#bard burgh?

[abybweisse]

Ch172, Previews in old sketches

I feel like anything and everything Yana-san sketches for Kuro is likely to end up in the series somehow. Unless it’s a crossover, of course. Like....

Ok, so this is a more modern Bard on the left, but it’s not too far off, since she’s recently put him into a suit.

And this looks a lot like Ronald acting as Dr. Knox. Just a physician’s coat instead of a suit jacket. She even used the left eye wink in each of these.

[abybweisse]

Is bard gonna die? :(

I’m not sure, but Yana-san seems to be setting things up for that to happen, considering what Ronald says to Bard.

Is Ronald saying Bard is definitely about to die... or is he saying he is slated to die but might live anyway?

If he survives, it will just be a matter of how. Who or what saves him?

If he does die...? Wow, Yana-san. Ouch 😓

Oh and this is a continuation of this.

[abybweisse]

Ch172 peeks

1. Poor Bard!

2. Uh... is THIS the so-called “Miracle Nurse”?

[abybweisse]

Possible backstory for Bard, Part 3

⚠️ Long post.

⚠️ Some slightly graphic images (from the manga) and descriptions of warfare and death.

😅 There is a TL/DR at the end of this post for all three parts.

Here’s Part 1.

Here’s Part 2.

Bard’s uniform, hat, and other recruitment memory details

Bard mentions trenches (weird for the Apache Wars), but he also mentions Apache arrows. And poisonous snakes in Arizona. He might be mixing his various war experiences into his faked PTSD episode (the trenches might have been from a previous experience). But he must mean Terry was bitten in Arizona, during the Apache Wars, since he had much earlier told Snake he’d had a bad experience with snakes in Arizona.

The odd idea of a trench in the Apache Wars is one major detail that Yana-San seems to have overlooked. Or she has simply changed it on purpose, which is possible. I mean, it works really well for Bard’s “outbursts” to include the horror of hunkering down in trenches. And that detail could actually have come from previous experience, say during the Civil War. He just wanted to display classic symptoms of PTSD, so it doesn’t really matter if everything happened during the same battle or even the same war.

He meets Sebastian any time between later 1887 and early 1888, after Mey-Rin joins the Phantomhive household (She joined sometime in 1887) but before Chlaus’s visit in spring or summer of 1888. I’m basing the timing of Chlaus’s visit off the weather being warm enough for lemonade to be a good idea, the garden needing to be weeded, the roses already starting to have spent blooms, and Sebastian deciding to set up dinner outside in the garden.

So, here’s the scene where Bard is recruited by Sebastian.

There’s a LOT going on here.

From the spurs on their boots and the Hardee hat with the crossed swords ⚔️ on it, they are US Calvary. Like I said before, this might be the 4th US Calvary, which was one of the most decorated calvaries in US history. There would normally be a number just above where the swords cross, but this has been omitted... or there wasn’t enough room to show it. Yana-san can have them be from the “US Calvary”, in general, if she so chooses.

Bard is probably a high-ranking officer, but the rank itself is not clear. The three stars on his shoulders are for a lieutenant general.

The single stars on his coat lapels don’t make sense with the three on his shoulders, so 🤷🏻‍♀️. It’s not how you would designate a four star general. The leaf pin on his ascot is probably an oak leaf, which can mean a lieutenant colonel (silver) or an army major (gold).

I think it might be that Yana-san kept seeing “lieutenant” and got confused about the fact there are different rankings that include “lieutenant” in the name. And the star on the lapels probably just looked nice and gives the impression that he’s ranked pretty high.

Then we have this odd detail that I’m not sure anyone has mentioned before: his fallen comrade is only wearing one boot, while the unbooted foot (and leg) are mostly covered by a text bubble.

This dude was probably Terry, and that text bubble is probably covering up a swollen foot and/or leg with a gnarly snake bite wound.

The rest of the people there seem to be dead or dying. One guy looks like he might have even been partly scalped. It could also be a gunshot wound.

