Meili Portroute (メィリィ・ポートルート) is a witchbeast tamer and a former "child" of Mother. She was first introduced in Arc 2 as the hidden main antagonist and one of the two secondary antagonists of Arc 4 alongside Elsa Granhiert. After the events of Arc 4, she was imprisoned, but she later joined the Emilia Camp and serves as one of the main supporting characters of Arc 6. She also plays a supporting role in Arc 9.
Having been raised by witchbeasts after her seeming abandonment, she was taken in by Elsa, who practically raised her like a sister, and she became an assassin working for Mother. However, this occupation came to an end after her capture at Roswaal Manor, and, following the Pleiades Watchtower Expedition, she has earned her pardon and works with the Emilia Camp in earnest.
Contents
Appearance
Meili Portroute has refined yellow-green eyes that give off an air of mysticism and an equaled well-formed nose. Her long dark-blue hair is kept out of her face and tied into a triple-braid that flows down to her hips. A pink flower ornament with white outlining, similar to Elsa's, is framed to the left side of her head. During her undercover stay in the village, Meili's braid traipsed over her left shoulder so that it rested over her chest and her hair wasn't decorated with an ornament. She looks the same age as Petra Leyte. When not concealing her true nature, she gave off the foreboding impression of someone who would grow up to be a true demon.
The outfit Meili commonly wears is befitting of a girl with her moral character. Her ensemble consists of a long-sleeved black one-piece dress with a frilly white hem and white cone-shaped cuffs, brown tights with vertical-facing lighter brown stripes, a white cravat, and a pair of black boots that have cuffs with purple feathery trimming along their edge. Her dress has a black collar and reaches past her hips. Like Elsa, she wears a long purple-brown cloak that reached down to her ankles and had purple trimmings, although unlike Elsa's cloak, Meili's has a golden pendant serving as a strap and no hood. When she was undercover as a villager, Meili wore a short blue long-sleeved one-piece dress with a flap collar similar to a sailor's. On her feet she wore a pair of brown sandals, and apart from these and the dress, Meili wore no further clothing as a villager. Later, she replaces her hairpin with a small bow near the bottom of her braid.
For a short time in Arc 6, she wore a cloak to protect herself from the sands of the Augria Sand Dunes.
Personality
When she was first introduced, Meili acted like she was shy and meek. She was not usually the center of attention, and she acted overly polite and timid, stuttering as she spoke. However, as this was part of her acting skills in play, this was not her true personality. Despite her young age, Meili is a mature girl who became privy to the ugly side of humanity at an early age. Meili failed to display any semblance of the childish innocence usually exhibited by kids her age. She was perfectly willing to kill people, regardless of whether they were innocent or children like herself. She also had a penchant for deception, such as when she mimicked the behavior of a regular child. According to Natsuki Subaru, she had grown up without having learned the difference between right and wrong. Meili has shown to find witchbeasts to be cute and is very fond of them. If possible, she likes to avoid letting them die when she can, and she will prevent her allies from killing them in her presence unless absolutely necessary. At one point, she had become close with a pet Guiltylowe, and later, she had become attached to Shaula, referring to her with "naked onee-san" and was typically seen hanging over her shoulder. She also has great instincts when it comes to a person's strength or their level of danger; when faced with the Council of Wise Men, particularly Miklotov McMahon, she could sense something strange from his gaze, and after meeting Reinhard van Astrea, whose strength was terrifying to her, she started to panic, barely containing her feeling to attack and attempt to flee from the scene. She also finds it annoying when people around her provide her unnecessary assistance or treat her like a child, such as when Elsa did both after the events of Arc 2. Despite this side of her, she still at times acts like the young girl that she is, finding the sewn-together dolls that Subaru made for cute and playing with them while she lived in Roswaal Manor. She also has a habit of stretching out the end of her sentences. She has shown herself to be rather friendly and familiar toward others, even toward her targets.
At some point after her birth, when she was seemingly abandoned, she was a feral child who was unable to talk. She was raised by witchbeasts, protected by them, and taught how to survive through them. Because of this, when Elsa first appeared in front of her and killed all of her witchbeasts, she was very hostile and animalistic, even biting at her despite knowing that she would not be able to win against her. However, after Elsa began taking care of her as an older sister figure, she relearned how to speak, the basics of life, how to act, kill and take care of wounds. Elsa had ultimately become the latter's purpose to live, despite sometimes being at odds. She is also shown to be quite terrified of the superior, Mother, having once been turned into frogs by her, and this fear was part of the reason that after she was later defeated, she allowed herself to become the Emilia Camp's prisoner.
