#undertaker theory

[cedric-k-rossignol]

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.

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

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 (more specifically, I think he's from Plouha, Brittany...but that's a different post). 

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).

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.

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.

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...But I digress.

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.

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.

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?

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.

[dalekofchaos]

If WWE Superstars were Pokémon Gym Leaders by animeempirestudios

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

[abybweisse]

The Promised Salvation?

Do you recall when I wrote a short series of posts on what could be the horrid truth about the reaper realm? That they are also part of an ongoing experiment... or that their souls are eventually all intended to be food for angels, demons, or gods? Or that I've also written about a theory that reapers are souls of suicides, placed into new baby bodies and raised until they are recruited to serve out their punishments as reapers... and that there are probably tracking devices in their special glasses? As well as the theory that Undertaker will use the souls of the top students at F. O. L. Orphanage to replace the missing souls of his most advanced Bizarre Dolls?

⚠️Spoilers ahead for The Promised Neverland, if you haven't read or seen it.⚠️

I've been watching The Promised Neverland, thanks to all the discussed parallels with F. O. L. Orphanage. I've noticed that their numbers are 6 digits, and how Norman's starts with a 13. It's 130146, whereas Undertaker's is 136649.

TPN kids are brought to the orphanage as one year olds, with a tracking device implanted in their ears. They live happy lives until they are shipped out, but it's really just harvesting for demons who want the best food money can buy. There are five plants/orphanages, with headquarters in the center, and Ray knows this because he never lost certain memories from infancy (and before birth). Norman learns that beyond the tall wall, there's a large gap and a cliff.

What if Undertaker goes by 136649 as soon as he's recruited, instead of his "name", as a reminder to their headquarters that he knows? That he never forgot whatever happened between his suicide and being recruited? That he knows it's the same for all other reapers?

And what if the orphanage he's set up at F. O. L. is like a miniature version of that? As horrible as it is, he might be looking at a bigger picture here: he might have set it up for the other reapers to see, luring the reapers in (along with our earl and Sebastian) to learn that the reaper realm is too much like this orphanage. Not just that, but perhaps the inhabitants of all the realms (human included) eventually have the same, ultimate fate?

What does Sebastian really know about the human realm, the reaper realm, and reaper headquarters? Or even the demon realm? 🤔

More to follow....

[komba114]

!!NEW FEAR UNLOCKED!!-

《SNAKE MIGHT BE THE NEXT TARGET FOR UNDERTAKER》💀!!

I have this feeling that undertaker might turn snake into a bizarre doll, just like R!Ciel and doll.

And I believe that Doll herself would beg on all fours to undertaker just to bring snake back, just like he did to her (as we can see just how strong her feelings towards him).

And they might as well stuff his brain with some shit about O!Ciel so he turns against him cause he "killed all his family", just like what happened to soma.[I'm praying this would never happen 🙏].

•••••••○○

[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.

[delusinaldreamer19]

After receiving some interaction with this post I made about my feelings on the Undertaker, I wanted to clarify some of the things I said. And give, you know, actual points + evidence for why I don’t like him.

I’ll start by rephrasing that very point. It’s not that I don’t like him as a character, it’s that I think he’s evil. Maybe one of the most evil characters in the series.

@abybweisse left a comment on my post saying how Yana had specified that UT wasn’t the main villain of the story. I agree. But whether or not he’s the main villain of the story doesn’t take away from how evil his actions are.

I’m just going to go ahead and get the main point across, or my main reason for “hating him” ig.

He needed r!Ciel’s body in order to revive him. In order to retrieve his corpse from the sight of the sacrifice, he needed to have known where it was. In order to retrieve r!Ciel’s body before the place fully burned down after being set ablaze by Ciel & Seb, he would have needed to be there when it was happening.

Remember this panel?

There are numourus theory’s abt it, but I personally believe it’s UT.

Case and point, he must have known that the twins where being held captive by the cult. Whether or not he knew about all the ways they were being abused is kind of irrelevant—I feel that seeing them in the cage would be enough to know they were being harmed.

