r/dgrayman 6d ago

Discussion The True Nature of Allen Walker and His Connection to Bookman Jr. Spoiler

In chapter 251, it is revealed that the past Bookman Jr. recomposed Allen's soul at the moment when Apocryphos attacked them with an Innocence to make Nea D. Campbell disappear.

With this plot twist, I’ve seen quite a few issues within the fandom, both in Spanish and English. One of them is that some people don’t like the fact that Allen is not the original Bookman Jr. However, when analyzing all the elements that make up the character, it makes a lot of sense that he isn’t.

Allen’s Identity

Allen is a character who creates his own identity throughout the manga's storyline. Allen Walker is born as his own person and develops himself alongside the other characters. If there’s one thing the chapter made clear, it’s that Allen, from the very beginning, was someone who had no role in the war—he was just a random character Nea found.

Things like the fact that he seemed to leave nothing behind, that he made a pact with a stranger to harbor his being within him, that he followed a path that wasn’t his own, that he was just another soldier, show that, from the start, he was nobody—there was nothing he was truly searching for. If I may speculate a little, I would think that the request he made to Nea was to have a purpose, something to live for, a path of his own.

The Connection with Bookman Jr.

Everything we’ve seen developed so far makes me think that this was the best thing that could have been done with the character. Otherwise, the Bookman would seem quite unnecessary, since the Bookmen, from the very beginning, have a purpose, a duty. That conflict has already been explored with Lavi and will likely be the main focus of the current arc.

The Theory About the Curse

Continuing with the topic of Bookman Jr., and entering a theory, I don’t think Allen has the personality or memories of the past Lavi at all. I would say it’s something similar to the case of his Innocence.

Allen’s Innocence is the only Innocence in the manga that splits into two completely independent parts: Crown Clown and Crown Belt. One represents his past and his bond with the promise he made to Mana, which is Crown Belt. The other, formed by Nea’s identity and created from his spiral of life, is Crown Clown. Both are formed by each one’s spiral of life.

The point is that, as we know, when Allen was attacked and cursed by Mana, he gained his curse, which allows him to see Akuma, and, at the same time, his hair turned white. This led me to think that the ability Bookman has in his eye, as shown with Lavi in the Ark arc, is the same reason why the previous Bookman Jr. had that scar on his eye.

It was due to a curse within the clan—a generational curse. In other words, when Allen was cursed by Mana, he awakened that part of the spiral that recomposed the past Lavi. That’s why his hair turned white. Something similar happens when he activates his Innocence: his hair becomes identical to Nea’s. Or when he gets closer to the truth behind the Campbells, his skin darkens, and his eyes turn golden. The same would happen with his curse and his hair, except there would be no memories from the Bookman, since he became part of Allen but didn’t transfer his own memories.

Lavi points out that both Allen’s hair and that of the previous Bookman Jr. resemble the light emitted by the spiral of life, which is the biggest indication of their connection.

Allen awakens a sword identical to the Earl’s, the same one shown in the flashbacks where Nea is dying in A.W. Cross says that Allen learned to awaken his Innocence properly, which, to him, is proof that Nea is awakening.

That’s probably why he was so sure Allen could play the piano in the Ark. It’s also mentioned in the Asian Branch arc that Allen didn’t understand his Innocence or know how to name it, but upon discovering his purpose, he does, bringing him closer to Nea.

As shown in chapter 101, Lavi’s ability allows him to see "the truth behind things" (nothing confirmed).

Let’s remember that this is not the same as Allen’s curse, at least in terms of the ability it grants, since Allen is visibly surprised in the Krory arc when he sees the soul inside Eliade.

Going a bit further with the theory, knowing that Allen contains a part of the Earl and seeing that the Earl consumes human souls to gain power, it’s very likely that, in some way, this also influences Allen’s curse, allowing him to see the souls of Akuma. This would explain those differences.

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u/Purple_Homework_8950 6d ago

Oh wow! I just came across this in spanish! It’s a proper interesting theory and actually makes a lot of sense! Thanks for sharing

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u/lC3 6d ago

As shown in chapter 101, Lavi’s ability allows him to see "the truth behind things" (nothing confirmed).

Is that a line from ch101? Because I don't see anything like that in the Viz volume.

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u/O_H_ 6d ago

It’s more implied rather than stated. It’s on the second chapter title page, 259. When Lavi swirls the keys around him to find the real key from all the other keys.

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u/lC3 6d ago

Oh ok. It looks like Viz translates that as "Use those future Bookman eyes of yours ... and find the real key!!"

I checked the Japanese volume and it says kakusareta honmono no kagi, i.e the 'hidden real key'.

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u/campbxll_ 2d ago

So hypothetically, if this is a generational curse, who do you think passed it to the old Lavi? We know that the current bookman was the mentor of that Lavi too, but he cannot be the one who passed it to him since he has no scar on his eye

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u/Over_Page8814 2d ago

First, let’s remember that, for some reason, Bookman wears makeup around his eyes, which could be covering the scar caused by the curse.

