Eren Yeager | The cry for freedom, the fight for freedom
Eren had been shown as a loyal, straightforward, and spirited boy who dives headfirst into any battle to reinstate his moralities of what’s right and what’s wrong.
Eren Yeager’s relentless fight for freedom is a testimony to the free spirits that are independent and believe in individuality since the time they understand how to differentiate between moralities.
Despite the eventual toxic outcome and the anti-hero elements that Hajime Isayama introduced into Eren’s character, the first three seasons of Attack on Titan have successfully made the viewers become fond of this character and support him through every turn of his life and the decisions he made.
Eren is the central protagonist whose perspective, the viewers get to enjoy the anime and see it unravel its stories.
Eren’s friendship and loyalty
Prior to Eren becoming an extremist and an antagonist who leads the genocidal mission through his Rumbling, Eren had been shown as a loyal, straightforward and spirited boy who dives headfirst into any battle to reinstate his moralities of what’s right and what’s wrong.
Eren's friendship with Armin and Mikasa grew from his childhood days when he used to get into fights with others over what was right and wrong, his judgemental morality, and Mikasa would always save him with her fighting and combat skills.
With Armin’s intellect, Eren’s determination, and Mikasa’s exemplary talent, the trio made a space of love in people’s hearts and influenced the viewers as well as the characters around them as the story developed. Eren stayed loyal to his friends and included them in everything while also thinking of saving them in dire moments when they needed saving.
When a cannon was pointed at him when everyone found out that he had turned into a titan, he took his titan form again to withstand it and to save both Armin and Mikasa from being hit with it. There are many instances where he stayed a loyal and devoted friend to the Recon Corps when they asked him to have faith in them.
Eren’s character development
Eren was a traumatized child with a flashback of his past that was too disturbing for any child to endure: seeing his own mother being eaten by a titan, and the dark element did not just stop there.
The titan, in a later episode, was revealed to be the first wife of his father who got turned into a titan due to her being a subject of Ymir. with the information and change in circumstances, while viewers can sympathize with his motives and mindset, it cannot be supported as mass genocide is a problematic solution to a dark history of oppression that Eldians endured.
Hajime Isayama beautifully and disturbingly threw light on sensitive topics of racism, xenophobia, justice, democracy, and the questionable sides of laws to rule a country.
The ancestral hate, cannibalism, and hunger for power are brutally expressed through the lives of the characters and their histories. An example of slave trading could be formed from the episode when Ymir was dragged as a slave after her village was burned and was married to King Fritz after she showed her capability to become a titan.
Many such sensitive and debatable aspects of Attack on Titan have been brought in front of the viewers along with the rollercoaster ride of the lives of their beloved characters thrown into question their existence.
Eren’s character is shown as a driving force of so many changes occurring all at once throwing the viewers and the readers into a moral dilemma.
Eren as a character is a very realistic and influential character and his design can be celebrated with his development into an anti-hero that questions more about human conscience than anyone in the series.
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