This biggest thing about him that I just can’t get past is why didn’t he intervene?

Your telling me that the same person who said “I can’t bare to lose another Phantomhive” just sat by and watched as one of these Phantomhives he supposedly cares so much about was murdered right before his eyes? It’s just doesn’t sit right with me.

I’m halfway to believing that he specifically waited for r!ciel (and prob o!ciel) to die so that he could do the whole reanimated corpse thing. But I’m not convinced that will be the main payoff of his actions within the series.

Speaking of his actions…yeah I’m not done.

What is the point of him essentially ruining o!Ciel’s life? Seriously. Framing him for the sapphire music hall incidents, kicking him out of his own home, stripping him of everything he has aside from Seb and his servants. Like- why? What does that do to further his goals (whatever they may be)?

I feel like he could have kept the whole reviving r!ciel thing more…idk personal? Privet? Like revealing to only o!ciel that he’d done that.

And why revive Doll if not to specifically torment o!ciel with a ghost of his past? Or at least to have some sort of negative effect on him?

There are so many questions about the UT, and while we don’t have the answers for them yet, the questions themselves paint him in a very bad light.

Yes, he had some sort of relationship to Claudia. Yes, he cried over the picture of Vincent. He may care about the Phantomhives in some manner, but I can’t help but feel that he doesn’t care about o!ciel. He may have had a few lines that suggest otherwise, but is actions have spoken very loudly through this series.

If I had to put it into a theory, I’d say I think his main reason for doing all of this is that he just want to pit a real human (o!ciel) against one of his reanimated creations (r!ciel) to see which will come out on top. His whole thing has always been laughter and entertainment.

But that’s just the impression I’ve gotten from thinking about the Undertaker and trying to piece his actions together. Do I think this is the real motivation that Yana has in store for him? No. But I just can’t seem to get past it.

[juxl25]

Kuroshitsuji theory (spoilers)

Is there a spy in the reapers who works for the undertaker?

I think there might be! (Let me cook plz)

Today I was thinking about Dolls death and the events at the end of book of circus and realised, how tf did the undertaker get dolls body and cinematic records?! Because William and Ronald were at the mansion collecting the records of all the dead children and the count, and I honestly don’t think William would let some random guy with a death sythe show up and take the records.

Unless William is the spy.

Now let’s think about this. William is the only repeating Reaper that we don’t know much about other than the stuff from the OVA and as well as that he was at the circus during the times of the kidnappings. And I know we’ve had reapers show up to the places of major events such as Ronald and Grell with book of Atlantis, but that’s most because they wouldn’t of been able to get to the cinematic records if not. But if so why was William at the circus? No major deaths happened there, all deaths happened away from the circus. Unless he was there to spy on o!ciel and Sebastian.

Second off William’s appearance at the end of book of Atlantis. I know he was there to get Ronald and Grell but I think it’s kinda weird how he just showed up out of the blue and didn’t bother to help with all the bizarre dolls. We know that Grell and Ronald were completely out of it when William showed up, so what if he helped undertaker and r!ciel back to land?

Third of all, how did the undertaker get Dollys body when he was taking care of r!ciel? Knowing how loyal the undertaker is I don’t think he would have left r!ciel alone in that moment and I don’t think he could of come back for the body and the records because, people would of shown up to fight the fire and because of the grim reapers that were there. So maybe William brought him Dolly body as he (William) thought she could be a good candidate for a bizarre doll due to her history with o!ciel and Sebastian.

And my final point for why William might be a spy is how he always shows up at the end of all major event involving the bizarre dolls and blood transfusion. He always shows up when things start to go wrong, as show is Bards arc. I theories that the events in the hospital where Bards is happened first out of the 3 mini arcs due to the amount of time show to have past in each arc. Hence why he hasn’t shown up in the other mini arcs.

I would also like to say why I don’t think Ronald Knox is the traitor.

