#the self hatred that Eren and Armin have for themselves isn’t talked about enough

[grondds-and-roses]

Do you ever just sit down and think about how Eren and Armin hate themselves so much, but Mikasa loves them both like breathing?

[lrissa]

You’re Easier To Kick When You’re Kneeling.

summary: you and eren were both titan shifters, getting your ass beat in the court room by humanity’s strongest

warnings: violence, swearing,

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩

“Good luck!”

Where the last words Hanji spoke before shoving you and Eren into the court room. Tension penetrated the air as the Survey Corps gave hard glares to the Military Police.

Spinning around you saw everyone looking to you and Eren. Embarrassment and fear crawled through your nerves, gazing to Eren as he looked just as afraid.

“I’m scared..” You whispered to the brunette, he turned to look down at your lightly shaking physique.

“We’ll be fine.” He gave you a small smile, his eyes creased softly, he wished he could reach out and pat you on the shoulder.

Straining yours eyes forwards you bit down your tongue readying yourself mentally. You noticed two long metal pillars beside eachother, gulping.

“Step forward.” An office spoke as he shoved the barrel of a gun into Erens back. Urging him forwards forcefully, quickly you walked to catch up with him.

Two officers pushed you and Eren apart. Snapping your head to the brunette, he nodded his head to you calmly, his eyes gave you comfort as the man shoved you to your knees infront of the pole.

Together the men picked up the metal and ordered you to place your hands stretched behind you, doing so they let the pole fall back into place. Having you directly connected to the pole and squatted down.

You hung your head low as the hair on your shoulders fell forwards to conceal your face. Your eyes had dilated and your body shook. Fear. Worry. Anxiety.

A door opened followed by footsteps and a chair scraping across the stone as someone seated themselves. The judge.

“Well then, let us begin. Eren Jaeger and Y/N L/N, yes?” He’d adjust his glasses and stare at the small paper in his fingers before continuing. “You are soldiers, sworn to sacrifice your life for the public good. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.” Eren answered as he stared bug-eyed at the judge, “Yes, sir.” You repeated after Eren and tilted your head up.

“This is an exceptional situation. The tribunal will be held under military, not civilian, law. The final decision rests entirely in my hands.” The white haired man looked from the paper to us, “Your fate will be decided here. Do you have any objections.”

Looking to the floor you squeezed your eyes shut momentarily, opening them wide again. “No, sir.” You and Eren spoke simultaneously.

“I appreciate your perception. I will be direct. As anticipated, concealing your existence has proved impossible. We must make your existing public in some form, or a threat to humanity other than titans will arise. What I will decide today is which force will have custody of you.”

“The Military Police,”

“Or the Survey Corps?”

“Then, I ask the Military Police for their proposal.”

Your head shifted to the Military Police, watching as a man readied himself before speaking vibrantly.

“Yes, sir, I am Commander of the Military Police, Nile Dawk, I will present my proposal. After a thorough investigation of Eren and Y/N’s body, we believe they should be eliminated immediately.”

Your eyes expanded as he said this. This man hardly knew either of you, not a single fucking thing. Your eyebrows furrowed into a scowl while your hands contoured into fists.

“It’s certainly true that their titan power overcame our pervious peril. However, now their existence threatens to spark a civil war. So we ask them to die for humanity’s sake, leaving behind all information they can.” He finished

Your stomach churned as he spoke, did everyone seriously wish you dead?

“There is no need for that! They are an invasive pest! They have deceived the walls that embody Gods wisdom! They must be killed at once!” A preist yelled at the top of his lungs as he pointed to us with crazed eyes. Freak.

“Preist Nick. Order, please.” The judge calmly stated before shifting his attention to the right side.

“We’ll hear the Survey Corps’s proposal next.”

“Yes, sir. I, 13th Commander of the Survey Corps, Erwin Smith, will present my proposal. We would welcome Eren and Y/N as an official member of our forces, and use their power to retake Wall Maria... That is all.”

