Zeke Yeager and Eren Yeager: Attack on Titan Brothers Explained (2023)

They say you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. The latter may be truer than the former even in Hajime Isayama's world.attack on titan. Now Zeke Yeager and Eren Yeager are among the most important characters in the franchise, especially the latter who is (at one point) the main protagonist and antagonist of the series. In this article, we will explain the exact nature of Zeke and Eren Yeager's relationship.

Eren is Zeke's younger half-brother. Zeke first found out about him when Reiner and Berthold Hoover understood that Eren was being born into his father's second family. Although their first meeting was as enemies, they later worked together towards their common goals until Eren finally betrayed Zeke.

The rest of this article will elaborate on the answer given. Eren and Zeke's relationship is one of the best in the entire series. It has depth, it has intrigue, and it was more than relevant to the plot ofattack on titan. Also, both Eren and Zeke are very interesting characters in their own right, which explains why this topic is so relevant. We have collected all the relevant information in one place.

Are Zeke Yeager and Eren Yeager brothers?

Zeke and Eren's story actually begins with Grisha Jäger's story. Long story short, Grisha had two wives and one child with each of them, making Zeke and Eren half-brothers with Zeke being the eldest. They didn't know for a long time before Zeke found out about Eren. But first, let's see what Grischa's exact role is in this story (aside from the obvious).

Grisha was born into an Eldian family in the Liberian camp. As a child, he decided to AWOL camp with his little sister, Faye, to follow a zeppelin. After crossing the city on the Marley side and being taunted by the citizens of Marley, they finally managed to find the Zeppelin hangar.

However, they were seen by two Marleyan soldiers. Unable to justify his presence outside of Eldian territory, Grisha chose to be physically punished by one of the soldiers while his colleague took Faye away. When he returned home, Faye was not there and her body was later discovered. This experience left a deep mark on Grisha, who harbored a boundless hatred for the Marley nation.

Growing up, Grisha was the victim of other persecutions because of his background. Grisha then decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor. When he was 18 years old, he joined the Eldian resistance. He learned of the circumstances of Faye's death from Owl, an army spy, and joined the cause.

The owl also sent them documents about the Elven Empire, which Grisha instinctively deciphered without a moment's doubt of the good intentions of Ymir Fritz, the first human to rise to the power of the titans. Through his new activities, Grischa also met Dina Fritz, the last descendant of the royal family. He quickly married her and a year after her a son named Zeke was born.

He attempted to use Zeke to infiltrate the warrior unit, but the boy, too young to carry such a load, reported him to the Marley authorities. He was tortured and banished to the island of Paradis with his wife, who became a Freak Titan.

Years later, Grischa met Carla. They met in a restaurant when Carla was working there as a waitress. Then, during the epidemic, Carla became seriously ill, but Grisha quickly treated her, and they fell in love with her. A few years later they got married and had Eren. Carla's fate was also tragic and somewhat ironic, as she was ultimately killed by Grisha's ex-wife, Dina, although it is not certain if Dina knew who she was killing.

During Wall Maria's invasion, Carla was crushed by stray debris when the Colossal Titan created an opening in the Shiganshina district wall. In the process, she lost her legs, which were crushed by the rubble of her house; Eren and Mikasa tried to free her, but she to no avail. She begged them to leave because the titans were devouring everyone they found and especially when the "smiling titan" approached her house.

When the three of them were out of the Smiling Titan's reach, Carla muttered that she didn't want them to leave, but covered her mouth so the children couldn't hear. The "Smiling Titan", actually Grischa's ex-wife Dina Fritz, grabbed her and crushed her when she struggled. She then devoured it in front of Eren and Mikasa. This was the element that motivated Eren to join the army.

As you can see, Zeke Yeager and Eren Yeager had the same father, Grisha Yeager, making them half-siblings. Zeke's mother was Dina Fritz while Eren's mother was Carla Yeager.

Are Eren and Zeke working together?

Although they were enemies fighting each other when they first met during the Battle of Shiganshina District, Eren eventually manages to accept his brother's help and vision to save the Eldians and decides to bring them forward. high. by your side

In the days leading up to the attack on Liberio, they can already be seen working towards their common goals and ignoring their factions during the coming war, and Zeke laments that Eren has been subjected to the same monstrous brainwashing that he suffered from his father. when i was a child .

Eren agrees to Zeke's euthanasia plan to sterilize Ymir's subjects, sharing his goal and deciding to side with his older brother. Eren trusts Zeke enough to rebel against the Scouts and flee from his friends to plan the attack on Marley and organize the revolution within the walls to defeat the Paradis government with the help of the Jaegerists and anti-volunteers. Marley. .

Likewise, Zeke has a brotherly, even loving, relationship with Eren, feeling lucky to be able to form such a deep bond with a relative after years and trying to protect him from enemy attacks during the final battle in Shiganshina. However, Eren's behavior turns out to be just a facade, which eventually surprises Zeke.

Zeke Jäger is stronger than Eren?

A full analysis of this question is beyond the scope of this article, so we'll give a brief answer and possibly write more about this duel in a separate article. Zeke Yeager owned the Beast Titan while Eren initially owned the Strike Titan, though he later gained control of the Founding Titan and the War Hammer Titan.

As for Beast Titan and Attack Titan, it was going to be a close fight and we're not sure Eren can take down Zeke's Beast Titan, at least not easily. On the other hand, with the Founding Titan under his control, Eren is certainly the stronger brother and could defeat Zeke's Beast Titan.

Why did Eren betray Zeke?

Once the Founding Titan activates and reaches the Coordinate, he reveals that he blew up his brother so he could use the Founding Titan's full potential and refuses to go along with his plan to sterilize the Eldians. Eren's betrayal of him leaves Zeke bitter and deeply hurt, but he chooses not to abandon his brother to his evil, preferring instead to let him reflect on the indoctrination he received from his father as a child and try to save him.

Despite this, Zeke discovers that it is Eren himself who has been manipulating his father's actions from the future through the power of the Striker Titan, and watches the scene where his brother forces his father to eradicate the family. royal to rob the foundation. Titan of them and transfer it to Eren himself in the past to achieve the completion of his plan.

Eren reveals that he intends to use the Founding Titan to destroy the world, and though Zeke tries whatever way he thinks of his father's life and deeds, in the end he relents and tries to thwart his crazy plan. . Through their confrontation, Zeke is defeated and used by Eren as a catalyst to deploy the Founding Titan.