Well, I’ll copy-paste my own tags from here then Anon, because I find they’re pretty self-explanatory:
And also a little something else…
Listen Anon, if Frances really didn’t care about her nephews in the past or now, then…
Lizzie wouldn’t have been betrothed to them and exposed to danger till now (especially for the last 4 years),
Frances wouldn’t have shown up for Ciel’s 13th birthday and taken him hunting, so that he wouldn’t be all alone or bored on the third death anniversary of the massacre
and she wouldn’t have told Lizzie to offer him to join them for a three week vacation, which was supposed to be the Campania arc, because she found he was working a lot.
There aren’t a lot of outstanding adults in Ciel’s life, so let’s avoid dragging down the few who exist, okay? :3
Hope it makes more sense this time. Have a nice weekend.
Hi Anon! Okay so, no offense, I already did a post on the topic in the past, but I feel like there is something that’s amiss in your reasoning otherwise you possibly wouldn’t have reached these conclusions.
So first thing first, Guts doesn’t not love his son. Especially after the tower of conviction arc. And I’m sure of this because…
he couldn’t kill him from the moment the Skull Knight made him realize that this was his baby.
Afterwards, I agree with you, Guts’ behavior with his baby was a clear parallel to Gambino’s despicable attitude towards Guts himself, the difference being that we have to consider how Guts’ trauma from the Eclipse factors into this. Look…
After this happened, Guts went on this hellish journey to pursue revenge and target every damn thing from the underworld that the brand would attract. That’s how he became the Black Swordsman and all this hatred and violence he lived with for several years is what ultimately gave birth to “the beast of darkness” within himself.
All that to say, because of the Eclipse, Guts’ hatred (and fear) of anything demonic is the reason his behavior towards his own demonic baby was particularly aggressive. That being said, his baby is also the only one Guts could never kill and not just when he was born…
…and that during a part of Guts’ life where he wouldn’t trust or care about or depend on anyone but himself.
Then the conviction arc happened, but that’s when the baby warned him about Casca, which changed everything between them…
…because Guts definitely realized that it’s thanks to their child that he managed to rescue Casca.
From this point onward, between what the baby did for them and also Guts switching objectives after getting Casca back and new friends in his life, he started to show regret about his child’s fate…
which proves in my opinion that Guts does love his baby. And this breaks the parallel with Gambino indeed, because Guts having mixed feelings all this time about his son, despite the baby being (in theory) demonic, is probably related to how he suffered from the lack of parental love as a child too.
So I think it’s important to always consider what part of the story you would include this kind of reasoning in, because Guts’ attitude/feelings towards his child definitely changed throughout the story. There is even a lot to bet that, once Guts learns that Femto was given his baby as a vessel, he’ll be extremely pissed off at Griffith again.
Also to add, if you believe in the theory that demon infant => moonlight child like I do, I’d say that the child’s apparently wary attitude towards Guts is the consequence of Guts’ previous behavior towards his demon counterpart…
…just like the reason he clings so much to Casca is possibly because when he was a demon he could never approach her due to the brand hurting her.
However once again…
our little boy here is clever and curious (”all children yearn for their parents”), so he totally played a little game to see if his dad would yell at him should he annoy him just a little like he did in the past…
but I’d say that what this boy saw of his parents’ attitude towards him after this little test…
…pleased him a lot, enough so maybe that he’d then make sure to constantly help them the two times he materialized during the full moon.
TL;DR yes, Guts initally was very aggressive towards his own child, but in my opinion, rather than no love, that was the result of the trauma brought by the Eclipse, since things got better between them from the moment his son helped him get Casca back.
Afterwards, Guts was even shown to be thinking about his baby, wondering how he was doing (since he doesn’t know yet about him becoming Femto’s vessel), and overall I’d say that Guts’ previous attitude bears no real consequence to his relationship with his son because:
Femto mentioned feeling the demon infant being afraid for both his parents’ in vol22
the moonlight child, who is most likely what’s left of the demon infant after Femto’s rebirth, tested the water with his dad and seems to be comfortable enough with the situation that he would save him plenty of times afterwards.
I hope it helps Anon! Seriously, Griffith did fuck everything up for the entire Gutsca family, but it seems that, no matter what, these three (Guts, Casca and Baby) will always manage to watch out for one another. :)) Let’s hope it will last!
