WHY ATTACK ON TITAN’S ENDING IS SHIT 1/4
AoT’s manga chapter 139 will forever live in infamy, and turned what could have been a GOATed story into a flawed mess at best. And sadly, the anime adaptation refused to fix its biggest problems.
For starters, we got the “Lelouch Ending”, which was always going to be the worst, most uninspired way to wrap up the story – when the majority of your readership sees it coming from lightyears away, because they just don’t believe you have the balls make your protagonist the villain, it’s hardly this great, shocking twist. And while I really like Code Geass, ripping off its ending is hardly worthy of the kind of story Attack on Titan aspired to be.
Does the Lelouch route even make sense for AoT, in-universe? I mean, I don’t for a second think it would actually work in the real world, but was there justification for it working in the AoT world? Well, we know that in the manga, Teen Eren and Dot Pixis actually discussed something of the kind, and dismissed is as naïve/stupid. Everything we’ve seen in AoT indicates that even when facing an existential threat, humanity *won’t* really be able to unite – all the conflicts on Paradis Island (including MULTIPLE military coups), as well as the war between Marley and the other countries well aware of the threat posed by the Paradis “devils” proves that. If humanity won’t truly unite in the face of such active threats, why on earth would it unite AFTER the danger has passed? And why on earth would the surviving countries forgive Paradis because of the Alliance supposedly defeating Eren, when 1) the Alliance members are all considered Traitors to and Enemies of Paradis Island, 2) Paradis now has a fascist Jaegerist government and most people there openly supported Eren’s genocide and 3), even if Eren was eventually stopped, he still KILLED 80% OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD!
See, this is what really gets me. A Lelouch Ending for AoT was always gonna suck, but this is a particularly RETARDED way to go about it. Killing some people, including innocents, to convince everyone that you’re a villain, sure, that’s how the plan works, flawed as it is. But 80%? I hate to break it to you, but that’s Genocide, and a pretty comprehensive one at that. If you view Eren’s plan as “working”, that 100% makes AoT’s ending pro-genocide. Don’t even try to deny it – if Hitler had killed 80% of all Jews, and the result had been a Thousand Year Reich of peace and prosperity, that would have been a W for Genocide no matter how you slice it. More realistically of course, all you will have achieved by the 80% Plan is leaving enough of your Enemies alive that all the deaths and sacrifices will all ultimately have been. By trying to have it both ways, you ended up with the worst possible outcome. For fuck’s sake, Zeke’s euthanasia plan of Partial Rumbling plus taking away the ability of Eldians to have kids wasn’t great, but it was way better than this shit!
Of course, personally I’m not really a fan of the “take a 3rd option” cop out whenever characters are faced with a Sadistic Choice – I think the character being forced to make that terrible choice, defend it and then live with the consequences, makes for far more compelling drama, and might actually contain some valid real world lessons. AoT went out of its way to establish that Yes, the only choice is between letting the outside world destroy Paradis, or Paradis destroying the outside world with the Rumbling. Hange never tried denying that by Saving The World, they were Dooming Paradis. And after all that, it STILL ended with a total cop out. Keep in mind, the cop out was the Lelouch Ending – an Alliance Victory ending, followed by Paradis being destroyed would have been far better in terms of writing, if still unsatisfying and less than ideal. Camp of the Saints ended up with the author cucking out on dealing with the Invaders (which he openly admits to doing, he was open about not daring to go through with his original ending), but by making the consequences of that choice clear, the lesson nonetheless becomes a very powerful one.
What the hell is the lesson of AoT at the end of the day? War is hell, history repeats? Nothing really matters, just live for the little things? A genocide ending wouldn’t necessarily be pro-genocide (it all would depend on how it was handled), but it would still mean the story had something worthwhile to say: Never back someone into a corner and give him no way out except to kill or be killed (ESPECIALLY when he has world-ending powers). Or how about this: If the cycle of hate and revenge is allowed to endure, eventually the only way to end it will be for one side or the other to be completely eradicated. Just a couple of my own reads on the Genocide Ending (Akatsuki no Requiem), without even going into the truly spicy White Nationalist interpretations. I personally consider those lessons/messages far more interesting and original than what we actually ended up with.
AoT’s manga chapter 139 will forever live in infamy, and turned what could have been a GOATed story into a flawed mess at best. And sadly, the anime adaptation refused to fix its biggest problems.