You stared at the Commander, that’s all. That’s all? Yours and Erens life were on the line and he couldn’t conjure up another defense statement.

“That’s all?” The judge questioned suspiciously.

“Yes, sir. With their power, we can retake Wall Maria. We believe it is clear what our priorities should be.”

“I see. And where do you plan to begin this mission”The judge stated, “Pixis, the Trost wall has been completely sealed, correct?” He added.

“Yes, it can never be opened again.” A bald man retorted.

“We would like to set out from Karanes, in the east. From there, we will proceed to Zhiganshina. We will determine the route as we go.” Erwin confidently spoke as he stared to the judge.

“Wait a minute!” shouted a man, whipping your head over, “Shouldn’t we seal all the wall gates once and for all? The Colossal Titan can only destroy the gates. If we can strengthen them, we needn’t endure further attacks!” His planned seemed smart but there where missing pieces and it would most likely be difficult to achieve.

“Shut up, merchant dog!”

“With those titan powers we can return to Wall Maria!”

“We can no longer indulge your delusions of grandeur!”

Argued two men as they yelled at one another from across the room, ‘So annoying’ you thought.

“You talk a lot, pig.” A dark voice rung throughout the court, turning your head up you spotted Levi. Behind his tough physique he was actually a bit funny.

“Where is your proof?” Levi continued, “that the titans will wait while we seal the gates? The ‘we’ you speak of are only those you wish to protect, your ‘friends’ who help line your pockets. The people who starve because there isn’t enough land to sow don’t even figure into the thoughts of you pig.” Levi finished as you stared at him with wide eyes, was he seriously protecting you from the Military Police?

“We just thought that we could survive by sealing the wall gates—“ The merchant began, “Silence!” Yelled the priest beside him as he slammed his hand on the railing, nearing the mans eyes. “Impious traitor! Mere humans altering Wall Rose, walls that were a gift from God? Can you truly see those walls? Gods work far beyond human capabilities, and not understand?”

The rest of his words drowned out as your mind took hold, thoughts of the future plundered your head as you squeezed your eyes shut.

The judges taps of his desk brought you back to reality and you snapped your head up, “Silence. You may discuss your personal philosophies and opinions elsewhere.”

“Jaeger, L/N. Can you continue to serve as a soldier, using your titan powers to benefit humanity?”

“Yes, I can!” Eren spoke clearly, the judges cold gaze shifting to you, “Yes, sir.”

“But the report on Trost’s defense says this... ‘Immediately after turning into a titan, Eren swung his fist at Mikasa Ackerman.’” You sucked in a breath and looked to Eren, his eyes extended as he looked to Mikasa. Of course, he doesn’t remember.

“Is Mikasa Ackerman present?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“You are Ackerman? Is it true that, as a titan, Jaeger attacked you?” The old man questioned her.

You sighed softly, ‘As if he can control it yet’ you thought angrily in your mind.

“Yes, its true.”

Gasps of terror rung throughout the court, all eyes falling on Eren in a deathly glare.

“I knew it... He’s just another titan.”

“What about the girl!” Another protested as your head whipped to them, sending a glare to them.

“But, on two previous occasions, Eren saved my life in his titan form. The first time, mere seconds before a titan would have had me in its grasp, he stood between us, protecting me. The second time, he saved Armin and me from an HE shell. I would like these facts to be considered aswell.”

“I object,”

“I believe these comments are greatly colored by her personal feelings. At an early age, Mikasa Ackerman lost her parents and was taken in by the Jaeger household.” Well haven’t you done your homework, you pondered with a small frown.

“Our investigation had also revealed a surprising fact about the underlying events. At age nine, Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman killed three robbers who tried to kidnap her.”

More gasps could be heard as the news entered their ears, you shook your head. ‘What stupid fucking evidence to have, like they had a choice’ you considered furiously in your mind.

“Even if it was self defense, I must question their fundamental humanity. Is it right to entrust humanity’s fate, resources, and lives to him?”