Firstly he was only called as back up in book of circus and had no way of knowing about what was actually going on inside the mansion. Secondly in book of Atlantis Ronald is shocked to find out about undertakers true identity as a reaper as well as the state he was left in after the fight with undertaker. And finally the events in Bards mini arc, Ronald is shown to be actively searching for the Bizzare Doll and if he was a spy why would he do that? Bear in mind William only showed up after the Layla was found.

But what do yall think? If I’ve made an error or missed something important let me know! And thanks for reading my ramblings:)

[princessbutler1316]

First: HOLY SHIT! MOTHERFUCKERS!

Second

Do you guys noticed that on BOC OP...they are fighting in CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME????

I have proof

The gargoyles that Beast destroyed with her whip

The outside

And the last, the Stained glass

THEY HAVE THE SAME PATTERN OF ROSACEA

If you noticed this, great, I feel kind of stupid for not noticing it sooner. BUT WAIT THAT'S MORE...

This whole thing IS A FUCKING DAMN ASS FORESHADOW

Keep in mind that BOC was realease in July of 2014 and chapter 105 is from May of 2015

And where is Notre Dame?

EXACTLY FRANCE...

BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE

Notice the bottom part of one of the stained glass windows of Notre Dame

SEEMS FAMILIAR?

Anyway, this probably means that we are going to France again (like season 1 ENDING but hopefully with much less drama and unnecessary history), but MOTHER YANA IS HITTING SOMETHING....and I'm afraid

[amethystroselily]

You know what, if Undertaker is Vincent’s father, Tanaka knows, and Undertaker knows he knows. But also Tanaka minds his own business and Undertaker is strangely defensive about personal information for someone who keeps monologuing, so perhaps they will never have an actual conversation about it.

In that case I hope Tanaka was also sleeping with Claudia. I think it would really add an edge to whatever the fuck is going on between Tanaka and Undertaker. And it would be really funny. To me. I hope Tanaka gets his “you are not the father” moment. But he’s the one who ends up raising the kids anyway bc of his position as a servant, and Undertaker is jealous.

[meow-ali3nz]

Ok gang i may or may not be clinically insane but like is r!ciel not the actual r!ciel?

Like it’s obvious undertaker brought him back to life or smt but like theres 0 chance that its the real real r!ciel yknow? Like sebastian ate his soul when he came up from hell or whatever nd r!ciels soul was the gateway so at the very least the ciel undertaker rose from the dead doesnt hold r!ciels soul.

Also r!ciel acts to rude to O!ciel and like wouldn’t he be nicer based off of the flashbacks of O!ciels past? And like doll/freckle face from the noahs ark circus still acts how she used to in life and has the same hatred for ciel that she had dying which either means R!ciel died hating/disliking O!ciel or its not actually the original flashack childhood R!Ciel.

Also Sebastian ate R!ciels soul (i am NOT finding the panel evidence just go read the dang manga) so it should be impossible to retrieve said soul unless undertaker struck up some deal with Sebastian which is also not possible since sebastian says he can’t have more than one contract at a time+ he can’t lie to O!ciel, at least with doll face she may have had been resurrected fairly quickly or quickly enough that her soul wasn’t reaped.

Also the way undertaker brings up these corpses is through lengthening their memories with either shit videos of him dancing or futures they wish they had/their desires since humans desires are never ending therefore however long these corpses live are also never ending which could mea the corpse is just a body with the original hosts memories which explains why R!ciel acts so differently and is also just a cool idea.

But another way this could go (in my opinion much less likely) is that undertaker brainwashed the corpseinto believing O!ciel caused his death or did something horrible/overall just convinced him to not like O!ciel which would explain the calm and gentle yet rude and scheming personality the corpse of R!ciel has towards O!ciel with the memories of the actual person and the lies told to him sort of canclling each other out

We could also say that R!ciel just decided to hate O!ciem for surving but that doesnt make sense since R!ciel sacrificed himself for O!ciel and personally i dont want to believe the theory of “O!ciel pushed R!ciel to be sacrificed” i just don’t believe that! Like could you havr done that as a 9-10 year old to a person you loved and admired.

