#undertaker is Cedric

[liusia-piu]

[ignotarts]

🤔

"Phantomhive Family"

[cedric-k-rossignol]

Placing my bets now that Undertaker's last name is Rossignol, the French word for nightingale. 

In trying to explain to a friend the plot of black butler via the iceberg meme, I've become so convinced that I've figured out Cedric K. Ros-'s (aka Undertaker's) last name that I've rejoined this site to scream into the void.

At least, I haven't been able to find anything on the English/French speaking internet suggesting this theory has been floated before.

Of course, this is assuming you subscribe to the Cedric K. Ros- = Undertaker = Undertaker x Cloudia affair = Grandtaker pipeline. And, that you think he is of French/Breton origin. 

Dates

Important to note that dates and numbers are important in Black Butler's story, both within the fictional narrative and in connection to real historical events (emphasized with the first arc lining up with the actual 'Jack the Ripper' murders). Some examples of this;

1819 is the year in which the real Queen Victoria (and her cousin-husband Prince Albert) were born. 1819 is also the year in which the name 'Cedric' first appears in the novel 'Ivanhoe'. Within the story, this is also right around the time that reaper 136649 attacks Reaper HQ.

1837 is the year in which the real Queen Victoria ascended the throne. In Black Butler, this is year in which Molly G., the first chronological locket on Undertaker's chain, died. 1837 would also be right around the time that Undertaker is noted as having absconded with his death scythe, officially deserting the organization...20 years after a workplace shooting (he must be union).

Prince Albert dies on December 14th, 1861, in the real world. The Phantomhive twins are born on December 14th, 1875 - the 14th anniversary of Prince Albert's death. Vincent is 24 years old when he becomes a father. The manor is attacked on December 14th, 1885 - the 24th anniversary of Prince Albert's death. Vincent is 34 years old when he dies. There's speculation that the story will end on Friday December 13th, 1889 - the twin's last day of being 13 years old, before they turn 14 years old on December 14th, 1889, the 4th anniversary of the attack on the manor.

Vincent Phantomhive is born on Friday June 13th, 1851. Cloudia Phantomhive dies on Friday July 13th, 1866. She is 36 years old when she dies. If you believe that Undertaker's reaper serial number 136649 means he died in the year 1366 (an interesting time period in Brittany, what with the Breton War of Succession, the Hundred Years War, the Black Death...), this would mean Cloudia dies 500 years after he unalives himself.

TLDR, dates matching up with historical events/publications is not coincidental. Yana pays attention to her numbers.

Now, back to Cedric K. Ros-

I've read speculation that the 'Ros-' must have something to do with roses, since Phantomhives are so often associated with roses (and their thorns). Guess what little bird is very commonly associated with roses? Whose song is often associated with melancholy, longing, and mourning? Who so often seems to unalive themselves on thorns?  

"the nightingale...can also be seen to provide a link to something, opening out onto something beyond the self. Heard but not seen, the nightingale represents an intangible presence; a longing that can be either terribly earthly, in the guise of sexual desire, or soaringly spiritual, as when the nightingale represents the soul, rising above."

Some fun facts about nightingales;

Female nightingales are mute, only male nightingales sing - though historically people thought the opposite, so many of the nightingales in literature are female.

It is one of the only birds that sing throughout the night (name means 'night singer').

In Persian poetry, the nightingale is a symbol of a lover who is "eloquent, passionate, and doomed to love in vain" - the object of their affections is the rose, which "embodies both the perfection of earthly beauty and the arrogance of that perfection."

The oldest appearance of nightingales in literature goes back to the myth of Philomela, who was turned into a nightingale by the Gods.

In Shakespeare's poem 'Lucrece', the titular character is inspired to commit suicide when a nightingale leans their breast against a thorn to inspire a song and ward off sleep.

The nightingale also makes an appearance in Shakespeare's 'Romeo & Juliet', when Juliet mistakes the song of a lark for that of a nightingale.

I have read a ridiculous amount of poetry about nightingales recently (there is a lot of it), but I'm going to focus on one Breton piece from the middle ages and two English pieces from the 19th century because they have the most relevant dates (which as previously mentioned, are important).

Laüstic

There is the Breton lai 'Laüstic', composed in the late 12th century by Marie de France (Laüstic' is the Breton word for rossignol/nightingale). Breton lais are a form of medieval French romance literature that often involve supernatural and fairy-world Celtic elements.

"In most of Marie de France’s Lais, love is associated with suffering, and over half of them involve an adulterous relationship... In Marie's Lais, "love always involves suffering and frequently ends in grief, even when the love itself is approved."" 

The lais of Marie de France explore courtly love, a popular theme in medieval literature that began with Troubadour poetry in southern France in the 11th century.

"The courtly lover existed to serve his lady. His love was invariably adulterous, marriage at that time being usually the result of business interest or the seal of a power alliance. Ultimately, the lover saw himself as serving the all-powerful god of love and worshipping his lady-saint. Faithlessness was the mortal sin...The courtly lover, while displaying the same outward signs of passion, was fired by respect for his lady."

Basically, courtly love emphasized the importance of a man's respect and devotion to their lover, and I don't think anyone could doubt Undertaker's devotion to his cause.

Sidenote: I think the French story 'Floire et Blancheflor', one of the oldest and most popular romances of the middle ages, is also incredibly relevant to Undertaker & Cloudia's love story. It also explores this concept of 'courtly love' (involving a fake tomb, a prince disguised as a merchant, and an attempted suicide, no less)...and the flowers associated with the lovers are red roses and white lilies... You can read part one of my theory on Floire et Blancheflor here.

