There is no denying Reiner is a character with the highest plot armor in Attack on Titan. He’s been through many things, but he’s always managed to keep himself alive. Despite being a warrior candidate from the Marleyan empire, he cared about his fellow scout members. But was he only pretending, or does Reiner have a split personality?
Reiner suffers from a split personality disorder. He is either a ruthless warrior candidate on a mission to retrieve the Founding Titan or a big brother figure to the members of the 104th cadet corp. He first developed a split personality after Marcel’s death.
Many things about Reiner’s character make him the community’s favorite. We’ll go over some details of his life and how he incorporated a second personality to avoid the guilt of his actions, And how this led to him giving up on his life.
Does Reiner have a split personality?
Reiner has a split personality, one trait that makes his character so unique. It wasn’t always subtle throughout the series, and the fans had to put it together to make sense of his actions. His genuine concern for his fellow Scouts made him seem like an ordinary Scouts member.
His warrior-candidate personality often shifted when he showed concern for his fellow Scouts. His genuine desire to help Eren take revenge against the Titans, his efforts to help Connie return to his village, putting his life on the line to protect them even if it meant being a Titan’s food.
Reiner was more often in his big brother persona. He would often switch back to being a warrior when he was alone with Bertolt or if he was just worked up. But he would soon return to his big brother personality as if that was his default personality. He was likely trying to avoid confronting his actions.
Having a split personality makes Reiner one of the more mentally tortured characters in the series. All he ever wanted was to be the savior and protect everyone; he never wanted to hurt the people close to him.
Why did Reiner decide to become a warrior candidate?
Reiner was born in the internment zone with an Eldian mother and a Marleyan father. He was never allowed to meet his father because the relationship between Eldian and Marleyan was forbidden.
His desire to see his mother reunite with his father led him on a path to becoming a warrior candidate. His goal was to become a warrior candidate so that his mother would be allowed to live outside the internment zone.
Even though he was quite weak compared to the other warrior candidates, he never gave up trying to chase his goal and ultimately ended up inheriting the Armored Tita,n which would serve as the shield in operation to retake the Founding Titan.
Reiner went to see his father and deliver him the news of him becoming a warrior candidate and that they could now start living as a family, but his father called him the spawn of the devil and refused to believe that he was anything to him.
Why did Reiner develop a split personality?
Everything tracks back to when warrior candidates first entered the island of Paradise, the entire group was attacked by Ymir’s mindless, and Marcel Gilliard sacrificed his own to protect Reiner.
Reiner then blamed himself for the entire thing and developed a somewhat split personality disorder that matched Marcel’s personality. Ymir claimed that Reiner only created a split personality, so he didn’t have to live with the sins he committed and became so obsessed with it that he couldn’t differentiate between them.
This is true because even though Reiner was constantly struggling both emotionally and mentally, he never forgot his mission for coming here. He willingly took away Marcel’s ODM gear and left him on the ground for the titans to take him alive. Soon after, he reverted to his caring big brother persona, so he didn’t have to take responsibility for his actions.
Reiner decided to take on the role of Marce. He pretended to be this caring big brother figure to his fellow scout. He showed genuine concern regarding his fellow scouts and always tried his very best to keep them away from harm.
Reiner was an overly honest character which didn’t help his case, he was genuinely lost in his split personality and often had trouble remembering their purpose for coming here. He rushed in many times to save his fellow scouts and forgot he could turn into a Titan.
Why did Reiner want to kill himself?
Throughout the series, Reiner is always conflicted. All he ever wanted to do was protect the people around him. He was a warrior candidate to his family back in Marley and a soldier within the Scout Regiment.
Even though he was on a mission to retrieve the Founding Titan, he created bonds with the members of the 104th Cadet Corp. He felt bad for them and always wanted to be there to protect them. Everyone relied on him. He was like a big brother to the entire group.
After they managed to escape the island with the Jaw Titan, Reiner was ashamed of all the people he let down and everyone he killed, his guilt consumed him,m and he was ready to take his own life multiple times when he was with his family back in Marley.
Ever since he was a kid, Reiner always dreamed about saving the world, although back then that meant killing the demons of Paradise island; however, his thoughts changed when he realized that those people were no different from the people living in the internment zones.
He wanted to protect them, but he was also a warrior candidate sent on a mission and didn’t have the option to play both sides. He willingly massacred his fellow Eldians, and his negative insight toward himself grew more and more until he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to commit suicide.
Reiner was shocked to meet Eren during Willy Tybur’s speech and begged him for forgiveness for all the pain the warrior candidates caused the people of Paradise island, he even accepted the fate that Eren had decided for him and everyone else.
