#dgraytheories

LIKE HOSHINO WHEN I FIND YOU, WHEN I FIND YOU HOSHINO

THESE PANELS TOO

CLEARER IN THE ANIME BUT YEAH

First, let’s cover the overall MBTI stuff. The information will come primarily from myerbriggs.org and 16personalities.com. Here are the basics we will be using:

> PREFERENCES:

WORLD: Do you focus on the world around you, or are you more inclined to focus on your internal/personal world?

INFORMATION: Do you take things at face value, or reinterpret them into your own meaning?

THOUGHTS: Do your thoughts first focus on logic and consistency, or feelings and circumstances?

STRUCTURE: Do you come to closure quickly based on a sturdy foundation of information, or do you prefer to slowly build up to closure and leave things more open to other possibilities?

source

These preferences line up respectively with the following groups of traits.

> TRAITS:

WORLD: E (Extroverted) vs I (Introverted)

INFORMATION: S (Sensing/obServant) vs N (iNtuition/iNtuitive)

THOUGHTS: T (Thinking) vs F (Feeling)

STRUCTURE: J (Judging) vs P (Perceiving/Prospecting)

And, I’m also including a fifth group, thanks to 16personalities:

STABILITY: To what degree does the balance of these traits shift, and how often? Do they keep their consistency  or are they more likely to flex a bit depending on circumstances?

- A (Assertive) vs - T (Turbulent)

We also have to take into account how certain traits, when paired together, influence each other. For example, XSTX and XSFX, though both sensing, react in different ways. But we’ll get into that for Lavi near the end. For now, let’s decide each “preference” of Lavi’s. Throughout this, please keep in mind that his persona (the personality he reflects outwards) and his anima (the personality underneath/within the persona) are VERY different due to his unique circumstances as a Bookman successor.

First off, his WORLD. As a Bookman, of course he is very observant of everything around him. We learn this about Lavi right from the get-go. However, more often than not, the scenes that focus on Lavi have him ruminating, thoughts folding in on themselves. He reflects inwards, leaving his persona to do all the easy things like smiling and observing while his mind focuses on more difficult questions concerning himself and his future and the feelings he shouldn’t be having.

Conclusion: This is why I believe that, though his persona may be more extroverted, Lavi himself is actually quite introverted.

Second, INFORMATION. Lavi is shown to be very perceptive. He doesn’t just leave things as they are. He has an insatiable curiosity, and wants (often feels more of a NEED) to know more about anything that catches his eye. But once he gets the information he wants, what does he do with it? How does he process it? He never just says “Welp that’s how it is! Simple! Easy-peasy!” No, he takes the information and he mulls it over. Examines it from every angle. Looks for anything that may be hidden inside. Not to say he overthinks every little thing. He’s simply looking for anything more than what meets the eye. This is what allows him to come up with so many split second solutions, and to adjust his persona on the spot based on the reactions of other people.

Conclusion: Due to this, I regard Lavi as more intuitive than sensory.

Next up are THOUGHTS. Here’s where we start seeing the most obvious and major conflict between Lavi’s persona and his anima. Between what he acts on, and what he truly thinks. Between what he knows he has to do, and what his heart is telling him to do (cause let’s face it, he isn’t doing so well at the whole not needing a heart thing). Lavi knows that, as a Bookman, he has to toss aside his own feelings when it comes to recording things and making important decisions. And, to give him due credit, though he needs a stern reminder from Bookman now and then he’s pretty good at doing just that.

However, though he makes himself focus on logical and consistent thought processing, it can be noted that he has had to stop himself from doing the opposite and taking feelings and circumstances into consideration. As a Bookman, he’s not allowed to do that. This results in a direct conflict with his true human nature. It has been the highlight conflict for many Lavi-centric scenes (including the infamous glass-breaking and “Can’t you hear my voice?” scenes).

Nevertheless, it should be noted that both types of processing seem pretty natural to him. It is only because he is forced to stick strictly to one type (the logical one) that he experiences such internal conflict.

