Poppy's Theories

Hi I'm Poppy. Currently on break.

[poppystheories]

Hey guys. Reread probably isn’t continuing any time soon. My feelings towards Hoshino as a mangaka have turned rather negative, and I feel like I’ve lost respect for her, and I don’t want to support or partake in her work right now or in the foreseeable future, nor do I think I can do so in good faith.

[liketolaugh-writes]

Cons of watching D.Gray-man with someone that’s never seen it before:

My friend, watching Allen turn Mana into an akuma- wow it’s so weird how Mana reacts differently from the other ones we’ve seen, it’s like he knows what’s going on

Me- yeah no I have no answers for you. I actually am more confused about what’s happening in this scene than you are

[poppystheories]

Hey idk if you will see this, but I was reading through your dgm reread posts and your theories are super interesting!! Even if you don’t post again, I really enjoyed your thoughts, thank you :)

Aw, thank you!! I’m still around, but a bunch of irl stuff happened, and I didn’t have any energy to spare for DGM. Things have calmed down now, but I haven’t felt inspired to continue the reread yet. I’ll definitely be continuing, probably sometime this summer.

I’m glad you enjoyed my crazed ramblings!

[poppystheories]

That image feels like a pretty massive hint towards the Heart, doesn't it? One half of the heart is Innocence, represented with an angel doll. The other half of the heart is Dark Matter, represented with a nearly identical devil doll. With one hand, the dolls touch tenderly, while with the other they stab each other: "Born from love and hate".

Between their brows is the Pillar, notably overlaying both dolls and both sides of the Heart.

So, the Heart is divided in two, and when the two halves attempt to kill each other, the Pillar is created...?

If one half is the Millennium Earl, like in the cube's prophecy, then that half now divided into two fourths. But where's the other half of the Heart? Has it also divided into two fourths?

I made this diagram to sort out the division of the Earl:

But if we think the Earl is one half of the Heart, then it looks a little more like this:

There's also the possibility that Allen or Red picked up one of the unaccounted for pieces of the Heart as well.

It would make sense why Apocryphos says the "wielder" of the Heart needs revival if the "wielder" is currently divided into a bunch of other entities, and is a fun twist on the "the different pieces of Innocence are pieces of a larger whole that might revive something when brought back together" theory brought about by earlier chapters.

But of course, Apocryphos talks like the Heart is awake and has its own conscious will, and like he's taking orders from it. So at least one of these theoretical pieces would have to have received the Heart's mission, similar to how the Suit got the Earl's?

This is all mostly conjecture at this point, we don't have a ton of evidence of any of this, but its fun to think about.

[poppystheories]

The official English of Lavi's scene is...probably not very good, from what I can tell. Which is understandable, this whole scene is tough. The official and fan translations say completely opposite things at several points, and I'm not sure which of them get it right.

So instead of getting too caught up on the exact wording of each translation, we're gonna go with vibes and context and stuff.

There's a big focus on how the Bookmen aren't supposed to give their heart, aka become personally invested, to anything, and how pointing this out hurts Lavi. Dream!Junior says these plain old facts like they'll make Lavi feel sorry for himself, and they do.

This scene has been analyzed by plenty of people before, but what I take from this dialogue is: Lavi actually isn't happy being a Bookman, huh? He is miserable and pities himself this lifestyle he was raised in; just laying out the reality of how he's supposed to live is enough to hurt him. He recognizes how empty and lonely and condescending the whole Bookman philosophy is, but can only say "I know...!". He actively thinks this whole deal sucks ass and still accepts it, and can't imagine living any other way.

Does Lavi know the previous Junior bowed out? Or rather, gave his "heart" away? Does he even realize that's an option?

Meanwhile, Allen's fight also involves the matter of the heart, but for him, rather than his heart being his weakness, it's undoubtedly his strength!

Lavi and Allen make for good foils. Neither of them have a "real" name, or home, and both hide behind constructed personas to keep the world at a distance, but on the inside they're completely different. Allen's identity was stolen from him, while Lavi threw his away. Both of their masters have ties to the 14th and know far more about the past and the war than they share with their students.

