The Baam Zahard Theory
By BaZa
Join the BaamZahard Theory Discord Here: https://discord.gg/Pz6VczE
Final Rendition as of April 26, 2020
Edited by Axis Lereias
Hello friends. This dangerous document right here is an attempt to definitively state a long running theory in ToG fandom: The BaZa or BaamZahard theory. Now, as many of you may have guessed from my username, BaamZahard, I am a heavy proponent of this theory. While I can not say I am the first person to ever come up with the theory, I am one of its longest and loudest advocates. While lengthy, I hope you do enjoy the read, if you decide to partake in it, and, hopefully, come to see yourself as a follower of the Theory. Let’s begin.
First. What is BaZa theory? BaZa theory, at its most basic level, is the theory that Baam is the True Prince of Zahard, and the Only Son of Zahard. Wow. To a lot of you I’m sure this might feel like a pretty bold, or even outright WRONG claim to make. Isn’t Baam obviously the son of V? He doesn’t even look like Zahard! And; how dare this be another Star Wars “I am your father” cliche! I understand that reaction. This theory will painstakingly address these points and more, bit by bit in time. I promise. Except for the emotional Star Wars point. I’m sorry the story isn’t conforming to your tastes. It will be okay.
Second, in my years of experience in talking about and teaching this theory, I have found that the best results for the reader/learner comes in a dialogue. While this document will attempt to replicate the feel of a dialogue, it is, by its very nature one sided. So, what I recommend most of all is to stop reading right now and to go to the discord I have linked above and to talk to me or one of the other main followers of BaZa theory, so you can have the best and most natural learning experience.
Thirdly, this is not the Theory of Everything. It does not attempt to definitively explain every little detail and secret of ToG. It doesn’t even attempt to definitively provide an explanation for every tangentially related detail to the BaZa theory. It only works on what we can know or reasonably conclude, as well as giving possibilities for the important things we cannot know or reasonably conclude.
For those of you who have bravely decided to press on, let me take a moment to talk more about how this theory is going to be structured. I’m going to go through the theories points Major and Minor; in a way chronological to the series, followed by a final miscellaneous section at the end. This means that a lot of your immediate questions won't be immediately answered. I ask for your patience and understanding, as I will try to replicate the origins of the theory. Thank you again.
This theory has existed in some way shape or form since at least when Baam’s cave was revealed to have the symbol of Zahard, The Three Red Eyes, on its walls, along with another symbol that looks like a cross with two balls spiraling around it. At one point in time it was the or one of the predominant theories on Baams origins, but, obviously, since Garams story that has all changed. There was also the vitally important and crucial line from Zahard’s Ranker profile, which you can find sourced on the wiki. The line is: “Of course, more and more people are anticipating Zahard's 'only son' who is to be born someday.” I’ll be referencing this line a lot, but I think you can tell how when this and the red eyes on Baam’s cave was all we had to work with, it helped springboard this theory in the dark days of season 1.
With a few exceptions it has been mostly dropped from serious ToG discussion. Until now. I have never stopped believing the theory, and although at one point immediately after Garams story, I thought it was on life support, I now believe it to be stronger than ever. So with that background lets carry on to the first Core of the Theory.
Early S2 was a very frustrating exercise for BaZa theory. At the time, S2 was revealed to be called “The Return of the Prince”, which didn't really make sense for reasons we will get into later. In addition Repellista seemed to be making some very suspicious allusions to Baam being A/The Prince without any information as to what that is. All that plus Ja Wangnan’s name, being literally translated to “I am Prince”, it was all very annoying and vague. This all changes at the end of the workshop battle, in Season 2 Ep. 107, where Gustang is asked a question that changed everything.
As a refresher, Gustang and a character who we do not definitively know the identity of(who I will refer to from now on as Character X), are talking about the events we just saw being partaken in the workshop battle and discussing the aftermath. This is when Character X asks Gustang the question. I will repeat it word for word from the official translation, and then break it down piece by piece.
Character X asks “I have a question. And you have to answer it this time. Who… Is the ‘Real’ Zahard’s Prince? To take the Tower’s Last Test?”
Gustang replies, as the panels cut to baam and his friends. “You’re… too impatient. Let’s watch a little bit longer. Their adventure… has just begun” And the chapter finished with a final shot cutting to Ja Wangnan.
Pretty crazy stuff, right? It’s important to note that whether you believe in my theory or not, this core must absolutely be addressed by the story. It is a vital question and concept. Finally, I’d like to add that I have seen some alternative translations out there both by groups other than Line, and by people I know and trust who speak Korean who have given some alternative readings of the question Gustang is being asked. So, just so you have all the information, another common way of reading that line in English is “ Who is the True Prince of Zahard? The one destined to clear the tower's final test?” So you’ll see me use language from both kinds of translations pretty intermittently, but there’s not a very substantive difference between the two in my estimation.