A plot summary of 'Laustic' from Wikipedia: 

Two knights live in adjoining houses, in the vicinity of Saint-Malo in Brittany; one is married and one lives as a bachelor. The wife of the married knight enters into a secret relationship with the other knight, but their contact is limited to conversation and the exchange of small gifts, since a "high wall made of dark stone" separates the two households. Typically, the lady rises at night, once her husband is asleep, and goes to the window to converse with her lover; whenever her lover is home, she is kept under close watch.  Her suspicious husband demands to know why she spends her nights at the window, and she says she does so to listen to the nightingale sing. He mocks her, and orders his servants to capture the nightingale. When it is caught he brings it to the lady's chambers, denying her requests to release the bird. Instead, he breaks its neck and throws it at her, "bloodying the front of her tunic just a bit above her breasts". After he leaves, the lady mourns the bird's death and the suffering she must accept, knowing she can no longer be at the window at night. She wraps the nightingale's body in silk, and embroidered with writing in gold thread, and charges her servant to deliver the bird and her message to her lover, who, in response, preserves the nightingale in a reliquary, a small vessel which he has encased with small jewels and precious stones, and carries it with him always. 

From the Wikipedia on reliquaries;

"A reliquary (also referred to as a shrine, by the French term châsse, and historically also referred to as a phylactery) is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a fereter, and a chapel in which it is housed a feretory or feretery."    "Relics may be the purported or actual physical remains of saints...The term is sometimes used loosely for containers for the body parts of non-religious figures; in particular, the kings of France often specified that their hearts and sometimes other organs be buried in a different location from their main burial."    "In Buddhism, stupas are an important form of a reliquary and may be buried inside larger structures such as a stupa or chorten." 

Interesting, because the wooden grave markers Undertaker carries/uses to conceal his death scythe are considered to be a variant of stupa (as far as I can tell). The grave markers are sotoba inscribed with sutra - also interesting to note that in Japan, nightingales are considered a religious bird because "its song is reminiscent of the intonation of a Buddhist sutra", which in turn ties into the Buddhist prayer beads he wears around his neck.

The concept of reliquaries is somewhat similar to that of mourning lockets, especially if you consider that in the context of courtly love Undertaker was whipped likely worshipped the ground Cloudia walked on and would have treated her like a saint (good for her).

"Reliquaries are decorative vessels, often in the form of a hand, cranium, or other body part that contain the fragment of a saint or someone of holy importance. Some fragments could include remnants of a garment worn by the individual or even a piece of bone that was part of their body."

A famous reliquary is the Holy Thorn Reliquary, commissioned in late 14th century France by John, Duke of Berry (this dude has relevance to Brittany and the Hundred Years War) to house a relic of the crown of thorns.

"The jewels, which would have been keenly appreciated by contemporary viewers, include two large sapphires, one above God the Father at the very top of the reliquary, where it may have represented heaven, and the other below Christ, on which the thorn is mounted."

Sapphires and a crown of thorns are not new symbols in this story - imma leave it at that because I'm getting off topic and this is already ridiculously long.

The Nightingale and The Rose

The short story The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde (snake's snakes) was published in the book of bedtime stories The Happy Prince and Other Tales in May 1888 (which lines up pretty closely with when the first chapter of the manga takes place). This is a bleak tale about the selfless and sacrificial nature of true love.

But the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn. ‘Press closer, little Nightingale,’ cried the Tree, ‘or the Day will come before the rose is finished.   So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.  And the marvelous rose became crimson, like the rose of the eastern sky. Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.  But the Nightingale's voice grew fainter, and her little wings began to beat, and a film came over her eyes. Fainter and fainter grew her song, and she felt something choking her in her throat.  Then she gave one last burst of music. The white Moon heard it, and she forgot the dawn, and lingered on in the sky. The red rose heard it, and it trembled all over with ecstasy, and opened its petals to the cold morning air. Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the sea.  'Look, look!' cried the Tree, 'the rose is finished now;' but the Nightingale made no answer, for she was lying dead in the long grass, with the thorn in her heart.  

The emphasis on the nightingale's song also brought to mind the Mother 3 theory and the importance of the music in that game - and the idea that the last names of Undertaker's lockets make a chord progression. IDK that much about Mother 3, so I can't say if there are any other further parallels to draw.

Also who would read this to a child as a bedtime story???

Undertaker. Undertaker would totally read this to Ciel as a bedtime story, who am I kidding.

An Ode to a Nightingale

Finally, there is the poem "An Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats (another one of snake's snakes). 

There is a clear theme of death in this poem, and of life after death/immortality. There is also a sense of longing for death, of the relief death brings - very relevant for all reapers.

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: 'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thine happiness,— That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees In some melodious plot Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

The first stanza mentions 'Lethe', which is one of five rivers in the Greek underworld. "The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. In the Aeneid, Virgil writes that it is only when the dead have had their memories erased by the Lethe that they may be reincarnated."

Afaik the only reaper to reference their previous life is Sascha, and there weren't many specifics. This could just be because speaking of their human life is painful, given they all made the choice to end it...Or is it possible HQ alters their memories?

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth, Tasting of Flora and the country green, Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!

The reference to Provencal song is once again a reference to the concept of courtly love (seen in Laustic) that began with Troubadour poetry in Provence, France in the 11th century.

Already with thee! tender is the night,   And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,  Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;  But here there is no light,  Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown  Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways. 

Stars and heaven reference (Astre/Sirius & Ciel), and a reference to the moon as in the Oscar Wilde story... The Queen Moon, on her throne...

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,  Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,  But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet  Wherewith the seasonable month endows  The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;  White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;  Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;  And mid-May's eldest child,  The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,  The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. 

A reference to May (we will come back to this), to musk-roses (symbolizes 'capricious beauty'), and to 'the murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves'. As previously mentioned, Cloudia dies in July...

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time  I have been half in love with easeful Death,  Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,  To take into the air my quiet breath;  Now more than ever seems it rich to die,  To cease upon the midnight with no pain,  While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad  In such an ecstasy!  Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—  To thy high requiem become a sod. 

The suicidal ideation is strong here.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! No hungry generations tread thee down; The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown: Perhaps the self-same song that found a path Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, She stood in tears amid the alien corn; The same that oft-times hath Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Immortality. The last few lines immediately brought to mind the theory that Undertaker drowned himself.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf. Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades Past the near meadows, over the still stream, Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep In the next valley-glades: Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?

The last stanza has the poet bidding 'Adieu' - the French word for goodbye forever which translates literally as 'until God'. Gotta love how dramatic the French are.

