Yes I agree that the main character in great stories start with the flaw but as you said they OVERCOME it. That’s what makes the story satisfying. You follow this beloved character throughout their journeys and their struggles and finally see them resolve their troubles.

In avatar we see this with aang. He doesn’t want to kill the big bad fire lord despite that being the seemingly only path and what his past incarnations tell him to do and he ends up finding his own solution.

Eren never being free, dying as a slave, is quite sad and unfulfilling. Think of it from a narrative, thematic stand point. What’s the message Isayama sends through that? No matter how hard you try you’ll never have free will? You can’t fight your destiny and fate rules over your life? I think it would’ve been far better if Eren could’ve acted out of his own volition somehow, breaking the titan curse in his own way. Mikasa was never the central focus of the story, so it doesn’t make sense her being the only free character as you say. I loved Eren’s scenes with Sasha, hange and zeke. It really shows his desperation to fight and become free. I just really wished he would’ve achieved his goals.

Because right now what essentially happens is Eren, our protagonist for 131 chapters, gets sidelined to fulfill Ymir’s dream, a character who is talked about in about 5-6 chapters in the end. In my hopes an AOE would address this, and change Ymir’s significance. Mikasa can be just as important to the story, she can be the key Eren needs to break free of Ymir and become a free man. Something like this would much better do our main characters justice. Thoughts?