- You were sort of right. Elliot does disappear. As in, he dies.
- As for Leo disappearing, he does get taken away by Vincent in Retrace 61. Not that this stops him from appearing the next chapter, though.
- Retrace LIX makes this... *cough* most likely.
- Except Leo actually is the reincarnation of Glen.
- Lottie being related to Lacie in a familial sense is very unlikely with the revelation that Lacie is Oswald-Glen's younger sister, and the two have been together since they were children. Lottie may be a Baskerville, but it would be incredibly odd for her to be Oswald-Glen's servant if she were related to the two of them unless neither party knew about it.
- Unlikely now that it's been revealed that Oz is not the reincarnation of Jack but rather the chain B-rabbit who is using Jack's body. Retrace 76 also reveals that the Will hates Jack for what he did to her and her sister and willingly had her own memories shattered so as to never be able to help him again. The suspected Break the Cutie and Mind Rape do occur, however, courtesy of Jack himself.
- I FULLY SUPPORT THIS!
- Jossed, but not a bad guess as to what Jack’s named after.
- Confirmed as of Retrace LXXIV.
- Jossed. Alice and the Will of the Abyss are Lacie's twin daughters, born after Lacie was cast into the Abyss as part of a Baskerville tradition because she was a Child of Misfortune.
- We already have the twins in the form of Echo and Zwei as split personalities, as well as the chain Doldum. As for the others, we are still in the wait.
- Sharon is the Duchess, as I heard it.
- This is probably unlikely given her personality, but in recent chapters there is a chain that resembles a humanoid pig in a dress that attacks with a butcher's knife which seems to fit better (since the Duchess tends to be portrayed as extremely ugly, and her baby turns into a pig)
- I support Vincent falling for Ada, and I have a reason for it aside Shipping Googles. Vincent sisnce to get along better with those considered "weird" as he was a weirdo before; that's how he met Noise/Echo. And while in his plan to corrumpt Ada he discoveres that Ada is a Nightmare Fetishist, so someone "weird" as well, but that still can radiate light and light up his darkness. Ada defending him despite her lack of any strength just started to cement it.
- Confirmed, sort of. He pulls a Break Her Heart to Save Her moment to get her to safety in the final chapter, and he asks Gilbert to tell Ada he died so Ada will move on and live a normal life without him, as he has stopped aging while she hasn’t.
- How did it happen that Glen's silhouette appeared to him in Chapter 58, though? Also, even Jack said that Leo's still alive shortly after skewering him with B-Rabbit's chain.
- Jack could have lied. Easily. He could have been lying all along. We don't see afterwards... at least, not yet.
- Retrace 70 has confirmed that Leo really does survive getting impaled with B-Rabbit's chain.
- Jossed by Retrace LXXIV through having Gilbert shoot Oz unwillingly as an immediate response to Leo's command.
- How did it happen that Glen's silhouette appeared to him in Chapter 58, though? Also, even Jack said that Leo's still alive shortly after skewering him with B-Rabbit's chain.
- Jossed by Retrace LXX: Oz. He is not Jack's son. He is, however, Jack's Chain.
- This is answered in the story. Red-eyed people were only reviled as “Children of Ill Omen” in the days before the Tragedy of Sablier. By the present day, that stigma has largely disappeared.
- As of Retrace 77, this seems to be correct. He was at least aware of Oz's true nature, and was confronted by Oz/Jack when they returned from the Abyss for the first time.
- And Retrace 78 confirms this. After being rejected by the Abyss, Jack was trapped in an endless cycle of reversed aging to infancy and back again. Over time, his soul was eroded until only Oz remained in control of the body. He asks Zai to adopt him as his son when he reaches infancy again, since his own son is going to die after being born. Little surprise that Zai hates him.
- Retrace 78 indicates that Jack had no intention of doing that, and indeed had no idea that it had happened at first. In addition, Jack isn't the one who turned Oz into the most powerfu; Chain - the Will of the Abyss did so that he would be able to grant Jack's wish.
Ok, this is going to be long, so bear with me. The Core of Abyss is the mind of Abyss, the creator of the world and therefore god. But it is, to borrow a term from the Cthulhu mythos, a blind idiot god, not in the sense that it's some horrible abomination, but in the sense that it is barely aware, with an undeveloped mind. It's more a primal force than anything else, and created the world simply because that's what its nature is.
