#ARMIN THANKING HIM FOR BEING A MASS MURDERER? lmAO

[novakstiel]

people liked the attack on titan ending? how lol

[momtaku]

"eren isn't an average person" anon here.

i had to vent, because, after the ending, i've been seeing many weird takes about the point of snk being to show what war can do to an ordinary person, or that everyone would do the same in eren's shoes. when people aren't saying that eren was just a cornered good guy or giving excuses that there was no other way other than the rumbling.

even if i can understand where isayama was going with the ending, i feel he kinda fumbled? i really think the way he wrote it gave the fandom what they wanted the most: many ways to justify what eren did and water down/erase the bad image of eren that the rumbling left on them. i got impressed how showing eren in a slightly more sympathetic light in chapter 139 made many people yell "i knew it. i knew he wasn't the bad guy" at the top of their lungs, others even considering he was redeemed and calling him a hero, since his actions ended up saving his close friends (despite they got in real danger and almost died most part of the last arcs).

the chapter technically doesn't redeem him, but the way it was delivered made many people see eren as "just a boy" again, and that the "bad eren" was completely a facade, because they'd desperately trying to disassociate what they think the real eren is from the things he was doing post-timeskip at every opportunity. people couldn't handle that eren is everything together.

many stuff contributed with that: not showing the consequences of the rumbling properly (post-rumbling); the rumbling not affecting the 104; all the main characters alive crying eren's death and implied to visit his grave; "thanks for becoming a mass murder for our sake" - even if armin was only trying to comfort eren before his death; excessively cute eremin and eremika without a drop of real resentment scenes; ending the original 139 with mikasa thanking eren for wrapping the scarf around her (inviting the readers to remember the good things he did), and associating him symbol with a bird, a symbol of freedom; etc.

anyway, here i am venting again lmao

ps: i swear i'm not an anr enjoyer/er*hisu. i'm just an average ending hater who felt isayama got so close yet so far to deliver something memorable.

You're fine anon! Vent away. I hear what you are saying.

Where I differ is that I don't mind the idea of the ending. I think it does exactly what Isayama set out to do. Concept wise it's not a fumble. If you read the August 2017 BSM interview, that's pretty clear:

I don’t think the series passes judgment on what is “right” or “wrong.” For example, when I read Furuya Minoru’s “Himeanole,” I knew society would consider the serial killer in the story unforgivable under social norms. But when I took into account his life and background I still wondered, “If this was his nature, then who is to blame…?”

But considering the root of the issue, rather than evaluating “what is right” […] I think that’s what Shingeki no Kyojin’s ending will resemble.

Isayama was never interested in establishing right or the wrong. His goal was to write a sympathetic character who was twisted both by nurture and nature to do unthinkable repugnant things. Rather than dictate morality, Isayama's goal was to let reader determine how they felt about it. This is exactly what we've seen in the fandom with people on all sides when it comes to judgment on Eren.

But I do agree that the ending was harmed by the issues that have plagued the series as a whole - terrible pacing, inconsistent tone, and too much emphasis on the mystery instead of the resolution. This series is a case study for "interesting ideas clumsily executed". It all culminated in a speeding train wreck of an ending.

As I write those words, I want to say again, I like the concept of the ending. While the whole "Thanks for becoming a mass murderer" vibe makes my skin crawl, I don't mind the actual events that happened. If the story and the ending had been presented to me as a bulleted list, I'd think it was outstanding.

As far as the ending being embraced by the worst of humanity as a justification for their hatred and bigotry, I don't know what to say about that. On one hand I've often wished Isayama had done more to discourage that or had spoken out against it, but then I think about how it is often the goal of authors to pick at the scabs of social issues and leave them festering and open. This series might have been a gateway for some into fascism, but flip that around and it was also a gateway for exposing it. The series has made me more aware of the issues in my own country and has strengthened my resolve to fight back on things I might have otherwise ignored.

This is long. I hope it makes sense. Thanks again for sharing your viewpoint.

[eremiie]

i saw this post here and just wanted to dissect everything lmao

aot 139 spoilers 

“Eren admits that he literally killed 80% of the world’s population, he then says he only did it so it would look like eldians stopped a threat”

eren admit to killing 80% of the population bc he did... he’s admitting to what he did, and he says that he wanted to paint them to be the heroes— but not only did he do that, he ended the curse of ymir and gained freedom for his people. it wasn’t just to paint them as heroes

“He also did it so the rest of the world couldnt murder them”

he didn’t “also” do it for that reason, it was an effect, the rumbling ended up killing so many people that they can’t wage war on the eldians like eren says, it keeps them a little safe which they needed especially since some of humanity knows that paradis is what started the rumbling. it’s a cause and effect type thing. because eren killed 80% of the population that remaining population won’t be able to retaliate and try to kill the eldians since there are so little of them

the tybur family is treated like some of martyr and apparently pulling the strings which led to the deaths of millions of innocent eldians was actually a GOOD thing

this scene was interpreted wrong, armin says “...so you want us to be like the tyburs after the great titan war? we’re supposed to protect paradis from reprisal from humanity outside the walls?” he’s asking eren if that’s what they’re gonna do, he never says it’s a good thing. then that’s when eren explains that either way so much of humanity is destroyed that they wouldn’t be able to retaliate if they wanted to

