Lizzie’s
return in the latest chapter was one of the rare moments when we could see
Undertaker and the Midfords in the same panel…
Come to think of it, it’s
pretty strange that up until then they had never been shown together in the manga (with one exception from chapter 107.5*), let
alone allowed to interact with each other, even though they had enough opportunities to
do so in the past. They could have bumped into each other on the Campania, at
Weston**, or simply in the Phantomhive manor (especially when
Vincent was still alive). And although I realize the Akuma Six chapter was a
spin-off and therefore isn’t canon, the fact that nothing happened there really
surprises me. Knowing Francis’ disgust with slovenly hairstyles and
handsome male faces, UT (who was in the same room as her the whole
time!) was extremely lucky not to get
targeted by the Marchioness…
I think
it’s quite significant that even in such irrelevant, non-canonical chapter Yana
kept preventing those characters from interacting with each other. She
seems to be doing it on purpose, and I believe this purpose is to protect us
from getting the information which may be revealed during such confrontation. The way UT and Francis would react to one another (familiarity
versus no recognition) could tell us a lot about the nature of UT’s
relationship with Claudia (Francis’ mother) and the whole
Phantomhive family. Revealing all this too soon would make the mystery gone and spoil the fun, hence the whole
avoiding game; at least that’s the way I see it.
I think that for
the very same reason Francis didn’t appear in the recent chapter, despite her husband and children making a comeback: Yana’s saving her return
for later, as she wants to keep us in suspense for a little longer. Judging
by their reaction, Edward and Alexis aren’t familiar with UT, so they can’t reveal his secrets to us. Lizzie – who’s been directly involved in this Blue Sect mess – must know the
man at least a bit, but I’m not sure whether she’s aware of UT’s true identity and his connection to her
ancestors. Also, even if Lizzie really knows more, all that matters to her
right now seems to be RC’s return and OC’s lie, so I doubt we will receive this
information from her. Therefore, I’m afraid the mystery surrounding the reaper
won’t be solved until Francis joins the party.
Her prolonged
absence adds even more to the long list of questions that need to be answered:
Why is she gone?
Where is she? Has she been with Lizzie the whole time?
How much does she know
about the Blue Sect and UT’s plans?
What’s her role in all this?
Is she aware of OC’s true identity? If so, when did she find out? Did she know that from the start?
Hopefully,
when Francis eventually comes back, we will find out.
——
* – I’m talking about this panel showing both UT and Lizzie (there’s no interaction between them in the whole chapter, though):
** – OK,
Weston might not be the best example, as UT was hiding himself well back then and
even Sebastian couldn’t catch him; however, remember how easily Francis found
Seb in that huge crowd of people, despite his disguise and demonic abilities…?
This is why I
believe she should have been able to detect UT’s presence, too (if only Yana
allowed her to).
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’m currently highly confused and torn between what matters the most to real!Ciel.
Until now, I always thought it was his little brother (because of the flashback mainly), but now in the current arc, I’m wondering if all he cares about might not be the “Earl Phantomhive” title. Not for what it represents about the Watchdog duty necessarily, but more because he was Vincent’s heir and so it’s his.
If that’s the case, that means he definitely lied about not being angry or pissed off about our!Ciel’s lie.
So I reread the whole flashback to try and getter a better understanding of the twin’s rather new character (since he was technically introduced in ch129).
The fact he’s dead is not helping, but
if we’re considering that real!Ciel is still mentally ten years old, despite UT making him “grow up” to match as our!Ciel’s twin, then maybe…
that’s all what the latest chapters are about. It’s a chess game, because what real!Ciel cares about is playing again with his little brother, like they used to, since it’s “the most fun of all”.
Add UT who definitely wants Seb out of the picture because of the contract and that could lead to the current situation with calling Scotland Yard over and framing our!Ciel (and thus Seb, as his butler).
If the game in itself isn’t what’s motivating real!Ciel to go against his little brother then…
…another explanation is that, because he was supposed to be Vincent’s heir and even if he loves his brother, the title and everything that’s related to this position
(including, Lizzie, as his fiancée)
are his and he wants them back from our!Ciel.
For example, the attack on Soma & Agni could either be a sign of real!Ciel’s jealousy towards Soma and his relationship to our!Ciel, just like it could be a twisted way to punish our!Ciel for taking the ring from him (as the message on the wall specified).
