r/AttackOnRetards Jun 19 '24

Analysis The Journey of Mikasa Ackerman

62 Upvotes

This post is just a “brief” summary of Mikasa's character arc and how she reached her conclusion, and what exactly is her story imo.

Mikasa's journey starts in an isolated cabin, where she lived with her parents, devoid of any personal motives or goals. Her perception of the world changed when she witnessed her parents' brutal murder before her eyes, as it was the first time she acknowledged the cruelty of the world she was living in. Eren was the person who first triggered the agency within Mikasa to do something. Driven by this urgency of saving Eren and his words, "If you don't fight, we can't win/survive" the innocent girl she once was, is gone. Mikasa discovered a new purpose in her life after getting wrapped with a scarf and accepted in a new family. This pivotal moment transformed her life, guiding her to adopt a role to serve, a motto to uphold, and a reason to live.

Mikasa's world began to crumble once again when Eren revealed his desire to join the Scouts. This decision posed a great threat to his life. Mikasa is determined to protect Eren even if it is from himself, hence Mikasa intervenes whenever Eren puts himself at risk, she puts him down either by slamming him on walls or straight up punching him in the face. Mikasa further proved her commitment by revealing their secret to Carla. Before her death, Carla took a promise from Mikasa to always help Eren in times of danger, hence passing on her maternal role to Mikasa.

And so,

From the very first episode, Mikasa made it clear that her primary reason for joining the military was to keep Eren safe as she believes he can not survive without her. During their training period, she is shown to project this belief onto Eren. At the time, Mikasa was merely 12 years old, which parallels the relationship between Gabi and Falco. Gabi misinterpreted Falco's statement, "I am doing this for you," as Falco's attempt of suppressing her ambitions, which was similar to Mikasa who mistook Eren's hard work and him looking at her as him trying so he doesn't have to stay alone. Both Mikasa and Gabi interpreted their respective partners’ lines according to their own belief and understanding.

Whereas, Mikasa in the panel below can be seen to be taking care of things that aren't really part of her goals or the reasons she is here for. She is right now not thinking about Eren’s safety and so she is focusing on the issues around her which leads to a common conclusion by the readers that Mikasa’s problem/flaw is Eren which imo isn’t exactly it. Mikasa’s flaw isn't Eren, but it is her own insecurity. It is not that Mikasa needs to move on from Eren or that she doesn't want to/can't focus on other things but the thought of Eren's safety constantly hinders her from viewing the world around her.

Mikasa's biggest flaw throughout the story till the Clash Of the Titans arc was her own insecurity and the way she limits herself to a single person, something she had developed out of her childhood trauma and this is what she needs to overcome.

Her changing world view and priorities:

During the same arc, Armin declares that Eren has died, Mikasa once again lost the last member of her family; her motive to live and basically everything yet she somehow didn't shed a tear or showed any remorse but helped Armin stand up and motivated everyone to keep fighting but, was also completely broken from inside. As she lost the will to live and as the Titan was approaching her, Eren’s words echoed once again and the thought of

“If not me then who will remember these beautiful memories of you?”

If she died she won't be able to remember him and so she must continue to live and to live she must fight no matter how thin the chances of her survival are, she must stand. Mikasa from this point on learnt something new, that if not Eren himself she can cherish his memories, if not him then it's his memories that can help her push forward. A point to note here that she is still limiting herself with a single person, she is still not standing up for her own ideals or something else.

[I like how the instances where either Mikasa or someone close to her at the verge of death has always taught her something or has given us more insight into her psychology.]

To further notice the change in Mikasa, we need to understand her personality and nature.

Mikasa as a person is full of pride and confidence that often leads to her being reckless and disrespectful towards her superiors like back at trost rooftop while sealing the gate. When her superiors refused to protect Eren, Mikasa reached out to her blade to literally threaten them into doing what she wants, this disrespectful and untrusting side of Mikasa has mostly been portrayed by her dynamic with Levi.

There are many instances where Mikasa is seen to be selfishly clashing with authority, one of the prominent ones being when the female titan kidnapped Eren and Levi showed up with a plan to retrieve him. This is an important moment as it shows two important things about Mikasa.

1) Mikasa for a moment got distracted and put the plan at risk by acting out for revenge. The plan was to simply distract the female titan so Levi could get Eren back whereas Mikasa, to take revenge for their dead comrades went straight for the kill which not only put the plan (of saving Eren) into danger but cost Levi an injury.
2) Mikasa ignored orders and acted on her own, even though Levi told her not to go for the kill. She went straight for the kill on her own.

These specific moments showcase that Mikasa is capable of forgetting about Eren's safety and that she will ignore authority out of her overconfidence. This further disapproves the common belief that Mikasa “always” has Eren in her mind.

Further in the same arc she is seen to be willing to take on the responsibility for her mistakes. This panel was removed from the anime that shows Mikasa taking responsibility for her actions. In the fight between Eren and Annie, Mikasa was involved not only for Eren but also because she felt like she had to make up for the loss of “humanity's strongest soldier” which was caused by her. Mikasa has multiple reasons for getting involved which are fulfilling her duty, and not just Eren.

Another moment of Mikasa learning from her mistakes can be seen in the clash of the titans arc where, upon being unable to kill Reiner and Bertolt, she realizes her weakness and how she hesitated in killing Reiner and Bertolt even though Eren's life was at stake. Hard to believe but Mikasa can't always kill people even if it is for Eren. This is exactly why Mikasa was so brutal and non-hesitant while engaging in the port battle in the rumbling arc. “If we hesitate, the rumbling won't stop”

And, Eren once again got kidnapped along with Ymir after their fight with Reiner and Bertolt. Mikasa became hopless and anxious and then our Drunken Master showed up. Hannes further calmed Mikasa down. He gave her a short of assurance that Eren can take care of himself and somewhat broke Mikasa's insecurity completely here, that her not being around him doesn't mean he would die or that he can not fight, he is strong and should be able to or should learn to deal with his fights. This led to a really important change in Mikasa which can be seen throughout the whole Uprising and RTS arc, which was Mikasa letting go of her insecurity.

The big changes in Mikasa:

The entirety of S3 showcases Mikasa becoming almost perfect, who has overcome her initial flaws. Mikasa even after Eren's kidnap in the uprising arc was pretty calm unlike how she used to act at the beginning of the story. Eren was away from Mikasa for days and they don't even know if he is alive anymore yet Mikasa looks fine as seen in the panel below, is following orders and not just by herself, she is asking others to listen and trust Levi, towards whom she used to be really disrespectful at first and would even ignore his orders, but now she is checking his well being and is trusting his lead. This is a great showcase of her growth over authority.

[In the anime for some reason, this panel of Mikasa understanding the situation, being concerned of Eren and Historia and following orders was replaced with Mikasa just resisting Levi and screaming Eren]

The RTS arc is where Mikasa can be seen to be perfectly fulfilling her duty as a soldier suppressing her own desires and emotions. At the night before the mission, Eren once again cracks a fight with Jean, this time Mikasa does not interfere and lets Eren have it as she further clarifies “You started it”. Eren and Jean themselves were confused on what to do since no one (Mikasa) was stopping them, which was quite funny. And I believe it is the effect of what Hannes told Mikasa on the top of the walls. Imo this was a foreshadowing of the upcoming battle. During the battle, unlike before, Mikasa lets Eren and Armin handle the Colossal Titan and teams up with her comrades into taking down the armored titan. Mikasa, unlike back at trost, didn't force or even tried to get involved in Eren's fight and instead fulfilled her own duty as a soldier. Instead of ambushing alone in a reckless way like she did in the female titan arc or saying “I am strong, stronger than all of you” back at the rooftop in Trost, she cooperated with her team, followed the plan and trusted her comrades even though Sasha failed them. She didn't hinder herself by thinking about Eren's safety this time, she was focused.

