Ginunhive

**Ginunhive** (ギヌンハイブ, *Ginunhaibu*), also known as the **Gladiator Island Ginunhive** (剣奴孤島ギヌンハイブ, *Kendo Kotō Ginunhaibu*), is a large island located in the southwestern part of the Sacred Vollachia Empire. It is where many of the Empire’s criminals and slaves are forced to become gladiators.

## Information

For many years, the Gladiator Island has been a place where slaves or criminals became gladiators in order to fight for the entertainment of the Empire’s citizenry. Admission to and departure from the island is strictly controlled, and the island is isolated in the middle of a black lake filled with various aquatic Demon Beasts in order to prevent gladiators from leaving.

Before Gustav Morello became the Island Chief, Ginunhive most often featured deathmatches between gladiators, including one-on-one fights, three-on-three battles, five-on-five bouts, or even a clash between multiple gladiators and a Demon Beast. There were also some cases where special events would happen, such as the celebration of a new Emperor’s coronation. These special events did away with the typical rules, and in one case, ten gladiators were pitted against a massive Demon Beast. The only way to reach the island was through a drawbridge that was usually kept raised, making it an impassable method for gladiators to escape through. The gladiators themselves were treated contemptibly by many of the guards, prevented from carrying weapons outside of the arena, and they were always forced to wear handcuffs outside of the fighting grounds. In order to survive, some gladiators took up other positions like healing or prostitution, and in return, they were usually not forced to fight in the arena. If a gladiator were to die, their bodies would usually be thrown into the lake from the island's waste disposal site, though in some rare cases, a spectator would purchase a corpse.

The deathmatch system was revised when Gustav Morello took over as the Island Chief. Gladiators were organized into units, which were comprised of five people. The people that made up a unit were selected at random upon their entry to Ginunhive, depending on its performance, it could be broken up. The units were formed for an event that served as a rite of passage to become a gladiator, called **Sparka** (スパルカ, *Suparuka*), which was unanimously regarded by gladiators as the toughest deathmatch they could face at the Gladiator Island. units could also be forced into Sparka as a punishment. In Sparka, units face off against various types of Demon Beasts, known on the island as **Gladiator Beasts** (剣闘獣, *Kentō Kemono*), which were trained for use in deathmatches and had their horns broken off by the island’s guards. There were one hundred guards assigned to Ginunhive.

Although the conditions of being a gladiator were improved in the time since Al’s escape, there were two ways that made it near impossible for other gladiators to follow in his footsteps. The first change involved the drawbridge. It was altered to be composed of two main drawbridges, one on the side of the island and the other on the opposite bank. To open the path to Ginunhive, multiple interconnected bridges connected to one of the banks were structured to form a single bridge when being lifted to the same level, the water within them was drained, and the same process occurred on the opposite bank, ultimately creating a single bridge when the procedure was finished. The second change involved the curse rule. When a gladiator entered the island, a curse mark was bestowed onto them. The curse rule could be invoked whenever a gladiator broke the island's rules, and it took the lives of anyone who was engraved with a curse mark. However, the curse rule could not be utilized freely. The curse rule was tied to a black orb-shaped curse tool created by Groovy Gumlet, and it could only go into effect on the gladiators if they surpassed the orb's fixed range. Due to the curse tool's range, it was effectively impossible for gladiators to escape the Gladiator Island Ginunhive without removing the curse mark's effects.

## History

The Gladiator Island has been active for at least four centuries. In the distant past, Reid Astrea visited Ginunhive for an extended period of time and achieved 6,000 recorded undefeated victories. Another individual known as the Gladiator King visited the island at one point in time, and he became heralded as a hero. A statue and a custom-built replica of his helmet were eventually created and displayed in the island’s Colosseum to honor his legacy.

Around seventeen or eighteen years before Subaru was summoned, Aldebaran was sent to Ginunhive, where he would stay for over a decade. During Al’s tenure as a gladiator, he gained an assortment of scars from cuts and burns on his face and lost his left arm. Coincidentally, a man named Null once put a cloth over the wound of a gladiator who lost their arm, which eventually allowed him to officially act as a healer in the island's healing room, despite still being enslaved. Around five years into Al's stay, a man named Ubilk was sent to the Gladiator Island. For another five years, he acted as a male prostitute in order to survive and spent his time slowly trying to convince other gladiators to participate in a rebellion with him. A year after Ubilk’s arrival, ten gladiators were pitted against a large Demon Beast. Eight of them died, and the only two who survived were Al and a woman named Hornet, who took interest in the one-armed man after he managed to survive the deathmatch.

