MangaReview: (AoT)Why Levi Does Not Save Erwin
Reaching a dream means losing a purpose.
Spoiler Alert until chapter 84 (manga) or episode 55 (anime)
Introduction
The battle that causes the death of Erwin Smith is literally unforgettable, for there are numerous scenes that will certainly blow your mind. Erwin’s speech to the rookies, and their suicidal charge. The fight between Levi and the beast titan. Armin’s sacrifice for taking down the colossal titan. The debate for saving Erwin or Armin. All of them are worth reading again and again. This article offers the theory for just one thing. Why does Levi choose to save Armin instead of Erwin?
Background
For those who forgot about this. Erwin’s death is confirmed in Midnight Sun (白夜), Ch. 84, in the manga, or Midnight Sun (白夜), Ep. 55, in the anime. There is basically no different of the plot between the two versions.
Erwin is seriously injured for getting his ventral shot by the beast titan with a stone, after leading the suicidal charge as a decoy for Levi to take down the beast titan. Armin, on the other hand, is also about to die after getting his whole body burned by the colossal titan, after saving time for Eren to defeat the colossal titan.
There is only one person possible to be saved with only one titan shot. The dispute of who to save soon turns into a fight, until Hange appears and persuades Mikasa to cut it out. We then see the most emotional scene, that Eren grabs Levi’s foot, asking if he knows anything about the sea, until Floch drags him away.
Levi decides to use the titan shot on Erwin but gets interrupted by Erwin raising his hand. He soon realizes that this dying man is dreaming about his childhood, when he raises his hand to ask his father how people know there are no other people outside the wall. As we know, then, Levi finally injects Armin and Erwin dies. Although Floch asks for the reason, Levi only asks him to forgive Erwin without a clear explanation. Hange also shows her/his incomprehension later but accepts it.
Death and Freedom
With a rigorous and well-organized plot, we know Armin will not be chosen simply because he is the main character. Here I want to offer two possible reasons. For the first reason, in my opinion, this has something to do with the core idea along the whole story, freedom.
Attack on Titan can be considered a story mainly concerning freedom. The freedom to go outside the wall, the freedom to live as a person instead of being considered a demon, which I discuss in Manga Review: The Humanity in Attack on Titan (Part I) | by 哲學宅 Philosophy Otaku | Medium in case you are interested.
What is freedom? How to be free? Although the whole plot never stops trying to answer this question, it offers a different view by Kenny Ackerman in Friend(友人), Ch. 69, that it is impossible to escape slavery. Everyone needs to be drunk on something to keep moving forward. Any person without any purpose will die soon. This is what humans be like.
From this point of view, Erwin is also a slave to his dream. He spends his whole life trying to prove his father’s hypothesis that there are people living outside the wall. His dream is strong that he would even consider it an option of abandoning his comrades and subordinates for entering the basement alone, which he confesses to Levi in The Unknown Soldiers (名も無き兵士), Ch. 80.
Levi persuades Erwin in giving up his dream after his confession. Erwin is relieved, then. I have been thinking for so long about why Erwin appears relieved instead of frustrated or depressed. After reading the manga for several times, I think the relieve comes from being free. Erwin is relieved because he is finally free. Undoubtedly, he loses his purpose and is going to die, but he is never a slave to his dream anymore.
Erwin lives as a slave for his dream, and he is free by giving up his dream and going to die. If this is the case, why Levi does not save him is because he does not want to drag him back where he is not free. Levi knows this better than anyone else, and when he is making the decision, Isayama shows us the dream of Armin, the confession of Kenny, and finally the face of Erwin while giving up his dream. Levi, as a result, chooses to let Erwin go, to let him free. This is the first reason.
Erwin and His Dream
The second reason concerns Erwin’s dream. We may find several clues related to this in the story. As I just mentioned in the previous section, Erwin always feels guilty about sacrificing his subordinates for his own dream. Although he gives up his dream in the end, we can see him thinking about his own dream even if it might lead to the extinction of human beings. For example, in The Thunder Spears (雷槍), Ch. 76, he thinks about the possibility of entering the basement even if the battle against the beast titan fails, just right after feeling guilty about his selfishness and others who die for humanity. This dream keeps playing an important role in his mind until he confesses to Levi and gives up his dream to lead to suicide charge. In fact, Zackly and Pixis are also aware of this, as we can see the conversion between Eriwn and each of them, in Sin (罪), Ch. 62 for Zackly, and in Chains (鎖), Ch. 63 for Pixis.
Is Levi aware of Erwin’s conflict between his dream and his guilt? I think he does. In A Dream I Once Had (いつか見た夢), Ch. 71, Erwin asks if he can entrust the titan serum to Levi, and Levi asks why it is not an order. In my opinion, Erwin proposes a request instead of an order because he feels guilty, which I discuss and compare it with Berserk in MangaReview: (AoT) Erwin Smith Could Have Become the Real Demon | by 哲學宅 Philosophy Otaku | Mar, 2021 | Medium. Levi knows it so he asks what Erwin will do after reaching his dream, while Erwin says he does not know.
Another clue lies in Night of the Battle to Retake the Wall (奪還作戦の夜), Ch. 72, while Levi tries and fails to persuade Erwin into staying at a safe place instead of going to the frontline. This debate is very interesting, though. Levi starts with the old question concerning Erwin’s next step after retaking wall Maria, and asks Erwin to stay away from the battle. Erwin then proposes some seemingly plausible arguments which Levi considers nonsense. However, Levi finally gives up persuading Erwin after he confirms that Erwin sees his own idea even more important than the success of humanity.
We can infer from this debate that Levi knows Erwin’s thought better than anyone else. He knows that Erwin will probably place his own dream as more important than the future of humanity. As a result, Erwin will try to join them to the frontline, so he will still have a chance entering the basement even if they fail the battle. That’s why Levi interrupts Erwin’s arguments because he knows these are just some excuses. Although it is better for the humanity that Erwin does not enter the frontline, Levi finally decides to “trust Erwin’s judgement” because he is completely aware that nothing can stop this man from dedicating the heart for his dream.
Does Levi’s awareness have anything to do with his decision to let Erwin die? I think it does. Consider people like Erwin, who uses his own life for a dream and is about to make it true. what will happen after he reaches his dream, then? Reaching one’s dream is, at the same time, losing one’s purpose of life. When Levi is right about to use the titan serum, he sees Erwin, dying in a coma, raise his hand as if he is asking his father about the question which affects his whole life later. In my opinion, Erwin’s behavior reminds Levi that Erwin will lose everything as reaching his own dream, and he does not want to see this happen. This is the second reason.
It is hard to say which reason is right, and I may fail to convince you with any of them. There is no easy answer in this work, after all. However, Erwin’s death is literally one of my favorite scenes. Sometimes we just cannot make the choice. Choosing between Armin and Erwin is one of them. Although Erwin in the end dies without knowing the truth of the world, he as the 13th commander of the survey corpse has outstandingly finished his job. After all, he is finally free.
