This post is the result of a discussion with @neropet earlier today. Credit to Nero for coming up with this idea in the first place, and for talking this post over with me while I was writing it.
With chapter 61, we learned some jaw dropping information about the One-Eyed King – that the King is not what we thought. Not only is the King not Eto, but the title apparently does not refer to any person. Instead, the King is a symbolic title that refers to a one-eyed ghoul who is going to change the world. So the King does not exist – yet.
There was speculation a few months ago about Eto’s goals in her confrontation with Sasaki on the roof, and the idea that perhaps she was trying to turn him into the new King.
That idea only seemed to grow stronger when the chapter “The Second King” came out, which prominently featured the fight between Eto and Sasaki, and may imply that he is the second king.
However, I think the biggest piece of evidence came from the most recent chapter, when Eto reveals to Aogiri that she is not the King.
She trails off, telling them, “The One-Eyed King is…”
And the very next panels contain none other than Sasaki, when she finishes her sentence and concludes, “Not me.”
Also notably, on this page, Arima and Furuta are speaking about him as well, and apparently V has taken an interest in him. The last we heard of V, they were looking for Eto, the one-eyed ghoul who they believed was upsetting the balance of the world.
V may see him as another threat to this balance, which is exactly what Eto has in mind for the One-Eyed King.
So, if this is actually Eto’s plan, and she wants him to take on this title, how does she plan to convince him to do so? Why would he want to associate with her, after everything she’s done?
We know she’s already started to manipulate him, the same way she has done to her past victims, by targeting them where they are most vulnerable.
She licks his eye and tells him she likes him and they are the same, and that stuns him into inaction for a few moments:
And then when he deals a serious blow to her, cutting her body in half, she strikes again, and tells him she loves him.
We know that he wants to be loved. Eto knows that he wants to be loved. She tells him that purposefully, to get under his skin. And his reaction to her words is starkly different from the way he spoke to her during their fight, rudely and abrasively. He says that he’s honored.
It seems like Eto’s tactics were not ineffective.
Since his change on the roof during that fight, we have not seen into his thoughts the way we used to. It’s been unsettling to not know what the main character is thinking. But we have gotten one glimpse into his thoughts in this time, and it was a thought about her:
Although, certainly her manipulations were not enough alone. He has not suddenly joined her side. He has continued to target her in the six months that passed between their fight and the present day in TG:re, and is still apparently focused on eliminating her.
So why would she think that he would fulfill the role she has in mind for him, if her efforts to change him on the roof were not enough? What if she has another method up her sleeve? Another way to tie him to her more securely?
Perhaps a physical tie, like her kagune?
There’s two other people that Eto has given her kagune to, and both of those people are associated with clocks, and time:
Noro is always with Eto, and when he’s not, he’s been depicted with a clock. He watches the clock carefully, and takes action at certain times. Why is this? Perhaps this was for the Aogiri raid, when there was a raid on Cochlea going on at the same time. But the other person who was given Eto’s kagune was tortured with clocks, and this seems like too much of a coincidence.
Additionally, during the fight on the roof, Eto taunts, “We don’t have much time. You are about to meet your maker.”
There was a time limit to this fight, apparently imposed by Eto. Perhaps the same was true of Noro, and that was why he was either always with her, or watching a clock. Perhaps the powers she gifts by implanting her kagune only last so long, before they result in decay of the person she implanted it in?
We know how Noro ended up:
Perhaps this is the end result of her kagune implantation? And perhaps something similar may happen to Sasaki?
She’s given Sasaki her kagune in a similar way to what we’ve seen her do before.
When Eto first confronts Kanae/Karren, the scene ends with a black panel and a “bite” sound effect, implying someone ate something. Based on what we saw happen in future chapters, and Eto’s words leading up to that moment, I think it’s safe to say she fed Kanae an “apple”, her kagune.
And we saw her feed someone else something similar, 15 chapters later:
We also know that she intentionally left this for Sasaki, and she wonders about how he enjoyed her gift, and how his arm has regrown:
We also know that now his arm looks freaking weird:
Did she know something like this would happen?
And finally, to add onto this idea about time being connected to her kagune implantation, Sasaki is desperately searching for her, and becomes infuriated when he can’t find her. And in this panel, we see him counting down days on a calendar. We also see that the scaling on his hand extends up his arm, past his elbow, far past where his arm was severed.
Is his arm worsening? Has he realized that there is some kind of limit? Is that why he’s focused on finding her himself, without telling the CCG about the information he has on her?
tl;dr: What if a side effect of Eto’s kagune implantation is a time limit on the person, forcing them to return to Eto to minimize or postpone any ill effects? And what if this is the case with Sasaki, providing Eto with a physical tie to him in order to force him into the role she wants for him – the role of the One-Eyed King, the half ghoul who will change the world?
Ahh this is interesting! It’s strange how fixated on time Eto seems to be, even thinking about how old she’s getting. The consequences of Eto’s kagune implantation really worries me though.
So Ishida is obviously familiar with (or has done research on) the cordyceps fungus. All this kagune implantation with Eto really reminds me of a species of cordyceps called the ‘zombie fungus’ (ophiocordyceps unilateralis if you want to get technical) which parasitizes and zombifies ants. It’s spores attach to the ant, allowing the fungus to spread through the body. Fugal cells release chemicals in the brain that hijack and control the ant’s behaviour (in really creepy, specific ways). Once the ant moves to the perfect spot for the fungus to grow, it kills the ant and sends out branches through the body, eventually rupturing through the ant’s head.
If you (hypothetically) convert that to Tokyo Ghoul terms, the fungal spores/cells would be the RC cells from Eto’s kagune, the ant is Noro/Kanae/Kaneki, and the fungal branches that rupture out of the ant would be the upgraded kagune with eyes and mouths like Eto’s. Even Noro appearing like a corpse/skeleton is reminiscent of the husk of the ant left behind afterwards.
Perhaps the time limit is something like the life cycle of the fungus. That it takes a certain amount of time before the kagune spreads out and you end up like Noro? That if Karren had lived longer, she would have eventually been like Noro too?
There’s hope for Kaneki though, because although this fungus can infect different species of ants, it is specialised for one or two in particular. Its effects in other ants aren’t as successful. Seeing as Kaneki is a half-ghoul (and an artificial one at that) Eto’s kagune might not work the same as in Karren and Noro who were full ghouls *prays to Ishida* i swear it’s not wishful thinking
There are a lot of different types of cordyceps (and parasites) so I’m sure there’s probably another that fits better but the zombie fungus is one of the more interesting ones. Eughh I don’t even want to think about any of this becoming canon- let’s hope that it doesn’t come to something as drastic for poor Ken
midnight-in-town 