Watchanime324 said:‘hesitate, and we’ll never stop the rumbling’
this episode presents the full brutality of a conflict & the consequence of the alliance’s choice to ‘save the world’. it’s an episode centered around the actions ppl take based on opposing viewpoints, and this is highlighted by the mid-card.
‘there will always be an enemy’ is a line that points back to erwin’s words to eren that are repeated throughout the story in different ways - ‘who is the enemy?’
ultimately aot goes down the path of human nature. due to our subjective perspectives, we all create an enemy out of those we believe oppose us.
it’s the same for the alliance. to follow through on their ideals (genocide is wrong) they kill their new enemies the yeagerists. hence it’s a great detail that the most hopeful of them is sidelined after having been shot in the mouth - he literally cannot ‘talk this out’.
however, the alliance also represents something else.
unlike the yeagerists who can only view the world through the portion they see, every member of the alliance has adapted their worldview to accommodate both sides of the conflict. the warriors, along with magath/gabi have now understood how twisted their perspective on the ‘island devils’ were, while those same island devils cannot go back to being ‘ignorant’ due to their own visit to liberio. they’ll fight to stop indiscriminate killing on either side of the walls because
‘we are all the same’.
this is what aot has always been. people living by their beliefs, making tough choices in a cruel world that align with their sense of morality. there is also the notion of ‘special’ people, those who do not get caught up by the ‘flow’ of life but form their own path.
this is exemplified by mikasa. she is driven by the philosophy that the world is not only cruel, but also beautiful, and fights to WIN in order to preserve that beauty. this juxtaposes bertholt who was happy to go with the ‘flow’ because he was unable to see the beauty too.
this is why mikasa would be classed as
‘special’. even when protecting eren it was always due to her own feelings which often
went against what eren actually wanted, hence this episode where
she fights the symbolic extension of eren (the yeagerists literally worship him) is key
this episode highlights a lot of her growth implicitly. whether that be
her bond with annie, fighting ‘eren’, or the idea of not hesitating. not hesitating is about accepting the responsibility of ones beliefs and acting on them, the culmination of her arc throughout.
she is emotional, she does
feel the weight of her ‘sins’ (the overt imagery of the blood ‘staining’ her as the needs to pause in the middle of the conflict). she exemplifies
pushing down emotions to stand by one’s beliefs, while still understanding the full weight of that.
this idea of not hesitating is the same for jean, the culmination of his own
struggle with human killing that started in uprising. he is
fighting due to his own morals and idea of what being a scout truly means, just like everyone else is fighting for their own beliefs.
FLOCH
floch in his own way is doing the same, fighting for his own beliefs about the security of paradis even if that involves genocide. he leans into the ‘devil’ eren and opposes the alliance both thematically and functionally. his twisted salute(Shizou wo sasageyo) the perfect representation of this.
you can even view floch as similar to shadis when he was first a soldier. flochs was swept up by the ‘flow’ when he first became a scout but now that switches to an attempt to make a personal impact - ‘I will be the one to save eldia’. its these things that make him interesting
Keith and Magath
the conversation between magath and shadis spells out the underlying message aot is trying to send. these are both commanders of their respective sides who grew past their own conceit to accept the true reality of their actions and try to grow past them.
shadis believed he was an average person, a bystander who could do nothing but go with the flow. that’s why it’s important that annie plays a part in what ends up moving him, as she aligned with that same philosophy. in his conclusion,
he shows that anybody can be special
no matter how we perceive ourselves. his original goal was tainted by the need for validation, he had to be SEEN as special. hence in his conclusion he plays a role that no one will ever actually know of - emphasized by the irony of magaths line (no one knows he’s here).
true validation can never come from others, it has to be something we find within ourselves. magath refused to pat himself on the back due to his failings, but understanding his true feelings allows him to end his life by
doing something he wholeheartedly believes in.
he found value in his bonds with the warriors, and while it was too late, it presents a route that could’ve made him happy had he realized it sooner. a route that could’ve made him ‘free’. he had warped his own conscious to justify his actions and now feels the full weight of it
the last part is their names. we have a couple of examples in the rumbling arc (eg gabi & kaya), where a
resolution between characters ends up with them calling each other by their real names. this is very important because names above all represent personal identity.
in a world where the other side is generalised (‘island devils’, ‘mainland’) this personal identity is key. each individual on each side has a right to live, each name is valuable and each life is different.
you cannot group everyone as an enemy or the cycle is only perpetuated.
they may never know those names but they DO exist. magath and shadis recognize each other as people, they find common ground and they show a way past the barriers of ones birthplace - albeit too late.
another brilliant episode with a layered commentary on the human condition