Thoughts on the Nature of Rc Cells

The thing about Tokyo Ghoul is that Ishida hasn’t give us much information on the biology and science of half-ghouls. @absolutetimeandspace​ and I decide to work together and specifically look into this. What we’ve up come with is a weird (and hard to follow) crack theory. We’ll try to put down our thoughts as best we can.

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In chapter 99 of TG we learn that Kaneki is Dr. Kanou’s greatest successful experiment. Fast forward to chapter 44 of TG:re he says that Kaneki unintentionally developed into a complete experiment, a growing perfection that surpasses the other Rize-based cases, going on to stand on equal footing vs. an Owl-based half-ghoul - one with an Rc count over 3 times higher than his. This made us question how and why that happened. 

We know that the main objective in using the Owl’s kakuhou was to create a powerful half-ghoul, yet why is Kaneki, who has an inferior kakuhou, still stronger than Takizawa? What makes Kaneki so special? (A: besides his tights?)

Other questions that came up along the way: Why do humans taste better to ghouls when ghouls are the ones with more Rc cells? Why do some humans taste and smell better than others?

The answers to all this might lie in the Rc count.

After looking into the key differences between the two breeds, we think that the Rc level and Rc ‘type’ (quality + age) is playing a big role on a half-ghoul’s strength. Our theory states that the lower the human’s starting Rc count, the stronger the resulting half-ghoul, while the higher it is the weaker and more likely the half-ghoul surgery will fail.

[ TG chapter 29 ]

Before jumping into everything we need to remember that the normal Rc count for a healthy human ranges from 200 - 500, compared to 1000 - 8000 for ghouls.

Thankfully Ishida provided us with the Rc counts before and after the surgeries for most half-ghouls.

[ TG:re chapter 44 ]  [ TG:re chapter 2 ]

K-Eater Kaneki Ken : 170 -> 911 -> ??? -> 2753 W-Eater Nashiro Yasuhisa : 189 -> 3789 B-Eater Kurona Yasuhisa : 191 -> 4110 T-Owl Takizawa Seidou : 211.2 -> 7188.7

[ TG chapter 30 ] While Kaneki assumed that his count may be the same level as a human’s, we now know that during this time the number was at 911. This is much too high for a human, but also too low for a ghoul.

Coincidentally all of these people share the same trait: A below average Rc count. As a human, Takizawa barely staying in the normal range, while the twins and Kaneki’s were too low to even be considered healthy levels for any human.

The fact that these 4 successfully transitioned into half-ghouls might have something to do with the surgery working better for individuals with lower Rc levels, while higher Rc runs the risk of the subjects becoming floppies (such as Amon) and/or developing the “nameless” syndrome seen in Dr. Kanou’s failed experiments.

[ TG:re chapter 43 ] Creativity + Intelligence = kagune shape  Quality + Quantity = kagune size All of these are factored in to equal a ghoul’s strength and potential.

Using the Rc count we can guess the quality of a human’s Rc cells. This is important in predicting the resulting half-ghoul’s strength since a lower Rc indicates higher Rc quality.

For example, logically speaking if the average human body were to put aside 500 calories for Rc production and you were to take three humans - one producing low quality Rc cells, the second normal quality, and the last the highest - you’ll see that the Rc count will continue to decrease as quality increases. (N: I mean it’s only fair.)

This would have to do with higher quality Rc cells requiring more energy for production.

Diagram is hypothetical and is only being used to illustrate that higher quality Rc needs more energy per cell to produce.

Now going back to Kaneki and why he’s the special little hot shit that he is.  

We know that his count was 170 while human, meaning he has the highest quality Rc that we’ve seen so far. This is still relevant information for after the surgery because half-ghouls should be producing their own Rc cells just like they did as humans.

The misunderstanding that they lose this ability may come from people being under the impression that transitioning from human to half-ghoul will simply change the body to having all of the same characteristic of a ghoul’s. The reason why this is incorrect is because the presence of a kakuhou does not directly result in the loss of Rc production, rather ghouls are born without the necessary functions required to make their own Rc cells. Half-ghouls, on the other hand, should have no issue with an already built in system.

This means that every human turned ghoul is still producing a small amount of their own Rc (does not mean they can live off that supply, as a ghoul’s body has a faster metabolism, immune system, and regeneration, which requires a massive amount of energy to maintain). 

Kaneki’s constant supply of new high quality Rc cells are being stored in the kakuhou, and as a result increasing the quantity of the high quality Rc cells (note Eto saying having both results in a powerful kagune). This is something that normal ghouls, who are unable to produce their own Rc, will never be able to obtain. A ghoul’s Rc count is built up on old recycled Rc cells from humans, basically diminishing the quality to average or poor.

As for Eto (a born half-ghoul) and the Quinx (not ghoul or half-ghoul) I can’t say it applies to them in the same way.

However since we know more about Eto, this being her ability to eat human food and her massive amount of quality Rc cells, we can guess that she was born with the ability to efficiently produce enough Rc to sustain her ghoul body (this is based on tumblr’s assumption that her diet is mostly ghoul/human free).

This puts her at a huge advantage over the ghouls, Quinx, and artificial half-ghouls. Even if her organs produced low or normal quality Rc, the quality would still be better than any ghoul’s and at a larger quantity than any half-ghoul’s.

This means that while artificial half-ghouls are superior to ghouls, natural half-ghouls are the ones at the top of the food chain.

Now if Eto has both high quality Rc along with the quantity, then that’s a bit terrifying isn’t it?

I’m sure by this point it’s self explanatory why humans taste yummy while ghouls taste like shit.

Ghouls are naturally attracted to humans because of their newly made Rc (i.e. fresh organic food)(N: Fresh Rc is happy Rc!), and are disgusted by other ghouls because of their recycled Rc supply (i.e. rotten or stale food), because no matter how large the quantity, gross food will still taste gross. 

Kaneki being the literature major that he is, described in detail what a ghoul tastes like after taking his first bite.

[ TG chapter 64 ] Basically rotten food.

This also answers the question why some humans taste better than others, and generally why the seniors have a much blander taste. Same story for half-ghouls and why Kaneki specifically is the best thing Tsukiyama has ever experienced (N: all that fresh high quality Rc mmmm).

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NOTES: 

That’s basically it. There was a lot more content involving RoS, Rc Scan Gates, human Rc types, Rize, Shirazo etc. but I decided to exclude it until I have better confirmation. 

Funny I say that when this is crack theory post…

Buuut one thing I can’t help but briefly mention is that Shirazo might have physical problems in the future (not RoS), and the fact that the cage around his kagune just broke in ch 53 just made it so much more likely. gl boi.

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Anyways thanks to @absolutetimeandspace for working with me on this, we became such good buddies in the process :’)