#Vanitas never became free but what about Noé?

[elymansss]

Noé having a shit ton of vampire bites all over himself all the time and everyone around him just thinks that his blood is like valuable cause Archiviste stuff or whatever

Oh how wrong they are. Only Dominique and Jeanne know why he truly has all those wounds and it hurts them more then anything.

Those are wounds he inflicted onto himself. He bites himself every day. Every day without ever forgetting to do so, he bites and bites and bites, to not forget Vanitas. The memories flow from his bloodstream into his brain and for a moment, it's like Vanitas never left. It's like Noé never killed him, never saw him die and never became free.

[naehja]

Vnc Soulmates AU 2

Imagine another soulmate mark au. The first words that your soulmate tell you are written on your skin.

This fanfic idea is free to take if you want =)

Here I’m going to do a precision. The first thing said by your soulmates must be said directly to you. A thing only addressed to you. 

(Ex: If your soulmates speak both to you and to someone else, it doesn't count. It must be the first thing specifically said to YOU)

Vanitas says two things before speaking directly to Noe.

1) “Found You”

Where he speaks to Amelia. Since she was the person that he wanted to see and to heal.

and

2) “I thought I had you there”

Well he seems to speak to Amélia again. He didn’t notice Noe until this point. Even if we can’t be sure. But I have the impression that he doesn’t speak to Noe here. He seems mumble to himself.

Let’s says that the first thing that he says to Noe is:

We know that the first thing that Vanitas said to Noe is "What are you?"

What.

Not Who.

That’s maybe he had already guessed that Noé was a vampire. That he had doubts about it.

For little Noe who discovers his mark...who reads the words again and again, curious about it.... ...It can be see as rude. "what" rather that "who".

 Domi said that it's rude. Louis didn't. But he implied that it was maybe a human who guessed that Noe was a vampire.

But Noe wouldn't mind a lot, he's the kid who wasn't traumatised to have been sold to the black market (or he was and repressed the trauma?), right?

But it would also mean that Noe's soulmate is a human who has suspicion of Noe's true nature. Noe believed what Louis implied. But he wasn't bothered by this idea, he loved humans, because his grandparents loved him after all. And so he was curious about this person. Very curious and he couldn't wait  to meet him.

And we arrive to their meeting. Noe wouldn't think or realise that Vanitas is his soulmate immediatly. First because Vanitas doesn't react to his own first words/sentence to him. Secondly because he has something else to think (protect Amelia). And a fight isn't the best moment to think about it.

Meanwhile Noe's first words to Vanitas are "I could ask you the same". Polite. Neutral. Curious maybe.

Vanitas has read these words before, before having Luna's mark on the same arm. Actually he read those words a lot. Because it meant that he would survive to Moreau. Since he had NEVER heard those words before. 

So he would get out one day, right? He wouldn't have a soulmark if he was going to die here. But he never said it loud, keeping the hope to himself.

Those words give him bravery when he faced torture in the lab. And it helped him to resist to the suffering. Because he knew that he would met his soulmate one day. so he would get out of this hell. Right?

(he had nightmares about the possibility that his soulmate may be number 72 or higher)

He often wondered how would be the situation. He was reading "I could ask you the same" and he wondered "hum maybe I'll ask him who he is?"

But Vanitas is afraid to attachement. And if he could use those words to keep his mental health and strengh in the lab...

...after everything happened with Luna and her death.. ..he changed his mind.

So he became careful to never say "who are you" to people or "what is your name?" first.

And he met Noe. "What are you" (never who are you, so the answer will never be...) and the words said by the guy in front of him strike him "I could ask you the same"

A nervous smile. A repressed laugh. And he pulled a knife.  

But Noé didn't react to his words. He didn't have any sign of knowledge. But whatever he had to save the young women. And if this guy stopped him, he was going to use force, right?

That's because of that, and because this vampire was strong, that he asked him to become his perfect shield, right?

They would not speak about it together.

Vanitas would want to keep an eye on Noé, even if it would meant that he could become emotionally involved. He would be and act like in the canon, doing the same tricks with Jeanne and all.

Noé would want to stay with his soulmates because he would want to know him.

they would be even more protective of each other (yes that's possible)

Next time: Roland x Noé and it will be wild XD

[grelleswife]

You know how one longterm issue that Vanoe would eventually have to face, assuming they became endgame, would be Vanitas’s own mortality? The fact that he would someday have to leave Noé behind when he passed on? Wouldn’t it be terrible if someone wrote a fic about that?

You can read a snippet of said fic below! UwU

Autumn’s insidious approach crept over the trees, stealing the verdure and vitality from their leaves until they were withered husks devoid of their former beauty. A callous gust of wind was all it took to send them fluttering lifelessly to the ground, where they would molder in quiet ruin, comingle with the soil, and lose any trace of what they once were.

A slower, crueler season gnawed at Vanitas. It stealthily sipped his blood, turned his hair white as snow, drained the strength from his limbs, twisted his fingers to resemble the claws which his gloves were meant to imitate. Its talons scored deep lines across his face and snuffed out the fresh glow of youth with which his skin had shone in years gone by.