Whispering and arguing broke out between the different sides, turning their heads to their fellow comrades to spew hatred. What a loss. Losing to this mans ugly mouth. You hung your head and sighed quietly.

“So is she. Do we know if we can trust her!” Referring to you as he pointed. “That’s right! Just to be safe we should dissect her too!” He looked to Mikasa next.

“Wait!” Yelled Eren and looked up to the man, “I may be a monster, but they have nothing to do with it! Nothing at all!” Eren defended as you watched, his spit flying from his mouth as he spoke from his soul. Your heart clenching in pitifulness as you frowned sadly.

“We can’t trust that!”

“It’s true!”

“If you’re covering for them, it means they’re one of you!”

“No!” He screamed and slammed his handcuffs against the metal pole, looking down in defeat, “I mean, you are wrong. But you’re simply coming up with theories that fit, whatever it suits you to fit.”

“Eren..” You said softly as you stared at him, your eyes in pain for him. He was so much braver than you and it gave you courage to see him so persistent.

Looking up you began to speak, “Besides, all of you people. You’ve never seen a titan! What are you so afraid of? What is your point if you do not have the power to fight? If you’re afraid to fight for humanity’s survival then, help us!” Your voice getting increasingly louder as you glared at the pathetic people who called themselves the Military Police.

“Just shut up and trust us!” You yelled your last statement and looked up to the judge, your chest panting heavily as you meant every word.

“Weapons ready!” The Commander of the Military Police shouted while his cadet set his gun on the railing and pointed it to you.

Until your face snapped to the right and pain shot through your nerves, your vision blurred instantly. Metal was all you tasted. A tooth had even managed to fall from your mouth and rolled onto the ground. You blinked to dimish the haziness and looked to your striker.

Levi Ackerman

“Huh?—“

His steel pointed boot slammed across your face again. Your back slamming against the pole behind you. Blood trickled down your nose and down to your chin, dropping onto the floor. Your blood had even splattered small droplets along the stone flooring.

Levi grabbed your collar and shoved you forwards to him. The handcuffs clanging against the pole as Levi stared down at you, his frigid glare locking eyes with your beaten ones before slamming his knee into the side of your head, sending it flying.

Pain. So much pain. It was burning you alive from the inside as all you could do was endure it. Tch, this guy’s a dick.

“Y/N!” Eren screamed from the opposite end. Hatred and worry evident in his tone as he struggled against his own cuffs, “Stop it!” Eren attempted again as all he could do was watch his friend get beaten to the brink of death.

Levi continued to sock you with his boot, giving you zero remorse as he beat the girl below him. Mikasa glared and got ready to jump the railing before Armin held her back.

Blood streamed down your face, a large puddle had began to form under you. You gasped for air before Levi lifted his leg high and stomped down on your head into the puddle of your demise. Grimacing at the filth and pain, all you did was lay there. If someone wasn’t looking hard enough, they’d assume you were already dead.

Croaks of pain left your body as his boot remained on your head, struggling to breath as blood trickled down your nose and into your mouth, unintentionally swallowing.

“This is a personal opinion. But I believe pain to be the best way to train someone. What you need is to be trained like a dog, not a man.”

Your rigid breathes left your mouth as you stared straight at Eren, his eyes meeting yours as he seemed to become visibly furious. Bruised and cuts tracked your once pretty, soft skin. Blood now coating all the crevices in your face.

“It’s easier to kick you while you’re kneeling, too.”

Levi lifted his boot and slammed it into the side of your head once again, giving you no time to breathe he stomped it back onto the cold ground again. Repeating his tourtue when he kicked your head all over again.

Strangled breaths was all you could muster, along with the rattling of the handcuffs as you were thrown around like trash, filling the silence of the fearful court room.

Kick. Kick, Kick.

All anyone could do was watch your doom, “Wait, Levi...”

Your head was pushed against the pole with his boot flat on your face as he turned his head to the one speaking, “What is it?”

