Finally Finished...

Literary References in Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler

There are a crap ton of references to literature in Kuroshitsuji, and after re-reading all of Kuro I was really motivated to make a giant list of the literary references.

So I did.

The Admirable History of Possession (Sebastian Michaelis)

In the 1600s, a French inquisitor named Sebastien Michaelis co-wrote The Admirable History of Possession and Conversion of a Penitent Woman. It included a classification/hierarchy of demons that is sometimes referenced in esoteric literature. I’m guessing Yana named Sebastian after this guy.

Famous Poets (Snakes)

All of Snake’s snakes are named after famous canonical writers. 

These include, but are not limited to, John Webster, John Donne, Emily Bronte, Oscar Wilde, John Keats, William Wordsworth, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Peter and Wendy (Peter and Wendy from the Circus arc)

Peter and Wendy was originally a play/novel from the early 1900s and (as you’ve probably guessed) was the source material for the 1953 Disney film, Peter Pan. Peter and Wendy from Kuro have a medical condition where their bodies literally “never grow up,” which is something that happens in Peter Pan, but in that story it’s a result of magic instead of biology. Peter and Wendy from Kuro are also trapeze performers, which is the closest thing in a circus to flying.

Sherlock Holmes (The Phantomhive Mansion Murder Arc)

This might seem pretty obvious and yeah it kind of is, but there are a lot of fun little details that relate to Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle.

In chapter 39 of Kuro, Arthur admits to Ciel that he would rather write historical novels instead of detective fiction, but his editors told him historical novels wouldn’t sell. Ciel then says that Arthur should just make a name writing mysteries and that after that the history novels will sell based on his name alone. Arthur Conan Doyle has gained quite the reputation as the guy who wrote mysteries and got sick of them while no one cared about his historical novels, so this conversation is actually pretty funny.

Some of the side characters in the Murder arc have names based on characters from the original Sherlock stories. Irene Diaz shares a first name with Irene Adler (both characters are opera singers) and Patrick Phelps shares a last name with Percy Phelps (both of whom have nervous dispositions).

In chapter 45, Sebastian (as Jeremy) points out that Arthur has written a bunch of story ideas on the inside of his sleeves. The words written in his sleeves include “pearl” (”The Adventure of the Six Napoleons”) and “sign” (The Sign of Four). There’s also “India” and “secret room,” but I’m not sure what specific stories those are referring to.

Fun bonus fact: Jeremy Rathbone (aka Sebastian in disguise) is named after 2 actors: Jeremy Brett and Basil Rathbone. Both of them played Sherlock Holmes at one point in their careers. 

Beeton’s/Punch (magazines that Ciel reads)

In chapter 39 Arthur mentions that  “A Study in Scarlet” was published in Beeton’s magazine, and that he’s surprised that someone in a position of nobility would read such a magazine. Beeton’s actually exists and “A Study in Scarlet” was first published in Beeton’s in November of 1887.

In response to Arthur’s surprise, Ciel mentions that he also reads Punch. This was also a real magazine, but what makes it weird is that one of the editors of Punch was a guy named Edmund Knox. One of Edmund’s brothers was a guy named Ronald Knox, who wrote detective fiction.

…

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Propertius’ “Elegiae” (The poem being taught at Weston)

In the public school arc, Sebastian is teaching a Latin poem that relates to some themes and events in the Kuro universe. Here’s a link to a more in depth post about the quote. 

Micah Clarke (novel that Ciel buys)

In chapter 85 (the one where everyone goes shopping), Ciel notices that Arthur wrote a historical novel called Micah Clarke. This was an actual novel by Arthur Conan Doyle from 1889. It’s also hilarious that Ciel complains about the historical novel because he wants Arthur to just write more mysteries. Wow.

The Wizard of Oz (Sieglinde Sullivan) 

(This one took me forever to get because I could never pronounce her first name properly).

In German, “Sieglinde” is pronounced “See-glinda,” which reminded me of Glinda the good witch from The Wizard of Oz. At first I thought that might be a coincidence, but then I realized that’s she’s also known as the “Green Witch,” which calls to mind the Wicked Witch of the West. Furthermore, her residence is the Emerald Castle, which is possibly a reference to the Emerald City. 

Also, the werewolf stuff takes place in southern Germany (Glinda was the good witch of the south).

(Maybe Wolfram is her little dog too!)

Fenian Cycle (Finny’s name)

In chapter 100, there’s a flashback where we see Ciel naming Finny after the lead character in a book titled Fenian Cycle: Celtic Mythology. The Fenian Cycle is a real story that’s part of Irish mythology and, just as Ciel says, the lead character was named for his blonde hair. 