That wasn’t what hurt Vanitas most, however. He’d grown accustomed to the arthritis, the weakened eyesight, even the enfeebled timbre of his aging voice. The mortal had borne far worse trials.

No…what tore his heart clean in two, and reduced him to muffled sobs against the pillow after his partner had gone to sleep, was the gentle anguish in Noé’s eyes as he watched Vanitas dwindle away.

The vampire had sworn to never set him free, but Vanitas would be the one to leave him alone in the end.

(And the doctor hated himself for it)

[annonmaly]

Ok, It's Not Red. So What?

"Oh, It's Not Red" continuation

Welcome to the third part of my posts regarding Mochijun-sensei's official VnC artworks. This is just a continuation of the 2nd part (there will be no artworks to be discussed). I will just share some absurd ideas that I came up with after my realization (some may already be out there). If there's any chance that you stumbled to the prior post and decided to continue. I salute you brave warriors that assume I would mention anything that makes any sense. To those who have no time to read a post that only talked about Murr's eye color. Here's a summary: I realized Murr's right eye is not red.

Curious as to how did I come to this conclusion? Check it out here: Oh, It's Not Red (You may not read the first part as it isn't related to this. But if you want to, it's here: Regarding some of VnC Artwork this title is so uncreative)

As usual, a friendly reminder that best in writing is an award I never received. I'm not the person who could analyze, explain, or theorize things clearly. Please bear that in mind while reading. Photos are not mine, of course. Also, spoiler alert to be safe

Now that it's all said and done. Let's go ahead and talk about Murr.

By this time, we already know who is Murr. And I think we all agree that the cat is not just a cute mascot of the series. I bet that he would be a game-changer (yes, I'm putting Murr on a high pedestal). The question is: What do you think of Murr's role in the story?

After spending hours and hours of reading here and there, the common theories I found are:

1. Murr is Sensei (The Shapeless One)

Sensei is an observer. And where is the best place to observe? It's beside your subject of interest. Also, as his title suggests, he is shapeless, so maybe he could shapeshift into anything he wants. This sounds probable but, I do not lean on this much for two reasons.

Personal preference. If this is true, Sensei is weird, not terrifying. I mean, instead of doing scary and shady affairs during his free time, he decided to be a cat just to watch Noé.

Look at the image below closely.

Did you found Murr? No? Take a closer look at Louis. At first, I thought he was just reading, but his book has a weird shape. Where did I see that again? Oh, right.

Not yet satisfied? See this panel from the manga. This is after the first image's scene.

(Grandpa obviously has his favorites)

I think the cat Louis' holding is Murr. Thus, there's a panel where Sensei and Murr are together. That's the second reason I'm skeptical about this theory, folks.

Well, we also don't know. Maybe grandpa killed the cat so he could disguise himself as one.

2. Murr is a spy camera of Grandpa De Sade

It's a simple one. The theory goes like this: Murr's right eye connects to Sensei in whatever way. This panel is what inspires this theory:

(This cat really is suspicious, I bet he is one of the puppet masters of this arc along with Sensei)

This theory is what I'm more inclined to believe. I suppose the cat is working under/with Grandpa for their grand schemes. So, of course, he would report to Sensei the events that took place. Whether he is using his right eye or whatever means it is.

Going to my personal thoughts...

I guess that Murr was a kin of the vampire of the blue moon. He used the power too much, and thus he was rewritten from the inside. Alas, Murr became a cat! Why is he heterochromatic, tho?

Ok, kidding aside, there are two ideas I want to share.

1. Possibly Twins

Mochijun-sensei dropped the bomb in chapter 46. She gave us the idea that the theme of twins would be relevant in the story. Here is the page where Veronica mentioned the thing about twins:

Then three chapters later when Misha forced Noé to drink his blood and reveal his memory. Mochijun-Sensei dropped another bomb.

After seeing this, we speculated that Faustina and Luna are twins. I love that thought. Just imagine how complex the relationship it would be between the two. But if we think about it. What if this is just a misdirection? First, Mochijun-sensei makes us aware that the subject of twins is somewhat important. And while that information is still fresh in our memory, she dropped another bomb and told us that the blue vampire and the queen looked alike. Mochijun-sensei set this up so that we could connect the two easily.

All we know is that: Vampire twins are a symbol of bad luck, and Luna looks like Faustina. This is just me overthinking things, but what's life without competition. So, let's add three more names to the list that could be a set of twins.

Murr and Luna: Because why not? His left eye is blue. Also, Luna's left eye was never shown in the series. It's always hidden by her hair, maybe it's a different color.

Noé and Luna: Let's just say he is older than the series claimed him to be. Noé's memory started on the day that it snowed. I believe that Mochijun-sensei is keeping the timeline vague since it would reveal too much information. I mean, we don't know how long time passed from the day Noé was found by the old couple to the day Sensei brought him to the castle in the forest. Keep in mind that the vampire's growth differs for each person, as well.

Also, is the story the Noé and Sensei told trustworthy?

