Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc

Episode 9

Once upon a time, a little girl was imprisoned in a castle in a dark forest by her mother, who was a wicked witch. The witch told a wolf to guard her daughter, and the wolf took that to mean that he was to protect her from harm as much as it meant he ought to keep her from leaving. The little girl loved the wolf, and, over time, the wolf came to love her as well. But one day, the witch's spell keeping the girl in the castle was broken, and the wolf was charged with retrieving the girl so that she could be imprisoned once more. Is that what the wolf was always meant to do? Or is his duty to protect the girl from those who would harm her…including her mother, the witch?

There's a sort of tragedy about Wolfram that I think this episode shows very well, especially in conjunction with last week's. It's clear that the elder thought of him as a tame wolf, someone who would do as he was told before honoring his personal feelings. And he has done that – as the nearly five-minute recap reminds us, he was the one who broke little Sieglinde's feet to bind them. But the recap also makes it clear that he adores her in a fatherly way. And how could he not? Unlike Frau Sullivan, Wolfram sees Sieglinde as a person, not a brain, and he's cared for her for so long that it feels natural that he'd come to see himself as a parental figure. But what's also striking is that none of the other soldiers hired by Frau Sullivan seem to share his sentiments – Grete, specifically, has zero compunctions about risking Sieglinde's life to kill Finny. That means that Wolfram could very well be Sieglinde's only ally in this twisted fairy tale, but that requires him to break free of whatever brainwashing he may have suffered at Frau Sullivan's hands.

Once again, Finny serves as the foil for his development, much in the same way he mirrored Sieglinde's. While we don't know Wolfram's backstory, we can see that he's much less free than Finny, even as both of them use the directives given to them as guideposts. Finny, as you recall, is named for Irish folk hero Finn, and as he runs through the forest carrying Sieglinde and Tiny Tanaka, he uses that name and the memory of how he got it to give him the strength and speed to keep Sieglinde safe. He'll outrun the rabbit and fight better than the stag, just like in the tales, and he'll do it not because Ciel ordered him to, but because Ciel saved him. Saving Sieglinde feels like the natural order of things, doing for her what Ciel did for him. Wolfram, on the other hand, is torn between his love for Sieglinde and his desire to keep her safe and the knowledge of what her mother will continue to make her do. I think he knows that bringing her back to the hidden village won't be helping Sieglinde – it would be breaking her feet all over again. But he's also fighting against orders he's spent a long time following. He doesn't have a Ciel to tell him that he's free; he only has Grete barking orders at him. It underlines the idea that all of the Phantomhive servants were given both salvation and the opportunity to do something with it. All Wolfram has are emotions that conflict with his orders and a lot of turmoil.

All that aside, this is also a great episode visually. Wolfram and Baldo's fight scene is dynamic, and the animation uses the dark shadows of the forest to make Wolfram's moves look even more menacing. The reveal of Ciel in Sieglinde's dress is exquisitely done, but Tanaka steals the show when he returns to his true form and whips out his sword. The decision to put that scene in black and white was a good one, because it gives Tanaka his moment to shine while emphasizing his age and skill. And of course, Finny's leap from the cliff shares a visual link with the Peter Pan symbolism of Ciel and Sebastian showing up at Sieglinde's window to take her away a few weeks ago.

Things are looking dire for the Phantomhive entourage, although Sebastian is still waiting in the wings, sated by his gleeful violence and determined to be on time for breakfast. It's a good thing that an old friend has turned up to keep an eye on his late friend's son.

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Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.