Profile Meme
[Character Name] Vincent Nightray (Nightlay, Nightway, and variations thereof)
Also known as:
The Bringer of Misfortune
The Drain Rat of the Nightrays
That Seaweed Head's Creepy Younger Brother
Boatlights-kun
And of course: Vincent 'You Bastard' Nightray
Because you've gotta love Break. :|b
[Canon] Pandora Hearts
[Point Taken from Canon]
Chapter 40, even if the last time he showed up was chapter 34 but w/e. Just after his date with Ada Bezarius~
[Age] 23, or 123. Take your pick~
[Gender] Male
[Sexual Orientation] Heck if I know. But that brother complex can't be healthy. :/
[Eye Color] Red eye on the right, gold eye on the left. He's touchy about the color, though.
[Hair Color] Flaxen gold
[Height] 177 cm
[Other] He's creepy. What else do you need to know?
[Clothing]
For my laziness~
[Background]
Note: Yeah, the background is told out of chronological order in order to match the manga. And because half of it doesn’t make sense unless you understand certain events that happened before the backstory is explained, as per usual Pandora Hearts mind fuckery. :/b
[Volume 3 | Retrace XII - Who Am I?]
The first time we meet Vincent Nightray, it was raining, and he had just shot a man in the head from fifty paces away and was grinning like it was some kind of a party joke. Despite his claims that it was for Oz’s sake, since ‘it looked as though that man were about to kill that boy’ and that ‘it was inevitably, no?’, it wasn’t exactly the best of impressions.
And impressions that start off like that very rarely get better.
Vincent was no exception. He conceded to Gilbert’s demands for his carriage in a very pleasant manner, and took all of them back to the Rainsworth household (after Gilbert allegedly threw a fit about not wanting to go back to the Nightray household), before showing himself out ever so politely on the excuse that he was not very welcome in said household (that, and the fact that Break so lovingly volunteered to show him out with such a threatening atmosphere, that he couldn’t possibly have refused such a kind offer. <3).
But of course, not before he and Break exchanged a very guarded conversation, in which it was revealed that Vincent is also a member of Pandora, and that he had been investigating something prior to his shooting of the man (presumably the escape of the illegal contractor that he murdered when we first met him). It’s also revealed by Gilbert that Vincent is also known as Vincent Nightray, which effectively makes him Gilbert’s brother.
[Volume 3 | Retrace XIII - A Lost Raven]
Apparently, five years prior to the start of the Pandora Hearts manga, a blond boy with acute heterochromia appeared collapsed form his injuries, and was taken in by the Nightray house. Since then, the boy had been consistently searching for his brother. During this search, he seemed to have come into contact with a certain Break Xerxes [Volume 8 | Retrace XXXII - Snow Dome], though he doesn’t seem to remember this particular sequence of events (or if he does, he doesn’t find it important enough to reiterate). When Gilbert was adopted into the Nightray household, his happiness to see his brother again couldn’t possibly have been faked, though there was something decidedly off-putting about his reactions (it’s much later that the reader realizes his rather pleased expression is a result of him realizing that Gilbert remembered nothing of the past - it’s twisted sense of relief that he and his brother are able to begin anew).
At the time, he professed to also not remember anything besides his brother, Gilbert, perhaps to give the two of them an even starting ground. He then, at Gilbert’s request, arranged an encounter between his brother and the chain Raven. It’s at this point that the reader realizes he knew all along that Gilbert had been attempting to use him in order to get near the chain of the Nightray household, but he simply doesn’t care a whit, as Gilbert was his brother and he would always comply with his brother’s requests. However, though Vincent most certainly was not lying to his brother, the reality was not as pure and innocent as something as simple as that.
