Case Study of Vanitas Season 2

Episode 17

If Naenia is the goddess of funerary lament, the stealer of names, and granter of malnomen when she's in spirit form, who is she when she has a body? That's something that Chloé is determined to find out, and she's even rewritten the code of the universe to make it happen, using what has been correctly pointed out as an in-world version of Charles Babbage's analytical engine, casting herself as a vampiric Ada Lovelace. Up until the end of last week's episode, I hadn't even considered that Naenia could have a physical form, but she most assuredly does – and it may even be more fearsome than her Naenia guise, for she is Faustina, the lost queen of the vampires.

While there are many women in history who bear the name Faustina, it's more likely that she's intended to be a reference to Faust, the man who made a deal with the devil in exchange for knowledge and earthly pleasures. While we don't yet know for sure if Faustina made a similar deal with a member of Charlatan to gain her Naenia form, as Naenia she herself is certainly a purveyor of Faustian bargains, taking vampires' true names in exchange for powers they can't necessarily control. Even the fact that such people are known as pact-bearers can be seen as a reference to the pact the original Dr. Faust (or Faustus, if you prefer the Christopher Marlowe version) made with the devil, and while Naenia might not meet her victims at literal crossroads, she certainly does find them at points that could be termed the crossroads of their lives. We saw that very clearly with Jean-Jacques, who became the Beast of Gévaudan when he risked losing Chloé, but the flashback of Jeanne's past this week also indicates that she was at an emotional crossroads of sorts when she first met Naenia. The erstwhile queen seeks out those who have a clear choice between two paths forward and encourages them to take the darker road every time.

It's interesting stuff, because if Vanitas isn't careful, his own festering distrust of vampires could force Noé into a similar situation one of these days. There's a fascinating parallel presented this week, with Noé unhesitatingly diving off the edge of the world to save Vanitas held up against Jeanne allowing Chloé to plummet, unable to make herself go after her friend. Jeanne and Noé have both lost people who were important to them before – Jeanne's adoptive parents were beheaded during the vampire war – but where Jeanne finds herself despairing and without hope, allowing herself to be forced into the role of bourreau, Noé refuses to bow down to his sadness. He's got Murr and Dominique to keep him fully in this world, and while he'll never stop wishing that things could have been different with Louis, or even looking for a way to redeem his friend, he's also not going to let that take over his life. He has his ups and downs, but at the end of the day, Noé is grounded. However, his friendship with Vanitas (or whatever you want to call it) could endanger that standing. In part that's because losing a second person he's so close to would be emotionally devastating, but it's also because Vanitas still isn't inclined to fully trust Noé.

His explosion this week seems to indicate that's because Vanitas hasn't always been greeted as a savior by those he wishes to help, or even listened to when he tries to explain things. A piece of him seems to have internalized those vampires' refusal to hear him, although his dislike of overly helpful people (like Roland, who really does feel heaven-sent this week) may also have a similar root. Regardless, he suspected Naenia's true identity as Faustina before it was revealed, and Noé is pissed that he didn't share that thought. He's certainly within his rights there – if Vanitas refuses to treat him like a partner, how is he ever going to really help? But he's also hurt that Vanitas wouldn't trust him despite all they've been through, especially since Noé has rarely, if ever, done anything besides earnestly try his best to help. That book isn't the only thing Vanitas has been lugging around, and when he gets the volume back, he may want to try to lose the baggage.

There are a lot of abrupt scene shifts this week that I don't think does the episode any real favors, but there are also a lot of tantalizing details that are starting to come to light. Chief among them is the fact that both Chloé and Jeanne may have made Faustian bargains that they need to get out of, although Roland's observation that the Church is clearly not being honest with the paladins is another likely important piece of the overall puzzle. The entire series stands at a crossroads, and perhaps the characters ought to hope that it's Hecate rather than Faustina who is waiting for them.

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The Case Study of Vanitas Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.