#honestly this revelation kinda saved my faith because it came at a time when i was thinking about leaving the church

[mormonforgetmenot]

Transphobic members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would cry and pee their pants if I told them that trans people made my testimony of the Family Proclamation stronger.

Nothing really sends the message that gender is eternal and an essential characteristic quite like someone who was born into a body of the wrong gender and still knowing who they are and willing to fight for it.

Most people don't actually understand how important gender is because they've never had to think about it. I don't feel God's love when people go on and on about how gender is important when they've never had to have it be important to them because they've never had it challenged and merely use it to drive trans people away from Christ. Which is not cool by the way! But I think that people who have had it challenged, who were told their whole lives that they were something that they knew very well they are not, had the threat of their rights taken away, for many the threat of losing family and friends, and yet still chose to live true to themselves is so meaningful and sends such a powerful message about how important gender is to our identities. How spiritual and godlike our genders can be. I think that is beautiful.

[therealjanejackson]

Heres a bunch more thoughts. Some of them are in line with my previous thoughts, many of them are contrary. Warning for being really quite long. More under cut.

I am warming up slightly more to the idea that Belos is just a one note villain, honestly it was my original interpretation of the character before we ever heard from Philip anyway, I just saw Philip, went “that’s definitely Belos”, and Philip seemed like a good boy and I thought that was an interesting angle. Not to mention, I mean, not to make a mountain out of a molehill but just how ridiculously queer they both seem, I really kinda thought they would subvert the queer coded villain thing and make it about generational trauma and repression and internalised whateverphobia and hfff. Anyway. Homing in on the old interpretation of Belos that existed before Philip. It’s honestly moreso the way Philip could turn out that annoys me. Like I said, I have a strong distaste for stories where “shadowed” younger siblings are depicted as selfish villains for not being okay with being forgotten in favour of their siblings, and surprise surprise, my older sister hates it too! I liked in guardians of the galaxy when Gamora hugged nebula and apologized. But besides that point, I’ve been thinking about it, and I guess the bottom line is I will be okay with any story line they push for Belos so long as they say something about abuse that atla didn’t.

Weirdly specific take, I know. But genuinely, for years, for as long as I can remember, atla and Zukos storyline has been the be all end all of child abuse in animated television, right? In kids media? It’s one of the key reasons everyone immediately jumped to compare Hunter to Zuko. What other animated show aimed at kids can you even think of that covers this topic. I personally can’t. And atla is great but… the abuse story isn’t even really all that complex. I’m not saying it’s bad but you know, ozai is an out and out dick who is completely humourless, never shows his kids affection, hurts them and humiliates them, makes them perform tasks for adults and is never, at any point, shown to have a personal relationship with them. Zukos primary hurdle to get over is the idea that he can somehow win his fathers love and respect by being perfect, and accepting the fact that it’s never gonna happen. Zuko doesn’t lose anything from this revelation: he never had a relationship with his father to begin with. I think it’s great that they had Zuko shoot lightning at his dad and throw him in jail at a time when most television pushed an idea that children should forgive their abusive parents on good faith alone and not only discussed the idea that just because someone is your parent doesn’t mean they love or want what’s best for you, but also showed that just because Azula was favoured doesn’t mean she was valued or loved or had it easy…. But it’s been fourteen years, and I think it’s genuinely sad that no one has had anything new to say about abusive families in that time save for encanto which came out literally a couple months ago.

If I’m honest, the new thing about abuse that I thought/wanted owl house to say, back when I just saw Belos as a horrible manipulative old man who might take advantage of Hunter in any conceivable way, was that the pressure to get out of his situation… shouldn’t all be on Hunter. Back then I was terrified of Belos, and I remember sending one of my friends who didn’t even watch the show yet a lengthy write up about how I was hoping Luz and Amity and Eda would open their eyes and see that the boy needs help, and that I was a little sick of stories where the abuse victim is expected to find the strength inside themselves to cry out for help, and god forbid someone on the outside ever put pieces together and reach out to Hunter first. I still maintain that: I kind of think more of the adults who Hunter encounters should be held accountable for complicity in his abuse, or at least face some sort of remorse for their lack of attention to what could easily be sniffed out as a huge fucking problem. I mean come on, we know from hunting palismen hunter doesn’t walk around the palace with his mask on twenty four seven, you expect me to accept that no one who lives/works there has ever wondered if that scar on his face was really from a mission, or if it was from his brusque, critical and petrification-happy uncle? I digress, I would be just as happy to see Hunter discuss his situation with Luz and/or Amity, and then see Luz struggle with figuring out what the best thing to do to help Hunter is.

Then, of course, we got more appearances from Belos and Philip (not to mention the statue of the man who is presumably Hunters father), and I started to think, “oh, he’s just a repressed queer person, they���re gonna give him a sad religious trauma backstory that he’s projecting onto Hunter, it’s gonna be about generational trauma, he probably won’t get redeemed but he’s not like this for funsies.” Furthermore, Zuko may not have a relationship with his abusive parental figure, but Hunter surely does. Honestly, we see pretty fucking frequently Hunter loves the shit out of Belos. I know we haven’t seen a ton of their interactions but I still kind of feel like Hunter must have some pleasant memories of his uncle to feel that strong a connection to him, and I know Belos is being a manipulative piece of shit at the beginning of eclipse lake but there’s something about the casual teasing and touching in that scene that kind of makes me feel like when Belos is at his best they might have a… playful sort of relationship. Don’t worry, it’s not lost on me that those things come from Belos and are under his control, it’s just a note. What I mean to say is, unlike Zuko, Hunter has something to lose, and that’s someone in his life that he loves very, very much. Through Hunters eyes, I started to see Belos less as a monster and more as a man, one who might have his own trauma and pain, and thinking back to my own childhood friends who experienced abuse, and what their primary struggles were, I had this thought on a different new thing owl house could say about abuse that would make me very, very happy indeed: that just because your abusive parent is struggling, just because your abusive parent is in pain, just because you have happy times with them, just because your abusive parent is traumatised, ill, addicted, trying their best, wants you or needs you or even loves you, that STILL doesn’t mean you owe them anything, that still doesn’t make them the best person to raise you, that still doesn’t make you safe with them because they mean well deep down or whatever.

But it might mean you can see them again someday. If you want to.

This is getting away from me. I’m supposed to be homing in on the old interpretation of Belos, not waxing poetic about the sympathetic one, but this is an interpretation that I have to admit I got ridiculously attached to, ridiculously quickly. Not that Belos would be redeemed- redemption implies forgiveness, and his actions can never be forgiven- or that he somehow avoid facing harsh consequences for his actions. I wanted him to have consequences, I wanted him to face every harsh reality of his actions with all the resignation and hopelessness you’d expect from a 400 year old, I wanted the people of the boiling isles to tear him to shreds, I wanted him to be expelled from the island, I wanted Eda to get custody of Hunter, I wanted him to have to kick his palismen juice habit all on his own, hell I wanted the ghost of his stupid brother to pop up and go “I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed.” I wanted him to somehow find a rockier bottom then being dethroned and exiled and I wanted him to hit it more than once.

But that all this would happen with the understanding that maybe, in his own way, he could move on from all this too, as the boiling isles will surely move on, as Hunter will move on, and that if the two of them happened to cross paths again someday… who knows. Might give some kids hope that coming forward about their situation doesn’t mean they’ll lose someone they love permanently.

Fat. Bloody. Chance. An inkling of hope for this clown, clearly, was too much to ask for. I genuinely thought yknow, theyre not gonna kill the guy because that’d be pretty shitty what with his relationship with palismen that I love to bring up oh so much but seriously it’s a huge thing for me and I’m honestly surprised the fandom doesn’t give it all that much attention, and they’re not gonna throw him in the conformatorium, funny as it would be, because there’s no way the place isn’t gonna be abolished when he’s not in power anymore. Besides, I kind of have a feeling discovering other Titan islands is gonna play into the plot at some point, him being exiled was the natural choice to me. Sure, strip him of his magic aids or whatever, but without his precious Day Of Unity and his Grimwalker there’s really no reason to believe he’d just get started up again somewhere else, you’ve gotta let him move on. Now though??? I really don’t know what they’re gonna do with him. I feel like even if they introduce more complexity into his character I feel like “Philip used to regularly trick innocent witches to their death, sometimes as literal sacrifices, and showed no remorse or anxiety about it literally at all” is not a, I don’t think there’s any coming back from that.

I guess I’ll be okay with it if the only new thing owl House says about abuse is that sometimes, people can seem like they care, a lot like they care, even if they don’t… I don’t know though, is that super new? Feel like I’ve heard that one before.

But even if I swallow all that and, as I originally planned with this post, home back in on that cruel, manipulative, heartless abuser I once believed Belos to be and get used to the fact that I was right the first time and there are no pleasant surprises of moral complexity here…. I still don’t want him to die. Sorry. I can’t do it. And it’s not because I think he deserves to live and suffer, that death would be too gentle a fate, or that I’m scared they’ll do the “sacrifices themselves at the last minute and gets redeemed without consequences” trope. It’s because I…. Well, I don’t think that’s what kids watching who relate to Hunter are gonna want to see. That’s all I’ll say.

This…. Ended up being a different post then I thought it would be. Maybe I’ll make a part two where I ACTUALLY home in on the darker version of Belos. But this post is already hugely long so yeah, I think I gotta just post it.

[kinetic-elaboration]

January 27: Thoughts on The 100 2x09, Remember Me

...For some reason I was really angry at the beginning of this? Also there’s a lot of Lxa bashing. Sorry. And some Clarke criticism but in the latter case, I mean it well.

Also this is really long whoops.

*

So...I miss when killing off main characters was a big deal and people actually reacted to it.

I truly cannot take Lxa seriously I’m sorry. I don’t find her... intimidating at all.

I’ve already complained repeatedly about her complete bad faith deal making at every turn so I won’t go into it again but nevertheless, here she is, again, moving the goal posts of the negotiation. ‘I’ll withdraw my army if you cure the Reapers. No, if you give up your friend. No, if you give me his body.’ Clarke should have double crossed her immediately.

