WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 4, Episode 12 of Attack on Titan, "Guides," now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, Amazon Prime and Hulu.
Attack on Titan's final season has been following protagonist Eren Jeager's downward slide from fiery hero to apathetic vigilante for a number of weeks now. Each time Eren issues a threat to a supposed friend or stares, dead-eyed, as those around him suffer, the idealistic boy he once was seems further and further away. But for those still in doubt about the kind of man he's becoming, Episode 12, "Guides," might mark a point of no return.
Not only does Eren make good on his threat to bust out of the prison he claims can't hold him, but he does so at the cost of the highest-ranking military officer on Paradis Island: Dhalis Zachary. What's perhaps scarier, still, is the fact that Eren doesn't accomplish any of this on his own -- he has help from a band of separatists the military christen, "Jeagerists."
The Jeagerists, led by Floch, are a group of largely new recruits within Paradis' three military police branches who have grown disenchanted with the current system of militarized government and the war with Marley; in turn, holding Eren up as a revolutionary hero. Just as Eren's father was radicalized in Marley by the Eldian restorationists, Eren has -- intentionally or not -- inspired a version of this group on Paradis, intent on liberating him and reuniting him with Zeke in order to start the Rumbling and reinstate the Eldian Empire.
Not content with simply leaking information to the public and press to stir up civil discontent, in "Guides," the group takes matters into their own hands. After Armin and Mikasa fail to persuade Zachary to let them speak to the incarcerated Eren (he was branded a dangerous renegade after his Liberio raid), they spot a group of young Scouts heading into his office. Moments later, an explosion rips through the Premier's room with such force that his torn body is sent flying out onto the concourse outside. The already-angry crowd protesting just outside the gates is whipped up into even more of a frenzy as a result.
Once we learn that Eren has escaped his cell, it seems clear that the shocking attack served two purposes: a prison break distraction and to sow division and fear into the military. It works, too. While Eren meets Floch and a small band of Jeagerists somewhere outside the city, confirming the attack was indeed coordinated between them, Dot Pixis -- the next highest-ranking officer after Zachary -- informs Hange and more of the top brass that, without knowing who they can trust, their best option is to surrender to the Jeager brothers until they can regain control of the situation.
It remains unclear in the Attack on Titan anime how much of this, if any, is Eren's idea. Though his new followers see him as some kind of messianic figure who can make Eldia into a world power once more, we have no evidence, as of yet, that he has actively encouraged them to view him in this light or spearheaded his own jailbreak. The only people we know he had contact with while in prison are Hange and Yelena, the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers' self-appointed leader who is currently being detained herself by Pixis. Yelena's connection to the Jeagerists hasn't been made explicit, but we do know she worships Zeke as some kind of god among men, so it's hardly out of the question that she, too, is complicit in the Jeagerists' coo.
Whether or not Eren is taking his new-found position as cult leader seriously, or even wants such attention, it is obvious that he's at least using this dangerous role as a means to an end. The Jeagerists have gotten him exactly what he wants -- freedom and possibly a path to Zeke, the only person he seems actually interested in working with. Heroism or villainy is now just a matter of perspective to Eren and for those that stand with or against him. Eren claims to be working to ensure the futures of those he cares about. But the question is, who does he care about anymore?
