Name: Celestia Ludenberg (セレスティア・ルーデンベルク)
Title: Super High School Level Gambler (超高校級の「ギャンブラー」)
Appearances: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (video game), Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - The Animation (anime), Danganronpa: The Manga (manga), Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF (light novel), Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak Academy - Side: Despair (anime // cameo)
WARNING: UNTAGGED SPOILERS FOLLOW
Introduction
At first sight, there’s much to hate about Celes.
Most people see her as the haughty, spiteful hypocrite and liar that murdered two people without any ounce of remorse for her selfishness and greed. Despite the fact that she performed the only premeditated murderer in the game, her murder plan is elaborate, unwieldy, and poorly executed, easily exposing her as the murderer. Her trial, often denounced as the easiest to solve and worst written among the community, gives us a final impression that Celes is nothing more than a delusional, psychotic lunatic.
The tragedy is, this IS Celestia Ludenberg — or at least the fake facade that Taeko Yasuhiro puts on.
Unfortunately, most people see this outer layer of Celes and don’t bother looking further into her character, leading to a generally controversial and negative consensus on her character.
But from what we can piece together from her Free Time Events and trial breakdown, Taeko Yasuhiro is really nothing more than an insecure but normal girl who enjoys gyoza and royal milk tea.
Backstory
Unfortunately, Celes has one of the most mysterious pasts of the character in the Danganronpa universe. Most of what we know from her comes from her FTEs, and she barely revealed anything there other than small tidbits of trivia. Thus, what we know about her backstory is mostly speculation and guesswork. However, we should take note of several facts: the fact that Celes’s Demon Hunting captive was her cat, and the fact that no one has been classified above Rank B in her relationship ranking system.
Most people interpret these facts as evidence that Celes is a cold, heartless bitch who hates everyone. However, what people usually do not consider is the possibility that it may be the other way around — Celes was neglected by others in her past, possibly even facing rejection on multiple occasions, and thus, she never bothered to develop strong emotional attachments to other humans. Unfortunately, we have little context for why this may be.
A possible explanation for why she hasn’t learned to bond with others stems from Celes’s claim that her parents were “a French aristocrat and a German musician.” Though this is blatantly phased as a poorly-disguised lie, Celes has a habit of mixing in half-truths within her lies. She could be hinting at the fact that her father was a government official, maybe even a foreign emissary. Celes’s use of the example of “diplomatic relations between two countries” to explain the term “prisoner’s dilemma” supports the theory that her father could’ve been a foreign emissary. Similarly, her mother was likely a musical performer.
Both of these occupations require constant traveling, so it’s possible that she constantly left alone in her home in Tochigi. Nurture and care are important parts to a child’s well-being, and since her parents weren’t around to take care of her often, Taeko develops an inferiority complex from the lack of care she receives in her childhood and covers it up with her Celestia Ludenberg persona.
Not only did Celes face neglect in her childhood, but she was also bullied and isolated for being “too normal”, according to the (non-canon) manga. Right before her execution, the manga shows Celes flashing back to her childhood, where she was ignored and rejected by her classmates because she was ordinary.
Because of her lack of attention during her childhood, Taeko never learns to form deep relationships with others, and thus, her closest confidant was her cat.
Speaking of rejection, I also want to discuss Celes’s ranking system a bit further. Generally, she describes it as ranging from Rank A through F. Most people she meets bore her, so she places them in Rank D, and those that she truly despises she classifies as Rank F and “hires an assassin to eliminate them”.
Though the assassination aspect is likely another really bad lie, we should note the drastic difference between Rank D to Rank F. Apathy to ill intentions is a large change in perception, so perhaps this demonstrates her high tolerance zone for disliking people, but then again, her claims of assassination are likely a bluff.
On the other hand, Rank C is the rank of “knights all around the world who are ready to serve” her. The most plausible interpretation of this statement is that despite her indifference to most people in her life, Celes does have some international friends, hinting at an active Internet social life.
You know what I mean.
Taeko Yasuhiro, the girl who made numerous gambling manga references (Liar Game, Akagi, 81diver) in her FTEs, was likely a big anime weeaboo who enjoyed discourse on tumblr and the /r/anime Reddit with others that shared similar interests, and these Internet friends were likely classified as Rank C.
Therefore, when Naegi is promoted to Rank C, Celes is telling him that she sees him as a friend. Similarly, ranks A and B have never been attained by anyone in Celes’s life, but following the pattern we’ve seen so far, Rank B is likely designated for close friends, and people in Rank A will be soul mates/lovers.
