One-Eyed King



The One-Eyed King  (隻眼の王, Sekigan no Ō) is a mysterious figure within the Tokyo Ghoul universe, often associated with revolutionary ideology. Rumored to be the leader of the ghoul organization, Aogiri Tree, the King's identity is the subject of much speculation and a primary target of V.

In reality, however, the King is revealed to be a title passed from one individual to another. Kishou Arima held the title as part of a larger plan to bring about a revolution. After his death, the title is claimed by Ken Kaneki.

Identity and Suspects
Throughout the franchise, multiple characters speculate on the identity of the King and offer possible suspects.


 * Eto Yoshimura - She later denied the allegations, stating that she is not the King. Instead, she is the co-conspirator and partner of the King. However, she was suspected by:
 * Nico
 * Kaiko
 * Tsuneyoshi Washuu
 * Ken Kaneki
 * Yoshimura - Kuzen took on the mantle of a false One-Eyed Owl in order to divert attention from his daughter who was speculated to be the One-Eyed King. Since the One-Eyed Owl was equated to the One-Eyed King in the minds of many, he unknowingly masqueraded as the false King.
 * Kishou Arima - The previous holder of the title. Eto described him as "keeping the seat warm" for his successor.
 * Ken Kaneki / Haise Sasaki - Eto initially asks him to kill the King, and later reveals to him that Arima was the prior King. She offers him the proverbial throne, and he later declares himself the One-Eyed King when confronting members of the CCG.

Past
Eto Yoshimura grew up disliking the world the way it is, losing hope as well. At the age of 14, she devolped the group of ghouls (which would eventually reincarnate into Aogiri Tree) in order to defeat the CCG for it's inner corruption (the Washuu Clan and V influence). Eto develops the One-Eyed King concept/title. She will find and secretly raise a One-eyed ghoul to become powerful enough to lead a revolution that will bring hope for Ghouls, by uniting the said-kind with humans. She knew that a way to make the future One-Eyed King the idol of hope that all Ghouls would look up to is by making him strong enough to kill the strongest and most feared Ghoul Investigator. It is presumed that this methodology was inspired from the Underground King legend. At some point of time, Kishou Arima defeated Eto at her Shrine Hideout alone. Instead of killing her straight away, he asks Eto of her goal. Eto explains her One-Eyed King concept which in turn intrests Arima into becoming part of her plan, temporarily taking the title. Arima chose to take the role of being the strongest and most feared Ghoul Investigator that would eventually be killed by the future One-Eyed King, for two reasons: He had p the potential of being the CCG Reaper, and that he is suicidal through guilt of taking lives.

Between that certain point and the begining of the Tokyo Ghoul series, Eto has been growing the ranks of Aogiri Tree. The whole of Aogiri Tree (except Tatara) wasn't aware of a number of characteristics about their organisation: Eto was both the famed author "Sen Takatsuki"or even the infamous One-Eyed Owl, Arima was their One-Eyed King, and that the true purpose of Aogiri is to annihilate the CCG's Inner Corrupting and become the army of the future One-Eyed King. Kishou Arima has succesfully become the CCG's Reaper (that could only be killed by the strongest One-eyed ghoul that would evetually be seen as the hope for all Ghoulkind and the one that will bring peace between said-kind and Humankind) as a cover up for being the said-king. Throughout the time, Eto and Arima have been searching fot the perfect candidate for the title.

Present
During the Aogiri Tree Arc, Ken Kaneki escapes Yamori's torture through a miracle, which raises potential from Eto and Arima. Since then, the pair has been researching Ken Kaneki, analysing him. They came to a decision to choose Kaneki for the One-Eyed King title.

Eto and Arima organized a plan that would see if Kaneki was strong enough to defeat the latter. If he wasn't, they would have to use a Plan B: erase Kaneki's memories and secure him with the CCG, giving his empty conscious the role as a Ghoul Investigator, so that Arima will have the excuse of training Kaneki into getting stronger at physical abilities, only to become physically enhanced as Arima. Combined with great physical strength and his immensely powerful Kakuja, Kaneki will be strong enough as the current One-Eyed King wanted him to be.

