Eren was a normal kid. He just wanted to look up at the sky without seeing walls. He just wanted freedom for his friends and for himself. He just wanted to reach the sea with Armin. But all he got was racism and hatred, all he got was the death and betrayals of his loved ones and comrades, and he blamed himself. All he got were memories that told him a painful truth- the detriments and prevalence of the cycle of hatred, that his friends were going to be its next victims, but he still tried to stay sane. Do you think about how despite everything he’s been through, despite Reiner being a source for most of his trauma, he matured enough to look him in the eyes and say “you must have suffered. You were just kids. You didn’t know right from wrong. We’re all the same.” Do you really think he wanted this? Eren believes that everyone is special because they were born in this world. That just existing is enough. That everyone deserves the freedom to live. Isn’t that such a beautiful mentality? So do you really think he wants to commit genocide? Wants to go against his morals, wants to take away the freedom of so many victims and innocents, wants to push away his friends and make them hate him? Eren only had 8 yrs left but still spent 4 years trying to cheat his own fate, trying to find another solution, trying to see if the scouts would have another way.
The AOT fandom sometimes annoys me, ppl love hating his character, calling him evil, a hitler, calling him selfish, saying he hates his friends. And half the ppl who like him don’t actually like him because they are using him to support their fascist or weird ideologies and actually supporting genocide, which is wrong. Eren didn’t want this. And if you rlly knew his character, you wouldn’t want it too.
The scouts understand him now. They don’t blame him. They blame themselves, for ignoring his pain and depression, for not giving him any other option. Even the MARLEYANS understand Eren more than half the fan base. “... and that devil was born, to return the hate we gave it.” Even they know that Eren is just another victim. He is the biggest victim of this story, of the 2000 yr cycle of hate.
Eren: “I won’t give my powers to any of you guys... I want my precious friends to live long lives,” he says as he stabs his eye, saws off his leg, abandons his humanity, forces himself to be a monster, goes against his morals and justice, shuts down his emotions, etc.
Eren haters: hE hAtEs HiS fRiEnDs, hE’s SeLfIsH.
Puh lease. Read the damn manga again or smth. Preferably without selective memory.
Btw if you dislike his character that is totally fine, Eren wasnt made to be likeble. But the whole point of AOT is understanding perspectives, that everyone is morally gray. Eren too. So hating him without trying to understand him just removes a lot of meaning that you could be getting.
Eren was just a normal kid forced into a tragic fate much bigger than him. He’s not a simple 2d “villain”. He is literally the best mc for AOT, and one of the best in fiction. I said what I said.
This is the best comment I have seen for awhile. Thanks for sharing your thoughts bro. Eren is indeed the best mc for AOT. *claps*
Thank you!!
I just got tired lol, there are very few ppl out there who actually appreciate and like his character, other than the fact that he’s a “cold badass mf” (he’s not) or hot (it’s a bonus).
Yeah. Only some few people who can really look into the depth of his character. I hope others are like that too as well. Eren's character is truly phenomenal, his progression and perspective of things is really different than anyone else's. Every character in AOT is written perfectly but really... Eren is the most well-written character ever.
I totally agree. His character development even before the timeskip is nuanced and brilliantly done. He truly is very complex character and I wished more people saw that! That’s true, so many characters are very well written, especially Eren as the mc. I’ve realized that Eren parallels and contrasts with most of the cast (for ex: Eren and Armin, Eren and Reiner, Eren and Erwin, Eren and Mikasa, Eren and Gabi, etc). A lot of ppl say that Eren ruins AOT but I couldn’t disagree more
Fr I agree I cant believe ppl hate on him for developing in this way, I think that his development makes the most sense, most people would have cracked under pressure but eren tried his best and is still trying his best which is enough because imagine how hard it is for him
At the beginning we saw an inocent kid's life being destroyed by horrible people (Not by titans, the real monsters in SNK are people) and many of us felt sorry for this kid whose mother died in front of him so cruely. It'd be weird if I didn't feel empathy for this caracter. I personally love how deep his development has turned to, I saw him grow and I certanly don't hate him, but I hate what he's doing now (there's no way I'd forgive him after killing inocent children).
