Pandora (Re:Zero)

Lady Pandora

The Witch

Witch of Vainglory

Immortality

Memory Manipulation

Phenomenon Manipulation

Reanimation

Self-Resurrection

Psychological abuse

Terrorism

Treason

“ Now, bring the key and seal to me. So the Witch's Cult can fulfil its long cherished desire! „ ~ Pandora trying to order Petelgeuse.

“ A splendid show of your determination, Bishop Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti. And in the name of the Witch of Vanity, for your resolve and steadfast force of will, I grant you the title of Sloth. „ ~ Pandora naming Petelgeuse the Archbishop of Sloth.

**Pandora**, also known as the **Witch of Vanity** or simply **Vanity**, is an enigmatic overarching antagonist in the 2014 Japanese dark fantasy light novel series *Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World*, as well as its anime television series adaptation of the same name. Thus far, she has only appeared as a flashback antagonist in the fourth and fifth story arcs.

At some point in her life, the inhumanly beautiful girl named Pandora came into contact with and absorbed the Vanity Witch Factor. The Witch Factor within her eventually blossomed into the Authority of Vanity, a power that allowed Pandora to manipulate the laws of reality to a certain extent. The Authority allowed her to cheat death, manipulate memories, and teleport matter; just to name a few. As the possessor of the Vanity Witch Factor, Pandora 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, Pandora became known as the "Witch of Vanity."

Of the group, Pandora and the representative of Melancholy Hector were outliers of a kind. Firstly, Pandora and Hector were arguably the Witch Factor wielders whose motivations, pasts, and goals were the most enigmatic. Secondly, Pandora and Hector were both relatively unknown figures compared to the other Witches, as memory of their existence was eventually known to only a few people in the world. Thirdly, the nature of her and Hector's relationship with the other Witches of Sin was unknown, although the Witch of Greed Echidna had a somewhat antagonistic relationship with them. Fourthly, both Pandora and Hector represented sins not commonly considered to be parts of the seven deadly sins. And lastly, Pandora and Hector were the only Witches of Sin who weren't eventually devoured by the Witch of Envy Satella.

Pandora was the only Witch of Sin confirmed to roam the world freely after the calamity caused by Satella, as the status of Hector remained unknown and Satella herself was eternally imprisoned for her crimes. Over the next four hundred years, Pandora sowed various seeds of chaos across the world for reasons currently unknown. At some point, she became an associate of the Witch Cult, an international extremist group dedicated to the worship of Satella. Although her exact position in the Cult was unknown, the Sin Archbishops that lead the group treated Pandora with respect, indicating she was highly revered within the organization. Furthermore, her existence was a well kept secret among members of the Cult who neglected to talk about her.

Around one hundred years ago, Pandora attacked the Elven Village of Elior Forest alongside the Sin Archbishop of Greed Regulus Corneas and the Black Serpent. Her goal was to use the young half-elf girl named Emilia to unlock a mysterious seal located in the center of the village, however, her plan failed when Emilia froze everyone in the village including herself. Around fourteen years ago, Pandora orchestrated the hunt of the White Whale that resulted in the death of the era's Master Swordsman Theresia van Astrea.

Pandora is voiced by Rie Kugimiya in the Japanese version of the anime adaptation and by Deneen Melody in the English version. Kugimiya has also voiced Alphonse Elric in *Fullmetal Alchemist*, Taiga Aisaka in *Toradora!*, Happy in *Fairy Tail*, Kagura in *Gin Tama*, Rise Kujikawa in *Persona 4*, the Unknown God in *Genshin Impact*, Haumea in *Fire Force*, Hoopa in *Pokémon*, and Harley Quinn in *Batman Ninja*. Melody has also voiced May in *Pokémon Masters*.

