Oh hey also while I’m talking about names in VnC that may or may not be references, here’s some fun facts for you:
The final king of France, famous for his execution via guillotine, was named King Louis XVI! And! The first person executed for royalism at the start of the French Reign of Terror, another quite famous beheading, was a man named Louis Collenot d’Angremont :D.
So since my very first read of VnC, one thing has been haunting me, and that’s the dhampirs’ names.
Lots of VnC characters’ names are references, and with every character but the dhams, it’s immediately obvious why the references are there. Veronica de Sade is a sadist. Doctor Moreau is a mad scientist. Jean Chastel was a real-world hunter that claimed to shoot the beast of Gévaudan. None of this is exactly subtle.
And then we have the dhams.
The dhampirs’ names are all references to Dante’s divine comedy. Dante is the author and narrator, Riche is short for Beatrice—Dante’s guide through Paradise, and Johann was the name of Dante Alighieri’s first publisher. But what do the dhampirs have to do with the story of a poet being given a tour of heaven and hell?
For ages I’ve been assuming that we’d have to wait for some future event to make the Divine Comedy reference relevant, but today an alternate explanation finally hit me, and now I’m wondering if Mochijun might be playing on the idea of guides. Because Dante is the closest the closest thing Vanitas and Noé have to a guide through this world of curse bearers that they work in.
The Divine Comedy is famous because it’s the poem that brought structure to the afterlife. It’s the origin of the levels of hell that are referenced so often in pop culture. It is, especially in Inferno, a work that brings order to chaos. It’s also a work that centers around the idea of guides, with three different guide figures appearing at different points to guide Dante on his journey through the afterlife.
Dante might not be a literal guide, but he is, in a very real way, shaping the direction of Vanitas’s revenge quest, because he’s his information broker. He’s the one that tells him about the beast of Gévaudan, about where to find the nine-fold murderer, and about the Chasseurs’ connection to the vampire abductions. Curse bearers are an inherently hard to track phenomenon, with Naenia seemingly popping up at random all over both worlds, but Dante’s always there to tell Vanitas where to go.
The dhams, with Dante at the head, are Vanitas and Noé’s very own trio of guides, just like in the poem about a trio of guides that their names come from.
Y'know, if Noé continues down the path of becoming adversarial to teacher, it’s quite possible that teacher and/or the rest of the de Sades might decide to cut him off. We know he has money in the bank from the de Sades, and some access to vampire high society through Dominique, but I wonder how easy it would be for him to be cut off from all that.
I also wonder, if the de Sades found out that Noé has turned against their father/grandfather, whether they might try to cut him off from Dominique. I can totally see a future where Domi is forced to choose between supporting Noé vs teacher or staying with her family, and though that should be an easy choice, abuse does funny things to people, and I’m curious how hard it might be for her to leave.
Or alternatively, there’s also the incredibly creepy option where none of this happens. If Noé fully turns against teacher, and teacher doesn’t cut him off, how long do you think it’d take Noé to notice that that’s wrong?
It feels totally in-character to me for teacher to continue supporting Noé financially even as he fights to stop him, since he seems to view Noé much more as an amusement than a serious threat, and there’s something rather unnerving about that.
So I was rereading chapter 4, and uh, this little lie of Vanitas’s gets a lotmore uncomfortable given the new info we got in 55.5.
It’s so interesting to me how there’s certain things that Vanitas is quite sensitive about and does not want to discuss, unless he can turn that discussion into theater and weaponize it against those around him.
Like, the most obvious example of this is his speech at the bal masqué, but he’s totally doing the same thing here. He parades his desire for revenge as part of his introduction speech to the vampires, then lies about not really wanting revenge when Noé asks him about it in the morning, because the truth is his vengeance is a sensitive subject.
Here, meanwhile, he’s weaponizing the fact that nobody else knows what it means to be the kin of the blue moon. We know that the loss of his humanity is an incrediblyvulnerable thing for Vanitas, and something that he avoids bringing up to anyone for as long as possible, and yet here he is referencing that very idea. He can’t admit that he really is being made into something inhuman by his use of the book, but he can lie about having a powerful, presumably inhuman “true form” due to his kinship with Luna, because that’s what will win him this fight. He just has to turn up the false theatricality to eleven in order to say it.
What he says here is really quite close to the sensitive truth, but he’s fine, because it’s all part of the act.
I just realized that the melody of If You Want to Save Her (the soundtrack to the big vanoé fight) is actually a remixed version of The Destiny Waltz (the soundtrack to when Vanitas and Noé first meet).
So in other news, I’m suing Yuki Kajiura for emotional damages
Not to go trying to make VnC into Moulin Rouge again, but I’m thinking a lot about young men in Paris with lost loves and stories to tell and how it all fits into Vanitas and Noé.
Vanitas is going to die. He’s a living reminder of death. He’s been doomed since chapter one. But, though this technically hasn’t been confirmed, I’m certain that Noé is using the written story of him and Vanitas as a form of preservation.
Along with that idea, I think about this line from mémoire 1 way too often:
Because, unless future context majorly changes the meaning here, I’d like to think that will Vanitas accepting Noé’s method of preserving him.
His death is going to be tragic no matter what, but if Noé drinks his blood, if he comes to know him totally, his memory will be preserved as best as it possibly could be. And though it’s a mushy idea, I’d like to think that maybe Vanitas and Noé can both take just a small bit of comfort in the idea that, even after his death, a part of him will live on with Noé. And by writing the story down, Noé can make that preservation permanent.
Funny that people actually think vanitas is going to kill noè or vice versa and talking bad about them because of it…
Just wait ‘till you see Vanitas cry hard above Noè because he can’t bring himself to kill the boy that is very dear to him. Just wait 'till you see how they protect each other with their fight with Misha.
Just wait 'till you see how they make up at the rooftop, exposing all their vulnerabilities with no fear, showing how deeply they trust each other. They are both hurt and sad but they are able to make each other feel assured that everything’s fine, leaning against each other while smiling… with a bit of teasing… and laughs here and there. Tears are present but they are both happy.
Their bond became stronger than ever.
Wait until you see Vanitas personally making a tarte tatin, which we all know is Noè’s favorite, as a way of making up to him and a way of saying sorry for all he’d done and said.
Y'know, Vanitas and Noè are both broken individuals but they heal and complete each other in a way that no one can ever do in the story.
OMG According to the translators, Vanitas is making tarte tatin for Noè. It’s Vani’s way of making up with him and Noè is very very excited and happy about it. Even Dante and Amelia is smiling at them!❤️
It’s really canon guys! it is not an omake, not a bonus manga but really happened in chapter 56 of the manga! Everyone, say thank you Mochijun!