Armin THANKS him for it

armin thanks eren for doing what he did to free them. not thanking eren for for mass murder period. it’s because of eren that the curse is lifted and that they are free and that’s what armin’s thanking eren for. mass murder is inexcusable, and eren knows that. that’s why after he panics and goes “but i dont want to die!” he comes to a realization that all the people he killed didn’t want to either, that the only way to atone for his sins is by dying himself. even if he didn’t die he would’ve probably been executed, or imprisoned for the rest of the life. just like in mikasa’s ova, “eren’s death is inevitable, no matter what reality you go to eren will always die because he carries death within himself.” 

in another translation of the chapter armin thanks eren for being the bad guy so that they could win. he knows what eren did was bad. he’s not excusing it, he just understands why eren had to do it and that eren had no choice if he wanted them to be free. 

from the get go freedom was one of the themes of eren’s character. if eren lived the whole entire world would be ruins and eren would’ve been even sadder than now, there would be nobody and it would’ve been worse than it is now. eren killing everyone was definitely not the ending to go. the ending we have could’ve been executed differently, sure, but in my eyes since i get the gist i think isa did an amazing job portraying what he had in mind. 

“Armin is more upset with Eren saying he doesnt know how he feels about Mikasa moving on than mass genocide”

once again, armin isn’t all that upset with eren because he understands that eren had a path laid out for him that he had no choice to follow. the point of eren committing mass genocide keeps getting brought up as if it’s not know that mass genocide is a terrible thing. it is and that’s why everyone was so angry about it from the get go, that’s why that one plan of blackmailing humanity with the rumbling and not actually go through with it was brought up once— because they knew how cruel it is. armin knew how cruel it is as i believe it was him who brought that up

he’s upset with eren about mikasa’s feelings in like a banter kind of way. it’s like “this whole entire time this is how you felt but you couldn’t tell her that and let her suffer???? don’t forget what you said to her, she went through hell!” kind of thing. they had already talked about the whole mass genocide thing, mikasa was the next topic of discussion

“Eren then finally shows some fucking emotion and cries abt how he doesn’t want mikasa to be with anyone but him”

in another post i say, "okay so first i think the issue is that a lot of people fail to realize that the way eren acted all throughout season 4 isn’t eren really, that is him putting his emotions at bay so that he can complete something that he laid out for himself for his friends.eren from season 1-3 still exists, and that’s lowkey the eren that was talking the whole time in chapter 139— you can see the how he cares for his friends, you can see the desperation again, the compassion, everything in between.” 

eren is still that s1-3 eren, season 4 eren just had to put his emotions aside so he could walk on the path that ymir put in front of him. 

him crying over mikasa was one of his selfish desires coming to light, and it was realistic. it’s finally dawning on him that he’s gonna die, he’s finally getting to sit down and ponder about mikasa, he’s getting desperate, he’s panicking, and that compassion that he’s always had for his friends is showing through again. this gives realism to his character— it makes his character all the more human. one second he’s complaining about how he doesn’t want to die and wants to be with his friends bc its crashing on him, and the very next second he’s trying to be at peace with himself, realising that the only way to atone for what he caused is by dying. one second he’s complaining about how he wants miksa to be with anyone but him, the next second he’s coming to terms with himself and that mikasa needs to move on, because he loves her and wants her to live a long and happy life even if it means without him. the selfishness that showed for that mere second makes his character realistic. it shows that he’s still whiny, that little whiny angry boy from s1-3. he was never heartless and he was never cold. he was and is still eren jaeger, and you get a glimpse of the eren we know in that scene.

The founder ymir was apparently in love with the king???? another women stupidly devoted to a man, great.

i’m not too in depth with ymirs story so im not gonna speak too much about this because i myself do wish that whole love thingy went more into depth. i get how mikasa and ymir parallel each other, but other than that i’m not too sure myself, and i’ll admit that. it could be a case of stockholm syndrome, it could be that bc ymir was infatuated with living and she was confined to such a familial role she wanted to live in that role again with the king bc he’s the only person who gave her that familial lifestyle. i’m not sure. but if anything mikasa was im pretty sure the only character “devoted” to a man in aot. and it was because of the role eren played in her life, she’s not a bad written character, she has her developement. which i explain here

apparently mikasa’s unhealthy devotion to eren is what took her out of it????? in fact the series overly romanticizes mikasa’s love for eren despite the two having no chemistry and eren being an ass to her

in a sense, but that’s a simple minded way of saying it. ymir’s devotion to king fritz was unhealthy, eren describes it as “agony of love” because it was pretty unhealthy obvi. like i said ymir and mikasa parallel each other, and seeing mikasa be able to let go and kill the one she loves was that realization for ymir that she was able to do the same thing— that’s how i interpret that scene personally.