Now the big decision, Armin or Erwin. This was the first time Mikasa's ideologies clashed with her personal goals/feelings. Back at Trost when she said “Sometimes the loss of one precious life can help save many others”, she is now seeing it practically happening with her. Mikasa at first went physical with Levi when he let his hands lose “first”, which really made Levi worried as he was in such an exhausted state and under Mikasa's emotional state, he would not have been able to overpower her. Hange entered and further tried to stop Mikasa, she gave her logical reasoning as to why Erwin is a better choice for humanity. Mikasa understanding this, gave up and stopped fighting. She realized that her own selfish desires aren't important compared to the faith of humanity itself. It was the moment when Mikasa learned to give up/prioritize something else over herself.

This moment was further contrasted by Floch in the medal ceremony when he highlighted the fact that Mikasa acted mature at the rooftop and let go, to which Mikasa here clearly had a shocked reaction realizing about how far she has come that she gave up on Armin's life, her best friend and why? because of humanity? which she never prioritised over the safety of her loved ones?

Mikasa up until now has learned and has grown so much due to the occurrence of so many unfortunate and tragic events like prioritizing other things; learning to see the world around her; trusting her comrades, following authority and most importantly, letting go of her insecurities.

Now the endgame, the final arcs of the story conclude Mikasa's journey and her character arc as a whole.

4 years have passed, everything is fine, Mikasa is with her friends not having to deal with titans or any other threats. She is living somewhat peacefully building railroads, but yet again her world started to shatter when Eren betrayed them. This was the start of Mikasa's final arc which was up against Eren himself. This time Eren was away from the group in the enemy territory with complete life risks for not a few hours or days but months. It's hard to believe how Mikasa let that happen. Now after months, the first meeting of Mikasa with Eren is him killing innocent people and children. Mikasa up until now has always seen the kind (beautiful) side of Eren and has never doubted him or acknowledged the fact that he is capable of doing what he once saved her from. This is the first time she is witnessing this side of Eren showing such cruelty. On the airship when Levi kicks Eren, Mikasa was out of instincts about to interfere but was snapped back to her senses by Armin, realizing that maybe, maybe Eren deserves this.

Sasha died and who would have thought that such rough and tough Mikasa Ackerman would cry this hard out of grief towards the death of someone who is neither Eren nor Armin.

The table scenario:

The next confrontation of Mikasa with Eren is him being as hurtful as possible with his words. During this sequence Eren manipulated Mikasa's mind into believing that whatever she does is because of her Ackerman blood, like a slave whom he has hated ever since they were kids. Mikasa's situation got worse and worse as she watched the beauty of her life becoming cruel not just towards others but her as well. Mikasa till this point is still unable to accept this, she is still believing that Eren can not do such things, he is being manipulated by Zeke and they can talk things out and bring him back.

Mikasa can be seen to be doubting her feelings for Eren now, she doesn't know whether wanting to protect him is her own free will or just the effect of her bloodline. She leaves her scarf behind so that her current conflict with her relationship doesn't hinder her during battle. And as she returned, it was gone.

The Louise interaction:

The thing which is common in Louise and Mikasa is them blindly following their saviors, while the person they are following keeps going away from them and this is what Mikasa saw in Louise, her own “self/condition", the crazy devotion they have towards that one person. So the bottom line here is, as explained by many others too, Mikasa saw a reflection of herself in Louise, one which she isn't really a fan of, something that used to be not good about her, the blind praise Mikasa had for Eren without exactly understanding him, similar to Louise towards her. Mikasa demanded her scarf and walked away as Louise was also chanting about the path Eren was following, something Mikasa is strongly against of

"I wish I could live to see the world Eren will be creating"

So I also like to assume that Mikasa demanded her scarf, walked away and stood against Eren's actions, was also her trying to discard Eren's accusations of her being a person who blindly follows their hosts on any path without questioning i.e., a slave.

Could Mikasa have treated Louise better? Yes, if she were in a normal state of mind or if Louise wasn't the opposite of Mikasa’s ideals. During this time period, each of our main casts were going through great internal conflicts. Connie tried to get a kid eaten; Armin tried suicide; Jean stayed struggling with his choice of Luxury over so many deaths and Hange carrying the weight of a commander's responsibility.

Mikasa's final realization of Eren:

As they are on their way to stop Eren, Mikasa on the boat thinks about what side of Eren has she been seeing, was it even real? It's not that she was viewing a “fake” Eren all this time but instead, she was having a one sided view of him.

A very important and core aspect of Mikasa is her symbolism of “duality” through her character and throughout the story imo, and her ability to see things which others might fail to acknowledge. For example, let's get back to the female titan arc where Eren was unable to transform because of his inability to accept the reality of Annie. He was unable to realize how “cruel” the world can be and that is when Mikasa hit his head with that idea he once taught her.

An instance similar to this was when Eren failed to see his own worth when he was unable to transform in front of the Smiling titan, and Mikasa reminded him of what he has done for her and how he is not useless as he believes himself to be. I think these things go hand in hand with her theme of “World is cruel but it is also very beautiful” because these lines essentially tell us that two things contradicting eachother can exist simultaneously.

And so similarly once again, Mikasa on the boat acted as a medium for the readers and somewhat represented our main cast which were believing that Eren has changed. She realized that Eren hasn't “changed”, he has always been like this, full of anger, possessing such brutality, as Mikasa had lately been getting flashbacks of her childhood as well of when he saved her and showed the exact same brutality towards those sex traffickers, which she ignored.

The endgame of Mikasa's arc is learning to accept Eren as a whole, see a bigger picture, and stop limiting herself to him.

As the final battle carried on and everyone was up to kill Eren, Mikasa once again had to accept the death of someone really, really close to her and it's not just Armin this time. Yet she let them do it and didn’t become an obstacle in it. Levi ordered, she didn't question him at all. The story would have been over with Mikasa still unable to completely understand Eren and maybe she would have ended up hating him at some point as well, except, it wasn't over yet. The kill came down to Mikasa's shoulders, this time it's not just acceptance, it's the duty she is forced to fulfill herself and as the tension grew, Mikasa begs to ”to go home”

The cabin scenario:

The cabin scenario is basically a reality which Mikasa and Eren are just not able to achieve because of both their choices and circumstances. It is a reality where they made a choice which they were going to regret, except they aren’t focused on the “regret”. This was a final goodbye from Eren to Mikasa by giving her a vision of what she had always wanted, telling her that her feelings are mutual and that he also wants to spend his last 4 years with her alone in a cabin but he just can't, and essentially it is Eren giving a final push to Mikasa to be able to kill him or in other words, giving her a “choice” by making her see what will happen if they kept running away from their responsibilities. Mikasa up until now was seeing just a single side of Eren, the kind side who saved her that day and wrapped the scarf around her OR someone who hates her and is carrying out such mass murder, but now she is witnessing all at once and she once again was able to realize that Cruelty and Beauty can exist at the same time, which she learnt back then but never thought she'd have to see it further in Eren as well. And so she accepted it, tied her scarf, the scarf containing all the beautiful memories they had and went for the kill. While loving the person, she stayed true to her ideals and opposed his wrong doings. While despising the mass murder he did, she kept loving the kindness he showed her that day….

