Shadows House (Official Colored) - Ch. 197 - Anthony

[H4CK3R]

Atlast it turned deep and dark for a manga named shadows house

 

[NIB]

Anthony's revelation left more questions than answers.

 

[27raven]

This chapter made me unreasonably angry. I feel this twist just undid almost 200 chapters of Kate's and Emiliko's free will, agency and struggles. All in a single monologue dump.
I was wishing, that Kate would stab Anthony (or at least kick him in the balls) while saying "You didn't plan for that, now, did you!". Nonsense, of course, but that would have made me happy.

 

[Guardianes15]

Never mind being "younger"... I never thought I've seen a baba loli named Kate. Kate's real age might be 62-64, given the year that has passed in the manor.

When a baby is born you don't count them as being 9 months old right? My memory might be failing but if what they say in the thread is true she's just 13~ mentally and physically

 

[gamria]

This chapter made me unreasonably angry. I feel this twist just undid almost 200 chapters of Kate's and Emiliko's free will, agency and struggles. All in a single monologue dump.
I was wishing, that Kate would stab Anthony (or at least kick him in the balls) while saying "You didn't plan for that, now, did you!". Nonsense, of course, but that would have made me happy.

If you truly believe Kate and Emilyko's agency were gone just like that, then you've totally fallen for Anthony's bluff. When you look back at everything objectively, you will see he wasn't as in-control as he claimed to be.

The Ghost Incident

• First off, Maryrose's power being the creation and control of Clingers was entirely down to luck, so Anthony was lucky he had this to work with.
• Kate was honestly a non-factor here as far as his objective went. Whether she's here or not or gets scapegoated by the Star Bearers, Maryrose was still going to be Invited and she'll rebel no matter what, and that's all that mattered after spooking the Children's Wing
• The Letter of Extradition was entirely Kate's idea, which in turn worsened the relationship between the Star Bearers and Edward, something beneficial to both her and Anthony
• Kate and Emilyko's swapping of the Special Coffee and thus depriving the children for another week is entirely their accomplishment, as were the assistance they received from Ram and Shirley. Anthony couldn't have predicted this, he's just leeching off their success here.

The Hunt of the Powerless

• Again, Kate was honestly a non-factor for his plans here. Whether the case is solved or not, his objective of sowing an atmosphere of insecurity was already accomplished with the first attacks.
• It was impossible for Anthony to predict that Kate's group's Operation Making Friends with the Star Bearers actually worked out as well as it did
• Try as Anthony might claim that Kate's success was his design, I seriously doubt he could've predicted Barbara would relinquish her Star Bearer position, or that she'd hold an election. Kate becoming Star Bearer is again entirely her accomplishment.

The Soot Ivy Incident

• Again, Patrick's power being nullification was entirely down to luck
• Without Patrick to bring the Incident to a quick finish, what was Anthony's plan? I doubt he'd stop Margaret himself, so was he just going to let her self-destruct and drag 10-ish Shadows down with her? If so, then he ought to be thankful that 20% of the Children's Wing isn't lost to him in this timeline
• In fact, what was he going to do if Margaret's rampage spread as far as the Great-Grandfather's Wing? It'd provoke more scrutiny from the adults and he'd have even less chances to take over the Children's Wing, or at least be postponed till much later

In usurping the Children's Wing, whether Anthony will show leniency towards Kate or not, the first step has to be to psyche her out and weaken any notion of opposing him. So it's only natural that he'd bluff like she's got no agency and it was all his plan.

But after laying things out like this, it's only reinforced my impression that he's just riding on the success of Kate's group cleaning up the chaos he started, leeching off the peace, order and achievements that are rightfully theirs.

So do not despair: I believe this is the arc where Kate asserts her destiny and shows she will surpass Anthony.

 

[TestAddress]

Kate surpassed Anthony in talent and in being a shadow.

If you truly believe Kate and Emilyko's agency were gone just like that, then you've totally fallen for Anthony's bluff. When you look back at everything objectively, you will see he wasn't as in-control as he claimed to be.

The Ghost Incident

• First off, Maryrose's power being the creation and control of Clingers was entirely down to luck, so Anthony was lucky he had this to work with.
• Kate was honestly a non-factor here as far as his objective went. Whether she's here or not or gets scapegoated by the Star Bearers, Maryrose was still going to be Invited and she'll rebel no matter what, and that's all that mattered after spooking the Children's Wing
• The Letter of Extradition was entirely Kate's idea, which in turn worsened the relationship between the Star Bearers and Edward, something beneficial to both her and Anthony
• Kate and Emilyko's swapping of the Special Coffee and thus depriving the children for another week is entirely their accomplishment, as were the assistance they received from Ram and Shirley. Anthony couldn't have predicted this, he's just leeching off their success here.

