Author's note: Banging out these EH chapters have been a blast but I've been wanting to share my opinion on why I love EH so much as a change of pace. Feel free to skip this if you want.
I've been a manga reader since season 1 ended and the four year time span was so unbearable I gave in and just read the manga. I have to say that it's a decision I will never regret.
Let's start...
What I love really love of about EH is how late it starts. It doesn't start out from the beginning which made it more appealing to me. Originally, in a rough draft of the Trost battle drew by Isayama, Eren wasn't supposed to save Armin but HISTORIA instead. That made it more interesting for me because if Eren had saved Historia from the beginning then a love story between them would feel really cliche. But Isayama made a smart move holding off the development of their relationship until later into the story.
Eren and Historia's first interaction in chapter 51 was a very tense one. Historia was basically begging Eren to help her get Ymir back. At that point Historia had no idea why Ymir would abandon her. But this was actually great development for Historia as of this point because her Krista persona was beginning to shed. It also showcased an important cycle of her life, which is all the people closest to her always abandon her, all to protect her. Frieda always abandoned her and wiped her memories. Ymir left her to help Reiner and Bert because she believes Historia can have a future within the walls. Eren is now leaving to make sure she and her future children never have to be sacrificed.
The next interaction was my second favorite interaction between them. In chapter 54 was the cabin scene, absolutely butchered by WIT studio. Sorry for the rant but SO much important and nuanced interaction between EH was cut while Mikasa gets more scenes of her screaming "EREH". WIT also cut out a lot Eren and Armin's along with some of Eren and Annie's interactions as well which was just sad to see as a former ErenXAnnie shipper and a lover of Eren and Armin's friendship. WIT also cut some of Mikasa's development which made her way more bearable in the manga. They(Tetsuro Araki, the director of Aot s1-s3) love EM but hate Mikasa and basically reduced her to a EREH screaming machine which was pathetic. Alright enough of that. I'll continue with the EH talk.
In ch54, the EH interaction starts off with Historia dreaming about Frieda, who was one of the most important people that helped form who Historia is. Historia is formed by the ones closest to her. Frieda taught her to be a kind girl and help those in need. Ymir taught her to live for herself and live her life with pride. Eren helped her understand that it's okay to be her, she doesn't need to fake her own personality or change herself to please other, and he helped her realize that she is just a normal girl who's absurdly honest.
Historia wakes up and we see Eren asking her what's wrong. The entire scene itself was so awkward(but in a really good way), and I loved it. They're just acquaintances at this point and it's perfectly understandable for them to be shy and awkward around each other. The shy looks they gave each other was funny(sweaty Eren lol) yet oddly wholesome. Historia said she had a weird dream which she can't remember which Eren can relate with perfectly(see chapter 1), which helps set a common ground between them. Eren apologizes to her for failing as a Titan which Historia wonders why to her, to which Eren explains that he wasn't able to help her rescue Ymir. It's a great transition to Historia's monologue about Ymir and it doesn't seem so one-sided like her just complaining about losing Ymir. Historia never initiated the convo about losing Ymir but Eren did, which shows he feels bad and is a more active participant than just being there to listen to Historia complain like in the anime. Historia goes to talk about how Ymir left her and how pitiful her situation is right now. Eren asks her this important question which was cut: "So...what do...YOU want to do?". Historia doesn't know the answer to this question, at least not yet. This question is answered in another chapter which I will touch on later. The question itself is also a way to help distinguish Historia from her Christa personality.
Christa is Historia's fake role, in which she acts in a way which she THINKS people want her to act, not the way she truly wants to act. Her Christa persona is a slave to the needs of others while Historia is her true self, her most free form, and we know how much Eren values freedom. Historia does what she wants because she WANTS to do it, it's her own free choice.
