References in When They Cry

Umineko no Naku Koro ni contains several cultural and historical references as a result of author Ryukishi07's habit of putting references in his work just to have them. Several of them are listed below.

Divine Comedy

Umineko no Naku Koro ni contains many references of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.

• Beatrice is likely based off of Beatrice Portinari.
  • Umineko's Beatrice is frequently called "Bice", as is Beatrice Portinari.
  • The original incarnation of Beatrice, Kinzo Ushiromiya's lover Beatrice Castiglioni is Italian as is Beatrice Portinari.
  • Beatrice Portinari is referred to as Dante's "ideal woman", similar to how Umineko's Beatrice is referred to as Battler's "ideal woman".
  • "Beatrice" is pronounced in the Italian fashion as "Be-a-tri-ce" (Be-a-to-ri-che [ベアトリーチェ] in Japanese phonetics) rather than the English way, as "Be-a-triss".
• Clair Vaux Bernardus is likely based off of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
• Virgilia is likely based off of Virgil.
• The Seven Stakes of Purgatory are likely based off of the Seven Deadly Sins as they appear in Purgatorio.

Detective fiction

• Dlanor A. Knox is directly related to detective fiction author Ronald A. Knox.
  • "Dlanor" is "Ronald" spelled backwards.
  • One of Dlanor's weapons, Knox's Decalogue, is taken from Ronald Knox's The Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction.
• Willard H. Wright is likely based off of Willard Huntington Wright.
  • One of Willard's weapons, Van Dine's Commandments, is taken from Willard Huntington Wright's Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.
• Lion Ushiromiya and Willard call each other "Watson" and "Holmes", direct references to the famous Sherlock Holmes franchise.

Other

• Battler Ushiromiya is partially based off of Phoenix Wright from the Ace Attorney franchise, most clearly seen in Battler's Objection sprite.
• Jessica Ushiromiya cosplays as Marisa Kirisame from Touhou Project while playing in her band.