hamliet:

Time for me to blather about my favorite dysfunctional dumpster fire family in manga, the Zoldycks.

^^actual footage of Kukuroo Mountain

In particular I want to talk about the Zoldyck children because the adults can eff off. Each of the five children appears to have coped with their trauma in different ways, and yet at the root of each of their characters we can see a common desperation for love, freedom, and acknowledgement/worth. They kind of all center around Killua–fitting because of the abusive and manipulative way his parents treat him as their heir–and represent different parts of him and ways in which he needs to grow, as well.

Illumi

Ah, Illumi, my son and favorite character 1/3 of the time. The Zoldyck’s eldest child, who was raised on his own for at least five years. I wrote a bit about what that likely means for his character here and here, but the short version is that I doubt it’s a coincidence that the three most well adjusted Zoldycks (Killua, Alluka, and Kalluto) were all born around relatively the same time, in contrast to Illumi and Milluki, the two most isolated kids in terms of age gaps of at least five years between other siblings. It’s also interesting that Illumi and Milluki are in many way polar opposites. Illumi will go above and beyond, whereas Milluki is lazy.

Illumi probably was essentially the guinea pig child, and yet despite being the eldest son, he is not the heir because Killua is more talented/looks like his dad/something like that. He’s incredibly loyal to his family (he tries to kill Alluka because Silva tells him she is not family) and is willing to die for his family… or, really, to earn Killua’s love.

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cielizzydefencesquad:

So. I don’t usually involve myself in petty fandom feuds but HOLY. SHIT. This is pissing me off. We’ve gone through 100+ chapters and people STILL don’t understand Lizzy’s character? They manage to rationalize Kuroshitsuji enough that they give Sebastian feelings even though he’s a hungry demon who made a pact with a 10 year old boy because he sensed his soul was broken, desperate, and malleable to more further corruption. They manage to do all this for a DEMON but can’t find it in their hearts to apply that analytical mindset to a darling 14 year old girl whose human emotions drive her every decision?

“She’s selfish! She only wants to make Ciel smile so things can go back to the way they were!”

“She doesn’t understand him! She’s always trying to change him, that bitch!”

“She’s so ANNOYING. Like, her voice!”

“Oh my god, did you see her standing there in the third panel? Like who does that! RUDE.”

So in an attempt to bring some basic level of cognition into these…“arguments” I’m going to go through them one by one and you can disagree if you like. But please refrain from using derogatory terms, unsubstantiated arguments, and referrals to “proofs” that are nothing more than blog posts made from those who wish to paint Kuroshitsuji in terms more favorable to them and whatever else they ship. 

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1. “She’s selfish! She only wants to make Ciel smile so things can go back to the way they were!”

Elizabeth Midford is, by far, the LEAST selfish person in the whole damn manga. This girl spent most of her childhood loathing the physical strength she possessed because the person she loved didn’t like it. She chose to shoulder her anguish by HERSELF because she didn’t want to burden Ciel (or her brother or her mother or her father) with her personal worries.

Lizzy is also incredibly aware that things can NEVER go back to the way they were. She expresses this concern to Sebastian when she admits that she wishes Ciel would talk to her more and that the only reason she overdoes her cuteness is because she wants to see Ciel smile. Why are comedians so outlandish and over-the-top? Because they want to see their audience laugh. Lizzy took that mindset and applied it to her goal of cheering Ciel up. Furthermore, the Easter egg chapter proved ONCE AND FOR ALL that Lizzy is perfectly aware of the change that’s occurred within Ciel—that he’s no longer the happy, smiling boy of years past.

Lizzy KNEW Ciel didn’t remember why the egg was nostalgic and if she was really selfish, she would’ve thrown a fit—had a full on temper tantrum then and there but instead, what does she do? She outwits the game master himself. Lizzy sets up an Easter egg hunt that she made up completely off the cuff, wears a happy smile throughout the entire event, and when Ciel hands her the egg what does Lizzy do? She laughs and wishes that the egg would bring CIEL lots of happiness. HOW IS SHE SELFISH? HOW. Selfish would be throwing a tantrum because Ciel didn’t remember the way things used to be. Selfish would be bringing up the past EVERY FRIGGIN SECOND. Selfish would be forcing Ciel to comply to the shared etiquette of their past.