Disbanding Arc
Eto, as Sen Takatsuki, interviews Koutarou Amon for information about the CCG for a book she was writing about Ghouls. It is presumed that she was collecting aspects for ''King Bileygr. ''

Owl Suppresion Operation Arc
By the climax of the Owl Suppression Operation, Kaneki runs of to Route V14 and meets Arima.

They fought and eventually, Kaneki loses through his crazed state. Arima concluded that he would have to use Plan B, so he stabs Kaneki in the head with his quinque, IXA. Route V14 was a household of Ghoul Corpses that Arima killed, but Kaneki hallucinated them as a white flower garden (the flower garden is meant to symbolise a fight between Kaneki and Arima whenever it is related to the One-Eyed King concept).

Kaneki looses the fight, resulting in Arima stabbing him through the head for Plan B.

Post-Owl Suppresion Operation Arc
Kaneki was brought to Cochlea by Arima's orders, and was given the name "Prisoner #240". He suffers intense mental breakdowns, yelling about wanting to save his friends, refusing food and constantly ripping his eyes out. Eventually, Arima lend #240 books to read, in order to keep him sane.

Sometime later, Arima allows Kaneki to give a name to himself for his new role as a Ghoul Investigator, "Haise Sasaki".

To Haise, he used his name and role as another one of his "Cocoon Personalities/Dream". Within his mind, the full memory and name of Kaneki lurks inside, but Haise wants to use his current persona in order to redeem himself, do some honourable deeds that would not render him useless and forgettable, only then would he accept his full and true self. Haise may be another person on the outside, but he still has Kaneki's core way of thinking (this was also a quote from Hinami Fueguchi). The RC suppressants were said to be increasing Haise's melanin production, which explains the overflowing black hair.



During the two-year timeskip and the first 52 chapters of Tokyo Ghoul:re, Arima has been mentoring Haise to get stronger for his future.

Rose Investigation Arc
Eto, being aware of Sasaki's mental state of temporarily suppressing his true self, devises a plan to test Sasaki's ghoul strength without making the intensions clear, as well as pursue Sasaki to unleash his hidden self.

Throughout the Arc, Eto has been spying behind the scenes, and manages to analyse Kanae von Rosewald's true intention of having Shuu Tsukiyama's love for herself.

After a brawl against the Quinx Squad, an injured Kanae was confronted by Eto, who then corrupts her into a state of despair and was told to follow her.

At an unknown Aogiri Base, Eto brutally torture and corrupts Kanae to pure madness, as well as attaching a portion of her Kagune into ''her. ''

Eto's plan: Have Kanae embrace her rage and jealousy towards Sasaki so that she can take part in brutalizing said-Investigator, so that Sasaki could accept his true dreamless self, and unleash his cold persona. She will then fight herself Sasaki and see if he was truly strong enough to defeat her.

Tsukiyama Family Extermination Operation Arc
Eto, Noro, and Kanae arrive during the Tsukiyama Family Extermination Operation. Eto and Kanae intrude the area of the Luna Eclipse, where Sasaki and Tsukiyama were having their emotional battle, Kanae attacks Sasaki as planned.

When Sasaki enters his subconscious, he communicates with a child form of "Kaneki" (the reason why "Kaneki" was a child in the subconscious was because "he" was symbolising that there was very little of "Kaneki" left to be embraced by Sasaki. The more he uses "him", the smaller "he" gets). Sasaki then chokes "Kaneki" with annoyance, only for said-"child" explain themselves.

It was revealed that Kaneki was abused by his mother, which made him develop his angry and suicidal nature. Kaneki created lies within his mind (which he refers to as "dreams") about his deceased mother being a much more kind person, for the sake of being happy (he was also inspired to be happy by Hideyoshi Nagachika). He referred to this method of "dreaming" as "salvation". "Kaneki" said that he intended to be killed by Kishou Arima in Route V14, because his goal was to do something cool that would make people love him and die with people missing him, the only downfall was that he didn't die.