His boot fell from your face as you hunched forwards, croaking as you gasped for air, blood trickling down the sides of your mouth.

“That’s dangerous... What if she gets angry and turns into a titan?”

You slowly tilted your head up to Levi, hair falling away from your face and resting on your shoulders. The raven head stared at you for a moment, then shoved his boot back onto your face and slamming it against the pole.

“What are you saying?” Levi dropped his leg again and gripped a fistful your hair, violently pulling you to his face as your eyes struggled to remain open from extreme bruising.

“Aren’t you going to dissect her?” He dropped your hair and stood straight, peering down to your defeated and beaten figure.

“When she turned into a titan last time, she killed twenty other titans before collapsing. If she is an enemy, her intelligence makes her a more formidable foe. Still no match for me, of course.”

Levi gazed to the Military Police, “But what will you do? Anyone persecuting her should also consider that fact. Do you really think you can kill her?” Levi spoke cooly as he stood infront of you, staring you down.

From afar you heard others speak, but your heartbeat clogged your ears as it deafened any other noise. Staring at Levi’s boots infront of you, you noted your blood coating the bottom before gently shutting your eyelids.

You could only hear Levi as he spoke from ahead of you, “I’m certain I can kill her. The only problem is I doubt I can do any less.” Levi proposed.

Hearing the pound of the desk above you, the judge made his decision. But you’d never make out what he proposed.

Footsteps stepped back from ahead of you as new ones came from behind you, uncuffing you and lifting the pole.

You tumbled forwards onto the unwelcoming ground, cautiously opening your eyes to the glaring sunlight that entered through the windows.

Eren ran to you, crouching down infront of you as you saw him shout words at you. He picked your head up in his hands and cradled you in his lap, checking for your pulse.

Your eyes began to shut again, your head lulling to the side to spot the raven head. Levi stared at you from afar, his arms crossed over his chest. The last thing you saw was the ravens dark gaze before your eyes rolled and all you saw was darkness.

be real, we all wish we were the ones being kicked

[aotopmha]

Even if the horror of Historia's pregnancy is intentional and withholding her perspective is deliberate mystery writing, it's still kind of screwed up that right after her gay love interest is killed and there has been no hints of any strong romantic hetero relationships from her part, she's narratively forced into a pregnancy (something that is still being directly or indirectly forced onto women, be gay or straight) and basically turns into a doll in a rocking chair.

As I said, maybe that's the point. Ymir says the world (the system) is probably the enemy. But now Historia's basically the damsel in distress - this system needs to be destroyed in order for her (and her child) to be free. It is also a parallel to old Ymir, who also had her agency stolen by her circumstances and the system she lived under.

It is good commentary, but at the same time, the narrative basically removes her perspective and feelings from the equation, basically playing into what it is criticizing.

And maybe that is intentional, too. One of the aspects I've liked about AoT and at first didn't notice at all, is that its character writing and themes are reflected in the series on a meta level.

When we didn't know about the greater context of the world, we were there to discover it with the characters.

When Jean talked about how nobody gets a glorious death and people just kind of die in war in response to Marco's death, this has been reflected in the narrative level with even the most heroic deaths being fairly quick and not lingered-on that much.

Likewise, chapter 134 was literally called In the Midst of Despair.

We're generally supposed to be upset about narrative decisions that make us upset.

The EMA argument in chapter 112, Gabi's short-sightedness, anything Eren does since the timeskip, really, and, yes, Historia's pregnancy are supposed to be upsetting.

Personally I would've given up on the series a long time ago if it weren't for this kind of emotional intelligence and sort of indirect self-awareness from its writing. It seems simple to do at first glance, but very few works of fiction I've consumed have done this really well.

To me most of the time the flaws stories have come from an inability to look at themselves.

To bring a few examples from AoT:

-There has been an strong emphasis on how Erwin would've logically been the better choice over Armin being revived since Levi made his decision back on the rooftop in Shiganshina.

