Hello! I'm new to Tumblr, but found your account(page/blog?) while looking for different Attack on Titan analyses. I mostly stay on the Twitter and Reddit side of the fandom (or at least the side of those platforms with people who like the ending and consider Eren to be one of their favourite characters). With that being said I wanted to ask you this:
When do you think Eren knew he would be stopped and that the Titan powers would vanish?
To me, 139 seems to imply that it was during chapter 90. For example, Armin says "That was the future you saw at the medal ceremony" and Eren knowing he'd be stopped is why he pushed his friends away, as they would then become heroes (though that clearly wasn't the main reason for his actions). But the idea he only learned it after becoming the Founding Titan has picked up a lot of steam, with it now seeming like the fanbase is 50/50 on the matter. I imagine the reason for this is the panel where Eren mentions that past and future don't exist to him anymore. However, if Isayama wanted to convey that Eren gained future memories at a point beyond the medal ceremony, I feel like special attention would have been paid to it in the final chapter, rather than a single panel.
I'll say I think either interpretation works for Eren's character, but I'm personally leaning towards the medal ceremony. In this case, people bring up the fact that he never considers his defeat or the end of the Titan curse (doesn't bring it up to Historia in 130 and even considers the possibility of one of his friends having to inherit his Titan during the railroad scene), but I think this is because he hadn't yet fully internalized the meaning of his future memories.
Before saving Ramzi, I think the only thing Eren thought of as being guaranteed to happen was the Rumbling, because that was something he already wanted. He had no way of understanding if the rest of his future memories would come to fruition or what he would even need to do to reach that future.
I believe that it isn't until after saving Ramzi, does Eren finally understand the inevitability of the future he saw (as I believe it's the first time he actually lives through a future memory), and as a result of him finally admitting his childish and selfish nature, is he able to accept a future in where he cannot complete the Rumbling, simply spending the rest of the story in a state of deep self-loathing, single-mindedly pursuing that future. Apologies for rambling about my own thoughts, it seems like you've never been much of an Eren fan lol, but I just wanted to hear other perspectives on this.
This was such a thoughtful and interesting read. Thank you for sending it to me. I'll confess this isn't an area I've given any deep thought and a few years away from the series has weakened my recall of it.
I'd assumed during the medal ceremony that Eren received a jolt of future memories when he touched Historia, but unlocking memories was something that had been happened to Eren throughout the manga. It makes sense that the memories in 90 were more future related unlike those relating to the Attack Titan like he'd previously gotten.
If I was to dive into this debate, it would be "both is good". Where touching Historia gave him a glimpse of the future, consuming the FT provided both clarity, confusion and the power to effect change. And I agree with you that the moment with Ramzi provided a face and depth to the horror he'd soon unleash. Mostly I think Isayama left all of this vague and hand-wavey for a reason. We know Eren had visions /Eren didn't like those visions / Eren mucked with the past to impact those visions / Eren scrambled his brain in the process / Must Rumble World. I do wonder if the lack of clarity is because Isayama ran out of time to develop the ideas more fully. There are a lot of things I'd like to press him for answers on.
And yes, Eren has always been a difficult character for me to appreciate, but I did enjoy the wild ride his story provided. It wouldn't have been nearly as interesting a manga without him. I read back through some of my older Eren posts and my emotions run the full spectrum for sure.
Thank you again for the ask. I'm sorry I can't do the answer justice but I really enjoyed reading your thoughts. Once I unbox my volumes, I might give this another read.