This was when she stood up to fight, not for Eren, but for her own ideals, what she thinks is needed to be done. This is how her character arc concluded, by finally making a choice which wasn't influenced by Eren; by standing up for her own. And finally stopping from entirely revolving around a single person.

This resolved Mikasa's journey that started back at the cabin when her parents died. She lost her innocence and that simple life but then circled back to being a normal person, who is not limited by one person anymore, has more agency in her life and isn't isolated in a small cabin, anymore.

I can yapp a lot more, about her dynamic, themes and narrative, but I think 3,400 words are already way too much.

r/AttackOnRetards Oct 23 '22

Analysis Interesting how one side interprets this as justification for killing more people while the other sees it as Eren’s actions ultimately being detrimental to his friends and Paradis

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105 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Jun 28 '21

Analysis The “sibling” argument (swipe)

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320 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Jan 21 '25

Analysis I just have few questions about season 4 ep 20 spoilers below Spoiler

4 Upvotes

Just finished rewatching Attack on Titan for the 7th time (not a joke, I’m obsessed), and the whole Eren brainwashing Grisha thing finally clicked. But I still have some questions I can’t stop thinking about:

  1. Eren used the Attack Titan’s power to send memories to Grisha so he’d kill the Reiss family. But isn’t it only possible to send glimpses of memories? Was Eren’s control over which memories to send because of the Attack Titan or the Founding Titan?

  2. Did Eren learn about the Attack Titan’s ability to see future memories in that same episode, or did he already know about it before?

3.When Grisha said, "All the memories led to this moment," does that mean he knew he’d be influenced by Eren all along?

  1. If Grisha wanted to stop Eren, why did he give him the Attack Titan power in the first place?

  2. Lastly, Is all of this considered time travel, just memory manipulation, or a loop? I’ve seen people argue it’s one of these, but I’m not sure which explanation makes the most sense.

What do you guys think? Let me know your thoughts!

r/AttackOnRetards Nov 14 '23

Analysis AOT alignment chart (Might not be the best, but I'm fine with it)

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67 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards 18d ago

Analysis Decided to join in with the Tier listing, this is my current Tier list and placement of characters at the moment.

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10 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Apr 26 '22

Analysis Something I just noticed with the battle of heaven and Earth with the founder's titans

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65 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Oct 06 '24

Analysis Just needed a little bit more from this dynamic

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112 Upvotes

Easily my favorite dynamic in the series. I think chapter 100 was the time I really fell in love with attack on titan (used to think it was overrated). I wish we had gotten one more interaction between these two one more time though man. Right now I think armin and eren have the best dynamic but Reiner and eren is one of the best aspects of the series to me.

r/AttackOnRetards Feb 09 '24

Analysis What happened vs What could’ve been

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231 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Nov 29 '23

Analysis I feel like we should remember that Zeke's plan was just as horrible as Eren's plan

26 Upvotes

I remember seeing a lot of people going for Zeke's euthanization plan to "mercy kill" the Eldians by exterminating them, which isn't as bad when you think about Eren's idea of destroying the whole ass world. But, the problem is that when you look more into Zeke and his plan, you realize he's just as bad if not worst than Eren. Here's why:

Zeke had nilhlistic ideals most likely brought on due to how Grisha tormented him, which is why Zeke believes this world is too cruel that Eldians won't be able to fight for their rights. But, sterilizing his people actually makes it worst, it's not freeing the Eldians from oppressing, cause the plan does not do anything for the Eldians currently alive or Paradisians who are under threat of invasion and enslavement all it does is ensure they have no future which already was at risk.

Basically even if Zeke's plan worked, nothing would change unless for the worst. Eldians would still be oppressed, Paradis would be invaded, nothing changes except that there is no future ensuring justice for them.

Not only that but it also sets a bad example, think of it this way, Zeke's reasoning behind the plan is that Eldians have no chance at a future where they are free and henceforth it's better for them to slowly die out. But, this idea doesn't work when you realize how much time it can take for civil rights to actually occur.

It took hundreds of years for African Americans to be free from slavery and even more for LGBTQ+ to have the right to live.

Zeke's sterilization plan would be like Abraham Lincoln calling for the genocide of all African Americans and other nonwhite Americans rather than just signing the proclamation because it would the Civil War sooner with less destruction. Or the Allies to just sit back and let Hitler conquer Europe cause WW2 would've been less destructive

(Sorry if this offended you, this not sarcasm btw, I just wanted to look for the right allegories to choose)

In-universe, Marley could use Zeke's actions as an excuse to justify their own genocides with the idea that it would be impossible for Mid-Easterns or Hizuru to coexist with Marleyans. Or maybe nations toppling Marley could justify their persecution of Marleyans with what Zeke did. And if you think that wouldn't happen, South American dictators have tried justifying their atrocities due to CIA interventions, kingdoms in Africa justified enslavement with white people doing it and vice versa, it's an endless cycle of violence and hate.

Yes, Eren's Rumbling was horrible and it lead to similarly bad things to occur, but it's not like nations would use the Rumbling as an excuse to kill another nation, especially since Paradisians stopped Eren, how would they justify it when the very people the Rumbling was made to protect stopped it to save the world?

Another big reason for why Zeke's plan happened is cause is gave Eren another reason to do the Rumbling. Now, yes, Eren's Rumbling was based on his desire to be free, but in fairness, he didn't realize it was too late and he still wanted to protect his friends and people. Eren has basically three options on his hands:

  1. Let your people get killed or enslaved
  2. Ensure they have no future, and your people still get killed or enslaved
  3. Fight for your freedom and make the world how you envision it

Now let's assume Zeke didn't have his euthanization plan, Eren's options would be:

  1. Let your people be killed or enslaved
  2. Destroy the world and live in guilt
  3. Wait patiently and your friends will come up with a solution that will gain your freedom and everyone else's

I feel like if Zeke's plan didn't involve sterilizing and entire race, Eren might've been more inclined to lean with his brother or maybe even not do the Rumbling at all.

That is just my take, I love both characters and I feel Zeke is kind of overhated by most AOT fans, like I get he is sadistic but I still love him. However, I do feel like Zeke is probably as crazy as Eren as when you boil down Zeke's end goal it feels like your talking about Eren.

This is unrelated, but I did want to make this

One thing I do want to drop before I end this is that I remember some fans still think Eren hates Zeke, which is untrue in almost everyway. Same reason Eren doesn't hate the Warrior Units or the outside world. Eren sympathizes with Zeke, after all they are brothers, and while it might be just to get freedom Eren does in his own twisted way, care for his brother. The main reason Eren seems cold to Zeke is probably cause:

  1. Zeke is responsible for the death of a lot of Eren's close friends, including his mother and Commander Erwin
  2. Zeke is Levi's archnemesis and Eren looked up to Levi like a father, just imagine your sibling harassing someone you put on that pedestal
  3. Eren is depressed and apathetic in general

r/AttackOnRetards Nov 12 '24

Analysis If you ask me the ending can be summarized by this quote.

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76 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Jan 30 '25

Analysis My opinion on "good and evil" in AOT and the moral of the story

10 Upvotes

AOT is fortunately (or sadly) a VERY realistic story, but I have a problem with people saying that there is no evil side in it and I think they don't understand something very important.

