After having already successfully done a PG Proposal for a character in Attack on Titan, Falco Grice, I've decided to do another PG proposal for a character in this series that similarly stood out to me and who I really like due to his words and impact on the story: Artur Braus.
What is the Work?[]
Artur Braus is a minor character in the dark fantasy manga and anime series, Attack on Titan. In this world, the protagonist, Eren Yeager, lives on an island guarded by three walls in order to protect them from monsters lurking outside these walls: the Titans. He is the father of another character, Sasha Braus, a soldier who enlisted in the Survey Corps in order to venture outside the walls and fight Titans. They are both part of a small town named Dauper, and they live as hunters. It was initially led to believe that the people on the island were the only remaining survivors of humanity, but it's later revealed that humanity does exist outside the walls.
Who is he? What has he done?[]
Artur Braus is first seen with his daughter about three years prior to the start of the series. He tries to stop her from eating some food meant to be stored for winter, but he relents and allows her to eat it. The two of them start talking, with Artur asking why it is that there is much less game than usual, which Sasha scathingly replies that it's because people are coming in and helping themselves and feeding off the land. Artur goes into further detail, stating that since Wall Maria was destroyed, titans came in and forced them to abandon their homes, and because of this, they needed the extra mouthes to feed, so they hunted the game in Dauper.
Artur then goes on to say that the government offered to pay them to tear down the land to use for farming while hunters would start raising horses, suggesting they turn their back on hunting. Sasha fiercely rejects this, refusing to change and help the people who always turned them away. Artur accepts this, but warns Sasha that if she wants to live by the old ways of hunting, she must be willing to die by those ways as well, since she won't receive any help from the people she refused to aid. Artur concludes that while it's fine to make your own decisions and be your own person, he'd rather choose to be a part of something larger, even if it meant moving on from the traditions he lived by. Sadly, Sasha doesn't agree, and she enlists in the military to defy him. However, she'd still remember his words and the lesson he taught her.
Artur helped Dauper to modernize with the rest of the world for the following three years. Then, when titans attacked, Artur rallied with other men to give people horses to escape from the titans. While doing this, he encounters his daughter again after she finishes saving a young girl. When the two reunite, Artur expresses shock that she returned and saved a girl no less, but then expresses great pride in the way his daughter changed and became a better person. Artur, along with his wife, opens up his home to orphans whose families were killed by titans, treating them as though they were his own family.
After the time-skip, he grieves for the death of his daughter and goes with his family to visit her grave. While there, he meets a Marleyan prisoner of war, Niccolo, who was friends with Sasha, and he offers Artur to cook for his family some time. Later on, he welcomes Falco and Gabi into his home when one of the orphans, Kaya, brings them along. When they claim they ran away from home, he immediately accepts them into his home to stay for however long they wish.
When Artur and his family go to a restaurant where Niccolo treats them to food, he's shocked when Niccolo enters the room with an unconscious Falco in his arms while kicking Gabi. Artur asks what he's doing, and Niccolo reveals that Gabi is responsible for killing Sasha. Niccolo threatens Falco with a knife to stop the others from interfering, then offers Artur the knife to kill Gabi himself, or else he'd do it. Artur then asks Niccolo to hand over the knife, but instead of killing Gabi, Artur instead beings talking. He reminisces on how he'd taught Sasha to hunt as a girl, but knew there was a time where they couldn't live that life anymore, so he had her leave the forest, but in the end, she merely went into another larger forest where people continued killing one another. He takes responsibility himself for what happened to Sasha, and openly says that in order to escape the forest, he must leave the pain and hatred behind, shouldering that responsibility as an adult. These words deeply shock Niccolo, who lets go of Falco, and Gabi, who is baffled at how she was saved by an "island devil". As if that wasn't enough, Artur even asks Gabi if she's alright, showing concern over her wellbeing in spite of her having killed Sasha.
Artur and the others are later taken prisoner, and while they're imprisoned, Marley initiates a surprise attack on Shiganshina. When they're freed, he goes with Niccolo to find a safe place to hide. He eventually encounters Gabi again, and when learning that Falco had been taken by Connie in order to be sacrificed to his mother, he helps Gabi to rescue Falco as soon as possible.
Admirable Standard[]
Attack On Titan is a very dark, violent world filled with people who do many terrible things, creating a very low admirable standard. Artur especially stands out with his actions as a result of this, demonstrating himself to be a very wise, compassionate and merciful individual.
When refugees from Wall Maria came to Dauper and started hunting the game, Artur was very patient and understanding, knowing full-well the suffering they endured and willing to share the game and land in order to meet their needs. This is even more admirable considering that the rest of the people in the walls viewed the people of Dauper in a negative light, believing them to be savages. What's more, he was even willing to abandon his clan's traditions of hunting, choosing to become a farmer and raise horses in order to meet the needs of a changing society and become a part of something bigger instead of just holing up and stubbornly refusing to change his ways or help anyone. This displays a sort of wisdom that is not often seen in many people in anime or even the real world, to be frank.
Artur showed a very deep sense of compassion as well: he and his wife both decided to open up their home to orphans who'd been left without families due to titans killing them, taking them in when they had no one and treating them as though they were his own family. When Kaya brought in Falco and Gabi, who claimed they'd run away from home, Artur doesn't hesitate to accept them into his home.
But the most admirable moment by far is when he learns of her daughter's death at the hands of Gabi, the child who he'd accepted into his home. When tempted by Niccolo to take vengeance on her and kill Gabi in retaliation, Artur does not give into revenge. Instead, he chooses to blame himself for allowing Sasha to enlist in the military and enter a world full of war and conflict where people killed one another. He forgives Gabi, putting the pain and hatred behind him and breaking the cycle of vengeance, and when Kaya attempts to kill Gabi herself, he and his wife stops her, tearfully holding her in his arms as they all mourn the death of Sasha.
His compassion, wisdom and actions have all been pivotal in changing several of the characters. For Sasha, his words inspired her to become a better person who fought for others and saved lives, making her more open-minded as well. His decision to spare and forgive Gabi left its impact as well: for Niccolo, who'd been so determined to avenge Sasha and even been prepared to kill an unconscious Falco, he felt great guilt and remorse after seeing Artur's noble actions and wanted to find a way to atone for his vengeful behavior. Most importantly, however, was how it affected Gabi: all her life, she'd been led to believe that the people of Paradis Island were "devils" that needed to be exterminated. Falco tried her best to convince him that this wasn't true and to open her mind, but she still refused to listen to this. It was only after seeing Artur spare her life, forgive her, that she was able to finally understand that no devils existed on Paradis Island, but simply people. Because of Artur, she was able to finally let go of her hatred for the people of Paradis Island, becoming a more empathetic individual and showing regret for all of her previous actions and hatred toward the Eldians on Paradis Island.
Corrupting Factors[]
There have been no moments where Artur shows any truly negative qualities or moments of hatred, so he does not have any corrupting factors that would mitigate his other actions.
Overall Verdict[]
Artur Braus is another character in Attack On Titan who stands out with his wisdom and compassion, helping multiple characters to become better people and abandon their hatred. Because of this, Artur Braus should be approved as pure good.