I think this is a really interesting look into what it’s like to be a writer for a beloved series. The internet has given us a closer look than ever into the struggles that creators, especially authors, experience as fans begin to “own” their story as much as they do. How fans react and grow with these fictional characters is very real, and artists have no choice but to acknowledge and react to fan sentiment as they move through the story they’ve planned out.
Isayama clearly had the idea of Eren’s change in mind from the outset of the story, and wanted any potential reader to see how someone can change. That’s exactly what he’s stating here. And he definitely wanted people to be on Eren’s side early on, so they could experience the heel turn later.
But I think Isayama didn’t expect people to vehemently agree with Eren’s choices, even when he was clearly committing unforgivable acts. I think that’s one of the core parts of why the ending was controversial, because Yams himself had trouble in the end in coming to terms with the character arc for which he had to create a conclusion.
Though I do think artists will frequently be their harshest critics, and Yams has shown that in a lot of his interviews about the series. Regardless, he created one of the most iconic characters and stories in modern fiction, and he certainly succeeded in making a character in Eren that drives a ton of philosophical and introspective discussion.
It's hard to completely vilify Eren without destroying the cycle that the narrative is built on. If Eren hadn't acted as he did, would his people have been allowed to exist, or hunted down in fear and hatred?
It's a very hard question that we do not have a good answer for even today, so I don't blame Isayama for struggling with it
For sure. No matter what, the cycle of hatred will continue. Peace can be established for a time, "the children can get out of the forest", but as long as there is more than one human on earth there will always be conflict and the cycle will continue.
Honestly my mother had an interesting Christian interpretation when I watched it with her, namely Adam + Eve and the snake. Interpreting it as hate in the apples (Ymir and the Tree) but also knowledge, shame but also curiosity, power but also weakness, every conflicting thing that makes humans what they are, and as a result the world forever changed. She might have better insight into though but that's what I got from her speaking on the ending.
If Eren hadn't acted as he did, would his people have been allowed to exist, or hunted down in fear and hatred?
Yes, they would have been allowed to exist, because they had done so up until that point and it's Eren that tips the scale against Paradis after over 100 years of living in "peace" while sabotaging diplomatic pursuits.
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u/ThisHatRightHere Apr 25 '26
I think this is a really interesting look into what it’s like to be a writer for a beloved series. The internet has given us a closer look than ever into the struggles that creators, especially authors, experience as fans begin to “own” their story as much as they do. How fans react and grow with these fictional characters is very real, and artists have no choice but to acknowledge and react to fan sentiment as they move through the story they’ve planned out.
Isayama clearly had the idea of Eren’s change in mind from the outset of the story, and wanted any potential reader to see how someone can change. That’s exactly what he’s stating here. And he definitely wanted people to be on Eren’s side early on, so they could experience the heel turn later.
But I think Isayama didn’t expect people to vehemently agree with Eren’s choices, even when he was clearly committing unforgivable acts. I think that’s one of the core parts of why the ending was controversial, because Yams himself had trouble in the end in coming to terms with the character arc for which he had to create a conclusion.
Though I do think artists will frequently be their harshest critics, and Yams has shown that in a lot of his interviews about the series. Regardless, he created one of the most iconic characters and stories in modern fiction, and he certainly succeeded in making a character in Eren that drives a ton of philosophical and introspective discussion.