Kaneki having such a complex is a fact, this thread is not about that. I would like to point out how this complex emerges throughout the history. If you really think about it, as Arima pointed out, Kaneki craves for a mother figure, so far 2 of his most radical changes have occurred with him devouring what could be described as a mother substitute. The first time was him devouring Rize, ofc that didn't happen in reality but as we've seen, Kaneki was projecting his mother on Rize. So when he was devouring her in his mind, he was actually thinking of his mother, and that's how he changed for the first time. You could say that this event was a foreshadow of him devouring literally Eto.
What is interesting though is that Eto seems to also have some form of a similar complex, before I delve into that, I would like to point out something: Eto was the one who tortured Seidou. You might wonder how I came to this conclusion, it's because of how she tortured Karren. After Eto's torture, Karren began unplucking heads while calling these heads "roses". Seidou also showed this bizarre habit but he was calling them "pineapples". The thing is though that, if you remember, when Seidou used his Kakuja and lost his mind, in one bubble, he was screaming of how he didn't want to but was forced to eat his mother's intestines. Eto was the one who forced him into doing that. Eto forced Seidou to devour his own mother the same way Kaneki devoured his projection of mother in his mind and afterwards Eto herself. After all, she herself said that she wants to make him her child. If Eto's defeat in this battle was indeed intentional, then it could very well be parallelized to how a mother gives nutrition to her child to grow up.
Which bring me to the main point of this thread: Kaneki has been becoming stronger by devouring substitutes of mother-figures. The first time was on a philosophical level, the second on a literal one. His changes have occurred by accepting each time a different fragment of what the word mother represented to him.
If the above is correct, then a certain pattern has been created which hasn't ended yet. Throughout the whole story, Kaneki had projectiled his mother in 3 different people: Rize, Eto (indirectly) and Akira. Akira has been the last person who was projectiled as Kaneki's mother and has not been devoured yet, on a philosphical or on an literal sense.
If you really think about it, mother is what gives birth to people. In a poetic sense though, that could mean that killing the source of your birth is one way to achieve your rebirth. Therefore, before Kaneki's completion, he must first devour Akira in order to sever every tie with what mother stood up for him and therefore destroy his own fake word with his loving mother, before being able to finally accept and create his own reality.
What is interesting though is that Eto seems to also have some form of a similar complex, before I delve into that, I would like to point out something: Eto was the one who tortured Seidou. You might wonder how I came to this conclusion, it's because of how she tortured Karren. After Eto's torture, Karren began unplucking heads while calling these heads "roses". Seidou also showed this bizarre habit but he was calling them "pineapples". The thing is though that, if you remember, when Seidou used his Kakuja and lost his mind, in one bubble, he was screaming of how he didn't want to but was forced to eat his mother's intestines. Eto was the one who forced him into doing that. Eto forced Seidou to devour his own mother the same way Kaneki devoured his projection of mother in his mind and afterwards Eto herself. After all, she herself said that she wants to make him her child. If Eto's defeat in this battle was indeed intentional, then it could very well be parallelized to how a mother gives nutrition to her child to grow up.
Which bring me to the main point of this thread: Kaneki has been becoming stronger by devouring substitutes of mother-figures. The first time was on a philosophical level, the second on a literal one. His changes have occurred by accepting each time a different fragment of what the word mother represented to him.
If the above is correct, then a certain pattern has been created which hasn't ended yet. Throughout the whole story, Kaneki had projectiled his mother in 3 different people: Rize, Eto (indirectly) and Akira. Akira has been the last person who was projectiled as Kaneki's mother and has not been devoured yet, on a philosphical or on an literal sense.
If you really think about it, mother is what gives birth to people. In a poetic sense though, that could mean that killing the source of your birth is one way to achieve your rebirth. Therefore, before Kaneki's completion, he must first devour Akira in order to sever every tie with what mother stood up for him and therefore destroy his own fake word with his loving mother, before being able to finally accept and create his own reality.
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