Claudia Phantomhive Theory - 2 ciels confirmation and final chapter speculation - part 2 **SPOILERS**
So our ciel is a girl?
Most likely.
Here's why I think so:
The only logical reason a person as logical as Ciel Phantomhive would do something as illogical as impersonate her brother at all would be to get the earldom -because it was necessary. The land and title would have all gone to Edward if she didn't. And let's be honest while Edward is a Midford, he's not guard dog material. He isn't Lizzy. Or Frances. Once you accept this, everything else kind of falls into place.
She's not a spare because she's a sickly twin who the family treats badly. She's a spare because she's a girl. Society treats her as a spare person. If anything happened to her brother, she could continue the family lineage by getting married. Simple as that. It's just a sort of double entendre. This is paralleled with Vincent and Frances's relationship. Frances is significantly more adept and probably would've made a better guard dog than easygoing Vincent. But it doesn't matter. She's a woman in Victorian England. She gets married off to Alexis.
Then when we start thinking about Yana Toboso's writing style and the way she weaves others parallels between different characters it becomes even more apparent. For example: during the circus arc, Our Ciel gets paired with Freckles/Doll, a girl dressed up as a boy who seems to relate very well to her. Then there's Lizzy's story during the Campania arc about how girls can't be strong because they're expected to be soft and sweet (note that she was taught this by Angelina/madam red and not her mother who had her in fencing lessons). This is in direct contrast to our ciel who has been practically running both England's underground and a lucrative company for the last 3 years. When lizzie explained that she didn't wear heels at all because she didn't want to be taller than ciel, it shows ciel wearing heels to make himself appear taller (like an adult/like his brother who would be Lizzy's height) but the truth is hiding in plain sight. Why would ciel have even thought to wear heels in the first place and where would he have found a pair to fit his small girl feet? Girls her age wear heels. Now this is more metaphorical but it's yet another double entendre.
And When ciel is with Doll and they go to the showers, our ciel is afraid of removing her clothes. We think it's because she doesn't want anyone to see the brand on her side but it could also be they're in an outdoor area full of men. As well as why real ciel says he doesnt want a "fake brother." He knows thats his sister, not that she's somehow betraying him and not to be trusted. Those are the kind of double entendres Yana likes to use throughout the story. She has PhD in gaslighting her fanbase.
Our ciel is always said to be smaller and thinner and daintier than literally everyone in the series. Even Elizabeth and Doll, even though they're about the same age. They're always putting this poor child in dresses and commenting on how pretty she looks. This isn't just a gag. Even the corset scene fits a bit more in this context. Even the dressmaker is a direct reference. Why would a young man have a female modiste instead of a tailor or haberdasher?
And then why is our Ciel always played by girls in every single rendition of the series. In the audio dramas, the stage plays, and the live action movie as well as every single dub. It's really really painfully obvious when you look back at everything.
"Ok but this doesn't make any sense. We've seen him shirtless."
No actually we haven't. Every time Our ciel is shown in the bath (and it's really only happened once or twice) we've only ever seen her from the armpit line up or the knees down if you think about it or fully covered in a fluffy towel. Why would a boy be fully covered ? Any other time we can't really see her at all. The only time we do see something is in the anime when s/he stands up in the bath in one single episode and there's enough steam that it could easily cover her chest. And most of the anime isnt canon anyway. Not to mention she's 13 and flat chested. She looks like a boy. She hasn't hit puberty yet and her soul will probably be eaten before then. Hence why the only person ever allowed in the bathroom with her is the demon butler who already knows.
"Then why is she wearing boy clothes as a child?"
So that one is a little tricky but there is an interesting explanation. So in Japanese folklore(?) there's this tradition where if your child is sickly when young, dress them up in the clothes of the opposite gender and they'll get bigger and stronger as they grow. If anyone has seen xxxHolic, Watanuki's rival Doumeki has that exact backstory where he was sickly as a child and dressed as a girl until he was 6 or 7. I would not be surprised in the slightest if Tanaka, the Phantomhives Japanese butler who was very close to our ciel, mentioned the tradition to the family. It also wouldn't be that frowned upon as in the earlier traditions of Europe, all children were dressed as girls until they were about 4 or 5 as well. You can see it today amongst the British royal family and their baby pictures. This is similar in japan where there is no linguistic differentiation between male and female babies/children under 5yrs. That would also explain why in the recent flashbacks madam red is talking about the twins saying Rachel had 2 sons. The original Japanese would've said 2 children (gender neutral) and it translated as 2 boys. So even if they were different genders we would never know to question it.
Yana has really been out here playing right in our faces this whole time. And I am shook. She really is a genius.
But why Claudia?
So we have to understand the grim reapers part in the story to understand why our ciel is Claudia, the young daughter of the phantomhive family.
There are 3 things we need here: Undertaker's funerary lockets, the grim reapers purpose in the overall plot, and the phantomhive family tree.
First of all, what are the grim reapers for? Why are they even in the story? While they're usually around for comic relief in more action packed parts, they're mostly used as omniscient plot devices. They provide us with the story's dramatic irony: things we as the readers get to know that the rest of the cast doesn't. For example, when people are set to die, what their life was like (the cinematic record), or what people's real names are(!!!) For example, we learned that Beast from the Circus Arc is actually named Molly and that Joker was actually the son of a prostitute and didn't have a name.
This becomes incredibly important as we try to understand their future interactions with our ciel.
Next is the family tree which listed one Claudia Phantomhive just a few generations ago. Maybe our ciels grandmother or great Gran. Now we understand the way the family tree is listed and we don't know our ciels name. But we do know that Undertaker, a shinigami, has a set of mourning jewelry that has been apart of his character design since his first introduction that has Claudia's name on it. In fact there are 4 lockets on the piece: one for each supposedly dead phantomhive. But one says Claudia P. which has led to some speculation. Do Claudia and Undertaker know each other? How long ago did they meet? And if this thing is so important why haven't we seen it since the Campania arc? It hasn't even been brought up once.
Well a major point of reference in the two ciels theory is that there are 4 gravestones in the family grave plot. Each one is listed as Vincent, Rachel, ciel and the 4th one. But what if we've already seen whose it could be? Just like there are 4 Graves, there are 4 lockets on undertakers chain. The 4th grave marker is Claudia's.
It's a clever trick. The family tree was a red herring, making us believe that Claudia was already deceased and perhaps Ciels great grandmother when in reality, Claudia/Our ciel could be NAMED AFTER her great grandmother. It is already implied the 4th grave is likely Our Ciel's and that's why Undertaker is always keen to fit her for a coffin. It also explains why they haven't brought it up again at all. Because it answers too many questions too quickly. The big reveal is scheduled for the very end of the manga, when sebastian finally steals our ciels soul (or not) and there's going to be a grim reaper waiting there to show us the truth: Our ciel's real name is actually Claudia Phantomhive, age 13, Female.
Please let me know your thoughts. I'm literally dying about how much YT strung us all along. And if anything can debunk this please let me know. The hold this demon butler has had on me for the last decade is too great a burden. I need rest Toboso sensei.
Link to part 1:
Claudia Phantomhive Theory - 2 ciels confirmation and final chapter speculation - part 1 **SPOILERS** Okay so I don't usually post stuff li
Link to part 3:
Claudia Phantomhive Theory - 2 ciels confirmation and final chapter speculation - part 3 **SPOILERS** *** Ok so im being a dirty Otaku and
