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I Rewrote Attack on Titan's Ending by Giving Ymir 1 Massive Twist — Transcript

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0:00Do you mind if I just rant a bit? Uh
0:01skip to here if you just want to see the
0:02reread. Okay, so honestly, I sympathize
0:05with Isayama. Writing an ending to
0:06Attack on Titan is really hard, but it's
0:08also hard for the same reason that the
0:10climax is incredibly exciting. That is,
0:13rather than have a big bad for our
0:14heroes to take down, Isayama created
0:16this incredibly compelling problem that
0:18because of our main characters' inherent
0:20character traits, leads them to try to
0:21solve that problem in different ways,
0:23and that disagreement pits them against
0:25each other as mortal enemies. That's a
0:27hell of a climax to your story, but it
0:29also comes with problems, especially
0:31when you get into the specifics. The
0:32story basically forces its characters
0:34into an impossible choice, where it's
0:35either them or the entire outside world,
0:38innocents included. With the only plan
0:40that minimizes these casualties on both
0:42sides requires you sacrifice Historia, a
0:44character with royal blood, by turning
0:46her into a Titan shifter, limiting her
0:48lifespan to 13 years, and then when that
0:49time frame is up, her children have to
0:51be next by way of eating their mother
0:53alive. So, you can save the outside
0:55world, but it requires you sacrifice one
0:57person on your side, turn them into a
0:59breeding machine, and then force her
1:00children to do the same for the next 50
1:02years. The only way to avoid this
1:05outcome is to activate the rumbling,
1:06effectively a mega nuke, a powerful but
1:09indiscriminate weapon, and destroy so
1:11much of the outside world that they
1:12won't be a threat to you while you make
1:14up the massive technological gap between
1:15you and the outside world, so that you
1:17don't have to rely on the rumbling that
1:19necessitates you sacrifice Historia. At
1:21which point our main character Eren
1:22goes, "Fuck it, in for a penny, in for a
1:23pound," and just decides to wipe
1:25everything clean cuz he's got like 4
1:26years left to live, debatably can't
1:28access this power again after this if he
1:30changes his mind, and ultimately wants
1:31to guarantee safety to the people he
1:33cares about. And there's like also some
1:35stuff about like ending the cycle of
1:36violence or whatever. Now, I think the
1:38exact amount of the rumbling that is
1:40quote necessary is debatable, but
1:42ultimately the story does a very good
1:44job of setting up a very compelling
1:45moral conflict. It's a hypothetical
1:47manifest, an impossible choice. A lot of
1:49people get
1:50kind of antsy about this, but and the
1:53ending like kind of changed his mind as
1:55well, and like patched over this, but
1:57no, the story prior to the ending was
1:59unquestionably trying to push you into
2:01this choice. The story goes out of its
2:03way to make these the only options. The
2:05smartest characters in the show
2:06repeatedly say they don't have another
2:08answer and spend literally all the time
2:10they have looking for one as there are
2:11hard limits as put in place by the plot
2:13to force the characters to choose. And
2:16as much as people and the ending retcon
2:17Eren to be an unjustifiable bad guy, the
2:19story went out of its way beforehand to
2:22make Eren sympathetic. You see how he
2:24doesn't want to do this. You see him
2:26debating ethics of his choice. He has
2:27direct contrast with characters like
2:29Floch who revels in killing and
2:31demonizing civilians where Eren hates
2:33himself for the civilians he kills and
2:34arguably only kills most of them as
2:36collateral to get to those who are a
2:38threat. Also, on two occasions the plot
2:41literally waits until the last possible
2:44second before he acts. When he activates
2:46the rumbling, Marley was literally at
2:48their gates trying to kill them at worst
2:50and put them in concentration camps at
2:52best. And even before that, Eren
2:54literally waited until the enemy
2:56declared war before he crossed the point
2:58of no return. Isayama was obviously
3:00trying to create a morally gray
3:01character and choice and it's great.
3:04It's compelling and it makes for an
3:05amazing final conflict, but it winds me
3:08up when people sidestep this part of the
3:10story as if Attack on Titan hasn't
3:11always been about gray morality and
3:13nuance, etc. As if the story didn't
3:15spend 120 chapters repeatedly telling
3:18you that everything isn't black and
3:19white only to make the final conflict
3:21black and white. Like if
3:23How boring is that? You know what it
3:25reminds me of? Avengers Endgame where a
3:27character that was once written
3:28sympathetically written as if they
3:30genuinely believe they are doing
3:31something horrible but are choosing to
3:33do it anyway believing it to be the only
3:35good choice is suddenly changed to be a
3:37straight villain with none of the same
3:39nuance. Cuz that's kind of what Eren is.
3:41I never see anyone make this comparison,
3:43but it it's true. He's reverse Thanos or
3:46potentially he's
3:48right-leaning Thanos. Uh Do you know
3:50what I mean? Like Thanos has a
3:52collectivist philosophy, whereas Eren
3:54has a very individualist philosophy.