Everyone, including Armin himself, have said Erwin probably was the better choice. This, thus, tells us that the choice being irrational is the whole point of that moment.

-Gabi's fierce hatred of the Eldians is the whole basis of her character, her character arc serves as a positive reflection of Eren's character arc. Thus, the whole point of her character is that she is short-sighted and grows out of that perspective because she is given a chance to see outside of her world when she is very young and not yet completely broken down by Marley.

I love this kind of hyper-aware writing when it is not overdone and trying to cover every tiny possible hole with long, tedious explanations, but sticks to concise lines.

I think the time travel aspect brought into the story in the paths chapters is exactly this, too.

Some stories dedicate a lot of time to justify their narrative choices, but AoT just rolls with it, whether you like them or not.

Now, to what level to accept this style of writing is another thing entirely, and this is where I loop back around to Historia.

To me the silver lining to how Historia's character is being written right now is that the story clearly knows the horror of her position.

But the point it seems to make also feels self-defeating. Yes, society forces women into this and it is horrible, but at the same time, the only voices in the story that defend and speak out for her are anyone's but hers.

You could write a mystery while giving her at least something to say about her position and how she is feeling.

Right now, in the span of the 27 chapters the mystery about Historia's child has been up in the air, she had only a couple of lines to say and this isn't like Mikasa where I think her actions by themselves can say a lot about her, Historia has literally been glued on a rocking chair.

Even as she seems to be writhing in pain and suffering in chapter 134, we still don't see any of Historia's thoughts.

Yes, everything going on with Historia is supposed to be a mirror of the old Ymir, but old Ymir basically only was in a single chapter, not about two years worth of chapters.

So, even if it something is smart, it can still be executed poorly and I think Historia is pretty much the one example of this in the series to me.

This is all judging the story based on the current chapter, which is 134.

No matter how obvious or frustrating some possibilities might seem, I'm not going to judge a story before it comes out.

AoT has been good enough for me to determine I'm going to follow it through to the end and then weigh the good and the bad of the entire work.

It will either end up my ultimate problematic fave or a great story with a flawed final arc, I think I know that much.

[apenitentialprayer]

