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lacryem · 2 days

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— A surprisingly long and in depth look about symbolism in the recent G-Fantasy cover by Yana Toboso ✦

Including references, flower language, how to decode the meaning of flowers, and a little too much brainrot. As well my personal interpretation drawn from all the sources I looked at. And of course what all of means (and maybe hints at?) for Sebastian and Ciel… and maybe even Sebaciel?

Originally posted as a twitter thread, but threads suck and I forgot a couple things. so here now.

Disclaimer :

I don’t know FOR SURE that all these things were directly referenced by Yana when creating this art. But being a fan of her work for over a decade I've become familiar with her use of symbolism and reference, and believe myself to have a good eye for it at this point! I'm also pretty familiar with the use of flower language, including different languages, due to having been involved in a project about it and having to read wayyy too much about this.

Some of it also includes my own personal interpretation, but the meanings and info I based myself off of ARE factual. I think I made it pretty clear when referencing my personal interpretation. You're welcome to reach your own interpretation based off of the stuff provided!

And lastly, I'm not a sebaciel shipper. I'm not an anti (the complete opposite, actually) and have nothing against the ship, I like the narrative around them and how they're written but I don’t actively ship them romantically or sexually. So I'd say this is actually a pretty unbiased interpretation. Personal taste is one thing, but I don’t deny the author's intention and whats written in front of me! That is what this post is about.

Kuroshitsuji takes place in the Victorian period (1837~1901) in 1889.

The following are both important Victorian books on the language of flowers that I will be basing myself off of.

Language of Flowers by Greenaway Kate (1884), and The Language of flowers: An Alphabet of Floral Emblems (1857).

(Also, I’m treating Ciel’s rose as a deep red rose. Which is a bit different than red roses. But I am adding some relevant information about roses in general, anyway.

Now, on what they say about these flowers.

Deep rose, meaning "bashful shame". White lily, meaning "Purity and sweetness."

— The White Lily

Most people assume that the lily refers to Ciel's purity, and that’s a fair assumption. But I disagree.

Firstly, the one holding the lily is Sebastian. Holding it on his right hand, tilted towards the right. However what's relevant here is the VIEWER. From the viewer's POV he's holding it to the left. Note he also holds the scissors on his left hand, where he bears HIS contract seal.

How you hold a flower, what position you give it to someone in, changes the meaning of the flower. These context clues are very important. It tells us that 'purity and sweetness' doesn’t refer to Ciel, but actually refers to Sebastian (…sorta).

This may be a little confusing. Purity and sweetness, Sebastian?! I know, I know. bear with me.

These books provide poems to help us understand how you may interpret the intended meaning. The lily poem is about enduring trials out of love because of the purity and sweetness he sees in his lover's eyes and soul. I believe Yana directly references the poems I will include in this post in her new artwork.

— My Interpretation

the meaning of Sebastian's lily is:

"I do all out of love for the sweetness and purity within you."

Him holding it to the contact seal and cutting the flower could stand for him destroying this sentiment (affection within himself) that has arisen in him as a result of their contract by destroying the sweetness and purity—the source of it—within Ciel (consuming his soul).

Note: This is debatable, as 'reversed' almost always means upside down. But if you consider the lily facing away from the viewer as reversed then it could mean "impurity and bitterness" which fits pretty well with Ciel, and it being held against the contract seal which is a physical representation of his impurity, brought on by his bitterness.

— The Deep Red Rose

There something I find very interesting. The rose is in a teacup, standing in for tea (I think there's even tea alongside it in the cup.) From Yana herself we know that Sebastian's eyes are a reference to the reddish brown colour of tea.

Like I said, I believe this rose to be a deep red rose, which is a bit more specific than the meaning given to red roses. However I think the poem included for roses in general very much applies here.

I was going to add my thoughts but I found this interpretation that sums it up pretty well if you replace the carpe diem theme with a more "running out of time" or "impending death" theme, which seems to be a more accurate reading for this artwork.

Looking at the rose itself, it has no thorns or leaves.

It is not a youthful rose as its already fully open and losing petals. "No hope, and no fear" fits with the poem, the rose is basically an hourglass referring to Ciel. His fate is unavoidable, but this isn't a deterrent. He's dancing on the ledge.

The deep red rose means 'bashful shame'.

When you compare it to the lily, which is a direct proclamation, the deep red rose is a quiet confession one cannot verbalize.

Debatable, to be fair but given the tie in to Sebastian's eye colour and the fact that he is always the one pouring tea for Ciel, I believe the Sebastian to be the speaker here too, but this time speaking on Ciel's feelings (Hence why he's the one holding it) rather than Sebastian's own.

