As our earl and Sebastian tuck into their dinners (I guess Sebastian eats and pretends it's appetizing to him), we return to Modri Vladis, in his hotel suite. He's not hooked up to the IV right now, and he's washing his face
Now we get the impression he's got at least four different voices/personalities in him. One asks if Sebastian is the right one to accuse of whatever happened before, one recognizes the demon's smell, one thinks it's funny to see the demon act like a human, and one is curious about the kid who's the demon's contractor.
With his face now washed, Modri puts his short cape back on and starts to pray at the cross that holds his IV fluids (whatever that is, which might not actually be blood).
He prays for mercy and the tools/ability to kill the demon, as a final act of service for the god he worships.
As I said in a spoiler post, he has cut himself numerous times, for whatever reason, and the needle from the IV looks like a modern "butterfly" needle.
This last panel is very deceptive...
...because in the original Japanese version, what he says here could be better translated as "I'm a deacon/servant, even if it kills me."
I'm quite sure he's not Polaris, despite the similarities. He's got tattoos, whereas Polaris apparently doesn't. He only understands that our earl is the demon's contractor; he doesn't recognize him as real Ciel's younger twin, and Polaris would know it immediately. And the scene with Polaris reporting events at Yorkshire to Undertaker and real Ciel hasn't even quite happened yet, as we go back a few days with the start of each assignment.
Another important thing to note is that the original Japanese version (in an earlier chapter) describes his IV as simply an IV, not specifically a blood transfusion.
I'm really curious which personality is "Modri Vladis" and which one would have been more recognizable to Sebastian. Do all of these personalities originate from this one person, or has his mind been tampered with to make him this way? Is he actually an experiment to see if different souls can co-exist in the same body?
🤔
Will our earl and Sebastian ever make it to the "smoking room"? 🤷🏻♀️ Hopefully next month.
kuroshitsuji english translation might have made a crucial mistake in ch218
At the end of Chapter 218, Modri says the exact same line as Polaris: 私は死んでも執事ですから, which I am told in English is "As I'm a butler, even in death." Obviously this leads us to think Modri is Polaris...
HOWEVER!!!!! I believe Yana is actually fucking with us with some classic wordplay.
Because 執事 (butler) in Japanese is the EXACT SAME WORD as "deacon" - this is also 執事. It's a Christian ranking below a priest.
It might've been safer to translate this line as "As I'm a servant, even in death." so it could be interpreted as either a butler or a servant of God.
Yeah, I also think this was a translation mistake, or Yana-san is just messing with us. I don't think he's Polaris, unless he somehow got all the tats done after we last saw (so little of) him. Because this exact same wording can't be quite right.
Why he'd also be an advanced bizarre doll, idk, unless he's got a common blood type, like Vega (A) or Polaris (O). There has never been enough blood for real Ciel (Sirius, AB) or Doll (Canopus, B).
We also have this scene, not included in previous spoilers I've posted or reblogged:
The way he dresses, speaks, and uses that cross for his IV/transfusion bottle... I should think he really is more like a deacon than a butler.
It's also very important to note that Modri refers to our earl as "the child accompanying him", suggesting he doesn't recognize him as real Ciel's twin. Polaris would know it right away.
- So, as we already know, we have this guy here. And we also already have his name:
- Well, one of the things I did was look up the meaning of his name – to see if I could find any kind of hint about who he was, his past or even a possible foreshadowing
(So, in short, it can both mean "one who holds the power to rule" or "watchful to rule.")
- I hadn't been able to get much out of it at first; But then I started to focus on the word "WATCH/WATCHFUL", and I remembered one thing:
(I was already familiar with that nomination, but I had the idea that Watchers and Fallen Angels were synonyms. Well, yes, they are, but also not ALL OF THEM)
- Anyways, the Watchers I'm going to refer to here were those who took a *clears throat* "different" interest in humans and their "activities", and began engaging in them frequently (and also encouraging them), which resulted in their banishment from the celestial realm, and thus becoming Fallen Angels.
- Here is an excerpt from that talks more about them:
"In the Book of Enoch, the watchers are angels dispatched to Earth to watch over the humans. They soon begin to lust for human women and, at the prodding of their leader Samyaza, defect to illicitly instruct mankind and procreate among them [...] Samyaza and his associates further taught their human charges arts and technologies such as weaponry, cosmetics, mirrors, sorcery, and other techniques that would otherwise be discovered gradually over time by humans, not foisted upon them all at once."
- There has been speculation that this character is actually a demon or a former contractor of Sebastian's, but what catches my attention is THIS specific line from him.
Was he referring to a figurative or literal hell? Maybe both, who knows?
- But from the angry and familiar tone he uses to speak to Sebastian, it's clear they've known each other for a while now. And assuming Sebastian is already a few millennia old, it wouldn't be surprising to learn he played a role (whether large or small) in Modris's "fall from grace."
