Umineko no Naku Koro ni

The game's logo.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni (うみねこのなく頃に lit. When the Seagulls Cry) is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The first game in the series, Legend of the Golden Witch, was first released at Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007 playable on the PC; the game sold out in thirty minutes. The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall them. Readers are challenged to discern whether the murders were committed by a human or of some other supernatural source, as well as the method and motive behind them.

Recurring Quotes

• "Ah, it's useless... It's all useless!" - Ushiromiya Battler & Ushiromiya Ange

• "Without love, it cannot be seen."

• "This level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika. ......What do you think, everyone?" - Erika Furudo

• "<See you again>."

• My beloved hometown, the sweetfish river running through it. You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream and seek the key. If you follow the river downstream, you will find a village. In the village, look for the shore the two will tell you of. There sleeps the key to the Golden Land. He who lays hand upon the key shall travel under the rules below. At the first twilight, you shall lift up as sacrifice the six chosen by the key. At the second twilight, the surviving shall tear apart the two who are close. At the third twilight, the surviving shall praise my honorable name on high. At the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill. At the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill. At the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill. At the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill. At the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill. At the ninth twilight, the Witch shall be revived and none shall be left alive. At the tenth twilight, the journey shall end and you should reach the village of gold. The Witch will praise the wise, and should bestow four treasures. One shall be, all the gold from the Golden Land. One shall be, the resurrection of the souls of all the dead. One shall be, even the resurrection of the lost love. One shall be, to put the Witch to sleep for all time. Sleep peacefully, my most beloved witch, Beatrice. - The Witch's Epitaph

Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch

• "You've got to be kidding me, .....this is, ...just impossible... ...Like I'd fall for something like this, ...witches don't 'exist', I won't accept it...! Something like you shouldn't 'exist', because this is a human world! You think I could accept something that's not human?! I definitely won't accept it!!" - Ushiromiya Battler's narration at the end of the Episode.

Episode 2: Turn of the Golden Witch

• Jessica: "Sheesh. ...Even though we've finally gathered all the cousins together after six years. This guy doesn't have a clue that he's the main guest of this family conference, does he?"

Battler: "......I can hear you-. ...I've casually eaten lunch, and there's even a typhoon and rain. ......Since we aren't doing anything, that means it isn't my turn yet."

George: "I wonder about that. If you have a passive attitude like that, and don't do anything unless something happens, your life will be pretty boring, right?"

Battler: "......Wrong, that's not what I mean. ...How should I say it? ...In times like this, I've decided to think this way. ......It isn't my turn. If this were a play, it wouldn't be my turn to go on stage. ......So the best thing to do is stay on the wings of the stage."

George: "You're always the main character of your own life, right? Why are you acting like a supporting actor? ...You have to move forward by yourself and get up on the stage."

Battler: ".........That's not what I mean. What I'm mean by saying that it's not my turn now... Kuaaaaaaaaaaah...... Sorry, my mind's a mess. Give me a break...... Munyamunya......"

George: "Seriously. You're so sleepy that you aren't making any sense. ...We'll leave you alone now."

Jessica: "I think that's inexcusable. ...You are always the main character in your own life. But I kinda want to seriously argue with Battler about that!"

George: "He's just half-asleep. Don't take him too seriously."

Jessica: ".........You know what? I think he's got that kind of personality where he doesn't want to get up on the stage because he can't be the main character. ......Something about that pisses me off..." - Battler, George and Jessica Ushiromiya talking in the parlor. (Confirmation required)

• "When I speak the truth, I will use red." - Beatrice introducing the Red to Battler.

Episode 3: Banquet of the Golden Witch

• Virgilia: It is very easy to break something. Just like how you, princess, did not require magic in order to break the vase.

Princess: ...Fixing something is very hard...?

Virgilia: Yes. So much so that you were at a loss at what to do and started crying.

Princess: So it is easier to use magic to do horrible things? To break, ...to kill is very easy, ... but fixing and reviving things is very hard, as you say...

Virgilia: That's right. With magic, it is much easier to do things like breaking and killing. Therefore, weak witches who lose to temptation become intoxicated with that power which they can easily obtain, and neglect their real magic training.... Real magic is the power to repair, to revive. To call back happiness which has disappeared, to call back love which has gotten cold. And it can call back a forgotten smile to a princess's face.

• Virgilia: "Do you know how Braun tubes are constructed? Have you ever taken one apart and looked inside?"

