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Aot spoilers below
I honestly think that aot couldnt really of ended in any other way, the insistence on erens character being forever static and unchanging was an extremely interesting decision which i only appreciate more as the days go by
I honestly think that aot couldnt really of ended in any other way, the insistence on erens character being forever static and unchanging was an extremely interesting decision which i only appreciate more as the days go by
Like the entire character was built on the concept of forever pursuing freedom but is simoultaneously always held back from attaining this freedom by progressively increasing odds. First the walls, then the titans, then marley until eventuallythey are stopped by time itself
Eren is fundamentally locked in place upon touching historia, time is an unchanging force within the aot world where everything that will happen will always happen much like how the past is similarly uninteractable, everything was predetermined and eren comes face to face with
This issue, he is constantly pursuing and endless goal of freedom and is given all the power required to break free but in gaining this power he is similarly forced to act in a very specific way which ultimately condemns him and a very large amount of the human population
This issue is also expanded upon early within the story, the issue of erens desire for freedom, in which its revealed that its not completely self serving, while its true that eren is revealed to be rather selfish in the final chapters dialogue with armin
It is ultimately based in a sort of egoist standpoint where eren fights for the freedom of his friends and family for the reason that their happiness IS his happiness, his selfishness isnt self serving. So its all the more heartbreaking when its revealed to him what he will do
In norder to attain this goal. He always wouldve reached this point based on past events and he would of always reached that point based on his influence on time from the future. The cycle is completely inescapable. Eren is a perfect example of an uncompromising static character
Its honestly amazing just how this really is erens story, his story of the ultimate tragedy of those who are unable to adapt to the world around them. Eren is uncompromising and unchanging to the point where he literally becomes a slave to his own ideals.
And what makes this journey all the more interesting is that we took a back seat to this entire process, we saw the effects of erens decisions and just how many people had to be slaughtered in service of his pure and uncompromising ideals
Erens story in attack on titan is a lesson to those who cannot adapt and change, about how complete self indulgence can lead to you as a person being forced to partake in ultimate hypocrisy. Eren did not make the world a better place and he killed many of his friends
But paradoxically it was all in the service of his friends for why he did this. According to him this was the only future in which he could obtain this “ideal world” a world where he attempts to genocide the humanity, a world where he is killed by those he sought to protect
I think people miss the point when they compare marley and paradis and ymir to real world events, when they see the message as “our hatred gave birth to a devil who has come to slaughter us” they miss the narrative contexts. That was the opinion of a character within the story
I think a big reason why so many people, me included, missed the ending is because we are seeing this all play out from the outside, as a bystander who gets trampled to death by the rumbling when in actuality this is erens story through and through
The genocidal rampage wasnt the point it is an extreme and unfortunate side effect of being forced to conform to your ideals. But its through this sadness that a positive message begins to shine through. Titans arent real. We are not slaves to a predetermined future we can change
We can make the world a better place, is what my interpretation of attack on titan ultimately came to. But even aside of all that i love this story and how the narrative bent to fit erens ideals and how the consequences that occurred as a result of that indulgence came to be
I know im not the only one whoes going to read this far into this thread and im sure someone much smarter than me came to this conclusion and was able to present it in a much better way than a twitter thread but the message rings regardless.
The freedom to pursue what we want without consequence and the freedom to never change for anyone else isnt freedom, its a prison. You are chained down to ideals you cannot escape from and you are separated from everyone else. You are not only trapped, but also alone