From Wikipedia: 

"The nightingale described experiences a type of death but does not actually die. Instead, the songbird is capable of living through its song, which is a fate that humans cannot expect. The poem ends with an acceptance that pleasure cannot last and that death is an inevitable part of life." 

And here's the thing...Keats composed this poem in one day after a nightingale built its nest near his home. Specifically, he wrote it in one day of May, 1819 - the same month and year in which Queen Victoria was born. 

The rest might be me just grasping at straws but the connection to Queen Victoria's birth is what I find most convincing, since Yana has seemingly already sourced Cedric's first name from literature in 1819. I think the setting/plot of the novel 'Ivanhoe' and her name choice of 'Cedric' reveals a lot about Undertaker's past and his motivations, and I think the same could hold true for his last name. I am convinced his name is Cedric K. Rossignol.

God only knows what the 'K.' stands for.

[midnight-in-town]

About Kuro 2024 episode 6 : Ed's genius ability

(Companion post to this one)

I was looking forward to this episode and I'm so glad they kept Edward's pivotal moment...

...totally uncut. It's especially striking when a few other manga scenes didn't make it into the episode.

I know fans like to joke that Ed is too much of a good guy (and also gay), which is how he managed to reproduce Cheslock's cricket move, but that's not it :

Like Liz, Ed is a genius, even if he doesn't realize it yet. And I'm glad that Editor K commented on this anime bit with this :

"There's one person in all boys' manga who has the ability to copy. This special skill is explained in the cricket episode, but in other words, Edward has the potential to become super strong in battle"

(by google translate)

According to Yana, Ed takes after Frances who takes after her dad, Cedric K. Ros--, so this means Ed takes after Cedric as well.

But according to several fans, including me, there is a good probability that Cedric K. Ros-- is one of the Undertaker's many identities over his existence and he's currently the strongest character of the series, who put even Seb in difficulty twice.

According to Editor K above, Ed's ability makes him likely to become super strong in battle (by the way, it's also an ability that allowed him to put on a flawless leader of a boys' band act, just like UT acted perfectly as Weston's principal, just saying).

I think we don't need more to put 2 and 2 together : Ed is going to be a very important ally on our!Ciel's side against real!Ciel's.

[amethystroselily]

Ok the Undertaker being Vincent’s dad theory is really funny to me, so here’s how I think it could possibly work.

Undertaker was a reaper 70 years ago and seems properly obsessed with the phantomhive family as a whole, and met Vincent later on in his life, so I really don’t think he was married to Claudia. Plus Claudia and Vincent’s father didn’t have the same last name, so whoever he was I doubt they were married (perhaps having to do with Claudia trying to keep her title or something). So I think he had some deep attachment to a previous Phatomhive lord (perhaps he was a servant), but then the earl died or something, and then he killed himself, becoming a reaper. Then maybe he was monitoring the family for years and they kept dying so he snapped and went rogue, maybe his experiments kept failing, so then he was like woah maybe as a reaper I should see what mixing my dna in would do (probably a rule about not fraternizing with humans to avoid this), and around then the current Phatomhive family head is a woman so like great time to test it out, then maybe the relationship fell apart because of some sort of respectability she had to maintain or they were busy or something and she didn’t want him around her kids anymore, then years later undertaker gets back to stalking the phatomhives once his son is the new earl.

Maybe he wanted to use Vincent’s body because he had a higher concentration of reaperness, but then he lost the corpse (maybe bc fire, maybe bc Vincent isn’t actually dead) so he’s using ciel instead.

Also I’ve seen the theory Francis was involved in Vincent’s death, and maybe that’s why he doesn’t seem particularly invested in her side of the family. Perhaps sibling feuds are a long tradition in the Phantomhive family and it makes him think of a previous one and that’s why he keeps getting so involved.

The way Othello talked about Undertaker made him sound like he was a lot like Francis when he was younger, and I think the idea of Francis looking down on this random strange man who worked with her brother and him turning out to be her father whom she takes after in both looks and personality is so interesting.

Also I personally think he like stole some of Othello’s research on resurrection on his way out and that’s where all the tension is coming from. Because obviously Othello can’t tell Grell that, so he has to skirt around it, but there’s obviously something more going on between him and undertaker.

[dqrkncss666]

Welcome to another Theory Show with Dora on crack.

Today we will talk about this:

So.

WHERE IS FRANCIS?!

As we can see we have Claudia P. and Cedric K. Ros- something, they have done the deed and created Vincent.... Where is FRANCIS?!

As we see on the family tree, again, Vincent continues to marry Rachel and have the Phantomhive twins. WHERE IS FRANCIS?!

Shouldn't she have been on Vincent's left?

Now, if we go with the theory that Cedric is, in fact, the Undertaker then this could be an error Yana made or, over here, the German shinigamis are following ONLY O/Ciel's bloodline going up to his father and then going up to his grandmother. Which is a logical explanation as to why Francis is not there. This is the best scenario and the one I like to believe.

But what if Undertaker is not actually Cedric and Francis not being on there is on purpose? What if Claudia wasn't faithful to her legal husband Cedric and had an affair with the Undertaker creating an illegitimate daughter?

Without having done any research, I personally believe that this would explain why Francis married out of the Phantomhive family so quickly. She had no title and her position and the family's reputation were on the verge of scandal. Her marrying Alexis Midford and becoming a Marquisses would not allow any time for anyone to question her legitimacy and of course, keeping the family name clean.

Could her wedding with Alexis have been merely to cover up her mother's doing? Maybe Claudia betrothed her to Alexis when Francis was a baby so she could be sure her daughter would never face any problems with her title and fortune being on the verge.

But then we come over to Vincent, does he know his sister is his half-sister?

Over to the Undertaker now, if this theory is true why is he protecting the Phantomhives only and not the Midfords as well? Did he protect them "off-camera" as we say, in the Campania? Will we see it in a flashback?

Does the British Shinigami dispatch have knowledge of this family tree? Why have we never seen anyone speaking of it? They clearly don't know anything.

DOES FRANCIS KNOW?! Is that why every time she sees the Undertaker her face changes? Does she hate him? Perhaps she thinks he is the one who ruined the Phantomhive family and her future.

