Episode 5 – Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc

What do men have to do with werewolves? As far as we know, Wolfram is the only human(?) male in the hidden village, and this week, the village women specifically call out Sieglinde for allowing men to stay. Add to this Oscar’s report that Anne smells like a werewolf (specifically her bosom and areas under her dress), and we have two potential obvious answers. The first is that the women and the werewolves are one and the same. The second? That the village men are all werewolves, and they’re the husbands and brothers, and sons of the women. That would explain how the village has continued to maintain its population (assuming they’re not immortal, and Sieglinde’s story about why she and her foremothers all have their feet bound seems to imply that they’re not) and also why the women are so specifically concerned that most of Ciel’s entourage is male. What if, all those centuries ago, the village men made a pact to become werewolves to protect the women? And what if all men are viewed as threats based on the events of long ago? Maybe the villagers aren’t worried about themselves – they could be afraid of what their pet wolves will do to the outsiders.

It’s all just conjecture at this point, and it certainly doesn’t explain how Wolfram can maintain human form when potentially none of the other men can. But it would explain a lot about the way the mysterious little town works, and may even offer a hint as to why Ciel and Sebastian are infected with the wolfpox. What if it’s the transformation agent, and neither of them, nor the other infected men we’ve seen, are compatible with the spell? We already know it has to be supernatural in origin since it infected Sebastian, and I think we’d better keep a close eye on Finny, since he was lacerated by a werewolf’s claws.

This episode is more about the questions than the answers, and it works remarkably well for something that barely gives us any new information. The main takeaways are the truth about the secret room and Anne’s scent, and neither of those really provides anything solid. Sieglinde’s duties as the Emerald Witch involve dealing with the werewolves somehow, and it may be that she’s trying to break the spell, although she could also be reinforcing it. Her panic when a werewolf breaks into Ciel’s room and attacks Finny is real (and spiced with a bit of anger), which may indicate that the wolves are no more pleased about the outsiders’ presence than the witches. Sieglinde seems to be caught in a precarious balancing act: she knows her duties and that she must fulfill them, but she also yearns for the outside world. That’s why she’s letting the Phantomhive crew stay; she wants to see new people and hear about the world outside the forest. Her delight in the dress Sebastian makes her is about how free it makes her feel – literally, in that Victorian children’s clothing was among the first to allow for free movement (previously kids were dressed like miniature adults), but also figuratively in that it allows her to pretend she’s someone and somewhere else. She’s conflicted about letting them go because of what she’d lose…although the villagers make it clear that she’s risking something else by allowing them to stay.

On a different note, the subtitles this week make a specific change in how Sieglinde is addressed. Previously, the title “frau” was used, which more typically signifies a married woman, or one being granted the “courtesy title” of married woman as a sign of respect. But now the subs are using “fraulein,” or “miss,” the signifier for an unmarried woman. It honestly makes a lot more sense in context, because in a time before “ms.” it’s patently ridiculous to call a child “mrs.” But it also may indicate that there was nothing symbolic going on with the frau appellation, and someone just decided to shift to the other because it fit better in context. I’m enough of a language nerd that I’ll be keeping an eye on that going forward.

We’re going to have to start getting some answers soon. Ciel is still locked in a past where a second version of him lives, and Sebastian is getting closer and closer to the truth, with the help of Snake’s snakes. Queen Victoria isn’t going to sit and wait much longer, as her dispatching of John Brown shows (bonus points for her writing on mourning stationery), which means Sebastian may need to work more quickly.

Werewolves versus demons – which one would win in a fight? I think we’ll find out before too much longer.

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