Yo, PH editors. I had an MEP idea.

However, I've tried to launch MEPs before in the past (not in this fandom, but still), and no was interested. So I thought this time, I would pitch my idea on the comm first and see if anyone is even interested. So, my idea . . .

Evanescence is and always has been one of my favorite bands. I find their lyrics compelling, their music beautiful, and Amy Lee's voice incredible. I've been listening to them for years, but ever since I've gotten into Pandora Hearts, I can't help but think all their songs are perfect for the story. I can apply every single one to a character, pairing, or event.

So, my MEP idea is a Pandora Hearts Evanescence megamix. I was thinking it could consist of Evanescence's most famous songs, as well as songs that apply really well to PH. I'm not yet sure whether I want the MEP to be manga only, or a hybrid of anime/manga.

But basically, would any of my fellow PH editors be at all interested in joining an MEP like this?

first edition was here, second, third, fourth, fifth., and sixth.



Are you confused about what's going on in Pandora Hearts? Do you have questions about translations in the manga? Do you want to know what Break's freaking age is already? Well, welcome to....










Source Questions

   Where can I read/watch Pandora Hearts?

Officially, the first few volumes of the PH manga have been released - you can find them at Amazon or your local bookstore. The anime has been released by NIS, America (subs only, no dubs).

You can read the manga online here at mangareader.
Here are fan dubs of the episodes, links courtesy of evercool</lj>
There are RAWs and other download sources to be found under the anime tag in the main comm.

~~NEW~~ Also be sure to check out this link for an AWESOME list of links to all sorts of Official Goods (omake, calenders, interviews, guides, etc). Seriously, bookmark this one.








Translation Questions



 Why did Sharon say that Oz was so much like 'Brother Jack' in chapter 15, page 29?

Answer: She didn't. That was a mistranslation in the scans - she really said Oz was so much like 'Brother-Xerx', which is her childhood name for Break.




 Did Vincent bring Gilbert back to life?

Answer: No, he did not. This was a mistranslation in tense. In chapter 39, page 9, Alice actually says that Vincent's brother will be killed when Glen takes his body, not that he was already dead. This is why Vincent opened the Door - to disrupt the 'ritual' and stop it from happening.




The Intention and the Harmony of Abyss mentioned in Chapter 39 - are they both people? Are they the same person?

Answer: The translation should probably have read, to 'restore harmony to the abyss/harmony of the abyss' rather than "Harmony of Abyss" as a person. Like he's saying 'Are you really just trying to restore the balance, or are you trying to gain control of the Intention of Abyss to rule the world?'





~~NEW~~ So are Isla Yura and Rufus Barma related?

No, they're just countrymen. Though there was a translation mistake regarding their similarities. In chapter 48, around page 14, there's a text bubble translated to say that Isla Yura and Rufus Barma share the same deep red eyes. It should be hair, not eyes. The kanji used for hair is 髪 (kami).　The color is deep red 深紅. From the illustrations, their eyes seem to be dark gray. The anime colored Barma's eyes gray as well.






~~NEW~~ In Chapter, 62, did Break actually change the honorific he uses for Gilbert, or is it a translation mistake? Because just a few pages earlier, he still said "Gilbert-kun" but there it's "Gilbert-san."

Answer: From looking at the raw, he refers to Gilbert with "-kun" on page 11, and then on page 15. The translator probably misread the furigana.

It actually says "-kin" (菌【きん】); dictionary says fungus/bacterium/germ), which they may have misread as "-san" (さん) due to the two kana being similar when they're that small.






 What's the deal with the color of the feathers in the Belligeron/Bridget festival? Are they blue or green?

Vincent teases Gilbert about giving a blue feather to Oz and later on, Oz gives a green feather to Echo. Either there's a mistranslation here with the colors, or the feathers mean different things, or they mean the same thing but boys get blue and girls get green.