For starters, we got the “Lelouch Ending”, which was always going to be the worst, most uninspired way to wrap up the story – when the majority of your readership sees it coming from lightyears away, because they just don’t believe you have the balls make your protagonist the villain, it’s hardly this great, shocking twist. And while I really like Code Geass, ripping off its ending is hardly worthy of the kind of story Attack on Titan aspired to be.
Does the Lelouch route even make sense for AoT, in-universe? I mean, I don’t for a second think it would actually work in the real world, but was there justification for it working in the AoT world? Well, we know that in the manga, Teen Eren and Dot Pixis actually discussed something of the kind, and dismissed is as naïve/stupid. Everything we’ve seen in AoT indicates that even when facing an existential threat, humanity *won’t* really be able to unite – all the conflicts on Paradis Island (including MULTIPLE military coups), as well as the war between Marley and the other countries well aware of the threat posed by the Paradis “devils” proves that. If humanity won’t truly unite in the face of such active threats, why on earth would it unite AFTER the danger has passed? And why on earth would the surviving countries forgive Paradis because of the Alliance supposedly defeating Eren, when 1) the Alliance members are all considered Traitors to and Enemies of Paradis Island, 2) Paradis now has a fascist Jaegerist government and most people there openly supported Eren’s genocide and 3), even if Eren was eventually stopped, he still KILLED 80% OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD!
See, this is what really gets me. A Lelouch Ending for AoT was always gonna suck, but this is a particularly RETARDED way to go about it. Killing some people, including innocents, to convince everyone that you’re a villain, sure, that’s how the plan works, flawed as it is. But 80%? I hate to break it to you, but that’s Genocide, and a pretty comprehensive one at that. If you view Eren’s plan as “working”, that 100% makes AoT’s ending pro-genocide. Don’t even try to deny it – if Hitler had killed 80% of all Jews, and the result had been a Thousand Year Reich of peace and prosperity, that would have been a W for Genocide no matter how you slice it. More realistically of course, all you will have achieved by the 80% Plan is leaving enough of your Enemies alive that all the deaths and sacrifices will all ultimately have been. By trying to have it both ways, you ended up with the worst possible outcome. For fuck’s sake, Zeke’s euthanasia plan of Partial Rumbling plus taking away the ability of Eldians to have kids wasn’t great, but it was way better than this shit!
Of course, personally I’m not really a fan of the “take a 3rd option” cop out whenever characters are faced with a Sadistic Choice – I think the character being forced to make that terrible choice, defend it and then live with the consequences, makes for far more compelling drama, and might actually contain some valid real world lessons. AoT went out of its way to establish that Yes, the only choice is between letting the outside world destroy Paradis, or Paradis destroying the outside world with the Rumbling. Hange never tried denying that by Saving The World, they were Dooming Paradis. And after all that, it STILL ended with a total cop out. Keep in mind, the cop out was the Lelouch Ending – an Alliance Victory ending, followed by Paradis being destroyed would have been far better in terms of writing, if still unsatisfying and less than ideal. Camp of the Saints ended up with the author cucking out on dealing with the Invaders (which he openly admits to doing, he was open about not daring to go through with his original ending), but by making the consequences of that choice clear, the lesson nonetheless becomes a very powerful one.
What the hell is the lesson of AoT at the end of the day? War is hell, history repeats? Nothing really matters, just live for the little things? A genocide ending wouldn’t necessarily be pro-genocide (it all would depend on how it was handled), but it would still mean the story had something worthwhile to say: Never back someone into a corner and give him no way out except to kill or be killed (ESPECIALLY when he has world-ending powers). Or how about this: If the cycle of hate and revenge is allowed to endure, eventually the only way to end it will be for one side or the other to be completely eradicated. Just a couple of my own reads on the Genocide Ending (Akatsuki no Requiem), without even going into the truly spicy White Nationalist interpretations. I personally consider those lessons/messages far more interesting and original than what we actually ended up with.
WHY ATTACK ON TITAN’S ENDING IS SHIT 2/4
The single worst thing about AoT’s ending is how it utterly DESTROYS Eren as a character. His shocking journey from seemingly generic Hero to Hitler 2.0 was amazing not just because it was so unexpected, but because, once you reexamined the character, it made a disturbing amount of sense – remember, this is the guy who straight up MURDERS 2 human traffickers when he’s just *10 years old*, without batting an eye and with zero remorse. He physically assaults adults who say something that offends him, and was always ready to kill anyone who would deny him his Freedom. The guy was always a total psycho, we just never stopped to think about it because he was our hero – just like we never stopped to think about how Eren never actually vowed to “Kill All Titans”, but instead to “Kill Every Last One of Them” – which one of the anime season finales (I’ve lost count of which one) beautifully highlighted.
