14th December 1885 and Ciel in the cult
This post is in reference to flashbacks in Kuroshitsuji chapters 10/11, 19, 32, 62 and 101.
So after establishing this theory, I started thinking back on that fateful night when Vincent and Rachel were killed and Ciel was taken away, and I hoped to do some kind of timeline/analysis to try understanding the killer(s)’ goals (?) and whether Ciel’s time at the cult was coincidental, or planned by the one who decided to kill his parents (obviously, if it was planned it’s even more horrible for him).
This is probably Kuroshitsuji’s biggest mystery since it’s the main plot: Ciel’s revenge is linked to this night and his contract to Sebastian is linked to his revenge, which is why we probably don’t have enough clues yet, but still I tried with what we had.
Spoilers everywhere obviously, and special thanks to wondrouswatchdog who discussed the theory with me (your patience is a gift :3). Also, since it’s already a very complicated matter, I’m leaving out all theories about Ciel, 2CT included.
Ciel is still in his cute everyday outfit and it’s impossible to say what time it actually is. Then someone yells.
He finds the dog first, gets blood on his hand and then…
He finds his parents. Vincent looks like he’s hugging Rachel (so maybe she was hit first?) but blood seems to be pooling around both their bodies. No gunshots were heard seemingly, so it’s safe to assume that Ciel’s parents were stabbed.
From the amount of blood on the floor, Rachel or Vincent (or both) were really injured and they don’t seem to react to Ciel’s presence and eventual screaming.
That’s when it really becomes interesting.
Ciel somehow finds Tanaka (at the end of the corridor?) while his parents are either already dead or very probably on the verge of dying, but Tanaka is already facing the culprit. He doesn’t even have time to warn Ciel that he’s already stabbed in the back (and that is some huge knife the guy has) and then falls to the ground.
Let’s stop here for a moment.
Remember Tanaka in the Green Witch arc? We’re speaking of a guy who was able to cut a bullet in half with his Japanase sword, so there is no need to wonder about his strength and speed (and that’s 3 years after this incident and with a wound to his back).
So what does it say about his opponent?
Tanaka tried to warn Ciel and turned his back to his opponent, which means he probably thought he had the time to urge Ciel to run before fighting back (otherwise he would have stayed focused on his opponent, he’s not stupid). And yet he was stabbed, so the one holding the knife was probably not some common killer (this point doesn’t have to make much sense, it’s mostly that Tanaka was defeated even though we know he’s a badass fighter and it’s hard to surprise him).
Back to the analysis, after Tanaka is out, what happens to Ciel?
This panel makes everything surreal because:
- Either it’s Ciel’s own hand and he’s trying to protect himself by doing the gesture of putting his hands in front of his face: but in that case we should see his left thumb (try doing the gesture yourself with your left hand if you don’t know what I mean).
- Or it’s someone else’s hand coming from behind him and in front of his eyes, which makes sense because it looks like to be the left ring finger and the pinky.
Whose hand is it though? An accomplice of the one with the knife? Vincent who managed to get up? Another servant?
It’s impossible to say right now, but this hand probably snatched Ciel from behind (so either in order to make him run/protect him or to capture him).
One other thing I have to say about this panel: this could be just a drawing effect but doesn’t above look like the bloody knife is up in the air while the guy facing Ciel has his two arms down? Creepy isn’t it?
I felt like pointing it out because it freaked me out, especially when we saw the right hand holding the knife when Tanaka was stabbed.
That’s the only flashback about this night and what happened in the Phantomhive manor on December 14, 1885, and after that Ciel is already shown to be in the cult.
However there are a few facts so far that are already raising a few questions:
Vincent and Rachel were stabbed and didn’t react to Ciel’s screaming so they were probably going to die of their wounds. So why start a fire?
We know from the Undertaker’s words in ch105 that Vincent’s body was horribly burnt, even though we saw he was stabbed along with Rachel.
And even if we consider he managed to survive the first hit somehow, why didn’t they stab him again? Why a fire?
It might have a totally different purpose than just killing Vincent.
The fire destroyed the manor and the Phantomhives’ belongings so it might have been all about the Watchdog’s annihilation.
Also, obviously a fire can be started accidentally, while stabbing leaves evidence of blatant murder. So a fire would raise less questions than obvious killing.
If the fire was to hide evidence (I’m more about the symbolism of absolute annihilation of anything related to the Watchdog, especially if Victoria is the mastermind and Vincent was acting against her).
She was supposed to come for Ciel’s birthday on that same day but when she arrived at the manor:
The fire had already started. She probably arrived early on the evening in order to celebrate her nephew’s birthday, so this means Ciel’s parents and Tanaka were stabbed shortly before the evening.
We might see our dear Madam Red again when Yana finally starts explaining the real deal, because she’s the one who discovered the fire, so she might have done something afterwards, but what?
(By the way, why did it seem Lizzie was scheduled to celebrate Ciel’s birthday on a different day, since it seems only Ann came to the manor while Lizzie learnt at home of what happened?)
