User blog comment:Yawyawyaw/Chapter 56 predictions/@comment-179280-20140402210604/@comment-424719-20140404014136

A lot of characters have gray morality; it is a great draw of the series, to me anyway. I had this chat with someone on the AoT reddit page a few days ago, asking who the moral center pushing Eren to make good decisions is. It certainly is not Mikasa, who is devoted to Eren above all else.

Reading your comment I realize I may have jumped the gun a little bit. The point about Erwin is well made. While there is certainly the matter of degree, Reiner/Bertolt have killed far more, there is the matter of motive. I can sympathize with Erwin because he regrets the sacrifices he makes, and I know that they are done in the greater interest of humanity. His penultimate goal is to help humans escape this horrible world and emerge into something better. I do not know Reiner/Bertolts motive for doing what they did, it has not been revealed yet. All I know is that it appears not to be out of some sadistic desire, but rather for a ‘legitimate’ reason.

Regardless, I will almost always side with humanity and I highly doubt their motives are good for humanity. It could happen, but I doubt it. I cannot get over the destruction caused by these people, and have a desire to see them suffer for everything done for them. I haven’t seen Wanted but I will if you think it’s good.

If you have ever played Gears of War, I consider it very similar to that. By all accounts, the horrible war and planet-wide destruction is the fault of the humans. They caused the Civil war in the Hollow and they pushed the Locust into declaring war. Still, I have to side with them because they are humans, I’m a human! Despite all their flaws and it being their fault, I am drawn to them. The other motive is the acts committed by the Locust go to the extreme. While they may have had some casus belli, they take it too far and thus deserve what they get. In a similar vein, even if R/B/A have some legitimate grievance against Humanity, they have taken it way too far.