Sasaki and "Kaneki" decided to stop living with "dreams" (cacoon personalities) and unleash their original, angry and cold self that they have been supressing using fake childhood memories. At that moment, Sasaki allowed the Rc Suppressants to turn his hair black again (the reason why Black Reaper Kaneki is represented by this black hair was because it symbolises Kaneki unleashing his TRUE-original self, meaning he was cold to begin and suppress with for the long while).

After "waking up", Sasaki stabs Kanae in the eye with a steel pipe, weakening her. After implaing both Kanae and Tsukiyama, Sasaki walks up to Eto for their confrontation. By the end of their brawl, Sasaki manages to overpower the One-eyed Owl. Eto briefly seduces Sasaki, admitting her admiration to him, only to be sliced in half by his kagune.

Following the fight, Koori Ui and his squads finds Sasaki devouring the One-eyed Owl's kakuja, presumably to enhance his kagune. Since then, Sasaki has renowned as the Black Reaper (adding more symbolism to how he and Kishou Arima are reflections of each other).

Third Cochlea Raid/Rushima Landing Operation Arc
Kaneki decides to temporarily keep his "Haise Sasaki" identity for his advantage. His current goal was to takedown Eto and Aogiri Tree through the CCG by collecting and presenting data to the bureau, only for them to perform the physical war on Aogiri. The reason why he is motivated to take down Aogiri is to protect his allies, considering said-organisation a threat to them. Once he has completed his work as Haise, he plans to breakout Hinami Fueguchi, only to then fight Kishou Arima in order to "die in a cool way", similarily to his actions in the Owl Suppresion Operation. Haise was promoted to Associate Special Class and was partnered with Nimura Furuta into investigating Sen Takatsuki.

After apprehending Eto's editior, Shunji Shiono, Haise and Furuta interrogate him through exposing Takatsuki's true identity and nature. Eventually, Shiono reveals Eto's truth through fear of execution.

Meanwhile on Rushima, during an assembly speech, Eto announces to the Aogiri Tree members that she is The One-Eyed Owl and that she is also known as the author Sen Takatsuki. According to her, Aogiri Tree exists to create a good world for Ghouls. Her true aim is to eradicate the warped root behind the CCG and requests the assembly participants to become foundation of the destruction of the birdcage. She closes her speech with declaring that, contrary to what many believe, she is not the One-Eyed King.

Briefly after Shiono confesses, Eto turns herself in to Haise, who then arrests her. Eto acts calm and composed through the situation, and pretends to be the enemy Haise sees her as. On the day when she, as Takatsuki, would announce King Bileygr to the public, she revealed that she was a ghoul.

Eto's confession of being a ghoul goes viral. News anchors ask for Hisashi Ogura's opinion on Eto's new book, ''King Bileygr. ''He declines on behalf of his higher-ups.

The confession started turmoil as well. The CCG's telephone lines are overwhelmed by callers. The ratio between Eto's supporters to those who demand retribution is fifty-fifty. Public and authorities alike begin to realise that King Bileygr has a hidden message saying that the Washuu Clan is cooporating with ghouls. As Haise escorts Eto to her cell in Corniculum, until they confirm that she is a ghoul, he states that he has read the book and asks her of it's meaning. She states are cooporating with ghouls. Her motivation to write the book came from a notebook left by Ukina. The notebook documented V. According to Eto, Ukina bonded with Yoshimura in order to investigate V.



Noticing Haise in disbelief, Eto reminds him of the Rc Scan Gate, catching his intrest. Eto educates him of the gate's true system, which relates to why it never set off the alarm when Haise first passed through those gates.

Kazuichi Banjou, the 6th ward's leader, complains of Eto's use of large words in her book. 86 states that the story is well made and should motivate people. Ayato Kirishima suddenly appears and states that the book motivates ghouls to wish for the coming of the One-Eyed King.

It is mentioned by Kuki Urie that ghoul rights organisations have emerged because of Eto's act.

At Cochlea, Furuta interrogates Eto, complimenting her short hair, only to be called Akihiro Kanou's clown. Eto tells Furuta that she was aware of his acts of mischief, as well as being the perpetrator in the Steel Beam Incident. Furuta attempts to get information of the One-Eyed King, but Eto gives a hint by saying that it's in the CCG's bellies.

