Some protagonists stay true to their desires, while others are gradually molded by the world they live in. Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan is a blend of both. Nature and nurture morph him into the complicated character that he is, with rage against an unjust world fueling his tragic journey.
Eren’s leap from doomed protagonist to out-and-out villain might be one of the most compelling aspects of Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan. However, Isayama’s recent statement about the series’ ending brings some authorial doubts to the surface, as displayed on a block print at Attack on Titan Museum in Hita City, Oita Prefecture. Read Isayama’s statement below:
“Eren became a protagonist who committed mass slaughter on a scale rarely seen in other works of fiction. As for why I conceived such a story from the beginning, part of it was my desire to create a narrative with a major twist—where the victim becomes the perpetrator.
But a large factor was also my own immaturity and foolishness at the time, when I was in my early twenties. That aspect became the core of Eren’s character, leading to the point where he confesses not as someone forced into wrongdoing by circumstances, but as someone who harbored a desire to do harm.
However, Attack on Titan had long since ceased to be mine alone, and Eren became a character loved by many readers. In the end, without fully committing to portraying him as a detestable figure, I found myself depicting him with a certain closeness and sympathy. As a result, I feel there remains a sense of insincerity in the story’s conclusion—at least in my own assessment.”
Isayama’s statement might have been partially influenced by the backlash to the Attack on Titan manga’s original ending, which was considered “rushed” by some pockets of the fandom. To make amends, Isayama added eight extra pages to the final chapter to offer further context, flesh out character arcs, and provide a more satisfying closure to this epic saga. This extended ending, although mostly well-received, remains controversial. As Eren’s actions loom over this final chapter, it’s natural for Isayama to second-guess the impulses that shaped such an iconic character.
Despite Isayama’s misgivings, Eren emerges as an appropriately complex villain. The “sympathy” that Isayama mentions is the source of nuance here. Eren wasn’t born with the intention of slaughtering 80% of humanity — this twisted desire was born out of trauma-fueled radicalization.
The tension between who Eren could’ve been and who he chose to become in Attack on Titan lends the story its pathos. It also reinforces Eren’s status as a well-written character. Moreover, the “insincerity” that Isayama speaks of might’ve been remedied with a more brutal exploration of Eren’s moral downfall, but it would’ve also run the risk of turning a flesh-and-blood character into a bland, one-note archetype.
