MangaReview: (AoT) Eren’s Hell, Justifying His Genocide
Major Spoiler Alert until Chapter 131 (Manga)
I will also talk about Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. You can avoid it by skipping the “(Spoiler)” part.
“A hero would sacrifice you to save the planet, but a villain would sacrifice the planet to save you.”
“…How did things get to be this way?
Both their bodies and their minds rotting away. Their freedom stolen away, every single bit of it. They’ve lost their self-confidence as well…If people knew they would end up this way, I don’t think anyone would agree to go to the battlefield in the first place.
But everyone is burdened by a certain “something”, and they plunge head-first into hell. In most cases… that “something” is not their own will. Usually, it’s their environment’s or other people’s expectations, and that leaves them no choice.
However, the hell those who choose to burden themselves is different. On the other side of that hell they can see something. That thing they see might be hope, or if could be just another hell.
But you will never know… unless you keep moving forward.”
This is a quote from Eren in From One Hand to Another (手から手へ), Ch. 97. It seems philosophical and hard to understand what it means and what position it stands at in the story. I try to explain it in this article. I also want to talk about some other stuffs.
Declaration of War
Eren tells Falco about this, makes friends with him, and uses him to send mails to his comrades. What idea is lying in his mind at that time? We can find a clue in the conversation between him and Reiner right before he carries out the massacre, in Declaration of War (宣戦布告), Ch. 100.
As Eren meets Reiner, he tells Reiner what he sees after infiltrating Marley. There are undoubtedly bad guys, but there are also good guys like Falco as well. Although Eren used to see them as the enemies, it turns out that they are nothing more than some normal people like himself.
This is similar with what Reiner does in Paradis Island. He infiltrates the island with the belief that the islanders are all devils, only to find them normal people like himself. We all know that his schizophrenia comes from the guilt of killing innocent people.
On the other hand, Eren does not seem guilty about what he has done to the civilians. Well, this is unfair. We can see Eren agonizing in Rumbling (地鳴らし), Ch. 131, in which he even cries and apologizes to the innocent boy who will die in Rumbling because of himself. He even condemns himself for acting worse than Reiner.
The Different Hell
Eren nevertheless decides to start the Rumbling in the end. Like what Reiner does, this will lead to a massively devastating massacre. The massacre represents the hell. Reiner plunge into his hell by killing innocent people in Paradis Island. Eren plunge into his one by starting the Rumbling.
However, Reiner’s and Eren’s hell is different. Reiner kills the islanders because he wants to become the hero to save the world. He wants to prove himself. He wants to become a powerful warrior to cover his mother in glory. After all, he knows nothing. This is as Eren says, “it’s their environment’s or other people’s expectations, and that leaves them no choice”.
As opposed to Reiner, Eren is completely aware of what he is doing. This makes the fundamental difference as he says, “The hell those who choose to burden themselves is different”. However, you will never know what difference it is “unless you keep moving forward”.
The Symbol of Burden
Freedom is not being able to do whatever you want, but being able to take the responsibility of whatever you choose. This is why people who choose to burden themselves will see a different hell.
Everyone is burdened by something, but the hell those who choose to burden themselves is different. Although Eren is talking to Falco about what he is going to do, we can find many similar situations as one chooses to burdened themselves with hell. For example, the burden from the expectations of the fallen comrades, illustrated as being watched by them, in the conversation between Erwin and Levi, in The Unknown Soldiers (名も無き兵士), Ch. 80, and between Hange, Jean, and Mikasa, in Night of the End (終末の夜), Ch. 127.
The burden is so heavy that one probably wants to let it go. This is well said by Willy Tybur in Good to See (よかったな), Ch. 98, that it is probably not him who decides to do it, but that it simply happens to be him. Concerning this kind of coincidences, I would sincerely recommend watching Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, until (Spoiler→) Bloodstained Euphie, episode 22. (←Spoiler) After all, they in the end choose to dive into hell, and beyond hell there is something only they can see.
Justifying Eren’s Genocide
Conflict between men will become impossible only when mankind is reduced to one person or less. — Erwin Smith, in Chains (鎖), Ch. 63
Since the beginning of Marley arc, it remains endlessly popular whether Eren’s genocide behavior is right or not. I want to propose some arguments in justifying Eren’s decision. Before that, I feel necessary to remind you that there is no easy answer after all, and never accept what I said without thinking on your own.
