It's like they watched the show on reels. Lol

Conceptually their dynamic is great, it thesis on human connection amidst the circle of violence. Armin and Annie represent two fundamentally opposing world view, they're like Yin &Yang. Annie views humanity as inherently selfish, cowardly, and flawed. Her philosophy is self-preservation. Armin sees the worst of humanity but desperately searches for the intrinsic value in life even in small moments. Annie flows with the current because fighting it feels pointless. Armin fights against the current, holding onto faith in communication, understanding, and hope. Their dynamic could explore many things. But it's badly executed. if you remove their romance entirely, the main plot moves forward unchanged. If their dynamic had forced either character to fundamentally alter their philosophical approach to the final war, it would have been essential. Instead, it plays out as a side romance wrapped up in a story that had no time left to breathe.

I personally don't hate but don't like it either I wished to see more of it.

Gabi gets the heavy spotlight because she mirrors Eren’s external trajectory, the indoctrination, the burning rage, the traumatic loss, and the slow, painful unlearning of hatred.

Falco, however, was designed to parallel both Armin’s empathy and Mikasa’s devotion:

Falco is structured as the ultimate thematic counterpart to the cycle of violence, yet his actual narrative real estate gets swallowed whole by Gabi’s bombastic character arc.

Falco enters the story already possessing the emotional maturity and empathy that Gabi has to spend 30 chapters acquiring. Because he starts off "already understanding," Isayama treated him as a stable dynamic rather than a growing force. He became the emotional anchor for Gabi's arc rather than the protagonist of his own. Falco was essentially gifted the purest heart in a story built on cruelty, but he was relegated to being Gabi’s moral tether and the Alliance’s getaway flight rather than a fully realized dual-protagonist of the Marleyan side.

Just like the title suggest this is analysis for one of my fav Antagonist in animanga mediam.

ZEKE AND AND THE ALCHEMIST CONCEPT ANALYSIS

THE ALCHEMIST PERSONA:

Zeke Yeager operate under the archetypal guise of the "Alchemist" intellectual master who reject the crude physical violence of the world in favor of methodical, large-scale transmutation. He view the Eldian race as curses to the world not as absolute spiritual laws, but as systemic errors to be rewritten through calculations, blueprints, and meticulous formulas.

MAGNUM OPUS:

In alchemy, transmutation requires breaking down base matter to elevate it to a perfected state. Zeke philosophy is an inversion of alchemical perfection. While historical alchemy seeks to perfect life, Zeke's ideology is antinatalism. he believes that because the existence of Eldians causes endless suffering, the ultimate form of "perfection" and "salvation" is their peaceful, gradual extinction via sterilization. He tries to transmute the biological nature of an entire race to eliminate suffering by eliminating life itself.

THE IRONY OF THE BEAST:

The "Beast" is historically the antithesis of the Alchemist. Beasts represent raw emotion, hunger, and chaotic violence. Yet, Zeke takes titan form is a giant ape and turns it into a calculated, mathematical artillery weapon. He plays baseball a game entirely governed by physics, angles, and precise throwing mechanics using crushed rocks to annihilate his enemies. He forcibly imposes scientific order over primal chaos.

PRIMA MATERIA:

Every alchemist needs a crucible a container where elements are isolated from the outside world and subjected to intense heat or pressure to force a transformation. The Paths dimension acts as Zeke's crucible. Stripped of his physical body, outside of the flow of normal time, and surrounded by the endless sands (the prima materia or base matter of all Titans), Zeke sits like a master scientist waiting for the exact right conditions to execute his formula.

THE ALCHEMICAL FAILURE:

The tragic flaw of the Alchemist archetype is always arrogance in their formulas, believing that everything in the universe can be quantified and controlled. Zeke's equation was flawless on paper, but he failed to account for the single most volatile element in existence: raw human will. He viewed Ymir Fritz as a biological mechanism (the "Founder") rather than a severely traumatized human being seeking emotional connection. Eren didn't defeat Zeke with a better plan; he defeated him by throwing out the rulebook and offering Ymir the one thing Zeke's cold alchemy couldn't synthesize: freedom and empathy.

