Mystery is a member of the Mystery Skulls and attentive mascot animal. Mystery is Vivi Yukino's pet dog, but unbeknownst to her, Mystery hides a dark secret.
Appearance[]
Mystery's disguised form is a white dog with black paws. He has red eyes and a red and black spiky mane of hair on his head. He wears a pair of tiny, gold-tinted glasses, as well as a red dog collar with a question mark on it.
His true form is that of a large kitsune with six tails in "Ghost". As of "Freaking Out", he now has seven tails. It is unknown why this change has occurred; however one theory is that as he is a Kitsune, and Kitsune gain a tail every 100 years, he may have simply aged between the two events. In the fourth episode, Mystery assumes his kitsune form and gains two more tails over the course of the video.
After being mortally wounded by Shiromori, he transforms into a black corrupted kitsune with green paws and flames flowing out of his backside. He has nine tails, each with a yellow eye, a stripe running down to a white tip, and, with the exception of the rightmost white tail, black fur with green accents. From left to right, the stripe of each tail is a color from the rainbow spectrum plus white and black. His mouth is a jagged grin with green gums and sharp teeth, the insides of his left and right ears are red and green, respectively, and he has three eyes — the left and right both have red sclera and white irises, and the middle one is a sickly green with a double yellow-red iris. His glasses are also jagged and his dog collar tag has morphed into an interrobang. In this form, he's referred to as "Murder Mystery".[1]
Personality[]
Little is known about Mystery, although he's shown to be very loyal and protective of his friends. He might be greedy, or at least someone who really likes food. On the whole, he seems to be benevolent and harmless.
However, a flashback to ancient Japan reveals this wasn't always the case. In "Hellbent", Mystery is seen sitting on top of a tree littered with the remains of samurai armor, and snickering at Mushi when she encountered him. These flashbacks present Mystery in a dark, sinister fashion, implying that he may have been far more malevolent in the distant past.
History[]
Mystery hails from Japan, and in "Hellbent", it's revealed that he once fought a swordswoman who bore a striking resemblance to Vivi.
In the present day, Mystery is Vivi's pet dog and the mascot of the Mystery Skulls paranormal team alongside Vivi's friends. In "Ghost", it's shown back when the four explored the cave, Mystery seemed uneasy. When the gang split up, he was supposed to go with Vivi, but instead chose to follow the two boys for unknown reasons.
When Arthur becomes possessed and pushes Lewis off the cliff, killing him, Mystery removes Arthur's arm — freeing him from any further possession. The arm itself remains possessed, as seen in "Freaking Out" where the arm makes a cameo at the beginning of the video.
Ghost[]
As the van breaks down, Mystery and his friends enter a haunted mansion where Lewis tries to kill Arthur. As the group sprints away to escape a pursuing Lewis, Mystery pauses to view a painting behind him where they all enter a cave. As soon as the team enters, they spit up. As Mystery sneaks up on behind them, he sees Arthur being possessed and push Lewis off a cliff edge. The scene zooms out and the picture behind Mystery reveals a picture of himself in his true form with glowing red eyes grabbing Arthur's possessed arm. Mystery rejoins the group in a dash to the exit of the mansion as Arthur pulls Vivi away from Lewis, all 3 quickly jumping into the van to escape the haunted house.
Freaking Out[]
While Arthur is searching for Lewis, he seems to daydream or hallucinate Mystery turning into his true kitsune form which frightens Arthur. When Arthur snaps back to reality, he freaks out and falls to the ground, surprising Mystery who appears rather confused by Arthur's sudden reaction. As soon as Arthur passes out, Mystery catches a small familiar petal falling near the van — a chilling sign that Shiromori is still hunting him down for his blood.
Hellbent[]
While Arthur is driving late into the night, he slowly warms up to Mystery who in return shows affection for Arthur. As soon as Arthur is being chased down by Lewis, Shiromori slams into the van and cuts Mystery's face with her shears, causing him to bleed and spur on Shiromori's blood lust. After the van crashes, Shiromori walks up to Mystery while there are flashbacks of Mystery fighting Vivi's ancestor, Mushi and giving his blood to a flower that looks similar like Shiromori. As she can cut Mystery, she is hit by Vivi with a bat. As soon as Shiromori gets back to her senses, she sees Vivi as Mushi and freaks out. Shiromori is enraged, knocking down Vivi, and is about to cut Vivi as Mystery turns into a kitsune.
The Future[]
As Shiromori was about to cut Vivi, Mystery bites into his paw to lure Shiromori with his blood. When Vivi sees him signaling her to get away, After receiving Mushi's powers, she duels Shiromori to protect Mystery, who is awestruck by Vivi's newly-discovered abilities. When she gets a cut on the cheek, Mystery jumps in, throwing Shiromori onto the truck.