(How kind are this kidnappers that the kid was not traumatized? Also what's with the injuries. I don't much about slave trading in VnC world. But, if you're going to sell something you don't want it to have visible damage right. Sorry if the comparison sounds offending)

As far as I could tell, Sensei is shady, like really. Noé's memory is also not reliable. After all, someone out there may have the ability to manipulate memories. What if Noé was was born ages ago and was induced to sleep for a long time for whatever reasons?

Going back to Noé and Luna. Mochijun-sensei is giving us subtle hints of his association with Luna. I only saw Luna from one chapter, but I could say they are somewhat similar aside from the hair and skin(?) color (I will make a list later if I still have of time on hand).

(Child Noé and Luna both have similar haistyle, they have the "lid" as Mochijun-sensei called it. Their eyes are different tho')

Go on, read chapter 49, you'll see what I mean. Also, take note that at some panels (especially the ones where Noé is feeling extreme emotions), Noé's left eye was hidden by his hair or something. Who else out there that we don't see her left eye? Yup, the vampire of the blue moon (I have a weird feeling about Noe's left eye that I will share later) To conclude this, I think that Noé was not from this era. He is actually from the past and preserved in whatever way from whatever reason. And maybe he is actually the twin brother of Luna, seeing that they have a resemblance.

For now, I won't say that he's a reincarnation of Luna (I may change my mind later) as the timeline doesn't coincide. Besides, human Vani's reaction when Misha told him that there's a way to revive Luna is intense. Meaning he wants Luna to stay dead. I also believe that human Vani is hiding "something" he knows about Noé. So if Noé's a reincarnated Luna, there's no way human Vani would stay with him.

Murr and Noé

If you saw my previous post. I convinced myself that Murr's right eye's color is violet (the same shade as Noé's). That's why I decided to include them here. I have no definitive reasoning aside from their eye color and how Murr treated Noé in the series.

In the meantime, I'll write the scenario in my head. What if Murr and Noé are twins. Something happened when they were young, and so they were separated. Noé was somewhere we don't know yet, while Murr encountered Vampire Vanitas and Grandpa DeSade. Then the rest is history.

I swear I didn't expect it to be this long, at any rate, this would be to be continued here: Ok, It's Not Red. So What? (continuation)

Note: This is just a random theory, thoughts, assumptions, and/or head-canons. I wrote this to indulge my over-thinking self. Thank you for taking the time to read and understanding if I made any mistakes or post whatever it is you don’t agree on.

[innenofutari]

An Analysis of Vanitas’s Personality (meta)

I’ve always wanted to write some little meta for Vanitas no Carte, more specifically Vanitas, who probably is one of my favorite characters overall. I can’t help but find his entire character so well-built and intriguing! Most notably how he is written to be the center of the story- he’s like a “key” to the “catbox”; once you understand him, you can understand the themes and mysteries of the story (or at least that’s what I believe Mochijun is going for currently).

Diving into his mindset is, let me tell you, one hell of a confusing ride. But, at the end of it, I think I managed to form my own interpretations pretty well. Also, considering that he’s the type of character meant to be a mystery, feel free to agree or disagree with this meta, after all this is only the way I view things, and your interpretations aren’t any less valid than mine. With that being said, you better sit down because I’m one motherfucker who talks your ears off I’m so sorry.

1. Vanitas’s “change of mood” in the manga:

I think I want to start by talking about one of the things about Vanitas that caught my attention while reading the manga for the first time, and this is Vanitas’s “attitude change”. While I was reading, it was so subtle and gradual that I didn’t even properly realize until halfway through the catacombs arc. That instantly piqued my attention and I, a moron as I am, went “Wait didn’t this idiot act completely differently ten chapters ago?”. So why, exactly, did this dumbass change his demeanor so drastically? Well, he kind of didn’t, really.

At the start of the series, we all know Vanitas looked to be in “a good mood”; he laughed all the time, constantly wore a smile on his face and seemed like he was having fun with everything around him, yet suddenly, he got grumpier, angrier, snapping at the smallest things and so on. This never had anything with his temper and feelings, but everything to do with trust.

Now, what exactly do I mean by “trust”? I’m sure everyone reading this already knows, but I’ll talk about it anyway because it’s almost three in the unholy morning and I’m running solely on cans of soda. 

I’ll start by saying that there is no more effective way to conceal your feelings than by wearing a grin on your face; one smile can mean a multitude of things, and it’s very hard to tell anything about a person based on that. The “smiling tactic” is an extremely effective way of obtaining information without unintentionally giving any to the person you’re trying to take information from.

Even when August is literally choking him, and Vanitas is clearly in pain, his smile stays on, unwavering, from the beginning to the very end of his interrogation. Later, August himself even acknowledges that he himself couldn’t discover shit about Vanitas after all, since Vanitas is so well guarded.

His smile also serves another purpose other than to omit, and it’s exactly to extract information from other people.

Vanitas relies a lot on charm and charisma to gather information. He knows people are more willing to talk to someone friendlier, who wears a smile on their faces all the time and to who they can feel a sense of security and trust towards.

Based on this, it’s pretty safe to assume that with Noé at first was the same, wasn’t it? His enthusiasm at the beginning never really existed (although I still believe his instant interest towards Noé is pretty real, like he gravitated towards him). He uses his smiles to conceal, to gather information and also to taunt people (e.g. Astolfo), but it’s not truthful.

