Warning: This thread will be using historical spoilers spanning from start of the series to past the unification of China. Historical spoilers in general might give us a rough outline of the events that will play out, but they by no means for certain give us definitive information on the character changes, as Oda has deviated and taken free liberties with many things in his series, along with adding mysticism to war and ideologies in general. So this thread will simply be using historical spoiler as a mere guideline of the possible events that could happen, based on the potential foreshadowing and plot direction. Thus, I implore you to stll read this thread despite the historical spoilers, but if you simply don't want anything to do with actual irl history of kingdom, then it's best to step back from this thread now.
I am making this thread by taking Hara on his words stated at Shukai plains that the end of Kingdom will be the rise of the Han dynasty, thus we effectively seeing the fall of the Qin and the rise of the great Liu Bang/Emperor Gaozu:
Thus it's only logical that we will be seeing the death of Ei Sei. So this is my theory on how Hara will be orchestrating that death, and all the foreshadowing he's done so far in the series to build up to it.
Eyes Of The Tyrant:
A key thing that Hara has highlighted/focused on twice related to Ei Sei, are his eyes. The very first time is when Ouki meets Ei Sei and Sei tells Ouki about his goal of the unification and what have you. And first thing Ouki notes after hearing his answer is that there is no cloudiness in his eyes, they shine brightly. Then would go on to emphasize how much different they are from King Sho's, and how eyes like Ei Sei's have never existed before:
The above moment happened right before Ei Sei would take the throne properly and start his campaign against Ryofui. Similarly, right before Ei Sei is about to start his 1st officially campaign of the unification, Hara brings it up again this time through King Ouken:
Ouken makes it very clear to Ei Sei, that if Sei's remain unchanged he would surrender Qi to him, because as Ei Sei is presently somebody to whom he can entrust Qi to. HOWEVER, were they to become clouded by impurity, Qi would fight to the last man to protect their home. So the question ultimately is will Ei Sei's eyes stay unclouded, will they stay pure, will keep the same brilliant light in them that Ouki saw? In order to answer this let's take a look at Ei Sei's goal and his past, along with the progression that's happened with him since Ouken and his meeting.
A Broken Child & His Goal:
Ei Sei since he was little was beaten up by adults in revenge against the Qin for what happened at Chouhei. And he as a child started to have hallucinations of ghosts of those who had been massacred in the aftermath of the Chouhei battle. He was broken down to such an extent that he could not even feel any pain and lost many other senses. This mental despair of his was broken by Shika, who became the first to show him affection:
After Shika rescues a mentally broken Sei from the depths of Darkness, he aims to set his eyes on a unified China to eradicate warfare. His goal is really discussed in detail during the Ryofui & Ei Sei debate. Where he first explains that people fall into darkness due to tragedy around them, and when they aren't rescued they only give birth to more tragedy and the ultimate source of all this tragedy being warfare. Thus, his reason for unifying China is to eradicate warfare for his future generations even if he has to take the burden of it all, but he will be creating a China undivided and one without inequality:
Now Ei Sei being the main driving force on which the premise of the entire manga is set on, one would think Hara would've ended the debate with Ei Sei's triumph. But that is not what Hara does. Hara specifically chooses to end this debate on the note that Ryo & Sei would never come to an agreement, because their starting points differ:
But now that we have a clear understanding of what Ei Sei wants to achieve and why he wants to achieve it... let's look at the actual reality of what his goal would be doing.
Reality of the Unification of China:
While we may view China as 1 entity that was simply divided into multiple "states", the reality is each of those states/kingdoms are essentially their own countries within the manga. They each possess their own cultures, their own measurement & scale units, their own writing characters, their own currencies, and along with different schools of philosophy and religion. Their own governmental systems ran based on different ideologies. They're more different than even the countries of Europe right now, if we're talking about a comparison:
In the Ryo-Ei Sei debate, Ryofui states that the unification would bring about an unprecedented level of tragedy to China and rather than ending conflicts, it would give rise to more conflicts where the soldiers/people loyal to the previous states would seek revenge.
Then in the Ei Sei - Riboku discussion, Riboku states that the unification would be an unprecedented massacre of life. The degree to which human life would be lost will be of unimaginable scale, and it would all be done based on a goal that is completely baseless:
And the reply Ei Sei has given to these two in return to counter these realities is that he fully well recognizes that he would bring about a tragedy like no other to China, but nonetheless he's willing to shoulder it because it would eradicate warfare forever:
Can the eyes remain unchanged?
