In an ask, I mentioned that it seemed likely that Road and Sheril's last name--that being Camelot--is a reference to the legends of King Arthur, king of Camelot. Further proof of this is the very fact that King Arthur was based on Jesus, hence the reason why in many of the stories he has 12 knights to his round table, the very number of apostles to have followed Jesus. Nea and Mana as the Earl also fight with swords, with the power to purify and devour souls. What's more, one of the knights (Arthur's bastard son or nephew, depending on the story), was also a traitor like Judas.
Nea is already a clear traitor, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Joyd will also become a traitor, such as the parallels between him and Nea and the scene in which you see Road cradling the sleeping head of what appears to be Mana from a looming figure whose head is cut off. Based on context, it would make most sense for this to be Joyd and would also explain Road's actions with how she very clearly is afraid of him and is trying to keep Tykki grounded so that Joyd can't take over.
But what is the significance in all of this? Well, that's because you could liken the Heart of Innocence to the Holy Grail in the stories of King Arthur. To paraphrase its importance, it is thought to be an object infused with Jesus's blood from the last supper and is something God himself ordered King Arthur to retrieve, much like how it is both the exorcists' and Noahs' goals to find the Heart. It is thought to give eternal life and have healing properties, which aligns with how innocence can cure someone from akuma poison. Whether or not Road has a clue to the Heart is uncertain, but it has definitely been hinted that she holds many answers to the plot. That can even be seen with her name being Road Camelot. And remember the door Road created on the Ark.
Genesis 9 has passages about rainbows, said to Noah himself after the flood. The flood which has meant to rid the Earth of Cain's evil lineage, by the way, which is interesting when apparently the Earl was the one who destroyed their old universe. Genesis 37 also has a passage about a sun, a moon, and eleven stars revolving around Joseph, the King of Dreams. Nea has some panels with the Sun (kind of hinting that he is a morning star), and the moon has always been the Earl's and Allen/Nea's symbol, so we could easily see the stars as the rest of the Noah. Joseph also had dreams of a golden wheat field and Cain also killed Abel in such a field. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Camelot is where the Holy Grail became stored, and we have seen Road be strangely attached to Mana and Nea both, even Allen. Cross even seems to hold some pity for her, despite her being the enemy. So I just have to wonder if Road could quite literally be a road, especially with her using her Dreams to lure Allen to the Campbell manor where many of the answers will be waiting for him.
I don't have a ton to add onto this, however; it occurred to me that the Sun has always been a symbol for God as well, and that the moon only has light because of it. Its light is merely a *reflection* of the Sun. The Sun gives life and is a sign of another day, yet the moon appears even in the daytime whenever the Earl/Mana and Allen/Nea are near. It's kind of similar to how the Earl's sword devours life and how Allen can (in a sense) give it back by freeing human hosts of their Noah memories. They're reflections of each other, but make a complete (moon) picture. While Nea and Mana are clearly Cain and Abel, they really do seem to share parallels with Jesus and Lucifer as well, especially since Nea is like the first fallen one while Adam is the first sinner.
Taking inspiration from Genesis 37, the Sun could be Adam and the stars are the other Noahs, with the butterfly being Katerina and the Moon being the "children" of Katerina and Adam. These synopses of verses about the moon, sun, and stars gave me inspiration for this addition, so feel free to take a look!
In an ask, I mentioned that it seemed likely that Road and Sheril's last name--that being Camelot--is a reference to the legends of King Arthur, king of Camelot. Further proof of this is the very fact that King Arthur was based on Jesus, hence the reason why in many of the stories he has 12 knights to his round table, the very number of apostles to have followed Jesus. Nea and Mana as the Earl also fight with swords, with the power to purify and devour souls. What's more, one of the knights (Arthur's bastard son or nephew, depending on the story), was also a traitor like Judas.
Nea is already a clear traitor, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Joyd will also become a traitor, such as the parallels between him and Nea and the scene in which you see Road cradling the sleeping head of what appears to be Mana from a looming figure whose head is cut off. Based on context, it would make most sense for this to be Joyd and would also explain Road's actions with how she very clearly is afraid of him and is trying to keep Tykki grounded so that Joyd can't take over.
But what is the significance in all of this? Well, that's because you could liken the Heart of Innocence to the Holy Grail in the stories of King Arthur. To paraphrase its importance, it is thought to be an object infused with Jesus's blood from the last supper and is something God himself ordered King Arthur to retrieve, much like how it is both the exorcists' and Noahs' goals to find the Heart. It is thought to give eternal life and have healing properties, which aligns with how innocence can cure someone from akuma poison. Whether or not Road has a clue to the Heart is uncertain, but it has definitely been hinted that she holds many answers to the plot. That can even be seen with her name being Road Camelot. And remember the door Road created on the Ark.
