#eren analysis

To state the obvious: Mikasa was able to break from her previous glowing conception of Eren and think for herself, gaining a more complete picture of Eren as a person. If she was the shallow character people claim her to be, Mikasa would not have opposed the Yeagarists - she would've fallen in line, becoming an unthinking supporter of their fascist, genocidal reign. Instead, Mikasa killed Eren, not allowing her love to keep her bound, ending the titan curse.

Which is a stark contrast to Louise and Floch. They fell for the facade Eren presented them, unquestioning. Eren didn't give a shit about the "Eldian Empire." He used the Yeagarists for his own aim - an unoccupied outside world - ambivalent to their deaths. Eren preyed on their fear of annihilation, allowed their terror to fester and blossom into dehumanization, ultra-nationalism, and imperialist aims, all for him to use them as a tool to start the Rumbling, so he could "see that sight." Louise and Floch idolized Eren, whipped up into a fervor, unconscious to his true goal.

Eren himself recognized the humanity of the people living beyond the walls. He grew to understand differing perspectives, notably Reiner's. He cried to Ramzi, apologizing for what he knew he would do. Yet, he still did it. Empty without the "freedom" he sought, the look in Armin's eyes, an internal freedom he mistook as an external goal. Telling himself and others he was doing it for Eldia (despite trampling Eldians outside the walls), for his friends (despite not knowing if they'd live), anything to distract himself from his own selfish desire.

The concept of linear time doesn't apply to the attack titan, right? The future Eren influences the past Eren and when the past Eren grows up to the future, he goes back to influencing the past Eren and when he grows up, he does the same thing, because it's a cycle, because the future always existed from the beginning.

So basically everything went in a linear time for everybody else except Eren who was stuck in that loop. Everyone got free except for Eren who was still stuck in that loop. So basically, Eren Yeager, whose whole narrative is about "freedom", bought everyone else freedom, by paying with his.

YES HE IS A GENOCIDAL AND HIS ACTS ARE UNFORGIVEN , but NONE of his actions were based on a moral belief of "the people of paradise are superior to the rest of the world, all the rest of the cultures/nations/races have to be eliminated because they are inferior".

He is a 19-year-old boy who grew up all his life in an environment of fear, violence, extreme need and total lack of freedom. He is a character deeply marked by trauma. He always was a violent and impulsive boy with radical beliefs thinking that the world is "us" and "our enemies" and that life is kill or be killed.

But he is NOT a person who committed genocide based on discriminatory beliefs. He did it because in his way of understanding the world the only way to be free was to live in a world without other humans who threaten to take away his freedom. In Eren's eyes all the people outside of paradise are enemies, people who were guilty that he and the people he loved grew up locked up in a tiny piece of the world without even knowing why or how, and people who want him and anyone else from paradise to be dead. He is the definition of "a monster created by hate."

hmm. I made a post about this some time ago, but it does bother me when only one of the character's mental struggles is addressed and the other exists primarily as support. and I don't mean in a short fic where Armin is helping Eren through his depression or something like that. I mean when Armin's entire characterization is being a meek, anxious mess and Eren is his overbearing protector alpha type. or when only Eren's angst and poor coping habits are featured and Armin exists as his emotional support and little else.

actually, I think a big part of their divide in season 4 is Eren realizing he can't look to Armin as a beacon to fix everything anymore because the world isn't as they imagined it. Eren felt a severe loss of hope, and perhaps even a sense of betrayal upon that revelation. In contrast, Armin's admission in the finale that he's felt the same way as Eren does is what brings them back together for their final farewell.

a key aspect of Armin and Eren's relationship is how reciprocal it is. Armin and Eren are mentally ill in similar ways: frustration at their lack of usefulness resulting in a willingness to sacrifice themselves. Armin's ability to push back and truly empathize with Eren's struggles, instead of being a mere sponge for Eren's pain, is half of what makes their dynamic so special. the other half is Eren's ability to draw Armin out from his anxious spirals by seeing and putting his faith in Armin's strengths; not by babying him.

Eren always saw Armin as this radiant figure, as everything he was not. Patient, intelligent, hopeful, brave. So much so that Eren almost put Armin on a pedestal, oblivious to his flaws. Or at least, not considering those flaws to be as consequential as other characters did. Unable to conceive of Armin as someone who could feel the same way as him. How could someone so brilliant, be like someone so filthy, so willingly stained in the blood of his own massacre? How could he understand? But of course, Armin does:

and even then, Eren can't believe it

Armin presses on, admitting he's just as stained as Eren, breaking down that glowing image and reconnecting them as equals. They're in this together, and they'll suffer for it, together forever in hell.

Then even with that admission, Eren looks at Armin with the same wonder and adoration. The last shot is of Armin's iris fading into the clouds above. Eren is still transfixed by the same eyes he caught a glimpse of freedom in so long ago, giving way to the open sky he longed to reach. Total freedom. Boundless existence. No walls but the cage in his mind.

Though they take a different path, manga Armin and Eren reach the same point. They understand each other fully, and Eren still has complete faith in Armin. In both endings, Eren still views Armin in that golden light, which was only reinforced by the empathy and resilience he offered Eren in his final moments.

It goes both ways. They have such understanding of each other, such kindness and respect they reserve only for each other (& Mikasa of course).