Board Thread:Manga/@comment-38849221-20190321163015/@comment-33077628-20200610195852

But the question remains, why didn't Zeke touch Eren before? Zeke wanted a peacefull end to the eldian race, he would probably need to at least demonstrate the power of the rumbling as a threat to the world, so they would leave Paradis alone until they all died from old age. Alegendly, he could have done it from Liberio, or even when he met Eren for the fist time in Shiganshina, attacking any other military target on the globe.

Zeke probably didn't know for sure how this would work, the Paths Real, Ymir and all. So, as it's been said, he probably wanted to know if he could trust Eren, specially considering he would need other people to continue this plan after he died (unless he killed Historia and himself, ending the "royal bloodline" and alegendly preventing other from altering what he did. Maybe their plan was for Helena to kill Historia after Zeke met with Eren, and they've confirmed that eldians couldn't have children anymore.)

But, Zeke was always putting himself in danger, he coud have died many times during the last 5 years. He should have gambled and touched Eren before. That first time, he was in a hard spot running from Levi, but in Liberio, I thin it would have been worth the risk, to seize that chance to complete his "mission". Had Eren rebeled against him, he could have fought him right there, alone, and have the Jaw titan or Reiner take his Founding Titan. I know he wanted to save his little brother, but Eren would have a chance to prove his intentions had he touched him.