#i'm just moving headcanons from my old lavi blog

[liveslived]

lavi . 011 . meta .

The part where Bookman and Lavi get captured. Sheryl says bookman was close to the pervious Noah family. And as well had connections to the 14th. I was thinking, doesn't that go again the bookman rule of not being involved with people. I mean like Sheryl did say he as close, but doesn't that mean he was in a relationship with them. I mean as in not romantically. But as in “Friends”, if your close with someone and had connections with them doesn’t that mean your friends? So I was thinking if Bookman became close with them and Lavi, now finding this out. Wouldn’t it hurt him! Because he wants to be close with Allen and the rest but he keeps stopping himself BECAUSE of the bookman rule. I wanted to have your opinion on this, to see if that’s fair or just what your thoughts on this is. Thank you~ I love your blog!  

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There are, some things I would like to specify before I start my deduction; 1) I never watched the anime, mostly because I prefer written work rather than animated adaptions 9/10 times, so my thoughts will be linked to the manga panel 2) This is mere speculation and personal belief on my end, as I’m far from an expert nor anywhere as dedicated as the majority of the veterans in the fandom are.

    To start off, yes, we are encountered with the confession, or rather, inquiry that Bookman seemed to have “friendly relations” where he was stationed. Though, the term “friendly” does have to various hues to it, see, there are various levels of being friendly, and naturally we tend to think; “oh! This means a friendship!” but it doesn’t have to be friendliness of such a high level. Bookman is a leech, Bookmen are set out in the world to record hidden history, siding with the sides they are told to and therefore act accordingly; naturally would fall into certain traits in order to gain the information you need, and knowing Bookman as an individual we all know that he, most certainly, carries secrets we will never get our hands on. Rather than seeing his relations to the Noah as friendships I would personally think that they are talking about a more profound and professional relation built upon trust, respect and comradeship; a Bookman does what a bookman has to do, basically.

    Of course, there is the comment about how Bookman seemed to be “particularly close with the 14th”, which can have multiple meanings to it; did the 14th hold back knowledge from the rest of the Noah, was he aware of schemes that only Bookman was let in on? Did he, perhaps, become close with the 14th because he knew that something was going to happen to him? Details, details and even more questions to the details pop up as Bookman is, and will always be, a mysterious character.

Personally, I think Bookman chooses to get “close” to people he knows will hold some sort of significance to the world’s history. Throughout books, religions and scripts from all over the world we can see that there is a typical pattern going on; good and evil, light and dark, savior and destroyer, antichrist and Christ; people of significance to the moral of the world, shaping of humanity as well as the general destiny of the world. Possibly (or, we do know that the Bookman clan withholds a lot of information) changes the Bookmen have recorded, witnessed and participated in since the break of dawn. They see patterns, they compare history and subtly stand on the sideline while the world does its thing; progress.

    If, and I say if due to my relation to the Bookman rule, Bookman and the 14th were friends I think Bookman had sneaky intentions behind it; he most likely wanted to find out something about someone, or something (as in the upcoming events, schemes and plans of the Noah). As stated by the wikia, and I quote; “They will, however, form temporary alliances with one or both sides of a conflict in order to gain a more detailed record of war and in return may provide information and/or their skills as warriors.” Once again, it’s all about progress and information. Finding keys and the doors they belong to. It’s hard to say which side they started out on as well, seeing how they are neutral spectators to the world; good or bad doesn’t matter to them as long as they get the desired information they need, no matter what.

    There is also the strange fallout 35 years ago; why did he suddenly break his ties with the Noah? Was it because of the death of an apprentice, did it have something to do with the 14th? Did he grow tired of the gloomy, eccentric family? Or was it just because the air in the war changed? I’m not going to put too much thought into that because I haven’t read the manga in ages, lol.

    So, does this break with the Bookman rule? Eh. Not really. Not as long as Bookman never interfered with the events revolving the Noah, the 14th and the Earl, to be honest. Once again, we tend to put too much emphasize on the friendship parts and whatnot, and friendships are often put in a very “simple” argument. What even is a friendship? When do you call someone a friend? When does your relation start affecting your life choices? …as a Pedagogy student I can clearly say that people will always have some sort of effect on your choices, no matter the relation, but that’s not quite the point. Once again I refer to the wikia, quote;

“Bookmen must not interfere with the events of history, and act only as observers.”

    As I mentioned; they are only going to record history. Nothing else matters. They are machines with a pen, basically, and the shitty thing that could happen would be if they started taking sides during an event; good vs evil, that sort of stuff. But also, friendships (as you have based your ask off). Being biased would, most likely, have an effect on the events of history, if you let them; I think Bookman tend to emphasize the friendship part to Lavi because he is still so young. His mind is burdened but it isn’t fully developed yet. Here I quote Sandra Aamodt from transcript “Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond Teen Years” where she says the following; “…brain scans show clearly that the brain is not fully finished developing until about age 25.”

    Bookman most likely uses a language Lavi will understand better, seeing how he tends to be sort of emotional from time to time, in such as he warms up to people and make them trust him. Lavi is still a boy, sort of, but he’s a boy who has gone through a lot.

    Now, would it hurt Lavi to hear that his master m I g h t have had some close connections in his younger years? Personally, I don’t think so, because Lavi know what being a bookman means and what the profession demands of you. Bookman most likely had his reasons for trying to get close to the 14th, something Lavi (as a fellow Bookman to be) would and could relate to. Lavi knows what sort of job he has gotten himself into. If anything, he would most likely be more insecure about the past of his master; being with the Noah would indicate that they had affiliations with the “bad” side, meaning that there could be some unsolved business between them, etc.

    Bring back the merciless Deak, Deak wouldn’t have given a fuck. I liked Deak. But yeah, to sum up this long babble, here are some keynotes of what I was trying to say:

        I don’t believe Bookman was a friend to anyone. He was most likely “professionally” close to the parts he engaged with in order to gain information.

        The bookman rule says to not interfere with events, becoming biased towards people/sides, therefore one can work their way around it as long as they stay professional (a very important keyword in the entirety of Bookmen).

        Friends, close and friendship have so many nuances to them so it’s hard to interpret their level and meaning in written, spoken and adapted sense (we also have the scary pit of things getting lost in translation as well).

        Lavi might want to be close with people, but he has been an apprentice long enough to know that he Can’t Have Friends Due To Being A Bookman and if he ended up getting whiny about it he shouldn’t be a Bookman (that’s my inner Bookman channeling my opinion).

        Being a Bookman is not just a job, it’s a life. Sacrifices must be made.