25th Bam - Blog Posts
very sad to consider that bam being “human” might be a debatable fact itself considering his origins. he’s always chasing after being “human” thinking he’s at least partially one, but maybe there isn’t a single human thing about him but the shape of his body
“arlene’s child” was human, bam however is the outcome of arlene’s wish to a god to seek vengeance on jahad. he wasn’t born with the intention of living a human life like “arlene’s child” was, rather he was made and crafted to be a weapon to carry out someone else’s wishes
bam was not given the luxury of being oblivious to his plight. his desire for companionship grants him awareness to it. if he didn’t have this desirein the first place, he wouldn’t have to feel discomfort about being “different”. he wouldn’t have the excruciating need to be with people. and, by extension, he wouldn’t have the desire to be “human”.
but unfortunately, out of all human traits he could’ve inherited, it had to be the one that continuously rejects his origins and his true nature as a monster. but that sort of stubbornness is the most human you could get. so who knows
latest addition to bam’s compilation of never understanding how fuckin Insane the people he deals with are
That fateful moment when Baam learned his first technique via being hit with it. We stan.
Berserker Baam | Will he unleash all of his powers to avenge his companions? Will we finally see a dark side of him now that he lost his best friends?
Devil whispers:
White: I want to see you be corrupted. It’s time to kill.
Angel whispers:
Khun: Get a grip. Don’t lose yourself, Baam. Everything’s going to be okay…
[TW: infanticide, suicide, mental instability]
I think one of the things that screw me up about Arlene Grace is what Rachel said to Baam about how he's not meant to be a hero, but a monster who will 'devour' everything. I know Rachel lies (as does almost every character in Tower of God, hahaha), however I don't think she's lying about Baam in this case.
Garam specifically told Baam that yes, Arlene was the one who 'brought him to this world', which I personally think refers to the Tower. She also explicitly tells him to never think of her as his mother, which if he is indeed the revived son of Arlene and V, is a very strange thing to say regardless of whatever is inhabiting it because the body that this Outside god (whether it is an artificial soul, or the Outside god themselves) is using is the body of Arlene and V's son.
I'm not defending the murder of a baby here, but I doubt that Zahard's main motivation for killing baby Baam is purely jealousy and rage over Arlene having a child with V. Because the thing is, Zahard let them live after the war. He let them get away, which is a pretty weird thing to do from a political standpoint.
When he finally did pursue them, it was to kill Baam. We don't know how he killed Baam, by that we don't know if there was an altercation between these three people (Arlene and V versus Zahard). But we do know whatever that this confrontation ended up with baby Baam dead and it seems like as soon as he killed Baam, Zahard basically yeeted and left Arlene and V alone. I think Baam's murder was a preventive measure, a 'if I let this kid grow strong and reach his full potential, he might just kill me' sort of situation.
Zahard seems to be a very reactive instead of active sort of ruler, he only really moves until he sees something threatening. He tries to kill Baam when he meets him again on the Hidden Floor, but even that is a pretty half-hearted attempt and he let Baam get away. He also says that he doesn't really understand what Baam is, and it seems like he wants to know what the heck Baam is before he kills him. I think that's obvious from the way he gives Traumerei free reign on what to do with Baam and how he let the other Great Warriors discuss what to do with Baam, and didn't immediately agree with Gustang's suggestion of another round of child murder.
I think everything in Arlene's diary needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, because it's definitely a biased point of view. Arlene strikes me as a pretty stubborn person, I mean she wanted to continue climbing and was willing to go to war with her former friends because they wanted to settle down instead (I do realise that it was probably a lot more complicated than that, but I'm working with the information we currently have). She also founded an organisation dedicated to killing them that still continues to this day. Alongside that, people from FUG consider places sacred because Arlene stayed there which is quite reminiscent to the way the 10 Great Families react to their Family Heads.
The circumstances surrounding V's death were also rather odd. Arlene was said to be mentally unstable by this point, she also tried to commit suicide several times but couldn't because of the immortality contract. Yet V is able to kill himself because 'he didn't make the immortality contract', we don't know enough about this contract to be able to define the limitations but we do know that Irregulars are able to bypass contracts. Coincidentally, Zahard and co are all Irregulars, so them being able to kill each other is a possibility.