Othello (Othello the reaper)

Othello is a Shakespeare play (my personal favourite Shakespeare play by the by) in which the title character is tricked into thinking that his wife was having an affair and murders her in a fit of jealous rage (the person who tricked him, Iago, convinced him that this was the best course of action). Like 5 minutes after he kills her it’s revealed that she didn’t cheat on him and he just fell for a really elaborately set up lie. Othello kills himself after discovering the truth. 

Yeah…I think it’s fairly easy to figure out that Othello (in the play) has a parallel to a character who we know committed suicide at one point. TBH this is my favourite reference in all of Kuro because we can kind of guess the character’s backstory based on his name.

Side note: Othello (the Kuro character) works in forensics, which is fitting since the field of forensics involves finding hard evidence to prove guilt or innocence. Shakespeare’s Othello had to rely on sight, verbal information, and assumptions, which led to him falsely accusing his wife of cheating on him.

Other stuff: In chapter 14, Ciel has a nightmare involving Poe’s “The Raven” and the early part of the circus arc mentions the Pied Piper. Both of these are well-known/explained in the story, so I didn’t feel the need to write a whole thing about each of them. 

If you noticed anything missing, please add it to the post! (Although make note that these are only the literary references. There are like 10,000 historical references in Kuro and I’m not experienced enough in history to notice all of them, so those can be another post.)

I actually think the best way for Soma to "avenge" on RCiel is for him to find out the twins' issues, realising RCiel is just like past him to Mina, and actually forgiving him: like I want to see Soma telling R!Ciel off right into his face that he's just an immature and insecure child who struggles and failed to control his beloved brother and has no worth to be avenged on, then return to Bengal after claiming he'll always be his little brother's friend no matter how pissed off RC might be...

Hey Anon! Nah, nah, as much as I want Soma to become our!Ciel’s Agni, I really hope he helps taking real!Ciel’s operation down and won’t forgive him.

To explain: I definitely agree with you that, even though the main theme of this series is revenge, it is slowly demonstrated to be a painful and dangerous path that won’t bring any good, even less comfort or solace. 

Therefore, our!Ciel, Soma… following the revenge path will only bring them more pain, in a similar fashion to UT who won’t be able to move on and heal by focusing on the past (bringing back dead loved ones) rather than on the present/future (saving our!Ciel from Seb and protecting the rest of them++). 

That’s why I agree with you that it’s not good development for Soma to be the one killing the twin out of revenge for Agni, simply because he indeed will gain much more solace by helping our!Ciel (”becoming his Agni”) with realizing that he belongs with his family and friends as who he is. 

In other words, we don’t know what Soma understands about the current situation yet. However, because revenge brings nothing good, trying to achieve it would lead him into a dark abyss that he probably won’t come back from. 

That doesn’t mean that Soma has to forgive real!Ciel though. Agni’s death was unnecessary, unfair and extremely violent. Besides, real!Ciel is an antagonist who, because he’s dead, is far beyond redemption. Therefore, the narrative won’t benefit from anyone forgiving him. 

I hope I managed to explain properly. Thanks for passing by and have a nice day. :))

Hi, thanks for your great content :) Sorry for my rambling in advance :) Why does the watchdog need a girl who can protect him, not one with education, wisdom, and insight? Even though Lizzy is older than Ciel, she acts spoiled and infantile, and nobody has corrected her so far. Do you think in Kuro, women have a right to talk about men's affairs? Ciel's scene with Lau and Undertaker after Madam Red's death is cool like they know exactly who this boy is. On the other hand, Frances prefers the most irrelevant and unnecessary things to discuss; Their hair which is appropriate for social rules and mundane household chores. I'd imagine she would let Ciel in the darkest secrets of their family or give him tips about handling the underground. It killed house phantomhive's mystique for me XD and brought me to this question; does she think that as a female, she isn't allowed to talk about the real things? Do you think Chapter 14 is valid? Like if Yana were to write it again, would it be like this? I didn't know there were unanimated chapters in early volumes. Read it recently and everything felt wrong about it. 1: No ceremony or visiting graves. 2: Tanaka lets his master get embarrassed in front of the guests. 3: With Madam Red being a depressed doctor, Frances is the only option to be Ciel's exemplar, except that she doesn't know! 4: They must have had that exemplar conversation when Ciel shouldered the watchdog duties, not years later! 5: Servants are retarded, e.g. Mey knows she mustn't break things in her flashbacks, but she puts broken plates on the table ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡° ) 6: Don't get me started on Frances' nitpicking XD Sorry again for talking too much.

Well, haha, I hope you had fun writing all this, Anon !

BTW, in the 0.1% chance that you're being genuinely curious, I suggest you take it elsewhere. :)) If my content's so great, as you put it yourself (thank you!), that's specifically because I love discussing about these women as well-written characters with a lot of narrative impact when it comes to the plot or our!Ciel's predicament. :D

However, there are a lot of bloggers who harp about the Kuro women, so if you want to complain about them, I'm sure you'll find some happy and empty askboxes waiting for you. :))

Lastly, in the 0.05% chance that you really really want me to answer you seriously, then I'll ask you to please 1) browse my tags for these girls or read a few posts about them that you can find on my masterpost and then to 2) rephrase your ask. I don't do so well with all the misogyny in it, it's like an indigestion, lmao.