Hi Anon! I’d be careful when it comes to shipping in the SnK world actually. Without mentioning the discourse and ship wars in the fandom (I’m pretty sure I’m exposing myself by answering you actually), Sensei showed that killing a lot of his characters was totally his thing, which makes it hard to hope for canon romance.
Anyway, I always rooted for Springles but if you’re caught up with SnK, well, you know it’s not happening.
Ymir/Historia always was a pairing I considered to be more or less canon even though Ymir is already dead and Historia has been put in rather… complicated situation with the latest chapter. Even though they will never end up together in the flesh, I tend to think that their feelings for each other are real.
I know there are other popular pairings like Reiner/Bertholdt,Armin/Annie,
Levi/Erwin
but first of all Bert and Erwin are dead so :// and, while I don’t mind these pairings, I kind of doubt that Sensei will ever truly give any of these dynamics a romantic subtone.
My appreciation of Levi/Erwin legally forces me to look at the Zevi pairing critically (especially since I don’t trust Zeke at all) and I’m not sure I will ever want to swim in these waters tbh. Zeke/Yelena is interesting (to me) though, especially from her (almost fanatical?) point of view.
More seriously, Ymir/Historia aside, I think the only pairing that has a slight chance of ever being addressed in canon is obviously EreMika, not that I have high hopes for both of them to survive the ending or that Sensei will give the fans what they want in the first place.
To delve a little more into the subject of Eremika though, first of all I stare deeply at anyone who would read my answer and consider that I should be tried for supporting “incest”.
Let’s get real, folks:
they aren’t blood related, period. So you may or not like the pairing, that’s your right and I don’t mind either way, but using fallacious arguments never makes any point and that’s just sad (Mikasa, play ‘Vogel im Kafig’).
Otherwise, the reason that I think Eremika might eventually get its shot at being given canon romantic subtones is that we’re already halfway there, because Mikasa’s feelings aren’t really a secret to anybody, except to Eren himself.
There again, some fans might be tempted to quote Mikasa blushing and saying that “Eren is just like family”, but you don’t try and kiss your family when you think you’re about to die (ch50), just saying. xD
So it’s not really a question of whether he might even reciprocate her feelings or not when he hardly realizes what everyone else has known for ages.
I know that some fans who don’t like Eremika tend to vouch that Eren is not interested in her in that way, but personally and considering the narrative so far I think it’s way too soon to tell. His reaction to her words in ch50 was clearly not dismissal, on the contrary for me, which is why I think that aging them both can only be a good thing if we’re ever going to address the subject.
Look at the Marley arc, okay Sensei did say that Eren was under the influence of other people’s memories when he caught on Falco’s crush about Gabi, but the same influence could help him realize about Mikasa’s own feelings for him for all we know. That or she’s bound to try and tell him again anyway.
That was from the characters’ point of view. Narratively speaking now, I also think that Eremika makes a lot of sense for different reasons that @aspoonofsugar already explained in this very well-written post!
TL;DR while Ymir and Historia will sadly never come to be together I personally consider them canon, but otherwise the pairing most likely to get canon should be Eremika in my opinion.
Things between Casca and Guts really took a huge step forward after Guts left her and everyone else behind for a while to follow his own goal, which coincidentally led to a series of unfortunate events for their band of mercenaries. And it’s after Casca confronted him on the subject that they ended up realizing their mutual feelings.
I mean, do you see the little parallel there with what Eren’s latest shenanigans? So maybe Isayama-sensei is targeting a similar approach, which is to say that as long as Mikasa doesn’t really confront Eren about leaving everyone and her behind, he can’t possibly address her feelings for him again.
Anyway, the difference between Guts and Eren is that Guts (also being 19 at the time) was
never
dense about love, he just didn’t think Casca could love him back until that moment where they let it all out.
It’s just to share the idea. It may not happen like that, heck it may even not happen at all, but I felt like mentioning it just in case! Enjoy Anon!
Hello Anon! Well, considering Frances’ discussion with Vincent…
…it seems indeed that it’s best if there is a spare to the Watchdog’s heir, just in case something happens.
