In this theory, Latte argues that Swin, Nadia and potentially others are literally the fictional characters from the pages of III & IX brought to life.

-Gu4n

“At first glance it may look like [they] don’t fit together, but they do.” That’s how Kondo decribed C, Lapis, Swin and Nadia, the four characters of ‘The Miserable Sinners’ route in Hajimari no Kiseki. I would like the raise the idea that the connection that brings these four together is that they have all been ‘brought to life’ in some form.

Lapis Rosenberg, the doll is perhaps the obvious one, literally being a doll that has gained sentience for an as of yet unknown reason.

C is the most mysterious and hard to definitively say. I’ll leave speculating on him in detail for now. But ideas that are bouncing around include that he is a survivor of the Orchis Tower massacre from the Imperial Liberation front taking up, or reviving, the mantle of Crow. This idea is based on pre-release interviews and material stating he’s investigating the imperial government in Crossbell and wondering how Crow would react to him. Whether he is a literal survivor or has been revived is yet to be seen. (Personally I think there’s a case for him being Enforcer No. XVI, too, but let’s leave that for now)

The main couple I would like to discuss are Swin and Nadia. Two characters that are the most book accurate depictions we have seen yet. Breaking the pattern of Carnelia and Red Moon Rose, Swin and Nadia seem to be free of embellishments and are practically 1:1 representations of their book characters. What if they literally are the characters, but lifted from the pages of the books and made manifest in the real world? This idea is not as outlandish as it may first appear.

With the reveal of the True Reverie Corridor (red. also known as the Infinite Corridor) and in particular what may be called the ‘Primal Garden’, one cannot help but remember Phantasma’s ‘Hermit’s Garden’ in Trails in the Sky The 3rd. It surely cannot be a coincidence as the places share a architecture styles (floating platforms and archways), a tree, a pool and lots of books, which in this case are floating around.

Please also take note of the III & IX section on the Hajimari website, where the books in the background are also floating, and not at all dissimilar:

As you may well remember, Phantasma could manifest anything it wanted within its realm. It used Kevin’s memories as a basis, but had the ability to bring forward creatures from fairy tales, folklore, church scriptures (the 77 devils and fiends) and imagination in general, even versions of the dead. Notice how it could bring forth Loewe as the character of Schwarzritter, a representation of Joshua’s feelings rather than a true to life version. It also brought some form of Gambler Jack to life for that door, and he came from a book. Before you say Sun Doors are not canon, at least the Bobcat/Gilbert one is as it gets referred to, so there’s precedent. It brings your subconscious creations and thoughts to life as well. Surely then, making a character like Swin or Nadia come to life would be easy in such a place?

Even with Phantasma ‘gone’ its supposed effects continue to appear in the real world though the manifestations of fiends and demons. It is entirely possible other things can be made manifest too. It is likely some other power source is behind it, rather than Kevin’s Stigma or the Aureole but that is to be seen. It may have something to do with the leftover curse power or remains of the Ark Rouge and Lost Zem, which could control physical bodies and souls — perhaps a remnant similar to the Recluse cube still exists. It’s possible the same power that brought Nadia and Swin to life also gave Lapis her sentience, something that can take human artworks like books and dolls and give them life. Who knows, maybe C is a portrait somewhere and he’s hiding his face, like Dorian Grey?

Implications

• If Nadia and Swin are fictional, so is ‘The Organisation’ they belong to. It’s possible they were brought to life as well but I don’t think all of them would be. It always struck me as strange that yet another secret assassin order was waiting in h wings, but had no contact yet. It would have be quite a large one to accommodate 22 Major Arcana and 52 Minor Arcana if the organisation works the same way as in the books.
• The organisation hunting the pair may not be their former masters, but the Church hunting down what they see as apocrypha or anomalies that shouldn’t exists. Kondo’s interview states this groups ‘relationship with the church’ has not been revealed yet so there is definitely a link in there somewhere. It would also explain why they are ‘The Miserable Sinners’ if the Church is hunting them on religious/heretical reasons.
• Who else might be brought to life from the pages of the book and why is this phenomena happening? Is it something to do with humanity’s collective subconscious or beliefs? Is there a villain somewhere that can bring fiction to life? Sort of like a Queen of Fables type deal only they might be using those creatures from Coby’s Mysterious Museum, the Harlequin, the quartz disease or *gasp* the horrors of Tomantonio!