Hi! Sorry but I’m going to play a safe card with this question lol. I think both speculations have validity.
On one hand, I think Louise’s words “only with strength can we protect someone” and “you’ve been saved by Jaeger, right?” impelled Mikasa to reconsider what consequences can “strength” and the will to “save” bring about, especially after she saw Eren launched the attack in Marley. So the flashback is in line with her change of thinking. In this sense, it is more like an internal self-questioning which led to her alternative viewing of the past.
On the other hand, I totally understand why people suspect her memories are altered. It’s because of the headache. The headache forced her to think about her past, as if there is some unnatural power activating her thoughts. She didn’t want to do it. If all those flashbacks just happened like a normal monologue, then it wouldn’t have seemed so weird.
So yah, I’m standing astride both options, lame, I know lol. We just need more information from Isayama.
So idk about you guys, but initially I was thinking that Rin’s journey would last until the twins’ birth (the blue night in theory) and until we could see how Shiro ended up raising them…
Because we already know this won’t end well for Yuri.
Now though, I JUST SCARED MYSELF because I realized that maybe the “tragedy” Mephisto mentioned might not be only referring to Yuri’s death.
I mean, Mephisto said to Rin that the whole point of showing him (and not Yukio) the past was because:
he has to face and accept the past, because it scares him (and he doesn’t need anyone to tell him it’s not a happy story) + because he needs to know the truth to get Yukio back.
But here I am wondering, are the circumstances of his and Yukio’s birth the only part of the past he “must accept” through this journey?
This flashback is about Yuri and Shiro, so if one goal is to learn about Yuri and accept to face what brought her death, what about…
Shiro’s death too? Because Rin is clearly still tormented about this and he never had the chance to truly face any of it.
The reason I’m thinking it might happen is also because Mephisto once did the following…
…he quoted what Shiro had told Rin all the way back in ch1, before he died.
And I know that Mephy is the King of Time and a real jerk, but still, I wonder if him quoting that moment in particular wouldn’t be because leading Rin back to this precise moment at the end of this journey is something he will do/did already a million times .
Anyway, that’s why I could see it: Rin witnessing how Shiro slowly changed, through Yuri’s death and through raising them,
to become the man he saw as his father… Until that day where he killed himself to make sure Satan wouldn’t get Rin, leaving him and Yukio to Mephisto and Shura instead.
That could make a good/painful ending point for this journey. Double times the pain for Rin of course, because he’ll have to go through his mom’s and (adoptive?) dad’s death, facing the fact that Satan was very probably just trying to get to him (his perfect vessel) both times. T_T
Also Abel Franken, the previous Paladin? Most likely a Samael clone (the German name being a strong hint of this), which is probably why Rin has the feeling he’s seen him somewhere before and Mephy is here like “:D” .
It seems all Paladins are taken amongst the few test subjects from Section 13 who make it Exwire and then Exorcist anyway.
Abel Franken => possibly one of Samael’s clones
Fujimoto Shiro => one of Azazel’s clones
Arthur August Angel => possibly one of Lucifer’s clones, thanks to Mephisto saying he was from Asylum too and to this
And the reason for that is probably because they’re under a Morinas’ contract related to Section 13 already, which makes it easier to moderate the information that’s passed around within the highest members of the Order (the Grigoris, the Paladin, Mephisto and some of the Arc Knights).
That and they’re strong (since they were cloned from the top 3 Baals), so they’re useful.
Angel is actually the only exception since he apparently lost his memories after the Blue Night (I’m highly suspicious of this, but we shall see)
which makes him the only Paladin that’s mostly unaware of many stuff going on within the Order, compared to Shiro or probably even Abel Franken.
But anyway, all that to say that Abel Franken = Samael’s clone. I wonder how awkward it must have been for him to interact with Mephisto LMAO.
Basically I think that one possibility for this arc, as far as our!Ciel is concerned, is that UT (with real!Ciel) is trying to get rid of the two dangers constantly lurking around our!Ciel.