Battler: "......Nope. I think I read about it in a book or something once, but it was complicated and I didn't have a clue. I think that when electrons hit a fluorescent material, it creates luminescence or something like that..."

Virgilia: "That book was a fake. Actually, there are small people called gremlins shut up inside the Braun tubes, and they do their job with magic."

Battler: "Huh?! That's stupid, there's no way...!"

Virgilia: "How can you deny it if you have never looked inside a Braun tube?"

Battler: "......I've never looked inside, but I can state that small people like that definitely don't exist!"

Virgilia: "Since there is no Braun tube here, that is impossible to prove."

Battler: "Y, yeah, it is impossible to prove right now, ...but later I can take apart a TV somewhere and show you, and instantly win the argument!"

Virgilia: "So, in other words, my 'magic theory', that gremlins are shut up inside the Braun tubes and display the picture with magic, is impossible to disprove until we can verify the contents of a Braun tube, right?"

Battler: ".........Erk, .........what the hell, one of those? Are you trying to say it's a 'Devil's Proof'? That's your favorite trick, you witches."

Virgilia: "A 'Devil's Proof' is a form of underhanded sophistry formed by claiming that it is impossible to prove a negative fact. However, it is different from what I am talking about with Braun tubes. That could be resolved just by taking apart a single television."

Battler: "......You're right. It really isn't a 'Devil's Proof'."

Virgilia: "The scientific theory you propose, and the magical theory I propose. ...One of those is the truth. And which one it is can be ascertained as soon as you look inside the Braun tube. However, until the instant that happens, we cannot deny each other's theories. So while there is only one truth, until you look into the Braun tube, you can make two conflicting truths exist at the same time. ......A different universe where, in a case that only one truth must exist, two can exist at the same time."

Is the cat in the box alive or dead? If you open the box, you will know the answer. You will know the truth. However, until you open the box, you can claim that the cat is alive, and you can also claim it is dead. Each of the two parties make a claim that is the 'correct' truth, and even though the two sides are conflicting, neither can win the argument as long as the box remains unopened. In other words, two truths exist at the same time. Even though there can only be one cat in the box, it is packed with a living cat and a dead cat, in a strange parallel world. That is what Rokkenjima is now. - Battler Ushiromiya and Virgilia

Episode 4: Alliance of the Golden Witch

• Battler: "The food they were given had small bombs in it, which exploded from inside their stomachs. In other words, the crime is possible through trap X! The details of a bomb that they could swallow without noticing and that could blow open their stomachs is a Devil's Proof! I refuse to explain!!"

Beatrice: "Buh, hhahahahahahahhahahahhaha!! What the hell's thaaaaaaaaat?! Small bommmmmmmbs?! Waahhahahahahhahhahha!!" - Battler and Beatrice in the Tea Party

• "Love and madness are two sides of the same coin, or so they say. How bothersome." — Krauss Ushiromiya

• Certainly, Battler had been tricked by her at one point. ......So he was probably able to suspect that her expression...that even her tears were an act. However, .........Battler...believed those tears. .........After all, those tears...had the red truth mixed in with them. - Battler Ushiromiya's narration at the end of the Tea Party.

Episode 5: End of the Golden Witch

• "......Sorry to keep you waiting, Erika, ......Bernkastel. ......Now it's time for my truth......" - Battler Ushiromiya to Erika Furudo and Bernkastel in Episode Five ????

• Dlanor: "Allow me to ASK. Just where in this study is Kinzo HIDING?"

Beatrice: "Heheh, well then... Maybe he's under the bed?!"

Dlanor: "A check of that place has been FINISHED."

Beatrice: "Maybe he's in the bathtub!!"

Dlanor: "A check of that place has been FINISHED."

Beatrice: "Inside the closet! Under the desk! Behind the curtains!!"

Dlanor: "A check of that place has been FINISHED. Check FINISHED. Check FINISHED."

Beatrice: "Behind the bookshelf, behind the closet, under the carpet, under the floor, above the ceiling, behind the wallpaper, inside the sofa, inside the chair, inside the bed, inside the blankets, inside the walls, inside a rock, inside a stone, inside the room!!"

Dlanor: "CheckFINISHED checkFINISHED checkFINISHED checkcheckcheck FINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHED checkcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheck FINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHED FINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHED <Die The death>! <Sentence to death>! <Great equalizer is The Death>!!" - Battle between Beatrice and Dlanor

• "I guarantee that this corpse is Ushiromiya Kinzo's corpse...!!" - Battler using the Gold for the first time.