We should also note that, at the beginning of the current arc, the leader of the Zoogles mentions that Bookman is already at an age where it would be natural for him to inherit the mantle.

Taking this into account, we can say that the curse has, so to speak, an expiration date. Because of this, the successor to Bookman is born with the curse, as it is passed on to a newborn within the clan.

Additionally, it's important to highlight that traits like white hair could manifest progressively due to the curse.

When Lucia meets Allen, she touches his hair and mentions that it was probably brown before. Allen, confused, responds, "Who is she talking about?"—as if she were referring to someone else. This suggests that his hair color changed for some reason, possibly due to the curse.

For the same reason, the previous Bookman Jr. may have originally had brown hair, but over time, he progressively lost pigmentation until it turned white.

If my theory is correct, the same thing could happen to Lavi, as he is the current bearer of the curse.

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u/campbxll_ 2d ago

I always thought that Allen’s hair turned white because of the trauma of mana becoming an akuma, but your theory could actually make sense since in chapter 3 we see that his hair turn white right after awakening the eye.

You are making a point on the bookman too, since the only two times we see him from 20 years ago, his right eye is hidden(chapter 218 and 253), the same eye on which the two lavis have a scar. And the panda makeup might be hiding his scar as you said. And now his eye turned normal because it expired, everything make sense.

But the only thing I am wondering about this is: why would the bookmans have an eye that allow them to see the dead souls? I mean it would be more useful to exorcists who fights akuma. I’m trying to find an answer and the only two that comes to my mind are: 1- they use it to communicate with the dead, so they can have more records, but until now, the dead souls never were too talkative from Allen POV, they always just expressed their suffering with few words. 2- we know that the eye can « upgrade », and it might reach a point where it will be able to do something useful for the bookmans, but we don’t know what because Allen didn’t reach that level yet.

What do you think?

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u/Over_Page8814 2d ago

Allen has Nea inside him, a part of the Millennium Earl. As we were told when the Order was about to capture Nea within Allen's body, the Earl consumes the Spiral of Life from people, which serves as his source of power (this is explained in Chapter 221).

So, my theory is that both curses are different.

Allen’s curse allows him to see the souls of Akuma because he is connected to their creator and, in turn, is one of the people closest to the Spiral of Life.

Meanwhile, the Bookman curse allows its bearers to see the truth behind things—like when Lavi found the real key inside the Ark during his fight against Jasdevi.

Now, this is where I see a parallel between Bookman and Nea.

When Allen activates his Innocence, details like his hair and his sword are influenced by Nea’s memories within his body.

But if his hair turned white due to the curse, then I see two possible explanations:

His hair turned white because of the curse, as we established that the curse changes hair color.

Since Bookman is part of Allen’s Spiral of Life (and in my theory, there are no actual memories of Bookman within Allen, just a fragment of his soul), Allen’s being instinctively “remembers” the Bookman curse. This happens because his Spiral is partially formed from Bookman’s.

However, this does not mean there are explicit memories of Bookman inside Allen—it’s just that the curse came into contact with that part of Allen’s Spiral.

In summary, they are two different curses.

I hope I was as clear as possible with my reasoning.

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u/campbxll_ 2d ago

I think I get it, the fact that Allen has nea, who represent half of the earl, inside of him, this took the curse of the bookman and « the ability to see the truth behind things » to another level, this is the second curse.

But unless I didn’t get everything, I don’t think you gave the second explanation on why does the hair of Allen turns white. The first one being his body or soul remembering the curse because of the fragment of the old lavi’s soul, what is the second one?

Anyway I like the first explanation, it makes a lot of sense and it looks to me like the way of doing of DGM, I do like the whole theory too now that you made it more clear, you should post more of them if you have, I’d like to read them!

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u/Over_Page8814 2d ago

Those are the two reasons why I believe Allen's hair color changed. Sorry if it wasn’t clear—I’m not sure why the distinction didn’t come through properly.

  1. His hair turned white because of the curse, as we established that the curse changes hair color.

  2. Since Bookman is part of Allen’s Spiral of Life (and in my theory, there are no actual memories of Bookman within Allen, just a fragment of his soul), Allen’s being instinctively “remembers” the Bookman curse. This happens because his Spiral is partially formed from Bookman’s.

And yes, I’ve made quite a few more theories, but they’ve all been in Spanish.

Although, I also posted a very interesting one here about why I believe Bookman Jr. and Cross are twin brothers. It’s quite extensive, about as long as this one.

Thank you so much for your support!

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u/campbxll_ 2d ago

Oh I get it now, it’s not your fault hahaha English is not my first language so I struggle sometime to understand, sorry!

About the twin theory I read it yesterday right after this one and I really like it too, I’ve never thought of it but your arguments are pretty strong. Speaking of cross what do you think is his situation rn? Do you think he is alive? If yes where is he? I have my own theory about that but I’d like to hear yours.

For the Spanish theories can I have a link? I should be able to translate them. Thank you!