Conclusion: It is with this reasoning that I say that Lavi is directly in between these two traits, forming a small paradox. He uses both thinking and feeling in his thought processing, though he makes himself only act and focus on the thinking portion, aside from rare instances where he loses his composure and his facade slips. Whichever one truly comes more naturally to him will be discovered only through time. There are, however, reasons to believe he is slightly more inclined towards thinking.

And now, STRUCTURE. I think we can all agree that Lavi isn’t very good at finding closure for things. He’ll analyze everything else to kingdom come, but when it comes to his own problems he is scared to look them in the eye. Instead of seeking closure at all, he stores the problems away to look at later. To be fair, he can’t really afford to look at them too closely right now. Not only is he a Bookman, but he’s in the middle of a huge war. That being said, I don’t think Lavi is the type to rush into a conclusion/closure. Even if he had the impulse to, he probably still wouldn’t be able to just...do it. It’s not in his nature.

Conclusion: It’s because of this that I think Lavi is inclined towards perceiving rather than judging.

Finally, STABILITY. Personally, I interpret Lavi as a very fluctuating/unstable personality, constantly in conflict with himself. He’s young, hasn’t quite got his life figured out yet, and is under a lot of pressure form different directions, bout inside and out. Not to mention he most likely has DID, some of his previous aliases becoming personalities/identities all their own, yet still residing within him. You can’t really blame him for being a bit on the fence about what he’s thinking and feeling with all that going on, now can you?

Conclusion: Lavi most likely has the fifth type that is turbulent rather than assertive.

And all together, that makes Lavi an INTP - T.

I could stop there, but that’s only half the fun and pain. Let’s look at different type dynamics. We’ll be looking at the following:

> FUNCTION PAIR:

Lavi’s function pair is “NT”; intuition and thinking. To quote myerbriggs.org: “NTs tend to approach life and work in a logical and objective manner, and like to make use of their ingenuity to focus on possibilities, particularly possibilities that have a technical application. They are often found in careers that require an impersonal and analytical approach to ideas, information and people.”

DOMINANT FUNCTION - Since Lavi is introverted, his dominant function reflects inwards towards himself, instead of being projected towards the outside world. (x) We have Introverted Thinking and Introverted Intuition to choose from. They are very similar, but they hold a key difference. Intuition is more sudden flashes of inspiration, and thinking is more of a designated framework. Both are trusted by the individual and hard to explain to others.Personally, I like to interpret his dominant function as being Introverted Thinking, due to the fact that it influences his auxiliary function in a more Lavi-ish way.

AUXILIARY FUNCTION - An auxiliary function serves as a support and balance for the dominant function, making it so that people can both take in information AND make decisions with it. It is opposite but equal. Since Lavi’s dominant function is Introverted Thinking, his Auxiliary function would be Extroverted Intuition. This is what he shows to the outside world. Extroverted Intuition allows someone to take the information they obtained through Introverted Thinking, and apply it to let them see possibilities in the external world and share them with others. This can be seen primarily when he is in battle, where he is best at thinking on his feet. However it’s also shown in more mundane ways, and it is what allows him to process things internally, and reflect them into his external persona depending ont he situation.

> TERTIARY AND INFERIOR FUNCTIONS

TERTIARY FUNCTION - It is something usually acquired/refined later in life, and is the opposite of the auxiliary function. The letters do not appear in the person’s type at all. That being said, once Lavi develops his tertiary function it will most likely be Extroverted Feeling. We can see this baaaaarely starting to surface in Lavi. It is most likely the cause of him beginning to question his true feelings. It is not yet externalized though, since it isn’t fully developed. And even if it ever did fully develop he wouldn’t be allowed to express it or act on it in any way due to being a Bookman.

INFERIOR FUNCTION - This function is basically just a big “fuck you” in your later years. It sneaks up on you and can end trying (and sometimes succeeding) to take over your dominant function. Since Lavi’s dominant function had to do with thinking, his inferior function would have to do with Feeling. Yikes. That would be a real thorn in his side once he’s already older and moved on and officially the Bookman, wouldn’t it?

And in conclusion...