Following the events of Arc 4 and Elsa's death, though she at first cried for her death, Meili was confused about how she should act because of it, as Elsa was the closest thing she could call family despite not quite being family either. Because of this, despite getting along well with the members of the Emilia Camp, when she was given a chance during the events of Arc 6, she attempted to take vengeance on Subaru for Elsa's death in an attempt to quell the emotions that were roiling within her. However, after being stopped and being offered a hand by both Subaru and Emilia, she took them in order to learn from them almost like a daughter figure.
Following these events, she seemed to show regret for her actions, and she was willing to speak with people as powerful as the Council of Wise Men and help the next Pleiades Watchtower expedition team in order to pardon herself so that she wouldn't provide any problems for the Emilia Camp. In particular, she had become somewhat attached to Petra and tended to worry for her, and she often listened to Petra's complaints about the other members of the camp. However, the biggest display of attachment she has displayed toward the other camp members was her willingness to give up her Divine Protection in order to compensate for the use of Clind's Authority in order to gather everyone to save Subaru, though Petra ultimately stopped her from doing this.
History
Meili Portroute was born with a powerful Divine Protection that allowed her to manipulate the behavior of man-eating predators known as witchbeasts. She was seemingly abandoned by her parents and subsequently grew in the wilderness surrounded by witchbeasts that protected her. As a result, Meili was a feral child incapable of basic speech and etiquette. One day, an assassin known as the Bowel Hunter appeared before the feral girl and killed the beasts that protected her. Noticing that the name "Meili" had been sewn into the rags the feral girl was wearing, Elsa decided to call the girl Meili despite being unsure if it was her real name,[1] abducting the girl and taking her in.
Meili was taught many things by Elsa, including how to talk and behave properly. She quickly began utilizing witchbeasts and deceptive youth to execute her targets. She was frequently paired up with Elsa on missions, whom she considered an older sister of sorts. Meili, like other "children", feared their leader known simply as "Mother". On one occasion, Mother turned Meili into a pile of frogs as an example of her power. She was particularly fond of a Guiltylowe that she considered a pet.
Red Snowfall on the Orcos Domain
A short while before the events of Arc 1, she and Elsa were involved in the conflict between Viktor Orcos and Igor Kenash, in which Meili set a Guiltylowe on Igor and killed him. Soon after, she followed Elsa into the Kingdom of Lugunica.
Elsa and Meili, Assassin Sisters' Dark Diary
Following Elsa's defeat and near death by the hands of Reinhard van Astrea, she escaped so that her wounds could mend themselves. After being picked up by Meili, who was shocked to hear that she was defeated and that her wounds weren't regenerating like they were supposed to, Meili patched up her wounds, and they decided to leave the Royal Capital in order to escape the people searching for her, leading to Elsa, buck naked, deciding to procure clothes from someone. After causing bloodshed to obtain these clothes, she and Meili used a witchbeast to change their hair colors, and with the help of a guard who didn't recognize them pointing them in the direction of the highway, they left the capital behind. However, Meili had received an objective from Mother, who had told her to stir mayhem in the area around Roswaal Manor, much to Elsa's chagrin. While the two split up, Elsa decided to knit a doll of Reinhard for Meili.
Later, as Meili took on her task, Elsa watched from afar the chaos, and as Roswaal lit the forest ablaze to kill all of the Wolgarms, Elsa made her way to assist Meili, delighted that their roles were reversed from the incident in the capital. As they ran, Elsa gave Meili the doll of Reinhard, and shortly after, she carried Meili on her back, despite the girl's reluctance and frustration, and ran beyond the mountains. Soon enough, they found themselves surrounded by witchbeasts, which Meili decided to speak with and have them regroup with other witchbeasts to rebuild her numbers.
Later on, after the events leading to Roswaal Manor burning down, she was escorted by Garfiel Tinzel to see the remains of the mansion and possibly Elsa. There, she reminisced over one of their conversations about whether Elsa could die, and with Garfiel looking the other way, Meili cried over Elsa's death.
Meili’s Witchbeast Observation Record
Following the successful Pleiades Watchtower Expedition, Meili was tasked with reporting to the Council of Wise Men about the tower being conquered, and she was handed a talon that belonged to Volcanica itself. Along with Annerose Miload, she met the old men and reported this. Soon after, Felt and her knight arrived and took part in the meeting. Though Meili felt instinctive fear towards Reinhard, who shortly after pointed out the hiding Crimson Scorpion hiding on her person, Felt came to her aid and started talking smack about her knight. Afterward, Meili revealed that she was an assassin, as even if she was a part of the Emilia Camp, her origin would come out eventually, and she could use it as a bargaining chip to assist the next expedition unit to go to the Pleiades Watchtower. Being given a chance to wipe her slate clean, she was tasked to assist the Felt Camp in making it past the Augria Sand Dunes with her Divine Protection.