If this theory is true, are we gonna have a chapter (when Yana finally comes back from her hiatus because she clearly wrote herself into a wall) of Francis arguing with the Undertaker about him ruining her family and making her an illegitimate daughter with no title and no fortune? Him trying to comfort his daughter and calm her anger down and finally seeing those two be kind to one another?

But this is merely a theory after I got crack. We will see. :>

[abybweisse]

Why I think Undertaker has to be Cedric, revisited

At this point in the series, I'm a bit surprised how many in the fandom not just don't see him as Cedric K. Ros-- but actually rail against the idea.

So, here's a long, somewhat thorough overview of the situational and physical clues that he's Cedric, the father of Vincent and Francis/Frances.

Situational hints

How he cries over the details of Vincent's death. Not just that he died but what became of his remains. I'd cry over my dead son, too, especially if I had the ability to reanimate corpses but his body was destroyed by fire so that I couldn't do that. Let alone the fact his cinematic records were destroyed, so I not only couldn't make a bizarre doll of him, but I couldn't even review his memories to see what happened right before he died. This ties in with what he later says about not wanting to lose any more Phantomhives. But it strongly suggests that whoever set the fire did so specifically to thwart the efforts of a grim reaper. Whoever did that either knew Undertaker was a reaper or was at least following the instructions of someone who knew.

The whole not wanting to lose more Phantomhives thing. Claudia/Cloudia is gone, and so is Vincent. Reanimating real Ciel is the best he can do to not let the older twin go. He tried to destroy Sebastian to release our earl "Ciel" from their demon contract and might try again. Makes you wonder just how many Phantomhives he's really lost already. As well as where others might still be alive. What exactly was his business in France? 🤔

Even his odd comment to our earl (before the attack) that he wasn't sure which twin this was... but that it didn't matter because they were both Phantomhives. Instead of seeing an heir and a spare, he saw them equally. At least he did then. I suspect he now sees our earl as a spare soul... or conversely sees real Ciel as a spare body. I guess both could be true, making them still essentially equal in his eyes. Again, this could be another attempt to save our earl from Sebastian. By putting our earl's soul into the unmarked body of real Ciel, that might void the contract... unless the seal on our earl's eye also somehow affected his soul. 🤔 Anyway. I digress, since that gets into a separate theory discussion.

Standing in to help young Mr. Pitt take a photo of the twins. That's right after telling our earl it doesn't matter which twin he is. Then the other twin and Mr. Pitt arrive, the latter holding a new camera. It's odd that Mr. Pitt would ask a non-relative of the kids (besides a nanny) to help stage the photo, though Pitt is perhaps the non-traditionalist anyway. Undertaker seems like he's shocked to be asked, but he also seems amused. Mr. Pitt likely doesn't even suspect Undertaker is the twins' paternal grandfather, otherwise he might have seen it as a scoop, á la "LOWLY UNDERTAKER IS SIRE TO PROMINENT NOBLE FAMILY" or something equally scandalous. Because undertakers were considered low class citizens. So, Undertaker acts shocked but complies with giddy delight. By asking Undertaker to help stage the photo, he has likely, unwittingly asked a relative of the boys, which would be considered completely appropriate for the time period.

How he treats the Midfords. He recognizes Lizzie's talents and skill with a sword, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted her at Sphere Music Hall as a protector of the lords of the stars, while he kept them and Blavat hidden away. So he probably had Blavat bring her into the cult. Undertaker might see some of himself in Lizzie, but he definitely sees it in Frances/Francis, and I don't just mean physically. Both women fight in a similar manner as he does: highly skillful and graceful. Idk what he thinks of Edward, but I know he got a great laugh from watching the Phantom Five (including Edward) perform onstage. He doesn't interact much, if at all, with Alexis, who isn't a Phantomhive.

What he says to Francis/Frances, as well as how she responds. Again, he hardly acknowledges Alexis' existence, but Undertaker speaks directly with "Lady Phantomhive". That's really important because she's married into the Midford family and hasn't gone by her maiden name in many years. As long as Edward is old plus at least a bit longer, since she strikes me as too proper for a shotgun wedding, even if she weren't a noble. So, he sets her apart from her husband because she was born a Phantomhive. He doesn't want to lose her, either, because she is her mother's daughter. Then, when she nervously states he hasn't changed in roughly four years, he pokes fun at the fact he hasn't changed in a much longer time frame. He says her birth, over 30 years ago, seems like just yesterday. She's sweating bullets, and it's not just his creepy vibes. She knows he means it -- that 30-some-odd years is nothing to him... and that he very specifically recalls her birth. I'm pretty sure she knows he's her father, and she's horribly embarrassed by the fact. Alexis doesn't have a clue about it, and she'd rather keep it that way. But what he says strongly implies that he was present at her birth. Maybe down the hall, like Vincent was when his sons were born, but there... and just as anxious and excited and proud.

How the years for Cedric's birth and death dates are hidden by a speech bubble. Cloudia/Claudia's dates are fully shown because she's a regular human being. Well... a human, anyway. But if Undertaker is Cedric, then the birth and death dates for him would be from when he was a human, before he committed suicide and was sentenced to serve out his punishment as a reaper. That death date could be decades or even centuries before Cloudia/Claudia was even born. Remember that this family tree isn't one prepared by humans; it's part of the dossier that the German reapers have for our earl. The focus is purely biological ancestry, not marriages. Cloudia/Claudia and Cedric don't have to be married to be on this family tree; he is biologically the father of both Vincent and Francis/Frances.

Physical hints

He looks a lot like Francis/Frances and Edward. And Yana-san tweeted years ago that Francis and Edward look like Cedric. Here's a comparison between Edward and Undertaker. Here's one between Francis/Frances and Undertaker.

The place on his right where his hair has a long braid seems to match up with Lizzie's and Francis/Frances' right side locks that tend to stick out. He's got it tucked behind his right ear, but the braid might originate from the same spot. If Lizzie and her mother pushed those locks back, behind their right ears, the placement would be the same as Undertaker's braid.