Genesis 9 has passages about rainbows, said to Noah himself after the flood. The flood which has meant to rid the Earth of Cain's evil lineage, by the way, which is interesting when apparently the Earl was the one who destroyed their old universe. Genesis 37 also has a passage about a sun, a moon, and eleven stars revolving around Joseph, the King of Dreams. Nea has some panels with the Sun (kind of hinting that he is a morning star), and the moon has always been the Earl's and Allen/Nea's symbol, so we could easily see the stars as the rest of the Noah. Joseph also had dreams of a golden wheat field and Cain also killed Abel in such a field. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Camelot is where the Holy Grail became stored, and we have seen Road be strangely attached to Mana and Nea both, even Allen. Cross even seems to hold some pity for her, despite her being the enemy. So I just have to wonder if Road could quite literally be a road, especially with her using her Dreams to lure Allen to the Campbell manor where many of the answers will be waiting for him.
Hello, the two of us created another tegaki as the Neapologists we are. This time we used Machigerita's "I Wonder if You'll say You're Sorry." The lyrics appear quite dark, but with our many theories on what Nea means when he says he wishes to kill the Earl, this song was just perfect for him. This time, however, we decided to make an UTAU cover using Namegata Yuzuriha as the vocals. We hope you enjoy the final product.
If you're not familiar with it yet I'm referring to this cover for volume 28 that has been released recently:
Aside from the obvious parallels between this and the very first volume cover, the star symbol Allen seems to be holding is rather curious
Apparently it has been used in a couple exhibitions before so it's not completely new, but it doesn't match the crest of the Noahs or the Campbells.
Inside the star, you can see what appears to be a ram, which is a symbol for sacrifice in multiple religions (specifically Christianity and Judaism in DGM's case) and the concept of sacrifice isn't entirely new to the franchise, as the "betrayal" years ago could be considered one.
Mana and Nea can be likened to Cain and Abel, as the sons of Adam where one of the two killed the other (Mana would be Cain in this case despite the differences in personality; he was the one who killed Nea regardless of what happened to Mana himself and whether he can even be considered the real Mana after the events of ch. 220, but that's a theory for another day)
The events surrounding Nea's death would be considered the first sacrifice and not necessarily Nea himself as the story isn't a 1:1 retelling of The Bible, and another sacrifice would be the whole Mana situation with Allen (where we are currently in the manga)
Other than that, the symbolism of rams is rather interesting because binding someone or something to an altar is pretty similar to crucifying them, which brings us back to the whole stigmata deal. There are various stories including rams and goats that it's difficult to address them all, but I'm just putting the idea out there.
Other than that, it's quite interesting how the "snow" in the new cover is shaped like the star of David while the ram symbol itself is a pentagram, which is the same star on Allen's forehead that keeps reminding him of what happened. I'm not really sure where I'm going with all of this but it's pretty much a stab in the dark about what it could refer to.
If you are not already familiar with our theory about Katerina being Maria, please read it here. It is also advised that you read this other theory of ours.
DGM is full of unreliable narrators, and there is no better example than Mana. Take this scene from his memories, for example. We see a looming figure that appears to be Nea, a younger Bookman watching with a disinterested eye, the wheat fields of the Campbell Manor, and the Earl's elvish form standing before the Cornelia tree with a lifeless Katerina.
This begs the question; who was the one to have killed her? This is all Mana's memories, the same Mana that has been consumed by the presence of the original Earl and Adam, and the very fact that he considered the Noah to be his family in the past suggests he's always been easy to manipulate. So it's possible that this memory of his is really more his perceivement of everything based around how he remembers things or the lies he's been fed. What I mean by that is that perhaps "The Betrayal" to Mana was believing that Nea killed their mother. But if Cross is really the brother of Katerina, then why the hell would he be helping Nea? Because it wasn't Nea that killed her, but Joyd.
Reasons why I believe this to be, include:
1.) It's the perfect way for Mana to go against Nea and to be vulnerable enough to return to being the Earl. And I really do think Joyd has to be at the center of that all, as it makes too much sense in being the Noah of Hedonism.
2.) The fact Tykki looks like Nea could really suggest that Joyd has always taken up forms that resemble Nea. I speculated that Joyd feels like an imperfect copy almost, or like he wants to take Nea's place beside the Earl, and so he could have staged this all in hopes of him dying. It brings me back to my theory that Tykki might not be a regular human, as his symbol (butterflies) seem to suggest as well, being the symbol of reincarnation and rebirth.
3.) The Earl hovering over the dead Katerina could be him grieving. He resents Mana and Nea, and the death of the only human he loved could have been enough of a shock to bring him back. After all, this is Mana's subconscious and Nea and Allen have shown that it's possible for the two to bleed together in memories and dreams.
4.) We keep having these moments where we see Joyd grinning, but he's just a blacked out silhouette and so there are no key features to associate with him outside of Tykki's appearance. I did once point out that of the silhouettes from the original Noahs (art can be found in Night 187), there were two that seemed to resemble Nea.
5.) This could explain why Nea and Joyd always have these moments showcasing that they are connected somehow on a deeper level than their looks (i.e., both of their exorcist sword scars throbbing at the same time). And if Nea is aware of the fact that Joyd used their similar appearances to trick Mana, it's no wonder why he hates him in particular so much.
