That VaniGrey Person

Nacht is the oldest child of the, now fallen, House of Faust. He is 180 cm tall, built lean so probably is placed in the 65-75kg range. His eyes are ice blue, hair is naturally black but he bleached it in his youth, which created a more visible difference between him and his twin brother Morgen (along with clothes, personality, work/study style etc). His birthday is April 30th, and he likes “people who are right”, which could also mean he likes righteous people (as stated in this translation in his character profile). He’s also the Vice Captain of the Black Bulls (although absent for most of the series, as he’s spying in Spade).

(Chapter 285)

He is at the time of the manga events in pact with 4 devils, with whom he is able to form devil union. These devils are Gimodelo (dog), Plumede (cat), Walgner (rooster), and Slotos (donkey), which represent the Bremen animals. And Nacht himself is most likely modelled after the German legend of the erudite Faust. 

His magic affinity is Shadow magic.

Nacht is someone who is described (I read it as being told by the narrator), as someone who is selfish and a delinquent (above image from chapter 285). And Nacht himself admits that he never wanted to be a knight, that he couldn’t remember doing anything that wasn’t fun and “bad”, while Morgen was the polar opposite. When Nacht was out engaging in petty crime with Yami (or “petty enough to not get hauled in by the knights”), Morgen was someone who lived for others. 

But while Morgen was a model citizen, someone who was “light”, while Nacht was “shadow”, it was Nacht who was more like the House of Faust.

And Nacht excelled in his studies; he was a genius of the dark arts. Much to his dismay. 

But at the time of dwelling into the dark arts, he didn’t stop to consider the effects of his actions, which is why he was striving to “surpass his limits” (a quote he got from Yami I assume). I think Nacht is someone who used to think too much of his capabilities, because he had always “gotten away with it”. He had always just gotten a slap on the wrist (if even that), but no real consequences. Which is what he had aimed to do, since they had kept it “petty enough” with Yami. But now that it was just him, in his study, in a dungeon, dealing with threats and feigned authorities (because you can claim that a King of Devils is a kind/type of an authority), he didn’t have an idea of what he was getting into.

So, he decided to just test his limits without really knowing what they were. Because at this time, I don’t think he had made pacts with his 4 devils we see in canon. Nacht just decided to jump straight into the deep end and go head to head with the King of Devils. Meaning that he wanted to run before he could walk, or crawl, maybe even sit up. And the people around him let him, maybe out of greed, out of wanting to get fame of some kind. No other than Morgen stopped to think in this scenario. 

And I don’t think Nacht had a plan beyond doing the summoning really. Even if he had gotten a devil here, would he have known what to do with it? I don’t think he would have. He was just doing something for the sake of doing it, like the petty crime as a noble man. I can’t imagine that he was exactly short of money while growing up, so he was just doing it for the thrills. And similarly, he decided to summon a devil and challenge it just for the thrill of it. 

Which ended up costing him everything.

But this doesn’t mean that he would be without a moral compass, because as soon as he realises what he has done, he quite literally begs for any higher power to turn back time and make his mistakes undone. He admits to loving his brother, despite the tone of the story prior to this moment being somewhat annoyed or even angry at Morgen. And maybe there is some grief stricken anger in it. Like Nacht would be angry at Morgen for “always being the guy who does the right thing, which is what got him killed”. Basically Nacht is indirectly blaming Morgen for dying in his stead, because Morgen “hadn’t done anything wrong”. And I think this tells that Nacht, too, does have a rather strong sense of responsibility. BUT. It’s not a sense of responsibility towards authority figures. 

Nacht is praying for an unseen deity to save them, but I think it’s his inner monologue that kicks in and it’s him himself ridiculing him. Because he knows that this is the doing of no one but him (granted his parents could have maybe slowed him down, but they also wanted a Supreme Devil in the family, so why not let Nacht do what he’s able to do; I don’t think they knew much better than Nacht tbh). However, Nacht does believe in people being held responsible for what they did (if they’re caught). This is why he never tried to do any larger crimes. Because he wouldn’t throw someone else under the buss to pay for his crimes. So, if someone was to be held accountable for his actions, it should be him. But it doesn’t mean that he wanted to get caught, so he wouldn’t walk up to a knight and admit his wrongdoings either. He won’t go looking for consequences, but he would weather the punishment if it came to him. Because his crimes are his and his alone. 

And the rest of the series is him trying to atone for his “crimes”. But no one in the mortal world can really hold him accountable, which is why he’s left in the grief stricken state where he doesn’t care if he dies while atoning for his actions. But I also do think that Nacht, secretly, also wishes to die while saving someone else, much like Morgen did, and maybe by doing this he could finally pay for his actions. 

Eye for an eye. But eye for an eye where it matters. 

