Tatara

Tatara (タタラ, Tatara) was a direct subordinate of the One-Eyed King and one of Aogiri Tree's leaders.

He was from China and a former member of the Chinese ghoul organization Chi She Lian.

Appearance
Tatara was a tall man with short white hair and red eyes. He hid his mouth with a red iron mask, and was seen wearing a white cloak most of the time. Whenever he was seen with Eto, he was wearing a large blue cloak.

Personality
As one of the Aogiri Tree leaders and a trusted subordinate working under the One-Eyed Owl, Tatara came off as a rather loyal individual. He was portrayed as composed and stoic mostly. He often monitored the activities of the Aogiri executives who killed in cold-blood when embarking on a mission. He was also proud of his immense stamina when fighting and the accuracy of his calculations as well. Tatara seemed to have a taste for precision; as shown when he turned down Kaneki considering he was an artificial one-eyed ghoul. He held a grudge against Kousuke Houji, as he was one of those who killed the members of Chi She Lian, including his brother.

He has also been noted by Ayato Kirishima to consider his underlings to be mere peons, something he willingly confirmed.

Aogiri Arc
After Ken Kaneki was captured by Yamori, Nico, and Ayato Kirishima, Kaneki was brought before Tatara. Tatara pierced Kaneki's abdomen so Kaneki would activate his left kakugan. Because Kaneki's "eye" was no good, Tatara decided he could not use Kaneki. He gave him to Ayato so he could use Kaneki however he wanted. At the end of the meeting, Tatara left with Eto because their comrades were waiting for them. Tatara left the 11th Ward Base to Noro. Tatara predicted that the doves would come soon and told Noro to follow their plan.

While the 11th Ward Battle was taking place, Tatara and Eto led many of Aogiri's strongest members in an attack on Cochlea, freeing multiple dangerous ghouls.

Raid of Kanou's Lab
Tatara interrogated Taguchi about Kanou's whereabouts. Tatara then left the room and gave a foot to Naki, which presumably belonged to the nurse.

Owl Suppression Operation
Nearing the end of the Owl Suppression Operation, Tatara attacked the reinforcements brought by Seidou Takizawa, claiming that the "King" was going to pass by. Tatara was then attacked by a panicked Seidou but effortlessly grabbed him by the neck while recognizing Houji's quinque. Tatara then threw him only for Noro to bite his arm off. A furious Amon charged at Tatara right afterward. Tatara simply activated his kakugan and remarked his approval. After the events of Route V14, Tatara knelt down before the King as he dragged a defeated Kaneki behind him.

Auction
He led the Aogiri Tree attack on the Quinque Steel Transport and ordered a retreat when the attack had failed.

Rose Extermination
After all of the Aogiri members escaped from Zeum Hall following the raid, Tatara was in the greenhouse during an important meeting where Ayato was trying to convince him to attack Cochlea and rescue Hinami Fueguchi. Tatara rejected the claim and Takizawa started laughing at Ayato for having affection for her and then stated that he fought her. Ayato got furious and then Tatara grabbed him and prevented him from starting a fight. Tatara then berated Ayato for his actions while Seidou continued to laugh in the corner.

Tatara visited Dr. Kanou in his lab and listened to Kanou theorize how he will be able to apply ghoul surgeries with a very high success. He is then thanked by Kanou who said that he would need more corpses for his experiments. When Kanou expressed his wish to speak to Eto, Tatara simply said that she was busy and that a person like him should not nose into something he was not supposed to.

Post-Rose Extermination
On Rushima, Tatara looked into the distance, while Eto held her final press conference.

Rushima Landing Operation
Tatara stared onward as Houji and his squad of investigators approached him. Before engaging Houji, Akira, and the accompanying squad in battle, Tatara stated that it would be the end. Tatara displayed his hatred for Houji and revealed his kakuja, noted as similar to that of Yan, and then fended off the rest of the squad with its unique flame. He then engaged Houji one-on-one. Houji masterfully avoided Tatara's strikes and successfully hit Tatara with his quinque. However, Tatara almost teleported towards Houji, ready to blast him into flames, only to be interrupted by Takizawa. Tatara was overwhelmed by Takizawa's attacks, who blasted him with multiple ukaku shards and struck his abdomen. Takizawa then stabbed Tatara's head with Yumitsu Tomoe's quinque and finished Tatara off by piercing him with his Owl kagune. While dying, Tatara reminisced about the Anteiku raid, wondering whether Arima acquired what he was looking for as he let Arima walk through while he dragged an unconscious Kaneki.

Fei and Yan
Tatara was close to Fei and his older brother, Yan, when he was younger and a member of Chi She Lian. Their deaths were the reason why he hated Kousuke Houji, to the point where he easily lost his nearly unflappable composure upon encountering even a quinque associated with the ghoul investigator. However, the quinque was implied to have been made from one of the two.

