Who is William Minerva in The Promised Neverland?

The Promised Neverland has officially debuted its second season, and the orphans have escaped from their farm with the help of William Minerva.

The orphans had two options, be fattened and smartened up as prey, or escape their “cozy” home and try to find a safe place in a world full of demons.

The first episode of season two showed us their choice, as the Grace Field orphans played a “game of tag” with their pursuers. Honestly, TPN never fails to horrify its audience.

For these kids who are thrust into an entirely new world where they are considered food, it is easy to fall into despair. Thankfully, not all is doom and gloom, as a mysterious man named William Minerva comes to their rescue.

However, while the children have wholeheartedly decided to trust the man that gives them the hope of survival, the audience is not easily convinced.

With little trust in the creators of the series, many are questioning the motives of Mr. Minerva.

1. Who is William Minerva?

William Minerva, known as James Ratri, is the former head of the Ratri clan. He decided to rescue the farm children by leaving secret messages in his books that they could decode to escape.

First introduced in chapter 16, William Minerva is the author of the books present in the plantation, marked by the owl’s symbol.

The books written by him contain secret messages that give the farm children a chance to escape. In truth, William Minerva is just a pen name adopted by the famous Ratri Clan’s former head, James Ratri.

The Ratri clan are the upholders of the promise made between the humans and demons.

Due to this, it is their responsibility to make sure that the children stay inside the farms and eliminate anyone who strives to break the promise. James was disgusted by the idea of sacrificing children and decided to rescue them.

As orphans of the Grace Field, the children had no means to contact the outside world and learn about their actual situation.

The only way Minerva could get in touch with them was through the morse codes that were encoded in his books.

In addition to these secret messages, William also wrote about the outside world in the form of an adventure story that would help the children navigate their way after escaping.

William Minerva created many safe areas, such as B06-32 and Goldy Pond, where the children could take shelter.

To lead them to these places, he developed Promised Pens that functioned as a map and a key to access them. It is this pen that gave Emma and Ray an idea of where to go next.

I. Is Norman William Minerva?

William Minerva has never appeared in the series, which shrouds his appearance and identity in mystery.

In the manga, Norman escaped from the experimentation plantation and took on the responsibility of freeing all cattle children and reuniting with Emma and Ray.

However, in the process of doing so, he took on the name William Minerva, confusing the readers about his identity.

Norman is not William Minerva and has simply adopted his identity to gather all the cattle children from different farms.

After taking control over the Paradise Hideout, Norman assumed Minerva’s name in order to use a network that was familiar to the orphans and contact them.

By disguising himself as Minerva, Norman can further instill confidence within the children and give them hope that everything will work out in their favor. However, while that is all good and well, where is the actual William Minerva?

2. Where Is Mr. Minerva? Is He Dead?

William Minerva is dead as he was killed by his brother, Peter Ratri, for betraying the Ratri clan.

Instead of upholding the promise made between the humans and the demons, Minerva helped the cattle children escape from their farms and built shelters for them.

When Minerva first decided to rescue the children, his brother, Peter, initially agreed with his way of thinking.

However, this turned out to be a facade as Peter took advantage of Jame’s plans to usurp his position as the clan leader. He even went as far as killing Minerva and all of his supporters, which amounted to more than 50% of the Ratri clan.

While the body of James Ratri, aka William Minerva, has not been found, it has been implied countless times throughout the series that he has already died.

3. About The Promised Neverland

Created by Kaiu Shirai, this series debuted in a Weekly Shonen Jump manga in 2016. Licensed by VIZ Media for an English Language release, this series has gained immense popularity, selling 4.2 million copies in a concise period.

The story revolves around the horrific truths of an orphanage discovered by three bright kids: Emma, Norman, and Ray.