For me, Vanitas’s sudden “change” was one of the biggest proofs of his trust on Noé, and marks the beginning of when he truly started to see him as someone he could (kind of) confide in. You could argue that Vanitas jumping in the Altus portal was also a sign of trust, but I disagree. That still felt weirdly “calculated”, he knows someone with a personality like Noé’s would never let someone die in front of their eyes, so he gambled on this possibility. Vanitas trusted his own understanding of Noé’s personality, not Noé himself. However, what would he even gain by acting grumpy next to Noé? Nothing, right? He’s just exposing himself needlessly.

Now the question, what exactly sparked this sudden change in the way Vanitas felt about Noé? For the when, I think it’s pretty obvious what scene it was.

This scene is very important for many reasons. Each of Vanitas’s expressions here tell their own story and capture the nature of his contradicting feelings so well. But, I’ll get to these ��contradictions” in a second, now I wanted to talk about something else: “hope”.

It’s no news to anyone that Vanitas is like, depressed as shit and is pretty much passively suicidal and, of course,  entirely disillusioned with the world and society as a whole. He believes people and vampires alike are inherently selfish, twisted beings. Creatures so wicked that there is no point to even reason with them. Vanitas doesn’t have any hope whatsoever, both in himself and others. For him, the person is already drowning before even stepping into the lake.

Even so, I firmly believe that there is a side of Vanitas that wished so fervently to be proven wrong. Even though he was dead set on his beliefs, he wanted someone to come and crush them. To prove him that there is good in this world, that he was being a damn fool this entire time. But no one ever stuck around enough to do that. They were all unable to truly reach out to him.

Noé gave him the hope that there was a person who could convince him. That there was a person who could understand him, reach out to the depths of his heart and get past his lies. He willingly sets up this façade of this cold, unfeeling jerk who has no care for others and always does as he pleases, but he’s always wanted someone to look past this. Yet, at the same time, he’s deathly afraid of this possibility. 

In the first picture, his face is in awe, as if he was looking at salvation itself. However, that all crumbles down when Noé says he is staying with Vanitas and the implications this has. That’s what he is terrified of. Aaaand with this we move to the second section of this analysis! (Damn this is getting so lengthy I truly became that one freak who writes a thesis worth of analysis of a drawing).

2. Vanitas’s fears and contradictions:

I think it’s really obvious to everyone that damn this dude got some issues regarding forming relationships with other people. It’s pretty safe to say the only friend he has is Noé, and that’s such an easy thing to overlook, mainly because of how he acts around others. You could argue that he’s friends with Dante but… that’s not quite so. Dante is, in fact, fairly good at reading Vanitas (which, unpopular opinion, is not a hard thing to do given how emotional he is, but let’s get to that later) but between them there is an emotional barrier neither is willing to cross. They’re more like close acquaintances than anything.

Well, this isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s pretty obvious Vanitas is terrified of forming any meaningful bonds with others. Thing most obviously showcased in the notorious chapter 12:

This panel… is a tricky one. It’s totally up to the reader’s interpretation and it could mean a myriad of different things, especially since very little was revealed about his past as of chapter 39.

I personally see this scene as showing Vanitas’s fear of attachment, laced with a tinge of self hatred. There is nothing Vanitas fears more than getting close to people and caring about them, he himself sees this as a weakness and something he absolutely must not have. On a side note, it is also possible that Vanitas thinks so lowly of himself that he thinks anyone that would seriously love him was completely out of their minds. Or both, who knows?

But what is so interesting is that… he can’t. Vanitas knows he should be cold, calculating, use people as pieces and discard them, knows he shouldn’t be emotional or act on impulse, knows he shouldn’t express any kind of feeling whatsoever and keep the concealing smile. Yet, he just fails so miserably in every single one of those. Vanitas cares a lot, more than he’d ever want to admit, he does completely reckless and uncalled for things for no reason other than it pissed him off, so of course he gotta get the last say because he has the mind of a teenager on their rebellious phase. 

Say, can you think of any, any at all, conceivable explanation of what Vanitas could possibly gain by making that speech for all vampires to hear during the ball? There is none. If you think from his perspective, the only thing that little spectacle of his brought were disadvantages for himself. So why? Because he felt belittled, humiliated, and he’s prideful as all hell, so of course he had to prove how none of that was even remotely true. He wanted to affirm himself. In the thinking process of a cunning, one hundred percent unemotional man, that was a completely unnecessary move.

It’s almost like Vanitas wants to become someone he’s not. He wants to act a certain way (to prevent even more pain?), but, ultimately, he cannot. It’s even funny how he fails spectacularly on keeping his expression “blank, without information” because even when he tries, his emotions all show on his face. It’s amusing how quick he is to try and cover said blunder with a laugh and a smile.

These contradictions are very deeply linked to his trauma, even if we don’t know the full extent of it it’s fairly obvious. What drives his wish to act so differently and thus his contradictions is, most of all, fear.