3:56Again, the whole final conflict is
3:57effectively a hypothetical manifest. Are
4:00you a bad person for killing innocents
4:01if you have to kill them to save
4:03yourself? Likewise, Thanos is are you a
4:06bad person for killing innocents if you
4:07have to kill them to save a greater
4:09number of people. Both of these are
4:11pretty simple little hypotheticals, but
4:13both are taken to their absolute extreme
4:15for a compelling villain. And I'll say
4:16the exact same thing I did about Thanos
4:18in my end game video. For these villains
4:20to work, they have to be right. Not
4:22morally, mind you. You can make your own
4:24judgment on that, but their hypothetical
4:26needs to be true that killing is the
4:28only way to achieve their goal. What
4:30makes these villains compelling is that
4:32they know what they're doing is horrible
4:33and choose to do it anyway. And so
4:35logically, the second they're wrong, the
4:37second you give them a better way,
4:38they'll take it in a heartbeat, which
4:40means you don't have a conflict anymore,
4:42and you've taken all the weight away
4:43from your climax cuz you made such a big
4:45deal out of something that you were
4:46going to deconstruct in the market. But
4:47now, okay, here's the big difference
4:50between Eren and Thanos. And this is
4:51what makes Attack on Titan's ending so
4:52hard to write. Eren is your main
4:55character. He's not a villain introduced
4:57with the intention of being beaten,
4:59motives be damned. Eren is the character
5:01we've been following for years as he
5:03fought for his freedom. Your audience
5:05wants closure, and because Eren's
5:07character is defined by his desire for
5:09freedom, you can't give him closure by
5:11killing him. Don't get me wrong, this
5:13end has some value in tragic irony, but
5:15it is at the expense of closure, which I
5:18think is more important for a
5:19long-running series. No, you need
5:21closure, and the only way this would
5:23count as closure is if Eren believably
5:25wanted death. But
5:28yeah, that's not [ __ ] happening.
5:30It's not Code Geass where the main
5:32character has a whole mantra about being
5:33prepared to die and has a life goal
5:35beyond his own freedom. This doesn't
5:37work for Eren without a massive retcon,
5:40which is what happened. And yes, this
5:42was a retcon. I wasn't even someone who
5:45who believed this, I just assumed it was
5:46pretty natural that there would be a
5:47massive disconnect between author and
5:49audience. And when you couple this with
5:51the fact that most writers only have
5:52practice writing the middle of the story
5:54and no practice writing endings, I
5:56assumed this was a pretty natural
5:57outcome. But no, there was there was
5:59definitely a retcon. Uh there's a small
6:01YouTuber called Sarandy I ran into while
6:03researching this video who makes these
6:04super high-quality videos that
6:05completely turned me on this topic. Like
6:07three videos alone managed to completely
6:09flip me. I mean, we literally know for a
6:11fact that the ending was changed at some
6:13point and there was direct
6:15contradictions promotional materials
6:17about what the last panel was, but also
6:19there's direct contradictions in
6:21interviews that contradict both the
6:22ending and other later interviews. And
6:25the thing that really blew me away was
6:26the connections he draws between Attack
6:28on Titan and other media to show what
6:29Isayama's inspirations were. The Mikasa,
6:32Casca, Eren, Griffith comparison as well
6:34as the Eternal Champion is uncanny. The
6:37point of this video isn't really to
6:38argue all this, nor is it to provide
6:39counterarguments to what the ending
6:41defenders are likely to bring up, but I
6:42highly recommend watching Sarandy if you
6:44want to see more of this side of the
6:45argument. He's rather
6:47He's rather
6:48abrasive, but he is very good. He also
6:50takes other ending critiques and gives
6:52them better editing so they're more
6:53accessible. So it's a great gateway into
6:55this side of the fandom. Anyway, I
6:56totally believe it's a retcon, but that
6:58being said, you can kind of see why this
7:00was a retcon. The popular theory for the
7:02original ending is that Eren completes
7:03the rumbling and kills his friends. And
7:05while I like elements of that, it's
7:07logically consistent, solves the climax
7:09without a deus ex machina, and keeps
7:11Eren's character intact, and gives you
7:13this insanely climactic end with all the
7:15spectacle of a mortal fight between
7:17friends and a full rumbling, it's also
7:20terrible for the closure of your other
7:22characters. And while they don't have
7:24characterizations that revolve around
7:25not dying like Eren does, there's no way
7:27you're going to find satisfying deaths
7:29to like 11 characters. It's possible for
7:31a few maybe, but 11, it's wildly
7:35impractical. But then, okay, if you try
7:36to keep these characters alive, it
7:38doesn't work either cuz that implies
7:39they're they're fighting to the death,
7:41which is a waste of spectacle. Plus,
7:43Aaron's character would presumably get
7:44up and keep going until he wins or dies,
7:47which you don't want either. In fact,
7:49because this is a mortal fight, a core
7:51disagreement, it's a character
7:53assassination on either side to have
7:54them stop unless you can find an organic
7:56way to resolve the conflict. But, it has
7:59to feel climactic and spectacley as
8:01well.
