Eren Yeager is the main character of Attack on Titan. He changed a lot throughout the anime and manga series, going from an immature child who felt like he was better than most of the people around him to an antagonist that would do whatever it took to defend his home and loved ones.
Of course, these changes didn’t all happen at once as Eren was slowly developed over time. These are some of the ways that he became more mature throughout the manga, including parts of the story that have not yet been adapted in the anime.
10 He Stopped Picking Fights With Those Who Disagreed With Him
Eren picked a lot of fights with people when he was a child. When the Survey Corps returned home after one of their missions, the civilians around him had disrespectful things to say about that branch of the military. Seeing as how Eren had always admired the Survey Corps, he attacked one of them, leaving Mikasa to get him out of an ugly situation he put himself in. The person that Eren fought with the most was Jean. As they had completely different views of Paradis’ military and what it meant to be a soldier, they were always at each other’s throats. However, when Eren got older, he understood that not everyone would agree with him and stopped picking fights.
9 He Learned How To Respect Others
Eren had disrespected a lot of people as a child, especially soldiers who didn’t defend their people. Hannes was a great example of this as he and his friends would get drunk while on duty. Though it was understandable where Eren was coming from when he would insult Hannes, he could have been more respectful. As the years passed, Eren learned how to respect others, including Hannes, who had changed his ways after the titans had broken into Shiganshina.
8 He Sacrificed Himself For Armin
Eren always cared about his friends, with Armin being one of the ones he was closest to. However, as years passed, Eren proved just how much Armin meant to him. When the titans invaded Trost, Eren and Armin, along with a few of their other comrades, fought humanity’s predators alongside each other. Their other comrades were eaten, and as Armin was about to be consumed as well, Eren pulled his best friend out of the titan’s mouth and was swallowed instead. In that titan’s stomach, Eren would activate his powers for the first time, although not even knowing that he was a titan shifter yet.
7 He Followed Orders
Eren used to think that he could just do whatever he wanted. He didn’t feel like he needed to follow the orders of soldiers with higher ranks than him and would only do so when he thought it was the right thing to do. However, after joining the Special Operations Squad, Eren had to learn how to be a better team player.
As he and his comrades, including Captain Levi, were being chased by the Female Titan, other soldiers fought back and died in the process. Eren wanted to help with his titan abilities, but his squad convinced him not to. He listened to Petra, Oluo, Eld, Gunther, and Levi, which resulted in them temporarily being able to capture the Female Titan.
6 He Fought His Former Friends
Eren had a few friends from the 104th Cadet Corps who he never suspected would become his greatest enemies. After learning that Annie, who he would often train with, was the inheritor of the Female Titan, he was shocked and hesitated to fight her. However, he eventually understood what he had to do and, with the help of Mikasa, beat her in a fight. Shortly after, Eren would also learn that Reiner and Bertholdt, who he was even closer to, were the Armored and Colossal Titans. This time around, he didn’t hesitate and fought as hard as he could before being captured by them.
5 He Learned That Grisha Killed The Reiss Family To Give Him The Founding Titan
Since learning that he was a titan shifter, Eren thought that he was special, especially since so many people considered him to be the hope of humanity. However, when he and Historia were captured, he was frightened to learn where his powers came from. His father, Grisha, had eaten Historia’s sister, Frieda, the inheritor of the Founding Titan, and everyone else in her family except for Rod. Afterwards, he injected Eren with titan serum and sacrificed his life so Eren could inherit both the Founding and Attack Titans. Overcome with grief, Eren felt that he wasn’t worthy of his powers and that Historia should have eaten him.
4 He Learned About The Outside World
When Eren, along with Mikasa, Levi, and Hange, went into his basement when he returned to Shiganshina, he learned about his father’s past. Beyond Paradis’ walls, there were many other countries, most of which hated the Eldians on Paradis for their ancestors’ sins. Grisha was from Marley, but started a new life in Paradis after he inherited the Attack Titan. Knowing about what really lay beyond the walls he always wanted to break free from, as well as his father’s childhood, Eren had a new outlook on the world.
3 He Saw The Future
As the inheritor of the Founding Titan, Eren would be affected when he came into contact with Ymir’s direct descendants. When he touched Historia’s hand, he received a vision from the future. In it, he learned that Grisha had originally chosen to let the Reiss family go.
However, once a future version of Eren who had gone back in time spoke to Grisha about going through with his plan, he was convinced to eat Frieda and kill her relatives. All along, it was Eren who was responsible for what happened, and he didn’t even know it.
2 He Lived In Marley And Understood The People There
Wanting to understand what life was like for Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Grisha, Eren had gone to Marley. He disguised himself as a patient in a hospital so he could learn about the Marleyans. There, he met Falco, who he would occasionally speak with. Once Eren was ready to attack Marley, he sent for the Survey Corps to invade their enemies while talking to both Falco and Reiner, letting them know about everything that he had learned and that they weren’t so different after all. He then proceeded to take hundreds of lives, inherit the War Hammer Titan, and return to Paradis with Zeke.
1 He Put His Friends Before Himself
Despite all of the terrible things that Eren had done, it was all to protect the people who he loved the most. At the end of the manga, he explained to Armin how he wanted him and their other friends to be seen as heroes, which is why he started the Rumbling. He ruined his own life and forced his friends to kill him, just so they could live peacefully for years to come. Though Armin didn’t think Eren’s actions were right, he understood why he killed thousands of people and devoted his life to helping the entire world, along with the other soldiers and warriors that Eren sacrificed everything for, as much as he could.
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