In order to reach Steins Gate, save Mayuri Shiina and Kurisu Makise, and escape the Alpha/Beta Attractor Fields, Rintaro Okabe realized he needed three things- First, the motivation to get back on his feet in his darkest hour; Second, a plan to deceive the world; Third, a way to convey that plan to his past self. This operation was dubbed Operation Skuld.
Realization of the Plan[]
Steins;Gate 0[]
Re-Awaken[]
Awakening once more to his Hououin Kyouma persona, Okabe begins creating the plan to deceive time with the help of Itaru Hashida and Maho Hiyajo. Working tirelessly through the Nuclear War, the trio begins the project to search for the workaround for the Alpha/Beta Attractor Field. To do this, they have to determine the key principles that governed each Attractor Field-
- The first D-Mail sent undoes the death of Kurisu Makise, leading to her joining the Future Gadget Lab in July 2010, resulting in an Alpha World Line.
- The death of Kurisu Makise, and the subsequent theft of her thesis and its arrival in Russia in July 2010 results in a Beta World Line.
With the core tenets of each Attractor Field discovered, they start working on a plan, realising the principles that need to be fulfilled.
- Under no circumstances must Kurisu Makise or Mayuri Shiina come to harm
- Rintaro Okabe finds Kurisu Makise lying face down in a pool of blood
- The Time Travel Thesis must not fall into the hands of any government
Finally, Okabe must be primed to take the machine. In order to achieve Steins Gate, Okabe must create a world line based on these three principles in order to escape the doom on the Alpha and Beta Attractor Fields.
The Plan[]

Hououin Kyouma recording the video message
The first step is to get Okabe on his feet and primed for one more attempt- to do so, Mayuri Shiina must be allowed to travel in C204 with Suzuha, and deliver a message to her past self; a plan that they decide to name Operation Arc-Light. In the message, she would prepare herself to get Okabe back on his feet following the first aborted attempt at achieving Steins Gate.[1]
Next, a message must be sent to Okabe, to be received the day of the plan. This message would decode only when the correct Beta Variant world line was attained - inside would be a video containing the plan, explained by the only person who can be reliably called upon to rise to any challenge - Hououin Kyouma.
Third, Okabe must use the remaining fuel to jump once more back in time, to moments before his previous arrival, to achieve the three principles that will cause the shift to Steins Gate.
Execution of the Plan[]
Steins;Gate[]
Right after Suzuha arrives from 2036 indirectly (2036 -> 1975 -> 2000 -> 2010),[2] she calls her father and tells him he wants to talk to Rintaro Okabe. She then asks him to come to the roof of Radio Kaikan.[3]
Upon arrival, Okabe spots a strange machine sitting on the concrete, and much to his surprise - after Suzuha exits it - he realizes it is a time machine. She explains why she is here, and that she needs Okabe's help to stop WW3 (the main cause of it being the great divergence point, Kurisu's death). He refuses at first, saying he will not let Kurisu Makise's sacrifice be in vain, and he will not let Mayuri die, but upon hearing there is a way to save the girl he loves, Kurisu, he accepts.
They set off to the past, not knowing what the outcome will be. Arriving on the roof on July 28th, Suzuha and Okabe exit the time machine. Suzuha backs up Okabe and provides distraction, while he tries to protect Kurisu from the murderer. It turns out, Nakabachi wanted to meet up with his daughter, but a conflict unfolds.
The doctor swings out a knife which Okabe quickly disarms, but unfortunately, he is the one who ends up stabbing Kurisu (who took the knife for Nakabachi because she still loves her father). As she dies in Okabe's arms, he screams loudly at the top of his lungs, and immediately after screaming, Okabe realizes that the last piece of the puzzle clicks into place.
Overcome with anguish over killing his beloved, he's dragged back into the time machine, and returns to August 21st. Thanks to the success of Operation Arc-Light, Mayuri is now able to bring her Hikoboshi to his senses. He receives a D-Mail on his phone from 2025, telling him to turn on the television, which allows Okabe to know about Nakabachi's attempt to defect to Russia, who escaped with the Time Travel Thesis, due to the Metal Upa setting of a metal detector at the airport, having Dr. Nakabachi carry the paper with himself. After a bit of talking, Suzuha tells Okabe to look at the video mail he received on July 28th, in which his future self (who worked 15 years on perfecting the plan) explains the operation.
Now knowing the exact plan, they go for the final attempt, back to July 28th, again, but this time, Okabe brings an electric shock device, and Future Gadget No.6, the Cyalume Saber. This contains red liquid similar to blood, which he can use to fool his past self into thinking that Kurisu Makise is dead.
First, he makes sure the Metal Upa is in his own hands. Then after that, at the encounter, he scares Nakabachi off with the taser, after taking the knife in his stomach; he zaps Kurisu, knocking her unconscious, and pours his own blood around her as the liquid in the Cyalume Saber had already started to coagulate due to its unusedness. This time the scream comes from digging into his body with his hand. When Suzuha hears the cry, she rushes over to the room, worried about what happened. Fulfilling Okabe's request, she lifts up and lays the unconscious Kurisu face down in the puddle of blood; then she helps Uncle Okarin get back to the time machine in order to travel back to August 21st once again, completing the operation successfully.
Namesake[]
The name “Skuld“ comes from the Norse Norn of the same name who seemingly supervises the future. She has two sisters, Urd and Verthandi, and together, the three Norns are responsible for determining the fates of individuals. In the Steins;Gate series, Rintaro Okabe uses the names of these Norns for various time-travel-related operations, with the other two being listed below.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Milky-Way Crossing (True Ending)
- ↑ Steins;Gate 0
- ↑ Open the Steins Gate - Chapter 11