• "I'm your ally. Until you win, I'll support you so that you can reach that future... for all eternity, until I get bored." - Bernkastel at the beginning of Episode 5

• "....I don't give a damn about your pride. How long do you intend to shame yourself like that? ....You, my double who's been granted the same blue hair as me.... how long do you intend to hang there pierced through like that....? I guess I'll just have to descend myself...." - Bernkastel to Erika

• "There is nothing that is not healed with TIME. And there is no truth that cannot be reached if you spend enough time SEARCHING. ...However, all trials have a limited time in which the truth must be DECIDED. Therefore, a truth that cannot be reached within that limited time cannot become TRUTH". — Dlanor

• "In this world, there is no truth. The truth is made later on and overwrites what comes before it. Real truth... doesn't exist anywhere..." — Beatrice

• "Real truth... is a very fragile thing. Does real truth exist...? And is it necessary...? Even without it, the tale will continue on..." — Beatrice

• The writer who wouldn't write until he gained the support of readers...goes for all eternity without releasing his maiden work. The reader who waited for the writer's rise to fame...goes their whole life without knowing the joy of the mystery genre. - Narration at Episode 5, ???? (Tea Party of the Unhuman)

• Virgilia: "...Battler-kun, when does this 'the chicken or the egg' type of shy love reach the level where can it progress into mutual love...?"

Ushiromiya Battler: "My impression up until now was that relationships starting with a sudden confession of love tend to break up more often, whereas pairs who never actually confess to each other but realize that they've always been together...usually stay together for a surprisingly long time.

Dlanor:" "In other words, this happens once the two of them believe in each other and a relationship of trust is BORN, ...is what you’re SAYING?” - Episode 5, ???? (Tea Party of the Unhuman)

Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch

• No person can become a replacement for another. Not even a past version of that same person. - Ushiromiya Ange

• "Sorry, but, even if you join us, there are 17 people." - Battler Ushiromiya and Beatrice to Erika Furudo

• "Without love it cannot be seen. ...Hah that's backwards. Because of love you end up seeing things that don't exist. It's nothing more than an illusion, one that no one except you can see, and one that even you cannot touch. Without love humans would never have to sift through truth and lies. Because we can see those, …We doubt, we suffer, we cry out loud." - Erika Furudo to Dlanor A. Knox

Episode 7: Requiem of the Golden Witch

• Jessica: “Everyone has something they really want to become. But they never do it. ...The restrictions on their everyday life are what made them who they are today, so they have no way of changing themselves.

Willard H. Wright: "True. Changing yourself means changing your environment. That's not easy to do."

Jessica: “So, my idea was to leave ‘who I am now’ unchanged... and create another 'self' to be the person I want to be.

Willard H. Wright: "You felt suffocated, forced to live the life of a rich family's daughter, and you thought up a 'self' that you wanted to be.

Jessica: “But I couldn’t do anything outlandish at home, of course. Mom would just start yelling at me. ...So, I made my plan. At home, I would obediently do as my parents said, ...but I would also create a second 'self' to do what I wanted."

Willard H. Wright: “At home, you do everything your parents tell you, and outside, you do what you want. That’s a good way to live. You should be proud.”

Jessica: “Heheh, thanks... And, well, ...if there’s something you really want to be, and you really work for it, it’s easier to do than you’d think. I figured Maria was pretty much the same.”

Willard H. Wright: “You think Maria’s doing the same thing when she gets excited and starts talking and talking?”

Jessica: “That’s the person Maria really wants to be, is how I think about it sometimes.”

Willard H. Wright: “As the youngest member of the family, she is adored, but not respected.”

Jessica: “Every time she learns something, there’s always someone in the family who already knows it. She doesn’t get to show off her knowledge about anything. ...Whenever she does learn something new, we try to smile and praise her, ...but that might actually have hurt her.”

Willard H. Wright: “So, Maria wanted to become an authority on something?”

Narration: It’s something that all young boys and girls think, when they want to shake off their childhood. It’s not a bad feeling when you learn something new and your parents praise you. ...But when you realize that your parents already knew that thing, it sometimes feels like they’re talking down to you. When a kid learns their one-digit times table, their parents will probably praise them. However, inconsiderate parents will sometimes ask mean questions, like 'then what is 11 times 11 ?' or 'what is 16 times 16?' or something similar. If that happens, the kid will lose his feeling of accomplishment... and will start to feel as though he could never surpass his parents...

