#about an aot meta

[alexdswfan]

Hi, Alex (is it okay to call you Alex?). So, I'm sure you saw all my comments back and forth on your meta post. I had the opportunity of trying to understand the other person's view better, and I saw you edited your post in regards to my own reblog and someone else's, to contradict their perspective. I think you may have misunderstood part of it, though.

"[W]anting to learn how to get better at something is not trying to be manipulative" and "It makes sense they would be interested in Levi's strength without any ulterior motive, which I personally don't even see what it could be" suggest you're thinking of something else, but I believe what they're trying to say is that Hange is interested in Levi's skill, and in an attempt to get him and his friends to reveal it, acts in a friendly way (and bribes Isabel). The "ulterior motive" is the curiosity itself, even though it's made plain. I think from their perspective, Hange is basically sweet talking them so they have a higher chance of getting their information.

I'm not in agreement, so I'm not here picking a bone, but just because I try to promote polite debate and all that fun stuff, I thought you may want to know in case you want to correct the wording of your edit in order to properly convey their argument.

Hi @starshower1215!

Yes, absolutely, you can call me Alex! I genuinely appreciate all that back and forth, it does add to the conversation. I’ve just been a bit surprised by the interpretation Hange could be manipulative with Levi in that scene since it’s really the first time I’ve heard that take about this scene (of course, there’s always a first for everything and I'm not here pretending I know every single argument in the fandom, but nonetheless, it still took me by surprise).

I personally don’t see curiosity as something to state that Hange tried to be manipulative with Levi, nor Hange actually tried to bribe Isabel. I’m sorry if I’m being a little passionate about this lolol, but I respectfully disagree with the idea Hange could even try to be manipulative with Levi and his friends in this scene. I understand Hange can be manipulative and we’ve seen them be manipulative in the story towards other characters, however I don’t see how that supports how Hange was manipulative towards Levi as Hange has never been manipulative with him in particular throughout the story (and I stand by that). The fact that Hange wanted to learn from them all isn’t bad per se.

I appreciate you trying to be polite in the debate, and I might word that section of that edit a bit differently, but with all due respect, I completely disagree with the idea that Hange could be manipulative with Levi and his friends in that scene, and I wanted to include my own thoughts on this debate I’ve honestly never seen until now to be completely honest with you. As I stated in my latest comment, Levi and Hange’s relationship is not built on manipulation, so I don’t see why we would see it in their very first meeting. For me, this interpretation doesn’t really make sense in my humble opinion, and I’ve already stated why. To imply that Hange would be like the guy with glasses from Bad Boy, who actually used his “kindness” to manipulate Levi, is really an insult to Hange’s character (and I want to be clear that I agree with you that Levi might’ve thought Hange was like him at first, but obviously they were not as Levi got to learn Hange better over the years).

I genuinely appreciate your reblog though, but as I said, for me, in order to see Hange manipulate Levi in their first meeting, I need to see a reason why they would do it, and I genuinely can’t see any. And I don’t really consider Hange’s curiosity as this ulterior motive to manipulate Levi. That being said, I will change my wording (I’m sorry if it felt a bit direct though), but my thoughts on this debate remain the same. I think we can absolutely agree to disagree though, so I’ll leave it at that. But the main argument of my post, which is that Hange tried to befriend Levi, Furlan and Isabel genuinely regardless of what they might’ve thought of it at the very beginning, still stands. I don’t think I misinterpreted Hange’s actions at all in my post. But again, we can agree to disagree. I think this is the best action we can take in this particular situation.

But yeah, thanks for the ask and thanks for your input on the scene as well!

[kylermalloy]

This has probably already been said, but I have to talk about the courtroom scene and why it was a fantastic introduction to not only Levi, but Erwin too—and their relationship.

So we first meet Levi in the heat of battle. We see very quickly the type of fighter he is—confident, but not overly so. He has a strong command of himself and the people under him. He’s The Guy.

Then Erwin shows up and announces they’re pulling back—Levi immediately argues this. We might assume Levi is being set up as the guy who ~doesn’t do well with authority.~ You know the type. He does his own thing. Doesn’t play well with others. Chafes under orders. He’s too big and too important for all of that!

This impression continues when Eren meets Levi and Erwin in the dungeon. Levi is rude and mouthy, and Erwin’s chastisements do little to curb this. Levi’s confidence and skill give him authority issues…right?

So then we move to the courtroom scene, Eren’s trial. Erwin says beforehand that he has a plan, but we’re told nothing more. We see him propose to the court that Eren be given to the Scouts, and he says nothing more.

