Board Thread:Manga/@comment-5774380-20160109013258/@comment-206.117.89.6-20160113045526

Swiftfoxmark2 wrote: I don't understand the emotional attachment people have to Reiner, Bertolt, or Annie. All three of them are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, including Eren's mother.

I can understand how the characters feel about having to kill their own teammates but at the same time, they are the enemy. They declared war on the people in the walls by murdering and conquering the outer regions. From what we can piece together so far (or at least my reading of it), they're child soldiers, drafted unwillingly and mentally unprepared for what their mission would entail and its consequences (hence Reiner's split personality and Zeke practically forcing them to continue shown in this chapter). I don't see how you could not have sympathy for them, honestly. They're not bad people, just taking orders - and they were definitely not just acting when they made friends with the others. If there's anyone to hate, it's the (relatively newly revealed, I'll admit) big-bad Zeke and the other adults in whatever tribe they're from who made them do this. I also don't see how anyone could think that Reiner would have gone down so easily, considering how it was foreshadowed when he escaped alive after having his spine cut. And from a storytelling perspective, the three titan shifters' stories are far from over. For Reiner to die now would leave too much untold. And, really, no major characters, good or bad, have died. Marco (poor guy) is really the biggest, but up until now he was just a motivator for Jean's growth and leadership.