Who is Lucius Zogratis? True Identity of Julius Novachrono Revealed!

Black Clover chapter 331 completely changed the trajectory of the entire series.

With what has possibly been the biggest twist Yuki Tabata has ever sprung upon us, the fandom is shook with no signs of recovery.

The end of the latest chapter revealed that the mysterious fourth Zogratis sibling is Lucius Zogratis, who has been hiding within the body of our beloved Wizard King, Julius Novachrono.

This brings into question the motives, intentions, and identity of Julius himself, and whether or not he is the same person as Lucius.

1. Who is Lucius and what is his goal?

Lucius Zogratis is a human from the Spade Kingdom, and is the fourth and eldest of the Zogratis siblings. He is the host to a highest-ranking Qliphoth devil – one of the three Rulers of the Underworld, Astaroth, the Time Devil.

His goal is to use the power of the devils to remake humanity with undying bodies. Basically, akin to other villainous pursuits: the quest for immortality.

In chapter 310, when Zenon is fighting Yuno, he recalls when he had approached Lucius to make him a devil host. That is when Lucius had told him how the only way to become stronger was by becoming a devil host.

Lucius told Zenon that he had wanted to save the kingdom but protecting everyone was impossible. His plan was to destroy the weak temporarily so he could regenerate them later.

2. What is Lucius’s grimoire?

Lucius has a grimoire with two overlapping spades, one straight, and the other upside down.

Theories suggest that if a spade symbolizes death, then an inverted spade could only mean rebirth or resurrection, which is Lucius’s primary objective.

Grimoires are explicitly tied to the mages that use them. So, what could this spade grimoire suggest about Lucius and what does it mean for Julius?

3. Is Lucius’s grimoire different from Julius’s?

Either Lucius and Julius have two separate grimoires like Patolli and William Vangeance did, or what we see in chapter 331 is actually Julius’s coverless grimoire transforming into its true state, i.e., Lucius’s spade grimoire.

We know that grimoires select their mages according to its resonance with their souls – a combination of their genes, their compatibility to the magic of the grimoire, and their innate abilities.

Asta was selected by the five-leaf clover grimoire due to his essence and personality, and also because of his connection to the anti-magic devil Liebe, who was sealed into the grimoire by Lichita. Lichita is revealed to be Asta’s real mother, and the adoptive mother of Liebe.

The grimoire originally belonged to Licht, the head of the Elf Tribe, who hoped for humans and elves to exist in harmony. He had sword-based magic and owned the 3 swords Asta uses today.

After the Massacre of the Elf Tribe orchestrated by the devil Zagred, Licht’s grief corrupts his grimoire and it becomes a five-leaf clover instead of four.

Zagred wanted to manifest into the living world and possess Licht after the grimoire transforms, but due to a series of events involving the first Wizard King Lemiel, Zagred is unable to enter the living world through the grimoire.

Since five-leaf grimoires don’t perish after the user dies, Lichita finds it and seals Liebe in it to protect him. Later, Liebe is come back into the world through the fifth leaf when Asta is chosen to use the grimoire’s power.

A similar thing possibly happens with Julius’s grimoire. Maybe Lucius used forbidden magic and managed to find a way to host Astaroth and then seal himself within Julius’s grimoire. When Julius received his grimoire, he also became the host to Lucius-Astaroth.

Since Lucius through Astaroth can manipulate time, he could foresee the future. He made sure that things went according to plan until the right moment, after which he would emerge.

In chapter 144, Julius reveals to Patolli (who is under the guise of Licht in William Vangeance’s body at the time), that he had received a coverless grimoire. He didn’t know whether this was good or bad, only that he was special in some way.

Maybe Lucius found a way to conceal Julius’s grimoire cover, which always probably had the overlapping spade insignia (which by the way, looks like a four-leaf clover).

4. Was Julius Lucius all along? How are they connected?

Like his grimoire, Julius believed that he did not belong to any category, and that the choices he made dictated who he would become.

During their fight, Patolli calls Julius the “fate of the world” created specifically by the universe as a weapon to stop them.

This is also when we get a clue that Julius might be something more than what he portrays himself to be. Patolli cannot understand how Julius is so fast and can overcome all his attacks.

“Why is this man so powerful? He’s just a human. Who is he?”

At the same time, Julius is quite resolutely still Julius, his ideals and loyalty belonging to the Clover Kingdom.