You see all of those above statements from Ei Sei and him willing to shoulder the burden, all happened before he actually started the unification of China. The very first campaign he starts for the unification is WZI. In which they succeed. Then they move on to Juuko, in which they succeed. Campaign after that we go to Kanki & Kouchou... and this is when something big happens. Y'all remember the ghosts Ei Sei used to see as a child? Yea they were from the battle of Chouhei where 400k surrendered soldiers were slaughtered. And Kanki proceeded to do a mini-Chouhei for sheer revenge. And the aftermath of which being the cries of sadness among the people of Zhao:
After we see the cries of Zhao citizens. We go to Kanyou where we see Rishi make some important statements. You see while the enemy soldiers are against the Qin and enemies of the Qin, the surrendered soldiers on the other hand are not. And for RiShi, what Qin did was essentially a genocide of their own people. Because their goal is not simple conquest of the kingdoms, it's a unification to bring about peace that Ei Sei is aiming for. And for that goal, what Kanki did was something unforgiveable.
Then we transition into the Kanki-Ei Sei discussion. Where a reality of the unification slaps Ei Sei right across the face from one of his own Qin soldiers. When General Kanki asks one of his underlings whether they'd be able to live together with Zhao after this war, the answer is a straight up NOPE. Why? Because the zhao had killed one of their comrades aka Raido. Kanki tells Sei that he expects too much from humans, and Sei says "yea so what if I do?"... but just then a crucial thing is brought up by Hara when it comes to Ei Sei's goal. While to use the readers it may seem like the unification is such a hard path to bring peace, as it's been declared an unprecedented thing and what not. But the reality is the opposite, through Sei himself, Hara let's us know... the unification of China is being done by Sei to bring "peace"... because it is the shortest path thus the easiest path... and I'm sure we all know the many sayings about taking a shortcut, and in particular a baseless shortcurt... It is a very risky thing.
But you see Kanki stated something brutally factual here. Sei is the one responsible for starting this invasion, thus every single death that happens on this path of invasion.. will be indirectly at the hands of Ei Sei. Whether it is the death of a Zhao soldier or a Qin soldier, whether it's a general or a 1000man commander, all of their deaths that will happen to the path of unification will be on the shoulders of Ei Sei.
While Sei provided a counter to Kanki's statements and maintained a poised and authoritative image in front of everyone. The image that Hara shows of Ei Sei when he's alone is completely different. He's sulking, he's down, the realization of those lives being on his hands is coming in.
So essentially what we have is a man who in the past was broken and hallucinated to such an extent he was seeing the ghosts of the people from a massacre decades ago. Now he's responsible for another massacre, and it's only the start. By the end of his unification campaign, going by just the number of casualties so far, this man will be responsible for millions of deaths, within the span of less than 20 years. So back to the question... will his eyes remain unchanged? No, they won't.
It is virtually impossible for his eyes to keep remaining the same, with the shouldering of millions of deaths on his consciousness. And I believe that dimming of the brilliant light that Ouki saw in him is already there. Because you see Ei Sei is not only going to be burdening millions of deaths on his mind, but also having to take on the hatred of millions that remain. The rage of those hundreds of thousands families of who's men he slaughtered for his goal. Because you see those deaths and conflicts don't simply stop there once he's conquered the states, they will continue into post-unification. In fact Ri Shi has already declared they would have to have a whole different type of war against those who are followers of Confucianism, and that will only be but 1 obstacle for them. Because no matter how you put it, Ei Sei is aiming to erase cultures from existence and unify people under 1-identity. But those cultures are of great value to those people.... so there will only be one way to unify them... force.
This is also where the statement from Ryofui about them having vastly different starting points come in. The conclusion that Riboku & Ryofui came to is based on two people who have seen the people of china from a ground level, they have lived their lives for decades at that point seeing the various things the world does. Ei Sei on the other hand was a child isolated in a bad place then immediately made into a King, where he could possess the power to rule and change it all by force. Because he equated all of the suffering he took to simply warfare. Thus to him "make unification happen = end warfare = peace forever". But to the likes of Riboku & Ryofui "make unification happen = cause a giant massacre = keep warfare going still". But let me go on a tangent of philosophical difference, and remain on topic.