Have fun with the rest of your day!

I don't even think it was very badly framed in the manga, I think the poll is mostly misogyny and racism speaking. She's a woman who is an antagonist, it doesn't matter if she was 100% right in refusing to be treated like less than a human because of her caste.

Being 2nd least liked for this is batshit crazy.

I feel a bit sorry for Mina for getting 2nd place in the disliked poll. She didn't do anything bad, she was just not on the protagonists side and her becoming frustrated with her eternal thankless servant position made Soma sad. The narrative also framed her poorly for being an ambitious lower-class woman but if you really look at the things she said and did... I'd do it too, if I were her. She doesn't owe her loyalty or kindness to Soma just because he had a crush on her??

Source

A Theory on Ciel’s Real Name

A question we’ve all been pondering ever since Yana revealed Ciel wasn’t actually Ciel.

I’ve had this theory in mind for a while but after a few of the recent chapters I decided this theory might be very possible.

What if Ciel’s real name is Finnian?

First off on the cover page of Chapter 132 we can see Vincent reading this book called ‘Fenian Cycle’ to the twins.

The Fenian cycle is a collection of short stories centering around this character called Fionn mac Cumhaill (his name is translated to Fionn in modern Irish but was also known as Find and Finn in old Irish) and his warriors the Fianna. Basically, Fionn is the son of the the late Cumhaill (the former leader of the Fianna) and was always on the run and in hiding as a child from the men who slain his father. The current leader of the Fianna did not want Fionn to take his rightful ownership as the leader of the Fianna. This can parellel with how Vincent was slaughtered and how Our Ciel was always seen as the weaker and timid child compared to Real Ciel who was depicted as the braver and stronger of the two. Not to mention Real Ciel is the rightful heir to the Watchdog title and the Earl of Phantomhive, not Our Ciel. It is also worth noting that in the recent chapters where Real Ciel has mysteriously and grandiosely reappeared he seems to have this underlying vendetta to get his title back. To make things simpler, it’s as if Real Ciel is trying to 'steal’ Our Ciel’s 'title’ as the Queen’s Watchdog and although he is the rightful heir, Yana has made us all read through and experience Our Ciel carrying out the Watchdog duty so in a way, we are able to empathise with him as being the 'rightful’ person to do this job and that this duty 'rightfully’ belongs to him.

What follows from the story is that Fionn showcases how great and omnipotent he really is and eventually regains his leadership of the Fianna and spends the rest of the story roaming Ireland, carrying out the duties of the Fianna. This parallels greatly with Kuroshitsuji as Our Ciel proves he is capable of the Watchdog title and being an earl. He is calculating, dexterous, and vigilant. And we as readers watch as he masterfully carries out the Watchdog duties throughout each arc.

What I’d like to point out next is this:

Notice that look of surprise on Our Ciel’s face in the left hand corner panel when he sees Finny. I interpreted this as Our Ciel seeing a reflection of himself (or his past self) in Finny somehow. Both of them were kidnapped and locked up and used as 'lab rats’ for heinous, nefarious reasons.

I think Our Ciel also recognised the distant, faraway look in Finny’s eyes as somebody who has gone through an equally heartwrenching, dark experience as he has.

Granted, they both also watched as their loved ones/close friends were brutally murdered right before their very eyes.

This was Finny when he watched a doctor gun down two of his fellow inmates:

And this is Our Ciel watching his twin brother, Real Ciel (whom he seems to have a very close relationship with based on the flashback chapters) getting stabbed right before him:

I found it really interesting how similar Yana drew both of these panels when showing how both these characters witness the murdering of their loved ones/close friends (especially the eye panels where she highlighted the pure shock in them). 

There are other interesting parallels that could possibly hint that Our Ciel’s name is actually Finnian. Both Finny and Our Ciel were branded (one with a slave mark and the other with a tattoo) to indicate whom they belonged to.

And in this sense, it shows how both were being treated as mere objects instead of actual human beings.

Moreover, one compelling fact is that both Our Ciel and Finny were the only ones to survive their horrendous ordeal (I’m not taking Real Ciel into account because as of now we are unsure as to whether he actually survived or was revived or is some form of developed Bizarre Doll, although I would place my bet on the latter as there is no possible indication whatsoever that he could’ve survived). In addition to this, in order to escape from their cruel captors they both sought to killing them.

This was the doctor that shot Finny’s fellow inmates:

And I think this panel speaks for itself:

So I assume this was one of the reasons why Our Ciel spared Finny’s life on that day and hired him as a Phantomhive servant. Finny reminded Our Ciel of himself (or again, his past self) in terms of how they were both victims of human greed and savagery.