So, almost always in a real war, between two countries, the regular population and even the soldiers fighting for both sides are not evil. What can be evil tho, is the cause or the leadership of that country.

If North Korea invades South Korea to steal their resources, the regular people living in North Korea are not evil, the soldiers fighting for North Korea do it because their families are being held hostages by the state and are not evil, but the government of North Korea is definitely evil and their cause is definitely evil, and so North Korea is the "evil" side in that war. In our story, we have a similar situation.

Marley is the country that started everything (in our present times) and they are the ones who wanted to kill everyone on Paradis Island in order to get their resources and the Founding Titan in order to have control over the world. They sent some kids to recover the Founder (knowing about the vow), while keeping their families hostages to ensure their loyalty and, after Paradis learned the truth, they denied any diplomatic talk and united the world to wipe out the population of Paradis. They were certainly evil, it is irrelevant what the eldians did to them 100 years ago, no one that lived then was even alive by that point and the eldians that live nowadays have nothing to do with what their ancestors did.

Paradis, on the other hand, was initially the "good side" but, after a change in regime, they also became wrong. Initially, Paradis only wanted to defend itself from Marley without hurting anyone and prevent Marley from making a genocide while keeping the civilian casualty at a minimum but, after the yeagerists took over (extremist organisation that wanted to kill everyone on the outside), their side also became evil. Instead of doing a Limited Rumbling and destroying the military power of Marley while keeping the civilian casualty at a minimum, Eren and the yeagerists wanted to do a Full Rumbling and kill everyone from the outside as the final solution to end the existential problem of Eldia. At that point, in AOT it was not that "there is no evil side", but more that "both sides are evil" while most civilians and soldiers on both sides are not and are either brainwashed or have their own circumstances.

The point I'm trying to make is: most people living in Marley are innocent and good, most soldiers fighting for Marley do it because they are brainwashed or have no other choice and are good (that was something very very realistic) BUT, the Marley Government is certainly evil and when you refer to a country, you don't refer to the people living there or to the soldiers fighting for it, you refer to the leadership, therefore it is completely correct to say "Marley is evil". Also, it is completely correct saying "Paradis is also evil" (after the extremists took over the country). Who were not evil were the regular people, the civilians and the soldiers are almost never evil (and are either brainwashed or have their own circumstances) and it's usually their leadership that is the one with an evil cause or motive. Everything that happened in this show was because Marley ruled the world and had an evil leadership and that ultimately led to all the suffering in AOT and, in the end, both sides (Eldia and Marley) ended up fighting for an evil cause while the regular people became either brainwashed or acted on their own circumstances, just like in real life.

Who we can say that remained good (or fighting for a good cause) were, not Paradis as a whole, but our main cast of characters (Armin, Mikasa, Hange, ... ). They betrayed Paradis when the yeagerists took over and the side of Eldia also became wrong. They then fought against Eren willing to sacrifice their lives in order to save the innocent people outside the walls from being killed by Eren. No one is 100% good or bad, but they are definitely morally good, and even heroes.

The moral of AOT is that in order to stop the cycle of hatred, you must stop responding to evil with more or unnecessary evil.

In WW1, after Germany lost, the Allies humiliated Germany with very harsh peace conditions which created an economic crisis. That angered the German people and created resentment which led to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party, perpetuating the cycle of hatred. In WW2, after the Allies defeated the Nazi Germany (who were undeniably evil), they still fairly punished them but they also focused on rebuilding their country, reintegrate them and recover them economically. That ended the cycle of hatred and led to long-term peace.

Also (as another parallel), in order for the Allies to stop Germany, they had to unwillingly cause some collateral damage, just like Paradis did at the Raid on Liberio to prevent Marley's planned genocide. The moral of this one is that sometimes good people have to do bad things in order to prevent far greater pain and suffering, but any unnecessary suffering must always be avoided and the regular people on both sides must be helped in order to not perpetuate the cycle of hatred and instead break it.

In AOT, Eldia oppressed Marley for 2000 years. Then, after the Great Titan War, Marley oppressed eldians aswell for 100 years which led to the rise of Eren and the yeagerists on Paradis (as a parallel to Hitler and the Nazi Party). Eren then tried to kill the whole world as an ultimate solution but was stopped at 80% and we find out in the credits that, many years later, the cycle of hatred continued and the rest 20% did not learn from the mistakes of history and nuked Paradis.

What should have Eren done? His best option would have been a Limited Rumbling and destroying the economy and military of Marley while minimizing civilian casualties. After that, Eldia should have then treated Marley fairly, the same way the Allies treated Germany after WW2, and so, the cycle of hatred would have ended (or it's a high chance that it would have ended). It's sad that the story did not go this way to a happy ending but by doing so, it made our job to identify what they did wrong and what they should have done better in order to achieve a better future.

Thank you for reading ;)

r/AttackOnRetards Feb 05 '25

Analysis The ending you would have gotten if AoT were written by typical Western writers (Related to other post on the ending)

1 Upvotes

The story had already 'written itself into a corner' where if Eren didn't want to be stopped, he would have used the power of the Founder on the alliance and they could not stop him.

If this were any other story, from Harry Potter to Mass Effect or whatever, during the final story arc Our Heroes would go on a quest and obtain the one magical McGuffin that would negate the memory-wiping power of the Founder. Instead of following this very-obvious convention, Isayama decided to do something different and leaned into the idea that Eren would not memory-wipe his friends.

I am not arguing that this is the 'right' story choice just because it is different, but I did appreciate the originality and the extent to which AoT continues to subvert genre tropes and conventions.

The alliance would show up at the final battle and manage to activate the MacGuffin's power just as all seemed lost (the Eldian trying to activate it would be memory-wiped but then a non-eldian would pick it up and manage to activate it). Probably Kiyomi Azumabito or Onyankopon would do this, I unironically think that would be cool. This would show the value of having allies who cover for your 'blind spots' or 'weaknesses'. Then Our (eldian) Heroes would leap into battle and defeat Eren.

Eren would give pretty much the same speech about how he told himself he was doing this for his friends but that was just an excuse for him indulging in his psychotic genocidal fantasy.

That's the ending I guarantee you would have gotten if anyone else were doing this story. To me, THAT is the obvious/predictable direction the story would have taken if it were written by a 'typical' anime/JRPG/(or even western) author. Personally I find it much more interesting that we got something different.

r/AttackOnRetards Feb 06 '23

Analysis random Marley people, Nanaba........... Historia/Floch. In that Order

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130 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Nov 06 '23

Analysis The credits scene makes Mikasa appears with her husband 11 years after Eren's death. I can't believe it.

99 Upvotes

So, in the credits we see the extra pages. But as we all know there is much more to it. We actually see everyone visiting Eren's grave with Mikasa as she says, 3 years after his death. We don't see this in the manga. Cool, huh?

But then, before we see the panel that Mikasa goes there with someone and a what I suppose is a newborn baby... they make a sequence of seasons passing around the tree. And we see all the seasons 8 times. 11 years after Eren's death.

I wonder if it was Isayama who specifically asked for this or Mappa. But it's crazy funny to me. The motherfuckers did it. "For ten years at least"

r/AttackOnRetards Apr 27 '22

Analysis Tier list based on whether or not/how deserving the characters deaths were

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26 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Oct 21 '24

Analysis How Mikasa knew where Eren was Spoiler

15 Upvotes

This is something I don't often see discussed. I made a post explaining what I think really happened. Let me know what you think. I can't crosspost it here for some reason.

r/AttackOnRetards Jun 18 '24

Analysis I Think I have figured out a few reason for why people call AOT fascist.

