#in conclusion eren is a weirdo

[cadriox]

To confess, I’m not great at drawing eren.

Despite the amount of times I had drawn him, I still don’t fully get him. It could be that I’m too dumb or too much of a casual fan for deep analysis, but AOT has failed to conclude his character for me.

To me Eren is a deeply traumatized individual who failed to mature. He’s a self-righteous man child. But there’s also some ancient evil yadayada messing with his head that isayama couldn’t clear up it up for me, so at this point I still don’t know why eren committed rumbling.

Interestingly, this shows in my art HAHA.

Most of my eremin art is seen from armin’s POV, eren remains either a mystery or partially seen. Eren from Armin’s POV works better in my drawings bc he’s an incomplete character, a huge mystery even, he makes no sense to me sometimes, but above all he’s a symbol of doom and rage.

(“POV” is rather vague in illustrations esp when a lot of them can be objective. To me POV applies when the drawing leans toward one character’s bias, feelings, and how they see things.)

Here’s an example of Eren from Armin’s POV:

Altho one thing I understand for sure is his relationship with armin, the way he idolizes and adores him, putting him on the pedestrian (and doom him in the process)

My Eren’s POV art:

[mazuwii]

The AOT characters lose you

Scenario: They lose you and go searching for you. 

Levi

-He's just thinking to himself about how he got in such a shitty party and is only thinking about how you were so excited to go -The whole time he was sat on a chair watching over your drink while you were off to the bathroom -So many people tried to start a conversation with him but he'd only scoff and turn away from him -At last, when the party was over he was beginning to grow pale, paranoid of where you could have gone -Checks the bathroom and nope, you're not there -You can bet he's going around everywhere in the span of 10 minutes, he's not giving up on finding you he even asks people if they've seen you -his last resort is to ask Hange and Erwin for help until he goes home to grab his phone and finds you fast asleep on the bed -turns out you forgot and just went home lol

Eren:

-You guys are in an amusement park and he's been trying to win a teddybear by shooting the target(scam games lol) -you said you'd go get some food so he nodded without looking at you, you left long ago. -When he finally wins he realises the sky got darker and you're still not around like holy shit the guy keeps it together and decides to go searching, assuming you got bored and went to try other rides -tried looking near the food stalls hut you weren't there either -At this point, he begins to panic and goes around everywhere three times, still not finding you -he's so close to tearing the entire theme park to bits until he bumps into a familiar someone -you can bet the moment he sees you he's not releasing you from his tight hug, talking over you continuously about how scared he was and how stupid you are to run away like that -turns out you were walking in opposite directions the whole time and just missed each other every cycle -idiots

Bertholdt:

-He said he'd go drop something off at his friends house and told you that you could go-ahead to his grannies (you were supposed to visit his grandma together) -You agree and decide to pack something for her before leaving -Twenty minutes pass and Bertl is already back except he couldn't find you in the house, assuming you already left -ignores the fear bubbling in his chest and drives off to his grandma's house. Even then, he can't find you. -Asks his grandma "Have you- um have you seen Y/N?" He stammers only for her to shake her head, and go back to sleep. -he full-on gets a panic attack, doesn't even say goodbye he's rushing back into his car and calling his friends up to alert them about your disappearance. -The man is searching the entire neighbourhood. Like I mean the ENTIRE neighbourhood. -Until he finds you happily skipping with a bag of oranges at the park. He's getting out of his car and not locking it, hell he forgets to close the door and just rams into you -you're confused as to why he's saying 'thank god' over and over again and why he's crying -in conclusion, is a cinnamon roll💞

Reiner:

-It was an early Saturday morning and you had a meeting with someone. You kissed his head as you got up at five AM only to be stopped with a clasp of your arm. You turned to see Reiner half-awake, asking where you were off to on a Saturday. -You explained and he groaned in annoyance as if he was a pouty child :( you laughed and told him you'd be back a bit late which only made him whine more. -it was a long day but he spent it doing work and prepared everything for when you come back. -Yet even when the clock hit seven PM he began to panic slightly, calling your number only for the voice message to say your phone was closed -waits a little bit more and the clock strikes eleven pm, that was his last straw before he rushed out of the house and went around asking if anyone had seen you. Even though no one was out at that time, just the drunk weirdos -he got a call from you telling him to come to your location because you were scared of the isolated environment -wastes no time and goes straight to you -the moment he sees you he runs and engulfs you in a hug, scolding you about not taking the car to work. -Can I just say he makes you feel so safe🥺🥺

Jean:

-the both of you were in a concert (you choose which one) and he was extremely hyped up about it, the both of you in the middle of the crowd screaming lyrics with the musicians on stage -just as he was about to hold you close to him, he realised you were nowhere to be seen. He began to mentally punch himself, realising he let you out of his sight and now you could be in pain, scared or even worse-taken away. -he tried to stay calm but he just couldn't, pushing through the crowds panting heavily. -For the rest of the concert that's all he had done, search and yell for your name. He even alerted the bodyguards at the front. -When the concert was over he could be seen crying into his palms at a bench while the fans walked out. You saw this and raced to him, your heart becoming lighter in relief. -you grabbed his shoulders and hugged him, explaining how you went to the bathroom for a bit and couldn't find him on your way back. It turns out you were both searching for each other. -denies it when you tell him he's crying LOL

Armin:

-He's taking notes about a certain flower in the flower park, it was huge, full of beautiful plants and elegantly shaped hedges. -asks if you want a coffee and you nod your head, too enchanted by the foxgloves in a straight row. -he smiles at how distracted you seem before going to get the coffees, knowing the exact amount of sugars you'd want. -However when he got back, you were nowhere to be seen. At the entrance? Not. Near the duck pond? No. Tourist area? No. Literally nowhere. And you're not picking up -he's shaking and drops on a bench and dials Eren and Mikasa to come to the park as soon as possible. The man is having a mental breakdown. -when Mikasa finally joins the trio she finds you first and comes back to the two with you squirming on her shoulder -Armin darts in your direction and hugs you tight and explains how he's going to put a tracker on you next time jokingly

Erwin:

-You didn't want to go on this trip and neither did Levi or Erwin. -Hange forced you all to come on her camping trip in order to get a badge. Like, aren't you a bit old for that? How did you even- -you were helping Levi set up the tents and Erwin was too busy fetching wood for the fire. -Hange was climbing up trees for some reason. -As it started to get colder you clung onto your coat and shivered at the puff of smoke leaving your mouth. -"Erwins almost back with the wood Y/N, don't die on us." Hange joked, climbing back down with her binoculars in one hand. You shook your head at her and told the two you were off to go find him. Levi warned you to be careful considering how dark it was getting. You didn't care you just wanted someone warm to hug. -meanwhile, Erwin had been distracted by two birds making love to one another, confused and standing there like 👁👄👁 the whole time -finally gets back with a load of wood and sets it down in front of the tents. "Where's Y/N?" He looks around for you, furrowing his brows when Hange and Levi's gaze meet each other. -"We thought she went to you..." Hange said, crouching down to turn the fire on. His jaw dropped slightly and all colour drained his face. Instantly grabs a torch and rushes off to find you while Levi and Hange toast some wieners💀 -Like he's just screaming your name in his commander's voice, cracking a few times from pure fear that you may be hurt. -until he hears you cry back and runs in the direction of your voice continuously screaming his name. -you've never seen him so scared, you run into his arms and quiver from the sudden heat radiating from his body. -Will not let you leave his sight during that trip. Ever

Zeke:

-He's at the mall and met friends while you went to fetch some new clothes and decor for your house. -they're talking casually and he suddenly brings you up, a funny story about the both of you until he realises you've spent too long in that shop and you haven't come out since -immediately cuts himself off and checks the place, realising you're nowhere to be found. -you can bet he's going in and out of places just to find you. The man at last, goes to his last resort and tells the bodyguards about it. -suddenly you could hear this on the speakers. "Y/N L/N please stand- where? Oh okay- at the front of the mall, daddy is waiting for you"- the man is suddenly cut off and you can hear Zeke. "Y/N, once I find you I swear I'm putting you on a leash!" Your jaw drops in complete embarrassment and hopes that no one you knew would be in this mall. -you wait at the front with your face hidden in your palms, trying to be lowkey when suddenly you collide with a chest. You look up and lightly hit Zeke, hissing about calling him 'daddy' and how embarrassing that was. -He doesn't care he's just glad you're okay -pulls out a leash and tells you he wasn't kidding💀💀💀 we all know Zeke was a leash kid LMAO

Porco:

-He was supposed to take you to visit Marcel in hospital after he got his penis stuck in a jam jar. (Jk he fell down the stairs and broke his foot) -but Porco had to fill up his car with gas so he left you inside after doing just that and left to get something inside the gas station. -You awaited him to get back and he finally did with two cans of Redbull. You just frown and widen your eyes at how unbelievable he was (you asked for a can of monster💀) -He just tells you that you're in a hurry and that you both don't have time for choosing drinks. -you take this to heard obviously and ignore him the whole way to the hospital. -you're having a nice time talking with Marcel while he's on the bed, telling you about how it felt to crack a few bones -Porco is on his phone like a lil whore so you decide to step out for some fresh air all in the dark barely lit up the parking lot of the hospital. -extremely cold but you aren't going to go in that traitor's car. You text goodbye to Marcel and order a cab home. Idk why but you and Porco are hella petty with one another. -The moment he figures out that you aren't in the parking lot waiting for him, or inside talking shit about him to his brother sent a jolt of fear rushing to his chest. -calls and calls but you don't pick up, literally speeds off to go home and finds you in a damp towel after a bath and begins his rampage on how annoying you are.

