Regulus Corneas

Regulus Corneas (レグルス・コルニアス) is a Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult, representing Greed. He debuted in the second interlude of Arc 3 alongside Lye Batenkaitos, where he took on Crusch's military convoy, completely decimating it alongside its passengers, which included Rem. Later, he appeared in Emilia's first trial during the events of Arc 4, where he played an antagonistic role under Pandora's in the lead-up to the Permafrost of Elior Forest, and he also appeared as one of the primary antagonists of Arc 5.

As the strongest and one of the oldest Sin Archbishops in the Witch Cult, Regulus had an air of mystery surrounding him and was responsible for many brutal mass-slaughters and annihilations in the century prior to the beginning of the story, including the destruction of the Fortified City of Garkla in Vollachia. During the events of Arc 4, it was revealed he acted as the head of the radical faction inside the Witch Cult 100 years ago.^[1] During the events of Arc 5, he was one of the Sin Archbishops who sieged the Watergate City of Priestella, where he was subsequently defeated by a joint force consisting of Reinhard van Astrea, Natsuki Subaru, and Emilia. He drowned underneath the streets of the city.

Appearance

Regulus's face had no eye-catching features and he had golden eyes that were usually murky and disinterested, but started to sparkle when he passionately engaged in his long monologues. His modestly handsome face wasn't particularly attractive or unattractive, while his hair was neither short nor long and without a distinct style, however, it was naturally white despite his youthful appearance.^[2] Regulus' white skin that lacked any semblance of a tan, coupled with his white hair and predominately white clothing, made him seem as though he was the epitome of the colour white. In fact, the complete devoid of colour exhibited by Regulus' physical appearance gave him the impression of a sickly person of which all colour had drained away.

Regulus' primary attire primary piece of clothing was a pure-white greca-style overcoat that reached down to his ankles and had golden-edged cuffs, a set of five golden buttons running down the torso of his centre front that usually ensured that the coat was closed above the hipline, and golden-highlighted edging. The inside of the coat was black and featured vertical golden stripes travelling down the entire coat. The most striking part of his coat was the opulent gold and black high-neck collar it sported that had the symbol for infinity inscribed on it, perhaps reflecting the nature of Regulus' Authority. Under his coat, he wore a long-sleeved deep-blue-coloured dress shirt, white snow-white trousers, and a pair of white shoes, the latter two of which were both the same shade as his hair and overcoat. Usually, only the cuffs of the dress shirt could be seen as Regulus's long overcoat tended to obscure it almost completely. Regulus had a single deep-blue teardrop-shaped earring that was the same colour as his dress shirt and dangled from his right earlobe thanks to a thin gold chain attaching it.

During the wedding that he attempted to have with Emilia in Arc 5, Regulus displayed himself in a far more formal wedding uniform. He chose to wear a white tuxedo with a white color pallet, the same as his normal uniform. The tuxedo had a long cape-like backside that nearly went down to his heels. In addition, Regulus wore a blue and white striped undershirt adorned with a black and gold striped ribbon, white gloves, and white shoes.

Personality

Regulus was talkative, and tended to describe himself as unselfish, despite representing greed. He would often go on and on about trivial matters in the most incoherent ways, usually leaving the other party confused and/or unable to follow his thoughts, ideals and values. Due to his extremely prideful personality, however, he often forced his own selfishness on others and tried to justify it. If his opponents had said something that went against his opinions and beliefs, he would find unreasonable faults in them, gradually becoming angry while accusing them of "violating his rights", before attacking and killing them without mercy or second thought. Despite his self-proclaimed pacifistic nature, he would not hesitate to attack, harm or kill someone, as to him, the act of taking away what is his was the most abhorrent and disgusting thing a person could do. He often showed complete ignorance for other individuals' values and exercised extremely selfish behaviors. This is best showcased when Regulus became unreasonably infuriated at Rem when she prepared to defend herself after explicitly telling her that he abhors fighting, which contradicts the fact that he mercilessly slaughtered multiple convoys full of wounded people just minutes prior to Rem's battle with him and Lye Batenkaitos. Regulus is incredibly hypocritical and wouldn't hesitate to renege his own words and promises, giving further evidence of his sociopathic nature.

