Eren’s Path

What do you think of Eren killing his Mother? I think that's the only major part of the chapter you haven't talked about.

At first I thought it was just thrown in for the sake of shock value, but looking back at Chapter 96, it was indeed foreshadowed.

It works so far as the revelation about the Reiss massacre works, in showing that Eren is free beyond even cause-and-effect - that he in himself is the Prime Mover, in Aristotle's terms, and in that regard godlike.

Buuut this ending seems to suggest that wasn't the kind of freedom Eren was angling for in the first place. Even if it were, an argument could be made that the Reiss massacre revelation was enough to prove that.

Regardless of this twist's inherent worth, its execution was bad. It felt very crammed in amongst all the other revelations the final chapter gives us; and what's more, you could cut it out of the final chapter and change nothing fundamental about the story. It doesn't even have much of an effect on the course of Eren and Armin's conversation.

But it does provide a conclusion to this piece of foreshadowing, at least.

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

a sweet scene (ॢ˘⌣˘ ॢ)

Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season Part 2 Official Trailer

Nürnberger Land  Franken Bavaria Germany by :

© P.Monatsberger

TG:re Volume 5 Extra Translation

※

Like mortar in a mixer Three heads, melted thickly

Miracles have been used up long ago and lie cold on the concrete

Killed I killed Have I killed?

I was losing my grasp on reality, when the eyes of the heads opened wetly like genitals, to say hello

The heads whispered in Mother’s voice

“you” “you” “you”

“you” “how did you fool yourself into thinking you would be loved” “when you’re so ugly”

“uoh……..”

Gentle abuse, repeated over and over in “that box” The sky flickers, like traffic lights

Before I knew it, nine thorns sprang out from the chest cavity The diaphragm shivered, as if about to cry

(my body!)

I finally lost my grasp on reality, and I started climbing the steel tower The handrails I touched all turned black and rusted.

(I knew I was made of poison!) (No, it was that woman who was poison itself)

(climb, climb)

(not enough to die) (to a higher place, higher place, climb!)

※

The intestines of the dead, reaches out to the heavens from the tip of the steel tower.

The intestines were knotted together like rope. I desperately pulled the rope in.

squelch, squelch, squelch

The knot had grown long enough to reach the sun.

Tower of beloved corpses. With each pull I reach the peak, and the height increases. I cannot see the ground anymore.

The tower starts to shake widely, whispering in Mother’s voice.

“automatic failure at happiness, shapeless spawn”

(ahh)

“My dear lost one”

“Your parents failed in raising you”

And I died.

Image Source: Baidu

Major thanks to @makyun for helping me translate!

I think he sacrificed both in some way. He was able to experience the sight of freedom at the expense of most of humanity, a grave act of injustice, but in the end he also gave up his liberty and his life to rid the world of Titans and open an avenue for peace with the remaining civilisation, an act of justice in keeping with his desire to be judged referenced in chapter 99.

Eren and his Id: Some Further Observations

Since publishing my meta on the idea of the ‘id’ in SNK, I’ve noticed some more examples of it manifesting throughout the series.

Mikasa

What Eren attributes to Ackerman mind control is really just the nature of Mikasa’s id. She acts without seeming to realise she does so, with vacant eyes in the first panel and confusion in the last. This is just like Eren’s experience in defending Ramzi: not being mentally present in the moment, his id takes over his body like an alien and controlling force.

Keep reading

There are some things that caught my attention more than others at the SnK final manga exhibition, and I want to write down my thoughts about them, in the hopes of making sense of it all. I’ll begin with what I dubbed as the “Paths Room” and probably write something about the others, too, in the near future.

The Paths Room is the last room before the Final Sounds Room, which should chronologically (in the manga’s story) be the last one. See, the exhibit is structured in a sort of chronological order, starting from the beginning of Eren/Reiner’s life, leading to the main events of the manga, the characters, this Paths Room and the Final sounds.

At the entrance of this room, there’s one of Kruger’s lines written in white on a black wall (top, left corner):

“Anyone can become a God or a Devil. All it takes is for someone to claim it for it to be true.”

After that, the room is organized this way: the wall on the opposite side has the “paths world” spread out. The one on the visitors’ immediate right has some lines and moments lined up in a very specific way, as if they want to tell us something important.

It’s like a sort of journey through some pivotal points of Eren’s story. It feels like an omniscient being is guiding Eren - and the visitor - to a final dilemma, which is also what the story is at, at this point, imo (it’s been there for some time, to be honest). I had the feeling that the “omniscient being” could be the girl in the Paths, but enough of my speculations. Let’s get into the room!

Keep reading

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 🙏

I found a few interesting parallels and repeated motifs with Eren.

In both cases Armin asks why Eren would want to do such a thing, and he responds in very different ways, yet the reason is still grounded in the same fact. Eren's birth into this world.

It should be noted that when Armin asks this the first time, Eren is confused and even angry at the fact that Armin would ask such a question. He takes this as a given but he can't articulate any clear reason, and in anger he proclaims it's because he was born into this world. This time, Eren no longer feels justified or entitled, but sad and grave, and he can't even confidently say it's because he was born into this world(though the implication is clear in the flashbacks), yet he can't deny the strength of that desire, he had to do it no matter the cost.

Another callback has to do with the hope beyond the hell.

Previously Eren believed undoubtedly that hope lay beyond this hell, but after his disillusionment with the world beyond the walls, he now questions whether his struggles will lead to actual fruition or yet another hellish disappointment after so much sacrifice and strife. Eren has come to the conclusion that he'll never know unless he actually gets there. It's interesting how previously the ends were unquestionably good and so was the fight to attain them, yet when Eren says this it's in an arc that has been criticising the "keep moving forward" mentality and he's not even fully confident in the value of this end, what remains constant though-through the ambiguity, confusion and corpses-is the core drive within Eren.