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frederickabberline · 7 years

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The Parallel Theory (AKA The Original Kuroshitsuji Anime Is Relevant, Actually,)

So I’ve just watched the original anime s1 again in full for the first time in years, and while I was expecting to find some parallels with the manga so far, I wasn’t expecting to find such a wealth of information as I did. So here’s an essay-length breakdown of all the similarities so far, and the plot points that I think are yet to be. Feel free to point out anything I missed!

Genuine warning that underneath the read-more this is a few thousand words, and when I say essay-length I mean it.

Note that the anime had a different order of events to the manga, and the arcs are as follows:

Intro Episode ~ Kidnapping Arc -> Ripper Arc -> Houndsworth Arc -> Magic Camera Episode -> Thames Last Froze Enough For A Fair In 1814 This Is Highly Inaccurate (Ice Fair Episode) ~ Drocell’s Arc -> Curry Arc -> Ghost Princes Episode -> Monastic Cult Arc -> Lady Blanc Arc ~ Servants and Chess Episode -> Paris Episode ~ London Fire Arc (Final)

And in the manga, (not including bonus chapters):

Intro ~ Kidnapping Arc -> Ripper Arc -> Curry Arc -> Circus Arc -> Murder Arc -> Campania Arc -> Weston Arc -> Green Witch Arc -> Blue Sect Arc (current) -> ???

IF ANY PART OF THIS IS DIFFICULT TO READ OR CONTAINS TYPOS, DON’T HESITATE TO SHOOT ME AN ASK, I’LL BE HAPPY TO CLARIFY/CORRECT!!

Now, I don’t have anything to say about Intro ~ Kidnapping, so let’s skip those.

Ripper

Although this had very little variation from the manga, the most interesting change (which everybody has noticed) was the addition of Grelle going to stay with the Phantomhives and proving herself deathly useless and insincerely suicidal at the slightest mistake. This was obviously her being difficult on purpose because she thought it was funny, and foreshadowing the fact that reapers are all suicide victims. The reason this is important for me to note even though everybody knows it already is because season one originally aired in 2008, but we didn’t learn about the reapers in the manga until March 2015, seven years later. This is proof enough in my opinion that the anime, while often poorly scripted, was made with full or near-full knowledge of the manga plot.

Houndsworth (See: Green Witch, with the lightest dash of Murder)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Our heroes enter a “cursed” village, well removed from society. The curse is said to have been around since ancient times, and one of the most notable village members is an old hag who warns them at the entrance. It is said that any outsiders or any who interfere with the village will be punished by the curse. Villagers who break the rules are punished severely and cruelly, and it is considered the duty of the head of the village to enforce the laws. People die due to the curse. Finnian has some flashbacks. There’s a decidedly canine element. In the end, the curse turns out to be fake, but there is something more going on under the surface, relating to Particular Plans to engage in a major war. A dog man is brought back to the Phantomhive Manor.

It’s easy to see how this lines up with Green Witch, although we don’t have Sieglinde or mustard gas. What we do have is Pluto, a dog man capable of massive destruction (I’d equate the fire breath with the gas in this case), who I’d say is a slight nod to Wolfram (the rough lord of the village was a bit more clearly related to Wolf, so I’d say he’s the other half of the character).

I mention Murder only because Pluto is an animal man who becomes a footman, and just so happens to be unaware that the Phantomhive group will eventually end up his enemies. That is, Pluto is a mix of the gas, Wolfram, and Snake. Snake must eventually learn that OCiel killed his family, which will test his loyalties severely. Whether he and the gas, like Pluto, ends up in the hands of the enemy again is another matter. Note that Queen Victoria desperately wishes to have Sieglinde on her side, and Sie is the key to that gas.

Magic Camera

This episode was total filler, as far as the anime was concerned, and while I’d say nothing of note happened, symbolic photographs are becoming more and more relevant to the current plot. So this episode had more of a thematic importance than anything else (and perhaps importance is a strong word). The rules of the magic camera were that any photo taken would also show whatever “not of this world” that the subject cared most for (that is, dead people). We do have a camera that took a photograph showing what was most important to OCiel, belonging to our newly introduced reporter friend Pitt, but making much more links than that is a stretch at this point. On the other hand, we have OCiel tossing the photograph into the fire, just as Sebastian burnt the photo from McMillan. Rejecting close bonds and trying to erase them with fire? hm. Undertaker too was recently captivated by a photo of the deceased, as he lamented that Vincent was burnt to ashes. Very opposing methods of dealing with grief. In any case, this episode doesn’t yield much. Yet, I guess.