He was extremely prideful and viewed himself as a "divine being" or "the most satisfying existence in the world", which greatly hindered his assessment of people, no matter if they were his enemies or allies, to the point he would make light of the Sword Saint, mocking him and calling him "a moniker of some guy who knows of nothing but swinging a sword". He often pointed out his dislike for needlessly involving himself with others and vice versa, stating he would be perfectly happy if people never paid attention to him and/or bothered him. Despite that, he has been shown to have conversed with people without initiating a conflict with the opposite party, until he got his "rights violated", which instantly changed his mood for the worse and prompted him to take action against them. His hot-tempered personality often resulted in unneeded fights. However, due to his overwhelmingly powerful Authority of Greed, he always came out victorious and unharmed, even against ridiculously strong opponents such as the Vollachia's strongest–Kurgan. Due to his long life as a Sin Archbishop without ever getting his life seriously threatened, he never matured intellectually or emotionally; he disclosed his secret to Subaru, who in turn was able to connect all the dots and unravel his formidable Authority, allowing Reinhard to deal the finishing blow. In his final moments, Regulus revealed how he hated being looked down upon or laughed at, going even as far as saying he became a Sin Archbishop just so he could protect himself from such people; whoever offended him or his wives would ultimately be slain for the transgression, no matter their acquaintanceship with him. Regulus never realized his "sins", even in the final moments leading to his demise. His view on the world was corrupt and distorted from the very beginning until the bitter end. His final cries were full of hatred, wishing for the whole of humanity to disappear forever.

Having been born with a corrupt and distorted mindset, Regulus seemingly did not perceive kindness, love and affection in the same way as a normal person would have; it was strongly suggested that he lacked empathy and was impulsive, narcissistic and sociopathic. He took everything as a personal assault and critic, never developed a "human side", which in turn made him feel like everyone was against him, pitying and loathing his very existence. With time, Regulus himself seemingly developed a paranoid personality which completely dulled his perception of the world around him. After receiving the Witch Factor of Greed, Regulus gained an extreme form of escapism; he slaughtered everyone who pitied him, destroyed everything that bothered him and protected only the things he deemed important and necessary for his ideal and dream life. With that, Regulus was given an opportunity to be able to escape the dull, depressing and detested world he was brought into, and create a new world with himself at the top and surrounded by his subjects/wives; his cherished kingdom. He spent the following century trying to fulfil his Greed, which he never achieved, trying to justify to himself that he was not greedy, until his bitter and watery end.

History

More than 100 years ago, Regulus used to live with his family in a village of a small country outside the Four Great Nations. His father was an alcoholic yet tried to be a good father, his mother complained about bad earnings but apologized for it occasionally, and his two brothers who were sometimes mean to him but gave him their share of their meal if he accidentally spilled his. At an unspecified point in his life, Regulus was chosen as a Sin Archbishop and obtained the Witch Factor of Greed. In accordance to his deepest desires, he developed the overpowered Authority of Greed, which he used in the following century of his life. Regulus subsequently killed his entire family, then the villagers who looked down on him, followed by the people from the nearby town who pushed his family into such peril, and finally, his entire home country. He broke the mind of his childhood love, slaughtered her family, and forced her to marry him, thus forcing her to become his first of many wives. Only after having committed such atrocities did Regulus finally see a way to live–free of all worries, not needing anything as he considered himself satisfied as he was.

At some point in the past, Regulus got hold of and small black box,^[3] similar to the one Petelgeuse used. It is unknown if it's the exact same box or a different one. Regulus however did know what was inside of it when Petelgeuse showed it to him during the events of the Elior Forest battle, suggesting the box Regulus once held contained either the Witch Factor of Greed or Sloth.

In the following years, Regulus became the Sin Archbishop of Greed, joining the Witch Cult where he became the leader of the radical faction. Familiarizing himself with the doctrine of the Cult and its members, Regulus met Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, the leader of the now-forgotten moderate faction. It's safe to assume the two didn't harbour a friendly relationship although they occasionally cooperated along with the other Sin Archbishops. Just like other high ranking members of the Witch Cult took care of their own eccentric goals, Regulus spent his free time carefully and meticulously search of beautiful women he'd forcefully marry and spend his days with, before eventually watching them die, be it from natural or unnatural causes, more often than not being the one who delivered their deaths.

Roughly 100 years before the events of the main story, Regulus participated in the attack of the elven village in Elior Forest along with Pandora, cooperating with her to collect the elf Fortuna as his 79th wife. With the pair revealing their malicious intentions, Petelgeuse, who was helping the elves in the forest, ordered Fortuna to run with her niece Emilia. Regulus then proceeded to have a one-sided battle with Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti who just took in the Witch Factor of Sloth, cutting Petelgeuse's right arm off and severely wounding and ruining his legs by throwing dirt at him, in a relatively short notice. Just before he was about to deal the finishing blow by smashing Petelgeuse's head open, Fortuna interrupted him, which greatly angered him. When Pandora calmly asked him to spare Petelgeuse's life, he lashed back at her, throwing dirt at her, killing her instantly. Soon after, Pandora used her Authority of Vainglory to erase her death from ever happening and proceeded to remove Regulus's presence from the forest and sent him back to his mansion, which reverted the damage he had dealt to Petelgeuse and Elior Forest.