Levi is the one to scathingly go after the MPs during the debate, pointing out the flaws in their plan and how likely it is that they’re trying to save their own skin. First time viewers might assume that, again, while Erwin is a charismatic leader, he doesn’t go far enough. Levi is the one to say the quiet part out loud, to go to the places Erwin’s too ~respectable~ to go.

Then things start to go sideways. The court’s favor seems to be turning against Eren and the Scouts, fear and paranoia winning out. Eren is getting desperate.

Enter Levi.

And we get this glorious scene. Levi convinces the court that Eren is harmless to the likes of someone like him. Their best bet is to do what Erwin asked and give Eren to the Scouts. Please.

(Notice how Erwin is not shocked, nor does he try to stop Levi.)

Now again, to a first time viewer, this scene feeds into our preconceived notion of Levi. He’s the guy who isn’t deterred by silly things like rank or authority. He saw that things weren’t going Erwin’s way, so he took matters into his own hands. Maybe Erwin will be mad about this later, but Levi will shrug and roll his eyes and say “but I got results, didn’t I?” and Erwin will have no argument for that.

…Right?

Cut to the next scene, after the court has granted the Scouts custody of Eren—and Erwin’s like, “sooo…sorry about that. We had to make it look good.”

This whole thing was planned by Erwin.

The scene was more or less staged by the Scouts. Erwin wanted to present himself as the calm, collected leader with clean hands. And Levi was the one to do the dirty work, be the brutalizer—even though it was all on Erwin’s orders.

He’ll play that role. He’ll be the rogue, the rough one, the problem child, because his personality fits so well into that niche anyway. But he does it because Erwin wanted him to. If Erwin had wanted him to stand nice and quiet the entire time during the trial, if that’s what needed to be done, Levi would’ve done that instead. He’s not looking to get results; he trusts Erwin’s methods and does what he’s told.

And in this case, he was told to beat up this helpless brat. Gladly.

(How much do you want to bet one of the MPs said to Erwin after, “you need to keep your dog under control.” I would simply implode.)

Like, if this display will land anyone in trouble, it wouldn’t be Erwin—it would be Levi. Levi’s the one who got violent and mouthy during a military trial. He broke rank. He attacked the defendant. Erwin isn’t, ostensibly, responsible for this at all. Levi willingly put himself in that position because he trusted Erwin.

And so everything we thought we knew about Levi is turned on its head! Eren even says so in the next episode—he expresses surprise that Levi’s so diligent about following orders.

Eren, silly boy, assumes that being skilled means you don’t have to take orders from anyone. But Levi does. It’s his whole character. (Notice how, despite him ending up being the oldest member of the Scouts, he’s never in line for Commander? He’s the hands, not the head.)

And this whole thing provides so much insight into Erwin’s character as well! Pyxis says at the beginning of the episode that Erwin is very straight-laced. Well, by the end of the episode, we can see that’s…not quite true.

Erwin is conniving, willing to play dirty, do whatever it takes, to get things to go his way. All while keeping his own hands clean, maintaining the image of the honorable Commander. He simply uses the tools at his disposal (Levi) to do the dirty bits for him.

It’s a fantastic introduction to the Scouts, their leader, and his right hand (or is it the left hand that does the dirty work?)

[joogios]

One Reddit userloser opened his brain to whimsy and needless to say the comments were full of iTs JeAn iTs ArmIn iTs pIeCk tHe KiD iS aDoPtEd like oh my godddd do you people not have FUN?

[six-paths-of-jeanmarco]

Thank you for killing me slowly by a thousand mental cuts the ask, anon! First of all, lemme apologize for taking so long to answer, but in my defence, you asked me quite the question here.

I want to say first that I used to be a big snk fan. And then the final chapter was released. It was so bad that it made me look at the whole series with a very critical eye, which made me realize that snk has never been that great to begin with. What really made this story good was the anime produced by WIT, and what really carried the story was its big mystery box. The moment we opened it, everything went downhill bc this was no longer a fantasy world, but a lazy parody of ww2 Germany & Japan.

But more importantly, and referring to the final arc, I started to notice all the rot hidden in plain sight: its fascist and antisemitic undertones, the awful writing, the lackluster worldbuilding, the braindead politics and the inconsistent treatment of characters.

Despite my newfound interest for the cautionary symbolism of Reiner and his character arc, I still think it was handled poorly. I have the same problem with characters like Gabi, Annie, Magath, and Pieck. Their individual arcs ended with them facing no real consequences for their crimes. Magath, despite being a literal representation of the nazi, was rewarded by the plot with a heroic death (a baffling choice when you think about who he is and what he did, and just how brutal and meaningless all of the Scouts deaths were pre timeskip). Reiner, Annie, Pieck, and Gabi were all rewarded with the promise of a new, happier life ahead of them, despite being responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths directly or indirectly.

