Archive of Our Own ^beta

General takeaways (I’ll explain some of them in detail below):

• What happened between Nea and Joyd 35 years ago is bad. Potentially really bad. It’s not positive. There is no chance for it to be positive. Even if their story began positively, it ended badly.
• Several parties from all sides of the conflict know about what happened. Road, Wisely, Nea, old Bookman, and Apocryphos. There is no indication that any of them think the story is a happy one. Some treat it more neutrally (Wisely), and it’s being described in intentionally ambiguous terms, but negativity outweighs any ambiguity.
• Whatever happened was intentionally kept secret from Tyki. Mainly by Road. But it’s not malicious because Road cares about Tyki. So, it’s bad. (And since Tyki already knew about Nea's betrayal, what's the harm in telling him exactly what happened between him and Nea? There has to be something bigger here).
• Whatever happened 35 years ago formed an “innen” between Joyd and Nea, a sort of “fateful connection” (see chapter 225). I’ll continue referring to it as “innen” throughout because it’s a really nuanced word. You’ll see. But it’s not a positive one (it’s either neutral or negative).
• Whatever happened goes beyond just the fact that there was betrayal and they fought to the death, and Nea ended up killing Joyd. This happened between all Noahs and Nea, including Wisely. Yet, this “innen” is unique to Nea and Joyd/Tyki.
• This “innen” will greatly affect Tyki in the present and at least near future, and it’s inescapable for him regardless of what sort of person he is in this reincarnation cycle. In chapter 225, it’s described as “pulling in” and “swallowing” Tyki, but there is a lot of metaphor and ambiguity here as well. Still, it’s not a positive imagery. It’s a strong, ominous one.
• Wisely appears to believe that Tyki will learn about whatever happened between Joyd and Nea regardless of anything. It doesn’t seem to matter when or how Tyki learns it; it will affect him regardless. Think of karmic type of situations. Wisely doesn’t think that telling Tyki is the solution. In ch 225, Wisely says that Tyki will “come to understand” these events through experience, which may be painful (the “pain” part isn’t in his literal words, but it’s the most negative interpretation of what he says).
• Following the events 35 years ago and his death, Joyd reincarnated into Tyki who looks a lot like Nea. Apocryphos muses whether it’s because of “deep passions” and whether there is lingering “attachment” in Joyd’s memory to Nea (ch 250). Neither of these are unambiguously positive words; say, “attachment” unlike “affection” can be negative. I think it’s intentional. Plus, Apocryphos loves screwing with people by replacing their memories with total fakes. The best takeaway from his words is that whatever happened between Joyd and Nea was intensely dramatic or tragic.
• During a brief encounter with Tyki (ch 225/6), Nea has a strong, adverse reaction to learning that Joyd reincarnated into someone who looks like him in the past. He refuses to sit down and talk and says that eating with Tyki will make him laugh and puke. He tries to activate Allen’s Innocence and attack Tyki. Nea’s takeaway from their shared backstory seems to be nothing but strong resentment, offense, dislike, contempt, possibly hatred. Nothing positive at all at this moment.
• In response to Nea’s adverse reaction, Joyd seemed to smile within Tyki. Did he expect this reaction? Is he satisfied?
• Let’s compare Road and Nea because I think it’s important. Whatever happened between Nea and Joyd was bad; it possibly affected more than just them, though some consequences are localized to just the two of them. Road cared and still cares about Nea (she is in his closest circle of connections in the Helix scene). I won’t speculate about what their relationship was, but point is, it was close and positive probably until the betrayal and slaughter mess. We don’t know if Road resented Joyd for what he did to Nea, but she clearly gave Tyki a “clean slate” and cares about him. Nea is unwilling to do so, even though Tyki isn’t Joyd, strictly speaking.
• Hence, if there is a way to break or mitigate this cosmic, karmic type of fuckery between Tyki/Joyd and Nea/Allen, I think Road’s the key to that. Just the two of them can’t do it because they don't have a positive connection.

Now, I’ll break some of this stuff down in more detail and give you my theories and conclusions.

1. “Innen”

To describe the “bond that tied Joyd and Nea 35 years ago,” Hoshino uses the word 因縁 (“innen”). This word, man. It gives me a headache. It’s not easily translated into English because it has so much history and nuance to it. And I don’t even speak Japanese; I just did some research on it.