Fifteen years before Subaru's arrival, Regulus single-handedly took down a heavily fortified Vollachian city of Garkla, housing thousands of soldiers^[4] and the Vollachian hero Kurgan. Rumour has it that at the time, a meteor supposedly belonging to one of the six Witches was located in the city itself (it is confirmed the Meteor did not belong to the Witch of Envy). It is not known if the Meteor was actually present or if it was only an excuse to drive the Witch Cult to take action.

Abilities

Authority of Greed (強欲の権能 Gōyoku no Ken'nō): Regulus was able to use the Authority of Greed until his Witch Factors were taken by Natsuki Subaru following his death. The Authority itself is split into two main abilities—Lion’s Heart and Little King:

• Lion’s Heart (獅子の心臓, Shishi no Shinzō):

  

  The effect of Lion’s Heart allowed Regulus to stop the time of his own body,^[5] which stopped his heartbeat and prevented all physical phenomena from interacting with him, granting himself freedom from gravity, air resistance, and conservation of momentum.^[6] Moreover, he could also stop the time of objects,^[7] including anything he was wearing, touching, or even his breath, which in turn stopped the object's or thing's interference from the outside world. However, it was difficult for Regulus to manipulate anything beyond his body if his other ability, Little King, wasn't active.^[8] It was an unrivaled power of attack and defense depending on how it was used, even having the ability to make him invincible as a result of having his own time stopped.^[9] While this power was active, Regulus was completely cut off from the world's flow of time, literally becoming a distortion in space. He did not have any need for eating, drinking, or even breathing and his body did not age a single second, nor did it perform even the most basic of human body functions such as sweating or excreting bodily wastes. According to Reinhard, he did not possess a heartbeat and had a corpse-like body temperature. Lion's Heart acted as his ultimate defensive ability as it allowed him to simply ignore any and every form of damage dealt to his body, be it sword or magical attacks that could level entire buildings, collisions with dragon carriages that would rip a normal person apart, falling for hundreds of meters launched towards the ground with extreme speeds, and being frozen deep underwater. He was even capable of brushing off Reinhard's sword slashes and Crusch's One Blow, One Hundred Felled attack, as if they were just light gusts of wind, despite both attacks being shown to have been capable of vaporizing people and cutting cleanly through the White Whale's thick hide. However, this ability did have a downside to it, in the form of a five second time limit without Little King being activated.^[10] Whenever Regulus used this ability for more than five seconds at a time, he began to experience almost unbearably excruciating pain, which prompted him to quickly deactivate it. If he continued using it, without taking pauses, Regulus would die from heart failure. He believed that using it for up to ten seconds was impossible.^[11]
  • Dirt, sand, and pebbles imbued with Lion’s Heart: Regulus frequently showed the ability to pick up or kick things like dirt or sand, stopping their time and throwing them towards his enemies. As the time of these small objects was stopped, the objects effectively acted as anomalies in the world, being cut off from the flow of time. They passed through anything they collided with, no matter the sturdiness, leaving behind only small holes–if the structure was still left standing in the first place. If thrown at an individual or an animal, the objects would naturally travel through them, completely shredding and goring them, usually leaving behind nothing more than an unrecognizable pile of flesh or a bloody mist. Regulus used this ability to shred Pandora into a bloody mist during the attack on Elior Forest, roughly one century before the start of the main story. He used the same attack once more during the events of Arc 5, when he shredded Subaru's right leg, as a form of revenge for Subaru spoiling his plans and mood.
  • Water imbued with Lion’s Heart: Though not very practical in most fights, Regulus did resort to using water, if he had the chance to do so. The ways of attacking were pretty much the same, as Regulus usually just scooped up a fistful of water and threw it towards his enemies, rendering them to nothingness. However, after being forced to engage in combat with the Sword Saint, Regulus was forced to get a bit more creative. By kicking the water in a water canal, he unleashed a devastating tsunami, hurling towards Subaru and Emilia during their escape. The tidal wave crushed everything in its path and did not stop until Reinhard cut it in half, destroying it in the process. By freezing the water from a nearby water canal in place, Regulus could pick it up with his hands, similarly to having a tatami mat made out of water. He manipulated it in a similar way as he manipulated the aforementioned water from a nearby canal, creating a giant tsunami. If needed, Regulus was also shown to be able to walk on frozen water droplets, as if he was walking on solid ground. Furthermore, by just stepping into the water, Regulus created a pillar of water with its time stopped, using it to propel himself high in the air. There was even a time when he collected the water from an entire nearby water canal, shaped it into a giant blob of water, jumped (according to Subaru, the jump itself was more akin to teleportation) onto the Third Control Tower in the Watergate City of Priestella, reshaped it into thousands of smaller droplets and proceeded to bomb the entire district underneath him, while referring to the ongoing bombardment as "purification rain".
  • Wind imbued with Lion’s Heart:

    

    One of Regulus' most recognizable and commonly used attacks is him stopping the time of air produced by himself. With a simple swipe of his hand, he produced a vortex of wind, traveling in a straight line following his arm. By stopping its time, the wind would not dissipate but instead, turn into an invisible blade of wind, cutting everything in its path. By utilizing this attack, Regulus disarmed both Crusch and Petelgeuse on two separate occasions in the main story. He was also shown to imbue shockwaves created by him with Lion’s Heart, creating unstoppable explosions, shattering everything in its path, as seen when he blew up the first dragon carriage in the 2nd Interlude of Arc 3. Perhaps one of his deadliest attacks, however, was his breath with its time stopped. By simply exhaling and stopping the time of his exhaled air, Regulus would effectively create invisible pockets of air,^[12] that would shred everything in its path. He utilized this attack when fighting against Reinhard, completely shredding the Sword Saint's left leg and making it almost impossible to approach the Sin Archbishop without randomly falling victim to one of his deadly traps.
  • People imbued with Lion’s Heart:

    

    Despite this ability seemingly working only on objects, Regulus actually displayed multiple cases of using it on himself or on other people. By making physical contact with people and imbuing them with Lion’s Heart, he would cut them off from the normal flow of time, essentially making them invincible for as long as he wanted to. He was first shown using it in this form with Emilia in Arc 5, when he saved her from Sirius' flames that would surely scorch her to ash. Later on in the same Arc, Regulus used Lion’s Heart two times on Reinhard–the first time he used it, Reinhard was sent flying through different houses and three thick ice walls without ever-so-slightly changing his speed, only coming to a stop when he collided with another one of Regulus' attacks imbued with Lion’s Heart. The second time he used it on Reinhard, however, the Sword Saint was thrown directly onto the very Moon. Reinhard later noted that even he would've been in trouble if he hadn't landed on the Moon. Having said that, the most common application of this power could be observed with Regulus himself, as he frequently imbued his own body with Lion’s Heart, making it so everything he came in contact with would automatically get rejected by his body.^[13] When a spear was thrown at him, the shaft that hit him completely vanished and when, during his long duel with Reinhard, he used this ability on himself, Reinhard remarked it suddenly felt impossible to touch him.^[14] Perhaps the only downside to using Lion’s Heart on himself was the fact that if Regulus didn't freeze the time of an object he was standing on–be it the floor of a building or the very earth he was walking on–Regulus would simply cave through it. In case he refused to stop the time of the earth around him, he would've fallen through the entire planet.
  • Manipulation of objects with the usage of Lion’s Heart: As mentioned above, Regulus was easily able to manipulate some objects if he wanted to, though he rarely used this ability, nor was it ever accurately described in the novelization. He was capable of freezing water droplets in place, creating some sort of a path for him to walk over. On one occasion, he also propelled himself in the air by creating a pillar of water with its time stopped, simply by making contact with a nearby body of water. Perhaps the most bizarre application of this ability, however, was when Regulus managed to manipulate entire floors of a building by simply touching it with his palm and pushing a meter-high segment out of it,^[15] causing the entire building to collapse. He was also capable of roughly changing the layout of the building by distorting its walls and foundations.