and in mikasa doing so, killing eren lifts that curse of ymir and frees ymir regardless, so ymir was happy about that as well. thanks to mikasa for cutting eren’s head off. 

the series doesn’t necessarily over romanticize mikasa’s love for eren in my opinion. how i see it is that since eren is a big part of mikasa’s character he was necessary for her development as well, and her development was to let eren go because of how infatuated she was with him. this being said the series points out how unhealthy the way she loved him was especially in s1-3, and her love becomes more healthy when she gets her development in chap 139, finally being able to let eren go and move on. compare that to in the s1 when eren almost dies and she’s ready to die as well. thats development if you ask me. 

one of the themes of the show is sacrifice, and almost every character has made one, mikasa sacrifices eren— she kills him and she chooses to go through with that decision despite how much she loves him. 

eren was definitely mean to mikasa in s1-3 because she was overbearing, and thats one reason why i say the way she loved him was unhealthy at first. eren wasn’t able to reciprocate her love in the way that she loved him because it wasn’t healthy. eren also wasn’t able to reciprocate it because the last thing he was focused on was the concept of love. once again he had a path laid out for him that he had no choice but to follow, and mikasa didn’t have any play in this path until the very end, so the boy who keeps moving forward does just that and doesn’t pay her much mind, doesn’t get to sit down and think about his feelings for her, what she is to him.

(and i dont think i even need to explain the “mikasa i’ve always hated you seen, the chapter covers that enough)

they do have chemistry time to time, the eren v dina fritz scene, the scarf scene, “what am i to you”, little stuff like that goes into play and gives them these little sparks of chemistry. they couldn’t always grasp onto the full scope of the relationship they had and it was only some times they were able to do that with everything going on.

apparently the titans are just gone now….??? i cant even tell if its because Eren died or because Mikasa really made Ymir calm down

... eren controlling rumbling, eren dies rumbling stops, ymir finally lifts curse bc 1) eren died 2) shes able to come to realization that like mikasa lets eren go, she needs to let fritz go and the curse go. ymir lifts curse, eren’s goal is complete, if titan curse is lifted there are no more titans

Characters who murdered thousands and were the cause for AOT’s entire plot in the first place are now treated as heroes to the eldians… despite the shit that they did.

everyone in aot did some “shit” they all are murders, eren commited mass genocide, reiner commited mass murder, annie murdered so many people, reiner, armin destroyed thousands of people in one go, they all have killed somebody. they are seen as “heros” because they stopped the rumbling that was going to kill everyone else...... idk about you but if you just saved me from a horrid death, my racist opinion on you doesn’t really matter because you just saved my fucking life lmao, yes despite the shit that you did— because they have killed people too, and they were ready to kill the eldians still until armin told them that they killed eren, that they saved their lives and eliminated titans for good.... like whew???

the series went from “The military is cool” to “the military did a lot of fucked up shit” to “the military is SUPER cool”, and buffed it up

i’m not really sure where you got that tbh,, like the military wasn’t really a big thing up until the whole marleyan thing??? and they didn’t have much plot in the story besides it existing so like i’m not sure what to say ab this, i can’t really remember many times the military was even mentioned until now, but if anyone wants to elaborate on this for me that’d be nice

oh and they buffed up the military because since paradis had eren jaeger who started the rumbling, just in case, they had to be ready to fight again if the rest of humanity wanted to do something. after marley they updated all their technology, why can’t they update the military as well? it’s realistic, new weapons, new military, and all that

The military was buffed up bc the eldians are scared of the rest of the world retaliating, so Eren didn’t really fix shit except giving the Eldians an upper hand in the war

eren jaeger was the one who always screamed “i will kill all titans, we will get freedom” ya de ya de ya.... didn’t he do both of those things????? i thought those were some of his main goals as a character, he fixed those issues, the issues that have been issues since the start of the show

the rest of humanity don’t know the full scope like the eldians or marleyans, they’re probably just as scared and like in real life not all nations are at peace with one another. this is just another realistic factor— attack on titan is becoming a world closest to the real one we live in, there are militaries, there are still conflicts, there is still all these little aspects that bring the manga even more to life.

in my opinion it’d lowkey be weird if the rest of the world was just like “oh yeah those mfs that started the rumbling we love them haha” no... it killed 80% of the population like eren said... that’s not something to love.

Historia has a really disturbing speech about how the fight isnt going to end until either the Eldians or the rest of the world are exterminated, despite Gabi has an entire arc about her being deradicalized and learning to see the other side of things.

and yes i am not kidding, the heroic conclusion is that there’s still going to be a war, eldians are going to commit mass genocide (which was proposed by eren) and people straight up thank eren for the evil shit he did.

