my interpretation and analysis of eren jaeger's & armin arlert's unique bond in attack on titan and what i wish for the end of their respective arcs

i want to start off with this important scene in which armin worked so hard towards reaching that freedom, together with and for eren

even to the point he'd die for it

it's the sacrifice of a brave friend

and eren fought so hard to bring him back since he believed in armin's strength, skills and greatness

someone that's so precious, he can give eren's life meaning and a dream to follow

the relief of saving his childhood friend must have been one of the happiest moments in eren's life

it's this special bond between the two who had to go through so much that really warmed my heart but it pained me at the same time

because eren's symbol of freedom changed in the moment he found out what the truth of the world is

it's from this point onwards that armin and him grew apart

the ocean scene explains the differences in eremin's definition of freedom pretty well

armin associates the ocean itself with freedom, as it is something that was behind the walls and outside his reach for such a long time

the act of gaining this new experience is his freedom

but eren loved the idea of breaking through every wall there is, not the one on paradis only (since the newfound enemies created another wall in a symbolic way)

the possibility of having his freedom taken away won't let him rest

so the search for a definite solution continues

in eren's eyes, freedom means the ability to choose unlike armin who wished for the ability to explore

but there's a limit to how much you can choose because once you overdo it, you will invade someone else's space

the irony of it all is that the price of freedom is its limit

sadly, it doesn't stop there

instead of having limited options to choose from like we usually experience it, eren's future is predestined with no other options left
and for him, this must be the worst outcome possible

it would have been nice if armin understood his pain despite the distance eren created, but it's not so easy

armin and mikasa noticed this during the marley trip as well, but refused to adress his unusual behaviour

the lack of communication on both sides is their worst enemy

this reminds me of levi's words about eren during the female titan arc

realizing this fact was one of the hardest tasks armin had to face

his naive wish to believe in eren's morality and judgement of the situation is understandable though

considering the fact that eren's drastic change of mind would catch most people off guard if we're being realistic

yet there have been moments where armin tried to reach eren but eren's hurtful actions created an even larger distance between the two

pushing your friends away for the sake of their safety

this plan doesn't allow time for proper understanding

however, there have been moments where armin saw right through eren because he remembers what his core beliefs are

armin was putting the puzzle pieces together just to create a final picture that could have been eren IF he was free

but the real eren is in the picture shown on the right & i love how isayama drew these panels to create a parallel between eremin's clashing ideologies

all of these things are the reasons why truly understanding one another has been difficult from the start

and this conversation about paradis' possibilities for survival, future and reputation shows it pretty well too

while eren has the idealistic goal to ensure the safety and freedom of paradis by simply wiping out any possible threat

armin wishes for a peaceful coexistence between the world and paradis through building trust over time and sharing diplomatic discussions

but eren realized that humanity won't fulfill armin's wishes in the near future due to the ongoing cycle of hatred

it's his biggest enemy that always stopped not only him from being truly free, but also his friends from being freed of this war and bloodshed

eren's intentions are to protect the island and what's dear to him

but his actions seem so contradicting which adds even more to his tragic character

not being able to change anything, not being understood, not being free up until 138 that ended with his "death"

all these things caused him to suffer in silence and we as the readers are lucky to witness these moments because everyone would question whether there's any humanity left in him after he caused so much chaos and destruction

as eren's actions became more ruthless, armin had to let go of his former imagination of eren

he tried to see the good in him before, when that was a major mistake
eren didn't wish for anyone to justify his actions or to believe in him

he wished to be understood

so what i hope for is a conversation between the 2 like the one kenny & uri had

they both had different ideals and levels of morality, yet they inspired each other in a way

for eremin to get this kind of closure would be great, even if it results in the end of their friendship

there's one more development i want to discuss which might be the reason we could get what i mentioned above in the next chapter

and it's about the themes eremin represents

the meaning of life and freedom

one similarity that eren and armin shared in 131 and 136 were their mental lowpoints

armin who couldn't value his life caused by the inability to move
and eren who despised himself for the inability to change his actions

the reason being predestination and his lack of freedom

what makes this interesting though is the fact that their characters were so complementary throughout the story

armin reflects that freedom in his eyes while eren moves forward no matter what

nonetheless armin found a way to move forward which was by figuring out his meaning of life through a precious memory

and eren did the same in 131 but the major difference being that it wasnt HIS own meaning of freedom
it was armins version which he always failed to see

it's one of the reasons why 131 is such a beautiful chapter since eren could finally understand what armin meant all this time

but armin never got to know what eren's true meaning of life was, what his freedom meant

that's why i believe eren has to experience his own version of freedom before the end just like armin found out how to move forward on his own

this requires for eren to be alive though

it would be a memorable ending if eren & armin could complement each other for one last time

i want to thank everyone who read this whole thread, as it is the longest one i've ever made :D <3

hopefully this helps others to appreciate eremin even more

because the journey of their friendship is a beautifully written tragedy

a story of 2 friends who have to go through hell together until the very end