question about something ive always wondered about the escape and i thought youd be the best person to ask
did ray cut his ear off during the escape like emma did?
because iirc its said/implied that he used the tracker deactivate device/emma used it on him, but if thats the case how are they able to place his tracker alongside the shirt, hair and meat to fool mama into thinking hes in the fire??
Borrowing a bit from this post, but they do keep it under wraps (literally) for the entirety of the Promised Forest arc
(Chapter 59)
But Ray's the only one who had his tracker cut out from his ear. Emma cut her entire left ear off, and the other thirteen escapees used Ray's deactivator.
(Chapter 34)
This had to be carefully coordinated and done at the exact time the fire was happening because Isabella is notified when trackers are damaged or deactivated, as seen in "The First Shot" bonus chapter where Ray damages his to test his theories about the house.
While we're giving conflicting accounts of this meeting in chapters 28 and 37 that were written years earlier in the manga's run, I think it's safe to assume some amalgam of what we're shown in Isabella's flashback of chapter 37 and what's shown here is what actually happened on January 15, 2040, because damaging the trackers and causing an alert to go out is corroborated by what Krone tells the children in chapter 20.
So Ray put together what was happening at the house, decides to confront Isabella about it while also testing to see what happens when he damages his tracker, and his hypothesis is proven correct in that Isabella came running to find him within a few minutes of his experiment.
(Norman's letter from the live action movie)
Norman stresses they have to outwit Isabella in his letter to Emma, which means somehow physically removing the working, intact trackers from Ray's and Emma's ears to serve as distractions/keep her attention on them while the other escapees are deactivating theirs with the deactivator since it can't be in two locations at once.
(S1 Episode 11 | Chapter 34)
(Chapter 33)
Ray’s tracking device is shown to work outside the body if removed fully intact (along with being able to work within open flames), so it’s not as if Emma couldn’t have removed hers and kept it on her person until Isabella took the bait of putting out the fire. I’m assuming the plan was to have Emma remove Ray’s with the scalpel from the infirmary, and then have him or Thoma and Lanni do the same for hers (or whoever ended up being there).
However, no one accounted for how emotionally distraught Ray would be over using their siblings to facilitate the escape and fully believing his death was the only way to atone for it.
(Chapter 34)
He admitted to what he did prior to this.
(Chapter 15)
But it was in a very detached manner with no emotion assigned to it, so they had no idea about the depth of his guilt and self-loathing.
So when the time comes for him to remove it, he’s disoriented from not only inhaling lighter fluid fumes, but also having his entire plan modified without being aware of it, Thoma and Lannion and apparently all of their other siblings knowing about it and having the mental fortitude to cope and prepare for the escape, and wrestling with the feeling deep in his gut that he should be dead by now because that’s the only way he makes everything right.
(Chapter 33)
It’s important to note that Emma’s scream is what brings Isabella to the dining hall sooner rather than later. (In the anime, she’s marking off the calendar, but we can assume she would have gone patrolling eventually.)
Theoretically, she could have waited a minute or two more. Isabella would have probably checked their rooms first, and even if the kids made a fake bundle of pillows and blankets to mimic Emma’s sleeping form, Ray’s would still be empty, so she’d run off to find him.
But Emma decides in that moment Ray is too distraught to successfully slice out her tracker for her (and I guess she doesn’t trust Thoma or Lanni either despite both of them being adept at making the rockets to launch across the cliffs </3), so she tells the boys to take Ray to where everyone is supposed to meet up and that she’ll handle her own device.
(Chapter 34)
And based on the top right panel not being surround by black for a flashback, they had enough time to quickly bandage Ray’s ear, too, as opposed to Anna doing it when they meet up with her. If they had known what Emma was about to do, I don't think any of the boys present would have gone along with this.
It's why Ray apologizes to Emma later that morning in chapter 38, saying she wouldn't have lost her ear if it wasn't for him, but she had already accepted the consequences of her actions and moved on when she made the decision hours ago, never considering holding it against him.
It's also why Gilda yells at Emma in chapter 48 and why Norman is surprised during their reunion in chapter 119 because nowhere in his plan did he tell her to cut off her entire ear. I can't imagine him ever even conceiving the idea of putting her in the position where she would have to harm herself in such a manner, but the girl lives to surprise people.
(Mystic Code Book Chapter 1 Character Profiles | Chapter 99)
You already highlighted her cutting her hair in order to add further authenticity to the fake corpse the kids burn for the escape.
There's a lot of significance placed upon maintaining long hair in a number of cultures, including Japan, which is why even though Shirai purposefully chose to base the series in a Western setting, the influence of Japanese culture contributes to the story pausing and reflecting on the weight of that act twice.
(Mystic Code Book Chapter 1 | "Why Is It Such A Big Deal When Anime Characters Cut Their Hair?" by Justin Sevakis | "Of hair and hairdressers in historic Japan" by Debra Daley | Chapter 34 | Chapter 38)
Her other big moment comes roughly a hundred chapters after being given small earlier nods: going with Emma, Ray, and Hayato to retrieve the medicine for Chris. Similar to giving up her braids, she steps up to save her younger brother without a second thought.