6.) In Night 187, the Earl had said that Wisely took so long to be reborn because his memory was damaged after Nea killed him, and yet when Wisely looks at Tykki, he says "I'm surprised. Joyd looks just like that man...". Wisely tends to refer to the Noahs by the memory they possess, but it is interesting that he specifically said Joyd looks so similar to Nea. Road also said to keep this a secret, as she's the only other one to remember what Nea looks like. So that suggests that Noahs forget details about their past life, but would this apply to Joyd when we know that
Tykki unconsciously wards against his memories so that Joyd isn't able to take over
Joyd smiles with malice whenever he sees Nea, hinting that he remembers exactly what Nea did to him.
Also, while only Wisely remembers his previous lives, Devit said "so they're working for your side now?" in reference to Lavi, a Bookman. This insinuates that Bookman could have even done nothing while Katerina died because they don't pick sides, they just record history and don't necessarily care about saving lives. As Nea doesn't side with the Noah, this could further add to the fact that Katerina's death was a catalyst of sorts.
You could also turn this theory on its head and suggest that the look on Nea's face is because Mana was the one to have killed Katerina under the Noahs' influence, as depicted here:
Of course, this is all purely speculation, but it would make sense within the realm of theories we've made here previously. The fact that Cross seems to hold sympathy for Road and not Joyd has also been on my mind a lot, and this theory could explain some things regarding that. Potentially even Road's fear of Joyd.
If you're not familiar with it yet I'm referring to this cover for volume 28 that has been released recently:
Aside from the obvious parallels between this and the very first volume cover, the star symbol Allen seems to be holding is rather curious
Apparently it has been used in a couple exhibitions before so it's not completely new, but it doesn't match the crest of the Noahs or the Campbells.
Inside the star, you can see what appears to be a ram, which is a symbol for sacrifice in multiple religions (specifically Christianity and Judaism in DGM's case) and the concept of sacrifice isn't entirely new to the franchise, as the "betrayal" years ago could be considered one.
Mana and Nea can be likened to Cain and Abel, as the sons of Adam where one of the two killed the other (Mana would be Cain in this case despite the differences in personality; he was the one who killed Nea regardless of what happened to Mana himself and whether he can even be considered the real Mana after the events of ch. 220, but that's a theory for another day)
The events surrounding Nea's death would be considered the first sacrifice and not necessarily Nea himself as the story isn't a 1:1 retelling of The Bible, and another sacrifice would be the whole Mana situation with Allen (where we are currently in the manga)
Other than that, the symbolism of rams is rather interesting because binding someone or something to an altar is pretty similar to crucifying them, which brings us back to the whole stigmata deal. There are various stories including rams and goats that it's difficult to address them all, but I'm just putting the idea out there.
Other than that, it's quite interesting how the "snow" in the new cover is shaped like the star of David while the ram symbol itself is a pentagram, which is the same star on Allen's forehead that keeps reminding him of what happened. I'm not really sure where I'm going with all of this but it's pretty much a stab in the dark about what it could refer to.
Do you think tyki and Allen also have a blood connection? This speculation of mine comes from some parts of Sweetcreams theory that he did years ago, pretty much theorizing that past Allen and road are the parents of Tyki and Sheril. Some parts made a lot of sense to me because there was DEFINITELY something romantically going on between past Allen and road Komui's lounge; confirmed it on the down low. "Allen" didn't die right away when he took on Nea's memories.
Hmm it's hard to say. Wisely has memories of all his past lives and did ask Road "so you've looked like that for the past 35 years?" which can leave room for the possibility that she took on that form when she was the only one to escape being killed by Nea, making her appear older once. Cross even recognized her form immediately, and we're pretty much certain Maria is Katerina so he would have probably known and been familiar with Road a lot in that case. It wouldn't surprise me then if she had known Past Allen for several reasons; we've theorized before that Road could have approached Mana and Nea when they were kids and kind of grew up with them, so it wouldn't be weird if she knew Past Allen a little bit or observed him after he took on Nea's memories.
Her protectiveness over Tykki could be explained a bit with that theory, and there is quite a bit to support it (if you know where to find the theory if it's still available or if you remember details, I'd love to read it for myself!). I don't know if I'd go out to say she's their mother, though, (partly because I'm not certain Sheril and Tykki are fully related and because I can't figure out how Road’s inability to age works) but I would say that Road may know more about how Allen (Red) came to possess Nea’s memories than she lets on. It could be why she was attached to him even when they hadn't met and the Earl was just talking about him. I think the Komui Lounge you mean is when Allen says "Besides [Road] has her eye on someone else" (official translation, alternate reading being "she sees someone else in me"). I personally thought this was about Nea, but I'm definitely open to hearing more about and exploring this theory though! It'd be interesting if she wasn't so much a human mother to them, but more like someone who helped them come to be, if we’re going with the notion that Tykki might not be a regular human.
This is going to be an extremely long one because I think about Tykki way more than is probably healthy. Spoilers included.