Also I know that I ultimately did think it was reasonable for Finn to face Grounder justice (except insofar as that justice was itself morally untenable--that is, the Torture Porn) but now that he’s dead, I think there’s no real moral argument to be made that the Grounders deserve his body. I understand their traditions, which in fact I found quite moving when I first watched this ep, but surely his people have, or could make up, some traditions for his burial also. He is still their friend. This seems like little more than an excuse to be cruel. And Clarke’s so fucking broken she just goes with it. It’s truly awful. I mean she’s doing the only thing she can do I guess but it’s laughable that she sounds as if she has any sort of upper hand, you’re getting played bitch.

(Yeah I know, Lxa is being ‘groundbreaking’ and ‘revolutionary’ by even semi-accepting capital punishment without torture and taking his body is a way of appeasing her harder line advisers but like cry me a river--she’s either the all powerful commander or she’s fucking not.)

“We want the same things.” Lol if you wanted the same things you would have stuck to the original deal. No I’m not over this at all I guess.

I also still can’t get over how Clarke has literally never earned true leadership in the eyes of her own people and yet she continues to be randomly viewed as a leader by the Grounders and thus retains pretty much full de facto control over her own people’s power structure.

Also Kane shut the fuck up. I completely forgot about this but they really did put him through an off-screen 180 where all of a sudden Lxa is a God to him and can literally do nothing wrong and to this day we have never been given an explanation how that came to be. Guess it’s easier to tell not show huh?!?

ALSO I get we’re suppose to see a sort of racism-corollary to lines like “I don’t think they know what peace is” like obviously this rubs one the wrong way automatically. But Abby’s not really wrong. And despite what Kane thinks, Lxa has given, again, NO indication at all that she is interested in peace. She has given a lot of indications that she wants to do whatever she can to wring as much from the Sky People as she can without giving anything in return and hey we’re only halfway through the season and she’s already psychologically broken Clarke (also the only person she acknowledges as the leader even though she is not, cannot emphasize this enough, the leader of anything... and thus the only person L really has to break) and sunk-cost-fallacy-ed her into submission. Now that Finn is dead Clarke would cut off her own tit to make Lxa happy because anything else is “letting him die in vain.”

...Why am I so angry lol?

I understand the positions of both Clarke and Raven in this scene, which is fucking brutal, but I sympathize more with Raven. Clarke’s basically just a messenger, but what the Grounders are demanding is (I know I already said it) cruel, and cruel to Raven above all. And Clarke is almost all business. I think that’s what she needs to be for herself but it’s not helpful to the situation.

Anyway here are my faves in Mount Weather. It’s almost hard to watch these scenes because I want to, like, memorize them. Partially for the C/M story and partially just because. Today’s adventure is getting to a radio to send a message to the Ark-wide channel, which is a term for a thing that exists. Also I forgot how snarky everyone / Miller was to Maya. Which, I get. But--are they not thinking about how her own people have experimented on her? Like she is expendable to them, this is just a known fact at this time. So yes, there is a real risk to her, Nathan.

“Oh, is that all?” / “No--there’s more.” Monty’s so one-track he didn’t even hear the sarcasm. I love him.

“Their army has been getting their ass kicked by Mount Weather forever.” Bellamy speaking the truth. Do they need the alliance, or do they just need the Grounders to back the fuck off from attacking them? (Spoiler: they do not need the alliance.)

Ah Bellarke, always quick to reassure each other. Blindly, even.

“Since I don’t take orders from you, I’m going to need a better reason” is one of my favorite lines, and underrated. Finally someone reminding Clarke she’s not actually in charge of everyone and everything all the time. (I realize this sounds like I dislike Clarke. I don’t. I just find certain traits of hers frustrating. But this just makes her a good character.) Also you can see that, rather like her moment with Raven, she falls back on being business like and direct and issuing orders to avoid talking about feelings or breaking apart.

The United States War Room survives the apocalypse.

I’m sorry but it’s ridiculous to think that Lxa invented the concept of an alliance lol.

I guess Clarke needs to go all in on the alliance because of Finn, but... I also think this is part of who she is. Her sense of practicality outweighs any human desire to hold a grudge, and I think she assumes a level of practicality in others too, automatically, such that she underestimates wariness in others. Like Bellamy and Gustus and everyone is right to be uncertain about this literally hours-old alliance--not even an official alliance, since L’s latest demand hasn’t technically been met!--and Clarke’s like ‘yeah I’ll sleep next to people who would have killed me six hours ago np!’ because now that she’s in, she’s in. She’s neither angry nor afraid.

Linctavia like “Google Earth, always taking pictures.”

Is Lincoln wearing Ark clothes?

I know Raven is made to look kind of wan and sunken and sad but yet this scene where she’s being disarmed is honestly like peak hotness for me and I don’t know why. I like my women sullen and covered in knives?

Interesting how allegedly only the warriors knew English and yet Lxa’s big announcement re: get in line with me or die is made in English. Just going to point out yet again what a big mistake that throwaway S1 line is.

What a sad life to lead, where random declarations followed by “or death” have to form the entirety of your belief system “Don’t be upset that your wife and child are dead...or I’ll beat you to a pulp.” I truly don’t understand how we were ever supposed to get in line with this society as sympathetic or interesting. So much so that they get a whole prequel I guess???

I’d rather have a Mount Weather prequel except not really, don’t ruin it for me.

I love Miller’s canonical insane superhuman strength. This is a trait often overlooked in fics.

The usual comment on Mount Weather scenes: I love all of it.

The thing is that if everyone were on board with the funeral ceremony, it is touching. Murderer and murdered together, and the people who’ve been hurt, on both sides, saying goodbye as a group. It’s just that Clarke’s people were coerced into this--they weren’t convinced it would be a fitting ceremony, just told ‘well this is how it is and if you don’t like it, we could perhaps... KILL YOU?”

Is this a new revelation that Mount Weather crashed the Exodus ship (still a really satisfying belated explanation imo)? Or did we know that because, unlike Monty et al, we knew about the jamming signals already? Can’t remember.

You can see how L came to believe what she believes but nevertheless this is bad advice lol. “Don’t care about other people.” Okay, I’ll just stop doing that then.

Mmmm, a feast in a subway station. Delicious. Fucking full pig head as the centerpiece. Very DC.

Kane (handing over pure space moonshine probably): Just don’t drink too much of it. Clarke (five minutes later): Guzzles whole bottle at once. #partygriff is officially canon.

Waiting until tomorrow to start the war? Procrastinators. Clarke didn’t kill Finn for this.

I love Certified Dramatic Ho Bellamy knocking the cup out of Clarke’s hand even though she had made no move whatsoever to drink it.

“When you plunged your knife into the heart of the boy you loved, did you not wish that it was mine.” Lxa, also a certified Dramatic Ho.

Clarke kinda deserved to be punched in the face given that it wouldn’t actually make sense for Raven to try to poison Lxa--and make Finn’s death mean nothing? And put them all in danger in enemy territory? Nonsense. Nevertheless it’s hard not to feel bad for her when she follows this accusation up with a psychotic break.

Hmmm, do I think Abby turning in Jake was the same as Clarke killing Finn? Not really. She didn’t directly kill Jake, that was Jaha, and Jaha is who Clarke should really be mad at. That said, I don’t think she was really saving anyone in the direct way Clarke was. So, apples and oranges. Crazy awkward moment to bring it up, though lol. “Oh Clarke, you’ll feel better eventually--remember that time I killed your Dad? I got over that! Wait--does talking about your dead father upset you? That’s a surprise!” Nevertheless I appreciate major actions having consequences as that’s a semi-rarity on this show.

Monty Green: hero.

“Lxa needs this alliance as much as we do.” - True, if she intends to get her people out of MW. “She’s shown herself to be flexible.” - Not true. She’s given the bare minimum of concessions. Kane, please crawl back out of her colon for like 5 seconds, get some air.

Interesting that Raven and Bellamy are chilling near each other. I wonder what they were discussing. Tbh Bellamy’s feelings on everything in this episode are rather opaque. Other than understanding why Clarke mercy-killed Finn and being skeptical of the alliance.

“Kill one person and destroy the alliance” is literally only merciful because the default in this society is “kill everyone all the time for any reason.” Like, I guess??? That’s mercy by comparison?? But forgive me if I am not moved to admiration.

“This time justice will be done” says the woman who used the barest sliver of evidence to decide that a random person was guilty so she could have a public execution. A public execution to replace the other public execution, in fact, not to avenge a death because Gustus isn’t dead. (Yet.)

Kane’s really okay with letting Raven be tortured to death, huh? Gah he’s fucking annoying.

Bellarke: Crime Solving Duo. That’s some satisfying teamwork. Clarke figures out how the scheme worked. Bellamy figures out who’s behind the scheme. With all the evidence put together, the motive becomes clear. (Honesty, they should have been suspicious that the poison not only didn’t kill Gustus, it barely harmed him lol.)

Check out all the Department of Homeland Security stuff on Monty’s computer. This is perhaps Dante’s log in? There’s a set of “personal” files too. And a set of President’s Office files, which one would assume not everyone would have.

Anyway, I have a Thing for tense sequences of hackers...hacking.

When I first watched this season I was often so tense my whole body hurt and it’s mostly because of MW scenes like this one where Monty is caught. Like aaaaah it still gets me. He almost makes it... and then almost makes it again, with his silly little salute... (Never forget that he is A Dork.)

On the one hand, Raven being tortured and then seeing Gustus tortured to death allows her to see why Clarke killing Finn was an act of mercy, to forgive her, and to move on, so the narrative can continue with them as allies and nominal friends. And it works, basically. But I also think there’s something to the theory that they were never the same, that the wound never really healed.

I’m sorry but Octavia’s face when Clarke’s like “Yeah B, you’re expendable, go get yourself killed, have a map!!” is hilarious. Like, he’s just said that Gustus doing anything for Lxa made sense, and Octavia responded with “Look at the thanks he got” which seems to me like She Knows and then 5 seconds later Bellamy is basically thrown away by the person we all know he’d do anything for... I mean the face is fair. Also this is Bellamy’s idea and it’s a good idea and so he was right before and Clarke is also right now, but it’s still so... annoying.... like “okay, I’m done caring about you lol bye.”

