linkspooky:

This is a full on theory post which is something I rarely do, it’s also not my personal theory but a summary of fandom theories that have existed for a long time. I can’t track down the original posts, but know I’m more of a collector of evidence in this case rather than the first person to point that out. 

That being said I’ve been receiving a lot of asks lately on what Hide’s future role in the story could be. For me the most likely theory has always been the witch’s servant theory. As to who the witch is: Only one character has ever been depicted as a witch in Tokyo Ghoul. 

Eto is also connected to the witch through Tarot her associated card the queen of clubs as pointed out by @pipirupirulance​ here [x] is guarded by a black cat.

Yes, please, read this:

The Queen represents the yin, or receptive qualities of each element.
She shows an appreciation of that element rather than the King’s social use of it. This does not mean that the Queens indicate weakness, or even inaction, but rather the element translated into feeling and understanding. A black cat guards her throne. In Christian folklore the Devil gave a black cat to a witch to guard her from attack. The meaning here is less melodramatic. Sometimes if a person loves life, the world appears to respond by protecting that person from harm and send her or him joyous experiences. (From the book: “ Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom ”)

And yes, that is a sunflower. Just so you know.

The sunflower represents her naturally sunny outlook and disposition and along with the lions, which form the armrests of her throne, connect her to theFire sign of Leo if found with the Strength and Sun card of the Major Arcana. (x)

To further the tarot argument connection between the two though while still on the topic, let’s talk about the arcana of the sun. In Tokyo Ghoul, there is a theory that each individual arc is based off of a major arcana tarot card in the fool’s journey. 

The most recent arcs have been the star -> the Moon and then the next logical one would be -> the sun. 

The star arc is when the Fool is offered a brief realization, that inspires hope in him. 

The Fool is suffused with a serene calm. The beautiful images on the Star (17) attest to this tranquility. The woman pictured on Card 17 is naked, her soul no longer hidden behind any disguise. Radiant stars shine in a cloudless sky serving as a beacon of hope and inspiration.

I also predicted for a long time this is the first time we would see any mention of direct Hide in the manga, and what two characters showed up right around the same time again and swelled in importance.

Both characters suddenly appear on Kaneki’s doorstep, and give him part of the answer but not the whole answer. Both characters are also tied to the concept of breaking the egg, the Demian quote is first brought up by Kaneki when he needed to protect Hide, and then later repeated by Eto. The chapter in which Hide shows up in Kaneki’s subconscious is named “K’s Egg.”

Then next comes the moon, in which after being filled with hope the Fool makes a mistake and then falls into a trap.

What effect could spoil this perfect calm? Is there another challenge for the Fool? In fact, it is his bliss that makes him vulnerable to the illusions of the Moon (18). The Fool’s joy is a feeling state. His positive emotions are not yet subject to mental clarity. In his dreamy condition, the Fool is susceptible to fantasy, distortion and a false picture of the truth.

The reason Eto and Hide were mentioned in the star, only to disappear again is because the Moon is an illusion that makes it seem like the insightful light of the star is all but gone. 

The character who physically removed Eto from the manga, is the embodiment of the moon himself, Furuta.

As long as Furuta is the antagonist, the manga will remain in the moon too. However the point of the Moon is illusion and assumption, as long as we are in the moon arc everything is not as it seems. Furuta may seem like the main antagonist for now, but he’ll only last as long as the moon arc lasts.

Once Furuta exits the story though, then the sun will come in. There are two characters who are associated with the sun so far in comic. First, Uta who has made his reappearance in the middle of this moon arc (funny how that works huh). 

You can read his association with the sun here [x]  There’s also Yoriko who is associated with sunflowers, which are once again the flowers on the physical card of the sun.

A character who has also been brought back to relevance in the middle of the moon arc, to quite obviously set up for the next arc. As I foreshadowed above, as the Sun arc is the arc of long kept secrets finally being revealed and the final enlightenment card of the tarot it is very likely that Rize will also make her reappearance in this arc, she might even be the first one as she’s destined to kill Furuta.

Returning to Hide and Eto then, the two of them are going to appear together. Metaphorically, they each appeared to guide Kaneki in the star, but there’s also evidence in comic that they are working together. The play that appears in Kaneki’s flashback with brain ghost Rize is the one responsible for foreshadowing his rise as the one eyed king, if that’s the case then Hide’s specifically mentioned role in the play should be foreshadowing too.

The way that Kaneki even refers to his position as main character in the play, mirrors how he became the one eyed king. Not a result of his own choice, but rather setup and manipulation by both Arima and Eto. 

Hide also references the same play, but at the time Hide says that Kaneki instead of being forced into the main character, lived up to the role, was bold, and surprisingly good at acting. Kaneki views it self depreciatingly, while Hide views it from the outside and sees his success despite pushed into that role.

(This also comes from 118, unlocking, which is a chapter after 117 where Furuta gets mistaken for Kaneki and we see his face for the first time, what a strange coincidence). 

In the unused root A drafts there even exists a scene directly from the play where Hide recites lines from the play, saying the witch’s servant was a good friend of the prince who betrayed him, because he thought it would help him. [x]

Besides the play parallel though, Hide shows a general knowledge of ghouls that a normal human shouldn’t have. He knows how to exploit their weaknesses, shoving human food in the face of a ghoul chasing after him. He’s also the one who leaked the location of Aogiri’s base to the CCG, even though that turned out to be a trap to facilitate Aogiri’s prison break. 

Hide is even seen meeting with Takatsuki Sen in person and discussing ghouls with her.

This same book is the one that shows up on Kaneki’s doorstep.

Which Uta himself confirms that he did not send. Which means Hide or Eto are the only ones who could have sent it. Even more convincingly though, the one who ends up bringing Kaneki’s memories back fully is Eto.

The question is why did she go to such great extent for Kaneki? Eto was literally manufacturing half ghouls en masse, or at least attempting to in an arm’s race to find king candidates to replace Arima. Somebody must have convinced her of Kaneki’s worth, that she went to such great length to set this up with Kaneki. We receive a partial insight into this with Kaneki’s flashback of Hide.

The way Hide talks “You must show him you are worth keeping alive”, is as if he brokered some kind of deal with Arima, and by extension Eto, that Kaneki was worth her time. After all, Eto expressed an interest in Kaneki before this. 

So there are plenty of hints of what Hide’s betrayal was. It’s vague so far but my theory is that Hide knew Eto somehow before the events of Tokyo Ghoul even began, possibly through some relation to Ukina. Then Hide became invested to help Kaneki and went to Eto sometime after Kaneki became a ghoul. His betrayal is the deal that he brokered with her “You’re looking for a one eyed king, I’ll help you motivate Kaneki to become one eyed king if you promise to keep him alive when she shows his worth to you.”

From that point forward Eto, Hide and possibly Arima collaborated both to motivate Kaneki to fight Arima in V14, to restore Haise’s memories, to reveal parts of the Washuu to Kaneki and convince him to become one eyed king, and finally in the sun arc both Hide and Eto will make their reappearance into the plot and finally explain all of this. 

At which point Hide will apologize to Kaneki for betraying him and becoming the witch’s servant for Kaneki’s sake.