History AttackOnTitan / TropesGToL

-->'''Armin:''' ''(earlier) So why do you want to go to the world beyond the Walls?''
-->'''Eren:''' ''From the time we are born, we are free... it doesn't matter how strong those that would deny us that freedom are... flaming water... frozen earth... I don't care what it is!... The person that sees them will be the freest person in the world! Fight... I'd gladly give my life for that! [[TheAntiNihilist It doesn't matter how terrifying the world is! It doesn't matter how cruel the world is!]] [[SurvivalMantra Fight]]... [[{{Determinator}} Fight]]... [[HeroicWillpower Fight]]... [[LastStand FIGHT]]!!!''

* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: Eren accuses Franz and Hannah of this, which they [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend vehemently deny.]] [[spoiler:Turns depressing when Armin finds Hannah trying to revive Franz, or rather, Franz's [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe upper half]].]]
* LivingMacGuffin: Everyone wants Eren in some way, whether it be to [[spoiler:dissect him for information, use him as humanity's ultimate weapon, influence others and hide dirty secrets, or to kidnap him and bring him back to his fellow human-Titans.]]
** Later on, he [[spoiler: and Krista become this to an unknown faction within the Walls with a lot of connections to both the military and the Wall cult. Their goals are as-of-yet unrevealed. All we do know is that they're likely the ones who vied for Eren to be taken in by the military police and killed Pastor Nick when trying to get information out of him.]]

** Eren has an all-comsuming hatred of Titans [[spoiler:but is a Titan Shifter himself, and several of his friends turn out to be the very Titans he hates]]. Furthermore, [[spoiler: Eren has the ability to ''command'' regular Titans]].

** The Female Titan has a more advanced version of this and can temporarily harden it's skin making it essentially invulnerable to a soldier's attacks. Disturbingly, it can also do this [[spoiler:with it's only weakpoint!]]

** WordOfGod later confirmed that their fight got interrupted and ended in a draw.

** Eren's hatred for the Titans stems from one eating his mother. [[Spoiler: He is the titan that ate his father.]]

* HumansAreFlawed: A major theme of the series, exploring how humanity deals with extreme circumstances like famine, land shortages, floods of refugees, and of course giant monsters that want t eat them.

* GodzillaThreshold: Things get so bad by Episode 8 that the best plan Armin can come up with is ''using a Titan to kill the rest of the Titans''. The very idea of a plan using Titans is completely crazy to the humans except that he's sharp enough to pick up on how this particular one really is only targeting Titans, not humans. Later on Pixis (with Armin) comes up with another absurd plan to retake Trost: [[spoiler:use Eren's Titan form to seal off the Wall when it's not certain he can control himself.]] Again, things are so bad that this is their best possible option.

** Happens to Eren's mother in the first episode. While the audience doesn't see everything that happens, both Eren and Mikasa get to witness it in full as Hannes runs away with them. In the manga however, her death is shown alot more graphically.

** The concept of this trope is very thoroughly deconstructed. A lot of characters attempt to bravely sacrifice themselves, so that their comrades and loved ones may live on. When they get to the "sacrifice" part, however, they suddenly start [[IDontWantToDie desperately clinging on to life, realizing that they would do ''anything'', so that they may survive.]] Unfortunately for the cast, folks usually reach this epiphany, mid digestion...

* IDontWantToDie: Pretty much everyone who dies goes through this, sometimes even when it's a HeroicSacrifice.

** KillAllHumans is eventually subverted. Armin states that Titans don't want to kill humans, they want to ''eat'' them. While there is a lot of rather obvious overlap between the two, the distinction becomes important when the Female Titan is very pointedly killing humans, not at all trying to eat them, indicating it is a [[spoiler:Titan Shifter.]]

* IronicEcho: At the beginning, the narrator states that "On that day mankind received a grim reminder: we lived in fear of the Titans and were disgraced to live in these cages we called Walls", referring to how the Titans re-awoke humanity's dread of them after a hundred years of peace and complacency. It's repeated during the final episode, but this time it means that humanity remembers indeed: it remembers its hatred for what the Titans did and is going to fight back ''hard''. [[spoiler: As represented by Eren's Titan form chasing down the Female Titan in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].