This part is pretty straightforward, in fact. In the end, Vanitas is afraid of forming bonds with others in fear of losing them, he knows firsthand how much it hurts (of course, he also doesn’t want anyone to discover his past). But that’s not all, remember how I mentioned that Vanitas’s expression only darkened in the clock tower (chapter 11) scene when Noé said he had decided to stay with him…? Well… I think Vanitas might think he brings misfortune to whoever gets involved with him. Like he is some symbol of disaster and doom that does nothing but kill those around him. If people care for him, they will suffer, but if they hate him, they will be completely fine. 

Despite his insistence of being detached to all people and being a cold asshole because that’s what he must do, to avoid getting hurt, to avoid having weak points, he also craves so very badly for intimacy. He wants to be close to someone, to make an impression on someone. After all, during his whole life I doubt he truly had any meaningful relationships with others. But love only results in pain in the end, so what other strong emotion is left? Of course, it’s hatred. 

Aaand this brings us to the last section of this analysis! May be a tad biased and controversial, but as I said, this is merely my opinion and I’m just as much of a random person on the internet as you! My opinion is no better than yours.

3. Vanitas’s relationships: Mainly Noé and Jeanne

As I said above, Vanitas wishes fervently to have some kind of relationship with someone, no matter which type. Since love is a no-go, he opted towards having someone feel intense hatred towards him. Because a strong emotion is a strong emotion, isn’t it? After all, hatred must be better than indifference.

Getting this out of the way, I do not think Vanitas truly loves Jeanne as of chapter 39. It’s glaringly obvious he does not, his way of showing true affection is not the way he does with Jeanne. The way he acts around her is much closer to the façade he tries to be. As I see it, this ties into Vanitas’s wish to explore intimacy and affection, even if a broken, twisted kind of. Another proof of this is that he doesn’t push her away like he does with people he knows he’s starting to grow fond of, but instead keeps her closer.

That is exactly due to the belief that she will always, always hate him, and so, there is absolutely nothing to fear. He can explore all these things and experience being the brunt of a person’s intense feelings without any consequences.

This is a very harsh thing to say, but I think Vanitas is using Jeanne as a “convenient female” he accused Dominique of being to Noé.

It’s also worth noting that in the one chapter he truly got somehow intimate with Jeanne he tried to avoid it in many ways, even trying the usual “flirting” to purposefully gross her out. By the way, can I just point out that this scene truly shows just how estranged from affection he is? He has none of the suave façade, he’s a blundering mess.

About the topic of whether Jeanne likes Vanitas or not, my answer is, too, a clear no as of chapter 39. Vanitas and Jeanne together are a combination that spawns all the disaster on earth, considering how manipulative and emotionally stunted Vanitas is, and how gullible and affection starved Jeanne is. It’s a recipe for disaster. Jeanne is not used to affection, she was mistreated during most of her life, treated as something below humans and vampires due to a thing that was completely out of her control, and then, melting at any sort of affection, no matter how twisted the person may be.

To be fair, I think overall Vanijeanne will develop immensely, and their relationship will grow into something else, more healthy? Who knows! I just think it’s undeniable that in the future Jeanne will have a big, big impact on Vanitas and vice versa. (Disclaimer: I will not tolerate any ship hate whatsoever and everyone is allowed to ship whatever they want regardless of the nature of said ship).

Shifting the focus away to Noé and Vanitas for now, there are some little things I would like to talk about and juxtapose with Vanijeanne, since parallels are my thing.

Parallels between Vanoé and Vanijeanne may not even exist and are just my mind overthinking (hell if this whole post isn’t just a big overthinking) but I would like to talk about what my sleep deprived mind came up with. First off, I think it’s safe to say that Vanoé’s relationship is depicted as complete opposites, opposite worldviews, personalities, fuck even color palettes! And the story as it is shows that they bring the absolute best out of each other and learn by staying by the other’s side. The whole narrative pushes the two halves of a whole idiot a lot.

Noé is naive, pure, idealistic but still possesses certain “selfishness” (like how he felt he was selfish when Louis died but he lived), while Vanitas is cunning, wicked, cynical and would throw his own life away for one corn chip. It’s like they were two people fated to meet.

Vanitas and Jeanne, on the other hand… are kind of similar, but only in certain ways, mostly due to trauma. Jeanne, too, only lives for a sole objective, the same way Vanitas clings to life using his self assigned duty to cure curse bearers. Jeanne and Vanitas both, are people who have essentially gave up on life, on the world, and on themselves. People who purposefully push themselves away from happiness, in fear of the consequences.

I think, at least right now, this is the main reason why they cannot see eye to eye (aside from Vanitas being an asshole). To understand Vanitas and reach out to him, one must see him with “love”. Without love, Vanitas’s struggles, trauma and suffering cannot be seen. If you look at him with eyes full of hatred, he’ll be exactly who he wants to be seen as; a cold, heartless bastard who toys with people and cares for no one other than himself. Jeanne doesn’t have the ability to see the world as purely as Noé does. She cannot find love even in seemingly irredeemable people such as Vanitas. Yet, at least.

That’s the main reason why I think Vanitas isn’t afraid of being near Jeanne, and that’s the main reason why Noé is probably such an… illogical existence to Vanitas. Vanitas, too, cannot see love in the world, and yet, Noé does. Noé catches every single small detail about him:

Whew! That was… one big fucking post! If you’ve reached this point, thank you! I write meta for fun only and to share my interpretations for you guys! Also, the last bit probably sounded very ship hate-y but I swear this was absolutely not my intention.

