Ch 140 review: a theory of the timeline of RC’s appearance
I’ve been thinking a lot about answers to these questions:
1. Why did Real Ciel try to kill Prince Soma?
2. Why did Real Ciel leave the “candy in my tummy” threat on Our Ciel’s bedroom wall?
3. Why is Real Ciel acting so supportive of Our Ciel? How can that be the same person who left that threat?
My theory, the short version:
1. Real Ciel’s body and mind are extremely fragile, and he tried to kill Soma because Soma tried to touch him.
2. The message was meant to get Our Ciel to follow Real Ciel to the manor.
3. Real Ciel is trying to manipulate Our Ciel into supporting him with blood.
The long version:
Remember, “Lord Sirius,” whom we can safely assume is Real Ciel, appeared emaciated in front of Violet. He required so much blood that Blavat ran out of his blood type from regular intake and required contributions from Violet.
(Chapter 115 pg 23)
It’s no coincidence that Blavat killed off the last of his followers in Bath directly before Real Ciel started appearing in London. With that last boost in supplies, Real Ciel has enough blood to appear normal for a while.
What does a kid who needs compatible blood do to get more?
He goes looking for his identical twin.
He starts with the townhouse in London, but Our Ciel isn’t there (he’s still investigating the murders in Bath). Instead, he finds Prince Soma.
Prince Soma opens the door and welcomes him inside, thinking he’s Our Ciel. This tells Real Ciel and co that Our Ciel is not home, and he has leeway to set up shop and wait for Our Ciel to come home for a confrontation (as does eventually happen at the manor).
But Prince Soma, unlike the manor servants, notices something is weird and tries to touch Real Ciel.
(Chapter 126 pg 24)
Real Ciel is extremely sensitive to being touched, for two good reasons:
1. His body is physically fragile.
2. His mind is fragile. He endured the same abuse Our Ciel did at the hands of the cultists. Our Ciel lashes out at unwelcome touches, so it makes sense that Real Ciel would too.
So Real Ciel loses it and lashes out at Prince Soma.
I don’t think this is a premeditated murder attempt at all. I think this is a moment of rage for Real Ciel. He can’t stand to be touched and he shoots Prince Soma to make it stop.
At this point Agni has to protect his prince from Real Ciel, and Real Ciel’s guardian has to protect him from Agni.
Now Agni is dead, Soma is out of reach, and Real Ciel still needs blood. He needs to do something to make sure that Our Ciel can seek him out, but the police cannot (because there’s a dead body full of knives in the hall, after all).
So he leaves the message, “Who took the candy from my tummy?”, a message that only Our Ciel would understand, on the wall to make sure Our Ciel will go to the next place he might expect his brother to be: the manor house.
Of course, he’s still enraged, so the message ends up brutally carved into the wallpaper.
Fast-forward to Real Ciel’s arrival at the manor. Just as he did in the townhouse, Real Ciel walks in like he owns the place. This time he’s not discovered (Tanaka notwithstanding), and the servants do not try to touch him (they know better), so he sets up shop to wait for his blood supply to come home.
When Our Ciel returns to the manor, Real Ciel needs to convince him that he’s on his side so that Our Ciel will willingly support him with his blood. Everything he says to Our Ciel is to manipulate him into the mindset they had when they were kids: everything is okay and Real Ciel will protect Our Ciel. Just leave everything up to him.
There is a beautiful poetic irony here: Real Ciel talks like he’s still the stronger twin, when he’s actually physically and psychologically weaker than Our Ciel.
The tables have turned completely.
When they were children, Real Ciel was outgoing and brave and Our Ciel depended on him.
Now, Our Ciel is independent and resilient and Real Ciel is counting on his bodily support just to survive.
“So I take it you were telling the truth when you said you wanted to be a baseball player.”
“Well, yeah,” Banba smiled bitterly. “It was an occupation I admired.”
It was a dream for any baseball boy to have. However, in Banba’s case it was not just a dream.
“I really put the effort to make it happen. I practiced in the club teams since I was in elementary and even got in the baseball club in high school. I thought someday I could get into the draft team or an independent league and be an active member of society that way.”
“Really?” Lin lifted his head curiously when Banba spoke of his past – a rare occurrence. “So why did a high school baseball kid like you, aiming to become a professional, become a hitman instead?”
Banba chuckled.
“Who knows.” He cocked his head and replied back ambiguously. “How did that happen?”
“……Ha?” Banba was at a loss of words at her unexpected request. “No, sorry. I can’t do that.”
However, Misaki would not back down. “It’s fine. Teach me. I want to become a killer too. So please. Even one week of it will do.”
“Are you stupid? That’s not something you can pick up.” Lin frowned. “Are you making light of hitmen?”
“I’m not.”
“Misaki,” Banba said to admonish her. “A hitman ain’t something you become by wanting to be. People become killers because that’s the only thing they can become.”
I didn’t sign up for this when I took on the anime and then the novels for this series. T_T
Yeah, Banba keeps his past hidden for quite a while. In the LN timeline, Lin doesn’t get to know for 11 months since the series began. He got to hear a little bit of what happened with Sayuri about 9 months after meeting Banba in the LN timeline, and even then Banba didn’t explain everything. This does frustrate Lin and it will be brought up again as a key conflict in another arc before we actually get to Banba’s arc.
@kaedesan721 hm! Yeah I remember your summaries of the different volumes. 🙂 It’s amazing how it’s been at the core of the dynamic though: first in novel 3 which led to Lin almost leaving out of fear of being betrayed once again, but otherwise there are mentions of it here and there and then I guess it’s going to be really addressed in novel 6 by Lin.
