This episode sets up for the most monumental obstacle that needs to be conquered so far within this tower. More so than that, I have absolutely NO IDEA how our protagonist is going to manage to pull off the feat which needs to be done with the cards that he currently has in play (though I do have an idea).
The episode begins with Subaru awakening from the dive into Reid Astrea’s book, which turns out to be the original cause of his memory loss. Episode 13 revealed a ton of information about the reasoning behind the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony wanting Subaru to essentially recognize himself as a different person since a limit of their authority is not being able to devour the same person twice. I feel like this shows a lot more about Subaru’s character than he himself gives credit for, and why Emilia believes within him so much.
Believing he is a coward and unworthy of all the praise, love, and admiration he received; Subaru was thrown into turmoil after his memories were wiped and he had no semblance of who he was in this new world. Yet, over the course of a few episodes, we saw his resolve return due to Emilia returning the very same faith and trust he instilled within her due to his never-say-die attitude and ability to persevere regardless of the pain of finding the correct path. Subaru still acts the very same, and is essentially the same person even after having his memories wiped.
We are shaped to be who we are by our culture, environment, etc. Subaru was who he was within the tower due to the culminated experience he gained from the exploits he engaged in during that time. Taking away all of that could fundamentally change who he was, thus turning him into a different person and allowing him to be devoured again — yet this did not happen because Subaru stayed true to himself the entire time. The same despair from realizing he could die over and over and experience the anxiety of awaiting that reality. Eventually his determination overrides his fear and hopelessness to turn into a cast iron resolve which begins to use his death as a tool to gain information to win.
Episode 14 shows he has a new ability, yet I am not quite sure where this comes from. Considering he defeated Regulus Corneas, the Archbishop of Greed, I am thinking it has to do with his ability. While he was able to place his heart within any of the people close to him, I am assuming a less powerful version of this would be the ability to see the locations and current actions of those around him. While Regulus’ ability was meant to make him an invincible, solo powerhouse; Subaru’s ability would adjust to make it more useful for a tactician position to better utilize the pawns on the chessboard. I find that to be very fitting.
The biggest issue is going to be the Reid Astrea reveal. Roy Alphard, along with his brother and sister, make up the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony which has the ability to inherently erase someone from existence by consuming them. We’ve seen a myriad of effects due to this authority: losing memories (Subaru), having your existence erased from others (Julius & Rem), as well as being put into a comatose state (Rem). Even if they manage to defeat him (which will be necessary), there’s no telling if the others must also be conquered for things to return to normal or if there is a more complicated method at hand to do so. There’s also a possibility that Subaru must gain Gluttony’s authority to gain a lesser version of it in order to set things back right (which is also plausible due to the doors within the caverns below the sands opening by the number of authorities Subaru currently has).
There are many things at play here, and it makes me wonder about Episode 15: Why did Satella show up to crush Subaru’s heart? How come Shaula transformed into a mindless scorpion monster who seemed to be both friend and foe? Why is Reid Astrea the Archbishop of Sin, and how will they defeat an opponent who possess the overwhelming power that comes with being a Sword Saint?
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