Eren Yeager is (not) a SLAVE | The Complete Character Analysis 

There are no spoilers for anime onlies up until 37:32 so don't worry about getting spoiled. And for the rest of the cool kids who've read the manga, feel free to watch the entire thing lol. I've seriously put my all into this so hope y'all enjoy! Also, something I want to mention that I didn't in the video (only click read-more if you've read the manga) MAIN POINT: I've seen a good amount of people who've failed to understand the point of this video. So I'll explicitly state it here. In the video, I stated that Eren was a just slave to the paths. HOWEVER, I also stated that through his own free will, he fought and continued on fighting for those he loved. He sacrificed his own freedom for the freedom of his people and most importantly, his friends. Now let me elaborate on that point. You see, the reason this video is titled (not) a SLAVE is because to me, Eren is, in a sense, both a slave and not a slave. How? Well, he's a slave because he has no control over all the key events that would occur. BUT what he does have control over is his will to choose the path he would follow. And so, through his own choices, through his own free will, Eren chose to fight. Although he couldn't change the key events that would occur, it was his decision to fight at every pivotal event that made his desired future come true. He chose to attack Marley. He chose to free Ymir. He chose to activate the Rumbling. All these actions were of his own free will and these exact choices were what lead to everything that happened. Had he not done this, then, the ENTIRE story of AOT would've played out differently. Thus, Eren is a slave because everything (within his desired future) was pre-determined. However, he is also not a slave because his free will, his own choices, and his resolve to fight were what made said future come true.

"The ocean was just another wall" Dear god that was beautifully said.

People who interpret him hating slaves yet being one as bad writing make me facepalm. A character being a hypocrite is not bad writing. It is human nature. Eren is a human.

I love Eren as a character, he has such a 1 dimensional view in the beginning but he has so many complex changes that turn him into such a unique character

I am just disappointed at the people who disliked without even watching the full video, because I don't see how you can dislike this after watching the full video.

I think the best theme Isayama explained was the slave to anything. Slave is just one word, you could say attachment, addiction or liking something. Being a slave to something is your passion to find meaning in your life. It’s pretty cool to think about

finally, someone who understands eren’s character

I think it's important for anime characters to find the perfect balance of developmental growth being relatable and not boring Op while also not being a little bitch. People that do that really well in my opinion are Edward Elric, Eren Yeager, Ken Kaneki, Thorfinn, Kei Nagai, Johnny Joestar and Guts

I feel Eren was always free. Indeed, Eren chose this path because is the one he wanted. Who manipulates all the attack titan trajectory? Who manipulated his dad to get the founder titan? Who gave to himself those two abilities to keep moving forward with his plan? The one and only Eren Jaeger. he could change his future, but why he gotta do something like that when the future he chose was the one he wanted? Of course he died with regrets, but Eren was the freest person in the world, Eren could complete the rumbling, Eren could confess his feelings to Mikasa and expend with her his remaining years, but Eren rather the freedom of Eldia and his friends even over his deepest wishes. If he was a "slave" of something he was a slave of freedom. Also about his "chad" phase, I don't think that was fake, he stated that past present a future were one in his mind, just imagine he seeing everyday all those he will kill and all the things he manipulated to achieve his plan was such a mental burden to him. But deep inside of him the Eren he was still there. Maybe people will not agree with what I said, but that's how I see Eren, such a brilliant, deep and complex character.

Eren’s character broke me. When I first watched season 1 I never would have imagined this is what he would become and yet, it makes complete sense. No other character has ever broken my heart as much as eren did, and no other show has destroyed me as much as aot. So in the end all I can say is to give a round of applause and a thankyou to Isayama,

I really appreciate this analysis for seeing the beauty of how war continues after Eren's sacrifice, human conflict doesn't end, and violence continuing after Eren's efforts is in line with the realistic themes of AOT

Finally a real analysis and not "boohoo eren cringe!!". I loved this video, Eren is one of my favorite protagonists of all anime. In my opinion he is not a slave to his destiny, but the destiny is like it is because of Eren. He saw his future when he kissed Historia's hand, but he still made the decision to follow that path, and all the suffering he went through was real. But people forget Eren is still a human, who just wanted freedom and had to sacrifice that dream to give hope to Paradis. Sorry i dont know how to explain my thoughts very well, just know i loved the video.

We can really see all the effort that was put into this video! It helped me understand erens character a lot better. I had a interesting dream I wanna share because it was really scary how eye opening it was. So I didn’t understand why Eren became a mass murderer and why he committed global genocide. It felt so out of character for someone who’s whole purpose of freedom and saving humanity. It was a few days after I read chapter 139 I think. One night I had a dream (i wasn’t aware it had anything to do with aot when it started, it was just any other dream) where I had the power and ability to choose to keep my family and friends safe in a world where they would be in danger. I saw the future outcome of what would happen if I wiped out the whole world, and I chose to do that, saving everyone I loved. I felt so strongly about my passion to save people, feeling like everything I’ve done until then would go to waste if I let others do what they wanted to my loved ones. It was a lot longer and there was a lot of fighting and hardships involved, but I’ll cut that short since this comment is already long. People hated me, my loved ones hated me for doing this, but I had to keep fighting. After I saved them and the fighting was over, as corny as it sounds, I was near a body of water and looked in the reflection. I saw Erens face and I absolutely understood him. I saw his tired eyes in my reflection and it gave me chills. Weirdest dream I’ve had in a while. I was surprised my subconscious could give me such a deep understanding of a character because I was in his shoes. So weird because I was honestly kind of unsatisfied with Erens motives when the manga ended, but after this dream I’ve got so much more sympathy for him.

