Tower of God: Seasons One and Two

*major spoilers ahead!* 

Remember when I posted about a book that keeps you up till one am? A few months ago, that was Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances. This weekend, it’s Tower of God. (Get ready, this is 12 pages). 

I watched the first episode on Crunchyroll on a whim last Sunday (only last Sunday). I dabbled in the webtoons a bit during the week, completing season one. But the more I read, the more desperate I became–completely caught up in another world. Here’s what stood out to me.

…

Theme of the Story. The story’s theme seems to deal with human nature, and what happens when humans try to be God. Realistically, it portrays the struggle of all the “regulars” climbing the impossible Tower, under the promise that if they reach the top, they’ll be God. 

They’ll have whatever they want. 

Which means that the thing they want, is God to them. 

This is the main thing that attracted me. The Tower, of course, is shrouded in intrigue, such as: What really is at the top? Is it God? Or is it something horrible beyond imagination? And who is the man that runs it all, the King, Jahad? And it is orderly, so orderly. There’s rules. Protectors. Princesses. Rankers. Everyone has to abide by them. 

For everyone climbing the tower, gaining the thing they want often means gaining something that benefits themselves, which means they are God to themselves. What kind of life is like that? 

Tower of God tells the story of Bam and Rachel and their reason for climbing the tower. 

Who Is Bam? The summary of the Webtoon seems to indicate that Rachel is the protagonist of the story, because apparently what she wants at the top of the tower is to see the stars. Nothing is more important to her than this. However, it is Bam the story–and everything in it but Rachel–follows. 

At first, I wondered if Bam might be a messianic-savior-figure: rising from the cave to the tower to save the people from the evil greats running it. Or, if his purpose might be to redeem/sacrifice for Rachel and save her from her selfishness/show her what love is. (That would have been great).

However–Bam doesn’t conform to the rules of a “savior” figure. Even though he appears in almost every way to be one, I observe that there may be underlying, less-noble reasons in his actions. 

 

• His desire for Rachel is not love. Though he does sacrifice for her initially, and seems to be throwing his life away to find her, later on after meeting her on the Hell Train, the red haired girl (ahhh what’s her name!) tells him, “Your greed for Rachel caused all this trouble for your friends.” He put his friends’ lives at risk for him to find Rachel.
  
  Later on in the Hell Train arc, as he undergoes his journey of “finding himself”, he says, “I am who I am alone or with others […] I don’t need you (Rachel) to tell me who I am.”
  
  Rachel would have been the only person he knew living alone in that cave, and thus understandably relied on her to tell him who he was (and, of course, to save him from his loneliness). The more Bam explores himself and finds out who he is, the less he cares for Rachel. Once he gets answers about himself that satisfy him (along with extra cool powers) he doesn’t care for her any more.
  
  Bam was not deterred by Rachel’s constant betrayal or abusive actions, but by the fact that he gained what he wanted to know before she could give it to him. Rachel was only a tool for figuring out who he was, as she does know more about him than anyone else in the story. In the first place, all he wants is himself and Rachel is a tool for finding himself (until of course mentor figures show up and teach him how to do that himself).
  
  Even if Rachel consented to live with him, sacrificing her goals, how long would it be until he figured out who he was without her?  

 

• His desire for Rachel is personal happiness. Besides answers about who he is, Bam remembers himself finding happiness with her, in whatever they were doing. He is quite content to go back to those times, despite what she wants.
  
  Since the beginning, his desire has not been Rachel but for his happiness. Does Rachel betray and reject him? Yes, and clearly that does not make him happy. Still, whatever she offered him was enough for him to believe that what she could give him was greater than how she hurt him.
  
  Next to “finding himself”, Bam realized he was surrounded by people who could meet his need for happiness more efficiently than Rachel could.  

• Bam’s desire is to fill his loneliness. Bam’s desire may be more self serving than it seems. Because of his desire for Rachel as a means to his happiness, Bam admits what he fears more than anything, even death, is “being alone.”
  
  His initial sacrifice for Rachel, for his friends, for even his enemies, and initially, when he conquers the white eel, putting himself at risk of death, might not be as selfless as it looks.
  
  He had nothing to lose but Rachel, because if he values companionship above life, his act was self seeking. He wasn’t willing to sacrifice what he really cared about: something that served him, therefore himself. His desire for companionship manifests in the way he quickly befriends Khun, Rak, Yuri, and many others. No matter how many times he puts his life at stake (or that of others’) it’s never at the risk of losing a friend.
  