• Little King (小さな王, Chīsana Ō): The effect of Little King allowed Regulus to share a small “Lion’s Heart” to his wives, or in other words, anyone he believed to be a “subject” of his “little kingdom”.^[16] In order to circumvent the handicap given to him in form of the five second rule of Lion’s Heart, Regulus shared a small heart to any woman in his little kingdom who he considered to be his wife,^[17][18] while the time of his original heart was frozen with his body. By doing so, he effectively got rid of the time limit on Lion's Heart and the necessity to manually turn it on and off, as by merging his heart with his wives' hearts via Little King, their heartbeat would make his small heart beat, keep his invincibility activated, and it would last until a wife's heart was stopped. In order to circumvent that potential drawback, Regulus accumulated over two hundred wives in his over-a-century long life. Accordingly, the risk of all his wives dying and being exposed to the strains of Lion's Heart were practically zilch, as no one would ever connect his wives with his Authority. Naturally, as the wives' heart was only a pseudo-heart, they didn't bore any consequences, let alone were they even aware of harbouring it inside of them. The range of Little King is unknown, though according to the author, Regulus' wives had to be close enough for him to feel their love nearby.^[19]

• Lion’s Heart and Little King paired together: Regulus was able to maintain a state of invincibility and immortality by combining his usage of Lion’s Heart with Little King.^[20][21] By inserting a heart into his wives with Little King and keeping them out of harm's reach, Regulus was virtually granted the opportunity to use Lion's Heart for an indefinite amount of time, allowing him to use his Authority to the fullest and more easily stop the time of whatever he desired.

Equipment

• Gospel (福音): As a member of the Witch Cult, Regulus was the owner of a copy of a Gospel. Each Gospel was a replica of the Book of Wisdom, a book that had been in the possession of the Witch of Greed Echidna. The Book of Wisdom would provide exact details of future events concerning the Witch of Greed, essentially bestowing Echidna with a form of precognition. Unlike the original Book of Wisdom, the Gospels of the Witch Cult were imperfect replicas, meaning that, although they detailed the future of its owner, the events conveyed were subject to change and the information provided was often up for interpretation. The Gospels took the form of small black books that could only be read by their owners.
• Conversation Mirror: A Meteor that allows the user to get in contact with people who hold other such mirrors.

Trivia

• Regulus, like every other Sin Archbishop (with the exception of Stride Vollachia), received his namesake from a celestial body. "Regulus" is the name of the brightest star in the Leo constellation which is also one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The traditional name for the star in Latin was Rēgulus, which translates to "prince" or "little king." in India it was known as Maghā ("the Mighty"), in Sogdiana it was known as Magh ("the Great"), and in Persia it was known as Miyan ("the Centre").
• As of a hundred years ago, Regulus had 78 wives, and as of Arc 5 he is mentioned to have had 291 wives in total. However, according to Sylphy, 238 of those wives were killed, leaving only 53 alive.^[22]
• Regulus originally intended to make Fortuna his 79th wife, but due to the unfortunate events that took place, he was unable to do so. 100 years later, he encountered Emilia, setting his mind on marrying her in order to make her serve as Fortuna's substitution.^[23]
• Regulus is one of the longest serving Sin Archbishops among the members of the Witch Cult, having governed over Greed for at least a century.^[24]
• In the web novel version of Arc 4, Regulus is seen wearing black and grey clothes.
• To this day, he is the only person that managed to kill Reinhard.^[25]
• Regulus is the strongest Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult.^[26]
  • If every Witch of Sin (excluding Satella) and Sin Archbishop were to fight against each other, Regulus would be the sole survivor.^[27]
  • In the author's character strength ranking in June 2014, Regulus was ranked as the 3rd strongest character in the series.^[28]
• The author had stated that due to his overwhelmingly powerful Authority which renders any attack against him useless, if Subaru wasn't present during the Crusade Against Greed in Arc 5, Reinhard would not have been able to deal a decisive blow, likely being forced to back off and admit defeat.^[29]
  • Coupled with the Witch of Envy, he's one of the few characters who'd give the Sword Saint the most trouble as they're nigh impossible to kill.
• Regulus owns a mansion, but its location is unknown. In Ayamatsu IF, Natsuki Subaru and Elsa Granhiert burn his mansion to the ground in order to get rid of his Authority and kill him.
• Despite him being the strongest Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult, and killing Reinhard, he never managed to kill Subaru.
• According to the author, Regulus' Authority of Greed is the strongest combat ability in Re:Zero.^[30]
• Regulus is stated to be the least fitting candidate for being a king.^[31]
• His first wife was the only wife he ever made a grave for.^[32]
• According to Petelgeuse, Regulus received his Witch Factor of Greed from a similar black box.
• Regulus's name meaning "Little King" ties into his Authority, as it utilizes his wives as members of a little kingdom that supports Regulus, the Little King.
• In the mobile game Re:Zero Lost in Memories, Regulus is one of the two units that intentionally don't possess a death animation when defeated, with the other unit being Reinhard van Astrea. Upon defeat, Regulus will simply make an annoyed expression, turn around and slowly walk off the playing field, looking very annoyed.
• Regulus has his own named chapter in Arc 5, in both the web novel and light novels.

References

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