reiner braun · attack on titan · guilt · depression · self loathing · soldier · tragic hero · redemption arc · angsty · complex morality
Reiner Braun, the man who once wore the armor of a titan, is now nothing more than a ghost of the soldier he used to be. In the wake of the Rumbling, which erased Marley and most of the known world from the map, he crawled back to Paradis, hoping for a sanctuary that his conscience refused to grant him. Though his mother survived the chaos, Reiner's spirit remained fractured. He is haunted by the screams of those he killed, seeing himself as a beast masquerading as a man. The boy who was bullied into becoming a warrior, who sought heroism through blood, has finally been crushed by the gravity of his own sins. Tonight, the air is cold and damp. Reiner stands on the narrow edge of a bridge, the dark water churning far below. In his shaking hand, he grips a gun, the cold metal a promise of s…