History Characters / AttackOnTitanErenYeager

** {{Subverted}} as the series goes on, as he comes to recognize his own faults and slowly learns the value of proper strategizing. It would seem that being bailed out from certain death many, ''many'' times due to having a HealingFactor has a way of changing people. However, this is {{averted}} hard after the Timeskip, where he becomes TheChessmaster and has an almost unrecognizable grasp of his situation and emotional nuance about everything, and it's also averted in the sense that he [[spoiler:[[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain turns into the final villain of the story]]]].

* {{Irony}}: Eren Yeager, the boy who sought freedom, [[spoiler:found himself without the ability to avert his own future. This is because his own actions were manipulated by his future self to ensure the Rumbling comes to pass. In his pursuit of freedom, Eren himself became a slave to freedom.]]

* ILetYouWin: [[spoiler:The only reason Eren loses is because he planned it that way, so that his friends could become heroes. He could have beaten them all at any time, had he wanted. If anything, the others wouldn't have even been able to think about fighting him had he not allowed them to do so.]]

* ThanatosGambit: Chapter 139 reveals that [[spoiler:Eren orchestrated the Rumbling intending to get the world to unite against a common enemy -- himself -- and arranged to have Mikasa kill him to show the world there were heroic Eldians. Mikasa killing him in spite of her love for him also convinces Founder Ymir to give up her [[StockholmSyndrome "love"]] for the first King Fritz, which frees the Eldians of their ability to turn into Titans and thus the justification for their persecution]].

* TragicDream: From the beginning of the manga, his biggest dream is to eliminate the Titan scourge so that he can finally leave the Walled Society and be free to experience all the natural wonders of the world with his friends. [[spoiler:That dream grows more distant and twisted as it is continuiously blocked by titan shifters, Paradis' government, and even humanity itself beyond the walls. Eventually, he decides the only way to save his loved ones and achieve his dreams is to exterminate all life beyond the walls using the titans that he despised his whole life.]]

* TragicVillain: [[spoiler: He recognizes that the Rumbling is an inhumanly cruel and grotesque solution that is temporary at best, but he genuinely can't conceive of a solution that requires less mass death and chaos as a result of his emotional trauma, self-loathing and obsession with the abstract idea of 'freedom'.]]

* ZeroApprovalGambit: [[spoiler:Eren tells Armin that by performing the Rumbling, Paradis and the outside world will be on equal grounds so that the conflict will not be a CurbStompBattle. In addition, Armin and their friends will become heroes for turning against the island of devils and stopping the Rumbling and use that leverage to protect Paradis for retaliation. While Armin initially refuses this plan, he ultimately shoulders the burden of the Rumbling, and with Eren [[MemoryGambit wiping his friends' memories of his confessions]], he allows that all to come to pass.]]

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:While his opponents prevented the ''total'' destruction of the world, severed his control of the Founding Titan, and even decapitated him for good this time, Eren still succeeds in the complete destruction of Marley and the vast majority of the world, killing off approximately ''80%'' of the world's population by the end of the Rumbling. Even Eren's own death was ultimately beneficial for his own plans, as he maneuvered for the curse of the Titans to finally be eradicated from the world with his own death, but only ''after'' securing a future for Paradis; indeed, in the aftermath of the Rumbling, Paradis is one of the only nations left able to build up its military and regroup. This is in addition to successfully keeping most of his friends alive, even in his direct confrontation with them at the very end. So it's no exaggeration to say that Eren did indeed accomplish nearly all of his higher goals in the end, save, ironically, his desperate inner desire to find a conclusion that averts YouCantFightFate]].

* YourDaysAreNumbered: [[spoiler:As revealed in Chapter 88, anyone who inherits one of the nine original Titans abilities die thirteen years after inheriting due to Ymir Fritz dying thirteen years after she obtained her powers. As such Eren has approximately eight years left to live, so long as the statement is true. Chapter 91 [[TimeSkip shortened that to four]].]]

* ZeroApprovalGambit: [[spoiler:His entire plan ultimately hinges on this. By taking all of the world's hatred of Paradis and the Eldians on to himself, he enables the Eldians to be in a better position to achieve lasting peace by being the heroes who saved the world from him while simultaneously showing Marley and the rest of the world the problems with how they dealt with Eldians in general. By [[MemoryGambit wiping his friends' memories of his confessions]], he allows that all to come to pass.]]

