Summary
The following contains spoilers for Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS Special 2, now streaming onPrime Video.
In the time since thepremiere of the much awaited series finaleof theAttack on Titananime, there have been intense discussions and debates surrounding the version of the story’s ending that made it to the silver screen. For the most part, the anime’s final episode stayed true to the original manga ending, with a few tweaks incorporated by series creator Hajime Isayama, to enhance the impact of the bittersweet conclusion that brought Eren’s tale to a close.
While some elements ofAttack on Titan’sstoryline and themes have precedents in earlier dark fantasy anime and manga,the ending of the series, in particular, has quite a lot in common with another well known anime in the form ofCode Geass. On the surface, the two shows could not be more different in terms of their setting and the personalities of their protagonists, but a closer reading of their underlying themes and narrative direction will offer an entirely different answer. Since the endings of both series have been the subject of quite a few comparisons lately, here is a look into why these perceived similarities may or may not be as obvious as they may seem.
Two Vastly Different Individuals
Both Eren and Lelouch endured persecution from a young age, and were held held captive due to their respective lineages. That being said,Eren’s reality was a lot harsher than Lelouch’s, where he lived in constant fear of Titan attacks, in a region that was extremely vulnerable and dealt with regular issues pertaining to resource scarcity. On the other hand, Lelouch was a political hostage in Japan — which was renamed Area 11 — but enjoyed a fairly privileged life as a Britannian.
That being said, he also lived in constant fear of having his royal heritage exposed, which would have posed great danger to his life and that of his sister Nunnally.Lelouch’s strength also stemmed from his intelligenceand Machiavellian cunning, which allowed him to outwit far more experienced strategists in the theater of war. He was always the hero of his own story, and was much more ruthless in battle, having readily killed both soldiers and civilians in order to achieve his goals.
By contrast,Eren was extremely impulsive and driven by revenge, but lacked any sense of tact in his early years. Despite having good intentions, he recklessly charged into battle against Titans much larger and stronger than him without any real plan of attack. This continued even after he discovered his own Titan powers, and he only began to display signs of some strategic acumen after the time skip. Even then, Eren’s tenacity was what allowed him to persevere throughout the many difficult situations he found himself in, which was a stark contrast to Lelouch’s character.
Eren’s character only really came into his own after the time skip, when his previously black and white view on morality began to sink deeper into shades of gray. He also began to display a more charismatic and self-assured side to his persona, even if it was only a facade in the end. The uncertainty around Eren’s motives and objectives drove the post-time skip arcs ofAttack on Titanin an incredibly engaging fashion, whereas his role before the time skipwas more akin to a typical shonen protagonist.
Bearing The Weight Of Their Sins
While both characters differed in many respects, they also found themselves up against the threat of oppression by a major political power whose influence was as malicious as it was far-reaching. In the search for salvation from their tormentors, bothEren and Lelouch committed many heinous acts, including the murder of innumerable innocents, who became collateral damage in their respective struggles for freedom. Over time, their idealism gave way to a gritty pragmatism, where they had both gone too far in their own crusades to turn back and renounce their crimes.
Each one willingly became the enemy of all humanity and perpetrated atrocities to fuel the world’s collective hatred towards them. For Eren, this meant wiping out the majorityof the global human population with the Rumbling, in a horrific act of genocide that could not be rationalized even under the harsh circumstances he found himself in. He was forced to resort to such drastic measures, due to the world’s blind hatred towards the Eldians of Paradis, which completely eliminated any chance of solving issues through diplomacy.
On the other hand, forLelouch, the way forward was littered with the bodiesof those he willingly sacrificed and betrayed in order to become the sole sovereign who ruled over the Holy Britannian Empire. He managed to amass enough political and military power to hold the entire world hostage, which even resulted in his former comrades in the Black Knights launching a bold yet futile movement of resistance against his tyranny.
As penance for their misdeeds, Eren and Lelouch had no recourse apart from giving up their own lives, which allowed their former allies to take credit for defeating them. In Eren’s case, he allowed Armin, Mikasa, Levi, as well as the remaining Scouts and Warriorsto defeat him and attain redemptionas the heroes who saved the world from the Rumbling. This act also eliminated any probability of a combined military assault against Paradis by all allied nations of the world, leveling the playing field for a time.
Lelouch’s death, on the other hand, was orchestrated as part of his plan known as the Zero Requiem, where he had his closest friend, Suzaku Kururugi, publicly assassinate him while impersonating Zero, his alter ego. This plan culminated in Suzaku taking up the mantle of Zero from Lelouch, where he gave up his real identity and resolved to maintain peace by continuing to live and lead the Black Knights. Since Lelouch was the focal point of the entire world’s hatred, his death was seen as a moment of liberation, which brought an end to his reign of terror.
Reinventing A Proven Formula
As one of the most memorable anime endings in recent history,Code Geassleft a strong impression on the minds of its fan base, and has routinely been cited as the gold standard of how to end a tense and intricately woven narrative arc in a meaningful fashion. For aprotagonist as complex and flawed as Lelouch, there could have been no better end to his struggles than laying down his life in exchange for forging a lasting peace that he would never get to see.
It is easy to see a similar thematic core in the conclusion to Eren’s own story, but the outcome of his actions was less clear, given thatAttack on Titan’sepilogue showed war reaching Paradis' shoresonce again. In a way,Attack on Titanposits a more pessimistic outlook on human nature and its tendency to engage in conflict when compared toCode Geass’ending. Even though Eren eradicated the Power of the Titans from the face of the earth, he could not wipe out the darkness within humanity, and only succeeded in delaying the inevitable resumption of the cycle of war and hatred that they were doomed to fall victim to.
This pessimism feels all too real in the present day, when war ravages different parts of the world, shattering thousands of lives for no justifiable reason. What makes this realism tangible is the fact that such horrors would not seem entirely out of place in the world as it is today, as humankind continually falls victim to blind hatred and warmongering, condemning the world to repeat this vicious cycle again and again.