Hange:

-She's restless. Like the moment you guys decided to climb up a damn mountain you were already tired and she was ahead of you. You took a short break and continued. -When everyone reached the top and she couldn't find you she stopped smiling and just gaped at all the possibilities. -she would jump to find you just saying lol -climbs down even when she's told not to by the instructor and is screaming your name, echoing and eventually finding its way to you. -She finds you napping under a tree, already given up. -sighs out in relief but still wakes your lazy ass up so you can climb the rest with her

Pieck:

-There's no way she could lose you, you've been holding onto her backpack strap the whole time you were in the huge crowd and she checks every 5 seconds to see if you're still there -However, if she did lose you she's pushing people over or shoving past strangers like it's nothing just to find you😭😭😭 -The moment she sees you her hand is holding into your arm, she will not let you get lost again.

Mikasa:

-How can I say this? -Let's just say the entire world would end up flames if she didn't find you. -she doesn't need a searching team, the searching team need her. -You can bet all your life savings this mf will find you in 10 minutes. -Let's say you got kidnapped. She will hop onto that case faster than the police will. -believe me, the moment she finds you whoever took you will regret even thinking about kidnapping you😭😭😭 gets all violent and then just takes you back home as if that all didn't just happen

Mike

Let's just say the hallway on campus got way more crowded than he expected. -He forgot to hold onto your hand so he does end up losing but since he's so damn tall he can spot your head and push through people to grab your smaller ass -Does that thing where he leads you out of the crowd by holding onto your hand while your behind him so no one bumps into you😩🥺

Sasha

She's focusing on small dumb things like the grass while you're both at a carnival, probably trying to identify little bugs on the ground as you're both in line for a ride.

Until she asks what LadyBugs meant and got no reply and gasped at the realisation that you're not there. And so, ignoring everything, she begins her search for you everywhere and gets exhausted quick. It's all alright when she finds you under a tree but you're crying into your knees, -you admit that a mime came up to you and you ran away screaming out of fear from it

Annie

You two were at a buffet with your friends and you told them you needed the bathroom, she told you to be quick and hurry back and you said yes over the churning of your stomach. However, as time passes and she's already full, she begins to get a bit paranoid about your whereabouts. Your friends come back from the bathroom and explain how you weren't in there so she goes in there by herself to see *even if you're a boy, she'd enter the guys' bathroom with no care in the world*

Everyone can here her desperately banging on every stall until, when she can't find you by the sink and then kicks in one of the locked stalls to find you passed out on the floor

-it's okay just a little food poisening💀

Kenny

-He's having a beer with friends at a pub and you popped along with him because you were scared. The reason behind your fear was that it was a rainy, dark night and for the entire week the news broadcasted a serial killer had escaped prison so you clung onto Kenny for the entire seven days.

"It's bullshit." He previously said behind the shower curtains. You were sitting in the bathroom, refusing to leave his sight in case the serial killer would break in and kill you.

But now, you were swaddled in a hooded cloak, hugging Kenny's arm as he raspily wheezed at his friends' jokes. It sounded like he needed cough drops but that's just how Kenny laughs.

Suddenly, your private part pulsated. Turned on? Or did you need a wee? You weren't an idiot, the pain felt a bit satisfying but you knew you had finished a few drinks Kenny left unattended. When he would find the cup empty, he knew you drank it but didn't bother lecturing you on getting drunk and ordered another one. Besides, Kenny wasn't a lightweight when it came to drinking. In fact, he'd be able to take you both home safely.

Tugging on the hysterical man's sleeve in an attempt to alert him that you'd be gone for a few minutes but it was no use, he and his friends were so loud and distracted so you left without another word to the bathroom to do your business.

Sure it was scary and you flinched a few times from the thunder cracking through the violent rain. Once you had finished and exited the stall to wash your hands, you heard a few footsteps linger by the bathroom. Your heart thumped in your chest, making your surroundings blur in terms of vision and noise.

Without realising, you stumbled and tripped over nothing, from the pure panic and fear, you fainted on the cold tiles of the pub bathroom.

