Of the protagonists we’ve had the honour to play with so far, Rean is arguably the most enigmatic one of the bunch. Estelle believes in ul-tra-vi-o-lence and Lloyd in the system of justice. Kevin was a harder nut to crack, but fortunately The 3rd was dedicated to his case. That leaves us with Rean Schwarzer. Call him the awkwardly silent protagonist, harem master or Gary Stu all you want, it is hard to deny that his background is riddled with mysteries.

This theory — or rather, ramblings based on thoughts that have fluttered through my head for two years now — argues that Rean may be biophysiologically human, but lives his live as an animate container. Using the undoubtedly heretic technologies of the Black Workshop, which he timely confiscated around the Hundred Days War, then-Brigadier General Giliath Osborne of the Imperial Army of Erebonia had his heart transplanted into that of his 5-year-old son.

Over the next twelve years, as the new Chancellor, Osborne manipulated West Zemuria like a piece on his chessboard. On an international scale, but also a much smaller. He masterfully tugged the strings to make sure the future assassin who would want his head was using a sniper originating from the same place as where his heart was translanted into his son, who actually happened to be friends with the father’s future assassin.

The son, now an adolescent, lives with a heart that starts acting up whenever it is confronted by its former host. It even grants its new host unparalleled perception of time as it comes across its former host.

The transplanted heart does come with its benefits, however. On the age of 9, young Rean discovered that he possessed the strength of an ‘ogre’. It took him another 8 years to acknowledge the existence within him is also a part of him and control the power, giving him control over when he unleashes this power (and white hair, red eyes and fangs for teeth).

Now, if Rean has the heart of Osborne, what did Osborne receive in its stead? He publicly demonstrated that a bullet through the chest into whatever is still there has little affect on his well-being in the long run.

If we can put the ‘Crack’ back into Delicious Crack no Kiseki, I think it’s a system akin to the ARCUS, in which his body is synchronised with the body his heart currently resides in, his — I apologise for the bad pun, but there’s definitely more to his name than meets the eye — tool for ‘reancarnation’.

Osborne lives as long Rean does. How is that for father-son bonding?

Reansurance

Osborne went the extra mile to ensure his heart’s container would survive against all odds: he added in whatever McBurn has referred to as being “mixed”.

What we’ve got mixed into us is obviously different in strength and nature… […] Something foreign–unnatural–mixed into [our] body itself […] Anyway, I couldn’t tell you how, where, or why whatever it is got mixed into you.

As Aliseyun already suggested,  it could be the corrupted blood of the former ruler of Heimdallr, the Dark Dragon Zoro-Agruga. After all, the Black Workshop is suggested to be around long enough to have taken a blood sample during the  3rd or 4th Century for whatever heretic purpose they were established most likely before the Great Collapse.

It could also — as commonly speculated — have been a sample of vampire blood, which are said to have roamed through Erebonia in the Middle Ages. With a Workshop this old, it could be pretty much any creature from legend. Whatever it may be, it would give Rean the edge in whatever barriers he would need to overcome.

And thus, more question marks

This is kind of as far as my thoughts go. I haven’t been able to tie them together, I just wanted to get it off my chest before Sen III hits. I also don’t know whether Osborne knew Rean would become the Awakener of Valimar and how this all ties in with Dreichels.

One thing is certain: there is more to the Osborne-Rean relationship than just father-son — if there wasn’t, there would be no reason for the Sen no Kiseki III correlation chart to mark it as ??? while listing Rufus as an Ironblood.

Two more months.