The Sanctity of Life in Attack on Titan

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the manga “Attack on Titan.”

Attack on Titan is a story that has evolved heavily over the years. Beginning as a pseudo-horror battle shōnen about retaking the land from monstrous, man-eating giants, it has now ventured into the realm of politics, warfare, egalitarianism, and even wholesale genocide. AS the story is now reaching its final climax, I would like to revisit key points of the story that suggest a surprising message for such a grim story.

For some spoiler-y background, long ago there was an empire known as Eldia, with the power of 9 giants known as the Titans, and lesser giants known as pure Titans. Each Eldian possesses the ability to transform into these Titans when they ingest the spinal fluid of another Titan. The Eldians conquered the world with an iron fist for years, until one king adopted an ideology of pacifism and intentionally sabotaged them in a war against the Marleyans. He then took the Eldians to an island off the coast of Marley and constructed great walls with the power of the Titans, while also erasing the memories of those living there. The Eldians living in Marley live in ghettos, hated by the world, and some are intentionally turned into Titans and sent to the island as punishment for crimes. The Eldians living on the island are terrorized by these Titans.

Eren, the protagonist, is a person that values the inherent freedom of the individual, as in he sees himself as a being inherently worthy of enjoying life how he sees fit, and those who seek to infringe upon that freedom deserve to have their own freedoms taken away. When Armin questions why Eren fights, he simply responds:

I was born into this world.

This phrase is repeated several times in the manga. It’s meaning is that people are special simply due to the fact that they are born. It is first used by Eren in chapter 6. It is again used by his mother in a flashback.

Eren will not hesitate to defend this freedom however he sees fit, whether it be through words or through direct action. In fact, those aggressors have forfeit their right to be considered human. We first see this element of his character shown in whole during he and Mikasa’s struggle against human traffickers.

This ideology is similar to something called the non aggression principle, an axiom used by right libertarians in defining a fundamental law of human existence. Non aggression is not to be confused with pacifism; in fact, it is in direct disagreement with it. The right to life, property, and free will are worth defending by any means, including violence. “Non-aggression” is to be maintained by all parties until this principle is violated. (For more info on this ideology, click here. At this point in time, Eren does not believe the attackers to even be human, let alone deserving of any kind of mercy. Later on these thoughts are challenged when he finds himself in enemy territory.

The dehumanization of the enemy is a tactic used by governments in times of war, and Attack on Titan is no stranger to it. It’s no coincidence that the Titans themselves, the main enemy of the majority of the story, are seemingly emotionless, savage beings who have no goal other than eliminating humans, before being revealed to have formerly been the same race as those living inside the walls. Several characters have directly addressed this facet of human conflict, and have founded their own beliefs. While punishing Eldian rebels, a Marleyan officer acknowledges the humanity of the Eldians, and yet does not pay attention to it while doing his job because he is not Eldian. When Eren is in enemy territory, he confronts his sworn enemy Reiner. Retracting his pledge for vengeance, he instead says that while outside of the walls he has realized that his enemies are people, just like him.

 

The inhabitants of Paradis are hated by almost the entire world. They wish to destroy the island and be rid of the Eldians living there forever. The Eldians possess the power of “the Rumbling,” millions of titans within the walls that can quite literally flatten everything outside the island. Eren now has to decide whether to use that power to destroy all life outside of the island, or bide their time with the threat of the Rumbling until Paradis evolves enough to defend itself. However, doing so would mean the sacrifice of several Eldian children and Eren’s friend Historia (they need to become Titan shifters to use the power of the walls, which means they will only live 13 years after turning. They would also need to eat each other to transfer the power.)

If the outsiders are human too, do they not also deserve life? This is a question that is now an important dilemma in the story, as Eren has now made his choice…he has chosen freedom. The other main characters now seek to save the world and stop his quest to destroy everything.

Willy Tybur, an Eldian of nobility living outside the walls, also repeats the phrase “Because I was born into this world,” during his speech declaring war on Paradis. He is ashamed of his heritage and the things Eldia has done to the world, but he does not wish for his own death.

This raises the question…what rights are we given at birth? Is it selfish to simply want to live?

-Adrian