Meanwhile, Kenny had yawned and stretched his arms. He cocked a brow and realised there was nothing holding his arm... where were you? What-

His blood boiled at the idea of you being taken or killed, the fear forcing him to jolt out of his seat and stomp to the bartender, asking if he had seen you walk out. While he was trying to remember, Kenny mentally cursed himself for not paying attention to you. You could be in a ditch right now! Freezing to death in the violent rain.

"Ah yes! That girl with the weird cloak, she went in the bathroom"- Kenny skipped any words of gratitude and jogged off in the direction of the toilets, bursting the door open and huffing out a shaky breath of relief.

"Damn brat." He tried his hardest to gently slap your face, holding your head up with his palm. He may not do PDA but he wouldn't dream of letting you hurt your scalp like that.

[feralaot]

so... what does our favorite aot character say about us?

anon this feels very confrontational

What your favorite AOT character says about you

note: none of this is meant to single anyone out and is just, in my opinion, baseline observations

these are gonna be labelled ‘srs’ (serious) and ‘non srs’ (non serious) cause I figured I should include some silly ones to lighten the mood a bit ya know

If your favorite is....

eren

srs: you probably feel insecure and as if what you can do isn’t enough, so you’re always pushing your own boundaries. you may have an underlying anger against something, whether it’s society, yourself, someone who impacted your life in a negative way, etc.

non srs: you have a god complex and daddy issues

mikasa

srs: sometimes you can be a little too dependent on other people and you allow others to influence you often, but you don’t think anyone could ever know you better than yourself. you might prefer to handle things on your own.

non srs: you’re a simp for eren but don’t quite kin him

armin

srs: you want to understand everything, the how and why of it all, but you might not be able to look inwards and reflect on yourself because of low self esteem. you may carry guilt or blame yourself for something.

non srs: you’re a nervous wreck projecting onto another nervous wreck

jean

srs: sometimes you may not recognize your own faults and bottle things up for too long, you might feel like you’re just a secondary character in someone else’s story and you’re more on the ambitious side to the point it’s unhealthy

non srs: when he gets called “horse face” you really feel that

connie or sasha

srs: you probably just want to live an easygoing, relatively carefree life but at the same time might feel like something is preventing that, and you channel some of your insecurity into humor

non srs: you just want a pal you can be chaotic with

historia or ymir

srs: you might’ve been raised in an overbearing household and let yourself be influenced by other peoples’ standards they set for you, so you always tried to be the “perfect” kid. you want to be appreciated so much so that you may fake aspects of your personality.

non srs: you are incredibly sapphic

levi

srs: you’re probably more vulnerable than you let on and for someone who’s extremely emotional you don’t show it, like, at all. you get emotionally attached to things and people easily and act like it isn’t a big deal even though it’s slowly eating at you

non srs: you either kin him or he’s your comfort character and you want him to be happy

hange

srs: you definitely feel misunderstood and you might be just a bit eccentric. you have a lot of specific interests that some people may deem weird but once you find someone who will listen to you you’re pretty much immediate best friends, although you may become too easily emotionally dependent

non srs: you’ve got a thing for androgynous weirdos

reiner

srs: oh man. you’ve got something going on and there’s probably some kind of internal dilemma you’re facing or obstacle that you just can’t seem to overcome and you “cope” with it by repressing everything until it becomes too much to bear. in conclusion, please seek healthy coping mechanisms

non srs: you are probably lgbt

bertholdt

srs: you feel like there’s a huge amount of pressure on you to succeed and do everything right the first time. you struggle to make decisions for yourself and you can often come off as cowardly or emotionally vulnerable. you have gifted kid burnout

non srs: once again you are a nervous wreck projecting onto another nervous wreck 

annie

srs: you were probably called the “smart and mature one” as a child and now you have anxiety. you’ve always been pushed to give everything your best shot even if you just wanted to be “normal” and everything you had to do was not what you wanted to do

non srs: you like powerful women

porco

srs: you can’t stand the thought of being taken advantage of. you always feel like people are out to get you or undermine you and nothing is more irritating than that. you have a lot of repressed emotions and take it out with unhealthy coping mechanisms 

non srs: you are depressed but horny

pieck

srs: you constantly feel like you’re being underestimated or people are looking down on you. you’re always seeking that perfect opportunity to prove that you’re worth much more than you seem, and you’re always rooting for the underdog

non srs: you also like powerful women

zeke

look I don’t know what to say you probably just think monke man funny and that’s valid

[sunlightandsuffering]

Them having a mutual friend and it’s supposed to be their first time hanging out as a group. Mikasa sees him and she’s like “omg that’s the weirdo who pushed me against the wall in the chem hall”

AHAHAH THIS IS SO FUNNY YES 😂 i'm not taking more prompts cuz I still have several to finish but i'll write this bc i'm a monster 😂

Armin has been talking about his best friend for as long as she's known him. And yet, mysteriously she's never met this boy, the one who Armin fanboys over to a ridiculous degree, hyping him up so high Mikasa wonders if it's her she's trying to set up with him or himself.

