Awesome Sculpture! Baby Cyborg By Tomàs Barceló Castelà

“ If other people are going to steal my freedom... i’m going to steal theirs “

T w i t t e r: sucubuss_art

It still feels like a dream

Ever Since I Was Born: Eren and his Id

Ironically, after writing a very long critique of the ending, I believe I have found a way to redeem it. Isayama’s comments on the manga ‘Himeanole’, as well as the analyses put forward by @twilight-paradise88 and @cosmicjoke​, led me down a very interesting path of interpretation that makes the ending - thematically, at least - justified.

In the 2017 Bessatsu Shonen interview, Isayama says this about ‘Himeanole’:

Ultimately, I don’t think the series [SNK] passes judgment on what is “right” or “wrong.” For example, when I read Furuya Minoru’s “Himeanole,” I knew society would consider the serial killer in the story unforgivable under social norms. But when I took into account his life and background I still wondered, “If this was his nature, then who is to blame…?” I even thought, “Is it merely coincidence that I wasn’t born as a murderer?”

Does this sound familiar?

Eren, like the protagonist of that manga, is presented as being a certain way since birth. From the Attack Titan’s power to see the future, we know that Eren bringing about the Rumbling was an inevitability.

The kernel of this idea is preserved in the ending. Although Eren’s motivations become more complex, the core of his being still compels him towards that act of destruction. He cannot understand it, because it is not a logical demand. It is simply the nature of who he is.

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because i was born into this world

Eren’s Path

I just noticed the parallel between these scenes.

When faced with an outcome as horrible as the Rumbling, most other characters try to think back to a point where they could have gone down a different path or where the trouble originated from. Eren even briefly does this.

But he not only refuses to consider other possibilities, he even rejects the utility of retrospecting in the first place. To Eren, the Rumbling happening is not a problem of the right choice or the circumstances that shaped it, it's just about who he is and his "primitive desire".

So I guess in Eren's mind, the Rumbling was an existential dilemma. So long as he exists he will surely bring ruin to the world, so is it better to never have been born? Or take away his life? He couldn't possibly do so after Historia and Carla's lessons.

So he tried to change the world by facing judgement through death for his actions, or as @jeanandthedreamofhorses said, he tried to use this inherent ‘evil’ to make the world better, by gearing his desires towards their own self destruction.

But it seems to me that a curse, no matter the good brought about by it, remains a curse, 80% percent of humanity is too great a price to pay for the end that was reached, but Eren and the Alliance were at least able to prevent total extinction, and no matter when, Eren was able to temper his desires. So he may have brought about a great amount of suffering, but his final acts contain seeds of good in them.

“They were just there wherever I looked from the day I was born. Those miserable walls.”

I think this is the most important line we need for understanding Eren. From the moment he was born Eren felt caged no matter what he did and he longed for release.

This desire was unconscious at first, but seeing Armin dream so passionately brought about the realization that Armin was seeing and believing in something that Eren couldn’t, and this brings about the realization in him that he’s restrained/caged from doing something.

He initially believes that this indignation from a sense of being caged is because of the Titans or oppressors but as time goes on and the circumstances change, Eren realises that this is something internal and the fact that it’s something that no one else experiences is one of the sources of his tragedy: he can’t communicate/share this desire.

(There’s probably some symbolism in the fact that Eren confessed his truest desires to a child that didn’t speak the same language)

At first, Eren associated release with the “sight” of the things in Armin’s book. He believed that seeing those things will give him the release and liberty he’s been longing for, though it should be noted that Eren says he doesn’t care what the particular sights *are* just that he sees them so I think he cares much more about the feeling of liberation that those things stand for than the sights themselves.

So I think that even though Eren might say that he’s disappointed that the world wasn’t what was in Armin’s book I think what he’s really sad about is that he didn’t feel liberated by the world beyond the walls, but because he associated those feelings with the sights in Armin’s book he uses them interchangeably(I think this is supported by the fact that Eren still feels caged and empty when actually seeing those sights in 139).

The reason Eren slaughters humanity beyond the walls is because from his perspective, *they* are walls/barriers obstructing his freedom. “That Scenery” is one of the most important motifs with Eren, it’s the liberty that comes with transcending or breaking a wall, but one of the ironies in 131 is that Eren is deluding himself to think that it’s freedom. Eren’s very nature demands that he cannot see beyond the “walls” and this is testified to by Eren looking unfulfilled immediately after the freedom panel and the fact that he still needs Armin’s approval. Besides Isayama deliberately contrasts Eren and Armin by saying that Armin still believes in a world beyond the walls, with a panel of Eren’s eyes closed.

