Oh snap. A serious question or a change. All right! Click below to read my long winded response! 


There are a few different reasons that I’m pleased with the musical ending with the deaths of Eric and Alan. 

For starters, Eric is a tragic hero. Though he definitely cared for Alan and wanted to keep him safe, he had an undeniable amount of fear that drove him to murder innocent people. His fear of solitude and selfishness are what caused Alan’s demise, and his ultimate failure to save him. His and Alan’s survival would have been a success, which goes against the very nature of a tragic hero. Basically, the only way that Eric would have stopped killing for Alan’s sake was if he died. Only after Alan’s death does he realize he’s made a mistake and beg for his death.

I feel like Eric needed to atone for his sins with his life. I think that people often forget that he was a murderer. While I also ship Eric and Alan, I believe what he did was out of selfishness and cowardice, and people often overlook that. As Alan’s superior, he would have been frustrated with himself for not being able to prevent Alan’s condition. It’s almost like he had to prove that he was capable of reversing that mistake — but not for Alan’s gain. He wanted Alan alive for himself. Because he didn’t want to be alone. He never respected Alan’s wish to be allowed to experience death. 

Had he lived (say, he suddenly stopped killing — which would never happen — and the two ran off on their own), he would have been far less likable as a character. I think that when people envision Eric Slingby, they remember his jovial grin and sass immediately, and they don’t realize how much seeing him on his knees, begging for death, influenced their ideas of who Eric Slingby is. 

Most will peg him as a romantic, hopelessly lost lover. I’ve written that way, but, truthfully, he’s just a coward. A coward that realized his mistake too late and then knew that it was too late to right it. 

The moment that Eric redeems himself as a character, for me, is actually when he begs Sebastian to kill him. He realizes all of his efforts were for nothing and his selfishness can no longer go on. “If you died, then for what—?” He even recoils at the idea of Alan’s death scythe (as Sebastian puts it) being tainted by his sinful blood. Some people might speculate that it’s because it’s adding insult to injury. I say it’s because he no longer wants to burden Alan, even dead, with his sins. 

Finally, I believe that death is the only way Alan ever could have escaped the grip of the thorns (as the fairy tale about the thorns is fictional). During the final moments of the musical, we see the actors get to their and retreat from the stage — together. I take this to mean that their souls have moved on from the pain and suffering that their lives as death gods had brought them. They begin a new journey with death — as if they’re born again. 

(I’d also like to point out that their duet is called “Unmei” or “Fate”,  and is lighthearted compared to “Sei to Shi no Sukima” and “Hanakotoba wa Kodoku.” I like to believe this is because they’ve finally accepted their fate, together, and are no longer allowing themselves to be despaired over it. They understand that it’s inescapable, and their lights are extinguished together in the most beautiful display of death in the world.)