My biggest issue with Bertholdt
Ok, before I even begin to state my points I’d like to say that if you know me, you know how much I absolutely love Bertholdt and that he is my absolute favorite character in the entirety of SNK. Now, this doesn’t mean that I don’t have any issues with him or his character, in fact I only have one very notable issue with him, or rather with the way his character was handled. And I’m here to elaborate on that. Just a heads up, this post will contain significant spoilers for S3.
Bertholdt is described as a reserved young man who prefers to follow others. According to instructor Shadis’s words, he has an immense amount of potential but lacks assertiveness. He prefers to stay in the background, often letting Reiner be the one in charge. Bertholdt even says himself that he’s somewhat of a coward.
Now, with these traits, it’s not surprising to see people calling him a coward or even downright weak. However that’s simply not true. Here’s why:
Bertholdt has demonstrated his strength numerous times in the series and made it quite clear that he is not to be underestimated. People often overlook the fact that he graduated third, -right behind Reiner and Mikasa-, and thus possessed an immense amount of skill. A lot of people were quite surprised to see him land a kick on the aforementioned girl back in season 3, but I think it was pretty obvious why he was able to do that, considering his skill. This man inherited the Colossal Titan, which, -may I remind you-, is one of, if not the strongest of the nine titans at young age, so is he really all that weak?
Bertholdt’s character didn’t get to develop all that much which leads me to the main point of this whole post. It’s true that Bertholdt’s reserved and timid personality held him back quite a bit as he wasn’t all that significant as a character until season 2. However there was one, very important scene that really brought some new, much needed depth to his character. And that scene was none other than the massive Colossal Titan transformation in season 3 part 2.
During this scene, Bertholdt overcomes his weaknesses and finally lets that fearless side of him step out. He is no longer afraid and realizes that, by talking about Annie, Armin is merely trying to make him lose his cool, because he is under the impression that Bertholdt is meek and timid. But Bertholdt proves otherwise, sternly stating the cruel truth that surrounds them and no longer feels conflicted about what he has to do. He decided and took initiative for probably the first time in his entire life and finally shows that assertiveness he didn’t have. For a character like Bertholdt, someone who at first glance is quiet and shy, a scene like this is perfect and finally gives him the development that he so desperately needed.
But all that much needed development comes crashing down when he is defeated by Eren and Armin.
Bertholdt’s defeat and eventual death always upset me. Not only because he was my favorite but also because of the fact that the one powerful and meaningful scene he had, was also his last. His character got so good, so deep, so important for that one scene, only for him to die soon after. This is my biggest issue with Bertholdt. The fact that his character was left essentially unfinished, the only bits of development coming from one scene that was only preceding his demise. To me, it felt like the potential for his character to finally be able to grow and deepen was thrown out the window. It was so sad to see such a powerful scene with him and then suddenly see him perish. I just wanted to see more of him and what he could bring to the series. But of course, there’s no changing the story now, so this post won’t really achieve anything.
But Bertholdt will always be my favorite character and maybe someday, he is given a proper backstory that hopefully brings some new light to his quite lacking character.