Eren’s journey was so compelling, because just like the story itself, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same – Eren effectively lets go of his anger, his hatred, his black-and-white morality, and yet he’s still forced to conclude that Genocide remains the only way to save everyone he loves, and acts on it – with the result that he ends up KILLING the very people he wanted to protect. He becomes the hero who saved Paradis, but is destroyed by guilt, his wife Historia and their daughter Ymir being the only ones that keep him from outright killing himself. He’ll keep visiting the graves of Mikasa and Armin every day until the day he himself dies. That right there is the beauty and tragedy of the Akatsuki no Requiem ending.
So what did we end up with instead? A confused, nonsensical mess:
- Eren is an incompetent retard who should never have ended up with the Founder Titan power in the first place, and who lost touch with reality, that’s why everything went to shit – except that Eren repeatedly proved to be a brilliant mastermind, manipulating everyone (including his dead father) and outwitting Zeke the genius. Also, his retarded plan actually works.
- Eren is destroyed and depressed by the revelation of the über-shitty future that awaits him and the world – which is why is he shows FEROCIOUS, UNSTOPPABLE determination to bring about said feature. For fuck’s sake, the nigger TEARS OFF HIS OWN HAND just to escape the shackles Zeke placed on him and reach Founder Ymir. He was that fucking desperate to die a crybaby incel cuck and be sent to hell for being Cringe?
- Eren was never this great Nationalist leader wishing to save his people – he was just your generic faggot Shonen hero who only fights for his friends. 80% of the world is destroyed, Paradis isn’t actually secure – who cares, my friends will survive….except Eren admits that he DIDN’T actually know if they would survive his actions (and we all saw the amount of Plot necessary to keep them alive). And speaking of Eren’s loved one; “Hey Reiner, why did my mother have to die?” – you tell me Eren, you fucking tell me motherfucker…
- Eren was madly in love with Mikasa, and is big mad that he’ll never pound that Hapa pussy – except for the fact that he NEVER, EVER showed romantic interest in her throughout the story. Look, I genuinely do not care about the Shipping Wars, and I think both Historia and Mikasa are Quality Waifu choices – I’d personally go with Historia, probably, but Mikasa is absolute Sex as long as she’s not saddled with a dogshit lesbo haircut. But be honest guys, Eren and Mikasa were NOT written to end up together, while the chemistry between Eren and Historia was absolutely there – and the last-minute retcon is so fucking obvious, given just how retarded Historia’s arc during the last season ends up being.
- Eren was a Slave of Freedom – except he apparently *wanted* to carry out the Rumbling all along? If he’s doing what he wanted to, how is he a slave?
- Eren is going to Hell for killing 1.6 billion people – LOL JK, he actually gets reincarnated as a bird, and stalks Mikasa to this day.
And I haven’t even mentioned the truly low-hanging fruit, so many moments that go right into the Cringe Compilation…
At the end of the day, Eren is forever destroyed as a character – which would already have been bad enough if he was just mid all along, but when you consider just how amazing he could have ended up becoming? It’s a fucking crime.
The single worst thing about AoT’s ending is how it utterly DESTROYS Eren as a character. His shocking journey from seemingly generic Hero to Hitler 2.0 was amazing not just because it was so unexpected, but because, once you reexamined the character, it made a disturbing amount of sense – remember, this is the guy who straight up MURDERS 2 human traffickers when he’s just *10 years old*, without batting an eye and with zero remorse. He physically assaults adults who say something that offends him, and was always ready to kill anyone who would deny him his Freedom. The guy was always a total psycho, we just never stopped to think about it because he was our hero – just like we never stopped to think about how Eren never actually vowed to “Kill All Titans”, but instead to “Kill Every Last One of Them” – which one of the anime season finales (I’ve lost count of which one) beautifully highlighted.
Eren’s journey was so compelling, because just like the story itself, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same – Eren effectively lets go of his anger, his hatred, his black-and-white morality, and yet he’s still forced to conclude that Genocide remains the only way to save everyone he loves, and acts on it – with the result that he ends up KILLING the very people he wanted to protect. He becomes the hero who saved Paradis, but is destroyed by guilt, his wife Historia and their daughter Ymir being the only ones that keep him from outright killing himself. He’ll keep visiting the graves of Mikasa and Armin every day until the day he himself dies. That right there is the beauty and tragedy of the Akatsuki no Requiem ending.