  In summary, if love means sacrifice, Bam is not motivated by love because Bam never gave up what he cared about. Sometimes loving someone means loving them enough to let them go, which Bam can’t seem to understand in the context of his friends, no matter how many times he puts them in danger.
  
  And if sacrificial, unselfish love is not his goal, but his goal is himself, he is no different than anyone else–particularly Rachel. If this is true, he is not a savior figure.
  
  Even if he isn’t a savior figure, can we blame him for how he treated Rachel and everyone else? Did he really do anything heinous?
  
  To which the answer would be, no, not yet. Abandoned in a cave for as long as he can remember and only befriended by Rachel–of course, it’s understandable that he would cling to the one person who came to be with him. Even if that person was a jerk. Can we expect someone raised in a cave to act perfectly selfless? I mean, probably not. Bam’s circumstances were beyond his control. But depending on the amount of control he did have, if his goal was real love, he could have found another option besides relying on Rachel for his happiness. (God is a character in the story, btw. One Bam never seems to acknowledge).  

• Bam could become evil. Emphasis on could. However, Bam’s condition–thanks to himself and, to a lesser degree, Rachel–prime him for being a destructive pawn that the demon-power-thing inside him controls.
  
  Have we ever seen Bam reject this demon? Bam never rejects the power offered to him and instead pursues it, to “protect the people he loves”–really, to protect himself from loneliness and pain.
  
  The biggest telltale sign of this weakness is the fact that after Rachel, he turns his goal into defeating the King of the Tower, Jahad. BIG red flag.
  
  Not saying Jahad is good. Not even saying he’s not a bad person. Clearly Jahad has serious problems, and clearly there’s abundant corruption within the tower–but the problems are,
  
  1- Isn’t everyone in the tower because they choose to be there? By entering the tower, are they not accepting the rules there in order to achieve the benefits they think they will achieve?
  
  2- What is Jahad and his regime doing that is so terrible and needs immediate rectification? Nothing concrete has been explained, and even if there is one (or several) issues which need justice, I can’t think of one, so it hasn’t been emphasized a lot. Bam claims he’s going to kill Jahad without offering a plan for why this is necessary and how it will solve the problem at hand. 

This brings us to a glaring flaw in Bam’s goal–and/or character. If his goal to kill Jahad is not because of a serious problem Jahad is causing (because all Jahad is doing is “keeping order”), or because Jahad is even threatening anyone, but simply because Bam HAS THE POWER TO, that is a serious problem.

This brings us to the story’s main premises: Can humans be God? and, two, If someone has the power to do something, does it mean they should?

While Jahad’s empire is not ideal, plunging the tower, and the lives of everyone in it into chaos, is very irresponsible of Bam. Does he want anarchy? Why is he convinced that killing an authority figure, because it’s “his destiny/who he is/what he’s meant for” will make anyone’s life any better?

Bam could have several reasons for his goal to kill Jahad, including:

a) beef between Jahad and his parents in the past, which makes no sense because it seems like Arlene didn’t care about Bam, so why would he be loyal to their memories?

b) Indoctrination from Fug, the shady rebel group which also hosts Rachel and is involved in an attempt to revive an extremely dangerous killer (Hoaquin/White). We know Bam is very loyal to his “master” from Fug during his training there. In fact, Bam’s loyalty to this master reached the point where he was ready to throw his life away at the fight on Hell Train Station with Jahad’s subordinates.

 

c) The less than ideal way that the tower operates? Still, Bam doesn’t indicate that he cares about this. It doesn’t affect him.

 

d) Most likely: everyone thinking he should. This, combined with his temptation to kill Jahad just because he can, might be driving Bam. As we know, Bam’s primary motivation is friends so he won’t be lonely. Plus, he has several attractive and powerful princesses on his side, aiding him to avoid and possibly kill Jahad, despite their loyalty being to Jahad.

And of course, the final reason: Bam grabbing power just because he can. He does, as he says, “want the power of a king.” That’s what he’s after. 

He claims real power, interestingly, is not achieved by eliminating others who might hurt you so you can get ahead for your benefit. So ironically, his goal for killing Jahad may not be self-serving–as a tool to get himself something better–but founded for no reason whatsoever than idolatry (?) of his friends? He knows Jahad is dangerous, but I don’t see how that translates to Jahad directly killing his friends. Also, Jahad wants to kill Bam, so that’s reason enough. But Bam went from one ill formed goal to the next. Why is he throwing his life away like this? His decisions don’t seem normal for a human. Bam made up his mind to kill Jahad as soon as people told him he had the potential to do it. This he doesn’t hesitate on. It does seem as though Bam has no choice but to kill Jahad, but if Bam hadn’t chosen to increase his powers for no reason, he wouldn’t have made an enemy of Jahad. 

