I Really Need It! Thank You Very Much!

I really need it! Thank you very much!

I don’t even know if anyone else is active in the Pandora Hearts fandom anymore, and Elleo shippers were few to begin with, but here’s this new discovery to add to Elleo angst because I don’t want to suffer in this knowledge alone:

So Pandora Hearts features Elliot in its front cover illustration of volume 14 and Leo in that of volume 16, right? 

Right! And the fandom was super hyped about the statice superimposed on Elliot’s body, with the flower symbolizing “something that doesn’t change” i.e. Elliot and Leo’s lasting friendship. Anyways, so that means we got Elliot and Leo in the volumes’ respective title page illustrations, too, right?

Yes! And I remember the tiny Elleo fandom we had going crazy after volume 16 was released because Elliot and Leo sat on the SAME CHAIR and it wasn’t just any chair but a PIANO STOOL, a nod to their shared hobby and interest, playing the piano, an activity they often partook together and bonded over. Some interpreted the shimmery blue glow on both the title pages as a mark of Elliot’s departure from the corporeal world, some commented that the matching illustrations seem to convey that Leo yet hears the music of Elliot’s piano even after his death… Anyways for me and a lot of others the title pages seemed to affirm how Elliot and Leo were a pair, two halves of a whole, even after the death of one half, and they offered some comfort even in the midst of all the angst going on.

And then, a few days ago, I finally got to perusing Mochizuki’s second Pandora Hearts art book “There Is.” (which is absolutely packed with the most gorgeous and stunning drawings, by the way, any Pandora Hearts fan would be happy to have it) instead of skimming through a few pages like I did right after I purchased the book years ago. And turns out, in the last couple of pages, Mochizuki wrote down short commentaries on all the drawings featured in the art book! So naturally I sifted through them looking for comments on any drawings with Elliot or Leo in it. And there it was! Her comment on the title page illustrations of volumes 14 and 16.

It reads: “The chair that Elliot and Leo are sitting on is a piano stool. I drew the Leo after his haircut to symbolize that they have passed the point of no return, that they’re at a point where they’d never be able to play the piano together.”

……

Okay… good to know… so that’s why Leo was wearing that outfit instead of his Lutwidge school uniform that would have matched Elliot’s… just to emphasize how it’s over for them forever… lol… okay… Typical Mochizuki who routinely shatters our hearts… 

Anyways I’ll just take this opportunity to introduce some of Mochizuki’s other comments on her drawings of Elliot or Leo.

So on this illustration, used in the 2012 Pandora Hearts calendar, Mochizui wrote: “A despondent Leo. The flowers [in the drawing] are pot marigolds (Calendula officinalis), which mean ‘despair’ and ‘the sorrow of parting.’”

On the cover art of volume 14, shown in the beginning of this post: “I drew this picturing Elliot resolutely standing tall with pride in his heart despite the great darkness that ties him down. In all my sketches he had an expression of fear, but in the end, it seems that this kind of determined expression suits him best.”

On this illustration used in the 2014 calendar: “The flowers that are falling onto Elliot are freesias, which mean ‘deep affection’ and ‘admiration.’ I drew this thinking that it would be nice to leave to each person’s imagination whether the hands at the top are Oz’s or Leo’s.”

A tricky question since both Oz and Leo showed deep affection and admiration for Elliot. What do you guys think? 

On this drawing used in the 2013 calendar: “Because Elliot gets tormented by nightmares in the story, I wanted to let him sleep at least in this illustration. By all means, let him have a good dream.”

Yes just let my baby have a good night’s sleep… ;w;

And you guys know this illustration right? The one that appeared in the G Fantasy issue directly following the one where Elliot died.

“I drew this so it would form a pair with the illustration below [the one with Leo and pot marigolds]. They’re wearing mourning in response to Elliot’s death. Originally, I planned to draw pot marigolds in this one too, but at the time I didn’t feel like drawing in flowers with dark meanings, so I instead drew nasturtiums which mean ‘to overcome a hardship.’” 

In the final result of this illustration the faces of Gilbert and Alice remain hidden, turned away and veiled, but the art book included a sketch of it which shows their expressions.

Gilbert looks upset, frustrated, and angry, whereas Alice looks more detached, resigned, regretful? Which is natural considering that Gilbert knew Elliot much better than Alice did.