Re:Zero Season 3 Ending Explained: What Happened in the Arc 5 Finale?
The finale of Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World Season 3 delivers exactly what longtime fans expected from a story written by Tappei Nagatsuki: a massive victory that somehow still feels devastating.
After an intense season centered around the siege of the Watergate City of Priestella, the arc titled “Stars That Engrave History” reaches its conclusion with explosive battles, shocking character fates, and one of the most painful cliffhangers in the series so far.
As someone who has followed the anime since the first appearance of Natsuki Subaru, this finale perfectly captures what makes Re:Zero special: even when the heroes win, they lose something important.
Let’s break down what actually happened in the Arc 5 finale and why it sets up an even darker future for the series.
The Fall of Greed: Regulus Finally Defeated
For most of the season, Regulus Corneas stood as an almost untouchable villain.
His Authority, Lion’s Heart, made him nearly invincible, freezing his body in time and preventing damage. Many fans wondered how the heroes could possibly beat him without another tragic Subaru loop.
The answer came through a clever combination of Subaru’s growth and teamwork.
Subaru used Invisible Providence, a power tied to the Witch Factor of Sloth, to briefly interfere with Regulus’s ability. That tiny opening was enough for Reinhard van Astrea to deliver the decisive strike.
And when Reinhard fights seriously, the result is never subtle.
Regulus’s defeat is easily one of the most satisfying moments of the entire season. After all his arrogance and cruelty, the Archbishop of Greed finally met someone who could overpower him completely.
But, in classic Re:Zero fashion, one victory never solves everything.
The Other Archbishops: Not Everyone Was Stopped
While Greed fell, the rest of the Witch Cult leadership didn’t go down so easily. Several of the Sin Archbishops either escaped or survived, leaving major threats for future arcs.
Here’s where each villain ended up:
| Sin Archbishop | Fate in the Finale |
|---|---|
| Regulus Corneas (Greed) | Killed by Reinhard |
| Sirius Romanee-Conti (Wrath) | Captured alive |
| Capella Emerada Lugunica (Lust) | Escaped |
| Lye Batenkaitos (Gluttony) | Escaped |
| Roy Alphard (Gluttony) | Escaped |
The survival of these villains ensures the Witch Cult remains a terrifying force in the story.
One especially disturbing detail comes from Capella’s experiments. Many victims were grotesquely transformed into monstrous creatures—flies, dragons, and worse—creating a humanitarian crisis in Priestella even after the fighting stopped.
So while the city survived, the scars will remain for a long time.
The Most Devastating Twist: “Who Is Julius?”
The emotional core of the finale revolves around Julius Juukulius.
During his battle with Roy Alphard, Julius becomes a victim of Gluttony’s terrifying Authority: Name Devouring.
If you watched Season 1, this should immediately remind you of Rem.
But Julius’s situation is slightly different — and arguably even crueler.
After the battle ends, Subaru realizes something horrifying.
Nobody remembers Julius anymore.
Not Emilia, not Reinhard, not even the people Julius devoted his life to serving.
However, unlike Rem, Julius does not fall into a coma.
Instead, he remains fully conscious and remembers everything about his life, while the entire world has forgotten who he is.
That makes him something like a “living ghost.”
Only Subaru still remembers him, likely because of Subaru’s strange connection to the Witch of Envy and his resistance to certain Witch Cult abilities.
For longtime fans, this moment hits incredibly hard. Julius spent so much time rebuilding his relationship with Subaru after their conflict in Season 1 — and now he’s forced to start from zero again.
The Hidden Mysteries: Anastasia and Al
The finale also quietly sets up some massive future plot threads.
One of the biggest revelations involves Anastasia Hoshin.
Subaru learns that the spirit inside her scarf — often called Scarfdona by fans — may actually be sustaining her body by temporarily controlling it.
This discovery makes Subaru and Aldebaran increasingly suspicious about what is really happening behind the scenes.
Speaking of Al, his behavior throughout the finale raises even more questions.
Several moments strongly hint that he might understand concepts similar to Return by Death, Subaru’s mysterious time-loop ability.
Whether that’s coincidence, intuition, or something much bigger remains one of the most intriguing mysteries heading into the next arc.
What Comes Next: The Journey to the Pleiades Watchtower
Shortly after the finale aired, production for Re:Zero Season 4 was officially confirmed.
The story will immediately transition into Arc 6, often referred to as The Corridor of Memories.
The next objective for Subaru and his allies is clear.
They must travel across the deadly Augria Sand Dunes to reach the legendary Pleiades Watchtower.
The reason for this journey is simple but incredibly important: it may hold the key to restoring the names and memories stolen by the Archbishops of Gluttony — including those of Rem and Julius.
If Arc 5 showed the destructive power of the Witch Cult, Arc 6 promises to dive much deeper into the mysteries of memory, identity, and the hidden history of the Re:Zero world.
And if the series has taught fans anything over the years, it’s this.
The worst suffering for Subaru is probably still ahead.
