#aot scouts

[loveandpeaceanddoughnuts]

Levi x Scout!Reader - oneshot hurt/comfort, use of y/n, minor injury

Levi reaches out in half-sleep to pull you close and jolts fully awake when he doesn’t feel your body in the bed beside him. His heart pounds and he breathes deep, trying to shake off the burst of adrenaline. The sheets on your side are cold- you’ve been gone a while.

He slips out of bed, wrapping his coat around him as he lights the closest lamp. “How many times have I told them not to do this shit?” He grumbles, more to remind himself that you’re okay, that this has happened before, than out of any real anger.

And it has happened before- you stealing away to suffer alone rather than let someone else, even your partner, see you hurt. You’re not in the rest of the quarters, not in the hallway when he sticks his scowling face out the door to check.

“Fuck’s sake.” Levi shoves on his boots and heads straight for the training grounds, grimly confident that he’ll find you there.

You’re sweating under the pale moon, launching attacks at a sparring dummy that’s seen better days. Your knuckles are split- you didn’t bother to wrap them before starting to swing. A nightmare drove you here and you’re deep in your mind, seeing the faces of enemy soldiers on the worn, straw-stuffed head of the dummy.

The face before you is suddenly replaced with Levi’s, and you just barely manage to pull the next punch before it lands squarely on his clenched jaw. You still clip him on the chin and he takes it, his head snapping to the side, sleep-tousled fringe falling across his eyes.

“Hey, y/n. Rough night?” He deadpans.

You’re panting, breathless with exertion and the shock of him sneaking up on you. “Take a wild guess.”

He doesn’t answer, just looks down at your bloody knuckles and frowns. “Seriously?” He catches your wrists before you can pull away and turns your hands over, inspecting them in a tense silence. “Tch. Even shitty cadets don’t train barehanded.” You yank your hands away as he continues. “You know better. You wanted to hurt, is that it?”

“You weren’t there. You didn’t see their faces, Levi, it was my fault!” He steps closer, cautiously, like he thinks you might bolt.

His voice is quieter but still firm. “Then hit me.”

“What?” It knocks a bit of the fight from you, and you lower your fists warily.

“You’re right, I wasn’t there. But you’re on my squad, I gave the order. You're just a soldier following commands. Hurt me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Your voice cracks.

“I’m not.” He’s right in front of you now and he tugs his jacket open, exposing his chest to you and the empty field. “You wanna lash out, go ahead.” He spreads his arms like an invitation.

Your eyes sting with frustrated tears and you turn away so he doesn’t see them fall. “Fuck you, Levi. You know I can’t.”

“Y/n, look at me.” You shake your head, refusing to meet his gaze. His hand cups your cheek to bring you back. Levi’s eyes, still bleary with sleep, are softer now. “You don’t have to carry this alone anymore. Why didn’t you wake me?”

You can’t answer, afraid that if you open your mouth you’ll only be able to sob. The bright, guilty rage that had driven you out here was beginning to fade, but the shame it left behind was a different pain. A pain Levi knew well. He doesn’t ask you again.

Instead he gathers you into his arms as you cry, strong hands stroking your hair, your cheek against his steady heartbeat. Levi carries you gently back into the barracks, back into your room, into safety and the dim glow of lamplight.

He hushes the apology you begin, thumbs the tears from your cheeks without comment. He only lets you go when your shuddered breaths have smoothed back to normal, the worst of it over.

Levi disentangles himself from you with a murmured reassurance that he'll be back soon. He returns bearing two steaming mugs and an armful of bandages, disinfectant, and...cleaning supplies?

He rolls his eyes at your confused look. "You got blood on my jacket, brat. Can't let the stain set." He won't bother with his clothes, though, until he's finished gingerly cleaning your bloody knuckles and wrapping them in clean bandages.

You wince into your tea as he works, trying hard not to show more weakness in front of him. Especially not pain from wounds you caused yourself. Levi notices, and without adjusting his scowl he presses a quick kiss to your hands before wrapping the last layer. "Stop that."

"Hm?"

"Stop beating yourself up. The world fucks us badly enough. It doesn't need your help." He turns away to start scrubbing at the bloodstained jacket. "And I need to sleep through a night without worrying that you've run off to do something idiotic."