More than that, I love all the little subtleties about it: in just the 2 parts I quoted, you can at least understand that something terrible enough happened that Banba was forced to leave his dreams behind and become a killer instead. It totally contrasts with how nice he constantly is too, so I guess that’s why it really makes one curious about it. 🙂
Um, Yukio, excuse you?!
I don’t know if it’s a translation issue, but the fact the Aria meister was the issue for Suguro and Miwa, while for Shiemi it was supposedly that she’s a girl when she built a forest and got rid of the thing in just 5 seconds is leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
Besides, with knowing Shura for years, Yukio has like 0 excuse when it comes to thinking “girls are weak”???? Seriously, not something I’m happy to have come across again ://
EDIT: So I checked the French official version and it’s closer to the fan scanlation @nneefa ! It translates to “Shiemi isn’t suited for fights”. At least there is no reason linked to her being a girl but man, Yukio really forgot that Shiemi always could take care of herself from the moment she joined the school. -_-
In my opinion, absolutely. The revelations of this arc have demonstrated that he continues to play everyone around him, and has engaged in all manner of contradictory actions.
Here’s the basic timeline of events, as influenced by Zeke.
Zeke betrays his parents and the resistance, turning them over to the authorities.
He becomes a Candidate, and eventually the leader of the Warriors.
Zeke comes to Paradis Island, turning the villagers from Connie’s home into Titans as a “test”.
Reiner and Bertolt rejoin Zeke, and fight with him over a mission to save Annie. Zeke forces them to submit to his command.
Zeke arranges the ambush at Wall Maria, convincing Reiner and Bertolt (in PARTICULAR) that it is necessary for them to “end it all”. Bertolt takes his words to heart, resolving to kill his friends as an act of mercy.
Zeke is defeated, and abandons Bertolt to die.
A year later, Yelena arrives on Paradis Island and makes contact with the Survey Corps on Zeke’s orders. She communicates his demands to their government, offering an alliance and a solution to their problems.
The war with the Mid-East Alliance Ends. Zeke persuades a hesitant top brass to resume the Paradis Operation, arguing that obtaining the Founding Titan will buy them time to modernize their military for a post-Titan world.
Zeke argues for the involvement of the Tybur family and the War Hammer Titan. He suggests their influence is necessary to gain favor with the international community, and “control the narrative” to scapegoat Paradis Island. In doing so, Marley can reassert it’s authority in the world.
Zeke begins planting doubts in the other Warriors about their peoples’ fate.
Eren operates alone in Marley, with Zeke aware of his presence in the city.
Festival begins. Yelena lures Pieck and Galliard into a trap, to remove them from the upcoming battle. Falco comes to fetch Reiner, and Zeke encourages him to go to what turns out to be a meeting with Eren.
Zeke fights the Survey Corps, having Levi seemingly kill him.
Zeke is taken by the Survey Corps, reassuring them that now he and Eren can use the Founding Titan’s power to save Eldia.
So what we have is a consistent pattern of Zeke playing both sides, throughout his life. He has consistently betrayed and manipulated people, switching alliances with no clear indication of his true intentions.
He has alternately offered a branch of peace, and intentionally stirred up conflict. He presents himself as opposed to war, and pitying those that have to be slaughtered “for the greater good”. But he also fans the flames, when his superiors have decided there’s no further reason to attack Paradis.
During the last several months, the fandom has argued over the necessity of Eren’s rampage. A common argument is that the world was ALREADY declaring war, so he simply struck first to cripple their leadership.
But without Zeke’s manipulations, there would have been no Festival and no Declaration of War. There would have been no international community involved. Marley would have continued to face the reality of being outgunned by the rest of the world, and facing the consequences of their warmongering and imperialism.
But Zeke stepped forward, and fanned the flames of war. He pushed for a new conflict, and pushed for the stakes to be raised.
He is the reason that the world is about to go to war with Paradis.
But he presents himself as an ally to Paradis, promising a solution. Promising freedom. And repeatedly stating his only concern is his brother.
Now, Eren has painted a target on his own back and the island. He has murdered international figures, in front of the entire world. He has reawakened the image of the Eldian Devils. And he has isolated himself from his comrades in the process, destroying their trust.
He has increasingly moved towards trusting Zeke, instead of Armin and the others.
I cannot help but think this is all according to plan.
I agree completely. Zeke is a master manipulator.
I agree too. My thoughts actually change on a lot on this subject but
lately I definitely think Zeke wants to get the Progenitor titan from Eren because he knows something that has to do with possibly undoing “Ymir’s curse”, thus allowing him to live for more than just this final year.
Seriously the “anti Marley faction”? When his parents were basically after the same thing and he sold them both and still thought during the Wall Maria arc that “he wasn’t like his father”? Nah nah, the guy is interested in backstabbing everyone so that he can save his skin while the whole world gangs up on Eldians, thus definitely destroying what was his father’s goal long ago (= making Eldia strong again).
Double revenge: against Marley and against Eldia to still get back to his parents.
Besides, it gives Levi a chance to follow Erwin’s last order if they’re not allied with Zeke anymore.
And finally, from a narrative point of view, I know the fandom is not fond of Grisha in general (even though he never blamed Zeke but himself for everything that happened), but I do believe he tried not to make with Eren the same mistakes he did with Zeke, so an Eren vs Zeke for the last arc would sound logical.
midnight-in-town 