Sebastian Michaelis

Sebastian Michaelis is the deuteragonist from the Kuroshitsuji anime and manga.

Sebastian is the demon butler of the Phantomhive household.

Appearance
Sebastian takes on the appearance of a tall, handsome adult with black hair, red eyes, and pale skin. He typically dresses in a butler's outfit, which consists of black trousers, a six-button double-breasted tailcoat, and a gray vest. He has the Phantomhive crest on his shirt cuffs and tie. Sebastian also sports white gloves, a pocket watch, and a chained silver lapel pin bearing the Phantomhive crest, traditionally worn by the house's head butler.

Sebastian, notably, has black fingernails. The back of his left hand contains the mark of his Faustian contract with Ciel Phantomhive.

Details of Sebastian's demonic form include high-heeled stiletto boots, sharp claws, glowing fuchsia irises, slit pupils, and longer, sharper teeth, with dark wings and multiple eyes.

Personality
Sebastian is a dedicated butler to Ciel Phantomhive and upholds a strong sense of duty to his master and household. He faithfully follows and carries out every one of Ciel's orders, while ensuring that the Phantomhivehousehold runs smoothly. He does not sleep—for demons deem it as a form of luxury—and thus, he frequently performs tasks for Ciel at night. One of his quirks is that he will always respond to Ciel's demands with the saying "Yes, my lord."

Sebastian predominantly appears as a courteous and impeccable servant. However, he is, in actuality, callous, heartless, and sadistic; he is ruthless when attacking others on Ciel's orders, and constantly puts Ciel in nonfatal danger for his own amusement. Sebastian usually expresses his diabolic nature through his dark, sarcastic humor and inability to see good in anyone. He is known to not take instances in which Ciel is in danger seriously, such as kidnappings. However, he displays more concern when it's uncertain that he can save him, such as when Madam Red almost killed Ciel or when the Undertaker threatened his life. He is often critical of his master and how he treats his workers, but he has admitted that he does not dislike the butler lifestyle despite all the troubles he goes through on a daily basis.

Sebastian views money as "rubbish" and "materialistic." He is fluent in French and Latin, enough to teach the latter. He is also proficient in Deutsch (German) and East Franconian, a dialect in Southern Germany. Sebastian has a great and mutual distaste for Grim Reapers. Moreover, he profoundly adores cats and had kept at least thirteen hidden in his wardrobe to prevent Ciel from finding out.

Sebastian often contemplates the behaviors and attitudes of human beings. He regards humans, in general, to be "difficult creatures," but he is fascinated with their struggles and lofty goals. He is intrigued by how seemingly insatiable they are, for they are willing to "drag others down to get what they want, even in death."

Abilities
Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Enhanced Senses, Shapeshifting, Cloth Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, Weapon Creation, Illusion Creation, Body Control, Power Bestowal, Teleportation, Flight, Curse Manipulation, Creation, Highly Skilled Hand-to-Hand Combatant, Immortality (Type 1 and 3), Self-Sustenance (Type 1, 2, and 3), Regeneration (Low-Mid), Fire Manipulation, Darkness Manipulation, Soul Absorption (He preys upon corrupted human souls), Resistance to poison

Attack Potency: Large Building level (Fought The Undertaker, who sliced the luxury passenger ship Campania)

Speed: Supersonic (Can outrun and catch bullets, which he can throw back at a speed that can kill a human)

Lifting Strength: Superhuman (But casually tore off the roof of a train car)

Striking Strength: Large Building Class

Durability: Large Building level

Stamina: Unknown. Sebastian doesn't have any requirement to sleep and has not exerted himself even once so far

Range: Standard melee range, at least tens of meters with thrown cutleries

Standard Equipment: Cutlery

Intelligence: Highly intelligent. Sebastian has a supernatural talent for learning human abilities, mastering them in no time. He's exceptionally good at housekeeping, cooking, music, sewing, foreign languages, martial arts, acrobatics, crime investigations, teaching, etc. He's also always been a great help for solving difficult cases and he can easily solve most of the problems in the story with his supernatural abilities, but "Ciel" prevented him from doing so.

Weaknesses: Grim Reaper's Deathscythes are capable of injuring and possibly killing him. He mostly holding back his real capabilities due to the restriction of his summoner. His freedom is restrained until the contract between him and the contractor are fulfilled, and he won't cheat the contract due to his own aesthetic principle. Sebastian is very fond of cats, which can make his focus temporarily diverted.

Trivia

 * On Sebastian's grave, his epitaph included the following inscriptions: "To The Memory of Sebastian Michaelis. Died March 1889. May ye be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you're dead."


 * In the extras of Volume 1, Yana Toboso said that his age is a secret.


 * Sebastian's last name originates from the Japanese word mikaeri meaning "repayment," signifying his contract with Ciel.


 * Sebastian's name is similar to Father Sébastien Michaëlis, a French inquistor who wrote a classification of demons of Hell from the demon Berith while exorcising a nun.


 * According to the official Kuroshitsuji's character popularity poll, Sebastian is the most popular character in the series, with 4014 votes. He is ranked among the "Devil Six."


 * Yana Toboso's unit to measure her characters is "1 Sebastian."


 * Yana Toboso modelled Sebastian's eyes after Irish actor Stuart Townsend's eyes.


 * In early drafts, Sebastian's hair was styled with a 7:3 ratio parting. But because Yana Toboso's editorial staff and colleagues did not like the hairstyle, she had to move his parting to the middle.


 * In the Victorian era, butlers were called by their last name; Sebastian should technically be called Michaelis by Ciel and Mr. Michaelis by the other servants.