![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
DGM theorying about Cross, Bookman, and conspiracies
I'm feeling more human today, but I have literally been kind of hiding from the internet for the last day or two. I have not had a great February and I'm emotionally in a bad place.
But I returned with a wacky DGM theory!
We know that Cross is a supporter of and was a conspirator with Neah, but we also know that Bookman and Bookman's apprentice before Lavi were close to him. At the time when Neah was alive, the Bookmen were on the Earl's side rather than the Order's, making Bookman one of the few still alive who know anything about Neah.
The Noah have the Bookmen captured right now, and threaten Bookman by saying, "You don't want to lose another apprentice at your age, do you?"
They don't actually say that Bookman's apprentice died.
I've been running on the personal theory that Neah, Cross, Bookman, the first apprentice, and maybe Mana to an extent were all in on this conspiracy together, and that the apprentice was killed when Neah executed his plan.
But... what if Cross was the apprentice?
Bookman and Cross have clearly known each other a long time, and Bookman has an understanding and trust of Cross that no one else does. Cross has a lot of knowledge that most people don't, including knowledge of the Earl and his forces. And he has something conspicuous in common with Lavi -- no, not the red hair -- but something to hide on the right side of his face. Lavi hides his right eye, the eye that has been implied to keep the Bookman records; Cross hides his, too, and we don't know why.
What if, like Lavi after him, Cross was with Bookman doing his training thing, but he developed a weakness for Neah? It's thematically consistent and it would bring us back to Lavi's plight and backstory without distracting us from the ongoing plot.
Technically, this means Bookman wouldn't even have to have been a conspirator, strictly speaking. He could know everything that happened because his apprentice was part of it, not because he personally had gotten involved.
Bookman lost his apprentice because Cross chose to get involved up to his ears in Neah's business, and take a side in the war -- Neah's side, the third party, not the Order nor the Earl. In a way, that was probably a valuable record, too. But Cross said, to hell with emotionless nonindulgence and not taking sides; I'm with Neah! But he's still not really part of normal humanity, any more than Bookman and Lavi think of themselves as being really human.
Something to think on. :|a
But I returned with a wacky DGM theory!
We know that Cross is a supporter of and was a conspirator with Neah, but we also know that Bookman and Bookman's apprentice before Lavi were close to him. At the time when Neah was alive, the Bookmen were on the Earl's side rather than the Order's, making Bookman one of the few still alive who know anything about Neah.
The Noah have the Bookmen captured right now, and threaten Bookman by saying, "You don't want to lose another apprentice at your age, do you?"
They don't actually say that Bookman's apprentice died.
I've been running on the personal theory that Neah, Cross, Bookman, the first apprentice, and maybe Mana to an extent were all in on this conspiracy together, and that the apprentice was killed when Neah executed his plan.
But... what if Cross was the apprentice?
Bookman and Cross have clearly known each other a long time, and Bookman has an understanding and trust of Cross that no one else does. Cross has a lot of knowledge that most people don't, including knowledge of the Earl and his forces. And he has something conspicuous in common with Lavi -- no, not the red hair -- but something to hide on the right side of his face. Lavi hides his right eye, the eye that has been implied to keep the Bookman records; Cross hides his, too, and we don't know why.
What if, like Lavi after him, Cross was with Bookman doing his training thing, but he developed a weakness for Neah? It's thematically consistent and it would bring us back to Lavi's plight and backstory without distracting us from the ongoing plot.
Technically, this means Bookman wouldn't even have to have been a conspirator, strictly speaking. He could know everything that happened because his apprentice was part of it, not because he personally had gotten involved.
Bookman lost his apprentice because Cross chose to get involved up to his ears in Neah's business, and take a side in the war -- Neah's side, the third party, not the Order nor the Earl. In a way, that was probably a valuable record, too. But Cross said, to hell with emotionless nonindulgence and not taking sides; I'm with Neah! But he's still not really part of normal humanity, any more than Bookman and Lavi think of themselves as being really human.
Something to think on. :|a
no subject
Also if you need to talk about things that are not awesome, I'm here for you. ♥
no subject
no subject
I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
It would definitely make sense as to how Cross knows how to do all these weird things that never get explained and no one else can do. It *also* puts an interesting twist on his overly dramatic self indulgences and his womanizing. /thinkthinkthink~
The only "?" I have about it would be the (official, as far as I know?) images we see of Cross as a science officer within the Order before he became an Exorcist. I suppose that depends on timeline though. And anyway, the Order is so not above admitting someone just because he used to be on another side if they thought he could do their dirty work.
This would be a very interesting twist.
no subject
But at the same time he's still there, because he does reject (or try to reject) actual emotional attachment to a large extent. He spent the entirety of the canon pretending he didn't really care about Allen, only Neah; he indulged only fleetingly in sentiment about Anita; that sort of thing.
I agree -- the Order is definitely mercenary enough to take him in regardless of his backstory, especially with the level of ability he had. (And it does also explain why the people at Central are aware of his backstory. We know what you did before you came here, even if few people do.) The order of events and what precisely went down is still a really good question, but I'm not recalling the image you're referring to atm.
no subject
It sort of helps me get the Bookmen a little better too. Unfortunately I have a rough time with the whole "we think humanity is garbage" thing BUT if it were the only way they could teach their apprentices to have distance that makes a lot more emotional sense to me than having that as an actual life perspective. I mean if you get 'em young enough you can twist them any way you want to, and they've lost so many apprentices due to FEELINGS that they had to find another way to keep them distant. And yet... it hardly ever works. Somehow this clicks with me much better.