Ice Fair ~ Drocell (See: Noah’s Ark, Campania, a dash of Blue Sect)

The Ice Fair was overall not a great episode and I’ll never get over the “I dunno, to hell with it, whatever” attitude of the staff in giving Undertaker a stall, as if he’d need an excuse to visit a fair without having a shop. But, it was necessary to set up for Drocell’s arc, and had a tip of the hat to the Noah’s Ark Circus with the inclusion of the toy ark. The reason I mention it specifically is because it had a bit of information that struck me as oddly relevant. That is, the fact that Ciel own one portion of the Hope Diamond, passed down through the Phantomhive generations. The diamond is supposedly cursed, often bringing a gruesome end to the owner, and the other half ends up coming through to Lizzy and marking her for Drocell.

“This ring has seen the demise of its master many times. My grandfather’s... My father’s... And... Without fail, this ring will bear witness to my death as well. It has heard the final agony of every family head. When I close my eyes... ...I can hear their screams” - OCiel, Volume I, Chapter 2 (bold emphasis mine)

I looked up the Hope Diamond. This next part is purely speculative.

The Hope Diamond came to Europe in 1642 and ended up with the French Royal family, who kept it until 1792 when it was stolen during the French revolution. Marie Antoinette, who died in October of 1793, was supposedly a victim of the curse. The diamond went missing, was cut to smaller size (in Kuro, this would be when it was split in two), and didn’t surface again until 1839 when Henry Thomas Hope acquired it. Hope died in 1862.

And I know exactly how half of the diamond (the half not belonging to Hope - that half would be the one Drocell tracks) made its way to the Phantomhives following the death of Marie. Undertaker reaped her, according to William in episode 18. Undertaker likes mementoes. So, quite possibly, he took it. Grelle does not know who Undertaker is, and yet she graduated from the Academy in December 1799, just 6 years and two months after Marie’s death. Therefore, Undertaker deserted between November 1793 and December 1799. How the diamond was split, I can’t say, but if it came to England through Undertaker then he evidently gifted half to the Phantomhive family.

Undertaker possibly gifting half is interesting, considering in the manga there are now two competing heirs to the title, one of which may be a bizarre doll. I’m not going to go on about season two any, and this isn’t really related, but Alois’ soul was carried in a ring for some time. But of course R!Ciel isn’t wearing a ring, and Undertaker should no longer have the other half, as it would have passed into Hope’s possession. That is, unless he later got it back, since he’s had enough time to. I don’t have any conclusions about this, I just think it’s interesting to note. We just don’t know that much about Undertaker’s true motives and how he first came to be involved with the Phantomhives, and anything relevant helps.

Lastly, though I personally hold no love for the theory that Undertaker is Cedric K. Ro--, it is interesting that OCiel said the ring came through his grandfather, despite it being a Phantomhive ring with the Phantomhive crest and as a result having been owned by Cloudia, rather than her non-Phantomhive lover. Possibly it was the gemstone itself that was owned by Cedric, and that was then incorporated into the Phantomhive family ring. This is only one possible explanation, and may not even be relevant.

Moving on from speculation about the Hope Diamond.

This arc, unlike the others, is made from two full manga arcs Frankenstein'd together with a dash of a third, so there’s a lot to unpack.

On the side of Noah’s Ark, we have a ginger-haired pied piper figure luring young children (in this case specifically girls) away and removing their autonomy, turning them into building materials for Questionable Fine Wares. This is done on the orders of a higher power, and it is not necessarily what the pied piper figure would wish to do of his own accord, but he himself has been turned into a mere puppet long ago. Elizabeth is in danger.

Sliding over to Campania, we have a puppet-master turning people into living dolls. Made to do his bidding, they can no longer speak and they do not complain or tell lies, they are in a respect pure beings, but also purely horrifying, as he commands them like a soulless army. The animal man must keep Ciel safe, and act as a guide. Grelle is there, freshly returned to the field, and is instrumental in taking down a few of the dolls. Elizabeth is in danger, but surprisingly ends up joining the fight against her wishes with some powerful attacks.

And another step over to Blue Sect. Elizabeth runs away from Paula, to meet a man who promises her happiness, and the ability to fulfil her wishes. He tells her that he sees her great sorrow. He can help her make Ciel happy. The victims are being controlled through music, and Sebastian saves the day by overriding the false prophet’s songs with his own, effectively stripping the man of his power. But, it turns out he is not the true leader here. Elizabeth is in danger, and is being turned into a weapon against Ciel and Sebastian.

Need I say more? Probably not, but I have one last note:

When Drocell is killed, Grelle says she knew he’d been reaped years ago, and then Sebastian says that he “must have been fitted with a makeshift soul”. This contradicts the information we have in the manga so far. We haven’t yet seen a reanimated manga character with a “makeshift soul”. Undertaker cannot create a soul, and the dolls cannot steal one. However, RCiel... We don’t know what’s powering him just yet. If Undertaker isn’t fully responsible for him as it’s “not his style” (-comment Othello made about unknown parties when examining the Cult technology), then it’s very possible RCiel might have a makeshift “soul” created by some other entity. This, however, assumes that the comment means anything and isn’t simply one of the lore inconsistencies between the manga and the anime.

Curry

Bitterly sobs about Agni.