He’s the real deal here. Stabbed as he was and since we know Ciel found him in the hospital after Sebastian brought him home, the question is: how did he escape death and the fire?
He was still resting in the hospital when Ciel came back from the cult and when he received his title from Victoria: so Tanaka stayed at least 3 months resting in a bed (since Ciel’s ceremony was in March).
So he was hurt deeply on December 14 but still, he managed to escape from the Phantomhive manor and the fire?
Yes, I’m actually saying that maybe there was someone else who arrived after/was already there when the murders happened and that person saved Tanaka.
Because even if he managed to escape somehow, he would have need immediate transport to a hospital, so the theory to have outside help isn’t so far-fetched.
Who is that potential ally though? Could be anybody on Vincent’s side, from Frances to the Undertaker, passing by someone we might not know yet (before you ask, since Angelina arrived after the fire started, I doubt it could be her, but I can’t exactly dismiss her either since we don’t know what she did after discovering the fire).
The aftermath of the tragedy on December 14 was Ciel finding himself with crazy people who wanted to summon a demon and I don’t think I have to remind you of the hell he lived through and how much it destroyed him.
Is the cult behind Vincent and Rachel’s murders?
How did Ciel find himself in there? Was his time with the cult planned or is it just a pure coincidence?
We don’t know if Ciel managed to run away after Tanaka was stabbed, or if he was captured by an accomplice of the one with the knife, but the thing is he was bought by a guy and sent in there, so somehow even if he managed to run away from the manor at first, he was eventually captured at some point.
(To be honest, I don’t think he could have escaped the one who defeated Tanaka, unless the hand creeping in front of his face in the flashback is someone who wants to save him.)
Is the cult behind Vincent and Rachel’s murders?
To answer this, I’ll need to bring in someone we all dislike: Kelvin.
Kelvin was crazy about Vincent and Ciel ever since he saw them the very first time.
He tried to find a way to be worthy of them and was really depressed when he heard about their death, but Kelvin was affiliated with that sect, as it is shown when his buddy visits him to tell him “their buyer” found Ciel.
So it sounds unlikely that the cult annihilated Vincent and his family since they seemed so happy to have found Ciel a bit coincidentally thanks to their buyer (who’s the one who bought all the other kids we could see in that flashback during the Green Witch arc).
So the cult aren’t the ones directly responsible for Vincent and Rachel’s murders.
How did Ciel find himself in there? Was his time with the cult planned or is it just a pure coincidence?
This part is just awful when you appreciate Ciel’s character…
This is Ciel who just got out of the cult after binding himself to Sebastian and he’s holding a ring.
Ciel always wears two rings on his fingers: the blue one Elizabeth once broke before Sebastian fixed it, worn by the head of the Phantomhive family (in other words the Queen’s watchdog) and the gold one, which found his way back to him thanks to Angelina.
So the bloody ring he’s holding above definitely is the most important one of the two: the blue ring Vincent always wore as well on his fingers.
So how come Ciel has it when he just got out of the cult, especially since it’s a ring Vincent would always wear as well?
I also said earlier that we could see Ciel in his usual outfit when he found his parents dead, but he’s wearing cheap and worn out clothes during his time in the cult, like the other kids, so it’s not like he could have taken the ring himself and hidden it inside his clothes.
And yet this ring was definitely within the cult’s place and Ciel got it back (seeing how bloody the ring and Ciel’s sleeve are, I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually ripped it from someone’s finger).
So why? Because this ring means two things:
It proves Ciel’s identity as a member of the Phantomhive family
That’s how that horrible pig knew Ciel was “the real Phantomhive boy”.
It gives the cult the insurance that Vincent is dead (otherwise the ring would be on his finger) and won’t pursue them if they toy with his son (besides, they must have heard about the fire as well, so the ring is only a confirmation that the Queen’s watchdog is indeed dead)
And who took the ring out of Vincent’s finger? Obviously the one(s) behind his murder, and since that ring could prove Ciel’s identity easily, the fact Ciel had it right after he got out of the sect means they left it with Ciel after Vincent’s murder (which is how the cult realized who he was and decided to make him a “sacrificial lamb”).
In other words, the one(s) who killed Vincent were the reason the cult knew who Ciel was and decided to treat him the way they did for their satanic summonings.
So did Ciel find himself in that hell coincidentally? No way, it was all planned by whoever decided to annihilate the Phantomhive family.
Whoever they are, they planned Vincent’s murder, destructed all that was his (his home, his belongings, his wife) and sent his son in Hell (and all that on his son’s birthday).
I call that revenge. Or punishment.
And we all know there is only one person above the Watchdog in term of power anyway, and they’re his master.
Oh, and did you also know that December 14 is the day Albert, Victoria’s dear husband died? She loved him soooooo much, she still needs a puppet of him to keep on feeling happy and safe.
Just sayin’ (there is no coincidence in Kuroshitsuji). ;)
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