I leave you all with this short description of INTPs from myerbriggs.org:

“Logical. Conceptual. Analytical. Objective. Detached. Critical. Ingenious. Complex. Intellectually curious. Loves ideas. Pursues understanding. Questioning. Adaptable. Independent.”

First off, we know this sword’s ability is to exorcise, "leaving the human alive and only destroying the demon”. It’s specific purpose is to kill Noah memories, while leaving the human vessel intact (and to destroy akumas of course). However, we have never seen Allen successfully defeat a Noah or Level 4 on his own despite having his sword of exorcism. 

His sword first appears in his fight against Tyki. After a slight moral crisis (and almost dying), Allen is able to hit the Critical Point and develop a higher level of innocence to destroy Noah without actually killing the person that is influenced by the Noah memories. Yay! Now he doesn’t have to kill people!

Well, shit. Actually, it doesn’t work at all. In fact, despite landing around two hits on Tyki with his sword, the Noah of Pleasure is not destroyed at all; instead this Noah is strengthened and/or awakened. After this point, Tyki is so strong that Allen can barely hold his own until his master saves him.

Here we have the first level 4 (kun) akuma that evolved during the destruction of the old Black Order headquarters. Allen literally stabs it in half while Lenalee repeatedly jumps and imbeds the sword into its body, but the akuma shows no sign of losing energy. It rips the sword out of itself and proceeds to try and run away. It isn’t until Cross shoots it, that it begins to slow down and Allen and Lenalee are finally able to destroy it. 

During Timothy’s arc, Allen famously stabs through another level 4 akuma and himself. Not only does this not kill the akuma, it is also probably one of the first steps lending towards the full awakening of the 14th. The level 4 isn’t killed until both Allen and Kanda double team it, and the 14th’s memories certainly aren’t destroyed.

Now this last scene isn’t due to Allen’s innocence, but Kanda’s. According to the Earl, Kanda stabbing Allen with his innocence is essentially the final step to awakening the 14th. At this point, Kanda’s innocence is debatably at a General level (General Tiedoll said he had hit the Critical Point a while ago), so perhaps high level innocence in general (haha, pun intended) has the effect to strengthen Noah instead of destroy them. Maybe it is a requirement, especially for Noah memories that are suppressed (such as in Tyki’s and Allen’s cases), to awaken.

Regardless, it still seems a little fishy for an innocence specifically made to exorcise the evil within people without harming the original person, to have such a low success rate. Does Allen’s innocence work differently then what he believes? Does it’s relation to the Earl’s and Neah’s sword have something to do with it’s issues? 

What is 100% confirmed as of chapter 219:

- Mana Walker/Mana D. Campbell is the Millennium Earl, and has been since Neah’s death 35 years ago.

- Neah as the 14th Noah exists because he and Mana used to be the Millennium Earl, and used to be one person. For an unknown reason the original Millennium Earl, who had existed for 7000 years, separated into two people - they were named by a woman named Katerina (otherwise referred to as Mother) as Mana D. Campbell and Neah D. Campbell. Because the Earl separated into two people both Mana and Neah inherited Noah Memory - Mana became Adam, the first Apostle, and Neah became the 14th Noah, otherwise known as the Noah of Destruction. So even though both Mana and Neah used to be the Earl, either Mana had to be or was chosen to be the Millennium Earl.

What is implied/supported by the chapter:

- Empty suit theory - the suit of the Millennium Earl (the appearance the Earl has had up until his human form was revealed) appears to have its own conscience and will, as seen by the flashback sequences in 218 and 219, and what Road sees when Allen reaches Critical Point on the Ark. When the suit is empty instead of hands you see long sleeves, and it’s implied that the suit was the one to kill Katerina/Mother and Neah. It’s also implied rather heavily that when Mana is inside of the suit he loses himself to it (hence why Neah calls him a “mad puppet”) and he suffers from short and long-term amnesia.

