eren yeager and anakin skywalker: character analysis

This is a small analysis from my point of view, not something objective :) Please excuse my mistakes

Anakin Skywalker: The Tragedy of the Chosen One

Anakin Skywalker's journey through The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith is one of the most tragic and complex arcs in modern cinematic storytelling. Born with immense potential and prophesied to bring balance to the Force, Anakin's fall to the dark side is not the result of sudden evil but a gradual erosion of self, shaped by trauma, fear, and manipulation. His story is a mythological tragedy: one where a hero, destined for greatness, is undone by the very qualities that made him exceptional.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Anakin is introduced not as a warrior or leader, but as a slave. Despite his brilliance and strength in the Force, he is a boy with no freedom, raised by a single mother under constant threat. His identity as the "Chosen One," sets him apart, but it also places an enormous burden on him before he can even understand what it means.

Shmi Skywalker, his mother, tells Qui-Gon Jinn that "he was meant to help you," framing Anakin from the outset as a tool of destiny rather than a fully autonomous person. His deep attachment to his mother and the people he cares about stems from this early vulnerability: he learns that love is something that can be ripped away without warning. Although it is framed as a step toward freedom, the reality is more complex. Anakin is no longer a slave in body, but he remains one in spirit-chained to a prophecy he doesn't understand, and to an Order that doesn’t know how to handle him.

The Jedi Council's hesitation to train him reveals a deeper problem. They sense fear in him, and rather than nurture or help him confront it, they treat it as a threat. From this moment on, Anakin feels alienated from the very group meant to guide him. The seeds of distrust and resentment are planted early. The Council fails him from this exact moment starting.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones

By the time Anakin is a young adult, the psychological strain of his childhood trauma, emotional repression, and dual identity begins to show. The Jedi Code forbids attachment, but Anakin is intensely emotional, loyal, and passionate — qualities that set him at odds with the teachings he's expected to uphold. His relationship with Obi Wan is paternal, yet strained; Obi Wan acts more like a stern older brother than a true mentor, often belittling Anakin's impulses without addressing their roots.

The pivotal turning point in Anakin's development comes with the death of his mother. Haunted by visions of her suffering, he returns to Tatooine and finds her dying in his arms. The rage that follows leads to the slaughter of an entire Tusken Raider campmen, women, and children.

"I killed them all. They're animals, and I slaughtered them like animals."

This isn't a moment of remorse, it's a moment of justification. He begins to believe that the only way to protect those he loves is to hold power ruthlessly.

Despite this darkness, Anakin finds comfort in Padmé. Their romance is central to his collapse. By marrying her in secret, Anakin violates the Jedi Code and deepens his sense of duality.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Anakin enters the third episode as a war hero, but the cracks in his psyche have widened. He is plagued by prophetic dreams of Padmé dying in childbirth: visions that mirror those he had before his mother's death. Rather than seek help or guidance from the Jedi, thinking that they may fail him again, Anakin turns inward. They seem cold, dogmatic, and secretive. When they ask him to spy on Chancellor Palpatine — his closest mentor and a father figure-Anakin feels used, even disrespected.

Palpatine exploits every weakness Anakin has. He validates Anakin's doubts about the Jedi, stokes his fears of loss, and most critically, offers him a solution: the power to prevent death. Palpatine promises Anakin something the Jedi will never offer — control over life itself. But in his desperation, he fails to see that he is trading his soul for an illusion.

The turning point comes when Anakin chooses to intervene in the fight between Mace Windu and Palpatine. Torn between loyalty to the Jedi and fear of losing Padmé, Anakin strikes down Windu to save Palpatine, thus sealing his fate.

"What have I done?"

"You are fulfilling your destiny."

From this point forward, Anakin becomes Darth Vader. He kneels to the Sith Lord not out of conviction, but out ofdespair. He believes he has crossed a line from which there is no return, and he embraces the identity of Vader as armor.

The violence that follows are not expressions of strength but of madness. He tells himself it is for peace, for Padmé, for the Republic, but when he finally confronts Obi Wan, there is nothing left but delusion and hatred.

This is the language of totalitarianism, of absolute moral collapse. Anakin has become what he hated — a monster using love as a weapon and fear as a compass.

Anakin Skywalker's descent is not the story of a villain, but of a human being caught between fate and fear. His journey is a cautionary tale about the dangers of emotional repression, the seduction of power, and the cost of love when twisted by control. He is not evil because he hates; he is evil because he loves.

In the end, Anakin is a mirror of our deepest anxieties: the fear of powerlessness, of death, of failing the people he cares about.

