Minerva (Re:Zero)

Minerva of Wrath

Superhuman Strength

Authority of Wrath:

Healing physical wounds

Mass murder

War crimes

“ Now then, what is it you'd like to ask me? [...] About Minerva, the Witch of Wrath, who struck people to heal them as she lamented the state of her war-torn world? „ ~ Echidna talking with Subaru Natsuki about Minerva.

**Minerva**, also known as the **Witch of Wrath** and **Minerva of Wrath**, is an anti-villain in the 2014 Japanese dark fantasy light novel series *Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World*, as well as its anime television series & manga adaptations of the same name.

At some point in her life, the beautiful teenage girl named Minerva came into contact with and absorbed the Wrath Witch Factor. The Witch Factor within her eventually blossomed into the Authority of Wrath, a power that allowed Minerva to heal a person's wounds by striking them. As the possessor of the Wrath Witch Factor, Minerva was counted among the Witches of Sin, a collection of the people who wielded the nine Witch Factors that each corelated to one of the deadly sins. Due to her Witch Factor and her connection to the Witches, Minerva became known as the "Witch of Wrath."

The Witch of Wrath, like the other Witches, was a figure of infamy around the world for the well-intentioned death and dismay she created. Minerva sought to rid the world of pain, and so would travel the world striking the wounded and the sickly with her fists in an attempt to heal them. However, her Authority had a side-effect that meant that the physical damage healed by Minerva would transfer to a random individual in the world. This potentially meant that the damage sustained by soldiers on the field of battle would be transferred to innocent civilians. It didn't matter to Minerva though, as she only cared about the wounds she could see. In this way, Minerva caused the deaths of countless innocents.

Out of her fellow Witches of Sin, Minerva was closest to the Witch of Envy Satella. Ultimately however, Minerva and five of the other witches eventually died and were devoured by Satella, who was the most powerful of the sins. After Minerva's death, her soul was collected by the Witch of Greed Echidna. Echidna manifested the Witch of Wrath's soul inside her dream realm, allowing Minerva to interact with the living when they visited Echidna.

Minerva is voiced by Mikako Komatsu in the Japanese version of the anime adaptation and by Skyler Davenport in the English version. Komatsu has also voiced Susamaru in *Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba*.

## Appearance

Minerva was a beautiful young woman who stood at exactly five feet tall. She was around seventeen years old and had vivid slightly-slanted sky-blue eyes that were almost transparent. Her long gleaming golden hair was tied into a messy ponytail on the left side of her head that rubbed against her face. A pretty pink and blue love heart pin was also fastened to the left side of her head. She had bountiful breasts and a shapely bottom that lent her a fair deal of sex appeal in the eyes of Subaru Natsuki.

Her primary outfit consisted of an extremely short sleeveless form-fitting one-piece purple dress with a cleavage-displaying cut-out, a translucent sleeveless light purple bodysuit worn under all of her clothes, a pair of thigh-high white boots with purple interior, a pair of long white gloves with purple interior, and a long white sleeveless coat with a cleavage-displaying cut-out that allowed a part of her dress-covered breasts to spill out.

## Biography

At some point in her teenage years, the beautiful young woman named Minerva absorbed the Wrath Witch Factor, giving her access to a power called the Authority of Wrath. Known as the Witch of Wrath, Minerva would strike wounded people to heal them as she lamented the state of the war-torn world she lived in. She was a member of the Witches of Sin, a small group of other Witch Factor bearers who were reviled by the people of the world. Eventually, Minerva and five of the other Witches died. Satella, the Witch of Envy, purportedly devoured the six deceased Witches including Minerva. Satella went on to drain half of the world dry before being stopped and imprisoned.

Minerva's Factor was eventually inherited by Sirius, a mysterious woman of unknown origin. Sirius was a member of the Witch Cult, a group dedicated to worshipping and attempting to restore the Witch of Envy. Aptly referred to as the Sin Archbishops of Wrath, Sirius stalked her beloved Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti across the world until his death.

### Healing Subaru Natsuki

“ First! To strike all that defies reason! Second! Who cares about committing every heinous evildoing?! Third! Whether things are ugly or beautiful, if you're here in this fleeting world, don't ever expect to make it back unscaaaathed!! The strike of my fists will restore the world! My anger will follow behind and cleanse it! The fury of my two fists, the frenzy of my rage, they are the answers to it all! „ ~ Minerva yelling her warped convictions as she descended from the sky and healed Subaru.

Roughly four hundred years after Minerva's death, Subaru Natsuki entered the Tomb of Echidna and was subsequently warped to her dream realm. Echidna appeared before Subaru and offered the young man access to her vast knowledge of various affairs. Subaru Natsuki had a blessing known as "Return by Death" bestowed upon him by the Witch of Envy that reset time every time he died, essentially allowing him to cheat death. The Witch of Greed was deeply interested in Natsuki's power and began manipulating him into forging a contract with her that would allow her to study the blessing. Trying to spike his curiosity, Echidna told Subaru the names of the Witches of Sin as well as brief descriptions of their personal histories. On the topic of Minerva, the Witch of Greed briefly spoke about the Witch of Wrath's healing crusade and the lamentation she felt over the state of the world.

