How sad it would be...

CHARACTER NAME: Undertaker
AGE: Unknown (suggested at least several centuries)
CANON: Kuroshitsuji
CANON POINT: Anime, End of Season 1

PERSONALITY: Known only by the title of his current profession, Undertaker is an eccentric at best and a creep at worst, with an often black (and at other times inexplicable) sense of humor. By both his species and his previous duties he is a shinigami, a kind of grim reaper psychopomp that judges and either spares or collects the souls of those on the moment of their death. It is known that he was “legendary” in his time, ranking at the Management level of the Shinigami Dispatch Society, and judged such souls as Robin Hood and Marie Antoinette. At some unknown point, however, he retired.

Now he is a funeral director, and often has dealings with the underworld of Victorian-Era England due to the bodies that often pass through his shop, and here’s where he gets really strange. He claims to have no use for money and is never seen to take monetary payment for the information he sells. Instead he asks for “first-rate laughter”, craving it so much he often drools in anticipation, and cackles loudly and uproariously whenever his patrons succeed. His sense of humor is hard to pin down, as many such ‘payments’ occur off-screen for the comedic effect of his outrageous reactions, but do seem to involve a degree of embarrassment on the part of the one paying him. At other times he’s amused by things ranging through the natural demeanor of an earnest Scotland Yard Inspector (Aberline was only trying to ask for information but Undertaker thought he was a natural comedian), by being buried up to his neck in a vat of salt (the sensation of moisture being leeched from his skin is delightful), and by a performance of manzai stand-up comedy by a straitlaced English butler (it was simply brilliant). He might even be ticklish, if one silly OVA is to be believed. Things that don’t amuse him? Lame puns and dirty gossip.

Undertaker has no sense of personal space and in fact seems to enjoy creeping people out by getting up in their faces and poking them with his long nails, though the majority of his behavior is inflicted on the young Earl Ciel Phantomhive, one of his favorite “visitors”. He also enjoys sleeping (or at least resting/hiding) in his own custom-made coffins, and asking if people want to be fitted for one. When he has a body to prepare for a funeral, he dwells lovingly on the “beauty” of the wounds and would rather highlight them than disguise them if he could. He’s also known to examine (read: “play with”) the bodies (his “guests”) he prepares for funerals (which he enjoys enough on its own already) as something of a hobby. Death and all its methods and trappings—murder, drowning, coffins, funerals, and so on—are a delight to him and he makes no secret of it.

Very little seems to faze him, probably because of his implied age and experience as a reaper. When an interfering angel invades the great library where the shinigami keep the “cinematic records” that detail the lives of all humans and is confronted there by two other reapers and a demon, Undertaker walks on by without interest simply so he can put some records he borrowed back on their shelves. When surprise is expressed at his appearance, he merely smiles and waves “Hi~”. He does, however, assist the others in following the angel when she escapes by use of a powerful-yet-limited skill only he has access to as former Management… and doesn’t even demand anyone make him laugh first. At the end of the series, he’s also “roped into” helping with the collection of a great number of souls that will result of the show’s climactic final battle, expressing some disdain for the fact but otherwise impressed rather than disturbed by all that occurs.

Given all this it’s hard to pin him anywhere on a scale of morality, but while he needs some outside motivation for it ultimately he’s an ally of the forces of order and the balance of life and death. To call him “good” is entirely subjective, but he does show little kindnesses at times, such as bringing Ciel a jar of cookies when the young Earl is alone and starving—in the same moment as telling him he’s soon to die, of course. Then again, his “affection” for people seems mostly based on how much they amuse him, whether directly in payment, or indirectly as they get caught up in the twists and turns of their life (again, namely Ciel, who as the Queen’s Watchdog is always embroiled in the dark underbelly of England). Black sense of humor, and all.