#you get a theory and you get a theory!

[cedric-k-rossignol]

Black Butler & Celtic Legend Part 1 - The Omen of The Dragons

Alright y'all, back on my medieval French Celtic literature shit. Excuse my ADHD ass hopping from theory to theory. I'm excited and sad about this one as it's my prediction for Undertaker's final fight - and it's not looking so good 😞

In Part 2 of my French Crown Jewels Series I theorized that Undertaker is in possession of some of the gemstones he recovered from the Order of the Golden Fleece insignia for Louis XV. This contains, among other gems, the original diamond from which the Phantomhive family ring was made (referred to as The Hope Diamond in season 1 of the anime). I theorized that within the insignia, Undertaker is represented by le Côte-de-Bretagne, the spinel carved into a red dragon.

And I think Undertaker is also represented by the red dragon in the Arthurian tale of King Vontigern and his construction woes - The First Legend of Merlin.

In this legend a monarch is attempting to build a tower above a pool of water, and when the foundation fails each night, he's advised that in order to successfully build the tower he must sacrifice a half-human child. However upon digging into the foundation he finds two dragons fighting, one representing the native Britons, the other representing the invading Saxons...

LET'S TALK ABOUT DRAGONS BABY.

Usual disclaimer - I have not been able to find evidence of this legend being discussed before in relation to Black Butler. Please tell me if it has.

A Very Brief & Simplified History of Brittany

First off, I want to clarify a few things about Brittany, France, just in case anyone's confused. If you're not confused about the relationship between Britons and Bretons, feel free to skip this part!

Brittany (French: Bretagne) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul.

In the 6th century, Celtic people (Britons) fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasion immigrated from Great Britain to Brittany, which was then a part of Armorica (meaning land by the sea).

By the 11th century, Brittonic-speaking populations had split into distinct groups: the Welsh in Wales, the Cornish in Cornwall, the Bretons in Brittany, the Cumbrians of the Hen Ogledd ("Old North") in southern Scotland and northern England, and the remnants of the Pictish people in northern Scotland.

So by the 11 century, the Britonic people have separated into distinct cultural and geographical groups, and have developed their own distinct languages - but the Welsh, Cornish, and Breton people all descend from the same ethnic group, the people who had inhabited the British Isles since the iron age (800 BC) and spoke Brittonic. The Irish, Scottish, and the Manx (those who inhabit the Isle of Mann) descend from those who spoke Goidelic (Gaelic).

Brittany became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as a separate nation under the crown. Brittany is the traditional homeland of the Breton people and is one of the six Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history.

When Undertaker was alive in the 14th century, Brittany was ruled by the Dukes of Brittany. In 1532 they officially became a part of France, but they've always retained a unique identity and there is a strong separatist movement today to seek further independence from France. Brittany is sort of the 'Québec' to France's 'Canada'.

The most relevant information to know is that before the middle ages, the people who inhabited the regions now known as Wales and Brittany shared a heritage and a common tongue. The legend of King Arthur takes place in both England and Brittany (I believe the Isle of Avalon in the world of Black Butler will be off the coast of Brittany) and Arthur and his companions are important historical/mythological figures in both Welsh and Breton culture.

Historia Regum Britanniae

I am going to focus on analyzing the Omen of the Dragons as it appears in The History of the Kings of Britain or Historia regum Britanniae, a work of historical fiction that was written in the 12th century. It chronicles the lives of the Kings of Britons from the founding of the British nation up until the Anglo-Saxons assumed control of much of Britain around the 7th century. Historia regum Britanniae is one of, if not the central piece of The Matter of Britain, a body of medieval literature associated with Great Britain, Brittany, and their legendary kings and heroes, particularly King Arthur. The lais of Marie de France, one of which I detailed in my Rossignol theory post, are also part of The Matter of Britain.

The First Legend of Merlin as portrayed in Historia Regum Brittanie

The First Legend of Merlin revolves around the characters of the half-human boy Merlin/Ambrosius and the Monarch, King Vortigern.

It should be noted that this legend is sourced from an already existing story and that the figure of Merlin is imposed onto the real life 5th century historical figure Ambrosius Aurelianus. Ambrosius was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons.

King Vortigern himself was a native Briton, but he is portrayed to be a betrayer of his own people - or at the very least, an easily manipulated fool. He invited the Saxons to England - brilliant fucking idea, mate - and married a Saxon.