Everything about his character is so, so fascinating, and I truly feel like his role in the story is overlooked. Which probably sounds weird, considering Katsura has left so many interesting bits and pieces to suggest that he plays a bigger role than he’s first presented as having. But it’s so much more than just having the same (albeit more mature) appearance as Nea.
To start with, there is the matter of Tykki’s birthday. I don’t believe Katsura has ever confirmed whether or not these birthdays relate to the human hosts’ birthdays, or the time in which the Noah awoke within them. Part of why I started to wonder about this is because Wisely has a canon birthday and it is within winter—February 4th. When we see him first awaken, it is also shown to be very cold (you can see the officers' breath), so it is presumably winter. It could be that Katsura wanted to give him a birthday so fans had a day to celebrate him on, but it still feels peculiar. The story seems to suggest that Wisely has always been an orphan living on the streets, so I doubt that he would know his birthday. And perhaps it is, again, Katsura giving him a birthday more for the fans and he doesn’t actually know it himself. I could even be wrong that it wasn’t February when Wisely of the Demonic Eyes awoken because it is snowing during the three month timeskip for the Searching for A.W. arc of the story. But I still like to think that the birthdays are when the Noah awakens within a host, or at least in the case of Tykki it is.
A big reason why I want to believe this is that Allen’s innocence first awoken on Christmas, the same day as Tykki’s “birthday”. Allen’s consciousness before this event seemed to start melding with Nea’s a bit, as he recognizes Mana’s song and begins to even remember a time in which he was held (with Katsura drawing a dying Nea in past Allen’s arms). I think this means that Nea was potentially awakening during this time, but that Allen’s innocence activating regressed this. Because while getting injured by innocence led to Nea awakening for real, Allen’s innocence actively works to prevent it. And as I’ve noted before, Allen’s wrinkles and the strain that is presented with his red arm seems eerily similar to the way in which Katsura draws Kanda’s signs of becoming a Fallen One. With the way lines have been dropped in the beginning to describe Allen’s innocence as “looking to have been forced upon him”, I suppose we can take his arm’s appearance as a sign it was trying to reject him. Probably not because he is an unsuitable accomodator, but because it was trying to keep Nea in slumber. His arm also changes once it has switched from being a “diamond in the rough”, and I do theorize that he is already a crystal-type user, so.
Going back to my original point, Tykki seems tied to Nea directly, but especially Joyd. When Nea says that Tykki’s (Joyd’s) reincarnated appearance makes him sick, Joyd actually takes over for a moment and smiles. And this smile is the exact same one he had when Nea awoke from the dream in chapter 184 (we can tell this is Nea and not necessarily Allen based upon several context clues and personal interpretations I have. Those being:
The bored face he makes when he realizes he’s dreaming and says “oh what a bad dream” is similar to the annoyed faces Katsura draws him to have when he takes over the body, especially during his interactions with people he finds annoying/boring (think of his interactions with Link)
Nea has appeared in Allen’s dreams on numerous occasions
As the dream progresses, letters in “Allen” begin to fade, but it’s always in quotation marks.
Allen takes on a child form, but he still has his scar and white hair. Allen never appeared this way before Mana. While Nea was surprised by Allen’s white hair when he saw it, he still lives in Allen’s subconscious and can see some of his memories. So perhaps he just created a form that the dream Mana would recognize while not knowing that his current body didn’t look like that during the time of that memory
Allen pulls a face when Mana asks “Why do you have that big sword in you?” but as he talks some more, it is then that he takes on a sad face and says “...Mana…?” Nea has never seen adult Mana, nor in his clown form, so he probably recognized his voice more than anything. But Mana appeared as a clown because this is the form Allen associates with him most.
The dream begins to fade once the line “I’m not “...”. Call me Allen” is written. I interpret this in a number of ways. It’s clear that Allen’s subconscious is also bleeding into this dream, so it’s likely Allen is saying this. We know that ‘Allen’ was technically never his name, and in the light novel he wishes to be called that due to the circumstances. But you could also say that the “...” was Mana saying Nea, and that’s why the dream begins to end with Nea awakening while thinking “call me…”. Perhaps he wants Mana to call him by his name instead, or he is okay with being thought of as Allen, so long as Mana is smiling. It is also possible that the “...” is not Nea, but Red, and this is Allen forsaking his old identity to become Mana’s “Allen”.
Nea is clearly the one that awakens from this dream based on the expression he has, Lenalee’s fear, and the fact his scar begins to throb. The wound was left by the exorcist sword, and while it hurt Allen because he was in control of the body at the time, it was really seeking to hurt Nea. I think Nea’s scowl could be a bit bittersweet; anger because it’s what Nea expresses best, but also because he was woken up and taken away from Mana, in a sense. And perhaps he feels Envy that his host has memories of a Mana he doesn’t.