## Appearance

Pandora had the outward appearance of a young woman with a small delicate body. Her long straight platinum hair was seemingly transparent and gave off a soft glow akin to the shine of the sun. The radiance of her hair created the affect of a glistening waterfall that travelled down her slender shoulders and rested slightly below her knee line. Her eyes were as deep blue as the sea and were framed by long eyelashes. Pandora's inhuman beauty was terrifying enough to make any person who set their eyes upon her incapable of stopping themselves from trembling. Her charming facial features were considered the ideal image of the word "beauty" accepted by human beings. If it were possible to kill through beauty alone, it would be Pandora's radiance that would be capable of doing so. A normal man would feel overwhelming happiness in the event that Pandora made even a casual glance towards him.

As if to amplify the impression of primordial perfection that Pandora's physical appearance conveyed, the clothing of the Witch of Vanity was incredibly simplistic. The only thing the Witch wore was a single sheet of white fabric that covered her torso and traipsed over her like a poncho. The decoration the fabric had was a line of deep blue stiches at the top and a matching blue ribbon. Aside from her gown, the sole piece of material that could be found on the Witch was a blue ribbon tied into her hair that was similar to the one that decorated her dress. Her legs and feet were both completely bare, however, despite this, any desire to touch her bare flesh seemed taboo on account of her divine beauty.

## Personality

Outwardly, Pandora acted in a dignified manner that was unbefitting of someone who so often committed herself to immoral activity. When conversing with people the Witch would speak politely and friendlily to them regardless of whether they were an ally or a foe. She would even remain perfectly amicable towards someone after they attacked her with killing intent. However, her politeness was nothing more than a mask for the cold-hearted woman that Pandora was. She had an abject lack of guilt stemming from her actions, showing no form of remorse when she caused someone mental or physical pain or even when she killed innocent people and concocted catastrophes. The Witch only saw the people around her as pawns or pets, not actually viewing them as intelligent creatures worthy of being considered her equals in any way.

## History

Pandora was an inhumanly beautiful young woman who absorbed the Vanity Witch Factor, bestowing her with the Authority of Vanity. The Authority allowed Pandora to rewrite phenomena, essentially meaning she could manipulate events and to an extent people to her liking. There were seven other women who each wielded an Authority pertaining to one of the seven deadly sins whom were collectively known as the Witches of Sin. Alongside a young man named Hector, Pandora was one of the two Witch Factor bearers representing a sin not usually considered parts of the orthodox seven deadly sins. Compared to the other Witches except Hector, Pandora was relatively unknown, as she wasn't feared as a menace to society like the others. Pandora's relationship with the other Witches remains unclear, although the Witch of Greed disliked her. One day, the Witch of Envy Satella who was considered the strongest of the sins, began rampaging across the entire world, destroying half of it in the process.

Satella was eventually defeated and sealed away by three heroes, although by that time she had already devoured the other Witches (excluding Pandora and Hector) and ensured her name would be remembered forever. After the Great Calamity as it became known, Pandora became involved in an enigmatic extremist group called the Witch Cult that allegedly wanted to release Envy from her imprisonment. Although unconfirmed, Pandora seemed to hold the highest position within the cult. She had command over the Sin Archbishops, the individuals that had inherited the Witch Factors of the Witches Satella had devoured. At some point Pandora was involved in the death of an elven man and his human wife, the latter of which was apparently a Witch. The child of the couple, named Emilia, was taken in by her paternal aunt Fortuna and was too young to remember the death of her parents.

Three hundred years after the Great Calamity, Pandora sought to unlock a mysterious seal located in the Great Elior Forest, a dense woodland located within the Dragonfriend Kingdom of Lugunica. Pandora first needed to retrieve Emilia, who functioned as a key for the seal. The young half-elves girl resided within a village of peaceful elves that rested within Elior Forest. Knowing she would need to take the girl by force as the villagers would protect her, Pandora employed the assistance of the Sin Archbishop of Greed Regulus Corneas who led a radical faction within the cult. She also used her Authority to manipulate the incredibly powerful mabeast known as the Black Serpent into rampaging across the village simultaneously with their assault.