Onto the breakdown. The first important thing to note is that Character tells Gustang that he has to answer This time. This implies that Character X has asked Gustang this question before, and *seriously* wants an answer this time. It also implies that Character X really wants to know the answer: that it is an important and serious question to ask.
Next. Who is the Real or True Prince of Zahard? There are three very important aspects of this question. First. By asking who is the real one, it implies there is/are a false one/ones. For example, with the notable exception of Anaak, which I assume you know very well, you never hear the Princesses of Zahard being called real or fake. They are all either fake or all either real. But whichever way you see it, they are all essentially on the same level so there is no reason to make a distinction. But here a real and important distinction is made. Why? We’ll get into that. For now, just know that it exists.
Secondly, the True Prince is of Zahard. Throughout the entire story the name Zahard has only ever meant one thing. The King of the Tower Zahard. There is 0 evidence, even tangentially, or in the extended lore, or from what I know from Challenger ToG that the name Zahard has any meaning beyond the individual who is the currnet King of the Tower. There is no evidence to suggest or hint that it is just a title. There is no evidence to suggest or hint that it has another meaning outside of the tower. There is no evidence to suggest or hint that Zahard had a brother. For over 10 years in every functional area Zahard has always meant one thing and one thing only. Zahard. And his princes and princesses.
Finally. Whoever this True Prince is, Character X says that this person is destined to clear/take the tower's final test. Wow. That explains why Character X is so interested in finding out who it is. I mean, seriously. This is big news. Someone out there will be the one to take and clear the Towers final test. And Gustang knows who this person is, but won’t reveal it. This is what the story is all about, the core concept for Tower of God. Everything you desire is at the Top. And now we know who will be the one to make it there. The True Prince of Zahard.
Now by the manhwa cutting to first Baam and then Wangnan, it presents us two major and real candidates. Especially in consideration of everything that just happened in the workshop battle. Wangnan came back from literal death, and Baam got the Thorn and overwhelmed the anti-Baam faction of FuG’s dastardly plot against him. Truly two miraculous events, and between that context and the panel cuts it is clear this is what prompted Character X’s question now. So, let’s get into the candidacy of these two major candidates in depth.
Let’s think about this from Character X’s position. The dude just saw the Workshop Battle go down. Since we don’t know exactly what he knows about Wangnan and Baam beyond what he just saw, we will just work off that. From his/the manhwa’s perspective, he has these two candidates for the True Prince. And he’s trying to figure out which one is legit. So why is Wangnan a candidate to him based off what he’s seen?
...And that’s it. Wangnan doesn’t show any real battle skills. You could argue that he shows some guts as well, but, that’s not very relevant. The fact is that Wangnan’s candidacy if you are to look at it on its substance is quite, quite, weak. However. It just means that people can fall for looks just that easily. Superficiality… to a Character X who we take it does not know the deeper details at work here, it can be quite a convincing argument. And to be fair, from his perspective, there’s not too much reason to think Wangnan couldn’t be the True Prince, besides his lacking at the moment ability.
But we the readers have more information to know better. So let’s look into the cons of Wangnans case. For a start we know that Wangnan has been called the ‘Prince of the Red Light District’ by Hwaryun. A Red Light District, quite frankly, means a whorehouse district. This is what it was meant in the original Korean. That is what it means in English. So what is being said is that Wangnan is a whorehouse Prince/child. This implies very strongly that he is a bastard child or illegitimate. Remember that we are looking for a True and Real Prince and trying to filter out the false one(s). Calling someone an illegitimate, bastard Prince seems to be quite the opposite of a True one.
Next, we know that Wangnan has at least one brother (And please save your Karaka=girl theories for someone who was born yesterday) in Karaka. It has also been theorized many that this “Captain” guy is another brother/prince of the Red Light District. Anecdotally, this would make sense. Three rings. Three brothers. Three eyes of Zahard. However, let’s stick on the facts of Karaka and Wangnan being brothers. Just the fact that they are brothers would make it pretty impossible for either of them to be a True and Real Prince. After all what would qualify one brother but disqualify the other? Their lineage should be the same. Now one of them might be considered the Crown prince, being the elder or eldest, but it's not like the non-crown prince is any less of a True Prince. And the last thing on this note is that Hwaryun says that Wangnan is the greatest mistake that Zahard and the 10 families ever made. This implies an artificality or forced nature of Wangnans birth. And it didn’t go well at all.
