Also I remember when Lizzie found out that O!Ciel was pretending to be his brother, she said something about that if the younger twin would have come back as himself and not his brother, she wouldn't have cared. While I think Lizzie has every right to be mad at O!Ciel for lying to her for three years, I was kinda angry at her for saying that? Like does ANYONE IN THIS FRANCHISE CARE FOR THIS KID?
Hi, anon! I’ve been sitting on this ask for a while because I wanted to give sufficient thought to my answer before making a reply, so I apologize for the delay! In brief, saying that Lizzy doesn’t care about O!Ciel is a blatantly false statement and ignores the complexities of her inner turmoil in the chapter you mentioned (144: “The Butler, Under Arrest”).
It’s true that Lizzy bonded more deeply with R!Ciel during the kids’ childhood, but that’s a product of circumstance. In addition to having more robust health, which meant that he was more active and hence made for an easier playmate, R!Ciel was Lizzy’s fiancé—of course she’d be encouraged to spend more time with him. If anything, I think the adults are the real parties to blame for O!Ciel’s feelings of marginalization. If they had made more of an effort to ensure he was included in all the children’s activities, I’m sure our warm-hearted Lizzy would have developed greater affection for him.
Moreover, consider her initial reaction to finding out that R!Ciel is “alive”:
As Lizzy explains to Edward, “My first thought was not “Oh, I’m so happy!” But rather, “What should I do?”” If she truly didn’t give a damn about O!Ciel, we would expect her to toss him aside upon learning the truth. But notice the bottom panel: She’s positioned between the two twins, loyalties torn, and her figure cracks and crumbles in imitation of her shattered heart. Even though Lizzy didn’t recognize O!Ciel as “the spare” when he returned from the cult, she now has history with him, such as the moment on the Campania when he accepted her authentic self. Lizzy’s knowledge that he stole his older brother’s identity doesn’t automatically eradicate those memories she made with the younger twin.
But now to get to the heart of the matter: The allegation that she wouldn’t have cared if O!Ciel had been honest from the beginning.
Lizzy tells her brother that, “I’m not sure I could’ve said something like, “I’m glad that at least you’ve returned to us alive,” and meant it. If he hadn’t lied...
“I wish Ciel had survived instead.”
Such a heartless thought might have popped into my head.”
Here’s the thing that I believe a lot of the folks who bash Lizzy fail to acknowledge—humans as a general rule are biased creatures. That’s not right, and it’s not fair, but it’s our natural inclination. If your significant other’s or best friend’s life was placed in peril alongside that of a casual acquaintance who you liked, and only one of the two could survive, your gut instinct would be for your most cherished person to make it out alive. Kuroshitsuji isn’t about saintly characters who do no wrong whatsoever; even sunny souls like Elizabeth Midford’s possess patches of shade.
In addition, we are not defined solely by our thoughtless, ignoble impulses, but by our responses to them. And how does Lizzy react when she’s forced to acknowledge this hurtful partiality where the twins are concerned, her past self’s failure to value O!Ciel? She sobs her eyes out. She is wracked with guilt. She views herself as an “awful person.”
Does the picture of anguish above look like the face of a girl who doesn’t care? Assuming O!Ciel truly meant nothing to her, I doubt that Lizzy’s conscience would torment her this way.
We do not tolerate Elizabeth Midford slander in this household. Yes, she’s angry, frightened, confused, and flawed...but she’s also one of the kindest and most self-sacrificial characters in this manga, and despite his betrayal, I maintain that she does care for our boi.
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