The hint of a smile creeps onto your face. "You worry about me?"

Levi's gray eyes narrow. "Of course I do. What kind of a question is that?" He pokes your forehead. "Or is there only room to think about yourself in that stupid head of yours?"

"I love you too, Levi."

He reddens and looks away. "Yeah, well. Next time wake me up."

"Promise."

[cat-cosplay]

Attack on Kitten

[mooniiify]

his imaginary girlfriend — jean kirstein x civilian! reader

contents: one shot, (almost) canon compliant, fluff; we’re gonna ignore that they’re like 14 here imagine they’re a little older idk

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

after two whole years of being away, jean finally gets to go back to trost.

granted, it was only because they were there to simulate an evacuation drill, so just for more practice. jean was nothing but lucky that it happened to be in his hometown.

he held the straps of his heavy military backpack as he walked down the familiar streets with connie, sasha and marco in tow. he was looking around, trying to take everything in — he couldn’t believe it’d been two years. everything looked the same; was he not at that parlor just the day before he left for the cadet corps?

“hey, jean.” sasha suddenly appeared on his shoulder, making him jump just a little. her eyes were wide, smile bright. “are you going to visit that y/n you’re always talking about?”

before jean could answer, connie scoffed from his other side. “if she exists, that is.”

jean rolled his eyes. this wasn’t the first time the topic had been brought up. jean has talked about her, of course he has, but connie never believed she existed, not even with the care packages and letters she’s sent.

marco frowned. “hey, jean seems pretty enamored with her. i’d say it looks pretty real.”

“yeah, right! i bet he’s writing all those letters by himself away from us so we won’t be able to see.” connie stood his ground. jean rolled his eyes at his friend, but didn’t say anything.

in truth, he was going to see her. he’d heard thomas wagner was visiting his family, so it must’ve been allowed. she didn’t know he was coming, never never mentioned it in the past few letters because he’d found out just recently. still, how hard could it be to find her? maybe he could start from her house, then if she’s not there, maybe at the flower shop she works at. if she’s not there, maybe—

“jean?”

he stopped in his tracks, as did his comrades. the four turned around, eyes falling on a lone girl stopped in the middle of the road. her clothing was simple, a long brown skirt, a white button up with a sleeves vest on top. a basket was hanging on her arm, part of it filled with vegetables, the other holding a few flowers.

jean couldn’t believe his eyes. you’d grown taller, he noted, though not by much. your hair was longer, but your eyes were just as bright, smile just as big. how has it been two years?

“y/n?”

she wasted no time. y/n rushed over, putting her basket on the ground before she threw her arms around jean’s neck, making him almost stumble due to the added weight of the backpack. he managed to keep his balance, though — he’s been training to be a soldier for a year, it would’ve been embarrassing if he fell over — and wrapped his arms around her as well, burying his face in the side of her head, his nose brushing by her hair.

he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her until he felt her touch.

“my walls, you’ve grown so tall!” y/n said as she pulled back just enough to put her hands on each side of his face and look into his eyes. “and strong! can’t believe you didn’t fall over.”

jean’s ears burned at that comment. “y/n!”

“see, connie? told you she’s real! you owe me bread!”

still holding onto each other, y/n and jean looked back, eyes immediately falling on connie. he was staring at the two with his mouth gaped, jaw almost hitting the ground, eyes wide. sasha triumphantly stood next to him, a smile on her face. marco gave a soft smile and a small wave.

“oh? are those your friends, jean-bo?” y/n asked, not realizing jean’s ears had become even redder at the nickname. she pulled away and moved in front of his friends, putting a hand out to sasha. “hey there, i’m y/n! let me guess, you’re sasha? the girl with the appetite?”

sasha gasped dramatically as she looked at jean. “is this all you told her about me?” she scoffed and looked back at y/n, her smile returning. “that’s me! also one of the best soldiers in the corps! and a good cook! there’s more to me than food, jean-bo!” sasha looked over y/n’s shoulder at jean for the last part. “i can tell we’ll be great friends! oh, oh, we can be pen pals!”

connie could barely greet her, still shocked that she was real. marco introduced himself nicely, shaking her hand.

“why’re you here? you need help with anything?” jean had picked up her basket and made his way next to her, a hand on the small of her back.

