The only thing Bam wanted to do was to be with Rachel and help her climb the tower. However, in Tower of God Episode 12, she mercilessly pushes him to his supposed death as they were about to win the Submerged Fish Hunt test. Rachel’s sudden betrayal left the fans aghast as they struggled to grasp the reason behind her actions.

While Episode 12 ended on a cliffhanger, Tower of God Season Finale revealed a lot of information about why Rachel could have deceived Bam, and also the fact that Bam survived. 

To answer the question quickly,

Rachel betrayed Bam and pushed him out of the bubble because of a deal she made with Headon on the first floor of the Tower. She was jealous of Bam taking away everything that she wished for and in the end decided to betray him so that she could be the star or heroine of her own story.

Why did Rachel betray Bam in Tower of God?

To understand what drove Rachel into taking such a drastic action, we’ll have to trace back her steps from the time she first came to the Tower.

Rachel left Bam behind and entered the Tower so that she could see the stars. Rachel believed she was the chosen one to conquer the Tower. She wanted to climb the tower and be basked in glory! However, Headon pours water on her hopes telling her that she was never the chosen one. When Rachel refuses to believe this, she is prompted to pass the Ball Test in order to continue climbing the Tower. Unable to muster the courage to face the White Eel protecting the ball, Rachel backs out from it.

Her refusal to take the test meant that she failed and could not proceed any further. That’s when Headon asks her to make way for Bam who had followed her into the Tower.

To Rachel, Bam was someone who clung on to her coattails. Apparently, he was the only one who looked up to her in the outside world. Rachel wanted to change this scenario and be the star of her story. And with her self centred motives, she could not stand to see Bam bravely face his fears and survive a test she had just given up on. Seeing her supposed minion(whom she cared for) upstage her stoked a flame filled with jealousy and hatred in Rachel’s mind. This was something that was only bound to increase in the future.

After Bam passes, Rachel complains to Headon about how everything was going Bam’s way. Yuri Jahad had helped him by giving him an ignition weapon, while she had nothing. But the caretaker only brands her weak and cowardly unlike Bam whom he had called a ‘saviour.’ He implied that Rachel was unfit to climb the Tower. Seeing her dreams slowly slip away from her, Rachel gives up all her pride and begs Headon to give her a chance to ascend the Tower and agrees to do anything in return for it.

Was Headon waiting for Rachel to be in such a vulnerable position? Was this already pre-planned? Because, as soon as Rachel goes down on her knees, Headon proposes a deal to her. He asks her to put an end to Bam’s life with her own hands, in exchange for granting passage up the Tower. And to help her achieve this nasty quest, he hands her a silent assassin, a ghost, who would stay by her side always. What thoughts flooded Rachel’s mind when she agreed to Headon’s deal? Did she think eliminating Bam would make her the star of the story? Did she believe that this was the only way she could succeed?

With Han Sung Yu pulling the strings as a test administrator, and Hwa Ryun (the red haired woman who attacked Rachel in the crown test) acting as her guide, it would be safe to say that Rachel was now a pawn who had been unwillingly chosen to do bidding of powers that are not yet revealed in the Tower of God anime. 

Was Rachel alright with betraying Bam?

We see Rachel struggling a lot initially to come to terms with the task she was assigned. Even though she knows there’s no way out, she hesitates to kill Bam, wishing that someone else would take care of this dirty job for her. She even thinks of ways to climb the tower without hurting Bam. Was this because she actually cared for him? It’s hard to say at this point. Rachel’s mind and thoughts are complicated to say the least. One minute she is pleading Bam to get away from her while the next moment she is plotting to kill him somehow. However, one thing is clear, as Bam’s popularity increases among the regulars taking the test, Rachel’s resentment for the naive and good natured boy also increases.

Guided by Hwa Ryun and making the best of circumstances that were tailor made for her, Rachel finally gets the opportunity to make good on her promise to Headon during the Submerged Hunt test. She realises there were no rooms for qualms anymore. Hwa Ryun and Han Sung Yu were literally breathing down Rachel’s neck to get the task done. 

Caught between her dreams and the guilt of betraying her only friend, Rachel is finally forced to choose the latter. She tries to convince herself that she is taking the best route at least for herself and as she betrays Bam and pushes him to his apparent death. But did she know that he would survive. From what we saw in Episode 13 of Tower of God, Hwa Ryun and the others were only using Rachel as a pawn for some bigger motives. They only wanted Jahad to believe that Bam is dead.

There’s more to this betrayal than what we have seen and it will be slowly revealed in Tower of God Season 2. What are your opinions on Rachel betraying Bam, let us know in the comments section!