Gabi herself is proof of just how bad the writing is: RBA lived inside the walls for around 3 years, and yet they still went on with their mission. They still killed Marco. Annie still massacred those Scouts. It took Reiner 7 years to fully acknowledge that what he did was wrong and to finally make amends ... by joining an alliance that had the same goal as that of the warriors for the whole goddamn arc: take down Eren. However, Gabi realized she was wrong in like what, just a few months at best? Their development is dictated by however the plot needs them to be or act. But there's more:

Marco, the Levi Squad, Sasha, and -- as victims of similar circumstances -- Pixis, and Hange, the embodiment of pacifism, were all condemned for being good people, and some of them for believing that there is good in everybody, even in their enemies; and punished for believing that conflicts could be solved in peaceful ways. Does the cautionary symbolism of their brutal deaths still holds up when the story rewards violence and crushes pacifism?

I don't think it does.

Showing that even the worst of the worst are capable of change and doing the right thing in the end is an important message, but. The idea that everyone is just a victim of their uprising or their circumstances is simply wrong. Ideologies don't exist without people, cowardice does not justify orders carried out that lead to attrocities. This idea fails to acknowledge that evil exists. Not just nuanced evil, but pure evil as well. It also goes the other way around. This idea also fails to acknowledge that good can exist.

And also to sympathize with Pieck, who was still loyal to marley despite what they're doing to her own people. And Magath, who in his final moments, revealed that he actually cared about the kids he was indoctrinating and instructing to commit genocide all along. I can't ignore the similarity with the way neonazi like to bring up hitler's friendship with Bernile Nienau, a girl of Jewish origins, as an attempt to humanize him. Heck, even Zeke's final moments painted him as more sympathetic than he was. Such is the case with Floch, and the way Jean reacted to his death. All those characters were redeemed in the audience's eyes without facing any substantial accountability.

I also have a huge issue with the false equivalences that were supposed to show us how morally grey everyone and everything is.

-> The link to the post in the screenshot

Jean and Connie and the Scouts that attacked Liberio aren't just wrongfully presented as something they're not, they're also used as tools to rationalize what Reiner and co have done to them throughout most of the series. Jean briefly does that with what Reiner did to Marco before he punches him to a pulp. Then again with the "we're the same" bs. Then again with implying Reiner is one of them as a Scout. There's also no real tension between the warriors and the Paradis side of the alliance. What the warriors did to Paradis is truly horrific, so their only way for redemption is through their victims.

The mistake that most people do when they interpret their relationship or the characters themselves is to only look at the characters' in-story intent. But there's also this thing called the author's intent that overrides everything. Sometimes, you cannot separate an author from their work. Especially when it comes to the final 12 chapters, where the quality of the writing is in the sewer.

But there's actually another way through which these characters were redeemed: the introduction of a much greater evil and a much horrific event that makes everything else pale in comparison. The main conflict of the story was revealed to have always been Eldians vs Eldians. But that wasn't always the case. Not until isayama retconned Eren, and then treated him the same way he treated the warriors. Eren's friends refused to condemn his actions, and instead repeatedly rationalized, then absolved and thanked him for what he did. It doesn't matter that they still did what was right in the end, that Mikasa killed him, or that Armin admitted they're both going to hell for the atrocities they've individually committed. In the anime. Which came out almost 3 years after the release of chapter 139+the extras and the massive backlash that followed. Let's not forget how that conversation went in the manga:

None of that matters because there's a dissonance between their actions & words and their attitude. isayama couldn't condemn any of his genocidal characters in a way that matters, in a way that would leave no room for moral ambiguity. But perhaps the greatest injustice isayama has committed to his own characters, story and messages was to retcon Eren, the character that was at the center of a message as powerful as the idea that we're all special because we're simply born in this world, into a genocidal maniac that cared about no one and nothing (if he actually cared about his friends, he wouldn't have put them through living hell, not when he actually had the power to prevent it, and if he actually cared about his mother, he wouldn't have killed her) through one of the worst executions of the time travel trope I've ever seen.