You heard the man, he doesn’t want to lose more Phantomhives
and that definitely includes our!Ciel (he even said that he made no difference between the twins, in ch131).
To protect our!Ciel tho’, he gotta eliminate the Watchdog duty that’s like a collar Ciel will hang himself with at some point:
and that’s where the dead twin (and first heir) getting his title back could be useful since he’s already dead. So even if Victoria gets to him (since personally I think she’s the big bad), no can end like Vincent and Claudia.
The second danger is Seb
and that could be why Bravat (who was most likely speaking for UT) literally said he could offer help in dealing with Seb during his fortune telling.
Maybe that’s even what the whole framing thing is supposed to lead to. Somehow.
So I don’t know for sure, but it seems UT hasn’t lost his mind and still hasn’t reached his goal, as himself told Othello
and I think that is true, just like Sensei implying that he’s actually not a villain after ch131 came out.
Obviously the whole scheme is super complex, but if UT is after besting the Queen and a hungry demon in one go for our!Ciel’s sake, then he has to have no limit, including using people like Bravat who had a sad life or the S4 and then throwing them away.
I made a separate post, but then I figured it was better to add it to the first post I did on the subject, sorry for the double post
About our!Ciel being framed
TBH, the thing that is bothering me with the “let’s frame my bro” conspiracy is that no one is wondering about why exactly our!Ciel would go as far as to kill citizens to get their blood.
Like ??? what would be his goal in doing that as Lord Sirius/the blue star/the sect’s mastermind? Especially since real!Ciel is the one who was saying “oh I was in a very bad shape until recently” in front of everyone in ch143.
So I don’t want to call this a plot hole yet, because clearly it’s not the only part that’s not holding on (as far as characters like Ed could obviously notice), but maybe the whole framing plan is mainly working out because revealing that our!Ciel was lying for the past 4 years is increasing the doubts and confusion of the witnesses.
…Actually, since it’s definitely not an accusation that’s holding out so well, maybe the true goal is not even to frame Ciel himself. For example, UT could go next with…
“oh but Queen Victoria is the one who asked her Watchdog to create such an operation, because she’s preparing for war and wanted to experiment about blood transfusions :)))))” or an equivalent.
Because that would suddenly become very bad publicity for Victoria (killing her own people o.m.g + have you seen all the many witnesses that are just in time to hear about this), whom coincidentally UT doesn’t like at all…
Add that to the murders of the Parliamentarians (ch125) that Ciel could be accused of as well and…
…it could be one more argument that she asked her Watchdog to get them out of the way because they were getting in the way of her war plans.
Besides, that’s how Abberline was introduced to the Watchdog duty (ch15):
…so even he (who seems to be believing in our!Ciel right now) could start thinking that he was played for a fool, all for the Queen’s profit, if that’s the explanation he receives.
Ciel does work for Victoria after all and that’s something Abberline, Alexis and Edward all definitely know.
Never mind me rambling, but guys, I still can’t believe UT would simply want our!Ciel framed so that, with him out of the way, the title can go back to “the rightful heir”. That seems illogical when UT despises the Watchdog duty and said he didn’t wan’t to lose more Phantomhives.
TL;DR Ciel is not necessarily the one who’s really being framed here, if just because the accusation hardly stands if someone starts wondering about why he was after all that blood in the first place.
Meanwhile, UT has two enemies: Victoria and Seb. So maybe the whole point is to get to one of them (or both) by eventually pinning this whole case on them with our!Ciel being considered merely a pawn?
Vincent: Do you dig graves?
Undertaker: They’re all right, yeah
A noteworthy thing about her headache is it always comes with a sound effect “ズキ”.
In addition to the scenes above, there are also a few occasions when the sound appears, despite no headache:
When her childhood memories surfaced after she saved the little girl
When she witnessed the Female Titan eating Eren
Seems like her headache always happens when she is in fear of a losing a family…? The only exception is when her childhood memories are triggered by that little girl…?
midnight-in-town 