The last angle I want to tackle Wangnans candidacy is a very simple one. If I were to ask you... Of all the people in the series, if you had to pick one who would reach the actual top of the Tower, who would it be? I’m certain that almost, if not all of you reading would instantly pick Baam, with maybe, just maybe, a few of you being mavericks and picking Rachel. Why would one immediately go to either of these two picks? Because, obviously, they are the protagonists of the story Tower of God, which has a core conceit of climbing to the top of the tower to achieve your desires. You could say that this whole story is built for the purpose of seeing who goes and what happens at the top of the Tower. So, of course it would be our two Protagonists, Baam and Rachel, or at least one of them, who will actually reach the top. A story is fundamentally the telling of the Protagonist(s), after all. And, of course, if you had to pick between the two of them, you’d pick the one who seems to be the main protagonist, and just as importantly, the one with the actual power and drive to see the journey through. Baam. Wangnan on the other hand… he’s not nearly strong enough. Looking at it objectively, the dude is extremely, extremely, weak, in the scale of the tower, despite his seemingly long life in the tower. The dude is a tapped out well.
And the final nail is this. To take and pass this Towers Final Test, one is going to have to be an Irregular. That’s the only kind of being in this Tower with the Authority to even challenge the test. Now, obviously, we know from the floor of the test that people who aren’t Irregulars can latch onto Irregulars and take the test with them. However, at that point, what even is the reason for the prophecy? What even is the reason to try and figure out who is a Real or False prince? Why even care about princes at all? Anyone and everyone in the Tower can just hop on Baam’s big ‘ole back and say they took the test. Except the prophecy does obviously have meaning. Except the prophecy is actually trying to figure out the True and Real one, because that is the one who is actually going to do it. Because it is important. Gustang and Character X certainly seem to think so. And it is ludicrous in my mind to think otherwise. So. The True Prince of Zahard who is to take/clear the Towers Final Test, must be an Irregular. Wangnan is not that.
Now let us look at Baams candidacy. He’s an Irregular. So that’s a check. He’s the protagonist, so he’s very, very, very(to put it lightly), likely to reach the top of the Tower. That’s a check. He has the potential to actually become strong enough to do that himself. That’s a check. From everything we just saw in the Workshop Battle, his actions and the fate/luck that seemed to surround Baam during it, if you had to neutrally pick just who has a super important prophecy about them, again, I’m sure you’d think it was Baam. That’s a check. Baam is the son of Arlene, a natural birth. There is no theory or implication that Baam is an artificial creation like Wangnan is. In addition, Arlene would be Zahards choice for a wife. A lot of legitimacy there, even in only Zahard’s twisted logic. Check, check, and triple check.
Okay, so if Baam has such a compelling case, why didn’t Character X hop all over him? Well, we have to consider that Character X doesn’t know that Baam is an Irregular here. We also have to consider that even if Character X does think he’s an Irregular, he doesn’t necessarily rule out that Wangnan or other False Princes *might* be an Irregular as well. And then, of course, at a glance, Baam doesn’t look like Zahard. So even though Baams substantive case is much better, just like many of you out there who are screaming at your screens that ‘Baam isn’t even blonde!’, Character X could be deceived or find it hard to believe that Zahard’s True Prince could look so dissimilar to himself. Very plausible for a matter of confusion, but rather than with Wangnan where the things presented eliminate him in a substantive, real way, the strikes against Baam are much more just about the lies, assumptions, and stories we tell ourselves. To put it another way, there is nothing actually preventing Baam from being the True Prince of Zahard based off what we know so far, while with Wangnan there does seem to be myriad reasons why he actually could not be the True Prince.
So before I go into the famous Arlene’s story from Garam in the FoD, let me go over in detail the frustration and biggest problem that the BaZa theory used to have. That was that S2 was referred to as the ‘Return of the Prince’. By the time Wangnan and Baam’s candidacy is revealed this was the biggest knot in the theory. The problem is that whoever the True/Real Prince of Zahard is, whoever this “Prince” is that the manhwa on the meta level with its title and on a story level with the references from Repllista, had to have somehow returned.
To be honest, this was at one point the biggest feather in Wangnans cap. While at the time and now we didn’t have much information at all of Wangnans history or background, giving a variety opportunities for him to somehow be “Returning”, we did, we thought, know that Baam came from a cave, in a different place than the Tower, and seemed to be, very definitively, not returning at all. Instead, he seemed to clearly be entering the Tower the first time as an Irregular.
So the case for Wangnan being the Prince that is returning was based off mostly that he might have been a Ranker or important member of Zahards family somehow, that was banished and is now, slowly through the story of season two, making his return to prestige. To be honest, this was a massive stretch then, and it remains a massive stretch now. Wangnan, to beat a dead horse, doesn’t seem to hold any power or importance that would suggest a huge past like that. There are no spies in the shadows keeping track of his movements. The Tower has shown honestly zero care or interest in him. Unlike Baam, Gustang never appears before Wangnan. He never tests him. For everyone in the Tower who would know or who would have an inkling of knowing, nobody ever cares about Wangnan. And it’s not like he’s hiding himself. He’s pretty out in the open and straightforward. It’s just that, nobody cares or thinks he’s special.
