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. :))
I’m really intrigued by Othello’s attitude at the end of 141. Just going by what we’ve seen of him, he doesn’t seem to be an aggressive or sadistic individual. He’s otherwise pretty laidback and content with his own sphere of work. Science excites him the same way it excites Sieglinde, Sebastian, and Sascha, so nothing new there either.
But he looked so smug when he revealed himself to Undertaker on that last page. It was a total “gotcha!” moment. And I do remember Othello mentioning knowing a person 50 years ago (coinciding with the date UT deserted). That aside, Grell/Ronald/Will have reason to be upset with UT for Campania, but Grell and Ronald really only met him that one time. Grell’s got the right to dislike UT for all the trouble he caused her, and for slicing them up, but it’s not unfiltered hatred.
So what I’m getting at is- I think Othello has a personal vendetta against UT and has been waiting for the right moment to enact righteous punishment, AKA revenge. I don’t know what this grudge came from, but it’s entirely possible the two were once co-workers. We know nothing about shinigami politics, but given their emphasis on teamwork, I think each reaper’s chances of redemption and moving on/promotion depends on the collective result of their respective dispatches.
Maybe in abandoning his dispatch, UT completely shot Othello’s chances of redemption and obviously did not care about whatever situation he left Othello in. And now it’s Othello’s turn to fuck up UT’s life, one way or another.
It’d be ironic if this was the case, though, because UT’s been so preoccupied with his own emotions and plans that he’s neglected all the victims in his wake (Ex. the Campania passengers, OC, maybe Elizabeth, etc.). And he’s had no consequences, because the power’s been in his hands- none of his victims could have fought back. Until now. Othello would be a reminder that UT can’t get away with anything he wants and that for every action, there’s a reaction.
Just to point out that nothing was explained about the current arc with the newest chapter, which is once again reinforcing (for me) the idea that this arc might not just be about UT’s shenanigans.
Ch141 tells us that real!Ciel went through all of UT’s experiments that concluded in the Campania
and Weston arcs
for other bizarre dolls besides him.
The question now is how we went from UT’s coffin and the Weston arc to…
real!Ciel becoming “Lord Sirius”/”the blue star”. This is something that UT didn’t explain, without mentioning that, if bringing back the twin was the first goal of the bizarre doll project, then who the hell mass produced the idea (?) through the blue sect?
UT may not have had the time nor the need to make it a business as I pointed out before, especially since he was apparently
really focusing on the twin, which also seems to be logical when we listen to Othello said in ch119/125:
Knowing that Othello has most probably known Undertaker since he was a shinigami, will Othello refer to Undertaker as his real name? Will we finally find out what his real identity is?
I hope so, because by just uncovering his real name a lot of theories can be proven or debunked. We NEED to know about his relationship to Cloudia.
Hopefully he didn’t have one name as a Shinigami and a different one as his “birth” name.
I’m thinking Sensei has a good guess of what the big fandom theories are so, even if IDK whether or not the UT = Cedric theory is also a thing in the JPN fandom, I guess the next step in July would simply be to confirm or deny Othello and UT knowing each other (thus going back to the case of 50 years ago eventually)?
In my opinion Sensei giving us UT’s real name won’t be for anytime soon, especially if she wants to tease some more about the “UT = Cedric?” idea. However a confirmation that Othello and UT know each other can lead to maybe Othello telling Ciel later some stuff about 50 years ago, including why he thought that Ciel looked familiar somehow (at least if that part is related to Claudia and not the twin, which is what we don’t know).
I’m aware it’s my umpteenth recap post for this arc, but I’ve seen a lot of posts that are throwing UT’s characterization to the bushes after ch140 + I still can’t believe that this arc is as simple as it appears to be after almost 3 years of it, so here’s one more.
It’s nothing particularly new if you’ve been following my posts or reblogs on the topic for the past year, but less than the arc itself, I’m mostly going to focus on what possibly led to it. In fact if you read @frederickabberline‘s own recap post that is more recent, you will probably see where I’m going in general.
The reason I’m writing this post, despite possibly being proven wrong in a week or so, is because I’ve been into Kuroshitsuji for 6 or 7 years now, there are subplots everywhere that have been left hanging, and I refuse to stop believing that Sensei can craft a good story when she gave us arcs like the Campania or when she writes amazing characters.