Vortigern was a 5th-century British ruler best known for inviting the Saxons to Britain to stop the incursions of the Picts and Scots and allowing them to take control of the land. He is regularly depicted as a villain or, at best, weak-willed and unable to control the Saxons once he arranged for, or encouraged, their arrival in Britain.

In the legend, King Vortigern has lost all his other fortified holds, so he asks his advisors/ 'magicians' for advice and they tell him to build another. Seems kind of obvious to me... Except all work that they do vanishes overnight.

At last he had recourse to magicians for their advice, and commanded them to tell him what course to take. They advised him to build a very strong tower for his own safety, since he had lost all his other fortified places. Accordingly he made a progress about the country, to find out a convenient situation, and came at last to Mount Erir, where he assembled workmen from several countries, and ordered them to build the tower. The builders, therefore, began to lay the foundation; but whatever they did one day the earth swallowed up the next, so as to leave no appearance of their work.

So Vortigern asks the magicians and they advise him to take the next logical course of action - child sacrifice, my liege, duh!

Vortigern being informed of this again consulted with his magicians concerning the cause of it, who told him that he must find out a youth that never had a father, and kill him, and then sprinkle the stones and cement with his blood; for by those means, they said, he would have a firm foundation. Hereupon messengers were despatched away over all the provinces, to inquire out such a man.

Now, at this my ears perked up like a fucking dog's. A youth that never had a father - that's a phrase that sounds like it could have been subjected to many a translation. After all, what does a child that never had a father mean? A child who was hatched from an egg? A kid whose dad went out to buy cigarettes and never came back? An orphan? A bastard? A child whose father was dead before they were even conceived?

Sure enough, when I scrounged around for another translation:

“The child must be borne of both woman and demon.”

And yet another interpretation merely states that the child cannot have a "mortal father".

His wizards claim that only by mixing in the blood of a child who has no mortal father will he make the foundations sound.

Ancient engineering is a trip, eh? I so love living in a time where we don't rely on mixing the blood of children into our concrete to prevent a sinking foundation.

Now, as to what Vortigern was attempting to build... Sometimes it's a "fortress", sometimes it's a "citadel", but most often the translation reads as a "tower". Another aspect of the legend remains consistent - the construction is always occurring either above or next to a body of water.

So a monarch is trying to build a structure (a tower over water), and is mysteriously unable to begin his project. His advisors tell him in order to proceed, he must sacrifice a child - one sired by a non-mortal upon a mortal woman.

Monarch/Warlord = King Vortigern = Queen Victoria

Structure over water = tower above pool = Tower Bridge over the Thames

Monarch's advisors = Vortigern's magicians = John Brown

Half-mortal child = Ambrose/Merlin = Vincent Phantomhive

Tower bridge under construction in 4x11

It's long been speculated that the events of December 14th, 1885 (namely, the murder of Vincent Phantomhive) are connected to the Tower Bridge, a project Prince Albert took a particular interest in. It began construction on April 22, 1886 (around four months after Vincent's murder) and is referenced several times in the manga...and in season 1 of the anime, the unfinished bridge is where the final confrontation between Sebastian and Ash/Angela takes place.

Sebastian & the angel Ash on the unfinished Tower Bridge in 1x24. Souls forming a seal above the bridge while the city of London burns in 1x24.

The bridge in the anime is built with/contains human sacrifices, and Sebastian states in all likelihood it was Ash/Angela (the advisor) who instructed Victoria (Vortigern) to build the bridge.

Ash states that "no demon must be allowed to enter through this gate" and that soon "all of eastern London will be safe from impurity". Eastern, specifically 👀 remember this for later...

Horrible CGI human sacrifices in the bridge's foundation in 1x24

Back to the legend - the kings advisors go searching and find such a child who has no father, a boy whose mother claims to have laid with none other than a being who had long haunted her before lying with her in the shape of a beautiful young man. The king consults his advisor, who tells him that Merlin's father was likely an incubus.

For, as Apuleius informs us in his book concerning the Demon of Socrates, between the moon and the earth inhabit those spirits, which we will call incubuses. These are of the nature partly of men, and partly of angels, and whenever they please assume human shapes, and lie with women. Perhaps one of them appeared to this woman, and begot that young man of her."

Further versions of the legend add that Merlin/Ambrose is actually created as the antichrist. However Merlin is never portrayed as a malevolent force; having been baptized by his mother, he is freed from the Devil's influence, and yet still has the kick-ass powers. You get the best of both worlds, I guess.