Idk if im clinically insane or not but i needed to let this shit out just to double check. :D

Im not insane just insanely smart ;)

[cedric-k-rossignol]

'Floire et Blancheflor' - Medieval French inspiration for Undertaker & Cloudia (Part 1)

Alright, back on my Medieval French Literature Shit. Splitting into parts since my Rossignol/nightingale last name theory post got stupid long, and there is a lot in this story to unpack.

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 1 - Happy Birthday You Crazy Kids

In Floire et Blancheflor, the two lovers are born on the same day – Palm Sunday, known as 'Dimanche des Rameaux' in France. Within the text of this story, the day is referred to as 'Le jour de la Pasque florie' which translates literally as 'the day of flowery Easter'.

Palm Sunday is the Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. 

Cloudia was born on Monday April 5th, 1830.  In the year 1830, Palm Sunday fell on April 4th.  

Honestly this makes no sense to me, since putting Cloudia's birthdate as the number '4' (in the fourth month of the year, no less) would work well with theme of the number '4' within the Phantomhive family and the bad luck the number brings in Japanese culture. It's odd because since Palm Sunday fits so well, the decision to have her birthday fall on April 5th as opposed to April 4th must have been deliberate...  

Her birthdate instead falls on 'Holy Monday', which seems pretty unimportant in the grand scheme that is 'Holy Week'.

According to the gospels, on this day Jesus Christ cursed the fig tree (Matthew 21:18–22, Mark 11:20–26), cleansed the temple, and responded to the questioning of his authority (Matthew 21:23–27).  

On the cleansing of the temple -

"a good deal of money was stored at the temple, where it could be loaned by the wealthy to the poor who were in danger of losing their land to debt. The Temple establishment therefore co-operated with the aristocracy in the exploitation of the poor." "the importance of the episode is signaled by the fact that within a week of this incident, Jesus is dead. Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree that this is the event that functioned as the 'trigger' for Jesus' death." "Jesus was not attempting to cleanse the Temple of any corruption. Instead, it was a radical protest against the institution of animal sacrifice, which gave people a false sense of transactional forgiveness compared to repentance."

There might be some connection to be made with Undertaker's rebellion against reaper HQ/his dislike of Queen Victoria & the 'queen's coins', but none of this seems particularly relevant to Undertaker or Cloudia as far as I can tell...

However, Cedric's birth date March 25th would have also fallen on Holy Monday in the year 1331. If you assume that to be his birth year, and take Undertaker's reaper serial number 136649 to mean he died on January 28th, 1366, this would have made him 34 years old when he took his own life, which is the same age his son Vincent Phantomhive would be when murdered in 1885.

It should be noted there is precedence for an association between the Undertaker and Easter, as the Campania Arc takes place over Holy Week. The ship departs on Holy Wednesday, the Aurora Society's meeting and introduction of the bizarre dolls on Good Friday, and the confrontation with Undertaker and the sinking of the ship on Holy Saturday.

Something else to note for Palm Sunday - the custom of blessing 'palms' on this day originated in the middle ages in France.

In most Christian rites, Palm Sunday is celebrated by the blessing and distribution of palm branches (or the branches of other, native trees), representing the palm branches that the crowd scattered before Christ as he rode into Jerusalem. These palms are sometimes woven into crosses. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to the substitution of branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew.  

In France, branches of boxwood or laurels (or olive branches, in Provence) are used in place of palm branches. "Many people visit cemeteries after the Mass and place blessed branches on the graves of loved ones as a sign of peace and hope for resurrection."  

Laurel branches/leaves decorate the edges of Cloudia's mourning locket. 

Next up, an empty tomb covered with golden roses and lilies, and a man literally tossing himself to the lions out of grief.

[gojossugarcandy]

I don't know why I get the feeling that undertaker is one of the Phantomhive's descendent.

Like, there is some relationship between Claudia Phantomhive, Ciel's (and his unnamed twin brother who plays the protagonist all along) grandmother, and undertaker which is like marriage or like undertaker is a member of Phantomhive family or something?