- Neah and the third side - Road states that if the Millennium Earl was gone that the Noah would all be destroyed by the Heart. Neah states in the Alma Karma arc that he wishes to become the next Earl, and Wisely in 219 says that Neah wishes to kill the Earl. This implies that Mana would have to die in order for Neah to become the Earl (which explains why Neah was killed by the suit, but I’ll get back to that later) and that in that brief moment that the Earl does not exist the Heart could take out the Noah Clan, further implying that the 14th wishes to work with the Heart for the benefit of the third side.

What is not explained in the chapter:

- Past!Allen - we currently have no information on past!Allen other than he existed 35+ years ago, told Neah he would protect his memories and become his host, and that somehow between Neah’s death and the current events of the manga past!Allen de-aged to become a young child, and his memories have been completely wiped. We also know that past!Allen didn’t have Innocence, and that Neah thinks it could have been due to the Innocence that Allen de-aged. We know nothing else about past!Allen. I know the chapter raises many questions about who past!Allen was, but we literally know nothing about this guy, so it’s better to wait for new content and more answers before trying to slot past!Allen into the equation.

- How Mana is both the Earl and the Akuma Allen destroyed - this is not explained in 219, however me and a few others have theorised how Mana could be in two places at once in the graveyard scene (posts: x x x) as well as finding evidence for how Mana could be the Earl prior to 219′s release.

A summary of the Mana = Earl theory:

- Mana believes himself to be 17 years old in Lost Fragments of Snow and that he woke up one day middle-aged.

- Mana, in the same novel, is described as having golden eyes.

- Mana’s and the human Earl’s appearance are scarily similar. We, in fact, never clearly see Mana’s actual face in the manga or Reverse novel unless he is in clown make-up.

- Mana knew the score to the Ark and taught it to Allen while they travelled together, and it’s stated that only Mana and Neah know this score. Road, however, can move the Ark but it’s not clearly shown whether she knows the score or not.

- The Earl can never clearly remember why he didn’t kill Allen the night “Mana” was turned into an Akuma. The Earl’s suit has hands at this point so someone was definitely inside - Neah was dead by this point and had been for nearly 20-25 years, and we know Allen simply knows Mana is dead (and, for all we know, that grave was empty and Allen never even saw him die). Note: the anime does show how Mana dies, but I’m purely going by the manga in this instance since that scene in the anime contradicts the Mana = Earl plot point.

Either way, an Akuma named “Mana” was created, and the Earl weirdly fades away as Allen’s arm activates and damages Mana. If the Earl had been entirely okay I highly doubt he would have left Allen alive, so I believe that because Mana, inside the suit, had completely forgotten his own identity, that his soul ended up in two places at once and he nearly disappears completely. A part of Mana now lives on in Allen through his left eye, and we know the Earl recovers at some unknown point later on in the series.

If this confuses you, think of Harry Potter - the graveyard scene is similar to what happens when Voldemort tries to kill Harry and instead has the spell rebounded on him, making him lose his form and leave a part of himself in the form of a Horcrux in Harry, later to prove his undoing when Harry willingly allows himself to be hit with an Avada Kedavra spell.

- Mana seems to lack any memories or knowledge of his own identity - after Neah’s death Mana loses himself to the suit, to the Earl’s Noah memory, becoming a puppet. Later he manages to leave the suit and, lacking any memories of anything but the knowledge that he has to find his brother, it’s here that he meets Red/Allen. He then travels with Allen for a while and teaches him the score, and later ends up “dying” and is seen only in the Earl’s suit until the end of the Level Four/Destruction of the Order arc, in which we see him wearing a monocle with his face obscured. We only see his proper human form in the Alma Karma arc.

In 219 Mana appears extremely confused about who he even is, stating that “Mana” is this other person who pitted him and Neah against each other, and that he is Adam, the first Apostle and the Millennium Earl. Mana’s face has also changed, as Neah states in this chapter. Mana’s memories and perception of his own identity are skewed because he has become a puppet to the Millennium Earl’s Noah memory a.k.a. the suit.

Basically, Hoshino confirmed in this chapter that Mana is the Earl, and also explained why Neah even exists as a member of the Noah Family (since there were originally 13 at the time of the Great Flood all the way up until the Earl split and Mana and Neah came into being).