I want you to keep all the things we’ve talked about in mind as we move forward here. Because, whether you end up subscribing to BaZa theory or not, these are real and important story issues at hand that need to be solved. If Baam is not the True Prince, then, who is? Why? How? This is a serious question that needs an answer. Whoever the Prince is, they have to fit the Return of the Prince. How would that person do that? That also has to be answered. These things cannot just be conveniently ignored just because you don’t like my theory, because you don’t want it to be true, and because your heart is set on V. The facts exist irregardless of your or mine feelings.
And so, the frustration of the puzzle that was the Return stumped me and every other major ToG theorist out there for a long, long, time. Until, finally, the real solution was provided to us in Garam’s story of Arlene. Yes, that’s right. The very same event that a lot of you in the past or now have thought absolutely destroys my theory, that Baam is the True Prince of Zahard and his ‘Only Son’, that same event solved the biggest actual problem my theory had. Baam was born in the Tower. He died. He was taken out of the Tower. Now he’s alive again. Now. Now he has Returned. That is the story of Tower of God. The Return of the Prince. It all was finally answered in a direct, non stretchy, clearly understandable way. Praise SIU.
Before anything else, please re-read S2 Ep. 239-240
Without further ado, let’s talk about Garam’s story of Arlene, gathered from her pocket. As background information, the only reason SIU even revealed this story this early is that he was frustrated that a lot of bad fan theories were going out, and he wanted to clear the air. Therefore, you can treat everything that is presented by Garam to be the Truth. The intent is for this to be an informative story. Not a misinformative story. This binds both me the theorist and you the reader. Whether we like it or not, this is what is there.
But. Just because everything we see in the story is the Truth, that doesn’t mean that it reveals the full Truth. In fact, Garam/SIU is very open about this. Before Garam tells Baam his origin story she says this. “Just so you know… all that I can tell you now- is a very small part of the story about you. You will find out about the things that I do not tell you when you have gotten strong enough and can take responsibility for them.” Baams like ‘wtf’. And then Garam finishes with “You must be so curious to learn about yourself. But I can’t tell you any more than you can handle. If I do, it would ruin you. But don’t be too disappointed. As long as you do not get lost, you will certainly find out everything.”
This is massive. We have a confirmation here from the horse's mouth herself, that she’s holding something back. Not only is she holding something back, but whatever she is holding back, it is so huge, so game changing, that it could potentially ruin Baam boy here from her perspective. Not only could it ruin him if he were to learn too soon, but it’s also something that will be natural for him to learn. So it is both something obvious and something dangerous for him to know now. Remember that Garam’s whole goal here is for Zahard and his corruption to be overthrown. She’s very much FuG affiliated in that they share the same dream to take him down from his Throne. Same with Gustang, and ostensibly Headon as well on that point. So whatever this secret is; that it would ruin Baam relates to that wish she is placing on his lap. It would be a secret that would interfere with his ability to kill the King, his ability to handle that.
And whatever the secret it is, it has to be a massive humdinger, because, remember, in this story she is literally telling Baam that he is a resurrected corpse, that she’s not even sure she can call him exactly the Son of Arlene, since he is reborn. You’re telling a dude he’s a corpse baby that may not even be the original soul in the body, so perhaps, a thief corpse baby, and yet somehow there’s a secret out there that’s worse than that, that he can’t handle? Well. That’s got to be one hell of a secret. The secret that fits these conditions is that Baam is actually the son of Zahard and to learn about it now would, or from Garam’s perspective potentially could, change how Baam handles his eventual fight against Zahard. She says he has to become strong enough to take responsibility for it. This could mean that he isn’t strong enough to contain the rage that would set him in, that he would push to fight Zahard too soon and that would ruin him. It could also mean the opposite, that he’d become ruined because he wouldn’t find it in him to kill his own Father, being an orphan, despite Zahard’s crimes. He wouldn be too mentally/emotionally weak to finish that kind of fight if he learned about it now. BaZa theory does not answer everything as I said. This is one of those things that it is impossible to answer definitively. But it’s clear whichever which way it goes, the secret, that relates to Baams origin, is just that serious.
If you’ve read through the story again like I asked, you may have already noticed that, curiously, not once does Garam call Baam the son of V or talk about Baam as the V’s son, or even mention a single feeling that V had for Baam. This is highly unusual. Not even in V’s suicide note, where he’s writing to Arlene telling her to go back to their friends, and it is said that he killed himself only because he couldn’t bear to see Arlene to go crazy, with no mention to Baam or “their child” at all, does V show an ounce of concern or relation to Baam. It is left intentionally blank, to be filled in by the reader that because Arlene ran off with V, the child must be his. And the look of V’s character design seems to finish that nail into the hearts and minds of the reader. And that's why it's the greatest trick SIU has ever pulled. Without stating anything. Without confirming anything. Without making anything definitive. He makes the reader believe that he actually did all of those things. Naturally, with their own idea, with their own ‘Inception’, to steal from Christopher Nolan. And that’s how you craft an effective plot twist.