Snk is not a story that condemns fascism, let a lone a "masterpiece" when it comes to social or political themes, because it's centralized on justifying the oppression of the Eldians and making it an integral part of the plot. Not only are the Eldians an obvious metaphor for Jews, which is antisemitic on its own given how it's executed, but isayama ends up making them truly horrific because he takes real world antisemitic conspiracies and turns them into factual realities in his own story, all while seemingly acknowledging that Jews have been oppressed and the victims of the worst genocide in history. Moreover, the Eldians also seem to be ideologically inspired by imperial Japan, Paradis in particular. As @ shangyang points out in their essay, we shouldn't forget the fact that this is a manga authored by a Japanese man, nor that Japan has its own history with fascism. (Plesse don't skip any of the posts linked here)

All that being said, isayama's true intent is more than clear: violence is praised because his characters were written so to see violence as their only option, and the fascist mentality of eternal warfare as the status quo. Pacifism is not presented as an option. There's no nuance, only extremism. Even the cycle of hatred at the very end only serves as proof that the intent of the story is to present an extremely narrow worldview in which the human species is only capable of perpetual warmongering, hatred, destruction, and death. Which is wrong and is the very opposite of what I'd call "nuance", imo. And the reason this bothers me so much is because snk and other "morally grey" works alike aren't portraying evil people as just that, people, and evil as something that exists in all of us - no, what they're doing is making the unlikeable likeable, the unjustifiable justifiable, and they're making people sympathetic towards things they shouldn't be sympathizing. Such narratives are banalizing evil (if I had a nickel for how many posts I've seen justifying what Magath did or outright saying they love the guy, well I'd have a lot of nickels) and depreciating good (lots of nickels for all the posts I've seen bashing the Scouts). Such narratives serve as propaganda for the things they claim to condemn.

The result is that such stories beget ignorance, and ignorance is a fertile ground, whether is the case of people who are only interested in shipping and blorbofication, or the people who are not properly educated to know what they're dealing with.

And there's a reason actual fascists and neonazi are circling the series like flies, identifying with the yeagerists, and saying that "Eren was right". They're not taking control of the narrative, they're seeing it for what it really is. The progression of Eren's character arc, his motivations, the retcons, the conclusion of the story, Ymir's motivation, the undeserved redemptions, the characters not behaving in ways they should based on their history, none of those things make sense because they don't have to make sense. They're only pretexts meant to mask the actual intent of the story. The cycle of hatred didn't end because the rumbling truly failed. Because "the enemy" (the people outside Paradis, all of them, as Eren made it very clear) wasn't completely obliterated. Because as long as there's "the enemy", there can't be peace. Fascists have a complex relationship with war. They don’t like it, but "the enemy" is always forcing their hand. The rumbling was meant to succeed.

This is not a cautionary tale for anti-fascists.

Snk is a cautionary tale for fascists.

Now recontextualize all of that in present-day fascist politics, and see where it takes you. But ofc, this is only my interpretation, based exclusively on the story itself.

[starrylevi]

“Are you okay?” Levi asks you.

“No.”

“I know, you don’t look it. What’s wrong?”

“Everything is wrong, Levi. I’m exhausted…I wonder what it’s like to have a brain that functions the way it’s supposed to.”

His eyebrows furrow slightly. “Your brain is fine.”

“But that’s the thing, it’s not!” You say exasperatingly. “It’s wired differently and so it makes everything more difficult. I switch between three modes: Not wanting to exist, Surviving, and Beyond Surviving. Guess how much time I spend in each mode?”

Levi doesn’t say anything in response. His expression shows more concern than confusion this time.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. Most of my time is spent surviving. Some of my time is spent not wanting to exist. And just a little of my time is spent beyond suriving…what kind of life is that?”

Levi’s eyes look at you with sadness. “Not much of one, to be honest…but it’s yours and you only have one.” He counters.

“Well, I don’t even know if I want it half of the time. Y’know, someone told me that life is basically climbing mountains. You climb a mountain, which represents a challenge or obstacle, once you get to the top you enjoy the view for a moment…then you climb back down and do the same thing all over again. Rinse and repeat.”

Levi seems to identify with what you’re saying and he knows you’re frustrated right now but he needs to keep you from spiraling. He’s not letting you give up. That’s not the way. “It’s what we have to do, Y/N.” He says gently.

“And what if I don’t want to do anything? What if I don’t want to climb fucking mountains? What if I don’t want to constantly be challenged and given obstacles? What if I just want to sit at the top of the mountain and just be?”

Levi knows these feelings all too well…he’s wrestled with them a few times throughout his life but he’s continued to push through because that’s what you just do. And you’re going to do the same even if he has to do the pushing for you. You snap Levi out of his thoughts with your next statement.

“It would be so much easier if I just…”

“Stop.”

“But-“

“Stop.” He repeats sternly, his steel eyes boring into yours.

