#marley vs eldia

[dont-f-with-moogles]

Hello dear Terra 🤎

Sorry to bother you but I wanted to tell you I loved the "Hange in Paradis" wip you posted so much! Could you tell us about this story a little more? And you mention mood boards too? And research? I'm so excited about it!It would be great if you could share more info

Thank you and take care 🤎

Thanks Livia! I'm glad people are getting into this already; it's motivating me to keep going. I've got a monster document atm - 18 pages of notes and 22 chapter outlines. There's still more to add to it (why am I doing this to myself? 🤦)

So, the premise of 'A Sunrise Without You is Coming' (aka Hange in Paradis) is very 'Crash Landing on You,' so much that I'll post the fic as a crossover to AO3. We have a research team from Liberio University in Marley: Hange Zoe, Moblit Berner, Nifa, Abel and Keiji. A research expedition goes wrong, leaving Hange stranded on Paradis Island. Captain Levi Ackerman and his regiment attempt to arrest them, only for Hange to escape. Later, Levi finds Hange and has no choice but to hide them. If his superiors discovered that Survey Corps members were assisting defectors rather than patrolling the border, then all of their lives would be in danger... The next step is getting Hange back to Marley undetected. Much easier said than done.

Otherwise, there's sad back stories. Alleged corruption with the Paradis' MPs. Human trafficking. Erwin is up to something. Nile is up to something. Kenny is definitely up to something. Then there's Zeke, sitting like a spider in a tangled web of moves and counter moves.

Val @youre-ackermine inspired me with some incredible mood boards; everything from fashion to settings. I needed to see the contrasting cultures of a modern, liberal, cosmopolitan Marley vs a far more conservative and slightly primitive Eldia. Maybe in my next update I'll post some (with her permission of course!)

Thanks again Livia. I'll keep going with this, bit by bit!

[mr-double-downer]

Please feel free to disregard me but my main gripe with Aot is how it went over the "genocide is bad because people a thousand years into the future will pay for it" only to show us the immediate generation (namely Armin and Co.) living happy fulfilling lives traveling as peace ambassadors throughout the globe. Kinda felt like Isayama saying something along the lines of "genocide bad but look how Eren attained his goal" (seeing his friends free). Not to mention all the characters previous arcs being disregarded (Historia, Mikasa, Armin etc) and it being implied that Mikasa never really became her own person and stayed groveling at Eren's grave until the very end.

I don’t think anyone was happy with Armin’s line of “thank you for becoming a monster for all our sakes Eren” or whatever it was. Like I said, I have no idea what the man was trying to say.

Like really, the whole Marley/Eldia shit is so… weird. “Yeah the Third Reich is awful but what if their treatment of the Jews stemmed from a centuries long blood feud because the Jews used to rule the world and had them as chattel. Also the Jews can transform into giant monsters some of which have special powers, and the Nazis use this for their own expansionist aims.”

Now, if you want my headcannon, is that Marleyians and Eldians are actually one and the same because the whole line of Marleyians being subject to centuries of ethnic cleansing makes no sense and is probably just propaganda to justify Eldian oppression. Plus in spite of supposedly being different races, there’s no physical differences between the two. We know blacks and Asians and even middle eastern equivalents exist, and I think if I wanted to I could find more evidence supported by the manga itself of there being no real distinction between Marleyians and Eldians. So if this is the case, is Isayama saying race is just a construct meant to divide people into groups of us vs them? Idk man, I just don’t know

[itsmaddieforreal]

FMAB / AoT Comparisons and Contrasts Pt. 2

I am not crazy, I don’t wanna hear it.

Ling Yao and Sasha Braus:

Initially introduced as comedic relief with big appetites.

End up having bigger roles in the story later on.

Greed and Ymir:

Selfish characters who are killed off in the middle of the series.

Their powers/memories are transferred to another user (Porco/Ling), but in the end they are stripped of their powers and die once more for good. (Porco dies, Greed dies.)

This is honestly all I have for character comparisons until further notice or until I come back to edit this post, but I did want to compare a couple of the locations in both shows too.

I think the obvious contrast in location is Amestris vs. Ishval and Eldia vs. Marley; these countries who have been at war with each other for a long time and their conflicts have spurred the story forward one way or another.

And then there’s the Gate and the Paths: alternate realms that the protagonist is sent to where an otherworldly being (Truth and Ymir Fritz) aids the protagonist for better or for worse.

That’s it, that’s all I’ve got.

[littlequeens]

not book related but I finished aot a few days ago and needless to say it's consumed my thoughts. so here is an aot verse aelin!

aelin galathynius is an eldian residing in marley. she was born into the royal bloodline on her mothers side, who is a distant relative of dina, and making aelin a distant cousin of sorts to zeke. at the end of the great titan war, a branch of the royal family refused to flee to paradis island with king fritz, which included her parents. they resided in liberio with dina fritz and other eldians, biding their time until the eldian empire could regain power. unfortunately, when aelin was around the age of eight, her parents were murdered, leaving her orphaned.

she was taken in by a man named arobynn hamel, a highly respected leader in the marleyan military who is known for raising impressive warriors (most are orphaned marleyans but it’s not that uncommon for him to have an eldian). where her parents taught the history of eldia with pride, arobynn beat any notion of love she might have for her heritage out of her and restyled her in his own image to the point that she no longer acknowledges her royal bloodline. she only wants to please marley and become an honorary marleyan. he trained her with ruthless efficiency to be a killer, going as far as forcing her to break her right hand so that she could train exclusively with her weaker left, and giving her lashing whenever she failed a particular task. she quickly learned not to fail at all.

eventually, she joined the warrior unit of the millitary with the other eldians. due to her preliminary training as a child under arobynn's supervision, she quickly rose in the ranks and is considered one of the best fighters amongst her class behind the titan holders, but is instructed by arobynn to hold back and remain behind the nine chosen titan holders. this is because arobynn has his own plans for her, wanting to send her to paradis for his own scheming reasons, needing to ensure her life isn’t a ticking expiration date, whether marley approves her going or not. for writing purposes: either they approve her going and she joins marcel, annie, reiner, and bertolt to paradis or she sneaks onto the ship per arobynn’s instructions and joins them at some point once they are there. she then joins the 104th training corps, with a main focus on aiding her comrades and gathering secret intel for arobynn.

additional headcanons: - her and annie grew up very similarly, and therefore have a kind of unspoken friendship between them, especially as they age - although in the warrior unit, she was trained moreso as an assassin vs a soldier - she would be the first of the group to turn against marley and join eldia - befriends mikasa (much to her chagrin) and forces her to teach her new tricks with the odm gear - armin reminds her of sam

[melishade]

Z-King: Hey if you want a real Dark Timeline, think on this. What if Megatron did not see Archind in the ova, but she saw him leave Cybertron and she wants vengeance so she waits as she signals a nearby Cybertronian ship, kills the pilot and taks her and her army abroad and follows Megatron and winds up on the AOT Earth. Titans vs Insecticons!

Well, a few things.

One, I don't like Airachnid. NO ONE LIKES AIRACHNID! If Silas wasn't around, she'd probably be the most hated character in Transformers Prime. The slimy bitch.

Two, her being there would be a lose-lose situation. She would win. Airachnid has an army of Insections, who may or may not be Terror-Cons depending on which ones she's fed off of. And that's if she'd be able to control them after sucking all the energon out of them. Marley and Eldia wouldn't be able to stand a chance. They would be decimated, Optimus and Megatron would be decapitated and mounted on a wall. Whoever's left would become her slaves or just killed off. She doesn't even need the power of the titans. Even if Optimus and Megatron kill her, there's still the matter of the army of Insecticons that may or may not be Terror-Cons. If Megatron says the Decepticons or no more, half are going to be pissed and try to kill Megatron and Optimus. And Megatron can't control the Terror-Con ones because of the synth-en in their systems. The world is destroyed if Airachnid is around. It would most likely force the Rumbling, the Insections and Airachnid would just be able to fly away and innocent humans would die. No one wins, except for Airachnid.

Three, Megatron gets flung through a malfunctioning 'bridge that send him to the Attack on Titan world. The machine probably won't work after Megatron is sent through and Airachnid would just lose track of him.

[theconjurervfx]

[momtaku]

Hi Mom,I was just reading again on the history of Marley and Eldians. Seeing the more recent actions of Marleans(involving using the titans Leke jaw, armoured, collosal and Beast to fight against other countries),It seems they would have more or less did a mini (less brutal)version of what King Fritz did with Ymir on other countries if they succeeded in acquiring the founding Titan from Eren.I even think they might have agreed to Reiner's plan partly to acquire the founding before the others

Something I appreciated about yesterdays episode was how no sane person could look at Floch and the rising nationalism in Paradis and think anything positive was going to come from the rumbling or the political environment it left behind. And I had to laugh when Floch dramatically lamented about how "for 100 years Eldians have been under attack...", when the history of the world shows that for the 2000 years previous the Eldians used their power to similarly abuse and dominate the world. It highlighted the hypocrisy of the tit for tat mindset and the pointlessness of it all.

There is no defending Marley who subjugated and enslaved a race of people and used the titan powers in unconscionable ways, but what we saw in the Marley arc, chapter 93 specifically, was that the world was catching up. With the rise of air technologies and advanced weaponry, the power of titans was becoming obsolete and Marley was fast losing their position as the dominant world power. They thought acquiring the Founding Titan would help them hold onto power a little longer by intimidating the world and providing a morale boost. It's not mentioned but acquiring the Founder would mean having the Wall Titans as a deterrent to anyone who opposed them.

I don't know where I'm going with this anon, except to say that Attack on Titan is at its core a story about showing both the atrocities and the hypocrisy of war. It didn't offer any solutions except in the words of Shadis and Nicolo. Shadis' message was not to throw their lives away but wait until their actions would matter, and Nicolo repeated the idea while we all have a devil inside us, as individuals we need to keep trying to leave the forest.

Thanks for the ask!

[survey-corps-eggplant]

SnK Volume 22, released today in English, breaks a long tradition by not including the character sheets we’ve seen in all the previous volumes. Rather, it contains a history of the Eldian people and its conflict with Marley. I thought it was an interesting read so I wanted to share... 

The spoils of war acquired by the Survey Corps after having retaken Wall Maria: Three volumes left behind by Grisha Yeager, Eren’s father.

Inside them is the truth of the world, knowledge that Erwin was ready to devote his own heart for.

The Sudden Rise of the Eldian Empire

Over 1,800 years ago, Ymir Fritz, the progenitor of the Eldians, made a contract with the Devil of All Earth and acquired the power of the Titans.

Using the power of the Titans, Ymir cultivated the wastelands, built the roads, and constructed the bridges, bringing abundance to the land and wealth to the Eldian people.

Ymir’s power built the Eldian Empire, and when she died it was divided among the Nine Titans. The Empire then brought ruin to the great and ancient nation of Marley and became conqueror of the continent.

Now possessing the power to become Titans, these Subjects of Ymir (the Eldian people) oppressed and subjugated other races. For about the next 1,700 years, even conducting ethnic cleansing.

The Great Titan War, Marley’s Overthrowing of the Nations, and the Dispersion of the Eldian People

The Eldian empire had grown arrogant after 1,700 years, eventually allowing Marley to work from within and instigate a civil war, causing it to grow weak. Marley was also able to acquire seven of the Nine Titans, winning the Great Titan War about a hundred years ago and defeating Eldia.