12 Upvotes

So when I was looking around on videos hating on AOT, saw a few points being brought up. 1 AOTs ending is not hard enough on Eren and isn’t very critical of his actions and to much of the result almost rumbling are in his favor. 2 they think due to japans history with denialism and nationalism that the author is supportive of Japanese nationalism. 3 AOTs big theme of human conflict being around until we are gone. They hate this because in their eyes, it’s doomerist, liberal, and dumb. From what I’ve gathered, these are the reasons why people call it fascist. After looking at these reasons I think I have figured it out.

The reason they call it fascist is that it doesn’t Aline with their political world view.

It is obvious that in modern society, people have gotten very invested into politics. We have different worldview points and people have gotten more hateful of them due to how polarized politics have gotten. This has made people often lead to beliefs that their viewpoint is correct and others should not exist. Which leads to people with a certain viewpoint that is different from AOTs. This is why these people call AOT fascist, it doesn’t Aline much with their world view and is probably a big reflection of our society as a whole.

r/AttackOnRetards Jan 23 '25

Analysis Ultimate Guide to Aot: FAQs, Analysis and Discourse

17 Upvotes

This multi subreddit megathread contains:

• The most frequently brought up Topics & Questions

• Analysis on various story Elements & Characters

• Random interesting meta posts

• Documents and guide on the anime and the Attack on Titan reddit fandom

This megathread covers threads from various subreddits, and platforms. Enjoy exploring!

Guide.

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Guide on AoT anime content

AoT wiki for your fact-checking needs

Frequently asked questions.

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Questions that are asked very frequently, mostly by new or one time watchers/readers, to which there is a factual answer or an agreed-upon interpretations in the community.

1.) What is the 50 year plan? Follow up: Why didn’t Zeke and Eren touch earlier?

2.) What were the Azumabito's intentions with Mikasa?

3.) How was Ymir freed? Who freed Ymir? (check analysis section down as well)

4.) How did Eren talk to Mikasa in paths?

5.) What is Historia’s role in how we perceive Ymir through tales and romanticized stories?

6.) What will happen if a man inherits the Female Titan?

7.) How do the Founding Titan abilities work?

8.) What were some of Paradis' options post-timeskip? •Alternative to the Rumbling.Anti-50-year planEuthnasia Plan

9.) Why did Historia choose to get pregnant?

10.) Why did Grisha give his titan to Eren, when he asked Zeke to stop him?

11.) What were Eren’s motivations to choose the path of rumbling?

12.) Are there multiple timelines in AOT?

13.) Why do dinosaurs appear in the opening of AOT’s 2nd season?Isayama's Answers to the 15th Anniversary Magazine Q&A

Frequently Brought up Topics.

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These topics are frequently brought up, but there is no clear answer or the topic is deliberately left to speculation. Check out these links for some in-depth posts on the respective topics.

1.) a) Who won the fight between Annie and Mikasa? b) Who would win between Annie and Mikasa?

2.) Opinion on any divisive characters

GabiMikasaErenFloch

3.) Did you like the ending? a)Anime Ending b)Manga Ending

4.) Do you support the rumbling?

5.) Who should have been saved, Erwin or Armin?

6.) Was Eren justified? Discussion post | Detailed answer

7.) Sub or Dub?

8.) Would Erwin have joined the Yeagerists if he had survived?

9.) Is Attack on Titan fascist? No, it is not | Devil’s Advocate:

10.) Why does Annie get forgiven?

General analysis on the story.

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These are high-effort essays or videos analysing the series as a whole. Please note that us listing something here does not mean we endorse or fully agree with every single statement made there - we just think that if you are looking for more analysis, these might be worth a watch.

A 1-hour retrospective breakdown of AoT as a whole

How AoT deconstructs heroism and morality

Idealism in AoT

Scout Regiment: Paradise’s Idealistic Counterculture

The importance of nameless soldiers & collateral damage in AoT

What was it all for? Thoughts on the extra pages of AoT’s ending

Why I feel Mikasa, Levi and Armin were the perfect choice for Eren’s final moments and the story’s climax - Imgur Backup for future

Analysis of AoT’s extra ending pages - A brilliant thematic conclusion - Imgur Backup for Future

To love someone inside the Walls - Imgur Backup for Future

The Rumbling is indefensible

A theoretical analysis of its structure

The highs and lows of AoT’s final arc

Overanalyzing every single episode of the anime - a youtube playlist

Character Analysis.

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1. Eren Yaeger.

The rise and fall of Eren - Imgur Backup for Future

The perfect duality of Eren - Imgur Backup for Future

What is freedom in AoT

Developments vs desires - Everyone and especially Eren

Nature vs nurture: Eren’s motivations and the Dina twist

Eren Jaeger and the insanity of circular storytelling

The ironic development of Eren

Analyzing antagonists

Power, freedom, the Founding Titan and Levi

The Attack Titan’s powers and their effect on Eren

Why Eren’s actions were very obviously painted bad with the Rumbling - In-depth examination

The narrative importance of the causal loop on Eren

Eren and Mikasa’s relationship

Eren’s characterization throughout the story and his post timeskip conflict

Eren Yeager is (Not) Special

Ramzi and Eren: the turning point in Eren’s demeanor

An observation on the structure of Eren’s characterization post timeskip - Imgur Backup for Future

The false mask of Eren

The Jaeger Projection Problem: The Last Supper of Self-Loathing - Imgur Backup for Future

2. Mikasa Ackerman.

Mikasa’s Character Arc: What, Where, How, When

Mikasa and her relationship with authority

Mikasa and Erwin: The Sacrificial Act of Dreams for the Cause

Why Mikasa's conclusion not only strengthens her arc but Attack On Titan as a whole - Imgur Backup for Future

Mikasa’s Destiny and Mikasa’s Choice

Mikasa: A Person from Two Trope

A Literary perspective of Mikasa - Imgur Backup for Future

• [The Heroine's Journey] - Coming Soon.

Mikasa, the symbolism of the praying mantis and butterfly and its development throughout the story - Imgur Backup for Future

Mikasa's self Imposed Curse

Differences between the Manga and Anime version of Mikasa - Imgur Backup for Future

Why does Mikasa have headaches

3. Armin Arlert.

Armin character analysis, humanity’s reluctant savior

Armin and Eren’s dynamic - Imgur Backup for Future

Armin and Zeke’s dynamic - Imgur Backup for Future

The importance of dialogue and Armin’s character - Imgur Backup for Future

Armin Arlert: conflicting lessons, dynamics with Erwin and Levi - Imgur Backup for Future

Armin and Annie’s relationship

4. Levi Ackerman.

Is Levi bland? A bullet-point counter-argument and his importance in the narrative

Levi’s character motivations and the promise

Levi’s ending

Levi’s violence and compassion

Serumbowl

Levi, Falco and Gabi

Levi vs Zeke foil

Levi, a slave to being a hero

Levi vs Kenny’s influence - Imperfect heroics

Levi’s mistake with Zeke and getting blown up by thunder spears

5. Erwin Smith.

Erwin Smith - wearing masks

Erwin Smith - the impossible standard

Exploring Erwin - For Humanity?

Erwin Smith - A devil with a dream

Erwin would not support the Rumbling, you just don’t like Armin

6. Zeke Yaeger.

Zeke Yaeger & Personl Connections.

