I keep thinking about what constitutes as forgiveness for the reapers. Being a grim reaper is supposed to be a punishment. They took their lives, and they didnāt see the value in life, so now they are forced to witness death every day.
This makes me think that this punishment canāt be about the time they spend as grim reapers or how much they rise in the organization. If there is a way out, a salvation, it has to be related to whether or not they learn that lesson; the value of life.
We see a glimpse of this in āThe Story of Will the Grim Reaperā when William gets attacked by Thomasā memories. William may regret his choice to kill himself for all we know, but until that moment we donāt see him really understand what it means to have this āwill to surviveā.
Maybe itās supposed to happen gradually, they are supposed to see the value of life in the memories of the mortals they reap but maybe feeling those memories might be another way towards their salvation as well.
Certainly William is afraid. Even after he spends possibly years in the field, he keeps repeating to himself that he shouldnāt feel, that succumbing to emotions isnāt a part of a grim reaperās job. But maybe he does so, because he isnāt ready to face the truth, because he isnāt ready to face what he felt with Thomasā memories.
And I really love that the musicalĀ āThe Most Beautiful Deathā makes a similar point. Alan catches āThe Thorns of Deathā which happens when a soul destined to die becomes vengeful and fights against the reaper (sounds familiar?)Ā
The disease affects Alanās heart, the thorns suffocating him, and it will eventually end his life as a reaper. Of course we donāt actually see Alanās death by this disease, but we know how others see him: weak, faint hearted. Alan comes of as soft, thoughtful, full of compassion and filled with love.
āWhen collecting souls, when I face the deadā¦I have always been thinkingā¦āIf only I could share their pain.ā But it was only when I became like this that I understood that sharing the pain of the death is nothing but slander!ā
Hence, catching āThe Thorns of Deathā makes the perfect anology for the end of a reapersā punishment. The moment they allow themselves to feel, to understand the will to survive, the value in a mortalās life, they can finally and truly die, relieved of their duties.
@professionalspears – Iāve had a theory quite like this since chapter 105 came out! I was going to make my own post, but then I saw yours and decided that I would instead add my thoughts here! So:
The Thorns of Death is a manner of redemption. By contracting it, a reaper has proven that they are empathetic, caring, that they know the pain of dying and know the importance of living. But, the reaper population does not know this. To them, the Thorns is merely a horrifically painful terminal illness, contracted by being, as you say, tooĀ āsoft.ā
Now, where my thoughts had gone was to the supposed cure. Why is collecting one thousand pure souls aĀ ācureā for the Thorns of Death? How would that help? But if we view the Thorns as what redemption from the life of a reaper is, it makes sense!
If one gets the Thorns from understanding death, then slaughtering pure, happy people would be the opposite. TheyĀ donāt understand life and death; thus, they are cured of the disease.
Their chance at moving on is taken away again, for they were improperly marked for redemption – and that mark of redemption is the Thorns of Death.
If all this theorizing is true, then it would make the story of Eric and Alan even more tragic than it already is, would it not?
William T. Spears. Itās so easy to write him off as a bland, one-note character. Heās that strict boss that no one actually wants to be around. He has little personality beyond being cold and demanding. Heās stiff and emotionless.
But is that true?
Ever since I started taking a deeper look at William, I canāt help but feel thereās so much more to him ā something that lurks just beneath the granite like surface. Itās something that Iāve written about in the past, and Iāve scoured every piece of the manga looking for that one little clue or hint to the truth about William. Now, Iāve decided to tackle Williamās character song, Shinigami no Kintai Kanri or Discipline of Diligence of the Death Gods. Here is one version of the English translation that I found online:
***
On Monday I reap souls.
On Tuesday I hold a meeting of the management team.
On Wednesday I summon the dispatched death gods.
On Thursday I wear a pure-white shirt.
On Friday I select a good necktie.
On Saturday I watch cinematic records.
These flawless rules must be quietly obeyed daily.
I wonāt allow even a brief hair-sized disturbance.