“oh, my mom sent me out to buy some things. i was going to head home, but i didn’t expect to run into you!” y/n slapped his chest with the back of her hand. “why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

“i found out on a short notice, i would’ve otherwise,” jean told her, then looked at his friends. “i’ll walk y/n home and i’ll catch up to you guys later. can you tell shadis i went to visit family?”

the three agreed, bid y/n goodbye and left without protest. at least, sasha and marco did. connie was still in shock so they had to drag him along.

family, huh? y/n looked at jean — his jawline was so defined now, woah — and quirked an eyebrow. “i don’t need an escort home, you know?”

“i’m not your escort, i’m your company.” jean’s arm dropped from her back, though his hand caught hers in the process, starting to pull her towards her house. “as if you didn’t miss my ass.”

“eh, i mean, life’s been more peaceful the last two years than ever.” jean wasn’t amused at her words. y/n chuckled. “fine, it’s been boring as hell. sometimes i wish i’d joined the army.”

jean chuckled, shaking his head. “no, you don’t. it’s so much work and you’re lazy.”

“hey!”

it wasn’t long before they made it to her house. no one was home when they arrived. at least they can catch up properly without having to interact with others.

“are you hungry? i can make you this new recipe i learned, i—“

“hell yes, i’ll help you. i haven’t had a good meal in two years.”

jean dropped his heavy backpack on the ground near the front door, shedding his cropped jacket and letting it hang on one of the dining chairs. after helping y/n unload the basket, the two cooked a simple meal, though one that jean enjoyed way too much after living off of stale soup for so long.

they went to her room then, laid in her bed. her bed wasn’t very big so they were pretty close to each other, but neither minded. jean took in her features, every change and every part that stayed the same. she looked so pretty in his eyes — how did he get so lucky?

“so, how are you as a cadet?” y/n broke the comfortable silence. her hand was on his temple, her thumb drawing soft shapes. “sasha said she was one of the best around. how about you?”

“i’m ranked above her. sixth,” jean informed, his eyes never leaving hers. how was he supposed to live away from her for the next years? decades?

“sixth?” y/n’s eyes widened. “jean-bo, that’s incredible! you must be really, really good then!”

“‘course i am. i didn’t go there to slack off,” jean said as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “but I really missed your dumb ass.”

y/n rolled her eyes. “yeah, i missed you, too, i guess.”

jean’s hand had moved to her face now, too. copying her moves. “two years passed, just one more and we can go to the interior.”

y/n sighed, her hand dropping from his face and moving to hold the one on hers. “jean, we talked about this. i can’t just go to the interior because you’re going. that’s not how it works.”

“i don’t see why it wouldn’t work,” jean disagreed.

“it won’t work because i’m middle class and a normal citizen, not a solider. i can’t just go to the interior.”

the corner of jean’s lips lifted up just a little. “but if you’re the wife of an mp, there wouldn’t be a problem, would there?”

y/n’s eyes widened, her eyebrows shot up. then she slapped his chest and looked away, avoiding his gaze at any cost. “shut up. don’t say things like that. for all you know, you’ll change your decision at the end.”

“i doubt i will.” he ran a hand through her hair. she still wouldn’t look at him. “but even if i did, i would still find a way for you to be okay and safe.”

y/n faced him again, a small smile on her face. “you know, i don’t really deserve you.”

jean scoffed. “look who’s talking, miss sunshine-and-rainbows.”

“why do you have to always ruin the moment?” y/n rolled her eyes at his childishness, but her smile only grew. “i really love you, you know?”

jean nodded, the side of his face rubbing against the pillow. “i love you, too.”

“and i’ll support you no matter what you choose to do,” y/n said, her hand that had been holding his tightening. “just, wherever you choose to go, promise me to stay alive.”

jean nodded. there was no need to think about the promise — there was no danger in the inner ring. “i promise.”

