Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Attack on Titan and its ending.
Now that Attack on Titan has come to a close after a decade, do we know what Eren Yeager’s end goal truly was?
The popular anime series finally came to a definitive conclusion last week with an epic finale that depicted the “Battle of Heaven and Earth” and “Toward the Tree on That Hill” manga arcs. The remaining heroes of Eldia and Marley banded together to stop the genocidal Rumbling from destroying the world. Eren Yeager, meanwhile, used the powers of the Founding Titan to slow down his friends and continue with his onslaught.
In the end, the Alliance manages to defeat Eren, but not before the protagonist exterminates 80% of the world’s population. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, could we say what the main character really wanted with this slaughter, or if his actions were justified?
What was Eren’s goal in Attack on Titan?
Ever since those first episodes in season 1, Eren Yeager has sought freedom for himself and his friends. To break down the walls that separate his people from the truth of their existence. The so-called Subjects of Ymir (those of them stuck in Paradis Island) do that by the end of season 3, yet Eren realizes that his people can’t be truly free for as long as a nation like Marley exists.
In a sense, and as Armin Arlert deduces, Eren has become a slave to the very freedom he once sought. He also believes that the only way to stop this cycle of violence is to destroy the opposition and reverse the crimes that have been committed against his own people. Hence he initiates the Rumbling, not only destroying every other nation’s military capabilities but also their civilization on a grand scale.
The only catch is Eren himself, who doesn’t seem sure of why he’s hell-bent on this path of desolation. During the series finale, Eren tells Armin that he actually wanted his friends to stop him, thus proving to the world that the Eldians can be more than just uncivilized savages. And yet, Eren is also haunted by what the Marleyans did to his people, bringing the wrath of Ymir’s Colossal Titans to bear upon them in an act of vengeance.
Either way, we can safely say that what Eren did constitutes a war crime, and if only he’d been a little less foolhardy, then perhaps Eldia could’ve found a better solution, one that didn’t end with most of the world’s population trampled in a senseless act of indiscriminate destruction.