Frederica Bernkastel フレデリカ ベルンカステル
Information
First Appearance	Matsuribayashi-hen
Portrayed By	Tamura Yukari

Frederica Bernkastel (フレデリカ ベルンカステル, Furedurika Berunkasuteru) is a mysterious character, appearing only once in person in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, at the end of the last episode of Matsuribayashi-hen. There she speaks to a young Takano Miyo, as she now enjoys traveling to different worlds and playing with the "pieces" in them. Frederica looks very similar to Furude Rika, and it has been suggested she and Rika are either the same person, or she is a compilation of all the past Rikas who died. This is implied in Matsuribayashi-hen that when talking about Rika she refers to Rika as "I" or "me".

Contents 1 Origins 2 Interferences 3 Role 4 Lady Bernkastel 5 Embodiment 6 Etymology

OriginsEdit

There is a theory that states that Frederica was born from Rika's despair, hopelessness, and loss of interest in breaking fate after Tsumihoroboshi-hen, since in the sound novels, Frederica tells the reader, "Eventually, she started giving up, and lost interest in those worlds. That's how I was born...". If this is true, it also relates to Bernkastel of Umineko. This would directly explain Bernkastel's declaration of being a separate person from Rika, Bernkastel's empty eyes (a.k.a. loss of humanity, she has no glint or life in her eyes), and her (ironic) title as the "Witch of Miracles" (Bernkastel says that she is named the "Witch of Miracles" because she is the only one who truly knows that miracles cannot occur out of the blue by mere praying ((this concept is proven by Maebara Keiichi in Minagoroshi-hen)), while Rika used to immaturely keep praying for miracles to come her way without taking action). Either way, she and Rika have a close relationship.

InterferencesEdit

There is a possibility that Frederica was involved in putting Rika through the terrible fate of a perfect world. When she appears for her first (and only) time in Kai and meets the younger version of Takano Miyo (Tanashi Miyoko at that time), she asks her whether she wants to "live or die"; Miyoko first tells Frederica that she wants to live, so Frederica told her, "You may go to your friend's house. However, she will not be there." Upon hearing this, Miyoko changes her mind and says she wants to die, so Frederica tells her to go follow her parents, so Miyoko can earn another flag from a mall restaurant to add to her collection. The "live or die" part may have meant if Miyoko wanted to "live" a new life as Miyo Takano, or let that identity "die" and stay as Tanashi Miyoko. Or, Frederica may have actually wanted little Miyoko to join her parents in the accident, but it was by mere chance that they lived and had a supposed happy ending. Miyoko says she wants to "die", so she continues on to the mall with her parents. It is revealed in the last episode of Kai that Miyoko and her parents boarded a different bus than the one fated to crash. Thus, Miyoko and her parents are not led to their deaths, she does not change her name to "Takano" nor ever meet Takano Hifumi, which may have been a trigger to the perfect world where the Irie Clinic is never established, "Tokyo" never involves itself in Hinamizawa, and none of the characters suffer any tragedies. Saikoroshi-hen could possibly be that world where Frederica stepped into.

RoleEdit

In the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei novel Saikoroshi-hen, Rika uses the name "Frederica Bernkastel" for the first time, in order to distinguish herself from the "Rika" of that world. However, at the end of the novel she understands the meaning of Hanyū's power, and gives up on it, choosing to go back to being just "Furude Rika", a normal girl with no powers. She also said that the part of her who lived for 100 years and pulled the strings of fate—Frederica Bernkastel—will continue to exist in an higher world. In Higurashi, she writes poems that appear at the beginning of every arc, though they are absent in the anime. Her poems give the over-all theme for the upcoming story and document Rika's struggle through the different worlds. In one poem, Frederica explicitly states that she and Rika are not the same person, and anyone who thought so is silly. She also denies that she is Oyashiro-sama, but refuses to introduce the real one, on the grounds that it is easily frightened. It is shown in the manga at the start of Minagoroshi-hen that Frederica meets Rika in the world of kakera, where they discuss the three rules (or more accurately, trends) that constantly appear throughout the universes, with rare exceptions. This scene is somewhat replicated in the anime during the first episode of Minagoroshi-hen, but without Frederica obviously present.

