#albert t footman now!

[tuesdayintheservantshall]

I know I’m biased but it honestly did read that way to me… and yet at the same time despite what I said before it did read very much the same as Daisy’s interest so I don’t know quite how to interpret that. 😂

I love how we saw Albert being very excited about Myrna Dalgleish and instead of interpreting it in the boring heterosexual way we all just went "oh so Albert is a diva worshipper, good to know"

[midnight-in-town]

John Brown as the mastermind behind the Blue Sect and the recent sad events?

Disclaimer: Spoilers and long post. As such, this theory will initially be a little chronological to try and make the explanation simpler. If any point is unclear, feel free to ask @thedarkestcrow or me about it as it is something we discussed together. :)

First of all, here’s what we know about the current arc (ch127 happens mid-November 1889):

Bravat (who’s most likely human) knew from the beginning that Ciel is the Watchdog (”Earl Phantomhive”), that Seb is a demon, that Lizzie is Ciel’s fiancée and that the Starlight Four committed crimes at Weston.

Bravat’s sect is at least one and a half year/two years old (ch125). However, seeing as there was no hint of massive blood collects and death before August/September 1889, we’ll assume for this theory that the 4 star lords were put in Bravat’s care at some point during Summer 1889, which is when Bravat started using the S4 to promote the Sphere music hall in order to collect as much blood as possible.

Othello said that, considering the anormal progress of the sect’s technology, a supernatural being is most likely behind it (ch119/ch125). This supernatural mastermind is very probably the reason Bravat knew about Sebastian being a demon (and about Lizzie and Ciel). 

While the reason tying Lizzie to the sect is still unclear, we’re going to assume for this theory that Bravat’s mention of her to Ciel (ch123) might mean that she’s seen as a possible hostage to use against him. 

Lastly, about the 2CT: it seems like it’s almost confirmed.

Lord Sirius being Ciel’s twin (aka Real!Ciel, a “bizarre doll”) is a popular theory

Agni’s reaction when he found the burnt picture of Ciel’s family (ch126) was quite telling that something was unexpected about this picture.

I hope all of this makes sense for you guys! Onto the theory about John Brown...

1) Going back in time...

...To December 1885, Vincent is killed and his sons are bought by a satanic cult that intends on using them as sacrifices in order to summon a demon. In January 1886, Real!Ciel is sacrificed on the altar and our!Ciel manages to summon Sebastian, selling his soul to him in order to survive and get revenge. He then becomes the new Queen’s Watchdog in March 1886.

Fastforwarding a bit, ch125 told us that the old Lords whom Bravat used to transfuse regularly should have died more than one and a half year ago, meaning that Bravat’s sect has been at least existing ever since Winter 1887/Spring 1888.

A possible link to Ryan’s Aurora Society or the mysterious Osiris company mentioned during the Campania arc is possible but we don’t have any hint vouching for it yet.

Fastforwarding again, it’s February 1889 and the Circus arc happens, resulting in a messy ending, with Ciel lying to the Queen about his report for this case, not knowing that the Double Charles and John Brown (as well as the Undertaker) witnessed what he truly did.

As a result, Queen Victoria organizes a grand punishment in March 1889, starring Charles Grey killing an important German lord and trying to have Ciel take the fall for the murder in front of witnesses. This ends rather well though, as Ciel manages to trick Grey and blame someone else for the murder.

In April 1889, it’s the Campania arc, where the Undertaker introduces for the first time his Bizarre Doll project, indirectly mass-murdering many people seemingly without a care in the world. He manages to run away, leaving his chain of lockets to Ciel and with Sebastian concluding the arc on...