You grunt angrily. “You’re not even real, Levi!” You yell out at him. You’re not angry with him. You’re angry at the world, angry for the universe and your parents for putting you in this predicament, angry for placing you into a world that doesn’t accommodate you. “You are a 2-dimensional character I use to cope. There’s no way for you to actually soothe or help me. You. Are. Fictional.”

Your words don’t seem to phase him. He shrugs. “I’m real enough.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I’m real enough to you. Y/N. You are the one who brings me to life. You are the one who decides how real I should be. What does it matter if I’m not a real person?”

“It’s silly.”

“Who says it’s silly?”

“I don’t know, a bunch of people.”

“Well, fuck all of those people then. Just fuck them.” He states as if it’s obvious.

You sigh. “It doesn’t work that way, Levi…”

“So make it work that way. No one else is keeping you alive but yourself.”

“And you…” You say softly.

Levi shakes his head. “I don’t do anything. Like I said before, you’re the one who does the all the heavy lifting. I exist because you want me to. I function the way I do because you want me to.”

“So I control you?”

Levi rolls his eyes at that. “Don’t be a brat. What I’m saying is I’m just an outlet for you.”

You pause, thinking of his words. He’s not wrong. He’s just a character but he’s also not just a character because of you. “I wish you were real.” You admit sadly.

“I wish I were real too…for you.” He sighs as he runs a hand through his raven hair. “But it doesn’t matter if I’m real or not. I still occupy your brain. I still make you happy, that’s all that matters. As long as you let me live in your mind, I’m always going to be here for you.

You nod, not saying anything further.

“Okay?” He asks.

“Okay.”

“Good.”

[oxygenbefore1775]

ok just one more thing about color analysis

(here is the my full post about the color analysis on other characters including Hange)

This one is specifically about Erwin. What I like about his "official" color is that it's the same as Hange's - purple, mirroring their similar fate of becoming Scouts leader. But there's difference in hue, Hange's looks balanced due to having equal ratio of red and blue whereas Erwin's is magenta and warm-toned due to addition of red. And this addition of red is where the root lies.

Beyond the shared qualities that Erwin and Hange possess and that the color purple symbolizes, such as knowledge, ingenuity, dreams and energy - the very attributes that propelled both into great commanders - the additional touch of red in Erwin's color introduces another layer of connotation to his personality, complementing the classic purple symbolism.

Red symbolizes many things but ones that are relevant to my rant are as follows:

The first and obvious one is bloodshed (cuz blood is also red believe it or not). This connotation ties in with Erwin's treatment of his soldiers and subordinates. Although he cares about them, he doesn't hesitate to sacrifice them for the sake of the mission's success which would often result in lives being lost and blood being spilt.

Going off the blood association, the color red also invokes danger - the feeling that was very evident in each of Erwin's endeavors as his plans would entail endangering the lives of other soldiers.

On the positive note, one of connotations of this color that also pertains to Erwin is passion and driving force. In Erwin's case it mirrors his dream to see what lies beyond the walls, the thing that dictated Erwin's decision.

Another thing worth mentioning is that red is commonly known as the color of revolution - a pretty low hanging fruit for me to point out, considering that Erwin went and did just that in season 3.

All in all, the added hint of red to Erwin's "official" color only underscores the aspects that distinguish him from Hange's approach to leadership. On one hand it's more bloodier and cruel when it comes to soldiers' lives but on the other hand it is more driven and inspiring (not that Hange's isn't it's just their dream doesn't really require an army of soldiers, their dream is more "scientific")

[lucaaazd]

Ymir’s death is one of the most frustrating plot points in AOT. She does not deserve it and here’s why.

Yams builds up her character to go from living solely for others to living solely for herself, only to spring this random guilt on her out of nowhere.

Like okay, she ate R & B’s friend and that sucked, but think about the context and the life she lived before then.

She was captured by Marley as a little girl, tortured and punished for something that was not her fault, turned into a monster to roam the desert for 60 years, and then these Warriors FROM MARLEY came along (admittedly they weren’t exactly working for Marley by choice, they were also children in difficult circumstances but still) and she accidentally ate one.

Like, so what?!!

Every Warrior had to eat SOMEONE to inherit that power, INCLUDING MARCEL.

Who did Marcel eat? We do not know, but we know he ate someone, not by choice, just like Ymir.

Plus even if Ymir didn’t eat him then, the best case scenario for him was if he succeeded in the mission and came back to Marley and eventually got eaten by someone else.

Ymir knows all of this.

She’s been through way too much, having had to learn the hard way to say fuck you to those who try to manipulate her for their own protection & gain, to live for herself and show others to do the same, like Historia.