His name is Aaron, she thinks? She's not entirely sure how it's spelled, and he sounds like a typical perfect fuckboi. Pre-med, tall, good-looking, driven, goes to the gym constantly, really just everything she could ask for in a guy. So she's a little wary to say the least when Armin finally asks her to hang out and she knows he's going to be there. She's nervous, wants to make a good impression on the guy Armin never shuts up about.

She dresses in her best outfit, cute but not too much, the guy might be a fuckboi but still he sounds hot. She settles on a pair of jeans and a crop top to show off her abs, with a cute cardigan and some sneakers. She's going for casually beautiful, with a bit of an edge.

She's a little excited as she walks over to the nearby café everyone is hanging out at, she's finally going to meet this boy, maybe they'll hit it off and she'll end up with a boyfriend.

She's always been a little shy about the fact that she's never actually had an honest to god boyfriend. There have been several irritating talking phases and some messing around, but never and actual boyfriend. This might be her chance, who knows, but she feels jittery with excitement.

Then she sees him, and all her hopes fly out the window. Eren, her weird classmate who seems to be obsessed with her. The one who at first she'd thought was kind of hot, but now she just thinks is full on crazy. He'd pinned her to the wall that one time, and then after she'd found out they were neighbours, he's been crazy overbearing and touchy.

He's fucking weird, is the bottom line. He always asks her for stupid stuff too, any excuse to see her, and now she finds out he's friends with Armin. Oh god, what is she in for. But poor dear, sweet Mikasa hasn't realized the worst part quite yet.

She's still hopeful that maybe her day can be saved, maybe Armin's infamous best friend, Aaron can save her. Maybe they'll hit it off and he'll drive her into the sunset on his motorcycle. So instead of walking away she enters the cafe, heading towards their table of friends and Armin immediately lights up.

"Mikasa i'm so glad you could make it! This is my best friend Eren."

Armin pushes Eren forward and out of his chair causing him to stumble a little bit as he holds out his hand to her, evil grin plastered on his face as she comes to the horrifying conclusion that there is no Aaron, there is only Eren.

Fuck.

[thecommanderzoe-a]

armin or mikasa?

Make Hanji Choose x

Making her choose between the kids was another level. She frowned in thought, of course she had her favourites, and Armin was up there. But Mikasa, she was strong, she could go head to head with Levi and he might actually break a sweat. Ackerman weirdos.

In terms of talent, they both had what the other lacked, Mikasa's mind was clouded when it came to Eren, but Armin's became clearer when the stakes were higher. He reminded her of Erwin in that respect. But in terms of fighting, Mikasa had Armin beat. It wasn't that Armin was weak, he had grown his muscles, and was the first out of the kids to get his hands dirty with human blood.

Armin had a mind similar to hers, talking with Armin she could unravel the knots in her own mind, they worked together on a few occasions, coming to the same conclusion. Armin was as close to a son or a little brother as she could ever hope for.

"You don't often get brains like Armin's, a mix of my smarts and Erwin's strategies. With Armin we can stay one step ahead of our enemy. Perhaps we wouldn't have to use the strength hidden within Mikasa. With the way Armin talks himself out of situations, it's refreshing".

[doopcafe]

Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人): S01E15

Summary: Eren learns more about the members of the Recon Corps as Major Hanji performs experiments on the captured Titans. 

Comments: Okay, so Isla got me Star Wars: Squadrons early for xmas and most of my free time has been spent watching that instead of this, but I’m back in force today to binge watch—uhh—way more than I thought I was capable of watching. 

(Seven. I watched seven episodes of this just now and I still don’t know what’s in Eren’s dad’s creepy sex basement.)

We open on Eren riding a horse to the former HQ of the Recon Corps, an old castle. Why did they build a castle? As we’ve seen, castles aren’t much protection against titans. 

Eren cites the kill counts of each member like a true fanboy peddling baseball cards and worthless knowledge, but, honestly, after watching Mikasa execute titan after titan in previous episodes... Levi’s group has gotta pump those numbers up—those are rookie numbers in this racket.

Anyways, Eren ends this exposition on a sobering thought: if Eren (as a giant) goes rogue, these would be the people to kill him. 