I wouldn’t say that it’s impossible for Frances to have been Vincent’s spare back during their childhood however, even as a woman, because…
Claudia being the Watchdog probably was a special case
in the first place, as there might have been no man to take on the title, which is why Victoria probably allowed her to take it on instead, as we debated here:
“if there were no surviving legitimate male relatives, the title would become extinct… Unless someone got a parliamentary and royal warrant to pass it on to the daughter.“
Following this logic, if Victoria had given the agreement to Claudia for the Watchdog’s duty, it doesn’t seem illogical to think that Frances was her mother’s second heir, the spare in case something happened to Vincent, the rightful heir. That’s even why she’s probably as strong as she is…
because she was trained to take on the Watchdog duty too, just in case.
Crack theory time (that I share with @aroturier): if our!Ciel hadn’t come back 4 years ago, we were wondering if the Queen wouldn’t have passed the Watchdog duty
on
to Frances (aka to the Midford family).
I hope it answers your question, have a nice day Anon!
Bringing this back because I really think that the reason people believe Frances was being harsh in ch132 is fallacious and this is bothering me.
Considering once again that Vincent’s predecessor was a woman because of special circumstances in the family, it must not have mattered to Claudia that she gave birth to a son and a daughter. That’s why she most likely raised them similarly: for their own protection but also should they both end up carrying the burden of the Watchdog duty.
So Frances saying what she said in ch 132 is not only her being worried about our!Ciel surviving as the Watchdog (and frankly she’s not wrong), but also her speaking as a first-hand witness: because the reason she’s so strong and has trained since childhood most likely is that she was Vincent’s own spare for the watchdog duty until he married and had heirs of his own.
Cue the discourse to Lizzie as well when she wanted to give up on fencing, with the example of her dead mother in mind cementing Frances’ conviction that being as strong as possible was one of the keys to surviving as a Phantomhive (and when you see Tanaka living this old as a close associate to the P family, there again I doubt Frances is wrong).
…because the Berserker’s armor is to be used with caution. ://
Have you never seen this illustration that Sensei made for the lulz about Berserk within universe 20 years later?
Well, look at Guts being older than everyone because he keeps using the armor too much. xD This illustration is a joke but the issue depicted is real: the armor is very useful but dangerous.
That being said, I do agree with you that the trip to Skellig is possibly about more than just bringing Casca back. Originally, the whole journey there was only for Casca’s sake, but now that they finally arrived, I’d say we could stay there for a while and for other reasons.
The first reason is that the magic community took a hard blow because of Griffith
…and the remaining sorcerers are possibly interested in fighting back against him one way or another.
The other reason is Guts himself: there is what you proposed indeed, but besides the physical changes, Guts has so much to solve.
there is what Slan did to him (the wound to his ethereal body, I don’t think it was ever 100% healed iirc?)
and there is the beast of darkness (that is staying low for now), which is related to his own trauma regarding the Eclipse
Casca is not the only one who needs to face what happened during the Eclipse.
In fact, Guts’ sanity so far rested on the only hope that Danan might be able to bring the woman he loves back. He clang so much onto it that he even disregarded his revenge against Griffith to will himself into trying to get her back. And even if he’s constantly reminding himself of what the Skull Knight said on the subject, I’m pretty sure a part of him is hoping Skully was wrong.
So now that Casca is back, no matter how she and Guts will behave around each other, Guts is without a goal and, for a man as tormented as him, I believe that can be extremely threatening (”hello darkness my old friend”).
That’s why I think Guts could have his own personal moment on Skellig where he might finally agree to look back onto everything that happened, in order to finally learn to cope too. Besides, if not on Skellig, where/when is he ever going to get the chance to reflect onto all that he went through?
Besides Guts and Casca, I also guess that their time on Skellig could trigger development for the rest of their friends: Farny and Schierke could train a little with other witches for example?
More than anything though, I wonder how likely it would be for Griffith’s army to target Skellig Island next. I mean, I still can’t give an explanation to this…
because I doubt Isma’s mom was worried about her daughter getting into trouble with Danan’s people or the sorcerers, so… Well, since Griffith targeted a lot of spirit woods previously (like Flora’s), who knows what he might have planned for Danan’s kingdom?
The fact we even switched to him recently in the narrative must also be for a reason, but it’s not like he’s getting really slowed down by other enemies…
…so eventually -maybe after he marries Charlotte?- he could decide to attack Skellig Island while Guts, Casca and their friends are still there.
Still on the same idea, but I just recently made a post about Guts having a tie to Elves according to the Skull Knight and this could also be expanded on while Guts stays on Skellig, especially if he ends up having to protect them should Griffith launch an attack.
