YouranFictQueen

From chapter 1 all the way up until 451, we’ve seen plenty of characters grow and change as the story went on. Even more subtle changes like with Kalego and Opera. But throughout that whole time, there’s one character who hasn’t grown or changed.

Samael Sullivan.

Now, that probably does sound ridiculous, doesn’t it? I mean, Sullivan used to be Derkila’s retainer! A serious nagger! But look at the keywords there. “Used to”. His time as Derkila’s retainer is long in the past, much like the 10 ft tall twunk himself.

Currently, we are dealing with present day Sullivan. The Three Greats member voted most likely to become the Demon King. The headmaster of Babyls. Iruma’s adoptive grandfather who spoils him to bits and loves to dote on and be affectionately overbearing (in a good way).

But… if you’ll notice… that statement applies to Sullivan during his entire runtime.

Of course you can make generalized statements about other characters: Sabnock is the tough, strong headed rival to Iruma, Jazz is the big brotherly thief, etc. But each of their characters still have some nuance and growth to them, especially Jazz two arcs ago with Rock.

But Sullivan, from the start of the series, up until now, has stayed the same. Spoils Iruma, dotes on him, makes him the priority in his life.

Iruma is Sullivan’s priority.

Whenever he’s actively threatening or attacking an enemy, it’s because of Iruma. Nothing else.

Sullivan is imprisoned and gets a note to come back? Drop everything and forget the investigation! Iruma needs him!

Atori attacks Babyls and almost kidnaps Iruma? Sullivan’s there to nearly kill him.

But… Sullivan doesn’t do any real heavy lifting. He sends the teachers and Opera to do the rest, such as dispatching Ocho when he invaded Babyls. Especially Kalego, a fact that makes the latter absolutely loathe Sullivan.

As I said before, it’s Kalego who lays out the seeds and tells us exactly what Sullivan’s flaws are. He is reckless, impulsive, airheaded, and is extremely partial to Iruma, a fact that, in itself, causes some problems.

Recall how Sullivan was very ready to help Iruma cheat on the exams were it not for Opera? And how Sullivan let Shiida stay as a teacher thanks to Iruma’s request? He bends over backwards for Iruma. Not to mention how often Sullivan caused Iruma problems (see S1 and the interview after Walter Park in S2).

This, too, is another factor in how I think Sullivan doomed himself. The Trickster Plan, despite its description, is inherently flawed, because it’s heavily partial towards the grandkids of the Three Greats, despite the misfits being chosen by the tutors and 2 other Crowns having children of their own. After all, the announcement of the Trickster Plan was made after the spotlights illuminated specifically the Greats and their grandchildren. Not the Azazels or Asmodeous’ (Henri gets a pass tho), just them.

But back on Kalego’s statements, at no point since then does Sullivan actively become less reckless, less impulsive, or more clear headed.

After Baal’s statement in the recent chapter, it even has me relook at the Scala arc, and Henri’s usage of Derkila’s crest in that scene. Even if it was Henri that wanted to use it, given that Iruma’s Scala took place there, who’s to say Sullivan wasn’t ready to get Lady Levi and Belial on board to agree to the stamp to protect his grandson?

In short, Sullivan’s growth is slim to none, and that’s caused him to mess up so badly and be exploited and cornered by Baal.

Or perhaps this is in part due to the fact that Sullivan is constantly away doing other things, such as his duties as one of the Three Greats. So we end up having less of him, especially in later chapters.

Let’s start at the beginning of Narnia and Baal’s arrangement: the recommendation letters for the Six Fingers as teachers at each school.

Who recommends them in the first place? Not their leader, Baal. No, it’s Narnia. Deputy chief of Border Patrol. We see after Atori’s actions that Narnia is the prime suspect for allowing such dangerous foes to exist in the school.

Meanwhile, Baal is completely void of suspicion. He might be antagonistic in some instances, but he has never actually hinted to anyone that he is the leader of the Six Fingers. At least, not to anyone that isn’t on his side.

In short, Narnia is the suspect, and likely the one who is going to get beaten down first. And if Baal sees or is confronted? He’s absolutely selling out Narnia, the bigger suspect, for his own gain.

Narnia’s motivations and actions are purely self-serving, and I don’t believe Baal will like someone like Narnia to stay forever. Especially since we know about Narnia’s monologue after Henri confronted him, and his actions at the beginning of this arc. He’s very willing to act on his own. And as we saw with Atori, that absolutely pisses Baal off.

Narnia is making himself look more and more villainous and heinous the longer the story goes on. At this point, why would they believe Narnia if he tries to sell out Baal? Even if they have Balam using Buzzer, we’ve seen with Atori and Shiida that someone can not lie, but still be incredibly shifty and untrustworthy.

Derkila’s stamp says enough. He chose to use it to halt the investigation into him, with the assistance of Belial and Lady Levi, which could imply they likely know something more than we’re led to believe.

And it’s because of this one action that let Baal come this far and use Shura to tear down the Three Greats’ entire standing.

Baal is correct, and that’s the scariest (or best) part of him being a villain. He’s correct and he knows it. Using Derkila’s stamp like this was an abuse of power. It wasn’t like when Henri used it versus Narnia, because it was a clear breach of power Henri sought the final answer to (tho considering Iruma was involved, I wonder how much of that decision was impartial). Not only is he appeasing to Shura using pathos, he’s using logos to dismantle the platform the Three Greats have built for themselves, while establishing himself as someone more reliable using ethos.

Sullivan likely didn’t think twice about how using Derkila’s stamp would affect his own performance, esp cause this is like, what, a year later? But the seeds were there from the beginning. Kalego directly calls Sullivan impulsive and reckless; someone who docks pay on a whim.

Sullivan can be serious, but he also does not have the forethought to see how his actions could affect the future, something that makes it clear he’s not fit to be a Demon King, and the worst part is that he knows he’s not fit to rule.