Anyways, Bam’s submission to his destiny of destruction brings us to the next point: Rachel. 

In Defense of Rachel. Honestly, as much as I love Tower of God, the “top comments” section ruined almost every episode. The hatred for Rachel is instinctual and unfounded as Rachel’s own selfishness–commenters seem to only like the guy that wins. That’s for another rant, though. 

People flock to Bam for the same reasons everyone else does in the story: friendly, good looking, powerful, and wins. However…Bam’s behavior has been suspicious. Rachel, at least, is an open book. You can’t trust her, but you can love her–and acknowledge where she’s coming from, which no one seems to do. 

2. Rachel knows the most about Bam. She knows more about Bam, in some ways, than even Bam himself (thus Bam clings to her) and what does she do? Run. Gets as far away as she can, even if that means betraying Bam after he saved her with seemingly noble intentions. Her primary goal is always getting away from Bam. The fact that his name means “Night” and that she’s afraid of the night–does anyone think about that? Doesn’t Bam himself know that? Might he ever suspect that?
   
   Whatever “Night” did to Rachel to make her so afraid could be related to Bam.  
3. Rachel is driven by fear. Fear is a function of self preservation, explaining why Rachel’s motivation is, obviously, selfish. Since her motivation is self preservational, why are we surprised at her betraying people she supposedly likes? Here are three reasons why we shouldn’t be surprised about this.
   
   1. Don’t compare her to Bam. She and Bam did not grow up under the same situations at all. If Rachel and Bam only ever knew each other, and Rachel betrayed him, THAT would be a different story. However, we know this is not true. Rachel comes from the outside, a far more….volatile place than Bam. Being alone, Bam couldn’t really learn much about the world.
   
   Therefore, Bam and Rachel are not on the same judgemental standard.
   
   Furthermore, people act like Rachel is a “b*tch” for refusing Bam. Here’s what they overlook: 1) Rachel does not owe Bam anything and 2) Rachel must have taught Bam some good morals, because his character and moral compass is a reflection of what she taught him. If you like anything about Bam, Rachel probably played a part in it.  
4. The external reality Rachel was a part of must have taught her lying, manipulation, and self preservation was necessary. Rachel, we must remember, has more to lose than Bam, because while Bam is seeking companionship over his life, Rachel is seeking her life over anything else. All Bam had was Rachel, but Rachel had much more than he did. Initially.
   
   Furthermore, whatever reality she was a part of, she must have been betrayed in. Remember her teaching Bam to “never betray a woman”? Remember her desire to be “born again?” Remember her ache to “leave this dark world?” Rachel is trying to change her circumstances in the hope that she will change herself. Instead, she’s only facing more of herself.
   
   3. Rachel’s selfishness is all she has. As an ugly, weak person (probably poor, too) lying and manipulation might have been her only tactics to gain what she wanted. What people fail to understand is that she started out selfishly in small ways, by lying to Bam here and there, then by leaving him, and it escalates as she hides from him, betrays him, kills him, goes after Khun, and so on. People are appalled, but Rachel’s situation (that, by the way, she doesn’t like) exemplifies real life.
   When humans serve themselves, they revert to selfishness for preservation, achievement, whatever they need, like Rachel did in the beginning with Bam, in small ways.
   After a while of doing that, when issues get  bigger, all they know how to do is rely on more selfishness. The more we revert to selfishness to save us from fear or problems, the less we know of any other option. The less we respond to kindness. The less we see compassion, love and sacrifice as a solution.
   
   4. Rachel’s betrayal relates to her goal. Hear me out. If Rachel’s goal was seeing the stars so she could escape the night, and Bam, somehow, symbolized the night–the exact thing she was running away from–how would her goals be achieved if Bam offered to help her? Rachel might not be a backstabbing $%^&*(, she might be a person so blinded by fear she is creating the thing that she dreads. 

To be fair, I’ll name what Rachel is guilty of: 

1. Not being honest. In my opinion, this is the biggest problem. But what can you expect? If she tried to push Bam away by saying, “Bam, I’m afraid of you. You’re going to kill me someday” how do you expect that would go? Do you expect it to be easy? Most of all, would you expect him to understand? We don’t fully know Rachel’s reasons, of course, so we shouldn’t be too quick to judge her dishonesty.
   