Eto
Their true relationship was a mystery, though it was clear the two worked closely together. Eto was almost always seen at his side, and they frequently discussed matters pertaining to the organization. He seemed to value her counsel, and readily answered any questions she may have had for him. Because of the many mysteries surrounding Eto's role in the organization, it was unclear who had greater authority over the other. Before his fight, with Houji and Akira, he thought of Eto claiming everything ended that day, implying a deeper relationship between the two.

Kishou Arima
While they're never seen to interact, Tatara has a deep respect for Arima. His loyalty to the One-Eyed King was shown as Tatara knelt before Arima as the latter was dragging an injured Kaneki after the events of Route V14.

Noro
Noro was the other subordinate of the One-Eyed King and followed Tatara's commands. An omake suggested the two are actually close, as Eto noted that Noro would be sad if something were to happen to Tatara.

Ayato Kirishima
Tatara was the one to recruit him into Aogiri, after the young ghoul's violent activities caught his attention. The two were not particularly close, as Tatara simply viewed him as another subordinate to be used. However, tensions had emerged between them as Ayato had grown more independent and influential within Aogiri. Tatara violently reprimanded him and accused him of cowardice. However, Tatara was somewhat bothered by the fact Ayato was growing up.

Yakumo Oomori
Tatara did not care what Yamori's activities were, showing no sadness at the news of his death reaching him.

Bin Brothers
Tatara did not seem to have any concern for them, shown when he answered yes to Ayato's question about his considering subordinates to be mere pieces.

Ken Kaneki
During their initial encounter, Tatara labeled Kaneki as both useless and a fool. Having made this decision, he discarded him, a crucial mistake that came back to haunt Aogiri. Later on, Eto criticized him for not killing Kaneki when he had the chance.

Akihiro Kanou
Though a mere human, Tatara seemed to have some respect for Kanou's work. They had a cordial, professional relationship once the rogue doctor joined forces with Aogiri and began performing experiments for their benefit.

Kousuke Houji
Tatara had a fierce hatred for the investigator, losing his cool simply from seeing a quinque associated with him. Their exact history was not known, though it related to Houji's time spent in China destroying the ghoul organization Chi She Lian.

Seidou Takizawa
Tatara first became interested in the young investigator upon seeing his quinque, recognizing it as one that Houji had made from another ghoul named "Fei." He took his rage out on Houji's subordinate, handing him over to Noro as a snack. However, two years later, Takizawa was a one-eyed ghoul, one of those among the investigators Tatara provided to Dr. Kanou for his experiments.

Matasaka Kamishiro
Tatara appeared to think of Shachi as a coward, as implied when berating Ayato after the Auction Raid as growing soft due to Shachi's influences.

Powers and Abilities
Ghoul Physiology: As a ghoul, Tatara has considerable superhuman strength, along with a kagune, like most ghouls.
 * Unknown Kagune: His kagune was capable of easily slaughtering an entire squad of CCG investigators before approaching Seidou. In Tokyo Ghoul √A, his kagune was seen for a brief moment before his confrontation with Seidou. His kagune in the anime looked like a large, thick, blood red tail, and in the manga, his kagune resembled a long, thin and skeletal tail and the tip of it resembled a spearhead.
 * Unknown Kakuja: Tatara had a developed kakuja. It appeared as a large, muscular, and scaly armor with two large, elongated hammers on the back of his kakuja and a wispy looking tail. His kakuja head was triangular and had a gap in the front of his head that could produce flames. Tatara's kakuja resembled a salamander.
 * Pseudo-Pyrokinesis: Most uniquely, the emissions from his kakuja's highly concentrated Rc cells ignite, producing flames exceeding 4,000 degrees Celsius, as noted by Akira. The flames were produced around his head and were constant. Tatara could change the quantities of fire produced, simply from a small stream in front of his face or a large wave of fire that could engulf multiple enemies in one quick attack.
 * Superhuman Agility: Tatara closed in on Seidou Takizawa before the latter could react.
 * Superhuman Durability: √A also suggested that Tatara had strong resilience and regeneration as he was able to take a hit from Special Class Kyouji Misaka's quinque without any visible wounds in the time it took him to break out of its grip. He also endured Houji's Hollow without sustaining major wounds.

Trivia

 * In the first character popularity poll, Tatara was ranked eighteenth, tying with Arata Kirishima. In the latest, he came in as thirty-third.
 * In Tokyo Ghoul Trump, he was featured as the "Two of Spades."
 * According to the Tokyo Ghoul Flip Calendar, he had difficulty reading Japanese and complained it gave him a headache.
 * His name, Tatara (タタラ) - a traditional Japanese furnace - could be in reference to his kakuja's ability.

Quotes

 * To Squad 4: "Whether you guys live or die is under my control."

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