If you have been tuning in to season 4 of Re:Zero anime, you might have seen Shaula call Natsuki Subaru her master, firmly believing that our resident suffering protagonist is the same person who built the Pleiades Watchtower over 400 years ago – Flugel.
Subaru is absolutely adamant that she’s wrong, and honestly, our first instinct is to agree with him. It feels like it has to be a bizarre coincidence. However, when we start putting things together, we genuinely have to question who Subaru, or Flugel, really was and if they are the same person.
This is going to be a deep dive, so let’s start off with the most basic, undeniable hints. Also it goes without saying that there are MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
Table of Contents
Why did Shaula call Subaru ‘Master’?
Why did Shaula zero in on Subaru the second he walked into the Pleiades Watchtower? Simple: he smelled the exact same as Flugel. But we need to look at why we should believe her completely.
Shaula is a unique entity suffering from a severe case of visual agnosia, basically, absolute face blindness. She literally cannot tell people apart by their facial features or physical bodies. Instead, she identifies entities entirely by their scent. In Subaru’s case specifically, the lingering Miasma of the Witch.
When Subaru’s party arrived at the tower in Arc 6, Shaula immediately and irrevocably latched onto him. She asserted with zero hesitation that his and Flugel’s scents were completely the same.
And it’s not just the smell. Shaula also mentions that Flugel talks like Subaru and “always forgets things” making them have similar neurological and speech patters too.
On top of that, everything that Shaula knows has been taught to her by Flugel over 400 years ago. Seeing her behavior and antics, Julius and the others feel that it is very similar to that of Subaru, which is once again a hint for Subaru and Flugel having similar traits.
Carving his name onto Flugel Tree:
Let’s talk about a seemingly throwaway gag from Arc 2. Remember when Ram was trying to teach Subaru how to read and write the Lugunican syllabary? Subaru, being an absolute child, rebelled by doodling “Natsuki Subaru was here” in Japanese on the parchment.
Now, 400 years ago, Flugel had planted a seed on the Lifaus Highway, that would then grow into the colossal landmark we know as the Flugel Tree. This is the very same tree Subaru used to crush the White Whale in Arc 3 (Season 1 of the anime adaptation).
This is the best part. After the fight is over, what did Julius find carved into the ancient bark of that tree?
“Flugel was here.” Written entirely in Japanese Kanji! The syntax, the language, and the urge to declare your presence via graffiti all points to identical behavioral duplication.
That’s not all though. Subaru himself had the urge to write his name on the tree. However, he was dissuaded from the act by Rem!
Other major hints which suggest Subaru is Flugel:
It’s no secret that Flugel, like Subaru, was an otherworlder. The Pleiades Watchtower itself, along with the Taygeta floor test, proves the creator had intimate knowledge of Earth’s constellations.
One might argue that Flugel could have been a random person who was summoned to the world of Re:Zero over 400 years ago, and the similarity in smell could be because of that person too had the Witch’s Miasma on him.
However, there are some points which go against that assumption too!
In Arc 6 (in Season 4), Shaula casually mentions the phrase “Ok Google.” For someone who has been alive over 400 years, there is no way they would know that modern term.
Since Shaula learned everything she knows from Flugel himself, it proves beyond doubt that Flugel too was summoned from a timeline of the real world nearly identical to Subaru’s.
Now, as to why this person is Subaru himself? We get yet another clue for that, this time from one of the side-stories.
Hoshin considered Flugel to be the person who would die easily, calling him the person that is the closest to death in the team. Does that sound like anyone we know? Well…YES!
This perfectly describes Subaru. He is a guy with no inherently broken magical powers or physical strength, relying entirely on his wits (and ofcourse Return by Death).
On top of that, look at Subaru’s subconscious psychological predispositions. In the Wrath IF storyline, when Subaru snaps and creates his own sprawling criminal organization, what does he name it? Pleiades.