After the cutaway from this dream, Tykki’s scar also begins to sting and he asks “what is this emotion?”. Note that this speech bubble has the dark matter around it, a visual hint Katsura uses whenever Joyd or a Noah is taking over the host or is speaking. It is Joyd who feels his scar begin to hurt the same moment Nea’s begins to hurt. Perhaps he feels what Nea is feeling as well, but when that line is spoken, the edges around the bubble are gone. Tykki is the one who doesn’t understand what he is feeling, either because it is Joyd’s bloodlust or because it is Nea’s feelings from having awoken from the dream. Either way, it is clear that Tykki is distressed by this all, and that all of the broken glass was due to Joyd’s outburst.
In the broken shards from the window, we see Joyd reflected back with the same smile he always flashes Nea. He is aware that Nea—his enemy—is beginning to awaken and he’s happy. I did say that Joyd, as the Noah of Hedonism, is likely linked to what happened back on the day of Nea’s betrayal as he’s written to be like Lord Henry from Dorian Gray (the kanji characters used for ‘pleasure’ (快楽) are half of the word for hedonism (快楽説) and the phrase ‘murder for pleasure’ (快楽殺人)). So it seems clear that Joyd is doing a lot of things to spite Nea because he takes pleasure in his suffering. If Nea in the past was distrustful of the Noah family but Mana saw them as a genuine family, then it really does make sense that Joyd’s grudge could have started even from back then, and that leading Mana towards “devouring” Nea could have been the most joyful feeling for him.
So from my eyes, suggesting that Joyd had awoken when Nea was suffering (as well as Mana) years ago on Christmas day doesn’t seem far-fetched. When Allen was in the Ark, he sensed Tykki’s incoming attack before anyone else did. This could have just been hinting that he has a strong sense for danger, but what if it was really Nea? Noah can’t escape from each other, as shown in recent chapters when Allen is trying to evade Tykki, Wisely, and the akuma on his tail but they can sense Nea within him no matter what. And Tykki also seems to have an uncanny sense for finding Allen as well, even more than the other Noah, as if they were two opposite poles of a magnet.
Another thing to note is that one of the Komui QnA omakes says that the Earl has been in-charge of Tykki’s education since he was a boy, he just never liked studying and that’s why it didn’t get very far. The Earl is clearly able to manifest in some way even when Mana is himself, so it could still happen and have the timeline make sense as Tykki would have been 18 when Allen invoked his innocence— but since Road was already awaiting for the true Earl to return to them even before this, perhaps it's possible for Tykki to have been living with the Earl even before then. Because Sheril might have awoken before him and the Noah of Desire and Hedonism have always been linked, according to Katsura, the Earl could have taken Tykki in waiting for his turn. It’s unclear whether or not Tykki and Sheril–the hosts–are brothers or if Joyd and Desire are, however. But, as shown in the flashbacks when Skin Boric was awakening as a Noah, it seems like the Earl can sense when it’s happening way beforehand, so having Tykki by his side wouldn’t be odd. And with the way Wisely and Tykki are shown to have many parallels between them and how they enjoy the same hobbies, I like to think that it’s because they have “being past orphans living on the streets” in common. I mean, Sheril is an aristocrat and it’s unclear whether he married into that money, but regardless, only Tykki seems to have an extreme displeasure for that kind of lifestyle and he has also never set foot into a school according to his own words. All of that seems unusual and I can’t see Sheril allowing that to be, even if he dotes on him so much.
Regardless, I do believe that Joyd most likely awoke on Christmas and that Tykki’s birthday isn’t his birthday as the host. It’s not really Allen’s birthday either, but rather the time in which he was adopted and Nea (and even Mana) suffered, so making Tykki’s “birthday” the same day seems more like Katsura saying Nea and Tykki are directly linked, with he and Allen being the same due to being hosts.
Even aside from that, their scars hurting at the same time is one of the first clues of foreshadowing that they’re tied to each other that Katsura includes. And then there was also the time Wisely himself even said that Tykki looked just like “that man”. Wisely is the only one with memories of all of his previous lives, so he would remember Nea and hold the answers as to why Nea seems to hate Joyd in particular.
But as a reader, the /why/ behind Tykki having Nea’s face is… well, I’m unsure. There’s not really a clear answer as to why this would be, but I did once write out this prediction for the old Noah’s forms (this is from chapter 187 or 188 I believe).
My predictions themselves aren’t important, it’s more about the fact that the current hosts for the Noahs seem to bear a lot of resemblance to their old, true forms. Road’s silhouette is easy to make out, even if the Dreams Noah appears older here; one clearly has Nea’s hair which is why I believe him to be Adam; the one I labeled as Wisdom looks like they have trailing fabric behind them like how Wisely wraps cloth around his head; etc. And the one I think might be Joyd does have similar hair to Adam /Nea from what we can see. I’m just not sure where to go from there, other than that maybe it’s a bit of foreshadowing for things we just do not know about as of yet.
