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Why I personally love Bertolt Hoover, a thread
He’s first introduced as someone who doesn’t think highly of himself. He knows he’s physically talented enough to potentially make the military police, but he sees himself as a weak-willed person. He confesses this to Eren and Armin, two former residents of Shiganshina.
We’ve now seen the old man (96), Reiner (100), and Eren (131) desire judgment after confessing their sins. Did Bertolt lift this story to do the same? He later muses that the old man wanted to be judged, does he know this because he too wanted to be judged by Eren and Armin?
His friendship with Reiner & Annie. Bertolt is often misconstrued as the warrior who cares the most about his mission. It’s actually very clear that Bertolt cares more about his fellow warriors. The first time we see him truly angry is when he thought Annie was being tortured.
Bertolt never once left Reiner’s side. As a kid, he waited for him even though Reiner was a weaker candidate. Later, Bertolt would try to keep his mental health in check and remind him of their promise to return home. However, at times he felt upset when Reiner would forget.
Bertolt throwing away what he loves in order to end the conflict was a huge moment for him. He surprised Armin when he declared he wasn& #39;t there to rescue Annie. No one in the SC expected him to transform over an injured Reiner because they were certain Reiner was his top priority
However, Bertolt never once stopped caring about Reiner or Annie. He was fully prepared to end it all in order to minimize the amount of suffering the war had brought to both sides. In fact, Bertolt would have lived if he didn’t put Reiner before himself and the mission.
Bertolt is a very capable young man. He prefers to stay in the background and doesn’t flaunt his abilities. However, it’s a misconception that Bertolt is somehow weak or unreliable. His indecisiveness is a hindrance, but when he’s made up his mind, he can be scarily efficient.
It can be difficult to see Bertolt and the Colossal Titan as the same entity. I’ve also struggled putting the two together in my mind at the start. Because of this, people often forget just how much Bertolt has influenced the story. He is a major antagonist, like it or not.
Finally, the contrast between the God of Destruction and Bertolt himself. Bert is a very believable character; forced to do atrocious things and too scared to stand up to a world already against him. He really thought of the 104th as comrades and knew they weren’t really devils.
I don’t believe he thought there was a way out of this. When he begged for someone to “please find us,” was he talking about himself & the warriors, or was he talking about the Eldian race as a whole? By RtS, it seems he’s accepted that there isn’t a way out of this cruel world.
So, was there really never any way out for Bertolt or the Eldian race as a whole? Or is there more in store for him that we aren’t aware of yet? Based on Isayama’s own words and some mysterious panels, we may get some closure on Bertolt’s character arc, and soon.
I hope more fans will come to enjoy Bertolt’s rich character in the future. He’s still a valuable part of the story and doesn’t deserve to be forgotten just because he died.
END OF THREAD & Thanks for reading!
END OF THREAD & Thanks for reading!
