#also this does not mean i would be opposed to shipping with armin writers

[flowswept]

annie in canon: visibly has a strong crush on ar.min.

me:

[helena-thessa]

Hi Helena! Big fan of your writing here🥺♥️ Your rivamika fics are my safe space 😭 (if you have time to answer) i’d love to know when you first started shipping them, why, and what made you continue to love this ship (or anything else to do with your journey as an RM shipper)? i love your characterisation of both levi and mikasa individually, but even more so, your portrayal of their dynamic as a couple, which is why i wanted to ask so badly ☺️ x

Hey anon! Oh woah, first of all, thank you so much. Second of all, oh god, you probably shouldn't have handed me the mic. heh 😅

I’m afraid to look at the word count of this response, I’m sure it’s much more than you bargained for, but I appreciate the question and enjoyed thinking through my response (: Most importantly, I’m so glad you find my stories as a safe space. It’s really an honor. Thank you for sharing with me 🖤🖤

TL; DR As a longtime reader, writer and lover of stories and story-telling, by being someone who pays attention to how stories are crafted and deliberately developed from beginning to end, I sincerely thought Isayama was setting up rivamika as an endgame relationship. So, I read into and interpreted meaning out of ALL their interactions and became deeply invested.

I don’t necessarily ship them cause of the parallels, age gap, enemies to lover trope, height difference, or some of those common reasons and/or kinks. I’m more basic and boring than that. I love the concept of them coming together as though it’s inevitable.

They both are unbelievably strong, selfless, and have suffered so much loss— so, no one else could truly understand them as well as they can understand each other. They both probably would have always settled for a stable, simple life, and been alone and lonely even without realizing it— instead, they find each other, and realize what it means to actually no longer be alone, to do more than just survive. It’s this understated bond, as opposed to a dramatic and passionate romance, that I envision in them and that I love so much.

Then, the passion, heat, the romantic "spark"— I think that’s an added bonus, the cherry on top, the perfect final puzzle piece. They’re both so physically capable, can speak through their actions, and don’t show much need or capacity for emotional/ verbal communication, so the ability to connect with each other through physical intimacy and mind-blowing sex seems like another given.

Still, at the end of the day, for me it comes back to their ability to fully depend on each other, to the inevitability. Not like some soulmate trope where they 'have no choice' in it, but like the stars aligned to prove it's right. How each of them have only one other person on the whole planet who could see and understand them, to be on par with them, to make them realize there’s more to life than settling and surviving, and they happen to find it in each other.

You asked, I rambled 😅 Here’s a breakdown of my thought process in my rivamika journey. For those who make it to the end or want to skip to the end, I'll finish with the excerpt of the very first rivamika scene I felt compelled to to write.

I've tried before to re-watch and remember the exact scenes, exact moments, that initially captured my full attention, but I guess it was all of them, the gradual and cumulative compilation of their earliest interactions.

Mikasa always appearing cool and indifferent, and paying no attention whatsoever to others fawning over, like Jean initially falling for her, but then her strongly reacting over Levi in the courtroom showed how uniquely capable he was at getting under her skin.

Of course, the scene in the forest chasing the Female Titan was a critical one. I think of that as the first time both Levi and Mikasa were truly able to see the other's strength, mental and physical. And for them, orphans and trauma survivors who have suffered extensive loss, I think that seeing strength in another person made them feel less alone. Less alone in a deep, quiet but cataclysm, life-altering sort of way, even if not a romantic one. Like they didn't know it was something they didn't have, something they didn't expect to get from life, but then found it with each other.

(Even when we found out Levi was an Ackerman, I was disappointed if it meant they were immediate relatives, but willing to accept it wouldn't be a romantic end to loneliness, it would be a familial end to loneliness. But... the author never explored that. Not once.)

In that forest scene, manga and anime, the way that Levi pauses to really look and see Mikasa and think about who she is, what she’s gone through, and how strong and dedicated she is now— that was a defining moment. It was also a visual demonstration of Levi breaking character, from aloof and ruthless, to considering and curious. I thought Yams was showing both of them do that on purpose.