He has the exact same baby hairs at the nape of his neck as Lizzie and Francis/Frances. They might be a bit shorter, but they are definitely there. Here's an old post about it. Edward possibly does, too, and we could tell if his hair was grown out and pulled up, but his hair is short and a bit shaggy on the nape of his neck, so we can't be sure.

[bibyshitsuji24k]

Undertaker cosplaying Undertaker [wwe]

[biby-24k]

Undertaker cosplaying Undertaker

[plague-of-insomnia]

Just wanted to pop in & say you’re a big reason I’m still in this fandom and I think your awesome ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I also wanted to ask if you think Frances and Vincent are full siblings? I’m on the fence since they do look very similar but Frances has a totally different hair colour & mannerisms..

Hi, anon. Thank you…! The fandom seems so quiet lately, but maybe it’s just bc I’ve been a bit inactive bc of not feeling good/having low spoons.

I had never thought about whether or not Francis and Vincent aren’t full siblings…. Frances does seem like she takes after Undertaker potentially, and we don’t know what Claudia looked like since we only have one shot of her and it’s from behind.

It’s possible that Vince took after her and Frances after their dad (undertaker??).

Frances does seem to have some kind of a …. sense for things that seems to run in the Phantomhive blood (like how Ciel can see shinigami when they’re supposed to be hidden from mortals), but she could have gotten that from Claudia, assuming both of them have the same mother.

I do think Frances is an often overlooked character. That interaction she had with Undertaker was…. Odd, and I suspect when we get more info later we’ll look back and it’ll make a lot more sense.

It is looking more and more like Ut may be involved in the Phantomhive tree somehow. If he’s not Cedric K Ros— then he could be (one of my personal completely unsupported headcanons) the very first Phantomhive. But I’m not sure who Cedric could be if it’s not UT, since generally Yana is good about introducing important characters early-ish.

Thanks for the ask. I’m sorry if it’s not what you were hoping for, lol. But it’s certainly an interesting thought!

[riahlynn101]

"A Facade of Indifference."

Summary: Undertaker has had many identities, but Cedric K. Ros will forever be his favorite.

Trigger warnings: nothing is super explicit, but there are mentions of canonical character deaths. One of which includes a child.

A/N: For this story - O!Ciel = Fenian, R!Ciel = Ciel

--

In his long life, Undertaker has gone by many names. 

His original name, lost to time and memories he’d do anything not to recall. 

136649, the number assigned to him by the higher ups. 

Silver fox, by his coworker. 

But truly, his favorite name, the only name that has ever mattered to him, was Cedric K. Ross. 

He’d introduced himself as such to Claudia Phantomhive, flustered by her beauty and wit. The name was less a clever pun on his end, and more a scramble to tell the beautiful debutante something, anything so she didn’t think him daft. 

It had been-at that point-close to twenty years since he had destroyed Shinigami headquarters. Occasionally he’d catch a glimpse of a death scythe, and he’d have to stop what he was doing to duck into a shop. Quite annoying, but headquarters hadn’t really made an effort to come collect him. If he knew better, Cedric might have said that they were scared of him. 

But, still, it didn’t hurt to keep a low profile.

Getting married to a noble was the exact opposite of that. The queen’s watchdog, at that. His hatred for the hag knows no bounds. Ironically, her audacity also knows no bounds. So, maybe it balances out. Somehow. 

Marrying into the Phantomhive family is akin to signing your own death certificate. It’s dangerous and deadly, and Claudia tells him over and over that she won’t resent him for leaving. That she would forgive him everything if he didn’t want to risk his life. 

But Cedric never cared much for living anyway. 

They wed, and barely a year later, Vincent was born.

Holding his son for the first time (and really all the times after that) was an experience he looks back on with a gentle sort of fondness. And that fondness only grew tenfold as his boy grew older. 

And then, two years later, in the middle of January, his daughter was born. Francis took more after him in looks than her mother, but she was still undeniably Claudia’s daughter. From the time she could speak, she was ordering her brother to behave. Her strength and courage, which grew day by day, made his heart swell with pride. He did everything in his power to encourage her, including giving her fencing lessons (which his dear wife had not been entirely pleased with).

There’s no words to describe how much he loved his family. 

And that, that love, made him worry.

Love is a weakness his higher-ups might use against him. The idea of his clever, beautiful Claudia, and their two (still young) children being harmed, made panic well up inside him. He couldn’t let that happen. 

He wouldn’t allow that to happen. 

So, he left them. 

Claudia was the sole breadwinner anyway, and the children had Tanaka to tend to them. He left only a note behind, making a vague excuse as to why he had to leave them. 

He left England behind, choosing to travel the world. Cedric fights the urge to return to his family, to check in on them. He celebrates each of their birthdays and his and Claudia’s anniversary with a baked good. 

Life wasn’t great then, he missed his family so much it physically hurt, but it was for the best he stayed away. 

And then, while in the middle of a trip to France, he got news of Claudia’s death. 

Cedric had known loss long before that moment. Before becoming a grim reaper and long after. It was hard coded into his very being, the knowledge of life and death.

But it wasn’t until that moment that he understood the grief that comes with that very same loss. That all encompassing, suffocating feeling of heaviness. Of loneliness. 

Of the hard, cold truth, that his decision to leave his family might have, in the end, been the very thing to damn them. 

He returned to England, but not as Cedric, father of Vincent and Francis Phantomhive. No, that wouldn’t do. How could he call himself their father when he was the very reason their mother was dead. 

Cedric kept to the shadows, tinkering with life and death itself. He watched with an aching heart, as his son became earl. The Queen’s Watchdog just like his mother before him.

But Cedric has never been one to be content with simply watching, so he crafted an identity. One that fit his morbid curiosity with all things death. 

The Undertaker. 

His hair-which he neglected in the months following Claudia’s death-hide his face, his identity. He works his way into his son’s graces by offering up information, and soon Cedric Undertaker found himself among the Phantomhives’ closest associates. 

His children didn’t recognize him, or at least were excellent at pretending they didn’t. It hurt, a little, but he was content with finally seeing them in-person. Alive and well.