Like sure, deep down she’s still a caring & self-sacrificing person, as we’ve seen in the tower episode, but she tore the whole damn thing down when Hisu yelled at her and said “What do u think ur doing?? Being noble, trynna sacrifice yourself to lend us more time? What about all that ‘living for yourself stuff’, is that all talk too you idiot?”

Ymir has been through TOO MUCH to leave Hisu behind, to leave this new life that was the only thing she ever truly owned in her entire miserable existence, even though it was only borrowed time, for these marleyan warriors who had made it clear that they wanted her as a prize to present to the government so they wouldn’t get killed right away. Like, come. On.

Yams was so quick to kill the most visibly queer characters (Marco, Ymir) in the most rushed & undermining ways.

Edit: Ymir has also vocalized her despise for Historia’s martyr complex numerous times throughout the show, so it makes even less sense that she decided to throw her life away over the guilt of accidentally eating a Marleyan warrior.

[the-last-thread-of-my-sanity]

I picture Armin as the kind of person who had to learn the hard way that you don’t have verbally justify everything.

I see him as a child and a young teen in this fiery state of being angry (despite seeming so sunshiny all the time) about a lot of things. About the government within the walls, about what happened to his parents, about his own weaknesses and perceived inadequacies- but unlike Eren he isn’t goading people into arguments or placing value judgments on other people all the time.

But if someone goads *him* into an argument?

Oh, he will make it worse every time. Because he’s an over-thinker and by extension an over-explainer and no- you can’t walk away yet, he hasn’t finished giving you an in-depth full scope breakdown of how he arrived at this conclusion! Come back!

And maybe it gets him into trouble when he’s talking to people who either don’t care as much, or are dedicated to misunderstanding him- like bullies or more shallow cadets.

At some point by the time he moved onto the Scouts, though, he learned to pick his words and disputes more carefully and hold his cards closer to his chest. He doesn’t have to justify himself to everyone all the time. He doesn’t have to prove himself right in every instance if there’s nothing to gain from it.

I think he watches and learns from Erwin and Hange, and even to a certain extent Levi. Erwin in the way he calculates and leaves so many things intentionally unsaid as a tactical advantage. Hange in the way they are able to explain things concisely when the time calls for it and be confident in their own ideas even if no one else supports them yet. And Levi- being perceptive as ever, but practical- he doesn’t feel the need to rush to the answer or even know all the details in order to deduce quickly and act.

It’s interesting to think about Armin’s subtle growth as a leader and a strategist across the course of the story but especially in the way that it mirrors his own self-worth and how he grows apart and away from Eren in the way he finds solutions to problems.

Yet he never loses this innate urge to ‘talk things out’- and that ultimately helps him surpass even some of his mentors in some ways and prepares him for the political life that awaits him in the Post-Rumbling world.

[sailorspica]

what do you think is Kenny's fatal character flaw?

to me it always seems reductive to attribute his failings to violence on itself and not something more rooted, to me what debilitates him more than anything is cowardice. But again, what do you think?

we're on the exact same page about violence for this universe because the whole damn point of the uprising arc and kenny's entire appearance in it, imo, is a prelude to paradis' re-entry into international conflict. measuring any of these characters based on quantitative on-page violence is so goddamn naive, but that's a tangent for my defense of gabi braun

kenny himself identifies too closely with violence as "the only tool he had," and it's silly to take his snk 69 narration as reliable/his sense of self as clear. cowardice is a great word and i think the ultimate truth of it all, but another excuse he might make is he focused too hard on uri, and later his "grand dream." another lie he tells himself could be: he's a u-haul lesbian. he fell so hard and so fast that it didn't even occur to him he was failing kuchel. kuchel and levi are like succulents or sourdough starter he forgot about

because really! if he's employed as uri's pretty much 24/7 bodyguard (the irishman dir martin scorsese), then yeah, he doesn't have time to be "some kid's dad." but childcare? you're basically aristocracy again, how you sit on the council, surely there's governesses looking after noble children. or if you want to reinstate the ackermans as a warrior house bound to the crown, levi could have grown up like, frieda reiss' gay older cousin. there were options

