Understanding Eren Yaeger (Attack on Titan)

[Music] because i was born into this world one sentence one line that aaron jaeger reiterates at different times in his life throughout the different stages of his development it is a line that is iterated by his late mother carla when he was just a young child that he was special because he was born into this world for aaron this line is like an anchor a foundation that guides his every action that brings him back and reminds him of his true goal freedom because aaron was born into that world he believes that freedom something everyone is born with is something that he has not been given that freedom being ripped away from him whether it be by the 60 meter walls of parody by the titans or by everyone across the sea it is a crime that aaron takes so personally from the moment he was born his father told him that he was free and so that is his right and he will do anything he must to retrieve that birthright but what exactly is freedom frankly it doesn't matter what you or i define as freedom the only thing that matters is what aaron believes freedom is and aaron's idea of freedom changes and evolves over time to become something almost unfamiliar by the end aaron's view of freedom could fall into what philosopher isaiah berlin would describe as negative freedom in his essay two concepts of liberty he says if i am prevented by others from doing what i could otherwise do i am to that degree unfree and if this area is contracted by other men beyond a certain minimum i can be described as being coerced or it may be coercion implies the deliberate interference of other human beings within the area in which i could otherwise act by that logic which is in line with aaron's ideals aaron is not only unfree but he is enslaved by the deliberate interference of the titans of the walls and of every human being across the sea they are all preventing him from being truly free so many moments in aaron's life and there are so many of them have infringed upon aaron's birthright and the very first moment was the day he stared out at the clouds in the sky the idea of freedom in action the clouds float freely they are boundless constrained by absolutely nothing the symbolic bird that appears time and time again in this series it embodies his true goal what he desires and on that day in comes his best friend eyes full of hope and wonder full of dreams that aaron could never even fathom aaron associates that spark that hope in armin's eyes with what is beyond these walls essentially aaron asks himself for the very first time why he is unable to dream if everyone is born free because they are born into this world why could aaron not dream what armand dreamt and his conclusion was that he was not free it's such a small moment but so impactful to think about being born in a city where life beyond its walls is unfathomable people are born in the walls and die with these walls surrounding them never having been past them not even knowing what is outside them or what is life without them with that comes a feeling of hopelessness powerlessness for aaron there is no exploration no adventure no life past these gray walls this is the plight that both he and armin shared after mikasa was captured by bandits aaron fights and kills them specifically saying that this is what should happen to them that it's only natural aaron's nature is awakened here when someone threatens his freedom he will not hesitate to take theirs one of aaron's core motives and following this the colossal and armored titan would break through the walls and his mother would be eaten by a titan aaron's birthright has just been infringed upon three times before he turns 15 years old in this short amount of time aaron has been radicalized at this stage in his youth aaron is who he will always be for the rest of his life someone who will inevitably destroy every last one of those animals on this earth and no matter what no matter the cost he always understood that if you do not fight you can't win and if you don't win you will never be free and anyone anyone who rejects this idea does not matter those are aaron's words so i stated again aaron fundamentally has never changed from this child we see before us levi from as early as the 25th chapter said that aaron is a true monster not because of his titan nature but because no one can force him to submit to their will no one aaron's definition of freedom in the early stages of the story still in line with negative freedom is that freedom is life beyond the walls and without titans however after discovering his father's memories in the basement and seeing fragments of his future and past he was at a crossroads out of all of his father's memories he received one that really shaped his future was the memory of fey grisha's little sister being eaten by dogs and it's a memory that he thinks about again during astoria's crowning ceremony and as he's thinking about freedom beyond the walls this memory interrupts him this time from aaron krueger's gruesome perspective as he looks at faye's mangled face it's a memory that affirms his ever-changing definition of freedom grecia and fey had the freedom to leave the internment zone to break the rules and so they did in turn faye's freedom was taken away permanently aaron understands that this is how the world still views aldians to a degree and what a grim perspective aaron keeps living moment after moment memory after memory which radicalizes him more and more that angers him to the point of no return as he made contact with historia aaron's idea of freedom changed for what would essentially be the final time learning that freedom wasn't simply outside the walls or outside the titans that freedom wasn't even past the sea aaron came to the conclusion that he could not attach his morality to his desire for freedom any longer at this point he has not only accepted his past but his nature and he has accepted that freedom could only be achieved in one way by killing everyone past the sea aaron perverts the belief that freedom is a moral idea