Shiromori recalls Mystery protecting Mushi like he does Vivi now, causing her to go mad and grow giant roots from her arm. Mystery grabs Vivi and puts her on his back as they begin to fight Shiromori. While in the air, Vivi jumps off from Mystery and smashes the roots with her ice powers, weakening Shiromori. As Vivi was about to finish Shiromori off, Mystery jumps in, gesturing Vivi to give his old friend mercy. Vivi agrees and they both walk away.
Still angered by Mystery, Shiromori attempts to strike Mystery, but Vivi jumps in and takes the hit, being slashed in the abdomen. Mystery's heart is shown to tear apart, with different colors pouring out of it as he grows another tail. He charges at Shiromori but gets knocked down. Vivi grabs the bat and knocks Shiromori's heart out, causing her to wither away. As he grows another tail, Mystery's heart tears again.
Mystery collapses, leaving Vivi in tears, thinking that he has died. However, Mystery's eyes open again, glowing green as his fur turns black, and colorful lighting swarms around him causing her to be launched into the van. When Mystery roars, Arthur's mechanical arm reacts unpredictably, and Lewis clutches his head in distress.
The reunited team bears witness to Mystery's startling metamorphosis into the nightmarish form of Murder Mystery. The video rewinds, revealing Arthur's possessed arm (???) clutching Mystery's shattered heart, laughter echoing through the scene.
Relationships[]
Vivi[]
Vivi and Mystery enjoying their meal.
Vivi is a fellow team member, as well as his owner. They are also part of the same team and seem to get along well. If what is true about kitsune in Japanese mythology applies to Mystery, then he is most likely very loyal and protective of her. It's unclear whether Vivi is aware of Mystery's true form or whether she believes him to be an actual dog, though the events of the fourth episode imply she was in the dark about this.
In "Hellbent", it is revealed that Mystery once fought a swords-woman who bore a striking resemblance to Vivi, most likely an ancestor. He may have been aware the Vivi is a descendant of Mushi. This might indicate that during the ancient times, he became allies with Mushi and decided to live with the Yukino family.
Arthur[]
Mystery watching Arthur being possessed
Arthur is a friend and fellow investigator. Mystery forcibly removed Arthur's arm the night of the cave accident to save him from the evil spirit's possession. It is unknown if Arthur is aware that Mystery is a kitsune or if he remembers how he lost his arm, though Arthur is greatly afraid of Mystery's kitsune form for that reason. However, in Hellbent, he slowly warmed up to Mystery. The events of the fourth episode and Arthur's behavior imply he was unaware of Mystery's involvement.
Lewis[]
There is not much known about Lewis's and Mystery's relationship. Before Lewis died they were members of the same team and seemed to be friends. Prior to the fourth episode, it seems Lewis was unaware of Mystery's origins or true form, even in the event of his death when Mystery forcibly removed Arthur's arm after Arthur pushed Lewis while possessed.
Shiromori[]
Shiromori and Mystery seem to know each other, though why and how is currently unknown. Mystery seems to be afraid of her and is being hunted down by her for some reason. Shiromori is most likely hunting Mystery to get power from his blood, as suggested by a flashback where Mystery's blood drops on a flower. As Shiromori can grow flowers linked to people by magical means, Mystery's blood might have given Shiromori her power over plants. This would also explain why she is so desperate to harm him.
In "Hellbent" his blood is revealed to have dropped on a particular flower, likely in the aftermath of his fight with Vivi's ancestor. This is implied to be part of the reason why Shiromori is hunting him, though the connection of the flower to Shiromori is yet unknown.
In "The Future", Mystery and Shiromori's relationship is revealed to be fairly complicated. Shiro still wants Mystery's blood while Mystery is forced to fight her even though he clearly doesn't want to hurt her in order to protect Vivi.
Mushi[]
A swordswoman who's Vivi's ancestor, Mushi and Mystery once fought in the distant past, most likely to protect her people from Mystery. Yet when Shiromori confused Vivi for Mushi, from Shiromori's perspective, Mushi was defending Mystery, implying that somehow, Mushi and Mystery became allies.
Abilities[]
- Overpowered Magic: According to Japanese folklore, the older a Kitsune the more powerful it is.
- Metamorphosis: Mystery can turn into his kitsune form at will.
- Create life: Mystery created Shiromori with a few drops of blood and a flower, giving it a humanoid form.
- Conferring powers: Mystery can confer powers, as with Shiromori in the past with some of her blood.
- High intelligence: According to other Japanese legends, Kitsune have superior intelligence.
