Tower of God Episode 8

Tower of God Episode 8

Khun’s Strategy

So once again, how the test in Tower of God episode 8 worked wasn’t really how it was explained in the previous episode. I assumed this was going to be the case, but even my explanation about what I thought the test was really going to be like was wrong.

The biggest difference in how the test was actually performed is that the two teams aren’t actually competing head-to-head. Each team competes against Quant individually, with Team A going first and Team B going second. Now, that in itself wouldn’t have been an issue, but how the pass/fail criteria of the test are set up turns it into an issue.

It was stated that if one team passes, the other team fails.

The problem with this setup is that it means if Team A passes, Team B doesn’t even get a chance — they automatically fail. One of the two teams will always have an advantage depending on the difficulty of the test and the impact of information on alleviating that difficulty.

Khun ends up devising a strategy that actually takes this differential in advantage into consideration. His strategy involves making it as difficult for Team A to win as possible, while also feeding Team B as much information as possible.

Which Team has the Advantage?

If we say that each team has a 25% chance of success, and that information plays no role, then it’s better to be Team A. Team A would only need to get that 25% chance to pass. Team B would need the 75% chance that Team A loses and then would also need to get the 25% chance of them winning as well, which is an 18.75% chance — meaning Team A has the advantage by 6.25%.

With no information in play, Team A will always come out with the advantage.

If the information Team B learns from watching team A is helpful, and Team A fails, then we have to take into consideration the difficulty of the test and the usefulness of that information.

Quant blocking the exit from the anime series Tower of God
Quant blocking the exit

Using the same base success rate of 25%, the information Team B gathers from watching Team A fail would have to give them at least an 8.333…% boost in success rate for them to have an even chance of success. If the information is worth less than that, Team A has the advantage. If it’s worth more, Team B has the advantage.

Oh, and the effect information has on the test decreases as the initial success rate for the test goes up or down. As the initial success rate of the test increases, Team A’s chances of success increase. And as the initial success rate decreases, Team B’s chances of success increase (dependent on the usefulness of the information.

Winners and Losers

Now that we know this test is inherently flawed, let’s move onto another major issue in the episode: The “pass/fail” plot hole.

You may recall from last week’s episode discussion that I pointed out the fact that there are multiple people taking part in this test who, by all accounts, should have already passed. We’re shown that Rak and that one other Spear Bearer passed their test so they don’t have to participate in this one.

But what about all the others who are clearly strong enough to have passed their tests, like Laure and Khun? And what about those who we know for a fact passed their tests, like Shibisu and Hatz? Why are they still participating?

Khun bribing Quant from the anime series Tower of God
Khun bribing Quant

If you’re expecting me to give you an answer to that question, I don’t have one. There’s no reason given for why these characters who are known to have passed their preliminary test are still taking part in this test.

And to widen the plot hole even more, the entire pass/fail aspect of this test doesn’t apply to them. Why was Khun trying to make Team A fail and feed Team B information while being a member of Team A himself? Simply because he’s already passed regardless of whether or not his team wins.

The same goes for Laure, Shibisu, and Anaak. All of these characters are guaranteed to pass either way.

Do you see the problems here yet? Not only is there absolutely no explanation for why Rak is sitting out and Khun isn’t. But this already-rigged test is being further rigged by being full of characters who don’t care if their team passes or fails. Khun’s strategy is to take advantage of this to help his friends all pass while screwing over everyone else.

Friends and Betrayals

Why is Khun trying to help his friends? How does he accomplish this? And what precedent is there for doing this to begin with?

The first question is the most obvious. He’s helping his friends for two reasons. First, they’re his friends so he wants to help them. Second, helping them won’t adversely affect him because he’s already passed individually as we’ve discussed.

Question number two is only slightly more complex. If you watched the episode you know how he accomplished this feat, but the real question is how does it work out in his favor? Simply making Team A fail isn’t a foolproof plan. It works out because all of his friends on Team A have individually passed just like he has.

If any one of them hadn’t already passed, then Team A throwing the test wouldn’t have worked out.