Eren Yeager: The Freedom of the Damned

Eren Yeager's story is one of transformation, not just of character but of genre and narrative function. He begins as a symbol of righteous rage and ends as a harbinger of mass death. At the heart of his journey is a paradox: in seeking freedom, Eren becomes a slave to time, memory, and power. He embodies the deep tension between agency and destiny, between love and annihilation.

Part I: The Child Who Screamed for Freedom

At the beginning of "Attack on Titan", Eren is introduced as a passionate, hot-headed boy who despises the walls that confine humanity. He views the Titans not only as monsters but as existential proof that freedom has been stripped away. When his mother is devoured during the fall of Wall Maria, Eren's worldview is sealed: the world is cruel, and it must be fought.

This early version of Eren is emotionally transparent. He is driven by vengeance, righteousness, and almost religious belief in free will. He doesn't seek power for domination - he seeks it for the ability to fight back. At this stage, his hatred is pointed outward. The Titans are evil; the solution is destruction.

But even early on, Eren's mind is marked by obsession and absolutes. He is incapable of nuance. People are either with him or against him. This black-and-white view becomes dangerous as the layers of the world are slowly peeled back.

Part II: The Death of Certainty

The second phase of Eren's arc begins with the revelation that Titans are not monsters but humans, and that the true enemy lies outside the walls, in Marley, a militarized society that has dehumanized Eldians for generations.

These revelations begin to shatter Eren's worldview. The people he once hated are victims. The cycle of violence is older and more complex than he imagined. At the same time, he inherits the powers of the Attack Titan and later the Founding Titan, which come with both incredible strength and the burden of memory. He begins to see visions of past and future events, distorting his sense of self and time.

As Eren matures, his demeanor changes drastically. The once fiery boy becomes calm, aloof, and emotionally unreadable. He stops explaining himself to others. This isn't maturity, it's alienation. He becomes increasingly isolated from his friends, his country, and even his past self.

There is no single moment where Eren snaps. Instead, he fades. His hope replaced by fatalism, his emotions by inevitability.

Part III: The Rumbling and the Death of the Self

In the final phase of the story, Eren activates the Rumbling: an apocalyptic event where countless Colossal Titans trample the world outside Paradis Island, wiping out 80% of humanity. He justifies it as necessary to protect his people, to give them a future free from persecution.

But even Eren himself doesn't fully believe in this justification. He confesses to Armin, in a memory, that he doesn't know why he did it. The memory of the future compelled him. Or maybe he became the memory. The timeline is nonlinear, fractured by the power of the Titans.

"I'm sorry... I don't know why I did it. I just couldn't stop myself."

This admission breaks the mold of the typical anti-hero. Eren doesn't fall because of emotion — he falls because of disillusionment. He becomes a slave to time. He becomes what he always hated: an instrument of inevitability.

Despite this, he ensures that his friends will be the "heroes" who stop him. He sets up his own death. He makes himself the villain of history, believing that only through this final sacrifice can the world unite in peace.

This is not redemption. Eren never tries to undo the Rumbling or save the people he slaughtered. He does not repent. But in his own mind, he dies knowing he created a temporary peace. It's a utilitarian calculation soaked in blood.

He seeks freedom, but he becomes a slave.

Throughout the story, he repeats one phrase: "I am free." But the more he says it, the less true it becomes. He is shackled by visions of the future, by the expectations of the past, by the inherited will of the Titans. His idea of freedom is corrupted into a nihilistic doctrine: if no one else is free, at least I will be.

Eren represents existential despair. He confronts a world where meaning is manufactured by power and history is a weapon. Rather than crumble under this truth, he weaponizes it. He becomes the god of death not because he wants to, but because he believes there is no alternative.

Yet he is never fully unsympathetic. His love for Mikasa, Armin, and the rest of his friends is real. Eren cries for them. He distances himself not out of malice, but out of the desire to protect them from himself. He lets them kill him because it's the only way they can live.

Eren Yeager is not a villain in the traditional sense. He is a man who wanted to be free and discovered that true freedom requires monstrous choices. His story is not about winning, but about sacrificing everything for a future no one can truly enjoy. All it took was time, love, and a dream twisted by pain.

His death doesn't bring salvation, it only ends the cycle. Eren is both hero and villain, savior and destroyer, victim and executioner. In the world he leaves behind, peace is built on bones, and freedom smells like smoke.

Correlations between Anakin Skywalker and Eren Yeager

Tragic Heroes Turned Villains

Both characters are introduced as protagonists: young, passionate, and full of potential.

