Smack dab in the middle of the world-changing conflict in Shiganshina, the revelations imparted
upon us deep inside the Paths dimension are monumental and story-shifting, enough on their
own to completely recontextualize our thoughts on Grisha, Eren, and the complexion of the entire
plot. Obviously it’s completely natural that the bulk of one’s reflection and thoughts on the
events would be focused on these insane twists. However, once that initial shock has faded and
the dust has cleared, I think that what proves to be one of the most impactful things about this
section of story is actually very internal and subtle, involving the older Yeager brother - and
I’m not talking about that amazing Grisha apology scene, though we will touch on that later.
Prior to the big crescendo, there are two aspects and viewpoints to Eren and Zeke’s walk through
memory lane. First, there is the clear sense that Eren is trying to usurp the power dynamic through
his insistence that he and Zeke are nothing alike, as well as his eventual realization of his role in
all of this. And this is the primary aspect, without a doubt, but there is another side to
this - an extremely lonely one. Zeke’s side. After learning that Eren never intended on
following through with his plan, Zeke concludes that the reason for this is because Grisha had
brainwashed Eren into making him the way he is, thus shielding him from the truth that Zeke sees.
In other words, Zeke concludes here that Eren is just like him, that he has experienced what
Zeke has, and that as a result, Zeke will not abandon his brother as he was abandoned by Grisha.
So he pulls them both into these memories, to help his brother. But while this care and compassion
for Eren is clear, there is also an element of validating himself and his own viewpoint,
and most importantly for this topic, I think that a hugely important motive is
for Zeke to prove through this that he is not alone. If Eren witnesses all of this,
sees that Grisha indoctrinated him, changes his mind and agrees with Zeke, it would not
only save Eren in Zeke’s eyes, but it would show that Zeke was not the only person in the world
that went through this. Not just indoctrination in general, because this setting is full of that. But
this specific agony at the hands of this specific man. Here, he has to look for proof that he’s not
alone. Because the alternative is beyond words. There is simply no way that he alone endured
this specific brand of suffering throughout his life. He can’t be the only one. ….Right?
Throughout his childhood, Zeke was a loving young boy who constantly reached out for
and needed affection from a father that was never capable of providing it. A defining image of his
early life is that of him looking on at fathers and sons playing with a yearning at the type of
life he’d been deprived of. He would try to meet Grisha’s cold expectations in the hopes of being
rewarded with love, but always came up short and cruelly never got what he was looking for.
Ultimately, he was able to find that father figure in Ksaver, and he was very much saved by him,
both literally and emotionally. But that relationship was always going to be one
with an expiration date, and despite how much he embodied his spiritual fathers ideals and
carried his will with him in life, there were still scars and a compensatory yearning for
familial love etched deep within Zeke as an adult. And this was filled by Eren. Eren represented a
relationship that he was longing for, and there was very much a feeling of - he’s all I’ve got.
So he poured everything into him, desperate to form a connection and desperate to find
a kindred spirit who shared his experiences and ideals - someone to quell his loneliness.
Zeke lived a desolute, fragmented and painful life, and became so broken that he viewed not
being born as a form of salvation and peace. And Ksaver broke through that, as I said,
but afterwards there was still that feeling of isolation. But Eren gave him hope. His
misinterpretations about Eren’s upbringing combined with his need for companionship
formed a concrete bond and essentially made him look at Eren with something approaching an
unconditional love - such that when Eren lied and agreed with his plan, he let his guard
down - though not enough to totally discount the possibility of falsehood, notably. He had to know
that he wasn’t alone in this world, and so even when betrayed, his resolve is unwavering in not
leaving Eren alone - because he knows the pain of that himself. And because.. he’s his brother.
In his eyes, eren is blind to the truth due to indoctrination and will come to understand and be
the same as him.But.. as Zeke slowly learns, Eren did not even remotely have the same childhood.
It’s ironically more comforting and easy to give into futility and not hold out hope in
certain situations than it is to be given hope and then have it taken away. So despite the growing,
nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he may have been mistaken, he persists - looking
on in bitterness at Grisha, going through the memories to try and prove a falsehood to convince
himself that him and Eren are the same - because the alternative is too lonely an idea to bear.
But eventually the evidence mounts and there comes a point where he has to accept that they are not,
and never were kindred spirits. Eren was defined and possessed by this pure and monstrous yearning
for freedom irrespective of how he was raised. And most notably - Grisha loved him. He poured
the care that he did not spare for Zeke into his second son, having learned from his mistakes.
And Eren twists the knife in, saying that he is nothing like Zeke, calling him pathetic,
and most of all.. emphasizing the thing that is arguably most tormenting to Zeke. His isolation.
But it seems that Zeke was mistaken in more than one way.
He states that Grisha learned from his mistakes, but the implication is that he had also forgotten
about his mistakes and left Zeke in the past. Yet we clearly see that this isn’t true.
And Zeke sees here that Grisha always regretted and never forgave himself for what he did.
This doesn’t absolve Grisha of blame by any means, but the sentiment here is absolutely
vital for Zeke. And this idea only grows in strength and is encapsulated in the
unbelievably emotional hug that Grisha gives his long lost son across time. This right here, is
all Zeke ever wanted. It was a lack of love that formed the foundation of the person he became,
and everything he did had some basis in everything that came before,
basis in the simple fact that his father never raised him with love and care.
And so in this moment, no doubt partly due to how much he’s yearned for this all his life, he casts
aside his bitterness, accepts his father’s embrace and allows himself to cry in his arms. Yet as huge
and fulfilling a moment as this was for Zeke, it is decades too late. Here he is embracing the now
departed memory of his late father, but this is too abstract a situation to totally compensate.
It gratifies him, it’s all he’s ever wanted, but the context here makes it so that it doesn’t solve
anything or take away his trauma. And so by the end of this, we have a huge moment,
but when the emotions fade, Zeke is still alone. He cannot reconvene with the father that loved
him and these words cannot repair the years of neglect and anguish. What can he now do in
this world where Grisha is long gone? What does he do with his final words, faced by a brother
who seemingly couldn’t care less about him? Here, Zeke is, as he has always been outside of Ksavier,
completely and utterly alone, having tried and failed to convince himself that life wasn’t
quite as desolate as he has learned it was. Yet, despite the despair he feels with regards to Eren
and despite the lateness of Grisha’s act, this was not a meaningless interaction at all for obvious
reasons. Will he be able to incorporate this into himself to look at life a little differently?
Will he be able to stop Eren as Grisha begged him to? Only time will tell, but nonetheless,
these events are as meaningful an encapsulation of such a broken psychology as they could get,
and despite the sheer amount of awful things Zeke has done, I can’t help but feel quite
a lot of human sympathy for him because of… all of this. Many thanks for watching.