Answer: The same words are used by Vincent and Oz in the chapter - 青い羽, blue feather. Even if 'aoi' can also mean green, the colored scans clearly show that the feather is blue. So, there are no green feathers.





Belligeron/Bridget? Shalon/Sharon? What??? Which one's right?


Answer: The one on the left is CANON.

Baskerville – Vaskerville
Rainsworth – Lainsworth
Vessalius – Bezarius
Lutwidge – Latowidge
Bridget – Belligeron
Xerxes – Zakshees
Break – Blake
Sharon – Shalon
Sheryl – Cheryl
Reim – Liam
Elliot – Eliot
Leo – Reo
Lottie – Lotty
Dug – Doug
Glen – Glenn
Lacie – Lacey
Intention – Will of…
Dormouse – Yamane
Sablier – Sabrie
Réveil - Reveile



~~NEW~~ Any other commonly mistranslated names?

(these names are still up in the air)
Reshelle/Rachel/Rashelle?
Rytas/Riitasu?
Marie/Mary?
Incuse/Seal (Fandom calls it a seal. Yen Press calls it an incuse. Pick your poison.)
Legnard/Regnard (same as above)
Levi/Revi?










Timeline Issues



 So how old is Break, exactly?

Answer: Short answer - about 37-39 years old, looks to be in his twenties. Long answer - in supplemental material, JM stated that Break was 24 when he dropped into the Abyss. He came out around 30 years after that, when Liam/Reim is around 11-13 years old. As Liam/Reim is now 26, that makes Break's actual age around 37-39 years old. It is unknown when Break took Mad Hatter as a Chain and stopped aging. Had he never dropped into Abyss, Break would be between 70-80 years old - older than Rufus Barma.





 How old is Lottie? She has to be over a hundred by now.

Answer: As far as we know, Lottie is not over a hundred years old. She seemed to be in her early twenties when the Tragedy occurred in Sablier. She emerged from Abyss four years before the present time, which should put her around her mid-twenties. It is unknown if she's one of those contractors who stopped aging when she took on a chain.





 So if we have Break's age, then how old is Sharon/Barma/Sheryl/Reim, etc?

Here's a timeline for the manga that covers all currently known events from the building of the Mansion to Oz's return to the world. It's fan-made and a continuous work in progress, but so far it can break down all the known ages for most major characters. The links at the bottom have a summary of all currently known ages, heights, and a list of known chains + contractors.






 Was Oz’s mother really murdered by the Nightray family? When did she die?

Answer: Break says it was the Nightray House who killed Oz's mother, but that no proof of it was ever discovered (Chapter 13). If all else is equal, Oz's mother could have died any time between the years when Oz was 7 to 10 years old, since she had to have died after Ada was born, but before Gilbert became Oz's servant.









Theories/Speculation



 ~~NEW~~ Lacie is an anagram of Alice! What does that mean?

Answer: No idea. There's not enough data to even guess at this point. There are some theories floating around that she’s Alice’s mother, but so far it's all just speculation – we know practically nothing about Lacie, or her connection with Alice. (update 12/14: looks like we'll be finding out more about Lacie very soon...)

Update: this is currently being answered in the Flashback arc. The answer will be updated once it's over and all the facts are out. :)




 ~~NEW~~ What about the Alices? Are they human? Did the one Alice ever leave the Abyss?

Answer: At this point, we have no idea what the Alices are. Jack said that the girl Oz currently knows was once human. We know the girls shared a body and that they had some strange connection to Abyss, but other than that, nothing has really been revealed.

As of now, White!Alice is still in the center of Abyss, either because she can't leave, or because she's purposefully staying. Or possibly for some other arcane reason JM will shock us with.

Update: this is currently being answered in the Flashback arc. The answer will be updated once the arc over and all the facts are out. :)





 Did Gilbert and/or Vincent kill Alice?

