Why the fifty-year plan is a terrible idea from Erens perspective. (Attack on Titan Manga spoilers)
Ok.
Before we get really into this breakdown of the rumbling and its various components, lets address the chapter 127 conversation between Jean and Hange. In it Jean basically makes the point that the rumbling does actually secure their survival, and that stopping Eren will likely mean the Islands doom. Hange equivocates for awhile trying to argue that they can secure their survival in other ways, but as Jean counters all of her points, she slams her fist into the table and says that there is no justification for the rumbling, the implication being even if it is the only way to ensure the safety of Paradis, it shouldn’t be countenanced.
If this in-universe disagreement was the way the rumbling debates happened in the fandom, there wouldn’t be much to discuss, both sides agree that the rumbling is the one way to ensure the safety of Paradis, but one side thinks the cost is worth it and the other does not. It’s a simple moral conundrum that people have to come to terms with, and there really isn’t anything further to discuss.
But that isn’t how most arguments in the fandom go, mostly they more resemble the paths discussion in chapter 133, where Armin claims that the full rumbling Eren is engaging in is unnecessary. All he needs to do is destroy the military forces of the world, and blackmail them with the rumbling into signing a peace treaty with Paradis.
I will now go on to explain why I think Armin is wrong, and why from Erens perspective the full rumbling is the more logical response. First, I will cover the reasons purely from the perspective of protecting Paradis, and then from the more personal perspective which hinges on Eren/Historia being canon.
All right, let’s get into it.
Because we haven’t personally experienced it, its easy to forget that the World of Attack on Titan is not our world. It seems like it in all respects, except for the fact that the geography is flipped. Oh, and there is a race of people who share a collective hivemind who are under the control of a single individual and can turn into monstrous man-eating horrors. And they held all of humanity enslaved in their grasp for 2000 years. Let’s not mince words, Eldians are a terrifying danger to the rest of the world, a people whose individual autonomy is limited by their susceptibility to the Founding Titans. Non-Eldians are right to be scared of Eldians. Lurking in the thoughts of almost everyone on the planet is the fear that the Eldians might reclaim their tyranny over the World. The Eldian Empire is the single biggest historical fact in the setting, and its potential rebirth is a lurking menace which terrifies all of mankind.
For a time, the nations of the world were almost more united against Marley than the Paradisians. Then in a masterstroke, Willy united the world against Paradis, instead of having them team up against Marley. With that the world was committed to the destruction of Paradis, and while failing to act wouldn’t have changed this course, Eren attacking Liberio afterwards clearly didn’t make a peace between Paradis and the world any more likely. After Willys speech any chance of a negotiated peace went out the window. There was going to be violence no matter what.
Once Eren reached Zeke and was able to access the power of the Founder, why would a limited rumbling not have been effective? For starters we don’t know enough about Ymir Fritz to know if she would have sided with Eren if he was in favour of a limited rumbling. But let’s assume that was on the cards. The entire World had been living in fear of the Wall Titans and a return of the Eldian Empire. If Eren used them to destroy the Worlds military forces, then this would confirm everything they had ever felt and heard to be true about the Walldians. He might use the Wall Titans to effectively conquer the World and make them accept peace with Paradis. But what would be the reaction of the rest of the World to this? Even if the peace Eren offered through the partial rumbling was reasonable, at least some of the other nations wouldn’t be willing to accept it forever. At any moment Eren might decide to kill the World anyway, and accepting the rule of Emperor Eren would mean accepting a total surrender of sovereignty and a return to the old Eldian Empire. At least some actors would continue working on technologies to counter the threat of the Wall Titans. With the benefit of hindsight from our world we know that nuclear weapons are not too far off, with a far quicker reaction time than a slow Colossal Titan march, nuclear weapons could kill Eren or his Founding Titan inheritor, not to mention the population of Paradis, without warning.
Even in a hypothetical situation in which a careful enough control over the entire global population could prevent the development of weapons capable of freeing the World from his total control, if Eren entrusts the Founding Titan to future generations who will use its power to hold the world hostage in order to protect Paradis, all it will take is one Inheritor to fall victim to the old Eldian flaw of self-loathing and regret for the whole enterprise to collapse, leading to a final massacre of the Eldian race. Even a vow, intended to keep future inheritors bound to the duty of threatening the world with the Wall Titans in order to preserve Paradis, would not be fool-proof, as the events of the chapters so far have definitively proven that such vows are prone to exploits.
In short, using a limited rumbling will mean restoring global Eldian rule, and all of the resentment and hatred that comes with it. The limited rumbling promotes hatred and hostility, and further endangers Eldian lives in the future. When the Samnites trapped a Roman army in the Caudine Forks, the commander was advised to kill all the Romans or to let them go. Half measures would only humiliate them and leave them still capable of fighting back. However, these wise words were ignored and the Samnites were ultimately conquered thanks to that mistake.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Caudine_Forks
A limited Rumbling will mean that Eldia remains endangered, its enemies numerous and wrathful, all the while technology continues to make Titans, even the Wall Titans less all-powerful. The idea that Eren and his inheritors can keep the World tamed forever is ridiculous. Isn’t one of the main themes of the entire story that the human spirit will always overcome and free itself from even the most insurmountable forces keeping it caged?
But let’s go on to the more personal reason.
For starters, let’s not forget the way in which Eren acquired the power of the founder. He did it by appealing to Ymir Fritz, by offering her freedom, and by implying that she didn’t need to serve the House of Fritz any longer. If Eren had asked Ymir to lend him her power in order to continue the cycle, and have her serve more Royal Titans in perpetuity in accordance with the limited rumbling plan, would she have agreed? I doubt it.
But let’s move onto the main reason why Eren doesn’t want to entrust an uneasy peace to future generations. That’s right, I am a believer in the Eren and Historia secret relationship. Eren is secretly the father, and he is ensuring that Historia will not have to be devoured by her children, by his child, and condemn that child to a short life, one in which they will not be free. Eren is ensuring that Historias safety is as ensured as it can be before his time is up. As he said in chapter 133, he will not gamble with the future of Paradis.
From the first female Titan fight, to the moment where Eren acquired hardening underneath the Reiss chapel, his character arc has been one of someone who has learnt that trusting in the strength of his friends is folly, that if he takes responsibility for his own actions and acts independently then he can save his friends and defeat his enemies. And that is what he is doing now, leaving nothing to chance.
To quote an Eren analysis video I found quite inspiring.
“Eren is a man who was asked to choose between saving his body or his soul, and he chose to live.”
P.S If the Marley Commander speech from chapter 134 is foreshadowing an eventual peace ending than that peace is one which only came about thanks to Eren scaring the world into it by nearly killing them all. Which means Erens actions were the one true path to peace. Step aside Ghandi and MLK, there is a new peacemaker in town.
