Board Thread:Manga/@comment-5774380-20151209012906/@comment-24407809-20151213063120

Phil1403 wrote: Neetaku wrote: Will Erwin's guilty conscious convince him to stay by his soldiers and fight to the bitter end, or will he continue down the lonely path he has taken up until now, and abandon his comrades to be killed? Easy answer.

1 - Will he abandon his comrades? No chance. He is the mastermind behind the truly elegant strategy that brought the Survey Corp so far.

2 - Of course, the Survey Corp is facing a tremendous challenge, but also they also are having new and incredible victories, like closing a gap in a wall, like being capable to fight off and win over a armored titan for the first time ever, etc...

So, nope, he will stay alive and kicking as much as he can... ( And remember he is the guy who gave his arm to free Eren).

 3 - BUT Killing the armored titan is just not enough yet to win !!! And he knows it.

So yes, the situation is really critical right now.

4 - You also have to remember the fact, that the survey corp is almost at his end, with almost all the veterans gone. The latest one are young ones. And if Levi fails on the front line, then there is no longer a front line.

After levi falls, the only thing he can still do is to check the secret in the basement before he get caught  himself.

 5 - So, in the end, he is only a realist who does not see much hope left against such a powerful ennemi, as the leader of the titan shifters leading the pack.

 In other words, Erwin is well aware on how fragile their position is and how deadly the situation really is right NOW for Levi and himself.

6 - Therefore, I understand his view,  as : Myself, Erwin, i will have pushed as far as i could, no matter the price, and laying my life on the line for that was worth it (even if i regret the fact that so many great people had to die for it).

In other words, that's more than what he had expected anyway. And he is ok with dying now if there is nothing more that can be done, after playing all his cards.

7 - The understatment being this :  I, Erwin, I'm Ok with dying, BUT only if I can pick a last eye on the secrets  about titans shifters  hidden in the closet.

In other words, that's the selfsh motivation he found to push forward even a little further.

8 - That is, truly, Erwin's motivation: learning just at bit more about that huge hidden secret, that was hidden for over a century and that killed so many people, including his father and his friends. Learning it for himself. And he can live on with that motivation, despite the fact that Levi is facing such a tremendous number of titan, almost all by himself.

Well, at least, that's my interpretation of this chapter. I feel like that's exactly why he might abandon his comrades: he's come this far, and let so many people die to learn the secrets of the world he lives in, that there is no way he'd risk staying to fight a losing battle over reaching Eren's basement (let's face it, the Corps may (MAY!!) have killed Reiner (they've CERTAINLY taken him out of the battle), but that doesn't change the fact that the Beast Titan has the Survey Corps backed against a wall (quite literally), and has probably prepared back-up plans in case Reiner and/or Bertolt fall in battle).

So what it all boils down to is whether or not Erwin's guilty conscious will result in him standing alongside his comrades and possibly dying while facing whatever the Beast Titan throws at them, without ever finding out what secrets lie in Eren's basement, or he decides to leave them to fend for themselves in order to insure that he at least learns what Eren's basement hides (remember, he doesn't care if he dies so long as he at least learns the secrets of the world before he dies, so he is much more likely to take the choice that guarantees he discover them before his death over the choice that poses the risk of him dying before discovering them).