neolavender (neo)

A friend told us in the gc that they felt frustrated as an Erwin fan/Eruri fan for not being able to really understand Erwin and that she "doesn't know how to defend him without making the mistake of being wrong".

I usually stay away from Erwin characterization discourse coz to me A) everyone is free to hc him however they want as long as they didn't harm anyone/bash other hcs; B) Isayama created such dimensional characters that it isn't weird to have multiple interpretations of AoT characters; and C) I get emotional when engaging in such discourse that I prefer to just ignore it lol.

Buuuuut...

I shared my thoughts with my friend in case they might help her 'defend Erwin' in the future and I think some of these points are rarely talked about, so I'm sharing them here too:

1) Erwin was the one who minimized the SC death rate due to his new scouting formation (S1 E17);

2) During that suicide mission, SC was completely met with a dead end with no way to escape (Colossal Titan behind them and Beast Titan + other titans in front of them). So even if in the end, the suicide charge left only a couple of people alive, they'd all die without Erwin's plan (S3 E16);

3) As much as Erwin prioritized his dreams, he ended up giving it up for humanity (if he's as selfish as everyone makes him out to be, he'd live on to see the basement). And the one who persuaded him (relieving Erwin from the shackles of his selfish & childish obsession and therefore bringing him back to humanity) was Levi. IMO Levi was also the only person who knew about his dream, making him the only person who TRULY knows Erwin. I don't even think Erwin had told Hange/Mike about his dream;

4) Erwin has a very severe inner conflict and constantly battles his own demon. But I'd like to think that 'his demon' isn't his true self, rather it's what his surroundings have conditioned him to become (his father's death, responsibility as commander, etc). Smartpass Short Stories revealed that Erwin gets sentimental when it rains, will only sleep when he's too tired coz otherwise he'll have nightmares, and that he has PTSD episodes that only Levi, Hange, and Mike knew.

I'd like to think that after Erwin gained Levi's respect post-ACWNR, Levi views Erwin through a rose-tinted glass up until the crate scene. But after Erwin confesses his dream, Levi realized that Erwin's just human and a pretty childish one at that. But he still loves Erwin sm and knows what Erwin needs: to free the guy from his dream. And that's why he told Erwin to die, even if it means losing the man he loves forever.