So I believe his eyes will change without a doubt. But what happens when his eyes do change? And that is the answer my theory will seek to answer.
THE DEATH OF THE TYRANT:
Historically there are two main proposed theories of his death:
1st. Death by mercury poison while attempting to chase "immortality".
2nd. Natural death from tiresome unification.
I'm first going to address how each of these deaths can be possible in the manga, along with how exactly Hara will make them happen and how each correlates to the changing of the eyes. After which I will propose my theory that deviates from the historical theories and is purely based on manga plot.
1st. Death by mercury poison:
The biggest issue Sei had with Ryofui & Riboku's alternative methods to achieve peace in China to end the warring states era was... they aren't everlasting.
But Ei Sei for some odd reason has to apply this logic to himself. To him, the unification is the for sure method of everlasting peace. And of course, to which Riboku said it's a baseless vision and an assumption (and of course as history shows us everlasting peace never came after the unification). I think Ei Sei will after the unification realize that there's either he has a lot more to do in terms of establishing the empire thus he needs to live longer... or he will realize that his empire can only be sustained for as long as he lives, and thus he needs to become immortal. That as long as Ei Sei himself keeps reigning, there will remain peace in China.
However, as you all know obsessions with immortality can lead men to do crazy things and mentally become insane, thus Ei Sei due to being obssessed with becoming an immortal rather than proper governance will be assassinated with the mercury poison. As he would have plenty of people who'd want him dead by then, due to the death toll of the unification & the post unification atrocities to force the people into a single identity.
2nd. Natural death from the unification exhaustion:
Ei Sei historically is stated to have died at the age of 49, which is pretty solid for that time and higher than the average age of death for Chinese emperors. This theory is fairly simple, the stress that came from the unification and then post-unification incidents would just lead Sei to a natural death. As many of you already know the high connection between stress & stroke/heart attacks. This is the death that can give him the "heroic" send-off narratively if Hara decides to go that route, by likelihood is low imo.
3rd. The Sword that slays it's king:
Now this is my personal theory based on simply the narrative itself. During the intial phases of the wei invasion, the Qin army led by Mougou does a siege battle. In that siege battle the sword of King Ei Sei, Shin participates. After the siege is done, some of the Qin soldiers under the command of a 1000-man commander start to pillage and rape. It is then that our boy Shin steps in and says yo "I ain't fuckin with this shit" and proceeds to slash down the 1000man commander. From then he proceeds to make the declaration below:
After Shin makes that declaration that to him it doesn't matter if you're a 1000-man commander, a general or even a king, he's not gonna forgive scumbags like him. Now keep in mind he's referring to even people from his own nation. The people he's standing up for aren't from Qin, they're from Wei. Because for Shin, the war must stay between soldiers or those who willingly decide to take part in it. Not civilians who live regular lives. Now from this declaration, he makes a promise to Mangoku as he dies:
Oh...but what happened 400 chapters later? Something like Chouhei. Now to Shin's credit, he was sent away and once he heard the news he was going to come and whoop Kanki and keep his words from the above two panels:
But, Karyo Ten stops him. Ten stops him with the statement that Ei Sei will bring justice to the situation. She had faith that Sei would deliver what's deserved to Kanki for this massacre:
Ei Sei upon hearing this news would come on to the battlefield and confront Kanki. But does he deliver justice? does he punish Kanki for the massacre? Does he punish Kanki for slaughtering, as Rishi said, "our fellow countrymen"? NOPE. What does Ei Sei do? He gives him a tap on the wrist with the hope that it was a good enough threat to keep Kanki in check a little.
So now, the great King Ei Sei, basically said "ima let this massacre slide, cause we need him to win". Which is generally the basis for why countries keep military officers who commit horrible crimes. With Ei Sei now going towards getting the unification done without even bringing justice to those who harm his people, which the surrendered Zhao soldiers were. Because again keep in mind, the goal isn't conquest of China... the goal is unification of China for everlasting peace. Yet, the very first atrocity that is committed under his reign, he's unable to pass judgement because it would hinder his goal. Are those eyes really still as pure as they were before the unification started? Idk, they seem to be getting less pure imo.
