At this point, nobody really knows how they feel about Eren Yeager. Our protagonist wants to destroy the world. Sure, he has a reason, but does it make sense?
Ever since Eren obtained the power of the Founding Titan, fans don’t know whether or not they can trust Eren’s intentions.
With good reason, too, because Eren’s intention is to initiate a full-scale cataclysmic event to kill everyone who does not belong to Eldia, i.e., Paradis Island. As more episodes of the second part of the final season come out, we see Eren slowly morphing into a full-scale villain.
Some fans have strong views about Eren and the Rumbling without even fully understanding it.
With its several time paradoxes and plot twists, ‘Attack on Titan’ is not an easy series to comprehend. In this article, I break down everything about the Rumbling, what it is, why Eren does it, whether or not it can be stopped – and what happens after.
What is Rumbling in Attack on Titan?
The Rumbling in ‘Attack on Titan’ is an event where the colossal Wall Titans trapped in the Walls of Paradis Island are freed, leading to widescale death and destruction.
The Rumbling was originally a threat given by Karl Fritz to all the people who weren’t Eldian.
After withdrawing his forces, allowing the Marleyans to take over, and retreating with the remaining Eldians to Paradis, he tells the rest of the world that if they try and attack Eldia, he will use the Founding Titan’s powers to obliterate the world.
He had trapped thousands of Wall Titans within the Walls Rose, Maria, and Sheena of Paradis Island, that, when unhardened from the Walls, could flatten entire cities under their massive feet.
This ultimatum prevented the Marleyans from attacking the Eldians. Fritz erased the memories of the people within the Walls, and the Eldians forgot their history and lost any concept of the Rumbling they might have had.
For many years, they thought the Walls were just made of stone; it wasn’t until the fight between Eren and Annie that the people realized the truth.
How can Eren start the Rumbling by himself?
It all starts when Eren is decapitated by Gabi during the Surprise Raid of Paradise and Zeke catches Eren’s head before he dies.
The two are transported to the Paths Realm where Eren reveals that he never intended to follow Zeke’s euthanasia plan and his intention had always been to save the people of Paradis by killing everyone outside of it.
Eren convinces Ymir Fritz to give the full power of the Founding Titan to him, after he promises her freedom.
Let me also address how Eren is able to possess the Founding Titan at all despite not being of Royal Blood.
It was only through contact with his brother from another mother, Zeke. Zeke’s mom was Dina Fritz, who belonged to the original Fritz family, i.e., Royal Blood.
This is why, in the most recent episode, titled “Pride”, Hange mentions that Eren absorbs Zeke. Eren’s head was in Zeke’s hands, and when Eren gains the Founding Titan’s power, it manifests around Eren and thus around Zeke.
Why does Eren initiate the Rumbling?
Eren starts the Rumbling in ‘Attack on Titan’ to save his homeland, Paradis, by carrying out mass genocide against the rest of the world.
But this is just the face of it. There is a much more complicated answer to why Eren wanted to – or had to – start the Rumbling.
Let’s look at 4 primary lines of reasoning for the Rumbling:
I. The Future Being Set in Stone
It all begins when Eren kisses Historia’s hand. Eren becomes connected to the Paths and receives all the memories of past holders of the Founding Titan, including his father.
He also sees the future of the Rumbling and how everything must happen so it can happen, that is, how the future influences the past so the future can take place.
He also sees that the Eren of the future (from the year 854) influences his father to complete certain tasks that will put the Rumbling into effect. The past and the future was always meant to have happened the way that they did.
Eren actually saw the actions of his future self and could thus follow in his future footsteps. He always knew that the Rumbling was inevitable, that it “was the only way”.
This is also why he laughs when Sasha dies – the event proves to him that the future was indeed set in stone, that whatever he or anyone did, it was always going to remain the same.
So Eren starts the Rumbling because it was in his destiny to do so. The Path, so to say, was fixed
II. Nationalism and Personal Agenda
This explanation stems from the fact that Eren has radical views about protecting his homeland.
When the truth that humanity exists outside the Walls is revealed in Shiganshima, Eren’s motives take shape. His core principles are shaken and he develops a raging hatred against the Titans.
