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A thread about the amazing development of Eren Yeager‘s character.
The first side of Eren we get to know is his stubborn nature and his unwillingness to listen to others. Still, even as a child, Eren is pretty much a normal kid having an abnormal dream. And there’s no denying that any of these traits are something kinda normal for a kid his age.
His unsatisfaction with the current way of living and desire for freedom is something he shows from an early age. Thanks to his belief, that people deserve freedom, he was able to save Mikasa. Mikasa‘s freedom being taken away was where his instincts kicked in and he saved her.
After having watched his mother being eaten, all of the anger he had finally got pointed into one direction, the titans. This finally led to him being filled up with wanting revenge and a will to destroy and exterminate all of the titans to make his dream finally come true.
Even though having so much hate for the titans, he actually never showed any sort of disgust towards himself for being one. One of the redeeming qualities his character has to offer at this point is definitely the fact that he was able to suck it in for the benefit of humanity.
RB betrayal definitely has to be one of the most impactful events in his life. But with the experience he gained with A, it helped him get through it and avoid the same mistakes. Still, that doesn’t prevent him from making the mistake of allowing himself to be blinded by rage.
During the confrontation in the forest, he was finally able to fully express all the built up anger towards the right people. Unable to understand RB, he promises them a slow and painful death. This scene is very important, considering how his character will change in the future.
During the Uprising Arc, he gets just more heavy burden put on his back. It‘s now the importance of his life that makes people continue to die for his sake, as it starts to push him down the hole of depression. This will hold a great meaning to his character later.
After learning about his father’s sins, he breaks down. He gives up for the first time in his life. He gives up on his dreams of seeing the outside world and his ambitions of ridding the world of titans. He lets the giant burden in his heart fully consume him at this point.
Finding himself in a fight or flight situation, he thinks about his previous mistake back with Levi Squad and finally for the first time decides to believe in himself in order to save his friends. This is a very important piece to his character development during the Uprising Arc
After the confrontation with Keith he realized he was never special, but a normal human dragged into a special path. This is one of the major points in his development, as he‘s finally able to stop thinking about being someone unique, it gives him the strength to become stronger.
The ultimate test of the development he had up to this point was the confrontation with Reiner during RTS Arc. Although he still had so much hate towards him, he was able to keep his emotions back and not let them get the best of him like it happened last time.
The fight with Reiner during RTS Arc marks yet another aspect of his growth as a character. His anger issues were possibly one of the main issues he had back in the early chapters. Seeing this side of him finally fixed, makes him appear as a new and more mature person.
The basement reveal has yet another impact on his character. The truth about the world and seeing Grisha& #39;s memories is starting to have an influence on his mind and his mental state. He starts to be unable to tell apart really from dreams (memories).
All of the events that happened kept building up, until he was no longer able to cope with them. When they finally get to the ocean, which had been his main goal up to this point, he can’t show any signs of happiness or satisfaction. Instead, he rather focuses on the enemy.
During his confrontation with Falco, Eren says how people are pushed into hell by others or their environment. But he believes the hell seen by those people who push themselves into it is something else. We can notice that he is clearly referring to himself here.
The development is clearly visible during the confrontation with Reiner. All it took for him to finally understand Reiner, was to be put in the same position as him, leaving him with no other choice. Finding someone he can relate to made it easier for him to accept his own fate.
He seems to bemore mature since the time skip. He appears to be very calm, stoic and determined about his plans. However, there are some places, where he shows cracks.
After 131 we finally got a look at his true inner self. This part of him has been hidden since the TS, and unfortunately some people were really quick to jump to assumptions about his true feelings on everything that was happening around him at the time.
It was the disappointment that made him break down and let himself be swallowed by all the guilt again. Believing that the enemy is behind the walls, made it a lot easier for him to be more motivated to push himself further. But he came to realize that not everyone is bad.
Just like he told Reiner, he realized that they’re all the same, bad and good people, they exist always and anywhere. This was very hard for him, not only because it was a disappointment, but because it made him tear up again.
Still, finding out that there’s humanity behind the walls had only a big impact on his emotions rather than his future plans. He still believes that it’s the only option and that he has to continue to move forward.
There’s no denying that Eren was a really stubborn kid with some anger issues back in the early chapters. Still, this part of his character was definitely necessary for his growth and for becoming the person he is now.
His character development is quite possibly the best one in the entire series. Unfortunately, for some reason, people rather choose to ignore it or not see it at all. This just makes him one of the most misunderstood characters, which is kinda sad, considering he’s the MC.
I definitely think that this isn’t the final conclusion to his character development and that there‘s still more to come. I also am not trying to justify his actions. I‘m just trying to point out a really great piece of writing here, that sadly many people get to miss out on.