To add to the empty suit theory:

In 218 the suit says “now everything’s as it should be. Mana D. Campbell, you caused this tragedy”. We see the suit again, empty with long sleeves instead of hands, standing over Neah’s presumably dead body as Mana holds him. We know that the Earl existed for 7000 years as a single being, but that he split into two people for an unknown reason (it’s implied that Katerina is the reason - as for if the Earl split because he loved her, or because he felt lonely and wished to not be alone anymore, we don’t know). My guess is that this was not meant to happen, and that because of the original Earl’s actions (i.e. splitting into two people), that the suit had to undo what had happened. It did this by killing Katerina/Mother, and then killing Neah. This implies that there can only be one person who can be the Millennium Earl. This would leave only Mana, left alive and bound to the fate of being the Earl.

tl;dr Mana being the Earl most certainly holds up and is backed up by canon, the chapter explains why Neah exists and adds more canon evidence for the empty suit theory, but it does not answer any questions about past!Allen nor does it confirm the logistics of Mana being the Earl (in terms of the graveyard scene) and these questions will highly likely be answered at a later date.

Historical context

Historically the Ace of Spades, as well as Ace cards in general, are considered trump cards and are the highest ranking card in the traditional playing card deck. Due to the Stamp Duty law imposed by the English royal family in the 18th century the Ace of Spades has often been the most ornate and well-decorated card in the deck as it was this card that showed the stamp of the card publisher, acknowledging that the duty had been paid to the government. As well as this the Ace of Spades has long been considered a death card, and in tarot readings this is one of its core meanings as well as others that I will cover later on. This is because Aces can trump any card, and it can symbolically refer to death claiming all, and that not even Kings can evade death. In addition to this the Ace of Spades has become associated with the Vietnam War. Soldiers often dropped playing cards before bombing an area, and those considered the best-of-the-best would place an Ace of Spades on the bodies of the dead to show it was them who had committed the deed. This was due to the belief that the Vietnamese held superstitions connected to the Ace of Spades, however this proved untrue and all it did was boost American morale in the war.

Tarot cards

You can use a regular playing card deck in tarot readings, and although death is one of the core meanings of the Ace of Spades this card also represents karma, fate, destiny, and challenges on the horizon. These meanings also link to the nature of Ace cards, being that Aces are the highest ranking card and that fate cannot be changed or decreed even by the gods. If an Ace of Spades appears in a tarot reading it cannot be dismissed lightly, and it is seen as a very powerful card with a heavy influence. If the card is reversed it can represent depression and negativity in the face of something that seems impossible to handle, and most of all it represents the need for caution and decay, but that decay can lead to regeneration.

Lavi, Allen, and the Ace of Spades

With all of this in mind it’s pretty clear that that the act of Lavi picking up the Ace of Spades card is extremely significant, especially when you consider what happens after Lavi picks up this card.

On the ship we see him yell at Lenalee for blaming herself for Allen’s “death”, saying death is part of war, and yet he’s blinking back tears and it takes a harsh reminder from Bookman for him to remember that he is a Bookman, first and foremost. Bookman then comments that he doubts Allen would be so easily killed, considering the prophecy of him being the Destroyer of Time and all. This implication of fate being that which determines Allen’s future ties in heavily with the Ace of Spades.

A short while after this we see Lenalee and Anita talking, in which Anita comments that believing Cross is alive is her only source of strength right now. As she says this in the anime, and on the same page in the manga, we see Lavi stood on the ship’s deck, Ace of Spades in hand, commenting on how the Bookmen are only on the side of the Order by chance, that he has no need of a heart. But he seems forlorn, depressed, and despite being reminded by Bookman that he is impartial he finds himself mourning the loss of Allen, the loss of a friend, and this card is his source of strength that, perhaps, Allen will return after all.