Prior to Eto and Furuta's arguement, Haise does his part in good-cop bad-cop, and tells her that he recorded the conversation as her instructions. Eto requests Haise to "kill the One-Eyed King" (giving him a clue that he needs to kill Arima). Haise was left confused by the request. She also says that she will "give him a hand" at some point.



Eto was sitting in her cell, listening well to whatever goes beyond Cochlea, waiting to fullfill the "give him a hand" promise. Haise, Arima and the Arima Squad was set to protect Cochlea. Haise, confident that Aogiri Tree will reach it's end, now sees this as an opportunity to breakout Hinami and die at Arima's hand, whilst having a mental breakdown.

Haise then unlocks massive numbers of cells, freeing imprisoned ghouls, as well as Hinami. This sets a fierce battle in Cochlea. Coincidentaly, Banjou, Ayato, Gas Masks, Touka Kirishima and Renji Yomo raid the prison to rescue Hinami as well.

Midway running, Haise and Hinami fight Furuta for the first time. Hinami impales him, and they both ran off presuming Furuta to be dead.

As Arima shoots lightning bolts at Yomo, Haise rescues Yomo, pursuing a fight between Haise and Arima. As the rest of group escape the room, Haise states that he will sacrifice himself again to save his allies.

Haise and Arima fall into the lower level of Cochlea, to pursue their emotional and mentally complex battle. The basement was shown with the Flower Garden Symbolism to represent how this fight is related to the One-Eyed King concept.

Ayato's group manages to deactivate the compactors, only to be reactivated by Furuta and some V agents. Fullfilling her promise, The One-Eyed Owl smashes into the room, halting the compactor's process, saving Haise's friends.

Back in the basement, Haise was ready to be killed by Arima. In his subconciousness, "Hide" appears in his head. "Hide" provides Haise a sense of positivity, criticizing his suicidal tendencies. "Hide" gives him the will to live. Kaneki now overcomes the Rc Suppressants, regaining his white hair and fights Arima without a death wish.

Eto slaughters the V agents and starts chasing after Furuta. After cornering Furuta, her kakuja was incised by his kagune, revealing that he was one of Kanou's experiments. By the end of their battle, Furuta overpowers Eto to the point where she was on the brink of death. Whilst leaving her to die, Eto asks of Furuta's intentions, only for him to respond by saying that he wants "super peace" and walks away.

In the basement, Kaneki couldn't pull himself to kill Arima, seeing him as a father-figure. Arima, aware of the situation, knowing that Kaneki has to kill him in order to become the King, Arima decides to slice his own throat. Kaneki, in shock, holds Arima as he states that he'e speeding up his accelerating aging process. Arima educates Kaneki about the Sunlit Garden, Half-humans, and that the Washuu Clan were ghouls that V was a part of. Kaneki learns that the ghoul organisation that Yoshimura worked for were the Washuu Clan, as one of the corpse collectors/"cleaner". Kaneki was confused, and asks Arima for requests. Arima tells Kaneki to take the blame for his death, pretending to be the killer, so that he can preserve the title for One-Eyed King.

Trivia

 * Sasaki speculates Nameless, the protagonist of the novel King Bileygr, is intended to be a fictional version of the King.
 * In the English edition of Volume 4, the One-Eyed King is mistakenly mentioned twice, once by Kureo Mado in Touka Kirishima's flashback in Chapter 31 and once in Chapter 34 in Kaneki's thoughts. Correctly, it should state in both cases "(that other) One-Eye" which refers to Eto.
 * The re in the title of Tokyo Ghoul:re comes from the Italian and Maltese word for "King".
 * V agents call Kaneki the "Nameless King," possibly in reference to the main protagonist of King Bileygr.
 * In contrast to Kaneki declaring himself the One-Eyed King, Furuta names himself the "Washuu King".
 * A powerful one-eyed ghoul, possessing a kagune with remarkable similarity to that of Ken Kaneki, ruled the 24th ward as its King a hundred years ago.
 * In :re Episode 16, Arima states that he and Eto "created" the King.

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