In the dunes, the group was assaulted by Volcanica, who was tasked with defending the tower. Fortunately, thanks to the talon, Meili was able to prevent any further attacks, and they successfully reached the tower. She showed them the Taygeta Library, and she told them about the Books of the Dead, which prompted Felt to convince Reinhard to find his grandmother’s book. Afterward, the group noticed the birds floating around, which Meili had noted were there even during their own stay at the tower. After the crimson scorpion killed the one that they’d caught, Reinhard and Ezzo Cadner set about slaying the rest, as the birds were being used to spy. Afterward, the group returned to the capital, leaving Ezzo and Flam Remendis behind, and with the success of the expedition, Meili was pardoned for her crimes.
Abilities
Divine Protection (加護 Kago): Meili has the Divine Protection of Demon Manipulation (魔操の加護 Masou no Kago), which allows her to control witchbeasts, making her a Witchbeast User. Reinhard van Astrea notes that Meili's Divine Protection can only be possessed by one person at a time, with him being unable to use it himself because of this.
- Witchbeast Control:Meili Portroute has the Divine Protection of Demon Manipulation, which allows her to manipulate the behavior of witchbeasts. With the Divine Protection acting in place of the witchbeasts' horns, Meili can control their actions, effectively making them her puppets. As seen with the Guiltylowe, witchbeasts can still retain their reason and will. She can control numerous species of witchbeasts, including powerful ones. There are limits to her power, however. Some witchbeasts, such as Courtesan Bears, are incompatible with her Divine Protection, making them much harder to control. Likewise, exceedingly powerful witchbeasts like the Black Serpent and the White Whale are completely immune to her control. She is able to control at least a hundred witchbeasts, but her control has limits, and some will not listen to her if she tries to control too many.[2]
Assassin Skills: To complement her role as an assassin, Meili uses her acting skills to pretend to be a normal child while using that disguise to determine a target, as well as some extent of stealth mastery to erase the sound of her footsteps, though she is not as skilled as Elsa in the latter quality. However, despite this, she has not learned any physical combat skills.
Aura: Meili apparently emits a miasma-like aura, which is the reason why the Emilia Camp chose to imprison her underneath Roswaal Manor for a year.[3] It is unknown whether this is because of her Divine Protection or not.
Equipment:
- Fragment of the Divine Dragon’s Talon: After Emilia became the administrator of the Pleiades Watchtower, she was given a piece of Volcanica’s Talon to use to prevent said dragon from attacking her and her party should she return to the tower. She passed it along to Meili so that she could take the second expedition party to the tower.
Trivia
- She carries around a Reinhard doll Elsa made for her.
- Meili's birthday is October 4.
- She had a pet Gulitylowe. This same witchbeast saved Subaru from Reinhard in the Ayamatsu IF story.
- Erika Harlacher, Meili's English voice actress, also voices Crusch Karsten in addition to Ram and Rem's mother, Temae.
- It is implied that she may have a past connection to Dynas Trussardi.[4]
- Meili has her own named chapter in Arc 6 in both the web novel and light novels.
- In the web novel, Meili originally had brown hair,[5] until it was changed to dark blue in the middle of Arc 6.[6]
- According to the author, Meili learned how to cook since Elsa did not.
References
- ↑ “It seems like that’s your name? It was hard to make out, but it was sewn into that rag of yours… perhaps it belonged to someone else, but it’s inconvenient not having a name to call you by.” Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 24, Chapter 2, Section 2.
- ↑ Meili: “……That’s difficu~lt. If it’s ten, twenty, or even if it’s hundred, I ca~n, but a number more than that and there’ll be some children to whom my instructions won’t rea~ch.” Arc 6: Chapter 10, Section 1.
- ↑ She had an honest smile, but something came from that girl that was so dreadful and disgusting that it couldn’t be hidden. That was the biggest reason Meili was confined here without being released. Arc 6: Chapter 3, Section 2.
- ↑ "We know about your hard work, Dynas. It wasn't your fault you couldn't protect Milian and Meili." Arc 5: Chapter 68. Section 1.
- ↑ "She had braided, brown hair, and simple, yet lovely facial features." Arc 6: Chapter 3. Section 1.
- ↑ "The little girl who had spoken out and lifted her tiny hand up had dark blue braided hair—Meili. She slowly shook her head, still perched on Shaula's shoulders (who had crumpled down to her knees fainted)." Arc 6: Chapter 27. Section 2.
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