## Powers & Abilities

### Powers

* **Authority of Vanity**: The Authority of Vanity was a power that Pandora came to possess after she absorbed the Vanity Witch Factor at some point from an unknown source. Although the full extent of her power has remained unrevealed, Pandora was considered an incredibly formidable opponent due to the Authority. Regulus Corneas believed that she was capable enough to defeat Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti and Fortuna simultaneously. Her level of danger in comparison to the other Witches of Sin is unknown, although the Witch of Greed did not consider Pandora's Authority that powerful, believing that Emilia as a child was enough to defeat her in terms of raw power. The bearers of Witch Factors, presumably including Pandora, gave off a particular scent that attracted mabeasts (terrifying man-eating monsters that were created by the Witch of Gluttony Daphne).
	+ **Phenomenon Manipulation**: The main application of the Authority of Vanity was the power to manipulate phenomena at will, although there were apparently conditions in place for the ability to come into affect. One example of Pandora manipulating phenomena was when she 'rewrote' the fact that Regulus had attacked Elior Forest and badly wounded Petelgeuse and Fortuna in the process. The moment Pandora used her power, Corneas was no longer in the Forest. Instead, he found himself frolicking in his mansion with his wives. As Regulus had never technically attacked, the wounds on both Petelgeuse and Fortuna ceased to exist. Despite the newly-forged fact that Corneas had never attacked, Petelgeuse, Fortuna, and Pandora all retained memory of the lost event. When manipulating phenomena, Pandora would usually state what she wanted to happen similar to a narrator and whatever she said would come to pass. However, she likely didn't have to say anything for the power to come into affect, as there were instances when events changed without her saying a thing.
		- **Memory Manipulation**: Using her power to rewrite phenomena, Pandora could manipulate the memories of another person to a certain extent. By making contact with her victim's head, the Witch could erase memories of her choice and also implant fabricated ones. She demonstrated her power of memory manipulation when she made Emilia forget any knowledge of the Witch of Vanity's existence. However, this aspect of the Authority wasn't all-encompassing, as Emilia in her later years would occasionally remember disjointed fragments of the memories she had lost.
		- **Self-Resurrection**: In the event that Pandora was somehow killed, the world itself would change so that her death had never occurred. Ultimately, this application of Vanity's power that the Witch could evidently use posthumously ensured that Pandora would never be permenatetly felled by any known physical attack. Her power to self-resurrect was best demonstrated during her attack on Elior Forest. During the assault, she resurrected without a scratch on her after the Sin Archbishop of Greed used his Authority to turn her into bloody paste. Later, she suffered numerous brutal deaths at the hands of the youthful Emilia, only to return each time instantly.
		- **Sense Manipulation**: Pandora was capable of utilizing her ability to manipulate phenomena to alter her target's senses to potentially perceive things differently to how they were. In this way, Vanity could manipulate her targets into believing she was somebody else. Similarly, she could also alter people's senses into believing that other people were her. During her attack on Elior Forest, Pandora was able to make Fortuna mistake her as Emilia by making Fortuna perceive Vanity as the young girl. The Witch was also able to trick Sloth into mistaking Fortuna as herself and Emilia as Fortuna, therefore goading him into killing the former.

### Abilities

* **Immense Pain Tolerance**: Pandora has displayed an immense tolerance towards any kind of physical pain. Even when she was repeatedly being killed by Emilia in brutal ways, she showed no sign of discomfort whatsoever, even failing to flinch. As an extension of her apparent immunity to pain, Pandora was extremely bold regarding life-threatening dangers and was never upset when someone killed her. It is possible that her incredible resistance to pain comes as a result of her Authority, although no indication of this has been provided.

## Trivia

* Like the other Witches of Sin (with the exception of Satella), Pandora received her namesake from a celestial body. 55 Pandora is the name of a fairly large asteroid located in the solar system's asteroid belt. The asteroid is relatively bright, a factor reflected in Pandora's god-like radiance. Her name, like the celestial body, may also be a reference to Pandora, the woman who released the seven deadly sins into the world in Greek mythology.
* As mentioned above, Pandora was the name of the woman who unleashed the seven deadly sins into the world. Although purely speculative, it may be possible that the Witch of Vanity being named after Pandora implies that she had something to do with the creation of the Witch Factors.