To be precise, “innen” doesn’t denote any personal relationship or bond of any particular type (though it doesn’t necessarily exclude it). It cannot be used as a substitute for friendship, family bond, or a romantic connection. In its literal, neutral meaning outside of any context, it is translated as “cause and effect.” So, the most literal meaning of this “bond” would be “the effect caused by Joyd’s and Nea’s actions 35 years ago.” Past actions have consequences in the future.

This “innen” additionally will “pull in and swallow” Tyki; again, “innen” being cause and effect, the closest to literal meaning would be “Tyki can’t escape the consequences of Joyd’s and Nea’s actions 35 years ago.” His personal choices won’t matter; who he is in this cycle doesn’t matter. It’s inescapable for him because it refers to the past he didn’t create and has no power to change; and also, because whatever happened was bad enough to haunt Joyd’s reincarnations in the future. Think of a karmic vortex of causality swallowing people; or maybe something like destined repetition of past patterns.

This is why I’m led to believe that it’s not so much the personal relationship, whichever it was, between Joyd and Nea that matters, but their—or Joyd’s—very specific actions. It’s possible Joyd caused some kind of cosmic level fuckery.

“Innen” isn’t a personal bond, after all; it’s more of a chain of events, circumstances, conditions, and actions that have long-lasting consequences in the future.

It’s also very oddly specific to say that “the bond formed 35 years ago.” Personal bonds form over longer periods of time, so why not just say "the bond." But if it refers to an event or series of events, actions, and choices—all of these could have happened in a very specific short period of time that is easy to pinpoint.

Moving on from the neutral meanings, “innen” is often used to indicate a negative type of karmic connection. In its most negative meanings, “innen” would be:

• Unavoidable or unfortunate fate or karma, such as fated rivalry. Think of enemies fated to cross paths and fight over and over throughout generations.

An interesting tidbit in support of this view. On the Noah’s Ark, Tyki taunts Allen with “do you think it’s destiny for it to be us” shortly before telling him he is serious about fighting him to the death. Tyki referred to their poker game, but poker is a dimension of their rivalry: Tyki referred to their fight to the death as the "last hand," a cards term.

It’s possible, thus, that whatever cosmic fuckery Joyd caused resulted in him and Nea becoming fated enemies destined to fight each other and cause nothing but pain and destruction to each other over multiple lifetimes. A kind of generational curse (with a connotation of bad karmic causality, not magic of any kind). Charming. 

Obviously, it would have to be beyond just “betrayal.” “Betrayal” is kind of default at this point in Nea’s relationships with all Noahs. It would have to be truly “cosmic fuckery.”

• A slightly neutral shade of that would be “a powerful, often unavoidable, connection or force that links people.” But remember, “innen” isn’t a personal type of bond. So, it would be something like: destiny that repeats itself (Tyki would meet Nea and try to do the same thing Joyd did) or an inevitable reckoning for the past cosmic fuckery that Joyd’s death didn’t fix.

These two meanings of "innen" are similar, however, because Nea isn’t willing to give Tyki a “clean slate.” Nea killed Joyd, but that didn’t satisfy him. So, again, “innen” has to be beyond whatever personal relationship they shared; even if they were really close at some point, and Joyd betrayed him, Nea killed Joyd (unlike the Earl, who killed him). So, why not let go, at least somewhat, in the name of a once good thing they had? No, Nea holds on to the deep-seated grudge after Joyd's death and transfers it onto Tyki, who isn’t truly Joyd. And that's one of the driving forces for this "innen."

2. What kind of a personal relationship did Joyd have with Nea?

There is almost nothing to go on here. And if it’s not clear from the above, I don’t think it’s really important—or central to the “innen” that formed between them.

There are several possibilities.

• Joyd and Nea once shared a really close bond, but it all went to hell 35 years ago after something Joyd did or both of them did.

To sum up: it has to be something beyond betrayal, though betrayal obviously happened.

Pros: explains why Joyd reincarnated into a man who looks like Nea as a sort of nostalgic attachment to the past or regret over how things turned out.

Cons: Nea seems to have no regret or nostalgic attachment to the shared positive past. Granted, we don’t know his true feelings and he is often hiding behind a sneer, but at the same time, he isn’t willing to give Joyd/Tyki another chance at all. Also, compare Nea's reaction to Mana/the Earl: you can tell there was (and still is) affection there even if Nea tells him he'll kill him. 

