Attack on Titan ended in November 2023 and with it ended Eren Yeager’s most memorable character arc. Hajime Isayama carefully constructed the events in Eldia from the perspective of Yeager and let fans decide whether his moral visions were justified after he shifted to the side of the Titans at the end of the series.
Both Fate and Freewill Shape Eren Yeager’s Moral Compass
Having already envisioned the ending of the series, Hajime Isayma presented Eren Yeager as a victim of fated consequences. The young boy is fascinated with the idea of going beyond the Wall of Maria which is located in his hometown of Eldia. However, Eren had to snap out of his innocence when the Titans broke through the walls and he had to witness a Smiling Titan kill his mother.
Also Read: Hajime Isayama’s Genius Made Sure to Redeem Even the Most Hated Character of Attack on Titan
Before the attack, the manga captured the happy lives of the Yeagers. Eren’s father, Grisha, was a renowned doctor while his mother, Carla, was a former barmaid, who invested most of her time in caring for her child. Her death and Grisha’s subsequent disappearance left Eren Yeager permanently scarred such that fans started sympathizing with the ‘seeming’ protagonist.
Isayama brings the theme of the duality of man with Eren Yeager’s story although both his good and bad sides are influenced by external forces and are a matter of perspective. He joins the Survey Corps to end all Titans in the world but gets betrayed by Reiner Braun and Annie Leonhart. Reiner wanted Eren’s Founding Titan powers, which he inherited from his father, to help Marley’s cause.
For centuries, Eldians and Marelyans had conflicted after the separation of the latter nation from the kingdom of Eldia. Influenced by the raging chaos in the world and the betrayal by the Corps, Eren Yeager changes his mission of destroying all Titans to purging more than half of humanity. Hajime Isayama makes his character fight for the Eldians due to a twisted sense of justice.
Eren Yeager’s shift in thinking is influenced by the Eldian-Marleyan struggle and his powers. Attack on Titan manga depicts how Yeager gradually gets accustomed to being an Attack Titan and eventually gets corrupted. He aimed to get rid of most humans because he thought himself to be unstoppable, and in control of his fate, unlike the previous version of Eren.
Eren’s Origin Story By Hajime Isayama Resembles The Main Antagonist Of Hunger Games
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins describes the early life of Coriolanus Snow. Born in a wealthy family, Snow got to experience the devastating consequences of war after which he needed to rebuild his father’s legacy. His plight is similar to Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan although Hajime Isayama’s creation had a better character arc.
Like Eren Yeager, Coriolanus Snow was also a victim of war. His father died and left no money for his children because the 13 districts he had invested money rebelled against him. Snow’s mother died when he was young so the responsibility of a breadwinner fell on his cousin, Tigris, while his grandmother kept filling Coriolanus’ ears on how the districts were responsible for their suffering.
Snow was traumatized by his family’s sudden impoverishment. The picture books he loved reading with his mother were burnt to keep his family warm, his family had to sell many rooms, and it was implied that his cousin had to sell her body to feed the Snows. Coriolanus grew embittered by the districts and eventually got coaxed by Gaul to commit horrible deeds for the greater good.
The decisions of the Hunger Games characters were usually influenced by others. Meanwhile, Eren Yeager took the mission of bringing the Rumbling in Attack on Titan by his own free will. Hajime Isayama’s magnum opus also captured his emotional turmoil in detail along with those of his friends such as Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert.