However, her dishonesty is one of the worst problems she has, leading to her betrayal of everyone. What does she really want? And why won’t she say it?

 2. Selfish: Even if Rachel is afraid, fear is a function of selfishness. If she clings to her fear, she will become selfish. But it’s unfair that people are so quick to condemn her situation when she does not have the advantages everyone else has. Whatever happened in her past, it must have taught her that selfishness is her only option. 

Isn’t it ironic that Rachel, despite her terrible habits of dishonesty and selfishness, shaped Bam into the person he was? 

Why do people fail to recognize that Rachel truly wants to change? She does want friends. She wants a new life. She wants freedom from fear. She represents humanity in many ways. Maybe you think she lost her chance, but her problem right now is that because she’s lived in selfishness for so long, she doesn’t know how to get what she truly wants. 

Up next! After my analysis of Rachel and Bam, who are the core of the story, are a mixed bag of things I love and don’t love. I recommend fans to be sympathetic to Rachel, because without her, at least in my opinion, Tower of God would lose 70% of its attraction. Rachel’s unknown motives may be keeping us hanging more than we think–we’re chasing Rachel just as much as Bam. 

Love: 

Writing of SIU. The writing, or should I say storytelling, style of SIU is incredible. SIU’s work contains everything necessary for an intriguing, thrilling, and immersive experience. One genius of SIU is that even though the Tower is clearly complex (I’ll get to that in a second) and the characters interact with mazes different characters, we never really know much about any character or concept at a time.

First off, there’s the theme of God, which is the most intriguing aspect for me. God is, of course, real, and he’s a factor in the book. But what is it trying to say about God and humans? SIU hooks us with little hints, like Rachel’s feeling that she is unloved by God, Khun’s belief that God won’t give Rachel the outcome she desires because she’s such a terrible person, Jahad’s desire to be God, everyone’s desire for Bam to be God, including that demon thing that lends him powers…SIU gives us just enough hints to increase our interest, but never enough to give it away, leading to an obsessive hunt for the truth threaded in it.

Secondly, SIU takes two characters, Bam and Rachel, and surrounds them with the entire story: obstacles, friends, allies, enemies, goals, organizations, powers, games, skills, magic, mentors–everything you can think of. These things are extremely interesting, which keeps us reading, but it serves another purpose.

I’m sure I’m not the only one whose heart raced at the moments Bam and Rachel met. And that thrill is what keeps you going, even if you don’t care about the lengthy fights of the side characters. However, what makes those moments so thrilling is that there is so much environment, so many realistic interactions, that build greater and greater suspense and make us ask questions. The very fact that the Bam and Rachel scenes are so hard to get is actually what makes them thrilling. That, and the fact that even though Bam and Rachel are the most important characters, we may know the least about them. SIU measures tidbits of knowledge, so we know a little about everything going on in the tower and everyone in it, but not enough to know what will happen next.

Third, plot twists. Building on the lack of knowledge distributed, SIU manages to create suspenseful plot twists. By not divulging everything about Rachel in the beginning, we’re shocked when she betrays Bam. By not telling us Bam’s story, we’re amazed when we learn he could kill Jahad. By not explaining how to get to the tower or what people’s goals are, SIU keeps us reading–and then he layers surprise after surprise to that, increasing suspense, and investment in the story.

Reading Tower of God is like running a race. You think you see the finish line, but no, it’s not it! You don’t get it! You have to keep going. You enjoy the journey, the trees whizzing by, the screaming spectators, but your eyes are fixed on the main characters, and where they’re going.

Thus, writers take notes: Creating a story means not only writing a masterful, complex story with motivations and goals for every character, but also not telling readers everything. The less you tell them, the more they’ll want to know–so the more they’ll follow, be invested, and learn from your message.

A last thing I appreciate about SIU is hints of deeper meaning in his stories. There are lighthearted moments, but the tone of the story is darker–meaning there’s lessons he wants us to learn. I love the snippets of stories where we get to think and consider human nature, like the situation of Jahad’s Princesses, who can have strength and power but never love any man, or how Khun only works at things he can achieve, or whether Bam’s powers mean God loves him more than everyone else. Situations like this create stories that call for a philosophical answer. 

(That’s one thing that bothered me about the comment section. No matter how profound the truth SIU drops, all anyone cares about is Rak eating bananas). 

The complex worldbuilding of the Tower. This ties into SIU’s writing genius. I theorize that his stories are character based and not plot based, but his characters and their solid motivations lay the groundwork of everything for the story. Probably symbolically and otherwise, everything we need to know about the story’s future is laid out in Season One.