One basic desire it had even from the start was the desire to exist, and this influenced both the world and Abyss. Abyss would give life to things without them, and life developed in the human world as well. In addition, the Baskervilles, special messengers chosen by Abyss, were created in order to protect it. None of this was a conscious decision on the part of the Core, simply a consequence of its ability to influence reality.
At some point, one of the previous Glens interacted with the Core, and this caused the Core's mind to develop more. But since the Core has an unstable, undeveloped mind, any additional emotions or thoughts it gains have potentially horrible effects on the world. The darkness that used to exist at the heart of the Abyss was the result of this. The Core simply gained a new feeling, loneliness, and as a result a destructive all consuming darkness took over part of the Abyss, and the world was probably destabilized as well. Realizing how dangerous interacting with the Core was, the Baskervilles banned anyone from approaching it except for Glen, and only then in extreme circumstances.
[ Unfortunately, because the Core was now lonely, people in the world began to be born with red eyes, people with the ability to touch the Core. Because the Core wanted to interact with people. The Glens, fearing what further interaction with the Core would bring about, decided they had no choice but to throw such people into the darkness of Abyss where they would be destroyed and removed from the cycle of souls, to ensure that no further destabilization of the Core occurred.
But then something unexpected happened. Someone was born who was both a child of ill omen, and a Baskerville: Lacie. Maybe the Core was growing increasingly lonely, and this was the result. And since Levi was more interested in his experiments than upholding his duty as Glen, he let Lacie go to Abyss. There, she sensed the presence of the Core and began to interact with it, the thing every Baskerville (aside from Levi) feared the most. Fortunately, her initial interactions did not have a drastic effects. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to completely remove the Core's loneliness, as she always had to leave, and at first at least, Oz wasn't much of a companion. When Lacie was cast into the darkness and destroyed, though, several things happened. First, the Core merged with White Alice, and thus was no longer lonely, because it was now literally as close to someone as it was possible to be, at all times. Thus, the initial distortion caused by Glen disappeared. But, the Core was sad that Lacie was gone forever, and so it gained sadness now. More distortions were created, and a different type of darkness consumed all of Abyss.
This explains why the heart of the Abyss, where the Core dwells, used to have a darkness that destroyed everything, but doesn't seem to anymore. After all, that's where the Will of Abyss dwells now, but we saw from when Break showed up there that it wasn't much different from the rest of Abyss, and Break wasn't being consumed, simply transformed into a Chain like he would elsewhere in Abyss, albeit quicker.
If this theory is correct, Oz, someone whom the Core knew even before merging with White Alice, is going to be very important in finding a way to fix things.
Not only does Jack shrink again and again to the age of a child, it happens over and over, which implies that he can't stay as an adult. Also note how he goes under a fake identity and pretends to be someone else. Also, Oz is a lot more like Shinichi than we think, what with the lying to protect people you love thing, the self-sacrifice concept, etc.
Every time he takes over Oz's body, he can only stay there for a short period of time and he seems sweaty, just like a certain detective.
The only difference is that the Core of the Abyss was pissed at Jack and gave him it to teach him a lesson.
She was murdered as a child and died at age thirteen. Also, she has an older sister who mourns her loss. Her friendly neighbor Jack, was really evil and tried to murder her. Only this time, Suzie has power over Mr. Harvey (who is Jack reincarnated).
They both have the same title and have to do with the Abyss.
Why else would Oscar freak out about Oz snatching it when he was little?
- Jossed. The key is actually Oscar's wife's engagement ring.
- Except, as revealed, Kayo is not a yandere. The reason she killed Kai and his family is because he was the one behind her husband and son's death, and she was envious of the fact that he had a family while he caused the death of hers. The Tailor Shop On Enbizaka was actually entirely a dream Kayo had via her Purple Cloud abiity and misinterpreted.
After his youngest daughter slaughtered the rest of the Sinclair family with her Chain, Roman was the last one standing. The Chain wounded him, but not fatally- it couldn't, because his daughter's incuse completed its revolution and she was now being dragged down into the Abyss. Roman rushed to her side, causing him to be sent to the Abyss as well.
The two of them found themselves in the Intention's room, just like Break had. The daughter at this point was out of her mind and mistook the Intention as just another human to feed her chain. Naturally, the Intention put an end to her quickly, and noticed that Roman was still alive and kicking. "Yes... you will be a fine one..."