And now I have to go meet my sister but I WILL COME BACK TO THIS.
no subject
I agree, I think the emotional distance is definitely a defense mechanism: they have to stay neutral to record a neutral history, and they're groomed to distance themselves and form no attachments. They put on all these false personalities so they don't have to be connected.
IIRC, Lavi's personal opinion might have soured to the point of "humans are garbage", but we don't actually see Bookman himself espousing that opinion. So in the course of taking Lavi around, teaching him about the cruel wars and ugly history of humans like a visitor to a foreign planet, Lavi developed this opinion, which might have been something Bookman approved of or encouraged, because it means a much less likely chance that Lavi is going to ditch him and run off
with Neahto go be human. But if Cross really was the first apprentice (and it's been 35 years since he would have defected; there's probably been another apprentice in that time before Lavi) I could see how the old man might be trying anything he can think of to get a usable Bookman out of his latest apprentice.I HOPE YOU'RE HAVING FUN.
no subject
That's the one. And now I'm recalling that I saw it cleaned up (for an icon or something) so it was *just* Cross and the rest of the image was cut out. Maybe that's why I got that impression. But the DGM wikia definitely says "Before becoming an Exorcist, Cross was a Science Division member of the Black Order" so maybe I got the wires crossesin my head. NOW I NEED TO KNOW where this information is from because it could mean any number of things. Dammit.
Yeah, you're right. I guess I see Bookman not discouraging/possibly encouraging that worldview being sort of a passive method of doing the same thing as if he were actively teaching it. After all, despite Bookman's insistence that he's totally neutral and dispassionate I can't see that fact NOT coloring or filtering what information Lavi ends up getting. Just the fact that Bookman seems not invested in much of any human affairs would possibly lead Lavi to conclude "well, they're clearly not worth much." So in a way it's still Bookman's influence that might lead to Lavi's conclusion. Maybe my job training gets in the way of me being able to separate the two but I can't see Lavi's view as anything but a result of Bookman in some way -- and more recently a result of Lenalee and Allen, of course. ANYWAY.
It's interesting, this theory of yours makes a lot of what I previously had as mostly unsupported headcanon for Cross make a lot more sense in my head. I always felt I read him maybe strangely (or wrongly) because where did all these ways I characterize him come from, other than a some panels that are open for interpretation? But now I'm definitely going "and now it works :D".
no subject
no subject
no subject
Your theory is amazingggg. So many theories only fixate on what would be cool and I feel like this is both cool and really inline with what would work on a narrative level. The truth is, it WOULD be kind of a waste to create a one-shot Bookman apprentice. And sure, the Bookmen and Cross could both be up to their eyeballs in the Earl's business coincidentally, but if their reasons are related it really closes off a lot of dangling plot threads.
I mean, we know how and why Bookman would have gotten involved. He's a super historian. They were super history. You don't need more explanation. But the question of how Cross got involved with the Earl is much more tangled. I mean, it's not like it wouldn't make sense if the Neah and Mana and Cross were all friends and one day Neah woke up with stigmata. The Earl wants him to break ties with his human life and he finds it really difficult to do so and Cross is their bestie who gets tangled up in them as a result. That makes sense. (And is also the closest I've ever come to having a theory about Cross, so be gentle with it!) But you know what also makes sense...?
This.
And the Earl is so big on family that I kind of like the idea that he maybe wasn't so opposed to Neah's human twin brother coming along for the rideBut that's completely random and unsubstantiated/now two theories [dead]
/damn you [dead]
Anyway. It's just fewer dots to have to connect if Cross meets them as a result of being Bookman's apprentice.
I also wonder on this note about the remarkable coincidence of Bookman and Lavi (and potentially Cross) all being Innocence-compatible. Is there, maybe, something about being a Bookman that Innocence kind of likes? :|a Do they pass down a creepy secret that lets you synchronize anyway (which would potentially explain Cross possessing TWO)?
Three [dead]
no subject
Of course I still find it odd to fake out Innocence, but the Order sort of did it with dark matter. *shrugs* I'm probably wrong in this. I don't know. Another thing might be that all bookman are related and Innocence possesion can be a hereditary thing (maybe bookman got a stash somewhere, lol).
no subject
But it's an interesting thought. :|a
no subject
no subject
But considering the huge emotional WHUMP I get with regards to Bookman and Lavi and their whole distance thing, it's totally possible I wasn't paying attention closely enough... /ponder
no subject
no subject
The theory about cheating leaves a lot less loopholes it's true. But in this canon "less complicated" is certainly not the theme. XD
no subject
But we'll see!
no subject
Actually this would explain a lot of things about Cross's nature and how he seems so good at knowing just about everything. (At least I like it a lot better than Cross being Lavi's father theory). XP
Bookman's reaction to Cross's 'death' was also telling, like how he seemed to know something more and how it might affect him and Lavi personally somehow. I always wondered why Bookman thought he should be personally worried like that?