This post has been sitting in my queue for about two months and previously read:

"Considering Bookman Juniors are named after the record they're recording, and that the previous and current Juniors are working on the same record of the Holy War, just from opposite sides, it's likely the previous Junior's name was also "Lavi" just like the previous Allen's name was "Allen". "

Which is now completely confirmed.

There's a matching set of each of our protagonists in both past and future. Just like there was a past "Lavi" and past "Allen", there was a past Kanda too. Essentially, every character in DGM has a "past" counterpart, whether an actual version of themselves or a narrative substitute, ie the previous generation of Noah and the current, or Anita and her mother. Of our four major characters so far, only the Lenalee analog for the past is still missing.

This is also one of the reasons I thought for so many years that the previous Bookman Jr and Past!Allen couldn't possibly be the same person, but until this year, if I pointed that out any DGM reader interested in theories would have laughed me right out the door...

[poppystheories]

Tyki's one of the very few characters that calls Allen out. Ever since they encountered one another in the bamboo forest, Allen's been keeping a firm, fearless face. Not much that Tyki's done has been able to get a rise out of him since Tyki first mocked him with the deaths of the other exorcists, not even Tyki tearing his arm off and murdering him. Tyki really wants to know: just what exactly is Allen feeling under that facade? Is he angry? Does he hate him? Fear him? Want to kill him?

The answer is definitively: No. Even if Tyki is a Noah that killed many of Allen's comrades, he's still a human being, and Mana didn't want Allen to become a killer.

I like that this conversation is happening with someone that is nigh-identical to Mana's younger self. It almost feels like the timeline is blurring: past and future meeting for a moment, connected by Mana's desperate pacifistic philosophy.

I love Tyki's smile here, clearly pleased that Allen is humoring him, with half his face on shadow. He may be capable of seeming human, but he's still a monster too.

Tyki does become more "human" over time, since our first meeting with him, or rather, he takes his humanity more seriously. But Allen, though he does not know it, has also become a little more Noah.

[poppystheories]

Tyki makes a great point here. Innocence is not of this world (the Noah's world, created by and for them), but of the previous one (the modern world destroyed by the Pillar). Why was Innocence created in the first place, back then, in the previous world? The Noah had yet to exist, and we have no idea what the Millennium Earl mentioned by the Cube was even doing back then or if Akuma even existed yet. Did it serve the same purpose of fighting Dark Matter, or a different purpose back then?

[poppystheories]

Boy, does he. And we can even understand why.

But why do you like Allen, Road?

Also, check the coat of arms on the bottom of Road's shoe. Tyki's got it too. It's a pretty design from what we can see, featuring a crown, a shield, and ribbon.

It looks like the mantling and supporters got fused together, but most notably, it's completely missing the helm. I don't know enough about heraldry so say if that matters or not...

It's fair to assume this is the family crest of the Kamelots for now. It's similar, but not the same, to another coat of arms we'll be seeing soon: the Campbell's. And it's a nice detail since they run around with nobility, after all, and the earl even has the title of "Duke".

More than the Duke's full title though, I'm pretty curious what his current last name is. Does he still call himself a Campbell, even though he refuses to acknowledge Mana and Nea ever existed? Or is he a Kamelot now as well? I know Mana and Nea are the real mysteries, but there's so much I want to know about how the current Earl is living. Just who do the humans around him think he is? I wanna know so much more about how the Noah are living...

[poppystheories]

This next scene is rough, because translations of it are all over the place, but it's important! It gives a lot of insight into what Tyki's been thinking since first meeting Allen.

Up to now, Tyki's been just going with the flow and having fun. Or at least, that's what he's willing to admit: we know he's also a little scared of how much he enjoys it.

He believes they're the bad guys, ethically/morally. He's known all along, and done it anyway, but especially when faced with a "hero" like Allen, it's hard not feel like a "villain".

Tyki's starting to rethink his careless attitude, now that's he's faced with someone he finds admirable on the other side. On top of that, he put on such a show of assassinating Allen, felt so smug about it, only to screw it up. That's a little embarrassing.

Someone like Allen shouldn't, and won't, be killed by someone playing around. Tyki wants to be the one to kill him, but he wants it to be a kill worthy of Allen's courage and determination.

