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Re:Zero: Why Did Puck Break His Contract With Emilia?

Puck has been a constant partner and acted as a surrogate father to Emilia. He proudly claims that there is no one in this world who loves Emilia as much as him. Not even Subaru! But, in Re:Zero Season 2 Episode 14 ( or Part 2 episode 1), we see that Puck broke his contract with Emilia. And this was a strictly one-sided affair.

Emilia was already going through a hard time because of the trials of the Sanctuary. However, instead of helping her clear them, Puck blindsides. Emilia is confused at Puck’s behaviour (and so are we). While he did not explain in detail, Puck assures that breaking the contract was something that was necessary.

Whichever way we look at it, this was a very harsh move!! Wasn’t Emilia totally reliant on Puck for everything? Won’t she lose her powers without Puck? Why would the spirit put someone he cared about so deeply in Jeopardy? What was his reason for it? Well, Puck has a very good reason for breaking his contract with Emilia.

Why did Puck break his contract with Emilia?

Puck broke his contract with Emilia so that she could unlock her memories from the past. His contract with Emilia prevented her from regaining her true memories, which in turn kept her from facing her past and clearing the first trial. By breaking his contract, Puck hoped that Emilia would regain her memories and liberate the Sanctuary by clearing the trials.

Puck says that the seal on memories will be lifted by breaking the contract.

In the first trial of the Sanctuary, the participants have to face their past and overcome it. Emilia was having a hard time in the trial because she was not able to recognize the past that she was shown. Since she had no clue about her past, she could not accept whatever traumatic events were shown to her during the trial. It was like she was seeing a whole different life, but somehow she felt a connection to this. This made Emilia suffer a lot and in one of the loops, she completely breaks down.

Seeing that Emilia was failing miserably, Subaru and Puck decide to get to the core of the issue. Emilia was suffering because she was unable to regain her memories. The thing that kept her memories locked was the contract that Puck made with her. So the only solution was to break the contract. We could say that Subaru was in part responsible for this decision. Because, unless Emilia is able to clear the trials, she won’t be able to claim the throne. And unless she claims the throne of Lugunica, she won’t be able to rescue the frozen people at Elior forest.

But, why did Puck seal memories in the first place?

Who sealed Emilia’s memories?

Puck sealed and supressed Emilia’s memories while forming the contract with her so that she wouldn’t have to relive the horrific events that happened in the past before she was frozen.

Just to jog your memory, Puck’s contract with Echidna is detailed in the movie Re:Zero Frozen Bonds (or Bonds of Ice). You might want to take a look at it, though the terms of the contract remain fuzzy there too.

However, one thing that we need to understand is that Puck only suppressed Emilia’s memories when he formed a contract with her. But when Emilia came out of her frozen state, her memories were already trampled with. This was done by Pandora a member of the witch-cult and the Archbishop of Vainglory.

We get a hint of the memory trampling in the Frozen Bonds movie too. Even before she formed a contract with Puck, Emilia was having dreams that seemed more like a puzzle. She was confused and haunted by these incoherent dreams of her.

Emilia would have regained her trampled memories with time. This would only have confused her more and troubled her. Thus Puck sealed away her memories while forming the contract so that she wouldn’t have a hard time thinking about it.

But, how is the situation in the trials you wonder?

In the trials, Emilia’s trampled memory can be fully recovered because they will be accessed by Echidna. There is nothing that prevents a third party from accessing Emilia’s memories and playing it back to her, which is precisely what happens in the first trial of the sanctuary. Seeing that she would no longer have to suffer and be confused owing to the broken memories, Puck agreed to break his contract with Emilia.

Do you hate Puck for abandoning Emilia at a time when she needed him the most? Are his reasons for breaking the contract justified? Let us know your opinions in the comments section!

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