like berlin writes almost every moralist in history praises freedom freedom is nothing but a force inherently it has no morality but moralists praise it we believe freedom to be an inherently good thing but when the most powerful being in the world decides that he is not free and decides to destroy the world for it is freedom still inherently a good thing as aaron has accepted his future he is still coming to terms with it all he is still a 15 year old kid traumatized by it all a kid who finally came to terms with the idea that maybe he wasn't special and that maybe he could rely on his comrades to reach his goals he is also a kid who just watched his best friend die and get brought back to life and now he is a kid who has seen an unimaginable future aaron from this point on begins an internal battle a new duality in aaron's story now it's the human side of him versus the monster versus his nature mikasa in chapters 6 and 7 highlighted the duality of the world which is simultaneously cruel and yet beautiful aaron's internal battle follows the same path inside of him one side is fighting to see the beauty of the world but the other side can't help but only see the cruelty in it after three long years experiencing life across the sea living with the very people that despised him aaron seemed to finally make a decision in marley he talks to reiner and he keeps on prodding the armored titan for a statement that he's looking for for affirmation about who reiner truly is at his core for affirmation to enact the first part of his plan and just three chapters earlier aaron talks to falco about the two kinds of people that would willingly go to war the first type is either someone who has been forced to by others or by their environment and the second type chases something else they see something beyond hell after all these years aaron believes that he and the armored titan are that second type those who go through hell seeking something else aaron believes that it's because they are born this way the reason reiner and aaron are the same stems from a desire deeper than what was on the surface deeper than what was taught to them or their environment like reiner says more than history more than nurturing it was a desire for reiner that desire was to become a hero to gain the respect of all those around it for aaron it's freedom they saw something beyond hell and kept moving forward for it but it is in this very place where aaron and reiner's paths diverge as well to contrast the armored titan is tormented by his actions by the ghosts of bertolt annie and marcel by survivor's guild there is so much turmoil inside of him to the point where he almost took his own life he was so close but falco inadvertently stopped him those kids gave him the will to live where reiner moves forward for something other than himself aaron does not the attack titan then goes on to destroy marley reunite with zeke free and take over the founding titan yamir and begin the rumbling i think what makes aaron such an interesting character is that his change doesn't come drastically he doesn't suddenly turn off his emotions when he realizes what his desire has become his ability to empathize with others still exists his humanity still exists even up until his final days and that tug of war is what makes aaron interesting aaron puts on a facade because of that humanity he pushes away the survey core mikasa and armin specifically to try and save them from the pain they might feel if he doesn't and even in those moments his facade breaks as he finished killing innocents in the attack in liberio he broke down upon hearing about sasha's death sasha was someone he truly cared for and her death made him lose his way for a short while we see that humanity with falco reiner and ymir when aaron talks to reiner and marley he tells him that he understands why reiner did what he did he understands the nature of propaganda of being indoctrinated he understands being fed lies being told that their mission was to save the world he even mentions how there are good people in marley good genuine people in the same way that there are good and bad people on parody he says that they are all the same and yet aaron still goes on to destroy the city and its citizens innocent or not with ymir we see the aaron who never grew up as those words of encouragement of hope are words he is essentially telling himself he and yamir are so much alike for that matter they are both still children who want to be free he saw a girl brutally failed by the world around her a girl whose story also began with freedom as she freed the pigs that led to her punishment it resulted in her being denied to have the ability to choose anything yamir is a girl who's been waiting two thousand years what must feel like an eternity just to be given a choice to be treated not like a slave but a human aaron the embodiment of her will and of her desires gave her that choice and that's the humanity inside of him i think aaron telling her these words was also him wishing for himself to just be a person once more he too was trying to break his own shackles of freedom and deep down he knew that he always couldn't i think aaron in this moment was not only looking for the power to enact the rumbling but him genuinely connecting with and saving a girl who has suffered for so long with that let's jump to the rumbling aaron walking through this new city he is trying so hard to appeal to his own emotion to his own humanity he's repeating to himself how he's gonna kill these people as he tries to think of what his mother would think of him how he's about to kill a pregnant woman her husband and unborn child he's trying so hard to deter himself from that end goal again it's those two sides grappling with each other he even considers zeke's plan once more and the king of the walls and he agrees that zeke's plan would solve their titan problem what his goal should be but immediately he's met with resistance from his other side aaron cannot accept an end like that as it's written in the chapter he is so distressed