seen from Latvia
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This concludes my Weston analysis
All the posts can be found in the #Weston Analysis tag. Of course, if there are any interesting aspects of the arc you think I glossed over, please drop me an ask!
Analyzing an older arc was so much fun! I'm going to have to do it again. Curry arc, anyone?
The only reasonable person in the whole Weston arc is Prince Soma Asman Kadar. (ch 70 pg 21)
In a school full of sleazeballs who only care about appearances, Soma is a shining example of someone with healthy priorities who actually cares about people and tries to resolve conflicts in reasonable ways.
When Ciel installs him to Red house to spy on Maurice Cole, does Soma spy on Maurice Cole? No, he tells Ciel he should talk to him, and he tells Maurice to talk to Ciel. You know, like a person who has actually resolved conflicts.
When the houses rush to the aid of purple house to help with the fire and Cheslock tells everyone to back off, does Soma back off? No, he tells off Cheslock for being an uncaring leader. You know, like a person who has actually led people.
When Sebastian threatens Soma into silence over Ciel bringing his servants to school, does Soma stay silent? YES, yes he does, because he's the one person who is actually scared of Sebastian. You know, like a human should be scared of a fucking demon.
I love that in a school full of noble Englishman trying to look virtuous and bring honor to Queen and country, the most virtuous and honorable person is a foreigner.
Sebastian sensing souls and the Bizarre Dolls at Weston
All right, that's enough about tradition and Weston rules for a while. Let's talk about the supernatural. (Hella spoilers for chs 67-84 again, with bonus spoilers for ch 60.)
Recall from chapter 60 that the Undertaker makes his first round of Bizarre Dolls by attaching artificial records to the end of corpses' cinematic records. Those Dolls seek out and destroy humans because they instinctively desire souls to complete themselves.
The Bizarre Dolls in the Weston arc are a little different. Undertaker creates these Dolls by attaching their own "episodes," their hopes and dreams for the future, to the ends of their cinematic records. (In the original Japanese, Sensei uses the kanji 素材 (sozai), which means "raw materials; subject matter." However, the kanji is accompanied by the pronunciation "e-pi-so-do," so take that as you will.)
Even with more genuine records, the Dolls of Derrick Arden and his friends attack humans when given the chance.
We've known for a while that Sebastian can detect souls at a distance, but it's not very clear how Sebastian's soul-sense reads the Bizarre Dolls. During the Campania arc, he never says he can't detect the Dolls. He just says, "It is a being I do not understand" (ch 52 pg 34).
Even so, I think it's interesting Sebastian never said anything to Ciel about soulless things at Weston before the midnight tea party.
Maybe he could sense all of the Dolls perfectly, knew exactly where they were right away, and didn't say anything because Ciel never asked. He's been known to pull that shit before.
But maybe the Dolls are completely invisible to his soul-sense. That would explain why he never found Derrick before his corpse waltzed into the tea party.
Whether or not he can detect the Bizarre Dolls without seeing them, he must have been keeping some suspicions from Ciel. There's this Vice Principal walking around, interacting with Sebastian, running the school, who’s been dead the whole time. Sebastian must have noticed something was unusual about his soul.
(ch 84 pg 13)
The Undertaker calls the VP Agares Doll his "masterpiece" (ch 84 pg 14). Not only is this Doll able to masquerade as a complete human, unlike the other Dolls, it never attacks humans to take their souls.
If the Agares Doll has such a near-perfect soul that it doesn't need to seek human souls to fill its void, that implies the corpse itself seems finds the episodes an acceptable soul substitute. Even the Doll seems to be aware that it is running on episodes (ch 82 pg 13):
When all is said and done, the Undertaker is getting scarily good at recreating something approximating a soul. I wonder whose soul he's hoping to recreate...
Ciel Networking at Weston
(Again, spoilers for ch 67-84.)
While I'm sure Weston has fine professors of academics and art, and I'm sure they have fine athletic coaches, families rich enough to afford Weston could probably teach their children these skills more efficiently with private tutors.
The point of attending Weston isn't to learn academics, art, or athletics. The point of attending Weston is to learn how to network and to build lifelong alliances with other leaders of the nation.
I've said before that the social status Weston students work so hard to build is only useful at the school. I should have been clearer. What I meant was that their status was only useful at school as long as the students are still attending school.
After students graduate, not only do they start becoming more powerful and interesting, but their friends start becoming more powerful and interesting. The investment in building social status pays off when your friends go off to run banks, lead government, and inherit noble estates.