“this fight will not end until either eldia or the world dissapears. this is what eren said and he may be right.” she doesn’t say that it’s for sure gonna be a fight until one or the other is wiped out, she says there’s a possibility of this being the case because of the fact that these nations aren’t at complete peace yet. 

not everyone is gonna be able to see the other side of things, and this applies to the whole word— us as humans will never be able to agree on one thing, and that’s what this shows. no matter what the cycle of hatred will always continue, and this applies to real life and this manga. we are human beings and that’s what makes what historia says even more real. “this is the world we live in, a world without titans.” titans are no longer their conflict. now it’s only like the real word— humans against humans, and as far as humanity existed it’s always been humans against humans. historia’s speech shows that.

the heroic conclusion is that as a human race nothing will always be agreed upon, eldians are going to fight if they need to like our military fights when they need to. people are thanking eren for freeing them and ending the curse of titans that they suffered with for 2000 years. nobody’s thanking him for his actions of mass genocide, they are thanking him for the motive behind his actions, and thats what makes him so heroic.

that he endured and did something so terrible so that anybody who lives after him can be free, and humanity can continue existing as humanity should’ve existed from the beginning.

and that concludes this for me, thanks for reading<3.

[purple-dragon]

in defense of chapter 139 (spoilers!)

it's still hard for me to get my thoughts in order so this might be a little disjointed but:

the (seemingly) extremely unpopular opinion: i liked it. a lot.

first let me go over the things i'm !!!! about that don't need further discussion: EXTRA FUZZY CONNIE!!!! jean and connie live!!! jean and connie see sasha and get some closure!!!! lmao this is just the jean and connie show isn't it

okay next. did the chapter feel a little rushed? yes, of course. is there stuff i wish was elaborated on? yeah, no shit. i wanted to see how the battle with hallu-chan ended. i wanted to see historia's side of the story. i wanted to see ymir's side of the story. if yams ever decides to come out with a series of epilogues or something that go more in depth, i would 100% support that. i want more. however, i'm still happy with this chapter because even though it didn't answer all of my questions, it was thematically consistent with the rest of the work. the ending made sense with where the entire manga has been building up to. it wasn't some kind of ass pull that came out of nowhere.

on ymir... i'm a little conflicted on how her story ended. i interpreted her backstory like this: she was in "love" with fritz the only way she knew how to be. fritz slaughtered and enslaved ymir's people, and yet he gave her attention, favor (i'm assuming), and sex (which we know to be rape, but she probably did not). this of course isn't actually love, but to an orphan with quite literally nothing else and no one to teach her differently, it must be love, right? it's got all the right ingredients (but we know it has none of the necessary dynamic).

so with all of that, ymir had no concept of what love actually is until mikasa came along. mikasa, who, much like ymir, loved someone so much that she dedicated her whole life to him. who would willingly lay down her life for him, just as ymir did for fritz. they're incredibly alike wrt the people they love, but with this major difference: mikasa is able to put herself and the world first, even if it means killing eren, while ymir has chained herself, intentionally or not, to fritz for 2000 years. mikasa ends up being the real inspiration for ymir - that's why we saw her smiling at the end of 138, because she sees the real, true love between eren and mikasa, but mikasa is still free, so ymir can free herself too.

actually, now that i've typed all that out, the more i realize that i like it, i just wish we saw it, rather than me interpreting a whole character based on a handful of panels.

now i guess i'll talk about reiner and levi? first off, i'm so so so happy that they both survived. levi was arguably the most damaged character through the whole series, and reiner was actively suicidal - i know a lot of people thought they were going to die as the end to their character arcs, but i'm so glad they didn't. i'm very happy that they both get the chance to rest and heal from everything that happened. reiner gets the chance to figure out what he wants to do with his relationship with his mother (and he's still simping for historia alskdfjasld), levi can live quietly (with the kids!!!!!!). they've both found something new to live for and i love it

also,,, gabi and falco are so cute i love them so much (wish udo and zofia were here too tho,,,)

okay. to the meat of the chapter.

i can't fit all of my thoughts on eren here, i'd have to write a whole essay on him, but i will say a little. i didn't see this chapter as a character assassination at all - i saw it as us finally seeing what was under the hard, cold mask he's been wearing since the time skip. because like, we know eren. at his core, he's the same emotional person he's always been - more grown up for sure, and more of an edgelord, but still him? and he must have been in constant pain, seeing all of time all the time... my poor boy. and even knowing that he has become an irredeemable monster, he still wants to live with mikasa and his friends, winning their freedom at the cost of his own... that's tragic, man. that shit hurted.

"thank you for becoming a mass murderer for us" excuse me??? armin??? sir hello?? is this allowed hello??? armin what the fuck?

also,,, did eren reincarnate as a bird? is that what that was implying? what was up with the birds through the story then?

eren and armin finally seeing the world together... i am in Pain

hooooooly shit, that dina reveal was not at all what i expected out of this chapter. like i knew the theory was out there, but i didn't expect it to be confirmed at all? i've seen the interpretation that eren just directed her into shiganshina, or that he directed her straight to carla, and tbh i like the second one more. it's darker and more messed up and i just think it's neat. ymmv, though.