Roman spent the last of his days wandering the Abyss and harboring a deep grudge against the Intention for killing his daughter, and in turn the rest of his family, as well as the existence of the place and creatures she commanded in general. He vowed, though he was doomed to roam this hell and die/become a Chain, that he would remain true to himself until the end. He found that his fate was to be the latter, and so clung to his conviction of opposing everything of the Abyss. These feelings allowed him to become the extremely powerful Abyss-terminating Chain known as Mad Hatter.
Enter Kevin.
By this time, Roman was accustomed to being Mad Hatter and reigned in the Abyss for many years as a terror among terrors. Even so, not once had he made a single contract prior. He rejected anyone who tried, finding them unworthy somehow.
But then Kevin, his loyal, warm-hearted knight Kevin appears suddenly before him after an endless eternity (ever since,in his view, the knight disappeared mysteriously four years before his daughter made a contract. He assumed that he had been too hard on him and that drove him away.) Mad Hatter peered into Kevin's eye and saw that the glimmer has faded, the gentle nobility corroded, and the warmth now a quiet, cold sorrow. The Chain saw that whatever happened to his young former knight had broken him, and that there was no way he'd refuse him now.
The Mad Hatter spent a destructive, lonely existence in the darkness. But now there was a chance to gain a part of his old life, his heart, and his light back, and to thank the person who had so dutifully served and cared for his family by serving him in turn.
Even if that person would never know it.
- Leon was once a warrior, "brave as a lion" as he'd often been called.
- March Hare was a timid, frail person who was once in a deadly conflict, but he saved himself by pretending to be dead.
- Bandersnatch was a free spirit, a rogue who worked in the shadows. Perhaps they were a bounty hunter as a human, or a thief who stole only for themselves and the ones they cared about.
- Equus was a skillful, suave courier and spy. Like Bandersnatch, she worked in the shadows anonymously.
- Albus was the Commander of the king's royal army. He manipulated his way into that high position, but he was once a noble warrior who cared deeply for morals. But war had hurt and changed him, and he then he found it fit to do whatever it takes, no mater how abhorrent, to defend everything he held dear. He believed that the Intention could grant him a wish, seeking her out even after he became a Chain.
- Duldum was a girl who suffered from bipolar disorder. She was friendless due to her strange, sporadic behavior and was lonely for most of her life before becoming a Chain. She seeked desperately for a person who could stay with her, understand her, and as a Chain, found that person in the form of Noise (and later Echo.)
- etc.
- Jossed, it's a locket Sheryl gave Rufus to hold on to.
- No. Mad Hatter never had any will. It has no mind or awareness, and I think upon the death of its contractor it dissipates, goes back to being part of him, like the theory lower down suggests. Either that or Reim goes to the abyss for a new Chain and finds Break waiting for him, wearing that hat and the ragged cape.
Now, people wishing themselves out of existence only works for the reset after that wish, so once Gil resets it so that he was never born, Vincent wishes to have had someone to protect him. Just one person who cared if he lived or died. In the reality following that one Gil wishes that Jack had never met Miranda, so she couldn't make Vincent open the door to the Abyss. Then Vincent wishes that someone saved him and Gil from the streets when they were children, so Gil would still be alive. I know this wish is a bit odd, but it's a domino effect: because if Jack hadn't met Miranda he would not have been alive to save them. Then it comes back to the reality of the first wish, and the story we know.
And every time the world resets it becomes more cracked. In the original reality there were no Black Winged Chains, or chains holding the world together, just one solid whole and some moderately powerful chains held by the Glen. But that whole cracks with every reset, and with every one of those powerful wishes, a Chain is born.
A Black Winged Chain.
Raven first, born of Gil's wish that someone stopped him, and then the others in any order following. Every time there was a Tragedy, it was that new chain that Jack made his contract of destruction with, since Chains that can hold the world-chains together should logically be able to break them as well. But the thing that makes this final reset different, instead of another Black Winged Chain being born of the reset, a rabbit was born instead. and because that rabbit is who he is, Oz the lovable, this time it will work out.
- In a way, this becomes both true and false. Oz does not become the new Will of the Abyss (in fact, the Will is removed from power and not replaced at all), but Oz's body (formerly Jack's body) does become the Core's new vessel, having already adapted to intense Abyssal power from housing Oz for so long. Oz is then reincarnated. So, the Pandora Hearts Universe's new god-figure isn't Oz, but they are wearing Oz's face.
- Yeah! I've had the same thought. Besides, it would make sense that for the Will to ceate a chain that destroyed things of the Abyss, she would have to work with something not of the Abyss for the base of it. She used Break's soul to create Mad Hatter.
