Say it in Red | Episode 22: Umineko volume 7 - Requiem of the Golden Witch

Say It In Red

Dear Readers,
Be forewarned. This episode, in which we cover Umineko volume 7: Requiem of the Golden Witch, contains a tremendous amount of spoilers, speculations, and extensive discussions of the whodunnit, whydunnit, and howdunnit of Umineko's mysteries. Please take care before you proceed, and when you're ready please join us for a thorough, emotional discussion.
The game opens with a funeral - all gather to pay their respects to Beatrice, the Golden Witch of Rokkenjima. Battler lays a book within an empty casket and Virgilia offers a witch's prayer, and then one by one each member of the Ushiromiya family mourns and remembers their mysterious benefactor... including Ushiromiya Lion, the 19-year-old successor to the family's headship.
Elsewhere, we see an inquisitor from the courts of Heaven rushing through the streets, cutting down false equivalencies and tearing through heartless deductions to protect innocent bystanders from accusations of murder. We're quickly introduced to the second new character of Volume 7: Willard Wright, who serves alongside Lion as the point of view character for the majority of this episode.
Drawn by Bernkastel into a strange amalgam of fragments centered around the Rokkenjima Chapel, Will and Lion are tasked with uncovering the identity of Beatrice's killer. After asking each member of the family about their experiences with Beatrice, after discovering the truth of Kinzo's past and the origin of the gold, and after questioning the miracle of Lion's existence, Will finally comes to understand the heart of the Culprit who orchestrated the Rokkenjima Massacre. Here, at Beatrice's funeral, we will finally hear the answer to the question that has been hanging from her lips since the end of the Question Arcs:
Who... am... I?
Please keep in mind that in addition to extensive spoilers about the content, characters, and plot of Umineko, we'll be discussing a lot of topics in this episode that are both painful and in some ways deeply personal to us as readers. A list of some of those topics will be included below, as well as general content warnings. Please also be warned that, due to the nature of Umineko's mysteries, simply learning about what sort of similarities there might be between our experience and that of the culprit could constitute a huge spoiler, so take care before you scroll down any further.
In this episode, we will discuss a number of topics including, but not limited to:
Child abuse including sexual exploitation and coercion, Incest, Transphobia both external and internalized, Intersex issues including non-consensual surgeries, Fascist war crimes in WWII, graphic scenes of violence and murder typical of Umineko, Homophobia both external and internalized, parental abuse and a lot of very tangled, messy parent-child relationships, and a number of other familial abuse topics.
Since Intersex issues are not discussed as often both in the mystery genre and in society in general, we wanted to include some resources here.
For more specific information on Intersex issues, including the history of non-consensual surgeries on intersex individuals, advocacy, and additional information, you can visit
https://interactadvocates.org/
Content Warnings for this Episode:
00:16:55: EPISODE 7 SPOILERS BEGIN
1:09:25: Spoilers for classic game Portopia Serial Murders
01:45:00 to 01:51:30: Discussions of Child exploitation, incest, child abuse
02:29:15: Murders, gunshots, fatal face injuries
02:58:00: Specific spoilers for Twilight Mystery Solving from all Question Arc games