#each one of these characters is willful strongly motivated and would undoubtedly shake up the plot in excellent ways

[shallowseeker]

If you made me choose between Bela, Uriel, and Gordon for a sequel, I’d be instantly paralyzed.

[ultravioletsoul]

Can you rank your fave CoD antagonists?

Hello there nonny, sorry for taking so long to reply and thank you for your ask ♥♥

Rank my favorite CoD antagonists? Sure, I can do that! There are several antagonists in the series, but I’ll only rank my top 3. Hope that is okay with you c:

3. Jonathan Irons

Original gif

Advanced Warfare may not be a series as popular as BO or MW, but I actually enjoyed the game and I also liked Irons. Honestly, I don’t think we’ve gotten that many antagonists that started out as our allies in CoD (at least I don’t remember any others atm), much any less an American antagonist, so that kinda made him stand out to me.

I’m not familiar with Kevin Spacey’s works, and I barely watched any trailers pre-release. So to see Irons go from someone who I believed genuinely wanted to make the world a better place, where every human being could live in peace and thrive, away from the pointless wars that governments waged, to someone who was willing to use any means necessary to achieve his goals, regardless of how many lives he had to sacrifice... well, that was something that hit me hard.

This man who gave my character a second chance, who treated me (Mitchell) as his son, who cleaned up after the colossal mess that others countries made, helped people from devastated war-zones rebuild their lives and gave them hope for the future, turned out to be someone I was forced to betray because of different viewpoints and philosophies. Despite everything, I think Irons had his heart in the right place, but his methods were ultimately terrible and in his messianic delusions he ended up doing more harm than good, so of course he had to be stopped.

And what I liked about him was that he didn’t start out as a bad man, he didn’t do all those things because of greed, and his characterization wasn’t that of a cartoonish villain. In a way I could find logic in his arguments, he made a few good points about the current state of the world and the inability (or indifference) of many politicians to solve the real problems of the people. But the root of it all lies in the loss of his son, his only child, to a government he no longer trusted nor had any faith in doing what was right. Despite having served in the military in his youth, Irons had grown disillusioned at the way the US handled domestic and international policy, and strongly disagreed with them— opposing the status quo in favor of change. 

One could argue that serving in the military was entirely Will’s choice all along, and as a grown adult he knew what he was getting himself into. Still Irons couldn’t help but think that if that war had never happened, Will would still be alive. So that left him with a bitter taste, and it served as the catalyst behind his actions.

If nobody else would bother to do anything to actually solve the world’s problems, then he would be the savior to do it— whether they liked it or not. And he didn’t care what methods he had to use, how many had to die, or if he had to plunge the world into total chaos before he could ultimately end all wars and bring everlasting “peace” (perhaps one of the greatest ironies) as his dream seemed to be. Even at the cost of such a high price.

I don’t think Irons gets the credit he deserves.

2. Raúl Menéndez

Original gifset

BO2 is one of my favorite games and Raúl is undoubtedly one of the most memorable antagonists in the series. Much like Irons, his actions were heavily motivated by the loss of a loved one but his life is also one sad story, so it’s no wonder he turned out the way he did. Not to justify him, but it’s not hard to understand what led him to do all those things.

From a very young age, his life was destroyed by the actions of Americans, from the horrors of the dictatorship in Nicaragua (in which the Contras were supported by the US); the crippling and disfigurement of his young sister Josefina, due to the greed of an American owner who burned down a warehouse in order to obtain 11,000$ through insurance fraud. After losing everything during an earthquake, and becoming homeless, Raúl and his father started over by selling drugs, successfully establishing a cartel that was so powerful in Nicaragua that they were equally feared and admired among the people.

But this status and power they had newly acquired concerned the US government, and it wasn't long before they sanctioned an assassination order on Raúl's father and sent the CIA in to kill him. Raúl observed it all, a teenager back then, and managed to escape thanks to his father's training. Though he could do nothing to stop it, nothing to save his father, this event marked him and further embittered him against the US and the West. And the last straw was the unfortunate death of Josefina, at the hands of Woods. He lost his sister, the only living relative he had, and his world fell apart. But if we think about it, Raúl was indirectly responsible for her death too, after the horrible torture he put Woods through in Angola. So the next time Woods saw Raúl he lost his mind and threw the grenade that tragically bounced into Josefina's bedroom and killed her.