The Omen of The Dragons

Merlin speaks with the king and when he finds out his intent is to sacrifice him, he reasonably suggests to him and his followers that before you go around sacrificing children maybe you should take a look at what's underneath the tower! And for this, they name him a prophet. Turns out common sense is magical! So they dig up the ground, and they find a pond underneath the tower which has been the cause of the foundation sinking.

Then said he again to the king, "Command the pond to be drained, and at the bottom you will see two hollow stones, and in them two dragons asleep." The king made no scruple of believing him, since he had found true what he said of the pond, and therefore ordered it to be drained: which done, he found as Merlin had said; and now was possessed with the greatest admiration of him. Not were the rest that were present less amazed at his wisdom, thinking it to be no less than divine inspiration.

Lo and behold, when they look they find two dragons, just as Merlin had predicted. The translation here is a bit misleading - the true spirit of Vortigern's reaction seems to be more along the lines of fearful reverence - he and his men were intimidated by Merlin/Ambrose's abilities.

The dragons, one red and one white, wake and fight each other with fire over the lake as the king looks on.

As Vortigern, king of the Britons, was sitting upon the bank of the drained pond, the two dragons, one of which was white, the other red, came forth, and ap­proaching one another, began a terrible fight, and cast forth fire with their breath. But the white dragon had the advantage, and made the other fly to the end of the lake. And he, for grief at his flight, renewed the assault upon his pursuer, and forced him to retire.

So the white dragon, who represents the Saxons, triumphs over the red dragon, who represents the Britons. They fight over a body of water, and cast fire with their breath. In the end, the white dragon defeats the red dragon.

I fear this does not bode well for Undertaker.

Undertaker's Fate

Within the insignia for the Order of the Golden Fleece of Louix XV, the Spinel carved into a red dragon is literally called "the coast of Brittany". Here, the red dragon represents the Brittonic people from whom the Bretons descended. Undertaker is the Celtic dragon.

As for the white dragon, who represents the Saxons - I believe this will be John Brown, servant of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria is herself descended from the Anglo-Saxon regime of England, her mother was a Saxon, as was her husband/cousin Prince Albert. Worth noting that king Vortigern, though a native Briton, married a Saxon.

Undertaker has outright stated that he does not care for Queen Victoria - but there are hints in the events of his past that his feelings towards her are a bit more strong than dislike. I think it's more accurate to say he hates her guts, especially after Claudia's death.

Queen Victoria was born in May of 1819. The massacre at Reaper HQ (a far cry from Undertaker's previous behaviour working as a reaper) likely occurred in 1819 as well. This was also the year in which the name "Cedric" first appeared in the newly published novel 'Ivanhoe'. May 1819 was also when Keats wrote "An Ode to a Nightingale", which is the cornerstone of my "Rossignol" last name theory. 1837 is the year in which Queen Victoria ascended to the throne - this lines up with the date when Undertaker officially deserted the reapers, taking his death scythe with him. 1847 is also the year of death for Undertaker's first chronological locket, Molly G.

These dates aligning link Undertaker's rebellion against his superiors to Victoria's rise to power. However, a 1v1 of Grandma Vicky vs Grandpa Reaper probably wouldn't be all that compelling of a fight.

Enter Queen Victoria's servant (in real life, and in the anime) John Brown.

John Brown in 4x10 - Sick Shades, Bro! Not conspicuous at all!

John Brown was a real person who served Queen Victoria in the aftermath of Prince Albert's death (and there is speculation that he and Vicky had an affair). But the real John Brown died on March 27, 1883 - and as I've discussed at length, Yana seems to be deliberate in the timing of significant events in relation to real world historical figures. That the 'real' John Brown in the manga died 2 years before Vincent Phantomhive was murdered is not a coincidence - rather, I think something else assumed John Brown's identity upon his death, and may have convinced Queen Victoria that Vincent Phantomhive needed to die...

There's been a lot of speculation about what John Brown is; another reaper, a demon, or an angel*. But he is most definitely not human. Not with those fuck-ass snow goggles.

*For the record, I think John Brown is indeed an angel.

Both characters of John Brown and Ash fill the same roles as the Queen's closest protector and advisor - the 'magicians' to Victoria's 'Vortigern'. The White Dragon Undertaker fights will not literally be Queen Victoria, but John Brown - and it seems Undertaker, GOAT that he is, will have finally met his match.

I think this will be Undertaker's final act in the manga, to reenact the fight between the red dragon and white dragon over the water by the half-built tower as detailed in the Historia regum Britanniae. Undertaker will fight the Saxon dragon, John Brown...