- Not necessarily having happened in biblical antiquity, because with his name I believe it happened a few centuries after what is narrated in the Bible. I also think this because Modris' memory seems to be "fresher", so I suppose he's not as old as Sebastian – and perhaps that is why you remember him so clearly
it actually makes me a lil insane to think about how loved sebastian is. how agni admired him and saw him as a friend. how madame red said he's basically family to ciel. how Mey rin adores him for being the first person to make her feel valued and appreciated. how finny used to give him hugs so strong they would supposedly damage a normal person's spine. how bard's face lit up when he appeared in the forest in the emerald witch arc. how elizabeth felt so safe and reassured with him there on the Campania. he's become such a valuable part of so many people's lives. and maybe it is all just part of an act, part of his butler aesthetic, but in a way, isn't it kind of beautiful that a demon could be so committed to a contract with a child that he accidently ended up improving the lives of everyone around him in the process?
Because Toboso conceals his face, Polaris is probably a character who readers would recognize.
Polaris has claimed on multiple occasions to be a butler, and said that he lost his previous master. This might lead one to assume he was a butler in Vincent Phantomhive's household. However, Polaris appears to have a different chin shape compared to any of the previous butlers.
Polaris' first physical appearance is when r!Ciel comes to the townhouse. Soma opens the door, let's r!Ciel in, and offers him food because he believes him to be o!Ciel. R!Ciel shoots Soma with a small handgun, which is o!Ciel's signature weapon. When Agni tries to protect Soma, Polaris appears and stabs him with a knife, of which he has many. In this scene we see that Polaris is tall, but not as tall as Agni.
He is also incredibly strong and fast, performing maneuvers that would be impossible for a human, and as a result, impossible for a bizarre doll created from a human, as the bizarre dolls we've seen so far seem to retain the physical limitations of their human bodies.
Sebastian even remarks that killing Agni would have required more than 5 average humans.
The rest of the information we have about Polaris is very limited. In Japanese, he refers to himself using 私 (watashi) and uses uses polite sentence endings (desu and masu).
However, Polaris' most distinguishing characteristic is his devotion to his master. When confronted with the possibility of running out of blood and losing r!Ciel, he loses control, yells, stops using polite speech in Japanese, destroys his surroundings, and falls to his knees.
If Toboso were introducing a new character, she wouldn't need to hide his face. The only existing character who fits the profile of a butler, exceedingly devoted to his master, almost as tall as Angi, wielding an absurd amount of knives, and with strength and speed way beyond those of humans, is Sebastian.
When Polaris first stabs Agni in the townhouse, he seems to appear suddenly and unnoticed by Soma and Agni. The reader might assume that he came into the room or out of hiding at this moment to defend r!Ciel. However, I believe it to be more likely that he walked in with r!Ciel, unremarked-upon because if Ciel walks in, Sebastian would be expected to follow. In fact, it would be strange if the 13-year-old came in alone, without an adult, and especially without his near-constant companion.
At this point I will mention what originally made me think of this theory: Sebastian's catchphrase. I will do my best, with my extremely limited knowledge of Japanese, to explain.
The phrase Sebastian is so fond of saying is "私は[悪魔で]執事ですから." He's literally saying "For I am a devil and a butler," but doesn't blow his cover as a demon because it sounds identical to "For I am a butler to the end/persistently." (私は[飽くまで]執事ですから)
After freaking out over the possibility of losing r!Ciel, Polaris tells him and Undertaker that if r!Ciel died, "I wouldn't be able to rest, even if I died. I can't imagine where else I could be... for I am a butler, even in death."
私は[死んでも]執事ですから。
This is nearly identical to Sebastian's catchphrase, both saying "For I am a butler," with a single word (and its attached particle) swapped out:
私は(I)[ ]執事(butler)です(am)から(for)。
An obvious problem with this theory is that Polaris is loyal to r!Ciel, while Sebastian is loyal to o!Ciel. An even more obvious problem is that while Polaris is murdering Agni, Sebastian is with o!Ciel elsewhere. This is the point where my implausible theory reaches its peak of absurdity: I believe Polaris is a bizarre doll of Sebastian, specifically Sebastian the butler.
When Undertaker impaled Sebastian on the Campania, he obtained his cinematic record. Like when Grelle cut him with her death-scythe in the Red Butler Arc, Sebastian's record only shows memories of his current body and nothing before it manifested. The sole purpose of the body named Sebastian is to be the best butler and to serve his master. This could also explain the previous master Polaris lost and his insanity over losing another: the last memory of the body the cinematic record was taken from is seeing o!Ciel thrown over a railing and out of reach; Undertaker captured Sebastian's desperation in that moment and used it to create a bizarre doll.
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