Yet straight after this Lavi is attacked by Eshii, and the entire ship’s crew apart from 3 people (Chaoji included) and the Exorcists die. It could be interpreted that the Ace of Spades acted as an ill omen since it is a death card - and when Eshii attacks Lavi we see the Ace of Spades before he places his fingers into the shape of a picture frame, and we see through this viewpoint Lavi’s hand with the title “An Exorcist’s corpse”, so the card does play some importance in Eshii’s initial attack on the ship - but it could also link in with the aspect of fate.

Lenalee’s fight with Eshii leads to her Innocence becoming unusable, to her being fragile, to her later finding her strength and becoming a Crystal type during the Level Four fight. Her Innocence protecting her also leads to the Exorcists ending up on the Ark, since the Earl intended for her to be destroyed alongside her Innocence there so that, if she was the Heart, all Innocence would in turn be destroyed. On a side note, however, I do not believe Lenalee is the Heart. This is mainly due to what the Earl says shortly after the Level Four fight, in which he comments on the Heart concealing itself, that it doesn’t want to be found, and that it would influence Innocence around it to create dummy Hearts. The Earl says that they should keep an eye on Lenalee and Allen, since Allen’s Innocence also protected him, but it’s heavily implied that he does not believe them to be the Heart, that the actual Heart would be hiding itself. I strongly believe Lavi is the Heart, however I won’t cover that here since I’ve discussed it at length in other analyses.

In addition Lenalee’s close call with death had a very significant effect on Lavi, not just because he cares deeply for her and was worried sick she was dead but also because of this:

This whole experience reminds him far far too painfully of what it felt like to watch Tim’s recordings, to see a pool of blood where Allen had once been, of coping with this loss and trying to find a way to keep going. Losing Lenalee after losing Allen would have broken him, completely and utterly, and this becomes very significant later on but I’ll get back to that.

So I’ve covered why the Ace of Spades could have been an ill omen on Anita’s ship and that it ties in with fate and future challenges, however if we look at what happens to both Lavi and Allen following the destruction of Allen’s Innocence, especially on the Ark, and what the Ace of Spades signifies during Lavi’s fight with Road, the card plays a very significant role in both Allen and Lavi’s characters and what their future may or may not hold.

Before I cover Lavi’s fight with Road, which is the next time we see the card in the context of Lavi’s character, I need to cover the Ace of Spades with reference to Allen specifically. We see it when Fou finds him, lying seemingly dead among a pool of his own blood and playing cards, and as you can see here it’s reversed:

When an Ace of Spades is reversed it means depression and fatigue from facing a seemingly insurmountable challenge, and that you have to make some very rapid and serious life choices to deal with the damage this card causes. This references Allen having to decide why it is that he wants to be an Exorcist and what he wants, which he finds out after fighting the Level Three; “my left hand is for the Akuma, my right hand is for humanity”. He had to make this choice otherwise he would die, and so would Bak and Fou and countless others.

We also see an Ace of Spades card after Allen’s fight with the Level Three at Asia Branch - this is when Lou Fa and the others hand him a deck of cards, in which all cards but one are from the original deck Tyki gave Allen on the train back when he and Lavi met Krory.

But the Ace of Spades is new, since Lavi has the original, and they said that they made it themselves. This card is on the front when Allen catches it, and this is extremely significant considering what happens to Allen on the Ark. Him being on the Ark, and later learning that he is the Musician and holds the 14th’s Noah memory within him, was fate. If he had not been on the Ark he would probably not have discovered that he was the host of the 14th for a very long time - the events on the Ark acted as a trigger for the 14th’s awakening. The meaning the card holds, of future challenge and feeling as if this challenge is insurmountable, ties in heavily with Allen and the 14th and him trying to resist his eventual erasure by Neah. It also ties in with the nature of karma, in that the hatred Allen feels for the Earl after Lavi and Chaoji fall to their supposed death reappears later when Allen meets the Third Exorcists and he feels as if he has been destroying and hating all this time without thinking.