Then, Levi getting hurt because of Mikasa in that scene felt like another clue. Sure, it was while saving Eren, and sure, it could have been meant to humanize super-soldier Levi, or sure, it could have been another aspect of how Mikasa rushing into things over Eren ends up hurting other people that later changes in her character development, but it felt like a very pointed statement about Mikasa being a vulnerability for Levi. And that's swoon-worthy, right? Most of us have been exposed to and conditioned by stories about how special and romantic it is to be the one and only girl who can make an otherwise disinterested or unattainable guy actually pay attention to her, and so admittedly I fall right for it.

I’m sure I’m forgetting plenty, but the opening of season 3 felt like confirmation. When Levi figures out Kenny's behind things and entrusts Mikasa with instructions to share with the others, instructions about fighting people instead of titans that ultimately everyone else besides her struggles with, and when Mikasa lets Levi hold her back from chasing after Eren, her most important way of trusting and having faith in Levi, I honestly took that as cues from the author that rivamika was endgame. I let myself get truly invested from then on. That’s that understated bond I was referring to. To me, that unspoken but undeniable trust is the most important dynamic.

Seeing them fight together or fight similarly has always been fun and powerful and fulfilling.

I'm newer to the snk club. I was originally an anime-only fan and started watching in fall 2019, I think. I wasn't on tumblr, twitter, or anything else to see fandom discourse. So, I didn't know that the rooftop scene of Mikasa fighting Levi over the serum was such a staple for our ship until much later. I love the scene just like many do for all the reasons we do, but I don't think the actual scene was pivotal for me, so much as it's aftermath. I thought it represented two things.

One, it was an important marker in Levi's characterization. Hands-down one of the most striking scenes to me is the one where Levi is in the alley, somber and alone, listening in on Eren, Armin, and Mikasa talking together. It artfully shows his longing for hope and connection. So, when Levi chose Armin for the serum, that represented Levi choosing hope. And when Mikasa ultimately gave up fighting Levi and didn't choose Armin, which Armin finds out about later on, I see that as an important marker in Mikasa's development. It puts a wedge between her and Armin/Eren [Armin, because he knows she would have let him die, and Eren, because Armin is too special to him and he couldn't look at her the same way after realizing she would have let him die]. That distance between her and her childhood friends is one I don't think could ever be healed completely, one of those painful lessons in growing up. By doing that, it then also puts a distance in Mikasa's own childhood self to her current self. I thought that matured her and separated her out in a way that was another clue toward eventual rivamika developments.

That's a whole other conversation on Mikasa, but I’ll stay on track. Her love for Armin was absolutely authentic and fierce, but at the end of the day, at the core of her being, she chose survival over hope. Meanwhile, Levi chose hope over survival. To me, that was soft, fertile ground for the reasons why eventually, if/when Mikasa found hope and chose hope, that could directly tie together with her inevitably in coming together with Levi. Again, less butterflies and fireworks, but more natural and in a way that was just a given.

I wrote Beyond the Walls before reading the manga from the Marley Arc and on, so that's why most of that story is her journey into embracing that hope. *manga spoilers* There's a lot of meta, criticism and talk about Mikasa's silent, off-screen and subtle style of character development in the Marley Arc and afterward. I won't go down that road, I'm still processing the end of the manga to be honest, but I think it's fair to say she does eventually end up choosing hope over survival when she lets go of Eren and saves humanity instead. I love the “Stay with Me” line and think it’s perfect; a simple but profound display of trust and their deep-rooted bond in a really understated way. *end manga spoilers*

Here's something I always wanted to talk about in full but haven't. It honestly reads to me like Yams was building toward rivamika, and didn’t do anything to stop that until too late. There are tools authors can use to ensure we stop shipping a pair or start shipping a new one; love triangles are commonly used in every artistic medium and we’ve all been persuaded by these tools. But Yams didn’t use these tools to make sure readers didn’t feel convinced by rivamika. For all the reasons I listed above, more I'm forgetting, and for the following:

If he wanted us to think they were family and it would be incest, he should have added in a conversation between them realizing they were (close) family and that they weren't the only ones left in their biological family like they thought. But he didn't.