So he spent all his life orchestrating a huge plan, a brilliant plan, that would shake the US from the very ground. And he was damn charismatic while executing it, earning the support and approval of billions of people all around the world— even from those who lived in US soil!— to begin a world revolution and end the dominance of capitalist nations that had subjugated other weaker countries, amassing huge riches through market economy and wars for resources, destroying lives and sinking many in poverty. And he also manipulates and pits two superpowers against each other... sending everyone to the brink of another world war, or a second cold war at best.

He wanted revenge on the US for playing with the lives of other people, for taking everything he loved away from him, by making them live in fear and destroying everything they had built. He wanted them to feel the same pain, to suffer the way he did. And he wouldn't rest until he achieved that because he had nothing to lose anymore.

Depending on the outcome, he can get revenge on Woods for Josefina, as well. And though we all like it when the "good" guys prevail and foil the plans of the villain, I think this particular ending had a much deeper and stronger emotional impact. The conversation they have at the end is something I didn't expect. Raúl has come to kill Woods but they're both in a place where the years have beaten them down with the weight of they’ve done and rather than an over the top scene, what we’re given is quite the opposite of that. 

There’s no screaming, no heated argument between them, no dramatic lines. It’s just two old men who had to live with what they’ve done, and who have come to terms with the inevitability of that moment. Raúl slits Woods’s artery with Josefina’s pendant, and then he does something that surprised me: he closes Frank’s eyes, takes him off the wheelchair and lies his body on the bed. Something that is a huge contrast with what he did to Hudson many years ago... the savagery he used when killing him. For Raúl to behave that way with Woods, the man he considered to be his sister’s killer, it raises the question as to whether he still hated Woods after all these years, or maybe deep down he finally acknowledges that his actions (namely torturing Woods and killing his whole team) was the true motive that led to Josefina’s death.

The thing is, Raúl knows that he's to blame for what happened. It's also the reason why he burns himself alive in front of Josefina's grave. It’s because he has to pay for what he's done to her, too, and he chose to do it in probably the most horrible way possible but it didn’t matter to him. Nothing was more painful than living with the knowledge that his sister died because of what he did.

To him Josefina was the true innocent soul, who didn't deserve any of the suffering she went through.

1. Vladimir Makarov

Original gifset

It’s no secret that Vladimir is my most favorite antagonist (and character) in all of Call of Duty.

Though his background and motives weren’t as well developed and explained as those of other antagonists in the series, his untold story (which you won’t find anywhere in the game, though you can deduce if you have a basic idea of the situation before and after the fall of the Soviet Union) perhaps says a lot more about him than one might expect.

There’s not a lot we know about his past other than the meager information that was provided in some loading cutscenes, but it’s reasonable to think that Vladimir wasn’t always the trashbag that we see in the games. He once was a young man with dreams of patriotism, who wanted the best for his country, who loved Russia with his soul, and who would do anything to protect her, because as a soldier that was what he was taught to do. As a soldier, that was his purpose in life and without that reason to drive him on, he had nothing left.

And however vague his backstory may seem to be, it gives you an idea that Vladimir in a way was a victim of a system that imparted a type of soft indoctrination on him, from a very young age (as many states do all around the world in some form or another, even those who hold democratic values), all the way to his education in the military academy and his brutal training in the special forces, that further cemented this undying love for Russia, maybe in a way that bordered brainwashing.

His true radicalization came after the fall of the Soviet Union with the loss of his homeland and the Soviet culture as he knew it, as well as Russia becoming weak and losing much of her power and influence across the world. Then came his deployment in Chechnya in 1994, where he lived the horrors of a war that most likely left him psychologically scarred after the experiences he had to go through. And when he returned home, he was kicked out of the armed forces under accusations of human rights violations during the First Chechen War. And they may be true, he probably did a lot of bad things there (under the illusion that he was serving his country for a higher cause), and sadly it’s something commonplace in many armed conflicts. I’m going to leave this short post here for some details on that.

When he returned from war, he didn’t receive any professional help or if he did, it didn’t work. He didn’t know how to cope, he ultimately was unable to adapt to a normal life, he became a misfit. He had lost his job, he had a stain in his career, and finding a decent way to get by was very difficult at the time when the country was in the middle of a political, social, and economic crisis.