And I highly doubt this will be the biggest atrocity that happens during the unification. Especially with that flooding that Ouhon is meant to be doing at Wei. Now reflect back to above, where King Ouken talked about Ei Sei's eyes becoming impure. It just so happens that Ri Shin's last campaign historically is Qi. And during this campaign I believe Qi will attempt to fight to the last man, but the capital of Qi will be captured fast. And in the meeting between Ouken & Sei after the unification, Ouken will tell Ei Sei that his eyes have changed. Because historically Qi had rejected an envoy from Qin asking for the surrender, which is why Ouhon/Shin were sent with a giant army. And Ouken will also tell Shin something related to how Sei has changed.
After this meeting between Shin-Ouken, as the events of post-unification start to unfold. Where Sei and co start to forcefully try to make people into 1, destroying the various cultures (something which Ei Sei is historically known for with the great burning and slaughtering of confusianists), with things like forced labor to build the great wall, all of which I believe Hara will make sure to put into the series...by this time Ei Sei's eyes will be fully clouded. The "bring peace upon China" will turn into "maintain my empire", because those are two different goals.
As Sei is committing all these atrocities against the civilians of China, Shin will take his stand and stay true to his words. That no matter who you are whether a lowly commander or even a King, he won't let atrocities happen on his watch. This will come circle to how/why Ouki was open to working under Ei Sei, because of the purity in his eyes. Shin who carried Ouki's will put down his King, because his eyes had now become impure. Because this will be the ultimate test to Shin as a character and Shin's words. When his closest friend and the person he's nearly died for multiple times, does the very thing that goes against Shin's principles... will Shin take a stand? I believe he will.
To sum it up, as Ei Sei's eyes start to become clouded during the unification and post-unification, Shin will put down his close friend to stand by his morals and stick to the declaration he'd made during the Sanyou campaign. And Shin killing Ei Sei would be "covered up" by one of the two theories above. Thus the story that started from chapter 2 and ran parallel to each others, will come crashing against each other with this event. A tragedy the likes of which that has never been written or drawn in manga history.
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So that's it guys, it's been few days of me working at this going and back forth about some interpetations of events and things of that nature, so hope y'all enjoyed it. I tried using as little historical spoilers as possible, though using more might've been better to support some points. Hopefully I can look back on this theory in 10-20 years from now (whenever Kingdom ends) and see that I was right lmao. But nonetheless, hope y'all enjoy the read even if y'all disagree. Please do share your opinions if you managed to read all the way through, much love.
#2/7/27
I am making this thread by taking Hara on his words stated at Shukai plains that the end of Kingdom will be the rise of the Han dynasty, thus we effectively seeing the fall of the Qin and the rise of the great Liu Bang/Emperor Gaozu:
"kingdom manga will not end at Unification of China but it will end after that...most likely it will end after Emperor Gaozu of Han taking the Rule...it will end with a picture of shin's family....and also 100 volume will not be Enough to draw all of this, so I will Discuss that with my team after ending the Battle at Shukai Plains. "
Thus it's only logical that we will be seeing the death of Ei Sei. So this is my theory on how Hara will be orchestrating that death, and all the foreshadowing he's done so far in the series to build up to it.
Eyes Of The Tyrant:
A key thing that Hara has highlighted/focused on twice related to Ei Sei, are his eyes. The very first time is when Ouki meets Ei Sei and Sei tells Ouki about his goal of the unification and what have you. And first thing Ouki notes after hearing his answer is that there is no cloudiness in his eyes, they shine brightly. Then would go on to emphasize how much different they are from King Sho's, and how eyes like Ei Sei's have never existed before:
The above moment happened right before Ei Sei would take the throne properly and start his campaign against Ryofui. Similarly, right before Ei Sei is about to start his 1st officially campaign of the unification, Hara brings it up again this time through King Ouken:
Ouken makes it very clear to Ei Sei, that if Sei's remain unchanged he would surrender Qi to him, because as Ei Sei is presently somebody to whom he can entrust Qi to. HOWEVER, were they to become clouded by impurity, Qi would fight to the last man to protect their home. So the question ultimately is will Ei Sei's eyes stay unclouded, will they stay pure, will keep the same brilliant light in them that Ouki saw? In order to answer this let's take a look at Ei Sei's goal and his past, along with the progression that's happened with him since Ouken and his meeting.