And Raven’s just totally confused. It’s been a damn long day I guess.

Why are they all such fucking hotties? It’s hard to pay attention to “the plot.”

So the ashes Abby tries to give to Clarke are the same ashes, perhaps, that Jasper scatters in S3? This vial looks smaller. Why did she not immediately give them to Raven? That would seem to be the obvious thing to do.

And here we see Clarke, under L’s direct influence, becoming Increasingly Insufferable. I love her but this is obviously supposed to be her descent into the abyss: she treats her friends like little expendable minions, she turns her back on Finn’s memory, and then she ends the episode by dramatically walking into a dark room in slow motion to creepy chamber music. I mean this is the hero’s fall guys!! That’s what it always was!!!

If only they’d handled Bellamy’s hero’s fall in 3A, and Clarke’s rise again in 3B, as well.

That ending is a straight up horror movie thanks that’s why this is my favorite season.

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 115 Poll Results

The chapter poll closed with 1,585 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,471 responses

Isayama’s winning streak continues. Overall chapter satisfaction was up almost 10% over last month with the majority of fans (57.2%) giving it a 5 rating. Less than 5% viewed the chapter unfavorably.

Isayama is ruthless, my god.

We got an amazing chapter this month which came out of the blue, in my opinion. So many answers were given as well as many more shocking questions. Definitely one of the best

It was definitely more eye opening  and you could just feel the tension through the different scenes.

I loved this chapter, it was definitely one of the most compelling

This is a candidate for the greatest chapter of the manga, the last candidate was chapter 112 followed by 104 and there are a lot of them. Isayama-sensei is killing it. Every single chapter is either great, or a candidate for the greatest chapter.

Honestly, just incredible. Everything I could've possibly wanted. These kinds of chapters are why attack on titan will be my favorite for a long time.

It was an interesting chapter. We got to learn more about the PATHS and some parallels to older chapters were cool.

A bit of a rollercoster of emotions but, I’m putting my faith in Isayama he’ll do what’s best

Loved it, everything's insane and pulling at nerves. Eren is the best, hands down. He's got to have the best poker face. Neither side even knows what he's up to!

Masterpiece. Wanna know more about the girl who seems to be ymir, and Pieck’s intentions as well. Cuz idt she can even stand a chance against eren, imo.

THIS CHAPTER WAS LOADED WITH FLASHBACKS. WHICH WERE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE?

1,457 responses

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Yeagerbro conversation was the most desired flashback and nearly 60% of the fandom were excited to see it. In second comes Zeke’s reaction to learning his father survived and continued on. The third place spot goes to Reiner and Bertolt as fans of the warriors were happy to see them again, even if for only a couple panels.

I'm a simple stan, I see Reiner and Bert, and I cry. 10/10 scene its about time we got more uprising arc warriors scenes but Isayama pls give us Reiner outside of a flashback again thanks

Finally, Jaeger Bros talk.

While flashbacks are nice, I feel like a lot of it was filler-esque and had hopped for more progress on what happened to Levi and Zeke.

WHAT WAS THE MOST DISTURBING IMAGERY OF THE CHAPTER? 1,492 responses

Attack on Titan is known for its plethora of disturbing imagery, and this chapter was no exception.  The majority of readers, at 32.3%, thought that a titan shoving Zeke into its stomach was rather unsettling.  16.5% were especially grossed out by Levi’s fingers being several yards from the rest of him.  Coming in third, 15.4% were disturbed by Levi’s face.

It might be the most disturbing chapter of the manga to date.

Floch, his presence and face is rather disturbing.

Yelena rape face

Ymir's soulless voids for eyes

The titan that vored Zeke was made of Flex Tape

I dont think you know what mpreg means...

The behaviour of the yeagerists towards levi which was once considered the hero of humanity

As a big Levi fan, everything that just happened to him in general.

Is everything an option? Because I am going with All Of The Above.

All of the above, tbh

all of them

Yes

OF THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF THE CHAPTER? 1,495 responses

Zeke’s rebirth wins by a small margin with the mystery girl coming at a very close second. At an equally close third, people were happy to see Hange find Levi and protect him from the Yeagerists. Following these was Pieck’s sudden reappearance, and Hange taking Levi and diving into the water to escape.

i honestly can't choose one. everything in this chapter was A++, one of my favorite ones in a while.

that path thing that ymir seemed to be experiencing too

Eren looking at pieck blankly 0.1 seconds after being shocked by her pointing a gun at him

Zeke's grief when considering the pain his younger brother must have suffered.

Levi’s wrecked face

Titan putting zeke into its belly

For myself personally, I found most memorable two events. Firstly, was the revelation of paths as being a physical plane on which one can percieve and exist, as opposed to a merely transcendental metaphysical force. Secondly, most memorable alongside that for me was the whole scene of Hange protecting Levi from Floch's band of Jägerists, in no small part due to my lowkey shipping of Levi and Hange.

Zeke's flashbacks + Zeke's rebirth + Pieck appearance

P A T H S

WHO WAS THE LITTLE GIRL THAT … TURNED ZEKE INTO A SANDCASTLE? 1,456 responses

While most people (almost 90%) agree that the mysterious little girl Zeke encountered is somehow Ymir Fritz, there’s no shortage of other creative possibilities regarding her identity:

I wonder if this girl could be Maria Fritz, the hair and hairband are similar.

It’s P A T H S, whose power is even more immense than that of the Devil of All Earth and Ymir Fritz. Paths can take the form of anything. Paths just happened to take the form of a little girl during that moment.

A new important character

The titan that resurrected Zeke was originally that girl. Because the titan was closest to Zeke, Paths compelled that titan to save Zeke, whether it wanted to or not.

Original inheritor of the beast titan

An asspull

I'm not sure maybe but it can be the girl "Christa" from Frieda's & Historia's storybook too

It seems clear enough to me that this is at least outwardly Ymir Fritz. As for it being I wonder perhaps if this girl being Ymir Fritz and the Devil of the Earth isn't mutually exclusive. I have no evidence to substantiate such a claim, but recently acknowledged the possibility on part of the historical misinformation in regards to her origins.

HOW SATISFIED WERE YOU WITH THE NEWLY SCULPTED ZEKE BOD, FROM “THE SAND WAS MORE APPEALING”, TO “GET THAT CENSORSHIP STEAM OUT OF THE WAY” 1,455 responses

We got a pretty full view of Zeke’s new bod this chapter, and it garnered love, hate, and apathy; as only Zeke’s body could.  Most of you wanted to get a full view of that Eldian ass at 34.7%.  On the opposite end, 22.3% would rather get freaky with the sand that turned into the bod in question; and 25.1% don’t have a strong preference either way.  6.4% aren’t in love with either the sand or Zeke, and 11.5% enjoyed the view but would like that titan smoke to stay right where it’s at.

A complete chapter, with brand new information coming to us... and lots of monkey nudes. Zeke is the fanservice character of snk.

Thicc thighs won't make me forgive his sins

Everyone is seeing zeke’s dick but me

@ isayama: release zeke's n00ds.

No more naked Zeke plz.

I feel for him and but he's a seriously underwhelming antagonist. He's really nice to look at though.

I love him as a character; his motives, his history, his personality and his character design (not just because he is a sexy hunk of Edlian ass).

I know only three things

1. Levi is not dead. 2. Eren does not agree with Zeke. 3. Zeke is hot as hell.

I suddenly feel very sorry for the SC uniform - it’s being worn by absolute pricks. Please don’t let them cover Zeke’s ass with the cape.

my heart goes to THAT DUDE WHO CAN'T STOP STARING at Zeke's nekkid crotch. i feel ya man. that shit is weird.

Zeke has the big PP. Pieck has the biggest PP.

I don't like him because of sexualization and shipps.

Zeke's abs tho

So much Zeke nudes, we need more chad Eren (don't even need to be Eren nudes, just him shirtless is ok).

I wanted to see Zeke's beastly c-ck.

Zeke is pure. Pure SLUT

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS REGARDING ZEKE’S “REBIRTH” DO YOU THINK ARE TRUE? 1,441 responses

A slight majority of the fandom believes Zeke’s rebirth is evidence that Ymir Fritz needs Zeke alive. Close to 50% believe Zeke will see it as divine approval. While a quarter of the fandom thinks this experience has changed him, only 7% believe he’s changed for the better.

Zeke's reincarnation is bs but if Ymir does have more plans for him, I'd like to see how it all turns out for the best.

I hope Zeke learns that genocide is never the answer.

I just hope we get some specific answers soon regarding how Zeke was reincarnated like that. Felt pretty off seeing Zeke revived like that, but I can understand the theory that perhaps Ymir Fritz wants him to live to save the Eldians (and perhaps this is where the "To you, 2000 years in the future" comes into play).

WE’VE WAITED A LONG TIME FOR THE YEAGERBRO TALK. WAS IT WHAT YOU EXPECTED? 1,483 responses

The largest portion of replies indicate that the conversation between Eren and Zeke overall went as expected. But there were also many who didn’t care how it went and were simply glad to finally see their first talk together. Smaller portions were either more than happy with the conversation or found it a total disappointment. Certainly that couldn’t be all they talked about, right?

I knew they wouldn't be on the same side but didn't expect it to be so obvious Eren is lying to and manipulating Zeke. Zeke tearing up when Eren called him "brother" is the saddest shit, but also kinda hilarious considering how many people Zeke betrayed. Also, I wonder if we'll get more since Eren talked about how he learned a lot from Zeke.

Finally got confirmation that Eren played Zeke like a fiddle. Happy to see that lil bro backstab.

I expected something more grandiose tbh, when i saw the panel of zeke standing in front of eren, i thought that was a perfect tease to just end it there

It feels like Eren has Zeke eating out of the palm of his hand and it hurt more than expected

People who latch onto the belief that Eren's goal differs from Zeke are in for a disappointment

I am disappointed that zeke cares for eren and eren doesn't seem to reciprocate those feelings, and that he was trying to play the tough guy, it's annoying and i want wholesome jeagerbros!!!!