Since this is one of the manga arcs, there’s nothing much to note other than... When the Queen enters the scene in the anime, everybody except for the Indian duo and Lau sing God Save the Queen. Lau actually opens his eyes to glare at her. We haven’t seen this developed in the manga yet, and any disdain on Lau’s part there is still well hidden. Meanwhile in the manga, the Curry Arc is where we first see John Brown comfort the queen with a little Albert puppet - he says to her “Your Majesty, Prince Albert is always with you”. He also just survived getting trampled by a horse, and we’ve never seen his eyes. These three factors add up to making him a suspicious figure already, considering Ash was an angel (therefore unable to be harmed by a horse, and had angelic features) who literally sewed Victoria and Albert together so that they could always remain with each other. Always with her, indeed. But more on him later.

Ghost Princes

If this is going to show up in the manga on a literal level, it hasn’t yet. We’ve not been introduced to any ghosts, and Ciel has not lost a game of chess to a deceased elder brother around his age who takes control of Sebastian as his prize (though Sebastian is not devoted to him and returns to Ciel - and this did happen in the manga with Sieglinde a little bit while OCiel was having a breakdown). Said elder brother devoted to protecting his little brother while holding a warped view of his past. This warped view, which is ultimately him lying to himself, is held despite his hatred of liars, and despite that hatred and his insistence on fair play he is willing to cheat to win (whatever is in his power is “fair”, matching Ciel’s whole bit to Madam Red about how Sebastian doesn’t follow the rules of the game and real life is not so predictable or fair). He, truthfully, holds guilt at how powerless he was to stop his little brother being attacked, as he was killed first after a guard let assassins into their castle while they were alone together in their room. When he comes to his senses and remembers the true version of events, and realises he can never have physical closure, his soul is put to rest.

O H W A I T,

We’re currently dealing with a lot of chess symbolism between OCiel and RCiel, and I don’t think it takes much to see how these situations are parallels.

Monastic Cult (See: Blue Sect)

This is the arc where we see that Tanaka and Ash were on friendly terms, which was a gag, but considering where Tanaka stands at current between OCiel and RCiel, and considering how he was insistent on OCiel being allowed to stay in his breakdown state to gently emotionally/mentally heal, I felt it was worth pointing out. After all, if OCiel heals, he surely gives up the Ciel act and possibly even gives up the contract. I don’t think Tanaka is a likely antagonist, but his goals are certainly at odds with Sebastian’s, and do sit more in the field of OCiel giving up hatred and revenge, as Angela tried to force.

According to Ash, there was concern that the heretics in this cult of purity were planning to rise up and overthrow the government, just as Victoria is supposedly concerned about with the Blue Sect and the way it bridges social divides. In both cases, this was a false order of sorts, since Angela and Ash were one in the same, and Bravat only used the Sect for the Blue Star, true mastermind of that operation and final goals currently unknown.

Both cults were infiltrated via a trusted tradesman - the anime cult through Undertaker’s coffin deliveries, and the manga one through Nina’s clothes deliveries. Undertaker is of course still involved in this case, but not in the same casual way he was in the anime. Both involved awarding people with radiance and a purpose, but ultimately were just ways to “harvest” people, and both gave a false hope. Bravat tried to tempt OCiel the same way, but was unsuccessful, just as Angela was.

Also, Grelle was there, having to investigate the stolen records/record tampering/altered fates. And O/Ciel had to dress up after pretending to be purified/have found his shine. Ciel is tempted to give up his revenge by a loved one returned from the dead, who also tries to kill him. Whatever works best, I guess.

When it comes to taking down the anime cult, Undertaker’s expertise was required against the higher-order antagonist. Angela and Undertaker were both capable of and in trouble for stealing/altering cinematic records/record books. Just as Undertaker is currently tampering with records and people’s futures to create bizarre dolls, there is an antagonist above him (and above Bravat) who is in charge of what has happened with RCiel’s resurrection and the Blue Sect’s altering people’s fates. While the radiance and purity are false promises, Angela could alter people’s perspective of their memories, and Bravat did succeed in extending the lifespan of several patrons (before he set the machines to reverse and drained their blood entirely).

Lady Blanc ~ Servants and Chess (See: Blue Sect)

Ciel is stripped of his role as Watchdog when he is blamed for crimes that Angela committed. Violet is currently giving the police a report which would state that Ciel Phantomhive was intimately involved with the Blue Sect and everything was for his sake (as the Blue Star), and OCiel is at risk of having his title stolen by RCiel, who would be the rightful heir if it is legitimately him. Ciel is forced to give up Sebastian temporarily (which also recalls, if RCiel is the ghost brother, Sebastian being ‘given up’ when the chess game is lost), Abberline sticks with him, however, which ultimately proves to be the dear inspector’s downfall. Manga Abberline is proving to be much more sympathetic to OCiel than his superior officer Randall, so it’s not a stretch to say his death could come to be in the manga fairly soon.