While Fritz, the 145th Eldian King, had inherited the Founding Titan with its ability to rule over and control all other Titans, he made the decision to renounce war, moving to the remote island of Paradis along with some other Eldians. There, he built three concentric Walls and hid inside them.

Meanwhile, the Eldians who held out and were left behind on the continent were segregated into internment zones, forced to live under Marley’s tyrannical rule.

The Eldia Restorationists’ Turning Point and Marley’s Soldiers

Through help from The Owl, an individual working against the Marleyan government from inside, an underground anti-establishment organization on the continent known as the Eldia Restorationists had expanded their influence in secret and were beginning to make plans to take back the Founding Titan, which had been brought inside the Walls, and return it to the “True Royal Family.”

Two members of the Restorationists, Dina Fritz, a descendent of the “True Royal Family” who had refused to flee to the island, and Grisha Yeager, were wed and gave birth to a son, Zeke.

Meanwhile, with plans of its own to retake the Founding Titan, the Marleyan government began recruiting “Marley Warriors” from the Eldian internment zones around the continent.

They collected Subjects of Ymir both male and female from ages five to seven. The goal of this program was to select suitable vessels for the seven Titans controlled by the Marleyan government.

Zeke had been sent to be a Marley Warrior, and around the time he turned seven, he informed on his parents to the Marleyan government.  All the Eldian Restorationists who were then caught were sent to “Paradis….”

…And then came the great tragedy.

[0aurelion-sol0]

The importance of the number "3" in SNK.

(This is my second meta so please be gentle with me.)

You might think this meta or theory might be a little bit of stretch but I want to do it anyway because I think there is an interesting pattern with this number throughout the series. It is either something something intentional, the favorite number of Isayama or nothing particular.

But I don't so let's get into it.

Trios.

Throughout the series, there has been an important number of groups composed essentially of three people.

They are even right now in the story, three important trios.

The classic one, the E.M.A trio. ( Eren, Mikasa and Armin.)

The veteran trio. ( Hange, Levi, Erwin.)

The warrior trio. (Reiner, Annie, Bertholt.)

And even Jean, Sasha, Connie are a trio.

They essentially all are a big part of SNK and represents each of them, an important of SNK's narrative.

The E.M.A trio is our first and main trio of the series, they represent friendship and even family to some entent in the face of war and conflict. It is also a trio especially built around the relationship about each other. They are also the basis for many of the other trios out there.

The veteran trio is literally about veterans and how they face their responsabilities against war and themselves, they are with the warrior, an extremely tragic trio built around the importance of carrying your dury to respect your fallen comrades even at the expanse your own health. They are essentially a representation of our own veterans who went through war and hell. They are also what the E.M.A trio could become if they become veterans just like them.

The warrior trio. They are a parallel and a mirror of the E.M.A trio. Their relationship aren't the best, they are child soldiers and essentially are a representations of the dangers of war. They are also the other side of the coin and represent the contrast that has largely changed the story.

Each of these characters reflects in another character from the E.M.A trio.

Eren reflects in both Reiner and Hange.

Hange through their obsession with titans and sometimes extreme violence as shown during the uprising arc and even lunacy in her suicidal approach mirrors Eren sometimes. They are both extremely strong willed. But Hange is also what Eren could have been if he grew up in a different environment. They are also extremely androgynous.

Reiner. I don't think it needs an explanation. You can find plenty of other metas out there about how they mirror each other. They are the hero of two different worlds. Isayama has made an interview about how he is the main character now in the manga during the Marley arc. It is also to be noted that their both suicidal. They also have a strong driving force that can push people to follow them. Their character design are also contrary to one another.

It is also good to note that Hange almost killed Reiner during the Shiganshina arc. Perhaps representing or foreshadowing an older Eren confronting Reiner.

Mikasa is reflected in both Levi and Annie.

Levi. Of course I don't think there is an explanation do here. Ackerman. Heavy and important connection to someone else. Strong characters. Very cold and closed people. He is a representation of what Mikasa could be if she lost Eren. Just like he lost Erwin, Mikasa could potentially become like him after losing Eren. Their character design are very much alike and they are both extremely muscular.

Annie. They mirror each other through how different they are to one another. They have a few common aspect. They are in a relationship that is impossible to one another. Annie - Armin, Mikasa - Eren. They are both excellent fighters. They both are cold but care for their loved ones. However Mikasa is a natural born fighter or atleast one that became a fighter through natural ways. Whereas Annie has trained with her father to get there. While Annie runs away from conflict, Mikasa isn't afraid of it as most her life has been built around it. Just like Reiner and Eren, their character design are also very contrary to one another.

We can also note that Annie killed the whole squad of Levi and fought against both him and Mikasa at the same time and that both of them have fallen asleep and dissapeared for a long period of time, at least in the manga's publishing of the chapter.

Armin reflects in both Erwin and Bertholt.

Again with Erwin, there is this representation of what he could become or what he wants to become. We know Armin has always been against his revival and doesn't think he can live up to the commander. They are both extremely smart and have very good results in their strategy and military operations, they both aren't scared to sacrifice themselves.

Bertholt. They both feel weak. They both feel useless. They both use the same logic in some kinda way. They both have hidden talents. They both have a hidden monstrous side in them. They were and are the Colossal Titan. They both have "romantic feelings" for Annie. However, Bertholt doesn't have the same strategic skill as Armin, he even needs people to tell him what to do sometimes. Their character designs are extremely contrary to one another. Armin is bubbly, small and blonde haired. Bertholt is stone faced, tall and black haired.

Erwin and Armin were at the center of Bertholt and their own fates. The Serum event changed the manga. It is only fitting that his parallel gets the Colossal Titan.

If we now look at Jean, Sasha and Connie...

Eren is what Jean can never become. Jean doesn't have the same power or should I say mentality to be able to kill those children in Liberio. No matter how cool he thinks Eren is. He will only have what Eren has failed to use : empathy. And the not-so-much rival of Eren, is in the traditional sense of shonen, the one who respects him the most. Mikasa "loves" Eren and Jean loves Mikasa but she doesn't have the same feelings back just like Eren.

Sasha is what I think Mikasa could have been if she had a family and who she was before losing that family. They have the same moment of definitive action which overcome their insecurities. Sasha facing off against the titan which threatens Kaya, Mikasa killing the man who killed her parents.

Connie's illogical breakdown when he tried to sacrifice Falco is what Armin fears, the feeling of wrong that is inside of him, the feeling of not living up to Erwin. The man who he sees as always putting logic over emotions something that didn't happen when he was revived. The fear of one day responding with emotions rather than logic and will then confirm he was not the right choice.

Historia's trio.

Historia has three different people in her life representing something important to her.

Frieda = Family

Ymir = Love

Eren = Friendship

But they also represent many of her dualities in her development.

Frieda = Selflessness/ Inaction

Eren = Selfishness/ Action

Ymir = Pride

It is very interesting that one of the most complex character of SNK whose themes still rings true today has this particular set of three people who defines her or at least helps define herself. She then must have some importance to what is going on right now.

Three groups.

The latest arc has been a war in all the sense of the word with three groups fighting for supremacy.

The Jeagerist, nationalistic organisation and fascistic of the oldest Eldian King's ideology we know. Led by Eren Jeager and Floch Forster with the help of Marleyan Volunteers, Zeke Yeager.

The Marleyans, colonialist, genociders and fascists fighting for the supremacy of Marley and the genocide of Eldian. Led by Theo Magath with the Eldian Warriors.

The Eldian Army ( Survey Corps at most. ) built around the patriotic values of the 13th Commander of the Survey Corps Erwin Smith or the Survey Corps at large. Against the genocide, the euthanisation and hopes for a peaceful and non-violent future. Fights for Freedom and Humanity. Led By 14th Commander Hange Zoe.

So there is atleast a definitive pattern here. Maybe it's all a coïncidence or a stretch.

But I have more.

So let's pass some of them right now.

_________________________________________

There are nine titans. 3 x 3 = 9.

The Eldian Military has three branches : The Survey Corps, The Garrison and the Military Police Brigade.

The soldiers use an equipment called the "Three" Dimensional Maneuver Gear.

They can use three weapons : Swords, Guns and Thunder Spears.

There are three titans that attacked Eldia : The Colossal Titan, The Armored Titan and The Female Titan.

In Shiganshina, three titans were actively on the opposite side (not counting Pieck as she barely fought unlike Liberio and The Attack on Eldia by Marley.) : The Beast Titan, The Armored Titan and The Colossal Titan.

This resulted in three groups :

Eren and Armin vs The Colossal Titan.

Levi and Erwin and the rest of the Survey Corps vs the Beast Titan

The 104th and Hange vs The Armored Titan.

The 104th has lost three main characters that were on their side eaten by titan: Marco, Ymir and Bertholt.

Eren has lost three who formed his family : Hannes, His Father and His Mother.

There are three commanders from the Survey Corps that we know who have died. Keith Shadis, Erwin Smith and Hange Zoé.

There are three warriors who attacked Shiganshina with Marley : Reiner, Pieck and Porco.

There are three walls.

There are three royal families.

Ymir Fritz has three daughters.

Eren has three titans : The Founder, The Warhammer Titan and The Attack Titan.

We have only seen three Ackerman fighting: Mikasa, Levi and Kenny.

Titan Shifters have 13 years to live.

Erwin Smith is the 13th commander of the Survey Corps.

We have only seen three nations physically: Marley, Eldia and the Middle Eastern Alliances.

Only three nations plays a significant role in the story: Marley, Eldia and the Azumabito's nation.

The Manga has been divided into three different period.

1. The Fall of Shiganshina to the Female Titan Arc.

2. Clash of the titans to the Return in Shiganshina.

3. The Marley Arc to the War for Paradis Arc.

Now let's look at the page cover of volumes.

Volume 3 shows us our first look at a titan shifter.

Volume 1,2,3 act as a representation of the E.M.A trio.

Volume 1 = Eren

Volume 2 = Mikasa

Volume 3 = Armin.

Volume 13, volume where the Uprising Arc start. The most important arc of the manga in terms of this thematics still relevant today.

Volume 23, volume where the timeskip happens and shows us the other perspective of this manga.

Volume 30, shows us Paths and The founder Ymir.

Volume 31, Future Memory of Eren seeing Mikasa facing the Colossal Titans.

Volume 32, Possible Hope, the Alliance happens. Marley and Eldia helps each other to save the world.

_________________________________________

There is still more. My first meta has been about how SNK's afterlife is real.

This makes up for three different dimension.

The Living World.

The Afterlife

Paths

_________________________________________

The Anime also followed that pattern with:

The Third Opening.

Literally called " Shinzou wo Sasageyo " taking the catchphrase of this manga and making an anthem about it while also having many subliminal message about the story.

The Third Ending.

It spoils the whole manga and the origin of the story. It reveals the three daughters of Ymir and is the creepiest thing ever put out in this world.

_________________________________________

Now for the last point. Yes there's more but It's the last one I promise.

We need to take a look at every chapter who has a three in it. And we can see that in every single chapter something very important happens.

_________________________________________

Chapter 3 : Presentation of the three branches of the Military, of all the characters and return of the Colossal Titan.

Chapter 13 : End of Trost Arc, A possessed and uncontrolled Eren Yeager, " I'm willing to be the butcher " while we are being shown an untamed Attack Titan. Possible Foreshadowing of the last Arc with a Possessed Eren Yeager, Mikasa fighting titans and saving people and Armin trying to get Eren to his senses.

Chapter 23: The First appearance of the Female Titan and our first look at the possibility of another Titan Shifter. Also our first look at Ymir Fritz appearances in the form of the female titan as she was a woman herself and because there is no male titan.

