cielizzydefencesquad:

midnight-in-town:

So you know, I was wondering if Frances bringing Ed home by the ear in ch125 isn’t actually a direct consequence of the following…

rather than because she simply doesn’t condone him acting as part of a boys’ band and was mad he was trying to save his sister.

In other words, her forcing Edward out of the investigation would exactly be for the same reasons as Agni being angry on Soma’s behalf…

…because she too realized that Ciel indirectly used her son for murder. 

Edward is Alexis’ son and heir, unlike Lizzie he has no place in the underworld even as a relative of Earl Phantomhive, so maybe that’s why Frances was so angry. Of course it’s very commendable of him to try and save his sister, so she wouldn’t be mad for that, but rather because…

that’s not a world in which he belongs. 

Heh, just some thoughts. :3

Truth. I think a lot of people (in light of the 2CT revelation) are choosing to vilipend OurCiel’s tendency to use people as disposable chess pieces. Does he care that Edward, Soma, Joanne, Cheslock, and Clayton will be accessories to murder? No, not particularly. Some might argue that OurCiel’s disregard is due to his confidence in his plan working because hey, he’s got a demon butler to ensure the highest possible success rate but does the presupposition of OC’s arrogance truly excuse his propensity of indulging in decisions of mercenary self-satisfaction? 

I can understand OurCiel’s indifference towards Joanne, Cheslock, and Clayton but Soma is (in whatever capacity) his friend and Edward is his cousin. (Hey-o, Victorian times. Family bonds and blood are emphasized with the same importance we now place on wifi.) OurCiel shows absolutely no care or concern that by involving Edward, he is not only involving a relative desperate to save his sister but also the heir to a very, very important marquessate. The heir to Scotney and the firstborn son of her majesty’s Head of the British Knights. 

Should anything have gone wrong then the Midfords, who are meant to be exemplars heavily involved in public life as well as the public perception of Great Britain as a whole (the supposedly benevolent empire with the Midfords as the noble knights to a great queen), would have been besmirched socially, politically, and, as the whole of Europe was still engaged in the alliance system then, internationally. 

The very fact that OurCiel, a clever little bugger who most likely accounted for the regression residual of what should happen if the Phantom Five failed to prosecute Sphere Music Hall, chose to ignore the possible consequences of his actions shows a depth of self-serving immediacy that (I think) readers tend to overlook. 

OurCiel’s malevolent and selfish contempt for the livelihood of others is something I find utterly fascinating. It makes up a very crucial part of his strange protagonist status. We must remember that despite OurCiel’s attempts at goodwill (deciding to fund the workhouse in Book of Circus, saving Joanne at Weston, trying to push aside people he could potentially come to care about in order to prevent them from suffering) they are rather feeble and spur of the moment. That while they may be momentous for him as a Phantomhive, in the grand scheme of things, he will put himself first, just as he did when solving the murders at Sphere Music Hall at her majesty’s behest. 

Furthermore, this is perhaps best exemplified in his treatment of Elizabeth. OC witnessed firsthand the tender sincerity and love Elizabeth held towards him aboard Campania but chose instead to think that she could be seduced by cheap fortune telling and boy bands? Either he truly has no grasp on his fiancée’s character (which I really doubt; OC’s a smart, discerning kid – no way he’s that dense) or he simply chose to believe what was convenient for him: that starting a boy band of his own would goad Bravat as well as serve OC’s immediate purpose of linking Sphere Music Hall to the mysterious murders though it did not bring Lizzy back. 

For a boy of such high and apt intelligence, OC is perfectly willing to blind himself to realities uncomfortable to him in order to focus on matters that he places primary importance to. He’s a romantic egotist who believes that his self-professed derision of the human species will somehow alleviate him from consequent guilt but, he has absolutely no qualms in drawing those who love him into his fold of danger and destruction if it serves to meet his end goals. 

Note: I understand the deep sympathy we as readers hold towards OurCiel (and I should probably start packing before people start tossing Molotov Cocktails into my dorm) we can never forget that for all his past innocence, he has also committed a great deal of past sins. 

@cielizzydefencesquad very good analysis on Ciel and no disagreement there! 🙂

About Lizzie though, I just want to say a teeny-tiny thing. You said that our!Ciel
“witnessed firsthand the tender sincerity and love Elizabeth held towards him aboard Campania but chose instead to think that she could be seduced by cheap fortune telling and boy bands” and I agree this shows he definitely chose to believe what was convenient for him, but…

so did her brother, who’s supposed to be blind to anything but Lizzie herself. 

That’s why I really think that this part of the arc at least is all down to Lizzie’s ambivalence as a character (thanks Sensei) making her mostly unreadable, both to us readers who still struggle to really decipher what she currently knows and is doing, but also to the characters as well.

It’s as I explained in that post I linked to, but basically so far you could envision several theories regarding Lizzie’s role in the subplot and they all are very different, because Lizzie’s character is (purposely, imo) written as ambivalent. 

All that to say that, for this part specifically, I wouldn’t blame Ciel for choosing what was the most convenient for him to believe, when even Edward has no idea what to make of his own sister’s attitude and when it’s true anyway that Ciel constantly acts like that…

((that’s why, you know, I take issues with people forgetting that Frances has actually a real depth and is the person who understands Lizzie the best and also why she’s Lizzie’s role model in life, because I wouldn’t be surprised if she saw through Lizzie in the arc, but eh, wishful thinking for now)) 

Thank you again for your analysis. :))