8:03Like, honestly, it's a it's a [ __ ]
8:04miss. But, I think I've got it. So,
8:08what's the first thing on the agenda?
8:09All right, so this is going to start off
8:11sparse and vague as we do some setup and
8:13then get more details as we go on. So,
8:15okay, one of the major complaints of the
8:17ending is how Annie is treated. Given
8:19what she's done, it's very incongruent
8:21with how characters like Reiner are
8:22treated. But, rather than just change
8:24that to be more equivalent to Reiner, I
8:27want to give a specific reason to why it
8:29is what it is. So, after the campfire
8:31scene on the carriage the next day, I
8:33want Annie to question Reiner. So, Annie
8:35says to Reiner, "Why do they ignore me?
8:38Why do you get it?" Reiner says, "It's
8:40cuz he deserves it more. He did worse
8:42things." But, Annie in a surprising
8:43moment of kindness says, "You're not
8:44really that bad. You just take all the
8:46blame." But, then it's Yelena who
8:48explains that they focus on Reiner cuz
8:50he's weak. They get satisfaction out of
8:52him, but trying to guilt Annie is like
8:54trying to get blood from a stone. And at
8:56worst, it's a threat to the alliance.
8:58Annie averts her gaze. She doesn't
9:00respond. Nothing major, just set up for
9:02now. Next, I'm going to make a small
9:03general change to the dock fight to
9:05accent what happens later. I want Falco
9:07to embody Owen a little bit more by
9:09specifically being able to sacrifice his
9:11men. Even if it's just something as
9:12simple as not defeating the Armored and
9:14Female Titan by brute force, but instead
9:16by having one group approach the Armored
9:18and Female Titan head-on and
9:19intentionally not aim for the neck or
9:21even the boat, small plot fix there, to
9:23prevent them from turning around and
9:24noticing the small fishing boat floating
9:26alongside the port loaded with soldiers
9:29that will score a clean Thunder Spear on
9:31the napes. That's all I want to change
9:32about the dock fight outside of some
9:34other minor stuff like old ladies
9:37flipping an armed and trained soldier
9:38like a sack of potatoes. Yeah, step on
9:40me, grandma. Sorry, I just wanted to I
9:42wanted to birth that sentence into
9:43existence. To me, the real problem start
9:45with what comes after, prepping the ship
9:47and Hanji's death. In fact, it's pretty
9:50obvious when you compare the two scenes.
9:51See, I quite enjoyed the dog fight with
9:53Floch. It's a great build-up to the
9:54fight before the final conflict. Its
9:56antagonist is one with significant
9:57investment who's well-established
9:59already in the plot as an obstacle, and
10:00the fight itself creates a ton of great
10:02moments, especially in terms of taking
10:03these lofty aspirations expressed by
10:05some of the characters and really
10:06hitting them with the gravity of the
10:08situation. They killed their comrades,
10:10they get called traders, and they're
10:11forced to face the reality that even if
10:12they win, they don't even have answers
10:14for their country or themselves. If they
10:16win, they've doomed their homeland and
10:18murdered people who just wanted to
10:20protect themselves from getting wiped
10:21out. And if they lose, they've killed
10:23them for nothing.
10:25No matter how noble this path is, no
10:26matter how many more innocent lives you
10:28save in exchange, the reality is It will
10:30mean blood on your hands before the
10:31thing is done. The blood of my enemies.
10:34Not the blood of innocents. Now, in
10:35contrast, Hanji's death and the scene
10:37surrounding it feels quite arbitrary. As
10:39a standalone scene, it's engaging,
10:41dramatic, and makes sense for a
10:42character, but none of it is really
10:44interwoven with what comes before or
10:45what comes after, and it kind of feels
10:47like it's done purely to raise the
10:48stakes and make Armin the leader in
10:50preparation for his arc's crescendo.
10:52I suppose Floch's death speech feels
10:54important, too, but there's also no
10:56reason that couldn't have happened at
10:57the dock rather than clinging onto the
10:59ship for 24 hours like he ate Zeke
11:01off-screen and became the fish titan.
11:03See, fighting Floch feels meaningful
11:05because he's a thinking, breathing
11:06character in the world who wants to
11:08oppose these characters. But Hanji died
11:10to a bunch of mindless titans because
11:12the mangaka decided that the timing of
11:13the rumbling just happened to clash with
11:15them leaving feels arbitrary, and after
11:17it's said and done, there's nothing that
11:19comes of it. The fight with Floch,
11:20Connie, Jean, Reiner were all changed by
11:23it. They all had things to talk about,
11:24things to resolve. After Hanji died,
11:26what happened? Uh they cried, and uh
11:29they they moved on.
