Botanist / floriculturist / anthomaniac side of the Sebaciel fandom, I’ve got a question. ☺️
It’s this superb artwork from Yana Toboso’s Art Book (vol. 3) in commemoration of the series’ 15th anniversary.
Okay, Sebastian is pouring tea into our!Ciel’s cup.
But there’s a green liquid string coming from the flowers and plants blooming inside that fancy teapot, which then start to grow inside our!Ciel cup. What type of flower(s) Sebastian and our!Ciel are holding… I guess they are the same, right? Most importantly, what’s the meaning behind them? Also, those slightly violet, spiky flowers, curiously positioned in the foreground of the picture? It ought to have a symbolism too.
I’m completely in love with this imagery. There’s a faint bit of melancholy in our!Ciel’s stance… and serenity. Sebastian is 300% mesmerized by gazing intensely at his extravagantly dressed master, in a very relaxing way cocksure bitch is not even paying attention to the task, yeah I know, “one hell of a butler”, they said. There is a bright sunlight bathing both from behind, partially, but it gets diffused through the foliage. So, on the whole, the picture seems positively idyllic…
…unless the flowers’ symbolism tells otherwise?
Okay - I am sure someone had already done that. But I have a fucking cold and I am bored. So here I come with my picture analysis.
Enjoy.
Thank you for your analysis! It’s wonderful!
I have got some questions though.
As I understand it, baby’s breath is on the right of the teapot on this picture. Do you know what flowers are the ones I circled in red and in blue?
Thank you @tohru-n very much for this high resolution snippet. I must confess that I didn't really notice these two yesterday. And I really had to do a lot of research, because the flower with the red frame was very difficult to find. Likewise the blue one, but this one more, as there are many similarly flowering species. So I had to focus on the leaf shape and leaf colour.
However, I hope I got it right.
Let's start with the flower framed in red, which I could identify as a Bellflower. I must confess, I must have looked for about a hundred flowers to come across it. But from the shape of the flowers and the very fine stem, it is my result.
As you can see, the Bellflower is extremely diverse. Probably because there are over 500 species. Some of them grow with their calyxes upwards, others fall gently downwards. However, its dominant petal colours are white, blue and purple. Matching the colours that reflect O!Ciel.
Its meaning, which again fits very well into the history of the painting so far and is very beautiful: The close calyxes of the Bellflowers symbolise togetherness and unity. Whoever gives Bellflowers as a gift wants to say: "Our hearts beat in the same tact".
Well, a plant couldn't express better how closely O!Ciel and Sebastian are connected, could it? Even if we take away the implied romantic background, the focus here is on their magical bond of contract.
But let's take a look at the other flower in the blue frame, which I identified as white Forget-me-not.
After thousands of flowers - I'm not exaggerating - it was the leaves and the rich dark green of the leaves that made me think of the flower species. Also the small distance between the petals.
Ironically - in relation to this fandom - according to a middle-age myth, the plant Forget-me-not got its name because God asked it not to be forgotten.
Because of the emotional and romantic association, the flower is very often given as a gift to express love to someone. And the wish not to be forgotten.
If we take a look at the mythology of this flower, it becomes very interesting. Because apart from the fact that the Greeks saw in it a sacred flower of the faithful lovers, it belongs to the so-called elf plants of which there are two species: Those under the special protection of the elves and those who are supposed to protect against them. Forget-me-nots are among the latter.
Maybe I'm interpreting too much here, but are Sebastian and Undertaker possibly the focus here? Sebastian protecting O!Ciel from the Undertaker the whole time, while the Undertaker preserves and protects R!Ciel? I find this idea very interesting somehow.
And as if things couldn't get any better, the flower is called the Blue Heaven's Key. Or also: "The Forget-me-not - the key to the true treasures of the soul."
I hope you enjoyed it again. Apart from almost giving up because of the slightly excessive variety of species, I enjoyed it again. And if you want more analysis on flowers or something similar, feel free to write me.