Chapter 30-39 : Foreshadowings left and right about what lies inside the wall. The Warriors and about the existence of Marley.

Chapter 33 : First appearance of the Colossal Titans inside the wall.

Chapter 43 : The Clash of the titan begins. The Armored Titan is revealed with the Colossal and fights with the Attack Titan.

Chapter 53 : Our First Look at Frieda Reiss and the powers of the Attack Titan and the Founder.

Chapter 63 : Eren and Historia learns the truth about Grisha Yeager. He's the one who killed her family and sister Frieda Reiss. Historia is confronted to a choice.

Chapter 73 : We return to Shiganshina and establishes our main trio's thematics.

Eren = Rage.

Mikasa = Pride.

Armin = Hope.

We also learn how Eren started to know he wasn't free, through Armin's eyes and passion of the outside world.

Chapter 83 : The Serum Event or Serumbowl start. Levi fights with Eren and Mikasa to choose who will get the spinal fluid and eat Bertholt, the Colossal Titan. Armin or Erwin, who is the right choice ?

Chapter 93 : Marley Arc, Zeke pressures Marley to go and attack Eldia, something they didn't want to do which will result in the festival, the attack on Liberio and the retribution for Liberio and the Rumbling. Reiner prepares Falco for their dark future.

Chapter 103 : The Liberio operation is a sucess. The Warhammer is taken, the port is destroyed and Zeke is retrieved.

Chapter 113 : Zeke And Levi fights, Zeke start his operation to euthanize Eldian. Levi is defeated by Zeke putting him out of the action for a short time.

Chapter 123 : The Rumbling is starting. All Eldians see Paths and hear Eren's speech. Mikasa question her perspective of Eren.

Chapter 130 : The Rumbling has finally arrived in Marley. Eren's motivation are slowly being revealed and deconstructed. Historia reappears after a long period of time.

Chapter 131 : The effects of the Rumbling happens. Horrible death for Ramzi and his friend. Ymir Fritz appears. Eren and Armin connect through Paths. A partial answer to "that sight" is revealed.

Chapter 132 : Floch Forster dies bringing an end to the Jeagearist. Hange Zoé dies making her the third commander of the Survey Corps to die. The afterlife is revealed, the plane takes off and our heroes goes to see Eren.

_________________________________________

Again, it's a pattern. I don't know if this is something important or a way of Isayama showing he likes the number three. I don't have a definitive idea as to what this could mean but there is something to dig here.

This leaves us on a interesting and ominous note.

The chapter 133 is right in the corner, if my theory is right. Something important is going to happen.

We've hit our lowest point in the series and the Jeagearist arc has officialy ended. What is going to happen now ? Well...

The possibilities :

1. Historia's pov. It has been a long time, we've asked of her. And it's also been a long time her attitude has made no real sense. At least character wise, she has regressed like every character and it's intentionnal on Isayama's part. She must have some importance.

2. Levi's pov. We've got Armin's, Hange's and Mikasa's. But we don't what he really thinks about all of this of Eren's change.

3. Ackertalk. Levi and Mikasa needs to talk about it. They need to go through this for their development.

4. Levi and Armin talk about his choice to save him over Erwin. They never really got to talk face to face about it. They need this closure and now that Armin is the commander, he needs Levi support the most.

5. Possible talk with Annie about what she did to them. If she ever got on the plane with the kids, I think Annie needs to be confronted with that.

6. Possible new about how or where Zeke is ?

_________________________________________

Whatever it is, we're entering the final phase of this manga. This chapter is going to set up the final plot points of the story and now, more than ever, our characters are going to face their biggest challenge.

[shslmahoushoujo]

Ok, let’s talk Eren. Because there’s certainly a lot to talk about, and I definitely think that Isayama’s still got a few tricks up his sleeve with him. I’ll definitely want to talk about Historia at some point in the future, too, but I need to get more pieces together there, so for now, let’s dive into a timeline of Eren’s mind. Let’s put the events between chapter 90 and the Marley arc in order, and see what we see. And pay close attention to what we don’t, because that’s every bit as important. And now, brace yourselves if you decide to read this, because boy is it a long one. So, time for a read more break!

So to make this easier, let’s start from the start. The moment the disconnect between Eren and the reader starts. (Side note, I can totally see why the anime made this chapter into a single episode more and more, it’s so important)

At this point, Eren gets all of those memories from the future. We definitely don’t know all he saw (”that scenery” and no doubt something related to why his dad still gave him the power) but we’ve got enough to understand his reaction, specially if we consider the shards from chapter 130 also being some of those memories he got. A horrified “I do all of this?” is probably the first thing that he thinks. And so a year passes. Memories from the past from what his father experienced, and memories from the future of things he’ll do that he just can’t believe he’d even do. At this point, his knowledge of the world is also limited to “Eldia good, Marley bad” which is reinforced by experiencing his father’s memories (as if he experienced them himself, as opposed to everyone else just reading the journals), and that certainly has an effect on him. And so we get to one year later, to the ocean scene, where he poses the question based on the future he’s seen. “Those enemies on the other side of here... If we kill them all... does that mean...”

“That’s what I’m doing in the future, right? That’s what this all leads up to?” is probably what’s going through his head as he poses that. He doesn’t quite understand how it makes sense. And then not long after, his negative biases start being reinforced. Marley comes in with their expeditionary forces and he worries about a full force attack. Then Yelena comes in with a plan from Zeke, which likely makes him start thinking that those memories make more sense.

“It’s gotta be something we must agree on in the future then. Our one option.” See how he immediately jumps to that conclusion. He’s still spending all that time thinking on how those memories make sense, and that seems to be the answer. And his us vs. them view is further built up on by the Survey Corps’ biggest mistake. Notice someone missing?

While the rest of the Levi Squad gets to open their minds about people on the other side of the walls and make connections with the volunteers and POWs, in their extreme wariness to keep Eren away from the potential of Zeke’s manipulations, they keep him from making a connection. Armin and Mikasa see progress, but Eren just sees the glares of POWs and a serious lack of time. He doesn’t get to experience a potential peaceful option that the rest get to. So at that point it is “we follow Zeke’s plan, we use a major show of force against the world, and we buy time”. Memories seem to make sense for the time being. And so another year passes, and things start looking a bit better. A port is built, and they get introduced to what seems like they may just be genuine allies from the outside world

Finally, right? There’s a chance for things to work out. Eren doesn’t get to interact with the volunteers or the POWs, but at least he can see they’ve upheld their side, the port works, and they have allies who’re following them due to a noble cause. We even see Eren smile, probably for the first time in two years! But then...

Suddenly, things get much messier. Kiyomi’s motivation for Azumabito support gets muddier which supports negative biases on his end towards the outside world, and the plan basically means a repeat of what the royal family did for years. The very thing he sees in his memories he’ll make his father put an end to, no less. “Surely I’m not bringing upon the rumbling to support this, right?” must be one of the things that comes up in his head. And so, he makes the push. All options should be checked out, there must be another way. Him using the rumbling could still be part of an alternative plan, after all. The Azumabito head out, and another year passes...

Boy, if you thought Eren’s biases towards the outside world were negative before, they’re hitting rock bottom right here. Everything here keeps supporting the idea that “the world is the enemy”.  And the time aspect comes up yet again. The 104th discuss passing down his titan, and it reminds him time is running out and if he wants to keep his friends safe and prevent the cycle of titans to continue, he needs to do something. And as if things weren’t bad enough yet, after the railway opening ceremony, Yelena comes over and...

Talk about the motherest of all fucks. He already disagreed with Zeke’s plan on the basis of Historia being used as a baby machine and THEN this comes up? And Zeke’s gonna come in one way or the other. The top brass of the military is compromised. Absolutely everything seems against the island at this point. Zeke just wants to euthanize every Subject of Ymir. The Azumabito are just hanging out like vultures waiting for the spoils from the island. Everyone else plain old wants them dead. He didn’t even get to hang out with the volunteers like Onyankopon to see that they genuinely care for the future of the island! It’s not surprising that at this point, this is the conclusion he comes to.

And that’s it, right? Eren just lost all faith in everything except Paradis (and not even all of it) and wants everything to burn, right? Well, it’s certainly what Isayama wants you to think at this point. See, I don’t doubt that, at this point in time, Eren did mean this. But here’s where the fun part comes: We’re still missing parts in the middle. But we have something starting to build up to that something else. We fast forward a month or so, to 123. The first time Eren experiences the outside world by himself.

I think this moment is pretty important. His perception of the world was mostly about his dad’s memories (which he brings up to Mikasa just before). But this is very different. For the first time, he gets to witness firsthand the scale of what he’s considering. And following that... Well, you already see him in this page, he stands out, but he comes into play. Fez kid.

That likely makes Eren think of other future memories that haven’t come to pass, but most important, it begins showing Eren another side of the outside world. See, so far his impressions are that it’s either people like the Azumabito who’re only interested due to having something to gain, or people like Sargent Gross or Zeke who outright want them dead, whether it’s out of hatred or genuinely thinking it’s the right thing. But Fez Kid and the people he’s with are different. They’re just like Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were after the fall of Wall Maria. I do think that this is the first time Eren truly questions going with the Rumbling

But they also do something that could be the key in preventing the potential destructive course Eren was in at the time:

I don’t think many people really consider how huge this is. Just a month or so before, Eren saw the whole outside world as the enemy. Yet here, in this one night, he sees more humanity to the outside world and something far more positive than he’d considered in YEARS. These people don’t even understand them, there’s a language barrier, and yet during that night a connection is built and for once, it’s just Eren actually sharing a good time with others. Sure, he may intend this as a goodbye considering he left the next day either way, but I genuinely think this is the point where he’d start having some hesitation about his plan.

The next day, he leaves, but then we enter ??? territory from the good few months he spent at Marley leading up to the Marley arc. His talk on the basement with Reiner is no doubt Eren at his most honest in quite some time, and based on all we have leading up to this, it’s clear it takes more than just Falco to make him change his views to these:

The story has made that much clear. He no doubt spent a long time on his own before even infiltrating at Fort Slava (the panel of Eren with his Marley arc look at the town near the fort is proof enough), and we also know Fez kid was a part of his life yet again. The fact we still have two unexplained panels of him tells us there’s more we’re missing.

And this is where I think Isayama’s leading the audience into a narrative trap. It reminds me of The Last of Us 2, in a way. Being vague here for people who haven’t watched and/or played the game, Ellie’s flashbacks seem to reinforce a certain perspective on why she’s gone on her quest, only for further ones down the line completely change what we thought she knew and recontextualizing her motivation. I think this is similar, it just happens to be a monthly manga that’s letting you sit on each assumption for months as opposed to it being a 20+ hour long game that you can get through in a few sittings.

But yeah, before I end up digressing even further, that’s what I think is happening. Isayama is reinforcing certain assumptions, and organizing the flashbacks in a way that obfuscates the full truth. At this point, I end up referring to @jaegerbroshoe​‘s theory on Eren finally making full sense of those memories during Willy’s speech in chapter 100. So summing up how I think it went, Eren did mean for the destruction of the world 9 months before current events, upon arriving at the mainland, interacting with Fez kid and haivng to live there for a few months he started questioning his plan and reconsidering what those memories meant (”Do I really do this despite what I’ve now learned?”), and finally, as Willy’s speech happens and he talks to Reiner, he gets some true clarity.