I didn't expect to be so short, and I assume we'll get more in the future, but this time from Eren's perspective.

I think it is too early to say one way or the other. We only truly got one side of the conversation.

It was good, but I hope it's not the only thing we see. I get the impression it was merely an appetizer. When I think about the brothers talking I always imagined it will be a full chapter. This was just their first conversation. Eren said Zeke told him many things, like the info about the Ackermans, so I am expecting a hell of a lot more dialogues between them.

it wasn't what I had expected. I also can't say yet if it is better or worse cause so much about Eren's true motives is still up in the air. Like originally I had expected Zeke to be the one to convince Eren of something, but clearly that is not what is happening here. Which, on the face of it, doesn't have to be a bad thing, I just need more info.

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT EREN TRULY AGREES WITH ZEKE’S PLAN? 1,490 responses

Over half of respondents agree that there’s no way in hell that Eren is on board with Zeke’s euthanasia plan. 23% believe that he is in partial agreement with Zeke’s plan, while 10% don’t want to say confidently either way whether Eren is on Zeke’s side. A small sliver of the fandom are certain that Eren is in favor of wiping out Eldia.

He just said what Zeke wanted to hear from 'his brother'. From the start of his speech Eren expressed clearly his purpose, bonus showing sympathy toward Zeke. The way that Eren said some of his points of view and plan fits to me in what he truly thinks about, but the way he said it was molded in orden to manipulate Zeke and get his confidence

Eren is getting influenced and this 'external influencer' is manipulating Zeke. Double manipulation.

He agreed with Zekes ideology at some point before Historia saved him

Zeke told him about his plan to euthanize eldians, Eren agreed that not being born into the world is salvation itself. We all know Eren thinks the EXACT opposite of that. he's manipulating zeke, only wanting his royal blood. Zeke might be the KEY to Eren's own secret plan.

I don't think eren is the kind of person to blatantly lie to someone, especially about the force that has driven him his entire life. There are some truth to his words, yes, but i think eren is going to use the fact that he thinks he shouldn't have been born to try and change the world into a safer place for his people, whereas zeke will use that same reason to eradicate his people, not giving them a chance to feel a sense of belonging in the world

He's using Zeke for some goal of his, but has gone way too far. Both of them are twisted, and perhaps share some points of their goals.

He understands and agrees with Zeke on a basic ideological level, insofar as the suffering that Eldia, and by extension Titans, bring to both the world and themselves by inherent virtue of being born. I believe, however, that this is where the agreement in actuality ends. What Eren disagrees with is the method to solve this problem. Whatever other solution Eren may have thought of, it entails the end of the titans and the elimination of paths, while sparing Eldian's lives and allowing them to continue on and have families. How this would be achieved, I do not know; this is merely my conjecture on where the story might go next.

I think he agrees with Zeke's goal of not having any Eldians born into the circumstances they are, but not his methodology of euthanasia. I think he has his own plan which will somehow stop/rewind/erase the Curse of Ymir/titanisation, possibly through altering Eldian DNA to make them unable to be turned into titans.

He's being brainwashed/manipulated by having so many memories that belong to other people, he's not being himself; not his true self

I don't believe he agrees, but I like to believe he isn't simply using his brother without any regard for him...though I can't really tell anymore with 'this' Eren :\

If Eren truly agreed with Zeke, all his development will be for nothing.

Maybe eren does actually agree that the best salvation is to never have been born, but when has eren ever wanted "salvation"?

WITH ALL THE RECENT FOCUS ON ZEKE, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HIM NOW? 1,487 responses

Zeke’s been getting a lot of focus lately, and this chapter was no exception.  45.7% of you enjoy his character but don’t support his schemes, and 21.9% don’t like the man but can sympathize with him at this point.  Not all are as warm however, as 19% would like to see him burn.  8.9% love monkey boi and want to protect him with all you’ve got.

He's a perfect Grey character a villain and a hero depending on view point.

I’ve always loved him. Now I love him more

His plan is batshit and I don't really like him but I think he's an interesting character but he needs to burn

His plan is unethical & impractical, his methods consist of war crimes. I hope he's taken down *ideologically* & realizes he was wrong b4 he dies

I'm not for Zeke's plan but I want him to go out feeling like his life wasn't a complete waste.

I feel sorry for all kids who have shitty childhoods, but I don't then excuse them when they project their own hatred for life onto an entire race and try to take away their right to life. It doesn't matter how righteous or merciful he believes he's being, it's undeniable arrogance to decide you know whether another person's life is worth living or not.

I hate him as a character but his plan makes him more interesting/sympathetic

I like him but don't agree with him. I'm going to be depressed when he is inevitably stabbed in the back by his beloved little brother. I am also extremely hype for that to happen.

I like his recent character development, however I don’t really like him. Very interesting character though!

Interesting, complex character. I can understand his plan too. Overall a well crafted character.

I'm so so sad for Zeke, the way he genuinely cares for Eren and trusts him, how he tears up when he called him "brother"...It will be heartbreaking when he'll realize Eren's just using him (because there's no way Eren agree with his plan), this guy's been used and craved affection and understanding all his life.

I feel like I'm crazy one here but I'm actually on Zeke's side and not at all mad at what he did to Levi

He is cancelled to me since Erwin's death.

WAS GRISHA IN THE RIGHT TO SLAUGHTER THE REISS CHILDREN? 1,475 responses

Eren recalled back to a disturbing action is father took, and gave his thoughts on it, but does the fanbase agree?  44.7% feel Grisha made the right choice, as without it things would have gone as Eren laid out for Paradis.  37.8% were unsure, and only 14.4% agreed with Eren’s conclusion that it was wrong regardless.

I acknowledge it as a necessary evil. It goes against many of my moral principles, but it was a necessary evil in the face of the worst case scenario.

He could have found another way to keep the children alive. He was lazy and chose the most convenient option.

He was neither right nor wrong, as in he had little choice.

I don't think there's a right or wrong in this scenario. Grisha did what he thought was for the greater good. No matter what decision he made, though, people still would have died.

It was a necessary evil, both logically right and morally wrong at the same time

Immoral but beneficial in the long run

there are two sides to the moral scale! For the survival of his people, of course! Every threat needs to be eliminated, but it is quite painful to know that in reality, regardless of the bigger picture, he still killed children.

For me, this is a much too complex topic to be reduced to a categorical choice of right and wrong. I can't choose between this two options ("I'm not sure" neither because it's in the same line of though) because I can't think his action in that terms.

It was not nice

WAS HANGE BEING TRUTHFUL WHEN SHE INFORMED FLOCH OF LEVI’S DEATH? 1,497 responses

Nice try, Hange. 91% of us are pretty sure that Levi still lives, and that he was only pronounced dead in the hope that his life would be spared. Not even 2% of us think that he is actually dead.

Oh, please. It doesn't take a Levi fan to know that Hange would immediately let Floch feel Levi's pulse if he was indeed dead - it was only worth potentially upsetting her guards if she thought there was a chance of his survival. Hange is one of the smartest characters in this series - she wouldn't act that way for any other reason.

Well wouldn't be reasonable to jump on a river with a corpse so i guess is the second option

I think he's alive, but it feels like Levi is being milked for popularity at this point. If he truly did survive, then I hope Levi will somehow maybe fulfill his promise!

IF LEVI IS ALIVE, DO YOU THINK HIS INJURIES WILL PROVE TO BE FATAL? 1,491 responses

In contrast to the widely-held belief that Levi still lives for the time being, there is less agreement about whether that will continue to be true. Almost half of respondents think that he will survive his wounds. The remaining half is split between thinking Levi’s days are numbered (25.4%) and being completely unsure of his fate (25.9%).

Man, seeing Levi suffering really got me, but I hope hange manages to bring him to safety, cause I think his injuries aren't fatal and the only threat to his life now are the yeagerists

he's still barely alive, but he'll die in her hands once they're safe and have swam the river, the death was slightly delayed since this chapter was focused on other things, levi will give his last little speech to hange next chapter and die

I think Levi survived his injuries and Hange is lying about him being dead, but I don’t think he will survive. Part of me hopes (for his sake) that he doesn’t survive

probably but I'm in denial so i want to believe he's fine

Levi is on the edge of death, he will die next chapter after revealing Zeke's true intentions to Hange, which will ruin Eren's plan for the moment. At least, that's what I hope happens. Levi surviving and coming back to fight doesn't make sense and Levi surviving only to be out of commission for the next of the manga and to open a tea shop is disappointing, I would rather have him die now.

IF LEVI IS ALIVE, DO YOU THINK HE WILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN FUTURE BATTLES? 1,490 responses

41% of respondents believe that Levi is permanently on the sidelines due to his condition while 37% are feeling optimistic that he will find a way to keep fighting. ⅕ of the fandom don’t want to say confidently either way. Will Levi surprise us in upcoming chapters?

Dead my ass! I can't wait for Levi to appear again out of nowhere with a badass face scar and kick Zeke's ass AGAIN

I hope we still see Levi in action, even if just once, cause removing him leaves everything in the hands of ‘god-like’ characters who can control people. Now it’s just like humanity’s doomed cause the ‘gods’ decided so and I don’t like it. There is still Mikasa, but with Levi humanity had a better chance in this ever so uneven battle.

I think Levi is out of the fight (thanks to those godawful fingers on the ground ugh) BUT I think he'll have one last move, one last action in the final battle that will somehow deeply affect the plot, before dying (think Erwin cutting off Eren from Bertholdt after his arm was eaten). I want to be wrong because Levi has always deserved better, but I also want to be right because he needs to rest and the ignominy of humanity's strongest taken out of the fight like that is just. Too much.

Levi has to live and fight bc he needs to show off his new badass battle scar duh

I really love Levi, but I don't want him to be disabled so I prefer him to be dead. If Isayama can make him okay as before, I hope the story wont become weak.

I want Levi' s scarred face to be the last thing that Zeke ever sees.