11:30I mean, what else could they do? Nothing
11:32surrounding her death had any
11:33significance to anything. So, I'm going
11:36to do something different with Hanji to
11:37fix this, but that'll come later. But,
11:39if she's living through this scene, then
11:41we have to rework the ship preparing
11:43scene. We should still try and keep
11:44Floch's last stand, but without Hanji's
11:46death, the scene will have to play a
11:47different role since it doesn't really
11:49have any purpose in the narrative
11:50anymore. So, here's what's going to
11:52happen. Rather than require them to
11:54prepare the plane to fly on the
11:56continent, they will instead be able to
11:57prepare it on the ship while increasing
11:59the flying boat preparation time to get
12:01the same timing as the anime. Or perhaps
12:03just increase the speed at which the
12:04plane flies and gets in the air so that
12:06Floch doesn't have to Aquaman it for as
12:09long as he did. As it's like that was a
12:11bit of a stretch. So, like half a day,
12:13meaning they leave partway through the
12:14night and we can still have our
12:15atmospheric nighttime scenes from the
12:17anime. Actually, before we get to the
12:18actual crux of this, I'm going to add an
12:20interaction between Mikasa and Kiyomi as
12:22they're waiting for the plane. It can
12:24start with small talk about the flying
12:25boat or whatever, but when Mikasa says
12:28the word flying boat, Kiyomi chuckles at
12:30the name. She apologizes and explains
12:32that the flying boat is actually just
12:34the name they use to make it easy for
12:36the Eldians. Among her and the Hizuru
12:38engineers, they actually refer to it as
12:40dragon, which is of course a totally
12:42foreign word to Mikasa. Kiyomi explains
12:45dragons are a creature in Hizuru
12:46mythology. They are gods of water, but
12:48are capable of flight. This is actually
12:50I think fairly accurate to some of the
12:52Japanese dragons, but Kiyomi pulls out a
12:54fan from her kimono.
12:55Doesn't actually wear a kimono at this
12:57point, but whatever. Decorated with a
12:59picture of a dragon and says that they
13:00are symbols of beauty, wisdom, and
13:02peace. She contrasts it with a flying
13:04boat, a large hunk of metal, and adds
13:06that it's not quite befitting of the
13:08title, is it? But, that's what I wanted
13:10it to be, something that spreads peace
13:12and knowledge and guides us into a new
13:14age. It's a pity how things turned out.
13:17Mikasa lightens to this, admitting that
13:19maybe she was wrong about Kiyomi. "When
13:21I first met you, I thought you were
13:22selfish."
13:24Kiyomi admits that Mikasa is more
13:25correct than she thinks. She let
13:27short-term gain blind her. Maybe if
13:29Hizuru opened and Mikasa agrees with
13:31her. It was the imbalance of power. The
13:33truth is I never believed in Eldia's
13:36future. We just wanted the resources to
13:38guarantee our own with as little risk as
13:40possible. But this is the price I pay
13:43for my selfishness. Even if we stop the
13:45rumbling in time, I imagine my poor
13:47dragon would have been smashed to
13:48pieces.
13:50But that's only fair. In the end, I
13:52don't think I honored its namesake.
13:55Mikasa says that she shouldn't blame
13:56herself. Yelena said that all this
13:58suffering came because of the power of
14:00the Titans and Mikasa agrees with her.
14:02It was the imbalance of power. If they
14:04just got rid of it, maybe they could
14:06live in peace. But Kiyomi says, "Are you
14:09sure about that? The whole reason we
14:11came to Paradis was the ice burst stone,
14:13the valuable resource exclusive to
14:15Paradis. With 50 years of research, it
14:17may have surpassed not only the Titans,
14:19but the technology of other countries.
14:21If Titans vanish now, all of that ice
14:24burst stone would have gone to Marley.
14:25And if Titans vanished in 50 years,
14:27Paradis and Hizuru would have become
14:29superpowers instead. It's naive to think
14:32that the curse of the Titan is the
14:33source of our problems. The Titans are
14:35just power. And you can't destroy power.
14:38You can only ever change its owner."
14:41After a moment of silence, Mikasa
14:43finally opens up a little and asks her,
14:46"What happens if I can't stop him?"
14:48Kiyomi instead asks if she loves him,
14:51but she remains silent.
14:53Kiyomi sighs, thinks, and eventually
14:56relents. If the rumbling destroys
14:58Hizuru, Mikasa will be one of the few
15:00things left of her home. If Mikasa
15:02brings Eren back, Kiyomi will just have
15:04to learn to make peace with him.
15:06Mikasa tears up. For the longest time,
15:08it's felt like no one has been
15:09sympathetic to her feelings for Eren.
15:12Mikasa, now grateful to Kiyomi, looks
15:14back at the flying boat and says, "If
15:16nothing else, I promise I'll do
15:18everything I can to return the dragon to
15:19Hizuru." But Kiyomi replies, "Don't be
15:22silly. All I care about is you."