besides stifling his own guilt about levi (or guilt toward kuchel), i think he actually... does care about his squad, but realizes it too late, when the caves are fucking falling in! his "everyone's drunk on something" monologue shows traute and the rest of his squad on the panel for "dreams." in the tavern, he tells levi he'll kill anyone to get to his goals, but i think he was, again, too focused on the founding titan to consider this massive squad of what, 30 people? probably because they're supposed to be elite, seasoned MPs, they know what they're getting into, etc. but in this respect, he's kind of like eruri as one: trying to do the erwin thing of "calculated risks" and convincing people to die for his cause with sheer charisma and rhetoric, only to realize just before death he's too soft for that shit. (but i don't think he'd go on levi-style family condolences tour for his squad because he is a coward.) i've compared him to erwin before: he has no real idea of what he would do with the founder if he had it. he just wanted the view from up there, like erwin had no dreams for a future past the basement

i'm not entirely comfortable making this metaphor but his death speech sets it up: kenny is drunk on something more elusive than power. it could be uri, for whom his euphemism is "a grand dream" (jesus christ). i don't think what matters as much as just how plain destructive habit or addiction is, and how disinterested (or afraid) he is to consider another way of living, like rod's "fuck off now" line about finding something else to do. his pattern has been: kill as many MPs as possible for a grudge he doesn't actually care about (where is his sister? dunno); then stay glued to this dying man's side (where is his nephew? who cares); then pursue the founder (he could kill his nephew and several teenagers in the process? who cares). his yapping at levi about hobbies is way more revealing to Me about his character, while the drunkenness monologue is more of a series thesis statement

[alexdswfan]

I wouldn’t let that hanszoe user get to you. They’re being purposely combative. Their interpretations of Hange’s character are plain wrong, and they clearly lack reading comprehension, since they genuinely view AoT as imperialist and colonialist propaganda by Isayama. They also view Eruri as canon, despite no evidence to support such, and they’re one of those people that believes Levi mistreats and is abusive toward Hange.

Hi!

It's honestly not really my intention to get into ship wars and all that stuff, so I will give this user the benefit of the doubt. They have the right to ship whatever they want, I won't be here discussing ships as ships are all about taste whether fanon or canon, and obviously in Levi's situation, no Levi ship is canon as you said it too (that includes Levihan too by the way and I'll be very clear about that).

That being said, I do think there's a clear contrast between the way Hange treats Levi in No Regrets and how Erwin treats Levi in No Regrets, something I didn't really want to get into, but here we are, and it's precisely that Hange was kinder with Levi when they first meet as also seen by the way they treat his friends as compared to Erwin who simply threatens them and I don't want to see people telling me that Erwin had no responsibility in apprehending Levi and his friends, or that Mike was the only person who treated Levi badly (I've seen these people and I fundamentally disagree with them, Erwin was the person in charge and I will always be very critical of the way Erwin treated Levi during their first meeting). I might be imagining things as I'm aware of my bias and I'm trying to be critical towards it as much as I can, but I genuinely think Hange was genuine in wanting to befriend Levi, Furlan and Isabel and I won't change my post about that. People can go check the comments and the reblogs of that post if they're interested in that debate.

If you've followed my blog for a while, you maybe know I've been very vocal of how incorrect the take of Levi being abusive towards Hange or Levi hating Hange is (and that's not me being shippy or anything, it's literally in the manga, I have a whole post dedicated to that and how fundamentally incorrect that take is mostly for Levi as it paints a fanon version of his character). So if this person believes that about Levi and Hange as well, then it's something else on which we can agree to disagree and leave it at that, I guess.

I do want it to be clear that I don't necessarily criticize this person's interpretation for saying Hange might've been manipulative with Levi, but I personally don't agree with it as for me, it just doesn't make sense when bringing in the full aspect of their relationship, which is that they're the closest to each other, and again, I will stand by that regardless if some people might disagree with me on it.

But yeah, thanks for the ask and for your info, and regardless of what this person might think or ship, in the end we can agree to disagree (I feel like I repeated that so many times but here we are) and move on with our lives. But my post about Levi and Hange's first meeting will stay.

[firwhorl]

so you know how disappointment that the outside world wasn't free of people was apparently a big part of eren's motivation, while armin was still excited to explore marley, right

i think the point of this issue is that city tourism isn't really for eren, and he should have tried hiking or something

[theerurishipper]

Well, it's the end of an era. I haven't watched the episode yet (I can't find it anywhere rip), but from the small clips I've seen, it looks incredible. Everyone involved put their heart and soul into it and it shows, so thank you for that, truly.

It's really been a journey. AOT was what got me into fandom, and I'm really attached to this series. It's very close to my heart. I'm very much attached to all the characters and the story as a whole, and I'm really gonna miss them. I know, it's always going to be there, but now it's actually over and that's pretty significant. And yeah, I'm on the edge of my seat for the Levi prequel, so at least we have that to look forward to.

