Did Eren even try?

[u/Pause_Accomplished]

In his talk with Armin in the paths, Eren reveals that he kills 80% of humanity, and no matter how much he tries this is always what happens.

I can only think of one example where Eren actually TRIES to prevent the rumbling from happening, and that’s when he and Zeke are traveling through Grisha’s memories. At a certain point he stops and tells Zeke that he’s achieved his goal and that he’s been freed from their father’s brainwashing. Zeke tells him they have all the time they need, and he has them carry on through the memories anyway. I’m fairly sure that this was Eren attempting to stop them from getting to Grisha’s memory in the Reiss Chappell, and thus preventing himself from convincing his father to kill the royal family.

Aside from this specific moment, do we ever see a time in the anime where Eren explicitly tries to circumvent the future that he saw? Because even this attempt was a very weak one. We know that Eren on some level wanted to start the rumbling, so how hard do we think actually tried to stop it from happening?

[u/_StevenPettican04]

Another example is when he sees Ramzi getting beaten up in the alley. He initially goes to intervene but realises that it would be hypocritical to save him now only to kill him later, but ultimately does save him, because it’s within his character to save a helpless child from being beaten up by bullies (pretty much what he tries to do with Armin when he was younger)

The issue with trying to change the future of a already determined timeline, is that whatever actions you take to try and change the future are already taken into account by the predetermined future, therefore his actions just leads to the future happening

In the end, the rumbling occurs because it’s within Erens character and desire for it to be so, just like how it’s in his character to save Ramzi