[Volume 4 | Retrace XV - Welcome to the Labyrinth]
We next see him during the Cheshire arc. While Break and Alice are trapped inside of Cheshire’s dimensions, Vincent sends Echo (though technically it’s Zwei, but whatever) out to attack Sharon Rainsworth, and to control Sharon’s chain Eques with Doldum in order to further the plot. In the ensuing drama, the controlled Eques transported Oz and Alice out of Cheshire’s dimension, but left Gilbert and Break in the collapsing dimension (as a direct result of Break killing Cheshire and thus killing the thing that was keeping the dimension intact in the first place). Gilbert then brought both himself and Break out of the collapsing dimension, where they discovered that Sharon had been kidnapped.
Vincent then went on to have tea with Liam and Oscar, Oz’s uncle, in [Volume 4 | Retrace XVII - Odds and Ends], where chess was played, Liam was tormented and Pandora’s aims were discussed. It was here that it was heavily implied Vincent could care less than two whits about Oz’s situation, and it’s only Gilbert’s request that’s keeping him in line at this point.
[Volume 6 | Retrace XXIII - Conflict]
Later on, Break confronted Vincent, who was revealed to have manipulated the entire series of events (the luring into Cheshire’s dimension, Eques’ apparent betrayal) in order to do one thing - have Break retrieve and destroy Cheshire’s bell, which he had claimed from Cheshire in that dimension. For within that bell lay all of Alice’s memories, especially that of the tragedy of Sabrie 100 years ago, and Vincent dearly wished to see them destroyed. He then revealed that he had poisoned both Sharon and Echo as a means of ‘encouragement’ for Break to do as he wished, and administered the antidote to Echo by frenching her and when Break complied heroically, he immediately drop[ed the antidote off the balcony. The bastard.
His plan was foiled when the emotionless servant girl Echo caught the antidote, which was delivered to Break through the means of kidnapping.
Immediately after the effect, he went off to meet his ‘friends’, the Baskervilles. Yeah, the guy’s got a busy agenda all right, backstabbing just about everyone within reach regardless of age, gender, sex, and affiliation so long as his brother isn’t there to keep him in check.
Much later on, during the Rufus Barma arc, Break had quite the flashback about his past, and through this, we were introduced to Vincent’s version of the story.
[Volume 10 | Retrace XXXVIII - Scapegoat]
A hundred years ago, two orphans fought for the right to survive on the streets of Sabrie. Of the four pupils between the two of them, one was dyed red, and because of it, they were constantly tormented by the citizens of the city - for red eyes take warning, the mark of the bringer of misfortune. They lived through hurting others and thievery, and through it all, the older did all he could to protect the younger - be it shielding him from the blows of tormentors, or providing them with a meager livelihood. They lived paltry lives on the very outskirts of society, constantly haunted by the stigma attached to the younger’s red eye.
And then, Jack Bezarius came into their lives. It is assumed based on a single panel of art in chapter 38 that he shielded them from onlookers, and took them home. Though the gesture itself was warm, the two had been adopted often because of the curiosity of the rich, and each time, were flung back out once their novelty wore off, and naturally, there was suspicion. However, Jack changed that, and immediately, their days were filled with light.
Jack was far too kind. He fed them, clothed them, and protected them - gave Gilbert a job as a servant in his household, played with them, taught them - it was everything that Vincent could have hoped for. And seeing his brother’s happy, happy face, he dearly wished it could last forever. Jack was the on, who cut his hair, and despite Vincent’s worry that his hair was now no longer long enough to hide his red eye, Jack professed that he loved his red eye - and this would impact him very greatly. Because of a constant state of worship in manners regarding his brother, he also wanted very much to call Jack ‘master’ the way his brother did, and did just that despite complaints.
“[A world where] Gil won’t have to get hurt protecting me. [It’s] like a dream world.”
[Volume 10 | Retrace XXXIX - The Gate of Blackness]
It was after his arrival in the household, that Jack introduced the two of them to Alice, the little girl trapped on the top of the tower. Upon first meeting, Alice immediately pointed out Vincent’s one red eye, and giggling madly to herself, proceeded to taunt him in a similar manner to his treatment on the streets. Gilbert moved immediately to defend his younger brother from the onslaught, and Jack broke the ensuing fight apart, and Vincent? Alice had said such mean things to him, but it also hurt those around him. Anyone that brought upon suffering to his brother and make Jack sad- he hated her. Hated, hated, hated her.