Humanity’s Last Hope

Attack on Titan and the Messianic Hero

(x) tl;dr the charismatic leader of a fascist movement is often identified with the movement itself. This grants the leader an extreme amount of power, bordering on a physical god in terms of influence. Affirming the inherent worth of each human being, which must be detached from their practical usefulness, is probably the best antidote to this way of thinking I feel like the past two rants have been about subjects that people might readily associate with fascism; they’re outside the mainstream just enough that people can feel like they don’t need to worry about them; unless you’re part of a group that espouses a mystical connection among the in-group, or believe that your group is perpetually in some sort of tension with the world at large, you don’t really have to worry about changing your behaviors to prevent a fascist tendency in them. This one is different, though; almost everyone can agree that heroism is good. We like heroes. We need heroes. But how do fascists deploy the concept of the hero in ways that further their cause? There is no question that Eren Yeager’s powers make him an important advantage for the humans residing in the Walls; with his ability to transform into a Titan and direct his powers against the enemy that has kept them trapped within the Walls for a century, Yeager’s discovery becomes a determinative moment in the history of his civilization. He will either be declared an Enemy of Mankind, too dangerous to be kept alive, or an asset that the military builds their entire hope around. And, because Eren is so essential to the plans that the military has staked its hopes on, they must ensure that Eren remains alive at all costs. This reaches the point where entire squads of soldiers boldly race to their deaths in order to buy time for Eren not even to escape, but to put a larger distance between himself and his pursuer, the Female Titan. Eren is distraught by this; these are his comrades. But, ultimately, they’re making a noble choice; they know that the plan cannot succeed without Eren, and so they are choosing to give up their lives in order to make sure that the mission can succeed. They transcend the self, identifying with a broader good, and decide that their life is something they’re willing to exchange for this broader good. In that regard, they fit the concept of the Islamic shahīd (sometimes, and I would say inaccurately, translated as “martyr”), the man who gives up his life in the pursuit of a righteous cause. We love this archetype; Rogue One is built around this concept; the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment is immortalized by the film Glory for the way that they fit this concept; we sing songs about going "to fight for the right, without question or pause / To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause." In its most sublime form, this sacrifice is the recognition that there are things in this world bigger than ourselves, things worth fighting and dying for. But, in Attack on Titan, it isn’t that simple. We know the logic at play here from the speech the leader of Squad Rico gives Eren during the Trost operation; her wording there is key. In the above, you’ll notice that in the three examples I gave, people are sacrificing their lives for causes. When the squad leader tells Eren that people are going to die during the Trost operation, she tells him that they’re dying for him. What’s more, it is now Eren’s responsibility to ensure that those deaths have meaning by achieving his goal. And both of those statements need to be unpacked. First, I’m going to suggest that there is something noble about dying for a cause greater than yourself, and that there is something noble about dying to ensure the safety of someone else. Both of those things are moments of tragedy, surely, but they also have the potential to become a moment of sublime beauty, a moment of transcendental love: the firefighter who dies rescuing a little girl, the soldier who jumps on a grenade to save his squad, a parent going hungry to make sure their kids have enough to eat. These are tragedies, but they are mixed with something greater. I’m going to argue, however, that when these two acts of self-sacrifice are mixed, we have something potentially much uglier. When a particular person becomes equated with the cause, to the point that you can use that person and the cause interchangeably, we’re talking about an ideological Frankenstein that can create very unfortunate implications. When someone sacrifices themselves for another, we have someone trading their life for another. When someone sacrifices themselves for a cause, we have someone giving up their life for a greater good. When that person is the cause, well, does that make the person a greater good than the person being sacrificed? I hope I am articulating this clearly; when a broader cause is seen as objectively good, and we are identifying a single person as that cause, we are assigning extra value to that life as if that life is objectively more important than the lives of the people who support him. The Kim Il Sung, the Hitler, the Eren Yeager.... they become an aggregate, the receptacle of the hopes and dreams and inspirations of the people who follow them, charismatic leaders that act as living figures of devotion, invaluable icons whose loss would be tantamount to the destruction of the movement itself. To invest a human being with this level of power is dangerous. I want to make a distinction between the act of embodying and the state of embodiment for a second; to work to embody one’s ideals can a worthy goal. It requires you to assess yourself, to be critical of yourself, and to work to align yourself more with your ideals. You must decrease so that your ideal (which, hopefully, is a good one) may  increase. There is an inherent transcendence of the self in trying to embody an ideal. On the other hand, when you are the embodiment of an ideal, things are very different. To simply be is very powerful. To be an embodiment is to identify your needs with the cause’s needs, your desires with its desires, your hopes and aspirations with its hopes and aspirations. Someone who is embodying an ideal can be replaced; someone who embodies an ideal is irreplaceable. You get what I’m saying? Second, and this is very closely related to the above, is this idea that the sacrifice of the soldiers finds meaning in Eren’s success; we’ve spoken about the transcendental quality of race in certain forms of fascist thought in one of the previous posts I linked above. Here, however, the fascist is strictly materialist. These actions in and of themselves don’t have meaning. The heroism of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment is irrelevant to the fascist; they failed to capture the fort, and so any sacrifice there was ultimately for naught. A shahīd is only a shahīd if that sacrifice contributes to a pragmatic end. A firefighter who died saving a girl, only for that girl to die from burn injuries two weeks later, is a firefighter who wasted his life. The fascist doesn’t see the valor of the act itself. That being said, the fascist also understands that most people will see sacrifice as heroic, and will assign such sacrifices a pragmatic result, even if the connection isn’t quite clear. The soldiers who died on the eastern front did die meaningfully, because somehow the disaster on the eastern front was actually just a distraction that allowed our victory on the western front. The point is, sacrifice is only valuable when it directly helps the cause/leader in a practical way, and when sacrifice is valued even when it doesn’t seem to have had a pragmatic effect, the fascist will coopt it in order to save face. What I’m hoping you’ll take away from all this is simple; do not worship the leaders of movements. Every member of a movement is valuable, and the face of any given movement is not more valuable than anyone else. The President of the United States is not the United States. The Pope of the Catholic Church is not the Catholic Church. They are people, just like you and me, and your inherent worth is not connected to whether or not you push their agendas further in a visible way. While I’m on this topic, I’m actually going to leave off with a MAJOR SPOILER for Season 3, a spoiler that gives me hope that the fascist themes of Attack on Titan may not actually have the last word in the narrative. Towards the end of the season, Armin sacrifices himself, suffering massive third degree burns all over his body, and there is enough medicine to save only one person, either Armin or the leader of the Survey Corps. And at first a practical argument is made; Armin is clever, he has come up with many of the plans that have aided humanity so far. In other words, Armin is worth just as much as the leader because he contributes to the cause. But that’s not the argument that convinces Levi to give Armin the medicine; in a rare instant of self reflection on his hatred, Eren says that Armin deserves the medicine because he has not been consumed by hatred. Since his mother has died, he wants nothing more than to kill all the Titans he can. “But... [Armin]’s not like that. Armin cares about more than just fighting. He has dreams.” It might be true that Armin is smart, and talented, and dedicated to the cause. But that’s not why Eren wants to save him, and it’s ultimately not why Levi chooses to save him. No, Armin is saved because they see a fifteen year old boy who dreams of one day being able to see the sea. With one season left, and the manga apparently winding down as well, I think Armin is going to be the key that determines whether or not the fascistic tones of this narrative actually have the last say in the story.

