[THEORY] the hishaku did not directly kill rokuhira. and i believe Char is the most important character in the manga, with Enten being the most important katana
Keep in mind NONE of this are things im sure of, just here to share my ideas-
okay - We get very limited scenes from the starting three chapters about chihiro's dad's death, and we get to see what happened, almost from an inside-chihiro viewpoint. Furthermore, a common theme that's been sometimes almost shoehorned in is how the wartime 'heroism' from the sword-bearers might not actually be as just as the public believes. Lastly, lo and behold - chapter 61 hints at a school setting, a place i think is perfect to show how history is told by the winners. I believe that all of this is a setup from hokazono, to set up a big reveal about what actually happened in the war. Because i refuse to believe the war was all heroic and happy and unicorns - we all saw magatsumi, we all saw shiba's weird reactions and most importantly samura. Hell, we were making memes about how fucking inhumane magatsumi was just for funs even before we caught on to anything because it was just that BAD.
AND i believe the twist is in a multi part series: i expect some of these to be wrong, but ive been thinking about this for a while, both from how hokazono might want it and what were getting:
- The Hishaku are sorcerers somehow tied to the Kyonagi.
either they are the last members of the clan, or they're somehow connected. We've seen them put limbs together, a trait the kyonagi posess. (although it was a little different) and for some reason, all of the members' actions are tied to childlike activites. We see Yura wearing a classy black suit but in a playground. We see them engage in activities in an almost nonchalant matter, moving in the dark and amassing strength but never committing to anything in a manner that people can take them head on. And most importantly, why is it that they do any of this? why do they attack the kamunabi, why are they there at rokuhira's assassination? I believe the Hishaku are the remnants of the Kyonagi, purely by conjecture, and that that's why we see them connected to childhood so much. The massacre of their clan must have included children, their culture, their families. So much innocence, tossed aside. They could be showcasing their quest for revenge along with their reasoning - the brutal murder of their entire clan. This also makes it clear why they attack the kamunabi - they have a personal grudge - and why they're so powerful - they're kyonagi, a special clan shown to have incredible healing powers. perhaps those powers extend beyond just healing.
- Rokuhira, Azami, Shiba, all of who joined what is now the Kamunabi are implicit or directly took part in the slaughter of the Kyonagi clan.
This is a lot more conjecture, but its the only thing that makes sense. I think Samura is so effing disgusted because he admits, to some degree, that what happened is necessary, but it disgusts him. It would also explain why there's a mole in the Kamunabi - makes sense someone also thought this was not it, but acted separately from samura, opting for personal revenge.
- Rokuhira was NOT killed by the hishaku.
I don't doubt they had some part in the destroying, and this is where we just go full guesswork - but i don't think the hishaku killed rokuhira. we don't see it happening, we see it from young chihiro's eyes. Shiba didn't see it happen, he was late. all we saw was tree hishaku and john hishaku along with woman hishaku power posing on top of a dying rokuhira. It all seems the perfect setting for a bait and switch - WE DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY SAID! can you guys think of a more obvious trap? also, kunishige, the guy seems just too guilty, too pure to have actively participated in massacre, and besides, it makes for a better story that 'oppenheimer feels guiltyu after making le trillion murder sword' than 'oppenheimer gets a high from killing children and then dies'.
So what actually happened? Well, whether or not rokuhira knew something was coming for him, i believe he meant to do right by the Kyonagi. He must've crafted Enten to specifically destroy all the swords, so as to right the wrongs done by his previous works, especially Magatsumi. Perhaps he meant to do it himself, perhaps not, but whatever the case, the Hishaku were not there to kill him, someone else was. This makes Enten the true Lynchpin in this war - something that might change even Samura's plans once this is made more public, since all we need now is to destroy the swords. No more ridiculously murderous power held in stasis, no more people needing absolute protection to the point of jailing them, with failure meaning the possible horrors of the likes of magatsumi actually being unleashed on civilians. No fucking Enchanted Swords, thats what i think chihiro's endgame ideal should be.
- Which brings me to....Char.
Beyond all this, char exists at a special place in this manga. She is a true Kyonagi, someone we know for sure has mystery powers and connections, and she does not have any other noticable ties other than being close to Chihiro. and chihiro seems awfully protective of her, its something that we all love in this manga, in chihiro, that the moment chihiro saw that a child was in danger, some switch flipped in him and he went fucking murder hobo. its rock. and we all loved it to death, but its time chihiro also comes to face the truth. as said in chapter 61, he will see the world with his own eyes. things are definitely not what they seem, but char existing in such a crucial point between the hishaku (who i think want char because of their connections to the Kyonagi, and not for good reasons) and chihiro, who needs that one last reason for why he fights, makes her the person who i think chihiro is going to get back up for in the end.
Thanks for reading all that, and sorry for it being so long.
*edited for formatting and spelling*
Extra point 1 = (Maybe that's why they have so much personality to them, the kamunabi aren't the good guys. neither are the Hishaku, but them being the underdogs makes them so much more... shonen? you gotta admit, especially in chapter 61, them discussing plans, all looking to be either adolescent teens - young adults gives a very shonen group image.)
Extra point 2 = (I believe the answer to the Kyonagi's powers lies somewhere in chapter 18, where sojo forcibly takes control of a stone and he gets blown to bits. we get a sequence that highlights that somewhere in the process of using the stones, by extension the swords and most importantly char, there is free will, a strong determination or some sort of willpower involved. maybe a better theorist can craft an answer for this, for now i think there's just too little evidence to cook up something believable.)
Extra point 3 = ( Who killed rokuhira then? i believe that to be Azami. The guys just fucking sus, we gotta admit. he's super capable of killing, and itd explain why he's so hesitant on chihiro fighting - he understands where he comes from, but he can't implicit himself.)
Extra point 4 = ( you fucking lied to us, chihiro, you're genuinely just a guy who's all mushy inside and treats people with love and respect. waking with fresh hatred my ahh)