Board Thread:Manga/@comment-171.99.228.49-20160131022420/@comment-5774380-20160725174508

MasteroftheWastes wrote:

Okay, him burning Armin was horrible, but look at it from this. Colossal is a slow as shit form, and he was already engaged in battle with the rest of the Survey Corps. You think he'd have the time to carefully swat Armin out of the way before the rest of Armin's m8s are done finishing off Reiner? It's heartless to say, but you would use your long range offensive capabilities in that situation. Plus it's not like Armin didn't wanna die. I mean he did wanna live to see the ocean, but he was willing and able to sacrifice himself to save Eren.

Bertolt didn't know that Squad Levi was finishing Reiner off, he thought that he was winning (he himself had previously weakened them with a burst of steam); and he didn't know what Armin was thinking either. From his inner conversation we knew that he thought that the battle was won, that Squad Levi was on the verge of defeat, that Eren was already defeated and that Armin was hopeless and helpless:

"'What are you trying to do? Create a diversion? Eren is still over there, exhausted. Mikasa's group has their hands full with Reiner back there. Do you really not have anything? If it's truly going to end for you like this, then alright'."

What he did to Armin was not an act of self-defense but a gratuitous murder for the sake of finishing him once and for all.

What I say is that Bertolt is not a mere innocent puppet, he has done a lot of harm from his own judgment. If I were in his shoes, having the life that he probably has had, ending up doing what he has done, and at the end my victims managed to capture me and wanted to take revenge against me, I would know in my conscience that I deserved it. Many people would rather die than being forced to participate in such atrocities, and many people throughout history has actually done it. Bertolt took his decision and everybody has to face the consequences of their decisions. I know this is not a black and white situation, but it's how things turned out. It's a killed or be killed situation, and Bertolt did his part and deserves to pay for it.