Instead, Lizzy is SELFLESS. Instead of throwing a tantrum, Lizzy wishes Ciel happiness. Instead of bringing up the past, Lizzy tries to ignore it because she knows it makes Ciel uncomfortable—that’s why she’s never asked him about “that month” even though she desperately wants to know what’s happened to the boy she loves. And instead of forcing Ciel to behave the way he used to (sweet, sympathetic, loving), Lizzy is learning to accept him for who he is now—how many times has Ciel ignored her? How many times has Ciel left the country without telling her? How many times has Ciel purposely hidden things from Lizzy and then disregarded her concern with a wave of his hand? Lizzy is learning to accept this new Ciel—this closed off, distant Ciel because she KNOWS something terrible must have happened to him. Because instead of crying and whining like she did at the beginning of Black Butler when Ciel refused to take off his ring, Lizzy has learned to ACCEPT. And that, my dears, is called character development—something Ciel hasn’t undergone since the beginning of this manga.

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2. “She doesn’t understand him! She’s always trying to change him, that bitch!”

There is NOTHING about Ciel that Lizzy is trying to change. If anything, it’s Sebastian who’s always prodding and provoking Ciel to become darker—more cruel, less empathetic, and more focused on getting his revenge. She threw a party for Ciel at the beginning of the manga because she thought that might make him smile—fun colors, fine music, seeing Bard and Finny crossdressing…heck, even Ciel took a page from Lizzy’s book when he dressed the F5! It probably took Lizzy HOURS to choose Ciel’s outfit, decorate the mansion, coordinate the whole event and it probably hurt like hell to see Ciel dismiss all her hard work so casually.

As a reader, it’s easy for us to say “HELLO. Doesn’t she know? He was abused and tortured by the cultists! He made a deal with the devil to escape that wretched place, how could this dumb broad think a simple party would cheer him up?!”

And the answer is…Lizzy has NO IDEA what happened to Ciel. (Hindsight is a gift, ain’t it?) She has no idea that he became so desperate to escape the cult that he sold his soul to a starving demon. Lizzy is does not know what Ciel went through and this boy is doing his damnedest to make sure Lizzy never knows. Because he wants to keep her pure, ignorant, and encased in light.

People always point to the party chapter as Lizzy trying to “change” Ciel but all she wanted was to put a smile on his face. She even admits that she overdoes it at times but everything she’s done comes from a good place. Everyone wants to see their loved ones happy and Ciel is the boy Lizzy loves best of all—of course she’s going to try everything under the sun to try and put a little smile on his face.

And Lizzy DOES understand Ciel, to the best of her ability. She’s never once asked Ciel (or Sebastian) about his time in the cult. She uses games to figure out Ciel’s secrets. (Ex: Easter egg hunt—this is where Lizzy knew Ciel was only pretending to remember their Easter tradition and where Lizzy’s suspicions were confirmed—something life changing and drastic DID happen to Ciel during “that month.”) She doesn’t force Ciel to take her to public events because, let’s face it—as the only daughter to a high ranking marquess that serves directly under the queen, Lizzy’s bound to be invited to dozens of soirees a week. And as a gentlewoman of the aristocracy, Lizzy’s going to need an escort. In Victorian times, it was typical that the fiancé escort his bride-to-be but here is Lizzy—sweet, traditional Lizzy—ignoring precedent because she KNOWS Ciel dislikes social events. (Keep in mind, this is information being pieced together by a 14 year old girl who’s been taught to be an “unknowing angel.”)

Elizabeth understands the change that’s come over Ciel, knows that he won’t be interested in the same things he was interested in before. But in spite of Ciel shutting her out, in spite of Sebastian’s constant presence, Lizzy is still working her hardest to try and bring some happiness to Ciel’s life because she loves him. She loves him so much that Bravat was able to take Lizzy’s desperation and devotion and use it against her.

Let’s not forget—the reason Lizzy continued seeing Bravat was because she thought he could help her make Ciel happy.

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3. “She’s so ANNOYING. Like, her voice!”

I think this is the most common excuse people use to not like Lizzy. They critique her high levels of energy (even though Finny and Soma are equally vivacious), her love for beautiful things (even though Ciel is probably the vainest little boy in the whole of London, England), and the fact that she “doesn’t understand” Ciel (counterargument already presented above).

You know, in a lot of ways I see Lizzy as a Scarlett O’Hara figure—strong, determined, unflinching in the face of danger. But also very, very misunderstood. Lizzy only behaves with an exorbitant amount of energy because she wants to make Ciel happy —to bring some sunlight into his gloomy, pessimistic world. The end results are not always successful but the intention behind Lizzy’s every action is pure—as pure as Soma’s decision to help Ciel simply because he saw him as a friend. Lizzy puts on a vaudeville for Ciel in a misguided attempt to help him heal and move on from whatever is tormenting him.

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4. “Oh my god, did you see her standing there in the third panel? Like who doesn’t that! RUDE.”

