What if Eren Was Supposed to Kill His Friends During the Rumbling?

Summary:

• A number of fans think that the Attack on Titan ending was retconned.
• There’s a theory that Eren was supposed to kill his friends.
• Although it hardly looks like the truth, it would’ve been an interesting decision.

There have been dozens of conversations about the Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) finale or even several chapters leading to the finale being changed in the process by Isayama. Some think that the full Rumbling was meant to happen, some think that Eren was supposed to be Historia’s child’s father, some find the Eremika content doubtful. Isayama himself, however, claims that the ending was planned long ago, and while he obviously adjusted a couple of things along the way, the core idea always stayed the same.

While we don’t want to be disbelieving of Isayama’s words, there are a lot of theories that hint at the fact that the ending was changed along the way. And we’d like to discuss one of them.

Eren was supposed to kill everyone

The idea is that Eren was supposed to kill his friends. He tells Armin that he got them wrapped up in the battle without even knowing whether they’d survive it. On top of that, he says that even if he hadn’t known he would be stopped, he still would’ve started the Rumbling and flattened the Earth. During their Paths conversation, Eren tells Armin that the next time they see each other they’ll be trying to kill each other. He also knows that his actions led to Hange dying and made Floch try to kill the Alliance. And still, the Rumbling had to be done.

Since most of the main protagonists survive the final battle, people tend to ignore Eren’s intentions. He tried to kill his friends, and failed. But still, he tried. So what if he was meant to actually succeed? After all, slowing the titans down a bit to let the Alliance get away was something he could do, so why did Hange die?

He loved his friends, but what if

Although this theory hardly has anything to do with reality, since it was stated multiple times that Eren truly cared about his friends and wanted them to live long and happy lives, it would’ve been so interesting to see him go from that to completely annihilating them.

It’s obvious that Eren is conflicted, and he doesn’t even know why he had to go through with the Rumbling. What if the titans he possessed had affected him even more and made him really wish to destroy the world no matter what? And if he had succeeded, it would’ve been one of the most terrifyingly poetic endings ever.