I just saw a tiktok that said "2024 Sebastian looks like he's getting pegged" and "2008 Sebastian looks like the one doing the pegging" and I don't think I'll be able to see 2024 Sebastian without thinking of this for at least the next 10 years.
Kuroshitsuji S4 | Ep3 | Oi, you there. Be friends with Ciel. Pardon? He made the prefects look like fools. As one of their drudges, it wouldn't do for me to forgive that. Hey, are you sure you can't? Hey, he's got some good points! Hey, I'm sure you two can talk this out. Hey! Hey! Hey, come on. Hey, come on. I'm talking to you! What is the matter with you?! Stop following me around! "He's a little like Ciel. Right, I'm bored! I'll go visit Ciel!"
I read somewhere that people were confused about the flaming person rising from the school in the OP and idk I took it as a metaphor for corruption? Like, it’s been a hot minute since I read the arc but isn’t the arc about how the environment festered in the school creates a pressure for tradition and righteousness so intense that this ends up with the golden children of the houses justifying murder?
I mean you could easily argue that the murder itself was a spur of the moment thing I guess, but the p4 very much tried to justify it with protecting the reputation of Weston. The very reason they don’t even REPORT Arden’s body and try to pretend he is still alive is because they are trying to protect the school’s traditions. It’s what allows the undertaker to take control of the head master’s spot - and with that the absolute power that these traditions give that role - in the first place. The P4 aren’t even really villains. You can tell the story isn’t trying to frame them as such, as they are shown trying their best even as they end up getting swept up in a cult and arc later. It’s the system, this harping on conservative traditions and strict power structures that produce evil. That’s the point. There are corpses running about - literally rotting the place from the inside out - because nobody questions those in power. Students literally throw stones at others from other houses.
The system is corrupt.
And well the fire person could very much symbolise what this kind of corrupt system breeds..destruction. Justifying murder. Hell, it would even fit Black butler specifically, considering fire is directly tied to Ciel’s tragedy and that in turn was most likely due to the phantom hives making some powerful enemies (most likely from the nobility) due to their activities as the queen’s watchdogs. Corruption leads to fire in black butler. If you want to argue that the phantomhives themselves are corrupt (they literally have a group called the noblemen of evil if I recall right) or the people who caused the fire were the corrupt ones or the system itself allowing for such an assassination attempt can be argued either way in my opinion. Wonder what that says about the circus incident though…
Anyway yeah I think the person in flames is a metaphor for the corruption of Weston college.