Erwin knew, but he could not possibly fathom the breadth and depth of just how insidious the enemy of their world is. I say their, because every living being in this story shares the same world. It’s the most poignant question, I think, to keep in mind while reading this series. There are ordinary and exceptional people who behave badly, there are bad people, there are good people, there are good people who behave badly, and bad people who behave themselves for a time. It comes down to how we view the choices that are made. It is easy to condemn from the outside, or from looking back and going whoah boy, bad idea, but apart from the mysterious Owl/Kreuger, no one appears to have unusual time warp informing abilities. Even exceptional people have weaknesses. Eren, as a protagonist, in many ways symbolizes this awkward discovery as we move along and unwrap the layers of this plot. He’s a straightforward guy pushed into the realm of grey where he can no longer be certain of anything, even his own desires. What do you do when you understand, truly, the motivation that led to your mother’s murder…because you have become that yourself when you felt you had to? The matter of who is a good person and who is a bad person has been brought up eons ago in a conversation between Armin and Annie. In this world, and in ours, they don’t exist. There will always be someone that is horrible for one person, and a blessing to another. In every hero lies his villain, and every villain fancies themselves a hero. What many of them have in common is that villain was planted very early in their lifetimes; as child soldiers and warriors they are irresponsibly indoctrinated or alternatively traumatized. It gives them drive, purpose, or the makings of their undoing. Their choices will decide.
We knew, starting out, that Eren swore revenge. A simple thing, given the situation. A monster ate his mom, so first he hated the monster. Humans drove the monsters, so then he hated the humans who did it. Now he’s discovered that an entire culture is completely indoctrinated with the belief that he and all like him are the enemy. Enemy is such a subjective term.
Clever really, as the body of Ymir was the giant used to create the world in Norse mythology. In a panel, the enemy is the world.
A child cannot understand this because they are truly innocent in any culture, but hate is a thing we learn. As Reiner learned that the people he was taught to hate and spurred by a sense of obligation were no different than him, and the truth of that split him in two. When Eren discovered it, from what we see thus far, he is fully aware of his actions with his follow-through. He, like Erwin actually, is willing to make calculated risks of human life with the intent of…well we aren’t sure now are we? Is it revenge? Or does he desire to achieve peace through affirmative actions. Could you still love him if all it meant to him was to become a monster to avenge his mother’s death? Or do we choose to believe in him, that he has some higher goal in mind with unfortunate side effects. Eren’s motivations remain unclear, but it is possible that driving out the warhammer titan was his endgame goal since he’s asked the SC to pull him out. Mikasa doesn’t seem too thrilled that he’s out there, either. I suspect someone might have Grisha’d his way through a little rogue plan, but we will see.
The real tragedy, is not only that the cycle of hate repeats itself, but that it starts so early. Child soldiers. Childhood trauma. I used to darkly refer to AoT as ptsd the manga, but I’m beginning to see why Isayama’s cynicism led him to desire to kill everyone in the end and wipe out humanity. At the time, it might have been his only solution to this problem. The level of pain these characters endure goes above and beyond what your average story characters encounter.
The enemy is everyone, it’s in everyone, and the outcome will be decided purely by who can overcome that and be free of it, truly free of it, by rendering their traumas powerless inside of them. In the following chapters, we will get to see I think the sort of adults all of our children have become and how they have chosen to obtain their goals; is peace, freedom?
If you are finding it difficult because of the future unknowns, or because characters you supported are acting in ways you could not, remember this. They’re only human, afterall. All we can do now, as ever, is hope that hope itself will overcome…that it will all be worth it, empiric as that may be. Can you accept humanity, just as it is, or will they rise above humanity and find resolution.
