Inside the Mind of Attack On Titan’s AntiHero

Now that Attack on Titan has ended, fans are organizing their thoughts and trying to figure out how Eren Yeager went from the story's protagonist to an antihero. Though creatorHajime Isayama received some backlash for his ending,Attack on Titan is a brilliant masterpiece that begins and ends with Eren. Introduced as an innocent boy stripped of his freedom, the trauma he witnessed became the catalyst for his desire to kill all the Titans. However, by Season 4 Eren seems to lose sight of the world he and his friends dreamed of.

Attack on Titan is a bottomless rabbit hole that forces viewers to question where they draw their lines of morality and where it compares to Eren's. Eren seemingly becomes a genocidal monster, inconsiderate of human life and his friends. The final part of Attack on Titan provides everything fans need to know to uncover the truth behind Eren's heartbreaking rationale.

Eren’s Younger Years

By the end of Attack on Titan's first episode in Season 1, viewers are already aware of the haunting sights 10-year-old Eren had to suffer. His childhood innocence shatters with one destructive kick through the protective wall of his hometown, Shiganshina. Despite having a deep hunger to fight against the Titans, Eren's futile attempts to save his mother are useless. He can do nothing but watch as his mother's blood paints the familiar cobbled streets as she gets devoured by a Titan. Prior to the attack on Shiganshina, Eren longed to know a world free of the control and fear that came with hiding behind the walls. He yearned to break free from ignorance and feed his curiosity about the uncharted outside world, no matter how dangerous. The slaughter of his mother and the Fall of Shiganshina only further fuel Eren's rage and hatred toward Titans. Eren becomes a headstrong soldier with enough motivation to be annoying at times. This is the Eren that viewers become familiar with, and identify as a somewhat average anime protagonist. Viewers soon learn however, that he isn't just another soldier.As a Titan Shifter,Eren seems to be the key to uncovering the truth about the Titans and paving a path toward liberation.

In Seasons 1-3, Eren has an unwavering devotion as a Scout and Titan Shifter, even in the face of epic betrayals, guilt, and world-changing discoveries. Eren's perspective becomes irreversibly grim at the end of Season 3 during the medal ceremony. As Eren kisses Historia's hand, he sees Grisha's memories from the past and jolts into a state of shock and disbelief. Viewers witness Eren becoming paralyzed as he peers into Grisha's childhood and the night he murdered the Reiss family. At this point, viewers don't learn much else about this moment, and neither do the Scouts. However, unbeknownst to viewers, Eren saw much more than Grisha's past. The atrocities he sees are the defining moment of Attack On Titan's ending and Eren's ultimate change in demeanor.

Everything All At Once

Eren's self-isolation begins when he conceals the secret ability of the Attack Titan: seeing into the future.When Eren came into contact with Historiaand her royal blood, he saw the harrowing future in its entirety. While all Titan Shifters can see memories of their predecessors, the Attack Titan allows the current holder to see memories of its future inheritors. Unable to freely explore future memories, the current Attack Titan can only see pieces that future inheritors show. Initially, viewers don't learn the extent of what Eren saw and just how immense of an impact it has on Eren's outward behavior. However, analyzing these scenes with the information gained by the end of the anime proves that when Eren kisses Historia, the sights of his gruesome future terrorize his thoughts.

Eren’s extreme character development is apparent the next time viewers see him later in the episode. As the Scouts approach the end of Paradis for the first time, Eren and Armin reach the dreamlike place they've only read stories about in Armin's book as kids. The Scouts revel with their toes in the vast ocean as Armin’s eyes swell with tears, and Mikasa reluctantly smiles in disbelief. However, Eren is surprisingly somber. Reaching the ocean alive was never guaranteed, let alone the existence of a body of salt water so large that merchants could never collect all its salt. A moment anticipated to be emotionally treasured was interrupted by Eren's dismal insight into what stands before them.

Eren begins his journey as a strong-willed boy desperate to break free from the Titans. However, his naive belief that freedom lived on the other side of the walls and childhood fantasy of living in a world free of titans, died in the basement he hoped had all the answers. Eren's world was more convoluted than he could've imagined and kissing Historia's hand only intensified this fact. Eren faced his hardships alone, and even though they slowly dimmed the fire he once had, he kept moving forward. He isolates himself by carrying this pain alone, and viewers never see the innocent glimmer in Eren's eyes again. Eren knows the measures he takes to trample his enemies, and he struggles to accept what he will do and wonder if it will even bring his vision of freedom.

Eren’s Passage to an Anti Hero

Season 4 of Attack on Titan puts Eren's inexcusable actions at the forefront, starting with his infiltration into Marley. Camouflaged as a wounded soldier, he manipulated and befriended Falco, a child. Just as his enemies had done to him before, he shared meals and sheltered under the same roofs with Marleyans. Despite admitting he knew he was the same as Reiner when he crossed the sea, he doesn't falter when he transforms in a crowded Marleyan plaza. Eren executed his attack on Marley, aware it would take innocent lives, including theoppressed Eldians surviving in Marley.Without deliberation or permission from his friends or the Scouts, Eren contrived this heinous plan, and its success depended on their cooperation to help him. Viewers watch Armin despondently use his Colossal Titan to breach enemy lines and recreate the same barbaric sight they suffered as kids.