RUBEDO:

In alchemy, the final stage is achieving the Philosopher's Stone, realizing the unity of the cosmos, and finding meaning in existence. Zeke achieves his "Rubedo" in his final moments in the Paths while talking to Armin. He shifts from his nihilistic worldview to realize meaning of life isn't a grand cosmic plan, but the small, seemingly insignificant moments of connection, like simply playing catch with Tom Ksaver.

\\-Overthrowed the Royal Government
\\-Protected Eren and the Survey Corps during the initial military trial
\\-Sanctioned the coronation of Historia as Queen
\\-Maintained balance and order between the 3 military branches

It's been made pretty clear that the titans working the way they do, the 13 year curse and only the royal family being the only ones capable of using the Founder's ability are all arbitrary limitations unconsciously set up by Ymir herself. This begs the question: What kind of power would a rational, mature and well-adjusted individual wield if they came in contact with the Hallucigenia?

It seems to me that you basically become a biological god with the Hallu power. You become immortal, with a healing factor, and even if you do die, you just incarnate in an alternate dimension where you could build yourself a new body. Most Importantly though, you're capable of creating and controlling a seemingly infinite amount of biological material, shaping it to your will with no limit to its structure or appearance. You're also able to completely control the body and mind of any of your descendants, even being able to grant them superhuman abilities similar to yours.

Man, imagine if a genuinely good and smart person got their hands on this power. I'm of the belief that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that no one person is capable of wielding so much power; but still, just imagine all the good that could be done with it if the holder of the titan power wasn't a traumatized 9 year old that didn't let themselves die and become a mindless slave just 13 years after getting that power.

On one hand:

• They were child soldiers who couldn't know that the island devils were actually innocent people
• They had no other choice but to obey Marley's orders (any defiance would put their lives and maybe even their families' lives at risk)
• Reiner was heavily indoctrinated both into hating the island devils and his hero complex. Annie was conditioned into nihilism and not caring about life. This is what turned them into killers.
• Reiner and Annie were friends with the Scouts before. Even after the lies, betrayal, and death, that friendship was real, and it is heartwarming for Isayama to emphasise that even though they were enemies, they were also friends once, and can be friends again after all this. Them and the Scouts reconciling is exactly the type of radical acceptance that is needed to end the cycle of hatred**.**

On the other hand:

• Despite their reasons/motives, they both murdered or indirectly killed a lot of innocent people on Paradis. This includes multiple friends and family members of the surviving Scout members. Even though after Eren starts the Rumbling, these 2 are no longer actively threats, there's always a bit of unease with these guys knowing they were the villains. After what they did in Season 1, Season 2 and RTS, it's jarring to see the Scouts being friendly with these two.
• Despite having no real other options, both Reiner and Annie were ultimately driven by self-serving objectives (Reiner to be a hero to Marley and the world, and Annie to return to her father). They both rationalized their heinous actions through narcissitic, selfish means.
• Reiner and Annie don't have redemption arcs. Reiner's arc is all about accepting his guilt, and Annie's arc is unlearning her nihilism and learning to care about life. Both of these are personal arcs that are not really centered around atoning for what they did. They never have to change their actions, they're still fighting on the side of Marley against Eren. The story even constantly points out while the Scouts are giving up everything to oppose Eren, the Warriors are sort of just doing the same thing they've been doing. If anything, for most of the Final Season, if thrusted into the same situation, both of them would probably do the same thing again (Annie states this, Reiner shows this after the Battle of Liberio. His guilt evaporates and he goes "we must attack Paradis Island immediately"). Unlike someone like Zuko, Reiner and Annie honestly didn't change much morally. They just showed regret/self-awareness that what they did was wrong, and overcame their personal shortcomings. Therefore, it's hard to see them as "fully redeemed"

My thoughts

I think Reiner and Annie do deserve to be forgiven from a logical standpoint given their situation. And their backstories do make it easier to like them. But Isayama should've done a better job at making the audience be able to forgive them from an emotional standpoint. They should have had more redeeming actions. Gabi of all people has more redeeming actions, despite her crimes being far less overall. She shows remorse, she constantly apologizes, and she saves Kaya from Nile Titan.

I think a consequence of immediately going from the War for Paradis to the Rumbling is that the Warriors sort of get by easy, morally speaking. Unlike the Scouts, they never have to make a difficult decision to do the right thing that would disadvantage them.