Sure, the IF stories aren’t related to the main timeline, but they do give us a look at Subaru’s unfiltered mindset. And what do we understand here? The astronomical naming convention is hardwired into his brain.
Even the name itself is a clue. “Flügel” translates directly to “Wing” in German. We already know Subaru has a weird affinity for Germanic linguistics, as his cross-dressing alias in Arc 7 was “Natsumi Schwartz” (Schwartz meaning black).
And speaking of timelines, we have a massive paradox regarding the Witch’s Miasma. If Flugel was a totally different person, why does he share the Witch’s scent?
Flugel traveled with Satella before she went insane and became the Witch of Envy. She was known as a kind-hearted, pure half-elf back then. There is absolutely no way he should have been drenched in the Envy miasma during that era… unless he brought it with him.
How can Subaru be Flugel?
So, how is it logically possible? Well, Subaru went back in time and assumed the identity of Flugel. It is the same argument for why Emilia is Satella, and I feel these two theories tie in together quite sweetly.
I know, the time loop theory sounds absurd at first glance. But we already have established mechanics for seeing into the past. Look at the Books of the Dead in the watchtower, which literally allow a reader to travel into and experience the past lives of the deceased. Pushing past the Arc 9 territory, it is possible that there exists a way to travel physically into the past!
But if you want the absolute, indisputable smoking gun for the time loop theory, we have to look at the climax of Arc 6 on the Maia floor, when the party meets the Divine Dragon Volcanica!
Because centuries have passed, Volcanica’s mind is severely degraded, leaving it trapped in a senile, repetitive loop of ancient memories and sorrow over his failure to save Satella.
But when the dragon looks at Subaru’s party, Volcanica calls out for Satella (big hint) and shockingly recognizes Subaru’s Earth Dragon.
Read that again…
Volcanica recognized Patrasche!!!!
Subaru named his dragon Patrasche AFTER he got her from Crusch Karsten in Season 1. It is a name Subaru pulled directly from a fictional Earth anime/novel, A Dog of Flanders.
How in the world did a 1000-year-old Divine Dragon not only recognize this specific Earth Dragon, but know a name that a Japanese teenager made up sometime ago?
It is practically screaming at us that a massive time loop exists, and Volcanica remembers the past where Subaru (as Flugel) had Patrasche by his side.
Some counterarguments:
As with any other theory, there are counterarguments to Subaru being Flugel too. The biggest one? The sage on the Lugunican coin looks nothing like Subaru.
BUT, if you are a time-traveling, secretive mastermind trying to hide your identity across four centuries, forging your own face on currency is step one.
And who does the coin supposedly resemble? Julius, as some have noted. Trolling a self-serious history nerd like Julius by making him worship a coin with his own face on it is the most Natsuki Subaru thing I have ever heard.
Looks wise, Flugel is said to have black hair. I suppose.
People also point out that Reid Astrea didn’t recognize Subaru during the Electra floor test. But remember, the Reid we see in the tower is a much younger version of himself, pulled from a specific point in his life.
It almost feels like a deliberate safeguard by the tower’s creator to ensure Subaru’s connection wasn’t instantly exposed.
The Od Connection
If it’s not a literal time loop, the only other logical possibility is a spiritual one. Subaru might house a fragment of Flugel’s soul, or be a direct reincarnation through the Od Lagna cycle. That would explain the identical miasma, the shared behavioral quirks, and the subconscious naming habits, without requiring physical time travel.
But honestly? I hate that idea. If Subaru is just some spiritual puppet acting out the predetermined will of a 400-year-old dead guy, that completely robs him of his agency. It takes away from every single ounce of grueling, bloody character development we’ve watched him earn.
Natsuki Subaru is his own person, with his own will and his own desperate machinations to save the people he loves. That’s exactly why I lean so heavily into the time loop theory.
I firmly believe the Re:Zero world is stuck in a massive, tragic loop. But Subaru? Our Subaru is going to be the anomaly. He is eventually going to find a way to shatter that loop and break through it!
