Template:ArticleUmineko
- "I do not want money. ......My wounds could not be healed with any amount of money. But there is a medicine. ...That is right. It is like a kind of ointment. ...Thick, syrupy and dribbling. .....And that is..my hatred.....my resentment towards you. ...Slathering myself with that..is the only way to hold back the pain..."
- — The Man speaking to Natsuhi over the phone, End of the Golden Witch
The Man From 19 Years Ago (19年前の男 19-nen Mae no Otoko) is a character who appears in End of the Golden Witch. He claims to be Natsuhi's child that she abandoned 19 years ago, threatening her with phone calls and plotting revenge against her.
Appearance
The Man is not given an appearance in the original visual novel, as he only ever talks over the phone. Even though he is said to be male, Natsuhi notes that The Man's voice sounds androgynous.
His appearance in the manga is faceless and featureless, presumably a design choice made to avoid revealing who The Man really is.
Personality
The Man shows contempt towards Natsuhi for abandoning him so long ago, taking delight in threatening and taunting her by calling her "Mother".
Background
19 years ago, Natsuhi was struggling to get pregnant and produce a successor to become the next Ushiromiya family head. Kinzo had given Natsuhi a baby to adopt and take care of, and Natsuhi felt that she was being disgraced like this.
While taking a walk with the baby and a servant, Natsuhi gave the baby to the servant and then pushed them both off of a cliff. Natsuhi believed that both of them had died and kept this a secret. In this gameboard created by Lambdadelta, the baby survives and grows up with nothing but hate for Natsuhi.
Relationships
- Natsuhi Ushiromiya (foster mother)
- Battler Ushiromiya (possible caller)
- Yasuda (true identity and caller)
Role in the Story
End of the Golden Witch
The Man calls Natsuhi privately and threatens her to do several things, otherwise he will reveal her sin. On the night of October 4th, he directs her to pick up a clock containing a card with Natsuhi's favorite season printed on it, which is revealed to be autumn. Natsuhi is then ordered to stay in her room all night and not leave until he calls back in the morning.
The next morning, Natsuhi is awakened by The Man's calls, and she learns that several people have been murdered; Natsuhi staying in her room all night means she does not have an alibi and is a likely suspect.
Later, The Man orders Natsuhi to go into a guestroom and hide in the closet. As Natsuhi ponders her circumstances, she realizes that the only person she told her favorite season to was Shannon.
In the ???? Battler makes a theory to disprove Erika's Natsuhi culprit theory and posits that he was actually the caller.
Twilight of the Golden Witch (manga)
During the hide and seek game, Beatrice implies that she was the caller.
Later on, Erika has a rematch with Battler concerning the fifth game. She suggests that Battler was playing the part of The Man from 19 Years Ago and was bought off by the main culprit, following a scenario arranged with the other adults but unaware that said culprit really intended to kill people. Battler counters this theory with red truth that, on October 5th, none of the 18 named people on the island were the caller. Erika strikes back with the suggestion that the caller was actually Yasuda, the only person on the island to have multiple names.
Last note of the Golden Witch
In the after-credits scene, Virgilius is summoned to talk about his scrapped roles for the series, where it's shown he was supposed to play the part of The Man.
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