Historia goes to talk about how she envy Eren for always knowing what he wants and she talks about how her losing Ymir made her lose her understanding of herself and her wants(in a way she is lost). She doesn't believe Eren understands what she feels but Eren does. He can understand her very well despite them not knowing each other for too long. Eren and Historia can relate a lot because they both have a similar situation throughout nearly the entire manga. Both are burdened with responsibilities out of their control and both are weaponized by the government to "save humanity". Eren is a Titan shifter who found out he was a Titan and given the role of a hero without asking. Historia found out of her being a royal blood and was asked into to fulfill the role of Queen. Both have a father who wanted to make them into a Titan and push a heavy burden onto them.
Eren then asks her why she doesn't worry about Armin being her body double and in her state of mind, she says she doesn't understand why she should care. She believes Christa would worry about everyone, which would be true. But this is what makes Historia's true self special, I'll come back to this later. More important character building for Historia as she states how she feels about herself, an empty shell whose parents never loved her nor did anyone else. She felt as if she shouldn't have been born and that no one wanted her to be born. She believes everyone is disappointed of her true self but Eren himself goes on about how he didn't like her old self BUT he says there's something he likes about her now. It shows how Eren is beginning to warm up to her and starts to distinguish him from other people who like her. He likes how she isn't faking her personality anymore is being honest with herself because in his own words:
"You're just normal. Just a normal girl who's absurdly honest."
When the cabin scene ended, we just see Historia's stunned expression but we don't see Eren. When Historia recalled that that moment made her happy(him calling her a normal girl) in the cave scene in Chapter 65, we can see in her POV that Eren's body language was very warm and casual. Eren is leaning in, talking with a smile, his legs are crossed. He looks engaged in their conversation and seems like he genuinely enjoys her company and getting to know her which is horribly conveyed in the anime.
That wraps up ch54.
There's is also a scene in chapter 56 which I think is very important as a good counter-argument to the belief that he would do the same thing for any of his friends or Eren's only protective of Historia because of her royal blood. This scene happened before the cave scene and Dimo Reeves made a request to Historia to hit Levi when she becomes queen and dare him to hit her back. Eren was very encouraging of this and told her she should do that and see how Levi will react. This scene is showing that right now in Eren's POV, Historia is really just a friend to him as this interaction seems more fitting of Eren with any one of his friends. But AFTER the cave scene, Eren's protective streak over Historia had begun to show itself. Eren was urging Historia to let it go and not hit Levi even though he himself previously was encouraging it, which is a big change on how he views her. It highlights the importance of the cave scene to him and how her safety was starting to become his priority after she helped save him. There is another moment that shows his duality post time-skip which I will explain later.
Their next main interaction is of course my favorite scene. The infamous Reiss cave scene. The birth of the enemies of humanity. In chapter 65 to chapter 66, we see that Eren has reached his lowest point. This is where he didn't feel useless for not being able to change anything like he did in chapter 50 after Hannes death, this was even worse. He straight up believed that he never needed to happen. He felt that everything that has happened so far, every death and sacrifice made for him was in vain. He felt that everything that has happened in his life, his interactions, his dreams, it all should have never happened because Eren believed he should never have been born. Eren was absolutely broken, believing every sacrifice and all the suffering was his and his father's fault and that he could never atone for all of it.
When Eren said he should never have been born, Historia has a flashback to her childhood. What Eren felt at that moment was what Historia felt her entire life. His belief immediately resonated with Historia. She begins to tear up as well as she knew exactly how he feels. Historia then thinks back to the cabin scene which she relates to happiness. She then begins to question the Reiss tradition and with the help of Ymir's words, she broke the 100 year-long tradition.
Ymir's words reminded her to live with pride. For me, Historia living her life with pride is means freedom to choose what she wants to do out of her free will, and not by what other's want her to do. This an important distinction between Historia and Christa and this is where the new free Historia persona born is born. Historia has had enough of her father's manipulation of her kind nature and she made her own decision to live her life with pride. Historia is choosing to have complete control over her life and decisions and that's amazing character development for her.
