Sebastian Michaelis—Character History
Sebastian Michaelis is the demon butler of the Phantomhive household. Here he manages all the affairs of the Phantomhive estate, protects his master Ciel Phantomhive and is responsible for carrying out his young master's wishes.
He is one hell of a butler who is extremely famous in the wider anime community as one of the most popular characters from the cult classic Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji) and is known as the epitome of perfection as a butler, as one can be.
He is ridiculously good at his job, and although no one knows what he does in his past time, one thing is for sure, Sebastian loves cats, and at one point, he even kept 13 cats hidden away in his closet to prevent Ciel from finding out.
But aside from this trivia, he is a very interesting character, so let's take a look at the life of Sebastian Michaelis and see what the demon butler has in store for us.
Early Life
Although not much is known about the great demon's life before he met Ciel and made his contract, from what Sebastian has told Ciel, we can pretty much figure out what kind of life he has lived out so far.
According to Sebastian himself, humans live for a concise amount of time and, if he were to talk about it from the perspective of a demon, Ciel's life, or rather any human’s life for that matter, feels like an instant.
And in his long life, he has spent a significant part of it tasting every single type of cuisine the world had to offer, and then he settled on the highest quality of souls to be the perfect dish that can satiate his appetite.
He knows how to speak French and Latin proficiently and can even teach the latter. He probably learned these languages in his prior visits to the Human world when he made contracts with other humans.
He is also proficient in Deutsch and East Franconian dialect, spoken mainly in Southern Germany. He has also visited the Schönbrunn Palace in the past and knows how to perform the Viennese waltz.
Demon Summoning Ritual
Sebastian Michaelis is not human. Many Black Butler fans often forget that he is a demon because his façade is just too good. But the fans got a bleak reminder when finally, we got to see what happened during the Demon Summoning Ritual.
We had just observed flashbacks of the ritual till then, and some sadistic, cruel personality slips here and there from the great demon.
But it was during the demon summoning ritual, where his genuine emotions and true personality were observed.
After being summoned when Ciel's big brother, “Ciel,” was sacrificed to the devil during the cultist’s ritual and chose to make a contract with the timid Ciel in an attempt to taste the most delicious soul in the ritual, room at the time.
Ciel’s sheer hate attracted him for the people that had wronged him, and when the demon was summoned, he did not hold back anything.
All the cultists in that Ritual Chamber were killed in a flash, and then he released the young Ciel from the cage.
Upon learning Ciel’s title and background, the demon then took on a butler as the most suitable form he deemed appropriate to serve an Earl of the Phantomhive family.
An following this, the negotiations began.
The Contract
Deeming Ciel as just a kid, the demon then tried to trick the young boy into wasting his chance and immediately giving him his soul right then and there.
But failing to do that, Sebastian got into a full contract with the young boy, where he has to fulfill three of his wishes in exchange for his soul.
The first wish, “Never Lie to the contactee,” the Second wish, “Obey the Contractee’s every command,” and the third wish, “Until the Contractee has completed his revenge, do not betray and protect him at all cost,” were the three wishes set by Ciel in his contract.
After Sebastion negotiated his contract, he helped the young boy find the blue ring of the Phantomhive family and earned the name Sebastian from his new young master Ciel Phantomhive.
And then continued, to set fire to the accursed cathedral of the dead cultists.
Life as the Butler of the Phantomhive Household
After burning the cathedral to the ground, Sebastian took Ciel to his aunt, Angelina Dalles at the Royal London Hospital. There he met Tanaka, who gave him the hereditary watch that is passed down from one Phantomhive butler to the next.
After Ciel recovered a bit, he then headed off to the Phantomhive Manor with his young Master.
There they found the Manor burnt and gravely damaged by the assailants who attacked the Phamtomhive household one year ago and killed every single servant in the Manor, including Count Vincent Phantomhive, Countess Rachel Phantomhive, and only Tanaka somehow survived his injuries and lived to tell the fate of the Phantomhive family.
While Ciel mourned the death of his parents at their grave, Sebastian left his master to give some time alone to figure out his thoughts and went on to fix the destroyed Manor and restore it into the near-pristine state that it was in before the tragedy struck his young master.
Later on, Sebastian attended the Coronation of the new head of the Phantomhive family, Ciel Phantomhive, and began to serve his duties as the new Butler of the Phantomhive family.
Here as the butler, Sebastian taught Ciel the antics of being an Earl and managed the finances and all the duties of the Phanhive real estate for the young master.
Later on, Sebastian helped his master set up a toy shop in London and assist him in completing his duties as the new “Queen’s Watchdog.”
And in this, he started to gather evidence for his young master and figure out who was behind the master’s plan to massacre the Phantomhive family and uncover their motivations for doing such a deed. Moreover, in the end, he completes his contract with the young master and devours the soul of Earl Ciel Phantomhive.