The Hunt of the Powerless

• Again, Kate was honestly a non-factor for his plans here. Whether the case is solved or not, his objective of sowing an atmosphere of insecurity was already accomplished with the first attacks.
• It was impossible for Anthony to predict that Kate's group's Operation Making Friends with the Star Bearers actually worked out as well as it did
• Try as Anthony might claim that Kate's success was his design, I seriously doubt he could've predicted Barbara would relinquish her Star Bearer position, or that she'd hold an election. Kate becoming Star Bearer is again entirely her accomplishment.

The Soot Ivy Incident

• Again, Patrick's power being nullification was entirely down to luck
• Without Patrick to bring the Incident to a quick finish, what was Anthony's plan? I doubt he'd stop Margaret himself, so was he just going to let her self-destruct and drag 10-ish Shadows down with her? If so, then he ought to be thankful that 20% of the Children's Wing isn't lost to him in this timeline
• In fact, what was he going to do if Margaret's rampage spread as far as the Great-Grandfather's Wing? It'd provoke more scrutiny from the adults and he'd have even less chances to take over the Children's Wing, or at least be postponed till much later

In usurping the Children's Wing, whether Anthony will show leniency towards Kate or not, the first step has to be to psyche her out and weaken any notion of opposing him. So it's only natural that he'd bluff like she's got no agency and it was all his plan.

But after laying things out like this, it's only reinforced my impression that he's just riding on the success of Kate's group cleaning up the chaos he started, leeching off the peace, order and achievements that are rightfully theirs.

So do not despair: I believe this is the arc where Kate asserts her destiny and shows she will surpass Anthony.

 

[Junpaku]

"Everything you've ever done came about according to my plans"
Ok Aizen

 

[Coldlight]

A Fragment of Favor sounds like an Evolution stone from Pokemon...

Anthony confirms that the original "Christopher" is truly dead, and this new shadow guy posing as him is just a new morph that he manipulated to copy him. Well done to those who put forward the morph theory.

Maryrose and Rosemary aren't on his side based on what he said as well. I still doubt they're already dead, though. We know their fall was cushioned when they fell below the mansion.

Anthony has a plan that's much more suited to open rebellion than the more subtle and diplomatic Kate by trying to amass shadows with powers through brainwashing. He's actually aiming to build an army of pawns with soot powers to overthrow the adults by force. He also made Edward look like a small fry with the scale of his scheming...

Damn, the revelations in this chapter is huge in the grand scheme of things. The head of the Mirrors house survived as well, but he got separated from his Shadow-infected and comatose wife. So Anthony is Kate's (psychopath) younger half-brother...

"Kate, I am your brother."
I did not expect this. Funny how Kate is much more human than the cold-blooded killer Anthony is based on their actions.

Yes, I do remember that Kate was in her mother's womb for years. If that chapter was correct, she's existed for over 50 years already (not aged, since an unborn fetus technically does not celebrate birthdays). A very interesting wrinkle between their half-sibling connection - Kate was conceived far earlier, but Anthony seems to have been born earlier and thus biologically older. All this begs the question, just exactly how old is Anthony...? Alfred must have been very old when he sired his son...

The part I'm questioning is how did anybody else know that Kate was Catherine's daughter when the only witness is Emily who raised Kate...? Unless Emily talked about it to someone else or blabbed it to everyone she met, nobody from Alfred's side (or Joseph who seems to know something) should have gotten a clue to who Kate is, much less know of her existence. For all the answers in this chapter there is still this missing piece to the puzzle.

And now this also poses an interesting succession problem for the Mirrors House between Kate and Anthony. Who is the legitimate heir? Kate is considered older and the legitimate daughter of the legal first wife, but she's 1. Born a Shadow hybrid and 2. A girl (a problem if the nobility there follows male line succession only). The things working against Anthony is that 1. He's considered younger and 2. Possibly illegitimate, given I didn't see anything about Alfred divorcing Catherine or legally marrying a new wife, or both.

On paper they could be on the same side (overthrow the Shadows House, but they differ with methods and vision of the desired outcome because Kate is inclusive of the Shadow children unlike Anthony) until it's time to actually restore the Mirrors House. But I don't think Kate will ever side with Anthony after every nasty thing he's done to get this far. It would require Kate to turn her back on her principles to join Anthony's violent subterfuge. I'd like to believe in her, that she'll do this differently, even if she has to start over with a handful of allies after Anthony swooped in and stole the fruits of her labor.