15:26This is sort of a strange scene to add,
15:27but it's going to make sense later and
15:29fix another problem. Being that Mikasa
15:31and her relationship with Hizuru felt
15:33like a dropped plot line that went
15:34nowhere. Kiyomi and the engineers just
15:36seemed to exist to get the alliance to
15:38the rumbling, after which point they're
15:39just effectively left on a boat along
15:41with Yelena. Don't even get me started
15:43on that. But in my rewrite, they'll be
15:45their own plot point that needs to be
15:47tied up, as well as being crucial to
15:48Mikasa's end game. Moving on with the
15:50ship that's heading to the rumbling,
15:52they don't get ahead of the rumbling
15:53like the original. They're still behind
15:54it. This was something that really
15:56confused me the more I thought about it.
15:58How did the alliance get in front of the
15:59rumbling? I I always thought the
16:01rumbling started in Paradis and moved
16:02out in expanding circle. So, in order to
16:04get ahead of the rumbling, they had to
16:06pass through a line of colossal Titans,
16:07which they obviously can't and didn't do
16:10off screen. The only way I can make
16:11sense of it is that the rumbling split
16:12into groups and only targeted the
16:14continents, allowing the alliance ship
16:16to slip between. But then it's like, if
16:18they can do that, why wouldn't everyone
16:20with a ship do that? There's tons of
16:21them in the lore. The rumbling would
16:22have been escaped way too easily. And
16:24the fact that we don't see anyone doing
16:26it makes it seem like no one thought of
16:27that. Of course, none of the rumbling
16:28particularly made sense anyway. The size
16:30of the walls and Paradis' comparative
16:31size to the rest of the world means
16:33there's nowhere near enough Titans for a
16:34full rumbling to work. Maybe the idea is
16:36the rumbling was supposed to make
16:37multiple laps around the planet, but
16:39then we're led to believe that 80% of
16:41the world died by the time Marley was
16:42rumbled. But Marley is the closest
16:44continent to Paradis, so it can't have
16:47gotten that far despite all of the
16:48cultures we saw get rumbled. I don't
16:51know. Either way, I've got a half-decent
16:53solution to all this that we'll get to
16:54in time, as well as a corresponding plot
16:56twist that I'll be using this new plane
16:58prepping scene to foreshadow. So, okay.
17:00The alliance are behind the rumbling
17:02heading to the continent. The Mikasa and
17:04Kiyomi stuff has happened and everyone's
17:05had the same conversations as they do in
17:07the original, including Armin and Eren's
17:08conversation, plus briefly seeing child
17:11Eren in paths. The plane is almost ready
17:13to go. Everything is going fine, but
17:15then on the horizon,
17:17steam.
17:19They couldn't have caught up to the
17:20rumbling, could they? No, the rumbling
17:22already hit Marley, then
17:24then the only explanation is it's coming
17:27back towards them.
17:29The Titans are coming back.
17:32Suddenly, the plane is their only hope
17:34for survival. The Hizuru engineers are
17:37willing to sacrifice themselves for the
17:38cause, but Armin wants to bring Annie,
17:40Gabi, and Falco, who were meant to stay
17:41behind, but Gabi and Falco are locked up
17:44like in the original.
17:45To stop them from risking their lives,
17:47ironically, locking them up has now put
17:49them in danger. Immediately, they slow
17:51the ship down and turn it around to buy
17:53time. And Armin sends Annie to get the
17:55two kids, but turning the ship around
17:57gives Floch, who's been clinging on for
17:58dear life, the ability to pull himself
18:00up. And when he sees why the ship has
18:02turned, he realizes now is the best time
18:04to strike. Floch appears and shoots the
18:06craft. He's heavily injured by Mikasa,
18:08too, similar to the original, and starts
18:10to bleed out, but not immediately, so
18:12he's disarmed and safe.
18:14Floch says,
18:15"Bad luck. Our devil is watching. He
18:18gave me the perfect opportunity." The
18:21engineers assess the damage. The fuel
18:23tank has holes in it, but this time, in
18:25this version, there's no time to fix it
18:27and fill it up. And so, there's only one
18:29way to reach their destination by plane.
18:31They can't weld it up, so they must drop
18:34weight instead. They immediately do some
18:37quick math. They take Yelena and the
18:38bombs off. They can make it, but not if
18:40they add any extra weight. Armin is
18:43distraught at the very least, he wants
18:46to save Gabi and Falco, but this is
18:47already pushing the weight and time
18:49limit. The Hizuru engineers protest.
18:51They're willing to throw away their
18:52lives to save their home country, but
18:54they can't risk it on three extra
18:56passengers who won't even going to
18:58fight. Also, Yelena, who was planning to
19:01go on the plane, has to be restrained.
19:03I'll come back to this later. Hanji is
19:04willing to sacrifice herself to give
19:06them time, but with nothing to use her
19:073D maneuver gear on, it's not an option.
19:10She's desperately trying to think of a
19:11way to save people. Armin is the same
19:13and says he'll use his Titan to hold
19:15them off when they get closer, but it's
19:16at this point Floch speaks up. His tone
19:20melancholic but vindicated. I was right
19:23about you. He begins to criticize Armin.
