#chapter 125 analysis

[thedarkestcrow]

Ch 125: Scenery Details

I love the details Yana is paying attention to when drawing each chapter. Just look at the accuracy of the scenery of Bath, the town Ciel is visiting in order to find Bravat and Lizzy:

There’s the bath,...

...the abbey...

...and the bridge:

[thedarkestcrow]

Ch 125: The Blue Sect’s Age and New Questions?

In the latest chapter we’ve gotten some possible information on how long the sect might have already been operating which raises more questions.

We now know that the main sponsors of the cult were all suffering from renal failure and that they were all supposed to die sooner because of that illness. But since Bravat performed a blood dialysis on them their dates of death were delayed and they lived longer than they should have according to the original to-die list. 

Othello is showing Ciel the original time of death for one of the old guys which is March 27th, 1888.

So that means that Bravat must have started to replace the old guys’ blood before that date at the latest and therefore he must have been collecting blood for that purpose for at least one and a half years. The beginning of his activities must have started even earlier or at least around the time when when the story of the manga begins.

However, the popularity of the cult has only recently begun to get greater and the P4/S4 only joined the cult after they’ve been expelled from Weston, so after June in 1889 (more than one year after the latest possible beginning of Bravat’s work). The purpose of the Blue Cult is to attract visitors in order to get their blood. But if the cult has only recently gained attention, where has Bravat gotten the needed blood from before that?

Bravat even said to the sponsors that they’ve only ever gotten the leftovers. So it seems like his true purpose was to get blood for the Lords of the Stars all that time, meaning that the Lords must have existed already when Bravat started with the dialysis of the old guys’ blood (i.e. March, 1888 at the latest). 

So somehow Bravat must have had access to a blood source even before the cult was created or at least before the cult became popular. And something must have changed for him to make new plans on getting so many visitors to draw blood from. What could it be?

Possibility 1: He suddenly needed a lot more blood.

If he only had limited access to blood before and suddenly needed a lot more, this would explain why he changed plans. His old blood source might have not been enough anymore. However, it’s not clear why Bravat would suddenly need more blood. If the Lords have already existed before (which is likely as I’ve said above) why would their blood demand increase all of a sudden? Unless something in their ‘treatment’ (or whatever the reason why they’re needing blood in the first place is) changed. There are already many theories about the Lords being Bizarre Dolls and we know that Undertaker’s methods of creating them have improved lately. So maybe one of these improvements for getting the perfect Bizarre Dolls requires a lot more blood than before which could explain a sudden increase in the demand for blood and therefore Bravat’s plans on creating a cult where he can draw blood from the visitors.

Possibility 2: His old blood source didn’t work anymore.

If the amount of blood Bravat needs for his purposes has stayed the same something must have happened to his earlier blood source so that he couldn’t have access to it anymore. In that regard it would really be interesting to know what his old blood source was because it now seems like he needs quite a huge amount of blood and you don’t just get your hands on so much fresh blood easily.

Again, since it’s likely that Undertaker is involved in this sect there might be a connection to him. Maybe Bravat obtained the blood from Undertaker before the cult became popular. As a mortician UT might have had access to blood, his connections to hospitals or even the Aurora Society and maybe the Osiris Company might have been helpful for that purpose, as well. But after the Campania arc this might have become more difficult and after the Weston arc Undertaker even left England for some time to visit France and Germany. So Bravat might have been left in charge at that time and was forced to search for a different way to get the blood needed for the Lords.

So, in summary, the cult or at least Bravat’s treatment of the old guys and therefore the Lords’ presence must have existed for much longer than the public is aware of the cult’s existence. And since the amount of visitors only recently increased Bravat must have had a different blood source before. But something must have happened that made it necessary for him to gain another or a different blood source (i.e. the visitors) now. So that raises the questions:

Where did Bravat get the blood from before the cult became popular?

Why did he suddenly need a new blood source?

Could this be connected to Undertaker?...

[thedarkestcrow]

The latest chapter was such a good and long one, but... I felt really sad about what happened between Ciel and Agni... but I think Ciel said those hurtful things just in hope to get them go away and so be out of any danger and bad situation... or at least that's what I like to think. What's your opinion on that? Do you think they will solve this?

Since all these messages are going in the same direction I’ll answer them together like this. ^^

Ciel really said some bad things in that scene. :/ I felt sad, as well. I really like Soma and how he does so much for Ciel and stays being his friend despite Ciel always trying to keep him at a distance. I had hoped for Ciel to acknowledge that at least a bit and maybe grow to appreciate people like Soma instead of always seeing others only as pawns. So I’m a bit disappointed that Ciel, yet again, says something like that:

It feels like every time I think he might get some character development and start to change Ciel is back to how he was from the start.

And as much as I would like that, I don’t think Ciel is just saying that in order to protect them. He acts like that each time he fears someone might get too close. And he might be lying to himself but before something like a friendship can develop he rather cuts ties with someone. The only people Ciel surrounds himself with are family members (like the Midfords since that’s expected of him) or people he considers useful. It kinda feels like he’s using that as an excuse in order not to be alone but at the same time whenever a relationship is getting too deep and could become a friendship Ciel rather ends it.