Ive read the manga and watched the anime multiple times, even so this video has really helped me understand Eren more fully as a character. Thank you for making this video.

The pannel where Eren is grounded in chapter 139 with the footsteps is amazing it reminds me of the freedom pannel Eren freedom was deluded when he held himself in the sky when people were getting killed now with the grounded pannel he’s not deluded he accepts reality he’s on the ground . And nice character analysis keep it up

it brings me joy and reassurance to hear someone else say they understood, even though the ending was "rushed" it was not ruined. it pained me to see the fandom practically die over night due to the mixed feelings people had over this Masterpiece's ending but you gave me my hope back that there are still those that "got it".

Honestly that scene where he confessed his love for Mikasa and what he wanted. Didn’t make me cringe at all. Honestly it made me smile but feel somber inside. It showed his true humanity. It honestly showed who he was as a person. The reason it also felt somber was because no matter what he did he would never get that future. It’s kinda like when you go through a break up with someone and you sit there and you think “FUCK I’m never gonna be together with them like that again.” That’s genuinely what it made me feel. It showed me that Eren truly was a person who had thoughts and feelings like everybody else.

I can’t even imagine how long this took to make, keep it up bro

10/10 analysis for a 10/10 protagonist.

I thought I’d update my comment as it really was the best analysis. Ok here’s my most recent take on the ending. This show has always been a commentary and allegory for the flaws of humanity and it’s nature. Ultimately I think it stays true to the theme by showing that no matter what we do true freedom is simply unattainable. I don’t think Eren being a clueless slave to fate was outta nowhere. Call me arrogant but I think it was pretty obvious that Eren was a unwilling slave to fate since the time travel reveal. Even his founding titan design is a hint at this, he’s literally being strung up and hanged by strings like a puppet does that look free to you? (It’s also a reference to the Norse god Odin when he hanged himself on a tree and sacrificed a eye for enlightenment. Aot has a lot of Norse symbolism) Not to mention I believe there’s a possible explanation for Eren’s behavior and that’s that he developed some extreme fiction version of multiple personality disorder disorder to cope with the atrocities he’s committed. This hypothesis is not without basis either. Because of Paths Eren experience time all at once past, present and future thus splintering his psyche. He was shown to have always been screwed up in the head since childhood he killed two men without remorse so likely a form of anti-social personality disorder. Couple that with repeated trauma and excessive stress in his adolescence it was only a matter of time before his mental state snapped. I guess ultimately it’s like Kenny Ackerman once said “everyone’s a slave to something”. The cycle of violence wasn’t broken and history will only repeat itself. I don’t even think Eren could’ve succeeded in completing the rumbling. As far as I can piece together from the little explanation and exposition we got it looks like time travel in Aot works fairly deterministically. (Eren says time in path exists all at once and we saw Eren try to deny his visions by testing the accuracy of them) That’s the tragedy of Eren Yeager, he wanted freedom and free will but you can’t exactly have that when you know what’s gonna happen anyways. Ironically in his pursuit of freedom Eren lost his free will and individuality. Eren even denied this fact and kept trying to convince himself he was free but the moment Sasha died that was the breaking point. Eren asking Mikasa what she was to him and her answer really wasn’t that important it’s the implications of her answer. Eren didn’t start the rumbling cause he was “friend zoned” it was cause if Mikasa had answered differently it would’ve meant Eren’s visions of the future are just possibilities but since she answered exactly as he saw that proved to him he really was trapped and that he had no freedom. Even the fact that Eren could only kill 80% of the world is more proof of this. If he could’ve just killed a few more people that’d be enough to prove to himself he really was free but alas he couldn’t even do that. Eren ultimately trapped himself in a self induced time loop, in the end Eren lost and determinism and fate won. Eren was always a flawed character I think the fault was with us, we idolize and got attached to Eren when we shouldn’t of. Isayama wrote Eren not as a noble character but one driven by his wrath, rage, fear and obsession. Aot was never a story about freedom and ideology it was always a story of humanity in all it’s beauty and complexity yet also how twisted, immoral and corrupt it can be. I also think that chapter was pretty good in concept just not in execution. I think a good deal of the problem was just bad dialogue and even than it isn’t Isayama fault. Japanese fans are saying that even the official translation was botched so we have the publishers to blame for the awkward dialogue. The dialogue was certainly on the nose but I think that they aren’t supposed to be taken at face value in the first place. Eren’s line about not knowing why he started the rumbling wasn’t really the reason he started the rumbling but more so how he feels about it. It was already established in chapter 131 that Eren wanted the rumbling and to wipe everything away cause