So, either, there was no close relationship, or Joyd’s fuckery was so cosmic that Nea isn’t willing to even consider anything but resentment in another lifetime. And Nea is resigned to the fact that they’re destined to be enemies.

• Joyd’s attachment to Nea was one-sided.

Gets rid of the “cons” above. Doesn’t explain why Joyd fucked Nea over so badly and is still holding on to that attachment after Nea murdered him. It’s different than regretting a good relationship that turned sour; it’s regretting something that never really was. And seriously, what’s the “attachment” in this case at this point? No positive relationship ever, fucked Nea over, was killed by him… You get what I mean. Why wouldn’t Joyd let go and just start over? This dynamic makes almost no sense to me. Murder and possibly betrayal (if I'm wrong about who betrayed who) are about as hardcore "nope" as it can possibly get. 

• Joyd and Nea were always rivals/obsessive rivals, and their relationship has always been negative or complicated.

Remember when I said that Apo uses ambiguous words like “deep passions” and “attachment” in his speech to Tyki (ch 250), and I think it’s intentional? Well, let’s get back to that. Both passions and attachments can be negative. Hatred, anger, jealousy are all passions; obsessive rivalry is an attachment. Very strong ones, too.

It’s not that Apo says: affection or love. That would be different, unambiguously positive. But Apo simply wondered whether it was some strong, dramatic emotion without attaching anything unambiguously positive to it.

Cons: not many. But it would make Joyd’s decision to reincarnate into someone who looks like his long-time enemy/rival somewhat puzzling. (Maybe that's why Wisely was surprised, too?) Unless it was to fuck with Nea when Joyd sees him again. It would certainly explain Joyd’s hidden smile/grin.

Reincarnating into someone "resembling a figure from the past" also has a karmic cycle symbolism to it. Think back to "innen" as well. There is some unfinished business between them, at least from Joyd's perspective, and Tyki's going to be a part of that whether he likes it or not.

Viewed this way, the "attachment" between Joyd's memory (soul) and Nea's may literally be the existence of this karmic debt/unresolved past conflict/unfinished business. This view is particularly compelling in light of all the different personal dramas surrounding Nea and all Noahs, especially Wisely, Road, and Mana, yet none creating "innens" and "attachments" that are being emphasized. 

If I'm right, and it is mostly symbolism and metaphor, Wisely's "innen" and Apo's "attachment" refer to one and the same thing: this dark fateful connection stemming from Nea's and Joyd's past conflict.

There are so many things I can see Tyki not being happy about, with his central theme being choosing his own identity over the Noah memory.

3. Wisely’s and Road’s attitude.

In contrast with Road, Wisely has a more neutral attitude towards what happened. During his awakening, he seemed a bit surprised Joyd reincarnated into someone who looks like Nea. Road stopped him from mentioning it.

While Wisely stopped Tyki from getting that bit of information out of the old Bookman, it didn’t appear that he had any bad intentions for doing so. Rather, he’s convinced Tyki will have to “face the music” from Joyd’s actions no matter what, and he’s better off “coming to understand” it through experience (even if it’s painful). So, he’s not all doom and gloom here.

I mean Wisely probably knew he’d have to unlock the memories anyways, and what beats remembering?

4. Where does all of it leave Tyki?

A troubling question if you’re a Tyki fan.

Besides my thoughts that Road may be the key to at least mitigate the “cosmic fuckery,” I don’t have much to offer in terms of anything concrete.

The optimistic part is that no clues so far referred to the future. And “innen” doesn’t bear a connotation of an “inevitable outcome.” While it’s inescapable that Tyki will be pulled into this vortex of events around Nea, probably having to suffer from what Joyd did, nothing says what the outcome will be.

“Consumed by” or “swallowed by” certainly sounds ominous but remember that it refers to “innen.” It’s a causal chain of past events, embodying inevitability of facing the consequences in the present/future, but not the end result. And I doubt the old Bookman or Wisely would make a bold future prediction like that. 

Well, these are my thoughts about Tyki’s, Joyd’s and Nea’s relationship at the moment. It would take another long essay to theorize what kind of “cosmic fuckery” Joyd could have possibly committed, and for now, I’ll spare you.

Thanks for reading!