blackreapersreign:

midnight-in-town:

Crack theory: the Phantomhive lineage is at the origin of the Watchdog duty

Very old idea related to ch103 & the GW arc overall that I never took the time to write. 

Based on the fact that Claudia was most likely Vincent’s predecessor, which is implying that, when no more male heir available, using a woman from the Phantomhive family as the Watchdog was apparently a better alternative than giving the job to another nobleman loyal to the royal family.

@frederickabberline previously made a post explaining under which circumstances noble women could inherit anything, so it isn’t strange that Claudia was able to get that title. Still, the Watchdog position implies keeping control over the underworld, solving weird cases and cleaning up after the royal family, so it’s not exactly a normal position.

To keep it within a family specifically (the Phantomhives) could be a matter of keeping the Watchdog’s identity a secret, but…

…clearly ch132 and Vincent explain that, if no more heir, the whole thing goes back to the crown who decides who they’ll give it to next. So it’s probably Victoria who decided to give it to Claudia in the first place, allowing her to inherit despite being a woman (we don’t know when) and…

it’s also the Queen who decided that a 10 year old boy from the same family would receive that position. 

So, assuming that the royal family intends on keeping the Watchdog duty as tightly related to the P family as possible, the question is why? Well, my answer for now would be the lineage thing.

Granted that we don’t know exactly what that lineage is yet, why it apparently has to be activated, etc, but it seems to at least have to do with being able to see/sense/detect supernatural beings. So far:

• Ciel managed to spot the Shinigamis in ch103 despite them being invisible to normal human eyes at the time
• there is a suspicion about Frances also being able to see through Seb’s human disguise (not saying she knows he’s a demon, but at least that he’s not human)
• the German Shinigamis said that “it runs in the family” so we can assume that it spans more than just two generations (so it’s most likely unrelated to whoever Cedric K. Ros- is) 

And I’m of the opinion that it could probably be seen as useful if the royal family were to know about (and believe) it. 

For now though, it’s hard to consider whether or not Victoria herself gave out hints that she might know about the lineage, because her absence of surprise towards Ciel’s report for the Weston arc could also be explained by John Brown most likely being supernatural and by her side, as many have guessed before.

The thing is, I find there is a possible analogy between the Watchdog’s duty

and Seb’s own situation as Ciel’s personal dog

Because Will basically said that a demon with a leash on (the contract & Seb’s own aesthetic) was better than free demons who would probably go around scavenging for souls that Shinigamis work hard to collect. 

And it’s kinda the same if we’re considering that the Phantomhives are dogs to the royal family: putting a collar on them makes them less dangerous and more easy to keep under control (eventually hanging them with it if needs be, as UT pointed out), especially if what the royal family was originally interested in was how useful the Phantomhive lineage could be to them. 

The other reason I came up with this theory is the Green Witch arc overall: again it’s just my opinion but, while the last part of the arc was really good, I have a few issues with the rest of it.
I explained here why but, to sum up: compared to all the other arcs, the fake supernatural settings (werewolves, witch, curse/magic, etc) are rather unrelated to the true subplot (German army researching war weapons using a young genius), which is unusual and makes it too convenient as a result. 

That being said, since I like to believe that Sensei does things for a reason, I’ve been thinking that maybe the fake supernatural settings of the GW arc are supposed to be relevant elsewhere in the story, kinda like how the murders at manor arc ended up being used as an introduction to the war suplot. 

So initially, looking at what Sieglinde believed to be the truth, you get this story…

and let’s just say that this is a situation that could have easily been applied to the Phantomhive family, if anyone ever found out that they were “gifted”.

Again, we don’t know what the lineage is or where it comes from, but if Ciel’s ancestors ended up being hunted as heretics

at some point

because of it, then similarly to Sieglinde’s story, who knows if they didn’t agree to a pact with the royal family (the Watchdog duty), in exchange for their protection?

That pact gave the royal family the huge advantage to get their own little gifted dogs, generations after generations, and to use that special lineage indirectly for themselves…

…as long as they kept a tight leash on this family.  

---

I’m aware it might appear a little far-fetched, especially when we don’t know what the lineage

really

is about yet, but that’s why it’s a crack theory. 

To be honest though, I can’t help but also wonder about the timing of the lineage thing’s introduction by Sensei: ch103 is right during the final part of the GW arc after all, so it could be a coincidence or narratively meaningful because the settings of the arc do have some sort of link to that lineage stuff. :))

Let me know if anything is unclear! As always thanks for reading!!

For the first part of this theory, I completely agree with OP, I’ve had the same thoughts for some time now (I just don’t think I’ve ever written anything on it, so good job, OP). The one about the Phantomhive lineage being at the origin of the Watchdog duty. It’s a theory I very strongly support.

In fact, I consider Undertaker as being perhaps even the very first Watchdog, the first Earl of Phantomhive, the one who first took the ‘curse of being the watchdog’, so to say. Perhaps, rather than an obsession, he’s feeling responsible for brining that ‘curse’ into the family. That’s why he ‘doesn’t want to lose any more Phantomhives’ and he seems more attached to ones who still hold the Phantomhive name, Vincent + the twins, rather than Frances and her family.

Of course, the part about UT is still a bit of a crack-ish theory, so yeah. ^^

@blackreapersreign thank you for reading and for your input. 🙂 

The theory of UT being the very first Watchdog/Earl Phantomhive (or supposed to be but he killed himself before it happened and the title got passed to another relative) is by far an old fandom theory, which I also stand behind because, for now, there isn’t just one way to explain UT’s close association to the Phantomhive family.

So, sure I agree, UT being a Phantomhive many many decades/centuries ago could be an explanation, just like him simply feeling very close to Claudia is another (and a third option would be a combo of both)! 

Besides an obvious connection and emotional attachment, personally I think UT also shares another similarity to them anyway

since I believe his words of ch35 also reflect something that he went through (and that possibly led to his suicide).

If you don’t mind though, I’ll pass on the whole “he seems to care more about Vincent’s side of the family than Frances” because, while it’s indeed possible, I think it’s way too soon to say, especially since fans used to have the same debate about UT @ the twins, until ch131 confirmed it wasn’t the case. 🙂

So between that and the whole comic relief around Frances’ character that could be stemming from UT’s character, implying there is a possible history between them (and which could explain the lack of interactions between UT and the Midfords so far), I’m just not agreeing with this for now.

Besides, if our!Ciel hadn’t come back, it’s quite possible that Frances would have ended up as the next Watchdog (most likely being Vincent’s old spare and all) and in that case, your idea of UT feeling guilty about that curse would also end up applying to her. 

Sorry for rambling, but thanks again for your input! :))