She goes to save Eren and tries to free him. Eren begs her to stop eat him to save humanity and end his suffering. Historia is having none of it and tells him to stop being a crybaby and gave him a good smack on the head. Historia then proceeds to give him her enemy of humanity and worst girl speech while at the same time freeing him from his chains. I loved this scene not just because of juicy foreshadowing but because it sets up an amazing dynamic between the two which this story is named after and inspired by.
Eren still wants her to abandon him and let Rod eat him but she refuses to leave him. She tells him that even though she may be an enemy of humanity, she's his friend(in the raw Japanese translation, it's more like "ally of justice").
Historia says to him that she can't be a good girl or a god but when she sees someone who's crying and saying no one needs them, she'll be there for them and tell them that it's not true. This is Historia's motivation, not Christa's. Historia is rebelling and rejecting the roles and expectations placed upon her but she deep down is a kind and compassionate individual. This duality in her character is amazing. This is most likely a big factor in her decision to help Eren after the timeskip.
Historia later declares them to be enemies of humanity just before everything comes crashing down and with Levi telling him to make his choice, Eren decides to finally believe in himself.
That wraps up the cave scene, my absolute favorite EH moment.
The next important interaction between them is in chapter 67. Eren still believes that Rod should eat him but Historia immediately comes to his aid and offers reasoning on why he shouldn't do it. Historia justified the actions of the Reiss massacre and she was willing to kill her father so that Eren lives. She apologizes to Eren and tells him that she wanted to eat him not to save humanity but she wanted her father's affection. She didn't need to tell Eren that but she did anyways. She was being completely honest with him which highlights what Eren says he likes about her in the cabin scene. I loved her for being honest with him and it made me love Historia even more.
Then before the battle with Rod Reiss's Titan in ch68, we see that Eren is thinking about how strong Historia has gotten, admiring her, and begins to reflect about himself. What makes this interesting is that Historia's strength comes from the people most influential to her which helped her develop greatly(Frieda, Ymir, and Eren himself). Eren at that point believes he isn't special and is just an average nobody but after learning from Shadis, his mother's words helped him realize that he doesn't need to be special because to his mother, he's already special for being born. The concept of natalism is strong between Eren and Historia. Both believed they didn't need to be born and from the help with those most closest to them and each other, they were able to overcome their self-doubts and insecurities. It's why if they have a child, there's no way in hell they would ever use him/her for a plan because they would never put their child through the same thing they both have experienced. It would go against the theme of not using children as tool and it would be a huge character regression for both Eren and Historia.
Then we get a wholesome and important EH interaction in chapter 70. It starts off at the farm with Eren, Armin, and Jean watching Historia chase the orphanage kids. Armin and Jean talk about how she's more comfortable running an orphanage than being Queen and how the people love her. Later on Jean begins to tease Eren about Historia's achievements passing his but Eren doesn't care or notice at all. His attention is on Historia and he explains how Historia has finally found her calling and with it her answer to his question(What do YOU want to do?) in the cabin scene. It was hinted at the cave scene but now it's confirmed. Historia is putting a lot of effort to help run the orphanage with the help from the military. Eren acknowledges her words in the cave and basically repeats them to Armin and Jean. Eren and Historia have been having state-mandated hand holding sessions to recover memories for the past two months and I think that's how Eren knows everything that's been happening with Historia and not Jean or Armin, which is the inspiration of one of my chapters. Who knows what kind of EH wholesome moments have happened in the palace lol.
Historia catches the 3 boys and tells them to help her. Here's where I find an important distiction between Historia's relationship with Eren vs. her other friends. We see Jean and Armin dismissing her slightly bossy attitude(Jean relating her to his mom and Armin questioning her "goddess" persona). This shows how others except Eren view her, kinda superficially, especially because they haven't experienced what Eren's experienced with her. Historia's goddess persona Christa was what made everyone infatuated with her and what made Eren disgusted and creeped out, but when she rejects it and starts acting like her true self that's when people shy away from her while making Eren like her even more. It shows Eren sees and understands the "real" her, he sees Historia and not Christa.