He was in financial ruin, and it was hunger that pushed him to become a criminal (something that wasn’t uncommon for ex military men in 90s Russia). Not just that but also hatred for those in power as well as society as a whole, and what they represented: total decadence and the reason why Russia was falling apart with these “stupid” western conceptions about freedom that in his eyes did nothing but give leeway for debauchery and corruption, which he ultimately sought to “fix” by returning Russia to what it used to be (a god-fearing empire under the autocratic rule of a tsar that was likened to a father to all his subjects, and where religion was used as a resource to legitimize his power and as a moral regulator that maintained the social order).

He pretty much felt abandoned, betrayed by his government— a leadership that had done nothing but sink Russia deeper and deeper into ruin, destroying the values under which he was raised and turning people like him into cynical masses that had lost faith in everything and were adrift without any real purpose in life, no future to look forward to, completely disillusioned that the dreams they’d bought into, the promises they had been sold by the west, were nothing but lies.

He’s still a piece of garbage, we know that, but I also think that he’s gone through a lot of struggles and bad experiences in his youth that marked him and filled him with resentment. Everyone sees Vladimir as the puppet master of the storyline of MW, and we have to give him credit for that, but deep down he’s just a man who has been a slave to his own obsessions and ambitions, unable to free himself from the hatred that has poisoned his mind for years, which led him to commit so many atrocities and strip himself from any semblance of humanity— all for the sake of a higher cause, as he undoubtedly tried to justify his actions at the end of the day.

In conclusion, all three were marked by losses in one way or another, and saw themselves as men who had to take the hard path and do what had to be done. And it’s also curious that Call of Duty, while not a game with any deep meaning on the surface, almost seems like social commentary on how war ruins lives and how anyone can do horrible things if put through the wringer enough times. It’s like these stories are trying to say that bad circumstances can make bad men out of seemingly good people, who wouldn’t have done any of the evil they did if maybe things had been different.

And I think that’s what makes these characters so interesting.

[kyojuuros]

Levi’s role in Eren’s development and why “Eren vs. Levi” won’t happen

I mentioned recently my opposition to the idea that Eren would hurt or even kill Levi in order to further pursue his goal - whatever exactly it may be. Furthermore, I am not personally foreseeing an “Eren vs. Levi” showdown approaching. I feel like I should elaborate on that.

Eren and Levi have always had a compelling relationship, in my opinion. Where other people have either feared or blindly adored Eren, Levi has always seen him for what he is and accepted him. Likewise, Eren has almost always looked to Levi for guidance and inspiration, but was quick to understand Levi is as fallible and human as anyone else. I'm gong to cover some points as I try to explain myself here.

Isayama has stated before that Eren may have to march in Levi's shadow in order for the story to progress in a certain way.

I think that we are clearly seeing the result of that now. Where Eren used to convulse and shake when he was angry (and in general, very expressive and impulsive), something Isayama stated Levi once did too, we have now come to see an Eren who pushes what he's feeling down in order to focus on his goal. This is very similar to Levi's demeanor and something we only see from them as they are now when they've become deeply emotionally compromised.

It's not that Eren has become cold, detached and unfeeling toward his peers. Rather, he's come to learn that he cannot let his emotions and feelings about them dictate his behavior if he is going to save them. He must control himself if he is to get anything done. Since Levi goes about things in a similar manner, he's in one of the best positions to understand Eren as he is now. Thus, I believe that he is one of the more likely people to get through to Eren at this time.

Additionally, it’s good to remember that Levi told his squad plain as day that he was willing to "become a mass murderer” if it meant humanity at large would have a chance at surviving. Eren is doing the same for his friends and the island now. He has picked up on the things Levi has said and done and has started to absorb it into his own actions. Again, if anyone will understand this point of view, it will be Levi.

I think that, if we are to take this sort of parallel between them and assume that Eren has adopted more of Levi’s approach toward achieving his goals, at the very worst Eren would do something minor to get Levi out of the way (as Levi tried to do to him during the serumbowl) - but nothing that would put permanently harm him.

Levi's views on Eren per their Visual Novel

In Eren and Levi’s shared visual novel, Burning Bright in the Forests of the Night, it's stated very clear that Levi understands well the essence of Eren's character.