Because he protected Ciel from burning and is like ruining the whole world's dead people and killing living people just to find a way to make the real Ciel live.

Another reason is because it was once said that Shinigami-s were also humans, but they committed a suicide and as a punishment had to collect others souls and witness death until the punishment was over.

Also, in one of the side stories, he cries while seeing Vincent Phantomhive's photo, Ciel and the protagonist's father.

And, please clear this doubt of mine

Is the Blue Revenge Arc, the final arc of black butler?

Because the series is going on since 2006, and it is already like 18 years.

[abybweisse]

Do you think UT would truly allow any harm to come to Our!Ciel? And do you think he cares for him at all? He appears to be actively working against him in the story currently alongside Real!Ciel, and Our!Ciel is working to shut down his bizarre doll operations. But, at the end of the day he is still a member of the Phantomhive family, and Vincent’s son, no less. The contrast between his dedication to the Phantomhive family and his constant conflict with Our!Ciel makes me question what his real end goal here is. What do you think it is?

Undertaker's feelings and plans

1. He might allow it. Depending on how you define "harm"... he might even plan on doing some, though I don't think he would see it as harm.

2. Yes, I do think he cares about our earl. It's just that his methods for trying to save the remaining Phantomhives are highly questionable. Undertaker seems to be losing touch with reality, in some ways, probably due to some interruption or halt in his grieving process... which is rather ironic, given his choice of profession as an undertaker.

3. There are many ways this could go, but the way he sees the twins as essentially the same -- it doesn't matter too much to him which is which -- he might think it's perfectly reasonable to combine them and make them "one", as if he's putting two halves together to make a whole. Our earl has a soul, but his body is sort of weak from recurring bouts of asthma. Real Ciel would have a strong body (once Undertaker perfects his reanimating techniques), but he no longer has a soul. Combining our earl's soul with real Ciel's body might strike him as some sort of perfection. The Ultimate Bizarre Doll -- or Ultimate Doll -- if you will. This would, in his mind, have the added bonus of removing our earl's soul from a body that's marked with a demon contract. He might think that doing this would make the contract null and void. I don't think it would work as well as he would hope....

[aquarianights]

like in my mind claudia phantomhive x undertaker (cedric k ros) are THE love story of the century, I've deluded myself so bad over the last 6 years now if they turn out to NOT be canon it's gonna be soooo awkward....

[sapphoswh0re]

recap post: star lords

(warning: lots of spoilers, old and new theories, personal rants ->this is going to be really long, maybe I should split it?) While we wait for the end of the hiatus, I decided to share a thing I've been working on for a long time, on par with the new releases.   It's not exactly a #theorypost because even if there are some theories, this is more of a personal guide to have a summary of events/characters and my thoughts about it all together (it also makes it easier to find them in the manga).

⭐ Who are the star lords? ⭐

They’re mentioned for the first time in chapter 110 with the beginning of the Blue Cult arc and the introduction of the ‘stars’, but only in chapter 115-116 the existence of "special" individuals inside the Sphere Music Hall is made explicit.

In the same chapter, we understand that the 4 stars are connected to 4 figures (Sirius, Vega, Polaris, Canopus)

->why do I only say 4 and not more? In fact, in later chapters, when the star lords' rooms were shown, some fans had doubts that some stars (like Sirius or Canopus) could be represented by more individuals/twins. In my opinion, however, it's already clear from 116 that they could only necessarily be 4 people. Nina is the one who takes care of their clothes, it's true that she didn't take the measurements in person (so she didn’t see them), but she’d have noticed if she had to create pairs of the same article for a single "person". I think it would have been suspicious, something easy to notice, instead she only talks about 4 people.

Even if the topic of blood and transfusions is there from the beginning, it's in chapter 117-119 that we're given the confirmation that each star corresponds to a blood type and they have different degrees of rarity:

Polaris = A

Vega = 0

Canopus = A

Sirius = AB

So, who are “those with the names of the stars”? Four people who need the collected blood, aka bizarre dolls (at this point it may seem trivial, but at that time it was still debated hahah).