he was disappointed with what he discovered beyond the walls, but he was still remorseful for the way he felt especially once he realized the costs. It can even be argued he’s in a sort of disbelief at his actions, it’s also the reason I think Eren was shown as a child in the paths a important thematic detail many seem to forget. The atrocities he committed took such a toll on him he reverted to a child like state back when Eren had a very one dimensional world view of the all the enemies being evil just to prove to himself what he was doing was right and justified, but deep down Eren knew how rotten and selfish his actions were however he refused to accept that. I also think that Armin thanking Eren had far more depth to it but was just badly worded. I doubt Armin actually agreed with Eren’s actions but it was more so to comfort or sympathize with Eren in his dying moments, remember this is the last interaction between the two before Eren’s death. In the Japanese version apparently Armin’s line went something closer to “thank you for bearing the burdens you had to we won’t let the opportunity go to waste” see how much better that is? I think it’d be even better if it’d simply been changed to “I’m sorry you had to do this, I’m sorry you were pushed to bear this burden”. It would’ve accomplished the same thing without being misinterpreted as Armin suddenly agreeing with Eren while simultaneously being a lot less on the nose. I honestly think that Armin is one of the most important characters in Aot possibly even more so than even Mikasa not necessarily cause of his achievements but what he represents. The only thing Eren ever truly did out of his own free will is befriend Armin. Ever since time travel was introduced the range of possibilities and what paths Eren influenced was almost endless however even if paths Eren setup child Eren to meet Armin, Eren would’ve still had to been the one to make the choice to befriend Armin. Ultimately with what little free will Eren ever had the one choice that was made without any possible influence was to befriend Armin so by freeing Armin he is by extension freeing himself as Armin could arguably be the literal and metaphorical symbol of Eren’s freedom. Now that I think about it even if the ending was better written it’d still be a incredibly controversial ending. I see many complain that the ending has no message but ironically that’s kinda the message. Which ever way you interpret the ending it’s alway the same message: nihilism. The literal message is nothing matters and history will only repeat itself, essentially the futility of human life so even if changes were made and the writing better it’d still leave many unhappy as the idea of nihilism just isn’t for everyone. I personally quite like the idea as it’s the first time I’ve seen a work of fiction have such a obviously hopeless and nihilistic ending. Even the most depressing and dark endings I’ve seen usually have a silver lining, but Aot has the opposite approach. The ending is presented as hopeful but if you look at the actual implications and if the leaks are true than the message is clearly nihilism and it’s not even the optimistic kind it’s just straight up “nothing matters and life is ultimately pointless”. Hell for all we know our characters might not even be in the first titan loop. Maybe it’s already repeated multiple times now and every time it ends the same with humanity’s destruction and the recreation of the Titans. It’s a incredibly cynical message, those who acted selfishly like Annie got everything they’ve ever wanted and those who selflessly sacrificed themselves were punished and lost everything they’ve ever loved and fought for. A second theory of mine that I’d like to add is that I have is that Eren like Reiner developed Disassociative Personality Disorder caused by the attack and Titans ability to see the future and past. If you think about it are you ever the same person? Our psyche and consciousness is in a constant and perpetual state of change you are a different person than you were a minute ago. Eren on the other hand could see the past present and future all simultaneously he is in other words omniscient but that omniscience came at the cost of splintering Eren’s psyche. One could only imagine what a mental toll that’d take on Eren especially since he valued freedom and free will so much. Ironically the attack titan who supposedly the freest of all titans and strives for freedom is the least free of all the Titans thanks to it’s own ability. I thus believe there were 3 separate Eren’s post time skip. Whiny og Eren who was the one we follow for the majority of the series, godlike paths Eren and the metaphorical child Eren. The og Eren as I call him denied the rumbling, he knew what would happen but for the longest time he was in denial until he realized he no longer could. Ultimately his mental state snapped and in came paths or god Eren. God Eren is hardly human and isn’t really even Eren. He’s the physical personification of fate in the Aot world he is essentially god. Who knows what his goals are? He’s omniscient his goals are beyond our understanding and human comprehension. We don’t know why he’s doing what he’s doing but we know what he’s doing and that’s carrying out fate as a sort of angel of the apocalypse. Look point is it’s a conflicting ending. I originally hated the ending and even went as far as to rant about it online, but thinking back it actually had a lot of depth. This was a controversial ending but love or hate it I think at the end of the day the end is the end and it’s about time we all made our peace with it. Just my two cent

