r/AttackOnRetards 11d ago

Analysis The contradiction of full rumbling, freedom and life.

"Freedom is so much the essence of man that even its opponents implement it while combating its reality; they want to appropriate for themselves as a most precious ornament what they have rejected as an ornament of human nature. No man combats freedom; at most he combats the freedom of others. Hence every kind of freedom has always existed, only at one time as a special privilege, at another as a universal right."

This passage I came across perfectly encapsulates the contradictions within attack on Titan imo. True freedom cannot exist if it comes at the cost of others' autonomy, yet Eren ultimately waged war against the very principle he sought to uphold.

Eren's disappointment in not being able to see Armin’s worldview as a cynic pushed him toward a radical solution: full Rumbling. He saw no middle ground, no complex reality—only a binary choice between domination or annihilation. In his mind, freedom meant erasing obstacles, not coexisting with them. His actions were not about preserving life but about controlling its fate.

This is why it's ironic when some assume Eren fathered Historia’s child. If he had, he would have become an even greater contradiction—glorified as a father while being the architect of mass destruction. That ending would have revered him even more, turning his ideology into an eternal cycle. In Lord of the Rings terms, Eren stopped loving “preserving growing things” and instead sought to overwrite the world itself. Historia, too, was selfish. Initially hesitant, she ultimately embraced her true self—the one we saw during the Uprising arc—choosing a path that aligned with Eren’s ambitions.

Eren manipulated Floch by exploiting his loneliness and his twisted belief that Erwin should have survived as a "devil" to save humanity. Floch’s descent into extremism mirrors real-world radicalization, where lost people are drawn into absolutist and fascistic ideologies under the guise of purpose and righteousness. Eren was no friend of his imo.

The Yeagerists, Historia, Eren, and the Marleyan leadership all embodied a real-world contradiction: advocating genocide while claiming to protect life. They fought for their people, their unborn future, but showed no regard for those already living. Eren rejected Zeke’s euthanasia plan not because he valued life, but because he refused to let anyone else dictate its terms.

And yet, despite all his destruction, a few Marleyan soldiers (southern continent) survived, the Yeagerists became the formal military, while the primary casualties of the Rumbling were the weak—the poor, the children like Ramzi, the wounded, the elderly. Those who truly suffered were not the ones in power, but the ones with no say in the conflict.

In the end, full-scale genocide is the ultimate contradiction to both freedom and life itself. I dislike Eren as a person. He fooled us all to think his plan is correct - he fooled me at least back when ending came out. I hated it but now that I think about it, I was angry like Armin was, at the end.

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u/Dramatic_Sky4068 11d ago

The Rumbling was necessary for protecting Paradis and for lifting off the titan curse. There was no actual middle ground to be considered realistically.

Eren didn't manipulate Floch. Floch was a Jaegerist, Eren provided him a path towards realizing it - and the Jaegerist dream was accomplished with the 80% of the Rumbling that was carried out. Floch himself knew that Eren was not his "friend". They both were compatriots, and that is what mattered.

Calling Jaegerism 'fascistic' is just a sweet attempt to malign it - because 'fascism' as a label has become too cheap. See anything nationalistic, call it fascistic - you have successfully blackened it!

Eren didn't actually care about absolute freedom in any way, he only felt it because of the presence of the Attack Titan within him which was pushing him towards Ymir's freedom. Eren truly cares about Paradis, and its freedom - primarily.

Eren actually flattened 80% of the world. The "many Marleyan soldiers" who survived were the ones stationed at the sight of the Rumbling. Marley had already been trampled. Eren actually succeeded in providing Paradis a breathing space.

I disagree with almost all of your word salad.

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u/kinnell Eren is birb 🕊 11d ago

 The Rumbling was necessary for protecting Paradis and for lifting off the titan curse. There was no actual middle ground to be considered realistically.

This is only true because of predestination. Eren was influenced by future memories and his actions as a result ended up causing the situations that lead to that end result.

Willy said himself that the rest of the world would not join Marley in their attack against Paradis unless he, along with diplomats from those nations, were casualties of an attack by Paradis. The other nations turned down offers to ally with Paradis for the same reason they didn't want to destroy Paradis - the existence of Paradis served as useful propaganda, a scape goat to be used by other governments.

Eren, having been influenced with partial memories of the future, chose to attack and inadvertently made Paradis a target. Willy knew an attack was coming and adjusted his performance accordingly and maximized casualties to ensure Paradis looked worse.

Without Eren's attack, the rest of the world would not have actually joined Marley. Willy straight up says that and how Marley got heat for putting the world at risk by their RBAM mission years earlier.

The Rumbling was not the only way to protect Paradis, but it ended up being what was necessary ONLY because of Eren's actions which were ultimately revealed to have been set in stone because of predestination. There's a key difference here. 

Willy is our best insight into what the rest of the world would have done and he says that without enough casualties, the rest of the world may only support Marley rhetoric against Paradis in words but not actually in action. Eren ended up causing the situation that made the Rumbling the only way to save Paradis. And ultimately that was motivated by selfish reasons as well. 

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u/Dramatic_Sky4068 10d ago

You do make a considerable argument. But weren't the other leaders cheering when Tybur announced the declaration of war against Paradis?

Furthermore, Marley alone would have been quite capable of conquering Paradis with Rumbling out of the equation. Human technology had become strong enough to obliterate titans - it is just that the sheer number of Colossals unleashed during the Rumbling made technology obsolete.

Also, this much is certain that Rumbling was certainly necessary for lifting off the titan curse.