Endorsi betraying her teammates from the anime series Tower of God
Endorsi betraying her teammates

Rak is safe because he’s not participating. Khun, Anaak, Shibisu, and Laure have all individually passed. The remaining friends in the group are all on Team B, so as long as Team B wins, it doesn’t matter if they individually passed or not.

Now, my assumption was that Khun planned for Team B to win in order to accomplish this. But based on what we see at the end of the episode, Endorsi may have other ideas. It’s possible that all the “friends” in Team B have also already individually passed so they’re going to throw the test too to get rid of everyone else.

As for precedent, we know from Hoh and whoever that girl he was seen with that betrayal is the name of the game. They need to betray and kill each other eventually. So from Khun’s perspective, why not now?

Conclusion

I’m predicting that Hoh is going to kill that girl during this test and then either be killed himself or fail when the “friend” group throws the test. He’s been set up as an antagonist for a few episodes now, we know the girl is afraid to die, Hoh isn’t afraid to kill, and it’s just the two of them alone.

Do you think this prediction will turn out to be correct? Or do you have a different prediction? And what are your thoughts on the rigged status of the test and the major plot hole as seen in Tower of God episode 8? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

4 Replies to “Tower of God Episode 8”

  1. This is not any spoiler.

    Okay I will explain test rules and pass/fail conditions (which was skipped in anime but was explained clearly in TOG webtoon ).

    1. First of all point system –
    Each individual is awarded points based on theirs performance in all test (present and past) . This points also worked as currency for these regulars . Final result of passing individual will be decided by theirs points.

    2. Coming to present test –
    Only certain no. Of individuals will be passing in each position. For example only 2 wave controller gonna be finally passed out of all individuals in wave controller position based on theirs points . These numbers of passing individuals for each position is fixed
    For
    Spear bearer – 4
    Wave controller -2
    Light bearer – 2
    Fisherman – 4 or 5 (can’t remember exactly)
    Scouts- 2 or 3

    Also tag test is not make or break (though it plays major role overall) to decide results, performance of previous position training test will be considered to for final evaluation.

    It is not by the rule that if team A passes then team B automatically fails (not a rule) but more likely will be outcome considering points of all individuals.

    Now it’s like this. In present condition top points holder of each position (having more points than others in their respective position) are present in team A (like khun, shibisu, laure having most points in their respective position). Let’s think from bam’s perspective, only two wave controller are allowed to pass among which laure is sure to pass( got enough points from previous position training test that result of this test will not have much effect on him as he got too much points for any wave controller to surpass). Bam is not in top two, small wave controller girl in first team got more points than him . So if team A wins then bam (even if his team also win) will not be able to get in top 2 and which means he will fail.

    Which is also the reason for hoh’s anxiety as he is also competing for 2nd wave controller position and fearing that bam will have that 2nd position.

    Hope your doubts are cleared by this

    1. I think you’ve explained everything very well here. I just wish the anime actually explained it.

      While it’s true that we already knew about the point system, it’s arbitrary in the anime. Besides this possibly final test, we don’t actually know how many points the other tests were in the anime. We’re also never told how many points each character has — with the exception of Endorsi who we see spent all of her points in the medical ward. Also, does spending points on things like food actually reduce your chances of passing? Is that why Rachel only eats an apple every day?

      The anime also doesn’t explain the criteria for passing or the fact that only a certain number of entrants can pass. And contrary to what turns out to be the case, it was explicitly stated that if one team passes, the other team fails. I’m not sure if this was just a bad translation, but I watched it on Crunchyroll, and I expect their translations to be correct considering how financially invested they are in this series in particular.

      Finally, it really seems like they’re trying to get through the entire prologue of the story in this first season. And the only way they can do that is by skipping all of the world-building and explanations of what’s actually happening. I think that’s the wrong choice. If they expect this series to be successful, they should have committed to two seasons, or at least a longer season, so all of this important information didn’t have to be left out.

      1. Yeah points is spend on food that is also the reason Rachel was saving points by eating cheap apples. About one team fails if other passes was not told by any officials but during Khun’s and Shibisu’s conversation which was not a rule but indirect result for BAM

      2. Yes they are not doing good (pacing is rocketing and info is changed to shorten plot which creates plot holes. So there was poor directing. After episode 5 they are poorly handling source material)

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