Tyki's only just starting to understand that exorcists aren't just prey for him to toy with. That this isn't a game. He says this now, but the lesson hasn't quite sunk in yet actually. He still needs to learn that he stands to lose something important if he loses this battle, that he's even capable of losing this battle. Whether that be his own mind or his family, there's more at stake than just his "fun".

For now, though, it's Allen's attitude that causing Tyki to shift his perspective on this war. Tyki likes Allen, and he finds Allen's bravery and determination in the face of impossible odds and even death admirable, and maybe he's feeling a bit lacking in comparison. He's been fooling around, even taking his own control over his life and fate lightly, while Allen's been taking this seriously.

I guess the summary of what Tyki's feeling is: when faced with Allen, Tyki finds himself wanting to be a more worthy "villain".

And how can he not? Look at this:

[poppystheories]

Lavi and me are literally both the math lady meme here.

Should there be only one Heart? Say it with me everybody: everything! comes! in! twos!

(Actually now that Two Lavis Theory has been confirmed, I should probably make an actual post explaining the "everything comes in two" theory, and what I mean by it huh?...)

Anyways, if the Heart is meant to parallel the Earl, it's entirely possible it is split into two (or three, depending on how you classify the Earl's Suit/Adam/whatever is going on there). But there's the matter of the Heart and the Heart's wielder that we don't really have a good understanding of. From what Apocryphos said, it sounds like the Heart currently has an active will, but that its wielder needs revival?

Or to put it more simply, we currently know the Earl is made up of the Suit and Mana, so maybe the Heart Innocence is similar to the Suit, and it is currently preparing its Mana-equivalent. And that Mana-equivalent may previously been part of a larger whole, much like Mana.

[poppystheories]

Tyki really is devastatingly handsome...His expression in the first panel is incredible, and conveys so many emotions: excitement, intrigue, aggravation, hunger...

Then Tyki pulls back, forces himself to relax a bit. Tries to keep it casual.

Allen's answer to him has got such attitude, considering how their encounter in China went. Tyki had all the power then, and savored it, enjoyed it, and for Allen to just facetiously act like it didn't happen...

This nerve of this kid, man.

Also, check that mirrored paneling of Tyki and Allen again. Gorgeous.

It's not really the Innocence Tyki's interested in, Road (but she already knows that.)

Also, Road, ma'am, how the fuck do you know about that. Hold on—

I checked the anime, and it attributes this last line to Allen, so this is probably the English translation being blatantly wrong again...

Though I can see why they made the mistake this time. It really does look like Road is the one talking here. She's got that open mouth smile and a big heart next to her.

Why's she so delighted to hear the Innocence saved Allen's life, anyway? I know only, like, a quarter of the stuff she does and I find it a bit concerning that the Heart clearly wants the host of the 14th to live so much. Maybe she just finds Allen being put on the spot funny?

Or. hey. is the heart referencing Allen’s heart getting mended? Or maybe the Heart, not Road's feelings??? That's crazy talk, I know. But. Still....

[poppystheories]

The craziest part of this dialogue is that Tyki's right. These two certainly seemed to be linked by "fate", even if they don't realize it yet. Joyd and Nea certainly have a history of some kind, with Joyd seeming to have the same kind of "murderous delight" towards Nea's survival as Tyki has to Allen's survival, though we haven't gotten there yet.

[poppystheories]

This moment still throws me for a loop! We've seen Road throughout this arc so far, and she's been very much the same Road we met in the rewinding town: cool-headed and detached, with a sort of mysterious (but dark) wisdom.

And then she suddenly greets Allen with a kiss!

This is a real turnaround from stabbing his eye out...and one that comes out of seemingly nowhere from the perspective of Allen and us readers. Road hasn't mentioned Allen any of the times we've seen her, despite interacting with Tyki, who's quite fixated on him as well. It really comes out of nowhere to us.

When and why did her feelings towards Allen change? Last time, her feelings could at best have been called complicated. She seemed to dislike, pity, and be interested in him in equal measure. Now, this is quite the turnaround.

I'm not inclined to say it's because Nea's waking up either. At least from what we've seen so far, her relationship with Nea is fraught, to say the least. And there's this relationship chart I'd forgotten about last I mentioned her:

She specifically thinks of Nea as a traitor, matching with the flashback we see of her glaring at him presumably after he turns on Mana.