* HumansAreBastards: Both Eren and Mikasa learn this firsthand during a FlashBack in Episode 6, when Mikasa's parents are killed right in front of her, and then Eren kills two of the three bandits who attempted to kidnap her and sell her off as a slave. Mikasa, with some words of encouragement from Eren, kills the third bandit.
* HumansAreMorons

** Happens to Eren's mother in the first episode. While the audience doesn't see everything that happens, both Eren and Mikasa get to witness it in full as Hannes runs away with them.

* GhibliHills: Though it's a CrapsackWorld, it sure is a beautiful one. Might be justified beyond Wall Maria, since humans haven't lived out there for a century and Titans don't appear to do much to the land, but even within the walls, humans haven't had much environmental impact for it to leave a scar. It goes to show that the world isn't a nightmare world in itself: the Titans just make it so for humans exclusively.

* GildedCage: In Eren's opinion, the human city is this. Most of his peers are content to live inside the walls indefinitely, but he repeatedly compares it to a birdcage and is determined to see the outside world.

* GodzillaThreshold: Things get so bad by Episode 8 that the best plan Armin can come up with is ''using a Titan to kill the rest of the Titans''. The very idea of a plan using Titans is completely crazy to the humans except that he's sharp enough to pick up on how this particular one really is only targeting Titans, not humans. Later on Pixis (with Armin) comes up with another absurd plan to retake Trost: [[spoiler:use Eren's Titan form to seal off the wall when it's not certain he can control himself.]] Again, things are so bad that this is their best possible option.

-->'''Armin:''' ''(earlier) So why do you want to go to the world beyond the walls?''

* IronicEcho: At the beginning, the narrator states that "On that day mankind received a grim reminder: we lived in fear of the Titans and were disgraced to live in these cages we called walls", referring to how the Titans re-awoke humanity's dread of them after a hundred years of peace and complacency. It's repeated during the final episode, but this time it means that humanity remembers indeed: it remembers its hatred for what the Titans did and is going to fight back ''hard''. [[spoiler: As represented by Eren's Titan form chasing down the Female Titan in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].

* ItCanThink: When Eren first engages a Colossal Titan in battle, he notices that it purposely attacked the gate (the weakest point of the wall) and took out the mounted cannon atop the wall, and he realizes that the Titans must be intelligent.

** [[spoiler:After Eren is revealed to be the Rogue Titan, the other Titan Shifters make it their mission to capture him, such as the Female Titan when the Survey Corps does their 57th Expedition outside the walls.]]
** [[spoiler:After Eren is ordered to go into the innermost wall, Armin finds Annie and begs her to help them in to assist Eren's escape, since him being handed over to the Military Police Brigade meant certain death. She is reluctant to do so at first, but then ultimately agrees. When they're about to go through an abandoned underground tunnel to get closer to the wall however, Annie is very hesitant to go down there. Mikasa then directly accuses her of being the Female Titan, and several Survey Corps members hiding nearby ambush her, and attempt to capture her before she can bite herself to transform. Unfortunately for them, the ring she had put on earlier had a hidden barb, and she is still able to wound herself and transform even without biting her hand.]]

* JustBeforeTheEnd: Very possibly. What with the constant threat of the Titans, and the very real possibility that another Colossal Titan could show up ''at any time'' and knock down the remaining walls, the end of the world feels very imminent throughout the series.

* [[LastOfHisKind Last of Her Kind]]: Mikasa Ackerman whose mother's race, Asians, was wiped out by the Titans. Makes sense given that the walled city's region seems roughly analogous with northwest Europe, so East-Asian analog humans would have been for the most part much too far away to take refuge there in time.

** Later on, he [[spoiler: and Krista become this to an unknown faction within the walls with a lot of connections to both the military and the wall cult. Their goals are as-of-yet unrevealed. All we do know is that they're likely the ones who vied for Eren to be taken in by the military police and killed Pastor Nick when trying to get information out of him.]]

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: During the 57th expedition beyond the walls, the Survey Corps runs into many problems once the Female Titan shows up. [[spoiler:After it's captured, Eren and a few others discuss what happened, and he realizes that even some of the more veteran troops were unaware of the plan to capture her. However, he quickly realizes that the plan was made in such a way because of the high possibility that there was a spy within their ranks informing the Titan Shifters of things the humans were planning on doing. This also explains why different groups were told different things before they headed out, such as where Eren was in the formation, so that it could narrow down who was leaking the information.]]

** In chapter 48, Erwin's plan to stop the Armored Titan is to [[spoiler: lead a herd of normal Titans towards it so that Eren can be rescued in all the confusion]].

