| “ | SILENCE! The world is mine to remake as I see fit! And none shall defy my will! Weak-hearted humans! I condemn you to suffer... Forever! | ” |
—The White Witch before the final battle |
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Cassiopeia
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| Character Information | |
| Aliases | The White Witch Her Radiance Pea |
| Japanese Name | レイナス |
| Romaji | Reinas |
| Gender | Female |
| Species | Human |
| Occupation | Queen of Nazcaa |
| World of Origin | Ni No Kuni |
| Japanese voice actor | Manami Higa |
| English voice actor | Jennifer Bryden |
| Relatives | |
| Father | Wizard King |
The White Witch (real name is Cassiopeia, Reinas in the Japanese version) is the eponymous main antagonist of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. A former queen and powerful magic user, her goal is to destroy the world in its entirety so that she may create a new one without flaw.
History[]
The White Witch was born as Cassiopeia, daughter of the Wizard King who affectionately called her Pea. She was but a young child when he died (secretly being poisoned by The Council of Twelve). With her being too young, the council took over ruling Nazcäa and almost completely ran the country into the ground for selfish gains. Overhearing a conversation from the captain of the guard, she came to know of her kingdom's perilous state despite being assuaged by the Council. Sensing an opportunity, they allowed a teenage Cassiopeia onto the council as a scapegoat in order to shift the blame onto her for all their wrongdoings.
The White Witch and her faithful companion Apus
The Forbidden Spell[]
Cassiopeia only had her parrot Apus as a friend, but she wanted to make the lives of her people better. Using a book containing vast arcane knowledge given to her by her magic instructor, she came to learn of the forbidden spell Ashes of Resurrection. Without the presence of her teacher to warn her about the spell's dangers, she sought to cast it, hoping it would create a better life for her subjects. The effects, however, were apocalyptic as instead of bringing prosperity to the people of Nazcäa, it instead transformed them into monsters that tore each other apart. As the years went by, Cassiopeia came to realize that she was now all alone and all that remained of her kingdom. Filling a set of magical flowers with her memories, she hoped and prayed for someone to come to her.
Descent Into Despair[]
With the years stretching on and the solitude continuing for so long she began to lose hope. When Pea manifested as a part of her heart full of innocence, she believed that she was there to accuse her of taking the lives that were lost due to the forbidden spell. In her rage, she banished Pea to another world and fully succumbed to the growing darkness within her. She then constructed the persona of the White Witch to shield her broken heart. She recreated the Zodiarchs and Apus through her magic in order to escape solitude and became increasingly nihilistic. At some point, she came to believe her world was impure beyond saving and began to plot its destruction and rebirth by her design, creating a world without the potential for the tragedies that made her who she is.
Shadar[]
When Lucien finally escaped from imprisonment and torture, she nurtured his power through despair and influenced his transformation into the Dark Djinn Shadar. He was named by her as Executor of the world and used him to spread despair throughout the rest of the world.
Appearance[]
The White Witch is shown to have two forms. The first form shows her to be a female (like Cassiopeia) with thick hair as well as greenish eyes. She wears a dark grey body suit with glowing gloves and stripes that shift from either blue to purple or red to yellow. The cape that she wears has a spacial background in its inner side.
The White Witch in her second form
The second form, resembles a lion with six limbs, with a purple and red galaxy patterned body. Unlike her first form, she has red eyes along with two big horns protruding from the sides of her head. In contrast to her body colour, her limbs are covered in metal, and each limb has 5 metallic claws attached to them.
Powers and abilities:[]
Magic: Cassiopeia is an exceptionally powerful magic user, capable of feats most other wizards can barely understand.
- Spell Casting: Cassiopeia can cast powerful defensive and offensive spells. She is able to cast Ashes of Resurrection and Fallen Star, among other destructive spells.
- Energy Projection: Cassiopeia can project powerful bolts of magical energy.
- Immortality: Cassiopeia is immortal since she herself said that death is a privilege that she does not have, which indicates that she cannot die of illness or old age and that she is millennia old.
- Illusion Manipulation: Using her magic, she created illusions of the Zodiarchs, she also made an illusion of her beloved pet parrot Apus. Her magic is seemingly so powerful that the illusions of the Zodiarchs eventually gained sentience
- Clairvoyance: through a crystal sphere Cassiopeia is able to see the future she predicted that Oliver would defeat her.
- Fly: Cassiopeia can levitate without the use of the Levitation spell, or can cast it without runes like Shadar.
Personality[]
Cassiopeia was a naive but sweet girl, she was forced to become queen at a very young age, which made her feel very pressured and stressed. Being sheltered her entire life by the council led her to grow ignorant of the world around her, to the point she wasn't aware of the poverty that racked her kingdom until she overheard a guard. Despite this, she sought out ways of helping her people once she learned of Nazcäa's state. After casting Ashes of Resurrection, the guilt of what she had done and the thousands of years in isolation made her desperate for someone to find her, creating the magic flowers that shared her story. Her naivety also led her to grow angry at the mere sight of Pea, assuming she had come to mock Cassiopeia for what she had done.
While she known as the White Witch, Cassiopeia was cold, cruel, patient, and cunning, even going so far as to use her magic to harm everyone in order to achieve her goals. When Oliver and his friends told her what she was doing was wrong, she responded by getting quite angry, stating that this was her world and that she could do whatever she wanted with it.
When she redeems herself, she reverts to the kind and warm Cassiopeia of before, determined to be a better queen. Cassiopeia is also seen to have a lifelong love of flowers, with Horace mentioning how she spent much of her time between royal duties in her garden, and having planting flowers be her first step in rebuilding Nazcäa once she is restored.
Trivia[]
- Due to her loneliness, she recreated several beings through illusory magic. These include Apus, Caph and his fellow knights and the Zodiarchs.
- The name Cassiopeia comes from the constellation, "Cassiopeia" , or the Enthroned Woman, which depicts the woman from Greek mythology who boasted that she was prettier than the gods. The brightest star in that constellation just happens to be a star known as the Alpha Cassiopeiae, labeled as "Shedar" (also spelled, Shedir).
- Her nickname the "White Witch" refers to Jadis the witch of the same nickname from the Chronicles of Narnia and in part the two have a lot in common the two are beautiful witches but also dangerous and cruel, both use their magical powers for evil and they are queens in their worlds, although there are two important differences between Jadis and Cassiopeia which are that Cassiopeia was known as the white witch because her hair was white while Jadis was known as that because her skin was deathly pale and her powers were they leaned towards cryokinesis, another difference is that Cassiopeia was not always bad and had a redemption while Jadis was always bad and died being bad.