Eren worries about having to face Bert and Reiner again and this time Historia asks Eren what HE wants to do. Eren's duty is that he has to kill Bert and Reiner. Historia questions his duty and asks him if he WANTS to do it. Eren still believes he has to as his duty. Historia notices his solemn state and she in her own Historia way encourages Eren to fight, to give him an intimate reason to do what he's doing. Duty is inherently without freedom but when one has the desire to do it, it's more synonymous with free will. This is why she mentions how she can't have any regrets choosing him over the Founder's power. It's why she mentions the children from the underground beginning to smile and says that what they are doing can't be wrong. Both of them are looking at the children(the next generation of Paradisians) and one of Eren's biggest reason to fight the whole outside world is not just for Historia, but for her future children, for the next generation of kids. He's doesn't want to kick the can down the road and burden the next generation of Paradisians with the sins of their ancestors. Historia is the one who broke the royal family Titan inheritance cycle in the Uprising arc and Eren is making sure it stays broken post time-skip. Historia's influence on Eren is significant and is shown through his thoughts about her and his views on children being used as tools and weapons.
Eren then just straight up calls Historia amazing, this time openly expressing his admiration for her causing her to blush which was absolutely wholesome and enjoyable to watch Eren being so casual and friendly with a girl his age. I don't think any of his interactions with Mikasa or any other females was like that. Eren even teases her for her enemy of humanity speech makes her even more embarrassed and causing her to blush up a storm. Then the EH moment was ruined by a jealous Mikasa. Oh well.
The next EH moment comes from Eren's thoughts in chapter 89. He had just found out a way to use the power of the Founder but dismisses the idea, fearing what the military would do to Historia. It's important to note that Eren held this info for over a year without telling ANYONE. Eren can't trust Historia's safety to anyone, not even his closest friends(Armin and Mikasa) which speaks measures on how Eren values Historia. At this point I think Historia is at Armin and Mikasa's level of importance in Eren's view.
This is followed by Hange's suspicious looks which is shown again twice in chapter 107, also followed by a curious look from Armin. It's important to note that after this interaction, Isayama follows up with Kruger's speech about making a family and loving someone within the walls to prevent the cycle of hate and revenge from happening again. Grisha wonders why would Kruger tell him that if he's going to forget everything with Kruger answering that someone(Eren) might see the memory down the line. Remember that the "save Armin and Mikasa and the others" line does not come from future Eren but future Grisha before he made Eren into the next Attack Titan, it's almost word for word.
Then we get to ch90, the last EH interaction before the time-skip, before Historia's screen-time was made nearly non-existent by Isayama. At the medal ceremony, Eren wonders how horrible everything is going after learning the truth of the basement. He is willing to give up his life, which goes against his freedom philosophy, if he knows he could change something. But there is one thing that he can't negotiate on no matter what and that's Historia's life. He thinks about what he should do and how he can't tell anyone what he knows and in that moment when his lips touched her hand, he gets a flood of future memories.
It's important to note that he's made contact with Historia multiple times and hasn't received any futures memories. They've most likely had multiple hand holding sessions to gain memories but came up empty. But at this moment, when Eren wonders how he should protect Historia, I believe that was the trigger for his future memories. In my opinion, I think his future memories has shown him exactly how to protect Historia and that's the full Rumbling.
Then we get more of EH in chapter 107. Hange KNOWS Eren is unwilling to sacrifice Historia which was why she tried to use Historia as a trigger to elicit a response from him, not Armin or Mikasa or any other of his close friends. When Paradis had its meeting with Hizuru, during an intermission, Eren notices Historia is happy to which she replies she is and he gives her a smile, Hange notices this and gives another suspicious look like she did in chapter 89. Then when the meeting happens and Kyomi announces the 50 year plan where Historia has to be sacrificed and become a breeding machine to bear children to be used as weapons of war, everyone including Historia(which was a complete regression of her character which I will touch on later) was willing to accept the plan except one guy.
