Shadows House (Place)

**CAUTION!**
**This place has many spoilers!**

The **Shadows House** (シャドーハウス, *Shadō Hausu*?) is a manor built atop of a cliff, in which Shadows live as nobles, serviced by their Living Dolls. It is composed of two buildings, namely the **Children's Building** and the **Lord Grandfather's Wing**. The buildings are connected to each other by the **Passageway of Glory**. Living Dolls and Shadows who try to escape the Shadows House will be attacked by arrows. Even if they dodge the arrows and head to the entrance, they will only be greeted by the bottom of the cliff. The only thing that connects the Shadows House to the outside is the **Soot Train**.

## Origins

Over 50 years ago, the **Shadows House** was once *Mirrors House* before it was attacked by Morphs.

## Children's Building

The **Children's Building** (こどもたちの棟 (とう) , *Kodomo-tachi no Tō*?) is the building in which Children of the Shadows House live, including those who have yet to Debut. The Shadows and the Living Dolls are separated into two different wings depending on their gender – the *Boys' Wing* and the *Girls' Wing*. The Star Bearers have their own rooms, with allowed visits, but they close at 6PM.

The house is divided into multiple teams, each having 3 or 4 members. So far, the only teams shown have unilaterally consisted of 4 members. Among these teams, the Star Bearers are the ones with the highest authority, and they essentially watch over the house as a whole.

Aside from the Star Bearers, there are also 2 special teams, namely the Research Team and the First-Aid Team. The former is dedicated to researching and creating inventions, while the latter is dedicated to treating and taking care of sick Dolls. The leaders of these 2 teams are both Star Bearers, though it's not certain whether being part of the Star Bearers is a strict pre-requisite to leading these teams.

### Main House

* **Great Hall:** The main room of the house. Living Dolls organize in teams to clean the immense hall.
* **Hall of the Cleaning Implements:** It is where the cleaning tools for the Living Dolls are kept.
* **Classroom:** A classroom where new Living Dolls learn about their cleaning duties.
* **Maze Garden:** The place where Kate and her friends debuted. Its a big garden ideal for meetings or relaxing, it has a few small greenhouses where they can cultivate fruits like oranges.
* **Conservatory:** One of the *Hobby Rooms*. A place to cultivate flowers and fruits like oranges. Patrick and Margaret visit here frequently.
* **Library:** One of the *Hobby Rooms*. A place for Shadows to borrow books to learn more about different topics, like marriage.
* **Music Room:** One of the *Hobby Rooms*. Shadows with interest in music can pass their time here. Some of the instruments include violins and a piano.
* **Dance Hall:** One of the *Hobby Rooms*. Shadows with interest in dancing like Maryrose can pass their time here.
* **Training Room:** Supervised by Susanna, a large room where Shadows with their soot power awakened can receive special lessons and train. Shadows without soot power don't know about this place.
* **Soot Management Facility (Sootmain):** An important facility that pulverizes the soot from the children's building at conveys it to the Lord Grandfather's wing.
	+ **Intermediate Facility:** A facility that manages soot-blowing fans, conducting the soot in the rooms to go until the soot-crushing room.
	+ **Soot Pipes and Soot-Crushing Room:** All the clean up soot collected in the Shadows' rooms and the training room goes through these pipes. A pipeline goes under the Passageway of Glory where the soot-crushing room process it to be used as an energy font in the Lord Grandfather's Wing.
* **Research Room (Laboratory):** A room where Oliver and the Research Team build and test their inventions. It is located underneath the house but is rarely used, with the Research Team instead opting to use a large cabin in the garden for the extra space.
* **Washing Room (Medical Wing):** A place where Dolls can clean themselves. There is a lot of rooms with bathtubs and showers for Dolls to bathe in pairs. There is also another room where they can change their clothes properly, check their heights, size height, and others details. The medical wing that Susanna and the First-Aid Team take care of is also located here and they can treat ill Shadows who are sick with Soot Sickness.
* **Veiled Dolls' Rooms:** Underneath both Children's and Lord Grandfather's Wings in confined and dim individual rooms for them to only sleep, wake up, and dress up. It is also where the Kitchen and Laundry of the house is located since neither Shadows nor Living Dolls need to cook or wash clothes.

### West Wing

* **Boys' Rooms:** contains the rooms of the male Shadows which are connected to their Living Dolls' rooms. Shadows that haven't debuted yet can't leave their rooms.
* **Girls' Rooms:** contains the rooms of the female Shadows which are connected with their Living Dolls' rooms. Shadows that haven't debuted yet can't leave their rooms.