Francis married first. Thankfully out of the Phantomhive line, but still under the queen’s immediate demand. Alexis-for all his faults-seemed nice enough, and he was hopelessly in love with her. And she-in return-was just as in love with him.

And, while it was hard watching his daughter get married, the pure happiness she radiated put his wary mind at ease. 

Her happiness only grew when she gave birth to Edward. His first grandchild, though he wasn’t allowed to share in the joy of the new arrival. Not because Francis didn’t trust him, no not at all. He….just couldn’t bring himself to hold something so precious and small and-

Elizabeth was born a few years later, just as small, just as precious as her brother before.

Vincent married second, to a beautiful but sickly young woman, Rachel. By then, Undertaker was used to his new identity. He grew close to his son, but maintained just enough distance for plausible deniability. 

When Rachel fell pregnant, his son shared his worries with him. His usual cocky, confident persona fell away, showing all the hurt Cedric left behind. 

It seemed, even with Tanaka and Claudia, his son (and most probably his daughter) needed him. He vowed to be a better father, a better grandfather even if it was from the shadows, under a different name. 

The twins were born a few months later. Both somehow even tinier than their cousins. This time, though, he pushed all his worries aside to hold one of the twins. 

Ciel and Fenian. One and the same. But Ciel-older than his brother by a mere five minutes-was announced the heir to the Phantomhive name. 

Meanwhile, Fenian-who didn’t seem to cry as loud as his brother-was pushed into his arms. His pathetic attempts at crying out instantly ceased. Big blue eyes, just like Lady Rachel’s, stared up at him. 

Then and there, he made another vow, a promise. To protect his grandchildren no matter what. To preserve their innocence and curiosity.

His grandchildren grew quickly. The twins-mirror images of one another-became harder and harder to tell apart. At least, for most people. 

For him, though, it was extremely easy to pick apart who was who. 

Ciel reminded him of Vincent - sharp features that he would no doubt grow into, a silver tongue, and an intelligence that rivaled most adults. He embodied what an heir of Phantomhive should be. 

And little Fenian. All soft features and big eyes. He took more after his mother's side, particularly her red haired sister (Angeline, if he remembered correctly). He inherited his mother’s sickness, and his aunt’s painful shyness and bookishness. Only his love for chess and his physical appearance being so similar to his brother’s denoted him as a Phantomhive. 

But the character he crafted shouldn’t care that the twins are two separate people. The Phantomhive family is a blob of faceless members, all tied together by either blood, a last name, or both.

He kept up the facade of indifference, not caring to differentiate between the twins out loud. But, in his head, while reading them a book, or holding the blanket in place so they could have their photo taken, he couldn’t help but refer to each of them by name. 

And then, the massacre happened. 

He wept for hours, over the broken, ruined remains of the estate. His son and daughter-in-law were nothing but ash by the time he could rummage through the wreckage. The twins were gone too, though most likely still alive. 

He didn’t know if that was a good thing. 

He packed his wagon with all the bodies that weren’t horrifically burnt. A project he’d been working on needed more test subjects.

Undertaker spends the next few weeks working day and night to find the twins. Reports of children’s bodies being dumped on the sides of roads come flooding in, but

no one does a single thing.

The queen, with her bleeding heart, that she just loved to wax poetic about, does nothing. 

He traced the reports back to a cathedral. The building was old and worn, likely abandoned by the church years ago. Shinigami stand around, watching the building. They chat idly among themselves, as if the most depraved actions aren’t being done to the children inside. 

That apathy, the disconnect from the pain and suffering, was one thing Undertaker would never miss from his days in retrieval. 

But them being there meant he couldn’t burst in and save them. If even one recognized him, then it would be game over. No one else would be coming to save the twins. The police refused to act, even with the amount of evidence Undertaker sent them (under a different name, of course), and their family was in shambles. 

Unfortunately, by the time he could sneak past, it was already too late. 

Ciel was dead, soul gone. And Fenian’s soul was damned, signed over to the leeches of leeches, a demon. 

He saved his grandson’s body, carrying him from the burning wreckage of the cathedral. Blood and grime clinging to him like a second skin. 

Fenian became Ciel, and was crowned earl of the house of Phantomhive. Her majesty either not noticing or caring enough, made the traumatized ten-and-a-half-year-old her watchdog. 

The only thing Undertaker hated more than her, was the demon slowly eating away at his grandson’s soul. Not his physical soul, of course, that bit would come later. But his spirit, his kindness and generosity. The hope and child-like spark in his one uncovered eye. 

It pained him, but he had a character to play and a plan to see through. If all went well, the demon wouldn’t be bothering Fenian for long. 

He offered up information when prompted, though he never made it easy. It’s surprisingly easy to annoy the little earl, but it’s a necessary evil to ensure neither the demon, nor his grandson suspect him of anything. 

It worked. Maybe a little too well, because the look his grandson sent him could only be described as betrayed. 

 His heart clenched painfully in his chest. How much trust had the little Phantomhive put in him? 

Too much, was the answer. And somehow, not enough.

His plan went awry. Everything became jumbled, snowballing until he’s watching Fenian plummet thirty feet downwards. His mourning chain, the one containing the last remaining piece of his Claudia (of his friends murdered in cold blood by her royal highness). Through the chaos the little earl and he made eye contact.

For a singular moment, he was back in the nursery, holding his grandson. Little Fenian, who was never supposed to amount to much. Tiny and sickly and a pale comparison to his already more lively older brother. Eyes of bright blue that once held hope and promise. 

Eyes that now stare up at him in fear, yes, but also in acute curiosity, locked on his mourning chain. 

He allows the little Phantomhive to take it. It’s his greatest treasure, but he’s sure his grandson will take excellent care of it. Besides, isn’t passing things down what a grandparent’s supposed to do? And he isn’t much worried about losing it anyway, after all, he’s quite certain that they’ll be meeting again very soon.

[ignotarts]

"Right now, you are just . . . beautiful."