I'm wondering what's worse, Levi dead or Levi hobbled and injured so badly that he can't fight anymore.  Robbing him of his identity is perhaps even crueler than death.  How awful, to linger and watch the rest of the battle unfold, knowing he can't even help because of his own careless actions.

WHETHER IT’S PLOT ARMOR OR A MEDICAL MIRACLE, WHICH CHARACTER’S ESCAPE FROM DEATH HAVE YOU FOUND LEAST BELIEVABLE? 1,551 responses

We heard from several sources that this was the most difficult question on the poll. Maybe that’s why it had dozens more responses than any other question. It turns out that Zeke getting shoved into a titan tummy and having a sandcastle body sculpted by a mystery child isn’t the most unrealistic save in this manga. “Reiner surviving everything” followed by “Armin surviving his fall and burns” were the top choices.

Zeke's resurrection is the most bullshit ass pull of all.

Erwin and Armin were the two less believable survivors. I can turn a blind eye on plot-armors when it involve Shifters or even Ackermans, but Armin and Erwin were simple humans.

Erwin surviving all the way through serumbowl with a partly missing abdomen while bleeding out is just as worthy of being there, no one mentions it because he eventually died but it's almost if not on the same level as Armin living long enough through serumbowl.

I feel tired of the whole plot armor some characters have. Reiner, Armin (even if he is one of my favorites), Levi and now Zeke. I just feel tired of seeing them dying and then being magically saved. Yes, some dots are connecting together, but the whole armor plot makes the story boring and unnatural. A lot of great and interesting characters died, but there are some blessed ones who will not die even if a large bomb will fall straight at their heads.

maybe Zeke transferred his consciousness to other parts of his body like Reiner did in the Return to Shingashina arc? That's the only other idea I can think of how Zeke survived in the end.

I can't believe Levi narrowly escaped death because the monkey dingdong was too shiny and hypnotizing

I can't believe it, but Isyama finally topped the plot armor Reiner had back in RTS. Holy shit. The first thought was no one could have more plot armor than Eren did back in Shiganshina, then it was when Rod Riese became that hideous nightmare enduing faceless titan and didn't try and eat Eren, then it was Reiner's plot armor in RTS that stole it with notable mention from Armin, then it was Levi as a notable mention. This resurrected bullshit that saved Zeke can't be outdone. There is just no way in hell. Like, you just can't out do it. No one does plot armor better than Zeke!!!

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YELENA INSTITUTING ARMBANDS ON PARADIS? 1,484 responses

The irony of Yelena immediately instituting armbands as a classification system wasn’t lost on it. 44% thought is was horrible and a wrong choice, 28% recognized it as gross but understood the need to organize, while 22% had no opinion

As a sociologist, it’s interesting. The reality is that society/social classes often create symbols to communicate their social status so if it’s not armbands it’d be something else.

As expected of Yeagerists they are true organized shits! Congrats!!

Isayama is very big on the 'history repeating itself' thing and without a doubt this is one of those things.

I feel as if he is being kept out of the loop by the Volunteers, due to his befriending and fraternising with Eldian's (Hange especially), in much the same way as Niccolo was. This makes me inclined to think that Onyankonpon would side with the established Survey Corps if/when he learns the full plan, and that Yelena knows this.

it's ironic and though it's wrong, i think it's also clever how no matter how hard the yelena is trying to break free from marley traditions, those traditions still come naturally to her them whether she realizes it or not

I have a problem with how she's using people, not how she's doing it

People make a mountain out of a molehill, it's not something bad, it's just practical. They need to know who drank the wine and who didn't. Their actions are bad, but not their way of organizing.

Regardless of anything, I'd let Yelena tie me up any way she likes and I think deep down Pixis totally agrees

You boors know nothing of fashion.

IS ONYANKOPON ON PARADIS’ SIDE OR IS HE IN CAHOOTS WITH YELENA? 1,480 responses

Only 12.4% of the fandom believe Onyankopon is fully aligned with Yelena, A percentage more (13.9%) believe he’s on the Survey Corps side. The remainder of the fandom is either undecided or think that he is.

boi is lookin mad confused every time he appears now tbh

He might be on Yellena's side but I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to play a different game.

His arms are crossed and he's literally side-eyeing Yelena. He is not all-in with Yelena.

He said that he dedicated himself for "Eldia". I don't know why, but I have that weird feeling that he would help Eren and his group (Floch etc.) to make the new Eldia empire great again

I think he will help Hanji, he was always showed with them more than with any other person

Maybe he is working for someone else entirely. We still don't know if we have all the chess pieces on the damned board.

I really want an insight into Onyakopon's motives at this point. You can see he's not as enthusiastic about the situation, and I thought he genuinely bonded with Hanji.

WHY DO YOU THINK EREN WANTS TO LURE IN THE WARRIORS? 1,473 responses

Nearly half of the fandom believes that Eren’s goal is to eat the remaining warriors and gain their powers. About ⅓ of respondents think his goal is to negotiate with them, while smaller portions of the fandom think he may just want to get them out of the way or fully ally with them. Hopefully his chat with Pieck enlightens us! Meanwhile here are some write-in thoughts:

That boy is an enigma wrapped in a riddle, i have no idea what he is doing

Either to unlock a new ability with the Founding Titan that might require all the other Titan Shifters to be present or to kill them for the eventual rumbling.

I dunno but he clearly needs them for something. I'm leaning towards him needing to collect all their titans to do some sort of Curse Reset.

I am not sure whether he wants to eat every single warrior, especially regarding the convo he had with Reiner in the Marley arc. He wanted to chomp Porco tho, so I am not sure.

he can only do so much by himself, he has gained reiner's sympathy so having him as an ally seems like an option

I'd like to believe that Eren is luring the warriors so he can ally with them but realistically, he's probably going to eat 'em all. It started with the warhammer titan and he was about to do the same to Porco back in Marley for his jaws (which he would need to crack Annie's crystal open) but I digress. It'll probably happen in that order. He'll get annie after eating porco and pieck. Fuck. That part's gonna suck

I'm not sure, but he definitely doesn't want them trying to stop him doing whatever he's planning to do.

Like he said, he'll keep moving forward until his enemies are destroyed.

He wants them to connect and give the 9 elements to original Ymir. Maybe this way eldians will be free.

I laughed at the negotiation option, because if Eren ever was capable of comunicate with anyone in Paradise this mess wouldn't be happening. Actually if any character comunicated this wouldn't be happening.

Eren playing 4d chess

WHAT DO YOU THINK PIECK’S INTENTIONS WITH EREN ARE? 1,477 responses

The big chapter cliffhanger this month was Pieck pulling a sneaky on Eren, as expected of her.  About two thirds of you, at 65.9% are guessing she’s there to talk with him; while 31.2% think she has more aggressive options in mind with that gun.

Pieck is smart. If she wanted to kill or capture Eren, she would've shot him without a warning. Clearly she wants something out of Eren, probably information, before neutralizing him

For the moment she's probably more interested in rescuing Gabi than doing anything with Eren.

Get information from him then kill him

Pieck most likely would want to talk about the jaegerbros sudden "alliance" She wants to know why Zeke used and betrayed her and their comrades.

Idk for sure, but I'm 120% sure she has a plan. Everyone is underestimating Pikku.

No clue. I don't hate her, but she's still complicit in war crimes, so whatever she's up to, it can't be good

To talk, Pieck is smart and if she wanted to kill Eren she should know that she had to do so earlier.

Probably a battle of wits, since Pieck is always exactly right and 19 yo Eren became very manipulative

Something tells me she's going to want Eren to direct her to Annie first. I mean, it's the final arc, and they still haven't resolved the Annie situation. I feel like this how Annie's supposed return will kick in: One of the reasons Pieck is in Paradis on reconnaissance is because she want to retrieve Annie from Paradis and bring her back to Marley. Maybe, she wants to do it with minimal bloodshed without making a scene.

Have a baby with him to cuck Zeke

EREN & PIECK - WHO HAS THE UPPER HAND? 1,480 responses

About ¾ of the fanbase at 76.3% lean towards Eren and his three titans having the upper hand here, and 23.7% think Pieck’s planning will pay off exactly as planned.

Pieck isn't stupid and it's quite obvious to anyone that she CANNOT kill eren. She isn't very strong as a titan compared to him, nor in human form. She doesn't stand a chance.

She knows he is powerful, I doubt she'd be stupid to try to have a fight with a man who holds three titans.

Pieck will fix everything

Pieck knows Zeke best of the current batch of warriors- I HOPE TO GOD THAT SHE IS NEVER WRONG WITH PLANS.

Pieck certainty cannot beat Eren in her titan form without her men and big guns, and doesn't seem to be in great form physically, as she was on crutches until a short while ago.

Kinda want Eren to absolutely demolish Pieck, whether it be Titan-form or not, just so Gabi can freak out even more.

I want Pieck to beat the shit out of Eren, but I know it won’t happen

I fear for Pieck's life :( Eren's gonna Warhammer her ass against the ceiling before she can say 'Wuh'

WHO’S WITH PIECK? 1,443 responses

Is Pieck alone, or does she have support?  The majority seem to think Reiner and Porco are accompanying her, with 64.9% and 63.5% respectively.  34% think Colt tagged along to help find his brother, and 18.7% think General Magath is there as well.  2.1% of you are holding out hope that our Ymir is still alive, and with the warriors in fact.  Pieck might be by her lonesome though, with 18.5% of you choosing that option.

It's been a while since we've seen any of the Warriors besides Pieck and it is the perfect time for Eren and Reiner to meet again.

I presume Reiner and the others are close by, but I still cannot see how all of them would be able to subdue or beat Eren, as he beat them all almost single- handily before he consumed the War hammer titan.

I have a strong feeling that Reiner's going to be the one to find the 104th and the Braus family in the cell. It will make for an interesting meeting, especially with Armin.

Freckled Ymir keeps getting indirectly referenced while highlighting her absence.

OwO best waifu Pieck returns all is well.

I JUST WANT TO SEE REINER ALREADY!!!

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS AFTER THIS CHAPTER?