Finally positive opinion, RU-vid is literally filled with Eren hate after the 139. This is really sad that so many people are ready to give up on such an astonishing character because he said he loved Mikasa 💀

We need more RU-vidr reviewers like you who rather than calling everything trash just because they don't like it (Anime balls deep and many others who are immature as hell) try to be objective as much as possible. I really enjoyed your analysis of Eren.

This prime essay is the most complete, fully-realized, accurate, profound, and meaningful Eren character analysis I've seen yet. Thank you for crafting this beautiful piece that so flawlessly depicts and captures all the aspects that make Eren's character and story so compelling, and for properly understanding what makes Eren such a phenomenal character. You've pointed out all the stunning themes, parallels, and symbolism present in his story, and his insane character growth paths that led to his drastic evolutions.

So I discovered this thread on Twitter and along with your video it probably gives the best explanation that I have read so far regarding Eren's motivations. "My interpretation of the beauty and tragedy surrounding eren jaeger's character and also explaining the newfound meaning behind his 139 & rumbling arc appearances and why aot's final message is that eren's birth is the embodiment of freedom itself."" For easier understanding, i'll start with eren's motivations first: adult eren didn't want to finish the rumbling and live with guilt afterwards neither did he want to give paradis freedom through a worldwide genocide. He wanted what his child & teen self always wished for and that was to eradicate all titans in this world by ensuring to break the curse. It was his strongest desire until the day he died which makes his character consistent, but in an unexpected way. it was assumed that eren moved on from that goal as the world's problems increased but Eren's interaction with Ymir in chapter 122 at paths disproves this completely. Eren always stayed the same, following his desire to end the titans, which is why his answer to king fritz's "so long as MY world exists" is "i'll put an end to THIS world" AKA the world in which titans exist, not humans. And this line, that talks about eradicating all titans, was used to remind the reader of eren's very first motivations and was never aimed at humanity as a whole. All of his child appearances in the rumbling arc happened to foreshadow the final motivation of our current eren. With this knowledge in mind, we should look at his emotional outbursts in 131 & 139 and how they are tightly linked to the core beliefs of teen eren; Someone who always loathed mass murderers which explains why eren was so disappointed of humanities' existence outside paradis. He didn't want to fight more people as they will only be another obstacle in the way of 1. finishing his mission to end the curse and 2. his desire to turn the world of armin's book into reality A childhood dream that eren wasn't willing to let go. He refused to grow up was still a child at heart amongst the cruelty of war which forced him to grow up way too quickly. This is why the line at the final panel of chapter 138 says: "To the *boy* who sought freedom ... goodbye" Eren's soul was always boyish and led by a will, stubborn and determined. He wasn't sorry about his morality being corrupt and therefore being his reason to move forward and kill humanity. He was sorry because it became corrupt due to his childish stubbornness of wanting to break the curse no matter what and forcing him to become the monster he despised. 139 reconfirmed how eren was never a cold-blooded selfish monster who thought the ends justify the means or saw any noble motives behind what he did which is why he refuses to be redeemed or get a second chance, as he is facing death. 133 takes a look at this conflict as well, where the alliance tries to reach eren wanting him to "come back" and "always stay together" due to their emotional attachement when eren was aware of how he reached the point of no return a long time ago. He followed the path of taking away the freedom from the ones who do the same to him and the "ones" only being the titans and the people who prevent him from breaking the curse. It was never about his friends who want to stop the rumbling which is why giving them freedom makes sense since eren saw the future in which all of their choices lead to fulfilling his mission as well. Eren's innocent idealism of a titan-free world never vanished completely and i think that's beautiful. He carried out the will of the survey corps members as he always had a part of their dreams in his heart let's move on to 97 which explores this further. When talking about "pushing yourself into hell" eren was referring to the day he led dina's titan to his mom so her death can activate his rage. The panelling making it obvious that this was a direct callback as well. Eren did this for what he saw "beyond that hell" which was the final result that promised him to free the world from the titans. Therefore being one step closer to the world he saw in armin's book but eren questions what's beyond & whether it's tied to "hope" or "another hell". This indicates that eren knew he won't be alive to witness the aftermath way before he talked about this in 139 since if he was, he would be aware of the outcome in his future memories. Eren walked on this path despite knowing that he won't be alive in the titan-free world he always desired. He had to sacrifice his humanity and defeat his enemy only to be united with him in death. This makes his fate a tragic but also beautiful one. but how? Eren died and suffered from the powers of the AT and FT while living under the oppression of the titans for the majority of his life, so what part about him was free? Why was grisha the one to say this to him when he wasn't free either? The answer is that the "you're free" quote was never supposed to consider the world eren lived in neither was it about eldians as a whole who weren't free yet. It was about the one person whose destiny was to save humanity from the terror of the titans since the day he was born; about eren jaeger who was that one glimpse of hope amongst all the people trapped in this birdcage as he was the one who chose to walk on the path of freedom that his AT represents. Eren pushed himself into hell to end titan history and therefore free the founder and humanity Since the day eren kissed historia's hand, he had to align his actions to what he saw in his future while experiencing his past, present & future as well. This took a toll on his mental health which is why he wished for things to change but he knew they can't since he wanted this doing anything for that one result as it was out of his own free will; making eren the freest of them all as his fate was in his favour like no one else's being promised to achieve what you've always wished for since the day you were born. Eren was born to eradicate the titans and free the world that way not to end the conflicts between humanity as a whole. His birth was also the birth of the end memory that would free everyone as he was the only AT who's able to meet mikasa. It's why he kept mentioning his birth whenever he faced people who couldn't understand his life story. "because i was born into this world" being a quote which reminds eren of his freedom, his reason and his mission. From the day we're born, we have a purpose. This new perspective on things makes child & teen eren's journey much more hopeful and emotional, since future eren desperately wanted to show the end memory he saw to everyone else as well. Eren was the first one to see the meaning of freedom. His innocent dream to show his friends a world without titans always remained and it's why he wanted them to survive so badly all this time. His will was so strong that the message of saving mikasa and armin reached previous attack titan's as well Thanks to 139 being the final puzzle piece, it was revealed that eren was always one step ahead therefore the titans never truly trapped him in a birdcage or overpowered him since all of this was planned by him to reach the end memory, which ultimately destroys his enemy. Eren's statements shown in the paths chapters get a new precious meaning as well because he was being simply straightforward. He was always like this because he was born into this world and his mission was to prevent the continuation of titan history and nothing else. It also feels like eren's answer to armin's question about why he did all of this is him being connected to the very first conscious memory he had as a baby, considering the panelling as well but a look at his eyes at both ages is enough proof; they're shining out of curiosity. That panel in 139 just screams "because i was born into this world" to me. Eren isn't saying these exact words because there's no need to as we are literally witnessing his birth right before our eyes. This scene in whole scene is also another parallel to trost where armin asks about the "why?". Eren expresses the unexplained desire to go down this path which was his destiny & freedom since day 1, connecting eren's birth with his death to the point he can't seperate his feelings/thoughts shows how his journey came full circle. This context makes his answer beautiful. At last, i wanna discuss the final question which is what's the meaning behind grisha saying "you're free" to baby eren? It could simply mean that grisha listened to krugers words of loving your child and not repeating the same mistakes again, which he didn't do with zeke before not putting the burdens of the past on eren this time since he's a special case but why? and how did grisha know this? Through eren's birth and his inheritage of the AT, grisha was shown memories of the future; the key memory being that it will all go eren's way, which he probably saw way before eren was even born. Just like it happened to kruger and if the AT carries out his will, it means that he walked on the path of freedom. The moment the final attack titan is born, he is free. i hope this interpretation allows the fandom to see eren in a different light as it turns out that he had an inspiring dream and died fulfilling it. The moment he was born, eren was the embodiment of freedom and the enemy which was supposed to destroy him ultimately freed him at the same time. This only being possible because eren moved forward and overcame his biggest fear by facing it with a brave heart. His determination led him towards a future in which his wishes will be fulfilled