I will begin with “Is there another way?”. Eren asks Hange about this, in Visitor (来客), Ch. 107. After that, many people seem to agree with Eren, as we can see many discussions on the internet justifying Eren with this reason. Besides, Jean more or less agrees as we can see in his argument against Hange, in Night of the End (終末の夜), Ch. 127. I agree with it, too, as we can see Eren trying his best only to find no other way, in Mikasa’s memory, in Island Devils (島の悪魔), Ch. 123.
It is insufficient to justify Eren’s behavior, though. If all lives have equal values, sacrificing five lives for only another one, let’s say, is wrong because the former simply has more values than one. However, it does not seem morally wrong if we want to save one people by killing five ants for example. This is probably because we value human lives more than other lives. Is this idea justified? I will give the positive answer, because we are simply human beings. Being a human is sufficient enough to take human lives more valuable than other lives. Moreover, we have more moral responsibilities for animals closer to us, such as cats and dogs. This is also intuitive as most people literally think in this way. Note here that it does not require cats or dogs. In Taiwan, for example, many people refuse to eat beef because we used to be an agricultural society, and many old Taiwanese work with cattle for their own lives, so they don’t want their old friends to become the meat on their dining tables. In cases like this, cattle count as the animals closer to people and thus it can be considered morally wrong to eat them.
Similarly, any individual has more moral responsibilities for people closer to zieself, such as family members, lovers, and friends. I am not saying that we don’t even need to care about strangers. Instead, I argue that if we compare between people close to us and those who are not, we undoubtedly should care more about the former. This is intuitive, too. Eren talks about this, in A Sound Argument (正論), Ch. 108, that he does not want his friends to inherit his titan because he values them more than anyone else. Connie is relieved that Sasha and Jean, whom he considers special, are safe even if he knows this is unfair to the fallen, in Assassin’s Bullet (凶弾), Ch. 105.
For the same reason, being an Eldian is sufficient enough to value the lives of Eldians more than others. I presuppose this to argue for Eren. To be more formal, see the following argument.
(P1) Being an Eldian is sufficient to value the lives of Eldians more than others.
(P2) Eren is an Eldian.
(P3) Rumbling is the only way to save Eldians. (There is no other way)
(C) It is not morally wrong for Eren to start rumbling.
Being Born to the World
In MangaReview: (AoT) Self-hating as Reiner Does | by 哲學宅 Philosophy Otaku | Mar, 2021 | Medium, I discuss that being born to the world is the only thing which is completely beyond one’s free will. Following this, one’s ethnic, culture, and people you meet are mostly beyond your decision. This is why most people take their ethnic and culture for granted, and will fight for this belief without hesitation.
I discuss in Manga Review: The Humanity in Attack on Titan (Part II) | by 哲學宅 Philosophy Otaku | Medium that rulers will try to manipulate these things in favor of themselves, so they might be unreal or even false. This, however, does not follow that you should not act based on these reasons. It can be a belief. It can even be an illusion. Most importantly, it is still true that you are born to the world.
Eren is the same. It is possible for Eren to choose Zeke’s way called the euthanasia of the Eldians. He cannot, however, because he is born to the world. This is why he, in Support (支え), Ch. 115, agrees with Zeke that Eldians should not be born in the first place, while he in fact just pretends to cooperate, in The Dawn of Humanity (人類の夜明け), Ch. 130.
On the other hand, Eren’s enemy can be justified in exactly the same way. Fighting for your belief does not require any reason. The debates in Night of the End (終末の夜), Ch. 127 literally proves this. There is no such right or wrong. Well, the winner is right after all.
Well, just for clarification, I am not a cultural relativist, since I think being born to the world is more important than culture differences. For the discussion of right and wrong, by the way, Levi talks about this in Bite (噛みつく), Ch. 25, when he asks Eren to make his own choice before the female titan is coming, and in Soul of a Heretic (外道の魂), Ch. 59, when he tells Jean that his decision might not be wrong, but just some counterfactual facts due to the causal relation between his behaviors. This reminds me of the discussion concerning the fact-value problem. There are just some facts. People simply choose to value some of them and consider them “good” while others “bad”.
Let’s leave the relevant issues for philosophers. Following Eren’s genocide behavior, a problem appears then. Is Eren free with respect to it? If Eren’s behavior is fundamentally based on his being born to the world, can he be considered free since being born to the world is completely beyond his free will?
