Eren Jäger

Eren Jäger is the son of Gregor Jäger, a middle class Prussian doctor. Eren and his family live in the enclosed city of Leipzig on the southern side of Wall St. Simon. Eren's parents tend to worry about his future, as Eren has a tendency towards Liberal ideology and reckless behavior.

Appearance
Eren stands at 175cm in height, and has an average build. He is not particularly physically intimidating, though when angry he can (according to some) become rather threatening. He has dark raven hair that he keeps cut short, but due to not getting his hair cut often it tends to be somewhat messy in appearance. His eyes are green.

He wears clothes of quality typical for someone of his social standing. He does not have a particularly refined sense though. He will often leave both his collar and cuffs undone in warmer weather, and tends to stick his hands in his pockets.

Early Life
Born in Leipzig in 1894, Eren was exposed to very little outside of the centre of the northern district of the city during his formative years. His mother became concerned when Eren did not get on well with other children his age. He often got into fights and out right refused to talk to certain other children. When asked why he wouldn't play with the other boys and girls, Eren replied that "they're all greedy idiots!" This rational continued more or less unchanged, when it came to other children, until Eren was about ten years old.

Being Prussian, Eren had been brought up in a strictly German environment, and had had little exposure to Auslanders and their cultures. In fact, he had a very poor understanding of the class differences between Germans and non-Germans. One day Eren's father brought him along on one of his trips to the outer suburbs of Leipzig, where the poorer part of the population lived. Gregor Jäger visited the outer suburbs semi-regularly for charity work, being payed at minimum prices by local churches to treat those too poor to afford medical care. While there Eren was appalled to see the conditions less fortunate people were forced to live in. This event (along with subsequent trips to the Southern district with his father) would shape Eren's pro-liberal stance.

Armin
On the way back from one of these trips, Dr. Jäger visited one of the local bookstores. This was something he had a tendency for, as the bookstores in the interior were dominated by 'Imperially sanctioned' works, whilst the books in the poorer areas were not so well regulated. The Doctor was surprised when he was met by a ten year old boy at the counter named Armin Arlert, rather than an adult. Armin surprised both him and Eren still further when he proved extremely knowledgeable about the various books in the store. To Armin's embarrassment though, he knew little about books related to medicine or high literature, and so was forced to call for his grandfather, who came out from a back room and attended to the doctor.

When Armin called out to his grandfather, he did so in English rather than German. This peaked Eren's interest as he had not heard anyone speak in that language before. When Armin realised he had spoken in English he became very embarrassed, but when Eren showed curiosity rather than disdain about Armin's Auslander family and language, he was very happy to tell him all about it.

On the way home afterwards, Eren's father was surprised to find that Eren had enjoyed Armin's company. This was something almost unheard of when it came to other children (and to most adults as well). Relieved that Eren seemed to be getting along with someone Gregor made sure to stop in at the Arlert's bookstore again. Over time Eren and Armin became close friends, largely over their shared interest in history and foreign culture. As the two got older they both shared liberal view points, though Armin's were more pragmatic than Eren's passionate convictions.

Medical Studies
Eren was initially trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a doctor. To that end he was taught, both by his father and by a tutor, a great deal about anatomy and medical science. Eren did not take to his studies in medicine well at all, showing very little aptitude for it. He also fell short when it came to learning mathematics, the sciences and Latin. The only areas he really seemed to take interest in were history and some pre-Wall literature. Though his parents continued to try and push Eren's education in medicine up until he was fifteen, it seemed that he simply lacked the conviction and mentality for academic work.

A knowing comment from his mother was that he was "less about healing wounds than about preventing them."

Exposure to Liberalism
Being born to moderately liberal parents, it was not a surprise that Eren picked up on their way of thinking. He would prove to be much more of an extremist than either of his parents however, developing a passionate hate for pro-Aryan institutions and the aristocrats, merchants and lawyers who held most of the power in the Reichstag. Most of his views were built up based on the suffering of the poor and the regular reminders of how other people in Prussia were supposedly inferior to him.

The religious teachings he was brought up on also enforced his views as his family attended a very liberal church. It is worth noting though, that Eren is not a very religious person. He tends rather to regard many elements of Christian teaching as a good basis for a moral compass, but does not take their supernatural background very seriously.

Relationships

 * Gregor Jäger - When Eren was a boy he admired his father greatly for helping people as a doctor. Now that he is older Eren's opinions have shifted, as he feels his father is too inactive and dislikes his more passive attitude to social injustices. That said, he does still care about his father, even if their relationship is punctuated by many heated arguments nowadays.
 * Karla Jäger - Eren has nearly always thought of his mother in a good light. Both as a young man and as a child he always gave her the greater part of his affection. He does feel like she worries about him too much though.
 * Armin Arlert - As the first (and in practice only) real friend Eren ever made, Armin is especially important to him. He has a tremendous amount of respect for his friend's intelligence, so much so that he is one of the few people who can reliably change Eren's mind on things he's passionate about. He also puts great value on the large amount of common ground they hold. Their friendship is very much built on their shared love for history and the world outside the Walls. They have often spoken at length with each other about what they might do if given the chance to go beyond Prussia's borders and experience the outside world.

Adaptation
Very little about Eren seems to have been changed in his adaptation into the world of the Last Reich. A major change is his shift in class status, as in the original series Eren was from a more lower class background. He was shifted into the middle class because it was felt that in the society of Prussia inside the Walls a doctor like Eren's father would have to have come from a reasonably well-off social position. In practice this has little impact on Eren's personality, which has been kept virtually identical to the original.

The spelling of his last name "Jäger" has been changed to match one actually found in the German language. There was some consideration over changing his first name as well, as the name "Eren" comes from Turkish rather than German. However, it was decided that this was simply too drastic a change to make.