But why this complicated system of ranking?
Judging by her formal announcement to Naegi about his promotion to Rank C, Celes has designed this complicated ranking system as an indirect way of telling people how much they mean to her in her fear of being rejected. If people react negatively to their promotion, Celes can always brush off their rejection as “a foolish rejection of a rare opportunity”.
Contrary to what she intends, it seems that most people are unnerved by her pleas to accept her strange offer and are alienated by it, so this often results in rejection, just as Naegi did with her offer during her FTE.
Character
Given her backstory, Taeko Yasuhiro believed she was neglected by her parents and abandoned by her classmates as a result of being too “normal”, so she developed her Celestia Ludenberg persona as a result. The persona was designed to satisfy several needs that serve as the fundamentals of Celes’s character:
- her need to feel special
- her need to reside in a position of power
- her aspirations to live a lifestyle similar to that of European royalty
Needs #1 and #3 have roots in her childhood abandonment, but need #2 (and maybe a bit of #3) originates from her talent itself. Celes hated relying on something as abstract as luck in order to succeed, so she constantly sought more materialistic forms of success, such as wealth and power.
On the other hand, Celes, her gambling luck allowed her to achieve all of her needs, but none of her needs were met during the mutual killing game, and she thus developed an intense urge to escape the school that ultimately drove her to kill.
Killing School Life
Now that we’ve discussed Celes’s underlying character, it’s time to discuss how it doomed her to an execution in the school life of mutual killing.
When we first meet Celes, she portrays herself as a calm, collected, cold and cunning character (she actually is really smart, considering how active and useful she is during trial discussions). When the students begin to search the school for an exit and come back empty handed, Celes bluntly states, “The fact we are locked in a closed environment with nowhere to escape to is the confirmed, unavoidable truth.” She also claims that “the ones who survive [the killing game] aren’t the strongest or the cleverest. They’re the ones who know how to adapt to change.”
When most people think of this quote, they scoff when they remember how Celes screams, “I couldn’t wait being able to get out! I could never stand any of it! More than anyone else here! Anyone!” during her trial breakdown. However, it’s important to remember that Celes formed this opinion before the killing game truly started, before anyone was murdered or executed. At this point in time, Celes believes that the killing game would be testing her resolve.
Alternatively, since Celes believes that “showing weakness is only going to get you killed,” Celes could’ve already been scared at this point and bluffing in order to convince others that she wasn’t frightened of the game. Regardless of Celes’s thoughts, the events of the game prove that there’s no way to control anything with the despair and chaos involved.
Before the first murder, she suggests a Night Time rule as a way to prevent the murders from happening. Unfortunately, no one bothers to listen to her rule, and Celes is incredibly frustrated by that fact. Not only did both murders occur during the night, but her peers show no intention of listening to her rule. Celes also seeks control over Yamada by forcing him to make her royal milk tea, but he botches the job and Celes loses her temper in the most dramatic way. In the killing game, Celes feels incredibly deprived of her need for control and struggles to thrive because of it, and her lack of control over the events of the game is even more emphasized once the killing game begins with the first murder.
After the first trial, Celes no longer believes that adapting to their surroundings and giving up the idea of pleasures outside of the school is the best way to survive the killing game. She witnesses Kuwata’s brutal execution, and is shown crying (see image above) as a result of the shock and realization of the harsh truth that killing game was not a joke. She sees Maizono overpowered by Kuwata and Fujisaki overpowered by Oowada in bouts of brute strength. She sees the connection between the two murders and realizes that physical strength is what is most necessary to survive.
Now Celes is truly frightened, for she realizes that she is the most physically weak character among the remaining students. Trapped in what she believes is a “kill or be killed game”, Celes sees no chances for her survival because she has no physical strength to defend herself. This is evident in her staunch denial in ever getting the opportunity to eat her hometown’s gyoza again in her FTE, and caves in to despair. What’s truly ironic is that fact that Celes realizes that her urge to escape “is just going to get more people killed,” yet she makes no attempt to rectify it.
Regardless, Taeko, believing that she is fated to die as the next victim, decides to go out in the most Celestia Ludenberg way possible: by killing two people at once and manipulating the others into a wild goose chase. Her urge to kill was simply a last-ditch attempt to escape a harsh environment where she didn’t feel special, powerful, or like royalty, not to add to the money she had already collected.
I struggle with explaining why she chose incompetent Yamada, whose errors resulted in most of the flaws of her murder plan, to be her accomplice, but it’s likely because he was the easiest to emotionally manipulate out of all the others. Ironically, her poor manipulation skills during her wild goose chase result in her trial being the general consensus for the worst trial in the DR franchise. However, it’s what happens during and after her trial breakdown that adds most depth to her character.