They obviously did run into him again though, in June 1889, when they end up facing ameliorated BDs, because of several murders committed by 4 students (the Starlight 4).  At the end of this arc, Ciel makes his report to Queen Victoria, telling her about the S4′s crimes but also about the Undertaker’s Bizarre Dolls. Strangely enough though, she doesn’t find Ciel’s explanation to be senseless and once he left, this discussion about BDs happens between her and John Brown:

So, Queen Victoria seems to find the idea of having BDs as “allies” to be very fancy. And, as the following arc happening in Germany in August 1889 will show, it seems that Queen Victoria finds that idea to be oh! so very interesting because she’s actually preparing for a war against Germany, which is also why she asks Ciel to bring Sieglinde and her latest deadly invention (the SULIN gas) back to England, so that Sieglinde can invent new war weapons that the Queen will then use against Germany.   

At least that was how the clever plan getting Victoria new deadly war weapons was supposed to go. 

Because two slight problems arose:

the Undertaker unfortunately doesn’t happen to be Victoria’s greatest fan (most likely because she’s the reason Vincent, and maybe Claudia Phantomhive, ended up dead thanks to the Watchdog duty), so trying to make friends with UT to get the BDs probably wouldn’t work at all.

Ciel unfortunately saw through Victoria’s plan for Sieglinde and the SULIN and he tasked Sebastian with getting rid of the very deadly gas in ch108, double crossing “his master” by doing so.

Unfortunately though, Ciel’s plan kind of backfired at him, since Queen Victoria and John Brown made it rather obvious in ch108 (late August 1889) that they saw through his little game, which means that it’s the second mistake (or act of defiance) that Ciel made as the Watchdog in less than a year, causing Brown/King Albert to...

...compare him to his very murdered father. 

@thedarkestcrow​ and I (and other readers of course) took this as a rather serious threat against Ciel (something he probably realized as well), perfectly fitting with the theory that the Queen and John Brown might have something to do with the murders of Vincent and Rachel, for a reason that’s still unknown. [x] [x]

In any case, while Victoria saw through Ciel’s little game with the SULIN quite obviously, she doesn’t appear to have punished him (yet?) and anyway, ch114 told us that she was actually visiting Sieglinde often, probably because she hasn’t given up on Sieglinde creating something useful for her war. 

As for her desire to get allies in the form of Bizarre Dolls, if the one who initially had the idea (the Undertaker) can’t be found and convinced to help her, maybe she could ask another supernatural being to make them for her?

One she already knows; one she trusts because he comforts her when she’s sad and missing her husband; one who knows about her war plans and who promised to protect her; one who traveled in record time from England to Germany without riding his horse and without triggering the traps in the forest; one whose eyes are always hidden, hinting that maybe they would give away his true nature should they be seen...

...Or maybe John Brown is making it all a surprise in this arc because he’s very dedicated to her...?

2) John Brown (and Queen Victoria?) as the mastermind behind this arc

Starting from here, this is all hypothetical, but maybe I should say now that @thedarkestcrow​ and I started considering that the supernatural mastermind Othello hinted at had to be someone who was not the Undertaker ever since Ciel became targeted in the recent events. For now, it’s unclear whether Soma really was the target of the attack of ch126/127 or if Ciel was, but, even if the target was Soma, it most likely inherently had to do with Ciel. 

So, considering the Undertaker’s attachment to the P family, we tend to agree with Sebastian when he once said that the Undertaker “doesn’t seem to want to cause [Ciel] harm”. Besides, so far, the Undertaker’s BD project mostly was based on alterations of cinematic records, so the fact that the 4 Lords (if they’re indeed supposed to be BDs) seemed to be dependent of blood always made us wonder why he’d change his methods now (especially after BD!Algares who was almost perfect). 

However, John Brown if he’s the mastermind trying to “make things go according to her majesty’s wishes” (no matter what kind of supernatural being he is), wouldn’t know how UT managed to create his BDs, so maybe that’s why the 4 Lords seem to be different, needing blood when UT’s dolls didn’t. 

John Brown could also be behind Bravat’s technology ever since the old Lords started to be transfused at least two years ago, simply because Victoria is preparing for war and as Wolfram put it in ch114...