Answer: There's no way of knowing at this time. They both have a motive and Vincent at least had the means (see: scissors and running to the tower). However, comments from Vincent make it very unlikely that he was the one who killed Alice ('you were already dead! chapter 31, page 18). Gilbert is a very untrustworthy source in this matter considering his amnesia and brainwashing as a child.

It's likely that the only person who really knows who killed Alice is her killer, since Alice's own memories of the event were destroyed by Mad Hatter's power. There's a decent possibility that not even White!Alice knows who killed Sablier!Alice.





 Who does Ada like? Elliot? Gilbert?

Answer: It hasn't been said who Ada likes, but as of right now the two most likely candidates are Elliot or Vincent. Elliot because of how Ada acted in Lutwidge when he was brought up, and Vincent because of That Splash Page and their little 'date.'

And it has been confirmed: Ada and Vincent are dating. (poor Vincent)





What's the deal with Elliot?

Answer: All that's known for sure is that he has some sort of connection to the past. There's the song that he rewrote and named after a supposedly dead girl, the dreams, and his sword which may just be the same sword Glen Baskerville used in Sablier. There's no direct evidence that Elliot and Glen are specifically connected, but there are enough weird coincidences for there to be a lot of Elliot/Glen theories floating around the fandom. As of now, however, they're just theories.

Update: Read the Headhunter arc. And grab some tissues. This question will be answered in full in a later edition of the FAQ.





 Shelly/Sheryl/Madam Rainsworth. Are they two different people?

Answer: There's three generations of Rainsworth women. The oldest is the Duchess, Sheryl Rainsworth. Her daughter is Shelly Rainsworth; she's the woman who took in Xerxes Break and made him into the man he is today. Shelly's daughter is Sharon. No male Rainsworths have been mentioned.





 Does Jack live within Oz now?

Answer: Jack’s soul pieces are scattered all over the place. A part of him could live in Oz, or in Oz’s pocketwatch. Or, given that the ripples around Jack have been associated with Abyss, his spirit could be in the somewhere in the Abyss.

Basically... we don't know what the deal with Jack is yet.

(update, retrace 66: oh god, we REALLY don't know what the deal is with Jack.)





 Why did Break knit Alice a scarf in the beginning of the Cheshire arc?

Answer: That... is a really good question.

Either there was a kink in the translation, the scarf thing’ll come up later, he did it to tell the real Alice apart from the fake ones running around (like the one Gilbert shot down), or Break is just a crazy bastard who likes to knit.





 How many Alice in Wonderland connections are there in Pandora Hearts?

Answer: Well, let's see -

Alice, Lacie, Mad Hatter, Dormouse, the White Knight, Lutwidge, Lily, Charlotte, Ada, Gryphon, Dodo, Cheshire Cat, Snowdrop, Kitty, Dinah, Jabberwocky, the White Rabbit, the pool of tears, tea parties, the Lion, the Unicorn, the Owl, the Rocking-Horse-Fly, the Queen of Hearts, Humpty Dumpty, the un-Birthday Party... 

Echo of Noise/Noise of Echo matches a lot of the word plays in Wonderland. The only direct reference to a 'Raven' is in the Mad Hatter's riddle, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?," though a Crow does attack Tweedledum and Tweedledee who are themselves referenced with Zwei and her chain - 'Doldum/Dledum and Doldee/Dledee'. The name 'Oz' seems most reminiscent of another children's story entirely - the Wizard of Oz. Baskerville might evoke the Sherlock Holmes story, The Hound of the Baskervilles.






~~NEW~~  Who is this Harris Watson person that I keep seeing mentioned?

Answer: Harris Watson was a character from the one shot/pilot chapter of PH. The pilot was republished in volume 8. You can download the RAWs here and the scans here. Whenever you see a Priest Rabbit in the chapter summaries, that's Harris Watson.





 Gilbert's hat - who gave it to him? Ada? Vincent? Someone else? Because when he lost his hat he said to the man who took it that his brother gave it to him, but then Ada asks him if he wears the hat she gave to him.