Black Butler is told from the perspectives of Ciel and Sebastian. We only get brief glimpses into Lizzy’s psyche so it’s impossible for us to codify her completely. What I do know is that some people out there will always hate on Lizzy—whether it’s because they dislike her voice (well that’s her VA’s fault, not Lizzy’s) or because Lizzy “gets in the way” of someone’s ship. I’m not here to reason with those who refuse to be reasoned with. This is me expressing my adoration for a flawed, misguided, but pure of heart character whose unconditional love for a changed, callous boy makes me admire her all the more.

Oddly enough, people seem to relate “understanding” a person to “knowing exactly what happened to them to make them this way.” And to me, this is really giving Lizzy an unfair shake. By this definition, Lizzy could never understand Ciel because she doesn’t know what happened to him in that one month that’s made him the way he is (reason: he flat out didn’t tell her and uses every opportunity to prevent her from finding out. Ciel is so concerned about protecting Elizabeth’s goodness/light/purity that on the Campania, when Sebastian was slaughtering all those Bizarre Dolls, Ciel shielded Lizzy from seeing the carnage because he wants her to remain innocent and unaware). To quote Albert Einstein, “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

I think Lizzy understands Ciel—she can sense the pain, the resignation, the drive towards something greater that Ciel is working towards. This is best exemplified in an early chapter (after Ciel’s fallen asleep and Sebastian is serving her tea) where Lizzy expresses sorrow that Ciel won’t tell her anything. Sebastian comforts Lizzy by telling her that while “It’s a difficult question for me as a butler…[I can tell you] one thing…He [Ciel] was able to spend a nice, free day with everyone.” To which Lizzy retorts that she wishes she could believe that. Elizabeth may not know what happened to Ciel during that month, but she understands.

This then brings me to my next and final point—people wanting Lizzy to “accept” the situation by stepping aside and leaving the manga. Well, to quote Michael J. Fox: “Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” — And this is exactly what Lizzy’s doing. She’s fighting for a way to help Ciel, to help him move on, to do anything that might benefit it. Lizzy’s accepted the situation but she’s certainly not resigned for it—Lizzy’s a fighter, and she’ll continue fighting for the boy she loves until the very end.

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Further discussion is encouraged. But, please remember: refrain from using derogatory terms, unsubstantiated arguments, and referrals to “proofs” that are nothing more than blog posts made from those who wish to paint Kuroshitsuji in terms more favorable to them and whatever else they ship. I am not disparaging other characters or ships—I merely ask that you don’t refer to those “did you know” blog posts that’s caused so much strife in the Black Butler fandom. Thank you.

midnight-in-town:

As proposed on Friday, here’s a recap post about my take on it, for the few who wanted it and in hope that it might help some others with the few misunderstandings I’ve seen going around. Let me know if anything is not clear!

First thing first, despite the name of the theory, real!Ciel isn’t exactly the mastermind or the real target of Ciel’s revenge for me, if just because he and our!Ciel wouldn’t have ended up with child traffickers and sold to the cult if there wasn’t another party involved (and wanting for them to suffer). 

So someone else definitely manipulated real!Ciel and his possible wishes, in order to get to the Phantomhive household. They sent someone, very probably a supernatural being considering how they appeared right behind our!Ciel, to kill almost everyone before making sure the boys would know Hell.

For simplicity’s sake and this post, we’ll assume the true mastermind is Queen Victoria (+ John Brown) and if there is a need for more explanations, please check these posts [x][x].

Moving on, in my take of the RCMT, there were only two attackers on December 14th: 

and while #1 is the supernatural being (Brown?), #2 is real!Ciel (see below). 

However, I know, why would a ten year old child ever wish doom on his own family? 

Well, first of all, things very probably didn’t go according to real!Ciel’s plan, way before the boys were even given to child traffickers: I’m of the opinion that initially all that real!Ciel ever wanted was for his father to die.
And why? Because with Vincent dead, he was the next head of the Phantomhive family and as such…

…he might have a say into his little brother’s project to go to London and become a toymaker, leaving him behind. 

But things escalated from the twin’s initial plan, very probably because of the real mastermind who used real!Ciel’s little wish to get his father out of the way to almost entirely annihilate the Phantomhive household, before getting rid of the twins in a much crueler way

(possibly because real!Ciel was an accomplice). 

So overall was it a horrible, irrational and childish idea coming from real!Ciel? Well, yeah, but he was ten years old and, mostly…

he apparently had (& still has as a bizarre doll) a rather pathological attachment to his little brother

(bordering on obsession really) and that could be enough of a reason for him to truly fear the future separation. 

He might have even seen his parents as being unsupportive of him and his issue on the topic, because they clearly seemed to be okay with our!Ciel’s choice in ch133. Thus getting rid of at least Vincent to replace him and have his say on the matter was a minimal price to pay for not being separated from our!Ciel.  

