#when i was younger I could totally have bought Lavi's point of view of humanity and how he distanced himself from it

[icharchivist]

Maybe the Bookman aren't human....? Okay but I could seriously see that twist coming where at least some bookman are human and some only look it. We still don't know what's up with that eye of Lavi. It's probably got nothing to do w/Innocence or Dark matter so what is it? Magic? Something that reveals his nature as something else? Since Lavi and Bookman Sr are the only bookman we've witnessed we don't know if being 'above' humanity in a way Lavi refers to is common. I do remember in Lavi's

2 flashback in the Ark where he tells Bookman all humans are stupid (obviously not including himself or Bookman). Bookman just gives him this silent unreadable look at that comment before moving the topic along. Bookman didn't discourage Lavi's initial disdain of humanity. But he never seems to share it or encourage it (if anything Bookman seems to have more pity and understanding). All we know is Lavi got picked because of his eye and he wanted to know about the world. Which leads ne to -

3 to believe Lavi lived a much more sheltered place away from much of the world. Shoot for all we know Lavi may have originally been at the Campbell mansion. Not saying he's a Campbell or was born there. But similar to Neah and Mana he could have been dropped there and taken care of until Bookman arrived. That family certainly seems involved in all sorts of weirdness and anomalies. Could even be the place Lavi reunites w/Allen if he's escaped the Noah (Allen is going there to meet Bookman).

Tbh I don’t think the Bookmen being non-human is... that good of an idea? If it goes in that direction, why not, but i think it was important for Lavi’s storyline that he is human, that just, he rejected his humanity, trying to set himself above it by arrogance. 

I mean there’s a clear parallel to have (surprisingly) with how the Noah call themselves humans while they’re also above humanity in many ways. The Noah oppose humanity, but part of them still relate to it in some extend. Lavi is... Disconnected from humanity. He believes himself above it because it’s the easiest way to cope with the fact he’s supposed to lack feelings and the attrocities he sees on a daily basis. He refuses to even pretend to relate. And the climax of the Road’s fight is to realize that he was never above them in any way, that the rejection of his humanity lead him nowhere. 

Lavi even says “I was convinced that as a Bookman I belonged to another species - what bullshit” which seems more to imply to me that this was misguided. 

Meanwhile Bookman himself letting him say this sort of things just kinda help encouraging Lavi to shut down his emotions. That’s the thing too, Lavi sees humanity as a whole and link it to emotions, and as long as he rejects his emotions he can put a safety distance between him and those attoricities. 

I think him being non-human would kinda lessen it? 

the thing is that as far as we can tell, at least for the others three, is that they’re all humans who became the vessells of something bigger. There’s even some sadness to be had to see that those little humans became the weapons of beings that are far bigger than them: part of a script that had been going on for millenium. And so far Allen remains human, as far as we know. And that’s the conflict that’s interesting, if humanity is neutral in this holy war, if it’s what’s between innocence and dark matter: then it’s where humanity becomes its own sort of importance, that’s what shows why clinging to one’s humanity is important. That’s why Allen is chosing a third path, that’s why Johnny became this important: because Allen is offered the path of the innocence or the path of the Noah, and he decided that neither were good enough for humanity’s sake, which is what he protects.

And that’s where the parallel with Lavi is worth bringing up. Because while Allen decides to walk neither path for humanity’s sake, Lavi is more ina  way of walking neither path by distain for humanity. And that’s eventually what he has to learn about, to overcome, why he’s getting heated up for the side that so far had helped humanity. 

So yeah no i’m still on the side of Laavi being human, although I do think his eye is hiding something: whenever it’s innocence related, dark matter related, or magic all together like Cross for exemple who has some.. weird magical stuff.I mean it’s no secret how I feel about Lavi maybe having the Heart of innocence, and I personally would think it would be a neat parallelism to Allen’s dark matter eye if Lavi’s had the innocence - but also, there’s holes in this theory, and still as a foil to Allen, it being linked to Dark Matter would be interesting. Albeit the only reason to think so is really more which plots Lavi had been linked to so, it’s a bit of a stretch.

For magic, if it was, it would probably have to include Cross in the equation for me to completely considering it, since Bookman knows too much about Cross’s magical stuff - and while i’m not found of Cross being the Past Apprentice theory (if only because it seems like what happened to the Past Apprentice is more tragic than just leaving the clan, especially when it’s framed when torturing Lavi saying “you wouldn’t want to lose another apprentice”) I think Cross must be linked to the Bookmen to some extend, from the shared knowledge to the access to the Campbell Mansion that we now know has the Bookmen there. 

And in which case magic is a fair guess, it’s just that that maic is still so obscure i hesitate to really theorize about it. But I would believe that it plays a part.

As for Lavi, I do think he had been sheltered. He became Bookman’s apprentice when he was 6 after all. The notes about where he and Bookman comes from say “Confidencial, but from the same place” so that links Lavi to the clan pretty much, but there must have been something to catch his eye (lol) when he was 6. Now obviously we’re in a fantasy world with fantasy rules and all, but generally people’s mind aren’t exactly formed before 7yo. So anything Lavi might have lived before becoming a Bookman may not have had him form an opinion on the world the way his travels since he was 6 started to do it. So even without being sheltered, i can see how he wouldn’t have questioned how humanity worked before he became a Bookman. 

But yeah I do think he was sheltered, and while i disagree on him not being human, i agree about everything else on your ask tbh. 

And yeah, the Campbells are definitly linked to that mess someway or another. And It’s fair to think they’re linked to the Bookmen and that therefore so is Lavi. Perhaps the confidenciality also enters in account because of that.

So i don’t know... things are tricky. 

I personally love Lavi’s reflection on humanity, and I actually think they’re kinda realistic for someone in his situation. So yeah... yaknow. 

But if he does happen to not be human, well, looking forward what Hoshino has in stock for us, I’m always willing to be proved wrong.

Take care ;O