A Broken Child & His Goal:
Ei Sei since he was little was beaten up by adults in revenge against the Qin for what happened at Chouhei. And he as a child started to have hallucinations of ghosts of those who had been massacred in the aftermath of the Chouhei battle. He was broken down to such an extent that he could not even feel any pain and lost many other senses. This mental despair of his was broken by Shika, who became the first to show him affection:
After Shika rescues a mentally broken Sei from the depths of Darkness, he aims to set his eyes on a unified China to eradicate warfare. His goal is really discussed in detail during the Ryofui & Ei Sei debate. Where he first explains that people fall into darkness due to tragedy around them, and when they aren't rescued they only give birth to more tragedy and the ultimate source of all this tragedy being warfare. Thus, his reason for unifying China is to eradicate warfare for his future generations even if he has to take the burden of it all, but he will be creating a China undivided and one without inequality:
Now Ei Sei being the main driving force on which the premise of the entire manga is set on, one would think Hara would've ended the debate with Ei Sei's triumph. But that is not what Hara does. Hara specifically chooses to end this debate on the note that Ryo & Sei would never come to an agreement, because their starting points differ:
But now that we have a clear understanding of what Ei Sei wants to achieve and why he wants to achieve it... let's look at the actual reality of what his goal would be doing.
Reality of the Unification of China:
While we may view China as 1 entity that was simply divided into multiple "states", the reality is each of those states/kingdoms are essentially their own countries within the manga. They each possess their own cultures, their own measurement & scale units, their own writing characters, their own currencies, and along with different schools of philosophy and religion. Their own governmental systems ran based on different ideologies. They're more different than even the countries of Europe right now, if we're talking about a comparison:
In the Ryo-Ei Sei debate, Ryofui states that the unification would bring about an unprecedented level of tragedy to China and rather than ending conflicts, it would give rise to more conflicts where the soldiers/people loyal to the previous states would seek revenge.
Then in the Ei Sei - Riboku discussion, Riboku states that the unification would be an unprecedented massacre of life. The degree to which human life would be lost will be of unimaginable scale, and it would all be done based on a goal that is completely baseless:
And the reply Ei Sei has given to these two in return to counter these realities is that he fully well recognizes that he would bring about a tragedy like no other to China, but nonetheless he's willing to shoulder it because it would eradicate warfare forever:
Can the eyes remain unchanged?
You see all of those above statements from Ei Sei and him willing to shoulder the burden, all happened before he actually started the unification of China. The very first campaign he starts for the unification is WZI. In which they succeed. Then they move on to Juuko, in which they succeed. Campaign after that we go to Kanki & Kouchou... and this is when something big happens. Y'all remember the ghosts Ei Sei used to see as a child? Yea they were from the battle of Chouhei where 400k surrendered soldiers were slaughtered. And Kanki proceeded to do a mini-Chouhei for sheer revenge. And the aftermath of which being the cries of sadness among the people of Zhao:
After we see the cries of Zhao citizens. We go to Kanyou where we see Rishi make some important statements. You see while the enemy soldiers are against the Qin and enemies of the Qin, the surrendered soldiers on the other hand are not. And for RiShi, what Qin did was essentially a genocide of their own people. Because their goal is not simple conquest of the kingdoms, it's a unification to bring about peace that Ei Sei is aiming for. And for that goal, what Kanki did was something unforgiveable.
Then we transition into the Kanki-Ei Sei discussion. Where a reality of the unification slaps Ei Sei right across the face from one of his own Qin soldiers. When General Kanki asks one of his underlings whether they'd be able to live together with Zhao after this war, the answer is a straight up NOPE. Why? Because the zhao had killed one of their comrades aka Raido. Kanki tells Sei that he expects too much from humans, and Sei says "yea so what if I do?"... but just then a crucial thing is brought up by Hara when it comes to Ei Sei's goal. While to use the readers it may seem like the unification is such a hard path to bring peace, as it's been declared an unprecedented thing and what not. But the reality is the opposite, through Sei himself, Hara let's us know... the unification of China is being done by Sei to bring "peace"... because it is the shortest path thus the easiest path... and I'm sure we all know the many sayings about taking a shortcut, and in particular a baseless shortcurt... It is a very risky thing.
But you see Kanki stated something brutally factual here. Sei is the one responsible for starting this invasion, thus every single death that happens on this path of invasion.. will be indirectly at the hands of Ei Sei. Whether it is the death of a Zhao soldier or a Qin soldier, whether it's a general or a 1000man commander, all of their deaths that will happen to the path of unification will be on the shoulders of Ei Sei.
