We’ve got to keep the young-uns out of the forest. Otherwise, ain’t nothin’ gonna stop it from happening again. That’s why it’s up to us adults to shoulder the sins of the past.” – Artur Braus, Attack on Titan
I meant to post a follow up to my post about Attack on Titan awhile ago, but reality got in the way. I don’t even know where to begin unpacking the nonsense of the past seven months….hence the lack of posts.
Anyway, my son was surprised I now consider Attack on Titan one of my top three shows of all time. At one point I would have said I consider it essential viewing, but that’s until I discovered a certain segment of the fan base spectacularly missed what I thought was a pretty obvious point. Their…uh, perspectives did provide insight into why people have similarly bad takes on real life atrocities. Genocide and mass murder are always wrong. Period. That shouldn’t even be controversial. The protagonist of Attack on Titan doesn’t provide its moral center. Peripheral characters like Artur Braus do.
Previously I focused on the protagonist Eren, but I also gave a lot of thought to one of the main antagonists, Reiner Braun. As I considered his character arc, I found myself thinking about Angel, the spin-off to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (another personal favorite despite its problematic creator). Needless to say, I had to table my thoughts on Reiner (and Angel) until I could express them fully in a separate post. This post.
It should go without saying, but there will be blood and spoilers.
At one point Eren tells Reiner they are the same. There may have been a time his words were true. Characters mirroring each other is a recurring motif in the story. Both fought on opposite sides doing what they thought was right to protect loved ones, but they had been misled. The difference is when Reiner knew better, he – well, first he had a psychotic break and developed a split personality – but eventually he did better. When Eren knew better, his hubris betrayed him. He insisted he only had one path forward (committing multiple genocides) but Eren is the poster child for the unreliable narrator – even more so in the manga because his perspective gets filtered through yet another unreliable narrator, his friend Armin. I suspect Eren’s only honest moment in the final season is when he admits he wanted to witness a sea of blood and gore. I also doubt he tested every possibility when he gained time travel because I don’t think he was willing to entertain a future he didn’t control.
Both men believe themselves damned, but they take opposite approaches to their presumed fates. While Eren chooses to lose himself in the metaphorical forest, Reiner puts the words of Artur Braus into action instead. He shoulders the sins of the past to save who he can, acknowledging “My sins are beyond redemption. I doubt I’ll ever forgive myself for what I did, even if I manage to save what’s left of humanity. So, well, let’s at least save the rest of humanity.” He isn’t motivated by ego, or even a desire for redemption – let alone revenge. Unlike Eren, he has learned humility.
And that’s when I saw the parallel to Angel. Angel was a disgraced son in life who became a vampire, slaughtered his family out of spite, and delighted in torturing his victims for many years until he became cursed with a human soul. For decades, he wallowed in guilt and misery until he starts to fight the good fight. At some point he learns about something called the Shanshu prophecy, which says a vampire with a soul will regain their mortality after playing a pivotal role in the apocalypse. Eventually Angel signs away his rights to the prophecy in his bid to infiltrate an evil group trying to ending the world. I don’t know if he even believed in the prophecy anymore, but it didn’t matter. He wanted to do the right thing because it was the right thing to do.
A recurring theme in both series is that the fight is never over. It’s the choices we make in a world stacked against us that matter. Angel had its own Artur Braus by way of a minor supporting character named Anne, a former runaway who ran a homeless shelter. When Gunn, an ally of Angel asks, “What if I told you it doesn’t help? What would you do if you found out that none of it matters? That it’s all controlled by forces more powerful and uncaring than we can conceive, and they will never let it get better down here. What would you do?” she tells him she will finish packing her truck (with furniture for a new shelter). Gunn spends what he knows might be his last day alive helping with her mundane task. As an aside, he had unintentionally sacrificed a loved one to maintain his power so he, like Angel, was experiencing a shift in priorities.
Their real life counterparts may not have starring roles – often by choice – but it’s the Annes and the Arturs who keep humanity moving forward.
