"Eighty percent," Eren said sorrowfully; the impersonal calculation of those killed in the Rumbling, Eren's global disaster, hardly brings levity to the fact that Attack On Titan is dismal by comparison. There is no victory, no last hurrah; Eren's actual death is hardly more than a footnote in the epilogue.

There's nothing wrong with this trope in general; it's as old as written storytelling itself. However, it's not the story that Attack On Titan chooses to tell. Attack On Titan, in reality, is a story without a hero. At moments, it might have many heroes: Hange's unquestioning sacrifice; Levi's decision to revive Armin instead of Erwin; the begrudging invasion to save Eren after the Marley infiltration; and the list could go on.

Properly speaking, though, Attack On Titan has no hero, and certainly not a chosen one. A chosen hero wouldn't even work with its mechanics, and this has been the key to its success all along.

Eren Couldn't Be Attack On Titan's Hero

Eren Is Compelling And Domineering, But That Doesn't Make Him Attack On Titan's Hero

Eren becomes the center of Attack On Titan by accident: he unintentionally became a Titan after Grisha's injection. After this, he has to prove himself within the Survey Corps. A protagonist having to prove themselves because of their circumstances is nothing new—see also Yuji from Jujutsu Kaisen and Tanjiro/Nezuko from Demon Slayer. All three even take some sort of violent ostracism from their supposed comrades. The difference is that Eren is far from heroic in his role.

Attack On Titan arguably has no character more self-centered than Eren. There are numerous instances of this throughout the first several seasons prior to the time skip. It's part of Attack On Titan's charm that his grand self-sacrificial plan should end in his death.

It also wouldn't be accurate to call Eren an "antihero". Antiheroes typically fill out the other side of a moral dichotomy of good and evil with motivations or methods that aren't typically seen as "good". Eren, on the other hand, wants to be a hero so badly that he strives extensively to fill out that archetype, and completely stops himself from listening to and considering the wills and desires of his comrades. Attack On Titan is a cautionary tale about heroes, in this way.

Attack On Titan And The Horrifying, Beautiful Reality Of Chance

Contrary To His Intentions, Isayama Doesn't Tell A Story About Destiny At All

Eren is a Yeager. As is his brother Zeke, who starts to be an antagonist at the very end of the first season of Attack On Titan. The Yeager family reveals how, despite Isayama's intentions of writing a story about fate, Attack On Titan is actually a story about accident and intention. Both are the children of Grisha Yeager, who was brought to Paradis by Marley because of Zeke's actions and narrowly managed to outrun becoming a Titan himself. Once he made it into the walls of Paradis, he started another family, wherein he had another son: Eren.

If Grisha hadn't undergone medical training, chosen to inject Eren with the Titan serum, or left a book detailing life beyond the ocean surrounding Paradis, Eren might have been somebody totally different. Even the scarring death of Eren's mother, Carla, on Paradis which led him to the Survey Corps was, in fact, the work of Grisha's former wife, Dina. It's later revealed that Eren set this in motion, but even on its own, it's a moment laden in its history.

These actions are small. They add up. The Yeager family could have been anybody — or, tantalizingly, it could have been nobody. The mechanics of Attack on Titan create a world where there is only chance colliding with the active or reactive decisions that a person makes. In a way, the final part cheapens this by trying to force a "fate" narrative and having Eren retroactively tell Grisha to protect Armin and Mikasa.

Attack On Titan Depends On Not Having A Hero

A Hero Would Make Attack On Titan A Different Work Entirely

If one leaves the ending aside, where Eren also muddies the waters with his aggression toward Mikasa because of the Ackerman Clan's "supernatural devotion", there are very few strictly supernatural elements in Attack On Titan. The one major exception is the connection that Titans all have, where Ymir dwells. It's arguable that this leads Attack On Titan to stray from its founding themes since it's used by Eren to set events in motion in a deterministic way, but that's a matter of opinion.

At any rate, ideas like "fate" or other sources of impersonal compulsion hardly play a part. Even the "fate" of Attack On Titan is something created. Historically, there have been many ways to interpret the idea of "destiny." Where now "destiny" and "fate" tend to imply a sort of supernatural determinism and inevitability, this hasn't always been the case. The Ancient Greeks, for instance, held the simultaneous view that fate was something unavoidable, but also something that was created through one's actions, a final narrative of one's life and (literal) character.

In Attack On Titan, nobody is chosen. Even if one takes the ending retcons at face value, it still, more often than not, has to do with Eren creating his circumstances. The best parts of Attack On Titan are realizing the huge part that accident, coincidence, and willpower play. If one wants to call this destiny, then so be it. In the end, Attack On Titan is at its best when viewed as a series showing that every action ripples, and every person (no matter their strength or circumstances) has some way to create an impact.