I found other interesting links that could possibly hint at Our Ciel’s name being Finnian. One of them is how both Our Ciel and Finny are caring, selfless individuals who tend to think about the people around them first rather than themselves (in Our Ciel’s case, I suppose this trait was more dominant before the kidnapping and the whole cult event that ensued).

Also, Our Ciel was depicted as a naïve, wide-eyed innocent child which is basically Finny in a nutshell.

And here’s a bonus picture of a̶ ̶c̶u̶t̶i̶e̶ Our Ciel getting really mad because Real Ciel told him that it was silly to believe in something he hadn’t seen before (and if you do believe in Santa then by all means you do you).

What really striked me is how similar Finny is compared to the younger version of Our Ciel. I’ve already cited the evidence as shown above but this revelation only further strengthens my belief that Ciel’s possible name could be Finnian.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that out of all the servants Finny seems to be the closest to Our Ciel and remember, Finny was the only one who saw through Real Ciel when he first entered the manor.

I also find it interesting how Finny was the only one that Our Ciel allowed to be near him and to tend to him during the Emerald Witch Arc. 

During this time Our Ciel had broken down completely and reverted into the part of himself whom he vowed he’d never be anymore. So why was Finny the only person who was allowed to be near Our Ciel during his extreme mental breakdown? Even Sebastian whom Our Ciel seems to 'trust’ the most was rejected and thrown aside. Well, I’d like to think that was because Our Ciel could relate to Finny in some way. Since I’ve mentioned how similar younger version of Our Ciel and Finny actually are, considering how Our Ciel has relapsed into his 'old’ self, 'the one who died on the altar’, I’d assume he found comfort in Finny because Finny represented him. He allowed Finny to stay because Finny could understand and empathise with him. Kind, innocent, selfless, and caring. These were all prevalent traits Our Ciel possessed before he was tortured by the cult. And these are all the traits that Finny possesses after he was rescued from the lab (granted, I’m sure Finny had kindness and a sense of closeness with his fellow inmates but these characteristics did not have the opportunity to grow or nurture until he was rescued by Our Ciel). What’s also interesting is how Yana illustrates Our Ciel and Finny’s relationship being far more prominent than with the other Phantomhive servants. 

With the way this is worded, I can only assume it was Our Ciel who actually invited Finny and not vice versa so this shows that he feels comfortable in Finny’s presence. Again we are presented with parallels between these two characters and I’d like to think that it’s not all just a coincidence. 

Bonus indications that Our Ciel is actually a Finnian/Finny:

1) I’m probably being a little too far-fetched here but both Our Ciel and Finny had injections during their time in captivity.

I know it’s kind of a “So what?” point but knowing how Yana loves to add in obviously ridiculous and ridiculously obvious hints I thought this was worth taking note.

2) Take a look at this panel.

Judging by how Our Ciel says “Um…” before stating his name I assume he hasn’t prepared himself for a situation like the one unfolding before him to occur. Also, he was unprepared for the first test that he had to pass through in order to become recruited as one of the circus members. He had no idea as to how or when Sebastian would help him until his darts were surprisingly hitting the target after every single throw. This means that Ciel was utterly and completely unaware of how things would play out when he arrived. So, back to my original statement, the fact that he paused and THEN claimed his name was Finnian could be an instinctive and reflex statement as again, he was caught off guard and responded with the first thing that came to his mind. Why Finnian? Perhaps because that was his name?

Then we have Joker responding with, “That’s a grand name,” and we know for a fact that Vincent mentioned this:

The fact that Joker says 'grand’, not 'beautiful’ or 'nice’, could indicate that even he himself has not heard of the name often (if ever) and is amazed by how a mere 'pageboy’ could possess such a name. Moreover, the word 'grand’ itself has royal connotations to it, giving one the impression of something majestic and glorious just like how the Phantomhives are perceived as.

So there you have it! Of course, this is all mere speculation and nothing is confirmed, some of the points made could also be bias on my part so you may take this with a grain of salt. As always, you are free to tell me your own opinions on this if you want! Thanks for reading~

Here's a second part of the annoying brat story... (𖦹‎ࡇ𖦹‎)

This one was a nightmare to do, trying to draw exactly like the kuroshitsuji manga, all texture and effect...BUT it was funny 。( ᐪ꒳ᐪ )/

PS: I didn't draw the mansion at the end of the page! I took it from the manga because...fuck this mansion!

Too much work ‎( ꜆-ࡇ-)꜆

a super quick sketch of lizzie because i don’t draw her very often (!!!) which i really need to change! also testing out some new brushes

i have no idea how her hair works and i don’t think i’ve really grasped keeping her face on-model, but practice makes perfect…