Our Ciel’s past and present self
Re-reading the Green Witch arc got me thinking about reasons why Our Ciel would take the name of his brother, especially since the arc dispelled a lot of common theories about the 2CT. Ones that I had believed, actually.
It seems it would not make sense to suggest OC simply wanted his brother’s inheritance.
Nor would he do it as an act of penance for his brother’s death, despite it being one he believed he could have prevented.
Though it cannot be ignored that OC saw his past self as inferior to the person he is today, I don’t necessarily believe OC despises his past self despite the weakness he saw in it.
So why would he take on his brother’s identity and leave his “weak self” behind if he hadn’t wanted to?
Maybe he did it to give him the strength to overcome the trauma he experienced. By taking on the mask of the person he believed to be strongest and gave him strength when he did not have it, he gained the power to seek revenge for himself - to avenge the self that was not strong enough to fight back, the “weak self” that is still lost.
Of course OC isn’t truly pretending to be his brother, he doesn’t exactly act like him from what we’ve seen, but considering we see many moments of weakness from OC... it appears he is always struggling to repress his true self with the mask of “Ciel Phantomhive”.
Below: the two sides of OC
Perhaps this could explain why he took his brother’s identity, I’ve never been fond of him being a jealous younger sibling idea as OC and RC appeared to have a healthy relationship.
Since RC has now returned, it would be interesting to see OC confront the person he really is and become more assured of his worth.