Actually, the true meaning of this whole post was that I wanted to make an Umineko reference with Vanitas no Carte and I have succeeded. Play Umineko, you guys.

[torterrachampion]

30 days of Vanitas no Carte. Day #28

So, what is love? [In general or regarding the series.]

Man, you're really coming with hard questions now. We'll try and go with what I think the series is trying to say because I don't want to try and unpack what I think it is. Now, I'm not sure I can pass judgement on the characters' feelings but I'm certainly going to try. At the moment the series seems focused on romantic love within the group of Vanitas, Noé, Jeanne, Domi and Luca. I'm only going to address romantic love since that's what Noé's question to Vanitas was about. I ramble for so long and I'm not sure it's coherent so everything is under the cut.

For now let's look at why the various characters have feelings for each other.

Here's what we know:

Domi loves Noé (There's also mild undertones of her liking Jeanne too)

Jeanne loves Vanitas

Vanitas loves Jeanne

Luca loves Jeanne

Noé loves either Vanitas or Jeanne

Domi has liked Noé since they were children, since before Louis died. She also seems to have fallen for him pretty quick because of how young they looked when Noé first drank her blood. Part of why Domi came to love Noé would probably be because he's one of the few people outside her family she saw on a regular basis and probably one of the only non-aristocrats. Domi clearly had a hard upbringing, among her siblings she seems to be somewhat unimportant and her family apart from Louis don't seem very loving at all. Noé's one of the few people who can and will give her the affection she needs.

It also helps that Noé's a catch. She's right about all his good points when she explains them to Jeanne in chapter 45. Noé and Dominique would work well together but I don't think they stand a chance. Noé would have noticed Domi's feelings by now if he returned them and it makes a lot of sense that Vanitas was confused by them being just friends. Vanitas absolutely picked up on Domi's feelings towards Noé. These two have had multiple romantically/sexually coded moments but because Noé never comes across as particularly affected by them it always feels one-sided. Let me just say that it's bizarre that Noé hasn't caught on yet, we've seen with Vanitas that Noé is very emotionally intelligent and can analyse other people's moods pretty accurately. It could just be that he doesn't understand love though.

Anyway, assuming Domi has some feelings for Jeanne it seems like she has a tendency to fall for people who stick by her in any capacity. Jeanne immediately took a liking to Dominique and they became friends pretty fast. What I'm saying is that I think Domi's just a bit lonely and wants a romantic partner who genuinely likes her as a person.

On to Jeanne. She only started showing any interest in Vanitas once he started being nice to her. The first hints of it was on their date. Then, in Gévaudan, Vanitas didn't spend any of the arc messing with her. The only time he even tried was when he was flustered by Jeanne and didn't want to get out of his wet clothes. I think the most important turning point was when Vanitas promised to help Chloé though. Jeanne obviously has a lot of conflicting feelings about her role as a borreau and Vanitas provided her with a way to avoid killing someone she cares about. I think that was probably when Jeanne started to see his powers in possibly a similar light to how Noé viewed them in volumes 1 and 2. Also, Jeanne seems to find physical affection very important if her pushing Vanitas down for blood and her comments in the last chapter are anything to go off.

Now Vanitas. He was originally lying about loving Jeanne. His reaction to his love proves it, since he didn't seem at all concerned before these last few chapters. I think the weird relationship he created between himself and Jeanne in the first few volumes probably reflects some twisted understanding of love on his own part. Anyway, I'd say he fell for Jeannne after she fell for him. At the moment when she smiled at him (You know the smile) and he started to see her differently. I think this also put his other interactions with her into a new light for him. He started to actually realise what kind of person Jeanne is and that she's actually a lot more interesting than he first gave her credit for.

Luca's feelings for Jeanne seem like the most doomed feelings in the series. Jeanne obviously wants to protect him but she still sees him as a child. Luca doesn't seem to interact with many people, certainly no one his own age, and Jeanne is probably one of the few people who treats him kindly. Ruthven, despite being his uncle, seems fairly cold (he was plotting an assassination after all) and he probably doesn't see Loki that often. Essentially Luca is lonely and Jeanne is a kind, strong and beautiful woman. Who can blame him for getting attached to her?

Finally, Noé. The most confusing member of the cast. I'll be honest, to me he gives off the fewest romantic vibes out of all of them. And the fandom seems split on who he has feelings for. I have a preference but I'll consider both. Being clear, I would prefer if he were interested in Vanitas because I think it makes more sense narratively and I just like the ship. So let's address his relationship with Vani first.

If we're only taking into account interactions before chapter 12 I'll say that Noé doesn't have many reasons to like Vanitas. They were still kind of on rocky ground in their relationship. At that point in the story if he had romantic interest in Vanitas it would mostly boil down to two things as I see it: 1) A fascination with Vanitas as a person 2) Vanitas's blood. If you disagree feel free to tell me but honestly I can't imagine any deeper reasons to be interested in Vani at that point.