If he wanted us to think it was completely inappropriate between a child-and-adult and student-and-teacher, then he could have done something to ensure Mikasa looked childish or Levi looked older, but no. They barely look ten years apart. I do think it's unacceptable and that there's a power imbalance between a child-and-adult relationship regardless of that, and that there can't be true consent when one is a superior and another a subordinate, so I personally age-up Mikasa in my head and try to handle his position of power responsibly in my writings... but the point being, by the end of canon, there's no inappropriate or non-consensual romance between them, yet there's a lot of history and chemistry that could naturally lead to an age-appropriate and consensual relationship. If Yams didn't want us to think so, he could have made it more clear that there were reasons it wouldn't happen.

The only thing that makes sense to me is the author planned on rivamika endgame but was shamed/pressured out of it (either internally or due to others) OR that the author somehow accidentally created such vibrant chemistry and an incredible dynamic between them. Like, he didn't put enough convincing substance of eremika in, didn't make Levi look old enough, didn’t have one of them do something unforgivable in the other’s eyes, etc. Those are some of those tools he could have used. Romance was never a key component in snk. And since we now know Yams planned or needed eremika endgame for sake of plot and the conclusion of the manga, I personally think he didn't know what to do with the riveting rivamika substance and chemistry being much more convincing to readers. Once he had them so well built-up, maybe the only option he felt he had was to just stop putting the characters together. We get little-to-no rivamika interaction, platonic or practical, after season 3 all the way up until the very end. But there was so much of it beforehand ?? So, it simply doesn't make sense. I think the author just straight-up cut any and all interactions out between them because it was too convincing and moving, more convincing and substantial than eremika. But, as the end of canon shows, we needed to have some eremika buy-in. It's messy writing and unskilled in the romance department, but considering for how long and how complicated snk has been in a creative process and how lackluster the eremika romance (the main and apparently pivotal romance) is developed, I think it’s plausible to say the author effed up.

As far as writing fanfiction goes, there's just so much room to explore them. In canon, we aren't given enough insight into their individual perspectives, let alone their dynamic together, so it feels like a blank canvas to work from. I think that's part of why I love to write them, and also why I don't necessarily read much of them. When I first started shipping them while watching the anime, I read a few of the classics that were canon-verse, but I haven’t really read much since. For me, exploring and discovering them as a writer is the most fun. (It's one of the reasons Naruto and Harry Potter have such large fanfiction collections. There's so much world-building and so many characters, but there's also so much left to the imagination.)

In general, I'm drawn to strong characters, especially women, who are multidimensional enough to be real, vulnerable and soft. Mikasa is the pinnacle of that. I don’t necessarily like to write about her love or infatuation with Eren, but I do respect and admire and consider it integral to her character and her amazing capacity to love. We can have strong, kickass women who falter when it comes to love but are still considered strong for it. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive and Mikasa is a beautiful example of that.

And Levi is strong, but real and vulnerable too; he’s honestly a fantastically developed character, from Petra explaining to Eren in the beginning how he’s not the amazing hero he’s painted to be to the public, to how Levi genuinely cares for Erwin and others and chooses hope despite all he’s suffered.

The end of the manga wrecked me a bit. Kind of like Games of Thrones. You have something that was so epic and well-done for so long, a rushed ending that isn't immediately sensical and isn't fulfilling is hard to stomach. Eventually, I'll move on from the denial of that and process what I think and feel about it. The whole reason we have fanfiction is to expand on canon, but it's made me put rivamika on the back burner until I figure it out. So I'm a little less hyper-fixated on the pairing right now even though interacting with you all and asks like this remind me what brought me here in the first place. 😊

To conclude, I’ll share that the very first rivamika content I wrote was a compilation of moments I thought could be inserted into season 3. These are still moments I plan to edit and publish one day. For anyone that actually read this far, I’ll put a rough and unedited excerpt of the first scene I ever wrote about them.

