[MANGA SPOILERS] Two Sides: Repression and Freedom in Attack on Titan

This is a long post, brace yourselves folks.

I've seen a lot of people, mostly those that completely side with the Walldians, completely disregard the Liberio Eldians (and more specifically the Warriors) as sheep-folk that are content with their life in imprisonment and that happily serve their masters without discussion. This often triggers plenty comments about how the "right" side is the side of the Paradis Eldians, because they are the ones seeking freedom... And, this is actually not true at all. Or rather, is only a half-truth.

So, with encouraging from u/SirGooner86 I decided to post my meta on what freedom and repression mean for both groups, the differences between both, and a long-ass explanation as of why I think both sides seek freedom their own way.

With this, I'm not saying every single citizen in both sides of the ocean see things the same way: Both sides have their ignorant people, their rebellious people, and their sadists... However, this post is specifically about those that seek freedom.

• The Paradis search for freedom: Curiosity and Ignorance.

Curiosity, as a human emotion, is triggered by ignorance. Naturally, if you possess complete knowledge about a topic you don't feel curious about it anymore, but if you feel there are things still unknown, you will want to acquire that knowledge yourself.

Paradis, as a society, blatantly encourages curiosity even when they attempt to discourage it, simply because of the lack of knowledge everyone has about the outside world; Armin, Erwin, Hange and other characters are a perfect embodiment of this.

In Paradis, everything is a mystery. It is forbidden to talk about the outside world, it is not known (by the commonfolk) what lies beyond the walls even if they are aware there is something out there. Rumors, speculations, and old books that sound to them more like fairytales instead of actual facts feed this ambiguity and mystery, and it is in human nature to try and solve mysteries as soon as we're faced with them. Armin is privileged in that he had access to this book that spoke wonders of the outside world, and that fed his curiosity; he had to verify if it was true or not.

The desire for freedom is triggered by the feeling that there is a world beyond the walls, a world they don't know about, and they feel like they belong in it. It's freedom motivated by curiosity and lack of knowledge, a desire to learn why the world is the way it is and a feeling that they belong there, that they must go there. We, as readers, can relate to this type of freedom the most because it's the most basic one, but also because it's the one we can relate to the most: We, like the Walldians, also wanted to unveil the secrets of this world.

TL;DR: Desire for freedom in the Walled Society translates in exploring the outside world and defeating what keeps them locked in (the titans) so that they can acquire what they lost: the rest of the world, areas to explore, and the knowledge of a beauty they have never known nor could they imagine, all things they feel are rightfully theirs. Their lack of information and their limited space conditions that.

Up to this point everything is nice and dandy, let's get to the real challenge.

• The Liberio search for freedom: Knowledge, Repentance and Recognition.

If Eldians in Paradis had a repressive government that suppressed any knowledge about the outside world, Eldians in Marley have a repressive government that feeds them excess information about the outside world. In these circumstances, curiosity cannot be encouraged: Why would they be curious about a world they know so well? Therefore, the search for freedom cannot be the same. Plenty of us agree that their freedom lies on releasing themselves from Marley's clutches, but they don't see things the same way.

Eldians in Marley don't have any curiosity, because the world is not a mystery for them. They know other countries exist, they know their world history... In fact, they know it so well, that they are repeated every single day of their lives all the mistakes their ancestors made and how they are being rightfully punished for centuries of genocide and blood. They are plenty aware of the horrors their own blood, allegedly, made others go through. Naturally, most Eldians in Liberio are average folk and they believe they are not capable of committing the horrors others believe Eldians have ingrained in their blood, but at the same time they are perfectly aware the world history is not wrong and that, indeed, their past is one of crimes and genocide. This creates a crossroad, because while they are aware their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters are not bloodthirsty monsters, someone has to fit that role in order to make sense with the history they know... And Marley is happy to provide a scapegoat with their Propaganda: Paradis Eldians.

Marley repeats to them, and the world, what horrors lie in Paradis, and they simply have no reason to question that narrative. Even worse, the lies about Paradis give Liberio Eldians a chance of hope and a chance of redemption: If the Paradis Eldians are devils that ran away from their crimes to keep being evil in that island, while family and friends around are upstanding citizens that repent for the sins of their ancestors everyday of their lives... That means the bad ones are the Paradis ones. And if they just... get rid of the evil Eldians in Paradis, then the good Liberio Eldians will be able to be recognized as human by the world, which is all they want. To be equal. To be free.

TL;DR: Desire for freedom for Liberio Eldians relies on being released from the chains that keeps them caged to the sins of their ancestors, so that they can once and for all become equal citizens in a world that rejects them. Therefore, freedom for them relies on eliminating the "evil of this world" that stops the "good eldians" from becoming accepted and loved in the world.

• Future: The Eldian search for freedom?

If the eldians in Paradis face ignorance, the eldians in Liberio face indoctrination. Lack of information vs. Excess of information shape very different concepts of what freedom is about... And I believe the series' plot is guiding both sets of protagonists towards realizing that their concepts of freedom are actually flawed. Their character development will rely on understanding that, as Eldians, they desire the same, and they must understand each other in order to achieve their goal.

Redefining what freedom means.