Undertaker's mourning lockets

Undertaker's mourning lockets
General Information
Status	Existing
Type	Mourning hair lockets
Known Owner(s)
Original	Undertaker
Current	Ciel Phantomhive

Undertaker's mourning lockets are seven pieces of mourning hair jewelry which he keeps on a chain. They are Undertaker's "treasure."

Overview

The layout of a locket.

Order of the lockets.

Undertaker's mourning hair lockets are linked by a golden chain. Most of the golden lockets are structured in the same manner: The front features the date of death on the top, ornamentation in the center, and the first name and initial of the surname of the deceased on the bottom. Hallmarks, verification marks for noble metals, are on the back of the charm.

The patterns in the center of the lockets vary, though they are all made with the deceased's hair. Furthermore, two of the lockets have simple smooth edges while the others have ornamented edges.

Undertaker used to wear the chain around his hip before he lost it on the Campania.

Lockets

• Manga
• Supplementary

Image	Name	Information	Death
	Alex B.	This locket only contains a lock of their red hair. It is the only charm whose hallmarks are known.	20 April 1854
	Cloudia Phantomhive	This is the central locket in the chain. Cloudia's blue-gray hair was used to form a "8" or infinity symbol within a ring of thorns and a flower on the ornamented charm's bottom. Out of the flower extends a laurel pattern which ends where Cloudia's date of death is engraved; said pattern also frames the "8."	13 July 1866

The full designs and engravings of the following lockets have only been revealed in supplementary material and may still be subject to change.

Image	Name	Information	Death
	Emile C.	This is one of the outer charms on the chain. Emile's blond hair was turned into a flower pattern which frames a dotted oval in the locket's center and ends where his death date is engraved.	18 June 1848
	Gilbert D.	This is the only charm where the name is on the top and the death date on the bottom. A cross was formed with Gilbert's gray hair. It is framed by a flower pattern.	1 March 1862 or 1884
	Harry E.	This is the other outer charm on the chain. It features Harry's bluish hair laid out as two overlapping "C"s, one of which is mirrored, making this pattern look like a monogram. Furthermore, the overlapping "C"s are framed by a pattern that resembles Cloudia's laurel one sans the flower.	7 October 1851
	Molly G. (sometimes spelled as "Mally" or "Marry")	This locket contains Molly's brown hair elaborately laid out as a pot with flowers growing out of it.	10 December 1837
	Oliver A.	This locket, similarly to Alex B.'s, only contains a lock of Oliver's blond hair.	13 November 1840

History

Circus Arc

While observing the burning of Kelvin Manor at the hands of Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis, Undertaker plays with his mourning lockets, running a finger over them until he stops at one with the engraving "13 July 1866, Cloudia P." He says that he has taught Ciel to treat every soul well as he holds great power and, thus, loses his sense for what cannot be retrieved. Undertaker also speculates that he may only come to understand the importance of the irretrievable when it is already to late—just like the others he warned did.

Luxury Liner Arc

When the Campania has tilted and water starts to flood in, Undertaker decides to leave, and Grelle Sutcliff and Sebastian charge at him to prevent him from leaving. Undertaker can dodge their attacks, but drops his chain of lockets in the process. They are caught by Ciel, and, smiling, Undertaker decides to entrust the charms to him. He tells Ciel to keep them safe and treat them with care as they are his "treasure." Then, Undertaker says farewell and cuts the ship in half.

Ciel holds onto the lockets while he and Sebastian escape from the sinking ship, even when he is thrown into water with a life ring or nearly drowns when slipping from it.

After Sebastian saves him and destroys all Bizarre Dolls, Ciel looks at the lockets and asks what Undertaker was after. Sebastian replies that he does not know, but that he will certainly meet him again as long as he is possession of the chain.

Public School Arc

At one point, Sebastian brings the chain of lockets to the Registrar General of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Somerset House to find out who the people are that are immortalized in the mourning hair lockets as learning more about Undertaker may help to discern his intentions and locate him.

When Sebastian, Ciel, and the rest of the Phantomhive household head to London to run some errands, Sebastian picks up the lockets from Somerset House and informs Ciel about his research. Then, he hands him the death certificates of the seven people whose hair is in the lockets, saying that one particular name stood out to him, and Ciel is also shocked when he sees it: One of the hair locks in the charms belonged to his grandmother, Cloudia Phantomhive. This indicates that Undertaker has been involved with the Phantomhive family for longer than they believed, and they are left wondering what exactly Undertaker's relationship with the Phantomhives is.

Gallery

Manga

Ciel Phantomhive catches the chain.

Cloudia Phantomhive's locket

Anime

Undertaker loses the chain on the Campania.

Ciel Phantomhive catches the chain.

Ciel holds his grandmother's locket.

Concept Art

Concept art of the mourning hair lockets chain from the Book of Circus Official Record

Concept art of Alex B.'s locket

Concept art of Cloudia P.'s locket

Concept art of Emile C.'s locket

Concept art of Gilbert D.'s locket

Concept art of Harry E.'s locket

Concept art of Molly G.'s locket

Concept art of Oliver A.'s locket

A page from a guidebook that came with the Book of Circus DVD/Blu-Rays

Trivia

• On the back of Alex B.'s charm are the following hallmarks (from left to right):
  • Assayer's mark/Fineness symbol: The Lion Passant which indicates that the locket is made of sterling silver (.925 purity).
  • Town mark: A crowned leopard's head to signify that it was verified in the London Assay Office before 1820.
  • Date letter: A "R" to show that it was verified in 1812.
  • Duty mark: It shows Queen Victoria or possibly George IV. Such a mark "reflect[s] a [paid] tax on precious metals collected between 1784 and 1890."
  • Maker's mark: It reads "HW & Co." This is the mark that was used by Henry Wilkinson & Co from 1874. The company was active in London from the 1850s until its liquidation and buyout by Walker & Hall in 1892. Before the 1850s, Henry Wilkinson & Co was only situated in Sheffield.
    • While the manga shows that these hallmarks belong to Alex B.'s charm, they are also assigned to Cloudia's in concept art.

• Apart from his chain of mourning lockets, Undertaker possesses another piece of hair jewelry: a ring with a green-blue stone which encases a lock of gray hair.

Out of Universe

• Hair jewelry has existed since the Middle Ages, but its popularity flourished during the Victorian era, largely because of Queen Victoria who influenced the clothing and behavior of grieving women in Europe and the United States. Queen Victoria was known to wear a locket of her late husband Prince Albert's hair around her neck. Hair jewelry does not necessarily have to be lockets; brooches, pendants, bracelets, etc. were common too. Furthermore, hair jewelry was not solely used for mourning. For example, they were oftentimes kept as mementoes for special events or exchanged like friendship bracelets nowadays.
  • Mourning jewelry was often made of jet, but pieces of onyx, black glass (French jet), tortoise shell, horn, and bog oak were also very popular.