But then you ask, if his plan isn’t the destruction of the world, why would he still push his friends away? I think it’s a complicated situation. First off, he still does intend to make himself into a monster in the eyes of everyone else, and he’s not just gonna go “ha, just kidding!” last second. He needs to commit to the role. But also, because he already locked himself into it. Floch has already formed the Yeagerists. Zeke’s plan is in motion. The Liberio festival and raid is gonna happen either way. And there’s a whole other post I have to make on Historia’s pregnancy at some point, but I suspect it’s fake and that Historia herself isn’t even in Paradis anymore at this point. The memories now make sense, he understands his own plan, but it doesn’t mean he can just walk back on things and pretend there’ll be no consequences. All he has left is to keep moving forward and trust that this last interpretation of his future memories is right.

[attack-on-neverland]

1.2 The spectrum of good and evil

L: Reiner vs. Eren, R: Leuvis vs. Gracefield kids

One of my favorite things about both Attack on Titan and The Promised Neverland is its multiple point-of-view storytelling. It’s easy to empathize with characters even when they’re doing cruel things because we’ve been with them on their difficult journeys. However, it definitely is different when you watch how those actions affect the people from the other side. If there’s anything, AOT and TPN excel in ensuring that good and evil isn’t all black and white. We’re first shown the cruelties experienced by our protagonists, however, when they flip the script, we also found ourselves empathizing with the supposed ‘antagonists’. Instead of painting people to be good or evil, the writers of these series are able to show how people act based on context, experience, and desires rather than a hollow desire of just being a hero or a villain.

Reiner and Bertholdt's betrayal

In Attack on Titan, we’re first exposed to the gruesome realities that Eren and the Eldians face. Their loved ones are eaten, houses crushed, and live in fear that the walls would break. This makes Eren’s desire to exterminate all the titans a cause that us viewers would support. We’re made to see how the Colossal Titan (Bertholdt), the Armored Titan (Reiner), and the Female Titan (Annie) seemingly have no mercy as they break through the walls and cause the demise of thousands of civilians. It’s safe to assume that most viewers felt immense hate at the betrayal of these loved characters, and this is with good reason. After all, the very people empathizing with Eren and fighting to liberate humans were the same people who caused the destruction in the first place. In fact, if not for Bertholdt, Eren’s mother could still have been alive.

Bertholdt, Annie, and Reiner were really just child soldiers

However, in the latter episodes, we’re shown flashbacks of what actually went down with the Marley warriors before they reached the island of Paradis. It was revealed here how Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie were really just children around 10/12 years old forced to do these cruelties to provide a good life for their families. In fact, Bertholdt and Annie wanted to retreat after Marcel was eaten by Ymir. We’re also shown how Bertholdt confesses that he still believes that they were comrades despite committing those atrocious acts. This just shows how they were all equally victims of the system as Eldians. The Eldians of Paradis are constantly being attacked by Marley by having Titan shifters destroy the walls, while the Eldians of Marley are treated discriminatively by Marleyans and are sacrificed as soldiers of their wars. It’s hard not to sympathize with the warriors despite their crimes because of their background. They were really just kids forced into the cruelties of war and the cycle of hate.

Mr. Braus stops Niccolo from harming Gabi as they found out that she was the one who shot Sasha and killed her

Another important moment is how despite feeling despair at the death of his daughter, Mr. Braus manages to keep a cool head when faced with Gabi. In fact, he rationalizes this as the natural cycle of life. Sasha has taken many lives to fight for freedom, and now the same thing has happened to her. Despite Gabi killing Sasha, she is also a victim of Marley’s brainwash propaganda and a witness to Eren’s unjustifiable war crime. As the series progresses, the point of view continues to shift between Eldia and Marley, showing how war is just a back-and-forth of unnecessary violence and cruelty, making everyone a victim as much as the other.

The hidden side of Mama Isabella

On the other hand, The Promised Neverland manages to show early on the cruelty of the demons and those who work on the farm, including the adults such as Mama Isabella and Sister Krone. While it was already a given for the children to hate the demons, they also felt the same hatred upon discovery of Mama’s betrayal. This is similar to the betrayal of the Marleyan warriors in AOT as well as the children would have never thought that their loving mother was raising them to be food. They could not stomach the fact that their beloved mother could go about her day smiling and doing her business knowing that she assisted in the death of their siblings. Instantly, the audience is also made to hate Isabella for seemingly enjoying the torture of her children as she broke Emma’s leg, shipped Norman out early, and locked Ray in a room so that they could not continue with the escape. However, our perception of Isabella changes when her childhood flashback is shown, and it is revealed that Isabelle was a product of the Gracefield farm as well.

Isabella and her friend Leslie in their youth

Like the current Gracefield kids, she lived a good life with her best friend Leslie until it was time for him to get “adopted”. On the day of Isabella’s adoption, however, she was given the option to become a Mama and live on instead of becoming demon feed. Isabella was told that there was no way out of this cycle, and choosing to be a Mama meant that she could give the next generation of Gracefield kids the best life that they can experience. Isabella took this to heart, which is why she was so adamant on stopping the children from escaping because she believed that there was no future beyond the farms and that there was no chance for them to escape alive. As she breaks Emma’s leg, Isabella whispers to her to stop struggling, and instead live out her remaining days in happiness like they used to. In her own twisted way, this was how Isabella showed her love for her children. Since she had tried to escape herself and knew that it was impossible, she made it her goal to make the best of what she can and love her children until the day of their harvest. Again, Isabella was a victim of the same dreadful cycle, and is such a beautifully written tragic character. This is proven when the children escape successfully as she smiles and wishes them luck. When the humans of the demon world were permitted to go to the human world, Isabella cries tears of happiness upon being given the chance to “love them normally” as a mother loves her children.

Isabella shields Emma and the other kids

One last sign of Isabella’s genuine love is seen when she sacrifices herself to save Emma by shielding her from the demon about to capture her. As she bleeds to her death, she apologizes to the children and hopes that they could forgive her. Again, characters are not merely good or evil, rather, they are products of their context and consequences.

[craziestxabnormal]

RP Wishlist

Canon Divergence

Cart Titan: Set in an alternative reality where Commander Erwin is the current holder of the Colossal Titan and Marley still has the Attack Titan. After the Beast Titan and Cart Titan come to rescue the Warrior Unit, the Survey Corps. apprehend Pieck Finger while the others escape. Hange volunteers to test the Titan Serum on themselves and becomes the next inheritor of the Cart Titan. @iindico​ @fortiiter

Living in the woods: Hange manages to escape The Eagerists with an injured Levi in tow, but rather than returning to continue the battle, Hange takes Levi and leaves the island where they survive the war and start a new life together.

Spoilers: The thing that happened did not happen >:/

Talking Titan: Levi didn't kill the Talking Titan and Hange successfully brought it back inside the walls where they ran experiments on it to see how much information they can extrapolate from it (basically Hange uncovers the plot before they even reach the cellar. You're welcome Erwin.)

Modern Day au

Ghost Hunter (Buzzfeed unsolved au): Hange is a paranormal investigator who drags their poor assistant, Moblit, into haunted mansions, abandoned hospitals, and just about any location rumoured to host supernatural activity, in the hopes of recording actual evidence of ghostly apparitions (may or may not accidentally communicate with a literal demon)

High School of the Dead: Hange is a chemistry teacher at the world's most peculiar high school, where just about anything can happen; from deranged cults to the zombie apocalypse. It's just a normal day at Eldia High School.

Runway Model: Working as a fashion icon at the Paradis Agency, Hange is one of the company’s Elite Models, and popular among readers for advertising the gender-neutral line of clothing (basically everyone in this au is a fashion model who wants to become the Paradis Elite, the ones seen on all the magezine covers What? I really like the outfits in all the supplementary material. Don’t judge me!)

Regency/Victorian Era au

Arranged Marriage: Hange is a young bachelorette expected to be married off to a gentleman of respectable social standing and wealth, but is far more concerned with science and academia, much to their family’s disapproval. Choosing to meet their parents halfway, Hange goes looking for a potential suitor who meets their family’s expectations while also allowing Hange the freedom to pursue their “hobby.” (Uses female pronouns due to the era this verse takes place in)

Kenny the Ripper au: Detective Hange Zoe has solved many cases for Eldia over the years and has taken on their greatest challenge yet, apprehending Kenny the Ripper! Following up on a lead ends with Hange encountering a pickpocket by the name of Levi, who may have been in contact with Kenny the Ripper.

Spirit Animal (Snowy Owl) au

A bunch of aus involving that one image of Hange being represented by an owl and my mind going crazy with it (expect more to be added in the future).

Daemons: Hange is a professor at Jordan College with a snowy owl daemon named Yamada. Hange is obsessed with dust and wants to discover the source.

Wingfic: The Survey Corps. are a group of engineered winged humanoids infused with the DNA of various birds. Hange has the speckled white wings of an snowy owl, their powerful wingspan making them almost silent when sneaking up on the enemy, and their body immune to cold climates. (No, I wasn’t obsessed with Maximum Ride in high school. Why do you ask?)

Miscellaneous

A list AUs I want to explore but haven't thought out in great detail yet.

Fantasy - Hange is an Artificer, someone who uses arcane magic to empower objects and weapons (Race: Currently Unknown)

Mafia Gang War - Marley vs Paradis (Hange with a Tommy gun :D)

Merfolk - Hange is a marine biologist and deepsea diver, who comes across an injured merperson and takes them back to land so they can nurse them back to health.

Pacific Rim - Scenario 1: Hange is a Jaeger pilot who lost their partner Moblit in their last Kaiju encounter. After the traumatic event, Hange refuses to take on a new partner but it forced to do so anyway and is shocked to find they are drift-compatible. Scenario 2: Hange is a mad scientist who maintains the Jaegers and is obsessed with Kaijus and collecting their body parts after successful encounters

Soulmates - You know the drill.

Yakuza  - Same as the mafia au except its with the Yakuza (Hange with a katana :D)

[hamliet]

Ok now I have to admit I’m positively addicted to your q&a. I’ve asked plenty and read even more, and you’re so kind and answer so f satisfying! It’s a drug!

Anyway I read about snk post about Trost comparison. As you noticed, Mikasa and Armin were “saved” for their darker side/ flaws by Eren coming back. So I started to wonder... admittedly Eren said he cares about the main cast the most. At this point most likely this included even Marley’s side (Fabi Falco, Annie,Reiner, etc etc). In fact he hadn’t took away their “freedom” (what Eren treasures the most). However if Mikasa and Armin are pushed in their flaws... why Eren is allowing that? Freedom for Eren had never clashed with love. He wants to protect them, he always had. So... I can’t get why he’s doing this.

I can get why he’s doing the rumble. However past shifters are going for the kill and Armin is suffocating. He never showed to want to, to want to be more free than protecting who he holds dear. Another thing is Eren K’s sentence “protect Mikasa and Armin”. At this point we know about attack Titan’s ability, thus it must have happened like that. However it was never showed that Eren interacted with Krueger, Krueger never touched Dina on screen and he just name them, so he hadn’t had a vision about future.

Another is Grisha’s “Eren dream is what will get true”. Grisha could have limited vision, but he wasn’t as heartbroken as I’d expect him to be seeing Zeke... well not in a good shape or almost dead. What if Grisha saw something else which lead him to say the same thing (euthanasia’s plan failing)?

Just to say... as you said Eren saved them. In Eren’s POV both Armin and Mikasa out of love for him are bound to him. In a similar way Reiner and Annie too (retrieving the founder), and others are dear friends and mentor. They ran to save him in Liberio. So I wondered... what if Eren is trying to free them? If Eren vs main cast is all about giving the people a “new Helos” freeing Eldia but still the same time freeing the cast generally and more intimately? I don’t think Eren is pulling a code geass thing but the “come at me and fight” sounds awkward to me , he never did that to his friends. And might connect to the points left uncovered (Krueger, and “Eren’s dream come true”). What would you think about something like that ?