Which does suggest her affection for Allen isn't related to Nea... It'd be a little weird to make this extra material just to fill it with lies.

Still, contrasting that line of thought is this:

Talk about lines that scream: "Allen's the Millennium Earl!!!" in big flashing letters...

Road is acting all cutesy, completely different from before. Remember the cold, rude way she first approached Allen to "buy tickets"? Now she'll all bubbly.

At least Tyki is just as baffled as the rest of us.

Road continues to act cute, but it's not that she's changed: she'll act much more like she did last time while Tyki and Allen are fighting, and she was acting like herself with the other Noah too. It's just her attitude to Allen that's changed.

But what changed that caused this shift in attitude?? Is it maybe because Akuma!Mana woke up? She kisses the Earl too, apparently, and maybe that being mentioned is intended as a hint here.

Regardless of the questions that must be swirling in his head, Allen is keeping his cool in the face of this reversal shockingly well. But as Tyki's gonna point out pretty soon, that's just his mask, or "poker face" as Tyki calls it.

[poppystheories]

Allen's smile might be fake, which is why it's gone when he turns away from Lavi, but his determination is real. He proves it repeatedly in the coming fight with Tyki.

The last panel here is probably one of the most discussed in the fandom, ever. It's the first thing people cite when theorizing about how doomed by the narrative Allen is.

I've never really bought into that, I guess? Doom-posts about Allen already went stale for me back when the chapters of him in Nea's mind wheat-field were still coming out nearly ten years ago.

So, what do I have to say about this page? I slowed down my posting for this arc because I was so stuck on it. Lavi's forlorn, contemplative face looks great, of course; this art style really is beyond gorgeous, and does wonders for character's expressions. Lero specifically commentating on Allen's emotional tenacity is interesting; it's not often we get thought bubbles for minor characters, and that Lero's are specifically given panel time intrigues me. (Lero intrigues me in general)

The final panel is gorgeous, and striking, and sticks with you. Visually, it encapsulates Allen as the "Walker".

But what it foreshadows, we don't really know yet. Is it even still relevant, all these years later, or was it merely relevant to the fight about to ensue with Tyki, in which Allen reaffirms the hope he's found, or even the moment Lavi himself tries to burn himself out, and maybe even partially succeeds psychologically?

I don't know...

[poppystheories]

Christian religious imagery is everywhere in DGM, and by far its biggest victim is Allen, who is the very picture of an angel right until you reach the scar on his face.

Allen the hypocrite^

He takes the advice others give him to ease his anxieties, and shares it freely with others. He may not entirely believe it himself, or apply it consistently, but he knows it can help.

Still though... Hoshino once pointed out that Allen's smile is a difficult thing, because a good portion of the time, his smiles are fake. This smile was certainly fake, but when it fades...

There's a bit of honesty left behind. This side of Allen is entirely real. That bottom panel? That doesn't look so much like "Allen" anymore, does it? Instead, we see the real person peeking through the mask.

The worse things got back at the circus, the more Red refused to accept it. He didn't have any happy things to think about, but he kept on telling himself that someday, he'd get out. Even though things seemed inescapable, he refused to give up back then, and he refuses to give up now.

It always makes me sad when I see other fans acting like Allen's going to be erased by Nea, especially willingly. Is that really what they imagine to be a satisfying end for this character? If that's how Allen's story ended, I'd have to disavow DGM completely...

Isn't this who the protagonist is? Under his demure mask, he's defiant to a fault. Truthfully, I can't see this person surrendering to Nea, who snapped the neck of one of Allen's friends like it was nothing...

[poppystheories]

It occurs to me suddenly that this moment might be foreshadowing Lenalee's choice to re-sync with her Innocence, after all the other exorcists have fallen, rather than some far-future yet unknown bad end.

[poppystheories]

Parasitic Innocence can do the craziest shit. Much like Crown Clown was able to act separately from Allen for a bit, and how later on the Innocence will decide to infest Lenalee and Kanda's blood, here we see it doing both. It uses Krory's will and his blood to become a stronger, fiercer weapon, capable of taking down even one of the most overpowered Noah we've seen.

It's also horrible and terrifying and the Noah are probably right to think about it this way. There's nothing left of the pseudo-angelic Innocence here; it's just a weapon that uses living things as fuel to complete its mission.