However, it’s basing a story on simple character goals that may contribute to the immense complexity of the Tower. The Tower is based on the goal of one character, Jahad, but within it, millions of peoples’ goals are trapped, conflicting, interacting, and creating situations with each other. Hell’s Train, the middle levels, the Nobles and Princesses, the eel, Headon, Hwa Ryun, Fug, and all the contests, games and competitions on each floor developed by many different people can be boiled down to human goals. Human goals are the basis of everything in the tower. And that is why the Tower is deeply complex–because the characters in it are, too.

This doesn’t mean SIU knows every single character in the Tower, but grouping them into the rebel group, the noble group, the administrator group, the magic group, etc, all show us different sides of humanity and make the Tower feel like a world we could live in.

Not only this, but despite the Tower’s great worldbuilding, we know very little about it. The tower is based on maybe the simplest, and most common, goal of mankind: be God. (Isn’t making ourselves God what we try even unintentionally, by valuing ourselves above all else?) So the Tower is based on a simple goal, which is easy to understand, but includes so many layers, pivots, and unexpected turns along the way, we must keep reading. And in spite of this, we never know exactly the name of the movie Bam and Androssi (Endorsi?) watched, or the snack dispensing company, or the towns inside the tower–in fact, we know very little. But we get a sense of it based on the simple goal, and the hints of layers. The Tower isn’t a person itself, but a representation of humanity.  

Khun and Rak. Though I think they’re overrated, I had to throw in a comment of applause for these lovable guys. The friendship between them and Bam, while unexpected, is enjoyable. It’s fun to see Bam acting with others instead of achieving his goals by himself, and he owes his success to Khun and Rak, among others, motivating and supporting him. 

Ironically, Khun acts to Bam the way Bam acts to Rachel: Bam was the first “light” Khun had, as someone who trusted him, so he and decides to follow Bam over his goals because Bam accepted him. Khun’s smartness is well integrated with the plot, and his character design is cool too. Rak is comic relief, but also relatable at times, like when he’s dealing with his desire to lead and be powerful and always gets reverted to “Team B”. 

Complicated interactions between so many people in the Tower–I touched on this in “Complexity of the Tower”, but yes. There are so many people and so many reactions that are reasonable and result in the Tower’s reality–a tapestry of different organizations, tribes, and leaders.

Jahad!! Why do I like Jahad? I don’t know if I like him or I admire his character, somewhat, in the “virtual reality” hidden floor in the second season. Bam’s relentless goal of Rachel led him straight into Jahad’s hands, so naturally his goal translated from Rachel to killing Jahad. 

Jahad’s relationship with Bam’s parents is intriguing. I wonder whether, since Arlene called Bam a monster, his parents accidentally created a child who would kill Jahad. I don’t defend Jahad morally, but his ambition to create the tower is admirable, and echoes Rachel. Thanks to Jahad, we have a tower for a story, even if the tower isn’t that great.

And even though anarchy is cool in books, Jahad does a somewhat good job keeping order, it seems. If overthrowing Jahad will cause “chaos”, it means whatever regime Jahad is running is one where lives aren’t constantly thrown away. Furthermore, the rules set in place by the tower don’t tell people to kill each other–people do that of their own decision. I like how SIU has created a powerful character who is bad, but not the “big bad” just because he’s powerful.  

Rachel and Yura Ha. People accuse Rachel all the time, but how do we explain her relationship with Yura Ha? Neither of them are good people, but I like it for several reasons:

1. We get female friendship representation. In literature, we see many male friendships, but fewer female friendships. Females are usually there to be love interests to the males, but with Rachel and Yura Ha, you have some semblance of a friendship–even if it’s only goal/alliance based.  
2. Yura Ha has an interesting backstory, which I wonder might provide clues for Rachel’s backstory. Yura Ha isn’t a good person, but due to trauma with her mother, you can tell why she’s doing what she’s doing.  
3. Rachel may not betray people she cares about. We know Rachel wants friends. So far, we haven’t seen her betray Yura Ha. It doesn’t mean she won’t, but just because she’s against the main band of characters, does it mean she’s completely unloyal to everyone? 

The Switch. Maybe this is the reason I’m so interested in Rachel. Like I said, I’m pretty sure Season One was an important key for unlocking the rest of the series, so what happened when Rachel rejected Bam and Hwa Ryun interacted with both of them must be significant. I can’t wait to figure out the implications of this “switch”. Maybe Rachel believes the “switch” will permanently get rid of Bam, a threat to the tower whether he likes it or not, and make her its protector. Whatever it is, it involves both of them.
Even though we have a colorful cast of characters, Tower of God started with Rachel, Bam, and the Tower, and I’d like it to end with them, too. 

