Discussion Tower of God Pairing Thread

[King Dryst]

Of course, technically most characters are older than bam but it makes sense for him to go for someone born in the same eon as him.

We have no idea how old Baam is. Biologically speaking, at least though, he's roughly as old as the Zahard Empire itself.

 

[toil]

SIU made the point that eventually androsi's last name will be revealed.. Which doesn't exactly scream "I am a zahard bastard". Also, it would be weird if a someone who has zahard's power could be enhanced further with zahard's blood. Androsi likely has some somewhat special heritage (unless some of the stuff siu said is now obsolete) but it's not bound to be something like that. Either she has some distant connection to the 10 families or she is originally from a special family or bloodline. Which is not saying much because it covers literally all of the possibilities.

I said it's a crack theory! I can make it make sense—at least to me—but that's about it. FWIW I initially got the idea re-reading the name hunt arc. You can make a case that Baam's "FUG name" of Jyu Viole Grace is both (1) not his real name but (2) nevertheless an "accurate" name for him, because it "reflects who he is" (if you see what I mean). SIU likes to make things rhyme, and it got me wondering if "Androssi Zahard" could be like "Jyu Viole Grace": not her real name but also "accurate" like "Jyu Viole Grace" is "accurate". It was just a thought, and I think it makes sense—to your "enhanced further" point I'd just say "look at Wangnan, he has room for enhancement"—but it's not like there's a strong case for it, either.

That said, my position is more "it's obviously Androssi, but the only way I see it working out well is if SIU can make her more directly plot-relevant". Her being a "Zahard bastard"—like Wangnan etc.—might work, but isn't the only option. One other option I think would make sense is for Androssi to finally face consequences for having palled around with "FUG slayer candidate, irregular Baam", leading to something dramatic: maybe she openly rebels and becomes (known as) "the first FUG princess?"—bringing more heat Baam's way; maybe she trades her freedom for Baam's somehow, leaving Baam to start chasing her instead of Rachel?

I find it interesting the rankers in the current chapters mostly don't seem to know Androssi is a princess: they refer to her as if she's just a strong regular with some interesting items. This isn't surprising—rankers don't care about regulars, even regular princesses—but it just seems meant to tee up someone saying "stop, you dummies, she's a princess / I'm a princess" before the battle wraps up...at which point something interesting should happen, you'd think.

Finally, Elaine seemed too developed to just go away, and she seems like a good candidate for the season 3 team (power level, gratitude-driven loyalty, and 1000 years of background knowledge to drop on the rest of the team). She was the first in awhile where I thought "is SIU setting her up for romance" but I agree it'd be weird due to her late introduction, the age, and so on.

 

[kkck]

Didn't they recognized androsi a while back? I think I remember that but I might be mistaken. Generally princess social status is shown to be relevant even among rankers and in spite of their status as rankers...

When I said it'd be weird for SIU to set up romance with an unknown character I meant it as in an even later point in the manga. Imagine the series is 90% done and THEN SIU chooses to include a love interest. You'd think a proper love interest would be a thing that would have been set up for a longer period of time.

 

[toil]

Didn't they recognized androsi a while back?

This is a bit off-topic but I checked the recent chapters. Everyone recognizes Yuri and treats her like a princess. So far, at least, it looks like none of the rankers (and none of the regulars) recognize Androssi as a princess, and just keep referring to her as a regular. Even more off-topic but checking this reminded me that Androssi's old team is hanging around somewhere nearby, too. The battle and Baam aside, it does seem like something dramatic will happen with Androssi before the season ends, and presumably once that happens it'll be clearer what SIU's planning to do with her.

All this said, I find the name hunt arc is super interesting for "romance" because (1) "reintroduces" Androssi and gets her traveling with Baam and (2) Elaine/Kaiser's own backstory is "romance-heavy". I half suspect the intent is to hint at FUG engineering the scenario to get Androssi to fall for Baam—similar but not identical to what happened with Kaiser—but it could go many other directions, too. Figure we'll know a lot more in a few months.

 

[bacon]

TOG doesn't smell to me like the kind of story where romance is relevant, we will just constantly get teased from time to time.

 

[Ripcord]

TOG doesn't smell to me like the kind of story where romance is relevant, we will just constantly get teased from time to time.

That’s true, this is a manwah that’s more about friendship than romance, particularly with the crew that started on 2F together. They’re a lot like Zahard and his crew (and not).

However, the Arlene, V, and Zahard relationship is at the crux of what started all this mess. It’s true that Bam could resolve it on his own, and yet having a relationship of his own could parallel the problems Arlene, V, and Zahard faced. It’s not necessarily that Androssi will have to choose between Bam and someone else, but perhaps choose between Bam and something else (saving the Tower). Garam seems to think she can’t do both, but perhaps Androssi and Bam can prove all those old farts wrong.

 

[bacon]

Garam seems to think she can't do both, but perhaps Androssi and Bam can prove all those old farts wrong.

Garam and Urek would have hope then.

 

[kkck]

Dunno, to me it feels like there is room for more romance in this manga. Because so much of what happens is love related. The basic events of the manga have their origin eons ago when grace chose V rather than zahard. Princesses are meant for zahard to breed with. There are many girls in the story who are interested in bam. Androsi just dumped zahard rather openly so she is technically available. Unless any further treason can result in her being cursed in life and death or something asinine like that. Bam, aguero and rak seem asexual for the most part but as time goes on the lack of romance, or maybe just sex, will become increasingly stranger.

 

[Ripcord]

Garam and Urek would have hope then.

Maybe. Urek wants out of the Tower and not to save it. As far as we know Garam only wants to save it - those seem pretty incompatible. Tbh I can’t see Urek staying in the Tower at the end unless he’s happily continuing his quest to get outside.