In the anime, Abberline states that this is just like the opium war all over again - “two wars in the mid-19th century (in total spanning 1839 to 1860) involving Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China and China's sovereignty”. The wars started fifty years ago, and ended the year before Albert died, 14th December 1861. What else happened in the manga roughly fifty years ago? Something required Othello in the human world to investigate, and Undertaker was last referred to as a reaper some time around then. OCiel has inherited one hell of a political mess, I’d say.

In the anime, Lau is caught up in this, but I can’t currently see that happening in the manga, and I think we still have a ways to go before his true role is explored. That means that Lau interfering with a message from the queen that would result in war, Lau losing his opium dens due to a move from the Queen, Lau deciding to pull out of England because there’s no future here for him or the Phantomhives, and Lau ending up as one of OCiel’s Watchdog duty targets, all of these events have yet to happen and are most likely to get their manga parallel in the arc following this one. It’s interesting to note that in the anime, it was Lau who killed Abberline, but if Abberline is to die as a result of the Blue Sect, then it’s highly unlikely we’ll see a repeat of this. If Abberline survives the Blue Sect and becomes intimately involved in whatever comes next, particularly if Lau is also involved, then it might still come to pass.

However... OCiel has already lost a close ally who didn’t deserve to sacrifice their life as they were forced to do. This would be Agni. The manga has a lot more players than the anime, so just as Drocell was a composite Campania!Undertaker, Bravat, and Joker, it’s also possible Abberline took the brunt of what would have otherwise been two narratives within the plot, and he may not die as that has already been... accomplished by Agni. Or they might both die. I don’t know.

Lastly, the Chess Episode gave us a little glimpse of the servant trio’s canon backstories (except Bard was British??? for whatever reason), and centred around them and Elizabeth trying to cheer Ciel up (difficult, surely after he’s just lost his title). Manga Elizabeth is certainly dedicated to Ciel’s happiness, but we all know how that’s going in the drastically different circumstances she has to face with two Ciels. When/if OCiel loses his Watchdog title either because he is not the rightful heir or because he has been arrested for supposedly controlling the Blue Sect, the servants (by extension Sieglinde and Wolf as ‘Pluto’) may be his last physically powerful allies.

Paris ~ London Fire

Ciel heads to Paris, an important location because it was Paris that the Queen had tried to start a trade war against (the war that Lau tried to prevent), and because manga Undertaker has as of yet unknown business in France and in the anime supposedly was involved in Marie Antoinette’s death (see also the Hope Diamond ring). Druitt and Redmond have ties to France, and Undertaker has ties to Druitt. This links the Blue Star group with France, unless Undertaker was there to see to separate business not yet related to anything we’ve seen. The real-life Blue Star shipping group was involved with getting supplies to France during WWI (though France was allied with England during that), and thus far the Blue Star line has had a young member of their ranks killed (by Snake) during the Murder Arc. Incidentally, all three of the Murder Arc deaths were those of international figures. Woodley, an illegal arms dealer, Siemens, a banker who by what Grey says (”Dim-witted Germany will catch up to Great Britain, you say? It’s ten years too soon for that.”) can be assumed to have helped fund Germany’s military advances, and lastly Phelps with Blue Star. Blue Star line created the Campania, a boat doomed to sink from the very beginning, and the Blue Sect are also dedicated to “the Blue Star”.

That upcoming link with Paris aside,

“The entire slate must be wiped clean. There is no room for creation without destruction. In order for the new century to be pure, I cleansed the house that has taken on all that is negative in our nation: the house of Phantomhive” -Queen Victoria

“That’s what you call ‘cleansing’? Demeaning the dead?” - Ciel

Ciel runs into the Queen in France and that is when he discovers that without Albert she was willing to end her own life, and it is only through being ‘reunited’ with Albert that she has gained the strength to go on. It’s unlikely that the Victoria of the manga is a composite corpse like she was in the anime, but the same themes of her being ‘softly guided’ by a servant clad in all white who promises that Albert is here with her are there. See ‘Final Notes’ for a full breakdown of why John Brown is so likely to be a supernatural figure.

The Queen’s youthfulness may parallel the extended lives of the Lords that Bravat temporarily “saved” and Irene Diaz’s youth-retaining methods. In Campania, Druitt expressed his desire to rule the world in an eternally youthful state. I don’t think it’s related, but Vincent was also concerned about looking youthful next to Rachel, as she was a few years younger.

Ciel withdraws from the fight because he has begun to care about the fates of bystanders, which is a breach of the contract and angers Sebastian greatly, leading to them getting separated yet again.

Ash kills Victoria when she proves to be unclean as all humans are, caught in the past and rotting, and then returns to complete the holy bridge made of people’s despair. According to the manga (volume XVIII, chapter 85), construction of the tower bridge began three years ago. This means construction of the bridge began around the date of Vincent and Rachel’s death.