The Scouts are angry, confused and desperate to understand what has come of their dear friend Eren Yeager. The Scouts accept that the Eren they once knew isn't hiding behind those now barren eyes as Eren continues forward with no intention of stopping. However, Armin and Mikasa can't seem to let go of their dear friend. Season 4 of Attack on Titan illustrates many heartbreaking instances where Eren relentlessly continues on the path of ruin while pushing the ones who love him farther away. In the final part of Attack on Titan, Mikasa chooses to save humanity by finally abandoning her will to protect Eren above all else. Mikasa unearths the strength to slash the final blow with her blade to end Eren's domination and the Rumbling, yet never loses sight of her love for him. Upon his death, the Scouts learn that despite all of the suffering Eren created, his true goal was to protect his loved ones. Eren's death revealed his past visits to people like Jean and Reiner but temporarily erased their memories of the conversations. While most conversations with Eren remain private, the people he spoke with appeared to be heartbroken for Eren and in disbelief of the outcome. small

A Slave to Freedom

AlthoughAttack on Titan keeps viewers in the darkabout most of these past conversations, it reveals a heart-wrenching one between Eren and Armin. A flashback that doubles as a break from the bloodshed and a long-awaited moment between these best friends, it's an astonishing peek into Eren's mind. Immediately, Eren defeatedly admits that he went to any length to distance himself from his friends, even when he couldn't comprehend what he was doing. He tells Armin that as a result of the Founding Titan's powers, there is no past or future for him. Lost amidst the mess in his head, Eren suffers where everything exists all at once. He explains that when he connected with Founder Ymir in the Paths, Eren felt her love for King Fritz despite his torturous reign upon her. Although Eren says it's incomprehensible to him, it's clear Founder Ymir's heart has suffered for 2,000 years until someone came along to free her. Despite not knowing why, Eren informs Armin that the person who frees Founder Ymir is Mikasa. Ignorant of what Mikasa does, Eren says that the outcome of her actions is why he keeps moving forward with the Rumbling.

Enslaved by her love for King Fritz, Founder Ymir chose to fulfill the king’s exploitive desires above world security. Throughout Attack on Titan, Mikasa continuously prioritized Eren's protection, even in the wake of his crimes. However, it came to a point where Mikasa could no longer remain complacent under her love and allow Eren to continue world annihilation. Mikasa's internal struggles were apparent from the beginning of Season 4, but in the end, she found the strength to no longer protect Eren but instead kill him. Ymir's chains fall undone when Mikasa sets aside her eternal love for Eren and kills him with her blade for the sake of humanity. The parallels between Founder Ymir's love for King Fritz and Mikasa's love for Eren surmise that Mikasa's actions sparked the end for Ymir, seeing that her love can transcend King Fritz's evil desires. As a result, Ymir uses her powers to relinquish the world of Titans, thus introducing the opportunity for a hopeful future.

Eren will trample 80% of humanity before the Island Devils and others save the remaining 20% from a global massacre. Eren continued his blind trek forward with the acceptance that Mikasa's actions would bring an end to the Titans. When Armin pleads that they can find an alternative solution, Eren dejectedly admits he's tried and they can't. The numerous attempts at changing the future he saw from memories were unsuccessful, and everything is already determined. The future has and will unfold exactly how it appears in his memories, and no one can do anything to change that, including Eren. It's during these moments that Eren pathetically comes clean to Armin about his love for Mikasa and that imagining her with someone else kills him. He requests that Armin keep this between them because while Eren wants nothing more than to survive and live a long life with Mikasa, his time is almost up. He painfully suppresses his desire to survive in exchange for his loved ones to live as heroes and find peace.

Eren knew any civil resolution was hopeless after years of failed attempts to discuss peace, andhe believed the Rumbling was the only choicefor Paradis and his friends. The Scouts wouldn't trample on innocent lives in exchange for their security, even if their leaders believed them devils. The Eldians that Eren knew are honorable people who would rise to save the world that oppressed and silenced them. In an unselfish yet selfish way, Eren chose to suffer his last years alone and became the essence of the very thing he sought to destroy: an enemy. Knowing this path would be a hard reality for his friends to accept, he did everything he could to make them hate him. He attempts to minimize the suffering he puts his friends through because Eren believes this is the only way to save his friends from the Titan curse and the world's wrath. Eren paints himself as this callous murderer so his friends can shed the title of Island Devils to the heroes who stuck around to save humanity.

It's difficult to pinpoint why and how Eren went from an eager and morally just Scout to committing a laundry list of war crimes, especially when everyone except Eren is out of the loop. However, in the final part of Attack on Titan, viewers learn perspective altering pieces of information. His remorse for his future sins is evident in moments like Season 4, where Eren cries for forgiveness from Ramzi, a young boy he knew would die from the Rumbling. While Eren's crimes are unforgivable, he shouldn't be labeled a cold-hearted villain because he doesn't seek pleasure in killing or putting his friends in life-threatening situations. Eren selfishly values his friends and Paradis more than the world in a way the Scouts could never picture accomplishing. Just as Eren implies himself, he is a naive person who acquired the power to secure the resolution he believes is the lesser of two evils. Attack on Titan finishes Eren's story as a flawed antihero who reaches extreme lengths to save the reality he was born into, a cruel world devoid of freedom.