I think he set himself as a badguy that only Paradis could take down so that the world would be less likely to just eradicate Paradis out of fear of their power like they were already angling towards wanting to do. I ALSO think part of the point was that this was a stupid angle to take, and it happened because those who end up in power during war arent always those who are great to have in power during peace times. I think Eren admitting that it ended up this way because he’s an idiot who couldnt come up with a different way hints towards this message

Fair enough!

It wrapped enough of the story threads up to be a complete story, and it made its statement on the cycle of war and hatred. Not all loose ends need to be tied up for a story to reach a satisfying conclusion

Yeah, fair enough. I personally am just happy that we got an ending that works and sticks to its themes. Could it have been better? Absolutely, but after Game of Thrones, I’m happy AoT was able to give us an ending that works as a bow tie. On the foreshadowing bit though, Eren was always shown to be prone to hatred and violence, so I dont feel like any of his decisions ever seemed out of character

Tbf Lelouch was portrayed as a political/strategic genius, and Eren as a suicidal idiot, so it makes sense Lelouch’d pull it off better