Following is a montage of cleaning scenes... and Levi being unsatisfied with Eren’s cleaning (he’s a neat freak, which comes up whenever the show has need of a quick joke). There’s some discussion about the upcoming plans and the need to prove Eren’s usefulness to Central Command as early as possible and then... the weird Major lady with a fetish for giants interrupts their evening meal to tell Eren all about the experiments she has planned. 

Our commercial-break exposition gives a bit more info on the religious zealots of the story who worship the walls as divine gifts and don’t like people touching them.

We then get scenes of what these “experiments” consisted of. She tries talking to them, which fails, and then gives us a gruesome story about an ancient tribe of people that lived in the hills and ate people, cooking them in various ways. She names the giants “Sawney” and “Bean” and then repeatedly stabs Bean to assess if they have other weaknesses beyond the nape of the neck. Seems like no.

Pouring Eren a cup of coffee, she explains she once tried fighting the titans for decades fueled purely by hate (Eren style), but then one day realized that the titans were made of pure light? That their body parts were much lighter than they should have been considering their size (which contradicts the stomping sound we hear as they walk around). I’m not really sure what she was saying and the Japanese audio was no more helpful. 

Eren soon realizes that the Recon Corps is nothing more than a collection of freaks and weirdos, which he is now a part of. 

In conclusion, the pair of giants are killed by someone and we’re left with the suggestion that the true enemy are people themselves. 

My enjoyment: 3/5 

[thanatosbananatos]

What in the heckin' heck is Hanji's backstory? -- A Meta

At this rate, Yams is never going to tell us.

I guess it may not be all that important to the story, but then again, knowing his writing style, he really enjoys leaving mysteries, and it won't surprise me in the slightest if this series ends with a lot of the mysteries being unsolved.  Hanji's backstory will likely be one of them.

As a disclaimer, I use she/her pronouns for Hanji, but Isayama specifically has stated that Hanji's gender is irrelevant, so please feel free to use whatever pronouns you'd like. If Hanji was real, I don't think she'd care, either...

Anyway, I want to start this meta laying out the facts we already know about Hanji BEFORE the year 845.

--Hanji had joined the Corps for ??? reason, and had a thirst to kill the Titans mercilessly, just like Eren at the start of the story.  She was “fueled by insecurity and hate.”  However, she kicked a Titan's head and was fascinated by how light it was, which began her obsession with the Titans from a scientific standpoint.

--Hanji does not bathe regularly and doesn't care about hygiene.  Apparently Levi has to knock her out to get her to bathe.

--Hanji doesn't care about gender.  Or at least, Isayama said it doesn't matter to the story.  In a very early interview, he stated that Hanji was female but had moments of masculinity, which means she's gender-fluid or nonbinary.

--Hanji was in the Corps before Levi, Isabel, and Farlan joined.

--Hanji has known Erwin, Mike, and others for a little while--it's a quick little thing, but in episode one of season one, Hanji is shown to be in the same squad as Erwin when Shardis was the Commander.

--Hanji has anger issues.  Isayama has stated that she is the scariest character when angered, and is also a different person with and without her glasses/goggles.

Aaaaand that's it.

Thanks, Yams.

Well, if the Wings of Counterattack game is to be believed, Hanji was also a super cute kid who was always kind of androgynous and messy-haired and had bad vision. Super cute.  I love.

But that's really it.  Hanji didn't even get a character song, despite Romi Park having the singing voice of a fallen angel that's going to drag me straight into hell where there are hot jazz musicians and Satan serves us all whiskey on the rocks.  Did y'all know she released a jazz/pop album?  It's fire and you can't stop me from thinking about Hanji being able to sing like that.

...I'm getting off track.

ANYWAY.

Compared to many other recurring characters in the series, Hanji has a very limited amount of backstory.  She's never even drawn as younger, even in the panel we get of her kicking the Titan's head--if you recall, it's just a dark scribble with a scary-looking grin.

That being said, Isayama has indeed been dropping bread crumbs here and there with clues throughout the series that can lead us to a conclusion about Hanji's past.

Where was Hanji born and raised?

I think it's fair to say that Hanji was not raised with wealth.

It's hard to draw conclusions about her exact family, but considering her being totally chill with not bathing for weeks and being a little bit of a...gremlin, she probably grew up somewhere in Maria, or in the slums of someplace in Rose. However, I tend to lean more toward Maria.  

For me, it's not really an issue of just her hygiene--it's also her social skills.  Again, we know ZILCH about her parents/guardians, so they could have been weirdos, but I think also that Hanji just didn't have the proper upbringing to gain boundaries like normal people.  She gets up in people's faces, she can be very physical/grabby, and she can be argumentative and stubborn to a fault.  I think it's fair to sometimes call her actions childish, though some of them also are symptoms of something like ADHD.