But I understand him after all. He's a victim and all I can say is that I feel sorry for him.
This author is a genius
The problem for me is not necessarily that ppl hate him, it’s just that ppl hate him for the wrong reason last and completely dumb down his character, either intentionally or they... just don’t understand. Like they think he is evil or that he is selfish and hates his friends and WANTS to do the rumbling and I for one have no idea where they got those ideas.
And yes exactly. Maybe he never won, but he’s never lost either. He’s always just been doing his best, always fighting.
The best part of Eren is that his development makes sense. His reasons, his actions make sense. He IMO seemed the most... human to me in the beginning. So angry, so flawed, so so emotional. Unlikeable, but relatable/compelling. And seeing someone so human become who he is now is the tragic part. War and suffering brings out the devil in anyone. That’s one of the many themes of AOT, shown not only through Eren but in all the characters, all of these victims of war.
Ofc. I hate his actions too. I’m not asking anyone to support genocide, in fact I was pointing out that by doing so you don’t understand his character. The alliance, Mikasa and Armin disagree with his actions, but they still love Eren. Not the monster Eren, but who Eren really is.
Oh I didn't get your words wrong. Actually I agree with you, I just wanted to share my opinion too XD
Nice comment by the way
thx! and ty for replying (づ￣ ³￣)づ
i’m screenshotting this to remind myself after rereading the manga and finishing the final ep of (the heartbreaking) final season four — to remind myself of how beautiful this story is and how it fearlessly encapsulates humanity in the intertwining of events. this is truly a masterpiece and i am grateful to have been born in the lifetime this was created.
agree 100%
one of the best comments on a story i’ve ever seen, i applaud you
i binged aot season 1 until the latest chap in 4 days, i am emotionally tired for everyone here. imma just put this comment so i can follow it, i dont really have anything else to say since you said it all (⌒▽⌒)
ty! but wow, all of that content in 4 days, you must have suffered (づ￣ ³￣)づ
no joke, i had 4 hours of sleep today just to finish chap 90-133. i am emotionally hurt by aot and season 4 is coming IN DAYS ╥﹏╥
I love this I’m quoting this on everything aot related from now on!! Amazing
TY <3 (づ￣ ³￣)づ
thank u so much for ur comment/thoughts on this. call me dramatic or whatnot but i legitly cried after reading ur comment. u just summarised all the points that i tried to point out in perfect words. i really empathize with eren's character the most and reading this kinda makes me felt emotional idk why
you're not being dramatic, seeing Eren literally breaks my heart, and seeing how cold a lot of the fanbase is to him just makes me even more disappointed and I just had to write this whole long ass essay lmao. I'm glad you liked it <3
Saving this comment in my notes, so I can remind myself what a great anime this is years into the future. It’s just mad how we all thought it’s just another fantasy anime about killing man eating monsters but fuck it goes so much deeper and it’s so raw and really reflects into the real world. Everything has a purpose. This has taught me that we’re all special because we’re alive living right now in this very moment and that’s powerful enough.
ok so I was reading chapter 123 and found a new perspective on Eren's mindset (which is something pretty complex and interpretive). I noticed that chapter 123 was mainly about the scouts- Mikasa and Armin- in particular dismissing and ignoring Eren's obvious emotional pain. They should have known what sort of memories he received from Marley. There are so many close up shots on Eren's face, filled with despair and trauma by what he's seen in both the past and the future. There were so many times they saw him but chose not to say anything. Mikasa saw that he was crying and didn't ask what was wrong. It was almost disappointing, really. When Eren asked Mikasa what he meant to her, she took it as a romantic indicator and was blushing, not realizing that Eren's face looked incredibly haunted and he most likely wanted to see if she would give an answer than he wouldn't already know (hence which would have given him hope that he could "cheat fate" and the future he sees). Or maybe he just wanted a different answer that doesn't sound like familial duty. Mikasa doesnt understand Eren. This isn't the first time she had missed the point entirely. This chapter is similar to the ocean scene in which Eren is in a noticeably different headspace than everyone else (except that only Mikasa and Armin were paused and the rest of the scouts seemed to ignore Eren). Mikasa states herself that they "didn't notice... or perhaps didn't want to".