“can you stay the night?” y/n asked after a brief moment of silence.

jean sighed. “i wish i could. i have to be back by noon for roll call. i’m sorry.”

y/n gave him a smile and nuzzled into his chest. “it’s okay. let’s just make the most of these few hours.” jean nodded, pulling her closer and nuzzling his nose in her hair again.

jean didn’t know back then his heart would waver, that he would choose a different path than he’d promised her. despite that, despite the danger he had willingly put himself in, the one promise he was determined to keep was to stay alive and go back to her.

and he kept it.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

ummm okay this was NOT supposed to be this long idk what happened but uh enjoy it’s not proofread and it’s 3:39 a.m. so i’m not doing that loll

[agathas-megacoven]

Fellow Hange fans we CAN heal. Just remember our bad mf is in Scout Heaven with the gang and they’re all playing a drinking game called “take a shot for each day Levi survives” they’re all cheering him on and getting absolutely plastered bc he refuses to die. he WILL live in the better world they gave their lives to help create. HE WILL

[sonofthesaiyans]

Hats off to Jean Kirstein, the Scouts' unlikeliest hero.

Honor dictates that I say a few words to honor the birthday of one of the 104th's strongest and most naturally gifted soldiers.

Jean Kirstein is a character who, at one point, I would have said had one of the most impressive arcs of any individual character in Attack on Titan. Once content to keep himself to the sidelines in service of the royal government, Jean has really come a long way from when we first met him in the early days of season one.

Jean has always been abrasive and cynical, holding on to no fantasies about the miserable world he and his friends have long been trapped in. But in spite of all he's gone through, he's shown a keen sense of judgement and natural leadership that has allowed him to survive again and again in a situation he at one point would have been all to happy to look the other way, and never turn back. In a world where insanity dominates between the Titans and humanity, Jean always seems to know what to do even when he's at an utter loss of what the outcome could be, and he's so often been a voice of reason when faced with the panic of his comrades or the zeal of his friendly rival turned mortal enemy, Eren.

His old pal Marco recognized this potential in Jean, and it seems Marco's words have resonated strongly with Jean long after his own demise. Understanding what was at stake, he took a hard look at what he signed himself on to and charged at it head on. Through and through, he's proven a dependable ally to those serving by his side and ultimately, under his own command. One of Jean's greatest assets, and perhaps in his own mind his greatest curse, is his nobility. Whatever his faults and failings, Jean has always sided with the greater good, and is one of the most incorruptible characters on Paradis. He's been pushed to his limits every bit as much as the rest of his circle......And through it all still stands tall.

By no means flawless, and I actually have some far stronger opinions about Jean in spite of the fact that I rarely ever comment on him around here.......And that's a discussion for another day.

For tonight though, gotta acknowledge the impressive track record of a guy who probably never should have been a Scout in the first place.......And somehow has lived to speak of the experience after going through Hell and back time and time again.

Seriously, Jean Kirstein would have been a worthy contender to become Commander of the Scout Regiment, or second-in-command under Hange and/or Levi. Whatever the case, he's certainly been an asset to the greater cause of freedom, and perhaps understood the meaning of what that was far better than Eren himself EVER did.

Keep moving forward as you always have, Commander Jean.

Happy Birthday to a man worthy of wearing the Wings of Freedom.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, and one last thing; If you really do truly love Jean, then for the love of all that is good and just.........

Do NOT even think about it with the lame as hell Horseface jokes. I think the fact that I acknowledged not just Jeanmarco, but also "Jeankasa" up here is being pretty generous as it is. So please, don't push it, alright?

Besides, I can name five other characters who look more like horses than him.....

[thena0315]

Final Goodbye

[parkvcrs]

me, seeing levi— the BIGGEST germaphobe in aot— not even bother to wipe away the blood kenny coughed on him:

“that day, why did you leave me?” - levi

[this-is-krikkit]

levi when he gets home: hey four eyes, did you buy eggs like i asked?

hange: even better!!

levi, facepalming already: what the fuck does that even mean, what did you-

hange, holding up a whole live chicken: her name is HENnibal LEGGter, haha, got it?! say hi to your new dad, Hennibal!

[chuuyasballz]

Attack On Titan characters as random screenshots in my phone (part 28)

Link to other parts

[imjustsomebodyelse]

scouts!au

( 5 / 7 )

[pastelcarat]

I don't think I ever shared these here, and since no one else besides my husband and brother understands it, you all enjoy my favorite bags!

[avariantflaire]

Levi wasn't ready to lose her.

In this period of grief, we see him stoop down by the smallest body in the line-up to recover their Scouts patch. It is the first and only time we ever see him do this in the series.