I want to argue, however, that she is just eccentric.  I think it's part of who she is and was raised to be--or perhaps it's from a lack of attention.  

She also just doesn't care about a lot of things that people raised in high-status upbringings would care about.  She literally throws on her uniform jacket over her pajamas when called out to see Pastor Nick's death scene.  Showering/bathing every day is not a priority,but it's also not something that bothers her.  For instance, I'm incredibly busy, but I shower every day because anxiety dictates it to be so, but I also just enjoy being clean.  Hanji is super busy and could make time to shower/bathe more than she doesn't, but she doesn't see it as a priority and never once is it mentioned that she pays any mind to it.  

Regarding her gender, I wonder if she was an only child.  It's possible that there were expectations put on her to be more of a “lady,” but she was much more concerned with studying and learning.  

That's just speculation, of course.  Some people just are the way that they are.

However, I think she was an only child for a couple of other reasons, too.

First, I think that economically, if she did grow up in Maria, one child was all that her parents could afford. There are also just not a lot of people in the walled world with siblings; it's just not very convenient to add to an already-starving population, I suppose.  

But also, I think her love for studying might be connected to this.  I know that, as a kid growing up with older brothers MUCH older than me and not a lot of friends, I loved to read to the point that I owned my own encyclopedias and actually read them. A lot of kids who grow up lonely/isolated tend to do the same.  

Especially if she was already such an extroverted kid, I think she'd need the stimulation.

Why did Hanji hate the Titans?

It's possible to think about this from a couple of different angles, but there's one that I prefer over the other.

First, we could consider that Hanji perhaps lost someone she cared about to the Titans.  Maybe her parents joined the military and were killed.  Maybe her sibling, or aunt or uncle, or grandparents.  

Second, we could consider that she valued freedom and independence, and that she considered the Titans to be something that stood in the way of that.

Personally, I think the second one is more likely.  Of course, it's possible that both happened!  We really don't know.  

However, I lean toward the second option because of Hanji's personality, and the little we know about her when she joined the Corps.  She was a bit unhinged (as all interesting characters are), and she was very violent.  This tends to be a characteristic of people who are forced to keep everything in for a long amount of time.

In psychology, there are two categories of people:  externalizers and internalizers.  For instance, if a child endures trauma, and their reaction is to lash out violently (physically or verbally), or to become selfish and attention-seeking, that is considered externalizing.  On the other hand, if the child endures the trauma and then keeps it locked up, considers the abuser to be the “real” victim, learns self-blame, etc., then that is internalizing.  

For instance, Erwin is probably an internalizer, when we take into account his father's death and the trauma he endured because of it.  Armin is also an internalizer.

Hanji, however, is probably an externalizer.  She shows a lot of the signs of someone who has perhaps undergone something traumatic/repeated traumatic events and has lashed out as a sign of “dealing with it.”  It's a sign of emotional immaturity, so it makes sense that that's what Hanji was doing as a young'n.  She's also quite empathetic, which could add fuel to any flames, and she's also proven to be a skilled manipulator.

What was the trauma?  I think it was the feeling of isolation.

One thing that really is evident to me is how goddamned EXTROVERTED Hanji is.  If we have the scale E to I, Hanji is probably one of the farthest if not THE farthest over on the E side of ALL of the characters in this story.  She likes to talk, she verbalizes everything, she enjoys people, and she clearly gains energy from social situations.

I have a feeling that Hanji has always been a bright kid, and that perhaps she was understimulated as a result of growing up not only in a poor community, but being surrounded by this big-ass walls and constantly being told, “No, you can't go outside.  You'll be eaten alive by Titans.”

She would very naturally turn into this teenager/young adult with a thirst for absolutely destroying the things that kept her locked up in the first place.

Again, I think either situation is likely, but I have the feeling that it goes deeper than just getting revenge for someone's death. Something tells me that Hanji has been looking for answers to deep questions for a long time.

So, Hanji joins the military.  Then what?

Well, from the hints that Yams has dropped, Hanji met Erwin, Mike, Nile, and perhaps others at some point.  I don't think that Hanji was in the same class as them, save for maybe Moblit, but I think she probably knew them. This part is a bit hazy, considering that we don't know what age Erwin and company were when they joined the military.  Mike is canonically older than them all, pushing 40 years old (like a fine wine) at around 850.  Erwin is supposedly in his late 30's, and I believe even Levi is older than Hanji, which would put her around 30 at in the year 850.  