While Sei provided a counter to Kanki's statements and maintained a poised and authoritative image in front of everyone. The image that Hara shows of Ei Sei when he's alone is completely different. He's sulking, he's down, the realization of those lives being on his hands is coming in.
So essentially what we have is a man who in the past was broken and hallucinated to such an extent he was seeing the ghosts of the people from a massacre decades ago. Now he's responsible for another massacre, and it's only the start. By the end of his unification campaign, going by just the number of casualties so far, this man will be responsible for millions of deaths, within the span of less than 20 years. So back to the question... will his eyes remain unchanged? No, they won't.
It is virtually impossible for his eyes to keep remaining the same, with the shouldering of millions of deaths on his consciousness. And I believe that dimming of the brilliant light that Ouki saw in him is already there. Because you see Ei Sei is not only going to be burdening millions of deaths on his mind, but also having to take on the hatred of millions that remain. The rage of those hundreds of thousands families of who's men he slaughtered for his goal. Because you see those deaths and conflicts don't simply stop there once he's conquered the states, they will continue into post-unification. In fact Ri Shi has already declared they would have to have a whole different type of war against those who are followers of Confucianism, and that will only be but 1 obstacle for them. Because no matter how you put it, Ei Sei is aiming to erase cultures from existence and unify people under 1-identity. But those cultures are of great value to those people.... so there will only be one way to unify them... force.
This is also where the statement from Ryofui about them having vastly different starting points come in. The conclusion that Riboku & Ryofui came to is based on two people who have seen the people of china from a ground level, they have lived their lives for decades at that point seeing the various things the world does. Ei Sei on the other hand was a child isolated in a bad place then immediately made into a King, where he could possess the power to rule and change it all by force. Because he equated all of the suffering he took to simply warfare. Thus to him "make unification happen = end warfare = peace forever". But to the likes of Riboku & Ryofui "make unification happen = cause a giant massacre = keep warfare going still". But let me go on a tangent of philosophical difference, and remain on topic.
So I believe his eyes will change without a doubt. But what happens when his eyes do change? And that is the answer my theory will seek to answer.
THE DEATH OF THE TYRANT:
Historically there are two main proposed theories of his death:
1st. Death by mercury poison while attempting to chase "immortality".
2nd. Natural death from tiresome unification.
I'm first going to address how each of these deaths can be possible in the manga, along with how exactly Hara will make them happen and how each correlates to the changing of the eyes. After which I will propose my theory that deviates from the historical theories and is purely based on manga plot.
1st. Death by mercury poison:
The biggest issue Sei had with Ryofui & Riboku's alternative methods to achieve peace in China to end the warring states era was... they aren't everlasting.
But Ei Sei for some odd reason has to apply this logic to himself. To him, the unification is the for sure method of everlasting peace. And of course, to which Riboku said it's a baseless vision and an assumption (and of course as history shows us everlasting peace never came after the unification). I think Ei Sei will after the unification realize that there's either he has a lot more to do in terms of establishing the empire thus he needs to live longer... or he will realize that his empire can only be sustained for as long as he lives, and thus he needs to become immortal. That as long as Ei Sei himself keeps reigning, there will remain peace in China.
However, as you all know obsessions with immortality can lead men to do crazy things and mentally become insane, thus Ei Sei due to being obssessed with becoming an immortal rather than proper governance will be assassinated with the mercury poison. As he would have plenty of people who'd want him dead by then, due to the death toll of the unification & the post unification atrocities to force the people into a single identity.
2nd. Natural death from the unification exhaustion:
Ei Sei historically is stated to have died at the age of 49, which is pretty solid for that time and higher than the average age of death for Chinese emperors. This theory is fairly simple, the stress that came from the unification and then post-unification incidents would just lead Sei to a natural death. As many of you already know the high connection between stress & stroke/heart attacks. This is the death that can give him the "heroic" send-off narratively if Hara decides to go that route, by likelihood is low imo.
