A shared dream.
— thread on the importance of shell motif for the shared dream of armin and eren.
#AttackOnTitan
#shingeki
— thread on the importance of shell motif for the shared dream of armin and eren.
#AttackOnTitan
#shingeki
The shell held by Armin is a hermit crab shell. Hermit crabs use these shells as their homes, however, they keep switching shells, changing their homes as they outgrow the shells and then move to bigger shells.
One can infer from this that the shell is a metaphor for walls, the containment may get bigger and bigger but it will never mean absolute freedom. For eren, first, it was the walls, then it was the island and the sea, then it was the “enemies” across the sea.
The panel with the shell is drawn right after eren asks “will we be free if we kill all our enemies across the sea?”, pointing to the answer being No.
On top of this, this was rather a rhetorical question as one can infer through eren’s own expression, a feeling of disappointment mixed with an underlying feeling that he could never be truly free that way.
This is a complete contrast to Armin here, Armin here treasures the shell as a remembrance of the “unknown outside”, an entity that piques the curiosity of anyone that has seen it for the first time and invigorates the desire to understand it.
A tie to the overarching narrative of externally oriented freedom and internally oriented freedom building up since the very first chapter through Eren-Armin dynamic. Eren was discontent even before the dream or the truth while armin found joy in his dream—pure curiosity.
Eren is an example of externally oriented freedom while armin is internally oriented. This is supported by the fact that eren is much more critical of his environment than himself, shackled by extrinsic entities as well as his intrinsic desires—
while Armin is extremely self-critical of himself which is further expounded by his survivor guilt and insecurities resulting from being the chosen one over Erwin and
the unrealistic expectations he places on himself bc of that but is uncritical of his surroundings, comparatively unaffected by any external constraint/hardship, living in the moment.
Eren just like a crab demands a larger and larger space to move around, hence never being really free. The sudden change in his expression and the reaction of his adult self to the clarity, shows how momentary his attempt
to gain freedom really is. Even tries to reassure himself that he finally gains the same look he saw in Armin’s eyes a long time ago as he looks towards a shocked Armin.
As Eren’s eyes are shaded, symbolizing the disconnect between Armin and Eren’s idea of freedom, Eren’s self-imposed shackles bc of his nature, the unawareness and ignorance of his child and sleeping self of his horrifying actions and true freedom, and lack of understanding of
the reality of humans against his own idea of humans while Armin's eyes are clear being the opposite of Eren down to his core.
Eren is trapped with chains of flesh, inside a puppet cage surrounded by the same walls during his quest to gain a larger “space”. He stays trapped not only by the surroundings but bc of his own nature too.
The concept of freedom can paradoxically be a self-imposed constraint when one perceives it as an external destination to reach. Ignorantly, relinquishing his freedom in pursuit of a personalized notion of what freedom entails.
Realizing too late as he looks back to his very first memory, remembering and understanding the true meaning of “being born into the world”.
The blood-stained ocean lays further basis for the contrast between eren and armin’s notion of freedom. The place that Armin wish to see was the beautiful sea he saw on that day, heads up with a big smile however the scenery that eren sought resulted in a red stain that he
himself couldn’t see eye to eye. Reason why Eren couldn’t see the shell as with the crab analogy he always seem to move farther and farther away ignoring what he DOES have whereas armin notices and cherishes that motif even if it is now stained with blood as the remembrance of
the shared dream with his best friend and hence is ready to shoulder the sins of the massacre of humanity as a result even if he fundamentally can't understand eren’s reasoning.
In the end, resulting in Eren being the one holding/clinging onto the shell, the remembrance of the shared dream, at the very end as he entrusts his dream to armin.
Armin’s nature is to be completely at peace with his surroundings which he is unable to do completely bc of his insecurities, guilt, and burden that comes from his survivor guilt, “cowardice”, ignorant surroundings, and self-critical nature.
This makes up for his arc in post time skip where he learns to be grateful for himself and the life they have— letting go of the memorial of his dream (the shell) and aiming to build bridges and understanding to improve the environment around him.
To accord with it in completion. Realizing his dream of exploring the unknown yet challenging world.
Isayama, in other words, critiques the extremism of both ideologies, and the unrealistic expectations of being free of any external constraints.
Destroying one’s actual freedom, if one fights against all and every one of those external constraints. This is Eren.
Quietly waiting for one’s own doom, not putting effort toward understanding, being in peace with whatever the surrounding throws at them, i.e, Karl Fritz
Quietly waiting for one’s own doom, not putting effort toward understanding, being in peace with whatever the surrounding throws at them, i.e, Karl Fritz
And encourages harmony between both, Armin. He embodies the very idea of pragmatic hope. Aware that he needs to work towards a future he could be content with and also of the various situation where he will be required to get his hands dirty but, in the end,
the unfailing drive to settle the conflict through genuine connection and words, embodying the message of the manga and convey it to the future generation. Thus, the reason why he is given the role of narrator (in the manga and anime).
Even though Eren himself is THE manga. Its Armin’s role to be the narrator as he is the one who realized the shared dream, narrating the tale to the future generation while
Eren himself is stuck in an endless loop of his own story bc of his flawed perception of freedom and his nature that he can’t override apparent with how the manga (Eren) never truly reached chapter 140.
Just like his motive to arrive at mutual understanding, to connect, build bridges and move past the walls, to end the seemingly never-ending cycle of hatred. Armin himself acts as the bridge between the two extremes, i.e., Eren and Karl Fritz.
The bridge that finally brought change and therefore realized the shared dream.
Hence why Armin’s demeanor is completely different in a seemingly similar situation. Pre TS, as Eren shows his visible disappointment at the ocean, Armin himself is reminded of the situation between Paradis and Marley, hence lowers the arm holding his dream (shell),
as of that moment not only does he feel a disconnect with Eren but he also cannot possibly arrive at an answer to Eren’s question as he is weighed down by his own insecurities, guilt, and burden however at the end,
in chapter “139”, as he sails towards Paradis present on that very same ocean, head held high, free of everything that weighed him down with a smile, grabbing the bird’s feather
metaphorically grabbing on to his dream to explore the world as he actively strives to build bridges, destroy the walls and "fly” over the vast oceans freely, in other words, representing freedom, The Scout Regiment.
End.
End.
Loading suggestions...