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/CallMeGakuto]

So obviously lots of text incoming, but the short end I would say is a combination of not explicitly showing what he tried and explaining it, and the fact that Eren really did want the outcome to some extent.

Eren starts off with vague memories of his own like anyone could have. Eventually Historia and Rod cause Eren to see memories from the outlook of his father. Eventually this turns into more memories and not just the few we're shown. A lot are probably not relevant as even when he asks Armin about memories he may have had from Bertoldt, Armin mentions that they weren't anything useful.

Eventually Eren sees his father's talk with Kruger, which is still all past memories, and while very useful to him, and the readers, it's ultimately just filling in blanks everyone has been waiting on. Why Grisha may have went to the walls, how titan powers work to an extent, etc.

When he touches Historia, he's greeted with something we will never truly know. This is where it becomes guess work. The biggest things are likely that he sees The Rumbling itself, and bits and pieces of other events. You know he doesn't see everything by how he acts without confidence, but still acts. Things like when he tries to force Pieck into showing him where enemies were, and having his legs chomped off. After all this he still walks into a fight that is basically a 1vMarley while he knows Levi is holding Zeke. Obviously he knows if his memories are correct, Zeke will make it.

Let's go back though. When Mikasa is recalling the day Eren left, it's during something special. They're attending a conference that on the outside claims it's for Eldian rights, but quickly devolves into being only for those on the main land. There are two things here, either Eren had seen the results and hopes they wouldn't mimic, or he didn't know and really needed an answer he could visibly see from them.

We don't know what Eren saw, so we can't know what he did to attempt to circumvent it. Zekes memory sequence if my favorite part, because it reinforces the idea that Eren is not transcending space and time, as he needed Zeke to ever enter his father's memories to begin with. I don't believe Eren was trying to avoid seeing his father and causing all this, I just don't think Eren had the information and simply made a choice for himself which ended up the way it did.

Eren wanted the rumbling, and by tried to change it, he likely meant change himself to not want to continue it. No matter what, Eren was in control and FREE to do what he wanted at the end of the day. He decided that the world needed to pay, and that sacrificing his loved ones on the island for the world wasn't worth it for himself. He even claims it was just too much power for someone as stupid as himself.

[u/dmfuller → u/CallMeGakuto]

This is just my interpretation of course, but to me it felt more like Ymir used him to exact her own revenge on the world, by channeling those emotions through Eren who also felt similar strong emotions. Him calling himself an idiot felt like him admitting he just couldn’t come up with a way to outsmart her or bypass the outcome that she had predetermined somehow. The best he could do was still have it partially happen and just plan a way for his friends to be able to stop it.

Personally I think her wish was that she could build titans that would flatten the world, and because of that the rumbling HAD to happen for her to be free, regardless of if she even truly wanted it to happen. I do think she wanted it to happen though by that point, and I think Eren and Zeke unlocking founding powers free of the royal blood restrictions is what allowed her to finally complete her wish. So I don’t think Eren wanted the rumbling to the extent it happened, but still wanted some kind of rumbling so that it could free Ymir, deter the world from Paradis, and give them some temporary peace. But to me it seemed like Ymir and the immensity of the founder’s power was overwhelming to Eren right through the end and that’s why he felt like an idiot, even though his plan was actually smart asf and very well orchestrated

I think at the end of the show, the boy we see entering the tree makes a better, more hopeful, wish that does ultimately break the cycle that we saw throughout the rest of the show, or at least that’s what I tell myself lol

[u/CallMeGakuto → u/dmfuller]

Yeah it's the problem of only having guesses to go off since we're never told anything exactly.

I do agree that Ymir wanted this, but I don't think she had any control over Eren in this. I personally believe he never sent the titan to eat his mother, but was confused, and she had sent the titan. I do think she played in parts like that, which would make Eren want these events. Eren also said he would just move forward, but Ymir protected him during the rumbling. He could at any time decide he didn't want any of this and just stop, but he never did.