** [[spoiler:Titan shifters in human form]] benefit from this ability, too.

* HumongousMecha: No really. [[spoiler:The shifters' Titan forms]] are a flesh-and-bone version of this, with some fight scenes sceaming ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.

** In Episode 23 of the Anime, Annie starts laughing after [[spoiler:Mikasa calls her out as the Female Titan.]]
** In Chapter 50 of the Manga, Eren laughs manically [[spoiler:as he watches Hannes being devoured by the same Titan that ate his mother.]]

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: During the 57th expedition beyond the walls, the Survey Corps runs into many problems once the Female Titan shows up. [[spoiler:After it's captured, Eren and a few others discuss what happened, and he realizes that even some of the more veteran troops were unaware of the plan to capture her. However, he quickly realizes that the plan was made in such a way because of the high possibility that there was a spy within their ranks informing the Titan-shifters of things the humans were planning on doing. This also explains why different groups were told different things before they headed out, such as where Eren was in the formation, so that it could narrow down who was leaking the information.]]

** In Episode 17 the we only see the spray of blood from the Female Titan's fist when [[spoiler:Reiner allegedly]] gets popped like a grape. Includes a bit of BaitAndSwitch, as the Female Titan is actually the one bleeding.
** Averted again in episode 21. The remains of [[spoiler:Levi's squad]] are shown at least twice after they've been killed. It's not too pretty either.
** Mostly averted in episode 22 during the [[CurbStompBattle messy]] fight against the Female Titan (except for its [[EyeScream eyes getting stabbed through]]).
** Played straight in episode 25, [[spoiler:when Eren crushes the Female Titan's skull with his bare hands. Her eyes are seen [[EyeScream bulging out]] briefly before the scene cuts away to blood splattering on nearby buildings.]]

* HellYesMoment: An epic one occurs in episode 24, [[spoiler:after Eren shifts into a Titan and then punches the Female Titan right in her face.]]

** In episode 21, Levi's squad takes on the Female Titan. [[spoiler:It seems to go rather well for them, as they manage to blind her, and then shear off enough of her shoulder muscles that her arms fall down from her neck. Then she suddenly grows back one eye, and manages to kill all three of them in less than a minute. And moments later, she seems rather scared of Eren in Titan mode, but barely manages to defeat him, as well as capturing him.]]

** Hange also mentions a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawney_Bean clan of human cannibals]] in episode 15 when conducting research on captured Titans.

* GrievousHarmWithABody: The titan that attacks other titans tends to favor this method of fighting groups.

** A much more severe version of this happens later during [[spoiler:Hange's tests with Eren to mimic the female titan's hardening ability. The third time he transforms his titan form is missing about half of it's flesh and is causing Eren to fuse with it. By the time they cut him out he is missing his eyes and parts of his skull are exposed. Thankfully due to his healing factor he heals up in about a day.]]

** The concept of this trope is very thoroughly deconstructed . A lot of characters attempt to bravely sacrifice themselves, so that their comrades and loved ones may live on. When they get to the "sacrifice" part, however, they suddenly start [[IDontWantToDie desperately clinging on to life, realizing that they would do ''anything'', so that they may survive.]] Unfortunately for the cast, folks usually reach this epiphany, mid digestion...

* HiddenDepths: A major part of the story. Almost every single character of some note gets a flashback or a bit of a shared flashback to show how varied and distinct the characters are, with many having a darker side to their outwardly noble intentions and actions or a more sympathetic origin for their flaws. This heavily ties into just how often characters are forced to confront traumatic experiences that can break them psychologically. [[spoiler:It's also important to note that a good chunk of them, especially those who've displayed a keen and sympathetic knowledge of the human condition or justice, are nonetheless infiltrators sent by the titans, forcing them to be completely reevaluated.]]

* HotBlooded: Eren's biggest strength ''and'' weakness, as he sometimes crosses into LeeroyJenkins territory [[spoiler: particularly when he was trying to avenge Thomas - his single-minded pursuit of the abnormal Titan that had devoured him made him blind to the ''other'' Titans nearby, losing a leg and getting his team killed in the process]].

* HumongousMecha: No really. [[spoiler:The shifters' titan forms]] are a flesh-and-bone version of this, with some fight scenes sceaming ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.

** However the competition for the top spots may make the people who end up fighting the titans much better trained.

** Eren's feelings towards the Colossal and Armored Titans who destroyed his hometown. It's the same as his feelings towards all titans, but turned [[UpToEleven Up To Eleven]].