- This troper contests this logic: that doesn't make sense. First, the first manifestation of destructive Abyssal power was a black hole inside the Abyss caused by the Core's loneliness. Second, Oz himself is a Chain based in destruction—in fact, his powers seem to be that of total destruction—and Oz himself was created within the Abyss from Abyssal energy with no living base. Further, all things in "reality" are heavily implied to have been created by the dreams and wishes of the Core of the Abyss, meaning nothing is truly separate from the Abyss and that closeness to the Abyss is more a matter of degree. While none of these facts contradict the idea that Mad Hatter could have been a part of Break, these canon facts run against the logic that something not of the Abyss is needed to destroy things from the Abyss because everything with even greater destructive powers originates even more from the Abyss than the Mad Hatter does.
- It's implied by Break himself that the Intention created Mad Hatter solely for his use. Therefore, this theory isn't at all implausible.
- Jossed: Given the story of events, this is unlikely as Oz is technically Jack's chain, as a soul in Jack's body.
- As of retrace 102 it isn't so Jossed. The contract with Jack is over and Oz is no longer in that body. To get him back Alice and Gil will probably both make contracts with him, because like Humpty Dumpty, B-rabbit originally had more than one body.
- Jossed again. Oz makes a contract with the Alice twins in order to use his destructive powers to separate the Will of the Abyss from the Core, completing the wish she entrusted to Break and returning the Abyss to the golden paradise it once was, which in turn restabilizes reality from Jack's damage. However, killing his own Contractor simultaneously kills Oz as well, and when we next see him again, he's been reincarnated, so the likelihood of him taking up the Chain's role in a contract is very unlikely.
- That was a mistranslation, it was supposed to be "brother Xerx".
- Think about it, it is a formerly golden paradise, but now a place of nightmares, and the first half of the incantation to summon the power of the Sea and L-sama was: darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night, thou who shines like gold upon the sea of chaos. and the other incantation began with the phrase, Lord of Dreams that terrify. What does that sound like? The Abyss!
- It probably wouldn't ever come up, but it could very well be that Levi is an ancestor of them both. Likewise, Zwei could be a great-great-great-grandchild or great-great-great-grandniece of Break, since he stated the Regnards were a House that produced knights. He could very easily have surviving relatives.
- Jossed. At least Zwei being a great grandniece of Breaks is Josssed. Zwei lived in Sablier, and knew Vincent. Zwei predates Break.
- It probably wouldn't ever come up, but it could very well be that Levi is an ancestor of them both. Likewise, Zwei could be a great-great-great-grandchild or great-great-great-grandniece of Break, since he stated the Regnards were a House that produced knights. He could very easily have surviving relatives.
- Brilliantly deconstructed in Retrace LVII. It was actually Leo who composed Lacie, and Elliot's nightmares were actually of when he murdered his brothers to protect his servant. Elliot is really a contractor of Humpty Dumpty, which is a Chain that was specifically designed to protect the current Glen. Humpty tampered with his memories, making him really believe that he composed Lacie, that there was a 'Headhunter' murdering his family, and that he didn't have a seal on his chest.
- And Jossed. Glen's current vessel is actually Leo. And there really was a headhunter all along, and his name is Vincent Nightray.
- Two Headhunters. Technically Elliot was one as well.
- Also, similar to Hohenheim, Oscar had an ailing wife.
- FINALLY, someone agrees with me!!
- You know what happens when the glasses come off, the hair is brushed, and the clothes are tighter...
- His eyes really are pretty after all.
- This other troper also strongly believes he, not Vincent, was the one who killed "Alice" in the past - but that part is still very fuzzy.
- Jossed: Jack Vessalius is the Big Bad Magnificent Bastard behind all this, manipulating every detail from the past.
- No... No! You can't take him too! He's my brother! Take my arm! Take my leg! Take my heart, anything, you can have it! Just give him back! He's my little brother! He's all I have left!
- You want this right eye of mine don't you? If that is what you desire, I shall give it to you! Be it my arms, my legs... I grant you whatever your heart desires!
- As of Retrace LVII, this has been proven wrong. Elliot is the 'Head Hunter', and Humpty Dumpty's contractor.
- Retrace LXI also shows that Vincent has been the true Head Hunter all along, and Humpty Dumpty was just a copycat.