— My Interpretation

The meaning of the deep red rose Ciel holds, speaking about Ciel's feelings of guardedness, and in response saying:

"Abandon your bashful shame, and let yourself be admired without expectations (hope) or fear"

Sebastian speaks about Ciel's feelings, the deep red rose acknowledges his feelings but they remain unspoken.

The Waller poem is a plead for his beloved to seize the day, for time is short, and allow herself to be loved completely.

Her beauty is one to be appreciated, she is not meant to be a rose unacknowledged (unloved) in the desert.

Regarding 'expectations', I think this is more about rigid ideas of how 'appreciation' or 'admiration, might be shown or received. Sebastian and Ciel's relationship defies normality or 'expectations'. So this, too, would defy expectations a young boy like Ciel, or a traumatised boy like Ciel, may have.

From Yana herself, we know Sebastian's dedication and how highly he holds 'beauty', specifically Ciel's beauty.

The author of the poem proclaims that beauty not appreciated is not beautiful indeeed, and so he calls his beloved to come to him and be appreciated wholly during the invaluable, limited time they have.

We see the deep red rose's petals fall away, in my opinion not only symbolising the withering away of time, but also the crumbling away of this "bashful shame" that Sebastian ascribes to Ciel.

How Sebastian wishes to "appreciate" this beauty is debatable. How he wants to "admire" and "desire" (per the poem) Ciel is rather open ended. Wether it be in a romantic way, a sexual way or by consuming his soul.

However, I don’t think these are mutually exclusive. And consuming Ciel can easily be a metaphor for the former two.

— The Lily and The Rose

The Greeneaway book has this poem which im sure was directly referenced. This poem speaks about the lily and the rose in a direct power struggle and fight for dominance, until they eventually unite and reign as one.

Now when speaking about this "union", you could say it refers to their contract, but I don’t think so.

The contract ties them to each other, but it doesn’t necessarily unite them. So I believe 'unity' to be about the appreciation Sebastian speaks of Ciel opening up to.

"The Lily" and "The Rose" might be interpreted as directly representing Sebastian and Ciel, and the unity that would come from them joining and becoming a truly complimentary pair. I think a power struggle and fight for being the one in control is very accurate way to describe their current dynamic in canon.

It may also be interpreted as "The Lily" and "The Rose" as being representations of their feelings and ideals previously. And then it would represent these two conflicting expressions—a loud unrelenting and destructive devotion, and a guarded, bashful, unspoken reluctance— coming together and turning from conflicting to complimentary.

Or as it tends to be with these things, both!

Either way all of this is expressed under the sense of impending doom created by their circumstances and the contract. So there's a sense of urgency permeating all of it.

Also clear to me is a sense of internal conflictedness coming from Sebastian's message that is usually only hinted at like this, and some people end up overlooking.

Sebastian desires Ciel deeply, but having him would also mean not being able to have him anymore.

Sebastian is torn and that’s why he attempts to cut the root of his wavering feelings represented by the lily.

All of this makes me wonder about what's next, and if we will see these things said more blatantly. Foreshadowing with flower language and references like this, isn't exactly rare for Yana. I wonder if we will see this 'unity' come to be, and what necessary development Sebastian and Ciel will need to undergo to make it possible. As well as what shape it will take.

I also wonder very much about Ciel's perspective in all of this, as this was almost entirely from Sebastian's POV, but I think that's intentional. Ciel has his own goals and a lot on his mind. Sebastian's goal IS Ciel. So I assume he spends a lot more time thinking about Ciel and this kind of thing.

Thank you if you read the whole way through. Like I said before, even though the sources defending it are, my interpretation is not law and you're welcome to reach your own with the things presented.

Links for sources, including free public domain PDFs of the books mentioned are found at the end of my twitter thread.

— Thanks for reading! —

#sebaciel shipper friendly post #kuroshitsuji #black butler #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #sebastian black butler #ciel black butler #sebaciel #please refrain from ship discourse on my post. I don't care if fictional characters upset you. I'm looking at the source material here.

