Attack on Titan Updates: By this point, the fourth season of Attack on Titan, with or without the aid of his comrades, Eren is determined to restore the Eldia Kingdom.
WARNING: the below information contains spoilers for the fourth season of Attack on Titan, now available for streaming on FUNimation, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.
The anime’s fourth season is quickly widening the scale of the whole Assault on Titan plot, unveiling the great war the Marley Empire has been fighting against its neighbors for four years, ever since the third season ended.
Eren’s three-walled settlement, located on Paradis Island, is only just a tiny slice of the overall map, and this discovery shifts Eren’s ambitions and objectives dramatically.
Eren is no longer a vengeful Titan slayer, rescinding his “I’m going to kill them all!” oath. Now he realizes that all the Titans are his fellow Eldians, a minority group in the colonial Marley Empire that suffers from second-class citizenship.
Eren’s mission has been profoundly skewed by this reality, and he is hardly the same hero he was at the start of the series, much to the consternation of his closest friends in the Survey Corps. It could end up this division being his undoing.
Statement of Eren’s new mission in the fourth season
As the truth of the Marley Empire and the wider universe come upon them, everyone on Paradis Island changed his or her outlook, and while everyone in the Scouts wishes to protect Paradis Island from the conquest-minded Marley Empire, Eren Yeager takes this to an extreme.
He, along with his half-brother Zeke, basically sees himself as the Eldians’ protector, and he is confident that the corrupt Marleyans will be overthrown and the Eldians will restore the old kingdom that is their birthright with the Attack Titan and Founding Titan’s forces.
Eren has a “we’re taking back what’s ours” outlook on life, and his fellow inhabitants of Paradis Island are very sympathetic to this, including supporting Eren during Willy Tybur’s dramatic speech during his bold raid on Marley’s capital.
The Founding Titan is the key, and Eren will face everything the Marley Empire will throw at him to gain it. He and the leaders of the Marley are two dogs battling for one bone, and this ensures that the Nine Titans are separated into two camps, with Eren taking the lead in this battle from his side.
If the Eldians can protect the influence of the Founding Giant and harness that strength with the royal blood of Zeke, then certainly, with what the Marley Empire did to them, the Eldians will have their vengeance. Huh? Right?
Eren becomes a Loose cannon
The mission statement of Eren is plain enough, but that does not make it any easier to achieve the mission. It is true that Eren has many strengths on his side, from the element of surprise to the strength of the Attack Titan and even the cooperation of Zeke, but all this stresses the friendship between Eren and his fellow Scouts, including his lifelong friend and adoptive girlfriend, Mikasa Ackerman, and Levi Ackerman.
Eren has become a radical who calls out for the return of Eldia, and he no longer cares how many lives are spent making the dream come true.
Eren vowed in earlier seasons that he would not let his friends and countrymen suffer at the hands of the Titans anymore, but now, Eren sees the battle like a game of chess. Any number of Scout pawns will be lost to capture the enemy king, and the Scouts will quickly pick up on this.
In fact, by launching his assault on Marley’s capital, Eren more or less forced the Scout Corp’s hand, because he would certainly be killed or captured if he didn’t get any reinforcements.
The gathered Scouts reluctantly fitted their ODM equipment, took off in a captured zeppelin, and got some much-needed assistance as Eren went on his rampage (and ate the War Hammer Titan).
In this effort, many scouts died, including the beloved Sasha Blouse, and Eren barely beat an eye. He’s got his eyes on the plan, the goal, and who cares if they fire down a few scouts?
Eren and the Scouts are on the same side right now, but in this coalition, cracks are emerging, and this could come to a headlong after.
Could Eren end up taking Zeke’s side in future developments against Levi and Mikasa? How will the defenders of Paradis Island ever rebuild Eldia if they are feuding with each other?
This will give the Marley Empire the ability to divide, conquer and claim its superiority once and for all, and to defeat those odds, Eren may require more than Zeke’s (or even Reiner’s) support.
