eto, the one-eyed king, and the book of revelations

at the beginning of the “exterminate tsukiyama operation”, ishida sui may have foreshadowed not only eto’s appearance as the one-eyed owl, but her overall role within the series. although eto is hinted and referred to as the one-eyed king, there is a possibility she is not the actual king, as a key figure in the book of revelations may be the actual source of her character’s inspiration.



ishida uses various religious references throughout the series, especially from the bible (note that this theory will be based on a biblical viewpoint, as it focuses heavily on the book of revelations). one reference from the bible that was initially used to foreshadow eto’s involvement at the start of the operation was the mentioning of “babel”.



the term “babel” is the hebrew word for babylon and refers to the tower of babel in genesis, a city and tower built by humans to reach the heavens so that they may be able to make a name for themselves. however, god prevented the completion of the tower due to their disobedience through the method of confusing languages and became a place known for worshiping idols.



in the book of revelations, there is another reference to “babylon” in the form of a she. “babylon the great”, also known as “whore of babylon” (whore referring to a female who worships idols) is a figure that eto may be heavily based on, as she is depicted as a woman who sits on a beast.



eto is similar to “babylon the great” in many ways, the first being in appearance. the beast she sits on is of the color scarlet with many heads and horns, resembling her kagune and kakuja. also known as the scarlet woman, she is described as wearing the colors of scarlet and purple (her usual cloak is a mix of both colors), while appearing as “a lamb of christ” (her cloak’s ears resembles those of a lamb) and speaking “like a dragon”.

(eto’s character design in the anime as a color reference:)

(projects the image of a lamb with her clothing and overall appearance:)



(eto’s kakuja form has multiple horns and her kagune that is revealed in :re has parts that resemble individual heads:)



in the bible, “babylon the great” symbolizes the creation of a false church or group of people that deceives and martyrs the true followers of jesus christ. she is described as “drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of jesus” and “reigns over the kings of the earth”, which parallels with eto’s character and aogiri tree’s position in the human world. babylon is also known to be a representation of the roman catholic church.

interestingly enough, this is not the first time eto’s character has been linked to the roman catholic church. when kanae von rosewald first meets eto under the bridge, the graffiti on the structure translates to “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”.

this particular phrase was coined by desiderius erasmus, a well-known, influential writer who was accused by the catholic counter-reformation of putting into motion the reformation of the church. he was described by others as a “viper”, “liar”, and “the very mouth and organ of satan” and “had laid the egg that hatched the reformation”. erasmus also believed “it is better to cure a sick man than to kill him”. the way erasmus is described is very much similar to eto’s character, both metaphorically and figuratively.



due to eto’s link to the church, we can assume aogiri tree’s actions reflect the roman catholic reformation, as its goals are for a reformation of the current world and new religious orders. aogiri tree is very much like a religious cult, due to their shared ideology of ghoul supremacy in changing the order of the current world through power and serving under a god-like figure, the one-eyed king.

(the bin brothers are prime examples of members in aogiri who follow the one-eyed king’s ideology faithfully:)



going back to the book of revelations, what made me believe that eto is not the true one-eyed king is the fact that “babylon the great” received her powers from “the dragon”, whom gave her “his power, his throne, and great authority”. the dragon in revelations is satan and could parallel to the one-eyed king based on various interpretations. this would mean that the one-eyed king has given eto his own power, his position as the “one-eyed king”, and the ultimate authority in aogiri tree.



in tokyo ghoul, eto explains to hinami that in the past, she “couldn’t settle something with [her] own power”. this implies that there is a greater power that eto had to rely on and like eto, hinami would need to rely on eto’s power to save kaneki.



another interpretation would be if ishida did base part of eto’s character on erasmus. he is described as “the very mouth and organ of satan”, which greatly reminds me of eto’s kagune (the various mouths on her kagune and the kakuhou being a ghoul’s organ). this could possibly imply that the kagune we see in :re is of the actual one-eyed king’s (satan’s) and that eto was given his kakuhou as a source of power.



eto’s actions are also very similar to “babylon the great”, as another possible parallel is that the ten horns on the beast also represent ten “kings” that have not received a kingdom, who “will give their power and authority to the beast” and in return will be granted “authority for one hour as kings with the beast”. this would reflect how eto (babylon the great) would give the one-eyed king’s authority to a “king” in exchange for lending the king’s power and authority to eto. we see that kanae was practically given power through eto (“i’ll share a bone with you”) and stands with the beast (eto in her one-eyed owl kakuja form) during his fight against sasaki/kaneki. a smaller horn on the beast is depicted with eyes and a mouth capable of speaking, much like the kagune implanted in kanae during his torture. there is also an indication of a time limit in regards to kanae, which would be like how the kings are given exactly one hour of authority.

this may also explain noro’s behavior in accomplishing his/her goals within a given time (if noro is also using the “authority” eto and the one-eyed king have given him/her).



revelations goes on to reveal that during their short rule, the kings that were given temporary authority “will make war with the lamb, and the lamb will overcome them, for he is lord of lords and king of kings”. in the series, kaneki/sasaki is paralleled to jesus and the lamb, being sacrificed for the sins of the world at the end of tokyo ghoul and being resurrected in :re.



in chapter 54, kanae made war against sasaki/kaneki (the lamb) during his short rule with eto’s authority, but was defeated in the end.



another major parallel is that the beast was noted to have once been “mortally wounded” but later on the “deadly wound was healed”. in tokyo ghoul, it is stated that eto, who appeared as the one-eyed owl, once received “lethal damage” to her kakuhou when aogiri tree attacked the ccg in the 2nd ward. however like the beast, the deadly wound healed after some time, as proven by her full-kakuja form at the end of the anteiku raid.

(yoshimura recalling the event to kaneki, as it is the only time eto was every seriously wounded in the series:)



the book of revelations also mentions of a second beast, who “exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” the second beast may parallel to yoshimura taking eto’s place in order to protect her, although his appearances may have inadvertently caused eto as the one-eyed owl to be feared and praised even more by the ccg and humans.

the beast was also prophesied before in the book of daniel as the fourth beast among the great empires; dreadful with immense strength and “iron teeth” that “devour[ed], br[oke] in pieces, and trampl[ed] the residue with its feet”.



there are a total of four great empires, which may reflect the four major power groups within the series (aogiri → the fourth beast, the ccg, v, and the clowns).



jesus christ foreshadows these events as a time of great tribulation that has not been since the beginning of the world or ever will be. much like how aogiri tree is currently the “biggest crisis since the ccg was founded”.



he also warns of the deception before his second coming, of a false, deceptive god who opposes the true god and “sits as god in the temple of god, showing himself that he is god”. jesus christ specifically states that before his second coming, “the man of sin is revealed” and along with babylon the great, the false god will come to an end. this may foreshadow 1) there will be a second coming for kaneki (the first being his resurrection as sasaki), 2) that the one-eyed king will be revealed beforehand, and 3) eto and the one-eyed king will both reach an end with the second coming.

it also prophesies that “babylon the great” (eto) will be ultimately held responsible by god due to her opposition and martyr of his people and will be given severe judgement. the ten horns (”kings”) will end up turning against her and “shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire”.



with eto’s character paralleling “babylon the great”, the one-eyed king ultimately represents satan, the source of eto’s powers and authority. although we do not know the true identity of the one-eyed king, based on the passages found in the bible, we can conclude that his/her identity will be revealed with the “second coming” of kaneki. although there are slight differences, it can be assumed that ishida used the book of revelations as a source of inspiration for eto and the one-eyed king due to their numerous similarities.

