So, I’m back yet again with more theories! This time I have some extreme crack on the story behind one of the more messed up families in the Sen no Kiseki games.

When Jusis Albarea was first introduced in Sen I, we weren’t quite expecting the downhill spiral of just how insane his family is. His father Helmut is a psycho, Rufus is one of the most frustrating characters in the whole game, and Helmut’s wife is a complete mystery. However, considering that in the most recent news drop we got news that “the truth behind Rufus will be revealed” and that we still have a seemingly ongoing plot thread with just what Jusis and Millium’s friendship meant (not to mention my last full theory covering the possibility of Jusis being an Awakener, which you should go read if you haven’t because I make some references to it here), I don’t think we’re done yet. Not. At. All. Prepare for the crack to follow.

Part 1 – Helmut Albarea

This is gonna be the quickest section here, but I just wanna say that I don’t expect anything more to come out of Helmut’s story. He’s basically been reduced to nothing, so unless he pulls it out of the bag that he’s an Anguis out of completely nowhere then I’m not expecting anything about him.

Part 2 – The Awakener Connection

Here’s where the crack starts. So, in my last full theory I mentioned the possibility of Jusis being the Awakener of the Golden Divine Knight, but this is a theory that takes it a step further. So, if my theory that Jusis is an Awakener is true, then who will be the one to guide him? And why? Well, my money is on Rufus with this theory, and here’s some completely out-there reasoning.

For a start, let’s backtrack a moment. We already know from Sen IV pre release information that Jusis’ friendship with Millium plays a very important role. If that has something to do with the Divine Knights, then I propose the idea that their friendship was staged from the beginning. It sounds stupid, but I am going somewhere with this.

So, Millium died at the end of Sen III and transformed into the Sword of Demise, a weapon so large it can only be wielded by the Deus Excellion. Now let’s think for a moment about this possibility: if an Originator Zero project happens to form a bond with the Awakener that wields the Sword before they die, then the sword becomes more powerful in the Awakener’s hands. There are two things we can use as basis for this connection: the other Originator Zero project we know of, Altina, is incredibly close to Rean, and has a familial bond with him – just like Jusis has with Millium, and Kondo stated in the post-Sen III interview that the reasoning behind Originator Zeros having humanoid forms before death is important. Combine this with the relevance of Jusis and Millium’s bond, and you have a basis for their bonds not being a coincidence.

So if that’s the case, then it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think that someone set up the two to meet, and there is evidence of that too. Wasn’t Millium sent to Thors to spy on Crow? What if there was another purpose for her being there? Maybe to inadvertently cause a friendship between her and Jusis, with Osborne agreeing with this idea presumably to fulfil his plan with Ouroboros. And I believe that the person who gave that mission among the Ironbloods through Osborne could be Rufus, since as far as I can remember, there shouldn’t be a reason for Osborne to know who the Golden Awakener is. Now that begs the question of how Rufus would know to send Millium out to Jusis with him being an Awakener… and that leads into the main part of this theory.

I think that the mysterious Mrs Albarea could be a witch, with Rufus as her son. It is pretty crazy, but there is some evidence, I swear!

First, think to the circumstances of Jusis transferring from Commoner to Noble status. At first he wasn’t even going to be taken in by Helmut, but then Rufus encouraged him to. In hindsight, there isn’t actually much reason to do this – Jusis could still live with his uncle, the restaurant owner, and considering how easily he gets along with children, I wouldn’t be surprised if before he entered the Albarea family he got along with other kids his age well. But then it all makes sense if you instead think that Rufus needed to watch over him for something, and train him to fight for something, and was encouraged by his mother. Now, we could say that Jusis’ mother’s death was staged so this could happen, but for the sake of morality and nothing more I want to leave it as a tragic coincidence.

But then we end up in a theory plothole. Why hasn’t Emma sensed any large amounts of magic from Rufus before? Well, think – we haven’t seen a male witch with powers yet. We know that males have reproduced with witches before – after all, that’s how basic reproduction works – but we have no idea if they share the same capabilities. That there would lead to Rufus, a man with knowledge and heritage of a witch, but no power.

If this theory (by some miracle) ended up being true, then I’d expect to see Mrs Albarea show up in full force next game. This really is as cracky as it gets, but it’s quite a fun concept. The truth behind Rufus is witch heritage, and the truth behind the bond between Jusis and Millium is a way to make the Sword of Demise more powerful.

However, that’s just one way of looking at it.

Part 3 – An Alternative Version, Involving Runes

Now, runes aren’t something we see that much of in the Kiseki series. When it comes to series with magic in them, most of the time runes play a more major role, so the fact that they don’t make much presence in Kiseki is interesting. That isn’t to say they don’t make any appearance at all, though. And where they appear is fascinating.