I looked it up, and turns out that even though the Apaches were not traditionally scalpers, they did sometimes resort to it. What’s worse is that various campaigns in the US involved rewards for the scalps of Native Americans. Some people tried so hard to make a buck this way that they would scalp Mexicans, too, and try to pass off their hair as that of a native. The tradition in Europe was to behead your enemy and bring back the entire head, but they were killing natives in such vast numbers that they switched to scalping because it was easier to carry back home to claim bigger rewards. A lot of them didn’t even kill their enemies first. They just removed part of the scalp and left them there. Yikes! Some US authorities created rules regarding how much scalp you had to cut off. The Native American tribes who engaged in this practice didn’t have the same monatary motivation, so they killed the enemy, took what they got and usually stretched it out over a hoop for decoration. If that guy in the upper right hand corner was scalped, then it was probably just a relatively small section removed, and this is likely not how he died.

Either he really is the last survivor of his troop, or they did sustain heavy casualties, though not everyone else is dead... but Terry might be the last one that Bard considered a “friend”. Then Sebastian shows up with a deal that Bard couldn’t possibly refuse. Since Sebastian can’t transport Bard to England too quickly without giving away the secret of his demonic nature, either Bard was given the money and information needed to make his own way to London (where Sebastian would take him to Phantomhive Manor), or Sebastian actually travelled the slow way, with Bard, all the way back. Makes me wonder whether our earl is also there to recruit him.

TL/DR:

Bard might have previously fought in the Civil War, when he was a teenager, and he might not originally be from Arizona. The Civil War might be where/when he first learned to make explosives.

By the time Sebastian finds him, Bard was an officer in the US Calvary: either the 4th US Calvary or some equivalent to that in the Kuroverse. The Hardee hat with the crossed swords means US Calvary, but there’s no number on this one. Because of his ranking as an officer, this is probably his hat. And that troop was probably his.

His real ranking is hard to determine because Yana-san has given him insignia that clash, but he could be (in the Kuroverse) simply a “lieutenant” of some kind, like lieutenant colonel. Honestly, Yana-san can give him any rank she wants to, since the ranking system doesn’t have to be the same in the Kuroverse.

Bard could be partly named and modeled after W. B. Royall, colonel of the 4th US Calvary from Nov. 1882 to Oct. 1887, when he retired. W. B. Royall —> B Roy —> Bardroy/Baldroy?

Bard wasn’t personally using the Gatling guns (Gatling, 1865) that were used during the later Apache Wars, since he was on horseback most of the time.

Bard would have had the use of small firearms, a sword, and various small explosives available at the time, like grenades (inventors: Adams, Ketchum, and GW Rains), land mines (GJ Rains), and dynamite (Nobel). All of those explosives were inventions of the 1860’s, too.

That far out west, and fighting enemies with way less advanced weapons, Bard and his comrades were relying on weapons technology a good twenty years old.

Trench warfare wasn’t really used in the Apache Wars because the US was the one with the more advanced weapons (and was largely on the offense), and the (mostly) defensive Apaches generally didn’t dig trenches as a war tactic. So, either Bard is jumbling various war experiences together for the grand effect of it, or Yana-san has decided to add trenches to the Apache Wars.

Sebastian finds Bard in Arizona during one of the Apache Wars. Should be one of the altercations after Geronimo was captured in 1886, but Yana-san might fudge the timeline in order to bring Geronimo into the story, since he’s so famous.

Terry was bitten by a snake in Arizona, even if that’s not really where the trenches were. And that’s probably when Sebastian found Bard, too. It best matches the timeline for the war, the uniforms, the location... and even the fallen comrade with one shoe removed and his leg hidden by a text bubble.

Bonus: Bard meets Hiram Maxim, originally a fellow American, probably after relocating to England. Maxim spent much time in England but made trips back to the US and would take various weapons and other inventions to England. The machine gun Bard uses in the circus arc is a Maxim original, invented ~1885. Even though it should have existed when Bard was fighting the Apaches, he wouldn’t have had access so far West to something this new made back East.

