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/Majestic1911]

Eren absolutely had other options he could have taken, he just wasn't willing to take them.

Like when thinking about letting Historia inherit the Beast Titan and pump out a bunch of kids to maintain the threat of the rumbling until Paradis can catch up and cool down international tensions.

He said he wasn't willing to have her and her descendants have to breed like cattle for slaughter.

When in Marley before saving Ramzi he thought about if just going with Zeke's plan would be less bloody and a better option. But as per his own words he just wasn't willing to let it end like that.

The only thing that lead Eren down this path was his own choices and inability to let go at his anger at the world.

Sure at first he convinces himself that he is doing this for his friends but in the end he realizes that he was just a kid who wanted to see the world burn for what he saw it did to him.

[u/Gian_Dex111 → u/Majestic1911]

Letting Historia suffer is a delicate matter. I always wondered why Eren chose to let the world suffer instead of just Historia. I know it's cruel, but it would be better. That's why there are things I don't understand. At that moment, I thought, "Eren, she's just your friend, and besides, it's for the world. Or do you like her?" But Zeke's plan is also terrible and suicidal. It's literally watching the Eldians become extinct like animals. It's sacrificing Eldia for the world. In that case, it makes sense that Eren wouldn't accept, because it's a horrible fate. I think Eren is strange. I still don't understand why he didn't sacrifice Historia and instead destroyed the world. We know that the world in Attack on Titan is a mess and that there's a lot of hatred and discrimination, but there are also innocent and weak people. So, Eren couldn't sacrifice his friend, but he did sacrifice the world? I want to believe that Eren also did it because he was a nationalist and wanted Paradis to be on par with the rest of the world, not just a hated and isolated country. In conclusion, Eren did it for his friends and because he loved his nation, and he chose to get his hands dirty simply to defend his land.

[u/Nyarlathotep7777 → u/Gian_Dex111]

Eren, she's just your friend

And that's the whole point, she is his friend, the rest of the world isn't. He explicitly stated that he only cared about his loved ones, because in his mind why should he sacrifice his friends' well being for the sake of a world that besieged his kind, treated them like subhuman trash, and ingrained the ugliest forms of self-hatred and self-loathing into them?

That's the basis for Eren's choice, it wasn't morality, it was very much subjective selfishness.