Around the time of Vincent Vollachia’s coronation, Ubilk began the rebellion he had been planning for five years by murdering Auran, the assigned guard of Al, the only gladiator who had not joined him. When Al refused to join in an act of sedition, Ubilk ordered Hornet to kill him shortly afterwards, though the one-armed man would barely escape certain death. The gladiators sought to take a countess who was visiting Ginunhive by the name of Serena Dracroy hostage. However, they instead captured Priscilla Pendleton, who feigned being Serena and was taken captive to the room of the murdered master of the island, where Ubilk was. He chose to reveal his heritage as a member of the Evil Eye Tribe and spoke of his plans with Priscilla. Rather than seeking independence from the Empire, which was what all of the gladiators besides Hornet sought to achieve, Ubilk's true plan involved buying time for something; Priscilla speculated that he intended to send some of the Nine Divine Generals to the Gladiator Island as a distraction so that the Emperor could be killed while the Generals were dispatched elsewhere. As a consequence of the uprising, Olbart Dunkelkenn, the Third ranking Divine General, was dispatched to the island along with Arakiya.

While trying to enter the island, Arakiya found a severely injured Al. She made the decision to heal him, and after a brief period of conversation, the two went onto the island to figure out how to open the drawbridge in order to send in her reinforcements. However, Hornet found the two of them and began to duel Al. Meanwhile, Priscilla saved her husband Jorah with the help of Balleroy Temeglyph and a gladiator called Ghajit, though the gladiator was swiftly subdued by Miles after he began panicking. Shortly afterwards, Priscilla used a broadcast to reveal Ubilk's plan, splitting the gladiators into two factions that either sought to ensure their survival or to be free.

Priscilla’s message had no effect on Hornet, as her goal was to fall gloriously in battle at the hands of a strong opponent. Al used his ability to continue distracting Hornet and buy enough time for Arakiya to burn the body of a shinobi who used a technique known as the Poison Hand, causing the Gladiator Empress to die a death without honor. Olbart confronted Al after the drawbridge was lowered and asked if he wanted a reward, but the man declined the offer and said his goodbyes to Arakiya. Before Ubilk, the instigator of the rebellion, could be apprehended and questioned for his motivations, he was thought to have escaped Ginunhive via a teleportation mechanism within the murdered island head’s room. In the end, the ways of the Gladiator Island generally remained the same as they were before the insurgence.

When Al escaped the Gladiator Island at an unknown point in time after the revolt, he was given the jet black replica of the Gladiator King’s helmet while leaving. After his escape, the head of the island at that time was promptly fired. To fill up the position, Vincent Vollachia appointed Gustav Morello as the new Island Chief. Under Gustav's leadership, the Gladiator Island was remade from its previous lawlessness into a more orderly place where there were less unnecessary deaths. As a result, the number of people who died from injuries or illnesses decreased.

## Locations

* **Gladiatorial Arena**: The arena is a circular field with high walls, located at the very center of Ginunhive. It is where the Gladiator Island’s deathmatches and Sparkas are held. There is a passageway for gladiators that leads into the arena, which is lowered by an iron gate whenever no events are held there. Additionally, a separate iron gate and passageway are used to bring Gladiator Beasts into the arena.
* **Seating**: On the other side of the walls surrounding the arena, there is staircase-like seating where spectators can view ongoing deathmatches or Sparkas.
* **Healing Room**: The healing room is located in the lower stratum of the island. The room was once occupied by Null, who used his amateur healing skills to treat other gladiators to the best of his abilities. It is also known as the corpse room, as it is where many who fall in the arena become corpses.
* **Office**: The office of the Island Chief is located in the upper stratum of the island. It is a spacious but mostly empty room, only containing a desk, a guest sofa, a bookshelf, and a toolbox, which are all used for Gustav’s work.
* **Common Rooms**: The common rooms serve as the living quarters for the gladiators. There are usually multiple gladiators assigned to a given room.
* **Dining Hall**: The dining hall is a space where the gladiators usually eat their meals together.
* **Library**: A library was formed when Gustav Morello decided to start accepting books to the island. It is a place where the gladiators often spend their relaxation time together.
* **Waste Disposal Site**: A place on the lower stratum of Ginunhive where anything deemed unnecessary, including human corpses, are thrown into the lake to serve as food for the aquatic Demon Beasts residing there.
* **Observation Decks**: There are a few balconies that serve as observation decks around the island. They overlooks both the island itself and the lake that surrounds it.
* **Control Tower**: The drawbridge used to enter the island raised and lowered at a control tower. The large metal door at its entrance is sealed by an impressive lock.
* **Lake**: The Gladiator Island is surrounded by a black lake. It is filled with various aquatic Demon Beasts, which, next to the deathmatches, are the second most common causes of death in the area.