Moving on, I’m just going to start with UT’s character:
‘Cause actually ch140 finally confirms that UT’s motivation in the story 100% revolves around the Phantomhive family
But that doesn’t mean that “bringing the twin back” was his only goal for the last 4 years.
Because not only would that imply UT gives 0 shit about our!Ciel selling his soul to a demon and that is so not true
but also because that’d create some inconsistencies with what we’ve seen of his character so far, since bringing back the twin or Ciel’s contract aren’t just what’s on UT’s mind.
I mean, guys, if UT’s motivation centers around the P family, wouldn’t you say that a little something might be linked to his issues with losing so many of them?
And he did express some concerns about our!Ciel too on this matter:
In other words UT most likely has at least 3 goals:
bringing back the dead Phantomhives (for now it’s just the twin though, because Vincent’s body is too damaged and we don’t know about Claudia) => something that’s for his own sake
saving Ciel’s soul from the contract => something that he put on hold despite almost killing Seb during the Campania arc, because Seb can be useful to protect our!Ciel against a more urgent matter, that is…
saving Ciel from the Watchdog duty/Victoria => because in just one year Ciel already did too many mistakes that most likely will end up costing him, like it most likely cost his predecessors.
you could also see this as UT wanting revenge against Victoria because of Vincent and Claudia, it’s the same.
It’s simple logic: if the Watchdog duty is responsible for taking the Phantomhives away from UT, then that explains why UT literally said he was no big fan of Victoria, especially if he believes she deliberately led Ciel’s predecessor(s) to their death. Thus trying to take Seb down can wait because…
…he can be useful to protect Ciel from whatever Victoria/Brown may plan as punishment (the Murders at manor arc being just a preview).
I’m aware that, currently, what’s super hard to decipher about UT’s character is how he sees what’s left of the P family, but I think that’s precisely what this arc is also supposed to establish, mainly through Othello’s introduction (so we might get more insights into UT’s character and backstory, which is always helpful) but also possibly through whatever will happen to Lizzie (since establishing if UT gives a damn about the Midfords would tell us what kind of obsession he has).
Until we get there though, what I wanted to insist on was the idea that personally I doubt that this super long arc is only supposed to focus on just one of UT’s goals (i.e bringing back the twin and why it’s a bad idea), because narratively speaking it’s weird and, for now, it seems to leave a lot of plot holes.
However, since I also think that taking Seb down is on hold for UT, because of more urgent matters, it means that perhaps this arc can also be about UT’s little grudge against Queen Victoria, even if indirectly, as a follow up to the Campania and Weston arcs on some aspects (I’ll expand on that in a minute).
What’s important to keep in mind is that the Bizarre Doll project originally comes from UT before his desertion wondering about if cinematic records could be edited.
Now we don’t know yet what the trigger was that led from curiosity about the CRs to thinking that maybe UT could bring back the dead if he experimented, but I’d bet on Claudia/Vincent/the twin’s death.
The whole point though is that UT would have probably needed backup, while in the early stages of experimentation: to get funds if needed, to get enough corpses, a way to make counterfeit records that he would then add to the corpses’, then a way to get those episodes he used in the Weston arc, etc.
And aside from support, he probably also needed a place to “store” the twin until he could finally manage to bring him back (so the body wouldn’t rot for example), since he saved his body 4 years ago.
So overall, I think that’s the whole point of him joining/using the Aurora society
or even striking a deal with these “eccentric fellows”.
Think about it: his goal was at least bringing back the twin, but in order to achieve this, he first needed to experiment on a lot of corpses and if he received support from “eccentric fellows”, then obviously those same guys would have wanted to see results => that’s the Campania arc.
There is a common theme tied with the Campania arc though, which was introduced in the arc previous to it: the upcoming war between at least Germany and England. Yes, it escaped no one (not even dear Victoria) that UT’s bizarre dolls would make amazing war weapons.
Anyway, UT got what he wanted from the Campania arc and he gave results to “these eccentric fellows”, as well as potential clients of theirs, using what was his first prototype of Bizarre Dolls (CR edited with counterfeit memories).
Then the Weston arc happened and it’s been 6 years, but I’m still wondering about why UT felt the need to be involved in the first place. I mean, sure, because of the Aurora society he made BDs for the ones who were killed by the Prefect 4, but since he had already inserted them (or at least just Agares) back before Ciel even joined Weston, why did he feel the need to pretend being the Principal ever since the cricket match?
For the lulz? Maybe. To see how Agares would manage, since he was UT’s masterpiece at the time? Again, maybe, but he could have done that from afar.
