Cartoon Conspiracy Theories

Black Butler Analysis Part 2

Having analyzed the names and possible origins of the characters from this fictional universe. Now let's dive into the possible symbolism behind the characters' personalities and trying to find an accurate correlation with abnormal psychology.

As many of you may be well aware (if you've been reading a lot of the chapters), I have theorized a lot on characters having mental illnesses, but this chapter will be quite different. I'll be dealing with more than one character. I'll also try to provide more accurate information about the illnesses in question.

With all that said and done, let's get a move on.

Let's start with the hellish butler we all know and love, Sebastian. Before diagnosing our patient with anything out of the ordinary, let's take a note of their traits and mannerisms, shall we?

Sebastian, on the exterior, appears to be the perfect butler, but in truth, he is a savage homicidal demon hidden beneath layers of human flesh (Ed Gein, much?). He also has a fine taste in many culinary dishes, wines, tea, and the like. With a sophisticated palate like his, he can easily be mistaken as a royal, but he is merely a dashing servant. He appears to show great concern for the welfare of his master, Ciel, although this is simply a facade for his grim intentions. This can be counted as a form of emotional manipulation. By tricking his host and convincing him that he's on his side, he could easily gain the trust of an otherwise suspicious noble. On the battlefield and when his master is in need of defending, he shows no mercy towards his opponents, completely lacking the empathy and remorse of a normal human being.

Well, he isn't human, so why have the same emotion as them? For this theory, let's just say, he's a human and that the word "demon" is just a title given to him.

If you're into psychology like yours truly, you may notice some similarities between his behavior and that of a person with Anti-Social Personality Disorder.

To clarify, anti-social and asocial are completely different things. An anti-social individual does not abide by societal norms and does not care for the well-being of others, while an asocial individual avoids social interaction.

You may not be familiarized by the term "ASPD", but you may recognize it for its nickname, psychopathy or sociopathy. It is often portrayed in the media through psychotic serial killers and other criminals, but that isn't really the case. Serial killers like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy may be psychopaths, but many psychopaths are not cold-blooded killers. They can be a family member, a coworker, and they're commonly CEOs of big companies.

But in this case, our psychopath does have homicidal tendencies. Since we have analyzed the behavior of our lovable main character, let's look at the common traits of demons and use this to determine if he's a cold-hearted psychopath or a hot-headed sociopath.

A demon is often described as highly intelligent, pathological liars, malevolent beings, and deceptive.

This fits more into the profile of a psychopath. Psychopaths have little to no empathy, feel no guilt or remorse for their actions, have higher intelligence than usual, deceive and manipulate others for their own personal agendas, and lie constantly.

Now that we're done with the number one character on the poll, let's go to our numero dos, Ciel Phantomhive.

As fans of the series, all of you must already be fully aware of this teenager's dysfunctional background, having been orphaned at such a tender young age could really damage someone psychologically. And the sad thing is, it all happened on his tenth birthday.

This further validated my theory that Ciel is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is very evident in the series, seeing as to Ciel's mental breakdowns when reminded of his torment at the hands of a cult (Charles Manson much? I'm sorry for referencing so many criminals, I'll just stop. Oh and by the way, CM is dead. Get the champagne!).

That's actually all the evidence you need for diagnosing someone with PTSD. I myself don't have any background on psychology, I'm still studying it and I'm probably more of the patient than the doctor, so just take the following with a grain of salt.

With the titular pair covered, let's talk about our favorite grim reaper (if you're into the Undertaker, it's not him), Grell!

Now, the following will be quite controversial in nature, since the diagnosis I will be giving may be completely eradicated in the future DSMs, so please don't hate in the comments. And I have nothing against the transsexual community, I consider myself a LGBTIQ activist.

With all the disclaimers out of the way, we can finally begin.

Grell clearly has a very showy and flamboyant behavior for a male figure and it's not uncommon for there to be a character like this in an anime series, it's actually pretty tame compared to the... other stuff, but removing the reproductive organs of women because of sheer jealousy is clearly crossing the boundaries by a mile. Grell may just be suffering from Gender Dysphoria.

*braces for impact* Wait, no pitchforks? *looks up at the disclaimer* Thank God I put that in there.

The main reason I believe in this is because Grell is clearly uncomfortable with being male. And I know some of you may be wondering, "they're a shinigami, they don't have genders". Well, yes, but they do assume forms from either gender.

Another disorder he may be suffering from is Histrionic Personality Disorder. Just like ASPD, this personality disorder also resides in the second cluster, Cluster B. It involves narcissistic and attention seeking behavior that may or may not hurt others or themselves. With a narcissistic attitude being the center of both ASPD and HPD, it's a lot easier to say that people under Cluster B lack empathy to some degree. This is evident when Grell and the other shinigamis collect the souls of humans by causing collateral damage to their bodies without showing an ounce of regret. (You accumulate debt, you accumulate power but on their time of need you forget- wait, I should also stop with the Musical references).

Thank you for reading my two part analysis of Black Butler, if you want me to tackle any other anime series, feel free to recommend any.

And if any of you are struggling with a possible mental illness, feel free to pay a visit to a psychiatrist, remember, self-diagnosis is not the answer. Don't be one of those people on Tumblr who look at mental illness as a miracle rather than a nightmare and decide to shove their self-diagnosis down other people's throats like some sort of privilege. And don't you fret, I don't stigmatize disorders, I do these theories to ponder possibilities, not reality.