Marley arc Eren was Built Different – An AoT Restrospective

Article at a glance:

• If “demon time” had a face, it would be long-haired, one-legged, hobo-mode Eren sitting in a Marleyan hospital like he doesn’t have genocide on his mind.
• Marley Arc Eren isn’t screaming about freedom — he’s thinking about it, calculating it, and getting ready to burn the world for it. That’s what makes him terrifying.
• This isn’t the same angsty kid from the walls. This is Eren after years of betrayal, trauma, and silence — calm on the outside, but already halfway into world-ending mode.

Man, I just had the urge to revisit the “Why was my mother eaten by a Titan, Reiner?” scene, and that turned into a full-on rewatch of the Marley arc in the anime. It is relatively short, but man, Eren was some demon time back then. Marley arc Eren was just built different lol. I am cheating here a little bit since my favorite version of Eren extends a little after the Marley arc. So I will include the “Tatakae, tatakae” scene as well, but yeah, I really loved that version of his character.

So welcome to a fun discussion. Today I want to go over why Marley arc Eren is my favorite version of his character. Seriously, if “demon time” had a face, it would be the long-haired, hobo Eren lmao. So let’s just get into it.

Why is Marley Arc Eren My Favorite?

First and foremost, it just hits different seeing Eren all grown up and calm, bro has a beard and long hair now. Plus, he is in a hospital with a leg missing. The last time we saw him, bro was still an angsty teen, shouting about how he would kill all the titans, every last one. But things have changed since then. He has had time to dwell on things, and well, turns out that time has only made his rage stronger. He has now seen life beyond the walls; bro had been living there as an NPC for years at this point, and all that just pissed him off even more.

And by the way, during all this time, Reiner had been going through severe PTSD. Bro just could not come to terms with what he did at Paradis Island. He kept telling himself that it was for the greater good and all, but that did not help. Well, imagine how horrified he must have felt seeing Eren sitting in the middle of HIS city. Reiner immediately realized that he was going to get an exact repeat of Shiganshina in the middle of his own city. The role reversal and just how calm Eren is throughout the conversation is honestly chilling.

And the fight after that?? He used the Jaw like a damn nutcracker to break open the crystal containing the Warhammer Titan’s host and drank her blood to inherit her powers. Oh yeah, remember when Hange came to visit him after the “tatakae” scene? He was SO mad that he almost transformed without biting his finger. It was enough to make Hange of all people panic. At this point, Eren was basically unstoppable; he didn’t get visibly angry much, but DAMN, he was scary.

It also hits hard because at this point, Eren already knew what he was going to do in the future. At this point, he had tried thinking of every other alternative, only to come to the conclusion that the Rumbling was the only way.

That is all for now

I know that AoT’s ending was messy as all hell, but I really do think that Eren’s character arc to the very end was amazing. I am not defending his actions. But he was not an edgelord. He genuinely believed that what he was doing was the only way to protect his people. But yeah, let me know what you guys think in the comments. I will take my leave here. See ya!

Also, check out my rant about Rent-a-Girlfriend here!