Another explanation could also be that he knew why Ciel was sent to Weston…
…and becoming directly involved was his way to make sure that, this time, Ciel would tell the Queen about him and his second prototype of bizarre dolls (CR edited with “episodes” coming from the corpses’ longing for the future).
Weston was different from the Campania because the Campania was something Ciel decided to investigate on his own, so he had no report to make to the Queen. After Weston though, he just had no other choice but to tell the whole truth, which is
possibly
what UT was counting on…
especially if he knew about Victoria’s war plans and that she would be interested in such a technique.
Obviously, since UT most likely personally despises Victoria, I doubt he would be happy to help her with anything. However, if UT has a deal with those “eccentric fellows” and if those BDs he’s making are a business that “those eccentric fellows” intend on selling to the highest bidder for the upcoming war, then if he really wanted to thwart Victoria’s war plans, he could…
advertise these weapons to her enemies for example.
UT’s Bizarre Dolls might not even be the only weapons “those eccentric fellows” have to sell. For example, if we look at the current arc…
And Sieglinde confirmed that the Blue Sect definitely mastered the technique through probably experimenting and then “dialyzing” those old lords from the Parliament.
Obviously we don’t know yet how the blood transfusions even factor into how/when UT brought back the twin or who invented all those devices that Othello was sent to investigate (ch125), but all in all, what’s important is that…
…Victoria felt threatened when UT is definitely involved again.
As it is right now, there is a lot we don’t quite get yet about the current arc so I only want to mention that maybe there is a difference between “bringing the twin back” and “being behind the blue sect” as far as UT is concerned in this arc.
Of course, it really does seem that the twin is at the heart of the Blue Sect…
…but why/when/how did UT create a whole sect surrounding something that’s so personal to him
when he had the twin’s corpse for 4 years
and he also said
? Especially when that sect initially seemed to be about researching blood transfusions? And when he also seems involved with “eccentric fellows”, according to the Campania arc? Couldn’t we tie everything somehow?
Everything from here onward is theoretical and just my opinion, but looking at what Othello said:
…who knows if “those eccentric fellows”/the Osiris company/the blue sect aren’t a group of humans working with several supernatural beings and experimenting with very advanced technology in different fields?
So an example of explanation for the current arc could be that:
UT initially struck a deal with “these eccentric fellows” in order to be able to experiment as much as he needed in order to make a perfect bizarre doll
because ultimately he wanted to bring (at least) the twin back
but also because at the same time all the other BDs he made to experiment could be sold and used as war weapons, thus allowing “these eccentric fellows” to make money off their deal
meanwhile, another part
of “those eccentric fellows” researched about blood transfusion
(with the help of another supernatural being who helped making those advanced devices?)
which led to them making money by “dialyzing” those old lords from the Parliament
but also possibly in order to eventually sell the technique to different armies for the upcoming war.
Then maybe, after the Weston arc, UT had the idea to combine these two (initially unrelated) methods, or “these eccentric fellows” wanted him to try, leading to the twin becoming “the blue star” and heart of Bravat’s blue sect, despite the fact that UT wanting the twin back is 100% personal.
I guess that’s when it leads to theories about what exactly Lizzie and Tanaka know about this arc, since I still don’t think Lizzie chose the twin’s side (or was crying about not being able to give her blood to real!Ciel in ch113) or that Tanaka just randomly expected the twin to come back one day.
Same for whatever UT meant in ch108 and what that liquid was (since I also don’t buy that he was able to get the twin’s soul back from Seb or whatever).
(I mean, why would it be “too early to awaken” when UT’s been working towards this goal for 4 years?)
Finally, UT being cornered into bringing back the twin as a part of another experiment by “these eccentric fellows” (instead of just on his own terms) could also explain the lack of control that he seems to have over the twin.
Bringing back the twin is something of personal significance for UT, however if Bravat’s sect represents another party that is involved with his revival, it could be that they revere the twin (and the other star lords) to the point that…
…they let this happened (by ‘this’ I mean the violence overall that took place in the town house).
Fair enough, UT probably does not care about Soma or Agni, but would he even want the twin to go this far in order to reach his brother? Sure the twin is dead and has no soul anymore but…
in general it seems UT isn’t pro-violence where the Phantomhives are concerned? I could be reading wayyy too much into this though.
…And it could be the same for Lizzie when you think about it, since she apparently gave some of her blood (at least once in ch112?) and could have been hurt way more than she was when she fought against Seb (ch117).