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: In between this and a true WellIntentionedExtremist. As emphasized by his conversation with Ramzi in chapter 131 and the scene of him as a child above the clouds, his claims towards saving Paradis from annihilation and uniting the remaining world against him in hatred isn't his sole motivation. In truth, he also desires for himself and his friends to gain the childish vision of freedom that he himself was never able to experience, and the existence of people that get in the way of his vision of this prompted him to do the Rumbling. He provides his friends the ability to stop him, but he makes it clear that if he hadn't been stopped, he would have destroyed the entire world.]]

* BerserkerTears: Basically whenever a tragedy happens that strikes an emotional cord with him, he can be accounted on bursting into tears while violently letting loose his anger upon his enemies.

** He befriended Falco because he remembers him being the only one to stop and help him when he pretended collapsing due to injury and [=PTSD=]. [[spoiler: It isn't a pure friendship on Eren's part as he uses Falco to lure Reiner into a trap of sorts with Falco being completely unaware he's being used. But he was implied to have a genuine fondness for the kid.]]

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* TragicDream: From the beginning of the manga, his biggest dream is to eliminate the Titan scourge so that he can finally leave the Walled Society and be free to experience all the natural wonders of the world with his friends. [[spoiler:That dream grows more distant and twisted as it is continuiously blocked by titan shifters, Paradis' government, and even humanity itself beyond the walls. Eventually, he decides the only way to save his loved ones and acheive his dreams is to exterminate all life beyond the walls using the titans that he despised his whole life.]]

** [[spoiler: With the reveal of Eren's true destiny in the final saga of the series, it turns out he's a deconstruction of ''many'' different types of TheChosenOne - TheUnchosenOne, ThePoorlyChosenOne, ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne, ThePoorlyChosenOne, ApocalypseMaiden and even TheChooserOfTheOne - all in one go because [[StableTimeLoop it is his future self, and eventually his present self, who determine that he ends up the Founding Titan]], enabling him to trigger the Rumbling to end the rest of the world. It is a plan that is outlined many times as a horrific recourse of action and that Eren is not entirely in the right for activating it but does so anyway because he cannot see any other option to protect his people. And despite going through with it, it's not an action which comes easy; even before he sets his plan into motion, he's clearly crippled by the guilt of his pre-determined astronomically numbered kill count but cannot find a way to change the future.]]

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: He insists that if he had gone to get help after tracking down Mikasa's kidnappers they would have been too late (which is likely true). [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer With only himself and a knife there]], [[KickTheSonOfABitch he did the only thing he could to save her.]]

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Many of Eren's tropes are not [[HeroicWillpower unusual]] [[HotBlooded for]] [[IdiotHero shonen]] [[WideEyedIdealist protagonists]], but what is unusual is that they are treated ''more realistically'' by have as many negative consequences as positive ones for him, and paint him as a PsychoForHire. Determination is essential for a soldier and especially for one fighting TheDreaded, but rushing blindly on determination alone will get you or someone else killed. If he wasn't a Titan Shifter he'd be have fairly little to show for his determination, and be dead. He is [[WhatTheHellHero called on his stupidity]], suffers defeats aplenty, and practically all Eren's victories come with active support from friends and allies. His greatest victories occur not as a result of physically overcoming his enemies, but through relying on his own wits and intelligence; come the endgame of the series, Eren [[spoiler:has taken command of The Founding Titan's abilities, and has the power to enact ''omnicide'' with just a thought, all because he decided to act with caution and become TheChessmaster]].

** [[spoiler: Eren later dies for real at the hands of Mikasa after the former attempts to restart the Rumbling, but Eren did all of this to bring true peace to Paradisians as 'the heroes who killed Eren Yeager' and to remove the Titan power itself, which they realize ''after'' he dies.]]

* MythicalMotifs: Eren is heavily associated with Loki from Myth/NorseMythology. Loki is a Jotunn, yet accepted among the Aesir as Odin's blood brother, and while he causes no small amount of trouble, he also helps to fix most of his mistakes, even after the Aesir chain up one of his sons inside of a cave and throw the other into the ocean. Once Loki goes too far, though, he is severely punished, leading him to become extremely bitter and enact his revenge by causing Ragnarok, which will see virtually all of the gods slain, including Loki himself. [[spoiler:Eren is intially very idealistic and even after being confronted with the truth about the world outside of the walls, is willing to try and find a way to coexist. After seeing the extreme systemic racism that Eldians face, though, and Marley attempting to demonize him into a devil so that the world can enact a FinalSolution against the Eldians of Paradis, though, Eren ultimately decides to [[ThenLetMeBeEvil become exactly the monster they implied he was]] and use the Titans to enact a FinalSolution on the rest of the world to defend his home]].

* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler:While Eren's FinalSolution is morally indefensible, he has proper reasons for doing so. No matter how much Paradis implores for peace, most nations insist on denouncing them as devils that need to be exterminated. Worse, Marley and other nations were planning an all out strike on Paradis, much sooner than expected. As Paradis is at a huge disadvantage in terms of technology, resources, and population and unable to gain any foreign allies, the island would inevitably fall to a full assault. To ensure the survival of his people, Eren has come to believe he has no choice ''but'' to wipe out humanity outside of the Walls. This is also acknowledged InUniverse by the remaining protagonists after he goes rogue: while they find Eren plan [[EveryoneHasStandards unacceptable]] and are resolved to stop him at any cost, they admit that Eren wasn't wrong about his assessment of their worsening situation and nobody allied with them had any viable alternative solutions.]]

* OneManArmy: Deconstructed and frequently Subverted. The revelation that Eren can turn into a Titan immediately makes him the strongest fighter humanity has on its side and capable of killing more Titans single-handedly than most squads of trained soldiers. However, his [[UnstoppableRage bottomless reservoir of fury]] and [[LeeroyJenkins complete absence of discipline]] frequently cause him to get himself [[DidNotThinkThisThrough ''way'' in over his head]] and result in the Survey Corps needing to [[BigDamnHeroes back him up or bail him out]]. At times, these character flaws, combined with his general importance to the plot, cause him to be targeted by the enemy before he can even accomplish much and force the Scouts to devote all of their energy to protecting/rescuing him, [[TheLoad making him more of a liability than a superweapon]]. Even when he is undoubtedly at his most capable and ruthless during [[spoiler: the raid on Liberio]], his decision to attack on his own and trust the other Scouts to think of everything else almost gets him killed multiple times—had it not been for [[TheAce Mikasa and Levi]] (who have been directly referred to as one-person armies themselves), he likely would have fallen to either [[spoiler: the Warhammer Titan or the Jaw Titan]]. This all becomes moot, however, when he [[spoiler: attains the full power of the Founding Titan, unleashing the Rumbling and becoming [[PersonOfMassDestruction a ''One-Man Fucking Apocalypse''.]]

* {{Bishonen}}: In the manga, he seems to have a LongHairedPrettyBoy look going on [[https://i.imgur.com/lZwAcBA.jpg by the time he's 16]].

** He grows his hair out during TimeSkip, and wears it long and unkempt, as part of his cover as a traumatized soldier. It also helps [[PeekABangs obscure his face]].

** Zig-zagged in the end. [[spoiler:Eren fully believes that the Rumbling is unjustfiable and despite not wanting to die believes he deserves it and even set up that his friedns can use his death to broker peace. However, he also admits to Armin that he would have completed the Rumbling if his friends had not stopped him. When Armin asks why, Eren can only state that he had to while remembeing Grisha telling him that he's free, the implication being that Eren was driven above all else by his desire for freedom.]]

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Eren invokes this type of reasoning to justify his increasingly extreme actions in the latter portions of the story. [[spoiler:This eventually culminates in him enacting the Rumbling on the entire world outside of Pardis so that no one will ever harm his people again and friends could finally have a chance at peace.]]

* ObliviousToLove: He finds Mikasa's desire to keep him safe irritating and tends to treat her as something of a rival or nuisance. [[spoiler:Except that he isn't. He's completely aware of how Mikasa feels about him, returns her affections, but pretends to be oblivious as part of his plan to push her away so that she'll eventually have the strength to kill him]]

* ThanatosGambit: Chapter 139 reveals that [[spoiler:Eren orchestrated the Rumbling intending to get the world to unite against a common enemy -- himself -- and arranged to have Mikasa kill him to show the world there were heroic Eldians]].

** [[spoiler: His Founding Titan form can even be interpreted as symbolism for this, with his bony arms being held by "strings" attached to the spikes on his spine, emulating the look of a marionette; a puppet.]]

** [[spoilers: Seems to have it out for Frieda Reiss/Karl Fritz in particular for allowing Shiganshina to fall, giving off a look of unadulterated rage and hatred as the young queen declines to stop the Warriors' assault and explain that the Paradisians deserve destruction.]]

** Chapter 123 reveals [[spoiler: his whole plan is this [[OmnicidalManiac against every living being outside Paradis Island]], may it be Eldian, Marleyan, or ''[[WouldHurtAKid anyone]] [[WouldHurtASenior else]]''.]]

** Chapter 123 reveals [[spoiler: his whole plan is this against every living being outside Paradis Island, may it be Eldian, Marleyan, or ''[[WouldHarmAKid anyone]] [[WouldHurtASenior else]]''.]]