And Undertaker will lose.

In the finale of season 1 of the anime, Undertaker is distantly involved in the fight between Sebastian and Ash/Angela on the tower bridge (while the city of London burns down around them). He teams up with the other reapers (William and Grelle, and unnamed reapers #1-4) to disconnect the 'hearts of souls' feeding Ash/Angela's power. Undertaker's actions weaken Sebastian's final opponent and enable Sebastian's victory (and therefore, Ciel's). And once again - I think season 1 provides a loose interpretation of what will happen in the manga.

His role in the manga will likely be much more significant. I think he will still team up with the other reapers, but it won't be to snip black clouds because Will agreed to waive his fucking library fines. Undertaker's going to go out fighting...

I think Undertaker will meet his ultimate demise in fighting John Brown, but in doing so, he will enable Sebastian's victory and Ciel's revenge - and perhaps also stop whatever it was he learned back in 1819 that caused his initial rebellion.

Now excuse me while I go pre-grieve 😭

Lludd & Llefelys

This isn't particularly relevant - except this peaked my interest because it sounds vaguely familiar to what I understand about the Mother3 theory, so I'm throwing it in here. In the 13th century (after Historia regum Britanniae was published) the tale of Lludd and Llefelys was written as an origin for how the two dragons came to be buried underneath the pool at Dinas Emrys.

As to how the dragons became confined there, the story of Lludd and Llefelys in the Mabinogion gives details. According to the legend, when Lludd ruled Britain (c.100 BC), a hideous scream, whose origin could not be determined, was heard each May Eve. This scream so perplexed the Britons that it caused infertility, panic and mayhem throughout the realm. In need of help Lludd sought counsel on this and other matters from his brother Llefelys, a King of Gaul. Llefelys furnished the information that the scream was caused by battling dragons. The scream would be uttered by the dragon of the Britons when it was fighting another alien dragon and was being defeated. Lludd heeded the advice given to him by Llefelys and captured both dragons in a cauldron filled with mead when they had transformed themselves, as apparently dragons did, into pigs. The captured dragons were buried at the place later called Dinas Emrys, as it was regarded as the safest place to put them.

But that's not the only way this story might relate to Mother3...

Only Two Dragons - But I Thought The Dragon Must Have Three Heads???? Wait wrong show

Two dragons not enough for you? What about Sebastian, the guy who literally loves to light shit on fire, you cry out in dismay? Doesn't he get a dragon?

Fear not my friend, I've got you covered.

There is a much lesser known prophecy that is a sort of an addendum to Merlin's prophecy. It is contained in a series of texts called The Prophecy of the Eagle, and it foretells the Norman invasion of England...

"As the White Dragon expelled the Red Dragon so a Dark Dragon will throw out the White Dragon. The Dark Dragon, fierce and terrible, will come flying and burn up the whole island with the corrupting fire of its mouth. From its loins will come forth a ram with a fine fleece that will strike with its horns in the east."

And that's where I will pick back up in Part 2, on The Prophecy of The Three Dragons! Because really, are two dragons ever sufficient?

Thank you for reading all this! If you're interested in checking out my other theories you can find a masterpost of them here. My ask box is open and I'm always happy to talk about this stuff, if you have any comments to share or questions to ask. (Note that I will answer publicly unless otherwise specified - also note that if you've asked a question and haven't received an answer yet, it's probably because I referenced this theory and wanted to post it first!)

Going to go cry into a tub of ice cream over my prediction of Undertaker's fate now, bye.

[miss-americanbi]

was chatting with my brother about gravity falls (again) and i said something like “man, can you believe stan waited and worked for 30 years just for the chance to try and bring his brother back?” to which my brother responded, “yeah, it’s nuts when you think about it. i wonder if stan got trapped in the multiverse instead, if ford would do the same.” HELLO???

[khruschevshoe]

There is a conversation to be had about the fact that Taylor Swift's album is being played in its entirety across all of iHeartRadio's 868 stations, pushing out the opportunities other artists might have had to get radioplay. That's the literal definition of a monopoly. No wonder she'll hit the top of the radio play charts with this maneuver, because at least 65 minutes (if not the back side of the album, which would take it to nearly twice that length) across EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT STATIONS will be dedicated to her, artificially boosting her radio play and decreasing everyone else's. In this essay I will—

[chloesimaginationthings]

Cassidy loves to scare the FNAF night guards..