Finally, an attack by Griffith could also lead to the Skull Knight showing up once more (since he’s the foe of all inhumans) and I find this would be extremely relevant considering that…
this is what Puck once thought about him (vol 18).
TL;DR everyone fighting on Skellig could be a way to conclude the arc on Skellig? And until we get there, I guess we could focus on Guts’ own trauma as well as Casca slowly getting used to being back, while Griffith chases monsters around, possibly gets married and decides that he will target Skellig next.
That’s my take on it. Rather uncertain because we switched to Griffith and don’t know why exactly for the moment, so we’ll need more content to be surer!
I hope it answers your question Anon. Thanks again for the kind words and have a lovely day. ❤
Listen tho’, I am 200% convinced that it is supposed to be super relevant and a big hint to a significant plot development (or answer about Guts) in the future.
I mean, look:
first there was the adorable Chitch…
…as a few random episodes right in the middle of vol37, before we switched to Rickert/Falconia and then again to Guts’ party finally reaching Skellig. And since I don’t think Sensei does random in his story… well, it must be narratively meaningful somehow. x)
Then, of course, there are all the references to Puck before they had even met, which in my opinion definitely hints that Puck and Guts could be linked by fate.
There was Judeau with some elf dust coming from Puck during the Golden age…
but also Rickert with some more elf dust coming from Puck, which was used to heal Casca and Guts after the Eclipse…
Puck who, unknowingly, was also of a great help to Guts during his two years as the terrifying Black Swordsman, as pointed out by Rickert once again…
…just like he was
already
hinted to be pretty significant to the plot in a very obvious way recently…
Puck who calls the Beherit Guts found in the first arc “his”…
and it’s been mentioned too often by now for me not to think it’s possibly hiding something relevant:
So I don’t know exactly what may link Guts and Puck, but fate is at work here and I’ll be really surprised if Puck doesn’t have an even bigger role in the future than during Guts’ Black Swordsman days.
It’s possible that the Beherit is really supposed to be his, especially since Puck knows all about Guts’ revenge against the Godhand and even met them in the very first arc. Not to say that Puck would sacrifice his friends or anything, but just that he may be the key to Guts going back to the Abyss
for the third time
in order to face the Godhand.
Otherwise, to be honest, I have had this super crack theory (i.e no real hint) for ages that maybe,
Guts survived through his rather savage birth circumstances because Puck happened to pass by and heal him? Then Gambino showed up soon after and the rest is history.
After all, we don’t know exactly when Puck left Skellig Island all those years ago, just like we don’t know if that circus troupe is the first group of humans he came upon (unless it was mentioned and I’m misremembering something?).
Besides, in Berserk, the notion of fate is extremely important, that’s why even Griffith couldn’t escape becoming Femto even when the Beherit was taken away from him that one time. So if the Skull Knight says that there is a possible tie between Guts and Elves, then I’m ready to believe it’s the case.
The question is does it come from Guts’ past or will it be explained by something that has yet to happen? Whichever it is, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be very important either to Guts’ character or to the plot iself (or both). :))
Awww ❤ ❤ ❤ Thank you for the very sweet message Anon-chan!
I also really love the Uta = OEK theory, in all its many versions actually. 😀 And I agree with you, I am choosing to see this as being unanswered rather than denied, especially considering that Sensei did so many artworks of Uta over the years. So I really think something was up with him and Sensei actually enjoyed the idea very much, but then… well something happened. :3
It’s not the only theory that was left unanswered, without mentioning all the biology-related questions I still have, but I’ll keep having my opinion on these topics as headcanons. :))
OMG good point about Itori’s feelings though! I explained to another Anon why I thought these were likely to exist way before the last chapter surprinsingly confirmed it, but you are 100% accurate…
It’s definitely some kind of confirmation to all these Uta theories! Ahh, thank you for sharing it with me Anon, it totally makes my day!! 😀
Honestly if Sensei ever decides to make a spin-off about 100 years ago (to answer about the Washuu family…
or even the Clowns and ghoul biology in general), I’ll be here. 🙂 I hope you’ll join me if this happens, Anon!