Humanity’s Strongest understands Eren Jaeger very well. Eren Jaeger is indeed feared as a monster. Eren Jaeger is undoubtedly a monster. But all these people have gotten it wrong from the start. Eren Jaeger is not a monster because he has the power to shift into a titan.

When Levi states that Eren is a monster in the Forest of Giant trees, he’s implying that it’s Eren’s nature that is to be feared, not his shifter ability. This is something that Levi has seen since their very first formal encounter. Eren as he is in the current timeline is showing this nature for all the world to see now. But Levi was the one who saw it first, completely unadulterated nor filtered through personal affection.

Nothing can be done to control this monster. Not violence, power, words. Nor danger, fear, peace. And, most likely – not even love.

And again, this is something that we are seeing now. Eren’s will keeps pushing him forward, no matter what. When he’s determined and has his mind set on something, nothing can stop him from trying to pursue it. Eren has expressed the love he holds for the 104th (and hopefully by extension, Levi and Hange, who have also been through a great deal with him). However, no matter how much he cares about them, he’s come to be a person who keeps moving forward with or without them - possibly to the point where he may even be willing to push them away. Levi gets it.

Eren Jaeger’s essence can never be changed.

As early as the Female Titan arc, Levi understood that Eren was someone who can’t be tamed or caged. And no matter how many times the story has tried to beat him down, he keeps moving forward. He keeps fighting. 

The novel ends with an excerpt from the poem “The Tyger,” although that requires a long winded essay I don’t want to clog up this post with. But in essence, it’s about a man looking onto the beast in awe of it’s beauty, but understanding its raw, primal power. The inclusion of this poem tells the reader that Levi is looking at Eren in this way. Regardless, Levi has been using his position and his role in Eren’s life to try and guide him down the best possible path, even if he’s not sure he always does a good job of it. But it’s enough to show that he cares about what Eren does with his power. 

Levi's role as a mentor/”big brother” to Eren

Levi was recently described as a character who is like a big brother to the 104th. And as we have seen throughout the story, he has guided and mentored them. Most notably we have seen this through his interactions with EMA. In the case of Eren, we have seen Levi repeatedly offer him advice, understanding and concern:

Chapters 25 & 26 - When Eren accidentally transformed and his squad turned their blades on him, Levi was quick to step in between them, stating that his intuition is guiding him to believe Eren is not a threat. This is the first show of understanding we see from Levi when it comes to Eren’s intentions and what he wants to do. Eren isn’t a traitor. He wants to help the Survey Corps and Levi sees and understands that. This was very profound at the time, given no one was willing to trust in Eren other than his friends since childhood. It was especially jarring, given that Levi had vowed to take Eren down if he did anything wrong.

When everything is sad and done, Levi checks in on Eren to see how he’s feeling.

Chapter 26 - After Eren’s accidental transformation, Levi offers Eren words of advice, explains why his squad turned their blades to him, and also is sure to make Eren understand that they did not enjoy doing it. That they want to have faith in Eren. He’s been real and honest with Eren since the very beginning, but he’s always managed to do so in a way that helps Eren to understand and is never overly harsh toward him.

Chapter 25 - Levi’s iconic “no regrets” speech. When Eren is discouraged from acting on his own accord in favor of trusting in his comrades, Levi gives Eren words of advice on the spot. He encourages Eren to make his own decision - to trust his intuition, and make the choice he will regret the least. Eren even believed in retrospect that if he had transformed, Levi may have fought alongside him. This scene is always a good one to come back to when looking at their overall relationship and Eren’s development as an individual. 

When Eren chose to put himself in the hands of others, they ended up dead. But later, when Eren is faced with other tough decisions, believing in himself is what saved them. When it comes to the current events of the manga, I think that this mentality is holding up strongly with Eren. He must believe in himself and his own strength if he is to accomplish anything. Levi, having given him this advice, is in a position to understand his line of thinking. 

Chapter 32 - After Squad Levi is killed by the Female Titan, Eren blames himself for it completely. He believes that putting his faith in them is the wrong choice and what led to their deaths. Levi watches Eren as he laments his decision, he really soaks in the fact that Eren is carrying that burden, and chooses to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault. He had no way to know that things would turn out that way, and he shouldn’t put the burden on himself over it. Levi is extending to him kind understanding in the wake of loss and trying to alleviate the burden.

