The Worst Villain From Re: Zero

"Re: Zero" is an anime known for being dark every now and then, but that might be an understatement. With a hero whose main power is to travel back in time upon his death, there's no shortage of blood and mayhem going on as Subaru repeatedly tries (and dies) to reach a favorable outcome in any given scenario. There is more than one occasion in which Subaru watches his friends and loved ones die just to have them do so again on his next attempt.

Over the anime's two seasons, many characters are responsible for inflicting this bloodshed on Subaru and his allies. However, not all evil is created equal. Among all the baddies, somebody has to be the worst of the worst. This, of course, isn't always easy to figure out. That being said, it's difficult to argue that Satella, the main antagonist for much of the series, isn't the worst villain from "Re: Zero." Even among the show's other unforgivable figures, Satella has a pretty lengthy rap sheet.

It may be an overly obvious choice to name a series' main antagonist as its worst villain. But, when the character in question holds the title "Witch of Envy" and is responsible for a cataclysmic event known as "The Great Calamity," most of the competition just doesn't compare. Even other Witches of Sin with mysterious motivations and godlike powers, such as Pandora, are so mysterious that their goals and actions aren't super easy to pin down. Satella, on the other hand, is one of the most well-known villains in the series. While her backstory still isn't entirely fleshed out, we do know enough about who she is and what she does to hold her accountable to a reasonable extent.

Case in point, Satella is infamously the one responsible for summoning Subaru to this new world and giving him his power, "Return by Death." While her exact motives for doing this are unknown, it does have something to do with her unrequited love for Subaru. Additionally, if Subaru reveals the secret of Return by Death to anyone, Satella's obsessive love compels her to escape her imprisonment and kill Subaru's friends in that timeline. Even before Subaru's appearance, however, Satella is bad news. 400 years prior to the beginning of "Re: Zero," Satella "scorched half the world" in the aforementioned "Great Calamity." A group of heroes successfully stop her rampage but are only able to imprison, not kill her.

Nevertheless, don't let this fool you into thinking Satella is pure evil. A characteristic shared by all of the villains in "Re: Zero" is that they have some sympathetic or redeeming motivations. In Satella's case, this comes in the form of her split personality. Like all "Authority" powers in "Re: Zero," Satella's Authority of Envy needs to be compatible with its host in order to be used properly. When Satella first encounters the Authority of Envy, she's incompatible, causing her to create a second personality who is.

It is this personality, the "Witch of Envy," who is responsible for most of Satella's misdeeds. From possessing Subaru's love interest, Emilia, in the anime's fourth arc, to nearly destroying the world in the Great Calamity, the Witch of Envy isn't above committing even the most heinous acts. But despite all of this evil, a spark of goodness still exists in her as the original Satella.