So after making this post about Eto possibly creating a physical tie to Kaneki with her kagune, in addition to the psychological manipulation she already attempted, for the possible purpose of making him into the One-Eyed King. I kept thinking about this. And then I talked to @neropet some more. And this post happened. Again credit to them for talking this through with me and sharing ideas.
Among the changes that Sasaki has gone through since he met Eto on the roof of the Lunar Eclipse building, there’s one that stood out to me:
He likes her books again. He knows who she is and what she’s done, not just to him but to other people he cares about, and he likes her books again.
I think this is significant because of his reasons for disliking her books before:
I speculated before that the reason he began disliking her books was because his story deviated from hers. They were so similar, but after V14, he started again and had a new chance, and he was trying to escape the life he’d had before. He was averse to her stories because of that past similarity to them, because that was a connection he didn’t want.
But then, Eto showed up during the Tsukiyama extermination and changed him.
The first post I linked to explains in more detail what I think she was doing and why she was trying to change him – to turn him into the One-Eyed King. But what is her plan once she turns him into the King? I think Sasaki told us himself, when he discussed her books.
“All the main characters die in her works.”
As an anon pointed out to me a few days ago (which is what started this train of thought, thank you anon), Eto is an author. She created the character of the One-Eyed King. Wouldn’t it be fitting, for her, if her plan included the death of that character, following the trend of her other works?
And going back to Kaneki’s change, the one that Eto initiated. He tells himself that it doesn’t matter if he does a good or a bad thing, as long as it’s something that makes people love him. And then:
And finally, based on Eto’s speech in chapter 61, the CCG was formed when humans came together to kill a one-eyed ghoul, presumably the person who is her inspiration for the One-Eyed King (since the King is oft depicted as a skeleton in clothing from that time period).
This was the change that occurred due to the one-eyed ghoul. So what is happening now, in the present day?
The CCG is focusing their energy on destroying Aogiri and killing the One-Eyed King, the current ghoul that is threatening to bring about another change.
What if Eto believes that a change can only occur this way? With the death of the revolutionary who brings it? Wouldn’t it make sense, in that case, if she wanted to crown another person as that figure? To allow her to experience the change? Or, maybe she expects both of them to die, because their fates appear to be connected.
Whatever happens, I’m sure Eto has a plan for him, for them both, and it’s going to be big.