my anime thoughts

eren jaeger

(wednesday 2, december 2020)

(this obviously will have spoilers of season 1-3 of snk so beware of that) 

i've only watched shingeki no kyojin once but boi,  since the first moment i've liked eren, so i needed to do this one first. i know a lot of people doesn't like him or think that he is a crybaby which i don't know why that would be a bad thing. but oh well, here are the reasons why i adore this boy.

by the way, in about a week it's going to be released the fourth and final season of snk so maybe a lot of things about him will change but for now, let's stick with season 1-3 eren.

first of all, one of the things that make me a eren simp right away (besides the anger issues but that's for later) it's his will. since he was a child people would told him to stop: stop fighting for your friends, stop being so hot-blooded or stop dreaming about being a soldier.

and i don't know about you, but if everyone tells me to stop, i will, but he kept on disobeying EVERYONE. this can come off as being stubborn or a jerk (which he can be sometimes lol) but for me, someone who struggles with saying no to people i admire that characteristic of him a lot.

another thing that i admire is that he always has clear goals. but don't get me wrong, he is not the only one: armin wants to see the sea with his friends and mikasa wants to protect eren at all costs (which is a whole another topic for other chapter) but his goal, at least to me, is the most real. he wants freedom, he doesn't want to depend on three gigantic walls. he wants to be able to go outside without fearing for his life. these goals motivates him to be a soldier and later on, use his titan form to help humanity.

now let's go with the trauma.

some of yall have the AUDACITY to call him a crybaby when all he has experienced is pain. he saw how a titan ate his mother (in a really bloody way i may say), his father disappeared only to be later on discovered that eren ate him, four of his friends betrayed him, and what i think broke him the most, is that he realized that he was not "special".

now this for a lot of people will be seen as something stupid or not so important. but we need to look at his personality to understand the gravity of this. he is someone who's really absorbed in his world and believes (his dream to be a soldier to reach freedom) and thinks that all of his feelings are the reason why he is so different to everyone else (he is an isfp for gods sake). this also includes the fact that he can transform into a 15 meter weirdly good-looking titan. he thought that he found a way to archive his ultimate goal in life without having to risk the things that mattered for him the most: mikasa and armin.

this is why he did not have a problem with some soldiers dying, because he thought that at the end, all of their deaths would have a meaning and will not go to waste. but you can tell that he cared, a lot. 

example one: when he desperately wanted to fight titan annie so no soldier would die. this was a crucial moment for eren, because he was mostly obligated to resist his desire to stop her. and then the result of that was that a lot of the survey cops died and he later on needed help from mikasa and levi to be rescued.

with this eren was hurt in two ways (excluding the physical damage)one of them being that his pride was broken because at the end he still needed help, even tho he can transform into a titan. and his morals were also damaged, because even tho his gut told him to fight titan annie right away, he listened to levi, petra and everyone else, resulting in the thing he fears the most, failing the people that he cares about.

example two: when historia's dad tried to make historia to eat him so she could have the coordinate, but he was saved by the survey cops. he discovered that his father did horrible things only for him to have his titan form and that his power was not for him to have. and if you have any self esteem issues you know that the critiques that destroys you the most are your own. because of this, he did not wanted to be saved, because he thought he had failed everyone, that his existence was pointless and the thing that make him outstanding was not really his. and i know this come off a little too extreme but come one, he is FIFTHTEEN, i'm seventeen and i act the same way, and believe me, there is no big titan eating my family.

and the thing that makes more noise in my head. the way he realized that the enemy was not stupid human eating titans, but humans, just like him. eren always tries to think the best of the people surrounding him, that's why he could not believe annie was a traitor or that reiner and berthold were the titans that destroyed his hometown. he tries to only see the good in people, but this reality check struck him in the face not only making him realize that he will have to fight humans, but that they are the reason why he can't archive his ultimate goal, freedom.

and also, it's a lot easier to hate titans. they don't talk, or ask for mercy, they just kill and eat humans. but when you notice that the reason of most of your pain are people just like you, with fears and dreams, things gets way harder than before.

and i know not everyone believes in this but...OH MY GOD HE IS SUCH AN ARIES MAN I CAN'T. he is a hot-blooded teen who just wants to destroy anything that interferes in his path. he acts without thinking things thru and he gets carried away by his emotions. he likes initiating conflict and he will let no one disrespect him or his friends. and he can come off as selfish, but girl, i swear to god he is not. actually, it's the total opposite.

these are not all the things that i like about him, but i'll keep it like this because i just spend an hour writing this 1000 words thing while i still have to do like 2 essays for school that i haven't even started yet :)

so yeah, have a good day and stay safe

– carla