19:26He's unwilling to even sacrifice people
19:28who weren't even going to fight. He
19:30won't sacrifice anyone even when he's
19:32forced to, let alone as part of a plan.
19:34Armin is only ever willing to sacrifice
19:36himself. Is that your only trick? You
19:39false martyrs. I see you for what you
19:42are.
19:42Cowards. Floch says he was always right
19:45about Armin. He is no devil. Erwin was
19:49the right choice. Floch then begins to
19:51collapse from the blood loss and Hanji
19:53gets everyone's attention. There's a
19:55bigger problem. The Titan's steam has
19:57gotten closer, much closer than
19:59expected, meaning these Colossal Titans
20:01are way faster than normal Colossals. On
20:04closer inspection, these Colossal Titans
20:06have shed a lot of their weight,
20:07evaporating into steam, becoming gaunt
20:10but fast. In fact, side note, this is
20:13actually the same kind of Colossal
20:14Titans the audience will see rumbling
20:16through all other countries except
20:17Marley. More gaunt and spread apart,
20:20relying on hot steam to kill more than
20:22stomping. Also, this is a good time to
20:24mention that I'm playing up the Eldians
20:26seeing Ymir out the corner of their
20:27eyes, especially when it comes to scenes
20:29of the rumbling. This happened once with
20:31Ramsey in the middle, but we never got a
20:33clear answer on why. But I'll be giving
20:35it an actual direct reason along with
20:37establishing it as a trend. Ymir is
20:39always watching. Even here on the boat,
20:41our main characters keep catching her
20:43out of the corner of their eyes, but for
20:44now, they just think they're imagining
20:46it cuz like no one knows who the fact is
20:48little girl is anyway. At any rate, uh
20:50so a group of Titans are now heading
20:52back towards the ship from Marley and
20:54they've now just realized they're much
20:55faster than the usual Colossals.
20:57Suddenly, there's no time. Annie will
21:00never get back with Gabi and Falco. The
21:02flying boat has to go now. And for as
21:05good of strategists as Armin and Hanji
21:07are, when forced to sacrifice others for
21:09themselves, their idealism holds them
21:11hostage. Jean, who seems to best
21:13understand the reality of what they're
21:15doing, sees this and takes charge. And
21:18with the help of Levi, drags Armin and
21:20Hanji onto the plane as the engines
21:22start up. When Armin gets dragged past
21:24Floch, he grabs Armin's leg, his voice
21:26starting to fade and his anger mellowing
21:28as the blood loss sets in. He says his
21:30original line, "You can't. Everyone on
21:33the island will die. Devil is our only
21:36hope."
21:37Floch lets go and they hop aboard. Hanji
21:39says her line from the original, but
21:41more frustratedly, "It's as you said,
21:43Floch, but I can't just give up. Even if
21:45it's hopeless today,
21:47maybe someday." Armin is distraught as
21:49the engines warm and the plane begins to
21:51move. It takes off and Floch, left on
21:53the deck, deliriously mumbles as if
21:55Armin is still there. He says, "It's
21:58strange, though.
22:00Now I know who he is.
22:03There must have been a better reason,
22:05right,
22:06that that devil chose you."
22:09This was something that really bothered
22:11me about the direction of Armin. Armin
22:13post time skip is admittedly pretty
22:15useless, but the story acknowledges this
22:17and when he tells Mikasa he was the
22:18wrong choice, I was super excited for
22:20how that was going to be expanded on.
22:22But it ultimately failed to give an
22:24interesting answer to why he was useless
22:25and thus how he finds his true role in
22:27the story. What ends up happening is
22:29that he just gets better, becomes worthy
22:31of that choice and then saves the day
22:33without really any sort of arc or
22:35internal logic. But I propose something
22:37different for Armin.
22:39Armin shouldn't replace Eren and he
22:41explicitly can't for a very specific
22:43reason. He can't sacrifice his comrades.
22:46He has too much heart, which is exactly
22:48why he was useless post time skip. He
22:50was up against Eren. In fact, Eren used
22:53that against him to force him to act,
22:55which is also the only time he was
22:56capable of even killing innocents, when
22:58his comrades were on the line. Other
23:00than that, he's been too soft. For all
23:02his talk of throwing away humanity in
23:04season 1, once he was in a position to
23:06make that choice, he didn't have it in
23:07him. All he wanted to do was talk. Even
23:10at the dock, he didn't kill a single one
23:12of his comrades. So, if he can't replace
23:14Erwin, what's his role in the ending?
23:17What is being foreshadowed when Eren
23:19says, "Armin will save humanity." Back
23:22to the rewrite. The Titans are closing
23:23in. The plane is flying off. Armin
23:25screams back at the ship as he watches
23:28Annie, Gabby, and Falco appear on the
23:30deck and quickly get forced below by the
23:32others before
23:35the ship is engulfed in scalding steam.
