Ciel Phantomhive

PERSONALITY

Ciel's a proud, shrewd boy whom Sebastian commends for his "presence of mind" and "keen intuition." A chess prodigy, he often navigates challenging situations by visualizing making chess moves, with Sebastian as his pawn. His paramount goal is to exact revenge on those who harmed him and his family, and he's willing to sacrifice his soul to accomplish it. As the Earl of the Phantomhive house, Ciel's an exceptional leader who inspires unswerving loyalty in his servants. Generally, he's undemonstrative; he seldom expresses his emotions, much less affection. Nevertheless, he's genuinely concerned for the well-being of his loved ones. For instance, he once jumped in front of a bear to guard Elizabeth and he also attempted to protect her from a horde of Bizarre Dolls. Additionally, he's attentive to the needs of his servants; when he heard they desired new items, he took them shopping and provided them with necessities. Moreover, Ciel is accustomed to luxury. He has difficulty in dressing himself and doing household chores. He's loath to stay in a poor, relatively austere environment for long periods of time, considering such beneath his dignity and unfitting for an earl. As the Queen's Watchdog, Ciel works diligently and doesn't balk at resorting to morally dubious means in order to fulfill his missions; for instance, he was readily prepared to bribe Fred Abberline to gather more information, which he viewed as flexibility on his part. He lies without compunction, particularly while he's undercover, and he's cynical and distrustful of the integrity of others. Furthermore, he's merciless with his enemies; on numerous occasions, he had Sebastian slaughter them. As the executive chairman of the prosperous Funtom Corporation, Ciel possesses business acumen; he accurately assesses market trajectories and conditions, such as when he anticipated that demand for products tailored to women and children would only continue to grow, and applies his ingenuity and foresight to expand his enterprise. With the Funtom Corporation, he's simultaneously striving for revenge and realizing his childhood dream, a move "Ciel Phantomhive" deems astute. His greed has "no boundaries;" for instance, when he learned that a popular performer could double the sales of his new product, he immediately put up advertisements of her. Although Ciel is, for the most part, wise beyond his years, he can be childish. He's exceedingly competitive and overestimates his skills at times; he's averse to draws, and will not yield until a victor is declared. Despite his weak constitution, he's a competent shooter; he always carries a gun to defend himself and keeps one under his pillow when he sleeps. Ciel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to his time as a slave in a cult. He occasionally has flashbacks of the incident and loses awareness of his surroundings. Ciel's fond of sweets and allergic to cats. Like his mother, he has asthma. Ciel reads books from various famous authors, such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe. Ciel can speak French fluently and understands Latin. While Ciel is "an intellectually gifted boy" who can even "compete with students," French is his best subject overall. Ciel's favorite animals are horses and dogs. He even named Sebastian after his previous dog. Even though Ciel does not like sports and even hates to walk, he is very fond of horseback riding. Ciel hates spicy food, and thus, dislikes mustard and wasabi. However, he did enjoy the curry bread given to him by Agni and Soma. Ciel despises bad food and would only eat it for diplomatic reasons. Ciel's favorite flower is the sterling silver rose. Because of the eye-patch he has to wear to cover his seal of contract, Ciel has problems with reckoning distances properly. Ciel had never seen either one of his parents cooking until the day his father tried to make his mother feel better by preparing some of his favorite dishes. Ciel's name means "sky" in French, Italian, and Norman and also "heaven" in French, Italian, and Old French. Before Yana Toboso settled on a name, various other names were considered for Ciel. For example, Estelle / Astre / Aster, Angel, Angelo Fate, Celestial, Sense / Zens, Celeste / Céleste, Celesta, Voltaire / Walter, Azur / Arthur, Rain, Lazulite, and Lapis / Azulite. Tentative names for his surname were Be Hive / Beehive, Faust, and Ghosthive. In the second season of the anime, Ciel's "death day" (August 26) is Prince Albert's birthday.