## Occupants

### Staff

* Gustav Morello (Island Chief, viceroy)
* Auran (guard) (formerly)

### Former Gladiators

* Reid Astrea
* Gladiator King
* Neiji Lockhart
* Al
* Ubilk
* Hornet
* Ghajit
* Null
* Cecilus Segmunt
* Hiain Yatz
* Weitz Rogen
* Idra Missanga
* Natsuki Subaru
* Tanza
* Orson
* Hitz
* Nadrey
* Quonson
* Codley
* Rex
* Milzac
* Cashew
* Moizo
* Deeroy
* Creegkin
* Codroe
* Phenmelle
* Jawsrough

## Trivia

* The area of the Empire in which Ginunhive is located has a perpetually overcast sky that subtly darkens it, even when the sun is out.
* According to Cecilus Segmunt, the term Sparka was originally used as a name for duels that staked unyielding convictions.

## References

1. ↑ *Most of the gladiators were either criminals or people who had been left with no choice but to sell themselves into this life when they had been unable to repay a debt. Every once in a great while, though, some unlucky person with nowhere to go would be caught and brought here.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 3.
2. ↑ *And this, the so-called Gladiator Island, where these fights to the death passed for entertainment, was the perfect place for the awful crowds of Imperial Citizens to slake their bloodlust.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 1.
3. ↑ *Admittance to the island—as well as departure from it—was strictly controlled, and the reason for this near-total isolation of those on the island was quite simple: The gladiators could not be allowed to leave.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 2.
4. ↑ *The island of Ginunhive offered a variety of entertainments featuring its gladiators. The simplest was a straightforward one-on-one deathmatch. Sometimes, there might be team battles, three-on-three or five-on-five. Sometimes, a massive Witchbeast might be brought in, and the gladiators would be forced to fight it in a “raid”-style battle. Anything to sate the spectators’ lust for blood and gore. On the Gladiator Island, any battle could be permitted if it would slake the audience’s thirst for violence.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 21.
5. ↑ *Reflecting on examples from his past, Al knew that the celebration of a new Emperor was likely to involve death matches of some “special” variety. The usual one-on-one rules would be modified or done away with. In at least one case, ten slaves had been pitted against a massive Witchbeast caught especially for the spectacle.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 3.
6. ↑ *The only way to reach the island was a single bridge—specifically, a drawbridge that was usually kept raised and impassable.*  Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 2.
7. ↑ *Many of the guards treated the slaves with contempt, but this one, Auran, was unusual in that he was almost friendly with the fighters.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 2.
8. ↑ *The gladiators were not allowed to carry weapons except in the arena proper, and everywhere outside the fighting grounds, they were required to wear handcuffs.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 2.
9. ↑ *They were women in provocative clothing, and though they were officially sword slaves themselves, they served as the island’s prostitutes. They were never—well, almost never—summoned to fight in the arena, but instead, they were expected to make themselves available as an outlet for the other gladiators.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 3.
10. ↑ *Hornet might have been the most noted of the female gladiators, but no small number of women proved capable fighters in the ring. Ubilk’s job was to keep a number of them fulfilled, just as the female prostitutes did for many of the male gladiators.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 3.
11. ↑ *“’Course, you get the occasional spectator with, uh, funny tastes who’ll buy one of the corpses.”* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 16.
12. ↑ *“In the first place, since there are five people per unit, if that girl didn’t wake up, they’d have to do it while lacking in people, it was Gustav-san who said that, you know.”* Arc 7, Chapter 64, Section 9.
13. ↑ *In addition, the unit assembled for Sparka would be determined at random, composed of a selection of people who entered Gladiator Island at the time of the Sparka.* Arc 7, Chapter 67, Section 2.
14. ↑ *“I’ve heard that every gladiator here joins a unit for Sparka at some point or another. After that, depending on their success, they may break up the unit depending on their performance, but your unit is…”* Arc 7, Chapter 65, Section 2.
15. ↑ *“Sparka is a rite of passage for people who are going to become new gladiators, and those who have already become gladiators don’t participate.”* Arc 7, Chapter 67, Section 2.
16. ↑ *It was unanimous among the gladiators’ statements, Sparka had been their toughest deathmatch on the Gladiator Island.* Arc 7, Chapter 67, Section 2.
17. ↑ *Everyone seemed to know Gustav’s desire to not waste gladiators and have their numbers reduced as much as possible, and there was a common understanding of the rules laid out. Punishment―― in other words, forced participation in a Sparka performed by an unrelated unit.* Arc 7, Chapter 67, Section 2.
