Black Butler Main Page | A to B | C to D | E to G | H to K | L to N | O to R | S to T | U to Z
Black Butler — Tropes L to N
open/close all folders
Tropes L
- Lady and Knight: Ciel and Sebastian's relationship can be read as a same-sex platonic variation of a Dark Lord and Black Knight. If nothing else, Sebastian sometimes bows to Ciel the same way a knight would bow to his lady (in the anime, he once does it while singing the words "My Fair Lady").
- Wolfram and Sieglinde also appear to have a platonic/parental version of this trope, overlapping with Battle Butler. But if Siegliende will ever learn she was manipulated all this time and try to escape the forest, Wolfram must immediately kill her.
- Lady of War:
- Elizabeth Midford. "Wife of the Queen's watchdog" indeed.
- Frances Midford as well.
- Literal Genie: Sebastian dutifully helps Ciel follow a dead lead and then parrots back Ciel's own instructions at him in explanation of why he didn't say anything about it being a dead end during the Jack the Ripper arc.
- In the Circus Arc, Sebastian releases venomous snakes in Ciel's vicinity, and when confronted explains that he was just following Ciel's orders.
- Locked Room Mystery: The Murder Mystery arc. It's even referenced by name, as part of a conversation that discusses how the circumstances are similar to plots commonly found in murder mystery novels.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Averted in the Blue Cult arc- it's just interesting and cheap entertainment, and the moment Ciel funds a better, bigger attraction next door the cult loses customers.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Ciel throws himself in front of a bear without a second thought to protect Elizabeth. This act also shows Elizabeth's mother, Frances Midford, that Ciel is more worthy of being her daughter's future husband than she had originally given him credit for. Still, that could be considered more heroic than crazy, since Ciel knows that if he is in danger of getting hurt, Sebastian can easily save him.
Tropes M
- Madness Mantra: "Snuff out the unclean, snuff out the useless, snuff out the barren."
- The Masquerade: Subverted in that Ciel and Sebastian reveal everything- including the fact that both they and Earl Grey work for the Queen, that they framed another man for Siemen's murder, and that Sebastian is a demon - to Wordsmith but still let him live, memory intact, since the mere thought of their power was enough to stop him from revealing the truth even after he became a famous writer of mysteries, just because Ciel liked his writing style.
- Played straight with the "werewolf village". There have been no werewolves at all, just soldiers in werewolf costumes, working on a military project concerning the new formula for a chemical weapon.
- Meaningful Name: "Phantomhive". Explicitly pointed out by the plot.
- Dr. Stoker and the Karnstein Hospital.
- Possibly on a Readers are Geniuses level—yes, Sebastian, it is mentioned in the manga, was named after Ciel's pet dog, but here's the other Sebastian Michaelis
, except his name is spelled "Sébastien Michaëlis". He was a French inquisitor who created a classification of demons. Considering that he lived during the early 17th century, this may even be a Canon Stealth Pun.
- Mexican Standoff: Between Ciel, Joker, Sebastian and Baron Kelvin.
- Morality Pet: Sebastian has his cat friends (and, possibly, Ciel himself, depending on character interpretation—whether he genuinely cares about Ciel or if he wants nothing more than to eat his soul), Ciel has his household staff and Elizabeth.
- Ms. Fanservice:
- Hannah, in the second season, appears half-naked in several occasions, with Clothing Damage to the point of improbability. Due the female fanbase, and possibly her role as a servile abuse victim, considered to be by many people Fan Disservice.
- Ran Mao from both the manga and anime is also an example, bearing cat ear-like Odango, showing off a lot of leg, being extremely flexible, and generally being very touchy-feely.
- Beast from the Circus Arc is another good example.
- Mey-Rin has her moments too. When not being really silly, that is.
- Multiple Demographic Appeal: Boy howdy. It has a number of Seinen themes (villain protagonists, child abuse, violence and gore, etc.), an art style not unlike that of a Shoujo series and a lot of subtext, but it's published in a Shonen magazine—though the themes of a Deal with the Devil, as well as the style of action, are not foreign to the Shonen genre.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Curry, candy, getting fitted for outfits, Easter, egg hunts, battle of the Boybands...
