[jjblue1]

Originally Posted by LyricalAura

Not personalities, personas. They're different social identities, like the way Jessica is called by her nickname Jessie at school and behaves a certain way there, while she's called Jessica at home and behaves entirely differently. Or for another example, the way Maria sees her mother as "Mama" when Rosa's being pleasant and loving versus "the Black Witch" when she's being horrible and violent. Yasu's just gone further and deliberately presented herself as separate people, so her personas are more distinct.

Yasu was fairly taken with Maria's worldview that "different behavior = different person", which I think was probably a large factor in why she decided to treat Shannon and Kanon the way she did with the red truth in her writing.

ED: Whoops, ninja'd by AuraTwilight.

Yes, or in Will's words:

"So, when Bernkastel asks us who killed Beatrice, she means who killed the kind person who pretended to be Beatrice?"
"That's close, but not quite. It's not the one who pretended. We're talking about two different people. ......In Maria's eyes, just like how her mother and the black witch are different people, Beatrice and the person who played that part are also different people."
It's just like Mariage Sorciere.
That was where one person would be the creator, and the other person would acknowledge those creations, thereby nurturing the illusion.
The Golden Witch Beatrice was also created by one person, and then nurtured when Maria acknowledged her.
"You mean, even if you kill the acted character, that doesn't mean you've killed the kind person who was playing the part?"
"Even if Beatrice's vessel is lost, that isn't the same as Beatrice being killed. ......It's easier to understand if we use a telephone as an example. Let's say I call you on the phone. From my perspective during the call, the phone is you, in the sense that it is what I talk to."
"But what if I break the phone?"
"......I see. If you kill the phone, you won't be able to talk to me, but that doesn't mean you've killed me."
"We know Maria once offered to let Beatrice possess her, early on in their relationship. That clearly shows that Beatrice did not look like the portrait at that time."
"So, if the person acting the part and the witch character they play are different people, ......we're talking about killing just the witch character itself. ......Is that even possible?"
"Only the actor can kill the character. In other words, the person who killed Beatrice is the person who played the part of Beatrice."
"You mean that the person who played witches with Maria-chan is the culprit Bernkastel's talking about?"

Shannon and Kanon's cases are apparently similar as Shannon and Kanon are viewed merely as roles and not as... let's call it, their body's true persona/character/whatever.
Although it might seem weird they're considered just roles, during work there are cases of people feeling required to 'play a part' and acting in a certain way even if that's not how they would normally behave.
As the... let's call it original vessel of Shannon and Kanon, didn't have friends at first and was even required by Natsuhi to act in a certain way with Jessica and likely with George and Battler, even if later on she managed to develop a relation with them, it's possible she felt as if she always had to put up a front and act in a certain way, as if she had to continue playing a role.
And when she discovered the truth about herself but decided to continue being Shannon, this become even more marked.
She was litterally playing servant when she could have been family head (Or so she was lead to believe. Actually I'm not sure her claim would have had any legal holding...).

And trust me, the fairness of all this applied to the game has been discussed many, many times, as not everyone here liked this solution although it makes logical sense.