#ro!theory

CROSS’ PROPHECY ON ALLEN KILLING SOMEONE HE LOVES WHEN HE BECOMES THE 14TH

HE’S GONNA END UP KILLING MANA

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.