Talk:Kaneki Ken/@comment-26509016-20150622081737

I fust found something very interesting:

"Having left the tree from where he hung, the Fool moves carefully through a fallow field, head still clearing from visions. The air is cold and wintry, the trees bare. He knows he has started on his spiritual journey in earnest, but feels strangely empty and profoundly sad, as if he has lost something.

Before him he sees, rising with the sun, a skeleton in black armor mounted on a white horse. He recognizes it as Death. As it stops before him, he humbly asks, "Have I died?" And the Skeleton answers, "Yes, in a way. You sacrificed your old world, your old self. Both are gone, dead." - www.aeclectic.net

This is a quote from a website that has a certain focus on tarot cards. And this site is very accurate, taking a look at all the desciptions and how they analyse all the cards... (you should try it out, guys).

However. This is the beginning of the description of the "XIII - The Death" tarot card. Doesn't reading this part remind you about some certain situation within the manga too? This refference is so shocking that it simply can't be coicidence anymore.

Kaneki, suffering from a critcal injury caused by Amon, on his verge of life and death, sanity and insanity, hiding in the sewer and unable to control himself anymore. He realizes that everything he thought to know was a lie - that he wasn't the one devouring the ghouls, not the one who became stronger. In fact, the one being eaten was him. He's currently losing everything he had: His human life is gone since a long time now, his place in the ghoul world is currently getting destroyed. And right then, Hide comes. The most important thing for Kaneki, and in his eyes the only thing that's left for him at all.

Up untill now, this all comes pretty close to the deffinition of the "XII - The Hanged Man". The hanged man is stuck between the mundane and the spiritual world, able to see both. He's clearing his mind from everything he thought to know, letting go of everything he owned. And the only thing he's trying to do now is getting to know who he really is, finding out what his place in the world is and gaining knowledge. Comes pretty close to Kaneki.

Now think of the quote from earlier. And now compare it to what comes after Kaneki met Hide. Somehow similar situation, right?

"The Fool cannot keep from weeping. "Forgive me," he says, embarrassed by his tears.

"There is nothing to forgive," Death replies. "Mourning is natural and you must deal with your loss before you can accept anything new. Keep in mind, however, that old leaves must wither and fly away from a tree's branches, leaving them bare, before new green leaves can appear."

As Death rides away, the Fool sees the truth in those words. He, too, feels like a skeleton, all that he was stripped away. This, he understands, is how all great transformations start, by removing everything down to bare bone or soil so that something new has room to grow."

The conversation between Arima and Kaneki was a bit different. But Kaneki's inner dialogue comes close to that. And we don't know how much of a catalyst Arima himself was. Anyway, even if the situation is just a bit different from the tarot card's deffinition, the result is the only important thing here.

Kaneki wants forgiveness, for several things. He's not a bad person, yet his path has dealth damage to others, and everytime someone dies, he's instantly assuming that it was his own fault. That's what he truly wants forgiveness for. And he does feel as if he lost everything, as if everything was "stripped away".

Now the sentence of this interpretation says that everything has to be removed. Kaneki already lost everything he had, except of himself, his personality and memories... so if he truly accepts what the Death has told him, everything has to fade - therefore Kaneki throws away everything he got left in this world.

As Arima walks away, Kaneki is letting go of himself and lets everything he was just fade away.

And regarding the keywords, along with the complete description of "The Death", this just makes more and more sense. Make your own oppinion:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/meanings/

I'm the first one to say that this could all be coicidence and that I'm simply seeing what I want to see. But the parallels are stunning, isn't it? If this interpretation is true, then (for now) it would tell us two things:

- Kaneki became the "XIII - The Death" in the end of TG.

- Hide died in the sewers.

Allthough I seriously don't want Hide to be dead, even if I think that it's the case, this symbolism is just fascinating... if it's true.

Also I absolutely love the paralledl between Kaneki and Juuzou here.

So... Kaneki as "The Death". What do you think?