A character trait is later recontextualized into something bad/tragic, it's always been there, we just never paid attention

[u/RedNUGGETLORD]

Deku's self sacrifice - My Hero Academia

Initially portrayed as purely heroic, it's later shown to be extremely detrimental when he refuses any aid from his friends, abandoning them to "protect them"(of course, leaving them also puts them in danger since he can no longer be there to save them if something goes wrong

The same quality that makes him a great hero, also leads him to nearly lose everything and get EVERYONE killed(since if this tired, weakened Deku did encounter AFO/Shigaraki, he would almost certainly die and have his powers taken)

Seiya Ryuuguuin's cautiousness - Overly Cautious Hero

The whole series is about how the main character is prepared for any circumstance to an insane degree(being the highest level half-way through, perfectly predicting that an ally would betray them through ridiculous jumps in logic, etc)

It turns out that the reason for this was that in a past life(unknown to him) he was extremely easy-going and unprepared for everything, always winning due to luck and skill, however, one day he ends up losing due to not finding out about a bosses weakness, this leads to the demon king murdering his friend, eating his Goddess, and then devouring his girlfriend and the child inside of her right in front of him. The Demon King then takes over the world and basically turns it into Berserk on steroids

Erens entire character - Attack on Titan

He hates the titans not because of what they've done(though that's a part of it), but because they've stolen his freedom, so when he learns that in reality, the Marleyans are the true enemies, the ones who have taken his and everyone elses freedom away, he does exactly what he said he was going to do, just to a different enemy

Erens philosophy is that anyone that tries to take his freedom deserves to have theirs taken away, Zeke becomes a slave because he tried to take away the Eldians ability to breed, the Marleyans lose the freedom of living because they tried to take his, it's always been a core character trait, but when he becomes to antagonist of the story in the last parts, this character trait of his is front and center

[u/an_edgy_lemon]

Eren is an interesting one. He’s played off as a typical hot-headed shonen protagonist in the beginning. I actually dropped the anime during its original run because I couldn’t stand his character. His aggression and lack of regard for human life rubbed me the wrong way. We’re supposed to root for the selfish, bloodthirsty teen? Really?

Turns out that was intentional. The story never means to portray Eren in a good light, but it leans on shonen tropes to falsely frame him as the hero early on.

[u/Faust_8 → u/an_edgy_lemon]

I…don’t really agree that he was selfish and cared little for human life in the early series. Like, he formed attachments and friends at a typical rate and is legit traumatized by events like watching the Levi squad all get murdered by the Female Titan. He cared a LOT about those people and felt intense guilt about their deaths, blaming his decision to trust their combat skill instead of staying back to help them.

There were always signs that he was going to see anything beyond the walls as his enemy, but it’s not like he was an antisocial sociopath and only thought about himself.

[u/Typical_bop → u/an_edgy_lemon]

tell me you watched the english dub without telling me you watched the english dub

[u/RaDiOaCtIvEpUnK → u/Typical_bop]

I didn’t, and that’s basically how I felt about the anime at the beginning.

[u/Typical_bop → u/RaDiOaCtIvEpUnK]

"His aggression and lack of regard for human life " Uh sure he definitely doesn't care about human life whatsoever in s1. He totally didn't punch himself later for accepting others dying in his place and hating that he had been accepting it. He was super bloodthirsty wanting to kill Annie for her crimes, something that he feels moral outrage at. Mikasa turned out 'bloodthirsty' as well but nobody sits there and pretends she felt sadistic glee at the thought of chopping off the armoured and collosal's heads.

[u/Confedehrehtheh → u/an_edgy_lemon]

I liked AoT, but the final season felt so wrong to me. Eren is fighting against fatalism the entire time. Multiple times through the first few seasons he's actively fighting against the feeling of hopelessness that keeps biting him. The he gets the founding titan's power and suddenly he has to crush Marley because the future says he has to. Doesn't bother trying to change it and just gives up.

[u/ChefKugeo → u/Confedehrehtheh]

No... That's not what happened. He says so himself. He's an idiot who got a hold of power and abused it for his own selfish reasons. He could have saved his mother but wanted to crush everyone instead. That's the whole point. Hate breeds hate.

[u/Confedehrehtheh → u/ChefKugeo]

I need to rewatch the last season/arc again, because I don't remember him saying anything like that until the very end when talking with Arven. At that point it felt like he was just making excuses for a really odd shift in his character after the time skip

[u/ChefKugeo → u/Confedehrehtheh]

That's when he says it, you're remembering correctly. He's talking to Armin in the paths and admits that he's only doing all this because he's an idiot. He's just an idiot who got the nuclear launch codes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/titanfolk/s/ylkovLfwqQ

Did a quick search so you don't need to fully rewatch unless you want.

[u/Confedehrehtheh → u/ChefKugeo]

Then yeah, that's kinda what I mean. That genuinely feels like such a shit way to explain it all retroactively. For the entire show until the last arc he's actively fighting the fatalism that permeates the whole plot. Time skip happens and he's a completely different character. The Mikasa conversation someone else mentioned feels like a better explanation, but still kind of a cop-out as it is never alluded to beforehand

[u/ChefKugeo → u/Confedehrehtheh]

I thought we all knew he was an idiot, to be honest. He literally gets eaten his first time out. My first thought when I read that panel was, "ooooh it's an idiot protagonist. Okay, well, I survived Naruto."

Truly I hate Eren, and did from that exact moment. I knew that moron was going to be the problem and it wasn't subtle at all.

[u/Confedehrehtheh → u/ChefKugeo]

That feels a little off base considering he was a) rescuing Armin and b) everyone was dying left and right. We know he's fine since he's gonna get plot armored as the mc, but from his perspective it was a split second decision to save his best friend

[u/ChefKugeo → u/Confedehrehtheh]

No I honestly thought that Armin was going to take over as MC and the story would be Armin taking over Eren's mission to rid the world of titans. (starting reading before it got animated so didn't have spoilers)

I was kind of right 😂

[u/Xamsej → u/Confedehrehtheh]

It's mentioned in the ending, after he's killed and he's talking to Mikasa in some cabin in the hills, that Eren tried multiple times to get his peaceful ending and every time Marley or someone else invaded Paradis.

[u/Confedehrehtheh → u/Xamsej]

I mentioned to the other commenter, but I probably need to rewatch the ending. I don't remember him talking to Mikasa after his death, but I do remember the Jaegerists continuing the war and getting Paradis invaded anyway during the epilogue/credits

[u/Logical_Scar3962 → u/Confedehrehtheh]

I don’t remember what did he tell to whom, but my recollection is that he tried all the options and picked this one because it was the only one that allowed his friends to live the rest of their lives in peace and have children. His urge to take revenge on Marley was supporting factor too, but not the main reason. He had to do all of this because nothing less would make Mikasa kill him and stop the titans existing. He already acknowledged to Reiner (the cellar scene) that he understands that people in Marley are just people like them, but he has to take a side and he takes Eldians-in-Paradis side.