Answer: The hat is almost definitely from Ada. The speech bubble being referenced is actually coming from the thief, who claims that Gilbert's hat was a gift from his own younger brother. Gilbert then calls for proof by asking him to "bring your brother here, then!", but never references during that scene who he received the hat from.





 Why did the Baskervilles drop Oz into the Abyss? Was it to stop him from stopping Glen? Was it to somehow open the way to let Glen come back to life? Some other reason?

Answer: Short answer - we don't know yet.

Long answer - During Lottie's conversation with Break in Sablier, she says they needed Oz out of the picture because he's the key for others (who are not the Baskervilles) to approach the Intention of Abyss. But they can't just kill Oz because Zai Vessalius said that Oz is the container hiding the existence of Jack Vessalius. Killing Oz would release Jack and then 'the Intention of Abyss that chases after him (Jack) would further interfere and twist this world.'

Whether Lottie was telling or knew the whole truth at that point has yet to be determined.






 On Wikipedia it says Gil's birthday is August 13th. Is there an official source confirming this?

Answer: Do not trust ANYTHING about PH on wikipedia. Seriously. There has already been a lot of misinformation put up then taken down off that page.






 What happened to the Cheshire cat after Oz and the others get out from his dimension?

Answer: It's safe to assume that Cheshire died after Break's attacks, but hey. Anything is possible.






 Which household does Reim serve/belong to? Rainsworth or Barma, or is he just a member of Pandora?

Answer: Reim is a servant of the Barma household. In an omake that has not been scanlated, it is revealed that Reim was sent to deliver a letter from Duke Barma to Duchess Rainsworth - he was not to come back until he could deliver Duchess Rainsworth's reply. Sheryl threw Barma's letter into the fire, so Reim was stuck in the Rainsworth household waiting for that reply for two years.

It was during this period of time that Break came out of Abyss, which is why the first people he saw were Reim and baby Sharon.





Are Echo, Noisy and Zwei twins/triplets, or one person who has a schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder, because in chapter 34 Vincent wanted to replace Echo with Noise, then Zwei appeared!

Answer: We don't know for sure what the deal is with Echo/Zwei/Noise/Dledee is. These are two possible theories:

Echo and Zwei/Noise are the same person with multiple personality disorder (which is not schizophrenia). Vincent infers in Chapter 34 that Noise prefers the name Zwei, and there is no indication that Echo and Zwei/Noise possess separate bodies. They are two distinct personalities sharing a single body.

Another theory is that Zwei/Echo could be like the Alices. Two different people, connected by the Abyss with one body. If you look at the scene where Echo and Zwei switched in Chapter 34, page 9, Zwei looked like she was standing in an Abyss puddle. If so, it may not be MPD at all, they may just be another existence like Alice's was in Sablier.





Both Mad Hatter and B-Rabbit have the ability to destroy anything related to Abyss, are there something different between them? If B-Rabbit is known as the strongest chain of the Abyss because of this power, then why wasn't Mad Hatter? Why did White Alice create B-Rabbit and Mad Hatter with powers to destroy Abyss if she didn't want them to destroy Abyss?

Answer: From what we can tell, B-Rabbit is the strongest in terms of overall strength - it's not that she can destroy anything from Abyss, it's just the power that she has is overwhelming and can destroy a lot of things. (Maybe.) Mad Hatter's ability is to negate anything that comes from Abyss, so it's a bit different, since that's the only thing Mad Hatter can really do, while B-Rabbit can fight back and defend.

It's unknown why White Alice makes chains. All we know is that the power of Abyss, especially in the center of Abyss, seeps into humans and turns them into chains. It's unknown if White Alice has the power to choose what kind of power they become, or if it's all just luck or fate, or even going off of what kind of abilities that person had. All we know is she has control over all of Abyss and can destroy chains at her will.