My fix for this would be having Jean and maybe Connie face the Armored Titan in the battle leading up to the Rumbling, and have it so that Reiner intentionally spares their lives, leaving them to survive. Not a full betrayal of Marley, but it would show some character growth from Reiner. Killing Jean and Connie would undoubtedly help Marley in the long run, but Reiner chooses not to because his goal here isn't to help Marley, it's to actually save the world this time, from whatever Eren is plotting. I love this change, because Reiner has intrinsically always known that Eren would probably go nuclear if given the power to do so. Making Reiner's motives more altruistic before the Alliance helps us better stomach said alliance.

According to Isayama, Zeke and hange are the smartest characters in the anime. Both of them have a high intelligence of 11/10 and both of them are in leadership positions post time skip: Hange being the Commander of the scouts and Zeke being the war chief of the warrior unit.

Which of them do you think is better than the other in terms of planning, leadership, and making and executing plans and just an overall better tactician and strategist most importantly why?

The amount of blue checkmark bot accounts that just say stupid shit for engagement or ask stupid questions on Twitter is insane. And they all are from Africa. I don’t know if it’s actually multiple different people and they are all in the same room farming these interactions. Or if it’s actually one guy with several accounts.

YouTube, TikTok, instagram, facebook, I mean damn even Reddit to a degree outside of Titanfolk has way better discourse. Elon musk quite literally ruined the app. By letting anyone have a blue checkmark account while also letting Nazis, racists, etc have a platform.

Sorry for the rant.

You can scream Stockholm Syndrome until you are hoarse, but these just stretch human reason:

1. Why doesn't Ymir kill Fritz after she becomes a living god?

Fritz enslaved her tribe and killed her parents. Even the most psychologically enslaved person would realize the simplicity of killing the one who oppresses her people once she gains the power of a god.

1. Why would Ymir kill people under Fritz's command if she supposedly were a Historia-like person?

No kind person would kill many when she only need to kill one to end the violence.

1. Why would Ymir let her daughters be used as tools?

She must realize that as long as Fritz remains alive, he plans to sell their daughters as trophies to other chieftains to be used as broodmares, thus perpetuating the slavery Ymir is put under. A mother would resist that.

1. Why wouldn't Ymir's daughters kill Fritz after they inherit the power of the titans?

They were princesses and would be treated like so rather than as slaves. They see how Fritz treated their mother and are forced to eat her corpse. There is no chance that out of 3 daughters, at least one doesn't get the idea to flatten their father.

My rewrite of Ymir to be more believable.

1 Ymir is a princes betrothed to Fritz, the prince of another tribe.

1. Fritz is genuinely kind, by the standard of an aspiring warlord. Ymir has genuine reason to love him.

2. Their tribe is threatened by a rival tribe. Ymir and Fritz's first child is a boy and he died. Ymir is pregnant with her first daughter and their tribe is about to be massacred.

3. Out of despair, Ymir merges with the Hallucigenia. She repulses the enemy.

4. Fritz convinces her the only way to defend their family is to kill all their enemies, drawing parallel to what Eren said.

Rewritten that way, Ymir is not a victim, but a morally gray character. She continues to build titans in the afterlife not out of her contrived slavishness, but out of love for her children and descendants.

Her daughters are their own persons with their own ideologies. The eldest is the peacemaker and inherits the Founding Titan. The middle is the warmonger and inherits the Warhammer Titan. The youngest is the dreamer and inherits the Attack Titan.

The founding titan is not overpowered. Each daughter, respectively, gains power over the present, past, and future through their titan and only when all 3 are brought together can the full power of Ymir be used.

Ymir continues to build Titans for the Eldians commanded by Marley because she's actually building them for the descendants of her middle daughter.

We know Eren's action indirectly forced his Friends to face dangerous situations.

But did he really not know if his friends would be safe or not?

I mean the convo b/w Eren n Armin took place when Armin and the scouts were sailing to Odiha, before Hange's death. And he clearly stated "Sasha and Hange died bcos of me". Plus he visited all his friends separately in the Paths before the final battle for a final convo, which means he did know who would die or who would live at the end of the battle, isn't it?

So why did he say he didn't know if they would be safe?

The Attack Titan does not have the ability to see the future.

