/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>16872779
By the way, there's still a bit of circumstantial patchwork needed to tie all of this together into a theory that's even remotely cohesive.

First off: One key requirement for becoming Beatrice is solving the Epitaph. Maria is good at riddles and she has a lot of time on her hands, so that much is plausible to me (I know it sounds ludicrous if you think she's just an autistic kid, but I think I've made a decent argument for looking at her character differently). However, I'd say this only makes sense from a narrative standpoint if Maria doesn't keep the gold for herself. She tells her Mother, thinking that if she doesn't have to worry about money she will have more time for her. But that doesn't solve Rosas real problems. She wants more out of life than to take care of her daughter, and now that she is secretly successful the fact that her family doesn't respect her stings even more (and she doesn't want to just come out and say that she found the gold (when the one who really did wasn't her at all!) Her pride makes her want to be acknowledged for her own accomplishments). In addition, the fact that she doesn't spend time with her daughter even though there is nothing standing in her way but herself drives her further into self-hatred and insanity. So Maria doesn't activate the bomb, but she knows that her mother probably did (though she might still make herself believe in a miracle against all odds).

Secondly, if Maria believes that she is modern-day Jesus, her motive for taking on her families sins is the same as Hanyuu playing out the role of a demon so she can take on the sins of the human world. This theme synergizes neatly with Beatrices references to biblical themes and the role she plays for Kanon and Shannon as a kind of miracle-working deiety.
Even if they are not the culprit, you can't ignore the thematic focus on their struggle to find love. Any theory that completely ignores the furniture theme should probably disregarded on narrative grounds. So maybe it could be reinterpreted like this:

Krauss, being in a tight spot financially and wanting to hide it not just from his relatives but also from his own family out of shame for his own shortcomings, makes one of his servants dress up as two different people, making sure to never have "both of them" present at the mansion at the same time except for the time of the family conference. The fact that Shannon and Kanon are the same person is only known to him, Genji and perhaps Kumasawa.
Maria sees through their disguise at one of the family conferences, and gives Shannon a butterfly brooch and instructions on how to bring about a miracle for herself. Note that Maria gives Battler and Jessica the Scorpion charms in episode one, and that her magical description mentions that she is good at enchanting talismans.
At a later point Jessica falls in love with Kanon and things get complicated for our poor servant. Maria then takes on the role of a bad witch to give them someone else to direct their anger toward, and to give them a reason to chose and move forward.
Kanon and Shannons role as furniture can also be interpreted in the sense that she relies on them extensively to cover for Rosa. They serve as the big barrier, the final theory people generally arrive at and are satisfied by, protecting the truth from being discovered by those who have no love for the culprit.

Lastly, what do you think the whole deal with Marias rose was? Just an autistic kid getting too attached to a flower? I think there's a pretty clear metaphorical reading to those scenes, and that's what she's trying to draw peoples (or more specifically Battlers) attention to.

... okay, I'm done for now.

>>16873185
I understand that ship has sailed, but I've never seen this kind of explanation for who Beatrice is before. People usually just assume that it's the culprit hiding behind a witch persona. The story takes on a different quality if you go with "Beatrice is trying to protect someone she loves" instead.

Of course a Yasutrice is fine too.