After what happened to him at the age of ten Ciel is having trust issues, I’m sure. He only seems to be relying on himself or on things like the contract with Sebastian because there are clear rules to their relationship. He only feels safe if he can control a situation. But feelings of love and friendship are things he can’t control. And that probably scares him. So he rather lives without that but keeps hurting others like that… :/

And I believe this plays a role in that particular scene with Agni. In addition, Ciel is quite stressed already because his plan of getting Lizzy back didn’t exactly work that well. And he’s on the verge of leaving when Agni holds him back. So Agni didn’t quite catch him in a good mood.

However, despite Ciel’s harsh words I don’t think Agni and Soma will leave just like that. Agni probably won’t tell Soma what Ciel said since he doesn’t want to hurt Soma. And I hope that someday Ciel will start letting other people in his life and accept and return their friendship. It would be good not only for people like Lizzy or Soma but also for Ciel himself. 

[thedarkestcrow]

Grell raised a huge death flag for ciel in ch 125 :(((

Ah, you mean because of Grell’s words at the end of the chapter...

I agree, it sounds a bit ominous to have a shinigami say that but that doesn’t necessarily means that Ciel will be the one to die. As a shinigami Grell usually also knows the cause of a death. So if, for example, Bravat is scheduled to die by the hands of a demon, Grell would assume that this demon is Sebastian. And if Grell is assigned to reap Bravat’s soul, Grell would already know that they will meet again soon.

Since Ciel is contracted to a demon he might even be excluded from the to-die list. If Sebastian devours his soul after the contract is completed there won’t be a souls left to reap for a shinigami. In such a case a shinigami might not even appear. That’s why I don’t think that Grell is referring to Ciel’s death here... at least not to the end of the contract. There’s still the possibility of Ciel dying of something other than Sebastian eating his soul. In that case a shinigami would probably appear. So there’s a chance that Grell means that. But I think it’s more likely that someone else will die while Ciel and Sebastian are present and that’s when they’ll meet Grell again. ;)

[thedarkestcrow]

What do you think will happen afterwards? :3:3:3:3

After this month’s chapter? I guess Ciel and Sebastian will bring Violet to a hospital and then go back to London to search for Bravat and Lizzy. However, I find it a bit weird that the new location of Bath was introduced in chapter 125 only for Ciel and Sebastian to leave it again so quickly. So maybe something unexpected will happen and they’ll stay in Bath, after all. As I’ve written in the earlier reply it’s possible that Ciel and Sebastian missed Bravat only by a few minutes or so when they discovered Violet and the old guys. So if Bravat is still in Bath they might encounter him there before they all try to go back to London.

I think what I would do in Ciel’s place is to wait for Violet to wake up again and ask him some questions about the cult. Violet definitely knows more about it than the other S4 and that might be more helpful than to search all of London for Bravat without a clue. He could give some information on Bravat and, maybe even more importantly, on the Lords, especially Lord Sirius. I don’t think that will happen, though. It probably would be more exciting to learn about Sirius’ identity by confronting him or her rather than through Violet’s words.

So I guess either there’ll be a confrontation with Bravat in Bath or Ciel will find him in London where he might also encounter Lizzy, the Lords and/or the true mastermind of the cult.

[thedarkestcrow]

Hi! Thank you for reopening your inbox! Your blog is great, I really admire you so much for answering everyone so nicely and accurately! I wanted to ask you something (I hope you didn't answer already, I didn't find it in Chapter 125 review, so...): is it a coincidence that all the old men died from blood loss, but Violet remained alive? As he's a Sirius type, Bravat wouldn't have forgotten to drain him from all his blood, would he? I find it a bit weird he survived...^^' (sorry for the English)

Hey! :) Thank you so much for your kind words, Anon! <3

And that’s a good question. I’ve been asking this myself, as well. Apparently, Bravat hasn’t taken all the blood from those guys or at least not from Violet (otherwise Violet would have died, too). But Bravat clearly didn’t care that they would die so why not take even the last drop of blood for the Lords? And why would Violet survive longer than the old guys when he has given his blood before many times and was already quite weak?

Maybe that second question can be explained by the fact that those other guys were already quite old and because of their illness they would have even died earlier if Bravat hadn’t changed their blood regularly. So now that Bravat has taken their blood they might have died faster than Violet who is young and relatively healthy. But that still doesn’t explain why Bravat didn’t just take all of Violet’s blood, as well, especially since he has the rare AB blood type for Sirius. Unless Bravat needed to get away quickly and rather took what blood he had before someone interrupted. That could mean that Ciel and Sebastian missed him by only a few moments. And since Othello and Grell only appeared after Ciel’s and Sebastian’s arrival that might really be the case. Usually the shinigami appear shortly before or after someone died so the scene where Bravat took the blood of the old guys might have happened right before Ciel and Sebastian came.

Or it’s just for plot convenience.