So let’s get into the meat of it now. How can Baam be Zahard’s son? Didn’t Arlene love V? Didn’t she reject Zahard’s proposal? First, we know that the whole story is not being told. We know there are panels missing, essentially. So I will say this. When is a story ever this simple and one sided in Tower of God? Are you really so naive as to believe that Arlene has to be a saint? That just because she came to love V that she never had sex with anyone else? Can you really claim that to be impossible, off just one story, where said lady ends up going insane, and otherwise we have no idea what she was like?
And on the other end of the spectrum, are you really confident that Zahard could not have raped Arlene? We already know that Zahard went so far as to track down and kill her child out of jealousy and rage. Rape is an act of control, and Arlene, his true love, became defiant. Him committing that heinous act can not in any way shape or form be excluded as a possibility. And with the story of Angel, we already know that SIU is comfortable in directly addressing rape in Tower of God. Yes. Tower of God may be part shonen, but as readers we should not get complacent in its portrayal of adult, seinen themes. SIU, historically, loves to muddle the ethical waters of classical shonen right and wrong. This would very much play into that, whether Arlene consented to a sexual relation to Zahard or not.
It is finally appropriate to talk about Baams looks and supposed lack of shared traits with Zahard, a common refrain for people who don’t subscribe to the theory. The first thing people say is that Baam looks like V. Well, first, we only see V from his back pretty much. Secondly, V looks 1000x more like Hatz than Baam if you ask me. Secondly, people forget that Arlene also has brown hair, and that Baam could very well take after her, regardless of who the Father is. The counterargument to that position is that in the Tower the stronger blood typically wins out, all Khun’s have blue or blueish hair, etc. And yes, while Zahard is almost certainly the strongest fighter in the Tower, of the Family Heads anyways, “strength” for blood is a vague term that doesn’t necessarily have to mean fighting power. Personally, I think it fits much better thematically for the strength of blood to mean that persons/bloodlines relation to Fate. So it’s not that the Family Heads who have children with regulars are stronger as fighters that makes their traits get passed on, although that is indeed the case... it’s that as Irregulars, they are much more in line with and beloved by Fate, than a regular. In this line of thinking, while Zahard might be the better fighter, as he has fallen to false hoods, and Arlene and her Child have the Fate of replacing that falsehood with Truth, her Fate and blood would be the “stronger” of the two, and therefore Baam would look like a male her, rather than Zahard.
There’s also the line where Baam’s shinsoo tension gets compared to V’s by Data Khun. People also use this to signify that Baam must be V’s son. Do you all remember on the floor of test where Baam learns how to use shinsoo from Ren, the rice ball, instantly? He naturally takes to Shinsoo, without even really having to try or think about it. It just comes to him like it was always waiting for him. Does this mean that Baam is related to Eurasia? The Family Head who is so beloved by shinsoo, so naturally, that she can’t even explain her talent and control, much to the chagrin of Gustang? I mean Baam being the son of Eurasia was once a somewhat popular theory just based off how they both seem to control shinsoo like that, before Arlene was revealed to be Baams mother. What I mean by this anecdote is that Baam is, absolutely, in an OP way, supremely beloved by shinsoo in a wide variety of characteristics and ways that at one point seemed unique to others. He’s a jack-of-all-trades wave controller who just so happens to be a master of them all(or will be eventually). Baam having a talent in an area of Shinsoo that lines up with one of the family heads who were before then thought to be the leaders of that trait or expertise is not something new or unusual for Baam. He now has multiple cases of that being such.
My final point on all of this is my least favorite, but perhaps the strongest point. Baam is a corpse baby. Whoever this current Baam is, besides his body being the fuel or origin for current Baam, we have no idea what powers or spells the Outside God could have put on Baam. For all we know original Baam would have had blonde hair, and Outside God made it brown. For all we know, the original Baam’s soul would have felt immediately to all those involved to be much too similar to Zahards, and so Outside God messed with it. This could all be done to protect Baam, so he can grow to kill Zahard, or it could all be done because Outside God hates Zahard so much that even he doesn’t want to be overly reminded even as he uses his own son against Zahard to kill him. SIU can write this however he wants, and I’m sure whatever the actual case behind the discrepancy of looks is, it is far beyond my imagination to conceive. That’s why he’s the author and I am the peasant. I just implore you all again, don’t get caught up in the superficialities, when what SIU is telling us through prophecy, fate, and hard connections exist, by the trick of your own ‘inceptions’ and subjective preferences or first takes.