I discipline the foolish death gods and keep all the death records,
as the dust-free soundless library freezes solid.
After Iāve strictly finished my work, and have only loneliness to unravel,
my firmly darkly bitterly clinging memories grow low and distant.
On Monday there is a depressing rain.
On Tuesday I scold the rule-violators.
On Wednesday I kick Grell Sutcliff.
On Thursday I work overtime.
On Friday I retrieve souls.
On Saturday I hunt those demon eyesores.
I decline all the annoyingly incomplete applications,
but the piles of problems waiting for me are extremely unpleasant.
The endlessly pointless work and the stupid mistakes made by others
will disrupt the balance of the aesthetics of the glass walls and ceiling.
These unforgivable deviations, this imbalance caused by laziness,
and my schedule crumbled, ripped, torn, and soiledā¦ Iāll have to work overtime again today.
I complete the difficult tasks and restore the order of hard steel.
I embrace closely my cool-headed rationality in mistās shadow.
Iāll take down purgatoryās wall if there should ever be one,
even if I might end up losing my arms, my voice, and my nails.
That delicate clockās hands are playing music in the stillness;
if only that clock is the god governing the entirety of my heartā¦
Iāll kill lives without hesitation. Grant, weave, and praise
the balance and hope of all, in this dark world where even words glaciate,
grievously.
***
As I read through this song, and discussed it with intoātheāabyss, another image began to emerge. To me, I see a lonely struggling man thatās clinging on as best he can, but slowly losing hope and perhaps even a sense of self. Please allow me to dissect this song a bit deeper to show you what I mean. Letās start with the first part.
***
On Monday I reap souls.
On Tuesday I hold a meeting of the management team.
On Wednesday I summon the dispatched death gods.
On Thursday I wear a pure-white shirt.
On Friday I select a good necktie.
On Saturday I watch cinematic records.
These flawless rules must be quietly obeyed daily.
I wonāt allow even a brief hair-sized disturbance.
***
This is definitely someone with a plan or schedule in mind. He has everything laid out exactly as he plans to proceed, and heās paying attention to both what needs to be done as well as appearance. He has a meeting scheduled, but heās also wearing a pure white shirt and choosing a good necktie. It appears the aim is to look the part as well as perform it. He wonāt allow for any deviations. Itās also interesting to note thereās a certain purity as itās a white shirt and the rules are flawless. While this part of the song doesnāt sound particularly happy or cheerful, William does seem to have things under control.
***
I discipline the foolish death gods and keep all the death records,
as the dust-free soundless library freezes solid.
After Iāve strictly finished my work, and have only loneliness to unravel,
my firmly darkly bitterly clinging memories grow low and distant.
***
Now, thereās a bit of a transition. Initially, William was singing only about a schedule, the things he had planned to do each day ā which was strictly work. Here we see the first sad, depressing imagery. First, he has do discipline the foolish shinigami and keep all the death records. That doesnāt sound too bad, but the next three lines have a definite change in tone. The library is dust free and is freezing solid. Thatās a strange image. Why would a library freeze solid? Is it because itās a cold, emotionless place or has become frozen in time somehow? Also, while William is strictly doing his work, doing precisely what seems to be expected of him, but his only reward is loneliness. That last line is perhaps the most telling of that part. He is ābitterā memories that are growing low and distant. What memories are these? Perhaps these are his memories of being human. Since the memories are growing distant, maybe he is forgetting, or trying to forget, his own humanity.
***
On Monday there is a depressing rain.
On Tuesday I scold the rule-violators.
On Wednesday I kick Grell Sutcliff.
On Thursday I work overtime.
On Friday I retrieve souls.
On Saturday I hunt those demon eyesores.
***
At first glance, this looks to be just more of a schedule, but thereās no way that one for schedule for rain or know with certainty they are going to be scolding someone on a certain day. Also, the rain on Monday is depressing. For someone who displays so little emotion, heās using a lot of emotional adjectives. This almost reads like someone whoās still trying to schedule everything, still clinging to this order, but itās slowly slipping as there is simply things that canāt be planned. He even already knows heās going to have overtime.
