The Rumbling marks the endgame of Attack on Titan, causing unprecedented havoc and devastation on an outlandish scale. It is the brainchild of Eren Yeager, who denies Zeke's alternative in favor of wreaking bloody vengeance against those he believes to be the enemies of Paradis.
After taking control of the Founding Titan, Eren dissolves the three Walls, releasing the countless Colossal Titans from their century-long imprisonment. He commands them to move outwards from Paradis, waves and waves of unforgiving feet squashing everything they encounter into dust and gore. However, there are several reasons why the Rumbling is deeply flawed.
10 Innocent People Are Killed In A Horrific Manner
The primary argument against the Rumbling is a moral one: there is absolutely no justifiable reason for committing what's nothing less than extermination at a global level, and what makes it worse is how these innocent people lose their lives.
As the Colossal Wall Titans plod across oceans and over mountains, the humans trapped in their path either die an instant but agonizing death, or kill themselves in an attempt to escape the horde of pitiless monsters.
9 Eldian Euthanasia Is A More Compassionate Option
Zeke offers his half-brother Eren a considerably less cruel choice, asking the latter to help him with his plan. The older Yeager effectively wants to eradicate the Eldian population from existence through the powers of their joint ancestor, Ymir Fritz, the original holder of the Founding Titan.
As horrible as it may sound, a few million Eldian deaths is a relatively compassionate outcome that Eren could have chosen when compared to the Rumbling. But Eren instead goes ahead and murders the rest of the world.
8 Countless Histories Are Destroyed
The bulk of Attack on Titan focuses on Paradis and Marley, but that doesn't mean everywhere else is a desert wasteland. On the contrary, the world is presumably filled with a number of countries, each with its own history, culture, traditions, and every other hallmark that defines a society.
The Rumbling destroys everything in its wake; one can only imagine how much literature, art, music, architecture, fashion, and so much more has been lost forever.
7 Killing 80% Of The World Is Just Plain Unnecessary
It simply doesn't make sense, at least from a utilitarian perspective, to eradicate so many people, even if it is just to prove a point. Eren wants the other nations to pay the price for their active violence against Eldians, as well as punish those that ignored their suffering.
If Eren's original goal is to terrorize every country into submission, it could have been easily fulfilled by a short-term show of force. As Gabi Braun asks, "Can't he just attack all the world's military facilities...?!"
6 It Potentially Wrecks The World's Ecosystems
An important factor that is occasionally forgotten in fictional apocalypses is the damage caused to the environment. People are not the only entities that constitute the world: there are plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, all living together in indescribably complex ecosystems.
Millions of Wall Titans annihilate cities and towns, but also forests, swamps, rivers, woodlands, meadows, and seas, causing irreparable harm to the world's environmental equilibrium. This destruction will naturally cascade into famines and droughts, including within Paradis.
5 Global Progress Is Completely Halted — And Set Back
In addition to cultural wealth, it's safe to assume that most nations in the world possess at least some form of technology, whether to travel, communicate, or simply improve the standard of living. These products of scientific research and creativity are obliterated by the Rumbling, which would force the survivors to re-learn basic engineering from scratch.
It's possible to argue that they could borrow the knowledge from the un-Rumbled sections of the planet, but even that would take way too much time. Eren basically shoves the world into a Dark Age.
4 The Rumbling Kills An Unknown Number Of People In Paradis, Even If Unintentionally
Eren's activation of the Founder results in Walls Maria, Rose, and Sina disintegrating to reveal the Colossal Titans within, after which they walk out from Paradis and into the sea. However, this means that they probably trample over Paradis districts on their way out, killing countless Eldians who believe themselves to be safe from Eren's wrath.
This fact is an ironic contradiction to what Eren claims: that the Rumbling is meant to serve and protect the inhabitants of Paradis.
3 The Rumbling Basically Entrenches Bigotry Against Eldians
For all of the Global Alliance's efforts to stop the Rumbling, Eren forces through without openly showing remorse. He later confides in his friends, via an unexplained kind of dream-vision, that the act of killing him would make them look like saviors in the world's eyes, thereby freeing Eldians from the awful stigma attached to them.
Nevertheless, it's unlikely that the remainder of humanity will ever view those from Paradis in a kind light, certainly not after what happens to the others.
2 This Plan Converts The Protagonist Into A Dubious Antagonist
Eren's role in his own story is complicated. His introduction as the naive, if a bit impetuous, protagonist serves to highlight the radicalization he undergoes after fully acclimating to the Attack Titan and its timeline-skewing properties.
Unfortunately, Eren himself isn't able to morally quantify the devastating ramifications of the Rumbling. He prefers to commit indiscriminate slaughter in the desperate hope that his friends will save everyone else — save them from him, that is.
1 None Of This Changes Paradis For The Better
Eren's death means the end of the Titan era, but conflicts erupt everywhere, especially on Paradis. In the following three years, the Eldian island develops into a burgeoning military dictatorship, although Queen Historia is still officially in control of the government.
The Yeagerists, a ragtag band of Eren supporters, have seemingly earned enough popular support to create an army to protect Paradis. The worst part is that the Yeagerists exhibit mainly villain tropes, so there may not be any actual light at the end of the tunnel.
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