Erwin’s Last Speech
From Attack on Titan where Erwin gave his last speech to his soldiers before charging to their deaths.
Everything that you thought had meaning, every hope, dream, or moment of happiness. None of it matters as you lie bleeding out on the battlefield. None of it changes what a speeding rock does to a body. We all die. But does that mean our lives are meaningless. Does that mean that there was no point in our being born. Would you say that of our slain comrades. What about their lives, were they meaningless. They were not, their memory serves as an example to us all! The courageous fallen, the anguished fallen, their lives have meaning because we, the living refuse to forget them and as we ride to certain death, we trust our successors to do the same for us! Because my soldiers do not buckle or yield when faced with the cruelty of this world! MY SOLDIERS PUSH FORWARD! MY SOLDIERS SCREAM OUT! MY SOLDIERS RAGE! Everything that you thought had meaning: every hope, dream, or moment of happiness. None of it matters as you lie bleeding out on the battlefield. None of it changes what a speeding rock does to a body, we all die. But does that mean our lives are meaningless? Does that mean that there was no point in our being born? Would you say that of our slain comrades? What about their lives? Were they meaningless?... They were not! Their memory serves as an example to us all! The courageous fallen! The anguished fallen! Their lives have meaning because we the living refuse to forget them! And as we ride to certain death, we trust our successors to do the same for us! Because my soldiers do not buckle or yield when faced with the cruelty of this world! My soldiers push forward! My soldiers scream out! My soldiers RAAAAAGE!
You are absolutely right. It is all meaningless. No matter how many dreams and hopes you have, no matter how happy your life may be, if you are crushed by a rock, it's all the same. We will all die.
Then, is life meaningless? Is it meaningless to be born and hope for the best?
Is it the same for our dead comrades? Were those soldiers meaningless?
No, they were not.
It is we who give meaning to those soldiers! Those brave dead! The poor dead!
It is we, the living, who can remember. We die here and entrust the meaning to the next living. That is the only way to resist this cruel world.
Soldiers, rage! Soldiers, scream! Soldier, fight!'It's all meaningless'. No matter what dreams or hopes you had... No matter how blessed a life you've lived... It's all the same if you're shredded by rocks. Everyone will die someday.
Does that mean that life is meaningless? Was there even any meaning in our being born?
Would you say that of our fallen comrades? Their lives—were they meaningless?
No, they weren't!
It's us who gives meaning to our comrades' lives! The brave fallen! The anguished fallen!
The ones who will remember them are us the living. We die trusting the living who follow to find meaning in our lives! That is the sole method in which we can rebel against this cruel world!
My soldiers, rage! My soldiers, scream! My soldiers, fight!