Ciel reaffirms that “If I let go of hatred, then I don’t exist”, and gives up the Phantomhive ring (the ring that in the manga is a symbol of who is currently acting as Ciel, the head of the family, and it not allowed to be worn by anyone who isn’t the rightful heir) in order to return to England. He is blamed for the death of the queen and shot. This summons Sebastian back to his side. Will OCiel have to give up the Ciel act in order to truly focus on his revenge...?

Undertaker’s crimes of the same-but-slightly-lesser nature as Angela’s to do with records are forgiven, in exchange for his help and expertise in taking down Ash and the way he is mass-defiling souls to fuel the bridge. Whether Undertaker will have his freedom in exchange for his assistance in the manga, we are yet to see, but I am positive that he is not too highly ranked within the Blue Star organisation for this to be possible, and his bizarre dolls still are a lesser crime than a manufactured doomsday-through-world-war. See ‘Final Notes’ for what I’ve gathered on Undertaker’s involvement.

Pluto is turned into a weapon against the servant trio, and they must kill him (servant trio vs Snake and the mustard gas...?). The reapers working together and the servants fighting to near-death are necessary to remove the power of the big bad, Ciel dies and all that, and as he’s guided down the river (of.... death....???) by Sebastian, a ring made of a blue flower, made by Lizzy and Paula, reaches him through the water. The Phantomhive ring (which in the manga is not truly his) is thus replaced by support/recognition from loved ones. This part was highly metaphorical and it’s difficult to see what it will (if it does) relate to until we have more in the manga.

Tanaka is a secret keeper in the anime just as well as he’s proven to be in the manga, as it’s revealed that the entire time he knew Victoria was responsible for Vincent’s death and didn’t say anything, as Vincent had instructed him not to allow Ciel’s perspective to become clouded by hatred. That sure went well, huh. Manga Vincent was clearly aware that he would soon die, and he tried to set up a support network for his sons in the event of his death, so it’s possible that he holds the same view as his anime counterpart and would be highly displeased (to say the least) by everything that has gone down in his name since his death.

The end, we don’t know what happened to anybody else after Ciel goes down the river.

Final Notes

JOHN BROWN IS SUPERNATURAL AND THE QUEEN IS READY TO KILL THE PHANTOMHIVES:

During the finale of the Circus Arc, Queen Victoria sent her three men to watch OCiel’s movements at Kelvin’s manor, to which they arrived by horse-drawn carriage. Moving from London to Kelvin’s manor took Sebastian one hour, the alternative of regular transport via train would have taken a full day’s travel. Although we don’t know where the white trio started, it is highly unusual that they would be able to both locate OCiel and travel in time to witness the manor burning when at no point did OCiel report back to Victoria that Kelvin was so much as under suspicion. Either she already knew Kelvin was responsible (who told her?), or the white trio managed to tail faster-than-a-train Sebastian from London to the manor... with a carriage.

Double Charles must be human, as they have grown up together, both attended Weston, and Grey states in the murder arc that ghosts, and other things he can’t take down with his sword, are a large fear of his.

They are surprised and suspicious about how OCiel managed to get a sample from the cursed forest in German to England so quickly, and yet John Brown makes the journey himself to deliver a letter from the queen directly, through an area known to contain deadly gas, with a horse that he did not ride. That has to slow somebody down.

He is not an alumnus of Weston, we have never seen his eyes, he moves with speed comparable to Sebastian, and he is the Queen’s right-hand man just as Ash was. It is highly likely that her unusual knowledge of current events, that OCiel has picked up on and is starting to become suspicious of, is also due to Brown. It’s worth noting that she has not referred to OCiel by name since he was given his title and she saw him in person. Beyond that point, she has always used “my dear boy”. Brown did not attend the title ceremony.

Victoria’s constant surveillance of OCiel, her sending Grey to the manor to frame him for a crime (see how in the anime he was framed for her murder, framed for the drugs, and right now he seems to be at risk of being framed for the Blue Sect) with no regard for how he, a literal child, will get out of such a situation. Grey also expressed frustration that Sebastian had gotten in the way and ruined his plan. OCiel was not willing to give Victoria SuLin, rightfully distrusting her. He sees Sieglinde as his ‘insurance’. Manga Victoria is shaping up to be just as willing to get rid of the Phantomhives once they disobey or become a threat as anime Victoria was.

I won’t conclude yet that Victoria, Brown and Double Charles are the ultimate antagonists, but they are proving to be antagonists.

UNDERTAKER IS CURRENTLY ONLY A PAWN OF ‘BLUE STAR’ AND MAY CHANGE SIDES:

This is my personal favourite set of notes I put together, and is the most immediately relevant, which is why I’ve saved it for last. It’s also the most speculative, and therefore most likely to be wrong. Undertaker may just be killed and Othello may turn out to take the role of “this is how we all defeat the big bad, actually," that Undertaker played in the London Fire episodes. Putting that possibility aside:

Undertaker is only seen handling RCiel at night, giving him an unknown drink and telling him it’s not yet time to wake up. I argue that this ‘wake up’ is a red herring which makes us believe RCiel wasn’t yet ready to be fully revived and implies Undertaker is in charge of this revival.