The main places runes appear are in stigmata, the staple of the Dominions, but they are also found on temple swords and weapons generally associated with the church. They’re also found on one of Beryl’s posters, but she’s such an enigma herself that I’m not even gonna touch that. The last place runes are found, however, is on Jusis’ sword. They’re engraved into its blade, and Jusis’ first S-Craft involves him sealing his foes in a barrier that he then destroys… with that barrier being created from runes that surround the tip of his blade. These aren’t just any old runes – the Kiseki Wiki notes how the runes engraved into the sword are ancient.

So let’s assume for a moment that Jusis somehow has a weapon of the church. Why would he have one of those? The answer lies yet again with Rufus and that blasted mother of his. Rufus’ sword is just like the one Jusis wields, which would mean he got his from the same place… his mother.

My idea here is that Mrs Albarea is a member of the Gralsritter, quite possibly a Dominion if we want to go all the way, and she’s set up Rufus as a double agent all along. Despite Rufus supposedly pledging allegiance to Osborne, he always seems to talk about surpassing him, which is odd. Here’s what I propose: Rufus joins the Ironbloods out of curiosity, and when he discovers what Osborne plans to do, he consults his mother about it, and together they decide to make an elaborate plan to take out the evil team from inside… just like how Rufus did with the Noble Alliance. Along the way, Rufus teaches Jusis how to wield the runes on his sword to his advantage. In this scenario Jusis is less connected to the whole but still has a role.

There is yet again a hole in this theory, and that’s the ultimate risk of the plan. Why would Rufus wait until the Twilight already happened before making his move and defecting? Perhaps there wasn’t a time and place beforehand, or the Great Twilight actually holds the key to solving this whole mess. It’s hard to say at this point.

That’s my second idea all wrapped up, and it’s still very cracky, but here’s that crack taken up to eleven.

Part 4: Merge

What if I merged these two ideas? Jusis is an Awakener with a sword from the church, he’s going to be guided through his trial by his brother who is doing it in secret so the good side has one last stand, and his mother is a witch allied with the church? Well, that leaves only one more absolutely crazy possibility.

The mysterious Mrs Albarea who hasn’t appeared yet, who took a strange absence throughout the series yet is still alive, who is potentially masterminding one of the final steps in the story, is none other than Scarlet Roselia, head of the Hexen Clan. She certainly has the hair to qualify, and she’s been known to carry many of the church’s weapons as shown in Red Moon Rose, which would explain her handing down weapons.

As for why she’d have a child, let’s take this scenario: when Roselia helped out Alphonse in Red Moon Rose, he kept telling her that she didn’t need to be alone, and that it was always good to have friends. Maybe one day that finally wormed its way into her heart and she fell in love with a man, and had a child with him. She raised that child as her own until something caused the marriage to break off, and that shattered Roselia so much that she had never felt so alone in her whole life.

That is, until Helmut comes along. One of the heads of the four great houses, who admits that he fell in love with her over time. In her loneliness, Roselia can’t help but accept his love, and eventually they marry. There they settle in, with Roselia’s child being brought into the family and thus entering the line to inherit the duke title. Then Roselia realises due to her witch status that an Awakener is nearby, and she also starts thinking about her duty as Hexen Clan leader. That leads her to make one final decision.

She tells her child everything, and entrusts him with two rune swords; one for him and one for his half-brother Jusis. She teaches him everything she knows about wielding a sword, but also tells him to continue studying other styles of swordsmanship while she’s gone. She also tells him to look after Jusis, as he will play an incredibly important role at some point in his life. Then she leaves without any notice, to return to her duties as Hexen Clan leader, where she mentors Emma and Vita. She returns to Bareahard sometimes to give advice to Rufus and find updates on the condition of Jusis, but the returns are never long.

Soon Roselia becomes harder to recognise since she starts looking like a child again, and so Helmut never recognises her and doesn’t know what happened to his wife. He wondered what he did to cause her to visit so infrequently, and eventually, not visit at all. This starts causing him to become a much more icy and bitter man, torn by grief and confusion, eventually leading to the Helmut we see today.

Well, that’s certainly a crack theory if I’ve ever seen one. Some parts of it do make sense though, and that’s why I think that there’s some possible way that it will happen, maybe just.

And I’m not even done yet. I have one other alternative theory on the Albareas… hopefully it’s less cracky.

Part 5 – The Thousand Oathbreaker

This one is just a short theory, but I’d like to note that Anguis 4 of Ouroboros is described as a “smooth talker”, and that description fits Rufus pretty well. It would also explain why Rufus mentions wanting to overthrow Osborne despite being loyal to him – his current plan would align with Osborne’s, but ultimately one will have to turn on the other eventually. That would beg the question the what “darkness” Rufus has, but then again, we know virtually nothing about his earlier backstory. Anything could’ve happened. Maybe even lots of sinning, as the Anguis’ name states. I don’t have much more here, so I’ll leave that as it is.

And so, that wraps up this wall of incredibly insane text. To be honest I don’t really know what’s going to happen concerning the Albareas at all at this rate, but all this crazy speculating has left some interesting food for thought. Let’s hope that come Sen IV we finally work out just what the backstory is behind them.