This line struck me for some reason I couldn’t place, because Levi didn’t really talk a lot, but then I realized.
To Eren it seems like Levi is talking a lot because he’s never really talked a lot to him before.
He used to just talk to his squad.
The vast emptiness of that room speaks a lot more volumes than it did before.
I think what I love the most about these two, is that compared to Levi, Eren is just… so young. Compared to Levi, Eren hasn’t really… I dunno what the word is. I mean he’s been through a lot, but it feels like… he’s so new to this pain, whereas I feel like Levi has lived it a thousand times over.
Like when the series starts you think, “Damn Eren has been through a LOT! He has to grow up so fast, so he can survive. Not just to avenge his mother, but to survive. And he can turn into a titan, and he has to deal with that, and just OMG!”
But then Levi shows up, and this whole thing happens with his squad, and just… a lot of things occurred to me.
Levi is fucking good at what he does. But how many battles has HE seen to get that good? Eren has had three years of training and that sounds like a lot, but we saw that it still wasn’t enough. But consider how good Levi is, and how even THAT wasn’t enough.
How long has he been doing this?
How many times did people die for him to be able to see his squad, dead, and keep going? How many times did he ride back into town, a failure, and have to hear people say things like, “Is this what our taxes go to? What a joke.” I mean it was Eren’s first time, but how many times has it been for Levi?
It’s like the series reminds you that, hey, other people are going through shit too. Not just the main character. You sort of think, “What’s worse than seeing your mom get eaten by a titan?” Then these other characters come along and it’s like, “Well… you could have your entire squad get killed. You could have to throw their bodies to the titans chasing you because one guy – who pretty much called you an emotionless asshole – did something stupid.” And instead of snapping at that guy Levi was like, “Here, this belonged to your friend,” when it belonged to HIS friend, HIS squad.
It’s like, moments like that you realize, wow… Eren… has had it hard, but he at least has, you know, his two friends. And even the rest of the squad (Jean, Connie, Sasha, ect.) He got to see all of them join the squad, and all of them are still alive. From what we’ve seen Levi has Hanji and Erwin, and Erwin is just as seasoned and emotionally drained. And if you think about it, Levi actually… did talk quite a bit in those flashbacks we saw before the female titan fight. But directly to Eren? No, not really. When he did it was important, it wasn’t just them sitting together talking. His squad talked to him a lot (even bit their hands to show their trust in him). But Levi’s had his squad to talk to him and talk for him (like Hanji telling Eren about the experiments) but now…
And yes, we keep hearing that Eren’s the one people are depending on, but moments like this it’s like, “Well this group put their trust in Levi, too, and now… they’re dead.” Sure Eren had his whole, “Had I transformed maybe we could’ve won,” but how do you think Levi feels? And it hurts to see Eren, but… it almost hurts more to see Levi. He doesn’t cry or anything, but just… it’s worse. "Hey I’m Petra’s father,“ and just, moments like that it’s like, "Goddamn wow.”
