The Black Room.
The Black Room (ブラックルーム Burakku Rumu in Japanese) is the room located within Soul's mind which appears after he is infected by the Black Blood. This is also where Little Ogre resides, as he is always present there. The Black Room is only accessible through Soul's consciousness, allowing him to enter it even during the heat of battle. It is a source of Soul's Black Blood, and therefore his true power.
Location
The Black Room is not an actual physical place in the physical world, as it is located in Soul's mind. It is therefore a spiritual place in which only people's minds can enter and not their bodies.
Appearance
| “ | What a shifty-looking room... | ” |
—Soul, Chapter 39 | ||
A small dark room lit only by a single lamp, the Black Room has a red and black color scheme. The floor is a checkered red and black pattern and there are no walls, and ceilings, only thick crimson curtains. It has an armchair and a record player which plays cheesy jazz music that always skips.
After Soul returns to the Black Room after leaving it for the first time, the room becomes bigger, and the amount of furniture slightly increases. Most notable is the large black grand piano in the centre of the room, along with a multitude of black candle stands with candles bearing blue fire, eerily in the shape of Asura's eye markings.
People whose 'spiritual avatars' or their souls (see main article, Souls), are in the Black Room all wear black and red formal attire.
A single door leads out of the Black Room. From the outside, it has the Black Room's name plate on it along with a plate the shape of Little Ogre's head. The door is always left open for Soul to pass through and Little Ogre has the key to the room also.
Creation
The Black Room and Little Ogre living in it, is created by the insanity in Soul caused by Ragnarok's Black Blood which gets into his bloodstream after the battle against Crona and Ragnarok at Santa Maria Novella Basilica. The Black Room is where Soul gets his power from, but at the cost of this power, the Black Blood is activated, threatening to drag Soul, and sometimes even Maka into the madness.
Power Over the Black Room
Although at first, Little Ogre appears to be the owner and the person with the most power over the room, it is revealed that it is actually Soul that has the full control over the room. He can choose when to leave and enter it, can choose who can enter the Black Room, and any changes that happen to the Black Room or in Little Ogre, is all caused by Soul himself and his various desires and thoughts.
Part in the Story
After the fight with Crona, Soul has nightmares about the Black Room and the insanity, which causes him to be hesitant to grow stronger, which angers Maka. However, after the fight with Free, he gains more confidence in fighting the insanity, and soon begins to use the Black Room for its power without falling into the insanity. The first notable time is when he plays the piano in it to make a perfect Chain Resonance in the fight on Lost Island and at Baba Yaga's castle. He then uses it further on, and unlocks the Noise Cancelling ability in the Black Room. The Black Room is also known to be the scene of a close moment in between Soul and Maka. Whilst meeting together in the Black Room during their second fight against Crona, they dance together when deciding to use the insanity to fight Crona.
Trivia
- The Black Room's design is taken from the design of The Black Lodge from the cult American television series, 'Twin Peaks.'
- The Black Room's colour scheme comes from the mixture of the two different blood types in Soul, normal blood and black blood.