Thank You! I'm Glad I Was Able To Help. What You've Said About Never Seeing Eren As A Bad Person Really

Thank you :) The praise is probably undeserved though. Eren is the only character I try to really dig deeper into. The series as a whole has way better analysts.

Which snk meta writers would you recommend? And what are your favourite snk metas not written by you? Yours are still amazing, but I've probably read them all a thousand times so I was curious about others.

Honestly I never read as much of other people's meta as I should, and in retrospect that was a mistake. I mostly just wanted to avoid heated discourse, and while seeing a bad take can cause me to see red, it's extremely useful to build on the good ideas of others.

I haven't read their recent stuff but I remember really liking the metas of @metasnkpotato, they clearly know their philosophy. More recently I've found @twilight-paradise88, who I think is probably closer to a 'correct' analysis of the series than any other.

Consistent themes and elments in Attack on Titan

During these few weeks I have been re-reading past SNK volumes, and I have noticed how coherent and overlaying some of the elements and themes of the series are. The ideas and problems presented in the beginning, connect and resonate to the post-basement reveal world. In this post I`d like to talk about some of these consistent things.

As a side note, I have read up till volume 26/chapter 106, so I will construct this post within that context. In here I ramble about the elements that I noticed during the re-reading of past volumes, so it is likely that I have missed some. The structure of this post will be the following one: 

-  Images of monsters 

-  Good or evil - How people are viewed? 

 - David versus Goliath 

- The prevailing current and going against it 

Images of monsters 

In the beginning of the series, one of the things that makes the Titan so scary and such a hard threat to deal with, is the massive gap of knowledge about their true nature. Humanity, or the people of Paradis, have very little knowledge about the origin of the Titans, or what kind of creatures they are. This unknown nature is a perfect breeding ground for fear. Since humanity does not know about the true nature of the Titans, and for a long while did not really possess means or tools to find out, all they had as source material, was the knowledge that Titans are the natural enemy of humanity. 

This is something similar what happens in the outside world, when it comes to the people of Ymir living in Paradis. Since they live in a island, far away from the mainland, no one living in Marley has not really seen any residents of Paradis, and does not really know what they are like. This transforms yet again into something unknown, something that is filled with Marleyan propaganda. When you do not have the means to find out what the supposed “demons of Paradis” are actually like, and you`r head has been filled with enemy propaganda since the day you were born, it is no wonder enemy images manifest themselves.

Both the Titans from Paradis perspective, and the people of Paradis from the perspective of Marley, act as examples of an wonderfully constructed, external enemy, that thrives from unknown factors and propaganda.

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“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.

Ladies of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood + Windswept hair shots

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)

Annie + Reiner || Shingeki no Kyojin Ch. 128

Critique of the Ending

After an unreasonably long wait, here are my thoughts on the ending in more detail. I’ve always tried my best to decipher the author’s reasons behind their narrative decisions instead of dismissing them off the bat if they rub me the wrong way. But, in the case of this final chapter, I can’t help but find it unworthy of all that came before it.

This critique is divided into four subsections: ‘An Irresponsible Plan’, ‘Underwhelming Heroes’, ‘Wasted Characters’, and ‘A Gimmicky Solution’. The ending launched so much new information at us that I can’t cover everything, but I have addressed those errors in plot, themes, tone, and characterisation that disappointed me most.

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final draft of ending critique is halfway done. normally i’d be able to finish it this week, but a heatwave has hit the uk and is sapping all my energy. please bear with me a little longer 🙏

Alright this is quite late, but I think the question was referring more to the nature of the freedom Eren seeks than the root of the desire. We know he wipes out the rest of the world for "freedom" but is it freedom in the sense that the world is hostile and he's trying to preserve himself through aggression or is it because the mere existence of humans "taints" the pure scenery he saw in Armin's book and imagined as freedom.

Of course, it could be more nuanced than that, but the words Eren says seem to give credence to the latter interpretation though it doesn't sit well with me.

What is your genuine interpretation of the type of freedom that Eren desires? Does he desire freedom because he was born into this world, or is it because of Armin’s book? 131 seems to establish that it was because of the book, but the paths chapters focus on Eren’s philosophy of “being born into this world.” Which do you believe he valued more?

Both. Eren is implied to have had a subconscious reaction to his father's sentiment at his birth, but it was only brought into consciousness when Armin showed him the book. That's why Eren was so listless beforehand: his primal life-urge was going unrecognised and unsatisfied.

There's also the factors of the Founding and Attack Titans working outside of time. Eren's future personality likely influenced his infant self, as well as the nature of the Attack Titan to always strive for freedom.

he’s already great because he was born into this world.