For someone whose philosophy is to make a choice with no regrets, regardless of the outcome; for someone who takes much time and care to reflect over his fallen comrades; we never see a scene like this again for the rest of SNK. He experiences this "Crushing Blow" (title of S1 E21, where his squad is slaughtered), and in "The Defeated" (S1 E22), stops to gaze - what was that, in his gaze? - at Petra's broken body by the tree.

Then he takes Petra's, and only Petra's, patch.

For every battle before and each battle henceforth, he comes prepared to lose everything. But in this one expedition, for this one soldier, he didn't. So he takes her patch.

"It's proof that they existed, at least for me." (Levi, in The Defeated)

He needed proof that she existed, because he wasn't ready to lose her.

[l-o-r-d-4]

Hange pointing out that the water’s worth crossing I guess. They make a valid case.

[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.

[sonofthesaiyans]

Happy Birthday Hange.....A Scout to the end and a true friend..... ⚔️ 💚 ⚔️

A salute to our birthday girl, the ultimate Scout and a gal who embodies the Wings of Freedom more than any other.....

Our beloved Hange Zoë. ❤️ 🎂 🥂

Sometimes I need a moment to remember just how much I love and appreciate Hange, who has been a unrelenting force in AOT and stands as one of the most noble gals you could ever hope to have by your side. Of all the people to sign on to the Scout Regiment, perhaps nobody believed in the cause as strongly as Hange did. In my book, if Sasha stands as the true heart of Attack on Titan, then Hange has earned her right to share that pedestal with her, for she is truly the heart and soul of the entire Regiment, and even with the entire world stacked against her she has never given up on herself or her people. Even in humanity's darkest hour, Hange was one of the few who refused to break.....For she truly believed there was a future worth fighting for in the unworthy world she was born in to. And there were few more deserving of a brighter future than her.

It's truly a bittersweet occasion. For her birthday should have been entirely hers, untainted by the saga that had come to do such a disservice to her in the final act. Instead, her birthday marks the day that the last good thing in Attack on Titan was stolen from us by Hajime Isayama.

Four years ago today......By this point the story had gone completely astray and nothing seemed to be held sacred anymore by Isayama, and thus we lost the last true guiding light in the story........One that not even the likes of Levi or Armin......And certainly not Mikasa.......could ever hope to compensate for. Indeed, even one chapter or episode without Hange pushing forward with us was a self-inflicted wound from which Attack on Titan never recovered.

And we all know Hange deserves so much more than that. The world and Hajime Isayama himself are completely unworthy of Hange Zoë....But Hange Zoë deserves the world and so much more.

Hange is so many things: Eccentric, unpredictable, extraordinarily energetic.......It seemed like nothing could stop this gal. She may have been a handful to those who knew her best......But she was also insightful, considerate, and uncommonly kind and humble. Hange could care less about fame or glory, her passion was knowledge, of both the Titans and the world beyond the Walls, and if not for her Paradis may have known no other world beyond Wall Maria......And the only thing greater than her pursuit of knowledge was her love and loyalty to those she served with.

We know so little about Hange's past or even her family......The Scout Regiment in effect was her family. And she went through so much to give them some chance to live, often without thanks and so often without the desired outcome. But Hange always valued the lives of her people, and in the end, she DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER....than what she got from those who betrayed her efforts. Who betrayed the meaning of what she thought for. None more so than from Isayama himself.......Hange was a true hero through and through, and the story should have honored that. ISAYAMA SHOULD HAVE HONORED THAT.......

Hange wasn't just the friend Levi Ackerman just could not get away from despite all their headbutting, she wasn't just Erwin's righthand woman and torch-bearer, she wasn't just a soldier.....Hange was a true friend to all of us. I think we all loved her dearly as one of our own.

So give your hearts to Hange, one of AOT's greatest, and the one who still richly deserves the future she fought so hard for. For she dedicated her heart and soul for the future of humanity.

Her courage, her determination, her humor, her love.....those are Hange's gifts. Hange is a gift to us all.....I only hope one day our birthday girl is repaid in full for everything she deserves. ❤️

Happy Birthday, Commander Hange. Your spirit stays with us, and you deserve so much better. Isayama certainly doesn't deserve someone so special as you.

There is no Attack on Titan without Hange Zoë.

[thena0315]