You shouldn’t underestimate him.
Summary:
- Fans love making fun of Eren in his human form.
- It’s true that he was always the most effective as a Titan Shifter.
- If he hadn’t been a Shifter, he would have become one of the strongest soldiers.
It’s not a mystery that Eren is the strongest character in Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin). When someone is talking about his strength, it’s always Eren’s titan form that they’re mentioning, and especially the final one.
His Human Form Is Underrated
Human Eren is often made fun of due to how little he actually does in the series. There’s even a video meme “Every time Eren kills a titan in his human form” and the video is 6 seconds long. But he doesn’t deserve this slander.
Back in Season 1 when Eren didn’t even know that he was a Titan Shifter, he was trying hard to become a great soldier. The results of the Survey Corps training showed that Eren was #5 out of the new cadets. Which doesn’t seem to be that high, but it’s still impressive considering who the first 4 cadets were.
Mikasa was number one of course, and no comments needed here, she’s always been on top of the others, she’s basically a superhuman. But the rest were Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt. The people who have been receiving military training since the moment they were little kids.
Keeping this information in mind, Eren’s result seems much more impressive. He was always one of the best soldiers even without being a Titan Shifter.
Eren Could’ve Been Much Stronger as a Human
Eren “died” during the Battle of Trost, but it doesn’t mean that he was completely helpless there. Even senior soldiers met their demise there, and Eren managed to hold on for longer than many.
Even when he lost his leg, Eren kept fighting and saved Armin from a titan. He showed great determination and the will to live. The lack of experience led to his “death,” and if he had been given more time, he would’ve turned into one of the best soldiers in the series.
But unfortunately his “death” was also the moment he found out he was a Shifter, and such a major thing influenced his human-form achievements a lot. It was obvious that he had to focus on his titan training and enhancing his Shifter abilities instead of fighting as a human. He was most effective like that.
Eren is an incredibly fast learner, and other Titan Shifters were extremely surprised by how quickly he managed to develop the hardening abilities. He never stopped training and learning new things, his determination is unmatched.
Eren’s Titan abilities were his priority, which is why his human form suffered a lot. But we’re sure: had he never received the Attack Titan, he would have become the greatest (okay, Mikasa, you win, the second greatest) cadet in the series.