Hange’s heroics netted them a giant surge in popularity (1004↑) while Yelena (755↓) and Floch (898↓) each took a hit. Pieck’s confrontation with Eren was appreciated (737↑). Despite being unconscious, Levi’s approval was likewise up (701↑). The debut of Ymir Fritz had the majority holding off on judgment, although 514 respondents where inclined to view her favorably.

Hange is the best human in this manga

Hange, a real champ. Zeke is a dumbass. The more I see douchebag Eren, the more I want to kick him in the balls. Floch, Yelena & Co (exclude Oyankapon, he is a good boi) can go shove fucking thunderspears up their arses...the deeper their devotion, the deeper the penetration.

hange's great - zeke's wack - eren's angsty - press f for levi

AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,396 responses

We have a lot of differing opinions regarding how much of this story remains to be told! The most popular option for the final chapter of the manga is chapter 130 with 35% of respondents selecting that option. More striking perhaps, is that 86% of respondents think that the manga will continue to at least chapter 130. 50% believe that 134 is the earliest possible chapter for the story’s conclusion.

WHY is 118 an option for the conclusion of the manga? No fucking way we've only got three more chapters, surely? Don't fucking do this to me y'all

WHO DO YOU MOST HOPE TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,493 responses

The majority of the fandom seem to have had their fill of Zeke and the Yeagerists and are ready to focus on other characters. Topping our wishlist is a continuation of Eren, Pieck and Gabi’s confrontation (70%), followed by the seeing more of Levi and Hange (60%). Armin Mikasa and the 104th (45%) and Historia (40.4%) are also on many minds.

Can't wait to hear what Pieck and Eren have to say. I think this chapter has allowed for some development between them.

I have been waiting years to learn all that was in this chapter and the end has me dying cause I’ve been wanting to know what it’d be like if Eren and Pieck met. So awesome chapter! Can’t wait for next month!

I really fucking miss Historia.

after having so much mikasa since 102 i’ve realised that i miss her presence a lot in the last three chapters... so i hope she’s in 116

I hope mikasa and armin are ok and Levi I feel so bad for 😢

Annie day now

I miss Reiner ;___;

WHERE DO YOU NORMALLY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,427 responses

Thank you Reddit 😘

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 

Loved the realisation that we’ve already been shown a paths “dimension” preciously in the manga and anime.

Fucking crazy, on one hand is like Yams, please, slow down and on the other hand is like, yes, keep it going, you crazy bastard.

It had a lot of emotional impact. I hated it and loved it at the same time.

Needed more Floch, I live for Floch.

I hate sand. It's coarse, rough, irritating and gets everywhere

Some interesting parallels that relate very well to the chapter's title "Support": Ymir Fritz puts Zeke back together, Eren "appears" to support Zeke's plan, Hanji grabs Levi and saves him from the "traitors" (how dare they use Eren's surname, they're not worthy!), and Pieck arrives to save Gabi and Falco!

I love Eren more with every chapter. He's so fucking cool. He was startled for two seconds, then went back to apathy and is just standing there with his hands in his pockets while Pieck holds a gun to him. What a chad.

With how many weird turns this manga is taking, you really don't know what to expect next. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if in the next chapter, Eren asks Pieck to marry him, Zeke shoots himself to see if he'll get revived again (and doesn't), and Hange injects Levi with titan serum, but rather than helping him in any way, it just makes him 3 inches shorter.

Holy crap the art was on point 👌👌👌 plus I've been lowkey itching for some more supernatural elements so I'm pretty happy with this development

It made me more excited to see the conclusion and what everyone's true motives are.

I love the suspense each panel gives, I feeling of worry and excitement

Can Floch die? I mean seriously, can he just fall off a cliff and get impaled? Or get hit by a stray bullet? Because his superior attitude is grating on my nerves. I’m glad Hange escaped 👍🏿

Great to see how the different characters draw motivation for their different goals and I am hyped that the reader is not told what Eren is really planning.

I just want Armin to play a major role. He’s been put on the backburner for far too long and he actually needs to be using his brain to fix the situation that Eldia is in. Even now, I still have faith that Armin is going to be the one to save the people in the walls. I predict that Armin does have some hidden agenda up his sleeve that he hasn’t revealed yet that will change the game entirely. He’s as intelligent if not more so than Erwin is after all. I still believe that Armin is the true savior of Eldia and that he is someone that Marley and the world should fear.

Zeke's resurrection was probably one of the most bizarre moments I've ever witnessed in this manga and I've got so many questions now. The chapter as a whole, however, was still enjoyable and very thought-provoking. Seeing how close we are to the end, though, I hope we get all the important questions answered before it's over because I hate when things are left unanswered.

To me it's clear that Eren is playing Zeke, but I wonder how he knew exactly how to play him so well? This is basically their first face-to-face interaction, I don't think he took the idea from Yelena, because actually I doubt Yelena understands Zeke except through her own filter, and Grisha definitively didn't understand him, so he can't even have been relying on his memories. Not to mention Zeke is a notoriously closed off individual in general, so what gives, Eren?

I absolutely love the direction of the story even though so much is happening against the interests of the party I want to win. Exactly how Return to Shiganshina felt like. And similar to RtS, I feel we will have a lukewarm conclusion that'll make us feel all the emotions in existence all at once.

Can't believe there wasn't a question about Zeke's junk. Did he get his wish or not? I swear, the quality of this poll has gone down dramatically this month.

I honestly don't understand Eren in the Jeagerbro talk. He seems to be making contradictory statements - ""We'll keep moving forward... But only until we practically erase our race's existence in this world."" Zeke's plan isn't a move forward, isn't a step towards freedom the way we know Eren / Attack Titan crave freedom. It is tying and blindfolding the people of Ymir to metaphorical train tracks. Which is far from freeing them, and which is why I think Eren has his own agenda and is only pretending to go along with Zeke. Now I'm not saying Eren has some noble plan that will properly save all the Eldians, for all we know he still wants to go ahead with the rumbling. I'm just saying Zeke's plan does not seem to align with Eren or the Attack Titan's ideologies (and yes, I'm talking about post Ch 90 Eren).

I really love where this is going and in just 2 chapters he made Zeke become one of my favourite characters, - if not the No1. Poor boi, needs to be protected at all costs. Also it is so horrible to see that he was used by everyone around him, his father especially and now it looks like Eren is about to do the same. Poor fella just wants a family member who actually cares about him as a person and he never really got that. Also, showing a more human side to him when he worries about Eren and then tearing up when Eren calls him brother? Give me more please.

Floch is still my favorite character. Fucking fight me about it, try it, I've got a hairstylists' nightmare on my side who isn't afraid to shoot (don't worry he can't aim very well).

Floch you fuckin piece of shit. Such a good character but such a fucking bastard. I really love to hate him. Fuck you Floch, you magnificient bastard

Can we safely assume that Annie is actually in the paths realm?

Could Pieck be Kruger's daughter?

if Levi gets oofed I'll get oofed with him.

Thank you to everyone who participated. We’ll see you again next month! 

[odogaronfang]

Your shitposting is great my guy, that’s fun. Tell us some random non plot related bs about the BoTW au?

sorry for not getting to this sooner!! when i get asks like this i like to take a couple of days to gather my thoughts so i can give you a better answer!!

- out of the six of them, i think zelda is the most overall mature. i mean, sure, she’s still a kid like the rest of them, and she has her fun, but when it really comes down to it she’s the most responsible and the best at getting done what needs to get done. it comes as a bit of a surprise to people that don’t know them so well, because most of the time they look at serious boring old vio and think that he’s probably the tired and jaded supervisor but. not so.

- adding onto that last thing- people tend to assume that vio is the very dignified one. emotionally detached, won’t let silly little things like feelings and morality get in the way of a job that needs to be done, reserved and calm and all that superficial stereotype stuff. they half expect the trope of the sort of english-gentry type personality. and they could not be further from the truth. that’s how he is superficially, but, like, get close to him and spend some more time with him and you’ll see. he kind of swings between following his stereotype and being just as irritable and generally frustrated as blue and shadow get, and honestly it’s a roll of the dice as to what he is. also? he does curse a lot. he doesn’t always go around shouting fuck at everyone he sees, but if something’s really getting on his nerves for whatever reason, he can out-curse shadow. and usually it’s more under his breath, but that doesn’t mean he really makes much of an effort to hide it.

- vio and blue have a sort of legolas/gimli fighting dynamic going on when they get into the thick of it. “bet i can kill more of these bokoblins than you” “bet i can take down a moblin in less hits than you” “bet i’ll be the one to kill this talus” type stuff. honestly, if they had an encampment to clear and no one was feeling particularly up to the job, they’d just off-handedly mention the results of the last competition and that would almost guarantee another face-off between the two, and everyone else could just sit back and watch the two of them go at it. in these kinds of situations they both know they’re basically being used but neither of them care much. one of vio’s favorite things to do when this happens is to let blue think she’s racking up the points, and then the moment she’s about to strike the killing blow on something, he’ll take it out with an arrow. and he does it repeatedly.

- shadow is extremely lazy and will use his magic for the most mundane of things, once he gets comfortable using it around them. he won’t feel like getting off the couch to get the plate red’s offering him so he just magics it over. he doesn’t want to pack his things so he just uses magic to shove things in his bag. he doesn’t feel like climbing an eight foot hill so he floats himself up. and all the while everyone, and especially blue, is indignant. “if this magic is so important to your survival why are you wasting it lacing up your boots” “because what if i trip??? i could get HURT and i can’t risk it coming undone” (and then he probably gets swatted on the head with something)

- green is intimately familiar with gerudo religion and customs. in theory he’s a follower of hylia according to the hylians’ belief system, because it was mostly his dad who raised him and that was what his dad practiced, but he’s far more interested and in tune with the gerudo religion, despite spending a lot less time with his mom throughout his life. the breakdown of all that is here, but his favorite heroines are nailuk and imura, and even though technically he hasn’t been formally confirmed into their religion, he still follows it all as though he has. and it isn’t a closed religion, so technically he could go and request passage through the rites like any other devotee, but he’s an anxious child and always shies away from completing the devotional trials. of course, every time the subject comes up with his mother, she affectionately makes fun of him for it, and especially so once she learns of their quest- “oh, so you’re fine running around the continent trying to save the world, but one little molduga and you’re tucking tail?” (he does, eventually, gather up his courage and finally go through with it. he chooses nailuk as his patron heroine and gets a very nice devotional tattoo of a pink lotus on his arm. his mother is very proud of him, and they do make a special one-day exception to the No Men rule to celebrate his official integration into their religion.)