One idea I’ve had relates to the scene with the mirror, when Adam destroys Mana’s face because he hates how it reminds him of the twins. Artificial bodies are a thing in this universe, and memories and even souls can be somewhat transportated or travel through reincarnation. It was said that Nea (and I’m assuming thereby Mana) aren’t able to undergo reincarnation (presumably because of something to do with their souls if we’re going off of Dorian in Dorian Gray, as Dorian virtually sold his to the devil), and that is why Nea needed a host. So perhaps it is possible to transport Noah memories through other means. Why someone would go through the trouble of making a body that resembles Mana and Nea to host Joyd’s soul is beyond me, but there are some things that hint towards it:
Tykki being virtually raised by the Earl
He has a last name different from Sheril who is a lot older than him and who we know the Earl likes to pawn orphans onto
Akuma are artificial people/weapons that can wear a person’s body. And the Earl is able to devour souls, so he could potentially have the ability to transport them, no? Alongside that, the Earl called akuma clones of himself. If he is still Mana in a sense, then… And when the Earl made Moa’s sister into an akuma in the first chapter, the Earl sang “happy birthday”. So this can further add to my suspicions that a Noah’s birthday is their awakening date.
There’s also Joyd’s reaction to Nea’s disgust at his form. If Nea is the one who killed him and they hate each other so, it could have been Joyd’s wish to have a host that would spite him so much and that’s why he seems so pleased when Nea calls his form so revolting and hilarious he wouldn’t be able to keep his food down.
Tykki has a peculiar resistance to the Noah memories. This was noted by Wisely, and he said it made him the most human-like, a line that is also dropped by Allen quite often. And ever since the exorcism, Joyd has appeared a lot. It’s like he has more control even though he’s the one getting hurt, but this is the same way in which Nea started to awaken from being hurt by Kanda’s Mugen and even Allen’s own exorcist sword.
Butterflies act as a symbol for both Maria and Tykki, and they signify reincarnation and rebirth; Maria is a reanimated corpse, so this makes sense, but Tykki… the butterflies would make sense for Joyd since it is Joyd whose memories reincarnate. But for it to be Tykki's symbol seems to suggest this he himself is like a reincarnation by having a face that already resembles the Earl back when he was whole.
He (Joyd) went berserk after the failed exorcism and he also appeared here (note the “I’ve” instead of “We” when referring to finding a clue to the Heart):
However, Tykki was brought back by Road and this seemed to be intentional as she’s always trying to protect him. Tykki would never ever hurt Road, and yet he did when the glass shattered in the scene where his scar hurt. Since reflections reveal the true soul—Noahs—I think this suggests that Joyd does not care about Road’s wellbeing and that she is even scared of him, making Joyd standout even amongst the Noah. Though, you could argue Road is scared of him since she seems to care about Nea and Mana to an extent and Joyd seems to have nothing but pure malice for the two.
Not quite proof, but—Ven and I have once joked that perhaps Tykki was raised on the Ark. We don’t really have much to back this up, we just found it interesting how Tykki is Portuguese, and how that is near the Mediterranean as the Ark’s architecture is specifically Mediterranean-looking, which Allen even noted. Since Nea and Mana designed it, with it being heavily influenced by Nea, this seems to suggest that the two are also of Mediterranean ethnicity, which is already implied from Tykki looking like them. And yet the Campbell manor seems to be located in England, so Nea and Mana themselves wouldn’t necessarily have memories of such architecture.
This is another kind of silly thing to point out, but I don’t believe we’ve never seen the old, complete Adam’s full face. Katsura always obstructs it from view, most notably his left (our right) eye. It leaves room for the possibility of him having Tykki’s signature mole, a feature neither Mana or Nea have and something that makes Tykki distinct from the two. I also like how Mana’s long hair makes him resemble past Adam the most and how Tykki’s hair suddenly became long after the failed exorcism. And note that he didn’t cut it because Road forced him not to as she liked it (probably because of Mana and the old Earl). He looks less like Nea with it, too, and I did point out how butterflies–signs of rebirth– are associated with Tykki. It’s interesting to think about.
In conclusion, I believe that Tykki is due for another breakdown the closer he gets to answers, which he’s actively searching for with the way he wants to uncover why the name Mana keeps appearing. Wisely seems reluctant to tell him, and believes that this will consume him, so perhaps Joyd is just waiting for the moment when he can have his revenge and for Tykki to stop clinging to his humanity and therefore unconsciously resisting him. It makes me think back to Tykki’s line after killing Daisya. “I have to be careful... or I won't be able to go back. I don't want to lose it... because... having a light side... and a dark side... is what makes life interesting.”
Of course, this was most likely about being careful in society so he’s not suspected and can continue living like a human. But really you can apply this to his current situation. Tykki is by no means a good person, but he can be seen as the lighter side to Tykki Mikk—the host and Joyd himself. And I think this is what Katsura’s kind of getting at by calling him the most human-like of the Noah. He does things at his own whims and doesn’t care about being good. Even his disinterest in the beginning about the history of the Noahs expresses this; to him, he’s good with anything so long as he’s having fun. It’s only when he realizes that everyone around him seems to be walking on eggshells and keeping secrets from him that he starts to want to understand.