I noticed that in a comment thread you expressed dissatisfaction with the new leaked additional pages. As such I'd like to put my thoughts across as to why I personally think they made things better. 1. It's true that Paradis does gets carpet bombed in a war but we don't actually know the full context of what this war was about. The fact that Paradis advanced to the point that it had a modern society with Anti aircraft defense systems, very strongly implies a long era of peace and trade with the outside world. This means that the alliance crew very likely succeeded in Talk no Jutsuing the Jaegerists during their negotiations as trading in and of itself requires a degree of trust, cooperation and understanding in order to occur. Hence, when some people blame Eren and the alliance crew for not properly protecting Paradis, this would pratically be the equivalent of blaming the Founding Fathers of America for Pearl Harbor because they didn't adequately prepare for World War 2. Chances are that Paradis was involved in a World War that largely had little to do with prejudice against them. They likely had allies that fought with them and in turn the rest of the world may well be in a similar state as Paradis. Giving the potential sequel to AOT a post apocalyptic setting. 2. The boy and his dog. I think you missed out on the potential of this boy because while he does find the Titan tree, hinting that the power of the titans will return, the way he finds it is in a manner that's the complete opposite of how Ymir found it. The boy for instance appears to be exploring the ruins with his canine companion while by contrast Ymir stumbled across it as she was being hunted down by hounds and their masters. In short, the boy is free in contrast to how Ymir was a slave. The main reason why the Titan powers manifested themselves in the way they did was due to it reflecting Ymir's damaged and traumatised Psyche, not to mention her subsequent cannibalisation giving birth to shifters, the 13 year curse and the scourge of Pure Titans. Hence the power of the Titans falling into the hands of a being that's physically and psychologically free, will give it a chance to take on a new form. Whether this would be good or bad for mankind, we don't know as it would all depend upon the choices this boy makes. The new founder and, who is technically, the next inheritor of the Attack Titan.

Bro you were absolute spot on with eren's character. For a minute I thought you wrote attack on titan😂. I'm so glad we have people like you in the aot fanbase that are not simple minded and understand the complexity's and greatness of eren's character. 10/10 video👍

Finally someone who gets it!!! In all honesty the end could of been executed a bit better but the ideas are there and the ending is beautifully sad and amazing for the true fans that understood the tone and ideas that Aot brings out beautiful analysis. Subbed and saved this for when my anime friends see the ending

50:01 this scene is not cringe but truly well done. eren's burst of feelings spilling out of his mouth after so much of acting were very well written and no one can tell me otherwise

Thank you for making this video, my friend. I am severely disappointed with how people seem to think his character development was just an act just because he cried about never being able to be with any of his friends again, right before he was about to DIE.

Finally a someone who sees genius of Eren's character. 99% of fandom is now just crying "booo Eren is a simp", but you got it well. Good job.

A place of comfort. This analysis is spot on. Ending was not perfect, but the themes illustrated are real. Thanks for this !!

Everything about this video is absolute perfection. Amazing vid my g and I hope this vid blows up as well, u deserve it for sure. Keep it up!

God like analysis this is exactly why attack on titan and eren yaeger are a masterpiece

This is an incredible video. The script managed to make me laugh and cry all the while giving an incredible look at one of if not my favorite character of all time. Thank you!!

WHAT A GREAT JOB MAN. I cannot imagine how long a 54 min video took to make. The quality is super nice and smooth. Also, great analysis on AOT. P.S *if it wasn't clear before* AMAZING FKIN VIDEO

i watched half yesterday and half today and all i can say is god tier vid man.

Holy hell I'm saving this for when I finish catching up with the final season. Thank you for the video essay!

Wow, incredible. Thanks for making this video. I’m the kind of person who needs many viewings and readings about a complicated series like this, to feel like I have a grasp on it. This was exactly what I was looking for. Your analysis of Eren’s character made so much sense and helped me understand his motivations. It’s funny to me that everyone apparently hates his Mikasa outburst and finds it “cringe”...when I read that, it made me so happy. It was a gift of one last rare and awkward comedic AoT moment. I loved it.

This is by far the best character analysis of Eren, truly worthy of all praise. Such a masterful creator

Now I'm not one of the cool kids but man you really put Eren under a different light huh? I didn't hate him or anything but I just kind of dismissed him as annoying. This is one of the few times where my perspective on a character has largely changed because of a analysis video. It's very well narrated, analyzed, edited, background score and everything. Once I see the anime's finale next year I'll return to see the rest of the video!

An amazing video. Eren is my favorite character of all. Still, your analysis helped me understand him better, thanks man ✌🏽

dude this vid is so perfekt. I feel like everyone of those dislikes is someone who doesnt exept that the final chapter didnt ruin anything LMAO

I feel bad for all the people who won’t be able to see this amazing video, this is something that should have millions of views.

Great video! Finally a good character analysis about Eren. He is my favourite AOT character and one of my favourite anime protagonists. Many people started liking him only because of his chad persona and failed to see beyond it.