The thing is, real!Ciel as a BD went through the same process as the BDs from the Campania and Weston arcs. So being obsessed with the few parts of his life he clang to until he was sacrificed (going back home, being Vincent’s heir, being with his little brother, etc) could be what’s going on.
Last possibility is that the target of UT & real!Ciel’s plan using Scotland Yard is only Sebastian…
…because clearly neither real!Ciel or UT particularly like him, while they both showed previously that they didn’t necessarily wish harm on our!Ciel.
I don’t know how framing Ciel would lead to only Seb being arrested or getting out of the way though, especially since there is no way a prison would hold Seb back, but UT at least must have something in mind?
TL;DR I can’t be sure but seeing the flashback, I think real!Ciel should (logically) still care about his little brother, just like UT seems to care about at least saving Ciel from the contract. In other words, the only enemy for real!Ciel and UT should be Seb.
So framing our!Ciel is either a way to get to Sebastian/the contract or simply a twisted game between brothers because “it’s fun” (+ UT could be fond of seeing the twins play “like they used to” since he’s lost into the idea that bringing the dead back is
That’s all it is: real!Ciel is using his pawns against his brother’s in a real lively chess game. I’m a bit iffy as to what the twin ultimately wants, but let’s save that for later.
It’s a chess game and our!Ciel stepped right up to it in ch129 when he came back to the manor…
and he definitely had a late start because of the shock and confusion when realizing that his older brother is back and Lord Sirius, the blue star of the blue sect, but…
I’m sure he’ll manage to recover. 🙂 Because Ciel has people he can use against his brother too.
Without already mentioning that Abberline and probably Edward will end up on his side (Ed because he already accused Ciel wrongly in the Weston arc and came to regret it + he and Ciel investigated most of the arc together), Violet, Sieglinde and even Soma have several ways to yell bullshit about our!Ciel being the mastermind behind the sect:
For Violet, it’s a question of motivation and wanting to pay Ciel back for helping him several times + saving his life in ch125.
For Soma, he’ll first need to hear about our!Ciel having a twin brother to connect the dots and realize that his friend didn’t kill Agni
and for Sieglinde, it’s just about friendship, considering all that Ciel did for her in the past and how she’s the one who analyzed the blood samples for him.
Obviously Lizzie knows on the truth on this matter too, she knows who the real Lord Sirius is, but her heart is being held hostage by real!Ciel’s side right now so she’s a major pawn to use against our!Ciel for the moment,
but it could change because her love for our!Ciel makes her a wild card.
The servants will side with our!Ciel, who is their master, out of devotion, but they have no idea as to what’s really going on unfortunately. Except for Tanaka, who probably saw it coming (’how’ is still the question) but who’s as tied as Lizzie I’d say, seeing how sad he also looks.
So yep: chess game. Brother vs brother, Seb vs UT, Grell and Othello probably being confused af and Mama Midford hopefully still missing for a reason
(maybe Alexis telling her what happened will trigger something?). Can’t wait :))
Heyyyyy, you know who else is missing and could be considered a chess pawn for our!Ciel’s side? Lau. And Ran Mao additionally, I guess.
Not that Lau showed up in the arc so far, so the probability that he’ll play a role isn’t that high obviously, but still, Sensei said before that, even though Lau is busy running his own business while following the Watchdog’s rules, he’s mostly “interested in our!Ciel”.
Undying Seb doesn’t seem to faze or interest him so much, so he’s…
…hanging around our!Ciel mostly for his own enjoyment of things.
So I’d say he’d (knowingly) rather play the part of the pawn to our!Ciel’s side of the chess game over real!Ciel’s anyday (if real!Ciel is to become the Watchdog for a short time after our!Ciel’s arrest), because he always bets on our!Ciel to provide him with a lot of amusement.
Ran Mao will follow Lau, but she too seems to like Ciel a lot anyway…
…so that’s two more people that our!Ciel could use wisely against his brother.
In fact, friendly reminder that Lau is the most mysterious character of the whole cast as of right now (and that’s really saying something), so having our!Ciel owing him could be rather interesting for a future arc focusing more on Lau. :))
And one last thing, about missing characters…
Frances Midford, irrelevant to this arc? Idon’tthinkso. 😀
Since real!Ciel is the one who started this chess game rather strongly, the odds that our!Ciel will overcome his brother at the end are even better considering what Frances taught our!Ciel (a tactic he used for the last 4 years for his revenge actually).
