Tower of God Episode 3

Tower of God Episode 3

The Correct Door

While I think Tower of God episode 3 was better than episode 2, there are still some things that don’t make sense to me. The main questionable plot point being: What was the point of killing off half (or more) of the regulars right at the start?

Is the tower powered by the blood of the fallen? I really see no other reason for this to happen. And as far as we know, that second test was the only one which resulted in the deaths of participants so far. Sure, people could die during the other tests, but the second test forced people to be killed so that others could pass.

Although, I should point out that people may have been killed off after failing the other tests as well. We don’t actually know what happened to the people who failed to break through the wall of Shinsu after the second test, and we don’t know what happened to those who failed this latest test.

Hansung Yu from the anime series Tower of God
Hansung Yu

The third test is what really called into question the point of the second test for me. The second test was literally a battle royale to the death, and then the third test was basically a test of courage. The stakes were at rock bottom compared to the test which came before it.

This test involved a room full of doors and a 10 minute time limit. One team of three enters at a time and must choose the correct door before the time runs out. However, there’s actually a trick to this test.

Although the time limit is said to be 10 minutes, it’s 10 minutes based on the clock in the room, which runs twice as fast as the clocks each of the Regulars has with them. So in reality they have five minutes to choose. But, there’s also no correct door — they simply have to pick any door within five minutes in order to pass.

Bonus Round

After the third test Lero Ro shows up again and announces that there’s actually going to be an optional, bonus test. Obviously, extra tests aren’t good, but the incentive for participation in this test is that the team which wins is considered to have passed the rest of the tests.

And if you’re like me, this probably came as a shock, because I thought these tests were somehow connected to the actual tower. No. Apparently these tests are actually just the training tests before you’ve been approved to climb the tower.

Again, why not just let everyone attempt the tower? Those who wouldn’t have passed these initial tests will just die along the way anyway. What’s the point of killing them all now? Does it matter where they die? Wouldn’t it be better to let them live and contribute to society?

Anaak wearing the crown from the anime series Tower of God
Anaak wearing the crown

Anyway, this bonus test is a strange one. It’s set up like a game of keep-away. Two teams fight over a crown, and whichever team has it and has the wearer sitting on the throne in the center of the room wins. Then the next team is released and they have to attempt to steal the crown from the previous round’s winners.

There are two main strategies for winning this game. Either take the crown right at the start, as we see Anaak do, and defend it for the rest of the rounds. Or swoop in late and attempt to snag the win away from another team. The latter strategy would be the undisputed best, but there’s also a round limit, so there’s no guarantee your team will have a chance.

I think it was stated that there are only five rounds, and more than five teams. Also, the first team to press a button in their cell is the one which gets to enter the next round, so there’s no guarantee you’ll get in for the final round.

Also, you don’t have to kill the opposing teams.

Rachel

The first thing I want to mention about Rachel isn’t actually about Rachel herself, but rather about her dream. Bam finally asked the question I was curious about in the previous episode: What’s with the sky?

Remember, the sky is apparently only visible from the top of the tower, so why is there a sky on these lower floors? And why isn’t anyone else surprised by it? These questions are finally answered, though I’m not really all that satisfied with the answers which were given.

As for why there’s a sky, we’re told that it’s actually just an illusion created with Shinsu, not a real sky. That’s a fair explanation, because it would be pretty odd for there to be a real sky on the second floor of the tower. This also (sort of) explains why nobody else is surprised by it — they know it’s just an illusion.

Interestingly, although they know the sky on these floors is an illusion, they seem to believe that the real thing doesn’t exist. Or at least they believe the night sky full of stars is just a legend. So I guess that means the skies on these lower floors are always daytime skies.

Rachel (maybe?) from the anime series Tower of God
Rachel (maybe?)

So what about Rachel? Well, apparently she’s part of a team which was in another test group running parallel to the one Bam is in. And the three person team she’s a part of killed all 197 other Regulars in the battle royale test.

Now, there’s always a chance that this isn’t actually Rachel since her face is covered by a hood. However, if it is, what happened to her to turn her into this bloodthirsty monster? Does she really want to see the night sky that bad? And where did she learn to be a killer?

Conclusion

What did you think of Tower of God episode 3? Were your questions answered? Some of mine were, but I think those answers opened up even more questions. Of course, that could be a good thing, but that’s only if those further questions are also answered later on in a way that makes sense.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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