However, the Ace of Spades Allen was given at the Asia Branch was made there by the scientists, and if we keep that fact in mind it could be argued that the Ace of Spades Allen has represents a fabricated fate, or that his fate can be changed and made to fit to what he wishes. If we take into account Allen’s future and the 14th the card he holds could easily represent that he can change his fate and that perhaps he isn’t doomed to disappear. It could also represent that he has evaded the card’s ill omen of death, and that that omen has now passed to Lavi, since Lavi holds the original card that was part of the deck Tyki gave Allen - considering Tyki was the one to destroy Allen’s Innocence and nearly kill him, and that Lavi was holding the card when Eshii appears and attacks, it does feel as if this card is an ill omen to the person it belongs to.

And, if we look in detail at Lavi’s fight with Road, it’s pretty clear that the Ace of Spades and its presence played a significant symbolic role in this fight and in Lavi’s character.

While Tyki fights Allen we see Lavi enter Road’s dream world though, considering certain important differences between when Allen and Lenalee were in her dream world in the Rewinding Town and Lavi’s fight with her on the Ark, it can be argued that that fight did not, in fact, take place in Road’s dream world but in Lavi’s mind, which is very significant.

During this fight we see Lavi faced with another “him” - though I take this person to be the core personality, Bookman Junior, many people see this person as Deak, the 48th name, though to me at least there is in fact no evidence to support this claim and it being a core personality is supported by Road’s statement of “this is who this kid really is” when Lavi and Allen fight, and the lack of memory on Lavi’s part from this encounter (“when I woke up everything was on fire” and “Gramps will probably get mad at me but I feel pretty good right now” (which implies he remembers what happened in his mind/Road’s dream world but not his fight with Allen)). But getting back to the point - during this fight we see Lavi confronted with people he considers important to him - Bookman, Lenalee, Allen - and the Bookman ideal of cutting off those around you, which is represented by Lavi physically attacking members of the Order with a knife.

Bookman is there to act as a reminder of what he should be, reinforcing Bookman code and everything Lavi should be. Bookman Junior is there to signify what part of Lavi wants to be, and his hatred for humanity due to the horror of war.

Lenalee is there to signify a moment of weakness for Lavi, for on the ship he ignored the request to stay due to his injuries reappearing if he went too far from the ship, and he later cried and held her close to him when she asked “am I really still part of this world?”

And Allen? Allen is there to represent weakness, but in a different way to Lenalee. Bookman, Bookman Junior, and Lenalee all confront Lavi in some way and try to hurt him, either emotionally and/or physically, and Lavi reacts to them by defending himself, by saying he knows what they’re saying already and that it’s not real, that he will do what he must to leave the situation.

Yet Road peers into his memories, makes him remember why he hated humanity and that his smiles are no longer fake, that he cares for these supposed temporary comrades. He becomes distressed, yelling “stop peering into my head”, and as he yells this the Ace of Spades falls out of his clothes to float at his feet. And who picks it up? Allen. Allen picks it up, smiles softly, and says “you held onto this all this time, without telling Bookman” and Lavi freezes, unsure, until Bookman Junior attacks Allen and we see Allen lying in the water, bleeding, arm raised with the card held between his fingers. Bookman Junior states he should not care for these people, that he has to cut them off, and Lavi simply stares at Allen, at the card, panicking.

Allen says his name, pained, and he keeps staring at him, at the card, and he starts to hyperventilate and panic and he does nothing but stare and stare and stare until he’s stabbed. As he coughs up blood Bookman Junior states that he cannot be Bookman but that he? He can be. And as this is said the ink on the Ace of Spades begins to fade and drip away, and as Lavi loses sanity and consciousness the card fades and becomes plain and they both fall into the water at the same time.

There is so much symbolism in this one scene that I will probably do it no justice by trying to explain it, but I’ll try my best. Firstly - the act of the card’s ink dripping away, and what Bookman says about these comrades of Lavi’s being “ink on paper”, is very significant. It implies that, to Lavi, these people are not just ink, that they’re so much more than that and he can’t just cut them off like he’s supposed to. It could also represent a blank slate, since the card becomes blank after the ink fades away, and that Lavi can decide to start over from this point if he so wishes to. Considering what happens after the Ark with him being told to watch Allen and Cross’s conversation, and that he appears to be spending more time around Bookman, it could signify that he’s chosen this blank slate.