RCiel must have been collected directly from the cult to prevent the immolation of his body, possibly by the overly-calm hooded figure who appears in chapter 137, and from this point he entered directly into the care of the Blue Sect, as Bravat has been collecting blood for the sake of the Blue Star for roughly three years. This is evidenced by the altered death dates of the upper-class patrons who were using the transfusion technology to extend their lives, once the Sect started getting enough guests to have leftover blood. RCiel has been receiving transfusions (useless to a corpse) since the contract was formed.

Alright, you say, so Undertaker brought him back to life three years ago, no big deal, right? Well....... Undertaker is certainly aware that OCiel isn’t the real Ciel, meaning he’s known about RCiel for some time, but..... The bizarre dolls don’t require anything like blood, and Undertaker stated that Agares was his ‘crowning masterpiece, for now’... During the Weston arc. If Agares was the best doll he has created, and RCiel was already revived, how is it that RCiel could be the best? How could Agares be considered a masterpiece with RCiel around?

And then, supposing that he meant ‘crowning masterpiece revealed so far’ instead, how and why would Undertaker create such an elaborate network of people as the Blue Star lot? He hasn’t. He explicitly admits that he isn’t in charge in Campania, which means that somebody else is in control of this massive group that revolves around the revival of RCiel. How Undertaker got involved with them, I couldn’t say, but the first person to make moves towards reviving RCiel mustn’t have been him.

“Grim reapers, going by their lists, extract human souls from bodies and bring cinematic records to their ends. Day after day. Indifferently. Matter-of-factly. However, one day, after I’d spent a long time as a grim reaper doing just that, day in and day out, something occurred to me. What would happen if there was a sequel after those endings?”

“Even though it’s impossible to make another’s soul one’s own...”

“I can tamper with cinematic records, but I cannot create souls. I experimented plenty, but most of them became no more than dolls of flesh without an ego.”

“Those eccentric fellows said they wanted to see just how useful these could be... ...So I decided to experiment by tossing the same number of bizarre dolls as live humans onto this luxury vessel.”

“Because of you all, more humans survived than I’d expected. Will I get a scolding for that?”

Undertaker first got the idea to create dolls when he was still working as a reaper, which was presumedly before he met the Phantomhive family, since if the anime is to be believed he must have stopped working some time between 1793 (Antoinette’s death) and 1799 (Grelle and William’s graduation - Grelle doesn’t know who Undertaker is) and if that isn’t correct then at the very latest fifty years ago around 1839 when the opium wars began and Othello was also last in the human realm, as that was the last time Undertaker was recognised by anybody as a reaper. When he discovered that he could attach ‘episodes’ to make a more realistic doll, I’m not sure, but it was probably before Campania and Weston.

Whoever “those eccentric fellows” were, who had him go out on a Blue Star line boat and may “scold” him for not sinking the ship cleanly and leaving no loose ends, they most likely rank above him. It would be very easy to convince Undertaker to do something like this for you, if you had in your possession, or were speaking through, a Phantomhive in perilous health, wouldn’t it?

So, we don’t know if Undertaker was the one to revive RCiel, or provided he was the one who did it if he even did so alone, or who is actually responsible for this Blue Star group that is evidently preparing for war. Does Undertaker perhaps believe that the Blue Star group are the right side to be on? His character songs imply he’s awfully fond of the idea of doomsday/destruction, which Angela/Ash was trying to achieve, and just might come through a massive world war with supernatural influence. He’s stated his distaste for the queen, who the Blue Sect seem to be positioned against. But in the anime, the one in control of the cult that created a revived Vincent/Rachel creature and the one guiding the queen to dispatch the Phantomhives turned out to be two faces of the same enemy, which I’m sure wouldn’t go down well with him.

So where does a disgraced and betrayed reaper go to help take down a massive enemy that perhaps he has vital inside information on, but couldn’t take down alone, even though he knows exactly how to sabotage their final plan which has something to do with that yet-to-be-completed bridge? Why, he makes a deal with Dispatch, of course.

#kuroshitsuji #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #undertaker #john brown #angela blanc #ash landers #double charles #elizabeth midford #lau #bravat sky #I'm not tagging every character I mention hfhfdghjfdjfgdh #txt #mine #the parallel theory #this is almost six thousand words #I'm the WO R ST #analysis

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shirtlesssammy · 7 years

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13x05: Advanced Thanatology

Then:

Nothing comes back from The Empty.

Now:

Two teens in Grand Junction, Colorado fancy themselves mini-Ghostfacers, as they investigate an old, abandoned asylum. Evan leads the charge, with Shawn, slightly apprehensive, following along. The boys explore the house, finding disturbing plague masks of the lobotomizing doctor (and take one for good luck). A+ set design tonight. A lot of love was put into the creep factor. Things escalate quickly, and as the boys run for their lives to escape, they’re attacked by our new favorite TRULY CREEPY MOTW!

