#jamesmee

As the 35th heir to the Ratri clan a lot fell on his shoulders, making him view the majority of his relationships outside of it as transactional even from a young age. "Don't be unkind, but never forget who you are" was a sentiment that probably always lurked in the back of his mind and colored a lot of his interactions. In this semi-emotional isolation I think he would indulge in escapism and latch on to the romanticization of heroic escapades in fiction as well as the history he knew of Julius.

All of this contributes to him having a rigid sense of morality attuned to his social standing that he fully throws himself behind, to the point that Peter respected him more than either of their parents or any other figure in either world because of it:

(Chapter 173: "[James] was kind, smart, handsome, sincere and refined.")

It's also why he reacts so viscerally to finding out the truth about Julius and the promise (and not to the events in 2020 preceding WWIII, although they may have planted some seeds even if he was shielded from the worst effects).

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 7 - Series Timeline)

(Chapter 179)

The Ratris are shown to still have enormous prestige even after the world was overhauled in the wake of this war. James threw away a life of wealth and comfort as part of his atonement, and while he wasn't willing to break the promise himself, he was willing to stand behind the cattle children if they did.

(Chapter 72)

We don't know if there were already pockets of resistance among the scientists and other Ratri associates, but regardless, James is able to use his intelligence, charisma, and networking to not only suss out people open to his cause, but convince them the head of the entire clan was genuinely trying to dismantle the world order that led to him having his wealth and prestige and that this wasn't just a ploy to snuff out traitors.

Under this united front, that voice in the back of his mind is silenced, and while still somewhat isolated given the role he had to play between the two worlds, he's able to find some of the most authentic, fulfilling relationships in the last years of his life, in keeping with the theme of finding true freedom in dismantling or breaking away from oppressive systems. (Again going back to me being a JamesSmee shipper but one of these is with Smee lol, even if it's bittersweet with the way it ends).

But through all of this, he loved Peter dearly. After spending so many years as an only child, having a younger brother whom he could drop some of his walls around and dote on was the greatest gift his parents could give him.

(Chapter 173)

And that love would be his undoing.

(Chapter 73 | Chapter 173)

Peter was always a loose end as the one who witnessed James' revelatory breakdown that he'd never be willing to tie up. It's unclear how long he kept what he saw a secret from everyone not sympathetic to James' crusade, but it was at least a few years given how young he looks during the flashbacks we're privy to and that he's 15 when James is murdered. All of that time, if he ever gave any hints of wavering from what he told James about agreeing with him, James elected to ignore them, and I don't know if that's more tragic than him being completely blindsided by his brother's betrayal.

(Chapter 173)

But it's very telling that even knowing who ordered his death and everything else in play, his final thoughts were spent thinking of his brother and apologizing for being unable to save him.

A few headcanons:

☆ I think James' romanticism is part of the reason he never had children in any capacity.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 6 Q&A)

I don't think he was being pressured to start a family given he was still young and everything he had going on even before WWIII broke out, but with all the pretenses in his life I think he was holding out for at least this sort of relationship and commitment to be founded on authentic feelings that he could find refuge in as opposed to it being a box he ticked off to keep up appearances.

☆ We don't know how involved James was with Smee beyond that Smee was a Minerva supporter, the one who killed James on Peter's orders, and the one who took up the reins from James' afterword, but I like to ship them because of the James Hook-Smee connection from the original Peter Pan and then have the tragedy of Smee being tasked with killing James (for some reason). Another parallel with Norman but similar to how Ray is the only one allowed to see Norman's prideful and impish side at Grace Field, Smee's at first the only one who sees the cocky and impish side of James.

☆ Based on the chapter 173 cover art, l think he read to Peter a lot, be it bedtime stories or them being research buddies in the library of their estates.

I mentioned that I think he gravitated toward grand heroic escapades and probably favored ones dealing with ancestral duties to sort of explain how he subconsciously reinforced his own beliefs about the farm system being predicated on ancestral sin all cattle children inherited even 1000 years out from the original promise. I talk about this here too, but it's interesting to speculate on whether James still held onto this belief or if it made him reform his worldview entirely that maybe all people are entitled to certain inalienable rights regardless of their birth.

☆ He strikes me as someone who would enjoy parlor tricks. Initially he taught himself this to impress his parents, who weren't thrilled with it but they never dissuaded him from the hobby, and eventually even they had to admit how deft he was in his execution and timing during a few dinner parties when they were trying to ease relationships between themselves and other party-goers they wanted to remain on good terms with.

Peter also absolutely loved these as a child, and I like how it would play into him reflecting on James' creation of William Minerva as an adult. How his slights of hand evolved into such an elaborate deceit that threatened Peter's entire identity and lead to him losing one of his most foundational connections. How it made him question whether he ever truly understood his brother at all and if that was better than having known him once and him becoming unrecognizable.

☆ I omitted Mike from my general trajectory of how James' childhood went because I like playing around with how antagonistic he is toward the cattle children and I tie that up with who between James and Peter is his favored nephew, but if it's James, I think they bonded over alcohol (keeping the burdens of the gatekeeper side of things and the human world side of things within the family, James setting up contingency plans for cattle children who made it to the human through Mike without directly revealing his plans, etc.) to partially explain how James developed a high tolerance that he used to his advantage.

We were never given a definite age for James or Smee, but I think James being dead for 14 years throws people off because we always see him as he was when he died.

(The Promised Neverland Art Book World)

Meanwhile Smee has had 14 more years of aging when we see him in the present.

(Season 2 Episode 8)

But he (and James) look around Andrew's age in the voiceover visuals from chapter 160 and in the side scene where James dies at the end of chapter 173.

Granted, with the way Demizu plays around with audience perception in how she draws the characters in a given scene based on their own perception of themselves and the strife they carry in their hearts to how they view other characters around them based on their relationship with them (e.g.‚ Isabella towering over the children as an ever-looming threat in various low-angle frames, Sonju appearing behind Emma and Ray at the end of chapter 45 as an imposing figure and then becoming drastically smaller and more human than any of the wild demons the kids encounter before the reveal of the evil blood when he's revealed as an ally, Norman looking like he's a mid-thirties corporate lawyer throughout all of chapter 125 as he forms the alliance of liars with Geelan, etc.), these portrayals could be inaccurate. James could be anywhere from his mid-teens to his mid-twenties during Peter's flashback in chapter 173.

But this late in the story with more truths known to the main cast, I'm inclined to believe the aforementioned panels from 160 and 173 are reflective of their actual ages.

Who would be the teacher who go always impressed by Isabella//Yuugo and Ray//Emma (according of which family is chosen)? Human!Leuvis of course. (Or Human!Sonju)