Talk:Ken Kaneki/@comment-220.245.245.249-20150105054630/@comment-25828098-20150106150358

Kaneki thought that protecting the people important to him is his responsibilty all along, and that was how protecting people became his goal (which, as anon said, is a McGuffin). It was in Chapter 140, wherein he had already failed, that he realized that his goals were McGuffins and that he was selfish.

He was trying to protect himself from being alone, that is what he realized in the end. He simply masked it as 'protecting everyone'.