Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan (Manga Discussion)

Say, something has been bugging me after I've seen a video of Eren and Reiner's argument after the former's capture by the Titan Shifter duo. Is it just me, or is Eren pointedly not even bothering to ask any of the Titan Shifters, whether verbally (Reiner and Bertolt) or in his mental monologue (Annie), why they're doing this? All of his ranting against them seems to be one who steadfastly believes that Sympathetic Murderer is such an inherent paradox that there's no benefit from asking any murderer why they think they are sympathetic, i.e. Eren seems to believe that nothing could possibly justify or even reduce the immorality of Reiner and Bertolt's role in the wholesale massacring of the population of the Shiganshina District in general and his mother in particular. Then there's the spoiler I've read that he felt hollow after having finally exacted revenge on Bertolt by feeding him to a Titanized Armin, as if whatever satisfaction he expected to feel from at least partly fulfilling his quest for vengeance completely failed to manifest. Or the earlier moment where he appeared to subconsciously doubt his belief that all Titans must be exterminated by his hand for preying upon humanity (and killing his mother, specifically) after discovering that all Titans were formerly humans who likely had no choice in becoming such monsters and have no agency in their actions as Titans.

Am I on to something?

—-

RE Levi's name: Actually, it appears that Isayama spells it as "Levi". That said, "Rivaille" seems to be derived from the fact that in French, the ll in -aille is effectively silent.

edited 27th Jun '17 2:38:32 PM by MarqFJA

He just found out that one of his supposed "comrades" kicked a boulder onto his house and his mother, resulting in her being chomped on by a Titan. I would think he'd be in a bit of a bad mood after finding that out.

edited 27th Jun '17 2:39:58 PM by dragonfire5000

Bertolt or Reiner(I forget which) do say "Do you think we'd do this stuff if we didn't have a good reason?" later on. At that point it's their fault for not explaining the reason though.

edited 27th Jun '17 2:44:39 PM by Kostya

Yeah, Eren's running on pure RAGE at that point, and isn't thinking too hard on the hows and whys.

Eren's running on pure rage at almost every point.

That's his damned problem. It's just that this is one of the times when it's justified.

Yeah, speaking of which, I assume that Eren is still not aware of why Reiner and Bertolt did what they did? That is to say, he's still unaware of what lengths the People's Republic of Tyranny that is Marley goes to in order to ensure the more morally-decent-at-heart Titan Shifters like Reiner (as opposed to Zeke) are kept under their thumb, including a thorough demonization of the Eldians by the Propaganda Machine? I wonder how Eren would react if he discovers that.

Also, I love how the anime made Mikasa an Amazonian Beauty... though I resent how more than a few doujinshi exaggerate her muscularity to unnatural levels and paint Eren as being completely turned off by even the barest hint of female muscle.

YMMV on whether it's truly justified. The way he acts, it's like he cannot conceive of the possibility that Reiner, Bert and Annie might have loved ones who are being held hostage by true vile villains that made sure the trio cannot act against them without said loved ones suffering horribly.

edited 27th Jun '17 3:28:08 PM by MarqFJA

Yeah, Eren was not exactly in a position to actually react in a rational manner. He was too angry and hurt to even begin to think about things, and consider that there might be a hell of a lot more going on. I remember being really frustrated at how mysterious and vague Reiner and Bertolt were, completely unwilling to explain themselves in ANY manner. But now I'd imagine that keeping everything secret was included with their orders. Marley didn't want ANYTHING known, and therefore probably ordered them to keep their mouths shut no matter what.

And Eren definitely knows now, between having retrieved the diaries from the basement and gaining access to his father's memories. He knows exactly what sort of place Marley is, and exactly what trash the Eldians there were indoctrinated on. ESPECIALLY since Grisha had been grooming Zeke to become a spy within the Warrior program, Eren would know what sort of things BRA were taught and the things hanging over their heads. If Armin has gained access to Bertolt's memories during the last few years, they'll probably have even more of an idea why those two were so unwilling to talk things through.

It seems like some of his views have been changed as a result, since he went from "I'm going to make you suffer and die" to "I....have to do this" to being very uneasy about what came next. I guess it will depend on whether Amputee-kun turns out to be Eren or not.

edited 27th Jun '17 3:38:06 PM by harostar

I just realized the Titan Shifter Trio's given names can acronymize to "BRA". I hereby propose, for the sake of maintaing the characters' dignity, that we adopt a more alphabetical order to the names and make the acronym "ABR".

... Who's "Amputee-kun"?

