How to do anti-heros right

[branchandroot]

So, I've just caught up with Kuroshitsuji, which meant that of course I had to go back and re-read Lizzy kicking zombie ass with swords, because that is the best scene in the entire manga, bar none. Elizabeth + swords = <3 4evar. Lizzy rocks the world so hard.

This, however, led, as such things do, to re-reading more arcs, and now I also need to squeal a bit over Ciel and Sebastian. Because every arc makes it clear that they are truly two of a kind, ruthless and manipulative, and basically very bad people. Ciel is seriously broken, and Sebastian seriously doesn't care, he just loves Ciel's response. Which is essentially: kill them all, burn the bodies, and sow the ground with salt. And perhaps uranium for good measure. I love that they are not good people, I love how viciously Ciel uses Sebastian, and how enchanted Sebastian is with Ciel's cold-bloodedness, I love how they spend so much time sniping sarcastically at each other and then share one of those smiles. The smile that says they will play the entire world like their personal violin, and they love doing it.

And yet.

And yet, there are still those moments of mercy woven through Ciel's manipulation and violence. Half the time, they're part and parcel of the manipulation and violence; they serve Ciel's own ends. But it's also genuine. That's the part that makes Ciel such a consistently interesting character. In this, Sebastian is the stand-in for the reader, fascinated by the contradictions of humanity.

That said, though, Lizzy is still the very best of all.

Comments

[lexicology]

Word to all of this.

[branchandroot]

*thumbs up* Also, Lizzy needs more scenes with swords.

[ldybastet]

Mmmmmm, yes! That is exactly why I love Sebastian and Ciel together. In some way it looks to me like they need each other, for the cruelty and viciousness to be able to come out and be just that much. (Maybe not Sebastian as much as Ciel, since he's a demon butler and all, but you know...)

It's just so damn delicious! :D

[branchandroot]

Magically delicious, indeed!

[dancing_serpent]

♥ That makes me want to re-read now, too.

[branchandroot]

It's really odd going back to the start, where the mangaka was still just kind of playing around with the concept. It isn't until Madame Red's arc that she hits her stride with the DARK okay now a playful break NOW DARK now some comic relief REALLY REALLY DARK and so on.

[dancing_serpent]

Yeah, with the disjointed way I read then, I'm not sure I really noticed - just that some were darker, some were sillier. Will be interesting to see how it looks to me now. :)

[phoebe_zeitgeist]

Yes, exactly! There's a reason you're one of the tiny handful of writers whose work in the fandom I really love. I'm just saying. They're terrible people, but they're not one-dimensionally terrible; they live in a complex universe and their own complexity matches it. The mercy, when it shows up, isn't pastede on yay! to keep the characters from being too hateful for the assumed audience. It's organic, and the proof that it works is that it never feels contradictory.

I wonder whether Lizzie isn't -- well, not a stand-in for the audience, exactly, because Lizzie is Lizzie. But there's a way in which since the Campania arc, I think she may function to give readers permission to love Sebastian and Ciel. She doesn't know the worst about them, but she clearly knows a hell of a lot, and her own fundamental goodness shines through everything she does and says. If she loves them anyway (and she plainly does), why shouldn't we?

[branchandroot]

You are totally my trophy-reader; if Phoebe likes it, I nailed it. Starting at the Campania arc and then going back and reading from the start, Lizzy's development is fascinating. At first she really /is/ pretty flat. She's young and sheltered and spoiled in a way that shows just how damaged Ciel is. She's uber-cute in a totally over the top way, and ignorant of a lot of things about Phantomhive, and used for comic relief mostly. But as time goes on, we get more hints of how very good-hearted and caring she is, and that she's self-aware enough to know that she isn't in the same place as Ciel any more, and that she wants to help him and just doesn't always quite know where to stop. And /then/ we get to kickass!sword!Lizzy who's been trying to be cute and /unthreatening/ for Ciel and trying to be strong enough to protect him at the same time, and /that's/ when we finally see Sebastian call her, not "Lady Elizabeth", but "my Lady". Which just made me squeal out loud when I read it.

And, alongside this development, we have Sebastian observing Ciel's progression deeper into the darkness, all of his own will. Sebastian /savors/ that progression, and everything Ciel does proves that he's not wrong. But... Lizzy.

So I think Lizzy is also proof that /yes/, humans are even more complex than Sebastian sees. Ciel is walking into the dark, turning his back on the light, but here's Lizzy, who just /is/ the light, and she's walking beside him. So determinedly beside him that Sebastian accepts her, just like Ciel does. She adds such a layer of /human/ complexity to it all that I just have to stop and sparkle for a while.

*sparkles*