SnK 114: Tom Xaver & Eren Kruger
We finally got some solid info on “Mystery Man”, aka Mister Xaver. I think this chapter all but confirms that he was aligned in some way with Eren Kruger, The Owl.
When Kruger first revealed himself to Grisha in chapter 87, he mentions that he had the help of a doctor - someone who had the “knowhow to study titan biology.”
In Chapter 114, Xaver explicitly states that he has a history of posing as a Marleyan, which may have inspired him to develop more foolproof ways for Eldians to pose as Marleyans - possibly by cheating blood tests. He also says that he devoted himself to titan research.
It seems very likely that Xaver is the doctor who helped Kruger infiltrate the Marleyan military, and remain undetected for so long.
Now…. onto Zeke. I don’t think anything about the way Xaver met Zeke was unintentional or coincidence.
At first it seems like it might be coincidence, or genuine interest in Zeke… but this interaction feels very staged to me. Like it was very important that Zeke think this man had an interest in him that was unconnected to who he is, and what he can do (which makes sense, given how poorly Zeke responded to the immense pressure put on him by his parents - and the lack of enthusiasm he showed for being a Warrior).
I think it’s very possible that Kruger also staged Zeke “overhearing” about the restorationists being nearly caught, and that Kruger was potentially the one to tip off the Marleyan authorities to begin with, to set this whole thing in motion. Again, this is all so that Zeke thinks he is making his own decisions and thinking for himself.
We must remember, Kruger had a very inflexible time limit during which he needed to get Grisha to Paradis, to pass off his titan. For the restorationists to be conveniently discovered just before his term is up is too big a coincidence to ignore, imo.
And then we have Xaver… giving Zeke the idea to turn in his parents (while also making Zeke kind of think the idea is his own - to protect his grandparents), pulling straight from Mindgames 101 with shit like “Your parents never loved you”
And then later, the part that really made me suspicious was what he told Zeke as his parents were being carted away:
…seems a lot like gaslighting to me.
I think it’s also very telling that Kruger (The Owl) was not only mentioned twice in Chapter 114, but also possibly shown.
We get a better angle of the guy with his arms folded behind Zeke in chapter 86 - and he seems to look a whole lot like Kruger.
Now I think these reminders of Kruger are VERY important. This is a common technique used by authors to very subtly remind their audience of a long-gone character who is about to have relevance in the plot again. I think this could be indicative that we will be getting more information on Eren Kruger very soon.
In conclusion: I think that Kruger and Xaver were in cooperation with each other, and that Xaver was intentionally inserted into Zeke’s life to control him and be the mentor figure that Grisha was obviously failing to be. He may have grown to genuinely love Zeke like a son, but I don’t think his motivations were so pure when they first met.
I also don’t think Kruger shared Zeke’s goal of euthanizing the Eldians, or preventing them from reproducing. This seems like something Zeke came up with on his own, and that probably resonated with Xaver on a personal level, separate from Kruger’s goals.
Sidenote: There is a lot of talk about Xaver being the third member of an “OG Trio” with Kruger and Kiyomi. I do NOT think this is the case, but rather that Xaver was an accomplice to Kruger… with his own goals and interests that simply happened to align with Kruger’s. (And I don’t mean to say that I think Kiyomi is not involved. heh.)
The theory gets a lot hairier here, so I will try to tackle more in a different post (or several), hopefully in the next couple days.
[special thanks to u/_Puppet_ for being insane with me, and helping fuel this dumpster fire of a theory.]
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