During her trial breakdown, Celes completely abandons her facade in an emotional outburst of rage, a testament to the stress she’s been going through during the killing game as a result of suppressing her emotions so much since her persona was designed to withhold her emotions.
She confesses that she lied and admits that she was the one who “aspired the most to leave” the killing game, giving us the impression that she’s a lying hypocrite considering how she condemned everyone previously for wanting to escape; again, conditions have changed, and the killing game is evidently a chaotic mess that she has no control over, so her opinions have changed too.
Immediately after realizing that she’s “lost” and confirmed the murderer, Celes doesn’t waste any time playing a sore loser and resumes her facade, brushing off her two victims’ deaths remorselessly in order to maintain her haughty superiority.
Despite her efforts to die like the villain Celestia Ludenberg was designed to be, Taeko reveals her true nature in her final moments when she hands over the key to Alter Ego to Kirigiri and says, “That’s… hope itself, isn’t it? I didn’t believe it myself, though.”
This final scene brings a satisfying end to her character arc. Despite losing hope in her chances of survival and murdering in a desperate attempt to escape, Celes realizes what hope is right before her demise, and instead of taking the key to Alter Ego to her grave, she entrusts it to someone that she knew would use it to help the others survive.
Finally, when she bids farewell to the others, she hopes that they’ll “perhaps meet again, in another life.” I always cry at this scene, because despite condemning her to death, Taeko wishes for a fresh start with her classmates, hoping that they’ll meet again in situations with better circumstances. In her final moments, Taeko learns the true meaning of hope and trusting others, but unfortunately, it’s too late for her to correct her mistakes.
Execution
Ah, the tragic conclusion to Celes’s narrative. I think that her execution was extremely well done and definitely made her feel despair in her dying moments.
First, it’s important to know that before she gets dragged to her execution, Asahina asks Celes why she’s not scared of getting executed. Celes claims, “I can also easily fool my very own self.” In order to suppress her fear of dying, Taeko convinces herself that her dramatic burning at the stake is the perfect ending for Celestia Ludenberg; however, despite her amazing control over her expressions, it’s evident during her slow burning at the stake that death frightens her a lot, and even she struggles to maintain her emotional response then.
Then comes the famous unexpected firetruck. Like the writers have said, the sheer unexpectedness of the firetruck likely caused Celestia to show some form of fear before her death, but we never see her expression before the firetruck crashed into her. Like the writers have said, the execution was designed for maximum despair by giving Celes a sense of dying a “special death” but then taking that away by giving her one of the most common causes of death — getting run over by an automobile.
Summary
Taeko Yasuhiro was an ordinary girl with a childhood of neglect and abandonment and developed a persona named Celestia Ludenberg to hide her inferiority complex and insecurities.
Forced into a killing game where she had no power, Celes initially believed that she had a chance of survival if she learned to adapt to the circumstances of the killing game; however, she underestimated the drastic conditions of the killing game and soon developed a desperate urge to escape the game where she had no control or power over both the participants and the events of the killing game. Considering how important power was to Celes, she certainly couldn’t thrive in an environment where she was powerless over everything.
After she realized that physical strength was more important to surviving the killing game, Celes believed that she was doomed to die because she had no capabilities of defending herself from any potential murderers. Thus, she gave in to despair and made one last desperate attempt to escape by performing a murder that was fitting with her facade.
Unfortunately, Celes heavily miscalculated and was caught as the murderer. Despite being condemned to death, Taeko Yasuhiro revealed her true nature to her peers before her death after realizing the meaning of hope; unfortunately, it was too late to redeem herself, so she was fated to die tragically.
Author’s Notes
Thank you for taking the time to read my first character analysis! I hope you enjoyed it and like Taeko Yasuhiro Celes a bit more; she’s one of my favorite characters in the series but really despised by a lot of people in the community.
If portions of this analysis sound a bit familiar and plagiarized, that’s because I wrote a less fleshed-out analysis in the “Happy Birthday Celestia Ludenberg!” thread on Reddit. As you can tell, I added about 1,000 more words to it here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about this analysis, ask me! I can also elaborate on parts that you’re interested in knowing more about.
Anyways, the next character analysis will be Nagito Komaeda’s. It’ll be published sometime next week, hopefully (no pun intended).
Also, Happy New Year’s guys! I hope to be writing a lot more next year with NDRV3 coming out. :) See you guys next year!