Beyond chapter 12 though Noé does have more reasons to care about Vanitas. Noé gets to understand Vanitas a lot better throughout the catacombs and Gévaudan and learns to rely on him. Vanitas has also grown fond of Noé (in a tsundere kind of way) and affection will make you like a person more. Besides that Noé has literally asked for Vani's blood, and while he was understandably a bit out of it, that's not a normal thing to ask from your human friend.

If Noé likes Jeanne then it's mostly based on physical appearance. Before chapter 12 Noé had never interacted 1 on 1 with Jeanne. He'd only ever fought her in volume 1 and been near her in volume 2. So, if Jeanne is the one he likes Noé just likes strong, beautiful women I guess. After chapter 12 the only time I can remember them interacting was when Jeanne threatened to kill him in Gévaudan. This at least shows Jeanne doesn't have much interest in him. But there is some evidence that Noé could like Jeanne and that is at least what Domi thinks.

So, what does all that mean? Well, I think Jun is definitely saying there needs to be some emotional vulnerability. All the characters fall in love with people they trust (possibly bar Noé???), this is particularly evident with Vani and Jeanne's progression after they started to open up more. But if emotional availability was all you needed Domi and Noé would be a couple.

The characters fall in love if the other person has something they desire and this is where the one-sidedness of some of the relationships comes in. Domi and Luca desire Noé and Jeanne respectively but they don't possess anything that those two desire in return. A big thing for a lot of the characters seems to be physical attractiveness. In the only reciprocal relationship between Vani and Jeanne they both obviously find the person physically attractive. Jeanne has made her feelings very clear in recent chapters.

So I guess it's slightly different for every character. Some would need more or less attention, physically or emotionally, and for things to work out it would probably have to match up with what their partner needs from a relationship. It was easy to write based on stuff that’s clear in the text but interpreting what it means for the themes of the story is so hard and I can’t explain myself very well. Let's just say I don't know where Jun is taking this story but she's concocted a hell of a complicated love triangle. And yes, I am exposing myself as a vanoe and domijeanne shipper.

[heiretic-blog]

meta 01.

vanitas acts out, has a flair for the dramatic, and becomes petulant and cranky when he doesn’t get his way. ruthven describes him as inconsistent and noé calls him out as a finicky person. he intends on ‘saving’ vampires but does so without their consent, claims vengeance against the infamous vanitas who saved him, and gets upset with noé for protecting him despite that he specifically sought him out to use as a shield. he calls jeanne weak for having someone she cares about but struggles with himself for being unable to live up to misha’s wishes. he says she’s a downgrade of what he expected, but then claims to love her. he asks jeanne to marry him but then hates it when people who he chases after actually reciprocates with love.

so yeah, he’s inconsistent and dramatic and always goes for the most drastic options.

to start off, the reason for vanitas choosing the most drastic option isn’t actually a mystery. noé lectured vanitas for being too reckless in battle, saying that he should be more careful because he is a human and therefore, weaker than vampires. vanitas twice has used hostage situations and bluffs to worm his way out of dangerous situations, and tried to act as if he were still loyal to moreau, his abuser, in order to get information out of him. when he couldn’t keep up his act anymore, he tried physical torture. in all these scenarios, vanitas is dramatic because he is aware of exactly how weak he is, especially in comparison to vampires and even vanitas of the blue moon, with whom he lived with. being human and physically less capable meant that he had to rely on the element of surprise and scheme his way out of situations. attempting to do anything less could mean life or death to him. while he is dramatic for the fun and flair, it derives from a desperation to survive. 

his inconsistency is only explainable through theory -- because the series isn’t even close to its end yet, i can only guess why he acts the way he does.

when vanitas gets upset with noé for protecting him, despite the fact that he forced noé to come along with him as a bodyguard of sorts, he does so because he can’t stand people getting hurt on his behalf. the two times he gets upset with noé for doing his ‘job’ is when vanitas himself is incapacitated or unable to join the fight -- he became mad with noé for jumping between him and ruthven as he was rendered immobile by veronica’s ice and another time when he was locked away by roland and noé didn’t listen to his warnings about the way chaussers fight. he is confident in his ability to protect his shield from any permanent harm, but without the insurance of his presence in the fight, vanitas immediately loses composure. this might derive from his history with misha / mikhael / no. 71, who often is seen in flashbacks berating vanitas for not keeping some sort promise, with the implication of violence or death involved in the breaking of that promise, even saying things like ‘you wouldn’t want someone to die because of you again, would you?’

leading to that, vanitas also condemns jeanne for having someone to protect, as he claims that it is what makes her weak. this may derive, again, from misha, who is implied to be a younger brother figure who looked up to vanitas and expected his protection. doctor moreau describes misha as someone who used to follow vanitas around everywhere, which may imply that vanitas felt protective towards him. given that moreau also expresses that vanitas never complained or cried when being medically abused and nearly killed as a result of it, it can be inferred that vanitas may have willingly gone along with moreau’s experiments to protect misha. and that effort may have been for naught, as flashbacks indicate that misha resents vanitas for not keeping his promise and ‘killing father’. so from what he understands, having someone to protect has always been burdensome, and being free of that is what he believes made him stronger -- having the hellfire witch be chained to a protective obligation is disappointing to him. depsite this, he tells jeanne that he’s intrigued by that weakness -- she of all people should understand how difficult it is to live, as jeanne is condemned by vampires and humans alike for hunting her own kin. still, she derives her will to live from wanting to protect luca, and because he can’t relate to her healthy love for him, he admits that she’s fascinating to him.

