Great Calamity

This page is about the historical incident that took place 400 years before the events of the series. For the disaster in Arc 7 and Arc 8, see Great Disaster.

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The Great Calamity (大災厄, Daisaiyaku) is the name given to the one of the most infamous events in the history of the world that is known to have shaped the current world into its present state, in which the Witch of Envy was said to have destroyed half of the world. This massive event took place over 400 years prior to Subaru's arrival, and its consequences continue to be felt long after its conclusion.

All that is known about the events that took place during this battle were that the Sage Flugel, the first Sword Saint Reid Astrea, and the Divine Dragon Volcanica were said to have met up and form an alliance intent on defeating the Witch of Envy. While unable to kill the Witch, they successfully managed to seal her away beyond the Kingdom of Lugunica's Augria Sand Dunes, and the evil of the Witch of Envy was immortalized as a fable, one that everyone believes to be true.

Background

Around 400 years prior to Subaru's arrival, a small group of six people were said to have gone on a journey to save the world. These people were Flugel, Reid Astrea, Farsale Lugunica, Echidna, Alec Hoshin, and Satella. During their travels, the group came to meet other particularly notable figures, including the Vollachian emperor of the era, the Witches of Sin, the witchbeast that became the Sage's apprentice, and even the Divine Dragon itself. However, while it is unknown what occurred during their journey, at some point, Satella was forced to take in the Witch Factor of Envy, which she was incompatible with. It is unknown how long its corruption seeped into Satella, but the Witch Factor's influence gave Satella a second personality, one that felt extreme pangs of aggressive, possessive, and obsessive jealousy, unlike her own personality. This entity became what is known as the Witch of Envy and one of the Witches of Sin.

At some point after this, one of the Witches, Minerva, was led into a trap by the Elves, where she had lost her mind and was supposedly killed by Satella. For various unknown reasons, the other Witches of Sin also began to die out, each one facing a very different death somewhere within Lugunica. Eventually, Satella lost control to the Witch of Envy. While it is unknown what it meant, Volcanica claims to have been unable to bring harm to her for an unspecified reason, which is what led to the disaster that followed. While it is unknown what caused the Witch of Envy's rampage, her immeasurable power began to devour the world.

Calamity

In her rampage, Satella began tearing through the world, unable to be stopped by anyone. Because they did not want the world to end, Flugel, Reid, and Volcanica, presumably in Flanders, created an alliance with each other in order to defeat the Witch of Envy and end her reign of destruction. Despite their alliance, however, the incredibly mighty Sword Saint was unable to cut her down, and the supposedly wise Sage was said to be unable to find a way to get around her immortality. In the end, they were forced to use Evil Sealing Stones to seal her away near the Great Waterfall beyond the Augria Sand Dunes, a place that became known in the present as the Evil Sealing Stone Shrine.

Aftermath

In order to watch over her seal, Flugel began the construction of the Pleiades Watchtower, specifically made to watch over her. The Library in Taygeta was supposedly made with the help of a "knowledge hungry Witch", the trial in Electra used the soul of Reid, and sitting on the top of the tower, Volcanica acted as the guardian of Maia. With Flugel refusing to take credit for his achievements for unknown reason, they were instead foisted onto Shaula, and she was tasked with remaining as the caretaker of the tower, awaiting the day for which he returned. After this, Flugel vanished from history, with very few people either knowing his name or correlating it with the Sage. At some point after he vanished, the floor Merope was made, its purposes and location unknown. Meanwhile, the deaths of the other Witches and the creation of witchbeasts, including the Three Great Witchbeasts, made by Daphne were all falsely associated with Satella, increasing fear and anxiety towards her. It is unknown exactly how many false accusations were associated with her.

Following her sealing, Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, who had been entrusted with the Witch Factor of Sloth by Flugel, helped to found the Witch Cult, which Petelgeuse intended to use in order to revive Satella for unknown reasons. He also began making regular visits to Elior Forest, where a massive door, supposedly associated with the Witch Cult's ultimate goal, stood tall and away from the people who lived there. Although the Witch Cult seemed to be a rather tame group around the time of its founding, eventually, the group became corrupted as it obtained more and more members and Authority-wielding Sin Archbishops, beginning to stray from its original goal and erasing evidence of the other Witches aside from Satella, and eventually, due to the events of the Permafrost of Elior Forest, the radical faction of the Witch Cult overtook the moderate faction after Petelgeuse was driven mad by the incompatible Witch Factor of Sloth he took in and the influence of the Pandora. In the end, the Witch Cult became the infamous multi-national terrorist group that it is in the present.

While already prejudiced towards demi-humans to begin with, humans' prejudice towards them skyrocketed because of the Witch of Envy's rampage, with a great majority of prejudice spreading particularly towards Elves. Eventually, this prejudice, primarily in Lugunica, expanded and swelled to the point that it triggered the Demi-Human War. Although in the end it did not erase prejudice, the oppression levied towards demi-humans lessened considerably. This being said, Lugunica still experiences this kind of discrimination thanks to the Witch's influence.

There exist certain individuals who bear some form of connection to the Witch of Envy. In particular, Emilia, who looks exactly like the Witch, was born at an unknown time within the following centuries. For reasons unknown, she is one of two beings who carry the key to the seal in Elior Forest, a fact that was taken advantage of by the Witch of Vainglory when she led an assault on the forest, resulting in its freezing, Emilia's stasis, and the Witch Cult's total corruption. Eventually, Emilia was unfrozen by Puck, who bears an unknown connection to Echidna, and he raised her. Her presence, however, ignited the Great Spirit Melakuera to wage an attack on her to prevent another incident like the Great Calamity, referring to her as the "Witch's child". In the end, he failed. Aside from him, however, even in outside world, Emilia continues to be associated with the Witch of Envy, with even the Divine Dragon mistaking her for Satella.

Because the Witch's seal is too weak to contain her power, the Witch of Envy cannot be fully contained within it, and it is possible for her to easily bypass it if she so desires. However, she seemingly remained dormant for the next four centuries, not at all moving from her seal. One day, however, Natsuki Subaru arrived in the world. Although it is unknown how he arrived in the world, it has been possibly associated with the Witch of Envy, as upon his arrival, Subaru was given the fate challenging Authority of Return by Death by the Witch of Envy. It is unknown for what reason he arrived, why he is recognized as a Sage Candidate, what connection they have, nor why the Witch of Envy loves him, but it is known that she one day intends for Subaru to kill her.