As for Kuroshitsuji and Berserk, no worries I’ll be there. 🙂 Don’t hesitate to pass by to chat or if you’ve got anything on your mind. I have a Berserk post coming up that I wanted to do for a long time but since it’s kinda a crack theory I’ve refrained from writing it till now. xD
Thanks again for passing by, for the nice words and sharing your thoughts Anon! ^3^ I really appreciate it and I hope we’ll discuss more in the future! ❤
Have a lovely day!
Hey Anon! Thanks, I’m glad so many people agree that this is a cool theory, haha! ^3^ (it may not be a theory anymore tho’, thanks Itori and Anon above)
I don’t think you’re in denial, in fact I agree with what @sentrakk proposed here, in the sense that another addition to the story remains possible, due to a lot of plot threads being left hanging (like the Uta theories for example).
I just am not sure that it should be a sequel is all, because Kaneki’s story is indeed over and it could be a difficult read if Sensei were to keep pushing in this direction. Of course, it could still be a sequel with a different protagonist: if that’s the case, I’d personally be interested in Kurona’s travels, Takizawa or even where Akira and Amon possibly left.
More than anything though, if we were to argue that Sensei might one day decide to add another part to his story, personally I’d like a prequel (kinda like he did with TG: Jack & Arima), mostly because going back to 100 years ago would give us a lot of answers about all the relevant topics I was super fond of (they’re mentioned above). xD
Focusing on world building is one thing I particularly like in complex series: it’s something that Sensei tried to do with ghoul biology, the Washuus, V, the sunlit garden, sunlit society, the mention of other countries besides Japan… but in the end, just like many other parts, Sensei couldn’t finish what he started.
I don’t blame him and I’m not bitter, because I could sense it coming for a while even if I would have loved to be proved wrong, but at some point between the complex world building and Kaneki’s own complex story, I think Sensei just got tired, which is why :Re ended the way it did.
So in my opinion, the way he finished :Re definitely left some room for a possible addition (prequel, side story, sequel) if one day he decides to tackle this again. This day might never come, but the possibility does exist.
Hi! Ah, it was a hunch, but it was fueled by two different explanations. 🙂
The first one was that, considering all the (or related to the) old oek!Uta theories, since Itori was the one who introduced us rather seriously to the concept of hybrids, I thought that maybe she was supposed to be a parallel to Touka from the moment we learnt about Touka’s pregnancy.
And no matter what my take on her backstory was (since I had different ideas), the parallel to Touka did seem likely to me and so I imagined that maybe she felt something towards Uta (seeing what she said in ch148 too). Of course that didn’t have to mean Uta felt the same as Kaneki or anything, but just that the possibility of Itori’s feelings did exist.
The second explanation happened when I realized Sensei would probably never target the matter of the Clowns’ agency after ch171 was released.
However, in that case Itori being friends with both Uta and Yomo but following Uta around (being a Clown, saving Yomo for him in the 24th ward, their shared past in the 4th ward before they met Yomo, etc) hinted rather clearly (for me) that there could be more than friendship for her.
That’s why I thought it made sense, even if I didn’t really expect it to ever be addressed, so that part of the last chapter in particular was a very good surprise!
I hope it answers your question, have a nice day Anon!
It’s the third arc now that we are faced with UT’s shenanigans involving the dead being brought back to a state that resembles “life” and, in each arc, UT gave pieces of his motivations, so that we could try and assemble the puzzle.
As with everything else, it is only my opinion, but I don’t believe that bringing back the twin is UT’s ultimate goal or end. It’s not just a mean, but it’s not the only end either, so
there is probably more that UT thought he ought to achieve through the BD project.
Thanks to ch140, it’s confirmed that UT’s goal is strongly related to his connection to the Phantomhive family, so this post will focus on that to try and explain how we ended up with UT going off the rails so badly.
First of all, please note the reasons for his actions he gave in each arc so far:
# Campania arc
The Campania arc tells us that the original idea was born while he was still a shinigami or about to desert. However this doesn’t mean that he started to work on his BD project back then already, just that the idea that started everything is older than his connection to the P family.
Furthermore, it’s implied that what triggered it all at its very origin was UT’s curiosity in humans. By Grell’s words or Seb’s, a Shinigami is a being who’s supposed “to stand neutral between Gods and Humans” (JTR arc) and yet as far as UT is concerned…
…”he was seduced by the lives of humans” and that’s probably why he ended up deserting with that little idea born from curiosity about “what would happen should we edit a human’s cinematic record”.