i don't know how anyone thinks this is a happy ending, rather than bittersweet or outright tragic. like sure, our favorite characters are alive (except the obvious), but the world is still massively fucked and will be for the foreseeable future. 80% of humanity is dead, there's probably even more wildlife gone, and most of nature has been absolutely flattened. ecologically speaking, eren might have pushed this world into a mass extinction. additionally, removing titan powers from the world wasn't a magic ticket to peace - all it did was level the playing field between countries, and we can see that where the alliance becomes ambassadors and it says in the narration "this fight won't end until either the eldians or the rest of the world is wiped out". the equivalent to this would be to magically remove all nukes from existing and stop them from being made in our world - would it magically bring peace? no. of course not. would it put countries on a slightly more equal footing? perhaps.

basically, what i'm trying to say is that the fight hasn't ended, it's only been brought down to a human v human level, rather than human v titan v technology. what the implications of that for the world are, i don't know, and i wish yams had elaborated on that a little.

what eren did, then, with the rumbling, was give back the world's choice. there's no more titan threat, no more of his friends being forced to fight and die in 13 years, no more babies born with their choice to fight already stolen from them. he gave them freedom by eliminating the titans - exactly what he said he was going to do.

also on that note, what is up with the jaegerists? it seems like in and before the rumbling, all the extremists died out? maybe? like floch and his ilk, and that's why they aren't rushing to massacre the rest of the world, but who really knows... i want more post-rumbling worldbuilding...

finally (i think), that brings me to mikasa. i'm... not mad about the way we see her story end, tbh. i've seen people saying she just stays on paradis forever with eren, alone and practically in exile, but i don't think that's it? like we only see the gang 3 years in the future. mikasa loved eren so much, she dedicated her life to him from the time they were 9, and in the end he died because she killed him. let that sink in, y'know? the love of her life didn't just die, she killed him herself. if it were me, it would take me a lot longer than just 3 years to heal from that. and i think that's what we see her doing there at the end - resting and healing from undoubtedly some of the worst moments of her life. healing from grief isn't a quick or linear process; you don't just get over something like that. i know the saying goes "time heals all wounds" but sometimes it doesn't.

if we saw her maybe 10 years down the line, it might be a different story. maybe she would be in a much better place, with her own new family and goals. maybe she would be worse off, still missing eren and stuck in the past. i don't think that would be the case, though who knows? but for 3 years in the future, i think chilling on paradis with the memory of eren was the right place to leave her.

here's what i like to think happens in the future (and this is why i love semi-open endings, because some things are concrete but there's so much left open to interpretation): over the years mikasa heals, as does the world. she goes traveling the world with armin, and sees the rest of her friends often. she and levi are close - you can often find them having tea together. on occasion, she returns to paradis to share stories of her adventures with eren('s grave). in the end, she lives according to her definition of happiness, whatever that may be now, and though she never forgets eren, she keeps moving forward, and much like reiner and levi, finds a new purpose in life.

annnddd... that's all. unless i come back to add something i forgot about later, but we'll see if that happens.

[shewolfofficial]

Can you please do a levi x reader where instead of poor Armin being burned to a crisp on the rooftop during the mission to get to erens basement be the reader? Levi is very hesitant on who to give it to? Thanks

Warning: Cursing, Angst,

This has been finished at 3:17am so please excuse any grammar errors since I’m half asleep here lmao

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pain.

That’s all you could feel, like a mummy wrapped up tightly in its tomb. Muscles aching and throbbing keeping you in place like a statue, the burning sensation of every inch of your skin making you want to cry out in pain. Yet you couldn’t. You couldn’t move at all. Pins and needles struck you everywhere, all you could wish for is for Levi’s help.

Darkness.

You couldn’t see, a black voice filled your vision ever since you shoved Armin out of the way from the immense amount of heat and steam Bertholdt gave out when trying to scorch him, saving Armin, you took the hit.

Voices.

Unnoticeable voices were wavering from all directions around you as you lay there in a pit of pain and agony wishing for someone to help.

// 3rd Person \

The stranger watched as Levi dropped from the wall, to say the least, Levi looked a crazed mass-murderer on a mission to kill his victim. “Fine, I get it Levi… We’re both too injured, I’ll call this a draw” he grumbled watching the raven-haired male before turning to Bertholdt who has held by Eren with a blade to his throat. “Bertholdt… I’m sorry but it looks like this is the end for you..” the elder male said on the neck of a strange looking Titan.

“Eren.. Someday I’ll come to save you” he told Eren before escaping mere seconds on the back of the titan before Levi came crashing down missing them both by a second. “Captain!” Eren exclaimed dropping Bertholdt, turning to Eren Levi didn’t notice your burned body lying motionless behind him. “That was the last bit of gas I had, I’m chasing him, give me all your gas and blades!” Levi barked in a hurry putting out his hand to the younger male. In a panic, Eren glanced back to you as Armin loomed over you biting his quivering lower lip.

Handing the equipment to Levi, Eren looked back to you. Armin gasped as pricked his eyes “Y/N! SHE’S BREATHING PROPERLY AGAIN!” Armin screeched, Levi spun around and went wide-eyed at the sight of you burned from head to toe, laying there. “Y/N come on! Keep breathing more! You can do it!” Eren appeared next to Armin as they both tried to shout you awake.