Due to the Curse of Ymir, he has seen several innocent people getting killed for the sins committed by their ancestors. He lost his friends and comrades, including Marco, and the Levi Squad that die protecting him.
Eren wanted to save his people, his friends, especially Armin and Mikasa. He chose to save Paradis Island and his loved ones at the cost of the whole world.
I’m not the biggest fan of this line of reasoning, but according to it, Eren wanted to liberate the people of Paradis and was forced to start the Rumbling since there was no other alternative.
When he communicates telepathically with Ymir’s Subjects he says that he wants to protect his people but the world outside the Walls won’t stop until all of them are dead.
In chapter 131, he meets the Marleyan refugee boy, Ramzi, and confesses that when he learned that humanity lived beyond the Walls, he was so disappointed that he wanted to wipe it all away.
He apologizes to the kid because he knows that Rumbling is the only way, that it has already happened in the future.
III. Freedom from the Titans
All the pain, blood, and death began with the power of the Titans. The very first Titan, Ymir Fritz, lost her free will entirely when she gained the power of the Founding Titan. She was subjugated by the Royal Blood and led a life of slavery and fear – even after death, as Eren discovers when he enters the Paths Realm with Zeke.
It was due to the power of the Titans that Eldia became the subject of hate – the Marleyans were oppressed by the Titans until they gained control of the power of the Titans (apart from the Founder) – after which they did the same to the Eldians.
The Titans brought hatred and destruction into the world, propaganda and secrets, that caused all the people of the world equal amounts of trauma.
Eren wanted to cause the Rumbling to gain freedom from oppression and escape the uncanny clasp that the Titan fate had on him, on the Eldians, as well as the Marleyans. He saw how Ymir, Zeke, his father, the Marleyan Warriors, Mikasa, Armin, and the youth of Paradis were all enslaved to play their roles.
The only way to get the freedom he so desired was to start the Rumbling. He isn’t a crazed murderous villain; he is just a man with the power to rid their race of the inhuman power of the Titans.
IV. Ending the Cycle of Hate
People who have read the manga will know that Eren knew he was going to die. He began the Rumbling to ensure that the conflict between the two powers of the world, the terrible neverending war, and the cycle of hate, ended with him.
Even enemies unite at the end of the world. Eren, by sacrificing himself, brought the Eldians and Marleyans together. Both sides were fighting a common enemy – the Founding Titan that risked destroying all of humanity.
Yes, Eren did end up killing 80% of the population, but the people left knew that it was an Eldian that ended Eren’s life. Eren knew Mikasa would kill him when the time came.
This was why he behaved the way that he did when Armin and Mikasa came to talk to him. He needed them to hate him, to believe that he was capable of mass murder, which he was.
When the Founding Titan turned every Eldian into Pure Titans, only the Ackermans and the 9 Titans remained. Mikasa was the only one who knew how to stop the Founder.
So via this line of thought, Eren comes out to be a martyr. His actions put an end to the Titans, and also to the terrible cycle of hate that had lasted for centuries.
How can the Rumbling be stopped?
The Rumbling can be stopped but it is Levi who inadvertently stops it, not Eren. Eren can only access the power of the Founding Titan because of Zeke, who is of Royal Blood.
The only way to stop the Rumbling is to eliminate Zeke, who has been consumed by the spine creature that is the Founding Titan/Eren.
When Levi sees Zeke emerging from Eren’s spine, he immediately decapitates him, thus putting a stop to the Rumbling. Eren needed constant contact with Zeke to use the Founder’s ability – in the same way when he is able to control the Scream ability when he touched the Smiling Titan.
When Zeke’s head is severed, he becomes disconnected with the Founder, and the Rumbling is automatically over.
About Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. Kodansha publishes it in the Bessatsu Shonen Magazine.
The manga began serialization on September 9th, 2009, and ended on April 9, 2021. It has been compiled into 34 volumes.
Attack on Titan follows humanity settled within three concentric walls to protect themselves from the terrifying titans that prey on them. Eren Yeager is a young boy that believes that a caged life is similar to that of cattle and aspires to go beyond the walls one day, just like his heroes, the Survey Corps. The emergence of a deadly Titan unleashes chaos.
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