User blog comment:SilenceInTheLibrary/Annie's Future/@comment-9096809-20130822000140/@comment-1971498-20130912115946

@Miskos3:

We can talk about moral integrity and who seemed more blood-thirsty all we want but the same could be said about Bertolt and Reiner in terms of accountability: "But isn't it Bertolt the one who consciously kicked down the wall, attacked the batteries to cripple their defenses, to let the other Titans in? Didn't he do this twice even?" or "Isn't it Reiner who breached the second wall, allowing the other Titans to flood in and invade the entirety of Wall Maria, thus causing the rest of humanity to abandon it?"

Speaking of accountability, another thing of note is how Annie even came to know where Eren is positioned in the 57th Expedition of the Recon Corps. Why did Annie come from the right side? How did she know this? Who told her about it? Let's not forget that out of Jean, Armin and Reiner, it was Reiner who was given the info that Eren is supposedly kept on the right side of group. How about when Annie changed direction and went straight to the middle to go after Eren? Mind you, this is only AFTER Reiner had figured this out from Armin's deduction and after he directly "confronted" the Female Titan only to "survive".

I love the Titan trio, I really do. But while they have their sympathetic side, they also have their faults. Admittedly their multi-layered depiction in contrast to other characters that are morally-questionable people in their own right, is something that I appreciate from Isayama's writing.

On that note, I find it funny how the three are depicted in terms of how much they care for others and how they carry out their mission. Annie seems to selectively care about the 104th while admiring only specific people (like Armin and Eren). She seems to internalize everything, so much so that she seems to genuinely feel horrible and depressed of her failures during her Titan missions, yet despite this, she still recognizes the "wrong" that she's done to others (her famous "I'm sorry" to the supposed body of Mina Carolina).

Then we have Reiner who leads the team on both sides, either as the go-to big brother figure for the 104th trainees, or as the leading "warrior" of the Titan trio. But because of how he hasn't internalized it as much as Annie, he ends up being torn and broken in terms of how he feels about it. In that regard, it's like he has to get into two separate mindsets just to do his mission, as it keeps him sane and prevents him from internalizing all the guilt like Annie.

Finally we have Bertolt who, despite all claims of disliking what they're doing ("Who likes to do something like this?"), despite supposedly pitying Eren for his mother's death, he still declares that it was the "natural" thing to do? Uhm yeah.... Admittedly you can excuse that his Titan form doesn't allow him to be as "personal" as Reiner and especially Annie, but his continual insistence on his cause coupled with a severe lack of overt sympathy is rather alarming if you ask me. It certainly makes sense with his character having that "lack of initiative", which admitteldy makes it easier for him to act that way cosidering how it's Reiner who leads the group.