Throughout the years of being on RU-vid I have never seen a video this deep and significant

I truly dont understand how people didnt like the ending, even hated it. It's beautiful, it comes full circle, it shows the flaws in Eren , his humanity, and it has a defenite sense of closure. Great video and keep it up :)

Thank you for such a brilliant analysis Eren will always be one of my favourite anime characters ever even with my issues with the ending Your analysis has helped me remember why I love this character so much

Wow, beautiful well made video. ❤️❤️❤️ Finally another positive video about Eren. If I think about it we don't quite see anime characters contradict themselves much. As human beings, we contradict ourselves. Eren contradicting himself doesn't mean he's a bad character.

Damn you did hell of a good job in explaining everything bro💯❤ I LOVE IT!!!

This honestly was an amazing watch, and I hope that this video reaches the AoT fans that deserve to watch this. People are free to dislike the ending all they want, but first they have to stop misinterpreting this series for what it isn't meant to be. I feel that especially with the newer fans, they tend to ignore Eren before the time skip, completely disregarding it as part of his character and see him purely as the monster in the story without anything else to his character.

Nice character analysis video.

Your analysis was 10/10, I've always understood eren's character but this made me feel like the ending was a good ending but it feels a little rushed hopefully in the anime they fix that, you deserve more views keep it up :)

wow, someone who actually knows what they're talking about!

After a lot of thinking and analyzing. I've come to the realisation that Eren, is not only a great written character but also extremely relatable on so many levels. Of course, we are real people and we don't fight titans or shapeshift. But I think many of us have found ourselves in a position where you feel as if you have a big burden or responsibility placed on your shoulders, to the point where it is overwhelming and you don't really know how to handle it so we break down sometimes. I feel like many of us have felt like everything's our fault or that we are failing in what's expected from us. I just really like Eren, Isayama nailed his protagonist.

This is a great analysis that illustrates erens character. Denying the development shown in front of you in this video is ignorant.

I think the ending is a 7/10 in execution. I love the ideas and themes and everything done, but it’s left a ton of people who misinterpreted the dialogue and themes and Jesus the amount of people I’ve had arguments with defending this amazing character is insane. But I have to keep moving forward. I felt the ending needed 2 or 3 more chapters and some easier to interpret dialogue but I’m still satisfied with what happened

Eren is a Slave for his future self. Meanwhile his future self is a slave to the repercussions of the past.

Simply fantastic. It is so refreshing to see someone give 139 a chance and give a reasonable take on it instead of outright dismissing the whole character and his journey. Also, I think that the chapter will be better explained and fleshed out by the additional panels, along with the interviews and encyclopedia. I really appreciate all the hard work that went into this. Thank you very much.

Man this is just such a MASTERPIECE of a video, the writing, the editing, the music. Absolutely everything had my attention GRIPPED. Someone get this man to 100k he deserves it🙏

Your video genuinely is like a breath of fresh air after looking at all the video thumbnails which literally shit on Eren's character as a whole after the final chapter. As one of the few Eren fans who loved his character since the very beginning of the series, I genuinely find it amazing how beautifully Eren's character was crafted and how he embodies the definition of a "tragic hero" imo. Whether we talk about his determined yet kinda pathetic personality, his philosophy of freedom, him becoming a slave to his very own actions and desires or his very broken mind and soul which are constantly battling themselves while at the same time does not budge from his saying of "I keep moving forward", his end broke me while I literally kept on thinking that he deserved so much more. Many people are calling him walmart Lelouch and as much as I love Lelouch, I cannot help but disagree with them because Lelouch at the end of the story was actually a hero to us viewers. He plays the role of a villain while having a very modest wish, to reunite the world and bring peace. However Eren's character cannot be called a martyr because he did not "play" the role of the Devil, he legit "became" that. Because this guy, no matter how shattered and broken he became with the passage of time, carried out the mission that he knew he was supposed to fulfil. On the surface level, sure these two characters had similar motives, to protect their loved ones. But the execution of their plans are as well as their characterization are what make these two characters so different from each other. If there is any character that I kinda find similar to Eren, it would be Kaneki from TG and Sufferants has made an incredible video on these two. I think thats what makes characters like Kaneki, Eren, Guts, Musashi, Thorfinn, Punpun, Kenzo Tenma, Edward and Johnny Joestar so compelling to me because they are not just a product of their environment but we also see them question their own morals and flawed actions. Eren's desires were selfish but at the same time, they were selfless. His plan was never to unite the world and bring peace or remove hatred BY COMMITTING GENOCIDE but rather to ensure the safety of his friends and his people who were not even considered humans due to the titan curse. It's ironic but at the same time it makes sense because everything that Eren does is on his own free will but at the same time, he is a slave to his own desires, to his own future. Him asking for forgiveness in front of Ramzi while he cries like a pathetic man shows that. The freedom panel is literally the part where it shows that Eren, no matter how much he screams and pushes himself to "that" scenery, has now completely shattered from the inside because he just cannot come in terms with the atrocities that he is committing. He became a monster willingly but at the same time when it came to head on face the actions that he is committing, he turns a blind eye to it and becomes the delusional child that he once was. He pushed away his friends and threw away his humanity and I think that's where his character becomes more interesting because Eren, even after willingly becoming a monster, still wishes to be seen as human, wants to remain human, at least to those "for whom" he kept pushing forward. His friends represent the humanity that is left within him, as if they are now the only "valid" reason for Eren to keep moving forward. Can one say that he in now making excuses for his actions by saying he is doing it for Mikasa and Armin and everyone? Well of course! But can he excuse himself by straight out confessing it in front of them? Hell no! That's why he doesn't answer Armin when he first asks him did he really have to go that far for them. And the next time when he again asks, Eren says "I don't know" while the you're free panel is shown. It's as if Eren knows he desires to be free but at the same time he is afraid to be judged by his best friend because his vision of freedom is flawed. He deep down inside is aware of the fact that his actions are very much similar to that of a monster but at the same time, he still remains human because we can see and understand his conflicted mind. Had he killed his friends in the process, the very "valid" reason for his horrible actions, it would have become pointless because consequently, he would have lost all "his humanity" which he was so desperately clinging onto. Another thing that I want to say is how many people are saying that the conversation between Eren and Reinar in Marley has now become pointless because Eren was the one who killed his mother. First, that was a translation error and second, the Eren we saw in Marley still hadn't received the power of the founder which means here he had no idea that his own actions would indirectly lead to his mother's death in the past. As Zeke says in ch 121, Eren back then hasn't still seen the whole future and that's why he was so desperate to come in contact with Zeke during the battle in Shiganshina. It was AFTER he freed Ymir that he received the power of the founder and saw the past present and future existing at once which completely destroyed his mind. This chapter sure has it's flaws with it's pacing and execution could have been a lot more better if we had gotten atleast 30 more pages but I don't think that Eren's character was ruined in any manner. I remember reading one of Isayama's interviews where he said that people show their true colors when they are dying and we've seen this countless times in the series starting with Carla, Mike, Marlo and especially Erwin. In Erwin's case, he confesses in front of Levi that he wants to go to the basement (just like a kid) which has always been his SELFISH desire. That's why he made such honorable speeches to his soldiers and led them all to death, only so he could reach there. He showed his true colors during his final moments and it was the same with Eren who had a mental breakdown during his last moments. The only difference here in that Erwin acts like the 30+ year old adult that he is while Eren acts like the emotional and broken 19 year old guy. Even though he was flawed and did horrible things, one thing that makes him stand out as a great protagonist to me is his will power. He DID NOT stop at 80% but WAS STOPPED at 80% because the only thing he couldn't do was kill his very own friends. Till the very end, Eren did keep moving forward but quietly accepted his death by the hands of Mikasa because he knew after everything he had done, he had no right to live. I'm so sorry for making this so long but I really wanted to share my views after watching this video. And thank you so much for making this video it was amazing!

