using the culprit's trademark witch's fantasy—the agreed-upon story! Yes, there were many co-conspirators indeed! I worked so hard, listening in on the already-prepared room and barely examined the bodies the next day. I fell right into your trap. Based on the working phone, I suspect that Krauss's body and the hiding place of the other five was the V.I.P. room with the pile of gold, or perhaps the underground corridor leading to Kuwadorian. But the culprit didn't want them acting on their own either, and probably killed them when given the chance.
Additional Information	The cousins, Genji, and Krauss were told that they would be performing a prank on Erika. While Erika was in the guesthouse lobby, the cousins drew the Seventh Magic Circle of the Sun on the wall of their room. Erika then listened in to the cousin room all night. Battler was part of the plan and screamed out in the morning, drawing everyone to the cousin room. The cousins faked their deaths by covering themselves with blankets. As soon as Erika arrived, she could have checked underneath the blankets, but she didn't and assumed they were really dead. Genji faked his death in a similar way. Krauss was taken to some other room and pretended to be kidnapped, being killed by Sayo after the call. Afterwards, the other victims were taken to the same place and killed for real.

Second Twilight

Type	Information
Erika's Blue Truth	Then the culprit went to the closet where they ordered Natsuhi to hide and tossed in a button from Natsuhi's clothes. Then they could proceed with the fake murder scenario and wait for me to corner Natsuhi into confessing!!
Additional Information	It is implied that Hideyoshi pretended to be attacked and killed. Given that the victims of the first twilight were covered with blankets, it is likely that Hideyoshi was also covered up and carried off. Erika did not observe the state of Hideyoshi's corpse and assumed he was dead. The game was suspended after this point. Whether Hideyoshi is really dead by the end of Oct. 5 like the 6 victims from the first twilight is not confirmed.