[erenthecoordinate]

I’m going to answer these two in one answer, because it focuses on similar topics.

To be honest, I am on the similar hype that I enjoyed seeing another display of Eren’s observation and deductive skills- it was a very brutal, but badass, action sequence that will look just as so when adapted in animation.

Most of Eren’s activity in this chapter was his fighting strategy and I believe it displayed improvement in the practice of analyzing the battlefield.  We’ve already seen evidence of this when he figures out Lady Tybur is able to control the Warhammer Titan without having to reside at the nape of the neck, so long as she is connected to the physical body in some way.  This is a contrast to his previous dependence on his distress and anger to fuel his strength.  And while there have been times in those battles where he eventually understood specific techniques or sought opportunity to enhance his abilities (such as remembering the Annie’s fighting techniques that made Reiner struggle or finding the hardening vial he took advantage to bite through), much of his instruction came from characteristically strategic planners such as Armin, Hange, and Erwin.  It’s not to say Eren wasn’t cunning, as seen in his youth when playing innocent before Mikasa’s abductors, but he relied on improvised attack which isn’t always the best go-to in every scenario.

So I really enjoyed Eren’s calculative mindset without hesitation, willing to trust his intuition and logic.  Even as a planned attack and learning about the layout of the plan beforehand, it’s likely no one anticipated such a wildcard like the Warhammer’s abilities.  And yet, Eren did not need help analyzing the situation, and it certainly didn’t seem to take long to act on his suspicions; any inner dialogue about them took but a few panels.  And though there was trial and error when it came to breaking open Lady Tybur’s crystal, considering the action of war in the background and a chomp-happy Porco, I’d go so far to say it is an indicator of increased wit.  I’m not sure what I would rate him exactly, since I believe some of those stats are superficial, but it appears the one roadblock to his weaker points at the time, such as wit, was his high temper stat.  With that at a much lower temperature and experience, wit is definitely higher than his initial score of 3.