Plus I read last bnha chapter. I’m.... so sad. It’s good. Society is depict horribly , I had the feeling civilians not involved in the latest arc are commenting Endeavor and Dabi like it’s a reality show. It’s awful. Awfully good from Hori (good author choice imo) but awful to read. And Midnight 🥺🥺🥺 need some confort 😭

Aw thank you! So that post wasn’t mine: it was @aspoonofsugar! Who is also awesome btw. I am not sure, I think the whole point of the story is exploring whether true freedom is found in being beholden to others or whether not being beholden just means you’re a slave to the ideal of freedom and thus not free. I think Eren’s POV having contradictions like these works for this thematic point, but we’ll see!

[zhabe]

Is AOT really "antisemetic" when it's more "both sides"ing the Eldia vs. Marley conflict? To it's credit, it shows the Eldians being treated like crap and not framed as "they had it coming" with the Sins of the Father. The character of Gabi is forced to realize that her "enemy" aren't the monsters she'd been made to see them as.

i am not arguing this with someone who knows the plot of attack on titan in this depth ..... you have bigger problems to worry about

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 125 Poll Results

The chapter 125 poll closed with 1,469 responses. Thank you for your support! This month’s poll results were compiled by /u/alooulla,  /u/_Puppet_, @shifter-lines​ and @momtaku​.

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,387 RESPONSES

While still overwhelmingly positive, and slightly improved over Chapter 124, the “wow” factor still wasn’t there for many. Those selecting a perfect five was less than half of respondents (49.3%).

Transitions were unbelievably good, hardly noticed we were at 5 different scenes this chapter.

Not really hype like some chapters have been, but it was wonderful to see all the character and story development.

Created a number of different plot threads, but was not as satisfying as recent chapters

Everyone in this chapter (except Flock) deserves love

Good chapter, juggles lots of POVs excellently and opens up multiple opportunities for where the story may go. I love how desperate everything is.

Beats gonna drop soon

Jean honey if you push Floch out the hole in the wall everyone will swear it was an accident

  WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,421 RESPONSES

They only appeared on two pages, but “Levi and Hange are back” was the top pick out of a long list of options with nearly one-third (27.7%) selecting them. “Armin and Mikasa’s argument” secured second (14.3%) and “Annie and Hitch together” (12.6%) round out the top three.

LEVI AND HANGE ARE BACK! OMG!!!

I loved Annie's backstory, the conversation between Floch and Jean, the talk between AM, Shadis, mr Leonhart, literally everything.

I loved hearing Annie and Hitch talk, and the Levi and Hange situation finally got addressed :)

I'm so happy to see Levi and Hange, and so happy that they've run into Pieck and Magath. I hope they can reach some kind of truce and work together.

Floch is the Queen of Paradis confirmed.

Shadis once again made this chapter for me. What a great, deep speech. He is a true hero.♡

WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER'S MVP? 1,416 RESPONSES

While denied the favorite moment, Annie was the favorite for chapter MVP with more than one-quarter of respondent (26.6%). Hitch, the other half of the girl power duo, made a strong showing (19.6%) for number two. Most shocking perhaps is that Hange (13.6%) squeaked out a narrow victory over Floch (12.6%) for third.

Annie is the best girl

Floch did nothing wrong

Hitch nipping at Historia's best girl-crown

HAAAAAAAAANGE

ANNIEEEEE A AAAAA AA A AA A A A A A A MY GIRL

Floch is such a crazy piece of shit, I love him, he's a great villain and I'm glad that Isayama added a character like that to the story. Also, funny with how he represents the rabid Eren stans, parroting the bs they keep saying ("we're free now reeeeeee").

S H A D I S  T H E  C H A D I S

Hange my queen how the hell did you save Levi, I wanna know!!

Hitch yeeting Annie made me scream, I love them together so much.

My babes Shadis and Magath are BACK!! 😍

So happy to see Hitch back. She is such a fun character and so underrated!

  THE CHAPTER OPENS WITH RESIDENTS OF STOHESS REACTING BOTH POSITIVELY AND NEGATIVELY TO EREN’S ACTIONS. WHICH EXPRESSION OF THE CROWD ARE YOU MOST SYMPATHETIC TOWARDS? 1,416 RESPONSES

The citizens of the walls are as divided as the fanbase over Eren’s actions.  36.7% are on the side that says the Eldians on the island would all be dead without Eren, while 34% respond with the fact that he’s responsible for many of their deaths himself.  25.1% don’t want to side with either faction.

“You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs”

Both are right and wrong at the same time…

Both sides are ignorant as to what is actually happening so it is difficult to gauge who actually feels what they do considering their limited knowledge but I'm edging towards the justification of it.

Eren has planned this all along, he knows there will be no true peace by doing the rumbling and has some kind of third goal

Even if the first expression is true (and no one can say if it is or not for sure) it doesn't make the belligerents right, or mean that Eren shouldn't be held accountable for his actions

Both sides are justified. Both sides reacted according to their personal views in response to an outside force they had no control of.  

I sympathize with both. One on hand, it seems as though the wall titans were the only effective retaliation the island had left, but on the other hand, Eren did kill many of his own people and aiming to wipe out the rest of the world is definitely pretty extreme for even Eren. That's why I think there's still a HUGE part of his plan that we haven't been made aware of yet.

There's no real right answer here. Obviously genocide is bad and no one can deny the fact that Eren killed his own people but, what other options were available in the limited time they had?

Whatever your thoughts on The Rumbling, Eren is being extremely reckless and it's going to backfire like crazy. Member when Erwin pulled off an almost-bloodless coup? I have a feeling Ereh is too preoccupied with thoughts of PATHS and FREEDOM to really consider the consequences of stuff like civilian casualties or letting a fascist cult take over the government.  

What the tic tac patty wack snick snack quarterback big mac heart attack race track double back guy named jack did he just do?

Sasageyo

  ANNIE BACKSTORY! WHAT DID YOU THINK? 1,420 RESPONSES

Annie’s finally back!  And she sure got a lot of page time, finally getting her chance to speak her story.  The majority thought seems to be that it was okay, at 60.3%, whereas 33.2% absolutely loved it, and 6.5% thought it was a waste of time.

Develops her character a bit but otherwise not too important

we got an entire Annie backstory and it answered NONE of my questions about the crystal. If its purpose was just to protect her like the Warhammer's crystal, and she was semi-conscious -- why couldn't she escape it on her own?  Is there something unique about the Female Titan? Was it a chrysalis? Has she undergone a metamorphosis?

I'm just glad Annie's back

I really liked it and especially the Annie focus although I expected more from her justifications.

Don't care for her this late in the story tbh it's just a waste of pages

this chapter confirmed that Annie is the best character of SNK !

It was pretty much exactly what I expected, fairly boring and didn’t change my perception of her character at all

This puts so much context on the murders she committed back in the female titan arc and her personality in general. This is so great! Waited forever for this

I especially liked learning Annie's entire backstory, and her interactions with Hitch in this chapter were great.

Lil' Orphan Annie deserves more spinoffs. We need one about her awkward preteen years trying to fit in with the popular girls while continuously kicking them in half by accident.

MY GIRL ANNIE DESERVES MORE.

  AFTER CONSIDERING HER STORY, WHICH THOUGHT MOST CLOSELY MATCHES YOUR OWN? 1,410 RESPONSES

There sure was a lot to consider in all Annie said, and the two primary thoughts seem to be a feeling of tragedy that she never felt that anything mattered, and a hope that she’ll see her father again, at 23.7% and 22.6% respectively.  

Can't forget what she has caused, but glad she found meaning in life.

I hope she can find peace

I understand her reasoning, but her saying she'd do it all again hurt a lot.

Interesting plot point, but was it really necessary? Kinda felt like forced drama to add this "adoptive child" thing.

Is it wrong to wish for her happiness?

It may mirror Eren's motives. To her, nothing else matters except returning to her father, not even other people's lives. If Eren is intent on protecting his friends, then other lives wouldnt even matter.

It's interesting how seems similar she is to Reiner but how different they actually are. Annie is nihilistic and realistic because the lack of love, Reiner is idealistic and longing for love in a tragic way because he fantasize the love which doesn't exist

Annie has always been, in my opinion at least, one of the most honest characters, and I'm glad we can see that her core hasn't changed (but I’m so happy we can hear her talk and that we are finally getting some character development). Unlike Reiner and Bertolt, Annie never pretended to be friends with the Shinganshina trio, she never acted more nicely than she felt she should. She kept to herself and did what she knew she had to do. But this does not make Annie cold or resilient to atrocities; when she was manipulated by Reiner to take off Marco’s 3D maneuver gear, we can see she doesn’t do it easily and she does show remorse, in spite of everything. All of the SnK characters are tragic, some more than others, and for me, Annie is probably one of the most tragic ones. Adopted, trained to become a killing machine, completely alone with no one to really rely on once she joined the army, Annie goes towards her goal, stripping every bit of romanticism from the notions of peace, good vs bad governments, Marley, Eldia, humanity, etc. Annie does not fight, or pretend to fight, for the greater good; as perceptive as always, she sees the situation for what it is, just like she sees people for who they really are. I hope this brave young woman gets a happy ending with her dad.

  DO YOU FIND IT REASONABLE THAT ANNIE HAS BEEN SEMI-CONSCIOUS IN THE CRYSTAL ALL THIS TIME 1,411 RESPONSES

Hitch sure was surprised that Annie had actually been listening to her all that time, but the fandom wasn’t.  86.3% found it reasonable, but 10.7% still aren’t convinced it makes sense.

Considering we had Ms. Tyber being aware of her surroundings in her own crystal, looking back on that it's like "oh yeah that seems legit". Granted I'm sure Ms. Tyber had practiced the technic to use it in battle proficiently. But it doesn't seem too out there for Annie to be at least semi-conscious 

Honestly no. But this story has people transforming into giant monsters so I can't really complain.

I find hard to believe she is not crazy. Being unable to move in darkness for 4 years with only voices to keep her company is pretty brutal.

I'm wondering how her body condition is near to normal.

It reminds me of ymir being a mindless titan for 60 years

Wall titans also seemed to be semi conscious if I remember the original scene with eye movement and fear of light energizing them.

P A T H S

  ANNIE WAS COVERED WITH SOME SORT OF FLUID THAT DOESN’T SEEM TO BE EVAPORATING. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS? 1,408 RESPONSES

We ended last chapter on Annie in a pool of this liquid, and this time we see Hitch follow it to where Annie is.  But… what is it?  66.2% think it has something to do with the crystal’s hardening, 15.2% DO NOT want that knowledge, and 11.6% think it’s a human bodily fluid.

A fluid to keep her alive (something like the lcl in evangelion)

Amniotic fluid is the warm, fluid cushion that protects and supports your baby as they grow in the womb.

a liquid that makes her body hibernate so she can stay alive

I think it's a weakened form of the hardening. Perhaps it was also this fluid around the creature in the well from Ymir's backstory.