He is willing to die to protect his people and wishes for an indiscriminate society where the strong and fortunate help the weak and underprivileged rise to the top.

At the end of chapter 331, the panels show the transformation of Julius’s revolving, coverless grimoire into the overlapping spade grimoire.

The grimoire only changes now because Julius had figured it out with Damnatio’s help. Lucius revealed himself and the true identity of the coverless grimoire.

“Time’s up.”

The only evident explanation is that Julius and Lucius are two souls in the same body, much like Patolli and William.

This is iterated in chapter 331, as Damnatio confronts the Wizard King with the information he has uncovered about the existence of devils and their devil hosts.

In one of the panels, we see shots of Julius thinking about how William Vangeance and Patolli (who he thought to be Licht at the time) shared a same body given their similar beliefs and ideologies.

“So it was you, but at the same time, it wasn’t you.”

The same thing applies to Julius and Lucius.

But how can Lucius, a human, possess another human?

One theory is that Julius and Lucius are twins, and Lucius who might have Soul Magic, somehow merged with Julius after making a deal with Astaroth.

In Zenon’s flashback we see Lucius in a wheelchair, so it’s possible he exchanged his legs to use some of Astaroth’s power. He later might have promised his soul in exchange for the devil’s heart to transform fully into Astaroth.

Being a manipulator of souls, he probably found a way to stick around through his twin’s soul. Or alternatively, pledged Julius’s soul instead of his own in order to receive the devil heart.

Devil hearts are also as significant as living souls in the Black Clover universe. A devil heart is the core of a devil, and as long as it is unharmed, a devil can always resurrect.

Perhaps when Lucius spoke of undying bodies, he was thinking about turning humans into devils so they could live forever.

Using Lucifero’s heart, he could probably bring his brother Dante back to life. If this is true, maybe Lucius and Julius are connected through Astaroth’s devil heart, if not through body and souls.

5. Could Julius be Astaroth?

My favourite theory is that Julius might be the Time Devil Astaroth himself.

He gets tricked by the human, Lucius Zogratis, into a devil-binding ritual, much like Asta and Liebe’s contract of equals. This would explain why Astaroth suddenly disappears from the underworld – he was summoned and possessed by a human.

We know from Asta and Liebe’s equals contract that the two entered into a 50-50 deal where host and devil must work together and harmonize their thoughts to exist. Matching markings appear on Asta and Liebe’s wrists after the contract.

Julius and Lucius too have very similar markings on their foreheads – Julius has the blue star we’re all familiar with on his left temple, whereas Lucius has a black sun marking on the right side of his forehead.

This might indicate that Lucius performed forbidden magic and made a contract of equals with Astaroth.

But how can a human possess a devil?

Lucius’s three siblings possessed body, bone, and blood magic; many theories assume that Lucius has soul magic, as I too have mentioned above.

But alternatively, it’s possible that Lucius possesses brain magic, which would fit very well with the fact that he could manipulate people like his own brother Zenon into becoming a devil host.

He possibly also used some form of that magic to trick and use Astaroth for his own means.

In some way, Astaroth was manifested as a human, his brain tied to Julius. His devil memories altered, the Ruler of the Underworld sought to become the Ruler of the Clover Kingdom, aka the Magic Emperor/Wizard King.

Meanwhile, instead of a devil possessing a human, Lucius the human came to reside inside the devil, Astaroth.

This symbolism would play well into making Lucius-Julius-Astaroth the final villain for Asta-Liebe.

6. Conclusion

There are a thousand theories I can throw at you, but if one thing is certain it’s that Julius and Lucius can’t be the same person. It just doesn’t add up.

Even in chapter 331, Julius senses a peculiar unease that has been building up. He very evidently comes to a realization that there is something off about the whole thing. Just as he figures it out, Lucius takes over.

Whether or not they have separate grimoires isn’t clear yet, nor is the connection between Lucius and Astaroth.

I don’t doubt that Tabata has some magnificently thought-out answers for us. I can’t wait until break week is over!

7. About Black Clover

Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since February 16, 2015.

The story centers around Asta, a young boy seemingly born without any magic power, something that is unknown in the world he lives in; and his foster brother Yuno who received the rare four-leaf grimoire and has more magic power than most people! With his fellow mages from the Black Bulls, Asta plans to become the next Wizard King.