If UT is the mastermind behind this, then that just screams that he doesn’t care or just that he bet Seb wouldn’t kill Lizzie because Ciel wouldn’t forgive him (even though Lizzie is related to Claudia the same way the twins are). However if the current arc is somehow divided between two parties (UT with his personal goal and Bravat’s sect) then that could explain why Lizzie ended up having some rough times despite her possible significance to UT.
TL;DR Lots of questions, lots of possible answers, lots of uncertainty, my only stance on this is that I doubt we’re just supposed to pile the current arc on top of the rest of the story without any link between the different parts (more than just the 2CT finally being confirmed I mean).
It’s a long arc, it’s a complex arc, it introduced the twin, addressed what happened 4 years ago but now it’s focusing on UT’s motivations too, so is it really just going to end like the Campania and Weston arcs when even those arcs still seem to have unanswered points?
I guess we’ll see on June 18th… Thanks for reading! Sorry it was so long. :3
This is just in case we actually start to get to the bottom of this arc in this month’s upcoming chapter. Here’s a list starting with ch108, but feel free to add in case you think I possibly forgot something!
Last update: 12/12
Ch108: what is that weird liquid that UT gave to the twin and why did he say “it’s still too early for you to wake up”?
About Bravat himself: is he a charlatan, or is he a scientist maybe?
He’s human and didn’t use to be a good deviner (ch143)
Also did he really see through Seb’s disguise or was this all pretending too?
He confirmed that he sensed Seb was different at first glance! (ch145)
ch112: how many times did Lizzie give some of her blood to Lord Canopus?
ch113: what did Lizzie mean when she was crying about “not being able to save the twin”? Save him from who or what?
it was most likely about not having the same blood type ‘cause they don’t know about universal recipients (ch144)
ch114/119: about blood transfusions => who mastered the procedure? Does it serve a purpose outside the 4 or 5 star lords (like war, as Wolfram pointed out)? How does it play into making more “perfect” bizarre dolls?
Is it why real!Ciel “grew up” despite dying 4 years ago?
How come no one knows that AB (sirius) is the universal recipient type?
ch114: Othello and “50 years ago” => is this old case relevant to the current arc somehow? Or is it just related to UT’s desertion?
Othello and UT know each other = confirmed (ch142)
ch115: about the twin’s damaged arms that we can see => is it because he’s dependent on blood transfusions?
ch116: is there a reason Nina was chosen by the sect to make all the outfits? Could it be because “the Hopkins tailors have outfitted generations of the Phantomhive family” (and “it’s all for the blue star” who’s the twin)?
ch117: why are the rooms for the 4 or 5 star lords so different? Is it supposed to remind them of their previous environment/social condition when they were still alive?
ch119: Any chance that us finding out about Wolfram having the B blood type (same as Lizzie) will be relevant later? To transfuse Lizzie maybe?
still ch119: was Othello speaking about UT when he said “that one didn’t know much about this stuff… who else is there?”? If so, then can another supernatural being be involved with the sect?
ch123: we found out that Lord Sirius is real!Ciel, but what about the other star lords’ identity? Are they possibly characters we already met (and who died)?
ch124: how/when did Bravat/the blue sect came to know and dialyze those old lords from the Parliament?
About the blue sect: any possible link to the Aurora society or even the mysterious Osiris company?
Also if UT is really the only mastermind behind this, then why the change of method between the Weston arc and now, when he called Agares a masterpiece?
ch125: what’s the point of making a second music hall in Bath? Or is it just a false lead, because it was just the place where Bravat would dialyze the old lords?
ch126: was the twin wearing an eyepatch when he came to attack Agni and Soma? If no, did Soma just fail to notice the difference with our!Ciel?
ch127: who killed Agni? Is it Polaris, the “blue star’s butler”, or is it someone else? Also is he human or a supernatural being, since Agni commented that his killer was really strong?
ch128: what was the purpose of the attack on Soma and Agni? Leaving our!Ciel a message (”who stole the candy from my tummy”)? Or simply the twin being jealous (since Soma does call himself Ciel’s “big brother”)? Something else related to the curry arc maybe, since Ciel made sure Scotland Yard wouldn’t get to Agni?
ch129: Did Ciel leave the pieces of the photo with Soma when they took him to Sieglinde? Will Sieglinde manage to convince Soma that our!Ciel is not the one who attacked him (since he’s the one who brought Soma + especially since she saw our!Ciel has the contract’s seal in his right eye)?
ch129: between the dead lords from the Parliament in ch125 and Violet probably giving the name “Ciel Phantomhive” for the blue star’s identity to Scotland Yard, will our!Ciel get in big troubles and accused of all that Bravat did in this arc?