Anakin Skywalker is framed as the “Chosen One”, a prophesied savior who would bring balance to the Force. As a child, he's innocent and gifted, but over time, this promise becomes a burden. Despite his skill and good intentions, his inability to emotionally regulate and his fear of loss make him vulnerable. When he becomes Darth Vader, he is no longer just a man — he is a symbol of fear and oppression.

Eren Yeager starts “Attack on Titan” as a determined boy who vows to kill all Titans after witnessing his mother's brutal death. Initially, he's seen as humanity's greatest hope. But like Anakin, this intense desire to protect and avenge gradually corrupts his ideals. By the final season, Eren becomes the driving force behind an apocalyptic genocide, known as "The Rumbling."

Both are “heroes” who succumb to their own darkness — not because they are evil from the start, but because of their trauma, idealism, and inability to process pain in healthy ways. Their transformations are gradual, not sudden, making their eventual fall even more tragic.

Motivated by Personal Loss and Fear

Both characters experience devastating personal losses that fundamentally alter them.

Anakin's breaking point begins with the death of his mother, Shmi. His love for Padmé then becomes possessive: he dreams of her dying in childbirth and becomes obsessed with preventing it. These fears drive him into the arms of Palpatine, who offers him forbidden power.

Eren's trauma begins with watching his mother be eaten by a Titan. But the deeper trauma comes later: learning the truth about the world, about Marley, Eldia, and the endless cycle of hatred. He realizes that the enemies he's been taught to hate are victims too, and yet the world will never accept his people. This shatters his sense of identity.

Both are driven not only by anger, but by fear; fear of loss, of helplessness, of meaninglessness. This fear leads them to seek control over life and death, resulting in immense destruction.

Manipulated by Greater Forces

Anakin is manipulated masterfully by Emperor Palpatine, who becomes a “mentor”. Palpatine fuels Anakin's paranoia about the Jedi and subtly encourages his turn to the dark side, making him believe the Sith path is the only way to save Padmé.

Eren, in a more metaphysical way, is manipulated by himself. Once he inherits the Founding Titan's power, he gains access to memories from the future. But rather than control the future, Eren is controlled by it. He sees what he must do and resigns himself to the inevitability. Eren is ultimately manipulated by time and power as much as Anakin is by Palpatine.

Both lose autonomy as they gain power. Their fall is not just a moral failure but a collapse of self-direction. They become instruments of larger forces: Anakin of the Sith, Eren of historical destiny.

The Struggle Between Freedom and Control

Anakin seeks control over life. His desire to bend reality to his will — to stop people from dying, to command order, makes him a slave to the dark side. In trying to escape death, he becomes death itself.

Eren is obsessed with freedom. He believes true freedom is impossible in a world where people live in fear. Ironically, his pursuit of freedom leads him to become a dictator of fate. His ideal of freedom becomes a paradox: to be free, others must die.

Their ultimate downfall is rooted in paradox. Anakin seeks control and loses control. Eren seeks freedom and becomes a tyrant. They are both caught in a cycle where their virtues become their vices.

Final Redemption

Anakin is ultimately redeemed by his son, Luke, who refuses to give up on the good in him. In killing the Emperor and saving Luke, Anakin fulfills the prophecy, dies with dignity, and reclaims his identity.

Eren's ending is far more morally ambiguous. He orchestrates his own death, knowing it's the only way to stop the cycle of hatred. He ensures his friends become “heroes” and his people survive, but at the cost of untold lives. Some view this as a form of redemption, others as a justification for atrocity.

So, their contrast is: Anakin is given a clear moment of redemption and moral clarity. Eren's ending offers no such comfort.

Dual Identity

Anakin/Vader represents the duality of light and dark, man and machine. Vader is faceless, symbolic, monstrous, while Anakin is buried deep beneath the armor. His story is about reclaiming humanity from monstrosity.

Eren/Founding Titan similarly becomes more symbol than man. He becomes the threat to the world, the embodiment of war and fear. His physical transformation into the monstrous skeletal titan mirrors the erasure of his individual identity.

Both characters lose their human form and symbolic selves merge with their ideology. The more power they have, the less of themselves remains.

Final

Anakin Skywalker and Eren Yeager are reflections of the same archetype: the tragic anti-hero who begins with noble goals, but becomes a monster in pursuit of those goals. Evil can come from love and good intentions are not enough to justify horrific means.

This post on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/rinamash/p/eren-yeager-and-anakin-skywalker?r=5equj1&utm_medium=ios