Board Thread:Manga/@comment-26932251-20160909065512

The existential implications of this revelation must be quite startling to the (remaining) main cast.

A lot of what has motivated these people, motivated these people to overcome so much, risk so much, die so much, was the assumption that they were fighting for the survival of humanity.

Literally the thinking was along the lines of, "we have to fight and give all because if we fail then everyone alive dies a horrible death and then there will be no more human condition. Everything will be as if we never existed."

But it's like Grisha just pulled back the curtain with a, "yeah, no, humanity's fine no matter what you do, no matter if you live or die. In fact the rest of us are apparently living so much better than y'all. Mrrp, sorry. Bet you wish you could just erase your memories now, don't you?"

I mean, so much of the story has been basically about meaning, the search of meaning, the fight against pointlessness. But now we find out that that sullen Kenny's second in command was actually rather correct, "It's not like there's any point." Basically their whole goddamn existence is a goddamn hamster wheel made up on purpose to waste their lives, suppress and kill the most curious among them, and make them live in an illusory existence forever.

And so, I ask anyone reading this to think about how Eren, Armin, Levi, and Hange must be feeling right now. Levi feels justified being so hard because he feels it's necessary. Necessary to WHAT? There's no point to a strong man like him because it's not like he's fighting to save humanity from extinction and the humanity outside the walls will never allow him or the other wall people to exist beyond the walls.

Hange has known that her perception of the world was defined by ignorance more than anything else but she had no idea to what degree. She seems to have a broad curiosity and imagination but I doubt that even she ever seriously entertained that there are possibly billions of people living a "harmonious" existence all over the world and that she and the others are penned possibly to protect the harmonious people from her and the other wall people.

Hell, think about Flocke, we don't even yet know if he's even been told anything or if he and the others who were in Shiganshina but not in the basement will be told anything (we don't know what will become public knowledge amongst the wall people) but he very sincerely committed himself to death and watched his comrades commit themselves to death believing that this was necessary in order to 'resist this cruel world'. Now he would find out that basically he and Marlowe and all the other trainees would have been better off, even right to do so, to just sit around back in Trost in the Garrison regiment just drinking and eating instead of committing all to win a battle in what by every definition in the world is apparently a rigged game.

 That must hurt.

Look again at the page where Hange, Mikasa, Levi, and Eren are looking at the photograph and to me, I see shock but not just shock, but revulsion, what they have just learned, that's a truth that must hurt, any way you cut it, I believe.  