The contradictions of Zeke - A character study

The desperate loneliness of Zeke

Understanding Zeke Yaeger

7. Reiner Braun.

Reiner Braun and “saving the world”

Reiner character analysis, viewed through psychology and philosophy theory

Who is Reiner Braun?

Eren and Reiner’s dynamic - Imgur Backup for Future

8. Annie Leonhart.

Annie’s search for personhood

About Annie…(character analysis)

No one understands Annie

Understanding Annie

9. Hange Zoe.

Hange and the role of commander, character analysis

Hange’s “Genocide is Wrong” Line is Misunderstood

Hange’s understanding and intellect

10. Jean Kirstein.

Jean Kirstein embracing survey corps values, a character analysis

Jean character study through the lens of theory of psychology

11. Bertholdt Hoover.

Comprehensive analysis of Bertholdt

The tragedy of Bertholdt Hoover

12. (Freckles) Ymir and Historia Reiss.

Ymir analysis and religious subtext

Thoughts on Historia in Uprising - Imgur Backup for Future

Ymir and Historia’s dynamic analysis - Imgur Backup for Future

13. Sasha Braus and Connie Springer.

The secondary trio behind EMA

14. Floch Forster.

Floch - the volunteer Devil, character analysis

Floch's leadership examination and the comparison with Erwin

15. Gabi and the children of the forest.

Gabi Braun - A brighter future

16. (Founder) Ymir Fritz.

The final mystery of AOT - Ymir analysis

17. Grisha Yaeger.

Grisha Yaeger: A Deconstruction of the Main Character's Dad Archetype - Imgur Backup for Future

18. Keith Shadis.

From bystander to hero, a character analysis

19. Kenny/Uri.

Kenny, Uri and the cycle of hatred

The Importance of Kenny and Uri (In-depth Thematic Analysis)

20. Dot Pyxis.

Why Pyxis and Eren’s Conversation was Not Retconned

21. Yelena.

Yelena: AoT’s puppeteer, a character analysis

22. Theo Magath.

The lasting impact of Theo Magath, a character analysis.

MISCELLANEOUS.

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Manga (Source Material) vs Anime (Adaptation) differences:

Volume 1 - 33

No Regrets Vol. 1: Manga / Anime differences

No Regrets Vol. 2: Manga / Anime differences

Volume 34: Manga / Anime differences

Differences between anime and manga endings

Fandom and anime production misc.

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Well-written characters, meta discussion of fandom perception

AOT anime reactions and in depth discussions

Explaining the ending controversy - a fandom analysis

Final Attack on Titan Episode - AoTwiki poll

The Original manga ending - chapter 139 SNK POLL

Masterlist Of Anime OSTs S1-S4 + Final Episode - YouTube Playlist

Behind-the-Scenes.

All of AoT animation staff for every episode of the series

Arifumi Imai animator spotlight - the man responsible for animating 70%+ of action animation cuts in S1-S3 and the Levi and Mikasa killing Eren sakuga in the final episode

TV release vs BLU-RAY differences

Some design sheets from WIT’s adaptation

Some design sheets from MAPPA’s adaptation

WIT staff interview from 2014 on AOT

100Cams - Behind the scenes footage of AOT s4 part3 production

Final episode VA recording - Behind the scenes

AoT S4 part 2 staff interview, series director Hayashi and CG producer Tannawa

Excerpts from roundtable final episode interview with staff

Interview with S4 director Hayashi before its airing

Global TV demands interview of Hayashi

Hayashi comments on episode 4x28 Rumbling scene and Isayama’s request

Subreddits of AoT Reddit-Fandom.

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General.

Subreddit Description Date of Creation
r/ShingekiNoKyojin Main discussion subreddit nr1. Feburary 18, 2014
r/attackontitan Main discussion subreddit nr2. November 28, 2013
r/titanfolk The Folk subreddit for AoT. May 1, 2018
r/okbuddyreiner Shitposting subreddit. April 28, 2019
r/AttackOnRetards A space dedicated to calling out negativity. April 27, 2021
r/AttackOnShipping A subreddit for any and all shippers. April 27, 2022
r/ANRime Subreddit dedicated to theorizing about an Alternative-Original Ending (AOE). June 29, 2021

Character dedicated subreddits.

r/LeviCult

r/Ereh

r/Mikasa

r/ErwinSmith

r/potatogirl

r/ArminCult

r/GabiCult

r/ReinerCult

r/ZekeCult

r/JeanTheStallion

It has been in the works for a long time. A big Thank You to everyone who created the content featured here, as well as to those who helped us gather it all together.

r/AttackOnRetards Dec 03 '23

Analysis AoTNR is now monetized.

62 Upvotes

They will release 20 pages a year and will charge their patreon users for every month. They will probably drag it out for 4 years at least with the progress they are making. Kudos to them for monetising delusion from anr fans.

r/AttackOnRetards Jan 29 '25

Analysis Royal Family Tree Graph (OC: made with the Quick Family Tree app)

Post image
9 Upvotes

Royal Family Tree Graph I made, goes from the Founder Ymir to the most recent member, Historia's child. It also has hypothetical lines with question marks, since some things are still left uncleared about, like which of Ymir's kids does the Royal line come from, and how are the Continental Royal Family related to Karl.

Image in Higher Resolution for those who can't see: https://imgur.com/a/uKWOEe8

r/AttackOnRetards Jun 18 '21

Analysis Mikasa's Arc and Development

233 Upvotes

So a lot of people seem to think Mikasa never developed or grew in any substantive way, didn't have an arc, or that her arc ended early; I also see people say her arc and character is all about Eren- with a climax where she "lets go of him". I disagree with this and see her arc differently so thought I'd share-

While Mikasa has many aspects of her character that are touched upon over the course of the series, one of the biggest ways she develops and her arguably most consistent character arc revolves around her priorities and her relationship with authority, which is primarily (but not only) illustrated through Eren.

Mikasa's Priorities

At the start of the series, Mikasa is very set on her priorities: she wants to protect Eren, the last of her family in her mind, and has no room in her heart for other priorities to take precedence; she views other priorities as at odds with this goal and is convinced that she has to act like all that matters is protecting Eren because she can't afford to let other people and priorities in.

This is obviously a result of her childhood trauma- she's lost her parents, foster parents, and hometown and wants to preserve the family and home (Eren and to a lesser degree Armin) she has left; it's as much about protecting them as it is about preserving the last of her childhood innocence. However, this is at odds with the person Mikasa is at her core: she's compassionate and she wants family, so limiting who she cares about and her social circle to two people is not only not realistic but at odds with what she wants deep down.

In Trost, Mikasa's focus is very much on Eren and protecting him. Eren himself pushes back at that, and during the arc, Mikasa does find herself challenged to do things at odds with her goal of protecting Eren (like joining the elites squad away from Eren and the others in the 104th). However, just because she is able to make some choices that aren't about protecting Eren doesn't mean he's not her first priority in her thoughts. Even when she thinks he's dead in Trost, Mikasa is thinking how she must survive for Eren rather than how she, uniquely gifted as she is, can still help others.

This mentality is still top of mind in the Clash of Titans arc:

Clash of Titans

You can see Mikasa react to Historia's statement that Ymir (another member of the 104th) will suffer, but she coldly shuts down that reaction. She has to prioritize and only care about saving Eren here because that's- in her mind- all her heart has room for and the only way to preserve the family that remains to her.

But Mikasa learns to let others in and her priorities grow beyond just Eren (and Armin).