# Weston arc
This time it’s slightly more defined and there is a notion of UT’s personal wish already underlying there.
It’s not exactly about curiosity towards humans in general, even if the way he’s jokingly presenting it could be misleading. In my opinion, since the fated end he’s talking about here is death, it seems UT simply isn’t fond of how death can take interesting humans away from him, thus putting a stop to UT’s “fun”.
So editing the records and bringing them back (cheating death), would allow UT “to look beyond the fated end” and pretend as if death didn’t take these precious humans away from him (also, from the way it’s worded, maybe UT was thinking about a human in particular and something that he was expecting to see with them, but couldn’t because this person died, which leads to the same thing).
Anyway, I think maybe this would sound slightly less insanely random if we consider UT’s existence overall:
if he is a Shinigami then it means that he hated his previous life so much that giving up on it was his only way out
yet he’s not exactly “dead” because Shinigamis work hard to earn redemption after killing themselves, so it’s understandable that the idea to bring back humans who didn’t kill themselves would interest him when Shinigamis are such an odd example of “dead” in the first place
besides that and considering the way Sensei uses comic relief in her story, if UT likes having fun so much (making it payment in exchange for his info), it could be that the notion was unknown to him until someone he met after his desertion taught him what it was, thus why he’s so fond of it.
This shouldn’t be an excuse to anything he did obviously, but at least that factors into understanding why he’s so interested in whatever is “beyond the fated end”, thus perfecting his BD project to bring back some people in particular and make them as seemingly human & alive as possible.
# Blue sect arc
The current arc answers an even more specific question revolving around why UT went through so much trouble in order to bring Ciel’s twin in particular back and the answer is that the twin himself is just supposed to be a representation of how much UT seems to care about salvaging the Phantomhive family from death.
So it’s not that UT cares specifically about bringing real!Ciel Phantomhive back, more like his grand dream would be to have all of them back if he can make it happen (the little issue here being that we already know bringing back Vincent is impossible), because of the connection he has to them through Claudia.
And it’s not about giving them another chance at life, nope nope:
either it’s about “me, myself and I” because UT doesn’t want his connection to the P family (to Claudia in particular?) to disappear
or it’s because he promised Claudia he’d protect them all and he doesn’t want to fail his promise to her
Either way it’s entirely selfish. That’s why he can even mention having a custom coffin already waiting for our!Ciel: in case our boy dies, well, it’s okay because UT now has the perfect way to bring him back (from his current point of view).
In other words, is there a difference between life and death?
Well, not as far as UT is concerned, because that’s the only way he found to keep going: the Phantomhives are almost all dead? Thanks to his BD project it doesn’t matter though, because UT is just happy to have a way to see them all again after all this time.
So chronologically speaking, what happened?
UT killed himself and became a Shinigami.
Before deserting, UT got curious about what would happen if he were to edit a human’s cinematic record
Then he deserted for a reason possibly related to “being seduced by the lives of humans”
afterwards we don’t know what happened but we know his connection to the P family started because he met Claudia Phantomhive
and ch140 confirms that one goal of UT through the BD project is to make sure he “won’t lose another Phantomhive”.
I’m kinda digressing but I think we received enough hints throughout the story to consider that Claudia Phantomhive really is the start of everything when it comes to UT’s attitude and attachment to the P family and thus to his place in the whole narrative…
…even if the truth behind the bond between UT and Claudia remains a mystery till now. The nature of his own feelings isn’t really hard to guess, but we know nothing when it comes to Claudia’s (so is UT Cedric K Ros– or not => no idea).
What’s likely tho’ is that, through this bond (and even if he had unrequited feelings), UT probably lived several years where he was happy (maybe for the first time ever or in a long long time), even possibly living the human life that seduced him into deserting in the first place (if he was Cedric K. Ros–?).
However, the Watchdog duty then got in the way…
leading to the situation as we know it now, with Claudia and Vincent dead and only the twins left (since we don’t know how he feels towards Frances’ side of the family for now).
Finally, to say that the BD project is entirely about the P family would possibly be a mistake because Claudia’s locket belongs on a chain with 6 others and UT referred to all of them as “his treasure” during the Campania arc.
That being said, even if he didn’t care exclusively about Claudia back in the days, it’s likely that she was still extremely important to him, especially if he had romantic feelings for her (or if just because the story revolves around her grandson and UT is too present in the narrative for this to be a coincidence).