(Chapter 50 | Chapter 59 | Chapter 116)
Lucas, Sandy, and Zack all recognized her prowess in the field of medicine (and she's so adorably embarrassed by all the praise with the full covering of her eyes and blush. |3) and with the other three kids watching her back at the farm, they fully believed she was capable of bringing back the correct medicine that would save Chris' life.
While one's childhood aspirations and inclinations don't necessarily last into adulthood (we see Sandy opt for something related to entertainment in the human world after being one of the Goldy Pond Resistance's medics for years), I headcanon that she continued on this path to become a doctor with the talent she has for it.
(Other in-universe post-canon memes here)
Another thing I love are the little scenes where Anna and Nat are included in that older group of escapees to plan their next moves that will simultaneous get them closer to achieving their ultimate goal of reaching the human world while keeping their younger siblings safe and as worry-free as possible. It's another testament to their emotional maturity, mental fortitude, and how much they care about their family.
(Chapter 48 | Chapter 56)
People also tend to focus on Ray and Jemima's bond for understandable reasons, but it's super sweet how often Jemima gravitates toward her older sister. She's probably been there to comfort her since Jemima was first assigned to the same bedroom as her at Grace Field once she aged out of Isabella's room.
Krone: When doing laundry, different types of personalities come out…I wonder how [Norman] dries clothes…ah~ so gentle, he dries the clothes very neatly~ The style of drying, the spacing between the clothes, it looks beautiful! This way, the wind flows into clothes properly, and the sunlight is shared uniformly. An efficient way of drying clothes. Good job!
Gilda: Norman's way of doing laundry is also perfect.
Don: A genius is a is a genius no matter what he does, huh?
Norman: It's nothing like that! I just like doing laundry. The snowy white clothes being blown by the breeze is a sight I really love. That's why I try to be gentle when hanging the laundry.
(TPN Sound Drama - Sister Krone's Welcome to Grace Field House)
(Chapter 19 | Chapter 34)
I love the choice to have this conversation while they're carrying out their daily chores for the practical pretense of keeping up appearances for Isabella and their younger siblings, but with the sound drama in mind, it's also a way for Norman to occupy his hands and recenter himself, something he probably took a bit of extra solace in every day during those three weeks.
(S1 Episode 6 | S1 Episode 11)
Yet again a tradeoff of losing Demizu's little details for being able to see that billowing come to life onscreen with the close-ups on them to compensate for a single dramatic wideshot, along with the pragmatic purpose of more bluntly foreshadowing the importance of the hangers in the escape and Norman openly musing to himself about Ray's true intentions, but in keeping with the choice to axe the inner monologues, I think it works well.
I currently have three ideas that I feel are within the realm of my current writing capabilities for a one- or two-shot:
• Don and Gilda sharing a moment with each member of the full score trio pre-Cuvitidala timeskip. I'm still not a hundred percent sure what their moment with Norman would be, but for Emma it would be going over Norman's letter and finalizing their escape plan (with them asking is it really okay to leave Ray on his own until January), and for Ray it would be him approaching them after he returns from Goldy Pond but before Emma wakes up from her coma to apologize for not being all there after Norman was shipped out and to thank them for being there for their family when he couldn't be.
• Memory Keeper Ray AU set during the search for the Seven Walls.
• Mostly canon-compliant, Cuvitidala-era one/two-shot where Ray pushes Emma out of the way of a demon ambush (which may or may not have been necessary) during one of the times where they’re on the way back to the bunker that winds up with him getting sick. While not a repeat of "The Day Emma Cried" story from the first light novel since Ray isn't fatally ill like they believed Norman was that summer, she can't help but notice the similarities in the situation as she goes off to find a solution to help speed up his recovery. Meanwhile, Ray's fevered dreams drift to his mother and eventually the missing member of their trio.
This story was born from the desire of wanting RE to discuss Emma's dream from chapter 93 and as part of a set-up for endgame REN that leaves them off at a reasonable place for where I see them on that front: Emma always unconsciously gravitating and finding solace with the boys but not understanding the totality of those feelings (because Emma loves all of her family dearly; it's an immutable truth of the universe. So what makes them different) so there's some secrets unwittingly being kept on her side of things.
Ray, in contrast, accepted that he loved Emma and Norman long ago, back when he first locked up his heart in order to maintain the mental fortitude needed to carry out his escape plan. While he also doesn't comprehend the full magnitude of those feelings (though this is a very poignant declaration),
he can consciously put a name to them, but he's intentionally holding back for a variety of reasons on this front (not wanting it to seem like there's an expectation of reciprocity, still dealing with the grief of Norman's apparent death, but the big one being they're still trying to find a way out of the demon world) and wrestling with the idea of revealing his connection to Isabella, what that connection says about him given the choices he's made, and potentially hearing someone else say things he's been telling himself for years.