Thank you again anon 🖤😊

BEGIN EXCERPT [after the rooftop fight for the serum, immediately following the ceremony where Eren touched Historia by kissing her hand]:

Part of her was embarrassed at such a flagrant act of disobedience to a superior, especially to one who saved her and countless others' lives in the past. But mostly, she was anguished by the situation Captain Levi put her in once he revoked the serum meant to save Armin and planned to use it on Commander Erwin instead. Her current ostracization and self-loathing was not entirely her own fault. Anger she felt toward herself was just as easy to wield against him.

It must have shown in the grit of her teeth or defiant tone, because he turned to look at her, more aloof than curious.

Like a flint struck to steel, it ignited the fury she felt toward him.

“I shouldn’t have hesitated. I should have just killed you,” she answered him at last, piercing him with eyes darker than the night.

He wasn’t concerned. “You’re good, but not that good.”

Her hands fell to her side, fists clenched as she stood with a single, fluid movement. Before she could let loose a threat, he sighed.

“What’s the problem, Ackerman?” He was dismissive, his shoulders relaxed and posture loose.

The fire too furious to contain, she went sailing for him with the same speed from the battlefield. Her fingers already curled, she tightened her grasp as she swung her fist into his gods-damned apathetic face.

Levi wasn’t unprepared. He easily side-stepped her, then snatched her wrist to steal her momentum. Though he tried to toss her aside, she was no less fast; Mikasa dug her heel in and spun, her other arm shoving hard into his chest.

Too graceful to stumble, Levi used the chance to hook her second arm too. He caged both her wrists in a grip so strong, she was sure it bruised her bones. Still, he only looked at her warily, almost bored.

“Shouldn’t you be grateful? I chose Armin.” If his reminder was meant to ease her anger, it had the opposite effect.

Fury and desperation gifted her additional strength. She shoved into his chest hard. Levi shifted backward, nearly forced into loosening his grip; within that split second of an opening, Mikasa slammed her elbow into his chin, rocking his head backward.

“You did,” she seethed, but as fast as the fire inside her exploded, it was doused. Her next words came out broken and damp. “But I didn’t.”

Levi remained stern and otherwise unmoving as he attempted to flex his jaw through the spasm of pain. As the momentum of the fight died down, he loosened his hold on her wrists and evaluated her distraught frame.

Mikasa immediately released her own hands and turned away from him, eyes stinging from tears she refused to shed as she focused on the stars ahead. Admitting the harsh words aloud hurt her far more than any injury she could inflict onto him.

Not only was Armin one of the only friends she had, but he’d been a steadfast one throughout almost all she could remember of her life. After the trauma of her childhood, it was Eren and Armin who embraced her, whom she learned to love. Now, though, there was a wedge between her and Armin she was not sure could ever be removed. What was worse, as deplorable and selfish as she knew it proved her to be, was the painful wedge it now put between her and Eren too.

Once again, she found Levi standing at the peripheral of her sight, close enough to see but far enough to be a blur at the edge of her watery vision.

“You almost killed me.” Levi repeated his earlier words, but he said them with an odd bite, torn between frustration and patience. “You would have killed me to save him.”

Too late, Mikasa realized he hadn’t meant these words as an accusation, but an odd form of validation. She bit her bottom lip, teeth puncturing too hard; the tang of metal was sharp on her tongue when she swallowed blood.

“You thought about letting your closest friend die,” Levi said quietly, tiredly. “But I did let mine die. I left him for dead, when I could have saved him.”

Mikasa was startled from her selfish reverie, for the first time acknowledging the sacrifice he made on that fateful afternoon. She’d been too absorbed in her own relief, and then, her own regrets to consider what the decision had done to him.

For a brief moment, she considered turning to face him, but the stark reality of the matter made her refrain. How could she feel pity for his loss, when his loss enabled her gain? An uncomfortable knot tightened in her stomach.

“Tch,” Levi sighed. He was only one notch less taciturn, but for him, that was soft. “You’ll live with your guilt, and I’ll live with mine.”

