Unlike most Gundam anime, The Witch From Mercury had a prologue episode before the series’ proper first episode. This prologue featured a young girl named Eri and her mother Elnora as they escaped death for their involvement in GUND FORMAT research. It was presumed that Eri grew up to be Suletta Mercury, the anime’s protagonist. However, fans now believe something much darker is happening.
Suletta might not be the original Eri but rather a clone or body double. As for the original Eri, her consciousness might have become one with Suletta’s mobile suit, the Gundam Aerial. A lot of the possible evidence for this dark theory came about from the events of Episode 6, “A Gloomy Song.”
What Proof Is There?
The first hint fans pointed to was a conversation between Belmeria Winston and Lady Prospera, the woman Elnora apparently became. Bel suspected that Lady Prospera’s motives revolved around a certain incident from 21 years ago. This incident is presumably the raid on the Vanadis Institute’s laboratory during the prologue.
However, 21 years is too long ago for it to involve Suletta. She’s only supposed to be 17 while Eri was four during the prologue. Either Suletta is a 25-year-old Eri lying about her name and age or she and Eri are different people.
The idea that Suletta is a clone or body double comes from Elan Ceres. This boy is a confirmed double for the real Elan. Even Bel contemplated whether Suletta was borrowing her face.
As for how Eri could be the Aerial, that remains up for speculation. However, some have pointed out how Prospera refers to the Aerial and her “darling daughter” without mentioning Suletta; this could imply that the Aerial and her real daughter are the same person. More astute fans have pointed out that the Aerial’s OS is displayed as “SYS Ver.E.S;” the “E.S” could be short for Eri’s full name, Ericht Samaya. Going off of things like this, fans have speculated that Eri’s mind was integrated into the Aerial using GUND FORMAT technology. If Suletta is a clone of Eri, then that would also explain her compatibility with the Aerial.
Humans being integrated into AI has led to another dark theory surrounding the Aerial’s GUND BITs. Some have speculated that each GUND BIT has the soul of a child in it, possibly another Eri Clone. This explains why Suletta treats each of them as friends she needs to protect. It would also explain why Elan saw laughing children while facing them unless that was supposed to be metaphorical. This is dark, but this whole anime has dark enough undertones to warrant this assumption.
Hoe Can It Be Denied?
Of course, there are some in-universe reasons to doubt that Suletta is a clone or that Eri is the Aerial, starting with Cradle Planet. This novella set between the prologue and the series outlines Suletta’s upbringing from Aerial’s perspective. While this would confirm that Aerial has a mind of her own, it doesn’t seem to represent Eri’s.
The dialogue in Episode 6 is also largely open to interpretation. The incident from 21 years ago could refer to the events of the prologue, but it could also represent something else entirely. Furthermore, Suletta and lady Prospera humanizing the Aerial is in line with what Eri and Elnora were doing in the prologue; unless GUND FORMAT AI was integrating human consciousness into its systems back then, there’s no way that the Aerial can be a human. Little can be presumed from this dialogue precisely because of how vague it is.
It’s important to remember that the anime’s story is still in its early stages. There are a lot of unknowns regarding everyone’s place in the grand scheme of things. For all anyone knows, Suletta is the original Eri. That said, if any of the dark theories surrounding her and Aerial were to be confirmed, that wouldn’t come off as too surprising, either.