Of course Eren would be the first to voice out his concern and anger over the plan, absolutely furious with the idea. Eren implores for them to search for a another way believing that it is dangerous to entrust their fate to the Rumbling. This makes Historia nearly tear up and we get 2 panels of her holding in her tears and emotion. What's most interesting about this scene is this is when I believe Historia most likely fell in love with Eren. Isayama often portray women falling in love with the Yeagers by crying(Dina and Carla with Grisha, and Mikasa and now Historia with Eren). Also once again we see Hange giving Eren the stink eye at the end of the flashback.
Here's where another duality of Eren Yeager comes in. In chapter 106, Eren had held the secret of Historia(because of her royal blood) being the key to access the Founder's powers(and he would most likely have never have revealed it) until he found out that Zeke was willing to help Paradis which is a trigger for him to confirm the info he had to everyone else so they would know Zeke wasn't lying on how to access the Founder's power. Eren at that point believes that Historia now didn't have to be sacrificed which was why he is so willing to use the Rumbling, believing it to be the last hope for the Eldians. Eren at this point had no clue about the 50 year plan and believes they could just use Zeke to solve their problems.
This is what makes his sudden change in mind in chapter 107 so interesting. He first believed that the Rumbling was their only option and hope but immediately changed his mind and wants to explore for other options the moment Historia got involved. Ultimately in the end, he went full rumbling using Zeke as the catalyst when he ran out of options that didn't involve sacrificing Historia.
Back in the jail scene, Hange is prying for a response from Eren by mentioning Historia. Eren however switches the subject by talking about how he could escape anytime he wants. If he shows any reaction towards Historia being mentioned, I bet you with that knowledge Hange and the military would not have hesitated to use Historia as a hostage to stop Eren from Rumbling. This is why a relationship between them must be kept a secret because if they are in love, no one must find out about it in the event that Eren went rogue. Eren is already protective as F over Historia and I don't even wanna imagine what would happen if she got hurt by the military or the rag tag "save the world" group, or even worse... killed.
We finally see Historia for the first time since the time-skip and she's pregnant with a bored and probably a tired face(pregnancy is normally very tiring and taxing for women and causes stress on specific bones and joints), and a random NPC farmer tells her to come in and take care of herself. It is assumed by the MP's she got pregnant for the 50 year plan with the farmer, but in chapter 130, there's more to be revealed.
Finally in chapter 130 is the most important EH interaction for me(at least for now), where Historia and Eren's relationship and bond is tested. Eren and Historia are having a meeting(most likely even multiple) in secret.
Eren at that point is fully ready and determined to commit with the Rumbling. Eren came to warn her of the MP's plan to feed her to Zeke and he's willing to run away with her or help her fight the MP's, believing it to be their only options. What makes the chapter more interesting is that there are other options than the pregnancy(which in itself is already a danger enough due to childbirth and the fact that the MP's were still considering of sacrificing Historia even if she's pregnant), especially the wine plan, if all Historia wanted to do was to not become a Titan.
Historia was willing to go along with the 50 year plan and not fight or run, believing Eren defending her(she also says her everyone acted for her sake which was not true at all with the exception being Eren) was enough for her. It's not enough for Eren though and he's very furious at the thought of Historia sacrificing herself.
Historia willing to sacrifice herself for the 50 year plan was a complete regression of her character in my opinion and a complete backtrack of her character development. This would be the return of Christa, who is doing what she believes what others want and expected of her, not because of what she truly wants to do. She has to sacrifice herself and her future children along with her pride which goes against an important theme of the final arc(Not letting children be used as tools and children being the future).
It would be like Uprising arc never had happened. It would be even worse if Eren accepts her using her child for a plan and contradicts all his past thoughts and interactions with her. But fortunately Eren doesn't accept that.