Snapping around Eren looked pleadingly to Levi who looked downwards to the roof below him. “Captain hurry up and give me the injection! We have to turn Y/N into a titan and eat Bertholdt!” Eren screeched at the man who took out the box making his way to you three, kneeling opposite the two boys Levi looked over your painful figure. Shakenly about to hand the box over to Eren another voice cut him off.

“Captain Levi, I finally caught up to you.. Commander Erwin has been critically injured. His stomach has been gouged out, even his organs have been damaged.. He won’t stop bleeding..” Floch said climbing up to the rooftop with Erwin strapped to his back, the four of them looked at him wide-eyed. “I thought the injection might be able to help.. What do you think?” he continued as Eren gestured for Levi to hand it over, pulling the box back to his chest Levi stared at Floch and Erwin.

“Captain? Please..” Armin muttered as Levi went to Erwin’s side as he was laid down, putting a hand over his mouth before standing back up again. “He’s still alive…” Levi muttered glancing back to Erwin then to your lonely body. “We’re giving this injection to Erwin” Levi said as Eren appeared right in front of him in a second. Tears rolling down his cheeks as Armin went back to your side “you just said you’d use it on Y/N” Eren said, clenching his fists as Levi looked to him blankly. “I’m choosing to keep alive the man who will save humanity” Levi retorts, Armin begins to sob as he hopelessly looks down to your form, taking out her blades Mikasa stalked towards Levi with tears glossing her eyes.

“Do you three have any idea what you’re doing? That’s Erwin the Commander of the Survey Corps, you’re telling me to sit around and let him die?” Levi growled to Mikasa and Eren. “So you’re going to let Y/N die!? You heartless bastard! You’ve been playing her all along! You two were supposed to be together but you’re leaving her to die!” Mikasa snarled as Levi clicked his tongue “I was not playing with her.” he growls over his shoulder to the ravenette.

“Stay out of my way, there’s no time” Levi added as Eren grasped the box staring into the dull grey orbs. “Eren..” Levi muttered facing him off in a staredown “stop letting your feelings bias you.” Levi blankly told the boy. “My feelings!? Why did you pause before deciding to hand over the injection! Does she mean that little to you!? Y/N wouldn’t hesitate to use it on you if you were in her situation!” Eren sobbed, tilting his head to the side titan steam continued to evaporate from Levi as he glared at Eren.

“I know she would give me it, I just considering the possibility that Erwin was alive” Levi continued as Eren stood wide-eyed. “I don’t see, how you would ever imagine that Floch would bring the dying Commander here… Y/N needs you Captain! Please..." Eren pleaded again as Levi gave him the usual plain expression.

"You’re right about Erwin, but, now that he’s here we’re using it on him” he concluded before punching Eren out of the way, almost instantly Mikasa tore out from behind Levi and tackled him to the ground having him at blade point whilst gripping Levi’s wrist where he held the box. “You must know it too, humanity can never defeat the titans without Erwin’s strength” Levi cracked from beneath her as she growled at him.

“He’s right Mikasa! You need to stop acting crazy!” Floch tried to settle her down only to receive a furious glare in return. “With-Without Y/N we can’t-” Mikasa stopped to look at Armin behind her who sat watching terrified “Armin! If we don’t have Y/N we can’t win! Hasn’t that always been true!” she called out to the blonde. Coughing up blood at the edge of the rooftop Eren sat up “it’s not me or the Commander who’s going to save humanity! It’s Y/N! Right Mikasa!?” Eren spoke up cutting off Armin as Mikasa darted her gaze to Eren.

“Please give it to me!” Mikasa shouts grabbing the box, stepping forward Floch looks down to the ravenette. “Humanity will be saved by Commander Erwin” he butts in as Mikasa shot him another frightening look. “You think I’m going to stay quiet? Don’t assume you’re the only ones suffering here, just to let you know there isn’t a single living soldier left living on the other side of that wall” Floch says pointing upwards towards the wall.

// 1st Person \

The voices as slowly becoming more clear now, I don’t know how long I’ve been for but my body is still aching. I should be glad that I’m still alive but it hurts too much, a wave of some tingling feeling washes over me with a new onslaught of pins and needles.

I feel the wind gently brush against my sore skin like cotton, maybe I should open my eyes? No, I can’t even open my eyes!

// 3rd Person \

Hanji takes Mikasa from behind and drags her off of Levi as he instantly shoots up opening the box in a hurry Levi glances to Erwin as Mikasa screams at him, restrained by Hanji. “Mikasa! We still need Erwin!” Hanji tells her only to be ignored “the Survey Corps has nearly been wiped out! If the Commander dies to! Humanity will lose its symbol! We can’t allow the flames of hope to be extinguished within those walls!” Hanji cries out as Mikasa tears up.

Armin was already bawling his eyes out “Captain please! You know what Y/N is capable of! With her as our colossal titan, we can finally save humanity! Please! Why would you let her die!?” Armin cries out as Levi turns to him sitting next to you, ignoring the blonde as Hanji continued to try to coax Mikasa. Soon giving in Mikasa stood there as salty tears rolled down her cheeks, Hanji hugging her from behind.