Shawn escapes with a minor head wound and the screams of his friend echoing through the trees.

At the bunker, Dean is coping by making himself a PB&J. Sam comes in and offers him a beer for breakfast. He also (check this out!) has a case, where a kid was wandering on a road alone, best friend missing, and (get this) only word he said: Monster. Sam wants to go on an old fashioned monster hunt with his big bro! Jack’s packed away in the bunker watching old fantasy videos (I do like this insight into Sam), time to bro it up!

They head to the teen’s house and talk to his mother. Within 30 seconds of meeting this woman, my heart already aches for her. Shawn won’t talk. There’s nothing physically wrong, he’s just mute from the trauma he’s experienced. Raise your hand if you just knew the next scene was going to be Dean talking to Shawn? (The added bonus of Shawn drawing really drove how the parallels to 1x03.) Sam talks further with Penny and discovers there’s a third friend, Mike.

Later, the boys pull into the Royal Towers Hotel for the night. Sam suggests an evening’s entertainment at The Clam Diver, a local establishment of reputable enjoyment (It got 4 ½ stars? stripper poles? catcalls? -how are strip joint’s merit points measured?) Dean calls Sam out on being nice to him. Sam’s just trying to help (oh, Sam). This is beautiful though –all of Dean’s coping mechanisms are brought to light and made very clear that this isn’t the best way to handle grief. And any time in the future, it’ll be explicit what he’s doing.

Later that night, Shawn wakes screaming. His mother rushes into comfort him, telling him it’ll be ok. Everything is not ok though, as Dr. Drill McPlagueface makes an appearance!

Sam wakes the next morning to find Dean’s bed pristine and not slept in. A moment of panic transitions to stunned acceptance when he finds a snoring Dean passed out on the floor of their hotel room. He heads out to interview the friend, Mike, alone. This is all played for humor, but also kinda not? –I wasn’t laughing. Dean’s trying to indulge in booze, bacon (that’s later), and bullets, and it’s not a good look.

Interviewing Mike (who clearly doesn’t work much on a farm since he’s not using hay bail hooks –I digress), Sam discovers the location where Shawn and Even were when Even disappeared.

Back at the hotel, Dean indulges in the free breakfast (with bacon), I like the tiny piece of cantaloupe on his plate next to the heaping pile of bacon. Heart healthy!

Sam info dumps on Dr. Avery Meadows –lobotomizer extraordinaire. In the 1960’s, he tortured his patients before finally getting caught and executed. He then gets a call from Penny, Shawn’s mom. He’s disappeared. The brothers ponder the case –ghost for sure, and since the good doctor was cremated, clearly he’s tied to an object.

They head into the Meadow’s old house and Sam switches on the EMF meter. It immediately starts to wail. There’s ghost activity there, alright. Suddenly, the ghost of the old doctor appears behind Sam. He’s wearing a plague mask and holding a powered up drill. So…that’s great. Not creepy at all. Dean and Sam try to fight it off and in doing so, the ghost corners Dean. The drill gets closer and closer….and Dean watches it come, frozen. Sam swipes iron through the ghost just before Dean gets a few new holes and they head upstairs.

Upstairs they find the old surgical suite. It’s got an operating table, old medical equipment, and four masks lined up in a row. The set design is just…A+ creepy work. The mask that Shawn took is back in its place. Dean surmises that the ghost is tied to the mask since the police had to rip the mask off of Meadows when he was captured. So, hello skin remnants. (EW.) Dean burns the mask and the doctor disappears in flames.

They head out to find Shawn when Sam notices that it’s still ghost-level cold. Voices start asking for a doctor and they realize that ghosts of patients are stuck in the house too and they’ve gone casually homicidal over the course of time (as ghosts do). They need to find the bodies before the ghosts kill them…so Dean decides to take a little shortcut. He digs in his bag and pulls out a kit with a syringe. (Boris interjects: Fun Fact, Dr. Robert gave Dean this injectable. It’s 7+ years old! No wonder it didn’t revive him —it’s majorly expired by now.) One shot kills him, the other shot brings him back. Dean’s gonna head into the veil to talk to the ghosts. While Sam tries to talk Dean out of this horrifying plan Dean kills himself and his soul slips into the Veil.

Okay. So I wrote a whole thing about Dean’s suicide this weekend when I was fretting over the episode. This is a horrible moment that has stuck with me as I’ve rewatched the whole episode. You know, when someone is drowning they never look like they’re drowning. They just reach up to the sky and slip into the water. That’s Dean in this episode. No fuss. No shouting. Down he goes. It HURTS.

Anyway. While Sam curses over Dean’s body, Dean’s soul walks through the house. He tries to talk to one bloodied spirit, blows off a reaper who tries to escort him to Heaven, and runs off to try to find a ghost who will talk to him.