Weston facilitates networking with traditions like the fag system and the June 4 tournament party. The party is particularly interesting because it gives the students a chance to meet their classmates' important family members, and it gives the families a chance to see which students have great potential (and a chance to arrange engagements, as we see the Redmond family try to do with Ciel [ch 75 pg 5]).
I really love the way that McMillan talks to Marquis Midford, when they bond over their shared Weston experience (ch 75 pg 13). McMillan has a lot to gain from that relationship; he's playing the networking game very well.
So how does Ciel handle networking at Weston?
While Vincent Phantomhive started his network at Weston with Diederich, and while Ciel did need to gain social status to solve the mystery for the queen, Ciel has two great reasons not to spend time building his own network there:
Ciel already inherited a network of useful adult allies from his father. The idea of networking with children must seem quaint to him, since he's already accustomed to working with adults at the top of their game.
Weston networks are only useful after the students grow up. Ciel knows he doesn't have time to grow up.
Ciel doesn't toss aside the letter and photo from McMillan because he dislikes McMillan. He tosses it aside because he knows he doesn't have time for an investment in that friendship to pay off. That garden is just too miniature for him at this point in his short, damned life.
I imagine Sebastian revels in that knowledge. I like to think he burns the photo (ch 84 pg 41) out of delight that Ciel knows there's no use in him making friends like normal children do. Sebastian works hard to make Ciel the king of a chessboard with no sympathy for his pawns. Ciel ignoring the letter is an example of having no sympathy for the pawns he took advantage of at Weston.
Ciel’s fake brothers
(ch 72 pg 5)
Considering they’re supposed to be “brothers” at school, Ciel enters into faghood with Clayton without really knowing him at all. His only qualifications are impressive housework and winning petty social skirmishes. Both of them are going into it for increased social status, and nothing more.
This whole fag relationship is pretty fake and superficial.
... hmm, fake brothers. Where have I heard that before?
(”That Butler, Nursing,” pg 20)
So here’s the interesting question: does Ciel need fake brothers?
On the one hand, he needs one badly enough at Weston that he kisses enough ass to become Clayton’s fag, in order to get close enough to the P4 to meet the principal.
But on the other hand, Ciel abandons all his school relationships the moment he has the chance. I think Ciel understands the whole time how fake the fag relationship is: not only are he and Clayton nowhere near as close as real brothers, but the relationship is also fake in the sense that it’s only important as long as they’re in the miniature garden of Weston.
Ciel abandons all his school friendships the moment he can, because he recognizes their real importance. He never really cared about them in the first place.
What changes Ciel’s strategy at Weston
I ended one of my previous posts about Weston Tradition by asking to what extent Ciel Phantomhive internalizes Weston Traditions. Does he succumb to the same brainwashing as the other students?
No, I don't think he does. He attacks his rivals without mercy, but he would have done that anyway. He is his father's son, after all.
What used to frustrate me about this arc was that Ciel really seems to play the school game by school rules. When he finds out only the P4 can meet with the principal, he decides he has to get close to the P4. When he finds out fags are close to the P4, he decides to become a fag. When he finds out a player from the tournament gets to go to the tea party, he decides to win the tournament.
This isn't the way Ciel would prefer to operate. If there's a person who has information he needs, he's accustomed to being able to confront that person. If there's a person who he needs to like him, he's accustomed to bribing that person. If there's a person in the way, he's accustomed to killing that person.
What messes up Ciel's usual approach isn't Weston Tradition, but rather the "miniature garden" aspect of the school. The power of Ciel's game opponents at Weston only extends as far as Weston. The principal is only the king of his little castle, but he is the untouchable king. Aside from the Red House, we don't know which students come from truly powerful families. Instead, students' social status comes from actions they've taken while at school, and their status is only useful while they're at school.
So, in order for Ciel to get close to the king of the school, he has to go through the people who are important at school, even if those people are not ultimately important in the real world. He has to gain status at school in order to use status at school.
Ciel still tries to play by his own rules, if you look hard enough. This is now my favorite frame of the story. This is Ciel trying to find a way into the tea party before he finds out one player will be invited:
"Maybe I should just have Clayton killed and take his place."
Now that's a chess player considering all his pieces.
They chain the doors shut at night?!
No wonder people were injured in such a small fire … (ch 81 pg 17)
Admit it, you snickered too. (chs 68, 80)
