The single worst thing about AoT’s ending is how it utterly DESTROYS Eren as a character. His shocking journey from seemingly generic Hero to Hitler 2.0 was amazing not just because it was so unexpected, but because, once you reexamined the character, it made a disturbing amount of sense – remember, this is the guy who straight up MURDERS 2 human traffickers when he’s just *10 years old*, without batting an eye and with zero remorse. He physically assaults adults who say something that offends him, and was always ready to kill anyone who would deny him his Freedom. The guy was always a total psycho, we just never stopped to think about it because he was our hero – just like we never stopped to think about how Eren never actually vowed to “Kill All Titans”, but instead to “Kill Every Last One of Them” – which one of the anime season finales (I’ve lost count of which one) beautifully highlighted.
Eren’s journey was so compelling, because just like the story itself, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same – Eren effectively lets go of his anger, his hatred, his black-and-white morality, and yet he’s still forced to conclude that Genocide remains the only way to save everyone he loves, and acts on it – with the result that he ends up KILLING the very people he wanted to protect. He becomes the hero who saved Paradis, but is destroyed by guilt, his wife Historia and their daughter Ymir being the only ones that keep him from outright killing himself. He’ll keep visiting the graves of Mikasa and Armin every day until the day he himself dies. That right there is the beauty and tragedy of the Akatsuki no Requiem ending.
So what did we end up with instead? A confused, nonsensical mess:
- Eren is an incompetent retard who should never have ended up with the Founder Titan power in the first place, and who lost touch with reality, that’s why everything went to shit – except that Eren repeatedly proved to be a brilliant mastermind, manipulating everyone (including his dead father) and outwitting Zeke the genius. Also, his retarded plan actually works.
- Eren is destroyed and depressed by the revelation of the über-shitty future that awaits him and the world – which is why is he shows FEROCIOUS, UNSTOPPABLE determination to bring about said feature. For fuck’s sake, the nigger TEARS OFF HIS OWN HAND just to escape the shackles Zeke placed on him and reach Founder Ymir. He was that fucking desperate to die a crybaby incel cuck and be sent to hell for being Cringe?
- Eren was never this great Nationalist leader wishing to save his people – he was just your generic faggot Shonen hero who only fights for his friends. 80% of the world is destroyed, Paradis isn’t actually secure – who cares, my friends will survive….except Eren admits that he DIDN’T actually know if they would survive his actions (and we all saw the amount of Plot necessary to keep them alive). And speaking of Eren’s loved one; “Hey Reiner, why did my mother have to die?” – you tell me Eren, you fucking tell me motherfucker…
- Eren was madly in love with Mikasa, and is big mad that he’ll never pound that Hapa pussy – except for the fact that he NEVER, EVER showed romantic interest in her throughout the story. Look, I genuinely do not care about the Shipping Wars, and I think both Historia and Mikasa are Quality Waifu choices – I’d personally go with Historia, probably, but Mikasa is absolute Sex as long as she’s not saddled with a dogshit lesbo haircut. But be honest guys, Eren and Mikasa were NOT written to end up together, while the chemistry between Eren and Historia was absolutely there – and the last-minute retcon is so fucking obvious, given just how retarded Historia’s arc during the last season ends up being.
- Eren was a Slave of Freedom – except he apparently *wanted* to carry out the Rumbling all along? If he’s doing what he wanted to, how is he a slave?
- Eren is going to Hell for killing 1.6 billion people – LOL JK, he actually gets reincarnated as a bird, and stalks Mikasa to this day.
And I haven’t even mentioned the truly low-hanging fruit, so many moments that go right into the Cringe Compilation…
At the end of the day, Eren is forever destroyed as a character – which would already have been bad enough if he was just mid all along, but when you consider just how amazing he could have ended up becoming? It’s a fucking crime.