If I recall correctly, some crystals do have water in the form of “hydrates” so in theory, the fluid in Annie’s crystal is what kept her alive by supplying nutrients and and water to her body. Because of this, the fluid may have possibly come from Annie’s Titan as it formed the crystal around her.

amniotic fluid - some unique property of the Female Titan

Tears of readers who waited too fucking long for Annie to break through

Armin juice

  WHERE DO YOU THINK HITCH AND ANNIE ARE HEADING? 1,408 RESPONSES

So many groups in so many places!  Where is this one going to end up?  A little over half, at 55.9% think they’ll run into another group before they get to a specific destination, about a quarter at 23.4% think Shiganshina, and 19.2% think the port.

Following the Colossal Titans

Honestly it was very reckless of hitch to let Annie go. If she causes more trouble for Paradis then what will she do

Based on them leaving Stohess in the same direction as the colossal titans it is likely they will pass through Trost. They will continue south towards Shiganshina and maybe the port but on the way they will likely run into Hange, Levi, Pieck and Magath, or Connie, Falco, Armin and Gabi.

Kiyomi's plane

Marley, to Annie’s father

To Historia

  WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE STATE OF THE ELDIANS IN LIBERIO? 1,399 RESPONSES

We jump across the ocean, only to find Mr. Leonhart starting a rebellion in Liberio!  About half feel there’s going to be an absolute bloodbath, 32% are glad they’re finally rising up, 11% are focused on Mr. Leonhart being a badass, and 6.1% are scratching their heads as to how this is relevant.

I feel it's setting up for eldians in all internment zones rising up, although i don't know what significance that would hold if they're gonna be flattened like pancakes anyway

I'm actually glad because while I have still and always despised the Warriors, Annie's dad felt relatable to me, good to see non-powered, regular citizens rise up against the enemy

Isayama stop trying to be clever with names is there a single part of this series you haven't put thought into?

It is rather unsettling to see since it all seems to head towards a massacre although the reactions of the Eldians are understandable and sound.

It makes sense why they'd rise up: they know what's coming, and they just want to get to safety. After all, they should be spared from the Rumbling because of their race. As expected of the Marleyans though, they won't listen to the Liberio Eldians' current plea, and it will surely cost them (the Marleyans).

The Marleyans are comically dumb it's not even funny; I mean why would they orchestrate a revolt now

This was Eren's plan all along, he wants Eldians everywhere to rebel under the threat of the wall titans.

Why should we care about what happens to anyone outside the Walls? This scene was totally unnecessary.

Worldwide Eldian Rebellion I am excited

I'm worried about them! :(

  WILL MR. LEONHART SURVIVED THE SCUFFLE WITH THE GATE GUARD? 1,408 RESPONSES

A somewhat interesting split here; though most responders think there’s more to come with Annie’s father and being killed by the gate guard wouldn’t be the right way for him to go, especially with unfinished business with his daughter. The next highest response was ‘I am not sure’ followed by ‘No he won’t survive’ with a still respectable 24.7% of the vote. One to keep an eye on, here.

Weird that she wants to return home so much just because her dad was nice to her for a few minutes (he's been torturing her all her life).

It had some very much needed character development for A LOT of characters. I can't wait to see how certain plot points like Connie's mom and Annie's wish to see her dad will be resolved.

I saw some parallels between Mr. Leonhard vs. the guards and volunteers vs. Floch. Anarchy reigns; power struggles everywhere, yay! I want to see Mr. Leonhart leading a rebellion. I want to see Eldians all over the globe rising up and busting out of internment zones. Also - we got an entire Annie backstory and it answered NONE of my questions about the crystal. If its purpose was just to protect her like the Warhammer's crystal, and she was semi-conscious -- why couldn't she escape it on her own?  Is there something unique about the Female Titan? Was it a chrysalis? Has she undergone a metamorphosis? Will it even matter if Ymir is freed from her sand slavery and refuses to transform any more titans? Still -- it's interesting that Annie was adopted, and I have to wonder if her lineage is important.  Final thought: I'm growing tired of Isayama sidelining people by having them unconscious/uncommunicative. I get why he may want to render some characters unable to affect the plot at certain points but 'unconscious' is his go-to and I'm losing patience with it. Okay, Historia got stuck with 'pregnant' but I lost patience with that ages ago. Wake up already, Reiner. Say something, Levi. At least Falco's awake again. And Annie, for the love of Eldia, please explain your crystal.

Speaking of Mr. Leonhart, he may be crippled and defeseless against the Marleyan guards, but at least he wasn't swayed by fatalism against his current government unlike Jean/Armin.

  WHAT DID YOU THINK OF KEITH’S ADVICE TO THE TRAINING CORPS MEMBERS? 1,394 RESPONSES

Instructor Shadis is still instructing, and 46.1% of you are still chanting SHADIS THE CHADIS.  23.5% loved his advice, 16.5% enjoyed the callback to being a bystander, and 12.1% wish he’d encouraged them to rise up.

Foreshadowing that they‘ll overthrow Eren and Floche.

He gives up too easily. I don't like this.

I'm glad he told them not to fight the Yeagerists but for the wrong reasons

Shadis doesn't want them to risk their lives, understandable, but giving Floch&Co time to gain even more power is not a good idea.

He's being smart and cautious because they've had enough losses for now

By far the best piece of advice he could have given them. Not is it only the most reasonable thing to do in the current situation, but it also goes to show how much Shadis values life and how well, thanks to his experience, he can see what the future might bring. When he thought fighting was a viable option, he wanted the trainees and soldiers alike to dedicate their hearts (and he dedicated his own as well), but now when he sees that they’re clearly getting overpowered and that any form of resistance would inevitably lead to death, he advises them to stay put, but not lose sight of themselves. That’s what a good leader/ elder/ parent does. Despite the fact that he failed as commander and that he was usually the only one to come back from his missions outside the walls, he shows that he has learned a lot and can strategize and draw the right moves. And it even reminded me of Levi, this desire to not waste lives. And Shadis is special, I just wish he’d realize that along with many others. Unfortunately, a very underrated character.

I am hyped to see these characters actually amount to something because of chadis!

A giant death flag.

  WAS ARMIN IN THE RIGHT TO RAISE HIS VOICE AT MIKASA? 1,402 RESPONSES

Armin has returned to being shell-shocked like he was in Shiganshina, and he took it out on Mikasa, but was he justified?  Just over half don’t think he was justified, but don’t blame him for snapping.  23.9% believe it was the right choice to try to make her more independent.  The last two options are tied at 10.3%, saying he was completely in the wrong, and the other saying he was justified in that Mikasa needs to focus on more than Eren.

Armin has been the one others rely for guidance, however at this point he seems stressed and probably over thinking (when he refers back to Erwin).

Armin just reached his breaking point. So much has happened in one day, and he needed to rant.

Asking ANYONE to stop thinking about Eren right now is pointless, let alone Mikasa. He was wrong, but stressed out.

Both. She needs to be encouraged to make her own decisions, but he didn't need to be mean about it. She has always been nice to him.

Feel like many are misunderstanding mikasa's comment about eren. He is the biggest concern so why shouldn't she mention him? Personally I don't think she was still in eren obsessed mode.

That's a complex question. Everyone is stressed right now, especially Armin, feeling guilty for being brought back and feels so much weight on his shoulder to be a leader so to say. So it reasonable for him to yell and it might spark something in Mikasa as well.

Armin needs a nap, a warm bath, and a foot rub.

  WILL MIKASA START ‘THINKING FOR HERSELF’ NOW, AS ARMIN SUGGESTED? 1,395 RESPONSES

Mikasa’s character development is being pushed to its tipping point now, will Armin’s words make her start thinking for herself?  The majority, at 56.3% think that leadership isn’t her style, but she’ll step up and support what she feels is right.  18.6% feel that she’s already made the step into thinking for herself, and the last two options are split at 11.3% between a full ‘yes she’ll finally step up’, and a full ‘she’s always thought for herself.’

Armin: think for yourself! Mikasa: Where is my scarf?

Hopefully, I want to see more independence. Assertive and confident in her actions.

I don't know if she'll able to think for herself. maybe she will do something, but I guess whatever she will do on her own, I don't want to expect much from her. Anyway I have the feeling that Mikasa's own decision could be that she accepts Kiyomi's offer and leaves Paradis because the whole situation is obviously killing her.

I hope Isayama has something special planned for Mikasa's development

Mikasa has always thought for herself. She’s never been a leader, but she’s always followed her own hearts desires. Nobody knows what to do and for once it was actually reasonable for her to ask about eren, given what he’s about to do to the world.

Mikasa isn't wrong to look to Armin for leadership, but when she brings up the elephant in the room, he flies off the handle at her. But ultimately, I think that Armin is right. She'll have to make decisions based off her own judgement and I'm excited for it.

I kinda doubt that. She went to Jean, because Armin told her so and I don't think that she would do anything in the situation between Jean, Floch and the Volunteers. If she would be able someday to make her own decision, I'll think that could be to do with Kiyomi's offer to go on one of her ships, but we will see.

I think she will be an impromptu leader, similarly to what she did at Trost after eren got eaten by the santa titan

Mikasa did nothing wrong, she tried to take advice instead to run somewhere else like Connie or give up like Jean.

Yes she’ll become more independent. I think itll lead to “see u later eren”

  AT THIS POINT, ARMIN STILL THINKS ERWIN WAS A BETTER CHOICE TO REVIVE. DO YOU? 1,391 RESPONSES

The question of whether Armin or Erwin should have been revived in Shiganshina proves to be one of the most contentious issues in the series, nearly on par with when we asked you guys what you think of Eren’s (stated) plan. 52.2% of you are Team Erwin, and 47.8% are Team Armin. Regrettably, I can’t make a good joke out of either of those numbers.

I've said it before, but I think Armin was the best person to revive from a story telling point of view. Erwin was the better leader, no doubts there, but it is the lack of him that has pushed all these other characters to develop more. I believe the relationships between characters and the characters themselves would've remained more static if he had still been there. So therefore, Armin was the right choice

Erwin wouldn't have let any of this happen

  WHO TOOK THE SCARF? 1,403 RESPONSES

There could only ever be one winner of this question; given the girls fandom of Eren in general and Mikasa in particular, 72.5% of you picked Louise as the scarf thief, particularly since she knew it was there and gave it a look after Mikasa left. The next highest answer was Eren having sent someone to retrieve it, at 13.8%, followed by ‘someone else at 9.1%, with Floch and Jean respectively taking up other minor answers. I look forward to the questions in the future of why the scarf was taken, and how will it affect the story?

Oh, and Louise definitely has the scarf. I think there will be a confrontation over it and Mikasa will Realise Things, so that's cool.

Louise totally stole that scarf.

  WHICH NAME IS BETTER? 1,395 RESPONSES

808 of 1,395 of you came out to represent Gabi Gang, while the remaining 587 of you like Mia better. Mia Myriad? Eh. Mia Myriad’s weird. I like Gabi Gang better.

  WHAT'S UP WITH JEAN WHEN FLOCH IS TALKING TO HIM? 1,399 RESPONSES

Floch tells Jean he can finally have the life he always wanted, what was Jean feeling at that moment?  40.5% think he was just totally shell-shocked, 30.4% think he;s faking weakness for a plan, 16.4% think he had an epiphany about Eren based on what Floch said, and 10.7% believe him to be considering what Floch has to say.

Definitely debating whether or not to kick his head in-- once he's decided I think he'll pounce

he has been asking over and over for how long they would have to keep fighting. So Floch telling him is over has a great effect on him. Although he will chose to keep fighting.

He is bothered that the Yeagerists consider him a “hero”

He is in disbelief over how AWFUL Floch is and once his brain processes it he will snap and punch the bastard in the face

He's both in shell shock and trying to fake weakness.