23:38Floch's body burns to ashes.
23:41When the flying boat disappears out of
23:42sight, the steam finally dissipates and
23:45the ship is fine.
23:48The Titans never surfaced. They just
23:50went past. And after a moment, everyone
23:52on board comes back after taking refuge
23:54from the steam. They're safe. Floch was
23:57wrong. Eren didn't send those Titans to
24:00kill them. So then,
24:02what were they doing? Back on the flying
24:04boat, Jean confronts Hanji, grabbing her
24:06by the collar. He's angry that she
24:08refused to cut her losses and go. He
24:11didn't come along with the Alliance
24:12knowing how suicidal this mission was
24:14just to half-ass it. The last thing they
24:16need is a captain who half-asses it.
24:19This, of all missions, was the one that
24:21required sacrifices. And if she can't
24:23take that responsibility, then she
24:25should make him the commander and he
24:28will do it instead. Hanji is forced to
24:30admit Floch was right, and she shares
24:32the exact same weaknesses as Armin that
24:34makes both of them unsuitable for
24:36command.
24:37So, she proposes a different solution
24:39and puts Jean in a joint role with her.
24:42Jean will keep as many people alive as
24:44possible and keep the mission moving
24:45forward, while Hanji will work with
24:47Armin to make clever strategies. It's a
24:49bit of a hard job not having one core
24:50commander, but they have to play to
24:52their strength. Forced to reckon with
24:54his failure, Armin asks Jean how he
24:56could do what he
24:57Jean says that he was just following
24:59Armin's advice. He gave up on his
25:01humanity to defeat monsters. Armin says,
25:04"I'm such a hypocrite. For all my words,
25:06I just don't have it in me."
25:08Jean tells him, "It's okay. Just focus
25:11on what you're good at."
25:13I have a lot of Jean moments in this,
25:15but him taking a more assertive role in
25:16embracing the role that he is on
25:18occasion been given, I felt was a good
25:19way to keep his character proactive,
25:21especially when we're giving Armin a
25:22different role. This also plays into a
25:24concept of not hide mining your
25:26alliance, which I'll talk about in a
25:27bit. They take a moment to process what
25:29they've learned. There's a moment of
25:31horror as they realize they'll never be
25:33able to stop the rumbling if the Titans
25:34were going that fast. But according to
25:36Peak, who saw the rumbling, the Titans
25:38were neither that fast nor that gaunt or
25:40spread out when she saw them leave the
25:42island. Also, the fact that she could
25:44still see the steam from the coast means
25:45they've maintained that form in Marley.
25:48So, there may still be a chance.
25:49Meanwhile, on the ship, Annie theorizes
25:51that there must have been a threat to
25:53Paradis that required sending some
25:55Titans back. They just got caught up in
25:57it. So, from here, we connect back up
25:59with the original with the characters on
26:00the flying boat. We're keeping this
26:02generally the same, including Connie
26:03coming to understand Reiner, and the
26:05alliance thinking Eren wants to be
26:06stopped because their Titan powers still
26:08work. Their battle plans, along with the
26:10targeting Zeke, also remains the same.
26:12Everything except the bombs, which are
26:14still on the ship. What I am getting rid
26:17of is Eren dragging them into paths to
26:19say, "No, [ __ ] you.
26:23I always thought that scene was like a
26:24little clunky. Something about Eren
26:26always listening and only having a
26:27conversation just to say we're not going
26:29to have a conversation is a little
26:30weird. Like, you might as well. It's
26:32It's right there. I feel
26:34I feel like this was just kind of rushed
26:36to get to the meat. In this version,
26:38though, Eren isn't watching them, nor
26:39does he pull them into paths, nor is he
26:41keeping the Titans powers active because
26:43of some [ __ ] esoteric freedom [ __ ]
26:45despite despite what the characters
26:47think. That always felt like such a
26:49contrived reason to actually have a
26:50final conflict in the story. Oh, sure,
26:52You're willing to take away the freedoms
26:53of billions of people by killing them,
26:55but physically restricting them so you
26:57can kill them. Oh, no, that's going too
26:59far. Aaron's very principled, you see.
27:02It's not like his only principle is if
27:04you try to take my freedom, I will take
27:05yours, which is exactly what the
27:07Alliance is trying to do.
27:09Ah, anyway, so we're keeping everything
27:10else, just not this.
27:12Meanwhile, back at the boat, after
27:14[ __ ] themselves about almost dying
27:15to the Titans, we again have the same
27:17conversations. Yes, even Falco's dream
27:19and his conclusion about being able to
27:21fly. Here's where it's different,
27:22though. Firstly, along with the dream,
27:24Falco actually flashes into Paths
27:25briefly and sees through Zeke's eyes in
27:28Path with his sand castle. Zeke can like
27:31talk to himself or something, so Falco
27:32knows who it is. This all sets up him
27:35working out the Beast Titan connection,
27:37as well as establishing Zeke's sand
27:38castle, cuz we'll need it later, believe
27:40it or not. The other addition is that
27:43Annie thinks Falco's theory
27:45about having the Beast Titan traits
27:46through drinking his spinal fluid is
27:48[ __ ] stupid. But then it works. This
27:51was another one of the more contrived
27:52things when this happened in the manga.