I’m in for this type of games, guys. It’s gonna get wilder. :))
Are we forgetting The other peices? The two Charles, John Brown and the Queen. You honestly think she’ll sit by as this is going on and screwing with her watch dog?
And one price that can help Lizzy is Paula.
And we haven’t seem the other Lords yet. Nor the killer.
@darkspellmaster I was keeping this for another post but since you added on: I agree with you this arc is far from being over.
However, I think Ciel is def going to be arrested and the Queen won’t be of any help. The Double Charles were probably told about the dead lords from the Parliament as of ch126, but are they truly supposed to believe Ciel is innocent?
After all, they know as first-hand witnesses what he’s ready to do to solve a case, with the example of the circus arc, so this doesn’t sound helpful.
I’d love to make a more detailed post on this after Monday but, basically, this arc sounds a lot like the end of “Kuro the manga Part 1” as in, our!Ciel is facing all that he ever did wrong in Kuro.
Lying about his identity? His bro is coming back.
Pushing Liz and Soma away from him? Now they’re hurt and doubting him and so he’s hurt too.
Using Ed for murder? The Weston arc had gotten them closer but now Ed may need some time to truly be sure he’s innocent.
Needing the Double Charles’ testimony? As I said, after the circus arc, he can’t count on them.
Needing the Queen’s help? Well, he already messed up 3 times in a year (curry arc, circus arc and green witch arc) so after ch108, it’s not certain the Queen would care to help, especially since she’s also very interested in Bizarre dolls.
It goes on and on and on. 🙂 Honestly, the only people truly on our!Ciel’s side at the moment are Sebastian (because of the contract) and maybe Tanaka and Frances, if they both knew about him lying about his identity beforehand. And also maybe Lau because he never knew the twin and seeks entertainment from Ciel, but like, that makes the list very small for now. xD
Everyone else is shaken by the news and the accusations about our!Ciel being the Blue Sect’s mastermind are adding to the confusion and doubts surrounding him. That’s what Seb meant by “well played”.
Anyway, since this arc is about confrontation, I think it is eventually supposed to end on our!Ciel learning to rely on the characters besides Sebastian who will accept to believe in him (I made a list in the first post). For now, the situation is confusing so he has trouble gathering his pawns for the counterattack, but ultimately most characters are bound to turn away from the twin because he’s a nutcase the ones who cared about “Ciel Phantomhive” since the start of Kuroshitsuji care about who our!Ciel truly is.
So ultimately it’s all about what UT said in ch35:
Because it’s literally what’s happening and maybe that’s actually why UT made sure the arc would unfold that way. He doesn’t want Ciel to lose his soul to Seb, that much at least seems clear, so this arc could be one way to make sure it doesn’t happen as @frederickabberline explained here, or so UT thinks.
That’s what I refer to as a possible “end of part 1” for the manga: once we’ll be done with this arc, once Ciel realizes he’s supposed to be living for himself, surrounded by people who care about the real him (and not because he assumed his bro’s identity), then we’ll move on to the whole problematic surrounding the contract and whether or not our!Ciel eventually wants to break away from it.
Even though I initially thought that UT was calling Othello out because Othello had possibly proved in the past to have the same misguided curiosity towards humans (which is what the very original idea of UT’s BD project was initially), now I wonder if this wouldn’t rather be a Shakespeare reference?
For those who don’t know, the tragedy Othello is about a Moorish man living in Venice who’s tricked into believing that his wife is having an affair with his Lieutenant. So he kills her out of jealousy, before realizing the truth and killing himself as a result.
So if Othello in Kuroverse is supposed to be a reference to this tragedy, that’d mean our boy here became a Shinigami because he killed his wife. Meanwhile, if we’re considering that UT’s strong attachment to the Phantomhive family roots from the possibility that he had strong feelings for Claudia
and that ultimately he wants them all back because…
he doesn’t want his connection to the P family (to Claudia in particular?) to disappear
or because he promised Claudia he’d protect them all and he doesn’t want to fail his promise to her
…then I’m wondering if this isn’t what UT is referring to when he’s calling Othello out, as in, “I’m doing this out of love and you should be the last one to criticize me on the subject considering your own circumstances.”
Since some readers often have the wrong timeline in mind though, please remember that UT killed himself way before Claudia was even born and he met her after he deserted the Shinigamis, it’s not like he became a Shinigami because she died. So it’d go like this when it comes to Othello vs UT:
Othello: killed himself because he killed his wife
UT: killed himself, deserted, fell in love, lost the woman, decided to experiment about bringing back the dead
hence ch142 and UT telling Othello to back off about saying he lost his mind on the subject (sensitive subject for him and all).