Also this argument that Baam doesn’t look like Zahard and thus can’t be his son is somewhat ironic to me. The same people who tend to make this argument, when presented with the Fact that the True Prince of Zahard must be the one to take the Towers Final test, admitting that that person is almost assuredly Baam, try to claim that V is really Zahard’s brother, and that V. Zahard shoulda been the King originally. I’ve mentioned before how this has zero substance in the manhwa, but, do those people realize that V, also, looks nothing like Zahard? Is there not a limit to having your cake and eating it too, just to argue against a theory that you don’t want to accept? These are the questions I’m never sure I’ll have answered…
Let’s summarize this whole story real quick, just to make it easily digestible. There is a secret involving Baam’s origin that would ruin him. Nowhere in Garam’s story is V mentioned to be a father, and nowhere in the story does V, a supposed nice guy who woulda been thought to be the King if anyone, of the Family Heads, act like a father. Nothing directly precludes Baam from being the Son of Zahard. Every superficiality that people claim to be a problem for Baam to be Zahard’s son can easily be addressed by SIU in a variety of ways. This story helped solve my theory's biggest problem, the Return of the Prince, and created no real problems, while, amazingly, served as an effective setup for a twist to release the shock of the secret later. I say this a lot, but not enough. SIU is a genius and ToG is a masterpiece. Arlene’s story was truly a great and pivotal moment in the series and for BaZa theory as a whole. And yet, this is not my second core. This is just supporting evidence.
Before going further, I recommend reading the wiki up on Gustang, Eurasia Blossom, and Eurasia Enne Zahard, if you haven’t already, so that the things I reference at times here don’t just sound like fan fiction. Because I’m going to act like you know the background lore of these people and go from there, rather than debate whether it is still valid anymore, or what have you. If you want to make the argument that none of the old lore is necessarily true anymore, then, I agree, but it also isn’t necessarily false, and as we know in the story that Enne Zahard is real, I’m going to take it that the surrounding info on her is real as well.
Great so now that everyone is on the same page, go read Season 2, Ep. 258. In it Baam meets up with Gustang who appears after the main events of the FoD to “test” Baam to see if he really is the one to gather the Thorn, if he really is the savior Arlene talked about. Baam asks Gustang if he knew his mother, and Gustang happily talks about Arlene who got along well with everyone. But then, Baam asks Gustang about his father. Gustang immediately clams up. “I won’t talk about your father.” Gustang says. “He was the absolute worst person that I’ve ever met.”
Baam’s obviously confused by this. He asks again, “T...the worst person? What do you mean…?”
Gustangs final note on this subject, “...Well you’ll find out eventually. Anyway-”
Not only is the language in that last line particularly evocative of Garam’s reference that the secret of Baams origin will be something he figures out eventually, but the most important thing is that whoever Baams father is, who Gustang specifically does not mention by the way, he’s the worst person Gustang has ever met. Let me build the case for why this has to be Zahard.
Yeah folks, in one fell swoop, Zahard broke Gustang’s raison d'etre, his daughter, and his lover/wife. But don’t worry. I’m sure this guy V must have bullied Gustang a lot when they were climbing. Called him a nerd and a four eyes. Maybe gave him some swirlies and such. It’s clear that Gustang would have every reason to hate V more. Insert sarcastic eye roll here.
As that is clearly not the case, and there’s no substantive conceivable reason that could exist for why V, someone who Data Eduan paints as the natural leader of the FH’s and a good guy, could somehow be worse than Zahard, that brings us to the next question. Why would Gustang possibly choose to side with Zahard in the ancient war?
Remember first that the princess system came out of the aftermath of the war of Genesis in Tower of God. So the events where Zahard had absolutely fucked over Gustang hadn’t happened yet. Also the existence and creation of the princess system by Gustang himself, to produce a heir, implies that while he was aware of the True Prince and Only Son of Zahard that was to be born some day, that would clear the Towers Final Test, he was not yet aware of the origin and meaning behind Baam. At that point in time, he too must have been tricked into thinking Baam was not Zahard’s son. Because otherwise he wouldn’t risk the war and the death of Baam in the first place. Nor would he be so desperate in the years to come to create a child/heir/prince of Zahard. But now, on the FoD, Baam, not Wangnan, is the person Gustang is testing. The person he believes is important, with the destiny to lead the Tower higher. So, he knows now.
But back then, he didn’t know that Zahard had already fathered a child. And so to go to war against Zahard, whose Only Son and True Prince is the one destined to clear the Towers final test, would be to go against his raison d'etre. He had no choice but to make sure that Zahard won the war, so that he could later father the son who would fulfill his dream. And that explains why, now that he’s gotten all the real information, figured out who the True Prince is, and been screwed over by Zahard with the princess system, he’s siding with FuG and Baam in rebellion against Zahard. FuG. The same organization that he once went to war against, is now his firmest ally. The times, they are-a changin’.
