There's this post going around on Twitter about "doomed parent and child" and boy do I have thoughts about this. I think Lavi and Bookman are a great example.
Chapter 257/258 spoilers below ↓
The whole ideaology of "Bookmen can't form attachments" is what i think makes 257 especially tragic. It's clear even from earlier chapters that both Lavi and Bookman have a close familial bond. And how could they not? Their ties to past Lavi aside, Bookman has raised current Lavi since he was a child, watching him grow up into who he is today, even if the initial reasoning was to find a new successor for Bookman. The whole rule about not making attachments had already blurred, and I think this is especially evident in Bookman's last thoughts before dying. A younger version of the boy smiling up at him, happier, before the world grew mean.
There were no final words of endearment between the two. No expression of familial love before Bookman's passing. The last words Lavi ever hears from his parental figure are "be well," which I think also have a pretty devastating impact of their own.
"Bookmen can't form attachments" is what has been hammered into Lavi's head since he was young. We've seen time and time again, however, that he was on the more emotional side for someone who was supposed to maintain that neutrality. Cracks started to show. But those cracks weren't enough for him to actually properly express any feelings of familial love to someone who was essentially his parental figure. And so, it only ends up in regret, and a large part of what he thinks about when he's essentially drowning from Noah poisoning. Regret that he never got to say everything he wanted to.
And this is why I was so disappointed that Bookman's death wasn't explored in chapter 258. Grief is a huge part of D.Gray-Man. I'd argue that it's the basis of what the series stands on. There would be no D.Gray-Man if the Millennium Earl did not prey upon the grief of vulnerable people. So I feel like it was such a missed opportunity to not explore Lavi's own.
Though, in hindsight, I do think that Lavi and Bookman were doomed from the start, at least in the audience's eyes. Lavi was an apprentice chosen to become the future Bookman. that could only ever happen if the current Bookman passed; it was inevitable. So perhaps the lack of acknowledgement could be interpreted as Lavi's acceptance of the circumstances. Especially since it's technically been months since the incident.
Either way, I do hope it's touched upon in one of the chapters in the future.