But regardless, the journey has come to a close. Thank you for the ride, Isayama, I'll always cherish what you have given us. Thank you to everyone who ever worked on this as well, for all the hard work and effort you put into this series to give us the visual masterpiece that we all fell in love with. And thank you to everyone in the fandom who made the journey so enjoyable and wonderful. Goodbye, AOT.

[tender-hearteddd]

thinking about how the few characters close to bertholdt chose to exploit him for their own dreams and goals and taking it very personally lolz

his very own “best friends” didnt even leave him with not even a shred of comfort or closure; he was a good boy who just wanted his father to be okay and he died without ever knowing whether all the atrocities he committed had even saved his father in the first place from the colonial power that is marley

the only thing he’s ever wanted was to protect the ones he loves and his love ones can’t even acknowledge his pain or what he went through when he was used as their scapegoat for their crimes. eren literally changed the whole course of history to exploit him in order for the rumbling to happen yet bertholdt is still blamed for thst shit. he didn’t get to have any dreams or aspirations bc he was too busy worrying abt reiner losing his mind. his last few moments was fighting to stop the inevitable slaughter that will continue if he doesn’t fight. he doesn’t want to put any more people through the hell he will always reside in - that is why he fights, and he didn’t even get to accomplish this goal. literally everybody else in the whole entirety of the manga got to accomplish whatever their goal was, all the other characters got a consolation prize. what does he get? his want to protect the people he loves was twisted into some sinister evil goal by the majority of the aot fandom like the scouts didnt enable a whole ass genocide in the name of….friendship i guess?

bertholdt cared about the warrior candidates before he even met them. bertholdt cares about anyone who’s ever been lost. no one even cares about his pain, no one ever cares that he was exploited. he’s just there, he came and he left and he had to accept that he will forever be a weapon for a country that hates him and a monster to the people said country sent him off to kill.

[neonscandal]

Thinking about how Eren cried while looking over the tent city of refugees in Marley. When Mikasa asked, "Has something happened here?", he replies, "No, not yet," knowing already the fate of the boy from the market when the Rumbling takes place.

Every time he drifted from a reverie, it was one of pain and grief for what he felt had to be done, the lengths he'd soon travel to protect Armin and Mikasa. A will so strong it rooted in the Attack Titan holders before him. Each time, the numerous possible paths toward peace or resolution were pruned as he continued forward until only two remained.

What a lonely curse to forge a path alone, knowing your footsteps were always guided toward destruction and hatred. Lonely in its execution by driving a wedge between himself and those he'd do anything to protect. Lonelier still in his refusal to fully avail his companions of the truth which, ultimately, made them unknowingly complicit in his plan to exalt them as heroes while vilifying himself.

He confided in Floch, radicalized by the tragedy in Shinganshina, and Historia, the Worst Girl Who Ever Lived, who would eventually hold the world's blood on her hands because, while they may be earnest, they too would justify any means for a fruitful end. In confiding with Mikasa and Armin, he notably robbed them of their agency to enact change by rewriting their memories. At the end of the day, he knew them to be better. Certainly better than the devil who would take the bloodiest path of least resistance.

Obviously, he had the gift of foresight but, without that, would he ever have doubted their resolve as they consistently doubted his allegiance? His intentions were extreme but I also think about how alienating it is to realize that the people he'd do everything for still had doubts as to what was in his heart.

[oxygenbefore1775]

to add more incoherent thoughts to the connotations that daylight has in the aot world

another association that light has in our global culture is enlightement (hence the same root of the words) aka progress and new knowledge

but since the light meant danger on Paradis... you get that enlightement is correlated with the danger

just what's happened with Paradis once they discovered that they are not alone - it made them aware of all the dangers facing their way as opposed to the times where they were kept in the dark but at the same time in the relative safety

[sailorspica]

emotional thinking about warrior candidates: the first adults to know better, albeit in retrospect but much earlier than their parents, are soldiers of both marley and paradis: magath, the liberio gatekeepers, sasha and jean ("who will we be if we throw kids off an airship"), mikasa and armin, and the pinnacle for me? nile dok. at first gabi is insulted her "comrades" (grown! ass! men!) suddenly don't see her as a capable soldier; then on paradis she learns so painfully and quickly what war really means, and all but begs armin and mikasa to extrajudicially kill her as if she is an adult fully cognizant of her actions, but they absolutely will not. magath and shadis' kinda fruity death is preceded by nile telling falco "this is no place for children," when he himself entered the cadets at falco's age!! ugh!!!!!!! i bet you anything magath wanted to leave colt behind in marley, it doesn't matter he's tall, he is a child too