Well said. In short, Levi’s flaws are what make him such a standout character. I think if you attempt to whitewash those, you strip him of his best qualities. Additionally, I agree wholeheartedly with your comments regarding the pro-genocide crowd. It’s very reminiscent of incels, and the most damning mirror of this is is their objectification of Historia. Moving past that, though, great points on Eren’s characterization. I've found his character almost Shakespearean in its tragedy. It’s (c)
really poignant character writing that I find especially rare in manga, simply because it boils down to conviction. This is anecdotal, but it doesn’t take much for me to slip into his shoes and understand his position despite other options potentially being available. It’s easy to jump to that extreme because something so harsh (i.e., the world) rails against your beliefs. It speaks to the rebellious child always present in Eren, and to see that pillar of his character lead to this is tragic.
I actually think a lot of the people who side with Eren feel like him.
All they see is the bad stuff in the world. I might not want anything to do with those people because they're the ones who send death threats and harass other people in general, but just like Eren, I think the way they behave is human.
They are scared of the outside world because they've been hurt by it, no matter how miniscule it might seem to outsiders.
For incels it might be a girl rejecting them and further fear of rejection because many men aren't taught how to talk to people or anything necessary for healthy communication.
The communities that criticise their behaviour also often don't let people change without completely shitting on them as people.
So these communities that let them stew in their misery form.
For Eren it's his trauma. All of the horrible things Marley has done to Paradis. All of the horrible things Marley did to his father. Even all of the horrible things OG Ymir went through. Eren didn't just see it, he felt all of it and he doesn't want anyone else he knows to go through any of the awful stuff he has seen and felt.
A lot of it is probably made bigger than it is in his head, too. I think it's all in self-perception and character perspective.
I know a lot of people feel this entire thing is out of character for him and Eren wouldn't succumb to this cruel world because everything he has seen isn't that bad and he's resilient and he wasn't in Marley that long, but I think what's going on in his head really does matter a lot because we see over and over again how his mind forces him into a thoughtloop.
This is something that happens a lot to depressed people, actually: depression is an illness that turns the mind against you. It forces you to focus on the negative and no matter how many times people tell you everything is going to be alright, those words don't actually reach you because your mind runs back to the negative.
He can see the little kid being harassed by the Marleyans, but not find much joy in the food or technology or any of the fun when he first reaches Marley.
Then there's also the inevitability of the situation, the future memories he sees. He actually did end up saving the little kid, but then the Eldians of the mainland also reject the Paradisians' wish to connect and Willy ultimately declares war on them before Eren even does anything. They try everything, but none of it either seems to work or doesn't reach Eren.
Personally I think the path to where he is now is plenty believable.
We as an audience see the good and the bad, but Eren can only focus on the bad.
I dunno if I'd say the world railed against his conviction, but the world turned out to have a lot of awful people in it and he ended up not seeing any other choice but doing this.
I think I've also seen a comment that the narrative wants us to believe that there really was no choice and does it in forced ways, but as I've said many times already, I really think this is all Eren's character perspective. There pretty clearly were actually opportunities, especially before Liberio.
I think it even extends to himself where I think he seems to want to convince himself that he has always been this horrible murderer, when a lot of things earlier in the story contradict that.
Down to chapter 6, where his ultimate reasoning for what he did actually was that he wanted to save Mikasa.
He's an extremely unique and interesting character to me.
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