Chapter 53 - Eren and Levi are motivated by similar goals. Eren seeks freedom and Levi validates this by stating that he wants the same thing. The walls stink, they are suffocating. They live in a cage like livestock. Similar ideologies. Levi fights for his people and it’s something Eren wants to do as well. This is a way in which they can relate to each other. Even in the current timeline of the manga, they both want what’s best for their people. 

Chapter 66 - Eren is under pressure, and Levi knows he’s about to add onto it. He apologizes for it. It’s a scene that shows Levi doesn’t want to keep putting the burden of pressure on Eren. That he verbally expressed as much is, in my view, a big deal for both the readers, and Eren.

Chapter 70 - When Eren is overexerting himself, Levi is the first one to notice and offer him a hand. As Levi is helping Eren out and showing him compassion, he also notes his concern about the toll it’s taking on his body and advising Hange to take it easy. Despite this, Eren insists that they keep making weapons with his power so they can get to Shiganshina. Here I’m sure Levi can also see that Eren is willing to push himself past his limits. It’s another reason for him to try and look out for Eren.

Chapter 89 - After the events of the serumbowl, Levi isn’t seen holding anything above Eren’s head. In fact, when he can see Eren is visibly distressed, he tells Hange to lay off of him and let it rest. Something Eren really needed at the time. 

Unrelated to the pane above, he heard Eren out during the serumbowl, and he also reminded him not to regret his choices. He isn’t seen holding Eren’s choices against him, once again showing us that he has an understanding that Eren is only doing what he thinks are the best decisions he can make. 

Overall, with the exception of the altercation during the serumbowl, Levi has always been on Eren’s side. I doubt that Eren has let this all go completely unnoticed. I think it would be foolish to assume Eren would be willing to toss aside someone who has been so supportive and patient with him in a world that's primarily viewed him as a tool, a symbol, or a monster. Whatever Zeke has offered him, he doesn't have the history with Eren that Levi has, nor do they have years of trust building between them.

Which brings me to the reason I pointed out the term “big brother.” Levi and Zeke have already been compared via their roles as leaders of their respective groups. They are a contrast to each other:

Levi is a survivalist who looks out for the well being of his peers and subordinates first. He is generally a defensive fighter, only attacking when provoked or threatened. Zeke, from what we have seen so far, is an offensive fighter. He is the one who picks fights, schemes and launches the attacks.

Similarly, their differences can apply to their relationships with Eren and how they each approach him individually as well. We can say with certainty, based on everything above, that Levi cares about Eren as a person, but can we say the same for Zeke? The only hint we have on how he feels about Eren is the time he said that Eren was brainwashed and that he would save him. 

We still have yet to learn about the Yeager brothers' relationship as it is now. Are they in it together? Do they care about one another? Are they using each other? Deceiving each other? It's a big question mark but I believe the real answer to it will decide the way that Eren and Levi both ultimately sway in the end.

Levi has been “like a big brother” to Eren, whereas there is a chance his real big brother may only be treating him as a tool.

Of course, we also must call to question Levi's faith in Eren and whether he still trusts him or not. It's clear he doesn't trust Zeke, but is he willing to reluctantly move forward with a plan if Eren truly believes it to be the best one? Levi has expressed an open mind when it comes to the secret plan. Is this because he still has faith in Eren going with the best plan possible to try and save everyone? I think he’s erring on the side of caution for now. Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Still, I can’t imagine he would take action against Eren unless provoked. Eren would have to be the aggressor here. 

They need to talk about things. And Levi is always ready to talk to Eren when something is up and he has questions. For example, when Eren revealed the truth about Historia and how he didn’t want to say anything in order to protect her. Levi wanted to hear him out but left it for a later time.

One thing we haven’t gotten over the time skip is Levi’s perspective. While Eren continues to talk about fighting the enemy, rejecting the sacrifice of Historia and refusing to rely on the rumbling, Armin and Hange have talked about reaching out, diplomacy, paving a pathway of peace. Levi has expressed neither agreement nor disdain for any of these things. Rather, he has remained as a quieter, almost background character in recent chapters. I’ve talked before about how I think it’s possible he is privy to what the Yeager brothers have up their sleeves. If Zeke’s goals are truly good, then he has no reason to oppose Eren. If Zeke’s intentions are bad and Eren is falling for it, again, I see Levi as one of the few people who would be able to reach out and get through to him due to their similar mindsets and shared history.

