Re:Zero Shock: Theresia’s Tragic Past & Brutal Battle!

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Summary

  • A short fight followed by Theresia’s past make up most of the episode.
  • Emotional buildup wasn’t entirely fulfilled due to extensive content cuts.
  • Theresia’s backstory and relationships were not fully explored in the episode.
Title Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World, Season 3, Episode 14 “Theresia van Astrea”
Studio White Fox
Air Date March 12, 2025

Caution: This discussion may reveal plot details from Re:Zero, Season 3, Episode 14 titled “Theresia van Astrea”, currently available on Crunchyroll.

Be aware that the following conversation might disclose key plot points from the fourteenth episode of Re:Zero’s third season, entitled “Theresia van Astrea,” which can be found on Crunchyroll.

The previous episode of Re:Zero saw the defeat of one of the Witch Cult’s reanimated warriors, Kurgan, the eight-armed swordsman. Here, in Re:Zero season 3, episode 14, “Theresia van Astrea”, it’s time to finish off the other warrior, Wilhelm’s wife, Theresia. Brief glimpses of their fight have been sprinkled throughout the season, but this is where it all ends.

Unfortunately, the pacing in this episode felt somewhat off. Most of that is due to a ton of content being cut from the source material, the light novels. This was supposed to be the emotional highlight of the season, and while some emotional tones did hit, this episode doesn’t really compare to what Re:Zero has shown in the past. The whole fight and backstory probably would have been much better off if it had been allowed two episodes, but it is what it is, and it could have been worse.

Clashing Swords

Wilhelm Faces the Love of His Life

Surprisingly, the actual fight between Wilhelm and Theresia was relatively short. The fight also wasn’t as flashy as Garfiel vs. Kurgan or the battle against Regulus. Wilhelm and Theresia clash swords for a little while; both seemingly at equal levels of skill. However, the balance tips when Heinkel, Wilhelm’s son, calls out to him. This distracted Wilhelm for a split second, which was enough for Theresia to stab him in the leg, incapacitating him.

Theresia then turned her attention to Heinkel, but just before she could murder her own son, Reinhard stepped in. Knowing what was about to happen, Wilhelm pleaded with Reinhard to let him fight Theresia. However, Reinhard knew that Wilhelm was no longer in any condition to fight; so, for the first time in the series, Reinhard drew his Dragon Sword and slew Theresia. This episode showed a very different side of Reinhard; a very cold and unsympathetic side. Reinhard was always shown to be the cheerful and respectful type, but this time, he killed his grandmother without hesitation or remorse. When Heinkel became enraged at him, blaming him for Theresia’s death, Reinhard coldly told him that what he killed was just a reanimated corpse, not his grandmother, even though Theresia clearly came back to her senses moments before passing in Wilhelm’s arms.

“Silly. You really never realized it? You’ve been saying it all this time. Your eyes, your voice, your bearing, your actions, all this time… ‘I love you’.” – Theresia’s final words to Wilhelm

The animation for the fight was good, but it only lasted about three minutes. So fans who were expecting something like the Garfiel vs. Kurgan fight might be left wanting a little more. Instead of a long, drawn-out fight, most of episode 14 is dedicated to showing viewers the previous Sword Saint’s life.

Theresia van Astrea’s Past

Theresia’s Younger Years

Episode 14 showed a young Theresia receiving the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint. She disliked being next in line because it meant that her brothers, who had worked so hard for the title, would have had all their efforts be in vain. She refused to take up arms even in her first campaign in the Demi-Human War. Unfortunately, this proved to be a fatal error, as her older brother led the campaign instead of her, which resulted in his death. One by one Theresia’s brothers fell in battle; eventually, even her uncle, the previous Sword Saint, fell. Their deaths pushed Theresia to accept her role as the Sword Saint, destined to end the Demi-Human War.

After Meeting Wilhelm

Theresia, now a fully-fledged Sword Saint, met Wilhelm, a young aspiring swordsman. Their entire relationship was only lightly touched upon in this episode, but that’s not too bad since their history was already suitably covered in season 1. Long story short, Wilhelm eventually found out Theresia was the Sword Saint and saw the burdens she was carrying. So, he trained hard to be able to beat her in combat to convince her to stop fighting and leave that role to him. Then, fast-forward several years, Theresia was sent to fight the White Whale, but the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint left her and passed on to Reinhard in the middle of battle, which led to her defeat. There was an interesting bit of her encountering Pandora shortly after, and it was implied that Pandora was the one who killed Theresia, but the reason behind why she was there is still unknown.

Comparison to the Light Novels

Swords Aren’t the Only Things That Cut

As mentioned above, tons of content was cut from the light novels. This isn’t particularly unusual for Re:Zero, but this time, there was just too much cut, and it lowered the emotional weight this episode could have conveyed. This episode was supposed to tell the story of the Sword Saints and what it meant to become one. The light novels also discussed Theresia’s past in far greater detail. Theresia didn’t like Reid, the first Sword Saint, and she also didn’t like that she was born with the Divine Protection of the Death God, an ability that caused any wounds she inflicted to become permanent and could even cause healed wounds to reopen just by standing near a person. Because of this, she hated fighting for fear of permanently hurting people, but receiving the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint meant she would have to become a warrior. In the anime, the only reason she disliked being the Sword Saint was because she didn’t want to take the role from her brothers.

The episode also emits the history of the Dragon Sword, the sword wielded by all the Sword Saints. By extension, the Sword God was also removed, a mysterious entity who watched over the Sword Saints, but was also the bane of Theresia’s existence.

Another important thing that was almost all but cut off from the anime is Heinkel’s relationship with his wife. Heinkel is just seen as a monster who forced Theresia into fighting the White Whale and then blamed Reinhard for her death. Make no mistake, he is an unreconcilable, evil man, but there was at least some nuance to his shamelessness in the light novels. His wife fell to a mysterious illness, his mother died, and his son became the Sword Saint. All of this slowly drove him down a dark path and led to him becoming the worm he is now.

Re:Zero Season 3 is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Muse Asia, MeWatch, and several other streaming services. The release date for Re:Zero season 3, episode 15, is set to be March 19, 2025, at 7:30 AM PT.

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2025-03-16 02:40