PAST

On December 14, 1875, Ciel Phantomhive was born to Vincent and Rachel Phantomhive some minutes after his elder twin brother "Ciel." His aunt Angelina Dalles helped to deliver him and his twin. When Ciel was five, he developed asthma. Due to his affliction and poor health, he often had to stay inside the Phantomhive Manor while "Ciel" and his cousin Elizabeth Midford played outside with Angelina or while his parents and brother went to boat tours. Ciel never had to be lonely, though, as "Ciel" usually kept him company: They'd play together - most often chess - eavesdrop on their father's meetings, etc. They were also schooled together; only for the fencing lessons, Ciel had to sit and watch his brother train with their aunt Francis Midford. After one such occasion, Ciel overheard Francis and Vincent talk about his suitability as "Ciel"'s spare. Over the years, Ciel's condition improved and he could join his family outside more often. On the brothers' tenth birthday, he was running through the manor when he came across his dead mother, father, and dog. He called for help and ran into Tanaka, who urged the young boy to flee. Before he could say more, however, Tanaka was attacked from behind by an unseen assailant, who then grabbed Ciel. Ciel and "Ciel" were then sold and their kidnappers commented that the former is "rare" and worth more than two people. They were bought and Ciel was branded by their new owners, giving him the mark of a "noble beast." He cried that he was hurt, dirty, and homesick. The twins' buyer initially treated them kindly, giving "Ciel" and Ciel a bath and treating them to a splendid feast, including game meat. Ciel, cheered by this turn of events, whispered to "Ciel" that he thinks they've been saved by "a really nice person." "Ciel," however, remained suspicious. They were both dressed and brought into a cathedral occupied by a cult. They declared that they wished to raise their king of corruption to a new level in power, and that "Ciel" and Ciel were lambs, pure and innocent souls, brought to fulfill that purpose by being defiled as the devil supposedly desired unclean and tainted souls. Ciel and "Ciel" were then attacked and violated. He was then chained in a cage while masked adults looked on and remarked about what a splendid evening they will have. Ciel sadly wondered why no one was there to help him. One of the masked adults then placed "Ciel" on a table as a sacrifice, and he was stabbed while the rest looked on gleefully. Fully embracing that there was no God coming to save them, Ciel managed to summon the demon he later named Sebastian Michaelis. He appeared in his true form and told Ciel that what he'd sacrificed will never return. Sebastian asked Ciel if he wanted to make a contract and have his wishes granted. Ciel declared that he wanted the power to take revenge on those who mistreated him. The cultists tried to stop him from talking, but Ciel and Sebastian forged their contract. Sebastian asked him where he wanted his seal, saying that the more visible it is, the stronger the contract is. Ciel told him that anywhere was fine and he wants a power stronger than anyone else's; Sebastian called him greedy and decided to put it on his right eye, causing Ciel to scream in excruciating pain. He then commanded him to kill his attackers; Sebastian then burnt down the building. Finally, Ciel stated his absolute orders: Sebastian must protect and never betray him, to obey his orders no matter what, and never to lie to him. The first place they went after these events was to the Royal London Hospital where his aunt worked; he was reunited with Tanaka and a carriage was arranged to bring him back to his manor. He and Sebastian viewed the ruined manor, then visited the graves of him and his parents. Sebastian left briefly, and when Ciel returned to him, he found the manor had been rebuilt by the demon. Ciel later took his place as the Earl of Phantomhive and the Queen's Watchdog. He established Funtom Corporation in the same year, fulfilling his childhood dream of opening a toy store in London. A year later, Ciel summoned Sebastian to his room, complaining of a wobbly tooth that was preventing him from eating his food properly. After examining it, Sebastian decided to forcibly take it out, much to Ciel's chagrin. Ciel attempted to protest the idea but Sebastian proceeded regardless under the impression that he was doing his young master a favor. After the tooth's removal, Ciel threw an angry fit at Sebastian. Ever since, he's been unwilling to allow Sebastian to check for cavities in his teeth when they start to wobble.