trying so hard to fight his nature but he physically cannot he is even more repulsed at the idea of accepting an end like that than he is about what he is about to do to humanity and so when he sees ramsay the guilt catches up to him and he can't help but save the boy to try and see if this inevitable future will somehow change and when it doesn't he apologizes profusely even though aaron at this moment wants to be human again he desperately wants someone to absolve him of his sins he will refer to his true self once again the future will not change for a man who will not change either again here aaron's true motives are revealed spoken by him even he's doing this to save eldia but it's more than that he says aaron was immeasurably disappointed with the world outside the walls that it was nothing like armin's book and again in one of the larger panels of the chapter it's focused on his face on his disappointment while in tears he says he was so disappointed that humanity had survived beyond the walls and this panel is juxtaposed with the utter brutality of the rumbling with ramsay's head being crushed by a colossal titan's foot while aaron wished for it all to be wiped away this world that he lives in with humanity not only living but thriving beyond the walls meant nothing good for aaron's dream having access to his future sealed his fate he truly believed that there was no other solution for his dream there was no deal no option no plan that could bring him the freedom he sought no matter where he went in this world or what policy or pact was put into play aaron wholeheartedly believed in the cruelty of the world and that there would always be someone who saw aaron as a devil as someone who does not deserve to be free there would always be someone or something in his way after lamenting his disappointment he apologizes profusely as the little boy is crushed before him aaron's guilt reaches a breaking point and he reverts back to his younger self this version of aaron doesn't carry the immense guilt or the weight of what he had done this is a way for aaron to shield himself from that guilt from the pain that he's caused his current self physically mentally and emotionally could not bear the weight of his sins and so he becomes someone that can enjoy freedom to me this younger version of aaron represents his truest self his nature at its purest aaron is now above the clouds the mist of the colossal titan is shielding his view there is nothing to anchor him down there is nothing but a blank canvas and a blank world this is freedom absolute freedom to go wherever and to do whatever without any walls aaron was able to wipe away the cruelty from the world and can now finally embrace the beauty in it and let's look at this site for a moment this is what aaron envisions as true freedom he is now the freest person in the world but there isn't water on fire no fields of sand no land made of ice nothing from armin's book instead it's nothingness this is the world aaron imagined outside the walls a world unsullied by mankind in fact it's a world without people except for armin it is a world that can now be discovered its mysteries can be dissected now it is a world completely and unequivocally free it is the world of a child it's a child's view and idea of freedom it is not even bound by gravity aaron has not fundamentally changed from who he was so many years ago when freedom was laid before him the form he took was that of the one who first desired it he retreated back to his true self aaron began the rumbling because he was born into this world he has taken away the freedom from everyone who has tried to take his away in the final chapter chapter 139 aaron for the final time reverts to his younger self and aaron takes his best friend to see the sights inside armin's book but aaron isn't satisfied you could see it in his face his eyes but the spark that armand had so many years ago it's still there and again aaron watches his friend experience a joy that he cannot for aaron this expression tells us that it was never about seeing those sights it was always about being the freest person in the world reclaiming his birthright but i also think that a part of him believed that seeing these sights would grant him the ability to dream just like armin was able to but aaron never could armin once said that those who can bring about real change when forced to face down monsters they can even leave behind their own humanity this change that aaron brought about it was never about saving elder it was about two things saving his friends and seeing that world turning the world into a blank canvas where he and his friends could go anywhere and do anything where they could be anyone aaron has become a monster he left his humanity behind for his birthright mikasa says that even her friends believe that aaron has changed but she too quickly comes to the realization that maybe aaron might have always been the same person going back to 139 aaron says that even if he didn't know his friends would stop him he still would have done it and armin asks him why armin asks his best friend why he is the way that he is and the answer he gives is that he doesn't know there isn't a complex set of reasons why aaron wants freedom he is simply wired that way it isn't because of memories passed down to him or because of his environment it isn't because his father molded him that way he was simply born with the innate hunger a primal desire for freedom it has always been instinctual for him it has always been his nature when fighting for freedom against the titans when defending mikasa from the bandits when destroying the world it's all the same french playwright jean-paul sartre believed that existence precedes essence that a person does not have an inbuilt set of values that they are inherently structured to pursue rather the values that shape a person's behavior result from the choices they have made for aaron his essence that desire for freedom was not created by anything or anyone it came from his existence aaron's idea of freedom and