Anaak. I liked Anaak’s theme. Like Rachel, people bashed her at first for being a jerk who wins all the time and is disloyal to her teammates. She also gained the Green April by heritage, not from working for it. She had to give it up, of course, but after the interaction between Androssi and her, everything cleared. We know her reasons. She was never as bad as we thought. She has a real purpose for being in her story. 

Hate: 

The princesses. Something bothers me about the superficiality of these characters–at least, Yuri and Androssi. Especially Androssi.

First of all, does anyone ever think about how the princesses are exactly like Rachel, but everyone excuses them for it because they’re framed as “heroes”? Androssi dumps boyfriend after boyfriend, and has no problems killing people on her team (Team B in the “hide and seek” game). Oh, and has no problems misleading and killing her boyfriends, either? Certainly its her way of life, and not everyone who likes her has the right intent, but couldn’t that be applied to Rachel as well?

The way the princesses, who’ve had to kill thousands to gain their power, treat life so lightly (even initially Anaak’s) makes them seem insincere and untrustworthy to me. What’s worse is no one else seems bothered by that. All people see is pretty girls smashing bad guys in fights (I mean, that IS cool and awesome, but it doesn’t mean they’re characters we should root for).

Yuri I have more respect for. She seems like a protective aunt/mentor figure to Bam, although Androssi’s affection for Bam I find slightly creepy, especially considering how insincere she is to everyone who likes her.
Not to mention, Androssi’s backstory is fishy. “Got a snake dude to kill my parents so I could become a princess, LOL.” She’s clearly not saying the full story.

But, you’ll say, at least the Princesses have teammates they’re loyal to. Right? They don’t backstab them!

Wrong. The Princesses’ first loyalty is to Jahad and the tower, and protecting/running the tower. When Bam enters the scene, they betray their order and benefactors (“I just have to do things “my way” a little bit longer”) without question. So maybe they’re “loyal” to Bam, hopefully for reasons more sincere than his cute face, but they betrayed their team first. 

Similarly, Rachel was supposed to be loyal to Bam, but when the Tower entered her life, she threw Bam out without a question. And yet people hate her. It’s just bothersome that the Princesses get to be excused for everything and Rachel is hated for being ugly and cowardly. 

The fandom. Ughhh, my second biggest issue. The way the “top commenters” seemed to run after anyone who could show them cool powers and diss everyone else got aggravating. Their liking for characters like Khun seems more based on the fact that he’s smart and wins than who he is. The characters who show the most weakness, get the most hate–even though it’s those characters who have the most potential. Sort of wish the comment section was turned off. Still, there are occasional comments of quality. 

Bam, ofc. I don’t know why, but I don’t like Bam. I can’t like Bam. He is perfect, and yet flawed. He is heroic, and yet selfish. Most of all, he has everything–almost without any struggle to earn it. Bam undergoes suffering, but whenever he does, it seems like it doesn’t make him a better person. Fug seemed to turn Bam into a dark person. To amend that, Bam seems to hide himself in his friends, doing what they say and letting them follow him even when he knows it’s dangerous for them. 

Bam seems to have never learned the lesson of “loving someone so much, you let them go.” He could have spared so many so much danger by simply being alone, but his fear of loneliness, which was greater than his fear of death, never allowed him to learn this. 

And lastly, although Bam gained allies and saved people (also at the expense of his clever, loyal friends), his final mission seems to be for the purpose of destruction and not saving anyone. Why does he want to destroy the tower? Even though he claims power for the purpose of hurting people that hurt you–in that whole scene where he called out Rachel’s weakness by realizing why he shouldn’t rely on hurting others to advance himself–is wrong, he doesn’t seem to comprehend the extent of the danger he is. Bam never admits that he’s in the wrong. 

Also, by pursuing the power to kill Jahad, Bam knows this means taking Jahad’s place and he himself gaining the ability of “God”. Does he have a problem with this?

…

That’s all I have for now! TOG is brilliant and you MUST read it and I’d love to discuss. I hope to be an author like SIU someday, and I can’t wait to see where he goes in developing the story’s theme and conclusion of these characters. 

Have you read Tower of God/do you plan to? If so, do you have thoughts on Rachel’s future, Bam’s future, what the switch means, or what the story’s theme is? 

Stay inspired!