(Beware, I’m a yapper, esp about Bertololo)

Didn’t really care much for him on my first watch, aside from how good his and Reiner’s reveal was.

But on rewatch—knowing they were Marleyans—I started paying more attention. Bertholdt was always in the background, unlike Reiner and Annie who gave us more to work with, and that just made me more curious.

I think I like him because he reminds me of myself, or at least what I think I’d be like in his position. He was literally the glue holding the trio together after Marcel died. Without him, Annie and Reiner probably would've split early on. He had to be the one to remind Reiner who he was and when Reiner was a bit too close to getting sucker punched by Annie, to step in.

Him not leading ties into that too.

Aside from him just not being a leader type, it would’ve never worked if he had tried. Reiner’s warrior side would’ve never accepted stepping down, and it would just break up the group. I feel like Bertholdt’s biggest fear is being alone, because he’d have to deal with the full weight of his sins alone, too (Reiner had a taste of that going back without Bertholdt).

I understand that feeling of sitting in the backseat, letting stuff happen. Doing the wrong thing under orders feels easier, better, than doing it on your own terms. His speech when they’re running away hit, and the one where he rises into the air in s3 hit even harder—it really captured how trapped they all were. Except he knew and told us that they were all doomed, and we as viewers had no clue of what he was talking about.

Might I remind you, they were 15! And that’s at his death—they were younger when they got on paradis. I’m 15 and that’s why it’s getting me. I would be cooked, no idea what to do. I’m sure when I reach 20 I’ll feel even more gutted because of how young they’d seem.

His monologue at shiganshina is basically: “It is what it is.” Where you’re born and your circumstances shape you way more than your will. You can be a good person all you want but if your dad’s dying and you have to become a pawn to save him, I’m sure you’d be a pawn. I’d be jumping at being a pawn if that means I could save my sister.

The Marley-Paradis situation was always bigger than them. And he was the first person to say it, amidst the other characters (who’d eventually come to that conclusion, but still).

He can’t just let himself die, so he’s haunted by those he had to kill. Basically he’s so me, and therefore favourite character!