I never really saw this major and unsettling discrepancy between Eren and his friends; despite the fact that they care for each other, no one understood Eren. Eren at the entire trip in Marley was unfocused and unsettled, as the place is a catalyst of memories of not only the cruel treatment that Eldians go through, but also the horrible sins he had not committed yet. This trip was also Eren's breaking point. Its such a complex scene (like how many in SnK are), with so many different ways to analyze it.
This is what I think, and why I think Mikasa says "if only I had said something different".
YES, I am an Eren fan, and yes although I am not a rumbling fan and disagree with his actions, I sympathize with him. He's such an emotionally layered character that by villainizing him and saying that he's a jerk just because, misses the entire point of SnK and it's philosophical commentary. (note that I am not blaming the scouts, since the way that friendship and relationships pertaining to Eren is portrayed very realistically).
I like your view & opinion. In certain ways, I understand your discussion about Eren. I haven't read the manga yet but, i have seen some spoilers about it.
Eren is like the middle person in conflict. Neither a villain nor a hero, fully. I wonder if he's trying to change the future or the fate is playing tricks on him.
Thx lol! His actions are for the most part villainous but you are right he is neither a villain nor a hero. I feel like Eren is a slave to his fate. He’s tried fighting for a different future but in the end is controlled by his own choices and “free will”, which is ironic. I don’t think he’s trying to change the future, but we still don’t know his full POV. Isayama is hiding Eren’s perspective even now so I feel like he’s gonna surprise us.
jesus fucking christ the least the ex could do was give the mc respect by apologizing and sending his bf off while they talk.
Exactly
"we used hate, raised hate, believed hate to be our saviors... we left all the problems we created on the 'island of the devils'... and as a result, that devil was born, to return the hate we gave it".
The cycle of hate is such a cruel one, and Eren wanted to stop it in such a brutal way. Eren is not just an individual person, he's an idea, a representation.
That line gave me chilllsss!!
YES
I'm on the scout's side but I still love eren, and i feel like this'll probably end with eren being killed... either way im crying :(
i love eren too but i’m on erens side lmaooo, i just hope he doesn’t die
i love his character, but still cant get behind absolute genocide lmaooo
he's too pretty too die（/TДT)/
i know genocide is horrible but i love eren and have been since season 1 so i don’t want him to die and like you said he has such a pretty face and so well written
lol i think this is the first manga i've read with half-beasts where the characters actually have animal ears for ears, and not human ears with some cute animal ears on top or smth
lmao, I’d always laugh so hard when I saw 4 fucking ears. It doesn’t make any sense. Finally, a more realistic version..
Wait... I’m pretty sure there some famous one where they have animal ears as their ears though? It was Neko something, forgot the title... it have season 1,2,3 if I remember correctly..
Rereading this and I gotta say I love fumi sm! Women in yaoi aren’t usually portrayed very well, and she was such a good friend for the two of them.
Don’t mind me, just liking all these comments for hating the seme’s personality too lol
OK BUT the sex scenes were literal ART ╥﹏╥
Not over the top or explicit but somehow extremely tender and sensual
yes! I just love the general coloring, shading and lighting of the whole thing lol
Isayama overestimates his audience lmao
AOT: A story about understanding perspectives, and that no side is right or wrong.
90% of the fanbase: Hates on a character and refuses to try to understand them.
Yikes, the irony. At this point idk how yall can appreciate AOT and its messages.
Let's just be glad they aren't threatening isayama
Isayama has gotten a fair amount of hate and threats.
But yea AOT fandom isn't as toxic as some others (still very much so tho), just sometimes sad to see how... bleh it is compared to the content lol.