People think Eren changed, but it’s our own perception of him that made us see him in a way that made us think he had changed. Eren has always been a slave to freedom and the freedom that he wanted so badly enslaved him, even when he altered the timeline to make sure the rumbling would happen, which is the closest he was able to get to his freedom, there was no possible way of Eren to ever be able to reach the freedom that he wanted. No matter what Eren does, no matter how powerful he becomes, he will always be a slave to freedom, and the need to understand the philosophy of why is why I am grateful for videos like these.

8:40 the transition between eren screaming and the music was so perfect gave me chills

Now this is what a character analysis video should be like. It’s beyond perfection. Such well breakdown of a very complicated character. Yeah, Eren was free. If he was slave to something, it was freedome. Everything in this video is beatifully decorated. Thank you

I think this is genuinely the most important video about attack on titan, this video made me feel a form of acceptance of the ending, I've always been okay with his failure, but not the way it was done, having someone show me how to find a diamond in a garbage pile is amazing

Yeah, this is probably one of the best things I've listened to this past month.

I am glad that there are still people out there who get it, i won't lie tho, i hope Isayama further fleshes out the ending in the anime, as it's clear he couldn't properly convey all his points (the new pages improves it tho)

Great analysis !! Thank you I love the character of Eren (his evolution, his struggles and his humanity), I love the beautiful ending and I love and respect the whole incredible story that Hajime Isayama gave up.

I have no words to describe how impactful watching this video was. Simply beautiful, thanks for making my day!

“They deserve to be free” Tell that to our world man cause nobody really is

i honestly sympathize w erens character so much and thought the ending was fitting. people will always complain about things as enormous as attack is. they say the ending sucks but also cant come up w a better ending themselves that doesnt reflect the whole message of attack. good anime endings cant always be satisfying, ESPECIALLY for a story like aot.

Eren's great, ultimate martyr, gave up everything to have it all - which in the end he could never have part of and he knew it.

Finally a good take about 139. I can’t believe people think it’s character assassination

I would recommend this video to anyone who have watch aot.

This is the type of quality content I’m trying to reach on my channel one day, Oh boy I can only imagine how long it took you to record and edit😭 Masterpiece content all I’ve been seeing is eren slander and someone has the big balls to go against the grain, GOTTA LOVE MY BOY SPIRIT❤️ Keep them bangers going My DUDEE

This is my second watch through of this video, and it's directly coming after my watch of the RU-vidr invaderzz Video, "this video will change how you see Eren". Even In the dichotomy of the thumbnails, the two videos portray a completely different outlook on the character of Eren Yaeger. I'd reccomend doing a watch through of this one second, as it is equivalent to a touch of water after cough syrup. This video paints Eren In a much more positive light and perfectly contrasts a point invaderzz made at the end of his video. I think both of these videos make the perfect portrayal of the character: a human. Born into his world.

It takes shallow comprehension and surface level viewing to want Eren to remain a stoic badass and accept his death with no insight into what could be a deeper depth of his own personal feelings. I used to browse the Titanfolk subreddit a lot and so MANY people just wanted Eren to wipe out the world and go home to Historia with their "child". I won't lie...I did want to see Eren wipe out the whole world except for Paradis but it was due to a desire to see if Isayama could create some new form of archetype -- but alas, archetypes are archetypes for a reason. What the fuck were we seeing? Just because Eren's moments with Armin were him having a breakdown doesn't take away the fact that he's a magnificent character. People are just looking at the series as "just a cartoon" and by viewing everything episodically -- you don't see the continuity. The key thing to realize is that when Eren entered Paths -- THAT'S when he began to influence history. He HAD to do it because the whole meeting with Krueger and Grisha and The Owl mentioning Armin and Mikasa was a byproduct of Eren ALREADY being in PATHS at that very moment despite the fact that chronologically it was in the past! -- it was etched in stone but he WANTED to do it so he still has the perception of his own personal agency. Thanks for the video, man.