Thanks to Sebastian in chapter 117 we can see the rooms of the star lords (from which they speak in 123).

Door with a star-> Sirius

Two stars-> Canopus

Three stars-> Vega

(the "infamous" double room that with the dialogue convinced some that Vega were two people) 

Four stars-> Polaris

SIRIUS ✨

Sirius is the first one to be revealed, and as the real Ciel who returns in 129-130 with the beginning of the Blue Memory arc. 

Despite being perhaps the most incisive figure among the 4, he's also the one on which there have been fewer conjectures since the “twin reveal” had been awaited by fans for years, so yes crazy but not THAT crazy.

The cover of 129 itself confirms this by showing the door of the “blue star” open.

However, why did Sirius, according to fans, have to be RCiel? 

Well, if you're desperate enough (like me), the clues can be found in the choice of the stars. From the article : “Sirius is a binary star consisting of a main-sequence star… termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion… termed Sirius B”, “A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other” -> twin theory (Ciel A/Ciel B) later also confirmed by the attempt to make OCiel another Lord Sirius for the police (two Lord Sirius?) “Sirius is colloquially known as the "Dog Star", reflecting its prominence in its constellation, Canis Major (the Greater Dog)” -> reference to the role of the Queen's Watchdog

Questions I still have about RCiel (some have been answered by now so I removed them)

is he a bizarre doll? Yes, but is he special in some way?

what is his purpose? Obviously it concerns his relationship with OCiel, but could it be just that? Actually, given the unstable personality he has shown so far it could really be just that -> clarification, RCiel's goals ≠ Undertaker's goals

how did his body "grow" to keep up with OCiel? Can BD grow or was he the exception thanks to some intervention from Undertaker?

what was it that Undertaker made him drink in chapter 108? An attempt to bring him back to life? (like a soul or something??? was the eye actually twinkling, or was it a scenic effect?)

what happened to RCiel's soul? We know it was used as a tribute to summon Sebastian, but did Sebastian absorb/eat it, or was it just lost as payment? The explanation was a bit too vague for my liking (they repeat a lot “price”, “payment”, ”paid” without really telling us where is it or if it still exist)

is his distorted personality an effect of being a BD, or is it something preexisting? (or something in between)

could his obsession with his brother really be a clue for theories about his role in the Phantomhive family tragedy??? This is one of the things that interests me the most, along with how BDs work (reminder: maybe add a post to remember pros & cons about the theory)

extra: was it RCiel who left the message on the wall or did Polaris carve it? (doesn't really matter, but I'm curious because the scene of Ciel who has to climb on the furniture to get up there made me laugh a lot)

CANOPUS ✨

Canopus is a character who, after many chapters of silence, was revealed as Doll in chapter 204.

First, what did we know about them?  The only information we had was the room, which was shown kinda bare, poorly furnished, with bloody bandages and what could be IV accessories -> we therefore knew that either they were patients (wounded, probably seriously?) or it was a blood drip for BD, or both options -> reanimated body of a person who died from a serious wound

The dialogue of chapter 123 for Canopus was almost useless, so at this point I tried to find clues by searching the actual star (like with Sirius) but in the article I didn't seem to find anything except this passage(?):

“In Greek mythology, Canopus… was the pilot of the ship of King Menelaus of Sparta during the Trojan War. According to legend, while visiting the Egyptian coast, Canopus was bitten by a serpent and died.” -> some kind of foreshadowing about her future relationship with Snake? update post chapter: sorry Snake, I’ll pray for your return 😭

Questions about Doll (old and new)

is Canopus dead or alive (BD)? A reanimated corpse but injured 

was she chosen for this role because of her feeling of revenge against OCiel? ->do the other star lords have similar motivations, or do they collaborate for personal purposes? What is her goal now?

does each star lord take care of a main blood source? Why are only Vega and Polaris out to get “nourishment”? ->now we know Doll was just too injured to go, but then she went to the orphanage (orphanage reminder: create a separate post, too suspicious, too many questions, I don’t think the arc is really over)

others I thought of: Madame Red (died from very serious injuries, body prepared by Undertaker, forehead covered by bangs ->she could still come back though), Doll (and I got it right hahaha), a new character

VEGA ✨

On Vega we kinda had some clues (when my ramblings got confirmed I screamed with my friend for like 20 minutes) and in 187-188 is revealed as Layla/Al.