In addition the ink of the Ace of Spades card fading away could also signify that its effect on Lavi is now over, that this is the challenge he’s been running from all this time i.e. his impartiality and this heart he isn’t meant to have, and that it seemed insurmountable but he has managed to overcome it. However it’s important to note that one of the meanings of the card is fate, and this encounter between Road and Lavi has had a very significant effect on Lavi and his future, for he’s been forced to acknowledge that he is altogether flawed as a Bookman, and that he cannot run from this forever. I feel, considering his current situation with the Noah, that he will be forced to acknowledge this, especially if Bookman dies and he’s left with the very heavy title of Bookman, and whether he will accept that title or abandon what he’s worked so hard for all his life is something we currently do not know.

However there is yet more symbolism in this scene. I mentioned earlier that Allen’s presence was to signify Lavi’s weakness, but that it’s different to what Lenalee’s presence signifies. This is because Allen is the only one to not confront Lavi - he, in a way, thanks him, for holding onto the card for him, for keeping it a secret from Bookman. And it’s Allen who holds the Ace of Spades as Lavi is faced with the fact that, no, he can’t cut these people off nor ignore that he has a heart any longer.

Road comments, as Tyki fights Allen, that she wonders where she’d have to stab Lavi’s heart for bright cherry-red blood to spill out. She wants to break him, and she tries different angles that she thinks will break him - first, Lenalee, the girl Lavi felt pity for when he saw her mourning and crying and injured when he first joined the Order, the girl he wept for when she nearly died and asked if she was really still alive, but it doesn’t break him. Then Bookman, his teacher and master and the one he doesn’t want to disappoint, but that doesn’t break Lavi either. And then Road tries using Allen, and it works. Lavi, when faced with Allen, holding the card he isn’t mean to have and all the weakness he’s been running from, freezes and breaks - the card’s ink fading as he falls and all the symbolism that holds says enough. The chapter and episode that includes this scene are called the “Voice of Darkness”. And, if we consider what Lavi thinks to himself before they enter the last room of the Ark where he compares Allen to the light that could so easily fade away, and that Allen yelling Lavi’s name is what Bookman Junior hears before he looks down at the blank playing card at his feet, smiles sadly, and says “you were me too”, and that Lavi held onto this card the whole time because he couldn’t deal with losing Allen - the link between Allen and Lavi and the Ace of Spades is inarguably important.

If we tie this in with the meaning the Ace of Spades holds it can very easily be interpreted that Allen has had an influence on Lavi’s future as a Bookman, that both Allen and Lavi will face challenges that seem insurmountable in the future, and that this card ties their fates together. If we add this in with the theory of Lavi being the Heart, the third side, Allen/Neah’s role in the third side, and what Hoshino stated in one of her last interviews where she said “in the next arc both Lavi and Allen will face hardship” it seems to imply that Allen will play a role in Lavi’s future, like Allen has done with most of the characters in the series (Lenalee, Kanda, Krory, Miranda, Johnny, Tyki, Road, the list goes on), and that it can very easily tie into the role of the Heart as well. The Ace of Spades can also symbolise a heart being stabbed, which, if you tie in the prophecy Cross made that Allen would kill someone he loved when he became the 14th, Lavi being the Heart, and Apocryphos trying to prevent Allen/Neah from harming the Heart, we have so many symbols and metaphors for Lavi and the Heart that I want to lie down and cry and never get up again.

Conclusion

Basically, to bring this shitty rambly analysis to an end, the Ace of Spades, which signifies death and challenge and fate, has played a very important role in Allen and Lavi’s futures, and that it ties their futures together and can imply that the roles of the Heart and the 14th tie in heavily to the moments in which the Ace of Spades has appeared; mainly the destruction and reformation of Allen’s Innocence, Lenalee’s fight with Eshii and her later becoming a Crystal Type, Allen and Lenalee’s Innocence protecting them and leading them to be believed to be candidates for the Heart, and Lavi’s fight with Road and him being faced with all the weakness and impartiality he’s been running from, as well as him being a potential candidate for the Heart.