I think he's coming up with some sort of plan to finally rid the world of Floch.

Jean looks so tired in these panels, as in physically tired and mentally. He probably wants this all to be over, and Floch is giving him a way out. But Jean has come too far to give up, I think, so I hope he turns his brain back on.

  ARE THE ROCKS THAT GO MISSING WHEN FLOCH TURNS HIS HEAD AN ARTISTIC OVERSIGHT OR DOES IT HAVE FUTURE SIGNIFICANCE? 1,406 RESPONSES

THE ROCKS ARE GONE.  About half of the fandom, at 46.2% are pretty sure Jean pocketed them to use as a weapon.  29.7% did not notice the disappearance, and 24.2% think it’s just Isayama overlooking an inconsistency.

Bitch boutta throw some rocks

I hope Jean can something do too otherwise the Volunteers would get forced to fight for Eren and to help him destroying their own motherlands (oof) or get killed. I hope the theory about the pocket rocks get relevant and true in the next chapters

Floch be a bitch with a nest boutta get moulded by rocks

Getting ready to bash floch

there was a gun next to him and then it was gone. The boy boutta blooooow

  FLOCH CLAIMS THAT EREN TOLD HIM THE ENTIRE PLAN. IS HE TELLING THE TRUTH? 1,399 RESPONSES

Eren doesn’t seem to have confided his plan in anyone, but Floch says otherwise.  60% confess Eren likely told him a fair bit, but not everything, 32.9% think Floch’s just BSing his way through things to look better, and 5.6% truly believe Eren told Floch everything.

Eren is the only one who knows his true plan, anyone that claims to know what Eren is doing was just a pawn that Eren used.

Eren probably forgot who Floch even is

Considering how Eren is acting now, I fear he did tell him everything after seeing his extremism.

Floch believes Eren told him everything, but he probably didn't.

floch is an arrogant bitch who thinks eren and him are best buds

I mean, the plan so far seems to be 'let's retrieve Zeke, overthrow the government and unleash the Rumbling', so why won't he tell Floch all of it? He seems to be fully on board. If there is more to the plan, then Floch doesn't know it.

I'm still not sure how much of Eren's betrayal of Zeke he was in on, but I'm damn sure Eren didn't task him with any 'removing internal resentment' job.

Jean knows he has more of Eren's trust than Floch does. From this, Jean figured out either Floch is lying for his own gains, or is being used by Eren.

Floch is just a dumbass and Eren is using him to get the necessary pieces into place without him doing it all himself

Something tells me Floch actually just overheard Yelena talking with Eren about Zeke's plan during the railway opening ceremony. I could've sworn that in the chapter Floch mentioned that he "heard" Eren's plan, and the way he uses that word gives me the impression he only listened to parts of what Yelena told Eren without knowing what Eren's ulterior motive was when learning Zeke's plan.

That’s certainly what he *thinks*

Eren is manipulating Floch's ass six ways to sunday and I'm here for it

  WHO DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE ONE TO TAKE DOWN FLOCH? 1,398 RESPONSES

From previous polls, Floch seems like a popular choice to die next, but who would do it?  Nearly ¾ of that fandom believe Jean will end him, though 6.5% don’t believe Floch’s dying anytime soon.  Eren, Mikasa, Shadis, and Yelena were other popular options.

Could be anyone at this point, really. Would be cool if it was just some random volunteer and the death would be meaningless.

Better not be anyone, Floch is making way more sense than Armin

Armin

I hope no one does, he's the most entertaining character at the moment

I really hope all of the above and I hope it'll be a gruesome death.

King Floch is the father and will outlive the rest of the 104th.

Let him be squashed under a Titan foot, pls

Me

Nobody, Floch will be the only survivor of the rumbling

HISTORIA! QUEEN!!!! How is the rightful ruler of Eldia not a choice here?!

I hope he doesn't die at least next chapter, because him dying is too predictable. But if he does it should be Jean.

I HOPE IT'S EITHER LEVI OR HANGE. But I think it's probably going to be Jean.

I think floch is going to have an utterlessly meaningless death. Just to show the irony that surviving that day didn't change shit.

I think since he survived on pure luck and destiny up until now, I could imagine his death will be more by accident or by unfortunate circumstance then someone else succeeding to kill him

SHADIS THE CHADIS no but actually probably Yelena or Mikasa.

The 109th Recruits

Onyankopon, Jean and Mikasa, I hope.

Who knows. Hope he dies.

ZEKE JAEGER

Isayama

It'll be a team effort

  CONNIE AND FALCO ARE EN ROUTE TO RAGAKO. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE OUTCOME WILL BE? 1,398 RESPONSES

Bets for the Return to Ragako arc are placed, and the majority (~43%) of you think that the overwhelming scent of cinnamon wafting from Falco will entice Connie to spare him. Not far behind, with 30.5% of the votes, is the prediction that Armin and Gabi will swoop in and save the day. The next most popular option was Falco feeling the sudden urge to die for Reiner, causing him to transform and escape. Following that was Falco realizing his predicament without getting his memories back, and after that, a very small amount of you guys (18), think Falco’s gonna get chomped.

Connie finna die

I can't think of how bringing back Connies mom will save Reiners life, so it won't happen.

Is it weird that I think Connie's mom has already turned back to human?

  WHICH UNLIKELY TEAM-UP IS THE MOST EXCITING? 1,391 RESPONSES

An overwhelming majority of you guys are most excited to see the Magath/Pieck/Hange/Levi squad team up, while the distant runner-up is Hitch/Annie, followed by Armin/Gabi, and then Connie/Falco. I can’t imagine why Connie/Falco got the least votes here.

  WHICH TEAM, IF ANY, DO YOU THINK WILL MEET WITH HISTORIA? 1,384 RESPONSES

With a 31.6% majority, the… quad...duo… quaduo? That’s definitely not a word but it should be, technical definition pending. What I’m trying to say is that Team Magath/Pieck/Hange/Levi got the most votes for “Who’s going to meet up with Historia?” Following that was… uh, nobody. As in the next most common answer is “nobody”. You guys are not making this write-up easy for me. After that was Team Hitch/Annie, followed by Armin/Gabi, and then Connie/Falco. The graph is proportional enough that you can see all the percentages, so that’s cool.

Historia is the key to ending this story and getting all the context we need. Which means we probably won’t see her again for awhile.

  SLEEPING THROUGH THE APOCALYPSE. WHO DID IT BETTER? 1,399 RESPONSES

We didn’t ask for a reason behind this selection, but Reiner’s rather ill-timed cozy cottage snooze (58.5%) trounced Levi’s “return of the mummy” slumber (41.5%). Maybe it was the appeal of the fruit and snacks?

  DO YOU THINK LEVI WILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE UPCOMING BATTLE? 1,400 RESPONSES

Nearly 60% of you think Levi will recover enough to encourage the others to fight, 20% think he’ll recover enough to fight, and 15.3% think he’ll be unconscious for awhile. The white space on the graph is what happens when there are too many single-voter responses, but we can read them behind the scenes, and one of them suggested that we’re about to learn how titan serum affects Ackermans, and I just want to say that I appreciate your devotion to Titan Science™, anon.

TITAN LEVI INC

Crack theory: he‘ll eat Zeke after Zeke offers himself up because he lost his will to live. So yes, he‘ll be fully healed and badass again.

He is going to become a shifter by eating Zeke with the cooperation of Pieck/Magath, fulfilling his promise to Erwin.

He won't be recovering but he'll fight all the same, with his teeth if necessary

He'll recover enough to make one last heroic action before dying

I don't really know. I hope he can still fight. I think Isayama-sensei didn't let Levi live to be a useless soldier.

i don’t want him to participate. i just want him alive

I think that Levi will not be able to fight, but he'll be awake, and I'd like to him take on a mentorship role. I would love to see him make a full recovery by the time the manga concludes.

Some unforeseen magic will happen

  HAS THIS CHAPTER AFFECTED YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT THE RUMBLING? 1,385 RESPONSES

The destruction on the ground, Floch’s reign of terror, and the 104th’s horror at what’s unfolding seems to have shaken some in the fandom with one quarter of respondents indicating that their support has lessened somewhat (20.6%) or significantly (5.7%). The remaining 75% are staying the course with close to 40% completely opposed to the rumbling and 35% in full support of it.

  HAS THIS CHAPTER AFFECTED YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT EREN? 1,387 RESPONSES

The responses here are about what we might expect; a fairly even split between those who support Eren fully (or at least think he’s got some mysterious ace up his sleeve) and those that do not support him/are losing faith in him. Interestingly, the smallest response was from those who have lost a significant amount of faith in Eren, indicating the battle lines are still drawn at this point.

Eren did nothing wrong

Eren Yeager is GOD! Bow Down!

We're left in the dark of what Eren is really planning and so I can't judge this consequence too much. It is very extreme and I'm skeptical of it all.

Another aspect of the continual violence and really justifies Eren's position.

The inner fighting among themselves is going to get worse and they all will turn on Eren.

They should support eren, and the yeagerists, not plan to overthrow them

I DONT GET WHAT IS EREN TRYING TO DO? How is he gonna claim he wants to protect his people then end up killing him ??

I hope that among his friends there are on the eren side, eren's decision was correct, although it was too cruel, but it was all for the people he loved. why his friends no one sided eren , I'm sad to think about it.

I love eren but :(

  AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO YOU EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,406 RESPONSES

As much as I hate to think about the end of the manga, and the subsequent never-ending feud over the serum bowl and the Rumbling, we’re bound to become the next NGE at some point. It can’t be stopped. The majority, at 45.7%, think we have until around Chapter 134, which gives us about nine more months. Following that, 30.2%, think we have until Chapter 138, which gives us more than a year. A lesser but still significant quantity of votes say we have until Chapter 142+, and I feel a little bit like the Vince McMahon meme typing this. You know the one. Lastly, 8.7% of you think there are only 5 chapters left. Why anyone would even entertain such an idea is beyond me.

  WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,409 RESPONSES

Wow! A huge split of opinion here regarding hopes for next chapter, as might be expected; but out in front with 27.8% of the vote is a wish to see more Hange, Levi, Pieck and Magath; no doubt because we haven’t seen them for a while. Coming up in second place is Jean and Mikasa, with a number of fans hoping they will fight back against Floch. And of course, third place is the everpresent wish to see Historia once more. What on Earth is she up to???

Historia hopefully

A solid chapter with a lot of great character development. Who wants to bet that Connie and Falco are going to run into Historia at Ragako?

Give me Historia

Jean has an epiphany about himself and Eren's actions (since Floch is Eren's fanboy, like Jean was to a certain degree))

Jean and Floch will fight!

If Floch doesn't make Jean react, I don't know who else will. Their relationship has always been complex, so it would be beautiful to see Jean killing him. But as long as it's not a Jaeger, I'll be fine.

I can’t help but feel that there was something odd about the way Hange spoke about Levi to Magath and Pieck. “Rest assured, he’s just a harmless man who failed to die”. Harmless? Levi? Really? And Hange doesn’t speak like that, so to me this looks like strategizing and covering something up. I don’t think Levi is 100% okay, far from, but I don’t think he’s on the verge of death. And even if Levi will physically be unable to fight, he still isn’t harmless. He wasn’t dubbed Humanity’s Strongest only for his physical strength; Levi is smart, he’s an excellent leader, he’s compassionate and experienced. So, even if we don’t see him engage in fights as a soldier, I believe we will get to see him devise plans and strategies, negotiate, etc. After all, we still don’t know what the Ackermans are capable of. We know they have superhuman strength, so I believe we’re all in for a surprise (or not so much of a surprise) when it comes to Levi. He’s played an enormous part in the story already, but his story isn’t over. Best boi love him yes.