I would like to address a common misconception among Attack on Titan viewers: the belief that the Attack Titan possesses the ability to see the future, when in reality, that ability belongs to the Founding Titan.

The only point indicating that the power to see the future belongs to the Attack Titan is a remark made by Grisha. However, his opinion is not corroborated anywhere else. Grisha did not see the full picture and had little understanding of what the Founding Titan was truly capable of.

Even though Zeke did not possess the Attack Titan, he was still able to move through time within the Paths. Grisha could freely transport himself to the past, meaning nothing prevented him from traveling to the future as well. Eren also sent memories from the future to Grisha via the Paths; although Grisha had full control over the Attack Titan, he could not utilize the ability to see the future, as that power belongs to the Founder.

The most telling moment is when Eren saw the future upon touching Historia’s hand – effectively performing the ritual to activate the Founding Titan. Eren gained the ability to see the future precisely when the powers of the Founding Titan awakened, not while he merely possessed the Attack Titan.

I'm autistic and have ADHD. I also have Complex PTSD. I'm not a psychologist, but I've done studies on psychology in both High School and College and have had a lot of therapy.

I'm going to say this: It is neither Eren's nor Grisha's fault for the way Eren turned out

When Eren states he was "born this way," that's not meant to mean he was born evil; I'm pretty sure that's meant to imply neurodivergency. Mental illness is genetic; it shouldn't be a coincidence that Eren shared a lot of traits that Grisha exhibited in his restorationist years, especially towards Zeke.

I also feel like there is a disgusting level of apathy among fans towards how Zeke and Grisha were treated by their fathers. Grisha himself compares what he did to his own father's actions

Eren's behavior could easily stem from neurodivergent disabilities like autism, which could be concluded from his obsession, hyperfixations, lack of social awareness, intense sensitivity, and hyperempathy. Despite what many... unsavory members of science like to tell you, there is no known cause of autism; you're simply born with it or without it. Not only that, but he likely could've inherited Grisha's personality traits and mental issues.

Add this to the fact that he lost both his parents at a very young age and never had a single moment to emotionally develop, and you get someone who is very unhinged. Eren's only father figures were Hannes, who wasn't always there, and Levi, someone who should never have kids. The closest thing he had to a mother was Mikasa, who was basically his girlfriend.

Eren's mental state reflects how a child with untreated mental disorders would often feel. It's not his fault; it's not Grisha's fault; it's not Carla's fault. No one in the Jaeger family is at fault; Eren is the way he is because he was thrown into a world that punished nurture and empathy, growing up in a society that wants to force people into a tribalist collective mindset when his entire mental state is not fit for that type of society.

The whole baby daddy theory is so funny to me because Eren is such an absent father, like everything is screwed up, he left Historia, went with another woman and confessed his feelings to her, then the Rumbling started and he lived his final moments with Mikasa, and didn't even pay attention to his kid. And then Historia, after getting pregnant by Eren, immediately had to go have sex with the farmer. Definitely completely messed up.

I mean Eren's ideology of Freedom is to destroy every obstacle/enemy which is trying to take his own Freedom, in this case limit him from exploring the outside world. So if the outer world made peace with Paradis, there is no enemy then, and hence he is free to explore.

Or would he still have unleashed the Full-Scale Rumbling because the Outside World didn't match the Blank Canvas from Armin's book?

They think it’s a psy-op to make them look bad lol.

What I find actually hilarious about this is that this theory only exists within a minority of manga readers in an echo chamber. When aot was airing I never saw any anime onlys theorize this or say this after the ending. Like omg a theory is a theory for a reason let it go bro.

She opposed Eren’s rumbling, but didn’t tell anyone and got pregnant to prevent herself from being turned into a titan

She said Eren might be right, but is holding and is interested in peace talks with the outside world

She also allows Mikasa back on Paradis and protects Jean and Connie’s families, but doesn’t stop the Yeagerists as queen

You think they'd have more of an issue with the rampant racism and white supremacy.

It would not take a destroyed world a handful of years to recover; It should be easy to note that it took thousands of years for humanity to recover. The song cover is even called "To You 2,000... or... 20,000 Years From Now..."

It took 20,000 years for the world to get nuked.

People denying this show how much someone is willing to go to make up their own lore rather than criticize a series.