After much research, I’ve managed to condense and mingle a few ideas of my own relating to the Sebastian-Mephistopheles and Two Ciels theories. Though extremely questionable – as they are after all, only theories – there have been some notable moments throughout Kuroshitsuji which show the plausible nature of these theories. Though I’m too convinced with the Sebastian-Mephistopheles theory, the possibility of twin Ciels existing in the story is intriguing. It might just be true; you’d be surprised by how the proof almost makes sense! But who knows in all actuality, save for Yana-sensei herself. Like I said before, she’s a mastermind. This is all a conjunction of pure fanaticism, a side effect of her favourite move ( mindfuck ).

The Sebastian-Mephistopheles theory: Goethe in Kuroshitsuji.

Many fans speculate that Sebastian may in fact be Mephistopheles due to the similarity in the insignia of their Faustian contracts.

Mephistopheles’ contract (left) and Sebastian’s contract (right).

In the above link, StarrGirl proclaims:

“First off, Mephisto came to Faust(the man)as a devilish-looking and talking poodle. This has lead me to think that Sebby was Sebastian the dog, and was Vincent’s demon.”

Another key concept mentioned in the above link is that were Sebastian contracted to Vincent and had taken on the form of Sebastian the dog (the one which Ciel happened to name the black butler after):

“it would probably explain why he resembles Vincent so much– if he was formerly contracted to him, it would make sense to take on the form of the human you knew best.” – myfish32

While it sounds almost convincing, I find this unlikely. Why? Why would Sebastian dislike dogs then? Why would there be a need for the cult to sacrifice Ciel and the other children in order to summon the demon if he was already roaming Earth?

I don’t suppose demons go “poof” so quickly once they’ve finished their meal. Though it’s possible that the Phantomhive household may have been contracted with demons over many generations, particularly in order to aid them in their dirty work, it would seem rather cliché on Yana’s behalf was Sebastian the same demon that Vincent once contracted to, moreover in the form of a dog…

Disregarding such an idea, the likelihood of Sebastian’s ambiguous true form being Mephistopheles remains. Wikipedia also describes:

“Although Mephistopheles appears to Faustus as a devil — a worker for Satan — critics claim that he does not search for men to corrupt but comes to serve and ultimately collect the souls of those who are already damned. Farnham explains, ‘Nor does Mephistophiles first appear to Faustus as a devil who walks up and down in earth to tempt and corrupt any man encountered. He appears because he senses in Faustus’ magical summons that Faustus is already corrupt, that indeed he is already ‘in danger to be damned’.’ Mephistopheles is already trapped in his own hell by serving the Devil. He warns Faustus of the choice he is making by ‘selling his soul’ to the Devil: ‘Mephistophilis, an agent of Lucifer, appears and at first advises Faust not to forgo the promise of heaven to pursue his goals’.”

And indeed, Sebastian did warn Ciel. The thing that interests me is that Mephistopheles is trapped “in his own hell by serving the Devil”; it goes quite well with Chapter 62, where flashbacks explore Sebastian’s perspective of Ciel and finds the child disagreeable. This is all in the metaphorical sense however. What if we were to perceive this literally? Though this plays on another theory and intertwines with the anime, suppose Ciel was a demon – the eternity of serving the brat would be no doubt a hell. Just what if? (I’ll have to elaborate on this another day)

The Two Ciels theory, otherwise known as the possible Twin theory.

Let’s suppose Ciel had an identical twin prior to his kidnapping by the cult. I know, it sounds crazy, but believe me or not, it’s… promising, particularly with so many hints scattered throughout the manga. Take, for example, this:

“Hear me out! I know, it sounds so stereotypical and stupid and unlikely, but it’s as ppngai said; he had no blood on his shirt, and there was still that conspicuous hand on the sacrificial altar thing in the flashback in this chapter. If he’d been stabbed and he was dying, there wouldn’t really have been much coherent thought to be able to summon a demon. If the one being stabbed was Ciel’s brother, then it’s likely that Ciel would have been able to summon Sebastian, in some sort of desperation of maybe knowing or thinking that he was next or something. Also, the slight hesitation he said to say ‘Ciel Phantomhive, the one to inherit the Phantomhive manor’ or whatever it was may have been because he was supposing that even though he was the youngest, there was no one else left.” – Seven “Sebastian did seem… a little too amused when the boy presented himself as an earl, and in that summary pic you can clearly see that the boy who is sacrificed has a hair sweep that goes one way, and his top button is buttoned, the other boy has his bottom three buttoned and his hair sweeps both ways. He did hesitate when he presented himself as well…” – LethalLeigh

The two images are pages 23 and 24 of chapter 54. There’s an obvious difference between the two, despite being one page after the other, notably in Yana’s presentation of Ciel. As the above fan statements proclaim, page 24 depicts a less bloody Ciel contrary to the one shown on page 23. One would most likely think that Sebastian had cleaned the boy but what about this:

Is that the same person as the one shown in page 23 of chapter 54?

And then there’s also this:

“This is worth more than two people.”

Identical twins of noble lineage would be a rare occurrence, wouldn’t it? Unless the translators have screwed up, which I hope they haven’t cause that would mean the doom of the non-Japanese fandom, the idea of there being two Ciels is there. We know for sure that the current Ciel is well versed with aristocracy, as demonstrated by his taming of Sebastian as a butler, hence

1. Ciel has a twin, or

2. One of the two Ciels is a fake but with similar skills as the original, perhaps in order to act as a dummy?

I’m not too certain with the latter but the possibility of two Ciels existing (or having existed as one is now dead) is high. Very high.

“In my update in September, I mentioned a slight possibility that Kuro might turn out to be like a manga I read a long time ago, called The Gentleman’s Alliance Cross. In there, a prestigious family had two sons, and basically only one can be known to the world, and one has to be a substitute for the other in case anything happened. So I thought if there were two Ciels, and one had to be kept away all this time, it would make perfect sense why nobody knew, and how “Ciel” seems to so quickly fit into his role. Now he doesn’t know where his mansion is, which ceases to even surprise me because if what I guessed is true, he must have been somewhere else all his life.” – Tanekura

Here’s another possible hint:

“I want power… the power to take revenge on the ones who did this to us.”

I’ve forgotten which chapter and page this was from, but Ciel had undoubtedly mentioned “us”.

“One would probably assume at first glance that he is talking about all the kids, but if you take a second and realize the type of person Ciel is (as seen when he burnt down the whole house where the kids were kept by Baron Kelvin, in chapter 34) you would notice he probably doesn’t give a fuck about anyone else but himself. Which immediately leads me back to the twin theory. How the two of them connect you can probably figure out yourself.” – Tanekura

In a moment of crisis, it’s understandable that Ciel only values himself and perhaps, if he’s nice enough, those dear to him as well. TWIN THEORY INSERT.

And let’s not forget this moment either:

“As Ciel Phantomhive, head of the Phantomhive household, I swear I won’t!”

“Hmpf.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Well, you told me not to lie, yet you seem to be quite a liar.”

It’s a bit ambiguous though the fact that Sebastian knows that the current Ciel isn’t what he proclaims to be and was thus never destined to be the head of the household, stands firm.

What more could this all imply other than there being two Ciels? Dun dun dun. Damn Yana-sensei for keeping all the secrets to herself.

– Serenata.