This makes Tykki’s entire existence a mystery and almost a red herring even? So while I titled this as a theory relating to his role in the story, I can’t say I understand just yet what Katsura intends to do with him as a character. It kind of feels like maybe Joyd wants to take Nea’s place as the Earl in some parts, or rather that he’s like an imperfect copy. It makes some of the flags being raised really unsettling…
A little fun fact to end this off on; Tykki's nickname for Allen is "boy/shounen", and one of Nea's supposed name origins (Nearos/Νεαρός) can also be a term of affection/good-humored teasing that translates to "little man/boy". It can also relate to one having a young, boyish appearance, which works for Nea since his true form will always be that of his 17 year old self and I believe “lost boy” (same title for Peter Pan) is one of his nicknames? And since Allen is the destroyer of time, it kind of all fits into place.
Everything under the cut because it includes spoilers from 245!
Now, Wit made the mistake of joking about how Cross might actually be Cyrus Campbell and well. That made a little too much sense.
What prompted this was the scene in Night 245 where Maria stops Cross from hurting Allen, and there you can see a panel of her when she was still alive and she bears a striking resemblance to Caterina.
We've known for a while that Maria is a corpse, but now we know who it was. It's also interesting that he calls her 聖母 (Mary, Maria, Holy Mother) because Caterina fits into all of these roles either literally or narratively.
Of course this is just a theory, but here are a couple reasons why we believe it's true:
1- Starting off with a slightly meta one, but the series has progressed too far for a brand new, important character to be introduced. It makes more sense that it's actually someone we're already familiar with.
Notice how we never get to see Cyrus, not even a silhouette.
2- .... These descriptions fit Cross quite well. We know he's quite skilled with magic, so that might have been what caused the smoke there.
3- Nea claims to hate humans, but he considers working with Cross to be something unavoidable.
Assuming past Allen was a bookman, Cross is the only human Nea's acquainted with. An easy explanation would be that they're family members, but there are other ways to interpret this. Still, Nea clearly doesn't hold either in high regard, so.....
4- This exchange from Komui's Discussion Corner:
there's no real reason to hide his age since we've already seen him in the past, but giving an accurate number might give away how old he was when the betrayal happened.
5- Cross claims to have made Timcanpy, and holds onto the only thing capable of killing it, the thorn of Cornelia.
6- everything leads us to believe Cross was involved in the Campbells' past, but how come he's never mentioned in any flashback, let alone seen? The simplest explanation would be that he's using a different name.
7- Cyrus and Cross are similar names aren't they. Sort of. Guy's not even creative
(Potential Spoilers for chapters relating to the Ark and up to current chapters)
In the Bible, stigmata(s) were located in numerous places on Jesus’s body; those being: hands/arms, feet, near the heart, shoulders, and head.
We’ve noted before that the mark of a fallen one or even crystal-type users leave a stigmata mark. Lenalee’s are located on her shins--near the feet--and Kanda’s are on his forearms.
The Noah are obviously the head here, which is important to note as this location was reserved for the crown of thorns. This is important as it is one of the instruments to have killed Christ. Tykki’s wound from Allen’s failed exorcism attempt is another stigmata--the one which appears on his throat.
Now, we haven’t seen people with the other locations, but note this page from the very first chapter.
Allen’s entire arm has a resemblance to Kanda’s own arm from becoming a Fallen One and Allen’s innocence in the middle of his hand looks like a cross-like stigmata. And when it evolved, Bak Chan noted it to have been like a “diamond in the rough”. This event also took place shortly after Allen’s heart was stabbed by Tykki and his Innocence patched it together. This, alongside with its unique behavior, seems to suggest that Allen could potentially already be a crystal-type user.
And then we have Lavi, whose current name is Hebrew for heart. Since each record made by an apprentice for a certain time period is filed under that name, this could just be to signify that Bookman predicted the Heart would be uncovered during his life. However, Lavi being a future crystal-type user just makes sense as a main character and in one of the light novels, it was noted that his eye was the determining factor for him to become the next Bookman. Alongside that, in one of the Komui QnA omakes, it was revealed that Bookman was 100% certain that he and Lavi could be accommodators, so this seems to suggest that the clan has unique properties and compatibility with Innocence of their own.
Hi hi. This will be less of a theory and more of important observations and comparisons between the characters of D.Gray-man and the stories it's directly inspired by and taking inspiration and ideas from--those being "The Portrait of Dorian Gray"and the Bible (specifically the New Testament).
Here is a brief rundown of Dorian Gray's plot before I get into the details:
"Basil Hallward is a renowned painter who happened to meet the young lord Dorian Gray at an event. Normally, Basil is a very particular and aloof person, finding others boring or not worth his time. But something about Dorian...the very first time he lays eyes on him he is captivated. Yet he says that, more than being interested, he could feel a budding sense of fear. He describes the young man as being exquisitely beautiful, like someone you'd only find in myths and folklore. He I afraid of painting Dorian, since paintings can hold and reveal the painter's feelings and the book describes him as worshipping Dorian. He admits to all of this to his friend Lord Henry Wotton--a cynical person who takes delight in watching people fall into depravity as a believer in a "New Age of Hedonism". Lord Henry laughs off Basil's concerns and instead insists on meeting Dorian, much to Basil's dismay. He knows that the beauty and innocence he finds inspiring will be gone if the two were to meet, yet he arranges it all the same. From there forth, a painting of Dorian is made, one that Dorian grows jealous of after Henry saying nobody will love Dorian after all his youth and innocence is gone. The painting then takes on unusual properties, growing ugly to reflect Dorian's soul as he begins to blackmail and kill while still remaining young and beautiful on the outside. The painting becomes the true nature of his soul."