Eren’s tragedy is that of a man born with the inability to look past the repression of life(or you could say he was born with the ability to see restraints everywhere). I think this solves all the contradictions I thought I saw in Eren’s character and addresses the “Problem of being a Slave” that Isayama once brought up.

Before I go there’s one last thing I have to say about the final chapter and this motif, Eren can’t see the dream Armin enjoys and he can’t see the future that lies ahead, but his love for his friend(s) let’s him transcend that nature by putting his hopes in them at the end. He won’t ever be able to see beyond the walls, that’s just how he is, but he can be at peace with the fact that his friends will.

Edit: I made this post mainly because I was tired of people rooting Eren’s actions in trauma or an ideological mistake or lack of development. Eren has developed enough as a protagonist, especially by chapter 100, his “mistakes” in the Final Arc are a result of his nature, I think that’s what Isayama wanted to convey.

What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Towards the door we never opened Into the rose-garden. My words echo Thus, in your mind.

T.S. Eliot, from section I of “Burnt Norton,” Four Quartets (Mariner Books, 1968)

Yes, Eren is much more cynical about the possibility of peace or getting the children out of the Forest, his solution is to wipe out that historical/generational hatred while the Alliance seeks to learn their mistakes from the past and work towards a better future.

I think the Alliance is too idealistic/naive and Eren is too pessimistic(he only has four years left so his perspective is shaped by what can and can't be done within that time-limit, this shuts down a lot of avenues) but Isayama seems to criticize Eren's self focused perspective, Eren ought to at least be able to put his hopes in others and he(Isayama) criticizes the Alliance/104th by saying that they're too open to possibilities and violence is a necessity sometimes, they're forced to confront the consequences of their idealism(both with Eren and diplomacy) in the Final arc.

All in all, I think Isayama agrees more with the Alliance on a thematic level, but thinks they should be more willing to get their hands dirty in order to achieve their ideals.

Do you believe the full rumbling goes against the theme of “getting kids out of the forest?”

No, because Armin & Co. represent that side of the argument.

Mr Braus says two things: 1) He laments the continuation of the cycle of violence, and 2) He argues that the most important thing is to keep children out of it. Eren acts in reaction to 1), and the 104th act in reaction to 2).

Rather than just having the main character straightforwardly represent the moral message of the series, it's more interesting to explore the unresolvable contradictions within that moral message - that's what would have been the case if Eren and the 104th had truly been opposed. Eren would have fought to end the cycle at the cost of children's lives, and the 104th would have fought to preserve children's lives even if meant that the cycle will continue.

Of course, Eren's capability of truly ending the cycle is often brought into question - but this only adds further nuance to the series.

The Heights by Quentin Stipp

Analyzing Eren`s view of freedom

Concepts, ideas and philosophies are abstract phenomena which do not technically have any physical form. However people like to depict these ideas in different ways. For example the idea of justice is depicted by a goddess, who holds a scale and is blindfolded. The reason why I bring this up, is because AoT volume 33 visualizes the idea of freedom. In a beautiful yet haunting spread panel, the reader sees a young Eren high up in the sky. The sky, clouds and overall horizon seems to stretch into eternity, and at this high viewpoint there is nothing that binds Eren. In one hand this vision is Eren`s dream, the outside world that Eren dreamed about all those years ago. It is this dream among his loved one`s that Eren wishes to retain/pursue, by using the Rumbling. However since Eren describes the view as “freedom” and the person who has seen it as “the freest person in the world”, I think it encapsulates what Eren thinks freedom is. In this post I`d like to examine what this possibly means.

One mention has to be made. I have read up till volume 33 and so I do not know how the story ends. Because of this I cannot comment on some possible revelations that happen after this point. I will start the post by dissecting Eren`s vision into different elements. Then in the final portion I will go over what problems this vision has. The structure will be the following one:

- Limitless horizon and the state of nature

- Chasing a mysterious and unknown horizon

- The vision of a child – Problems with Eren`s view of freedom

- Conclusion

Limitless horizon and the state of nature

Eren`s vision of freedom is constructed from several building blocks, some more complex than others. In its basic form when one thinks about the society and world where Eren was born in, this vision is a stark contrast to that. The place Eren was born in was small, cramped and binding. As he himself tells in volume 33, from the day Eren was born those massive walls were always there. The walls obscured the horizon and made it hard to see what was past them.

They were a constant reminder of Eren`s nature as a caged being. Because of this Eren`s dream and idea of freedom has to be different from a visual perspective. Here there are no physical boundaries obscuring the horizon, and the sky stretches as far as the eye can see. The outside world is an expansive place, something that must be ten times bigger than Paradis. At this high position it is as if Eren has become the bird or obtained the wings, that have always been depicted to symbolize freedom. He can go where-ever he wants and only sky is the limit.    

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