Re:Zero: How Did Theresia Lose Her Powers/Blessing? Did Reinhard Play A Role In It?

Theresia Van Astrea was the sword saint who preceded Reinhard. Her feats in the demi-human war alone were enough to prove that she was a strong character in her own right.

Despite her abilities, she was dealt a cruel hand as she ended up on the losing side of the battle against the White Whale, which took place fourteen years before Subaru was summoned to the world of Re:Zero.

While the White Whale is not responsible for killing her, the whole incident did culminate in her demise. And this was due to the fact that she ended up losing her blessing/diving protection midway through the battle.

Naturally, how Theresia lost her power – the blessing of the sword saint – is a question that begs to be answered!

How did Theresia lose the blessing of the Sword Saint?

The blessing of the Sword Saint is a peculiar phenomenon – that’s the best way to put it. It doesn’t adhere to your typical inheritance patterns, as it shifts to a chosen individual even without the death of the previous user.

Theresia herself became a Sword Saint at the age of twelve when the blessing inexplicably passed to her from her uncle one fine day. Similarly, Reinhard too received the blessing out of the blue at the young age of five, inheriting it from his grandmother.

To be honest, Theresia was simply unlucky as she lost her blessing at the worst possible time – while fighting the White Whale.

The conditions for these random transfers are not detailed in the anime or the light novels. Despite that, we can understand is that the blessing is only passed on to a member of the Astrea family line, and that it seeks out the candidate that is most suited to the role.

Going by that logic, the blessing/divine protection transferred to Reinhard because the Sword God thought that he was the best candidate to be the next sword saint.

While this is what we can confidently say from the novels – there certainly are some theories running around in the fandom.

The first one is that Pandora had some sort of role to play in the whole fiasco. While it is true that platinum haired menace was present during the White Whale subjugation fourteen years ago, Theresia only met her AFTER she lost her blessing (and the fight) and was fleeing from the battlefield.

However, the mere fact that Pandora was present there has led many to believe that she might somehow be responsible for Theresia losing her powers. While we are not completely sold on this theory, Pandora is not a character we can take lightly.

Now, the next assumption is something very curious and also holds some water.

Reinhard’s role in Theresia losing her powers

I want to focus on Reinhard’s role here because he too is a character who is peculiar and has some inexplicable traits. And it is one of these inexplicable traits of his, which makes him a culprit in this assumption.

Reinhard has the ability to wish for any blessing or divine protection he wants, and he ends up getting it too. He had displayed this ability one year before he got the blessing of the sword saint, when he gained the divine protection of mind-control (which he used to help his father get into the Royal Knights).

Given the weird timing, there are some who believe that Theresia lost her blessing because Reinhard wished for the blessing at that particular moment. This theory cannot be ignored because of Reinhard’s powers.

After Reinhard was five when he received the blessing of the sword saint, he immediately went to defeat his father in a duel. According to a Reinhard Q&A session by Tappei, Reinhard had hoped that Heinkel would be happy that he got the blessing of the Sword Saint.

So naturally, it leads to the question – did Reinhard wish for the blessing in order to impress his father? What’s most intriguing is that we don’t even know if it is possible for Reinhard to wish and acquire a blessing that someone else already has.

Well, until we get a proper confirmation, we won’t know for sure.