Kneeling in front of Erwin Levi was about to give him the injection but was stopped by Eren weakly grabbing his ankle. “Captain have you heard of the ocean..? It’s like a gigantic lake that can stretch as far as the eye can see” Eren says, tears not ceasing to stop streaming down his pale face. Armin’s face lit up slightly despite the situation at hand from an idea. “Not only that! It’s made out of salt water! That’s what Y/N said” Armin chimes in as Levi looked back to him then to you in a slight dull manner, Floch takes Eren from behind. Pinning him to the rooftop.

“Y/N always used to talk to us about it! She said someday we’d go and see the ocean at the other side of the walls, but that was just a dream we had as little kids… I had forgotten it a long time ago” Eren continues despite the loss of teeth and being held back by Floch. “All I had left in my head was hate, getting revenge for my mom, and killing the titans” Eren continues before motioning to you making sure Levi looks at your state. “She’s different though! Yes she may be a fierce fighter but Y/N has dreams to! When you both started going out she’d always return to me, Mikasa and Armin saying how happy she is with you!” Eren tries to convince Levi.

Looking at your wrecked figure, vivid images played in Levi’s head as if to taunt him, to curse him for choosing Erwin. Images of you both chatting quietly talking about the future, snuggling up and helping Levi when he was stuck on paperwork. You had stuck to him and remained loyal to him for so long, yet, here he was not hesitating to choose Erwin when you were involved.

Appearing by Erwin as everyone disappeared, Levi couldn’t hold back the tears that blurred his vision as he glimpsed back to you, steadying the needle at Erwin’s arm he was about to inject it when Erwin swiped his hand away knocking Levi back.

// Time Skip \

Groaning from the pain you sat up, looking around tiredly you noticed Sasha groaning in pain next to you, appearing to be on some wall you flicked your gaze around in confusion before letting it rest back on Sasha. “Ugh… You okay? Someone stole your bread?” you rose a brow as two pairs of boots clicked rappidly in the distance.

Looking forward you see Eren and Armin running towards you both, tackling you in a hug you laughed at the two and returned the gesture. “Welcome back Y/N” Eren smiled, wires were heard from the side of the wall and up came Levi perching at the edge of it. Breaking away from the two you noticed the harsh look Eren sent him as you smiled widely at the sight of Levi “so you’re awake..” he muttered ignoring the beaming smile I sent his way.

Walking towards us Levi takes out a flare gun and shoots one up to the sky. “I don’t remember anything.. Apart from the fact that I was laying down for a long time listening to a lot of shouting but that’s it..” I say holding my head, clicking his tongue Levi sighs. “Eren, Armin tell her everything.. Y/N I need to talk to you after” Levi said crossing his arms as both Eren and Armin nod.

// Time Skip \

Upset wasn’t the word.

I was disappointed.

Both of my friends had told me everything, with Levi not choosing to save me amd only going for Erwin, to how I ate Bertholdt. Standing up I scowl seeing Levi ahead with a guilty expression? Oh, he better be guilty!

“Looks like you’re up to date with everything-” I cut him off with a slap across the cheek. “You son-of-a-bitch! I can’t believe I literally put my life in your hands and you didn’t even try to save me! What am I to you?! Nothing!? Well, it’s pretty obvious that’s the case! Yes, I fucking understand that it was Erwin and all but seriously! Now I know to never fucking trust you with my life again prick, at least people who actually care about me tried! You have no fucking idea how pissed I am!” I snarl angrily as Levi looks at me blankly, a slight red mark on his pale cheek.

“I was going to fucking apologise L/N since I knew you would be pissed but you need to calm down” Levi said attempting to place a hand on my shoulder but I moved away from his advances. “Dont fucking touch me Ackerman” I seeth as Levi’s guilty expression only worsens “Y/N please, we needed the Commander, I wanted to give it to you I really fucking did but when Floch arrived with Erwin I just-” Levi stopped, looking to the pavement of the wall beneath us. “I was scared alright! Eren and Armin brought up you and your obsession with the outside world, do you know how shitty that made me feel? Especially seeing every inch of you burned?” Levi snapped as I step back facing out away from the wall and towards the plains.

“Y/N I just- Please.. How can I earn back your trust, I’m not losing you over this” Levi’s voice cracked indicating he was on the verge of tears which was rarely. Looking back to him I sigh at his vulnerable expression and pull him close hugging him. “It’s fine, I’m just pissed that’s all.. I know you wanted Erwin to survive and I’m sorry you had to make that choice, is your cheek alright? I didn’t hurt you did I?” I mutter cupping his face as Levi shakes his head, resting his hand over my own he leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips which I gladly returned, short yet sweet as it didn’t last long when he pulled away.

