The Tragedy of the Boy

Who Sought Freedom

Eren Yeager has to be one of my favorite characters in any narrative, from his
development, his actions, and his tragedy, I love it all and it all works together to forge an
absolutely brilliant character that discusses the fundamentals of free-will and predestination,
selflessness and selfishness, idealism and pragmatism, and so much more. Eren is a tragedy not
because his actions led to his downfall, but because he believed in an ideal that could never be
true, and any illusion of it being true was robbed from him. By knowing the future, any
resemblance of free will was stolen from him. A cruel fate for the Boy Who Sought Freedom.

Free will. How can you be free if you know what you will do, and cannot change that?
How can you be free when you become nothing more than a viewer of your own life? Eren was
a character that opposed every fundamental truth of Attack on Titan’s world, a protagonist
purposely built to fail in the world in which he found himself in. An idealistic and determined
“suicidal bastard” in a world of brutal pragmatism. A boy who dreamt of vast desire, yet had no
more power to achieve this, and even when he was ‘gifted’ with the power of the Founding
Titan, it was that very same ‘gift’ that stole his one desire, even though it would take him years
to accept that fundamental truth. And that is the greatest tragedy. Eren Yeager could not win,
and that was set in stone as soon as we saw the words “See you later, Eren” back in Chapter
One. It was this fundamental truth that Isayama spent 12 years and 139 Chapters exploring and
developing that has defined Eren Yeager for me. The fact Eren dreamt of his own death when
we first were introduced to the character in Chapter One, (even though the phrase having such
meaning was only a realization with his own death in Chapter 138) showed the fate Eren was
destined to follow, against his will and desire. And the phrasing of “See you later”, suggesting
that even in death, Eren is still denied the freedom he craves and adds to the emotional and
tragic elements of his arc.

Eren’s character explores the fundamental aspects of free will and predestination, and
this was something shown throughout the narrative. I think “Everyone is drunk on something”
shows this extremely well and possible the best in the series. The words of Kenny Ackerman,
one of Attack on Titan’s many antagonists, speaks absolutely true to both the world of Attack
on Titan, and the real world at large. This wording of “drunk” draw connotations to
mindlessness and practically barbarianism. Perhaps Isayama intended to draw parallels to the
Titan’s mindless, and nearly drunk-like, barbarian desire of human flesh, to the desires and the
“something” of every person. This is definitely shown through most characters as they have
“something” which they are “drunk” on; such as Gabi’s indoctrinated hatred of Paradisians,
Zeke’s desire to euthanize the Eldian Race, Levi’s desire to complete Erwin’s final command of
killing the before mentioned Zeke, Mikasa’s obedience to command and protection of Eren, or
Armin’s lack of self worth and self doubt which shadows him throughout his story. They all have
“something”, and they are defined by it. While the argument as to whether these characters
have the free will to decide their own fates is up to debate, it is clear that Eren Yeager is one
character that is a tragic slave to his own fate, a curse placed upon him by the very power he
believed, and at first presented to the audience, as a hope for Eren and Humanity’s freedom
before the “growing curse” took its form.

While other characters are arguable able to overcome their future, seemingly
overcoming their destiny due to the fact they are unknowledgeable of theirs in the first place,
Eren is limited by the fact he knew his own destiny. He was limited by the fact his future-self
had manipulated the past, however this was a manipulation which always occurred, even to the
Eren who affected said past. This ends up becoming less of a manipulation, but more of an
unavoidable event that simply happened outside the usual flow of time and outside of Eren’s
own ‘free’ control. And it’s this trap that Eren was in; even if he manipulated the past, even if
he tried to change the circumstances in which he found himself in, Eren would only end up
contributing to the tragic future which awaited him.

The way in which Eren dealt with this truth is both powerful and tragic, while still fitting
to the Eren which we knew, the Eren who murdered two men at a young age for daring to steal
another’s (Mikasa’s) freedom. Eren adopted an ideology of “Keep moving forward”, one he
shared with another antagonist of his, Reiner. To overcome the tragic circumstances Eren found
himself in, he always “Kept moving forward”, never questioning his actions, as he had come to
accept doing so was futile. It was this ideology that led to the most influential 'decision’ of Eren
Yeager’s life; committing a global genocide, practically an omnicide, through the use of half a
million Colossus Titans that would trample the world beneath their feet: The ‘Rumbling’.

While the Rumbling was stated to have killed 80% of the population, and did far more damage
to humanity that just death, it was also shown to have achieved the goals Eren was destined to
achieve. The Rumbling allowed Paradis, a small island which once held an oppressive empire
over a century prior to the events of the narrative, which they were now hated for, to stand a
chance for survival, and heroise Armin, Eren’s lifelong friend, as the slayer of the world’s
monster. While the pragmatic side of Eren, which had developed throughout the series, knew
hatred and conflict would continue, he also knew this would give a chance for the world to be
free of it. Free of a cycle that had existed for 2000 years.

While Eren tried to achieve his own freedom, time and time again throughout the series,
the world of Attack on Titan crushed him time and time again. His idealism was crushed out of
him as he continued to fail, continued to be nothing. Crushed him until Eren finally accepted
that he was nothing but a passenger, nothing but a slave, to his own destiny which was in
compete contrast to the freedom he desired. Eren was forced, due to his own selfish desire for
freedom, to be a slave to a destiny which saw him free all the people he cares for, yet left him
without the freedom which he craves for. A tragic ending for the Boy Who Sought Freedom, as
he sees all those he cares for cherish the freedom he was cursed to live without.