• Rule X: A random person in Hinamizawa succumbs to the Hinamizawa Syndrome and is driven to acts of violence by extreme levels of paranoia. Maebara Keiichi, Ryūgū Rena and Sonozaki Shion are the most prominent victims of this rule, as at least one of them develops the Hinamizawa Syndrome in most scenarios. Examples:
  1. in Onikakushi-hen, Keiichi becomes suspicious of his friends and comes to the conclusion that they are the perpetrators behind Oyashiro-sama's curse, causing him to beat Rena and Mion to death out in what he thought was self-defense.
  2. In Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen, Shion becomes suspicious of the Sonozaki family 's involvement in Oyashiro-sama's curse, and is convinced that they were responsible for the disappearance of Hōjō Satoshi, causing her to kill Sonozaki Oryō, Sonozaki Mion, and anyone else who she considered to be responsible for amplifying Satoshi's pain (including Rika and Kimiyoshi Kiichirō, whom she believed were also involved in Oyashiro-sama's curse, and Hōjō Satoko, who was a burden on Satoshi).
  3. In Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Rena also becomes suspicious of the Sonozaki family's involvement in Oyashiro-sama's curse, causing her to take the school hostage. She then threatens to blow up the school in an attempt to force the police into negotiating with her.

• Rule Y: Tomitake Jirō and Takano Miyo are killed on the night of the Watanagashi Festival without fail in every scenario. Frederica considers this rule to be more stable than rule X, as the method of killing is consistent in every universe, meaning that this rule is absolute, caused by a powerful and unwavering will. Although this rule is independent of rule X, the deaths of Tomitake and Takano usually act as a catalyst, which causes paranoia in Keiichi, Rena, or Shion, and triggers rule X. This occurs because they try to relate Tomitake and Takano's deaths to their own perception of the curse. For example:
  1. in Onikakushi-hen, Keiichi believes that Tomitake was killed by the villagers because he was an outsider, and that he will be next, because he just moved to Hinamizawa recently.
  2. in Watanagashi-hen, Meakashi-hen, and Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Shion and Rena believe that Takano was killed by the Sonozaki family for knowing too much, which fuels their suspicions. The person with the strong will that causes this rule is later revealed to be Takano, who kills Tomitake and fakes her own death in every scenario.

• Rule Z: Everyone in Hinamizawa believes that the Sonozaki family is responsible for the series of mysterious deaths. The Sonozaki family actually has no control over the deaths, but uses Oyashiro-sama's curse as a bluff to scare everyone. The assumption that they are controlling everything behind the scenes in Hinamizawa causes many to conclude that the seemingly coincidental deaths are all connected, and that Oyashiro-sama's curse is a system created by the Sonozaki family to eliminate the village's enemies. It is the very existence of the "curse" that causes much of the mistrust, suspicion and paranoia amongst the villagers, which ultimately leads to the acts of violence caused by rule X. Though they may differ somewhat, Keiichi, Rena, and Shion's perceptions of the curse all have one thing in common; they all suspect the Sonozaki family (or in some cases the entire village). This rule is enforced by Ōishi Kuraudo and Takano, who contribute to fueling paranoia in Keiichi, Rena and Shion by telling them about Oyashiro-sama's curse and the Sonozaki family's apparent involvement in it.

Lady BernkastelEdit

Frederica also appears as the Witch of Miracles in Umineko no Naku Koro ni, a later game that takes place in the "When They Cry" (-no Naku Koro ni) series.

Though largely unknown, the Bernkastel in Umineko is never confirmed to be the same being as Frederica Bernkastel whom Rika previously described herself as, and only goes by the name "Bernkastel". This is mainly proven by the difference in personality and attitude of them, while Bernkastel in Higurashi is shown to be kind enough to help Takano in an alternate reality, Bernkastel in Umineko is shown as cruel individual who likes to see other people suffer just for her own amusement.

EmbodimentEdit

In Umineko, it is revealed that Bernkastel in Umineko is actually the embodiment of all of the Rikas who never made it past June of 1983. During Saikoroshi-hen, she was purged from Rika's consciousness and went on to travel through many alternate realities, creating trouble simply for her own amusement.

EtymologyEdit

It is possible that "Frederica Bernkastel" is meant as FURUDERIKA-Bernkastel, judging by the nature of human-witch names in Umineko.