Looking back on it, I might have been wrong about...
...Eren being driven by pure greed or a toxic desire for a "blank slate" world. When I first analyzed the difference between Arminâs curiosity and Erenâs rage, I thought it was about him wanting to possess that untouched wilderness. But looking closer, it isnât about wanting stuff at all. Itâs about a desperate, existential need to be "something"âto have a purpose and to constantly satisfy his own unyielding nature.
The truth is, even if Eren got that idealized, empty world, he still wouldn't have been happy or satisfied. There would be nothing left to push against, meaning all that violence and drive would inevitably turn inwards.
The Mantra as an Identity
Look at his literal life motto: "Fight, fight, fight." When Hange calls him out in front of the mirror, asking, "If you say 'fight, fight'... does that mean there are two fights?" they are pointing out the core flaw in his psyche. It isnât just a call to overcome oppression. For Eren, fighting is a literal requirement to exist.
Without it, he doesn't know how to be a person. His greatest fear isn't actually losing his friends or failing Paradis; it's the terrifying prospect of being "nobody." To Eren, a life of quiet peace is indistinguishable from being cattle trapped inside the walls. I mean look at his absolute distaste for people who were content living peacefully, he framed them as "cattle" purely for just wanting a normal peaceful life.
Eren didnât just want to fight for the sake of fighting; he wanted the fight to lead to the specific reward he and Armin had dreamed of. In their childhood fantasy, the outside world was an untouched, beautiful, and completely open paradise. It represented absolute, unrestricted freedom.
âWhen the enemy was the Titans, the world was simple:
âTitans = Brainless monsters (Evil).
âHumans inside the walls = Victims (Good).
âEren could view himself as a righteous savior fighting against monsters to achieve a pure goal. But finding out that the "monsters" across the ocean were just regular humansâinnocent children, families, and ordinary peopleâshattered that identity.
âIf he wanted to keep fighting, he could no longer pretend he was a righteous hero. To fight humanity, he had to become a monster himself. That is why he was so deeply disappointed: the reality of the world forced him to face the dark reality of his own nature. He realized that the only way to get the "blank slate" freedom he obsessed over was to commit an unforgivable atrocity.
In the early seasons, Eren is a screaming, raging tempest. He is constantly shouting, and noted by Levi for being an "absolute monster" of pure will, and completely unignorable.
âThe Traditional View: Heâs just a passionate, angry kid who wants to avenge his mother.
âMy Lens: The loudness is a defense mechanism against the void. If he is quiet, he is invisible. If he is invisible, he is just another piece of cattle waiting to be slaughtered inside the walls. By being a "loud crackling fire," he forces the universe to acknowledge him. His charisma isn't polished; it's a raw, magnetic pull of a person who is so entirely consumed by his own need to matter that others can't help but be drawn into his orbit
âOnce he unlocked the memories of the Founding Titan and realized the sheer, world-altering power he held, that existential panic of being "nobody" vanished. He didn't need to scream to be noticed because he knew he was about to become the center of gravity for the entire human race.
He chose to burst out from beneath a stage where Willy Tybur was literally putting on a play about him and Paradis. Willy was trying to define Eren to the world as the ultimate threat. By exploding through the building at that exact moment, Eren essentially said, "Let me define myself."
Usually, people see Eren pointing across the sea as a moment of grim realismâhe's the only one focusing on the political reality while his friends enjoy the water. But in my opinion, it was a moment of sheer existential panic:
â"If we kill all our enemies over there... will we finally be free?"
âIf freedom to Eren means the absolute absence of walls and enemies, then killing everyone should result in total freedom. But as I pointed out, the subtext he is wrestling with is much darker: "If I kill everyone, and there is no one left to oppose me, who am I?" He isn't just asking if they will be free; he's realizing that achieving his goal means the death of his identity. If the enemy disappears, the fire goes out.