TL;DR there is a good chance that, while the experiments for the BD project as we know them possibly started when UT decided to bring back the twin…
…the entire thought process between the idea he had as a Shinigami to the actual realization he started to work on 4 years ago was triggered by Claudia’s death as well as the death of the other people represented by the lockets.
So, yes: UT is most likely using the BD project as the ultimate mean to “recreate” the years he spent alongside some humans he truly cared about (7 lockets + Phantomhive family) but who are almost all dead now. And it’s likely (thanks to the current arc) that he’s also justifying it as not being only for himself but also for other members of the P family (like our!Ciel, or even Frances, Lizzie, etc).
Call it madness or desperation, I’m not here to excuse him because that’s selfishness alright. As for to the upcoming consequences of his acts, I’ve already spoken of them here.
As always, thanks for reading and let me know if anything is unclear. 🙂
One thing that bothers me about the cliffhanger: how and why did Grell and Othello end up at the Phantomhive manor?
Initially I thought that maybe the death list indicated yet another soul to collect in the Phantomhive manor (after Agni ;_;), but then again, from the way Othello speaks, it’s implied that their reason for being here has to do with tracking UT. So the question is, if that’s the case, how did they track UT in the first place?
Did they ask Bravat/did Bravat immediately sell him out?
Not impossible to consider, since we know absolutely nothing about the link between Bravat and the Undertaker in the first place. We don’t even know if UT recruited Bravat as a pawn, or if Bravat’s sect and UT joined for the sake of a common experiment for the count of another organization (like the Osiris company for example), etc.
However, real!Ciel = lord Sirius = the blue star and it seems Bravat is rather fond of him and the other star lords in a fanatical way so…
I doubt Bravat would have led Shinigamis right to real!Ciel since he’s an unauthorized BD and he took great care of them till now.
Same idea but with Lizzie?
Mostly because we don’t know what Othello and Grell did between collecting Agni’s soul and showing up to the manor + because we don’t know where Lizzie is at the moment, even if Paula said that apparently she went to be by real!Ciel’s side (so she should be at the manor or arriving soon in theory?).
Just think about it, the Shinigamis investigated the Sphere music hall (maybe more than once?) so they could have stumbled upon each other and Lizzie could have sold UT out, especially since…
her only reason for staying at the Sphere music hall seemed to have to do with trying to “save real!Ciel” (instead of being mad at our!Ciel I mean), whatever this is supposed to imply.
For example, if she’s talking about not having the same blood type, then it’s mostly irrelevant. However if she’s talking about trying to rescue real!Ciel from the blue sect because she’s a clever girl, then she could have noticed the potential threat caused by UT and could have given his whereabouts to the Shinigamis recently if she met them.
It’s a bit wonky considering the timeline (since we’re still on the same day of Agni’s death and Ed going to fetch Paula) so not the most likely, but I still wanted to mention it.
Othello figured it out?
One way or another since he’s clever, but possibly even more easily if we remember this part from ch125:
Because Ciel possibly looks like 4 people: Vincent, Rachel, possibly Claudia and, of course, his twin brother.
So far I had considered the possibility of Claudia the most because of “50 years ago” but, again, since Othello and Grell investigated the Sphere music hall, for all we know Othello possibly stumbled upon the 4 star lords in their room.
So, imagine this: at some point Othello quickly saw the twin in the Sphere music hall, but since he’s an advanced BD or for whatever other reason, he didn’t think a lot about it. Then Othello met Ciel in Bath in ch125 and was striken by the resemblance.
Afterwards, all he had to do was to ask Grell about who Ciel was, maybe check the Shinigami files about Ciel’s family (the ones that Sascha and Ludgar had for example) and notice that Ciel had a twin brother who supposedly died 4 years ago.
And then, once they were done with collecting Agni’s soul and maybe rechecking the Sphere music hall to find the twin (but he wasn’t there), Othello convinced Grell to head to the Phantomhive manor to possibly catch the twin & whoever brought him back.
Plot convenience?
More often than not, it can be a thing in the story and in that case there is no need for an explanation.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
Guess we’ll see next month!! Let me know if you have other ideas. 🙂
EDIT: the more I think about your idea @kurorealciel
the more I like it. Yeah they could have tailed real!Ciel and the guy who killed Agni after Agni’s death. :))
midnight-in-town 