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Baku History
History: The PVs are sparse, but what little we know about the Baku from the PVs is that he was once human, because he appears to the Princess differently from the black-eyed, pointy-eared demon. A lot of his history is speculation, but like. I’m working with what I have here.
For reference, I'm linking the lyrics of the two songs, and will be referencing images. A lot of the history is headcanon coming from three sources: the lyrics, the visuals and the fact it's called Nemurhime which is the Japanese name for Sleeping Beauty. Otherwise, the names themselves are headcanon because like hell am I playing no-name characters. ...Also I got the impression the "taking the color from their eyes" was inducing very, very deep despair, and trading a life for sustaining someone's life.
Monochrome Dream-Eating Baku
Sleeping Princess
Once upon a time, there was a Princess, Glenys, and her Servant, Lucian Grey. Their names have been lost to history, and only he remembers them. He worked happily for her as they both grew, and they became close friends. At one point, due to the politics of her country, she became scared of what might happen to her. She wanted so much to grow up and fall in love, really. It was a beautiful dream, and he wanted to protect it. So he promised to, with a pinky promise. But… The familial politics came to a head, though, and he defended her from an assassin, killing them. When he asked if she was afraid of him, he didn’t answer and instead said that was fine. Their relationship continued forward, a bit strained for a while, but he was ever faithful and loyal. Indeed, Lucian had fallen in love with the princess he protected, even though he could never tell her and she could never reciprocate. She was, after all, a princess.
However, life happens. A servant cannot always be at his princess’ side. One day, while he was out doing errands, tragedy struck and he returned to find the princess dying. Poisoned, with no antidote (because this is Sleeping Beauty). In his desperation, he made a deal with something dark and became a monster (because she only ever sees him as human in her dreams, with rounded ears and golden eyes). He himself is not sure when he changed, exactly, just that he struck out and slaughtered the people he felt were responsible: the rest of her family, competing for the throne. And so the servant became a demon, his golden eyes becoming black and his skin becoming cold. He wished so hard to protect her and her beautiful dream of love that he had become a demon that devoured nightmares. And he realized… If he could take nightmares, could he not somehow use dreams to sustain his beloved?
And so he did, manifesting beautiful dreams of love as roses. And he plundered them from the hearts of maidens around the Princess’ home, while she rested in a coffin of the rose-dreams. He made a vow that day, too, that he would destroy the world that had hurt her—no matter what it takes. And he stayed like this for hundreds of years, venturing out to make contracts that would end with the full moon. These contracts had nasty fine print, allowing him to steal the dreams of those he contracted with—all teenaged girls. The price of taking those dreams away was something high, though. Because when you take away someone’s dreams, then they have nothing but despair. And when there’s nothing but despair, they tend to take their own lives. In other words, he became someone who ripped the beautiful color out of the worlds of innocent young women all to save the life of one person.
And he did this knowing full well that, even when she woke up, she would never forgive him. Heck, the process would most likely make her into a baku by the end, given he was sustaining her on dreams, so he thought. (It's vague, but he comments on there being no salvation when she awakes.)
For reference, I'm linking the lyrics of the two songs, and will be referencing images. A lot of the history is headcanon coming from three sources: the lyrics, the visuals and the fact it's called Nemurhime which is the Japanese name for Sleeping Beauty. Otherwise, the names themselves are headcanon because like hell am I playing no-name characters. ...Also I got the impression the "taking the color from their eyes" was inducing very, very deep despair, and trading a life for sustaining someone's life.
Monochrome Dream-Eating Baku
Sleeping Princess
Once upon a time, there was a Princess, Glenys, and her Servant, Lucian Grey. Their names have been lost to history, and only he remembers them. He worked happily for her as they both grew, and they became close friends. At one point, due to the politics of her country, she became scared of what might happen to her. She wanted so much to grow up and fall in love, really. It was a beautiful dream, and he wanted to protect it. So he promised to, with a pinky promise. But… The familial politics came to a head, though, and he defended her from an assassin, killing them. When he asked if she was afraid of him, he didn’t answer and instead said that was fine. Their relationship continued forward, a bit strained for a while, but he was ever faithful and loyal. Indeed, Lucian had fallen in love with the princess he protected, even though he could never tell her and she could never reciprocate. She was, after all, a princess.
However, life happens. A servant cannot always be at his princess’ side. One day, while he was out doing errands, tragedy struck and he returned to find the princess dying. Poisoned, with no antidote (because this is Sleeping Beauty). In his desperation, he made a deal with something dark and became a monster (because she only ever sees him as human in her dreams, with rounded ears and golden eyes). He himself is not sure when he changed, exactly, just that he struck out and slaughtered the people he felt were responsible: the rest of her family, competing for the throne. And so the servant became a demon, his golden eyes becoming black and his skin becoming cold. He wished so hard to protect her and her beautiful dream of love that he had become a demon that devoured nightmares. And he realized… If he could take nightmares, could he not somehow use dreams to sustain his beloved?
And so he did, manifesting beautiful dreams of love as roses. And he plundered them from the hearts of maidens around the Princess’ home, while she rested in a coffin of the rose-dreams. He made a vow that day, too, that he would destroy the world that had hurt her—no matter what it takes. And he stayed like this for hundreds of years, venturing out to make contracts that would end with the full moon. These contracts had nasty fine print, allowing him to steal the dreams of those he contracted with—all teenaged girls. The price of taking those dreams away was something high, though. Because when you take away someone’s dreams, then they have nothing but despair. And when there’s nothing but despair, they tend to take their own lives. In other words, he became someone who ripped the beautiful color out of the worlds of innocent young women all to save the life of one person.
And he did this knowing full well that, even when she woke up, she would never forgive him. Heck, the process would most likely make her into a baku by the end, given he was sustaining her on dreams, so he thought. (It's vague, but he comments on there being no salvation when she awakes.)