armin's have always been fundamentally different aaron resigning himself to the principles of negative freedom and armament towards what berlin would describe as positive freedom where aaron's freedom was through eliminating all possible obstacles in his path being unobstructed by anything or anyone positive freedom derives from the wish on the part of the individual to be his own master it is the freedom to make choices armin at every point in the story makes the choice to put the desires of those around him before his own dreams berlin writes on the notion of positive freedom i wish to be a subject not an object to be moved by reasons by conscious purposes which are my own not by causes which affect me as it were from outside i wish to be somebody not nobody a doer deciding not being decided for self-directed and not acted upon by external nature or by other men as if i were a thing or an animal or a slave incapable of playing a human role armin never desires the freedom that aaron searches for and his very essence is never tied to the dream of the outside world the thing that drives armin has always been hope for humanity's survival for their success and later for their harmony seeing what's in his book is a dream of his but armin is more than that dream freedom isn't something he actively searches for because he himself believes that he is already free when faced with the reality of the world beyond the walls the hatred the cruelty of the world armin is able to accept reality and look at it with hope whereas aaron looks at it in despair in chapter 137 armin speaks to zeke where aaron says that he is born free born to be free armin's reasoning for his birth he believes is to simply enjoy life to enjoy the trivial moments whether it's giving a squirrel nuts or running around with his friends he is able to enjoy it while it might not have great meaning in the grander scheme of things it is all incredibly precious armin being allowed to experience these precious moments is because he was born into this world and for that he is grateful going back to chapter 131 aaron believes that he has become the freest person in the world and in this chapter he looks to his best friend for validation that this is the scenery that they sought after but aaron is quick to ignore the blood being shed around him the naivete that has carried his ideals he is quick to ignore that he has now become a monster and when he looks at armin armin has stayed the same age his shirt is stained with the blood that aaron has shed this isn't the world that he envisioned not like this it is at this moment that he realized that their dream wasn't the same and yet at the end of this chapter armin's hope still remains as unshakable as ever choosing to oppose his best friend's ideals once more where aaron has seen the world for all of its cruelty this final panel reflecting that as his eyes remained closed off to any other possibility armin eyes open still wants to believe that there was still a place in that world where it is truly like nothing they've ever seen before that there is still beauty out there armin is the type of person who can die without seeing his dream if it meant someone else could see theirs and he did that for his best friend for that you might consider armin to be free aaron frieda mir from a life of bondage and in turn aaron asked for one wish the rumbling was aaron's will a wish that ymir granted the possibility that aaron is unfree lies not because of another's will but rather because he is a slave to his own desires to his own nature aaron is a slave to the idea of freedom back in chapter 69 kenny suggested to levi that they are all drunk off something and whatever that thing is keeps them going this can be why aaron's definition of freedom keeps changing keeps evolving it moves to become something more and more unreasonable more and more unattainable because he needs it to be to survive in that world to keep going he needs something to strive for the walls the sea isn't enough having the world become a childlike blank canvas one without people is a world so unrealistic so unimaginable but it's a world that aaron can fight for it's a way for him to keep on living aaron is so drunk off freedom that it has become his chains tying him down the possibility that aaron is not free is because he cannot go against his very nature he cannot rise above his desire and be better than his desires aaron tried everything he could to repress his nature but he simply could not accept it yamir the founder lives with her eyes closed slaves have no need for two eyes king fritz once said yamir's eyes only open once she's been given the freedom to make a choice in chapter 133 aaron and yamir both appear to armin and the rest fighting against aaron the two children appear with their eyes closed is aaron truly free going back to berlin's idea of positive freedom he wrote i wish to be a subject not an object to be moved by reasons by conscious purposes which are my own and later when i say that i am rational and that is my reason that distinguishes me as a human being from the rest of the world i wish above all to conscious of myself as a thinking willing active being that doesn't resonate with aaron yeager's motives because aaron has a desire for freedom that he cannot truly rationalize aaron is controlled by freedom this is a man who was given the power of the founding titan he was free to choose and make any decision that he pleased and yet he is a man a boy tied down by his own nature one could say that he is an object moved not by his own conscious reasons back when he saw grecia's memory of faye he saw that freedom in this world is not without consequences for aaron his consequence was guilt guilt that he could not ignore we saw this when he started the rumbling the mess he became in front of ramsay in chapter 133 reiner accurately points out aaron's desire to be taken down by his friends because of his overwhelming emotions and in the final chapter he is overcome by these feelings once more brought to tears by the very thought of