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1. In the Case of Arima Kishou.

Arima has never for a single moment in his life been treated like a fully fledged human. Not only was he literally born a half-human and labeled subhuman from birth, but he was raised inside the garden in order to serve the Washuu Family. 

He bows and acts subservient to his own bastard father, right in front of his half brother. It’s important to notice this one difference between Arima and Eto which is the source of all their other differences. Arima was born inside the cage, Eto was born outside of the cage. 

Every single one of Arima’s actions takes place inside of this framework, this thinking mentality, he is always inside the cage no matter what he does. That’s why even his attempts at rebellion he does while still pretending to be inside the cage and loyal to the Washuu. 

Arima was raised to be a tool. As a result he only knows how to be a tool. He doesn’t see himself as anything other than that, nor does he see any future possibilities for himself. There are two things that prevent him from trying to be anything other than a tool. The first being that even if Arima tried to live his own life, he would be dead in a few years anyway. He sees his time as already up.

The second is that Arima HATES himself. He doesn’t believe he deserves to be anything other than a tool. He feels such intense guilt for killing people for so long under the Washuu’s orders that even if a second chance were offered to him he wouldn’t take it. 

This is also a flaw shared between Arima and Eto. Both of them hate the world that created them. However, because they were so shaped by that world they can’t really see themselves being any better than the system that made them. They seek to deestroy the system, but they themselves can’t come up with anything better to replace it, which is why both of them pawn the job off on someone else. 

Arima hates the world he lives in, and also hates himself the same way Eto does but he’s too broken himself to fix it. He doens’t even think he can be fixed. Arima, always, always, views himself as a tool. Even in his act of rebellion, he’s merely becoming Eto’s tool rather than the tool of the Washuu. 

2. In the Case of Yoshimura Eto

If Arima sees himself as a tool then Eto sees herself as an author. Arima was born inside, Eto was born outside. Eto’s perspective will always, always, always be that of an outsider looking in unable to join anyone else. In a way that relationship is convenient for them. Arima wants someone to control him, and Eto wants to pretend to be in control. 

Eto views herself as an author writing the story of the world. Authors have complete and total control of a fictional world. In essence they’re the gods of the worlds they create. Eto herself even flirts with the idea of being like god. 

God granted people knowledge, and power, and she’s seen granting both to other characters. She gives an apple to Kanae to give her power. She constantly gives away information about V and the Washuu to Kaneki in an attempt to sway him to her side, and into doing what she wants. 

The same way that Arima is just so good at performing his job as a CCG Officer, Eto is just so good at reading people and predicting their actions that she can manipulate them to a certain extent. She’s usually so good at manipulating that she can pretend she is in control when she isn’t. She’s good enough, that she imagines herself as the author creating all these scenarios. 

However, she ends up roughly in the same place as Arima. Neither of them is able to move past the circumstances that created them. Arima can’t stop being a prisoner in the cage, and Eto will never not be an outsider. Which is why Eto, who likes to pretend to be in control, her final action is to beg.