Right away, it is clear that all of the Noah share similarities to Dorian. Noahs have a peculiar relationship with reflections--when Nea was still slumbering, he could only appear in reflections. The piano room in the Ark is made solely of glass and Allen first saw him in the window panes and mirror in the bathroom at the Order. Then there is this scene above. The broken glass shards show Joyd, who starts to appear a lot more after this. While Tykki is no saint, he is described as being the most human-like of the Noahs and he has a special separation between himself, the host, and his Noah soul (this was even noted by Wisely). After Allen's failed exorcism attempt, Tykki's throat was branded with stigmata scars that resemble Kanda's and Lenalee's as crystal type users. This detail will become extremely important on this blog.
And there is also the scene with Adam and Mana, right after Nea's betrayal and death. This scene plays with the reflections a lot and seems to suggest that Mana was the true nature or soul of the body, until he isn't anymore.
So clearly Nea and Mana take after Dorian the most, since they have a more clear descent into "evil". It is Mana who is like the "portrait of a sorrow", though, along with Nea and even Tykki who bare the same face. And it is Adam--the Noah inside of them who takes on the role of the Earl--who is the ugly. Just as Dorian became ugly like the portrait in the end, Adam represents this with his entire being and even with his new face after destroying Mana's that looks just like Nea's.
Moving on, I think Lord Henry can also be used to represent the Noahs themselves, not their hosts. To be more precise though, I think Joyd is clearly based on him, which makes sense as he's the Noah of Hedonism. Lord Henry is like the devil on the shoulder and is the catalyst for everything, and Joyd definitely seems to have direct ties to Nea and whatever happened on that day 30 years ago. Lord Henry acted like he was Dorian's friend even though he merely just wanted to see what would happen if he were to be corrupted. This is similar to how Cross remarked that the Noah tricked Mana by acting like family, even though they really just wanted the Earl back. He seemed to start listening to them more than Nea, though, making Nea a bit similar to Basil who was also killed by Dorian. For both Dorian and Mana, it was hard to know who was truly on their side, so it was just easier to turn on those that actually had their best wishes at heart (this is indicated around chapter 187 I think? In which the Earl starts to recall memories of Nea and Wisely remarks how Tykki looks just like him).
Speaking of the Campbells, Allen's name comes from the character Alan Campbell in Dorian Gray, who was a scientist in the novel. It seems like the Allen of the past in DGM is someone of this profession as well, and Ven and I are convinced that he was the apprentice Bookman before Lavi, especially with his lines about the Helix of Life. Though that is a theory for another time and I or Ven will make a separate post diving into that. But the important takeaway of this is that Alan dies at his own hand due to Dorian's blackmailing of him and because of guilt he feels at helping him dispose of Basil's body. This is similar to how past Allen takes on Nea's memories, though it is uncertain what became of him. The two of us have many, many theories though, so prepare for that.
I'm thinking that Sybil, Dorian's ex-fiancee who was his first victim could also be Katerina, as she is meant to be Eve, the Earl Adam, and Mana and Nea Cain and Abel. Sybil sacrificed a lot for Dorian, and that was her demise. It was her pure love that killed her. And flashbacks seem to imply that the Earl and Katerina were in love, but something about that led to the Adam she knew disappearing, leaving behind Mana and Nea. However, I'm not too confident in saying that Katerina is the same as Sybil. But perhaps I'll dabble in this thought more in the future.
Since I want to keep this relatively short, consider this the first part of potentially many character analyses. I'll also be coming back to this post a lot when I finally collect all of my thoughts to create a separate post on my personal thoughts on Tykki and Joyd's role in the story.
The Campbell Manor could have been an orphanage, or Caterina at least took care of some kids. This is mostly taken from the fact that Nea mentioned someone called Bennett, and from his phrasing it sounds like he hung around a bunch of children somewhat regularly:
Of course they could just be friends but frankly Nea doesn't seem like the type to wander around and talk to others, and those people were close enough to know about his sickly twin.
This theory could explain the way Nea met some characters like Road, who has always been a "kid" and people who aren't even Noahs like Past Allen or Cross. Allen and Cross did not know each other though, so only one of them could have been there.
Last tegaki we made to celebrate the 18th anniversary is of Wisely (with a Road doll cameo) using Kairiki Bear’s Mental Chainsaw! It was really fun trying to nail down which song we wanted to use for him, even if making the actual thing was a stressful rollercoaster for us both.
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