[cedric-k-rossignol]

'Floire et Blancheflor' - Medieval French Inspiration for Undertaker & Cloudia (Part 2)

Part 1

Floire et Blancheflor is a romance originating from late 12th century France. It is one of the most popular romance stories from roughly 1200-1350, and was translated into several different languages during that time. The story varies slightly based on the culture of the translation, but it revolves around the forbidden romance between the son of a pagan/saracen/Muslim king, Floire ("who belongs to the flower"), and the daughter of a Christian noblewoman, Blancheflor ("white flower").

Within the story, the lovers are represented with roses and lilies. Roses are strongly associated with the Phantomhive family, and white lilies are strongly associated with Undertaker.

Part 2 – Flowers and A Fake Funeral and A Lion Pit

So in Part 1 we covered how Floire and Blancheflor were born on the same day, Palm Sunday, and how I think both Undertaker and Cloudia were born on the 'same day', Holy Monday (albeit, 500 years apart).

The two children are raised together. Floire is intensely loyal to Blancheflor and refuses to be parted from her, so she is even allowed to receive the same education as him. As the children reach a marriageable age, the King and Queen worry that Floire will refuse to wed anyone but Blancheflor, who is an unsuitable match for the Prince (mainly due to their difference in religion, but also because her mother is essentially a slave). Their attempts to separate the pair fail as Floire grows despondent without Blancheflor at his side.

But naught he heard, and naught he saw, Joyless without his sweet Blancheflor. Much he heard, but little he learned; Scant understanding sorrow earned; Love within his mind, from the start Had planted a tree within his heart,

The King's solution is to behead the girl (why is it that plan A is always to behead the woman???), but the Queen convinces him to sell her into slavery instead. Brilliant. They sell her to merchants destined for Babylon, for 'seven times her weight in gold' and a beautiful gold cup once owned by Aenaes, elaborately engraved with scenes from Paris and Helen of Troy. Score! (This cup is actually important and holds a lot of symbolism in the story). Realizing their son is probably going to be pissed that they sold his girlfriend, they decide to build a tomb in the garden and tell him she died. And no expense is spared in this farse of a funeral!

On the tomb, in gold, cast with care, Were two children, tender and fair; No eye saw ever, wrought in gold, Such fine likenesses, e’en of old. One of the two seemed Floire, and naught A closer likeness could have caught. The other cast was fashioned too Like fair Blancheflor, the likeness true. And the image of fair Blancheflor Held out a single flower, before Floire, her true love; there it did hold, That lovely form, a rose of gold. Floire too held, before his face, A lily of pure gold, in place.

In the story, Floire is represented by the red rose, and Blancheflor (meaning literally 'White Flower') by a white lily. On Blancheflor's tomb, they are each depicted as holding the flower that represents the other; in 'death' Blancheflor holds the rose, while Floire keeps the lily.

Phantomhives are strongly associated with roses – usually white roses. White roses during the Victorian era became an incredibly popular choice for bridal bouquets, signifying the purity and innocence of the bride (Queen Victoria began this trend by having a bridal bouquest of white roses at her wedding in 1840…Undertaker suddenly likes the flower a lot less).

Red roses pretty much universally represent romantic love and passion (though in the case of the Virgin Mary, red roses represent her love for God)

Undertaker's flower is predominantly the white lily, which is a symbol of purity, innocence, sorrow, and loss, and therefore commonly seen at funerals (such at the funeral of Madam Red and at Mary Jane Kelly's gravesite in chapter 13).

Lilies are also associated with Easter (the whole Palm Sunday, named for the flowers of the day thing) and therefore with resurrection. Easter, as I mentioned in Part 1, is associated with Undertaker via the timeline of the Campania Arc, the crown of thorns on his death scythe, his obsession with reviving the dead, and if my theory is correct, his and Cloudia's shared birthdate of Holy Monday, Undertaker's in 1331 and Cloudia's in 1830.

Nothing like choking your grandson at a hooker's funeral, am I right fellas?

Lilies are also featured on the chapter cover of Chapter 13. Lilies (and what appears to be feathers...) adorn Ciel's top hat as he puckers up to a skull wearing a crown of thorns and roses (and a few feathers) and a decaying veil. I'm getting wedding vibes here, personally. Initially, my impression of this was Ciel courting death as his bride - but then, there's this combo of flowers cropping up again. The bride adorned with roses, the groom sporting lilies.

Also is it just me or does Ciel look... different, here. Drawn a little differently than usual? Something about the hair being shaggier, the eyes being heavier? Maybe I'm just imagining it...

Worth noting that the ring Ciel is pictured as wearing is on his middle finger - he wears his signet ring on this finger, on his right hand, even though here it is pictured as being his left hand. He usually wears his sapphire ring on his left hand - and this is also of course the hand that traditionally a wedding ring is worn on.

If this image is mirrored, and we take the hand pictured to be his right hand...In this drawing, the extra string of Ciel's eye patch mirrors Undertaker's facial scar perfectly. This is a string he doesn't usually wear. I can't think of a moment in the manga where he is drawn wearing an eye patch with this extra string (but it could very well exist).

A selection of crosses (and scissors, and maybe a key?) hang from Ciel's decaying bustle, which brought to mind this chapter cover from Chapter 54. Crosses hang from Undertaker's clothing (which seems to be a fancier version of his usual cassock) as he dances with a skeleton laced up with ribbons and roses, who also wears a crown of thorns.

White lilies are also associated with the Virgin Mary, in addition to red roses. Where red roses represent her love for God, white lilies represent her purity (not just sexual purity, but purity of one's soul). Good thing too, cause Undertaker's hand placement leaves me with some doubt as to the sexual purity of that skeleton. In The Old Testament, the lily represents hope and renewal (going back to resurrection), and also a bride's love for her partner.

Back to Floire -

They engrave on the empty tomb in pure gold - ‘Within this tomb lies fair Blancheflor, She whom Floire did greatly adore.’ - and plant an ebony tree above it that immediately sprouts white flowers. Ebony is one of the most expensive woods in the world (the tree does not actually sprout white flowers irl), and was traditionally used to make black chess pieces (chess makes another appearance later on).

At the head of that tomb, a tree Was planted, beautiful to see; Lovely it was, and in full leaf, With flowers fair beyond belief, Springing from every branch also, And all were fresh, and white as snow.