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imbelfoxxyloxxy · 2 days

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I get to see him being silly again after wtf the manga is putting me through 😭

Favorite Victorian autism reading one of my favorite Victorian books ehehehehe

Sebac!el shippers DNI 😐

#ibispaintx #digital drawing #digital art #digital doodle #ibispaintdrawing #ibispaint art #sketch #sketches #sketch vs final #black butler season 4 #ciel black butler #black butler fanart #black butler ciel #black butler #our ciel #ciel phantomhive #kuroshitsuji ciel

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gabbyp09 · 2 days

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#oficial art #black butler #BlackButler #黒執事 #black butler sebastian #sebastian black butler #black bluter ciel #ciel black butler #ciel phantomhive #phantomhive ciel #ciel kuroshitsuji #sebastian kuroshitsuji #kuroshitsuji sebastian #kuroshitsuji #kuroshitsuji ciel #yana toboso #g fantasy

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sebastian-ciel-mutual-bullying · 4 months

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Ciel's eyesight probably makes him act a little silly

I'm not sure if Yana confirmed this, but the wiki says that Ciel has trouble with determining distance due to his now monocular vision. I saw a post about this recently and it reminded me of my own trouble with my monocular vision.

When I was 10 and head over heels for Black Butler, I got diagnosed with Amblyopia, which is basically lack of vision in one eye because the brain decided that the eye didn't need to be used, and that the dominant eye was good enough. Little me was so distraught about having to wear an eyepatch for treatment- until I put it on and pretended to be Ciel!

Thinking back on that reminded me of how my amblyopia made me do some clumsy things as a kid- like run into poles or fall of edges because I couldn't tell the distance.

Another fun thing amblyopia causes is a lazy eye and double vision (in cases where the eye has some functioning). It was not pleasant having both.

Ciel's contract eye has full vision still. He patches it so much that I'm sure his brain is ready to shut it off (after all, he' young enough for it to develop that way).

The thought of him taking off his patch just to have his eye be completely off to the side and making him see double is hilarious.

Just imagine him whipping off his eyepatch to give an order to Sebastian and his eye is just doing its own thing and there are now two Sebastians.

"Sebastian, this is an order!"

"Yes, my lord"

And all Ciel sees is this:

And Sebastian is probably seeing this:

His poor eye must be so tired.

He definitely gets humbled by stairs.

#Notmakingfunofmyfellowstrabismusbrethren #Nowonderhehatessports #Justaballbeingthrownisajumpscare #black butler memes #black butler #blackbutler #ciel black butler #sebastian black butler #sebastian kuroshitsuji #kuroshit #kuroshitpost #kuroshitsuji #ciel kuroshitsuji

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blondeaxolotl · 10 days

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Onward my lord, into the sunset we go✨

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vampirenigh · 8 months

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i hope this isnt weird or too specific--- (ignore this if u dont wanna do it!!)

i was hoping you could write about ciel and alois (blck btlr) with a very dreamy s/o? like, dreamy in so many aspects. like they look like they jumped out of a painting in a museum, or they could look identical to some figures they've seen in paintings. and their voice would be very calming too, quiet but clear iygwim.... like s/o is basically angelic and all that and their presence feels surreal to the boys

gn! reader if that's fine:DD

You are my everything

Hey. No problem at all. It's totally fine and thank you for your ask. I like when people send me specific asks because it helps me understand better and not mess up. At first I didn't understand what you meant by dreamy but because of your explication I think I got it. I will try to do gn but I never tried so if something is not right don't hesitate to tell me. And if you have any more ideas don't hesitate to send an ask.😁

Summary: Ciel and Alois whit a dreamy reader.

Characters: Ciel Phantomhive, Alois Trancy.

Warnings: gn!reader, some posesiveness in Alois?

Masterlist

Ciel Phantomhive

He first saw you in town. He was with Sebastian to take some things and investigate a new case given by the queen. But the care was totally forgotten when he saw you. You were the most beautiful person he has ever seen. He knew that you are from an aristocratic family from your clothes and your maid but didn't know which one.

So he puts Sebastian to do some research on you and he learns that you were Elisabeth's cousin. He couldn't believe it. Even more when he first talked to you at Elisabeth's birthday party. You were just so calm and welcoming that he felt safe in your presence. Your quiet but clear voice made him feel like he could tell you everything and you wouldn't judge him.

And because of that he broke the engagement with Lizzy and started to court you. Elizabeth's mother was a bit mad but couldn't stop Ciel because he loves him as her own son and he deserves to have happy memories.

So you two start to date after some time whit a new engagement made between Ciel's family and your's. He started to call you often at his mansion and talk to you. He could've sworn that you were an angel from heaven when you first comforted him after he had a nightmare and you stayed at his mansion overnight. You were so gentle with him like he was made of glass and would break at the slightest touch. It was such a different feeling that he felt he doesn't deserve it.