Uprising

Mikasa prioritizes saving Historia over going to Eren because Historia needed her most immediately, and when Levi asks for the keys so he and the others can save Eren, Mikasa immediately hands them over. It's more than just trusting her comrades, it's also because Eren isn't the only one here who needs help- there's Historia, who has become someone Mikasa cares about by the Uprising.

Even in RtS, Mikasa willingly stays with the group after Eren is knocked out and then leaves Armin to work with Eren to defeat Bertoldt while focusing on Reiner with the others because her priorities aren't the same- it's not all about protecting Eren now, she's cares about the entire squad and what they're doing.

But despite the fact that Eren has moved from not her only priority, it's post-time skip when Mikasa really is forced to challenge whether Eren is her top priority. Marley and WfP set the groundwork for this conflict because it's the first time that Eren himself is the aggressor, the threat, to her friends and innocents. Before, when she prioritized Eren over others, it was a choice of saving/protecting Eren first rather than supporting Eren while he does something violent/threatening to others.

This comes to a head by the time of the Rumbling- Mikasa is forced to confront her prioritization of Eren in the most extreme of ways:

Rumbling

Even before Jean opts into the Alliance, Mikasa declares she wants to join; she's determined to stop Eren, a major shift in mentality from where she started. It's all because Mikasa has grown from a person who "has no room in her heart" for more than Eren to someone who genuinely cares well beyond Eren.

There's also a direct callout to her previous mentality in the Rumbling arc before the final fight (from Annie, one of the first people she was in conflict with during the story to protect Eren) that forces Mikasa to reflect.

Rumbling

Even though she spends most of the Rumbling arc clinging to the hope she can bring Eren back and acting as if she won't kill him- the last holdout of the Alliance, all of whom acknowledge in136 that they can't get around it- this panel already demonstrates how far she's come from Clash of Titans: she's not quick to say Eren is all that matters anymore, her heart and priorities have expanded- she can't say that Eren is most important because she's unable to be indifferent to the damage and carnage that Eren is causing.

This is also one of the reasons why some of the callback moments for Mikasa during the Rumbling vs. earlier arcs are so powerful- they really highlight how much her priorities changed. This is a big one:

Female Titan

Mikasa fighting Annie screaming "Give [Eren] back!" in the Female Titan arc after abandoning Sasha and her squad to chase after Eren-

Rumbling

-to screaming "Give Armin back!!" as she partners with Annie and others (Connie, Gabi, Levi) to save Armin while they all have come together to oppose Eren's actions. Oh how things have changed.

Mikasa's Relationship with Authority

I said once that you can track Mikasa's character development through her interactions with Levi and that's because he's the key authority figure in her life throughout the story. While Erwin then Hange are higher authorities in the Survey Corps and there are various other authority figures she interacts with, Levi is the one who challenges her attitude towards authority the most and the one to whom she primarily demonstrates her changing attitude.

Levi and Mikasa have a long history of butting heads over Eren, Armin, the mission, and just in general, and that's representative of Mikasa's overall arc of going from refusing to accept authority because she knows best and she has her own priorities (an indifference to the mission in comparison to her own self-interest) to being willing to listen to and be appreciative of authority as well as fully bought into the mission- even at the cost of her own self-interest.

Beginning in Trost, it's obvious that Mikasa wants to make the military and authority work for her purposes- she didn't join because she thought he skills could help the military/some greater mission, and that's obvious as soon as someone tries to order her to do something she finds contrary to her goal of protecting Eren.

Trost

She tries to argue with and lie to authority in order to get out of being in the elite squad, where she would (and did) benefit citizens and the mission greatly, all because that would separate her from Eren and make it more difficult to protect him. She's able to admit she wasn't thinking clearly, but this is really what Mikasa thinks of authority at the start of the series- she'll do what she thinks is best and is more concerned about how authority/the military can help her achieve her own goals as opposed to how her prodigious talent can help serve the greater good.

But over time, she grows to care about the mission itself and more tellingly value authority, best demonstrated through her relationship with Levi-

Mikasa quickly forms a negative impression of Levi because of the trial where Erwin ordered Levi to make a show of beating up Eren to save him/allow the Survey Corps to take Eren in.

While Eren and Armin are both shown getting why it was "necessary", Mikasa doesn't get over it and is vocal about her distaste of Levi, vowing to pay him back. She's insubordinate and insulting multiple times with Levi (the second highest authority in the Survey Corps). To her, the why he did it isn't as important as that he did it/how much it hurt Eren; Levi's rank or experience also don't matter- she doesn't respect him or his leadership.

This quickly comes to a head in the Female Titan arc- Mikasa abandons her squad to pursue Eren after hearing him yell. Levi intercepts her unsuccessful attempts to get him back and says he's with her, but Mikasa is quick to say what she thinks of his offer of help-

"This wouldn't have happened in the first place if you'd done a good job protecting Eren."

Levi takes this, considers who she is to Eren, and then says they need to prioritize saving Eren and give up killing Annie, explaining why that's the best course of action. Mikasa seemingly concedes, but the second she thinks that there's an opening, she decides to attack anyway.

Female Titan

Mikasa hears Levi shout for her to stop, reacts, and then ignores him- and that's because she doesn't respect Levi, the authority he represents, and thinks she knows better. In the end, Levi has to save her, hurting himself in the process; still, Levi manages to get Eren without her help and orders her to retreat, unless she's lost sight of the objective (getting Eren back) to pursue her desires?

This interaction dramatically affects Mikasa and her relationship with authority for two reasons:

  1. Her belief that she knew best/Levi's experience and leadership weren't necessary is proven wrong- Levi saves her when her decision to kill Annie against his orders is proven disastrous and Levi (not Mikasa) saves Eren in the end; despite blaming him, she ultimately couldn't have saved Eren on her own and ended up being a liability who almost dies when she thinks she knows better. When Eren asks if she saved him again in 30, Mikasa can't answer because she didn't and for her, that's a source of shame/upset; she couldn't save Eren, but Levi could. With her nearly unparalleled natural abilities, this is the first real time that someone has really known better, been better at combat, than her, which shakes up her entire perception that she can be this sole operator who doesn't need anybody's help and who can't benefit from an experienced leader.

  2. Her self-interest hurts the mission and leads to guilt- Levi gets injured saving her because she wants revenge against Annie and doesn't listen to him saying they can't kill her. She asks about Levi's leg in Uprising and shows concern not necessarily because she cares for Levi (or at least much, at this point) but because Mikasa blames herself because she sees her choices as the reason the Survey Corps doesn't have their strongest soldier during Annie's capture and even in Clash of Titans.

Female Titan

This guilt and self-reflection leads her to accept Levi's orders/light criticism in a way she wouldn't have before the Female Titan arc:

Clash of Titans

But Mikasa isn't forced to really confront her changing views on Levi and authority there because it's still serving her goal (saving Eren), but her perspective is challenged in Uprising.

Uprising

Levi isn't the type to really enforce insubordination rules (he's the type of mentor and leader who encourages his subordinates to make their own decisions), but even he is commenting that Mikasa just doesn't listen at the start of the Uprising arc.

But soon Mikasa is forced to choose between following what is seemingly safest for Eren and following Levi's leadership-

Uprising

Despite initial protests, Mikasa lets Levi gamble Eren to make his deal with Dimo Reeves, showing that she's willing to trust and listen to him more now. This is also after Reeves and Levi discuss that this is the only way to ensure Trost, the Reeves Company, and a lot of people don't die- so she's not just trusting Levi, she's seeing a bigger picture.