Yo this is actually such a good podcast, it literally made me remember the emotional ride I had with the show/manga when they were coming out

he’s just a slave to the founding titan (That’s why his arms and body are being held up by strings in his founding titan hes just a slave to the founder

I know I'm 2 years late on this video but this is one of the best character analysis' videos of Eren Jaeger on RU-vid. Despite the atrocities Eren committed, he's just as human as everyone else. I've watched countless videos on this subject and I agree with your analysis more than any other.

Eren is an absolute tragedy, and I just love him so much. Thank you so much for this video. Much love!

This video is so beautifully explained, I'm out of words. I have no idea why this doesn't have more views GOSH

Amazing analysis but I do believe Eren’s character got slapped with 139 I kind of just ignore it and appreciate the character work prior to 139. Like 139 doesn't ruin Eren’s core and message all too much, it kinda just made the picture ugly yk what I'm saying.

this essay is so underrated, it is so well written that it got me thinking about the matters in the video. Good job 👍

If people still don't understand the ending after watching this masterpiece of a thesis on it, I don't know what else to tell them. Seriously Yatoru, beautifully done. I can't say anything more to convey how well crafted this video was. Man, you deserve every single view and then some (and then some). Definitely going in the favorites this one

The one thing I will say is that Eren didn't know Sasha was gonna die. It's said many times that when he saw the future, he couldn't see everything. Only everything his future self needed him to see. He's laughing at her death because he was doing it all of them. Because he dragged them into his mess, and while knowing the future and being all powerful, he still couldn't prevent or predict what happened to Sasha. And so at laughs at how pathetic he is. He said it directly to Armin, "I dragged my precious friends into combat, without even knowing if they'd survive."

Omy this is such a beautifully articulated analysis partnered with beautifully picked clips/images and bg music. I teared up at a lot of parts here. You really made me appreciate Eren’s character more and more, and reminded me why I love this story so much even tho yes the ending could have been stronger. But, the themes are faithful to the end. And I really liked how you ended the video with So Ist Emmer. Such a great character this Eren Yeager

AOT is written so well that no one is a villain. Everyone is fighting for their right.

Absolutely amazing analysis my dude. I feel like alot of people choose to ignore that Eren is kinda a pathetic person and would rather belive in the eren that fights. Ever since eren called armin out for having bertolts memories I knew he was a hypocrite. I feel like alot of erens personality (after touching historias hand) was influenced by the attack titan's power. Knowing the full truth of his future broke him completely and he became nothing more then a slave to himself. I liked that eren had time to be human again at end and show us who he really was.

This is such a good video essay! I keep coming back every month to keep watch it just to hear it again. Great video, and great analysis on Eren! Definitely my favorite character analysis video on Eren!

Beautiful Analysis. Despite my disappointment for how the story was concluded and how the characters were handled in ch 139, I can absolutely appreciate the themes and ideas Isayama tried to convey.

Mfw Eren literally called himself a slave in the final ep.. Isayama really said “y’all are gonna LEARN today” 😂

After watching this video I was amazed how the hell someone can describe it so perfectly... I can't even imagine myself doing this type of content... You are on another level... The level i can just imagine... Love ur video from my bottom of heart❤ (A small req can we frnds ?)

A lot of people approach Eren's character in the final arcs with the perspective that, "genocide can never be justified" however in the world of attack on titan we are repeatedly shown that things are not that black and white in this story. While I myself do not agree with Eren's genocidal plan, you can evidently see he was left with no choice. He begged for an alternstive solution, and was the only one capable of influencing anything at that moment; so he did what he had to do for his people. Every alternative approach has been tried and this was simply war. Any character who would sacrifice their humanity for others, is a hero in my book; Not a "monster."

the fact that this was all predestined just makes me feel like i spent all these years reading aot for nothing.this means that no character in the aot universe had any will of their own,so they didn't really take any responsability for their actions.writing a story where the plot is predestined is an extremely difficult thing to do, since just like in real life,this concept is still confusing for the human mind and experience.i don't hate isayama for what he did nor do i hate the whole manga in general,but he could've easily written more chapters to flesh out his ideas and execute them in a more suitable fashion.but it is what it is and i will move forward to another masterpieces.

I just want to say I really REALLY love the conversation Eren had with Falco 😢 it makes me tear up everytime because of how perfect and true Eren's every word is and it also gives me so much inspiration to keep moving forward towarda my goals in life.. even if I die trying in the process but my loved ones get to experience the sweetness I wanted to I would still consider myself as a winner

10/10 Analysis for 10/10 character..❤ great work man🔥 Eren Yeager my favourite anime protagonist ❤

The editing of this video gave me chills like 3 times ( on top of how you captured my reverence for this series) holy shit. 10/10 man, fantastic video.

Eren is a slave to freedom. (According to what Kenny said. That everyone had to be drunk on smthg to keep pushing forward, to be a slave to smthg..What pushes Eren forward is freedom).

I had to do an essay for english and I chose to write about Eren, and your video helped me a lot to express what I couldn't. Thank you so much :)

this is such a beautiful analysis. made me cry no cap ;-;