Edit: There is also now a Part 4/Update. And a Part 5/Addendum.

[abybweisse]

Ch172, Don’t take away my physician!

Someone has been sending me spoiler images, and they say this scene is an act: Ronald says “I’m your doctor now, so this other fellow (Lau) can leave.”

And Bard goes into a fake (?) PTSD episode, saying that his personal physician needs to stay, for his stability’s sake.

The order of the panels/pages might not be quite right, but Bard tells them to “wait” or “hold on”, and he apparently “attacks” Ronald.

If this is an act, it’s a very convincing one.

Also, the pace of this assignment might go a bit faster, even if it’s covering the same amount of time. Don’t quote me on that, though. We could be in for a long flashback. Probably.

[abybweisse]

❓Do u think Bard's flashback will be as long as Mey-Rin's? (I rlly dont wanna wait so long, the plot needs to mooove)

❓ for a general Kuro question

It could be, but it’s so hard to tell from ch175.

Mey-Rin’s flashback starts with Jane offering her a job beyond maid service. It was so much like Sebastian’s offer nearly 3yrs ago. But then the following chapter goes back another ten years, back to when she was a street urchin who stole items to buy food. We learn how she gets caught, loses her childhood friends, and gets forced to work for Qīng Bāng. Then forward ten years to when she is told to assassinate our earl. We return to Sebastian’s offer of employment, but then it keeps going to show how her life has changed, and the flashback doesn’t end until we get back to Chlaus’ visit in ch1.

In Bard’s case, the flashback is triggered by hearing Ada speak of her struggles (injured, overwhelmed, etc.) as a medic on a battlefield. I haven’t seen a translation yet, so that’s about all I can gather from the images. He’s thrown back to 1887 first, just like Mey-Rin, since both of them were hired that year (he was later than her but still before Halloween that year). He’s apparently the last survivor of his troop, and it looks like he’s contemplating cannibalism, since he’s out of food and ammo (might be too dangerous to hunt out in the open anyway, with enemies still lurking). Sebastian shows up with the tea, and that’s it for ch175.

At first, I thought we would be done way faster, since the flashback didn’t start with his offer but we got to the offer by the end of the chapter. Then I recalled how it was done for Mey-Rin. Plus, he’s older than her, so he has a lot that could be covered, even if there’s a bunch of skipping around.

I wouldn’t be surprised if ch176 cuts away from Sebastian’s offer and jumps back ten, even 20-something years. If he was in the Civil War, we really could go back to the mid-1860’s and see late-teen Bard fighting for either the Union or the Confederacy. That’s likely where he would have first learned to make and use explosives. It’s also where he would possibly have had early experience with trench warfare. Then we might skip all the way forward to the Apache Wars, or whatever Kuroverse equivalent he’s involved in, in 1887. Sebastian’s offer, and then probably something about him adjusting to life at Phantomhive Manor. It might even end with Chlaus’ arrival, just like Mey-Rin’s flashback.

Things I hope to learn from his flashback:

His actual name, or at least a nickname he used before joining the Phantomhive household

How he ended up in the military, like whether he signed up or was drafted

Did he lose his parents, like Mey-Rin did, or did he run away from them?

Did he leave another family behind, like a wife and kids?

How he learned about explosives

What he thinks about the individuals at Phantomhive Manor, particularly Mey-Rin....

All the other little tidbits

I have a feeling we will get several chapters of flashback on him. A lot of it depends on how much detail goes into each snippet we see of his life... and how far back she wants to go with his backstory.

I miss the long chapters; we used to cover so much story with those....

[abybweisse]

Because it’s the chapter that was published during the month of Bernie’s Mittens. And I’m evil.

[abybweisse]

Ch173, Conny and Sudan

Since he’s so young, Conny probably means the Mahdist War, 1881-1899.

The British didn’t enter the conflict right away, and it’s still going on in 1889, so Conny probably wasn’t even there very long, quickly lost a leg, and just recently came back from Sudan.

Note: Ch175 has Ada mentioning Africa, so she might have been a medic in that war.