Having tricked the competition with a fake crown and placing one of their own upon the throne, this week begins with Bam, Khun, and Rak defending their position and fighting to emerge victorious from the Crown Game.
But the Game shows no sign of giving the team an easy victory, as the trio finds themselves facing off against waves of new and determined teams.
Following his deception at the end of last episode, Khun reveals that the bag he has been carrying is capable of duplicating items, which allowed Khun to make a copy of the crown and throw it to the other teams as a distraction. The other participants, enraged by the deception, rush the throne only to be swiftly knocked out by one swift throw of Rak’s spear. With no one left to attack, the third round comes to an end, with the heroes notching a victory before preparing for the next fight.
To Bam’s confusion, as the next round of teams enter the arena, Khun appears to become disinterested in the game, tying his hair in a ponytail and taking a seat next to Bam on the throne. Realizing the threat of Khun’s cunning, the members of the newly arrived teams propose forming a temporary alliance to remove them from the game before returning to compete for the Crown.
As the teams attempt to negotiate the truce, one team immediately rejects the proposal without a word and begins to wantonly attack the others, eliminating many of them with relative ease and sparking a full-blown battle royale.
As Bam begins to worry about the impending attack from the rebel team, Khun divulges to Bam that the team is actually on their side, explaining that he rescued them from elimination during the Tower’s first test and kept them within his mysterious bag in exchange for their future assistance.
Upon reaching the lobby following the third test, the test of time, Khun released them, informing them of the current situation and asking them to enter the Crown Game and defend them. After eliminating the other teams, the mysterious team returns to their waiting room, handing victory in fourth round to the trio of protagonists.
The fourth round sees the entrance of even more strange competitors bearing immense amounts of power, including the mysterious hooded team which appears to have Rachel among their members.
Though the arena begins by erupting into a hectic battle, the fighters are quickly pared down, with the team of hooded figures and a mysterious woman clad in a black body suit and mask wielding a large golden staff fighting on a level far above those of the others.
Sitting upon the throne, Bam notices the woman he believes to be Rachel standing before him, assuring him that her team posed no threat to him. Suddenly, the masked woman reaches the throne and lunges towards Rachel causing Bam, who leaps out in desperation to protect her, to project a massive burst of glowing, golden Shinsu from his body and blow the assailant away.
In his rage, Bam lifts the Black March to execute the woman, but the spirit of the Black March emerges from the sword and renders him unconscious, resulting in the Crown Game coming to an end without a victor.
In the aftermath of the game, Test Director Yu Han Sung explains to Lero that the test is not used to see who can successfully climb the Tower, but to weed out those who could pose a significant threat to the Tower.
When asked if any of the current participants pose such a threat, Lero refrains from informing Yu Han Sung about Bam’s sudden and overwhelming use of Shinsu, noting that none of them fit that qualification. Meanwhile, the mysterious hooded woman speaks with Khun, revealing that she is in fact Rachel and makes an unknown request of Khun.
As a continuation of the already-in-progress Crown Game, it’s no surprise that the expertly animated action from the previous episode continues in ‘The Crown’s Fate.’
This is especially evident in the visually diverse fighting styles of the participants, ranging from the swift slashes of Yung Changsoo’s dual wielded sword to the onslaught of tentacles that emerge from Kukaku Rakukakuka’s shell.
Of course, the fight that stands above the rest is the duel between the disguised Hwa Ryun and Androssi Zahard, which sees a clash between the powerful movements of Hwa’s staff and Androssi’s agile leg-based fighting style.
Interestingly, though the review of last week’s ‘The Green April’ noted that the series could benefit from a more visually exciting cast of characters, this week’s episode delivers just that. A humanoid prawn, a red giant with sharp teeth, and a sentient green blob are just a few examples of the designs that stand out amongst the crowd. This may be solely because many of these characters will have continued roles in the series, but it’s a welcome development.
If there is one problem to note, however, it is the fact that Tower of God seems apprehensive to name their characters. For this article alone, many of the competitors had to be identified by searching the fan curated Tower of God wiki.
While it’s somewhat understandable given the sheer number of participants in the Tower and the pace the series appears to be aiming for, it nonetheless results in a bit of confusion when attempting to discuss or follow the episode.
The Verdict
Tower of God continues to provide a visually stimulating and mysterious ride, with said mysteries only continuing to deepen, with ‘The Crown’s Fate’ showing that for every answer provided, two new questions concerning the nature of the Tower and its inhabitants present themselves to the viewer. Undoubtedly, we will be left asking why Rachel is not only in the Tower, but why she’s there, why she’s part of such a powerful team, or why Bam is able to so readily wield such a powerful version of Shinsu. It appears the only way for the to find the answers is to keep marching up the Tower, and thankfully the climb continues to be enjoyable and surprisingly comfortable.