- unless my brain decides to take an unplanned detour through some weird plot point, you will never get to meet vio’s mother, even though she’s alive. this is because, to put it lightly, they are not fond of one another. it was already kind of rough on vio in his early years, because his dad, as a sheikah, lived in kakariko, and she, as a hylian, was forbidden from living there and so lived in tabantha. it led to a very odd and uncoordinated shared-custody situation, where he’d be living with his mother for a year and then out of the blue his dad would drop by and be like come on son we’re going on an adventure. and then he’d go live in kakariko for months with his dad. and it resulted in a confusing flip-flopping of cultures, and it also resulted in a lot of resentment on her part, towards his father. but because his father didn’t live with her (for a complicated number of reasons, one of which involving a pretty serious falling-out concerning the matter of vio’s mixed heritage) she was unable to express it towards who she actually really hated, and so ended up taking it out on vio most of the time, and it came to be that vio really just couldn’t wait for his dad to come back so he could go be in kakariko, which he liked infinitely better than tabantha. at some point she got REALLY nasty and bordered on actually dangerous, so vio finally put his tiny eight-year-old foot down and decided that he would take matters into his own hands, and hopped on his faithful and much beloved horse and just left. and one day he arrived in kakariko and went to his dad’s house and he just kinda walked in like hey old man how’s it been. after some mild concern and fear for his safety, they sat down and vio explained the situation and ended up living in kakariko from then on. after his dad died, he stayed for about another year and a half, because quite frankly he needed people to keep an eye on him, and after that he took to traveling, took up the trade of a merchant as a kind of excuse, and when he was about sixteen or so, used the money he’d saved to get himself a place in hateno, far far away from his mother but still close to the village he considered family. this one got kinda ramble-y but that’s the rundown on the situation, and anyone with any kind of sense won’t bring up the subject with him, because he’ll either get very withdrawn and avoidant or he will get very angry. you don’t want either of those things.

- it takes some time to get past the initial awkwardness of things, for a few reasons, and there will always be some bumps in the road, but out of everyone, shadow trusts vio the most with personal matters. some of it is because they share at least some heritage, and shadow knows that vio will understand his sheikah-bred tendencies a lot more than any of the others. but he also knows that vio will in no way be taking his shit- but he will constructively not take any of his shit. he thinks that red and green will be generally too lenient with whatever is going on with him, and blue will be far too harsh, and zelda lacks a few certain points of experience with his background that would otherwise make her fine to deal with. so if he actually decides to confide in someone or go to someone looking for advice or help, he will usually go to vio, because vio is certainly not going to excuse anything that he’s done wrong, and he will be very up-front about what he’s screwed up, but he’s also better at providing solutions or advice rather than just flat criticism and nothing else. and as much as shadow would like to be coddled and told that he is Perfect The Way He Is, he knows in his heart that that couldn’t be further from the truth, and he knows all too well that vio has no reservations when it comes to calling him out.

-this is a secret that shadow will take to the grave, but there were a few little parts of the yiga that shadow enjoyed and, at times, kind of misses a little bit. even though there were quite a few people in there that he held no love for, there were still others that were welcoming to him, and kind of took him under their wing, especially when he was just coming in as a young kid. he sometimes wishes he could see them again, just to see how things are, but he knows that if he ever does meet them again, it’ll probably be on opposite sides of the battle. and, even more secretly, he did kind of revel in the power that being in the yiga gave him. even as one of the lower-ranked members, he still had more power at his disposal than some of the highest of the high among the non-yiga. he liked knowing that the upper hand was always his and the situations were always his to control, and while some of that stemmed from being so thoroughly trapped under the thumb of his overseers, it was also, in some little dark part of his brain, just part of him as a person.

-blue’s favorite people in all of hyrule (aside from her village, of course) are the gorons. she just loves the atmosphere there. she describes it as an entire town full of bros, and even the most distant of them still share this sort of familial bond that she has yet to see matched among anyone else. the rough-and-tumble attitudes and general relaxed air and casually determined personalities just kinda resonate with her, and by the end of it she kind of ends up as an honorary goron. she also really likes their spice. so does zelda. their food becomes a little dangerous after trips to goron city.

-green’s dad actually used to be in the princess’s personal detail of guards. it was only for about two years, while they were in the process of searching for suitable champions, but it happened, and even through the calamity, he managed to preserve the uniform and the sword he was given. when green was little, he used to steal the clothes all the time and dress up in them and walk around acting like a guard. he’d stand in front of the door to the kitchen with his little wooden sparring sword in his hands and demand to know his dad’s name and business before he’d allow him to enter. and even though the hat was far too big for him, even when they went out to practice with their swords or tend their garden or go hunting, green would insist upon wearing it, and even though it fell in front of his eyes every ten seconds he refused to ever leave it at home. even still it’s an inside joke between them to ask name and business before letting the other go anywhere.

[inmomni]

No. 14

It was after my youth group’s 2015 winter retreat that i got saved for like, the third time that my best friend and i had an interesting conversation about our sin.  I remember we were on a night hike with a few other of my church friends when i suddenly started to get a strong urge for a cigarette.  I hadn't had one since the start of the winter retreat, which was about two weeks ago then and a long time for me.  It brought up this kind of frustration in me.  Not because the craving was getting worse, but because i had just been saved, again.  See in my mind, if you were with Jesus, you should just want to sin because of this new found love that you have for Jesus now; so in turn, that would make you naturally hate sin, ya know? Sharing the comment with Caleb, it sparked some talk about the fallenness of man and how we innately fall away from God, you know the gist, and we went on for about an hour when pent up with frustration about how i still want sin after all that God had shown me, after knowing what He did for me, after experiencing how much He loves me, 

 I said, “I wish God could just make us love him so much right now that we would never dare to sin again.”  

And from there my difficult journey of becoming a disciple of God started.

God works independently from you.  This is something that He has been teaching and showing me in this current season of my life.  I always had this imagery that depicted how I came to faith, and how I’m being sustained now: me being dragged by a rope tied to my hand by God.  Let me explain.  Looking at my faith, my life, my experiences, etc., I feel like i missed out.  I feel as if because God made me a Christian so early on with such strong convictions that i wasn't able to really have fun in high school.  As in the sex, drugs, alcohol portion of it.  A culture that always sounded so alluring and enticing because it gives you a good status; a “cool” status or reputation, one where no one has to question who you are, just as long as your there to have fun, you're family.  But my ties to the church prevented me from fully immersing in that culture, and i really did genuinely try to be a good christian while struggling with this sense of being cheated by God.  So this lead me to do something else: just drift in and out of the two. Not like split life type of deal, but just over the course of time that has passed up since then and now, I have tried, just once, a good number of drugs, was a pretty fat stoner, and am still currently working on getting rid of nicotine.  I hardly ever read the bible regularly, prayer was on SOS duty, but still during this entire time, I was, and honestly still now,  going to church, singing my songs, and repping the name of Jesus to those who knew I went to church.  

I thought I knew what a christian should look like.  I’ve been to church all my life, so that being said, I think I have a pretty good idea of what an idealized modern day non-Jesus Christian would be like: 

- Prays for at least 30 mins a day, an hour if it didn't cry at all to “push through and seek the Lord”....Or an hour if you did cry cause, you cried and you had a moment with Jesus.   - Reads the word every day without fail, even if you don’t have time for it cause you’re too busy serving, you get it in somehow by listening to an ESV ebook bible or through your 2min New Morning Mercies. - Just exudes Jesus everywhere they go, like to the point where you feel so sinful if you're around them, but somehow they're so humble that it doesn't even cross your mind. - Raises their hands every single worship song at some point in the chorus and definitely the verses cause no one raises their hands for those - Every single conversation they have in passing turns into some life changing prophetic revelation for both parties involved           The list can go on, but because of this mismatched lifestyle of knowing what is good but not living it out, there emerged a very cyclic pattern starting since senior year of high school: 

Summer is so good, its great, restful, had a bunch of fun, ready to get back to work Fall initially is really good, meeting up with friends, keeping up with academics, motivated, I’m doing okay with God, reading here and there, not consistently, but reading at least, not doing bad things and such... then it starts to drop off around late October. I start getting less motivated, missing more classes, sleeping in more, trying to escape reality more.

Winter is super bad, just bummy lazy disgusting, right up until finals week approaches from where I jump up out of bed and turn into a study machine

This carries on past spring and then probably into summer again.  Then it repeats. 

But during these times there have been moments where God affirmed me in my spiritual growth, all in retrospect of course.

I remember a time at Chick-fil-a with Caleb after serving at VBS where one of these moments happened. We had just finished up a day where the theme was the good news.  For some context, we started the day with a staff meeting where the pastor told us about the theme, what kind of message she will be sharing, the weight of this day and the significance it could have on the kids. Everyone was “mmm-ing” in agreement and prayer was loud so you know people were passionate, but i wasn't really in the mood.  I really wasn’t in a good place in my faith, then again when have i ever been, and i just said yes to a pastor that said they were understaffed.  So I brought along Caleb, who was walking with the Lord at the time.  But prayer was only 3 minutes long because the meeting started too late.  So everything started getting pushed back a little bit.  Stations were shorter, and the station leaders were rushing things to pass the group to the next station to the point where by the end, all the crew leaders were a little bit disoriented and tired.  So back to the scene at Chick-fil-a, after ordering food, I asked him, “Hey, what did you think about today?” He responded with a “It was kinda weird”, a prodding question to see what I’m thinking.  I started explaining how they didn't do the gospel justice, how this wasn't something that was deserving of being rushed or just gotten over with, especially if it is for these kids.  At one point, some guy paraphrased the gospel to, “uhh we sinned, Jesus died on the cross for them, and, oh shoot were out of time, can the crew leaders explain the rest on the way to the next station”

I was getting really emotional, and tears started running down my eyes at which point caleb asked me why I was crying.  I didn't understand his question, until i remembered that all the conversations we had and all the things he’s seen me do don't point to an impassioned college student upset because his church’s VBS didn't do the gospel enough justice when presenting it to 5-10 year olds.  That was when I realized God has taught me the weight of his gospel

There were other instances like this:

When i first got to Biola, and I hated it, but God told me through the song i hated the most during high school  (Christ is Enough) that though i may think that i failed because I only got into Biola, Hes bringing me to a place where I can say Christ is all I need, and he placed that desire in my heart

Placing me in Torrey so that I would have a deeper knowledge of the word and how to converse with people, and having that show up at a party half tipsy with a bunch of non-christians who were talking philosophy of a higher being and of a purpose in life

Seeing that through every cycle of highs and lows, regardless of how low that low was, I still came back to a place where God met me

This cycle continued starting senior year of high school, to hopefully not now, getting worse every single year, as in the depressed months started to bleed past their previous marks. Until last year, my junior year, when I failed 3 classes second semester. 