His words granted Mikasa’s tears the permission to spill. She buried her face further into her scarf, both hands trembling at the worn threads. As quietly as he arrived onto the roof, Levi disappeared from it.

.

.

It was rare for him to indulge in alcohol or celebrations, but Erwin’s absence felt more tangible than his presence ever did. Levi distracted himself with the chaos of the few remaining Scouts that Erwin had died entrusting his legacy to, and attempted to drown the pain with whatever drink Connie Springer shoved into his hands.

He found Hanji with their ale long-forgotten about on the table as they half-stood from their seat, frantic while explaining some morbid experiment in great, vivid detail to an unsuspecting and slightly horrified MP officer.

Though Levi wordlessly took the seat beside them, Hanji paused their rant to slap him hard on the back, an enthusiastic greeting flying from their drunken lips. The MP took this chance to excuse himself, a pathetic attempt at politeness, but Hanji either didn’t care or didn’t notice.

“Ah, Levi,” they smiled at his drink, though it didn’t entirely reach their one eye. “Where you been?”

Levi didn’t answer. “You know, shitty-glasses, you’re even more unbearable about your experiments when you’re drunk.”

Hanji waved dismissively and reached for their ale. Years spent in battle and command together had gifted both of them with an eased familiarity, and sometimes, genuine friendship. In the same manner he ignored their question, Hanji ignored his lack of response and went on with their original inquiry.

“Careful, Captain,” Hanji warned lightly. “Now that there’s far fewer Scouts, you having a favorite might cause some division.”

Even though Hanji meant the words, there was a glint of mischief that twinkled in their remaining eye.

“It’s not favoritism,” Levi countered bluntly, turning his vision toward the young man on the far side of the room. “Eren is simply the best chance that we have in this war.”

Hanji laughed as if he’d made a joke and Levi looked back to stare at them, unable to be surprised at their quirks or oddities any longer, but still a touch curious about what spurned this current demonstration.

“I wasn’t talking about Eren,” Hanji said at last, a pointed nod toward his injured chin.

Levi blinked. He didn’t realize he was nursing his injury with the hand not on his drink. As though it were too hot to touch, Levi dropped his hand.

Hanji was not judgmental, nor inquisitive. In a war-torn life of losing too many cadets entrusted to him, the fact that Levi found a soldier with the strength and skill to remain safe was not only rare, but worth special attention. Still, it made him too lenient.

“Sometimes I think you’d let her get away with murder,” Hanji chided halfheartedly.

When he thought of Erwin dead in his grasp, sometimes he wasn’t sure if he already had.

[kyojinofbraveos]

Chapter 93 Thoughts.

Le writer is happy because this was such a good chapter.

I will be using Mangastream since it is on the point and Crunchyroll translation is not out yet. I will make corrections after I read Cruncyroll translation.

Ah, I am really living for chapters like this! Many things I learn, many things I crave. New info. Yay! To sum it up cursory, in this chapter we saw:

Isayama really did reversed the map, call it a brand new world and gave half of it Marley. Really, Marley is putting British, Mongols and Romans to shame while Alexander the Great is crying at background.

Marley is relying too much on Titan power, that is why they don’t have an advanced army and navy.

Mads Mikkelsen is their marshal.

Mid-East Union is now Fab-Kebab Union who lost the war but also got all the praises and that made Marley jealous.

Zeke can get even more interesting every month. He also has a Zekeret.

Marley is not aware that Zeke is royal blood. Bruh.

We found out how Zeke is able to control titans. With injecting his own spine fluid. Reasonable.

Cartman is actually a cartwoman and she stole my heart. Unlike roast master Galliard.

Reiner “I must protect the smol ones” Braun. Enough said.

The smol ones are also winning my heart more every chapter. Gabi, Falco, Udo and Zophia are 14 year old cutie pies.

Paradis is doing well, Paradis is doing great.

Ackermans are actually lab rats.

Ymir. Beautiful. Willful. Dead.

Le writer is wishing next month to be a Warrior chapter as well to get a Warrior volume and her chapter thoughts are under the cut.