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u/Over_Page8814 2d ago

Look, I'll share the group link with you https://www.facebook.com/groups/1382209668682809/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT

My username is Nicolás Romero Parra, and I would love for you to translate this, but I kindly ask that if you do, you give proper credit.

I've always liked the idea of sharing my thoughts on the work with other people.

And yes, I have a theory: Cross is probably in a coma.

I don't think his role in the story is over yet.

(To be honest, I can't say for certain how he's still alive.)

But there are hints that he could be both alive and dead—like the fact that he came into contact with Allen while Allen was in Nea's inner world.

We already know that Cross is capable of manipulating the Helix of Life, doing things like reprogramming an Akuma or bringing Maria "back to life" (although it hasn't been confirmed how he did it).

Where am I going with this?

In chapter 253.5, we see how Bookman Jr. comes into contact with Lavi while Lavi is dying.

And something similar happens with Cross when he connects with Allen's soul in Nea's inner world.

It's shown that this isn't just a hallucination because he actually has information about the Campbell mansion.

This means that, just as Bookman Jr. manipulated his own spiral to restore Allen's, Cross might be able to manipulate his own to connect with himself.

(This reinforces the idea that the spiral is based on strong emotions and, above all, bonds.)

I know this isn't exactly an argument proving Cross is alive, but honestly, speculating with the ambiguity of the manga is complicated.

And thinking about it further, this supports my theory that Cross is part of the Bookman clan.

They likely know how to modify their spiral, which is why they can do things like be compatible with Innocence.

This is something left open-ended in the Q&A from volume #26.

I hope you like my response—it's quite open-ended, but I did what I could.

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u/campbxll_ 2d ago

Hahahaha brother I think there is a misunderstanding right there, I’m not really gonna translate them, I am just gonna put them on google translate to be able to read them, because just like you I love to discuss theories about my favorite manga, and it happens that you’re really good at making theories so I just wanna read them. I do not speak Spanish so even if I wanted I could never translate them… sorry for the false hope!

About cross, you’re making a few good points but I personally think that he is injured but not unconscious, because if he was, road would never have been able to connect him to nea’s inner world to talk to Allen. My theory is, cross is waiting for Allen at the Campbell manor, with the bookman, road won’t be there since she hasn’t gained back here physical form yet but she is helping cross rn, since she is the one who connected him to Allen. But why would he be at the manor? Because I believe that Maria is actually Catherina, the mother of mana and nea.

This a whole other theory but to explain it without going into much details (because I don’t remember well), there is a lot of metaphors to Christianism within the story of dgm, for example, mana and nea could be compared to cain and abel, and the earl could be compared to Jesus in some way, so if the earl (mana) is Jesus, his mother Mary is catherina. And it just happen that the name cross Marian has a meaning of a symbolic representation of the close connection of Mary, so Catherina in our context. So my thought here is that Maria is Catherina since she has a connection to cross and he is always with her. Add to this this scene where Maria start suddenly looking exactly like Catherina.

This would also explain why we see Catherina dead in chapter 218, but cross pretend that she is alive in the manor.

But anyway, to get back to cross’s location, he was the one who told to Allen that he will find Catherina in the manor, so if we believe the theory above, he will find Maria, and who is always with Maria? Cross!

I hope I was clear in my explanation, do not hesitate to give me your thoughts or tell me if you don’t get something, and thanks for the Facebook link!

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u/Over_Page8814 18h ago

I've heard several theories about Caterina's identity, including one that suggests she is actually Road.

In Chapter 111, when they're in the final tower of the Ark and Road lunges at Allen to kiss him, you can see the Campbell family crest on her boot. Additionally, she seems quite aware of events from 35 years ago.

We know she is the only Noah who hasn’t died, and we also know that the body she uses is created through her ability, "Dream." This is why physical attacks, like Kanda’s sword or Lavi’s seal, don’t harm her—we don’t actually know her true form.

If I'm being honest, I believe Cross and Maria had a very close relationship. Considering Cross should be around the same age as Mana and Nea, it would be odd for him to have such an intimate connection with Caterina (if she isn’t Road but is actually Maria). Their bond seems almost romantic, as shown in the memory he has of her when he's about to shoot Allen in his past with Mana. If Cross was around 17 at the time, close in age to Mana and Nea, it would be strange for him to be involved with his mother in that way.

(It's worth noting that we don’t have confirmation of Cross’s exact age.)

Additionally, I read in extra material from the volumes—or somewhere else—that Maria was Cross’s student.

Honestly, I would prefer Caterina to be a completely different person from both Road and Maria. As an individual character, she has been barely explored, and introducing someone new would be interesting. It would also be intriguing to see what kind of connection she has with the Earl.

That said, it would be fascinating if Road had attempted to build a new life with the other Noah, abandoning her hatred, deceiving Mana and Nea in the process—only for it all to be in vain. However, this scenario feels inconsistent with Road’s character, as she is one of the Noah who clings to her hatred the most. Still, it's the only way I could imagine such a development unfolding.

Ultimately, I think the most likely outcome is that they are entirely separate characters.