***
I decline all the annoyingly incomplete applications,
but the piles of problems waiting for me are extremely unpleasant.
***
William is still a perfectionist. He wonāt accept any paperwork that isnāt done correctly, yet he knows that this is only adding more work for him. Despite him being seen as someone who doesnāt mind, he finds all of this work, in his own words, unpleasant. He could turn a blind eye and save himself some work, but he doesnāt or perhaps feels he canāt for some reason.
***
The endlessly pointless work and the stupid mistakes made by others
will disrupt the balance of the aesthetics of the glass walls and ceiling.
These unforgivable deviations, this imbalance caused by laziness,
and my schedule crumbled, ripped, torn, and soiledā¦ Iāll have to work overtime again today.
***
Williamās work is endless, but itās not his fault. Heās responsible for the mistakes and failings of others. Heās desperately trying to control something that is uncontrollable. The schedule heās work so hard to build up and maintain has been destroyed. At the same time, the second line might paint a slightly different picture as he talks of glass walls and ceiling. Is William saying that heās living in a āglass house?ā Is he blaming others for mistakes he sees in himself? He talks about an imbalance caused by laziness. Does he consider himself lazy? Despite him saying that these problems are caused by mistakes made my others, perhaps heās blaming himself and taking more personal ownership of the mistakes then heās openly admitting.
Thereās also the possibility that these glass walls represent walls or a shield that William has built around himself. Although heās trying to protect himself, the walls are still very breakable and, being glass, cause William to feel that heās exposed. Heās put up a front that he has no feelings, yet some of the lyrics of this song shows that he does and can feel. Perhaps William is afraid that others are aware he isnāt as cold as he tries to portray.
***
I complete the difficult tasks and restore the order of hard steel.
I embrace closely my cool-headed rationality in mistās shadow.
Iāll take down purgatoryās wall if there should ever be one,
even if I might end up losing my arms, my voice, and my nails.
***
Although he feels that he canāt get ahead because of the endless paperwork, heās determined to push ahead. Itās all about order for William. Heās stuck in all this chaos, and heās determined to order. Heās rational even if the world around him as unsubstantial as mist. Even if destroys him, heās going to move forward.
The line about purgatory is also of interest to me. When I first read the line, I thought William was basically saying heād take on even Hell in order to succeed. However, being a shinigami, a human who has died but is now being punished in a sort of limbo, actually fits the idea of purgatory. Maybe William isnāt saying heāll take on Hell, but heāll face this existence and heās going to keep pushing forward in hopes of an escape, even if it destroys his body.
***
That delicate clockās hands are playing music in the stillness;
if only that clock is the god governing the entirety of my heartā¦
Iāll kill lives without hesitation. Grant, weave, and praise
the balance and hope of all, in this dark world where even words glaciate,
grievously.
***
Time is the major image in this final part. The clock is music, but it doesnāt govern his heart. (And thereās a part about his heart and emotions again.) At the same time, in this dark world ever words āglaciate.ā We have the movement of time, yet even the words are frozen. While the two ideas seem contradictory, it makes sense that William is very aware of time as heās counting down his āsentence.ā He likes to hear the ticking of the clock and to know that time as passing, yet in this dark world time seems endless ā or frozen. Still, William is determined. Heāll kill without hesitation, or so he says. Heās willing to do whatever ā grant, weave, or praise.
This is my analysis of Williamās character song. I see a man whoās trapped. Heās been an impossible job of trying to bring order to chaos, but heās trying. Heās sealed up emotions, but he still has feelings. Heās isolated and alone ā as frozen up emotionally as the realm is frozen in time. Despite all this, heās determined and heāll keep trying.
This completely says everything about him. Iāve thought some of these things for quite awhile, but I hadnāt even heard of this song. He truly does sound pained and trapped.:(
š„ There is beauty in destructionš„ 