- Communication and Multilingual: MysterTheamore and Ena kitsune has, the stronger and wiser they are.than that.
- Super strength: We see him in '' The Future '' when he throws Shiromori away with his jawbone.
- Tails: Like all kitsune, Mystery started out with one tail, magically sprouting additional tails every 100 years. As shown in flashbacks and Murder Mystery's physical appearance, he used to have 9 tails, making him 900 years old in kitsune years. However following his confrontation with Mushi, he lost 2 tails, making him 700 years in kitsune years *although in Ghost he's shown to have 6 tails, making him 600 years old in kitsune years* However it has been hypothesised that the events of Freaking Out take place roughly 100 years after Ghost, thereby explaining this small inconsistency. As of The Future, Mystery has regained two tails, once again making him 900 years old in kitsune years.
Weaknesses[]
- Heart: Judging by the images in "The Future", a mysterious red heart connected to Mystery directly influences his mystical form. In periods of stress, the heart can burst and release strains of a liquid-like energy corresponding to the number of tails, apparently causing Mystery to lose control. Seeing Shiromori and Vivi significantly hurt, for instance, enraged and distressed Mystery due to the strong bond he shares with them, making him emotionally unstable and vulnerable to ???'s possession.
Trivia[]
Mystery's Profile on Mystery Ben's blog.
- Mystery's design is inspired primarily by Mystery Ben's original character[2]. His character is also inspired by Scooby-Doo from the American media franchise of the same name.
- Despite Mystery's resemblance to Mystery Ben's avatar, Ben himself has stated that he relates more to Arthur.
- Mystery's name alludes to the video creator's online handle (Mystery Ben), and the name of the paranormal investigation team as well as the group whose music the videos are based on (Mystery Skulls), and to the fact that he hides his true nature from the others (thus being a mystery himself).
- Mystery's demonic form, "Murder Mystery"[1], is a wordplay reference to the genre of "murder mystery".
- It is heavily hinted that Mystery may hail from Japan. His favourite instrument is the Japanese taiko drum. His favourite game is Ōkami (which also takes place in an ancient Japanese setting and centers, fittingly enough, on a wolf deity). His true form is a kitsune, and he was being hunted by Shiromori.
- Mystery's age is listed as "...'7'" on his official profile, implying that this is not his real age. Being a supernatural creature, he is likely far older than a normal dog could be, possibly even hundreds of years old. "Hellbent" partially confirms this, as Mystery is seen alive in ancient Japan.
- According to yokai folklore, a kitsune grows a new tail every 100 years. Since Mystery's kitsune form has 7 tails, it can be inferred that his real age is 700 years old. The problem with this theory comes from his 'heart' (most likely a Hoshi no Tama, widely known as an orb that houses the kitsune's soul). As seen in The Future, moments of extreme distress opens new gashes in his 'heart', which increases his number of tails. It can be inferred that at the start of his life, he had one tail, thus bringing him up to the current number with eight gashes in his 'heart'.
- Mystery's flower that appears in "Freaking Out" is a red lotus.[3] Red lotuses often represent ascension, enlightenment, and rebirth. His flower is also noticeably much larger than that of the other members of the team, hinting at his mystical abilities and powerful "aura".
- Mystery's favourite food is listed as "...'chicken'" which some think may be a joke regarding Arthur being a 'chicken', since Mystery bit off his arm.
- It's confirmed that Mystery can speak and he likely knows Japanese and English. Artsy stated he might know even more languages than that.[4]
- According to this height reference, Mystery is about 3 Foot 3 Inches tall (in his dog form).
- His larger form in The Future is likely ???'s doing, seeing that at the end of the video, the arm resembling ??? has grabbed Mystery's heart before the transofrmation. Also, it is shown that Mystery's eyes glow green just as Arthur's eye did when he got possessed. He also breathes a green smoke or mist, possibly because of ???.
Gallery
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References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://heilos.tumblr.com/post/633724060933718016/weve-been-very-excited-to-show-this-design-off
- ↑ http://mysterybensmysteryblog.tumblr.com/post/101235486423
- ↑ http://heilos.tumblr.com/post/143406035079
- ↑ http://artsyfeathersartsyblog.tumblr.com/post/179220922872/can-mystery-speak-verbally-not-unlike-a-certain
| Characters in Mystery Skulls Animated | |
|---|---|
| Protagonists | Arthur • Vivi • Mystery |
| Antagonists | Lewis • Reverb • Shiromori |
| Minor characters | Dead Beats • Painting Ghosts • Pepper Family • Lance • Mushi • Galahad • Duet • Chloe • Rooster • Yukino Family |