Baam has a lot of 'messiah' symbolism attached to his character. Born on the 25th night, which I, like a lot of people think, is an allusion to Christmas. His weapons being the Thorn, like the crown of thorns. Baam being killed and then resurrected. Garam has omitted a crucial part of Arlene's tale, a part which she thinks will make Baam hate her for not telling him in the first place. Rachel is bitter and jealous, that's for sure, but I am inclined to believe her when she says to Baam that he is not meant to be the hero most people think he is. Arlene's intention to kill Zahard is made perfectly clear and Baam acknowledges that. I think Arlene's true end-goal is the very thing that Garam omitted, and it is most likely something heinous. And Baam will most likely be the one to commit the act.
Edwan is trying to process that V's son is low key flirting with his, let him be
you get something very interesting when you tie together bam’s terrifying, god-like existence and his desire to be “human” or to “belong”
he faces this dilemma of being called/deemed a “human” for a long time but the more he begins to exist outside of the cave and meet more people and realize what’s “normal” the more he realizes he’s way too different from everyone else to really “belong” with them
it’s an isolating feeling but it gets even worse when his connection to his humanity grows even thinner due to FUG’s influence on him and attempts to make him their god. people around him start to fear him or revere him– they no longer see him as human but as a natural disaster
characters like these usually wholeheartedly accept the concept of being a monster and go on w/ their lives accepting they’ll never be human but bam’s different cuz his desire to “belong” and “be with his friends” stands above all else and this involves being a human and not god but it’s super hard to do this considering his reputation. his very being is considered abnormal and branded as irregular in the tower– he will NEVER be normal or “human” in the eyes of so many people in the tower and bam’s gotten so close to thinking the same
but khun does his best to keep bam grounded. he recognizes bam as both an incredibly powerful individual, and also doubtlessly human in how he thinks, desires and feels. he might be god-like in terms of strength but he has the emotional limits of a human. khun never lets that go and whereas other people easily disregard’s bam’s feelings for the sake of using him for a certain goal, khun always tries to be considerate of bam and treat him as an individual rather than a glorified war machine
anyways i think ideally bam should accept the fact he is definitely, in some ways, a monster, but he also definitely has a human side to him that he can’t ignore or else he’ll break entirely
Day 4: AU/Free Day
They deserve at least one day of rest after all that’s been happening
It hurts me to see Bam, such a kind person, filled with so much hate and anger towards someone. Even if that someone is White.
i’m not lateeEeEeEee! i do not know about the others, but personally i still have the 2nd day of the event. time zones are strange things. i’m so busy that i don’t have time and energy for something better than clumsy sketches :( insanely ashamed of the quality of the drawings i post, but i so wanted to participate in this :(
Concept: Bam is overwhelmed by his power during a battle, slowly loses his mind and Khun is the only one who can calm him down.
Today I have this strong khunbam feels after reading a great fic.
bam is the protagonist ever in terms of character design, little stick of a boy, wears bermuda and cargo shorts almost exclusively when given the choice, baby faced, single most deadly character in nearly every scene. fug trained him harder on having a Cool Dude Aesthetic than anything else in between s1 and s2 and it was all ignored
He’s too precious and I love him
so imagine tower of god but each time khun and bam have to part their ways (like during hell train arc) khun gives bam a goodbye forehead kiss
it’s a pet peeve of mine to see people complaining about how Bam is a “simp” overly attached to Rachel. like, yeah, no shit he’s attached??? she is literally the only person he’s ever known at the start of the story. he was born in a fucking cave with nobody else. his life was rocks and Rachel, isolation can destroy a human, let alone growing up in it. she raised him, taught him, cared for him, fulfilled every social need he had for his entire life before promptly trying to ditch him. even more so, she intentionally manipulated him into staying in the cave and depending on her. she’s taken advantage of him time and time again for her own goals. she teaches him that betraying a girl (her) is unforgivable then repeatedly betrays him for nothing but her own benefit. Rachel wanted him to be unable to be independent and keeps tugging him along so Bam has to keep following her if he wants to learn anything about his past
he’s not a “stalker”, their relationship isn’t even hinted to be romantic, he’s just trying to understand her. he doesn’t even resent her until she hurts his friends. if your lifelong best friend pushed you off a cliff and sold you to a terrorist organization with no warning and explanation, wouldn’t YOU at least try to get some closure? he doesn’t forgive her at first because he’s “stupid” or even naïve, it’s because he’s been repeatedly abused
his primary character motivation is not wanting to be alone. he cares so much about the people around him and very little for himself since, again, abuse. I guess if you just don’t like that writing direction agree to disagree live your life but for people who think Bam’s just dumb or it’s a weird crush congrats on missing Literally The Entire Point
BITCH WHAT THE FUCK
V IM COMING FOR YOU IM COMING FOR YOU V
I love how they showed these two first, like they knew something happened to their precious turtle