 

[bacon]

Dunno, to me it feels like there is room for more romance in this manga. Because so much of what happens is love related. The basic events of the manga have their origin eons ago when grace chose V rather than zahard. Princesses are meant for zahard to breed with. There are many girls in the story who are interested in bam. Androsi just dumped zahard rather openly so she is technically available. Unless any further treason can result in her being cursed in life and death or something asinine like that. Bam, aguero and rak seem asexual for the most part but as time goes on the lack of romance, or maybe just sex, will become increasingly stranger.

Well but authors rarely make a good story AND good romance, most would rather not even try. So far I didn't see any two sided romantic development from characters that are relevant in current timeline. You wanna start that stuff as soon as possible and the story is like half complete right?

 

[King Dryst]

but perhaps Androssi and Bam can prove all those old farts wrong.

You make it sound like that's something they have a mutual interest in doing. Baam couldn't seem to care less.

 

[Ripcord]

Well but authors rarely make a good story AND good romance, most would rather not even try. So far I didn't see any two sided romantic development from characters that are relevant in current timeline. You wanna start that stuff as soon as possible and the story is like half complete right?

I think it’s pretty clear that this isn’t a romance story yet. We generally know Zahard “messed up” the Tower and that is the WHAT of the story. We don’t know the HOW just yet, although closing off the 135th floor seems to be part of it. WHEN was thousands of years ago. (WHERE is in the Tower obviously).

So we are left with WHY. This may actually take the longest to realize but I suspect that a relationship is wrapped up in it (Zahard, Arlene, and V). Until the WHY becomes important in this story, then romance itself is unimportant. Just like Bam has no clue about that part of life, the readers only need it as seasoning, not the main dish itself.

We do have tastes of romance (Elaine’s betrayal, Arlene and V, Garam and Urek, the Traveler and Emily , Horyang and Goseng, Anak and her husband, Yura’s mom and dad, Androssi and Bam???), so SIU is showing that it is a part of life but it is not the reason for existence.

Think about it like this: when you’re a kid, you see that your parents are/aren’t in love, you see it in movies etc, but it doesn’t define your life so much. This is where we are - it is a part of things around Bam and his friends but not a part of them now. As they age, as we do, relationships become central to reality (marriage, raising kids, grandkids) because we become the caretakers. Bam and his friends will have that become more a part of their lives as they grow up. Will that be before the end of ToG? I’m not sure but they have some growing up to do first.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 11, 2018, Original Post Date: Dec 11, 2018 ---

You make it sound like that's something they have a mutual interest in doing. Baam couldn't seem to care less.

I agree that Bam isn’t ready. I suppose I felt ready in high school but TBH I didn’t have a girlfriend until I was 19. I didn’t have a clue how to talk to girls. Now I’m married and have 2 kids so it worked out fine. Anyway, the point is people are clueless all the time until they’re ready to see what’s there. He’s a busy guy, give him some time. The dude learned about friendship not that long ago.

 

[King Dryst]

I agree that Bam isn’t ready.

He's not ignorant to her feelings. He just doesn't reciprocate them, at all.

 

[toil]

Honestly I've just assumed any "romance"—at least for Baam—will just get introduced as "already established, or 90% of the way there" after the time-skip I also assume will happen between Season 2 and Season 3. Practically-speaking this lets SIU skip over having to write the "romance" part of "romance" directly, and he can just skip ahead to where he can use the "romance" as character motivation, plot points, and so on. That's just my assumption, but I think it mostly fits how things have gone so far: "romance" has been background material and sources of character motivation, but—aside from Androssi's pursuit of Baam—we don't ever see "romance story" aspects of any of those "romances".

For Androssi, the scenarios I find easy to imagine are either (1) her and Baam essentially having to "go into hiding together" or (2) she gets forcibly and Baam being separated and Season 3 ultimately being a "save the princess" arc. Either way, under these scenarios the main story won't go on pause for dates, misunderstandings, etc.: there'll be something by the end of season 2 establishing clearly where things are going, a time skip between 2 and 3, and then...season 3 begins and things are already "where they were going".

Not trying to make this a plot-speculation thread, just using them to illustrate how SIU might use a time skip to jump from "something might happen" all the way to "something already happened".

 

[Arjuna]

Just saw this in Reddit

Spoiler

That the Heroine did not make an appearance even during the Workshop battle,so this means anyone after that will be the Heroine.

I think Kaiser fits the role,Adori or some new girl.

 

[Ripcord]

Just saw this in Reddit

Spoiler

That the Heroine did not make an appearance even during the Workshop battle,so this means anyone after that will be the Heroine.

I think Kaiser fits the role,Adori or some new girl.

I think SIU also means that the heroine isn’t clear yet in the story, not necessarily that they haven’t appeared yet. It could be we hadn’t seen them yet or maybe the heroine will be.....

Hanna Yu!

 

[Arjuna]

I think SIU also means that the heroine isn’t clear yet in the story, not necessarily that they haven’t appeared yet. It could be we hadn’t seen them yet or maybe the heroine will be.....

Hanna Yu!

Hmmm that is one interpretation too but I think that she didn't appear at that point at least.

 

[Ripcord]

Hmmm that is one interpretation too but I think that she didn't appear at that point at least.

Hanna Yu is the breeder from Season 1. Khun gave her his duplicating bag in exchange for breeding fish to help the team.

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

Didn't read the entire thread, but it seems Headon has pointedly said who the heroine is/will be.

 

[King Dryst]

Hanna Yu is the breeder from Season 1. Khun gave her his duplicating bag in exchange for breeding fish to help the team.

That's Sunwoo Nare. Hana Yu was the train cart attendant/Yura Ha fangirl from Train City who joined Baam's group at the same time as Boro and his students and didn't really make it past the fake ticket tournament.