After the absolutely brutal and borderline squeamish use of Porco’s jaw to break open Lady Tybur like an egg, he encounters an alive but weak Reiner.  It goes just as you would probably expect: a swift punch to the jaw, that quickly sends him flying back.  What I find interesting, however, is that there was a very easy shot of killing Reiner right then and there.  Maybe the power of plot saved him, maybe Eren was truly to weak to command his Titan to throw a few punches, and maybe they were on a severe enough time constraint that one millisecond delay is not worth driving a heel or fist once more- the fighting ends abruptly and there an expectation to get him next time.  At this point, we see Eren wear a forlorn expression that I simply read as it being directed at Reiner.

Throughout this arc, Eren has been flipping the on and off switch when it comes to exposing his emotions.  He’s spent a lot of the beginning part decepting Falco, and therefore showed himself vulnerable.  But he appears very reserved, quiet, and melancholy in his brief encounters with his grandfather and during his temporary solitude.  Throughout his talk with Reiner, he shows less expression and puts more effort into his words, up until Reiner breaks down in front of him, he seems to be a bit shocked by the outburst.  And then comes Willy’s declaration of war, when Eren is reminded by the goal he has been fighting for throughout the entire story, to obtain his right to freedom- it seems to ignite something within him before he breaks into what I interpret as...a distressed “smile.”  It’s not a happy nor relieved one, though it is laced with self-assurance and strain.  I’m not sure if this will be touched up on but it seems to be the more ambiguous of his variety of expressions (and lack thereof) and I believe it’s it the most necessary to look back on.  We don’t see his human self in the first acts of attack, but we can assume that it wears something similar to what he is doing.  He is very in control and aware, so I imagine this is where his emotions are put at a halt so that he may use some wit to execute the plan effectively.  We do see a break in this when it seems the Warhammer is defeated, where Mikasa shares her concern of the effects of their raid and Eren’s destruction, when he sees her near tears, his expression is noticeably less focused on the battle as it becomes strained and almost hurt, whether it is in guilt of what his attack did to the innocent, Mikasa’s emotional state, or both.  Of course, he goes back into his battle trance once the Warhammer proves to still be active.

When they make their escape, Eren’s eyes look down and his brows indicate a forlornness.  This is something very telling of his initial feelings at the end of the battle in which previewed with his talk with Reiner and ended with peering below at him (or so I assume).  Despite his newly resolved behavior, the continues to glimmer his empathetic side and this scene is where it is most evident.  I have no doubt Eren expects himself to finish Reiner’s life, but at this point, he seems to understand a connection between themselves.  It’s quite a bit like looking himself in the mirror, acknowledging their likeness, and realizing Reiner’s breaking point.  Reiner is an enemy, of course, but he is also an ex-comrade, and I believe the strong feelings of hatred and hurt of betrayal are simmered down.  He sees a better picture of his enemy’s life, excuses it as something wrong with society to make him like this, confirming that their ambitions really are the same albeit on opposite sides.  Killing Reiner is a necessity at this point, but I strongly believe that rather than feeling upset that he couldn’t kill him, that it was a statement of fact.  That, no, they are not able to kill Reiner this time, but their will be an attempt another time.  It is no longer a priority and Eren sets aside his plan at vengence to focus on the primary goal- though not without what I personally see to be a look of pity or sadness.  It is a stark contrast to when he first saw Reiner escape death.

We likely won’t have these expressions properly explained outright (which I wouldn’t want that anyway), but hopefully they will come with further context clues and more ‘show don’t tell’ methods.  I would love to see that final stare at Reiner to be relevant to their next meeting, if anything between now and later would change anything, and how he expresses his feelings of Reiner to both himself internally and his comrades, which I have suspicion to believe he verbally expresses a different picture than what he wears.  But essentially, my thoughts on Eren are fixated on both his improved abilities in battle as well as his long term cling to human empathy.

Sorry, this got more wordy than I intended!  I have a lot of my own opinions and interpretations in this chapter and as a mid-point of the volume, it is thought-provoking and emotion-inducing and boy do I love things that make me think and feel!  Very good chapter!