TL;DR
@aroturier (as always I can’t tag you akejzbkejb I hope you’ll see this)
Honestly, at this point I think every possibility is a thing. Like:
UT could be feeling guilty about Claudia’s death despite not having done anything that led to it
just like he could be angrily denying any guilt he might feel despite having done something that ultimately led to Claudia’s death
just like he might be feeling guilty because her death is partially his fault
We don’t have enough details to reach any conclusion at the moment, so if UT’s comment in last month’s chapter was really meant to be in relation to Claudia, it has many possible explanations.
More so than guilt however, I think that UT is eaten by regrets: you don’t try to bring the dead back if you’re at peace with how the people you love died…
and in my opinion, if there is really a parallel between Claudia and the reference to Othello, then the issue for UT could be that he’s dead convinced he could have avoided her death if he had done something differently.
Again, “how” is hard to determine for now, but he did say this…
So if he warned Claudia about the burden of the Watchdog duty and either she didn’t understand (like Ciel) or refused to save herself (like Vincent?), back then it could have been the source of an argument between them.
And if he left her because he couldn’t bear to watch her destroy herself (especially if he was in love with her) and she ended up dead…
well, whether he also feels guilty or not, he’d definitely
at least
feel regretful and very intent on not having it happen again.
Bummer for him though, the same happened with Vincent, which is probably why he’s skyrocketing on the wrong road right now. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
TL;DR we don’t know what happened with Claudia, if she’s who UT meant to Othello as a source of his motivation regarding the BD project, whether he feels guilty about her death or not, but there is definitely something (if not everything) about her death that doesn’t sit right with UT.
Could simply be the fact that she died at all, or could be how she died/what led to her death. The only thing I’m reasonably sure of is that she’s the reason we’re where we are in the story right now, as far as UT’s character is concerned.
When it comes to the 143 spoilers, the line that really struck me right away is, having found out that OCiel is not the real Ciel, Abberline says when addressing him: “Earl Phantomhive- no… Mr Phantomhive”
The reason it struck me is to do with the contract. My followers should all know how much I like parallels between season 1 and the manga, and what this line suggests is that, as in season 1, having been framed for crimes he did not commit (though this time with extra crimes he really has committed, that is, identity theft, added on top) and having the earldom taken from him (though this time having the title awarded to someone else, that is, RCiel), OC is going to lose his current method and angle of revenge
Being arrested, which might end with him jailed, and having his title taken, he’s in no position to play that waiting game anymore. He’s not The Legit earl, he’s just some nobleman’s kid with no influence other than a sweets and toys company, so he’s not the prime target for the people who attacked the Phantomhive household anymore. And that’s what the contract revolves around, the assumption that he will be worth targeting, as a symbol of the household.
This means that, possibly, the contract may be nullified (this would line up with what Undertaker wants, no?) (Of course it would only be temporarily nullified depending on OC’s behaviour and decisions, as in the anime), but unlike season 1, in order for OC to get his status back, RCiel will have to die again (Undertaker likely is not anticipating this outcome). At which point OC may rightfully regain the title as the younger brother, if he regains it at all. But so long as RCiel is even vaguely alive, the title belongs to him.
…that with Lizzie now back, we may finally be able to witness some interactions between her and the Undertaker (it’s been 27+ volumes…).
And it’s important because we know that UT cares about “the Phantomhive family”…
but we don’t know who that represents exactly.
He mentioned Vincent…
and the twins…
but we don’t know if he’d want to bring Frances and possibly her children back from the dead too, should something happen to them.
That’s why finding out about if UT includes Frances’ side of the family in the people he’d rather not lose is important, because that’d give hints about his possible identity, as well as his state of mind.
I talked about this before, but the way UT instantly declared that he liked the twins because “they’re both Phantomhives as regards [him]” in ch131 is… hard to take at face-value because:
if UT is Cedric K. Ros, then the twins are his grandkids so him instantly caring is logical and there is nothing else to say
if UT isn’t Cedric K. Ros tho’, then he automatically validated the twins “because they’re Phantomhives”, which means only because he loved Claudia or happened to find Vincent an enjoyable guy + which implies that, whatever the twins are like as their own person, he gives 0 care about and that’s meh. ://
Personally, I like to think that at least ch84…
…is enough to say that UT does see our!Ciel as a person different from his father and grandmother, but then there is ch35 which could be seen (in extreme cases) as a hint of the opposite…
so I’d like to know which one it is for sure: does UT care just because of Claudia, or does he care because he has a soft spot for all of them (whether he’s Cedric K. Ros or not)?