- I am so waiting for this to happen. Bonus points if it happens in the middle of the fiery hell that is Isla Yura's staging
- Aaaand as it turns out Reim wasn't dead at all. March Hare induces 'false death'. Not quite a 'resurrection', but hey, at least Reim's back!.
Somebody (probably Glen) tried to bring her back, but by that time, the Abyss had already gotten to her, deforming both her appearance and mind, although not completely. And what we have when the "Chainification" is left halfway done? BAM! Split personalities! That would explain why Alice didn't change all that much physically (giant rabbit form notwithstanding) from human to chain, her body was already previously modified. And thanks to the Abyss not having someone in charge, it went bananas with her mind, wiping her mind clean of her previous memories, leaving a teenager body with the mentality of a little child. Somehow, she and her "chain-half" became deeply bound to the Abyss, which turned her into a valuable asset to have. But her resemblance to Lacie was so disturbing to the Baskervilles that they put her into that tower, to avoid having any sort of contact with "such a mockery of that person".
- If that's so, then it's also possible that B-Rabbit!Alice is the Lacie Glen wants back. After all, the present Alice is rather different from both black and white Alices of 100 years ago. It's possible that the present Alice was the result Glen wanted.
- Jossed. Alice is Lacie's daughter, cast out of the Abyss after Lacie gave birth to her there. And the Will of the Abyss is Alice's twin sister. She was never cast back into the real world, but their link gave them the power to switch places. Both of them are the result of an experiment by Levi, the Glen before Oswald, who impregnated Lacie before she was cast into the Abyss for being a Child of Misfortune in order to see whether the child would give the "core of the abyss" a form and a will. He got what he wanted. Yes, chapter 69 was just about the biggest Info Dump yet. And it works.
This theory came from my noticing the form of B-Rabbit during the Tragedy of Sablier and comparing it to the usual B-Rabbit (the Uber-Posh Rabbit that he is). Oz was clearly in agony during the Tragedy, and while at first I thought this deformation was a stylistic choice, Retrace 99 only solidifies this fact: the figure of B-Rabbit looses its usual defined form during the Tragedy and warps into this... thing, whose eyes honestly reminds me of the rabbit form Alyss took in the beginning of the manga. That is, horrifically deformed and looking to be in utter agony.
As Alice's attempted memory wipe rebounded on herself but didn't affect Jack (and didn't even fully affect Alyss), I don't think it's entirely likely it was what broke Oz's memories either. Plus, Oz easily retrieves them once Jack forces him to confront this truth, while Alice, even post-revelations, was not in possession of her own memories after this incident; she had to be re-given them by the Abyss. It's more likely that Oz broke his own memories, his own mind, struggling too hard against the bonds he was entrapped in, which caused the actual physical deformation of B-Rabbit and the damage to his memories that held up until late into the series. It's clear the more warped B-Rabbit becomes, the more Oz himself is screaming and fighting Jack's orders—you can visibly see B-Rabbit's physical appearance destabilizing as Retraces heavy with Sablier flashbacks go on. But the contract is, at the time, too strong—Jack's soul is whole and overpowering, and Oz's is young and newly formed and has yet to fully develop. And so it is Oz that breaks, and it is Oz that sleeps for 100 years—until Jack's will is almost completely gone.
This is also likely one of the reasons why Jack tricked Zai and let him know it; not only did it lead Zai to throwing Oz into the Abyss, but it essentially guaranteed the very flawed Zai would be an abusive prick to Oz, and the more broken Oz is emotionally, the less he can fight Jack's will. Despite Jack seeing Oz as an inanimate object, he was still wary of him - which was savvy of him, considering his fears come true: when Oz restabilizes his mind and begins to pull together the parts of him that had been shattered or rejected—when he fully becomes all that is "just Oz"—Oz completely turns the tables on who's the dominant personality in their situation, until it is Jack who is the warped, destabilized shade.
The deformation of B-Rabbit is a physical manifestation of Oz's mental trauma and the source of his PTSD that we see during his early manga Freak Outs. We do know for a fact that the events inflicted horrific damage to Oz's young mind, as even while suffering amnesia, Oz still hears his own tortured screams and pleas in the depths of the Hole at Sablier. The line Oz says when he first revisits the Hole and has his mental breakdown - "I have to destroy it" - may indeed refer to Jack's order with the chains that hold up reality—but given that Oz is hearing his own tortured screams, it may also refer to Oz's own contract with Jack, which his half-remembering mind is incompletely lashing out against without understanding fully why or how.