[egophiliac]

crossing my fingers and wishing upon every star that chapter 10 finally brings us the tweel cards 🤞🤞

[hinamie]

big fan of panels where they look like they wld beat me up

[lucabyte]

monologue

[chocobolat]

hello gamers. a beautiful twitter illustration showcasing the heights of the cupids from inee sensei was posted today. however. i had a certain thought. please direct your attention to the heart-shaped bullet holes near to them. please also notice the location of the one closest to koharu. please also recall that the pipe that killed her was in a similar area of her midsection. does anyone else get it.

anyway. if this does reflect the ways they died then ena's being close to her neck and kanna's being right around her head is interesting. also interesting to note that there are actually two bullet holes next to chiyo, both around where her wings are on either side. i guess we'll see IF PEOPLE KEEP BUYING COPIES OF LOVE BULLET PLEASE (shameless shilling)

[tremendously-crazy]

me then: why do all the songs on the radio have to be about love? It's so annoying, why is everyone so obsessed with love?

me now: oh.

[bixels]

As cameras becomes more normalized (Sarah Bernhardt encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use cameras because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by manufacturing companies. I paint not because I want a painting but because I love the process of painting. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

if i have to explain to you that using a camera to take a picture is not the same as using generative ai to generate an image then you are a fucking moron.

[rocketbirdie]

lowkey funniest part of rebirth is when cloud dissociates BIG time while the costa del amor girls are making their pitch

[dandelionjack]

> new series release (space babies) coincided with the uk seeing the northern lights for the first time in years

> the devil’s chord coincided with paul mccartney’s long-missing hofner bass guitar being found, by a doctor who fan no less

> boom coincided with an actual meteor crash

> 73 yards is coinciding with a rise in bizarre supposedly-occult animal sacrifice rituals in britain (the folk horror part) and rishi sunak finally calling a general election (the political drama part)

> hypothesis: russell t davies has somehow managed to tune in to the universe’s divine frequency ??

> conclusion: messing with the forces of fate, cause&effect and coincidence, even if it’s for the pop culture franchise you’re showrunning, actually turns it into an egregore, but only if it’s been going for long enough (sixty fucking years to the dot) and watched by enough people (tens of millions). which it has

> ergo, postscriptum: television magick is real and is being unintentionally performed by the creators + audience of the world’s silliest science fiction show

> /jk. unless?

[sunn-mechanic]

[ID in alt]

Guess that makes me Evil

--

I could not stop thinking about how Vex is probably dead in DR, that shit makes me so unwell

Also, version without the lyrics below, bc I like both:

[ID in alt]

[egophiliac]

YOU MANIFESTED THE TWEEL CARDS CONGRATS

YOU'RE WELCOME EVERYBODY!

seriously though I was probably like. 60-80% thinking we'd get at least one tweel for chapter 10. but I was NOT expecting it so soon! both of 'em! in August! a shame we're not getting a Coral Sea event after all...but I guess I can be resigned to that and ALSO excited for getting shiny sparkly glowing(!!!!) mertwins along with Azul fighting his inner demons and going right for the eyes! AHHHH I CAN'T WAIT

(also heeeey I recognize that rowboat... 👀)

[novelconcepts]

Obviously next week could prove this all dead-wrong, but I don’t think the trial’s quite over. I don’t believe the end of that episode actually took place, because I’m pretty sure we’re still firmly in the “punish Agatha” phase. Rio’s suddenly gone. Alice seems to be dead by Agatha’s hand, and no one—including Teen, who has always been on her side—seems primed to believe she was out of control. The others have been sucked beneath the power of the surrogate son who not only just told Agatha to fuck off, but went full-Wanda to do it. It just all seems too tailored to cut up any of the character progress Agatha’s made on the Road thus far. Getting harassed by her ghost mother and hearing her son’s voice don’t feel like a complete tear-down. This does. It feels like more trial.

[beanghostprincess]

Chainsaw Man has always been about power and control and a guy who has been stripped of his childhood and teenage years to then be constantly used and manipulated, forced to become hypersexual after being groomed and sexually assaulted, and losing the one bit of normalcy there's left in him.

Denji has no control over both his body and decisions and instantly becomes a vessel of what he thinks will fix him, the very same thing Asa is to Yoru, who keeps demanding war and respect and power and she knows what to do to make Denji lose his humanity.

The relationship between Denji and Asa is so genuine and human that using that against both of their wills is incredibly violating and dehumanizing. And that's why it is so good. And that's why it needs to be explicit. And that's why I am extremely surprised people are grossed out by this happening when dehumanizing and taking control of the lives of others is exactly what War would do.