Jessica: “So, it’s easy to guess why Maria got interested in the occult, something no one else knew about, and started learning more and more about it. ...I think the person Maria wants to be is an authority on the occult who everyone respects.”

Willard H. Wright: “And if she talked about the occult during her everyday life, Rosa would hit her. ...So, like you, she’s been hiding this other 'self' most of the time.”

Jessica: “That’s what I think she’s doing at times like this. ...Maybe I should say that this is her real self slipping through the cracks to cover up her normal self.”

• Ushiromiya Battler: “There are a ton of works that ask about who the culprit is, and what tricks they used. In fact, almost all are like that. However, I don’t think there are many novels that ask you to figure out the motive.

Shannon: “Good point. That might be the most neglected of the three.”

Ushiromiya Battler: "Mysteries that don’t take the ‘why dunnit’ seriously don’t really feel complete to me. ...No, I’m not saying they’re boring. ...It’s more like...they’re missing the most important part.”

Shannon: “The most important part...is missing...?”

Ushiromiya Battler: “The heart. The heart is missing.”

Shannon: ...The heart...

Ushiromiya Battler: "I think the human heart is a really important thing. If a person’s gonna decide to commit murder, plan it out, get everything ready, and actually carry it out, you’d need an incredibly strong force of heart. The heart is what moves people.”

Narration: ...In other words, only the heart can kill a person. When an emotional upheaval grows strong enough to make a person want to kill, the result is the tragedy called murder.

• "......If you can’t do it? Enough whining. I won’t forgive you. Neither will Clair. .....Did you forget that you’re Clair’s 1 in 2,578,917 chance? If you give up, you’re betraying all the other ‘yous’ in countless worlds.......!! So don’t lose heart! Keep on struggling and struggling....!! Don’t look for a miracle.... Be one!! You’re gonna reach a happy future. You can’t give up, and you can’t complain. Just you try complaining one more time. This time I’ll pinch your ass...!" - Willard H. Wright to Ushiromiya Lion in the Tea Party

• "And when you realize that you can't defeat me with those twenty wedges,..... you know what'll happen next, right?" - Bernkastel to Willard H. Wright at Tea Party

• "When they're alive, you can enjoy watching them struggle. When they're dead, you can enjoy tearing out their guts. Tales are things you get to enjoy twice." - Bernkastel to Lion moments before she rip out Clair's guts

• "This game will not have a happy ending." - Bernkastel

Episode 8: Twilight of the Golden Witch

• “Yes. All truths in this world are meaningless. In the end, ‘meaning’ comes from the mind of each individual human. ...Even when there is a Single Truth, it can mean different things to different people! The truth has no meaning in itself!” - Furudo Erika

• Ushiromiya Lion: “Humans are...sad creatures, fated to live in order to learn.”

Dlanor: ...

Ushiromiya Lion: “...If learning means eating away at the same hopes and dreams that keep you alive, ...that would mean humans are born just so they can die. ...We’re taught that we have to live. However, almost everything that we accomplish in life ends up killing us...”

Willard H. Wright: “Don't think about it. You’ll just get a headache.”

Ushiromiya Lion: “As a single human, I want to ask. ...Is learning a sin?! Is living in ignorance the only way we can have hopes and dreams...?!”

Willard H. Wright: ...Both living with knowledge and living in ignorance have their benefits, as well as their shortcomings. You’re even free to choose which path you take. That’s what makes Humans powerless.”

Gertrude: “While people can learn, they cannot 'unlearn'...”

Cornelia: “And so, the all-knowing god has stepped in for the sake of Humans who cannot unlearn; marking out things that should be learned and things that should not be learned.”

Ushiromiya Lion: “...Too much curiosity...can kill...your hopes and dreams.”

• “Being a big eater doesn’t mean you’ll make a good cook. Reading every detective novel you can get your hands on is no guarantee that you’re a good detective novelist.” - Hachijo Ikuko

Extra TIPS

Both love and happiness are the same as the air. Even though it fills the world, if you don't understand it, it's the same as if it doesn't exist. - Memoirs of the ΛΔ

Other Quotes

"Tear apart the darkness...OH DESIRE!" - JIMANG in Umineko Anime Ending

See also

• Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
• The House in Fata Morgana

External links

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has an article about:

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Steam page for episodes 1-4 (Question Arcs)
• Steam page for episodes 5-8 (Answer Arcs)