Shadows House Season 2 picks the manga back up, after some divergences in the previous season. As we delve more deeply into the sinister house, new mysteries arise. For example, who is Master Robe who terrorizes the children's building?
When Emilyko encounters a tall, robed figure, she coins the name Master Robe with her usual naivete. But the enigmatic presence turns out to have significant implications for all the residents, to the point that Kate resolves to uncover his true identity. So, are there any hints about Robe's identity?
Table of Contents
Spoilers below!
Is Master Robe an Adult?
Master Robe is a very tall figure which causes many residents of the children's building to assume that an adult is hiding behind the loose garments.
Normally, adult Shadows and living dolls are never seen in the children's building. Instead, it falls on Star Bearers to take care of everything.
Those who know what the shadows are will also know that this is because at some point close to adulthood, Shadows are expected to merge with their living dolls, taking over their bodies and essentially killing them.
Children Shadows, however, are not aware of this; seeing an adult would cause great disruption in the children's building, not only because of the soot monsters that seem to be associated with the robed figure but also because, if the secret of the Shadows true nature was exposed, there's no telling what they young shadows and living dolls would do.
But is Master Robe an adult just because he's tall? The truth turns out to be more complicated.
Is Edward Master Robe?
Some fans speculate that Edward will turn out to be Master Robe. Not only does he have a bigger role in the anime, kidnapping Emilyko at the end of Season 1, but her also hates Kate for the disruptions he thinks she might cause.
However, Edward doesn't turn out to be Master Robe, at least not in the Shadows House manga.
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Who Is Master Robe?
In a violent plot twist, the Shadows House manga reveals that Master Robe is Maryrose, one of the young Shadow nobles.
When Emilyko starts cleaning together with other Shadows, she meets Maryrose's living doll, Rosemary. After their debut, Kate and Emilyko associate with Maryrose and Rosemary, who are nice to them compared to other, duplicitous pairs.
One wouldn't immediately associate Maryrose with Master Robe, as, other than her height, which is greater than most others' in the children's building, she doesn't have anything to indicate that she could be the mysterious figure.
But what are Maryrose's motivations? These are directly associated with the Shadows House's sinister nature. Maryrose and Rosemary have been aware of the expected merge which results in the living doll's death.
Maryrose's actions as Master Robe are fuelled both by regrets over the death of her friend, Christopher and by her desire to keep Rosemary by her side.
Like Kate, Maryrose retains memories of her time as a morph, and knows that the living dolls are human. However, Maryrose had a traumatic experience that Kate did not.
Hoping to help her friend, Christopher, Maryrose undid the brainwashing of Christopher's living doll and told him the truth. However, the event broke Christopher, who then committed suicide.
From there on, Maryrose's efforts were only concentrated on her wish not to merge with Rosemary. As her Soot abilities allowed Maryrose to manipulate the scorches, she did everything in her power to wreak havoc.
For her part, Rosemary intentionally got herself infected by the scorches to delay hers and Maryrose's admission to the Adult building.
In the manga, when Maryrose and Rosemary can no longer delay the inevitable, they jump off the Shadows House cliff, and it's uncertain whether or not they survived.
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The one ray of hope in their potential demise is that, as Maryrose had hoped, Kate is carrying on the rebellion.
Will Rosemary also be Master Robe in the anime adaptation? Stay tuned to find out!
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