Summary

Grisha's dreams led to a cycle of indoctrination and resentment in the Jaeger family, impacting Eren and Zeke.
Ignorance fuels destruction, as seen in Grisha's mistakes of enforcing beliefs on his sons.
The theme of hatred and bias stemming from ignorance is central, showing the consequences of keeping secrets.

When one thinks of Attack on Titan, the first character that comes to mind is Eren. While the events of the series are primarily tied to him, he's not actually the one who started it. The desire for freedom, vengeance, and liberation in the Jaeger family began with Grisha. From his decisions to indoctrinate Zeke, to passing the Founding Titan to Eren, the outcome started with the Jaeger family, and ended with the Jaeger family.

In a bitter work of irony, Grisha's original dream was shared by and enforced by his second son, Eren - but rejected by his first son, Zeke. Ignorance is bliss, but it's also destructive.

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Living Through Your Kids

Grisha, at a young age, fantasized about living outside the internment zone that was his home in Marley. One day, when he and his sister, Faye, were exploring, Grisha opted to take the risk and run out so they could see an airship take off. Unfortunately, this would come back to bite them, as his sister was murdered by a Marleyan guard, and his parents would begin forcing him to abide by local propaganda that his own ethnicity was to blame.

When Grisha grew up, he joined a resistance group with the intention of restoring Eldia, where he met a woman of royal blood, named Dina. From there, alternative historical records were discovered that framed his ethnicity as innocent. They concluded that having a child to join the military, to inherit a titan, would ensure Eldia's return to glory.

After having Zeke, Grisha made the same mistake his own parents did: forced his beliefs upon his child. Zeke grew up being seen as an asset for a cause, and was taught opposing ideology by his grandparents as well. But because of his strained relationship with his father, Zeke drifted towards the opposition and ultimately turned his parents in.

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A Second Chance

Come what was supposed to be his execution, Grisha was given a second chance by a man named Eren Kruger. From there, he was instructed to continue and finish the mission by seeking out the Founding Titan inside the walls of Paradis. While he lived his life with that purpose, he also found happiness in a marriage and child, Eren, and ultimately decided to put it off so he could enjoy his life with his family.

Though Eren had a passion for freedom and his own goals, Grisha planned to tell his son the truth about the outside world; but after the fall of Wall Maria, time was cut short, and he sought out the Royal Family, this time to encourage retaliation against the invaders. In the end, he decided to take The Founding Titan for himself when he realized his pleas were hopeless (as well as encouragement from a future Eren). Though afterward, seeing the future through Eren's memories, he condemns his own actions. However, the cycle would continue when he found a child Eren helpless, and resolved to pass his titan on to avenge Carla. In the end, the cycle of hate would continue.

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Sins of The Father

Grisha made two mistakes with his sons. The first was enforcing his beliefs on Zeke, which drove him away. The second was keeping Eren in the dark. It's true that Paradis had a strict law about information about the outside world, and Grisha planned to tell Eren eventually anyway; but because of his want of a peaceful life, he neglected to tell Eren what he wanted to know. He knew Eren's personality, he knew his passion, and he saw his past self in his son. Despite his best intentions, and attempts to distance himself from the past, there was a full-circle. It can be argued that had none of this happened, Paradis wouldn't have been free in the end. But lest we forget, the root of the problem stemmed from hatred and bias, and being kept in ignorance only makes it worse.

The fourth ED of Attack on Titan, "Akatsuki no Requiem", has an interesting set of visuals. In one, it depicts the events of the night Grisha slaughtered the royal family, where a shadow of Grisha is walking with a young Eren. In the next shot, Historia is seen alone. During this season, Eren finds out about the slaughter of the royal family and the truth about Historia's royal blood. In the official music video, a bird, wearing similar attire to Grisha, lives a solemn and isolated life, presumably because of regret.

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In the end, graves surround the subject as if to suggest it's the last one standing. He was the only survivor of his resistance group, and so desperately wanted Eren to avoid the same fate, hence the ball of flower petals being present. The anger it displays after receiving a vision of a massacre can be seen as Eren's resentment towards his father, after he learns that he killed Historia's family in season 3.

Moving Forward

In real life, there's not always going to be a sure way to do things, and hindsight bias is one of the primary causes of regret. But even so, Grisha is a prime example of the domino effect. Though on a lighter note, without him, there wouldn't be Attack on Titan.

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