One of the most recent watching moments I've done had me realize something and it's something that has shook me to my core at the attention to details in this movie.
The Truth; when Mira and Zoey are abruptly introduced to a truly broken Rumi and her demon self, she cries out of her right eye - her human side
Celine; towards the end of their conversation, Rumi cried out of her left eye - her demon side
WISL Jinu; once he gave her his soul, she cried out of BOTH eyes indicating both her human and demon side were hurting. (Oh, my rujinu❤️🩹 )
Definitely this one. Basically, if you pause correctly during the scene where Rumi and Jinu meet on the rooftop, you can see that both of Rumi’s eyes become demon-like. It’s only for one frame, but it’s such a cool detail.
One of the other neat facts I realized is that when Jinu bumps into Rumi in their 1st scene together, where he bumps into her is EXACTLY where her demon marks are located!
Are there any finer details you've noticed that shook you? I don't care if it's common knowledge, I wanna hear 👀💜💜💜💜
Ahh, the eyes theory. I have seen that one going around. Tbh I'm kind of iffy on the idea that it represents "the side of her that was hurt," because A) it kind of seems to undermine the idea that Rumi is a whole person before she's a half anything, like, the two sides of her identity inform each other so that she has a perspective that's unique from both humans and demons, and B) why would Rumi's human side be hurt by ZoeMira rejecting her demon-ness, but her demon side be hurt by Celine doing the same? Both ZoeMira and Celine reject Rumi's demon side, so I don't really understand why it would hurt Rumi in different "sides," you know?
But I do agree that it was definitely intentional.
I think maybe--this is my theory--I think maybe what it's meant to symbolize is how Rumi is viewing herself.
Because in the scene with Zoey and Mira, she talks about herself as if she's a human that just needs to be "fixed" (as we've discussed before on this blog). She's saying things like "I was using him to fix this, fix me, so we could all be together!" She's appealing to them as a hunter, trying to convince them that she's not really a demon, her patterns are just a temporary... embarrassment, or whatever.
So because she sees herself as human in this scene, or is trying to, she cries from her "human" eye. Because she's clinging to the idea that she's fully a human.
But then in the scene with Celine, Rumi sees herself as a demon. She's saying things like "There's no hiding it now. This is what I am," and "Can't you see? This is what I am!" She fully sees herself as a demon, a monster. Just after the moment where she cries from her demon eye, she picks up her sword with her demon clawed hand--an important change from the beginning of the scene, where she summoned it with her human hand. I think it symbolizes the idea that Rumi has accepted the idea that she is a demon. By the end of this scene, she's fully bought into the idea that she is a demon and cannot be the good hunter--the human--that Celine raised her to be.
So because she sees herself as fully demon and incapable of being human in this scene, she cries from her demon eye.
And then, when Jinu sacrifices himself... I mean, I talked just recently about how in that scene Rumi merges the two parts of her identity in order to view herself in a more holistic, fully-rounded way. "Darkness AND harmony." Beyond that, I mentioned that this is the moment where she's able to really merge her mission as a hunter with her identity as a demon. She's getting vengeance on Gwi-Ma for Jinu and for the world, therefore fighting for the sake of both humans and demons.
ALSO, as some people have pointed out, Rumi may be unique in being able to take and use Jinu's soul the way she did--since taking souls is a demon trait. Hunters use souls, demons take them, but Rumi did both with Jinu's soul in order to fight back against Gwi-Ma. So that could be another way that Rumi's two identities as a hunter and a demon are merging here.
So all that to say... by this point, Rumi sees herself as both a human and a demon. She sees herself as the full person born from two worlds that she is. So she cries from both eyes.
As for details that I've noticed personally...
Uhh I can't claim credit for noticing this, I've just seen a few other people noticing it on social media, but one that I DO know off the top of my head is: Rumi uses a different compact mirror than Mira and Zoey do after the bathhouse fight scene...
...because she tossed her matching one away during the How It's Done sequence, so she doesn't have it anymore.
I think that's pretty cool consistency.
