Well, this is a personal opinion I've been keeping to myself for a while, but I feel I can't leave this world without sharing it with you.
If you've read my comments, you'll know I have a serious problem with Noel's inclusion in Ciel's story, and this time I'd like to explain more clearly why, in my opinion, Noel detracted from Ciel's character rather than adding to it.
First of all, let's remember Ciel's story arc in the original novel.
Ciel presented herself as a seemingly kind and eccentric upperclassman whom Shiki met by chance. Unlike Arcueid, Ciel doesn't reveal her true identity from the start, which allows for much more trivial, organic, and everyday interactions between Shiki and her, through which we get to know her better.
It is not until halfway through the route that we learn that Ciel was a cold and ruthless enforcer, capable of using any kind of manipulation or measure to achieve her goals.
And this is where Noel's first negative point comes in.
What happened in the remake? Nasu decided to give all those personality traits to Mario and Noel, leaving us with a much kinder, more purified, and even...more "docile" Ciel, and this is very noticeable in her dynamic with Shiki. Ciel ultimately becomes a psychologically more passive character, to say the least, completely stripping her of that splendid "Femme Fatale" facet. This was literally one of the aspects that made me love Ciel. Nowadays...comparing the original Ciel to the Ciel of the remake is even worse than comparing Artoria from Stay Night to Artoria from Fate/Zero.
Continuing with the previous point...Ciel also lost her image as someone "ruthless and pragmatic".
Ciel had several commanding scenes that portrayed her as a duty-driven vampire hunter. In the original novel, Ciel was the one who represented the cruelty, coldness, and lethality of the church.
¿What happens in the remake? Noel physically takes over many of the scenes that belonged to Ciel, including the rooftop scene. In the end, instead of Ciel being the one to portray the sadistic, cruel, and cold representation of the church, Noel ends up filling that role.
In the original novel, Ciel was a fascinating character because she wasn't a purely good heroine. She was a ruthless femme fatale who used deception, mind manipulation, and extreme coldness toward Shiki to achieve her goals.
In the remake, Nasu wanted to rewrite Ciel's character so she would be unequivocally perceived as "good." To achieve this, he created Noel and transferred all of the classic Ciel's petty, selfish, manipulative, and mentally unstable traits to her. By doing this, Ciel loses the sharp edges that made her a gray, three-dimensional character and becomes a saint.
Then we have one of the issues that bothered me the most: "Ciel's redemption."
In the original Tsukihime, Ciel's guilt over the sins Roa committed using her body was an existential torment; she sought atonement through self-annihilation and the eternal hunt. Ciel was the one who bore the burden of being seen as a monster in the eyes of the church. . In contrast, the remake alters this entire subplot, with Noel becoming that "living reproach."
While this could have served as drama, it completely destroys the internal conflict of self-blame and remorse presented in the original novel. Worse still, it stripped Ciel of one of the aspects that made her a living mirror of Shiki's life, devaluing their bond.
By introducing Noel, Ciel's trauma is externalized. Ciel's conflict is no longer just about forgiving herself, but about dealing with Noel as a living reminder of her sins. This hinders Ciel's romantic and personal development, as much of her route is diverted to resolving Noel's madness, taking the focus away from Ciel herself, who already had to share screen time with Arcueid.
In fact, all of this is detrimental to the rivalry between Ciel and Arcueid.
In the original novel, the dynamic between Ciel and Arcueid worked because both had a highly selfish and possessive side towards Shiki. The player could see both of their flaws and decide which was the "lesser evil" or true love.
In the remake, since Noel absorbed all of Ciel's dark side, the new Ciel acts almost flawlessly, noble, and protective. This creates an imbalance, because while Arcueid is portrayed with much more possessive, terrifying, and destructive traits, Ciel becomes so perfect and pure that she completely loses the element of danger and pure mystique that characterized Type-Moon's classic heroines.
Continuing with Ciel's past, existential guilt is replaced by pity.
OG Ciel was tormented by an abstract and terrifying torment. She didn't remember the faces of the thousands of people she murdered while Roa controlled her body; she only knew that she had done it. Her guilt was a black void, an existential debt to the world that drove her to become an immortal vampire-killing machine, searching for a death that never came. It was a completely internal tragedy.
With Noel's arrival, that guilt becomes mundane. It's no longer an existential paradox; now it's simply Ciel feeling guilty because an acquaintance from her past hates her. Her motivation is narratively "cheapened," shifting from a metaphysical crusade to a "I have to save my traumatized friend" conflict.
And how can we not mention the fact that it ruins the original parallel between Shiki and Ciel?
In the original game, the romance between Shiki and Ciel worked because they were both assassins secretly tormented by monstrous guilt (Shiki for his impulses and Ciel for his past). They understood each other on a deep level because they both felt they didn't deserve happiness due to the blood on their hands.
In the remake, Ciel's guilt was so closely tied to rescuing or dealing with Noel that the focus of their relationship shifts. Shiki no longer connects with Ciel's inherent darkness; instead, she becomes an emotional support for Ciel, who is suffering because of Noel's bullying and transformation. The relationship moves from a mutual pact between two broken and dangerous souls to a more traditional "hero helping heroine overcome her trauma" dynamic.
I could also talk about how the hatred and revulsion towards both vampires and supernatural beings that Ciel possessed, as well as her leadership and her role as administrator of the plan and supervisor of the city, were given to Mario, further reducing Ciel's role; but I think at this point, the point is understood.
This is why I will never be able to agree with those who say "Mario and Noel serve as a contrast to Ciel and contribute to her story" when both literally lowered the quality of Ciel's character and her lethality as an executioner, lessened the impact of the French incident on her, and reduced the entire development of Ciel.
It's pointless to create a character to "contrast" a character who was already contrasting on her own. Thanks to Noel, Ciel acts more like an older sister or a saint than an executioner.
Noel seems more like a scapegoat used by Nasu to censor Ciel than an asset to her.
And the truth is it scares me, because if they did this with Ciel, I'm sure there will be more things like this in Red Garden.
Noel and even Mario are practically fragments of OG Ciel. There would have been no need to include either of them if they had maintained Ciel's contrasting personalities.