I disagree with fans labelling real!Ciel a psychopath in the past (it’s possibly different now because of UT), however I do think something was wrong with him if his little brother was the only one who mattered above everyone else to him. And, again, I really think that’s the case because…

(”together” as “just the two of us”)

…Lizzie, the Midfords, Ann (before she died)? Well, he didn’t/still doesn’t seem to consider them at all. :// Our!Ciel does though…

and that’s from where I draw a comparison between what’s normal and what seems to be less so, because it’s as if Sensei wanted to insist that they’re very different on this point. 

So, looking at ch133/134, what happened?

First of all, it’s very important to realize that there is a one and half year time skip between real!Ciel breaking down about our!Ciel leaving him behind (with Vincent and Rachel not taking his side) and December 14th, 1885. 

And it’s important because that means that Sensei purposely hid what the twin did or even how he acted between the incident and the actual massacre, after focusing for two chapters on real!Ciel being bothered by his brother leaving him. 

So “he was a sweet kid, loved his parents and he would have never done that”? Well no one can know that for sure, since it’s not like we really saw anything about him between “I have no choice but to become Earl Phantomhive” and the attack on the manor. Besides, it’s kind of very Sensei-like to do foreshadowing this way, just saying.

Moving on, I’m not going to expand on how/when/why real!Ciel could have ended up as an accomplice of the attack of December 14th because we have no clue of that yet (that’s all in that one and a half year missing from the flashback), however I think everyone pro or against RCMT realized by now that the outsider who killed almost everyone received help from inside the house.

That helper is real!Ciel for me: he’s the one who muzzled Seb the dog and locked him in, so that he wouldn’t warn anyone/attack the intruder, but also maybe so that he wouldn’t be killed.

As I said above, I doubt that real!Ciel considered that anyone besides his dad had to die for him to get what he wanted and both the dog and servants could still be useful to him as the next Earl

anyway

(in order to keep the exact same household, except for Vincent himself). 

As for Rachel, well, from the way she and Vincent died, embracing each other…

…I think she tried to shield Vincent and was killed first. ;_; 

However,

had his initial plan gone perfectly, I’m not sure either that real!Ciel thought it necessary for his mother to die (just like the dog and servants). 
Either because he imagined that, once he’d be Earl, a woman would have no way to stop his decisions (I mean, look at what he said to Lizzie, I know he was a kid but ://), or because he thought she could understand after what she said about her and Ann in ch133.

There again, real!Ciel’s plan definitely didn’t go as expected, since the real target of our!Ciel’s revenge ordered her assassin to annihilate the whole household instead (the twins awaiting another horrible fate), which…

is

what 

took 

place. Well, almost because someone survived.

Before I get to this part though, I have to say: I don’t think real!Ciel is the one who killed his parents. He wanted his father dead, yes, but he’s not the one who stabbed them, or Seb the dog, or even most of the household. 

Just look at ch134, all the dead people our!Ciel came across had a lot of blood pooling around the bodies, a lot of blood on the walls or furnitures around too, which in my opinion signs the work of a real skilled killer (that supernatural being, attacker #1). 

So I doubt the twin would have been able of that, not at ten years old and not when he seemed to suck at fencing. What he did do however is at least muzzle and lock the dog, take the Phantomhive ring from his father’s hand (the ring that proved he could inherit the position after his father)…

and possibly stab Tanaka at least once (making him attacker #2). 

The reason I think the twin is the one who stabbed Tanaka is the opposite as to why I think a real pro took down everyone else: Tanaka was stabbed twice 

meaning that the first time wasn’t enough to kill him, so:

• either he held his own against a supernatural being because he was strong enough 
• or real!Ciel is the one who wasn’t skilled enough to kill him on the first try. 

Also, the second time Tanaka was stabbed was precisely as he attempted to warn our!Ciel of something about real!Ciel…

And if real!Ciel was in on the plan about December 14th, frankly I doubt he’d want his little brother to know that he was an accomplice in the massacre that took place. 

The last chapter even implied that servants aren’t exactly people real!Ciel tends to care about anyway…

…so who knows if even Tanaka wouldn’t become disposable from the moment he caught on about real!Ciel being an accomplice? ://

So basically, real!Ciel is the one who stabbed Tanaka in the back, just as Tanaka tried to warn our!Ciel, but then the supernatural attacker showed up and took our!Ciel away before he could see who was the one with the knife. 

I know Tanaka is still considered as a suspect by some fans, but honestly I just can’t see how or why. And when it comes to how Tanaka managed to survive his wounds and the fire that destroyed the whole manor, since that’s one point making him suspicious, I discussed it a little here for those interested.

Additional hints & details for the RCMT

To tie with the more recent chapters, since UT brought back the twin, but not mandatory when it comes to understanding the theory, so under read more: 

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