But before the sanatorium arc, what did we know about Vega? We're told that they're out to get blood and their room looked like the bedroom of a (or two) noble girl with childish tastes. The presence of pairs of pillows, stuffed animals and vanity led to the belief that there were two people (but in my opinion, the single bed and the clothes thing mentioned above only indicated one). Another passage that tried to be misleading but was actually a clue is the dialogue in 123 where we have two text bubbles that join together while saying the same thing -> this passage!!!

Layla is introduced in chapter 172 and to me (and Lau hahah) she immediately seemed suspicious, with characteristics that matched the few things we knew about the star lord:

-> too young to be a nurse, good manners like a noble and it could make you laugh but the thing that most caught my eye was her pair of bows because it reminded me of the pairs of objects in Vega's room. 

With Bard’s attack we got the proof she participates in the blood collection and that she is a BD but in 191 she pronounces a sentence that sounded too familiar to me -> it didn't seem to match at first but I found it so suspicious that (even if it's something I never do since I do not understand the language) I searched the Japanese scans of the two scenes and... it is the same!!! insert screams

Even in this case we maybe had a clue thanks to the star Vega:

“Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr.” ->Lyra/Lyrae=Layla and Alpha=Al?

Questions about Layla (they’re a lot but it’s because it’s a new character)

how did she get a death scythe?

why does she drink blood from other blood types? On the Campania the first BDs attacked people in search of the soul, Layla instead attacks for the blood?? -> why do transfusions to BDs follow the blood types? (connection to the orphanage?)

is Layla really a girl? Not so important but in the FOL Orphanage arc the categories that represent the stars made me doubt. The Collie Class is made up of children (almost all boys) dressed as nuns/nurses who do housework (and Oliver handles a knife) ->same dress as Layla even though they are boys -> could Layla be a boy?

how was she chosen as star lord? And why even though her blood is less rare than Canopus is she of higher rank? (room decorated as a noble) ->does she have more funds? Or did someone finance the project for her/to give her that role and therefore wanted to bring her back to life?

following the question above, who was she before she died?

Is it possible that she is the daughter of Baron Heathfield?

theory (not my only one, but this has more connections): in chapter 155 it's said that the baron lost his wife and daughter in an accident. (Obscured faces but the little girl has a bow on her head, light hair, short bangs, young woman from a good family) ->for this reason he looks for replacements for his wife (theme of the shape of the soul, could it be important in the future? reminder), but why not for his daughter? ->maybe the daughter was brought back to life by the Aurora association, for this reason he finances them and it’s an important blood collection site not directly managed by a star lord (he has a personal interest in the blood being sent to the Aurora’s labs and the research continuing). Disgusting detail ->can the baron's practices be reflected in Layla's sadistic attitudes (or is it a consequence of being a BD)?

Could she have witnessed or suffered something when still alive? ->Al is a second personality: (I tried to follow this article) said to be a disorder often caused by strong childhood traumas, the personality is born to protect the person from those painful memories and it allows to detach from them, just like Al does in 191.

POLARIS ✨

Polaris is currently the only star lord still unidentified, and he's perhaps the most mysterious. Having no confirmations yet but only clues I'll create a dedicated post about him with a link from here (definitely not because I've reached the images + links' limit and this became so long??? like when did it happen? opsie)

if you've read this far you deserve a prize 🎁

this was almost like a diary for me, so if you don't agree with some theories/comments/observations let me know, because I'm always interested in other opinions to expand this file, but please consider my heart of glass (jk just not too passive aggressive)

[zetsubo-bani]

If yana held another vote someday, which character would you vote as your favourite? I might try to draw the new "potential devil 6"

This is all I could fit