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Edward seems to feel this way about Ciel and Lizzie's relationship.
- Dagger towards Beast.
- Mythology Gag: Chapter 39 is pretty much a running one, mix and stir Shout-Out:
- Arthur does not think that A Study in Scarlet will be very popular, and doubts he'll write the character again.
- Sebastian is so full of grace that he could appear in an Oscar Wilde novel.
- Real Life people such as Patrick Phelps and Idol Singer Irene Diaz are among the guests, counting as a Genius Bonus, but the Myth Gag happens to be Irene and her producer dancing together.
Tropes N
- Named After Somebody Famous: Snake's snakes are named after an author or poet who was popular during the Victorian Era. Wordsworth may be from William Wordsworth, Goethe from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Emily and Bronte from Emily Brontë, Oscar and Wilde from Oscar Wilde, Keats from John Keats. Donne is derived from another English poet, John Donne.
- Never Given a Name:
- Demons have no names: the ones they sport like "Sebastian" are names given for convenience by their masters, and they will drop them after the latter die.
- Finnian had never been given a name prior to meeting Ciel. Being given a name was so important to him, it led to his Declaration of Protection for Ciel.
- After the death of Joker and the rest of the performers in Noah's Ark, the story reveals that "Joker" was a stage name and he was never given any other, because he never had any family to care for him before the (now dead) Circus members, who likely had similar stories.
- Nice to the Waiter: While Ciel's house staff are usually more trouble than they're worth, he always treats them kindly (or as kind as Ciel can be). Lampshaded several times by the staff themselves. Alois Trancy, on the other hand...not so much.
- No Badass to His Valet: Sebastian towards Ciel and vice-versa.
- In the anime's second season, Claude towards Alois.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: At least two historical variants, with both Arthur Conan Doyle and the RMS Titanic being featured without being fully named. The latter even has a shout-out to the film Titanic (1997).
- No Guy Wants an Amazon: What Elizabeth believes of Ciel and the reason she hid her badass side all along. She's also very self-conscious about the fact that she's taller than Ciel, having noticed Ciel's efforts to be seen as grown-up despite his young age. This has resulted in Lizzy behaving more childishly than she actually feels, much for the same reason she didn't let Ciel know she's a brilliant swordswoman.
- No Hero to His Valet: Sebastian towards Ciel, as he actually knows the full details in that Ciel will do anything for the queen, as well as Ciel's goal of revenge, along with his willingness to kill innocent people if he deems it necessary. Most people who don't know him personally treat Ciel as either a "hero" or someone to look up to because of how successful he is as a 13-year-old who runs a well-known company. There are some others besides Sebastian that know he is "the queen's dog", though they do not seem to know all of the details.
- Nonchalant Dodge: Sebastian makes plenty of these, as well as some of the other supernatural characters.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Sebastian and Claude.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: In the Blue Cult Arc, it turns out the Ciel we been following throughout the previous arcs was actually his twin brother and the name is used was actually his deceased brother, the real Ciel. The most darkest and tearjerker arc ever, Soma’s personality drastic change from a cheerful and friendly to a revengeful and broken person after Agni was killed and wants revenge on the unknown assassin who killed him. Elizabeth betrays Ciel for the real one to exposes his secret to her family and Scotland Yard. The real Ciel has been revived as a Bizarre Doll by Undertaker. Lastly, the real Ciel framed his brother identify thief and the mastermind of the Blue Cult. As the result, Ciel lost his title as Earl and his brother ends up becomes the successful heir to the Phantomhive house.
- Now You Tell Me: Just after Ciel monologues to himself how vital first impressions are at Weston College, he steps on the grass. Instant silence occurs and everyone around him whispers how he just made a huge faux-pas as nobody but the prefects are given permission to step on the grass.
