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Topic 1) “Celestia shouldn’t be lumped in with the rich kids” Aka “Rich Bitch Celestia”
This is intrinsically wrong on multiple levels just based on her ultimate title alone. Celestia is rich; she is the ultimate gambler for a reason. She wouldn’t be an ultimate if she wasn’t good at what she did. So denying Celestia being added to “the rich kids club” is discrediting her hard work to fix her life.
“Well then why did she go for the money motive if she's rich.”
It is likely that she does not have enough for her dream. Castles are expensive and so is hiring a bunch of dudes to dress as vampires.
They lost their memories of time at Hope's Peak; she may have gotten more money from gambling (possibly with the other students). In the ultimate talent development plan she places bets with various students. Who's to say she didn’t do this during her actual time at Hope’s Peak.
It also makes sense narratively, Celestia would WANT to be lumped in with those kids. She would try to befriend them as much as possible. Maybe not make it obvious, but still try to befriend them.
So saying Celestia “shouldn’t be considered a rich kid” is actually going against what she would want and what she has managed to accomplish for herself.
Is her fortune a rival to Togami’s? No, probably not. However, she canonically cleaned out all of her opponents in a gambling tournament. So she definitely has money and would probably be considered “rich” by high schooler standards.
“Well what if that was a lie?”
She wouldn’t be an ultimate if that were the case. Plain and simple; ultimates (typically) are scouted after the school gets word of an extraordinary student. Hence a young girl wiping the floor of a gambling tournament would incite such an investigation. Which we saw a very very VERY brief glimpse of in the dr3 anime.
Celestia has a well deserved, and earned spot at the rich kids table.
Topic 2) How Celestia handles her trauma and how Celestia handles 'Taeko' wow look at that SHIELD.
If Celestia truly lost touch with reality she wouldn’t be as composed as she typically is. She HAS to remain in control or else she would start to lose it. This is always a constant struggle for her. She knows that deep down Taeko is still there she isn’t going anywhere.
During the course of her trial the walls of her facade start to crumble. If her mind was that gone it would have taken a lot longer than a few HOURS of a trial to snap her out of it and bring her back to reality.
That being said again if she was losing grips with reality she would actually BELIEVE the things she says. She would actually believe she is French and German instead of Japanese. During her introduction she has no problem telling Makoto that she is in fact Japanese only later during her free time events does she say that her parents are German and French respectively. The only thing she insists upon is her name.
Now to tie in with her ultimate title. Gambling, as it stands right now it is still illegal in Japan and is more than likely still illegal in the Danganronpa version of Japan as well. Imagine if you will a young girl finding her way in the world stumbles into this more than likely dangerous gambling underground.
If one illegal thing is taking place there is evidence to suggest that more illegal happenings are afoot. Celestia being so wildly good at gambling as she is cleared out peoples bank accounts and wallets like the badass bitch she is.
That would make a lot of people very ANGRY, then make her a target. She gave herself that name to make herself safe both from herself and others. It's an alias as well as a shield. She has admitted to playing russian roulette mahjong so very clearly she has been involved in dangerous gambles.
“Well what if that was a lie as well?”
Even if it was a lie the potential dangers are still there in an environment like that for someone like her. Protecting herself is her top priority as it should because no one else was going to do it for her.
Now onto the fun trauma portion of this.
Celestia was obviously traumatized at a young age that is without a doubt. The anthology manga shows that she was bullied and ignored. No one really paid attention to her. Most likely that is why she is flashy in her fashion. She wants to be remembered even if it was for something so simple as standing out.
While not directly being canon still is a better indication of what more than likely occurred during her childhood.
That in it of itself probably wasn’t the ‘tipping’ point in her becoming Celestia that is all we have concretely to go off of.
She secretly craves attention because of her history of being ignored. However, she wants that attention on her own terms. That's why she has the rank system as well as her distancing herself from others.
You ever wonder why she says shit like “You are cold, heartless, and devoid of calcium” and “This concludes the flashback” if you go back and read her dialogue she has some very out of place lines that are actually quite funny. Celestia is witty as hell and that is something I never see expressed when I see people talking about her.
The killing game isn't a good place to get a taste of someone's personality, remember that. This is probably where a lot of character misconceptions originate.
Topic 3) How Celestia views other characters in canon just in general
Celestia has a complex ranking system for a reason. She is CONSTANTLY on guard she is always watching and taking mental notes. Aoi would annoy the absolute hell out of her.
This kind of goes along with the last topic. Celestia loves being in control of situations including social ones. If she has a rank system she can already determine whether or not someone is worth her time. This is also set up to protect her.
Putting up barriers is her whole thing. That being said during her time at Hope’s Peak those barriers were challenged. Remember that photo of her blushing and nearly ripping Hifumi’s eyes out. Someone who was still closed off to others would not interact with classmates like that. It can be inferred that she got friendly enough with them, maybe not actually considering them friends, but something certainly happened during her time before the killing game.
“Well what about ‘Where’s Celestia?”
1) They didn’t want to draw her in different positions
2) It fits her aloof persona
3) Standing in the back of a photo is not inherently a sign of anxiety
Those photos were depictions of a track race, pool time, a snowy day and a classroom setting. Celestia is not a sports person that much is overwhelmingly obvious so her not participating is justified and understandable. The classroom picture she is clearly looking at Junko possibly having a conversation with the fashionista before the photo was taken.
“Well why was there one photo of her in her gym uniform then?”
She more than likely couldn’t avoid it forever. It is still a school after all.
Before the killing game she absolutely was alone and only had her cat. Then during the course of the two years that had been taken away from them she managed to at least let her classmates in even just a little bit. Denying that is denying her personal growth. I’m genuinely upset that we never get to see such a thing.
Topic 4) Liar, liar plants for hire. “Queen of Liars” Why and how.
Now this one is a fun one yes Celestia lies a lot. HOWEVER, she also tells the truth a lot. If she just lied all the time it would mess with her ability to manipulate people and situations to be in her favor.
So mixing in the truth or just blatantly telling the truth makes it easier for her to control conversation. Unlike other famous Danganronpa liar grape kid the 3rd. She doesn’t announce that she’s lying or what she says is a lie.
Other people gave her the Queen of Liars name. Lying is deceit, deceit is a strategy especially in a world of mindgames and danger. You always need to have the upperhand or it’ll cause your demise. Which is why Celestia thought she would be able to get away with murder. Her entire chapter was one big gamble, one she genuinely thought she could win.
Was she wildly mistaken? Kind of but that’s getting into like video game logic and the idea of “In universe overpoweredness” which is a whole other case study in it of itself and right now we’re focusing on the vampire loving goth gambler.
Topic 5) Celestia under pressure.
During the killing game the only times she was shown to lose her temper were, the “incorrect tea technique” incident, a brief interaction with Hifumi, and the other…. Well the other time doesn’t really need explaining now does it?
The tea incident was to show that she wasn’t to be messed with. After seeing that anyone could be next. So to take control of the situation she made herself seem like someone who shouldn’t be messed with. That would make the most sense wouldn’t it? Someone who has a need to control situations in her favor.
Her snapping during her trial isn’t a good indication of how she is under pressure. She, like the other killers up to that point all snapped. They were literally forced against a wall, and reacted as such.
Topic 6) Celestia and Social Anxiety
If Celestia was to have any type of anxious feeling it would HEAVILY be covered up. Anxiety admits a slip in control. Celestia doesn’t let that slip happen. The only instance of her having a visible or verbal ‘nervousness’ or inkling of anxiety is in the anthology manga ‘I feel nervous for some reason’ is the literal quote. The other is during her final free time event when she invites Naegi to her room.
Anxiety is not conducive to a good manipulator. Anxiety makes people second guess what they are doing. That isn’t how Celestia works.
She is charming and crafts her words carefully. Charisma is part of her manipulation tactic as with every other conman in history. That’s essentially what she is in very very very layman's terms.
Topic 7) Nerdlestia
Celestia likes Disney, manga, and anime. She can like all of those things while also keeping it to herself and indulging herself in these topics by herself more than likely in the comfort of her own room. It is also implied she has interest in the occult and other macabre topics.
Topic 8) “A dreeeeeeeeeaaaam is a wiiiiish your heart maaaakes wheeeeen you’re at the lowest point of your life and need something to live fooooooooor~~”
Alright so this one, this big ole thing right here. We have no canonical idea when celestia decided that this was her dream. That being said we also don’t fully know if this dream of hers was still her desire while she was a student at hope’s peak before the killing game. It more than likely was we have no confirmation on it so a lot of “what happened in the two years they all lost” is kind of up in the air.
So we can’t conclusively say that her dream was her only reason for living outside of the killing game. In the killing game it was her desire and what she wanted most out of the world. There really isn’t too much to say on this other than speculation.
Celestia Ludenberg is one of the most under control, smartest, cunning, manipulative and misinterpreted characters in all of Danganronpa. Denying her intelligence is a crime against her character. Even people who claim to know everything about her get things wrong and misinterpret. This essay isn’t infallible either. That’s the thing until we have conclusive evidence for everything inferences are all we have. However, inferences based on context and probability is more solid and trustworthy than saying ‘Celestia is losing touch with reality, she has social anxiety, or that she never made any attempt to make any connections with any of her classmates even if she wasn’t the one initiating them.’