Hence me being really eager to see how UT acts with Lizzie, because it should be an indicator as to whether he cares or not about the Midfords and…
Should he care about Frances’ side of the family, it also implies that he should see Vincent and the twins as their own person and not as proxies for Claudia, which is a good thing (+ you can take this as another hint for the UT = Cedric theory).
Should he not care, well, I think that rules out the UT = Cedric theory + it’d also imply that UT’s attachment to the P family could just be all about Claudia and seeing proxies for her through her son and grandsons, which is… not good or healthy.
Sensei said before that UT was no villain despite the appearances, which I think is meant regarding our!Ciel’s character more than Seb’s. Nonetheless I think that it makes more likely the version that he cares and sees Claudia’s family (including Frances, Liz and Ed) as enjoyable people for different reasons.
I’d just like an official confirmation about this, since it’s a subject of debate,
as well as a big answer about UT’s characterization and a good clue about if he’ll stay in the narrative for a little while longer or not.
One last thing: whether UT cares about Frances’ side of the family or not doesn’t change the fact that he’s a selfish a**hole who should find a better way to cope about things. Sensei implied he was no villain but that doesn’t mean he’s free of guilt or that he shouldn’t change his ways.
Because UT is completely wrong about bringing back the dead thinking it will change everything about how he or Lizzie or our!Ciel feel. It’s just that also caring about Frances and her kids may just give him better odds at realizing that he messed up.
And, to add onto what I already answered you @mourninglockets, the other reason I like the idea that UT actually cares about Frances and her kids isthat the harder redemption is, the better character development will turn out to be.
Think about it, since UT is no villain, that means he’ll have to find a way to make it up to the people he cares about and whom he hurts, that is if he ever realizes that he was 100% wrong.
However, assuming he does, Ciel alone is not really a challenge in that aspect, because Ciel showed that even after the Campania and Weston arcs he still trusted the Undertaker (probably because he could guess with the lockets that UT had a special link to his family).
That’s why, should UT also care about Frances’ side of the family, that means he’d have to make it up to them too and that’s where it gets harder, not so much as far as Liz and Ed are concerned, but I doubt Frances would forgive him easily (Cedric K. Ros or not).
That’s why I favor this stance between the two. So far it seems UT really stays around because there are still Phantomhives to watch over.
So because he did some crazy shit during three arcs, if he claims to care about the Phantomhive family (even if just because of Claudia), then he’d better find a way to make it up to them properly.
He’ll just be more dedicated to doing it right for everyone if he cares about/stays and intends to protect more than just our!Ciel in my opinion, that’s all. 🙂
Even though I initially thought that UT was calling Othello out because Othello had possibly proved in the past to have the same misguided curiosity towards humans (which is what the very original idea of UT’s BD project was initially), now I wonder if this wouldn’t rather be a Shakespeare reference?
For those who don’t know, the tragedy Othello is about a Moorish man living in Venice who’s tricked into believing that his wife is having an affair with his Lieutenant. So he kills her out of jealousy, before realizing the truth and killing himself as a result.
So if Othello in Kuroverse is supposed to be a reference to this tragedy, that’d mean our boy here became a Shinigami because he killed his wife. Meanwhile, if we’re considering that UT’s strong attachment to the Phantomhive family roots from the possibility that he had strong feelings for Claudia
and that ultimately he wants them all back because…
he doesn’t want his connection to the P family (to Claudia in particular?) to disappear
or because he promised Claudia he’d protect them all and he doesn’t want to fail his promise to her
…then I’m wondering if this isn’t what UT is referring to when he’s calling Othello out, as in, “I’m doing this out of love and you should be the last one to criticize me on the subject considering your own circumstances.”
Since some readers often have the wrong timeline in mind though, please remember that UT killed himself way before Claudia was even born and he met her after he deserted the Shinigamis, it’s not like he became a Shinigami because she died. So it’d go like this when it comes to Othello vs UT:
Othello: killed himself because he killed his wife
UT: killed himself, deserted, fell in love, lost the woman, decided to experiment about bringing back the dead
hence ch142 and UT telling Othello to back off about saying he lost his mind on the subject (sensitive subject for him and all).
midnight-in-town 