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Understanding Why Furuta Created The Dragon In Tokyo Ghoul

While Furuta's reasons remain shrouded in mystery, we have come up with some possible answers for why he created the Dragon.

Nimura Furuta, aka Kichimaru Washuu, is one of, if not the most, enigmatic antagonists to have been written in manga history.

The Washuu is still a hot topic of debate in the fandom years after Tokyo Ghoul ended. Some parts of his backstory are in place, but I think author Sui Ishida left Furuta’s real intentions to the reader’s imagination.

One of those “unknown things” still making circles in the fandom is Furuta’s reason for creating the Dragon and causing widespread panic amongst the citizens of Tokyo. He even tried making Arima’s worst fear into reality – All humans shall become Ghouls.

While the answer is never explicitly stated, there are hints littered all over Tokyo Ghoul: Re, which give us some insight into his motives behind these shenanigans.

Digging into a character’s past is difficult. It’s like, no matter what story you tell, it won’t surpass the readers’ imagination. Rather than making it clear, it’s more fascinating to leave some things unknown.

Togashi, in his coversation with Sui Ishida (Apr 22, 2016)

Why did Furuta unleash the Dragon?

To answer in short, Furuta’s reason for creating the Dragon is tied in to his worldview and what he went through. He wanted “everything” and “nothing” along with “Super Peace”. Confused? Read the following key reasons and witness how it comes full circle in the end.

Exposing the Washuu’s secret to the world

The Washuus were Ghouls who established the CCG to feed on Ghouls killed by the investigators and the slain investigators themselves.

The Washuu ran the CCG in the most satirical way when you think about it.

They had the gall to manipulate a whole society, pit two races against each other, spread lies and kill recklessly, all to just sustain their food chain. The burden of knowing the truth behind such a bleak scenario would break anyone.

Furuta indirectly exposed the hypocrisy of the CCG as the new Bureau Chief by doing what the CCG did but out in the open. He wanted to break out of the birdcage.

Aside from the hypocrisy, Furuta had a personal grudge against the Washuus as well. It’s not as if he received the best of the treatment at the sunlit garden. He felt like cattle being bred to be slaughtered eventually, like a gear that HAD to turn as a part of a bigger mechanism.

The Washuu were using him and his siblings, especially his sweetheart, Rize Kamishiro, to spread their lies and pretend to be a peace-loving bunch. In actuality, they are Ghouls who prey on society.

Furuta felt disgusted and decided to exterminate the Washuus and expose the truth behind the formation of the CCG. Dr. Kanou confirms this to be a part of the reason for unleashing the Dragon.

Kanou explains Furuta's reason for creating the Dragon
Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 149

Furuta aimed to create a final villain who’d force both Ghouls and humans to come together in order to defeat it. The dragon served this purpose perfectly. It forced people to put aside their differences in face of a huge calamity, helping them break out of a vicious cycle they had unwittingly become a part of.

The Washuu’s rule of divide and conquer would no longer work once the Dragon was unleashed. It was Furuta’s last laugh.

He foreshadowed this very intention, while letting Kaneki know of his plans in chapter 101 of TG:re.

Furuta explains his plan to Kaneki
Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 101

To keep Rize for himself and regain her senses

Weirdly enough, Furuta had been in love with his half-sister since childhood. Do I smell incest? I can almost hear Doujin readers go EEEEEEEEEE!

Rize was an illegitimate child of Tsuneyoshi whose sole purpose is to become the “womb” of her bloodline. Basically, she’s one of the “baby generators” of the clan.

Furuta explains the Washuu family tree
Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 101

Being treated like crap and disgusted by her fate, she ran away from the garden with the help of Furuta.

However, Rize appears to place little importance on his assistance, preferring to enjoy her newfound independence and socialize with other men. As a result, a jealous Furuta retaliated by dropping steel beams on her.

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After marrying her, Furuta wanted to produce many babies. So he too wanted to use her for his own selfishness.

She survived but was kept in a tank by Kanou to harvest her Kakuho for research. Later on, Yomo took her away with the help of Kaneki, tied her up and starved her so that she doesn’t regain her powers.

To use the Kakuho to create the Oggai and make Kaneki eat them, he seized and held her in a tank, continuing Kanou’s study to achieve his (Furuta’s) goal of preserving her via the Dragon. But it’s unclear how he’d live with her after that if he survived.

Where did Furuta get the idea of the Dragon?

The idea of unleashing the Dragon came from a tale of a one-eyed underground King who, like Furuta, detested the ways of the Washuu, despite being a Washuu himself.

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Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 151

The Nagaraja, as the king was called, hid underground in the 24th ward and came out only when it was time to attack the Washuus.

Later on, during the clown’s meeting (Chapter 128), he revealed his plan to arrange for a final boss that will end this squabble.

The Nagaraja lore fits perfectly in the story that Furuta was trying to weave. The dragon seemed like a final boss that he could unleash on the society.

Furuta decided to name the final boss Ryu (竜). It’s a Japanese masculine and family name meaning “dragon”. During the Manga’s serialization, fans speculated that the Dragon would be Hideyoshi but clearly, Furuta wanted the world to target Kaneki so the final boss was always intended to be Kaneki.

Plus, during the final battle between Furuta and Kaneki, the former said he always wanted to confront the latter in a sword fight. So his target was always the One-eyed King.

At first glance, it may seem like he planned a Lelouch-like send-off to Kaneki by letting the world destroy him, however, Kaneki always said he wanted to protect the ones around him. So his circle of friends like Hideyoshi knew his intent and asked the CCG to save Kaneki instead of killing him.

Did Furuta actually achieve his goal?

Yes and no.

His actual goal was what he famously said many a time – “Super Peace”. But what did it mean?

While fighting Kaneki, he said he wanted “everything” and not just whatever he achieved up to this point. After the battle, he wanted “nothing” and talked about how the world and what we do are ultimately meaningless.

Before he closed his eyes for the last time, he said he actually wanted a normal life, free from betrayal, prejudice and selfishness.

The “everything” he wanted was actually a normal life with Rize. Before he died, he dreamed of running around with her in the garden. Rize wished that things would always be that way and never age.

In other words, both Furuta and Rize’s idea of “everything” was to be immortal and live a life of “super peace” for eternity.

Since none of that was achievable, he wanted “nothing” which meant dying at the hands of his nemesis. He believed that true peace could only be attained after death, so he played the villain and compelled Kaneki to play the hero.

He wanted the One-eyed King to kill him off so Kaneki could live a normal, tranquil life which Nimura sought after all his life. Because Furuta was half-Ghoul, he wished to live in a world where Ghouls and humans coexisted peacefully.

Having the best of both worlds and friends from both sides. It is a normal life for a half-Ghoul isn’t it?

Furutas final vision
Furuta’s final dream

It is said that people reveal their true intentions while on their death bed and Nimura did just that.

So what do you think of our reasons for Furuta unleashing the Dragon upon the world? Let us know in the comments below!

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