Only if Eren and Zeke both have bad intentions do I think Levi would step up and oppose Eren. And although this is just my personal view, I still have faith that Eren is doing what he believes to be the best choice to save the people he cares about. But we still have yet to see if he’s started to walk a much darker path than we’ve been presented thus far. 

Levi's reaction to Eren in Liberio

The kick was harsh, yes, but it is the exchange that they shared that is so very telling:

Levi is genuinely hurt. He doesn't like seeing Eren this way. He compares him to the pitiful people in the underground and laments, “You, too.” It’s another person that Levi has grown to care about who is simply “becoming a slave to something” and discarding parts of himself in order to accomplish his goal. Eren used to have so much fire and passion in his eyes and the blaze has started to burn out, replaced by something colder. Levi can tell there is something different about Eren now and it pains him. 

Eren notices this. 

Levi then expresses his distaste for the current situation toward Zeke, asking him if everything went the way he wanted it to. Zeke got what he wanted, and now Eren looks lifeless. Thanks, bud. 

This leads me to my next point.

Levi seems to be exhibiting defensiveness about Eren

We haven’t had many interactions between Zeke and Levi just yet. However, all the banter aside, this panel gave us a huge clue that after Zeke mentions wanting to meet Eren, Levi’s glare seems to worsen, as Zeke makes note of it. While Levi can agree with Zeke that they don’t have all the time in the world, it also seems as though he’s not happy about Zeke pressing the issue of meeting up with Eren.

Levi has been asking Zeke the same things over and over while they’ve been waiting in the forest, trying to figure out the kind of person Zeke really is and whether he is being honest or not. Naturally, of course, he cares about the island as a whole, which is a huge contributing factor to this behavior. But I might be bold to suggest that he’s also trying to figure out what his next move is going to be regarding Eren and whether he’ll be able to protect him from Zeke if he’s truly a liar. This is, of course, just speculation on my part at this point. 

The Forest and potential parallelism

The three of these characters are most likely going to reunite in the Forest of Giant Trees, where Eren once had to make a hard choice - the choice that he made that allowed his comrades to be killed. 

Once again, a choice is probably going to have to be made here. Either Levi will try to persuade Eren to step back from Zeke, or Eren will have to convince Levi to work with them. While theoretically this could lead to a “fight,” I think at worst it would be a verbal altercation. Remember where they are. Levi and Zeke are in the forest specifically because titans have the disadvantage against the 3DMG here. 

A few final points

Just as we don’t have Levi’s perspective, we’re kind of in the dark about Eren as of the current timeline as well. We still don’t know why he went to Marley or what he and Zeke discussed there. There’s also the chekov’s gun about him potentially being controlled by Zeke rather than acting of his own accord (Although I personally... am not a fan of this, but it’s possible and the story introduced the concept). This is the only thing that I can see being a physical danger to Levi, as I firmly believe Eren wouldn’t attack him normally. That being said, I do believe that Isayama is purposefully making us question Eren to throw the readers off.

The only thing Eren and Zeke want right now is just to get to each other because they are pressed for time. Eren is still determined to see whatever they’re planning through before Historia has to become a sacrifice. Eren’s goal has been stated over and over - he wants to protect the people he loves, not get them hurt and killed. I’m sure Levi feels similarly. 

I feel like if anything, an “Eren vs. Zeke” showdown is something far more likely to happen. Especially if Zeke turns out to truly be “the bad guy” and takes actions that Eren knows will hurt his friends. That being said, it’s something that would happen later down the road rather than in the forest at the beginning of a new arc. 

Anyway, all of the things above are why I’m certain we’re not going to see a “Levi vs. Eren” showdown happen in the forest. To me, it feels like it would be a waste of their character development and the importance their relationship has had on the story. Eren and Levi have been shown to acknowledge and care about each other. They have inspired each other and have given each other hope in many situations. I’d hate to see Isayama just throw that all out the window after all of the buildup. If anything, I feel that the buildup is leading to a moment where Levi will have to help bring the Eren we are familiar with back to the forefront if Eren’s childhood friends are unable to do it on their own.