I hope he can still fight. I think Isayama-sensei didn't let Levi live to be a useless soldier.

All aboard the ship! Ms. HanjiXMagath is setting sail! (???)

HISTORIA BACKSTORY, OR I WILL END THIS WORLD

  WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,328 RESPONSES

Reddit continues to dominate the responses to this question, and this month there were literally more people who don’t discuss the series than people who discuss it on Tumblr. A direct consequence of banning Titan-presenting nipples, surely. Lastly, something ominous is going on in the Snapchat cult, because there were only two of you this month, down from five last month. That’s still enough to reproduce though and it makes me uneasy. Regardless of where or whether you discuss the series though, we appreciate all of you guys’ participation in the poll. We literally couldn’t do it without you!

  ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER?

hE dID nOtHing wrOnG

I mean it's not like Eren could be like "wait while you're breaking out of the wall, can ya be clean about it?" but also....yeahhhhh umm I'm not positive that Eren cares for the majority of Paradisians

Petra's death still burns... Yet I can't really hate Annie.

[Annie’s] story kinda looks like a copypasta of Zeke's but I'm glad it's established she doesn't care for her grand goal and would sacrifice everything to achieve hers if it needs to be brought again

I feel for the wall Titans, they've been conscious for the last century, just chilling there.

Isayama couldn't have made the parallel between Annie and Eren any more blatant if he tried.

I don't know why people are so surprised with Eren being in cahoots with Floch. He is already killing billions to secure peace for Paradis, installing an authoritarian government for the same reason is not unlike him. He already said, he is going to take the freedom from people if they threaten his even innocents.

0/10 no Reiner. jk, the chapter may not have "action" per se, but i love the focus on how the rumbling affects all the characters, including the eldians in the camps. also, all the pairings are really interesting. i hope the HLMP combo leads to good things for the future. i wonder if Armin & Gabi'll talk, and whether she'll learn that he is the Colossus titan, or if she'll catch onto Reiner's great familiarity with these people…

another average chapter in SNK standards (awesome in manga standards)

Another set-up chapter - would be good to see some major events occur to keep the momentum going. Also want Eren/Zeke POVs

After 10 months of wondering where Levi was and if he was alive, i fully sympathise with Annie stans, who had to wait the better part of a decade. But I'm glad to know Levi's alive for now.

Seeing almost everyone other than the Jeager brothers was so damn fresh. Now everyone's gotta work together to stop the total downer ending.

Felt like this a needed chapter to see where all the characters’ directions are headed. Whether we see more compromise or more tension between characters. It creates more anticipation and excitement for what’s to become of Eren and his plan.

Isayama been sleepin on some important characters 💤

Very interesting seeing so many different perspectives, if only we could get Historia some day

Great chapter. But if hange teams up with Pieck and Magath I am going to be very disappointed. They have no reason to rely on the the people who have been trying to exterminate them for years. I get they need to stop eren but they cant let forget the atrocities Marley has done to them. Regroup with the rest and figure out another goddman way.

A very interesting chapter. I fully expect an emotional outburst from Mikasa any time now. Maybe directed at Eren himself.

aaahh I just want Zeke

Give me Eren

Give me Historia

How the hell will Isayama cover all these separated smol groups in only 12 chapters??? Can he rly end the manga this year cos I have doubts!

All pieces are on the move, time to wrap things up, Isayama-sensei! Though I don't see any way to stop Eren, unless they maybe use Historia and her royal blood? Can't wait to see how Isayama will solve all of this.

I love the setting of the rumbling as a slow moving mass of dust and meat that we’re all powerless to stop. I love how we’ve seen it from the perspective of people on the receiving end of the destruction, from people that support it and most of all, people who would never support it but are still benefiting from it. Regardless, none of them could stop even if they wanted too. It makes the issue seem so much more real.

Annie is pretty much like Eren right now, knowingly doing terrible things for the people they care about, both have accepted the cruelty of the world and acted accordingly and is not like the world has given them reasons to think otherwise. But this mentality has only brought pain and suffering around them and to themselves, I hope in the end she changes her outlook in life and finally goes against the "current"  of the way things are as she described and do the right thing.

Annie needs to get Armins head out of his ass. Floch was executing people next to his friends and he just runs off wtf

I DONT GET WHAT IS EREN TRYING TO DO? How is he gonna claim he wants to protect his people then end up killing him ??

Armin did nothing wrong. I've seen people complaining about he "yelling with waifu" and even comparing with Eren, even tho what Eren did was totally intentional, while Armin wasn't he didn't mean to hurt her, he snapped under stress, but when he saw he hurt her he regretted so much that even brought Erwin to the picture. But apparently his feeling and emotions are nothing compared with Mikasa's...

Armin made the right choice to go after Falco. His strategy is to ally with the Warriors and Marley. His tactic is to use Falco as barter. It is the best move he can make with the situation as it is. If he succeeds he gains Connie back in the fold, Falco, Gabi, Reiner, Pieck, and Magath. This type of quality help will raise morale and lessen the pressure that everyone feels. Hopefully they work as a team and communicate with each other. Don’t be like Eren who has no fog of war because he knows how it ends and, yet, doesn’t tell anybody about it.

As long as the rest of the world is unwilling to negotiate peacefully I’m not sure what other options were on the table. Obviously eren’s actions are irredeemable, but I feel that he’ll have the same sentiment Annie expressed: if this is the only way his friends make it out alive then he’d choose this path every time. I don’t think all of the blame is on eren(though he is still responsible for his own actions). Every side played a role in this and it should have never come to this to begin with.

I really appreciated the scenes with Armin, Mikasa, and Jean. The rumbling is a world-changing/ reality altering event and Armin said as much, but I'm really hoping these three can manage to salvage some peace for themselves despite the chaos.I think Eren has already accepted his own mortality re: the Curse of Ymir and has fully resigned himself to doing whatever he deems necessary for Paradis, I'm interested to see his end. I also enjoyed seeing Levi and Hange, I never doubted their survival; it also might be a further indication that Floch is BS'ing his way with his power grab when he said that they were killed...This series is excellent.

Wake up already, Reiner. Say something, Levi. At least Falco's awake again. And Annie, for the love of Eldia, please explain your crystal.

Can't wait to see Jean snap at Floch

It was great but isayama please let us see eren...

I just really hope Connie doesn't die but I'm not feeling too optimistic... I can't believe Annie's back and I'm really looking forward to whatever her and Hitch do next.

The reaction to the Armin and Mikasa scene initially drove me up the wall, because people's readings of Mikasa are just so fucking bad--she's literally right??? LMAO. Mikasa and the 104th have always followed Armin's guidance, so she isn't even wrong when she asks how to make herself useful. But the reaction to her question about Eren is just...

Levi surviving the thunderspear was bullshit. Hopefully he stays permanently injured and not overpowered again. Isayama give us Historia please. I hope we get to see my baby Reiner wake up next chapter. I wish that Reiner and Annie meet again please

I got emotional when Falco was starting to "remember" Connie. While Sasha's scenes after her death could have been written better, every time I see a Ymir reference, something interesting happens. We need to remember best girl, and finally we get to see that Connie was an important comrade of hers.

I hope Connie makes the right choices, my boy has suffered enough!

It somehow gave positive vibes despite the apocalyptic setting, and I was extremely happy we got to see almost everyone again.

I want to see more about what happened to Ymir Fritz after she gained her freedom.

I'm glad Levi is ok but i gotta know: how is he able to breathe when HIS ENTIRE FACE HAS BEEN BANDAGED UP

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fiiiiiiiiiine

Lame ass chapter, everything feels pointless and forced and the ambiguity and moral grayness of the story is gone.

Levi has to give meaning to those deaths. It's what will give peace to his heart. He deserves to fight one last time.

mikasa let me hug you and protect you

Can we agree Keith is badass? He advised trainees to not lose themselves despite the government. It's such a stark contrast with Floch in this chapter. He was so traumatized by his first mission as a SC, losing his comrades, watching them die meaningless deaths and seeing the SC fighting over who should be lived other than the commander. As he shot that voluteer he made it clear he casted his values aside for survival. In the end he learned they were just as meaningless as Marlowe's death.

More Yelena pls

This chapter was a lot of scenes I had been waiting for put together. We had Annie and Hitch interaction, an update on Connie and Falco, Gabi and Armin now heading their way, and Levi and Hange are finally back. Now all we need is Historia. The wait for her stopped being funny a LONG time ago...Actually scratch that, it wasn't funny to begin with. 😒

Levi is alive bitches

Really glad it's not all wrapping up with Eren activating the rumbling. Seeing how everyone is handling the chaos has been incredible. I was telling my friends that I honestly don't think the final battle will be against Eren. It's just everyone versus the pure chaos of the situation. I don't see Eren getting beat

The EMA trio was never my favorite, but it still kinda hurt to see them all split up.

The Erwin references were amazing!! Both in the manga and the end text!!

With all these relatively slow-paced, character-driven chapters recently, it seems as if the ending will be very rushed. I have faith in Isayama’s writing skills, but I just hope he will be able to pull off an ending that will do justice to all these wonderful characters he has built up, while rounding out the plot in a satisfying way. This story, in my opinion, is a masterpiece so far - and an ending could either make or break it at this point. Either way, I look forward to seeing the coming chapters very much.

Where is Kiyomi ? (2nd edition)

[momtaku]

Hey mom idk about you but this whole "kill or be killed" situation feels plot contrived to me. I feel this could all have avoided rather than the current situation. Especially when Yelena (I forgot Wich chapter) mention that alliance of nations that marley was at war for years. I find it puzzling that hange didn't consider pursuing diplomacy towards them? Besides that I want a resolution for hisu, hopefully it's where she tries to find a third option otherwise what it *appears* to be 😟🙅😠

Oh, believe me. You and me both. It’s so frustrating. 

Paradis was never defenseless. The island was protected, self sufficient and filled with natural resources. Paradis had all the ingredients needed to have a seat at the diplomatic table of their choosing. Instead they were portrayed in the manga as having done basically nothing aside from listen to Kiyomi and Zeke, who they knew didn’t have their best interest, and make a trip to Marley to potentially meet with a humanitarian group. 

I don’t remember who worded it this way, but it felt like Isayama deliberately kneecapped the Survey Corps and dummied them down in order to make the situation feel helpless in ways that it never realistically was. The story is paying for that decision now. The alliance is still portrayed as indecisive and not having a plan, even as they travel to meet with Eren. 

“At least Eren is doing something“ is the most common reason I hear from people who support Eren, and looking at the inaction of the SC, it’s hard to argue with that. I wish Isayama hadn’t been so extreme in that portrayal. I don’t think Hange or Armin having an enthusiastic and realistic plan would’ve changed the story. Eren could’ve still gone rogue.  They could’ve still worked to stopped him. But I think Isayama wanted the feeling of “kill or be killed”, reasonable or not, because he thought it would be more interesting for the characters and maybe even the readers, to examine their individual morality to see how far they’d be willing to go. 

A sentiment I’ve heard more recently is that if the SC is going to win this, people want it to be earned. Introducing flying titans or some other deus ex machina now that helps the SC win would cheapen the story. It’s something I agree with. I want the SC to win, I want diplomacy to work even now. I don’t want them saving the world on a technicality.  I hope that makes sense.

Thanks for the ask! And yes, fingers crossed for Historia having a part in whatever happens next.