Chains dwelling in their home, the Abyss
Chains (チェイン, Chein) are a species from Jun Mochizuki's Pandora Hearts. They are organisms born from the Abyss and its twisted, warped power, each possessing a range of otherworldly powers and abilities far beyond that of regular humans. Chains can appear as a variety of different things, such as animals or toys—a select number even having formerly been human—but are noticeably distinct from the mundane in the Abyssal power they radiate. Occasionally some Chains will display an amount of sentience, though this varies between individual Chains.
Chains' existences are unstable and tenuous when they leave their home dimension of the Abyss and enter the material world. To stabilize their existences, they search for humans to become their Contractors and serve as a conduit for their powers. In exchange for this, Chains will often offer their potential Contractors the ability to change the past. Humans in desperate and hopeless enough situations will take this offer, and feed to their Contracted Chains other humans to build up power. Eventually when enough power is gained, the Contractor's Incuse will open up a Path to the deepest depths of the Abyss and pull the Contractor in. This process more often than not either kills the Contractor or drives them to complete madness. These people are called "Illegal Contractors."
An exception exists in those dubbed "Legal Contractors"—those who are employed by the government organization Pandora, which is dedicated to researching the Abyss. Legal Contractors instead make use of an item called the Carcere to bypass the Incuse, meaning they are not at risk of being dragged into the Abyss or driven completely mad by their Chain. Legal Contractors, rather than aspiring to change the past, use their Contracted Chains as living weapons and instruments of battle in their duties as members of Pandora.
Ultimately, all Chains exist to serve, protect, and please the Intention of the Abyss—the being who supposedly controls the entirety of the Abyss.
This article contains plot and/or ending details for Pandora Hearts.
Read at your own risk.
History[]
All Chains seen for the majority of the story are deranged, bloodthirsty, and violent; but this is not their true nor inherent nature. The nature of Chains reflects that of the nature of the Abyss, and the destructive character mainly seen from Chains stems from the steady decay, deterioration, and darkening of the Abyss. As the Abyss continued to slowly rot over the course of one hundred years, more violent were the Chains that emerged.
Before the harmony of the Abyss was tarnished by the Tragedy of Sablier, Chains existed for an entirely different reason than that initially assumed. They acted in tandem with the Baskerville Clan, the Messengers of the Abyss whose existences are built entirely around maintaining the order of the Abyss. Baskerville members would Contract with Chains not to treat them as weapons but as comrades-in-arms, partners, and equals, both fighting for the same purpose: protect the Abyss and serve their master Glen Baskerville. Most notably, Glen in particular is granted power that far surpasses any other, as he is able to Contract with five Chains at once: the Black Winged Chains, who themselves possess extraordinary ability beyond that of ordinary Chains. The initial purpose that drove the creation of Chains was to maintain the order of the Abyss, as designed by the Jury.
As Chains are born from the Abyss and its power, they are to an extent manifestations of the wills and wishes of the beings who rule over and embody the Abyss—specifically, the Intention of the Abyss and the Core of the Abyss who resides within her. It is because of the Core retreating into the body and soul of the Intention that the Abyss grows dark and the former's power over such diminishes; it is because of the Core's fear of isolation that drives her intense attachment to Alice. And as the darkening of the Abyss is the reason for their destructive nature, Chains are so violent and bloodthirsty due to their desperation to Contract with people in the outside world—a desperation that mirrors the desire for connection of the Abyss itself.
However, not all Chains have such violent natures nor are made out of such desperation. At least three special Chains have been created for specific purposes, explicitly extraneous from all other Chains. Cheshire, transformed from the soul of the Intention of the Abyss's deceased pet cat, exists within his own personal dimension. This dimension was itself created out of the shattered memories of his owner, specifically the day of the Tragedy and the moment where Alice died. His duty is primarily to protect these memories from being witnessed or encroached upon by outsiders; though he also exists to be a companion for the Intention. Mad Hatter, created as an imitation of his Contractor Xerxes Break's missing eye, was born out of the promise made between Break—back when he was Kevin Legnard—and the Intention. The Intention told Break she wished to be killed, and for this he was given a Chain with the ability to kill other Chains and destroy the power of the Abyss. Finally, most significantly, the B-Rabbit. He was created when Jack Vessalius, the instigator of the Tragedy of Sablier, made a false promise to the Intention to end her isolation and take her from the Abyss into the outside world. He asked for a Chain with which to do that, and so she offered Oz, the toy rabbit she inherited from her mother. Oz the B-Rabbit would go on to be used to destroy the "Chains" separating the material world from the Abyss—an incident which resulted in the Tragedy of Sablier. While he was eventually used for such widescale destruction and devastation, he was ultimately created out of the Intention's desperate wish to end her loneliness and find companionship outside of her isolation.
Legally Contracted Chains[]
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Illegally Contracted Chains[]
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Baskerville Contracted Chains[]
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Chains Without Contracts[]
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Trivia[]
- Coming soon!