The cores of my theories are called cores, because they speak of a truth and a problem that must be answered regardless of whether you subscribe to my theory or not. The True Prince of Zahard is the first core. It must be answered. And how anyone but Zahard could be the absolute worst person Gustang has ever met considering everything Zahard has done to him and Gustangs current loyalties and core character motivations… Well. I wouldn’t envy the person trying to argue for that to be the case. Substantive stuff like that is infinitely more difficult than something like a hair color. The story continues to shy away from naming V as Baam’s father. Yet it continues to make you lead yourself to believe that. Why does it do that? How does it do that? Garam’s story openly admits a secret and twist awaits. But the breadcrumbs are already very much here. You just have to be brave enough to connect the dots, and put aside any sensibilities about whether you like it or not. Let SIU write the story. I promise you whatever he decides, he’s going to write it in a way to satisfy and surprise the vast, vast, majority of us. He has over ten years now of experience and proof of doing just that. This theory at least, it can get you ahead of the curve in the surprise.
I’d like to take a little moment here and talk about the murder of Baam, as I’m sure that is a point of consternation for a lot of you all. I would like to preface this by saying that, there are a lot of ways SIU can address this, and he can write it in an effective and emotional manner whichever route he chooses. There is not much evidence here to suggest one theory over the other, if Zahard is Baam’s father. But it can go one of two general ways.
The first is that Zahard did know that Baam is his son. I personally don’t think this to be probable but it is possible. So then why would he kill the Son of Arlene and him when Arlene is the one he loved so much? Well. What made him go to war with her in the first place? To prevent the Tower from moving up. So whatever reason makes him prevent the Tower from going up, it is strong enough to have him go into a brutal war with the woman he loves. In short, it's something he values more than her, and not, seemingly, by a small margin. All it would take then is for him to know that it is his True Son/Prince that would be the one to clear the Towers final test, to have him go out and kill Baam. It’s also possible that he knew that his True Son/Prince would be the one to take the Thorn and cut his throat. So it could be like a Zeus angle where he’s trying to prevent his own death by prophecy. These are just two ideas for it, if he did know. I’m sure there are a lot of other possibilities to consider based off knowledge we do not yet possess or that people much smarter than me will think of.
The second is that Zahard did not know that Baam is his son. And some of you must wonder, well, how could that possibly be the case? We know that Zahard’s seed/blood is too strong for anyone to have given birth to his child. It is alluded to have killed women in the past. Essentially, he is proclaimed to be infertile. Now, the princess system is created with the hope that it’ll make a woman strong enough to bear Zahard’s children, but, I doubt it’s a firm fact that that would work. It seems to be more like Gustangs best guess/hope, since there are no known cases (outside of potenitally Baam here of course) where a natural birth from Zahard’s blood did work. And I doubt Zahard has had much if any experience trying to impregnate other irregular women to see if he/they could actually do it. He seems to only have had eyes for Arlene. Thus, I want you to think of it as possibly going this way. For all intents and purposes, Zahard believes himself to be an infertile male. Now, let's say he has sex with Arlene. Great. But then Arlene runs off with another man after rejecting him. Now, Arlene is pregnant. Now, Arlene has a healthy, natural, birth. If you were infertile and somehow, in fact, your seed miraculously bore fruit, your first assumption there would not be that it is yours. In fact I highly doubt it would cross your mind in normal circumstances… but in Zahard’s case he was in a state of rage and jealousy, so he wasn’t thinking straight. Put all this together, and just like how Baam’s birth tricked us, it’s very plausible in my mind that it could trick Zahard. Whether he still doesn’t know… well. I go different ways on that, depending on the day.
I hate to say it so simply and refrain, but, I implore you, dear reader, to work from the hard facts and prophecies and work backwards from there, and don’t discount things you don’t want to be true, because you don’t like or can’t think of how SIU could do it properly or to your liking, at the expense of those hard facts and prophecies that must be answered and, clearly, to me, are. Also, forgive the run on sentence. Thank you.
But wait! Some of you may have been screaming at your screen for the umpteenth time by now. Doesn’t Data Eduan call Baam the “Son of V”? Yes. Yes he does. Putting aside the known and open fact that all the data on the data floor are known to be tampered with by Zahard and are inherently untrustworthy, Data Eduan himself admits that he only has the knowledge of his real self up unto the Revolution inside the Hell Train. So everything that happens after, everything with V and Arlene, and the War, and how/why the adventurer Zahard changed.... Eduan doesn’t know shit about all of that. So why does he call him the “Son of V?” if he doesn’t know?