Yes, he was for a good part of it (ch143)
where are the Double Charles?
ch129: since the servants initially thought the twin was our!Ciel, did they not notice the possible absence of Sebastian by his side? Or do we have a doppelgänger for Seb too?
ch130: how comes Tanaka didn’t appear very surprised about the twin’s return? Could he have known in advance? But if so, who told him and why? (additional question: was it foreshadowed in ch120?)
Also, how and when did Tanaka find out about our!Ciel taking his brother’s identity? Could this be related to him knowing the twin was coming back?
Putting aside the fact that, ever since last year, we got no new info about her character in canon (hopefully my grandchildren will be here to see the day it happens and tell my ashes about it), I wanted to make some sort of list about the few things we know + link to some of my favorite posts about her
written
over the last year. 😀
Feel free to add some links to fanarts, fanfictions or posts that you may like about her too! However, I must insist, you have to source and respect the creator’s wishes about their work if you intend to do that. Thanks in advance. 🙂
Facts/likely ideas
She was born as a Phantomhive and was Victoria’s Watchdog before Vincent (from ch15, 103, 116)
Here’s to (hopefully) learning something new about her this year! (^3^)/
Maybe it’s just me reading too much into this, but the way this is written/translated is giving me the feeling that, unlike the fake memories from the Campania arc, UT possibly isn’t the one who extracted those “episodes” (even if he’s the one who added them to the records)…
…If it’s true though, then this could further solidify the idea that he’s possibly not the only supernatural being involved with bringing back the dead…
Are you perhaps asking about what Sensei said here? Because if so, what she literally said was:
It’s not a generality regarding her drawing style, it’s just for these 4, which means that the same doesn’t go for the twins. In other words:
Lizzie => takes after Alexis
Edward
=> takes after Frances who takes after Cedric K. Ros
EDIT: the twins => were described to be a mix of their parents in canon but I do think they appear to take more after Vincent than Rachel (Vincent who takes after Claudia)
Aaaaaand actually maybe the twins taking after Vincent (and thus Claudia) is why Othello said…
because the last time he was in the human world (“50 years ago”), Claudia was still alive. :3
Hi, thank you for reading Anon! :3 Aww you know you might as well ask even when the Anon mode is not on though, I answer privately if you do. :))
So iirc, what I was saying is that we don’t know yet when UT met Claudia but that I think it’s possible their first meeting was 50 years ago, on that case Othello also took part in, because Ohello said…
And it’s just my opinion, but I think he could be hinting at Claudia there, for several reasons.
First of all, if somehow Othello was talking about the twin because he had already met him, then that’d mean he and Grell would have already found out about the star lords being most likely something like bizarre dolls and as such, they would have tried to take them out and the arc would already be over. Besides, since Othello is constantly with Grell, if he had met the twin then so would have Grell, and Grell knew Ciel from before, so they would have said something in ch125 too.
So a conclusion is that Othello probably wasn’t talking about the twin here.
Secondly, the last time Othello was in the human world was approximately 50 years ago (1840~)…
and being born in 1830, only Claudia was alive back then. Now, thanks to what Sensei once explained (here) about the drawing concept of Vincent/Frances and Liz/Ed, we know that Vincent strongly resembles Claudia. The twins, however, don’t share this concept and take more after their father than after their mother (one look and you can tell).
So if Vincent looks a lot like Claudia and the twins look a lot like him, then it’s a syllogism and we can assume that the twins also look a lot like their grandmother, who would have been alive and approximately of the same age the last time Othello was in the human world.
And so, if UT was on that same case as Othello approximately “50 years ago”, maybe that’s the first time he met Claudia even if, again, that doesn’t mean he deserted for a reason related to her, since we know he was already more than fed up with his job for a while before leaving. :))
All in all, what it means is that Othello probably has interesting things to share about “50 years ago” as well as possibly UT’s desertion and/or Claudia, but we need the current arc to move on a little before we get to that part. 🙂
I hope it makes sense Anon! Sorry you had to wait the whole week to ask. Have a nice day :3
Have a nice day :3
midnight-in-town 