I’m still in the process of rereading TG but after the newest chapter I’m wondering if Eto really is the one who kept Noro “alive” all these years, as we all thought for a long time.

He was shown/said to eat a lot, always, and he’s from the 24th ward so many readers already suspected he could have a link to the previous OEG who took his kind underground + as a OEG himself it would make sense that he sheltered and protected Eto at her father’s demand.

Also, now that we know that eating/cannibalizing a lot helps ghouls with slowing down aging, at least when it comes to the physical appearance like Roma who’s 51 but looks like a teenager…

…maybe Noro used to eat a lot too because it was necessary to “keep young” and stay “alive” since as the previous OEG he would have been around 100 years old in the current timeline. Him keeping a young appearance (at least) through eating a lot until he was killed could also explain why only a skull was left after his death.

TL;DR maybe Aogiri was the one who had the “underground king” with them, which makes sense, since they wanted to build a society for ghouls.

Noro was the previous OEG/OEK, ruler of the 24th and the one that was referred to as the “Naagaraj” and, like Roma, he kept a young appearance for years despite being 100 years through eating/cannibalizing a lot, until he went all out against the Qs and only a skull was left as he died.

(Will edit if by rereading the series something is off with this theory. :))