Because Data Eduan was told by Data Yu Han Sung, who, likewise, wasn’t there for it, and likewise, doesn’t know shit. In fact, as many of you noticed, Data YHS, and the YHS we see in the flashbacks with Evnankhell, is a thousand times more bright and full of shonen justice than the YHS we know now. The YHS we know now is jaded, dark, and quite honestly seems to be quite a bit spiteful towards Baam, especially in S1/early S2. So let’s get a few things out of the way. YHS is a part of FuG. If Baam is the Son of Zahard as I say he is, then this is the biggest secret of FuG. Not only does it go against to some degree that mythical story of purity and justice against the evil regime of Zahard that FuG is somewhat pushing, especially in regards to its founders, but a LOT of people in FuG are fanatical haters of Zahard, his blood, and the ten families. Luslec and other pro-Baam faction FuG are struggling enough as is trying to rally people around Baam. Imagine if it came out that Baam was the Son of Zahard? The anti-Baam faction would no longer be messing around. They would no longer be coming up with tests and games that they’ve tried to rigg in their favor to half legitimately remove Baam. No. They’d just kill him. A lot of them would surely try to anyways. That’s a problem. And on the other end of the spectrum, if Baam truly is the returned son of their beloved Founders V and Arlene, why not just announce him as such? Yes, I could see the argument that Luslec would want Baam to prove himself and build a power base on his own for a while now… but FuG is being led somewhat by Baam in initiating a war against Zahard. If there was ever a time for the propaganda to rally the splinter cell organization to help accomplish their long dream of killing Zahard… now would be the time to do it. Unless, of course, it would eventually come out that Baam is not actually the son of V and such propaganda, while temporarily unifying, would only serve to undo and fracture the organization at its roots in the middle of a war.
Still. The idea that Baam is the Son of V is something that Luslec could very well use to motivate and manipulate a bright eyed, naive, justice loving, young YHS. Directly or indirectly, it wouldn’t be very hard at all to get a young YHS to believe this. A young YHS believing this, for lack of a better word, lie or mistaken belief, goes in Data form to Data Eduan and tells him that there will come a child who is destined to break the Data Floor, and that child will be the Son of V. Baam. As Data Eduan is in the anti-Zahard faction in data land, this bait is perfect… although it takes a while to matriculate. Baam comes in, just like he’s destined to, which FuG also knows and has planned for, speaking again to how written out Baam’s story seems to be, and starts breaking the Data Floor. Data Eduan finally moves and even trains Baam, who he believes to be the son of V and co. Something that absolutely had to happen for Baam to win vs Data Zahard. Fantastic work Luslec/FuG. Fantastic work.
By now then, real YHS has learned the real truth. Baam is not the hero's son he thought he was, but the son of his greatest enemy. YHS was manipulated. His innocence was lost. And this is why he’s so hard on Baam, particularly in the beginning, a complete 180 from how his young self is singing the praises of the Son of V who is going to restore hope into the tower. In short, SIU uses the more unreliable, untrustworthy sources, to create an illusion of Baam being the Son of V, while everyone who actually would know the Truth, shies away from any allusion to V as Baam’s father, or outright acts under Baam being the True Prince of Zahard.
Some random notes now.
This won’t be a TL;DR. This theory is meant to be read in its entirety. So let me just thank all of you who have put in the time and work to read and understand the theory and its contents. I hope I was clear. I hope I wasn’t too pretentious. I hope it made you laugh at times. I hope whether you ended up as a true believer in BaZa theory or not, that you found a new perspective, a new lense, a new possibility for the story. I’ve been arguing and making the case for this theory for YEARS now, so I hope I covered every possible angle, but there’s a chance I may have forgotten some points or major counter arguments. I hope you’re okay with me staying out of the realm of “I don’t like cliche father/son stories” and stuff like that. While those kinds of arguments are fun, they are also impossible, and selfish. And at the same time that people say that, Star War makes a few trillion zillion dollars, so. I hope this brings a new love and appreciation for the genius of SIU. I hope the new readers come to use this as a starting point to truly thinking about ToG deeper and perhaps giving it a re-read, or two, or ten, or however many times I’ve re-read this story and been consumed by it. I hope those of you out there who have posted BaZa theory posts before aren’t upset by me going to this effort. We’re all on the same side after all. I hope some of you reading decide to join my BaZa theory discord server, to give some thanks, or even to @ me that I’m a hopeless idiot. And I hope most of all, that I am not proven to be wrong here by a twist on my own twist. That would be incredibly embarrassing of course, but I will be the first to admit the Theory is wrong, when it is actually proven to be so.
Thank you all again. BaZa singing off.
Join the BaamZahard Theory Discord Here: https://discord.gg/Pz6VczE