Floire returns, and Blancheflor's mother breaks the (fake) bad news and tells him that 'her death was for love of you'. Geez. Floire reacts badly to this – shocking, I know – and becomes suicidal.

My soul my love’s will now pursue, In Elysian Fields; seek me anew, Where I now go to seek my flower, For Love holds us yet in his power. Swiftly, I go where she has gone, For, swift as I can, I follow on. And soon her love my love shall see; In Elysium, where she waits for me.’

Elysium is a concept of the Greek afterlife, separated from Hades by the river Lethe, where the righteous and good go to live a happy and blessed afterlife. The river Lethe is also referenced in the poem 'An Ode to a Nightingale' written by John Keats in 1819, which I discussed in my theory of Undertaker/Cedric's last name being Rossignol.

Anyways, my guy Floire decides to commit suicide by lion. Metal as hell. You know that panel in the manga where all the different methods of suicide the reapers have used are referenced? Imagine one of them just being a lion mauling somebody to death. Wild.

...Except the lions are actually big pussycats who just lick his hands until the panicked king sends servants to pull him out of the pit. Floire is brought before the king, at which point Floire pulls out a silver dagger that had been given to him as a gift by Blancheflor, and makes to stab himself with it.

‘My silver dagger, ready, there, To set an end to this affair, She gave you as a gift, that I Would remember her, and thereby Might do her good service, but now I must go to her; such my vow. Blancheflor, one might rightly say: Too long have I prolonged my stay.’

The queen stays his hand by convincing Floire that he will go to hell if he kills himself, I.e. not Elysium. This references the (horrible) idea that suicide is an unforgivable sin. In Black Butler, the 'punishment' for this 'blasphemy' results in becoming a reaper.

I get incredibly emotional when I remember all the reapers we've met were at one point so desperate for relief that they resorted to taking their own life, and are now being punished for it. It's heartbreaking.

The Queen then begs the King to reconsider allowing Floire to marry Blancheflor, and to tell him the truth of the matter, or else they will lose their only remaining living child out of 12. Holy crap, these people suck as parents. Maybe get rid of the lion pit guys? Just an idea.

Anyways, the king relents, and they break open the tomb to prove to Floire that it's empty.

He quit the tomb, his feet he found;   His love lay not beneath that ground; Thanks, he gave to the Lord above, Knowing that she still lived, his love. He swore no effort he would spare, But would search for her, everywhere. He claimed he’d find the maid one day, No matter how wild and harsh the way. And then he would return with her, In great joy, no more to suffer. The joy he felt made him forget The labour of finding her, as yet.

The breaking open of the tomb brings to mind the story of St Thomas, one of the 12 apostles, who broke open the tomb of the Mother Mary only to find it filled with red roses and white lilies.

Floire gathers a crew to set out and find Blancheflor. The king gives him a half red half white horse with a saddle made of blue whalebone. Very inconspicuous. The queen meanwhile, gifts Floire with a magic ring.

Interesting. Very interesting. More on that in part 3.

[midnight-in-town]

Uhm, sorry in advance if this ask doesn't make too much sense but at the end of the Green Witch arc, Sasha says 'You hear about deserters once in a while' and wonders why they would try to leave the Shinigami Dispatch Society; however, would he have questioned this if he and Ludger were seriously considering the possibility of a shinigami being part of O!Ciel's lineage a couple of chapters ago? Do you think this could refute the UT grandfather theory?

Hello Anon and sorry for the delay ! Don't worry, you make sense, but actually I think these are two different topics. :)

Considering this scene in ch103, I just don't believe...

...that Sascha and Ludger were hinting that Cedric was a deserting Shinigami, which is why "it runs in the family". Because of ch105 and discussing deserters like you said, but also, how would they even know by looking at that family tree ?

Sure maybe, Cedric's birth and death years are hidden to us readers in that panel because he was several decades or centuries older and it's written on the tree but, since Shinigamis technically aren't allowed to interfere with life and death, I don't think noticing weird birth and death years would have immediately led Sascha & Ludger to the conclusion that "Cedric K. Ros- is a deserting Shinigami".

No, I rather think that Sascha and Ludger put two and two together that the Phantomhive family is burdened by the Watchdog duty because they have this weird lineage "running in the family".

Because, as I explained before, I don't think, even if Cedric is UT, that he's the explanation behind the lineage thing. Because I'm sure Claudia also had weird abilities, which is why she received the Watchdog title despite being a woman, like our!Ciel and like Frances.

So I rather read this scene in ch103 as Sascha realizing that "Earl Phantomhive, they who undertake the dirty work of the British royal family... oh, because they have this ability that runs in the family and allows them to detect supernatural beings !".

Keep in mind, I could be wrong, but I don't think ch103 is meant to draw attention to the whole Cedric = UT thing, that has more to do with ch105. Ch103 is purely about the Phantomhive lineage, so it has more to do with our!Ciel's direct predecessors.

I hope it makes sense ? Have a good day Anon. :))

[fallenrayvens]

You know what?

I’m hereby declaring that besides all the already existing clues and evidences that point to Undertaker being Cedric Phantomhive, I believe in it mainly because of the fact that the name of this family is Phantomhive.

Just like Undertaker was obviously a reaper to me from the start because duh, of course. Have you looked at him. His name is Undertaker. He runs a morgue.

Of course the noble family that is known for ruling the English underworld, currently has assassins as normal manor servants and a fucking demon as the main butler and is literally named “phantom hive” has grim reaper lineage. Wouldn’t surprise me if undertaker wasn’t even the first one of them.

It just seems like a Yana thing. She did it multiple times already, nothing stopping this from being so obvious.

[tothelasthoursofmylife]

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love No more dreaming like a girl, so in love with the wrong world

— Blinding, Florence and the Machine

Happy 7th Anniversary! (+ 3 months...)

Look who finally managed to finish this drawing? Me! Super late but done at last. I had this idea since last summer and thought it would be a good idea for an anniversary drawing. I tried to realise it to the best of my meagre ability^^’ and it didn’t come out too shabby at least.

(The scythe is meant to go through Cedric’s head btw, specifically through his ears... I just messed up there.)