Nacht’s devils:

Gimodelo

(Canis; aka “dog”)

(Canis x Equus)

(Canis x Felis x Gallus)

Plumede

(Felis; aka “cat”)

and (Canis x Felis)

Walgner

(Gallus, aka “rooster”)

Slotos

(Equus, aka “horse”)

(All 4; Canis x Felis x Gallus x Equus)

I think that Gimodelo (aka the dog devil) being Nacht’s “primary devil” symbolises how Nacht is much more loyal than he wants to appear. It’s all other parts of him that follow. The sneaky and the cunning, the guarded, and the ready to “peck” you with sharp words, these all come second to his loyalty. (But my personal favourite union form is “Canis x Felis x Gallus”)

His name:

Nacht’s first name is the German word for “night”, which is used to further emphasise his characterisation being on the darker and gloomier side. But considering how it’s not exactly like “darkness”, it’s more aligned with “shadow magic” than “dark magic” (there is also a distinction here between Nacht and Yami). Because night has the moon, the stars, some form of light. In the north summer nights are as bright as days due to the “nightless night”. So “night” isn’t synonymous to “darkness”. There is light in the darkness as well, which I feel goes well with his character, since Nacht, despite his blunt and cold exterior, has a personality who cares very deeply within. And I suppose you could also argue that while he appears cold and distant on the surface, he also has a smile plastered on his face, so the smile can also be a source of metaphorical light on his face. 

Also I’ve noticed how people tend to pronounce his name “n-ak-t” instead of “n-ah-t”, thus accidentally, in a way, giving him the nickname of “naked” (because “nackt” means “naked” in German). Which is antithetical to his reserved, cloaked self, but in a way understanding someone guarded, there is, I think, a more prominent idea of metaphorically undressing a character to really get to the core of who they are. So who is Nacht at his bare core? Behind the feigned-not-exactly-happy-smile and a look of indifference, blunt remarks, and superficial coldness he wears as a shield? His fans want to get past the shield and see him for who he is. 

Getting back to Nacht’s name. His last name “Faust”, appears to be derived from Latin “faustus”, meaning “lucky” or “of good fortune”, which… looking at what happens to the House of Faust (and Nacht), is anything but lucky. So there is an antithesis in his name, which I feel is more accidental from Tabata’s part, since I do think he took a lot of inspiration from the legend of Faust, in which the antithesis already exists. 

Symbolism/role in the story:

I think that Nacht’s role in the story is about a lot of the grief that we don’t see being displayed. Because there are a lot of knights, soldiers, who we don’t see being grieved I’m sure. Because while the story is meant to be a story about heroism and friendship, I’m sure there are deaths along the way in the kingdom. We just don’t see them. And sometimes, while there isn’t obvious death, there is grief that people don’t want to show. 

But also I think that while Nacht views himself as a kind of a “darkness” or “evil” or “bad”, he’s not. He and Morgen aren’t opposites. Which is even implied in canon when the comparison between “dark and light” is being given to Morgen and Yami, not Morgen and Nacht. 

There is good in Nacht (there’s also good in Yami; Yami’s a really good guy, but speaking from Nacht’s pov and how he sees himself as “bad”), and while he might think of himself as being completely opposite from Morgen, there are some traits they share. For example the loyalty, sense of responsibility. But they just show themselves in different ways in Nacht. For example, Morgen wouldn’t do petty crime, but Nacht wouldn’t have someone else get the blame for his petty crime. There is “good” in both personalities. 

However, this isn’t how Nacht sees it. 

He didn’t think that he was good enough to stand by Morgen. 

I think Nacht thinks that someone who is good, never gets tempted to do something bad. And while I do think that “good” people might not get tempted to do some “bad” things (like they might not get a temptation to steal that nice bag from a store), they do get temptations to do some things in their life. However, what determines the goodness and badness here is what they choose to do in those moments of temptation. What they choose to make of themselves. 

And by extension of that, I do think that Nacht really is good. 

And of course Nacht is a mentor to Asta, helps him get acquainted with Liebe. Nacht has a concrete role in Asta’s journey through this. And in the outcome of the battle. 

But also there is the theme of “light” and “shadow” in a way of “light isn’t always good, and shadow isn’t always bad” through Lucius’ twisted world view. 

However, I think that Nacht’s role is also about self-forgiveness. That while there should be consequences, there should also be life after the consequences. Nacht, in my opinion, isn’t a bad person. But he has done bad things.

Still, him wallowing in his grief, and searching for the most “deserving way to die” as a way of “atoning for his sins”, isn’t going to do as much good as he could do by helping the people around him. As in, if Nacht hadn’t come back, who would have taught Asta? 

Nacht after the series:

I think Nacht will continue to be responsible and loyal, and it’s already shown that he will continue as the Captain of the Black Bulls. And despite the stress and needing to deal with the rowdy Bulls, I think he is happier. I think he’s daring to be happier. Allow himself to be happy. 

But it’s still going to be an uphill battle for him to get in touch with his feelings. And he’s still going to keep his heart close to his chest. However, I think he’ll find himself a home again, since the House of Faust is no more. The ruins exist, but not the House with its people.