All this time he thought that the only thing that counts is to revenge his family and to reestablish his family name but now he starts to doubt it. The only thing that he can think of is that he doesn't want to lose you ever like he lost everyone else. He will protect you whit his life and will make sure that you are always comfortable.

God forgive anyone that hurts or embarrasses you because Sebastian will take care of him.

Ciel would often come to you to talk about what is bothering him and would be grateful for who you are that he sends you different dresses and jewelry that he knows will look good on you.

In conclusion he will love and cherish you till the day he dies and will always be grateful for your presence even in the darkest times.

Alois Trancy

He saw you in a museum in the art section. He couldn't believe how much you looked alike whit a portrait of a very beautiful women that lived over 200 years ago. He couldn't take his eyes of you so he made a move. He came to you and introduced himself in the hope that you will see him as fascinating as he sees you. And you did. You introduced yourself and engaged in a conversation whit Alois.

Your voice and your looks made him not want to leave you alone at all. He feelt like he is talking to an angel who came to safe him. He learned that you are the grand grand granddaughter of the woman in the painting and that she was one of the most beautiful women that lived in that time and that you are happy that you could resemble her.

He started to court you and made the engagement whit your parents. He asks Hannah some things that you would like and if you don't he will punish her severely.

He will eventually tell you everything about his past and about Claude. He feels so safe with you that he couldn't bring himself to hide it. And the moment when you just tell him that it doesn't matter, it doesn't define him he swore he could die right then and there as a happy boy.

He would tell Claude to protect you and to kill anyone who comes too close to you whit bad intentions.

He would be very clingy. He doesn't like being away from you. He feels like you are his lifeline and can't leave you.

Do you remember the time when Alois was on his knees in front of Claude to prevent him of leaving? He would do that when you wanted to go have some tea time whit another girl. (What can I say he has abandonament issues.)

He feels that he is the luckiest boy on the planet because he can have such a beautiful and calm lover who sees him for who he is and not for his money.

#black butler #ciel x reader #ciel phantomhive #ciel phamtonhive #ciel phantomhive x reader #ciel black butler #alois x reader #alois trancy #kuroshitsuji alois #black butler alois #kuroshitsuji #kuroshitsuji ciel

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jinisnuggets · 12 days

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𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑪𝒊𝒆𝒍

ᴾᵃⁱʳⁱⁿᵍˢ: ᴬᵈᵘˡᵗ! ᶜⁱᵉˡ ˣ ᴬᵈᵘˡᵗ! ᴳⁿ! ᴿᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ

ᵂᵒʳᵈ ᶜᵒᵘⁿᵗ: ⁰.³ᵏ

ᴳᵉⁿʳᵉ: ᶠˡᵘᶠᶠ

ᵂᵃʳⁿⁱⁿᵍˢ: ᴺᵉᶜᵏ ᴷⁱˢˢⁱⁿᵍ?

ˢʸⁿᵒᵖˢⁱˢ: ʸᵒᵘʳ ʰᵘˢᵇᵃⁿᵈ ᶜⁱᵉˡ ᵈᵉᶜⁱᵈᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ᶜᵒᵐᶠᵒʳᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵇᵃᵈ ᵈᵃʸ.

The married life wasn't easy… both of you being young and a married couple, you were never exactly sure how to feel, but you were happy. You fell in love with him and he managed to fall in love with you. Maybe things hadn't started out in the best way but as time passed, you were sure you'd have a happy ending with him.

“Y/n.”

You glanced over at your husband who stood at the doorway looking at you, you smiled, you weren't having the best of days and you were honestly looking forward to this moment with him.

“Yeah?” You responded accordingly, Ciel took note of how long it had taken you to respond and he automatically knew something was wrong, he glanced behind him to check if his butler was hovering over him and upon seeing he wasn't he walked over to the bed where you sat and gave you a back hug.

“Are you okay?” He asked, concern filling every corner of his voice, which made you crack out a small smile. Throughout your time with Ciel you were never able to hear his concerned voice be directed at you, so hearing him talk to you with that pitch made you feel some sort of way.

“I'm okay Ciel, don't worry.”

Feeling his head which was now resting on your shoulder, he gave you a small nod in response to your comment. “Bad day?” He asked, at least wanting to have some justice to why you felt upset.

“Yes, just a bad day.”

Again, you felt his head nod in response to you. You both stayed in silence, feeling his breath touching your neck as he lightly kissed you, unwilling to trigger any of your defensive system and wanting to let you relax.

That was what married life with Ciel was like…

Quiet, peaceful, and although you always had disagreements. You would always fix them before you went to bed.

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