It had lasted til May.  

At that point i perceived myself as for what i thought i had become.  It was my junior year, and I’m a bio major.  I’m trying to become a doctor, but now I’m not even sure of that anymore.   I’m a slob, my sleeping schedule is a mess, I'm not even properly eating and what the heck is up with that, I don’t go to the gym anymore,  I’m not loving on the people that are close to me well at all I feel so selfish and twisted I feel so sinful, Holy i feel so dirty I feel so far from God, am i really a christian? I barely read the bible,  when was the last time i talked to God?  No other than a Sunday. I’ve been a Christian, or a so called christian for how long now?  Almost 8 years now? almost eight years.  Even after all these years I can't get this thing going God, I’m such a failure, I’ve tried so hard.  To be a Christian, to stay in the faith, but it’s too hard.  I don’t get it, and i don't understand it.  If i did, then i wouldn't be like this.  If i was a christian, I wouldn't be doing X, Y, and Z or i would have fixed this part of myself ages ago.  I should have had a consistent routine with God by now, talking with him, I should be the ideal christian by now.  IF I had truly been a christian up til now, holy, I’ve lived 21 years exposed to the gospel, and I don’t know how to do this thing.  I should just give up, I need to leave, 

But where would I go? 

Ecclesiastes puts it so well (I love this book) when it says that EVERYTHING is meaningless.  If you really think about it, there is no point to life. To pass on your genes? To have the most toys at the end of your life? To be a powerful change in society to those who are equally as insignificant and pointless as you are? as if your possible change will bring about anything more than which is your mere humanity, which is what, simplified by science, nothing more than a generation 10000 monkey all within a world that is dying and rotting each day that passes.  

So it’s either God, or death.  

Well, I don’t want to die... Yeah I really don’t want to die, so then how do I do this

HOW can I do this?  I’ve failed so many times I could probably map out and predict up until when I’ll be depressed, what I’ll be doing during that time

God, I don’t know what to do. That’s when it became clear to me.  If you've noticed by now, I’ve used the word “I” so many times up til this point.  God just started highlighting all of the I’s I used, and he started replacing them with His name.  and it all started to click.  Maybe the reason I failed all these times was to bring me to a place where I could say, with my heart inside out, “God help me please, I don't know what to do.”  I tried to do things my own way for 3 almost 4 years now and i failed every single time, maybe its time to look towards God and not myself.   God reminded me of a passage in Numbers 21:6-9 where it talks about God sending fiery serpents to the people of Israel.  These snakes were sent to kill people with their venom because of their sin and rebellion, and the passage says that many died from these snakes.  So the people cried out to Moses, and Moses to God, who instructed Moses to erect a bronze serpent in the middle of camp (on a standard) so that if any man looks on the serpent, that even if they get bit, they will live.  Now, a thing about snakes, they're not that tall, so the area that they'll probably bite you, if you're not laying down in snake infested areas, around your feet, legs, ankles, all areas that you have too look down to see.  So you’re here, dodging snakes on the ground for dear life, when Moses comes around and says to look up at this serpent so that you'll be saved.  I’m guessing that this bronze snake was up on a tall pole or structure so that not just people in the vicinity would see it, but people all over camp, which meant that if you wanted to look at the bronze snake, you'd have to take your eyes completely off the ground.  So you're surrendering your own ability to do the best you can to defend yourself from these serpents risking death, or to look up at a bronze statue of a serpent to live.  And get this, the bible doesn't even say healed, just “will live”, meaning to me that it probably still hurt like hell when they got bit, but they lived, which they wouldn't if they tried to do it on their own.  Our protocol is just to look at Him, nothing else, not to look good in front of him, not to hide your sins, not to say this or that, but to look at God like a child and say “help please”.  

Now

How do you do that.  

🤷🏻‍♂️

I don’t know what I’m doing.  I’m trying to read more.  Pray more, I don’t know what it looks like to do what I said just now, or what that actually looks like.  But regardless of what I know, or what I understand, God is doing things behind the scenes for my good.  That there is no other reason, there can't be any other explanation than the grace that God gives me and sustains me with.  In this most darkest season of my life, I have never understood more clearly what it means to work out your faith with fear and trembling, to know that I am a christian despite all my crap, that despite how hard I may want to leave, not even I can pluck myself out of Gods hand, because of the way He’s been teaching and shaping my heart. Grace prepares the heart for salvation, it is grace that one receives salvation, and it is through grace that salvation is sustained and sanctification is occurring.  I don’t know how I got here and how to get to where I need to be, but I just know that God’s got this.  

So I’m just going to take that and run.

[dailyonionsite-blog]

Thoughts And Prayers - What it should mean, what it doesn't

I came across a tweet on my way to work this morning that I’ve seen way too much over the las year, or so. It was from someone I know, not that well, but well enough. Basically they were saying that “whoever” could take their thoughts and prayers and shove them. And hey, that seems to be the trend lately, and in light of all the tragedies America has suffered the last few years with public shootings, it’s easy to understand from a non-believer’s point of view why someone would be compelled to say that. And before we go any further, let me make one thing clear...the purpose of this article is NOT to talk about gun regulations, gun laws, what has to be done, or what hasn't been done. That’s a subject for a different debate, and one I have strong feelings on. So, in the interest of keeping the subject on one thing, I will refrain from anything in regards to the whole gun debate. What I want to talk about, is praying. Yes, praying. If you notice, any time anything tragic happens, most people's first inclination is to say, "Thoughts and prayers are with the families", or something to that affect. And this goes for anybody, people who subscribe to a religious faith, and even some people who don't. There's only one problem. Most people (and I'm gonna venture to say more than half, so let's say 6 out of 10), when they say "thoughts and prayers", don't even pray. They just say it, and pretty much move on, not even giving one thought to what that actually means. And then they go about their day, get into their thoughts on gun laws, or whatever else. They put no thought whatsoever behind the phrase "thoughts and prayers". And then when people go off on them and tell them that their thoughts and prayers don't help, or mean anything, they wonder why. Newsflash: Those people are kinda right...in some ways, at least. Let me clarify what I mean by that. First of all, if you are not even really praying, that's a problem. And it is my personal opinion that no one should EVER say "thoughts and prayers" for anything, be it a public shooting, or the death of a loved one, or a tragic accident, or whatever, if you're not really praying. Then it doesn’t mean anything, doesn’t help, and is (for all intents and purposes) just mindless dribble. Now I can only speak for myself, and I am no way trying to put myself up on some pedestal, but let me assure all of you, ANY TIME I offer any situation thoughts and prayers for ANY REASON, I actually take the time to do it, and actually put some thought into it. I don't just say it, and then go about my day. I pray to God, and I pray earnestly for a number of things involved with whatever the current situation is. As a Christian, that is my duty when I am praying. Anything less than that is a slap in the face to the victims, to the families, to the situation, and most importantly, to God. Secondly, and this is (respectfully) to all those who bash people that offer "thoughts and prayers", you need to have any understanding of what we're actually praying for. We're not praying for some "magic man in the clouds" to come down and save us, and stop the madness. That's not how prayer works. To quote a tweet I once saw by former Blaze.com and Faithwire.com writer, Billy Hallowell on the matter, "You pray for comfort for those afflicted. You pray for the first responders. You pray for the families. You pray for our culture to come to its senses." I couldn’t have said it better myself. If you are honestly and earnestly praying for a tragic situation, such as a school or public shooting, we absolutely should be praying for all of those things. Of course we also pray for a resolution, but just because one doesn't come along doesn't mean that prayer is useless, or that "God has failed", as I've seen many people say. God didn't fail. We, as a society, have failed. And that's part of the problem. This is a sick, evil, BROKEN world. I think anyone, believers or not, would agree on that. For those who believe in God, such as myself, I know things are going to get a lot worse before they ever get better. Jesus said it plainly in John 16:33 when He said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." I DO take heart in those words. And that is why I have placed my faith and trust in Jesus that one day He will put an end to ALL suffering. Public shootings, rape, tragedies, natural disasters, ALL of it will one day come to an end. In Revelation 21:4 it says, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain”. This is the hope we have in the Christ Jesus. This is why we pray. THIS is why we believe. Now, does that mean I blow horrible situations like this off when they happen? Of course not, I pray for many of the things I quoted above, and in addition, I also pray for people to wake up, and understand that we live in a broken world, and that all the regulations in the world will not take away from the fact that evil exists, and will continue to exist. And I also pray that if anything good comes out of horrible situation like the shooting Thursday afternoon at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, or even the recent tragic Paramus school bus accident about a month ago, that people will come to faith in Jesus Christ. And put their trust in the one sure thing beyond this temporary world. I pray that for the people affected, and even any person in general who isn’t affected. THAT is what a Christian means (or at least they should) when we say “thoughts and prayers for the victims and families”. Anything less, and you might as well not even say anything. Being a Christian (or becoming one), doesn’t make life perfect. Earnestly praying for people affected in a tragic situation isn’t going to magically make everything better. What it DOES do is offer hope, and an eternal solution to a lost world. Read the full article