The Black Clover Dark Zogratis Theory That Makes So Much Sense

Contains spoilers for "Black Clover"

Creator Yuki Tabata's "Black Clover" manga and anime take fans to a world that's full of magic, at least unless you're the thoroughly un-magical warrior protagonist Asta (Voiced in the anime by Gakuto Kajiwara in Japanese and Dallas Reid in the English dub). As such, the anime series is full of curious, impressively designed characters who wield their magic powers in imaginative ways ... and the anime genre being shonen, not all of them are on the side of the angels.

As you'd expect, "Black Clover" fans have their favorite arcs and characters, and they pay careful attention to clues that might reveal details the story only hints at. One such incident revolves around Zenon Zogratis (Tatsuhisa Suzuki and Zeno Robinson), the merciless youngest member of the Zogratis family. Zenon, like his two Dark Triad siblings, hosts a powerful devil. His eerie and visually captivating bone magic makes immediately clear just how dangerous he is, and some suspect that there might be an even bigger darkness hiding in his backstory. Here's the dark theory "Dark Clover" one fan has created about the Zogratis siblings. 

Now, before we proceed, a word of warning: This theory discusses certain events the anime version of "Black Clover" hasn't addressed, so again, spoilers ahoy. 

Though he comes from a pretty dark family, Zenon's own path of darkness doesn't truly begin until he kills his friend and squadmate Allen with a spell when the pair battles a dangerous devil. Allen's death disturbs Zenon so much that he disavows emotions altogether, and decides to become a devil host himself.

However, this isn't the first time he gets the chance to do so. Before the fateful incident, his powerful eldest brother Lucius — the villainous second soul of Wizard King Julius Novachrono (Toshiyuki Morikawa and Robert McCollum) –  has already offered Zenon the opportunity to become a host. Yet, it takes Allen's death and a total breakdown for the youngest Zogratis to embrace Lucius' suggestion. 

In a Reddit thread discussing the fandom's dark theories about the plot, user u/Shockybomb revealed their belief that Lucius isn't the type to take no for an answer. According to this theory, the eldest Zogratis may have orchestrated the demon encounter to manipulate his younger brother. "The oldest zogratis sibling planted the devil in that dungeon for zenon and Allen so Allen can die and zenon would then want the devil powers from his brother," they wrote. 

At first, this may seem like a pretty far-fetched idea, considering that Lucius' Soul Magic effectively gives him mind control powers that could renders such complex plots unnecessary. Yet, it makes a creepy kind of sense that Lucius might have wanted Zenon to become a demon host of his own free will. As his many machinations prove, Lucius is an archetypal chessmaster who revels in playing the long game, and a talented liar to boot. Since a powerful and cooperative Zenon is instrumental to Lucius' plans to reform the Tree of Qliphoth, nudging things along with a strategically placed dungeon devil would be very much in the most powerful Zogratis' wheelhouse.