In his frustration of being unable to keep his brother and Jack from becoming saddened, the last of what little sanity he had retained began to unravel. It was around here that he began his trademark mutilation of stuffed animals, particularly rabbits, as an outlet of his frustration, and eventually, as almost a subconscious pastime that freaks the hell out of people. He even tore out the eyes of Alice’s cat, which in turn drove Alice to near insanity, and thus inadvertently instigating the events that would later become the beginnings of Pandora Hearts.
Despite Alice’s taunts, they were happy, truly happy. And of course, such happiness didn’t last. Wasn’t able to last. Glen Baskerville chose Gilbert as his newest vessel - and then, it was there that things went to hell. Literally. And it’s also around here that the timeline distorts dramatically. We’re not sure of the chronological order of events, but it probably went something like this:
Alice was the one to first inform him about this new development. “That child seems to have been chosen as Glen’s next body.”
In fact, she outright informed him that Gilbert has died. It’s unsure whether or not she was simply trying to break Vincent’s head (it did) or stating the truth (which was also true, kinda, but wouldn’t make sense chronologically), but what is known was that it drove Vincent into despair. Immediately, he thought to his eye, pondered about the implications of whether or not he was the one who brought such misfortune.
In a way, perhaps he blamed himself for this unfortunate of events, for bringing the misfortune to his brother. He so much wanted to keep this happiness, for things to remain the way they were, and to have someone try to snatch away Gilbert, his brother, it was unforgivable. He wanted so badly to protect his brother, protect him the same way he was protected in what felt like an eternity ago on the streets of Sabrie, two orphans fighting for the right to survive. Back then, Gilbert couldn’t abandon him despite everything, and couldn’t push his clinging arm away. He wasn’t going to abandon Gilbert - he would do anything-
It could be said that the devil heard his prayers, and came to his rescue in a flash of unholy light. Lady Miranda Barma came up to the distressed Vincent, and told him of a way to save his brother - by opening the door to the abyss, he would be able to disrupt the ceremony that Glen needed to perform in order to transfer his chains to Gilbert. And by doing this, he would save his brother, with the catch that he must not speak a word of this to anyone. He would be the lonely knight fighting for the sake of his brother, and in all of his desperate naivety, he accepted.
Sometime between his opening of the door and Sabrie actually being dragged down to the abyss, Glen Baskerville’s ceremony was assumed to have been disrupted (possibly by the opening of said door). He then ordered for the slaughtering of all the inhabitants of Sabrie for unknown reasons* and was confronted by Jack Bezarius for his actions. During the ensuing struggle, it is assumed that Gilbert got in the way of Glen’s sword pointed towards his master, and took the blade in the back in order to save Jack.
It was also around here that Vincent, upon waking up to the hundreds of slaughtered bodies around him and red, red blood upon his hands, truly lost what little sanity he had left. In a state of heavy denial, he began to believe that he couldn’t have possibly done all of this. That it had been all for his brother - it wasn’t his fault. He was never in the wrong, and these people- they weren’t people at all, but filled with the red stuffing of dolls of a similar caliber. Completely off the deep-end by now, he began to mutilate the dead bodies horribly.
Not long after the descent of Sabrie, a bloodied Vincent showed up at the heart of the abyss with his equally bloody older brother slung over his shoulders, a maniacal grin for Break (who had been dragged in because of his own illegal contract… 50 years ago. How this works, I know not) and the Will of the Abyss!Alice (a white-haired Alice look-alike, this’ll probably be very important later on) to see. Upon realizing the absurdity of the situation and being smacked around a little by Cheshire, his psyche further deteriorated - Alice was acting so weird and was it his fault?