During another meeting with Echidna, Subaru requested to meet the Witch of Gluttony Daphne. Greed lied to Natsuki and told him that the other Witches could only manifest by taking her place. When Echidna tried to trade places with Daphne, the Witch of Pride materialized instead as she wanted to meet Subaru in person. Using the Authority of Pride, Typhon judged Subaru a sinner and shattered his body into pieces. Pride then dematerialized, leaving Natsuki to die alone on the floor. Minerva's compulsion to heal physical wounds prompted her to appear herself in the hopes of saving Subaru's life. The Witch of Wrath materialized in the sky and fell towards the ground. As she did so, she began screaming about her convictions regarding healing. Minerva slammed into the ground, leaving a massive crater in her wake. While still prattling about her beliefs, Wrath delivered a salvo of earth-shaking punches into the shattered pieces that comprised Subaru.

Subaru, who had thought he was going to die, sat dazed by the affects of Minerva's Authority as the Witch praised herself for her work. The feelings of rage regarding Typhon's treatment of Subaru began boiling inside Minerva, eventually resulting in tears falling from the Witch's face. Subaru commented on Minerva's tears prompting her to explain the reason for her anger while furiously stomped her feet on the ground with enough force to shake the entire dream realm. As Natsuki hesitatingly began to thank his saviour, Minerva introduced herself as the Witch of Wrath. Echidna, who was not materialized, telepathically requested that Wrath leave the scene. After a moment, Minerva agreed and began dematerializing. Minerva warned the boy that if he was rash again she would heal everyone next time, although as the boy wasn't aware of the side effect of Wrath's Authority he failed to understand the threat.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Authority of Wrath**: After absorbing the Wrath Witch Factor during her life, Minerva gained access to the Authority of Wrath. Due to the nature of the power that made Minerva incapable of directly harming another person, the Witch of Wrath was by far the weakest wielder of a Witch Factor among the Witches of Sin and Sin Archbishops.
	+ **Healing**: Minerva's Authority allowed her to heal the wounds of organic lifeforms, although her power was only able to affect physical wounds and not mental wounds. To activate the power, Minerva had to strike (e.g. punching or headbutting) the target with a part of her body. She could also use projectiles to administer her striking aid. Although she was never able to demonstrate it, Minerva's Authority was capably of overcoming the blessing of the grim reaper used by Theresia van Astrea. Her power was able to undo the damage done by Typhon's Authority. On the down side Minerva was unable to deactivate her healing properties, meaning any form of attack she made would heal a person even if she didn't want it to. Even projectiles thrown by her were unable to harm another person. The properties of her power meant she couldn't even kill an insect by stepping on it, meaning she literally couldn't hurt a fly. She was still able to harm others indirectly by causing environmental damage (e.g. using her strength to cause a rockslide to fall on top of enemies).

## Quotes

“ Now then, what is it you'd like to ask me? [...] About Minerva, the Witch of Wrath, who struck people to heal them as she lamented the state of her war-torn world? „ ~ Echidna telling Subaru Natsuki about Minerva.

“ First! To strike all that defies reason! Second! Who cares about committing every heinous evildoing?! Third! Whether things are ugly or beautiful, if you're here in this fleeting world, don't ever expect to make it back unscaaaathed!! The strike of my fists will restore the world! My anger will follow behind and cleanse it! The fury of my two fists, the frenzy of my rage, they are the answers to it all! „ ~ Minerva proclaiming her ideals.

“ Subaru: Why are you crying?

Minerva: I'm not crying! I'm just angry! That's right, it's intense anger! This is all Typhon's fault for hurting you like that! Stupid Typhon! I hate this world for making her do that! Every bit of it!

Subaru: Uh... I-I appreciate you saving me... so who are you anyway?

Minerva: I'm the Witch of Wrath, Minerva! But giving my name isn't what's important right now!

Subaru: You just did though!

Minerva: Hmmm. Listen up! If you've learned your lesson, then don't be careless! Next time around, I'll just heal everyone! Subaru: Why do you make it sound like a threat? „ ~ Minerva talking with Subaru Natsuki after saving him.

“ Echidna: Honestly, I was disconcerted too, when Typhon jumped in the moment I tried to give my body to Daphne.

Subaru: Ah, you were huh?

Echidna: Yes, the Witch of Pride. Just a child, as you saw. She was so eager to meet you that she jumped right out. And the one who saved you, that was the Witch of Wrath, Minerva. „

~ Echidna explaining Subaru's first meeting with Minerva to the man

“ Minerva: So you're just gonna keep on dying, starting over, and making everyone cry? That's your big plan, huh? Must be pretty nice, no matter how other people feel you can always make the excuse that you're the one suffering the most.

Subaru: Are you saying that I'm pretending to be some kind of tragic hero!?

Minerva: That's not it. I'm saying that deciding you're the only one who should be suffering is cowardly. That kind of twisted thinking makes you a lot more despicable than any Witch! „

~ Minerva criticizing Subaru's self-sacrificial state of thinking.

## Trivia

* Minerva's birthday was on the 20th of July.
* Like the other Witches of Sin (with the exception of Satella), Minerva received her namesake from a celestial body. 93 Minerva is the name of a large asteroid located in the solar system's asteroid belt. Her name, like the celestial body, may also be a reference to Minerva, a Goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare appearing in Roman mythology.