3rd. The Sword that slays it's king:
Now this is my personal theory based on simply the narrative itself. During the intial phases of the wei invasion, the Qin army led by Mougou does a siege battle. In that siege battle the sword of King Ei Sei, Shin participates. After the siege is done, some of the Qin soldiers under the command of a 1000-man commander start to pillage and rape. It is then that our boy Shin steps in and says yo "I ain't fuckin with this shit" and proceeds to slash down the 1000man commander. From then he proceeds to make the declaration below:
After Shin makes that declaration that to him it doesn't matter if you're a 1000-man commander, a general or even a king, he's not gonna forgive scumbags like him. Now keep in mind he's referring to even people from his own nation. The people he's standing up for aren't from Qin, they're from Wei. Because for Shin, the war must stay between soldiers or those who willingly decide to take part in it. Not civilians who live regular lives. Now from this declaration, he makes a promise to Mangoku as he dies:
Oh...but what happened 400 chapters later? Something like Chouhei. Now to Shin's credit, he was sent away and once he heard the news he was going to come and whoop Kanki and keep his words from the above two panels:
But, Karyo Ten stops him. Ten stops him with the statement that Ei Sei will bring justice to the situation. She had faith that Sei would deliver what's deserved to Kanki for this massacre:
Ei Sei upon hearing this news would come on to the battlefield and confront Kanki. But does he deliver justice? does he punish Kanki for the massacre? Does he punish Kanki for slaughtering, as Rishi said, "our fellow countrymen"? NOPE. What does Ei Sei do? He gives him a tap on the wrist with the hope that it was a good enough threat to keep Kanki in check a little.
So now, the great King Ei Sei, basically said "ima let this massacre slide, cause we need him to win". Which is generally the basis for why countries keep military officers who commit horrible crimes. With Ei Sei now going towards getting the unification done without even bringing justice to those who harm his people, which the surrendered Zhao soldiers were. Because again keep in mind, the goal isn't conquest of China... the goal is unification of China for everlasting peace. Yet, the very first atrocity that is committed under his reign, he's unable to pass judgement because it would hinder his goal. Are those eyes really still as pure as they were before the unification started? Idk, they seem to be getting less pure imo.
And I highly doubt this will be the biggest atrocity that happens during the unification. Especially with that flooding that Ouhon is meant to be doing at Wei. Now reflect back to above, where King Ouken talked about Ei Sei's eyes becoming impure. It just so happens that Ri Shin's last campaign historically is Qi. And during this campaign I believe Qi will attempt to fight to the last man, but the capital of Qi will be captured fast. And in the meeting between Ouken & Sei after the unification, Ouken will tell Ei Sei that his eyes have changed. Because historically Qi had rejected an envoy from Qin asking for the surrender, which is why Ouhon/Shin were sent with a giant army. And Ouken will also tell Shin something related to how Sei has changed.
After this meeting between Shin-Ouken, as the events of post-unification start to unfold. Where Sei and co start to forcefully try to make people into 1, destroying the various cultures (something which Ei Sei is historically known for with the great burning and slaughtering of confusianists), with things like forced labor to build the great wall, all of which I believe Hara will make sure to put into the series...by this time Ei Sei's eyes will be fully clouded. The "bring peace upon China" will turn into "maintain my empire", because those are two different goals.
As Sei is committing all these atrocities against the civilians of China, Shin will take his stand and stay true to his words. That no matter who you are whether a lowly commander or even a King, he won't let atrocities happen on his watch. This will come circle to how/why Ouki was open to working under Ei Sei, because of the purity in his eyes. Shin who carried Ouki's will put down his King, because his eyes had now become impure. Because this will be the ultimate test to Shin as a character and Shin's words. When his closest friend and the person he's nearly died for multiple times, does the very thing that goes against Shin's principles... will Shin take a stand? I believe he will.
To sum it up, as Ei Sei's eyes start to become clouded during the unification and post-unification, Shin will put down his close friend to stand by his morals and stick to the declaration he'd made during the Sanyou campaign. And Shin killing Ei Sei would be "covered up" by one of the two theories above. Thus the story that started from chapter 2 and ran parallel to each others, will come crashing against each other with this event. A tragedy the likes of which that has never been written or drawn in manga history.
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So that's it guys, it's been few days of me working at this going and back forth about some interpetations of events and things of that nature, so hope y'all enjoyed it. I tried using as little historical spoilers as possible, though using more might've been better to support some points. Hopefully I can look back on this theory in 10-20 years from now (whenever Kingdom ends) and see that I was right lmao. But nonetheless, hope y'all enjoy the read even if y'all disagree. Please do share your opinions if you managed to read all the way through, much love.
#2/7/27
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