18. ↑ *There were also one hundred guards assigned to the island, but it was impossible for them to stop all of the gladiators from operating in such an organized and systematic manner.* Re:Zero Tanpenshuu Volume 9, Brotherhood of Pleiades Part 1, Section 9.
19. ↑ *In precise terms, it was not one singular bridge that was brought up, but multiple connected bridges that emerged from the bottom of the lake, apparently structured to form a single bridge. Once the bridge, divided into multiple sections, was lifted to the same level, it was then connected together to become one, which was completed while a large quantity of water was drained from it. That very mechanism was also in operation on the river bank side, and so the drawbridge would also rise on the opposite bank. The two drawbridges raised in that way would then become one, releasing the Gladiator Island from its isolation for a limited time.* Arc 7, Chapter 66, Section 1.
20. ↑ *A curse mark was bestowed upon all the gladiators on the Gladiator Island, and it was activated on those who broke the curse rule, dispossessing them of their lives.* Arc 7, Chapter 66, Section 1.
21. ↑ *The curse rule was invoked when someone who had been engraved with the curse mark from Gustav violated the rules. That life would then be taken without any room for argument.* Arc 7, Chapter 75, Section 7.
22. ↑ *“――At a fixed distance, those who go too far from the curse tool will die.”* Arc 7, Chapter 75, Section 7.
23. ↑ *“Certainly, there’s no time to recite the legend Reid Astrea etched into posterity in all parts of the world. Speaking of things he was famous for... the fight where he slayed a hundred Dragons, or his battle achievement of six thousand undefeated victories recorded in the arena of the Gladiator Island.”* Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 24, Chapter 2, Section 6.
24. ↑ *“Yes, I was a gladiator, a ten-odd-years vet at that.”'* Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 4, Chapter 4, Section 3.
25. ↑ *“Yeah, you’re right, I was forced to work at the Gladiator Island for so long. I also dropped my left hand there.”* Re:Zero Tanpenshuu Volume 3, Sunlight on the Water, Section 2.
26. ↑ *It had all started when he did nothing more but to apply a dirty cloth on an open wound of a gladiator who had lost their arm.* Arc 7, Chapter 67, Section 1.
27. ↑ *“I know how you must feel, I really do. I spent five years convincing them to stop dragging their feet.”* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 15.
28. ↑ *“It’s from the gladiators’ Colosseum that I was in a long time ago――! But, it’s not like I stole it! It’s just that when I was running away from that place, a kind hearted guy gave it to me. It was being displayed in the Colosseum, so I think it’s a pretty decently made helmet. Maybe.”* Re:Zero Tanpenshuu Volume 3, Sunlight on the Water, Section 2.
29. ↑ *“You were one of the gladiators at Vollachia, indeed. If that is so, then you must be from somewhere on the Gladiator Island Ginunhive. That helmet would be an item associated with the Gladiator King, or more accurately, a replica.”* Re:Zero Tanpenshuu Volume 3, Sunlight on the Water, Section 2.
30. ↑ *“I heard it was because of what happened with that person, the previous Chief was fired, and Gustav-san was chosen as the new Chief.”* Arc 7, Chapter 69, Section 1.
31. ↑ *“I asked Old Man Null, the geezer gladiator who’s been living here for a long time. He said that, before Gustav-san’s arrival, the Gladiator Island was a lawless place, and more people died from injuries or illnesses. But things have changed a lot since Gustav-san arrived. Fewer people die.”* Arc 7, Chapter 68, Section 2.
32. ↑ *“This is the healing room. It’s also called the corpse room. Many people become corpses here after failing to die in the arena.”* Arc 7, Chapter 61, Section 3.
33. ↑ *“It is said that they began taking in books ever since Viceroy Gustav became the Island Chief. Surprisingly, I hear that it has become the place where everyone spends their relaxation time together.”* Arc 7, Chapter 69, Section 1.
34. ↑ *He and Arakiya had made landfall at the waste-disposal site on the lower part of the island—a simple landing from which trash, garbage, and anything else unnecessary that was generated on the island was thrown into the lake to feed the Witchbeasts.* Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 5, The Sword Wolf of the Scintillating Flame, Section 16.
35. ↑ *By fish food, he was talking about the aquatic Witchbeasts that inhabited the lake. Rather savage ones were loose there seemingly; the most common causes of death on Gladiator Island were deathmatches, but the second most common cause of death was falling prey to the Witchbeasts, whether by accident or by trying to escape.* Arc 7, Chapter 69, Section 1.
36. ↑ *Although the sun was still high in the sky, the area around the Gladiator Island was faintly darkened by an overcast sky. For some reason, it seemed the clouds in the area never seemed to clear up, and he had heard that the overcast sky was present year-round.* Arc 7, Chapter 66, Section 1.
37. ↑ *“――Do you know the origin of the word Sparka, Basu? Right now it’s used as a word that means gladiators fighting, but originally it was used as a word that had the implication of a duel in which unyielding convictions were staked.”* Brotherhood of Pleiades Part 2, Section 2.