A Marleyan soldier from the latest chapters who is minus one leg.

For some reason, people are speculating that he's Eren in disguise. Even though I think Eren would be the last person you ever send on a mission requiring stealth.

edited 27th Jun '17 3:46:55 PM by DarkHunter

Mysterious guy with one leg that showed up in the most recent chapters and may or may not be Eren in disguise.

It's why they tried to get Eren on their side; with Eren on their side, they can be BEAR instead of BRA.

They were supposed to be BRAG but then Ymir fucked it up for them.

Though if Ymir was on their side, they would be...BRAY?

Yeah, BEAR was probably the best they could get in that situation.

BRAG? Shouldn't it be BRAM?

If they were BRAY, then they'd be able to...

FOLLOW....THE BUZZARDS!!!

Well, on another note, I've had someone respond to a comment I made on an AOT video in which he stated, in the course of trying to explain why he thinks that Mikasa loves both Eren and Armin "equally" but in different ways, that he believes Mikasa's relationship with Eren and Armin is almost certainly in the following manner, at least from her perspective.

• Eren: Husband.
• Mikasa: Wife.
• Armin: Little Brother / Son.

I believe that intepretation has merit; I could actually see Armin being basically Eren's adoptive younger brother, and thus the former would become Mikasa's brother-in-law if she ever got married to Eren. What do you guys think?

edited 27th Jun '17 5:25:18 PM by MarqFJA

I remember one of the spin-off comedy manga had Mikasa envisioning their relationship as:

• Eren: Husband
• Mikasa: Wife
• Armin: Servant

The Theory of Amputee-kun!

• An Eldian soldier that appeared in Ch. 93 and 94.
• Seen following Reiner and the kids in Ch. 93.
• Missing a leg and face covered in bandages in Ch. 94.
• Wears his arm band on the wrong arm.
• Brought in with soldiers that have no families or friends to care for them.
• Briefly interacts with Falco.

Since we've seen him twice and he made an obvious mistake, it seems likely that he is going to be important. His mistake suggests he's /not/ a mainland Eldian, as they would know how to wear their armband correctly. Eren is the most likely candidate, since he's the only character besides Armin that could afford to lose a leg.

On the other hand, he doesn't look like Eren, Eren can't be trusted to keep his emotions in check and not blow his cover, Eren is by far the most effective weapon Paradis has for defense against Marley, and risking him getting found out and captured by Marley would be to risk the Coordinate falling into their hands and then they've lost their only real advantage (the Colossal Titan isn't so good at direct combat, I'll remind you).

Sending Eren in as a spy would be the most monumentally stupid thing Paradis could possibly do.

I'm not ruling out the possibility that he's a spy, but I don't for even a second think he's Eren.

edited 27th Jun '17 5:49:22 PM by DarkHunter

Oh man, seems the 104th page has gotten too long again. I think perhaps Keith's section should be moved back to the Others page.

Any other thoughts on management? :/

(I was going to add Floch since he's from the 104th as well.)

There has been a time skip and Eren in the past few arcs has been more quiet and less rage driven. Hell his reaction too Bertolt being eaten by Armin's Titan was the complete opposite of what we'd expect of him. I would think that Eren could pull off stealth considering the circumstances. Amputee-kun also has black hair and has been following Reiner to a certain degree which is quite unusual.

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't him but I wouldn't be surprised if it was him. Eren could of grown up more during the time skip.

I do feel sometimes that the fandom gives Eren way to much flak in regards to things. He has let go of a lot of his rages that he showed earlier on.

edited 27th Jun '17 7:32:08 PM by Wispy

x5 I feel like it should really be something like this:

• Eren: Husband
• Mikasa: Wife
• Armin: Lover

edited 27th Jun '17 6:31:45 PM by Crinias

Best answer.

True, there's a lot of risks involved with Eren going to Marley himself. That is the main issue I have with the whole theory as well.

I just can't think of anyone else it could be other than Armin, since only a Titan could deal with losing a limb. Anyone else would be permanently crippled by that sort of thing.

Certainly, it could be a completely new character. But I think that would be disappointing and cheap, for it to simply be some new dude. The mystery so far, with his face being partially concealed every single time indicates we're supposed to be surprised later on.

edited 27th Jun '17 7:05:59 PM by harostar

I think it being a new character would only work if it was the mysterious 9th Titan that we haven't seen yet. Of course then we'd have to ask why they aren't regenerating their leg.

He's already a lot less impulsive in the one year timeskip, not surprised if he changes more four years later. Doesn't stop gazillion of long hair Eren fanart.