killing his own mother freedom is cruel until he was put out of his misery by one mikasa ackerman the one true beauty of his world i think when it comes to aaron and mikasa for aaron she much like armin were constants constant that could remind aaron of his humanity around them aaron could come back and just be a person just be human again without the worries of being a hero or being humanity's savior aaron could simply be aaron even after he destroyed 80 percent of the world armin was still there and of course aaron cared very very much for mikasa many times throughout this story aaron has put her happiness and safety above his own many times he has displayed how much he means to him of course in the third chapter when he protects her from the bandits and wraps her in a scarf and in chapter 50 scream when death seems to be closing in on them as she thanks him for teaching her how to live and for wrapping that scarf around her aaron boldly claims that he will wrap that scarf around her forever we know how much that scarf means to the young ackerman how that scarf represents warmth and beauty in a cold and cruel world aaron is essentially saying that he will protect her forever that there will forever be beauty in her world in chapter 123 we see aaron at his lowest at his most vulnerable dejected and struggling aaron had just cried into ramsay's arms in the future he is looking for a reason strong enough that will stop him from enacting the rumbling his last chance that maybe just maybe this can alter his future and so baron asks her what he means to her and she replies that aaron is family it is a response that he was very much dissatisfied with i believe that somewhere inside of aaron he believed that mikasa's love right then and there could have altered his path his future that this was his final chance that this declaration of love of romantic love which he yearned for that love of force even more powerful than freedom could save him from his nature but mikasa's answer wasn't strong enough it wasn't the declaration he was looking for so not even mikasa could save him from himself the young ackerman mentions it later that maybe it could have changed aaron's future and maybe it could have she was the one beauty in his crew world instead it was the final nail in their coffin in the final chapter a tearful aaron yearns for mikasa and her love it's proof that he is still very much human at the end of it all it's a moment that shows a teenager childishly in love at this moment after being pushed and pushed by armin to understand his feelings below the surface aaron selfishly wants to be with her he wants her to never forget him because he will never forget her but ultimately he knows that he wants mikasa to be happy with or without him it's why in the chapter right before this one aaron tells her to throw away the scarf to forget about him to go on and be free even though she will never let him go we know that he would do anything for her and for armin this is the final proof of his love for her final proof of the one beauty in his cruel world in this series so many are faced with a choice to succumb to one's own nature to their desires their dreams or relinquish them some of them are able to combat their nature for what is better for those around them the parallels between aaron and reiner show us this that even a monster a devil like reiner was able to find value and meeting in the kids around him and he was strong enough to let go of that dream to be a hero armin was always willing to sacrifice his dream if it meant aaron was able to see his mikasa also had a dream that she held dear to her heart and it's shown to us in the second to last chapter that dream of being with aaron sharing a life a home and loving the man who showed her how to live but in her defining moments mikasa was able to honor that dream and was strong enough to let that dream die strong enough to never forget it even irvin the demon the devil himself listened to levi ervin let his dream die for the greater good depending on how you look at it maybe those who are not drunk off anything those who can accept the nature of the world abandon their dreams and see life for its beauty are those who are truly free or maybe aaron was the freest person in the world at that one moment freedom is endlessly debated satra believes that man is condemned to be free because once thrown into the world he is responsible for everything he does we are all tied down limited blocked by something absolute freedom is something that we will never achieve our freedom is limited by so many things by our society's rules by the circumstances of our birth by our own bodies based on the way you look at aaron he stands as both a monster and human both victim of the world and mass murder free and yet unfree i think it's hard to accept aaron's character as all of these when for half of the story he was presented as one and the other half presented as the other aaron is such a polarizing character because of the fact that we watched him grow into this from his perspective it's his story it's also so hard to accept someone you thought you knew aaron is a complex character he is many things at once he is all of these things he is monster inhuman victim of the world and mass murderer free and yet unfree he has changed so much and yet not at all but one thing is for certain is that aaron chose his path he chose to destroy the world when forced to face down monsters he became a monster himself and the one monster he couldn't face down was himself his own nature because he was born this way because aaron jaeger was born into this world [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] you

Channel: Sage's Rain

Views: 320,507

Keywords: anime, attack on titan, shingeki no kyojin, eren jaeger, mikasa, mikasa ackerman, eren, levi, erwin, titans, attack titan, zeke jaeger, eren yeager

Id: mbSaaWtzAtA

Length: 35min 8sec (2108 seconds)

Published: Wed May 18 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/PeacemakerX5]

Love the video, agreed with almost every point