This chapter was really focused to theme of how past actions are effecting to our present ones. How a step, an event, a mistake or a choice we made years ago can influence the present.

Marley defeated Eldia with their improved technology back in 100 years ago and now, even though they officially have won the war with Mid-East Empire, in long term, they have lost. Human mind manage to beat Titan magic once again.

Like Pixis being the voice of the reason at Chapter 90, Captain Magath took this role in this meeting and reminded the trouble Marley is in to Marshal Mads Mikkelsen.  [ Btw yes, @erensjaegerbombs​ I was craving for someone like Magath, I am glad I got what I want. ]

They were once heroes that defeated Titans, now they are on the side Titans and are losing this war to humans, just like what happened at 100 years ago. What change is to humanity is just the name of that monster he needs to defeat, it was Eldia 100 years ago. It is Marley now. Like a circle that keeps repeat and repeat, whoever gets the power of Titans seems to be cursed but there is a reason why it is called curse of Ymir in the end.

Sending traumatic soldiers that survived to war to scare their motherland is not gonna work to scare those enemies anymore for Marley, this is just gonna make enemies more pissed. People will want to avenge this shame Marley is writing to their history with the force they got from Eldians. 

There is a person that sits right next to Captain Magath because of his past actions in that meeting.

Zeke Mr. Key Jaeger.

He is sitting there thanks to Grisha and the betrayal he did to him. He has Marley’s full trust, he is Marley’s War-Chief and the owner of Beast Titan, he is admired by other Eldian cadets, he can speak and raise his voice to Marleyans and his opinions are being listened and do get approval. These are all the result of his betrayal to Grisha 22 years ago. And he seems to determined to put an end to everything that happened because of Grisha’s past actions. He has his owns, his own agenda. How he manages to get more and more interesting every chapter!

Another interesting thing about him was telling everything to Marley but the fact that he is royal blood. Marley was outsmarted by a 7 year old child.

Yeah Colt, it is not like Zeke has royal blood, right? 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

He can read what Marley commanders like Marshal Mads Mikkelsen wants, more medals, more fame. He took the advantage of it and with the help of a good speech, Marley is turning their attention to Paradis and I am sure this is what he wants as well.

Paradis must be thanking Marley for those 32 ships they have sent. With Eren and Armin cooperating, they probably have some captives and more knowledge. Paradis is not an isolated small island full of ignorant people anymore. They have learnt how to fight. Things are different now.

Thanks to Zeke, we also get a little clue about what Ackermans actually are. They are successful lab rats. Like Marley making tests and experiments on Eldians in the present time; in the past when Eldia Empire was still existing, they also seem to done the same. And the result of these researches are the Ackerman Clan as we learn from Zeke. Mikasa and Levi are the living successful results of an achievement in the past.

And they are still hunting Reiner in his sleep. 

Chapter 82.

Chapter 93.

Notice how the last “Wait!” line is same.

I am sure being beheaded by the Ackermans in the same day is a traumatic experience for Reiner, after all those years they are still in his nightmares and they are not alone. After all those years, Reiner is still suffering. He is still screaming to wait right before losing Bertolt. 4 years passed, nightmares stayed alongside with pain.

Then he wakes up next to a vengeful Galliard who blames him for his past mistakes and is probably roasting him everyday for them. Galliard appeared only in a few panels and in all of them he looked at Reiner with blaime and treated him like everything is his fault. 

He is not opposing, because he thinks Galliard is right.

When titan trio, or should I say titan four, were travelling to the walls, Marcel becomes dinner for Ymir in order to save Reiner. Because of that trauma and the guilt, Reiner starts to pretend like he is Marcel, like he is the reliable big brother of the gang. So without seeing him, we got a picture of what kind of person Marcel was like before, the perfect onii-chan everybody is looking up to. That was the description of 104th Reiner, but what about real Reiner there? This chapter, we probably have witnessed the most genuine version of Reiner Braun, the real one. He is a mess, a lost cause, a traumatic cinnamon roll who fights with all the guilt he has. Yet, there is still a caring papa side of him, so we learn that not everything we saw about 104th Reiner was a lie. It is nice to see somethings hasn’t change with him after all these years. 