vanitas’s intrigue for jeanne is reworded as love, but it’s not anything nearly as intimate. i do think he genuinely likes her, he finds her charming and cute and easy to get along with, beyond his more curious interest in her as the hellfire witch. but his few experiences with love (moreau’s love for him as an experiment, misha’s love for him as an older brother) have been hugely negative. moreau treating him poorly out of intrigue for him as an experiment, but painting it as love may be why vanitas also jokes about love jeanne. more on moreau’s impact on vanitas’s personality later.

vanitas tells jeanne he loves her, but then shows disgust when she pretends to reciprocate it, and even tells noé that he has no real interest for someone who would fall for him. to him, love is a one - sided deal where the person ‘giving’ love is the one who holds control over the other person, and the person ‘receiving’ love has to bear with the burden of it (re: moreau and misha). reciprocating love throws his whole perception out of whack and he loses whatever hold he has on the other person. nothing good has come from him receiving love, so he will never want it, especially from someone he actually likes.

as for why he saves vampires against their will -- he says it’s an act of vengeance against vanitas of the blue moon, who is reputable for cursing vampires rather than saving them. beyond that, i genuinely have no clue, since going further into that would require knowing of his relationship with the original vanitas. 

[alosyair]

Happy birthday @noearchivistes !!! Sorry I couldn’t celebrate your birthday by killing Laurent off, even if it’s a ‘perfect sacrifice potential’

so have Laurent admiring Noé instead!

Summarry: Laurent was searching for the truth, and, unexpectedly, he found it in a vampire.

The world was a place way lighter, than it seemed. It was a bit unexpected, with all the shadows and dark corners, but the sun kept moving across the sky, shining brightly. Laurent always loved the sun. Chasseurs’ home was located deep underground, and the only light there was made by fire reflecting on the stone walls. All of the churches he got to visit in his lifetime seemed rather dark too. That was why Laurent was always excited to get to the surface, preferably during afternoons, so he could see the sun and wide blue sky. But it wasn't until Noé that he noticed exactly how light the world actually was.

Laurent believed he stood on the right side; was it just for priests or for the humankind in general. Chasseurs stood in the light of the world, and maybe that's why - after a lot of thinking Laurent was convinced that was the case, - Olivier, Maria, and the others often just saw the dark sides of things and events. If you stay in the light, you can easily turn around and see the shadow. But in the shadow you are fully surrounded by light.

Noé was a vampire, and although he was supposed to be an enemy of his, Laurent saw more and more of the light that of the shadow in his actions. And in his eyes.

It was when they met again, peacefully, in the bright of a day, Laurent felt free and ready to search. There wasn't a specific thing he would search for, but it didn't matter: Laurent loved learning, and it was the fact. He found what he was searching in Noé, the vampire walking around him. He saw it in his sincere purple eyes. And the thing was the truth.

Noé’s face reflected everything he had on his mind, as they were going further in Paris, passing people and houses. He couldn't stop looking around, smiling widely, and he was no less excited than Laurent was about it. Vampires stood in the dark, they were the shadow, but the more Laurent was thinking about it, the more he realized that there was nothing wrong in the shadow side. The sun kept moving across the sky, and the shadow changed its location, lightening up places that were once dark. Eventually, it was all the same.

The knowledge amazed him day by day.

It didn't even take Laurent a while to forget that vampires were once scary, so natural his new friendship was. Noé was the kind of wonderful. Wonderful enough to make Laurent shiver from excitement, from overwhelming feeling of delight, but never from being frightened to death. Opposite of scary, Noé was calming. Laurent met his company with warm embrace and a soft smile- and oh, what a joyful smile Noé always made sure to give him back.

Laurent wished the rest of chasseurs could accept befriending a vampire as something sinless.

It was actually Vanitas who taught his friends to call Noé by his name. Olivier, Maria, Georges - Laurent was glad to have them by his side too, seeing them slowly getting closer to the truth with him.

‘If you think being called ‘a human’ is rude, you don't call him ‘the vampire’,’ were Vanitas’ words, and Laurent beamed.

It must have been the basic rule of friendship.

Laurent loved learning. And it just came that Noé was his favorite subject.

Having Noé as a friend felt good - much better than it would be to have him as an enemy, not only because friendship were better in general, but because Noé was strong, not only kindhearted. Also Noé had soft hair - Laurent got to touch them a couple of times - and a beautiful voice. Sometimes Laurent lost count of all the traits the vampire had, the good traits, that made him want to get to know Noé over and over again. Oh, he was a good friend. Or more than a friend, Laurent could tell, as Noé in his eyes meant much more than a simple word. He was a friend, a partner, he was an experience, and the light in Paris streets.

Laurent was in constant search for something, sometimes new, and, eventually, Noé became the truth Laurent was ready to die for.