her-majestys-watchdog:

I love OCiel because of how tragic he is, he’s a clear-cut doomed protagonist and I refuse to see Kuroshitsuji as anything other than OCiel’s downwards spiral until proven wrong. I love to think about it so much.

So leading onto that, these are the basic characteristics of a tragic hero…

Hamartia: a tragic flaw that causes the downfall of a hero.

OCiel’s tragic flaw is proving to be his own insecurity; becoming RCiel was ultimately his decision. A choice he made.

And because of that, the events of Kuroshitsuji have been as we see them.

However, what would have happened if he didn’t become RC?  Would he have been able to resist Sebastian’s attempts to trick him? Would he have become so terrified of everything that he was unable to continue and complete his contract?

It’s clear that OCiel thinks this would have happened – why else would he take RCiel’s identity. There is evidence to suggest this very well might have done. So had OCiel been more secure in himself, he would have been able to come back as the real him and avoided the current disaster that is unfolding.

Clearly, the tragic part of his character is that you cannot blame a child, born sickly and into a cruel society, for making the choices he made. Some tragic heroes (eg: like Tess from Tess of the d’Urbervilles) have less agency in their demise. External factors are to blame.

Hubris: excessive pride and disrespect for the natural order of things.

OCiel clearly has excessive pride in many respects. He treats people like objects that can be used to get him where he wants, has no belief that things ‘happen for a reason’ instead life if just full of bad people who do bad things. He even considers himself one of these bad people.

However, he also has no illusions about his own place in the game. OCiel does not consider himself to be above others, he’s full of contradictions.

Peripeteia: the reversal of fate that the hero experiences.

Going from his childhood to making a contract with Sebastian, though there was never a clear shift entirely. His childhood was happy but not perfect.

Anagnorisis: a moment in time when hero makes an important discovery in the story.

This is something that has not happened yet, but if OCiel was to ever experience a moment of anagnorisis (which I think he will) it’ll be before Sebastian kills him. It’s in the moment before he dies that he sees himself clearly, and wishes he had accepted that person into his life sooner – maybe things would have ended better for himself then.

Nemesis – a punishment that the protagonist cannot avoid, usually occurring as a result of his hubris.

In a narrative sense, as soon as OCiel chose to become RCiel it was only a matter of time until the game was finally up. His reasons for stealing his brother’s identity were (in my eyes) very selfish with little regard for what that would do to RCiel, he did it “for himself”.

Sebastian is also a clear nemesis in the narrative. But he’s also a saviour, it’s a double-edged sword that I’m not going to do justice here lol.

Catharsis: feelings of pity and fear felt by the audience, for the inevitable downfall of the protagonist.

Catharsis is the main reason why, when saying any of the above points, there were endless chances to say “yes but–” to… literally everything. OCiel is selfish, but he’s just a child. OCiel is a Machiavellian villain, but he’s being manipulated by a literal demon. OCiel disrespected his brother’s identity by stealing it, but really wasn’t it Victorian society to blame and the rules of Primogeniture that drove him to it?

Basically – he’s just a tragic villain. I’m sure you could write so many arguments in favour of him being completely irredeemable or just a victim to his narrative, and none of them are wrong. That’s why I love him!

#ociel becoming rc is an issue bc like. yes he needed rc to come back #mentally he needed it #but also – its still HIM at the end of the day