Oh, no, it was Alice’s fault! It was her fault that everything is so weird, not his, not his at all! He then proceeded to troll the hell out of taunt the Will of the Abyss!Alice (who will now be known as just Alice, for my laziness’ sake), with the news of Jack’s death, which she clearly did not know beforehand (how that works, know not, but the time in the abyss works a little differently compared to how time passes in the real world. That, and she’s permanently delusional anyway, it doesn’t really matter). Stricken, Alice’s dimension began breaking down from the horror of the tidings as Vincent laughs on - screaming that it was Alice’s fault, and that it was Alice who killed Jack Bezarius.
Presumably, this was the horrific tragic event that Alice wanted to forget. Immediately, the dimension began to collapse. Following Break’s plea for the change of history, it was presumed that something happened that allowed Vincent and Gilbert to escape from the Abyss, appearing back in the real world a 100 years in the future, where they were adopted by their respective families. Five years later, Pandora Hearts begin.
It’s presumed that he acquired Echo under unknown circumstances after his adoption into the Nightray house (though Echo’s presumably been in the service of the Nightray house for far longer, but I digress), but before our first meeting with him. It was also assumed that he gained his Chain Yamane, also known as the Dormouse, during the same time period, possibly after Gilbert acquired Raven.
[Volume 8 | Retrace XXXIII - Echo of Noise]
But let us continue with the narrative. Long after his meeting with his Baskerville friends, directly after the events of the Rufus Barma arc, Gilbert went to meet his younger brother at the Nightray house. When Gilbert hesitated during their conversation, Vincent immediately realized that Break most likely told him something - perhaps something about their past, and immediately panics. When Gil pulled away following a short confrontation, he proceeded to tell Gilbert that even if he were to do something horrible in the future, it would all be for Gilbert’s sake.
This prompted Gilbert to slam him into a wall. Something happened in between that prompted Vincent’s release from being pressed against said wall, presumably the pain of Raven’s seal at the release of Oz’s power - and Vincent used this opportunity to sow the seeds of discontent in Gilbert’s mind. After a long-winded speech, he essentially pointed out Gilbert’s flaw to him, and told him that the only way to save his master is to kill Alice. When his words stirred up some unbidden memory, Vincent realized the potential to this development and seized this opportunity.
It’s uncertain whether what he did next was mind-control, or imprinting, or simply reinforcing Gilbert’s thoughts or something else entirely, but he managed to seriously implant the thought of becoming his master’s blade. Kill all who desecrates his master, take all who would snatch him away and end them. And in the end, it would only be Vincent who would stand by his side.
[Volume 8 | Retrace XXIV - Noise of Echo]
Immediately following Gilbert’s departure and Echo’s return to the Nightray house (After an afternoon of funtiems with Oz), he proceeded to take out his frustration on Echo, striking her and ‘switching’ her personality out for Zwei. He ended up molesting Lottie, who had come to the Nightray household presumably to report in and to await his orders. He then sent both Lottie and Zwei to Sabrie, foreseeing a future confrontation in the ruins of that city. He then set off on a ‘date’, where it was revealed that the man Ada had fallen in love with was in actuality him.
It was after this event, that a dream self was created and transported to Somarium.
[Personality]
Once again, this characters could be summarized with a single word that begins with ‘Y’ and ends, unsurprisingly enough, in ‘andere’. Though the trait known as a ‘brother complex’ is also called heavily in play here. He also exhibited a strong denial of responsibility in his youth, though he’s pretty much come to terms with that at this point, though he also exhibits a strong dissocial personality disorder, though that’s just really speculation on my part.
Vincent is a strange individual. It could be said that, like the rest of the Pandora Hearts cast, he is also haunted by his past actions - which is the underlying foundation for his actions, really. His guilt, if one could call it that, even, from tearing Gilbert away from his happy past and his strong desire to protect his brother, coupled with his entirely far too insensitive methods that are, ironically, at a complete disregard for everyone and everything including Gilbert - despite his best of intentions towards said brother… Let’s just say the combination can be lethal. And to add in the point that he actually thinks he’s helping Gilbert-
But really. His entire being relies heavily on his devotion to Gilbert. Ever since he could remember, all he could see was Gilbert’s back- turned to him while he shielded him from the blows intended for him from malicious bystanders. From the very beginning, the only thing that he knew of in the world was Gilbert’s protection, and the only constant in the world was the fact that Gilbert was by his side - no more, no less. Because of this, he dearly wishes to repay his brother, to be the lonely knight who will shield his brother from harm the same way he did for him those 100 years ago.