He'd rather sacrifice the outside world than let her sacrifice herself and her future children, thus restarting the Reiss tradition of royal blood Titan inheritance. Historia is falling deeper into her Christa persona and threatens to stop him because she believes she could never live her life with pride again if she doesn't. Eren is willing to OFFER her a memory wipe(NOT threaten because he doesn't even have the Founder's power lol, there seriously people who think this) if it's too much for her to her to endure and selfishly asks her to stay quiet until then.
This is an important distinction from how Eren views Historia compared to his friends and how he has a huge bias towards her. Eren is willing to abandon his freedom principle just for her(mind you this is the guy who believed in ch112 that there is nothing further removed from freedom than ignorance, who also warned all the Eldians outside the walls of the Rumbling when it had no strategic relevance) to spare her from pain. He in ch133 was willing to let his friends and the Marleyans keep their freedom to fight but with Historia, he's willing to go against his own beliefs.
Historia says how could she ever stay quiet and Eren pulls the Worst Girl line she gave him over four years ago, singling her out as his savior. That line was a line made by "Historia" and I think that's what's going to help snap Historia out of her "Christa" persona.
Historia is shocked and surprised. Then the flashback between the two is suspiciously cut off with a conversation between Eren and Zeke about Mikasa. When Zeke mentions love Eren thinks back to Historia(or at the very least Isayama purposely add the panel at that specific moment to get the readers to think). Another flashback between EH occurs and this time the position where Eren and Historia are standing are switched(most likely signaling they had multiple meetings). This time Historia is asking Eren a very intimate question: "Well. Eren. What would you think... about me having a child."
But I feel like instead of the statement being a question, it's more of an answer to a question Eren most likely asked her, because you don't start off a question with "Well..."
I find a few things very interesting about all of this. Isayama is purposely juxtaposing Historia's baby question with love. Eren telling Historia his full plans for no strategic purpose, especially she could've chosen to rat him out at any point while he was in Marley, shows that he's giving her the freedom to stop him at any point she wants.
This implies many important things.
1. He wouldn't go through a full rumbling if Historia didn't want it while with his friends and the Marleyans, he only gave them the freedom to fight AFTER the rumbling had been activated.
2. Eren most likely knows that if he can't get her on board going into the their convo, everything would collapse.
3. He has placed an unbelievable amount of trust onto Historia and only she(other than Floch but Floch knowing is a necessity to gather his forces) knows about his true plans for so long. He trusts her with his secret that much.
4. I think Eren most likely wants her to judge him because her opinion is what matters to him most now. Is what he is doing worth it in her eyes? Because his fate now rests on what Historia decides. Historia has the "gun" aimed at him. If she doesn't accept his plans then he's screwed, if she does then he gains nothing except an ally(No, I don't think she's using her kid for a plan).
I think that wraps up ch130. There's still a large chunk of their convo that's been hidden by Isayama which I believe will have an important role to play in the endgame of the manga, which is most likely why Isayama hides Historia's POV(because she knows too much lol) and why he makes Eren's POV so erratic.
What makes me happy is that Historia chose to be Eren's ally because she kept quiet for so long and I think her child sealed the deal.
Overall, I love EH mainly because
1. It has the power of the plot and themes on their side
2. It has many amazing and interesting parallels(ex: the devil and the girl anti-thesis, falco-gabi(Both boys are protecting the girls from becoming a Titan))
3. Eren and Historia share very strong and relevant similarities and both have influenced each other greatly in a positive way.
4. They trust each other and are each other's ally no matter what.
5. Their "romance" is very mature and I love how it's not flirting and blushing like the average shoujo manga, but through their actions have they shown to always support each other.
6. Their dynamic without a romance is amazing. They could be the best of friends, partners in crime, each other's greatest allies, "enemies of humanity".
7. Most importantly... I think they're cute together :)
Thanks for reading through all of that if you reached the end of this. It was nice to share my thoughts and opinion. Next chapter will come soon.
Peace.