This is a moment of profound internal horror. He is looking at the oceanâthe ultimate symbol of the "blank slate" he thought he wantedâand realizing it means nothing to him. The beauty of nature does not feed his soul because it provides no friction.
â"Because I Was Born Into This World"
âThis brings it all back to his ultimate philosophical justification. When Eren and Carla say "Because he was born into this world," it's usually treated as a beautiful statement about the inherent value of human life.
âBut for Eren, it gets twisted into a radical, aggressive entitlement to space and impact.
âIt's not just "I have the right to live quietly."
âIt's "I am here, my existence is undeniable, and I have the right to push against anything that tries to contain me."
How it connects to School castes:
In that peaceful, modern setting, Eren has a normal life, a loving family, and great friendsâand he is miserable. Eren sits in class completely numb, wishing for a zombie apocalypse or some massive, catastrophic global conflict just to break the monotony. He is desperate for a crisis to give his life meaning. When he realizes a supernatural threat isn't coming, he genuinely cries out of pure disappointment.
When Eren gets tangled up with actual, dangerous cultists/criminals, he gets kidnapped. Suddenly, the "cool, edgy conflict" he fantasized about becomes a reality. He is trapped, he is helpless, and he is genuinely terrified. He realizes that real violence isn't a glorious stage for his ego; itâs horrific, painful, and ugly. He desperately wants to go back to his ordinary life in that moment.
Now connect this to the rumbling and canon:
The Fantasy: Eren initiated the Rumbling because his inner nature demanded the ultimate, world-shattering conflict to define his existence. He wanted to be the storm.
âThe Reality: Once he actually started doing itâonce he was crushing innocent children like Ramzi, hearing the screams, and watching the world burnâthe reality of the horror caught up to his human psyche. Just like in School Castes, the actual weight of the atrocity was too much for him to bear.
The Cabin Dream: A Gift and a Warning
âThe vision Eren gives Mikasa in Chapter 138 (the cabin sequence) is great proof of this(for me). He shows her what would have happened if they ran away together:
âThey live in a secluded cabin.
âEren is quiet, wasting away, and waiting to die from the Titan curse.
âThe world outside is still falling apart, but they have abandoned the fight.
âOn the surface, it looks like a tragic romance, but underneath, it's Eren showing her why they could never work. He is proving to her that if he chose her version of peace, he would have to completely kill who he is. He would become a hollow shell of a man, rotting away in isolation because he isn't fighting. By telling her in that dream to "throw the scarf away" and "forget about me," he is begging her to let go of an idealised version of him that fundamentally cannot exist.
He didn't just push her away to protect her from himself and the conflicts; he pushed her away because her love demanded a version of Eren that his nature refused to be. Every time Mikasa tried to wrap the scarf around him or pull him back from a fight, she was trying to pull him toward safety, domesticity, and peace.
He couldn't confess to her or give into that relationship because doing so meant accepting a peaceful, quiet existence. His nature demanded that he be the monster, the fire, and the storm that tears the world apart. He knew he could never be the peaceful partner she deserved, so he chose to become the ultimate enemy she would be forced to killâallowing her to finally break free from her obsession with him and survive in the world he left behind.
The Ultimate Theater of Conflict
This completely reframes the Rumbling and why he stopped at 80%(imo). If his goal was strictly to protect Paradis, a 100% flattening was the logical choice. If he just wanted his friends to survive, he could have used the Founder's power to alter their memories or keep them from fighting.
Instead, he practically begged the Alliance to oppose him. He didn't just want to save his friends; he wanted to be remembered by everyone. By positioning himself as the ultimate "Devil of all Earth" and forcing his closest friends into a world-shaving showdown, he guaranteed his legacy.
He chose to become the ultimate axis around which human history would forever turn, preferring to be a monster etched into the scars of the earth rather than risk living and dying as a nobody. Even in death, Eren forced the universe to acknowledge that he was here.
(BTW, this is just my personal speculation of his character, im sure many would disagree but to each their own I guess)
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