Years change, people change, but somethings do stay same.

And sometimes, people who can’t change ends up in horrible ways.

Like Ymir.

The best line to describe Ymir might be said by Galliard, she was just a poor girl that was given a way too big name for her. Nothing more, nothing special. Just a kind hearted idiot. Just like she said to Reiner at the top of the walls in chapter 50. 

Her time within the Walls was a stolen gift for her, yet she deserved this. She deserved all the time she spent with Historia, she deserved even more. What stopped her? No one but herself.

Ymir was like the slave of her own choices, she always had the chance to run away from this fate, yet she kept choosing it because of her kind heart, because of her mercy. She keep choosing the merciful options, not the ones that is gonna keep her alive and that caused her death. Twice.

Her last expression seems like she is dead already, so maybe it was better we haven’t see Ymir’s last moments. I am not saying her death was good handled but without revealing the biggest plot point, Isayama couldn’t have show us Ymir’s death, our characters haven’t reached the basement when she was eaten by Galliard. Yet, I can make a clear guess about what she is thinking. She was thinking about the beautiful thing she got thanks to her stolen chance. The one thing that brights her mind.

I am %200 sure this is what her mind is focused at that moment. Nothing more.

Ymir.

Beautiful.

Willful.

Dead.

I am gonna miss my girl even more. But does this mean her job is done here? Does this mean we are not gonna see her anymore? I don’t think so. Ymir lives through Galliard and most importantly, Historia. Ymir always wished to live just for herself but this was just a wish, something she never was able to manage. Just like us, in real life people who never manages stuff they wish for. She knew such a failure this attempt was, so she wished at least one person who was dearest for her to manage this and Historia really did. If Ymir would see this, she would be happy. She would be happy to see how Historia is making right choices and writing her own fate, unlike her. 

This chapter changed my opinions on Cartman to the opposite direction. I was not expecting Cartman to be a Cartwoman, I  was not expecting to fall for Pieck the first moment I saw her human form. 

Friendly reminder that this:

and this are:

the same person.

I don’t want to make this woman angry.

Cartwoman’s special ability seems to be in titan form for a long period of time. With long, I mean it. Long enough to forget how to forget on two feet. And her human form’s special ability seem to be stealing hearts at first sight.

Like Warrior kids that stole my heart.

I mean, just look at these cuties!

Seeing Reiner also warms my heart.

Rubbing kids’ heads, avoiding them from weird concepted shops, giving them useful advices, just your average papa Reiner things.

Even if it gets weird sometimes.

I am talking about the scene where Reiner shout Falco to inherit his powers to protect his waifu.

Reiner was trying to motivate Falco to surpass Gabi so that he can protect her from the curse of Ymir. It is not like Gabi is going to give up on trying to inherit Armored Titan, she is too stubborn and determined to yum Reiner-senpai in order to save the good Eldians according to her point of view. Both Falco and Reiner knows this. But this choice will ruin her life and that is why Falco hates it. For someone like Reiner who lost everything he has because of the wrong choices he made, he sees and understands why Falco is that angry and reserved towards him so he uses this empty moment where Falco mumbles all his honest opinions and Reiner catches this perfect oppurtunity to tell him that if he won’t surpass Gabi, his family’s future is done. That he needs to save Gabi.

Why?

Because Reiner knows how it feels not being able to protect your dear ones. He has lost every one of them, dead took some of them, blaime handled the rest. He stayed behind while the others fade away.

He doesn’t want Falco to go through same thing, he wants him to be the sacrificial pawn because he knows how much it hurts to being saved by those who cared for you and causing their death because of some past mistakes. He wants Falco to do something he failed, he wants him do protect something he loves. He wants him to give them a future, unlike him who never manage to do so.

The choices have been made and it effected the future of our characters. It still does,yet they are not done. There are more to come, more to look, more choices to make.

I suddenly started to feel like Levi.

I hope to see another Warrior chapter next month to get a whole Warrior volume. For those of you manage to read this down: