Okay so people want to know what the fuck this new “Owl” is so I’ll explain as much as I can from my own perspective.
First of all, there primarily three characters who people are speculating the identity of this Owl to be, so let’s go through those first.
1) Eto Yoshimura
The most obvious choice, as this Owl bears by far the most resemblance to Eto, even down to the finest details such as how Eto always leaps (and crashes) into the action out of nowhere, clad in her massive Owl kakuja.
This Owl kakuja is also of comparable size to Eto’s own kakuja although the form appears much different this time around. The form that this Owl kakuja takes specifically mirrors the same appearance which Amon’s kakuja took after breaking out of containment, who also has the same kakuhou.
The last and most obvious point is that the body of the host is wrapped in bandages, and needless to say the only character who has worn bandages is Eto. The only part that throws me off about this Owl is that you can see unusual instruments attached to its back, which is something we haven’t seen before.
I personally believe this Owl is 99% most likely Eto’s corpse who is now ironically being used in the same way that she once used Noro.
2) Karren Von Rosewald
Another popular choice with many reasons behind it. One of the first reasoning’s is the inclusion of the chapter 165 illustration that Ishida drew specifically for Shuu. So this led people to believing either that this Owl has a connection to Shuu in some way, or that Ishida simply loves drawing Shuu all the damn time (which is just as likely as evidence would show).
Another big reason is that we never did find out what happened to Karren’s body after her corpse was obtained by the CCG, and I do think it’s very likely that Karren has been kept for further possible use. We also know that Karren has been experimented on by Eto as well through the usage of the Owl kagune, so it’s not impossible that this Owl kakuja could indeed be Karren.
I personally don’t believe that this Owl is Karren mostly because it feels like an extremely forced red herring which wouldn’t hold much purpose. Seeing that the host has had their head removed also means that nobody has any way of identifying her either.
3) Hairu Ihei
The least likely among the three in my opinion however there are fair reasons for why this Owl could be Hairu as well. The main reasoning behind this speculation is that the readers have already been set up with the foreshadowing that Hairu is going to be resurrected, and most likely with the Owl kakuhou according to Hairu’s birthday illustration.
The thing is, the only character that Hairu has ties to in the current story is Ui, and Ui literally had an image of Hairu in his head before he was about to take on this Owl. Seeing that this Owl has no head, there would be no way for Ui to identify the host, so I personally don’t see the narrative value in this Owl being Hairu.
I think if Hairu were to be resurrected then it would be more effective if it was executed a different way rather than this. Besides, Hairu has bigger boobs than the girl we saw inside the Owl.
Feel free to comment your own opinions on this matter, whether you agree or disagree.
Extra detail that I think is worth considering, and adds some impact to the theory of it being Hairu:
Old confirmed that in the Japanese version, the Owl is attempting to say something that resembles “Koori”. That strongly indicates a connection to the last person on the Suspect list, since Hairu is the only one that calls him by his given name.
There’s a good chance this Owl is a product of Lab 4, where Kanou continued his experiments. That have would give him multiple potential sources for an Owl kakuhou, since Amon was being experimented on there and he may have had access to left-over Yoshimura or even Eto herself. And it was also where Hairu was being stored, from what Furuta showed Ui.
midnight-in-town 