### Star Bearers' Residential Tower

* **Meeting Room:** Star Bearers use this room for their reunions about important matters to their decisions. They can also call the members of the children's building to make announcements
* **Coffee Room:** Where the coffee beans are brewed for the Rejoicing Party, it's located in the first floor of the tower.
* **Gym:** The place where Benjamin and his Doll train their physical body with equipment supplied by Oliver.

## Passageway of Glory

The **Passageway of Glory** (栄 (えい) 光 (こう) の廊 (ろう) 下 (か) , *Eikō no Rōka*?) is the place that separates the Children's Building from the Lord Grandfather's Wing. It also leads to the underground of the Lord Grandfather's Wing.

## Lord Grandfather's Wing

The **Lord Grandfather's Wing** (おじい様 (さま) と共 (とも) にある棟 (とう) , *Ojī-sama to Tomo ni Aru Tō*?) is the building in which Adults of the Shadows House live.

The building is split into 3 floors, with the Shadows living on higher floors holding more power and authority than those living below. It also have a basement where children gathers together after a new debut ends.

### Basement Floor

The Basement Floor is where the Debut Hall, the place Shadows test if they match with their Living Dolls, is located. If they pass, the Shadow gets access to the rest of the children's wing (aside from their own rooms), and the Living Dolls can act as their faces. Else, they are disposed of. This floor also have an audience room, where the Star Bearer reunites with the Children's Building supervisor, an Unification Room for the invited Shadows to fuse, Veiled Doll's quarters, a prison and access to the garden.

### First Floor

On the *First Floor*, residents are undergoing or have recently completed Fusion. As of now, the only known member of the First Floor is Lewis.

### Second Floor

On the *Second Floor*, residents aim to become part of the Third Floor. When a Shadow reaches the second floor they may gain duties such as organizing a Debut, being the Children's Building Manager, carrying out an Obligation, or having an administrative job over one of the House's many villages.

### Third Floor

On the *Third Floor*, residents gain maximal influence; those who currently reside there are, specifically, The Lord Grandfather, Dorothy, Joseph, Ryan, and Sophie. They are the ones who have the highest power of authority in the Shadows House and, since they rarely show their faces, nobody, include the others adults in the house, knows their appearances.

## Hierarchy System

* **Faceless Shadow:** These are Shadows who have yet to debut. They are unable to leave their rooms since they are still incomplete Shadows. They are to be tended to by their Living Dolls who clean and influence their personalities. The Dolls are to give a goodnight kiss every night to help stabilizes the mimicry process.
* **Debuted Shadow:** After the debut, the Shadow can finally leave their rooms and interact with the others members of the house, having a schedule of hobbies and activities during the day. The Living Doll of a debuted Shadow is called a Face and when using the portrait attire, they need to show their master's feelings.
* **Team Leader:** A Team Leader has to report the activities of the members of the team they are in charge of to the star bearers. One will need good leadership skills to become a team leader.
* **Star Bearer:** Originally a step before reaching adulthood, the current Star Bearers are the ones who lead all the others children in the house and report current events to the adults (more specifically, only to the current manager of the children's building) to check who can be invited. Only they can lead special teams like the Research and First-Aid teams.
* **First Floor Adult:** The first stage of adulthood. After the Fusion, they need to stabilize their transformation and get used to having their own face.
* **Second Floor Adult:** Here is where important adult Shadows live; however, most of them stay outside of the manor to keep order of the villages. Another important role a second floor Shadow can have is becoming a Children's Building Manager: the Star Bearers needs to report to them and they are also in charge of "welcoming*"* the invited Shadows.
* **Third Floor Adult:** The most influential Shadows in the house. For unknown reasons, different from first and second floor Shadows, they never reveal their faces, except if they are in charge of the Selection.
* **Lord Grandfather:** The ruler of the Shadows House and said creator of the Living Dolls. A mysterious figure with unknown goals.

## Trivia

* The ambience of the manor resembles the Victorian Era (around 1850).
* According to Chapter 80, there currently are more than 50 children living in the building.
* The official English localization differs between Funimation's anime and Yen Press' manga in some terms as well:
	+ Hall of the Cleaning Implements is called Utility Room
	+ Classroom is called School Room
	+ Washing Room is called Washroom
	+ Soot-Crushing Room is called Soot Processing Room
	+ Lord Grandfather's Wing is called The Building at Grandfather's Side
	+ After Volume 5 Team Leaders are called Team Captains
	+ Star Bearers' Meeting Room is called Star-Bearers' Conference Room