 It was said that Glen was gonna have to wait another 100 years to come back - what does that mean? Was it just a translation mistake, or has Glen lived for more than 100 years?

The details of Glen's particular existence are still fuzzy, but so far we can guess that there was a very good chance 'Glen' (or the spirit of Glen) was over 100 at the time of his 'death.' The way the ritual to possess Gilbert's body was discussed made it seem like this process was something that had happened at least once before. (update: multiple 'Glens' have been confirmed, retrace 66.) Lotti also tells Jack that no matter how many times Jack "killed" Glen, they would find him every time ( chapter 27, page 26-27). This seems to indicate that Glen's soul is immortal and just needs a vessel.





Is Arthur Rufus' grandfather who hunted for the Red-Eyed Ghost, or is that another Barma?

Answer: It doesn't seem like the man who hunted for the Red Eyed Ghost was Arthur, but we may be wrong. Contracts (as far as we know) just make your appearance freeze in time instead of granting true immortality, and there's a pretty big time gap (50 years) between the fall of Sablier and the deaths of the Sinclairs.






~~NEW~~ Do we know the exact relationship between Rufus, Miranda, and Arthur Barma, and their ages/when they lived?


Answer: Nope, but we can make a few guesses. As far as exact ages go, all we have are visual cues and those can be very misleading if the characters are contractors (and though it seems unlikely that Miranda or Arthur were contractors, anything is possible). Miranda and Arthur were contemporaries of Jack, though, maybe a couple of years older. Arthur is Miranda's older brother.

The siblings came to the Baskervilles after losing a war and being exiled from their own country. Fifty years after the Tragedy, Rufus' grandfather hunted for Kevin Regnard. It's likely that this Grandfather is a descendent of Arthur, though this remains unclear.






Why did Miranda Barma tell Vincent to open the door to Abyss? Why didn't she just open it by herself? Is Vincent the ONLY one can do it? If yes, then why?


Answer: Speculation - she was probably spying on Vincent from afar and used his hatred for Alice and love for Gilbert to twist his will into helping her somehow. Since Vincent also has the "accursed" red eye, she might've thought it was a good idea since it'd be expected someone cursed would do something bad. There was also at least some danger in opening the door. Remember that Vincent got violently thrown back when he opened it, and that it's the door to Abyss. You'd want to get someone else to open it, too.

On the the other hand, it may have been because Vincent is a Child of Misfortune.










Questions We Have No Way Of Answering At This Time


The Intention and the Harmony of Abyss mentioned in Chapter 39 - are they both people? Are they the same person? Is there someone else that is related to the Abyss? And if there is, then who is it? Could it be Oz?

¯\(°_°)/¯


What is the order of the following events: Alice dies, Jack dies, Glen dies, the Tragedy of Sablier.

¯\(°_°)/¯


Did Glen want to sacrifice Sablier to Will of Abyss so that he could change the past about Lacie and somehow prevent her death?

¯\(°_°)/¯


etc.








~~NEW~~
~FURTHER READING~

We have some real smart cookies in this fandom. Check out these links for eye-opening analysis and random juicy tidbits. Make sure to check the comments! (list is a work in progress)

- Jun's Picture Symbolism (roses, hands, butterflies, ribbons, etc.) and also here
- Cross Symbolism
- Timeline (work in progress, reflects up to ch45)
- Personal pronouns used by PH characters
- Useful terms and reference list in Eng/Jpn
and more to come!









NEW QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED AND/OR REFINED:



your questions here! ^_^



1. Do those photos they show at the chapter index in the volumes have any meaning? And if so what is their meaning?
2. How do the characters generally speak to each other? Politeness/rudeness levels, etc.
3.
4.
5.
etc








Any question you have about PH canon, put it in the comments. If you can answer a question, please feel free!

(also, some sentences/questions may be tweaked so they flow better for the FAQ, but if you object to any of the phrasing of the current answers/questions, just say so and it'll get fixed.)