The reaper appears in a long gray room full of shelves. She stalks past rows labeled “W” and announces, “Dean Winchester is in the Veil.”

Dean tracks the quiet bloodied spirit to where he disappears and then Shawn’s ghost shows up. Dean’s face falls. They were too late to save him. Shawn recounts how the doctor’s ghost appeared in his room, possessed Shawn, and made him put on the mask and head back to the house. Shawn replaced the mask on the shelf and then drilled out his own head. This is…so horrible. It really puts the soul-crushing sorrow into horror. We all feel Shawn’s loss along with Dean. “I know you’re scared but I’m gonna help you get out of here,” Dean tells him. He gets the location of the bodies.

Sam’s timer goes off and he injects Dean with the reversal drug. It…doesn’t work.

“Hey, Dean,” a voice says from the stairs. It’s Billie looking…GLORIOUS…and holding a tall black scythe. She freezes the scene of Sam freaking out behind them and tells Dean that they need to talk. She swiftly explains her resurrection. “Kill one incarnation of Death, like you did, and the next reaper to die takes his place.” (At this point in the show I was crowing I TOLD YOU SO BILLIE IS DEATH I AM GOD)

Billie zaps Dean to the mysterious gray corridor full of shelves. “Welcome to my reading room,” she says. It’s Death’s own library. (Boris interjects: As a librarian suffering from severe downsizing and space constrictions, I am hella jealous of the ridiculous amount of space allotted to a single human. Where can I apply for Librarian II?) Dean asks if she’s keeping him dead and she tells him that it depends. She wants to know how they’ve been slipping between worlds. Dean lays out his terms. He’ll tell her everything as long as she frees the ghosts in the Meadows house. Slightly surprised, she takes the deal.

We cut to the house where the reaper from before has gathered the ghosts to her. She releases them into the light.

Dean fills her in on Jack and the interdimensional rip and grouchily asks her why she cares. “Because I do. This whole multiversal quantum construct we live in…it’s like a house of cards. And the last thing I need is some big, dumb Winchester knocking it all down.”

“That does sound like us,” he says. She hears this rejoinder and narrows her eyes at him. She tells him that he’s changed. He’s not the rogue fighter he had been. And here we learn what’s been festering at the core of Dean.

Billie, with Death’s insight (or maybe just because she’s always had a good beat on the Winchesters) says, “You have changed. And you tell people it’s not a big deal. You tell people you’ll work through it. But you know you won’t. You can’t. And that scares the hell out of you.” Dean doesn’t deny a DAMN thing. It’s a relief to me as a viewer to have this sorrow articulated, but it really, really hurts as well.

“I don’t matter,” Dean tells her. He can’t save anyone or fix anything.

Billie cuts to the heart yet again. “You wanna die.”

Billie gives him a tour of the shelf. It’s a stack of deaths that Dean Winchester has endured. How he dies depends on his choices. He tells her that he’s made his choice and he’s ready to go now thank you very much (OW DEAN OW). Billie…isn’t going to accept that. Now that she’s Death she sees the big picture and that means that she sees “You and your brother. You’re important. You have work to do.”

So, sorry Dean Bean. You don’t get to die today. “Keep living,” she orders. Dean tries to process this and at the last minute asks about Mary. He gets cut off as his soul reenters his body and he wakes up.

Outside the house paramedics retrieve the bodies as the Winchesters and Shawn’s mother look on. Sam asks Dean about his miraculous resurrection. Dean tries to play it off as luck but Sam pushes (thank you, Sam). Dean tells her about Billie’s promotion and her message to them. Dean watches Shawn’s mother grieving and Sam asks him if he’s okay.

“I’m pretty far from okay,” Dean tells him. “My whole life I always believed that what we do was important. No matter what the cost. No matter who we lost.” He kept fighting because he believed the world was a better place with them in it. Now that belief has left him he needs a win to keep going. They drive off back into the world.

The soulful strains of Steppenwolf’s “It’s Never Too Late” play over the final scene. Although the Winchesters have left the scene Shawn’s mother approaches her son’s body to identify it and cradles his face as the song sings “It’s never too late to start all over again.” It’s… HEARTBREAKING.

Dean drives off down the road, his dead mask in place. His phone rings and shock steals over his expression. They drive into an alley at night lit by a cross and a neon buffalo (bison!) sign. There’s a payphone in the alley and beside the payphone…Castiel.

Natasha: God, I loved this episode. It was so good and had so much dimension! But it TORE ME UP.

The Long Dark Quote-Time of the Soul:

I know what it’s like to see monsters. And I know when they’re gone they never really go away.

It’s funny to hear a Winchester talk about the finality of dying.

This universe can be so many things and sometimes it is poetic.

Me and my brother, we’re the guys that stop the monsters.

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#spn picspam #spn recap #spn 12x05 #advanced thanatology #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #cas #billie the reaper #death #supernatural season 13

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