prof | Let's Play Umineko Chiru, Episode 5 ????: The Mystery Genre

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Battler is dead.

However, in this conceptual space, death simply means the absence of thought.

BGM: Worldend (Solo)

With slow, deliberate steps, Beatrice gradually moves towards Battler's corpse.

Battler doesn't respond. Gradually, she comes to understand that he isn't resting, but actually deceased.

For the first time since this game began, Beatrice speaks.

Beato softly rests her head against Battler's chest. Within, she can hear no heartbeat.

Battler is no longer permitted to return to this world.

The Golden Witch no longer has a reason to exist.

In the garden, Beato stares blankly at the surface of her tea.

A recollection deep within Battler, of a time already passed.

Dlanor and Battler enjoyed tea together between battles.

Knox's 3rd: It is forbidden for hidden doors to exist.

It is possible for hidden doors to exist, but that premise must exist from the start.

Claiming that the culprit vanished into thin air is fantasy.
Claiming that there was some way for the culrpit to vanish is anti-fantasy.
Claiming that the explanation must be presented through clues is mystery.

So would claiming that an explanation with no clues exists be anti-mystery?

Battler wasn't on the side of mystery. To him, the idea that hidden doors don't exist because they aren't allowed to exist just felt arrogant.

If discovery-proof hidden doors or unexplained Device X were allowed, then the mystery genre would disintegrate. Nobody would try to solve a mystery if the answer might be a hidden door nobody could have foreseen.

Mysteries only have a reason to exist if solving them is possible.

Humans are creatures that view a problem differently if it's guaranteed to be solvable.

In the first game, reasoning was impossible. Not enough clues were presented.

Battler only began to fight when he was given information that he knew he could rely on.

The red truth.

The red truth was a message from Beatrice. It was the witch telling Battler that this puzzle can be solved.

The Decalogue isn't a way to arrogantly decree reality. It's a framework to make thought possible. As long as it is followed, it's possible to reach the solution.

It's a way to encourage the reader to not stop thinking.

Even then, the Decalogue is only a single interpretation. Some diehard followers call anyone who violates it a heretic, but there are plenty of other viewpoints.

This all leads to one question:

Does Beatrice's world adhere to Knox's Decalogue?

Beatrice called this game a confrontation between mystery and fantasy. She never called it an orthodox mystery.

However, she did say it was a contest between the two of them. So, it must be something both of them had the ability to win.

Different viewpoints make for different definitions of solvability.

However, Virgilia promised one thing with the red truth.

The Decalogue might or might not be an ironclad rule of this world. However, when all other reasoning has failed, it can be a compass.

Sometimes, the young don't wish to love unless they have proof that they'll be loved in return.

Love stories and mysteries aren't as dissimilar as they might appear.

The lover doesn't want to love unless they know they'll be loved.
The writer doesn't want to write a mystery unless they know the reader will try to solve it.
The reader doesn't want to read a mystery unless they know the writer made it solvable.

Mysteries aren't a battle between the reader and the writer. They're a relationship born of a kind of love.

Without love, it cannot be seen. Without love, the story is never told.

So what does that say about Battler and Beatrice?

Think. One more time, think about Virgilia's red truth, and Dlanor's Decalogue.

Nobody's guaranteed whether this is a mystery or a fantasy.

But why not give solving it one more try?

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