One of his major flaws is his disloyal nature, and his utter inability to empathize with others. It can be clearly seen that he picks up on emotional cues easily, and can easily derive the motivations behind the emotions of others, but he doesn’t know what to do with said knowledge except for the purposes of manipulation. After all, he probably believes that absolutely everything and everyone is expendable - pawns in a chess game so to speak.
But what differs between Break and himself is that not only is he willing to sacrifice the pawns, he’s also willing to sacrifice the rooks, the knights, the bishops, if doing so would aid his schemes in any way, so long as the king and his queen are removed from the destruction. So long as his brother and himself are far removed. I’d imagine him to be quite surprised if one were to confront him about this, however.
He does not mind hatred, rather, he fosters it, for hatred can be ever so predictable. He’s also completely passive-aggressive, but extremely vindictive, and most certainly holds grudges. Even a hundred years later, he’s still discontent about the other’s treatment of his single red eye and their treatment of Gilbert.
Aaaaand the rest of this piece is all TL;DR speculation. :/
However, because of his rather non-existent upbringing coupled with the tragic events of his past, Vincent has retained little to none of the sanity that he once exhibited pre-Sabrie. He is prone to doing things on a whim, has absolutely no concept of personal space, and has a complete disregard for the mental and physical well-being of others aside from his brother, whom he adores. In the case of his brother, he is almost over protective, reiterating again and again that he would not allow anyone to snatch Gilbert away, to destroy him.
In this fashion, he probably has a similar outlook on the ‘kill all who dares to touch upon my master’ kind of mindset, only clearly, the master bit is swapped out in favor of Gilbert. At times, however, his methods can border the cruel, and it’s hard to imagine that he can go through with his plans with full understand of what happens to his victims.
He is interesting, on the other hand, in that he is a character who develops over the course of Pandora Hearts without actually benefiting from said developments. When he was younger, it was very obvious that he was in great denial of his actions - and his refusal to take responsibility for them was probably what led to the warped mindset of The Will of the Abyss. And then there was his very obvious naivety - as soon as his brother came into the picture, he was willing to do anything and everything in order to save him, a mindset that eventually led to the tragedy of Sabrie. And during said tragedy, it was pretty clear that he did not understand at all the implications of his actions.
Later on in the chronological timeline, 100 years into the future, it’s shown that he is now very much aware of what he’s done, so much that his motivations are not only for Gil’s sake, but for the sole sake of returning Gil’s past to him. He wants to make sure the tragedy he once caused never happened, and that Gilbert could be returned to that light which he had lost so long ago. He’d use Pandora, the Baskervilles, everyone and anyone in order to return the past to Gilbert.
In a way, he blames himself for the tragedy that occurred, but not under the same implications as most others who also know of the truth of the tragedy, for though others may feel sickened by the horrific loss of life that occurred a hundred years ago, the most tragic thing to him is that Gilbert had lost his happiness.
He has a very manipulative personality as well that is shown time and again throughout the manga. And he is good at what he does. In fact, he was the mastermind who steered the events during the Cheshire arc, which the main cast, including Break, was completely oblivious to. He is also rather ruthless -he would stop at nothing, use everyone and everything and destroy all that he can for the purpose of achieving his goal. And despite it all, he would smile, and admit that it would be all for Gilbert’s sake - though eventually, it becomes questionable if that’s all it was, if he was using Gilbert as a scapegoat for his actions, or if he truly believes that what he does, he does for Gilbert’s sake.
Further more, he seems to be quite capable of completely detaching himself from any given situation. He exhibits a strong sense of apathy towards the plight of others. He also seems to gain a satisfaction in watching his plans play out, and is a sore loser on all accounts - he hates being out-manipulated himself, and has anger management issues that exhibit themselves in the form of mutilating stuffed animals and taking out said anger on his subordinate, Echo.
