AoT: What Is Eren Yeagar’s True Plan? Was It the Better Plan?

One of the things that we know about Eren in the storyline of Attack on Titan is that he is on his way to destroying the entire world by using the Rumbling, which he controls through the Founding Titan. Of course, there’s a good reason why Eren is doing what he is doing, regardless of whether or not his motives are good. In that regard, we know his actions are part of a grand plan. So, what is Eren Yeager’s true plan?

Eren’s true plan is to make himself the enemy of the world so that the entire world would see that the Eldians were not the enemy and would unite against a common threat. His actions also force his friends to do something that only they can do: kill him and eradicate the Power of the Titans.

It might be true that Eren committed heinous war crimes with the Rumbling, but he didn’t do so out of pure malice. He thought that what he did was the only way to give his friends the freedom and peace they needed while also eradicating the titans from the world. Eren was successful in doing so, albeit at the cost of countless lives. Now, let’s look at Eren’s true plan.

What Is Eren’s True Plan?

During the events of the final season of Attack on Titan, we saw that Eren Yeager seemed to be planning with his older half-brother, Zeke Yeager, on something that the other people were not aware of. Zeke, while on the side of the Marleyans almost his entire life, decided to work with Eren on a plan to eradicate the Power of the Titans while keeping the Eldians safe from the wrath of the rest of the world. 

Called the euthanization or the sterilization plan, Zeke wanted to make all of the Eldians sterile so that they would no longer be able to reproduce, as the Power of the Titans would end with their generation. On top of that, he wanted to start a small Rumbling that would destroy the fleet of the allied forces of the world so that the different nations would leave the Eldians alone out of fear that they could always use the Rumbling at any given moment.

But Eren was planning his schemes behind the scenes. He would never agree with Zeke’s plans as he had his plans. Of course, he had his own plans because he didn’t believe that Zeke’s plan was in line with his very essence as a person who always moved forward and never gave up. So, what was Eren’s true plan?

As seen during the final season’s events, Eren Yeager decided to mount a true Rumbling that allowed him to summon all of the Wall Titans and use them at his disposal. He marched the Wall Titans to destroy almost all of the cities and settlements of the world so that he could keep the people of Paradis Island safe. Essentially, the Eldians of Paradis thought that Eren was doing this to destroy all of their enemies and ensure that the world would never go to war with them. But there was something deeper behind this.

The truth was that Eren wanted the entire world to hate him, and he turned himself into the only target of the world’s hatred so that the entire world would no longer hate the Eldians. As we saw in the events of part 3 of the final season, the Marleyans realized that their hatred toward the Eldians gave birth to Eren’s wrath and the Rumbling. That was why he said that the cycle of hatred needed to end if they could find a way to stop Eren.

Eren wanted to be the one and only enemy of the world instead of dragging his friends and the other Eldians along with him. He became the symbol of the entire world’s hatred so that people would understand that the cycle of hatred between the Eldians and the other people of the world needed to end. And that was the reason why he placed it upon himself to be the one to shoulder all of the burdens.

But there was something deeper than that. Reiner and the others noticed that when they were on their way to Eren, Eren didn’t take away their titan powers from them even though he had complete control over the physiologies of all of the Eldians. Using the power of the Founding Titan, he could have easily erased the titan powers off the other titan shifters so that they would never be able to oppose him. And when they confronted Eren, he only said that he didn’t take away their powers so that they had complete freedom over their actions.

The truth, however, was that Eren was giving his friends a reason to kill him. He knew that the only people that should stop and kill him were his friends, not only because they were skilled enough to kill titans but also because they had the titan powers. But the more important part was that they were Eren’s fellow Eldians, most of whom were from Paradis Island.

In that regard, being the ones to stop Eren meant that the world would understand that even the people of Paradis Island didn’t agree with Eren’s methods and weren’t complicit with him. Of course, Eren’s death would mean the end of the Power of the Titans.

As Eren vowed during the early part of Attack on Titan, he wanted to eradicate the titans from the face of the planet. The only way for him to do so was to completely eradicate it from the source of the Power of the Titans, the Founding Titan itself. So, by allowing his friends to kill him, Eren would be able to both make the world see that the Eldians were not their enemies and allow the Power of the Titans to disappear from the face of the planet.

Why Didn’t Eren Agree to Zeke’s Plan?

As mentioned, Zeke’s plan involved making the Eldians sterile and scaring off the entire world so they would leave the Eldians alone until they all died due to old age. This seemed to be the more peaceful plan, with exponentially fewer casualties than Eren’s. But why didn’t Eren agreeable to this plan?

The reason why Eren didn’t agree to Zeke’s plan was the fact that it was a subtle way of accepting defeat and giving up. Eren was always the very personification of always moving forward and giving up. But Zeke’s plan was a subtle way of telling the world that the Eldians were bad and should never have been born in the first place.

There’s also the fact that Eren wanted to give freedom and peace to his friends. While it may be true that Zeke’s plan would have given peace to the Eldians until they all died of old age, it was an artificial peace born out of fear instead of understanding. And by taking away their opportunity to procreate and have children, the Eldians wouldn’t have true freedom.

As such, Eren’s plan involved making the world understand that even the Eldians weren’t agreeable with what Eren was doing. By having his friends kill him, the rest of the world would see the Eldians as the hero of humanity, as they were the ones responsible for killing the enemy of the world. Of course, by eradicating the Power of the Titans through his death, Eren could ensure that his friends could continue their lives as normal human beings. This was the freedom that Eren wanted to give his friends.