So what did we end up with instead? A confused, nonsensical mess:
- Eren is an incompetent retard who should never have ended up with the Founder Titan power in the first place, and who lost touch with reality, that’s why everything went to shit – except that Eren repeatedly proved to be a brilliant mastermind, manipulating everyone (including his dead father) and outwitting Zeke the genius. Also, his retarded plan actually works.
- Eren is destroyed and depressed by the revelation of the über-shitty future that awaits him and the world – which is why is he shows FEROCIOUS, UNSTOPPABLE determination to bring about said feature. For fuck’s sake, the nigger TEARS OFF HIS OWN HAND just to escape the shackles Zeke placed on him and reach Founder Ymir. He was that fucking desperate to die a crybaby incel cuck and be sent to hell for being Cringe?
- Eren was never this great Nationalist leader wishing to save his people – he was just your generic faggot Shonen hero who only fights for his friends. 80% of the world is destroyed, Paradis isn’t actually secure – who cares, my friends will survive….except Eren admits that he DIDN’T actually know if they would survive his actions (and we all saw the amount of Plot necessary to keep them alive). And speaking of Eren’s loved one; “Hey Reiner, why did my mother have to die?” – you tell me Eren, you fucking tell me motherfucker…
- Eren was madly in love with Mikasa, and is big mad that he’ll never pound that Hapa pussy – except for the fact that he NEVER, EVER showed romantic interest in her throughout the story. Look, I genuinely do not care about the Shipping Wars, and I think both Historia and Mikasa are Quality Waifu choices – I’d personally go with Historia, probably, but Mikasa is absolute Sex as long as she’s not saddled with a dogshit lesbo haircut. But be honest guys, Eren and Mikasa were NOT written to end up together, while the chemistry between Eren and Historia was absolutely there – and the last-minute retcon is so fucking obvious, given just how retarded Historia’s arc during the last season ends up being.
- Eren was a Slave of Freedom – except he apparently *wanted* to carry out the Rumbling all along? If he’s doing what he wanted to, how is he a slave?
- Eren is going to Hell for killing 1.6 billion people – LOL JK, he actually gets reincarnated as a bird, and stalks Mikasa to this day.
And I haven’t even mentioned the truly low-hanging fruit, so many moments that go right into the Cringe Compilation…
At the end of the day, Eren is forever destroyed as a character – which would already have been bad enough if he was just mid all along, but when you consider just how amazing he could have ended up becoming? It’s a fucking crime.
@ChristiJunior
> - Eren was a Slave of Freedom –
That singular line makes me wonder, if 9/10s of population are seriously just too retarded to understand what freedom means.
@LukeAlmighty "Eren being a Slave of Freedom is so fucking clever!" - Midwits everywhere, blessed by the JewTube algorithm.
Obviously, Attack on titan spoiler
@ChristiJunior
And it's a second attack on the concept of liberty.
The first one is, when he didn't take away their will in order to finish the rumbling. because he "wanted them to make their own choice"
Meanwhile, before the last season, not a single fucking line in that direction, as far as I remember.
Obviously, Attack on titan spoiler
@ChristiJunior
Also, I am a Star Wars philosophy fan. I saw some GREAT analysis about how Sith are enslaved by pursuit of freedom. But in this case, I just don't see it. He saw what he will do, and still decided to do it, because he loved his friends more... (I think,,,, the ending is just such a mess)
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Obviously, Attack on titan spoiler
@ChristiJunior
BTW, for me, there is also one moment, that breaks Eren even more.
When he has a breakdown, crying and apologizing to a kid, that he knows will die 1 year later by a titans foot.
Seriously, was that scene there just for the shock value? Because it does make Eren look insane.
re: Obviously, Attack on titan spoiler
@ChristiJunior
You're right....
I guess I'm just still not sure what to think about his motivation.... Since the show had to throw in a wrench at the very last second of the show.
re: Obviously, Attack on titan spoiler
@LukeAlmighty There is no proper motivation, it makes no sense, it's all contradictory mess.
I seriously think they write deliberately bad endings like this as a demoralization tactic. It’s an effort to poison the well of good series/franchises, so that people remember the bad ending and not the great beginnings and middles.
re: Obviously, Attack on titan spoiler
The Eren we got is somehow both weaker AND more evil than Hitler Eren.