Now, if we think about when Levi entered the Survey Corps, which I believe was in the year 846...

Hanji was not a new recruit that year, and she already seemed to have a pretty close friendship with Moblit.  She was also more emotionally mature.

In other words, Hanji had probably already kicked the head of that Titan by the time Maria fell.

That means, it had to have been before Shiganshina/Maria fell that she had a change of heart.  

During all of this, Mike and Erwin were also in the Corps, and they probably witnessed this change.

However, despite it being explicitly mentioned in the manga, this is the hardest part to flesh out about Hanji's backstory.

We at least know the details of her becoming a Squad Leader specifically focused on the science of Titans, thanks to the OVA for Ilse's Journal.  It was thanks to her curiosity, emotional maturity, and a bit of dumb luck that it happened.  

But before this, we don't know much else about her time in the military, and it's hard to discern anything without knowing details about the others, too.  

I know that there are snippets of details in smartpasses (is that what they're called?) that reveal that she, Mike, and Erwin were friends, etc., but that really doesn't give us much to go on. Much of it, unfortunately, remains a mystery.

However, there is one last thing I want to point out:

In the first episode of season two, after Hanji lets Nick down instead of yeeting him off of the wall, she mentions “I haven't felt this way since I first went outside of the walls.  Talk about scary.”

There are many people who interpret this line as her fear of the Titans, but I think it's fear of her own anger.  She was ready to brutally kill someone who could have otherwise provided valuable information, just because of her pure rage.  

I think this moment, along with a couple of others (kicking down the table and saying “it was a roach,” for instance), drive home some of the assumptions from earlier in this meta.  Consider the torture scene and her actions compared to Levi's.  Levi grew up in an environment where violence was used as a form of communication.  You don't see him saying a lot as he punches Sannes over and over.  He doesn't stick around to talk to the men once they're returned to their jail cells.  

Hanji is, however, a bit too eager to rip the nails and teeth out of this guy (partially as revenge for Pastor Nick's death, I'm certain).  She rips into them verbally as well, as they sit defeated in their jail cell.  Her anger is a terrifying force.

So what's the point?

Well, there's not really one.

I just would like to know more about one of my favorite fictional characters of all time.

Is it important to the story?  Well, not necessarily.

But what if this backstory is more than I wrote here?  What if it's something quite wild or disturbing?  What if it digs further into the fundamentals of humanity?  Was she abused?  Was she bullied?  Is she just psychologically disturbed?  

Like I said, we may never know, and at this point (2019/09), the series seems to be coming to an end.

I personally think it's really too bad.  The story is a character-driven one, so to leave so much mystery around Hanji's past is very curious.  Hanji tends to get shoved to the side a lot (though not as much as some other MCs), so it’s pretty frustrating to see that even the creator isn’t divulging more information...

Then again, I guess it does make writing fics easier, right...?

[kenrik]

(Me sucking at ereani. I’ll get used to them soon enough.)

My thought process, how I came to ship EreAni.  WARNING: Very shallow material HAHAHA. 

*While talking about SnK to my kid sister*

Why is it when it’s Mikasa, Eren seems to be turned off by her abilities? He always hated it when she rescues him. He never asks her to teach him any moves or train with him?

Oh, why is it, with Annie he seems to have fun even though she’s beating him up? 

Out of all the cadets, since the beginning, and even Mikasa notices this, Eren was never sold on Annie’s betrayal? Even when she transformed. Or even before transforming, Eren pushed Annie to go underground with them - he was almost pleading to Annie - show us it wasn’t you - that you didn’t kill them.

Why is it - why the fuck does Eren still care for Annie knowing what she’s done to them; after killing Squad Levi? 

His constant doubts about Annie, what the hell is that all about? It’s obvious that he KNOWS Annie is damn strong and can well take care of herself. But why is it - I’m comparing his reactions to Mikasa from his to Annie’s - that he doesn’t really give a damn about Mikasa, but when it comes to Annie who is Mikasa’s (not really) equal in skill, he gives a ton of shit? 

*Our conclusion... O.O There’s some great shit afoot.*

I know it can all be a “Nakama/Friend” thing or 104 cadet whatever thing. But, Eren is a weirdo. LOL. He’s too busy dealing with a ton of shit that he has zero care for romance/whatever. But damn if I’m not a fool to see that there’s a hook between him and Annie. 

Annie - it’s obvious she thinks highly of him even though she speaks of him in a demeaning manner. It’s just her nature. Haha!

But then again, what do I know. HAHAHA EREANI!!! *battle cry*

P.S. Also, Annie is like 5 ft. OMG 5″7 Eren next to 5″ Annie - TOO CUTE