WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for the Attack on Titan manga.
With both the anime and manga series edging towards their conclusion at the moment, fans of Attack on Titan are in a unique position to experience both the source material and adaptation of the thing they've been obsessing over for nearly a decade reach virtually parallel endings. Due to recent seismic events in the manga, though, it's incredibly hard to know whether or not a wholly satisfying ending can be delivered in either medium.
Though creator Hajime Isayama has apparently hinted that he -- like the rest of us -- was unhappy with Game of Thrones' ending, he should perhaps be hoping to also avoid the mistakes made by another famous franchise with a similarly divisive climax: Star Wars' Skywalker Saga.
Given the shocking arc its lead protagonist, Eren Jeager, has had, his fate will absolutely be the deciding factor in whether or not Attack on Titan's ending will be well-received, and Isayama has an opportunity to side-step what could be considered the 'easy way out' for fallen heroes: the last-minute redemption twist.
One of the most hotly debated aspects of the Skywalker's Saga's concluding chapter, The Rise of Skywalker, is Ben Solo/Kylo Ren's undercooked redemption arc. Ben Solo should have been the one to take on his uncle Luke's mantle as the foremost surviving Jedi Knight. Instead, he was corrupted by the same Sith Lord who doomed his grandfather and threw his lot in with the First Order and the Dark Side. By the time Rey showed him mercy by healing him from her fatal Lightsaber wound on Kef Bir, Kylo Ren was no more and Ben Solo was reborn. Helping Rey defeat the Emporer and then giving his own life for hers marked the end of his path to redemption. Or did it?
To call Kylo Ren's arc a true redemptive one requires a lot of filling in the blanks on the audience's part -- namely because the character barely says a single word from the moment he's healed by Rey to the moment he fades away after restoring her in return. We have no idea whether or not Ben Solo returned because he'd magically become a good person again or because he simply didn't want Rey, the only person left alive he cared for, to die. The onscreen evidence strongly asserts the latter. And because of his death, we'll never know whether or not he would have atoned for his war crimes in the long run. Much like Anakin's heel-face-turn in Return of the Jedi, a singular merciful act is supposed to erase a lifetime of evil.
Both of these characters are, of course, tragic villains, as is Eren Jaeger. Rather than descend into villainy before the story begins, Eren's journey from avenging hero to vengeful Titan instead reaches its tipping point about two-thirds of the way in. By now, convinced that his subjugated race will forever be condemned by the larger world, Eren is currently rampaging across the continent with an army of Wall Titans at his disposal. His reasoning is that Paradis Island can only become a true paradise if it is the only place left standing -- essentially restoring the isolated life he, Armin and Mikasa once had as children before the Colossal Titan reared its head.
As his remaining friends encroach on his territory, some of them hold out hope that they won't have to stop Eren by taking his life, preferring to talk him off the ledge instead, as Luke hoped to do with Anakin and Rey with Kylo. It might be easy for fans who can't sever their attachment to the former hero -- or even condone his genocidal actions -- to harbor the same hope; that even if Eren does die, he'll have his Kylo Ren redemption moment. But if he does, considering how little story there is left, it really will be a moment, just as Kylo's was.
On the other hand, if he dies without such a moment happening, going down a villain through-and-through, will even that be satisfying enough? Had Star Wars had the guts to keep Ben Solo alive we could have enjoyed an interesting rehabilitation story in the Extended Universe that might have actually completed his redemption arc. Though yes, these are tragic characters destined for tragic endings, death for such tortured souls just feels like a bit of a cop-out. Holding people accountable (and alive) for their crimes? Potentially more interesting.
Of course, the Curse of Ymir limits his lifespan anyway, but capturing Eren and forcing him to live out the remainder of his life in some kind of Titan-proof containment could be a more fitting punishment than having him die as the martyr he sees himself as. Eren yearns for freedom above all else, after all: robbing him of that might be more effective than letting him go out on his own terms. It would also be an ending that breaks the series villains' obsession with, and glorification of, bloody revenge, rather than double-down on it.
Deep, deep down, Eren's motivation is a sympathetic one -- protecting those he loves. His way of going about it makes him history's worst mass murderer but it does make atonement a very distant possibility even if he seems to have reached the point of no return, as Kylo Ren appeared to when he killed his own father. Eren is a far scarier and better-developed villain than Kylo ever was. Surely he deserves a more effective ending to match.