So after researching about blood transfusion, Brown used these important old Lords to experiment his blood transfusion technique by the intermediary of Bravat’s sect, thanks to the technology he developed as a supernatural being (that device that Othello was impressed with in ch125). 

Brown as Victoria’s footman and as the supernatural mastermind behind Bravat would also be aware of:

Ciel being the watchdog

Seb being a demon

Lizzie being Ciel’s fiancée

the S4 having committed crimes and making for useful pawns.

Finally, if we’re saying that the blue sect is a cover for Brown researching how to make bizarre doll-like beings that will be used as war weapons, I know it does sound strange (if she is aware of what he is doing) that Queen Victoria deliberately put Ciel on Bravat’s trail. 

So, this part is really a wild idea but what if it all was a part of her plan, because no one can know what she and John Brown tried to create using the Sphere music hall as a cover? After all, imagine the scandal if people were to learn that the Queen is indirectly responsible for bleeding to death a part of London, because she’s involved with senseless experiments! 

Which is why she asked Ciel to go investigate the Sphere music hall...

...even giving him the list of these old Lords that were being transfused by Bravat over the last two years...

...maybe hoping that Bravat purposedly endangering Lizzie by making her join the sect at the same time would be a good way for him to focus on settling this case with as much efficiency as possible?

Settling the case might not be what she’s expecting of him at all... Rather she wants him to get rid of Bravat and his sect, Lizzie used “as a hostage” being what should motivate Ciel to do anything to eliminate the ones who endangered her (and obviously Bravat wouldn’t know that he’s expandable). And it’s not such a crazy bet when we see how Ciel solved most of the other cases given to him.

Of course, if John Brown has his own agenda (or if the Queen doesn’t know that he might be supernatural), it’s possible that the Queen might not have known that Brown was trying to create the “bizarre dolls” that they talked about back in ch84, hence why she put Ciel on the case. That being said, considering how she didn’t seem surprised that things as strange as Bizarre Dolls could exist back in ch84, if Brown is supernatural then she might be aware of it.

3) About the events of ch126/127

A really hypothetical part yet again, just to point out that...

...Whoever Agni’s killer is, he’s stronger than a normal human because Agni himself was a very good fighter and he almost couldn’t fight back. So, while we’re not 100% sure of who this man is yet (Lord Polaris? maybe John Brown himself?) and same for the gunman, it would make sense to think that they’re linked to the Sphere music hall.

If the two men who attacked Soma and Agni are Lord Polaris and Lord Sirius then, if they’re really supposed to be equivalents of UT’s BDs, maybe the fact they need a lot blood could also have to do with a possible enhancement of their physical capacities. That would explain the strength of Agni’s killer.

Take Finny for example. Do you remember where Finny is from? A German research institute that the Queen had Ciel raid, for the same reason she sent him to Sieglinde’s village. So if Germany had found a way to enhance physical capacities, it’s not impossible for England to have found it as well, especially since it would be very useful for war. 

In any case, the fact that Ciel’s house was targeted might have been for a simple reason: maybe it was a way to experiment if the “dolls” (Lord Polaris and Lord Sirius in that case) were following orders correctly as well as how they would manage against a strong fighter like Agni (or maybe even Sebastian). As for why choosing Ciel’s house as the target of the experimental attack... well, maybe this (hurting Soma and killing Agni) is Ciel’s punishment for taking the SULIN away from the Queen... Unless it’s an initiative by Bravat of course, because he’s tired of Ciel trying to stop him. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for reading and sorry that it was so long!

As always, this post could be totally off (the theory about Ciel’s twin wanting revenge still holds, even if I just can’t see UT as the mastermind behind the sect anymore after the events of ch126/127) especially since this theory doesn’t completely explain everything, so please take everything with a grain of salt and feel free to share your thoughts about this theory if you feel like it. 

We’ll see if this will go anywhere next month. :)