Undertaker is Ciel’s Grandfather
Now that Twin Ciel Theory (something I believed as far back as the Circus Arc) has been confirmed, I’d like the community to turn their attention to another theory I’ve been brainstorming on. Yes, I think Undertaker is Vincent’s father, and grandfather to the twins.
Now, I’m aware that I’m not the first to suggest this, or even to post about it, but I’ve yet to find something that puts all the evidence together. And I get it. There’s not much to go on. But this new chapter has given me hope enough to plead my case.
So, to begin. Our first clue was of course, the locket Our Ciel took from Undertaker in the Campania Arc. It was later revealed that one of the lockets had his grandmother’s hair in it. Now, this doesn’t mean much, except that Undertaker knew her and likely helped her on cases the same way he helped Vincent and Our Ciel. But then, we get this:
This panel set is from chapter 103, titled “That Butler, Identified.” Curious title for a chapter about the train escape from the Green Witch Arc, although an argument can be made that this chapter showed where Wolfram’s loyalties actually were. Personally, though, I think this is the biggest reveal, even if you don’t think it helps prove Undertaker’s connection to the Phantomhive family.
This page reveals that normal people can’t see Grim Reapers, unless they reveal themselves or are close to death. Now, that makes a lot of sense, and actually closes a plot hole about how nobody’s ever seen a red-haired man swinging around a chainsaw. But I don’t think “close to death” necessarily means “close to dying,” but could also mean a physical proximity to death, sort of like Thestrals in Harry Potter. Think about it. Madam Red saw Grell right after she killed her first victim. Lizzy literally saw the undead right in front of her, and is training to be the wife of the Guard Dog. And Rian Stoker was trying to reanimate the dead.
Now, I don’t know if this is what Yana Toboso wanted to imply, but it’s fascinating to think about whether a Reaper allowed themselves to be seen or if the humans they interact with are “close to death.”
But Our Ciel, who is definitely “close to death,” is given another reason. The German Reapers are careful to point out his family tree, where we see that Claudia and someone named Cedric K. Ros— were Vincent’s parents. Now might be a good time to point out that we don’t know Undertaker’s real name. If Our Ciel had Shinigami blood, it would A) explain how he can see Reapers, and B) go toward explaining why his soul is so exceptional and rare and blah blah— I don’t want to sound like Claude.
And, if Undertaker was connected to the Phantomhives, it would explain why he said:
“Anymore.” Meaning he lost ones he cared about. We already know about Claudia, whose hair he kept, but then there’s also this:
In the newest chapter, he explains that he can’t bring someone back if their body was burned, like Vincent’s was. Now, whether or not whoever set the fire did that intentionally, I have no idea. But, the newest chapter does reveal that Undertaker has been working on his experiments for a long time, even before Vincent’s death. We know this, because he already had the setup for Real Ciel’s body. And, these two scenes also give more detail to his reasoning, explained in the Campania Arc.
Now, I always thought this to be a shaky train of thought. Why would he randomly decide to quit being a Shinigami and pursue this question as far as he did. Well, what if he fell in love with a human? What if she died and he had to collect her soul? How would he feel, with the realization that the same thing would happen to his son, his grandchildren, their grandchildren, all while he had to quietly watch them die, collecting souls? I bet this is what spurred his actions.
Now, I don’t know whether he was Cedric, or if that was Claudia’s husband (I doubt Undertaker could have married her, with his Shinigami duties and all) and Undertaker had an affair with her. They could have easily met while she was doing her job as the Guard Dog, her “closeness to death” allowing her the ability to see him. It’s very likely that he helped her, and continued to help Vincent, then Our Ciel (although whether or not Vincent knew Undertaker was his father is anyone’s guess. I’d bet he had a suspicion if he didn’t already know).
I think this is very possible, and not even that out of left field. In fact, we were introduced to this very concept back in 2011, with this OVA:
For those of you who haven’t seen Season 2 in a bit (not that I blame you) this is a short OVA about Will and Grell working together for the first time to collect the soul of an author who is then inspired by the two Reapers to write “The Story of Will the Reaper.” In that book, a Reaper named Will falls in love with a human who dies. He makes a deal with the God of the Underworld to trade his memories of their life together for her soul and disappears. The girl lives, and later has a child she named Will. The end.
Now, I don’t know about you, but there are several concepts here that sound pretty familiar. A Reaper disappearing after the woman he loved dies, despite his attempts to save her. Then there’s the whole trading memories for souls business. That’s literally what Undertaker does with his Bizarre Dolls! He gives them false memories in place of their souls and reanimated them.
Before anyone points it out, I know Season 2 isn’t canon (and thank God for that), but that doesn’t mean the concepts used can’t BECOME canon. After all, Undertaker’s Shinigami reveal in Season 1 wasn’t canon for years! Besides, Yana has been laying down breadcrumbs in her work since the Circus Arc, which was before Season 2 was even a concept. It’s entirely possible that she used the OVAs to leave clues for future reveals, and lay the groundwork for fans to figure it out.
So, in conclusion, I think Undertaker is Vincent’s father, and left the Reaper office to work on a way to make his family basically immortal after he lost Claudia. This explains his sadness over Vincent’s death, why he reanimated Real Ciel, and why he’s so protective of Our Ciel. (Remember, he’s considered killing Sebastian multiple times.) This also explains why, even though Our Ciel is in his way, Undertaker never made a serious move to harm or incapacitate him. (Note: SERIOUS. He always knew Sebastian would keep him safe.)
The reason I wanted to put this out there is because in the newest chapter, Yana gave us this outright challenge.
She literally dares us to theorize about the connection, and I accept!!!!! I’m throwing all my cards on the table, and I hope everyone can see the thought I put into this!
Even Sebastian seems like he had a pretty good idea, before Real Ciel (who I would argue is more like Clone of Real Ciel than actually Real) shuts him up.
That said, I also think this page shows that Undertaker’s past with the Phantomhives is going to be revealed sooner rather than later, so I wanted to get this posted before then.
So, I hope I’ve convinced you to at the very least go back and see if this theory makes sense. And, if you find any additional evidence, I’d love to know about it!
Side note: It’s pretty clear that Real Clone Ciel killed Agni (possibly with either Undertaker’s or the other Stars’ help) and I will never forgive him for that. That little abomination was a brat in the flashbacks and a brat now. I’ll take Our Ciel any day!!!
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