“I swear I’ll never do that shit again, I love you Y/N”

“Love you too Levi, I’ll make sure not to hurt your little wittle cheek again”

[eremiie]

‼️SPOILERS‼️

I am kinda extremely disappointed with the last chapter. Like wtf was that??? 138 chapters of story building and character development thrown out of the window just for the sake of the kinda happy, kinda bittersweet ending. Eren's actions are almost justified because he was "doing it for the sake of others". No sir, you are a mass murderer that started a genocide. There are so many loose ends that ended up not being addressed at all and the whole thing with the smiling titan and Eren's mother was just ??? Why even mention it if you are not going to explain why the fuck he decided to kill his own mother. All of my tears for Jean and Connie was absolutely pointless as suddenly they are all free. Yay! The entire chapter felt more like fan service, than an actual chapter. Till chapter 138, attack on titan is a modern day masterpiece and Eren is a brilliant, brilliant character. I genuinely cannot wrap my head around the fact the Isayama decided to end this mind-blowingly deep and brilliant series with a final that is mediocre at best. That said, the final scene with Mikasa and the scarf is pure work of art.

This is, of course, my own opinion ♥️

aot 139 spoilers

ofc this is your opinion, and our opinions differ drastically lol, i’m not gonna try to convince you to see my pov but i will counter everything u said LMAO

i talk ab 139 here and here 

138 chapters of story building and character development thrown out of the window just for the sake of the kinda happy, kinda bittersweet ending.

i mean like when you think about it, literally everything led up to that moment,,,, like did yall want everyone to die? yall wanted eren to kill everyone? im confused LMAO. eren’s goal the whole time was to get freedom and kill all titans and he technically did both of those things— the goal he had since s1. mikasa got her character development which i talk ab here, eren got his developement (reverting back to his former s1-3 self), reiner no longer wants to be dead, all the other characters moved on, etc. all that devlopement is there, the story built up to that moment but a lot of people are solely focused on 139, isolating it as a chapter and aren’t paying much attention to the big picture.

also,,, isayama has said for YEARS he wanted to do a bittersweet ending, he just delivered it lol

Eren's actions are almost justified because he was "doing it for the sake of others". No sir, you are a mass murderer that started a genocide.

nobody really justified eren’s actions, they just understood why he had to do what he did, and what his actions brought for them. they aren’t agreeing with his actions they are agreeing with the motive behind his actions. in that other post i linked at the top i say, (in relations to armin & eren) 

“armin thanks eren for doing what he did to free them. not thanking eren for for mass murder period. it’s because of eren that the curse is lifted and that they are free and that’s what armin’s thanking eren for. mass murder is inexcusable, and eren knows that. that’s why after he panics and goes “but i dont want to die!” he comes to a realization that all the people he killed didn’t want to either, that the only way to atone for his sins is by dying himself. even if he didn’t die he would’ve probably been executed, or imprisoned for the rest of the life. just like in mikasa’s ova, “eren’s death is inevitable, no matter what reality you go to eren will always die because he carries death within himself.” in another translation of the chapter armin thanks eren for being the bad guy so that they could win. he knows what eren did was bad. he’s not excusing it, he just understands why eren had to do it and that eren had no choice if he wanted them to be free.”

There are so many loose ends that ended up not being addressed at all and the whole thing with the smiling titan and Eren's mother was just ??? Why even mention it if you are not going to explain why the fuck he decided to kill his own mother. 

one thing about isa’s writing style is that nothing is ever handed to you, everything is foreshadowed and you use context clues. it’s actually a pretty common style of writing— you give your reader 2+2, not 4. 

he mentioned it because you should’ve understood that part— eren sent the smiling titan to eat his mom because in the scene when the smiling titan had went into the walls the first person it should’ve ate was bertholdt. bertholdt was on the ground when the smiling titan had walked passed him— and usually titans are supposed to eat any human they encounter in hopes of finding a titan shifter to revert them. if the smiling titan had ate bertholdt it would’ve disrupted the path that ymir laid out for eren, messed up future events and the ending of aot wouldn’t have turned out like the ending of aot (with eren freeing his friends and breaking the curse of ymir), so he had to keep the smiling titan moving forward and his mom happened to be the next human she encountered, therefore his mom had to get eaten instead. 

season 4 episode 3 bestie

also,,, in the chapter 139 eren literally says “it wasn’t bertholdts time to die yet.”

um did u miss that

since you didn’t specify what wasn’t addressed i cant say much about that part but to me most things were obvious and i personally was satisfied with the ending. i have no questions, maybe besides going more into depth with ymir’s case 

All of my tears for Jean and Connie was absolutely pointless as suddenly they are all free. Yay!

lol well then i guess my tears for armin dying in s3 were pointless, i guess my tears for levi “dying” was pointless, i guess my tears for eren “dying” (like 3 times) were pointless— it’s happened so many times before why does it matter so much this time 😭,, and even then it makes the most sense of any other time; the curse of titans was broken therefore there are no more titans therefore they go back to their human state. if u want jean and connie to be dead just say that LMFAO

that said, the final scene with Mikasa and the scarf is pure work of art.

i agree

but anyways the rest is just you expressing your opinion, and if you think it’s mediocre or any of that, that’s perfectly fine. we’re allowed to have different opinons and you expressed yours in a well manner so thanks for not being like some other fans who have shitted heavily on isayama, said some unruly things, said they’d never watch anime again,,, so i hope u have a good day bestie