Talk:Ken Kaneki/@comment-14.207.7.203-20141020185117/@comment-96.59.114.196-20141022020044

^ I don't think the moral was "kindness = weakness" so much as "altruistic kindness = ruin". It's a subtle difference, but it's there. I think towards the end of the manga, especially around Chapter 120 and Chapter 140, Ishida was emphasizing that both the extremes of Kaneki, total kindness and total cruelty, were incredibly self-destructive. The latter was ruinous because it wrecked his sanity, the former because it made him powerless, and both because they weren't Kaneki's true self. Throughout this story, you have this thematic cycle of revenge and polarization of extremes (ghoul vs human, black vs white, etc), but Ishida presents Kaneki as the sole character who can break this cycle and who can act as the bridge between the two extremes. So in the end, balance and acceptance are best: kindness without sacrificing action, and power without sacrificing morality.

We'll see how Haise acts in the coming chapters. Right now he's been taking things pretty lax, imo. What matters is how he acts when the stakes are higher - if he truly is kind, and if he is strong in spite of it or because of it.