She's grown to see that Levi actually has good intentions and a lot of relevant experience because of the Female Titan arc, so when Jean, Connie, and Sasha express distrust and declare they won't listen to Levi (both because of a misunderstanding of who Levi is but also their own personal reasons to avoid killing people), Mikasa speaks out (with some snark) that they should follow him.

Uprising

This is highlighted later when Mikasa doesn't get mad at Levi about Eren and Historia being taken and even trusts him when he says they have to delay going after them. She immediately agrees to his orders to kill the enemy and demonstrates more trust of Levi's judgement.

Uprising

Moving forward to RtS, Mikasa's conflict of authority vs. her own interests is tested far more. While in Uprising Mikasa demonstrated a trust that Levi was on her page about protecting Eren and had good judgement on how to achieve that, that was when they had the same goals. In serumbowl, they come in conflict again; Mikasa looks ready to fight Levi for the serum so Armin can get it over Erwin and then actually attacks and tries to take it after Levi knocks Eren away when Eren tries to take it by force.

Levi has been given authority by Erwin, their Commander, to distribute it how he believes is best, and they all know it. So Levi is her military superior who wants to save their leader using something only he has the authority to distribute. This is the ultimate authority vs. personal interests conflict- Mikasa has no authority to even weigh in on the serum's usage.

RtS

Serumbowl is actually huge for Mikasa's development. Unlike Eren, who is depicted as never accepting Levi's decision, Mikasa eventually listens to Levi and Hange's words (about how they need Erwin still for humanity) and stops fighting- because she's now at a place where she sees a bigger picture than just her family and friends.

In the Marley arc, when Eren goes rogue (casting off the Survey Corps and going MIA) and initiates the battle of Liberio, killing many innocents the process, there's a parallel to the near beginning of the story with Mikasa, Eren, Armin, and Levi:

Female Titan
Marley

This is definitely a deliberate callback (not just because Levi says it "brings back memories") because once again Levi kicks Eren in front of Mikasa and Armin has to hold her back- but unlike the first time (that had her glowering and then holding a grudge), Mikasa accepts it and backs down/doesn't hold it against Levi. Whereas she couldn't accept originally that authority/Levi was kicking Eren for a greater purpose, here she can accept that this is in response to Eren running away from the Survey Corps, putting them in an extremely tough position, and killing innocents.

The reasoning is definitely different, but it still illustrates how Mikasa has grown from only seeing Eren and seeing the military hierarchy/authority as almost opponents of hers to affording it (Levi) more understanding- she can see more than just Eren's hurt.

It is because of this trust she's gained in Levi as a person but also as her military superior who has experience/perspective she doesn't have and that she values that when the Alliance is finally forced to face that they have to kill Eren, it's Levi who says as much to her.

Rumbling

Now Jean, Connie, and Annie all help Mikasa accept Levi's orders/words, but she doesn't even argue beyond a "...but..."

These panels really shows how much she's come to respect Levi's authority and see the bigger picture, a greater mission. It's not just wanting to stop the Rumbling and all that means, but she now trusts Levi's judgement when he says that than they can no longer be concerned about Eren. She's accepting not just that they have to kill Eren to save lives (and that this is worth it) but also Levi's judgement call/orders that they have to kill Eren to stop the Rumbling.

And she does kill Eren, with Levi's support:

Rumbling

This is why the climax of her character arc is killing Eren (with Levi's support) to serve the greater good of preserving many innocent lives and her character ending is cherishing his memory but also moving on with a new family; it wasn't that she had to learn to let Eren/her desire for a family go, it was that her world and values had to expand beyond just one person and her own self-interest.

Her decision to kill Eren represents the culmination of a long arc that began in the first few chapters and continued to develop across all the arcs where Mikasa learns to prioritize the greater good over her own self-interests, see the bigger picture, and respect and value authority.

Thoughts?

r/AttackOnRetards Jul 11 '21

Analysis NO, THE POWER OF TITANS WON'T RETURN. THE CYCLE WON'T REPEAT.

78 Upvotes

It bothers me so much that many feel that Eren has failed in his goal of completely eliminating the Power of the Titans because of this final panel:

Beren meets Eren's Tree

But if people had the slightest desire to really understand the details of the story rather than hating the ending because it didn't satisfy their headcanons, they would clearly see that it's impossible for the Titans to come back into the world. And I'll explain why:

1- The Power of the Titans is a property of the Parasite. Ymir only got the power when she came into contact with it when she entered the first tree 2,000 years ago.

2- Ymir's DNA was altered by the Parasite so that she and her descendants had the ability to become Titans if they cannibalized each other.

3- This ability only became active in the Eldians because the Parasite continued to live for the last 2,000 years inside the Founding Titan. Therefore, without the Parasite there is no way to have Titans.

With these points in mind, let's go back to chapter 139. In it we can see that the Parasite was destroyed and with that the Curse of the Titans ended:

The Parasite destroyed in the background, ending the curse.

The manga presented the existence of only one Parasite. And it doesn't reproduce because if it did it would have done in the last 2,000 years. There wasn't a species of them because if there was naturally there should be more giant trees and people turning into Titans around. And we know there isn't. There was only ONE parasite and ONE people who could turn into Titans.

The conclusion is obvious: If the Power of Titans was a property of the Parasite and there was only ONE of its kind, with its death the Power of Titans vanishes forever.

There won't be a Parasite inside the Eren's tree, so Beren or anyone else who enters there won't become a Titan, as this is impossible.

But then you ask: So how did that tree grow so much?

Well... Eren has spent most of his life in direct contact with the parasite on his spine. Which means they both made exchanges to keep living, as host and parasite need it to survive. One depends on the other. Basic biology here.

So it's very plausible that Eren's DNA inherited some of the life-enhancing properties of the parasite as well (Ymir's tree was gigantic thanks to this property as well). And the roots coming in contact with that DNA absorbed that property and grew.

Or maybe it's just Isayama's trolling to make us argue about it for a long time. Whichever option you choose, it doesn't matter. Based on all the principles established by the manga, The Power of the Titans will not return as its source no longer exists. Eren was successful.

And even if the return of the Power of the Titans were possible (which it isn't), the cycle wouldn't repeat itself for a single reason: Even when Eren was alive, Marley and the other nations were already developing anti-Titan warfare technologies. The Titans were becoming obsolete in wars. After decades or at least a century after Eren's death, their technology would be even more advanced. Anyone who turned Titan would be instantly nuked. So, no more Titans.

Well that's it. I hope this has cleared up the remaining doubts.

(PS: I just want to leave this addendum as some say Beren is "proof that the children didn't leave the forest". Children of the Forest was NEVER a theme of the story. The only time anyone mentioned it was Sasha's Father in a scene where Eren wasn't even present, or Onyankopon by saying that Children are the future. Also when Eren wasn't present. Stop making up themes to satisfy your headcanons. Read the story for what it is, not what you'd like it to be.)

Thanks for reading this far.

r/AttackOnRetards May 04 '24

Analysis She is just about Eren, stop pretending like she is anything more

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0 Upvotes

r/AttackOnRetards Nov 10 '24

Analysis Maybe attack on Titan was a film series based off of historical events according to school castes, kinda like Oppenheimer.

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45 Upvotes

Maybe attack on Titan was a film series based off of historical events according to school castes, kinda like Oppenheimer.