However, beyond that, very little ruffles his feathers, and he’s more than happy to let things slide so long as it does not concern his plans or his brother. Though he may seem hilariously capricious, typically doing things upon his own fancy, he is a very focused and driven character underneath his whimsical front, who does not allow anything to distract him from his ultimate goal.
On the outside, however, he is charming, friendly and polite, it seems- at least enough to deceive his way into the company of Ada Bezarius. And on the outside, it is hard to perceive his insanity, for though he does have his fair share of very strange insights, he is capable of acting relatively normal in society. However, it is when you get to know him that the darker side emerges.
Though he seems to be perfectly capable of establishing superficial relationships, it’s unknown if he can actually keep them, as he doesn’t not seem to outright lie about any of his motives (though he is a master at deception. Or rather, a master of deception by omission.), he doesn’t seem particularly interested in keeping said relationships beyond what would aid him in reversing the tragedy of Sabrie. It is also unknown if he has any friends outside of his superficial relationships, nor if he has any sort of hobbies outside of manipulating others and probing into his brother’s business. Though he does seem to be very good at chess, to like it is a completely different matter all together.
He also exhibits masochistic behaviors, especially when it concerns Lottie. However, it’s unclear whether or not the masochism is only a spur of the moment thing, if it’s real, if it was a joke, or if it was only done in order to gain the upper hand against Lottie. Though Vincent does have a sense of humor, he doesn’t seem to indulge in jokes - though his words can be taken in for a humorous effect, he’s usually quite serious.
Also, it would be interesting to point out that he seems to understand that there is something very abnormal with his own conduct. He understands the fragility of human lives, and that he does not fit in with society, particularly because of his red eye. In fact, it almost seems as though he were liable to blame his red eye for all the misfortunes that had befallen both himself, and his brother. It can also be said that he wishes to fit in with society at large: “That’s right, everyone keeps on breaking. Humans break, the world also breaks, everything, if everything becomes weird- then I’m normal, right?”
However, he is essentially unapologetic for his conduct, and though he very well understands the implications of his actions, he sees no reason to do it any other way. So long as his brother is happy, he would be as well, and anything else takes on a lesser priority. It could be said that he’s sacrificing his own wishes for the sake of his brother, but his brother’s happiness is something of a personal wish anyway - so it all depends on your perspective.
[Specialties/Abilities]
Vincent is saddled with the chain called ‘Yamane’, which is the equivalent of the Dormouse in Alice Through the Looking Glass. Its full abilities are not known, but it has been revealed that it can influence others to fall asleep, or at the very least, Vincent. However, Vincent won’t be having his chain here in Somarium, so it’s a moot point all together.
He’s a great shot. Apparently, when he was younger, he was able to hit the bulls eye with an 100% accuracy despite only having trained for two months. He is also apparently very intelligent and scholarly, and is genuinely good at just about everything he picks up. It could be said he’s a prodigy.
Beyond that, he’s a chessmaster, vindictive younger brother figure, and full-time magnificent bastard. And he can get under Break’s skin, which is totally an ability all on its own. :/b
[Affection] Vincent has absolutely no concept of personal space, and he's more than happy to violate yours. He doesn't mind if you jump him either. It's just another opportunity for him to manipulate you~
[Fighting] Vincent? Provoking a fight? Never. :/
All joking aside, he's an awesome shot, but doesn't feel the need to protect himself half the time, because it's so much more amusing to be all passive-aggressive and watch the other party break down in tears. However, he's slow, probably, and if the attacker is Gilbert, he's probably not going to even bother raising a hand to stop him. I'll try not to get him killed, since Break's going to be pretty happy dancing on his grave, and we'd never let him have that kind of satisfaction~ 8D <3
[Other Facts] He's a creepy bastard. Don't let the smile or his relation to cute little Gilbert fool you - I don't even think he has a conscience, and if you don't want to be used and abused, you might want to stay away. His brother complex is ridiculous, though, and if it's for Gilbert's sake, he'd do anything~ <3