27:54I first I I thought this was like a red
27:55herring, like Falco's being dumb, like
27:57an optimistic kid, but his dreams are
27:59alluding to something else that will
28:01help them. I mean, the whole story
28:02you've established the nine Titan
28:04shifters and their unique trait. You're
28:06telling me Marley didn't realize they
28:08could min-max their Titan by just giving
28:10them spinal fluid from other Titans? I
28:11mean, like technically they did, right?
28:13That was what the hardening was implied
28:15to be, and the story definitely
28:16foreshadowed the Female Titan like
28:18adapting elements. But like, the Jaw
28:20Titan can specifically grab elements
28:23from past Beast Titans just because it
28:25was Beast Titan spinal fluid, and that
28:27that never came out before with any of
28:29the Jaw Titans? Like in all their
28:31experimentations? Wasn't the Titan serum
28:33supposed to be shifter spinal fluid,
28:35anyway? Wouldn't they have found this
28:36out automatically? Yeah, I don't know.
28:38It's a bit of a stretch. Now, all this
28:39being said, in this rewrite, I'm not
28:41actually going to get rid of this. Falco
28:43can still become a flying Titan. It's
28:46just his explanation for it that's
28:48wrong. That's the only thing that really
28:49needed changing. A flying Titan is a
28:51cool idea. And when you're doing
28:52rewrites, you really got to be careful
28:54about cutting. A lot of people just go,
28:56"This is stupid. Get rid of it. This is
28:58stupid. Cut it." But when you change
28:59anything from any writer worth their
29:01salt, there's usually an engagement
29:02benefit and goal to every decision
29:04they've made. Even if it's just as
29:05simple as pretty colors and spectacle.
29:07And if you're only focused on a couple
29:09of engagement goals and disregard things
29:11like pretty colors and spectacle, you're
29:13going to end up with something that
29:15makes sense, sure, uh but it's going to
29:16be boring. Often the challenge in
29:18writing is doing both. The more you aim
29:20for any specific engagement, the harder
29:22it is to keep it logically tied to the
29:23rest of the narrative. But challenging
29:25yourself to do that and getting it right
29:26is what the top percentile of writing
29:28is. You can't cut out all the explosions
29:30cuz they don't make sense. You got to
29:31rewrite the story to facilitate the
29:33explosions. Can I do that though? I
29:35don't know. We'll see. Finally, I want
29:37Yelena to participate in the Falco
29:38flying Zeke Titan spinal fluid theory
29:41scene.
29:43That was a long [ __ ]
29:45Anyway, I want her to do everything in
29:46her power to persuade Kiyomi and Annie
29:49to investigate this option. She could
29:51even make false claims about Zeke and
29:52the Beast Titan to reinforce Falco's
29:54wild theory. She is of course just doing
29:56all of this because all she cares about
29:58is seeing how this ends. This was one of
30:01the things that really infuriated me. I
30:03love Yelena's character. And when she
30:05told Magath that she was determined to
30:06see how this ends, I was so excited to
30:09see where it would go. What an exciting
30:11proactive decision for a character who's
30:12already lost. Zeke was the right choice
30:15and you rejected it. So I'm going to
30:16follow you to the ends of the earth just
30:18to watch this decision blow up in your
30:20face. Especially with her already being
30:22a character centered around her
30:23fanaticism and wanting to bear witness
30:26to something great. Having her
30:27effectively be a determined spectator is
30:29so fun.
30:31And then Isayama stuck her on a [ __ ]
30:33boat and forgot about her in like direct
30:36contradiction to what she said. Like
30:37Like what the [ __ ] She should have been
30:39on that flying boat in a heartbeat. So
30:42once Falco gets that bird, she's coming,
30:44too. Anyway, now we proceed to the final
30:46battle. First off, we're doing a slight
30:48design change to Eren's Founding Titan.
30:50That being it's covered in camouflaging
30:52Warhammer cords, and Ymir's Titans will
30:54have short cords that go nowhere. You'll
30:57see why in a bit. Also, some of the
30:58Titans won't quite match up with any of
31:00the nine shifters of the past. It's like
31:03Ymir, with her newfound freedom, is
31:05starting to experiment and push the
31:07limits. As in the original, Ymir baits
31:09them with the Zeke clone, and upon
31:10landing, they realize finding,
31:12capturing, or talking to Eren isn't an
31:14option. So, Jean tells Armin to
31:16transform. But, just like the original,
31:18Armin is captured. With no other
31:20options, Jean focuses the scouts on
31:22getting him back. But then, the elder
31:24Titans appear. It seems like they're
31:26doomed, but Jean steels them. "Whatever
31:28death awaits them, it's better than
31:30living knowing that we didn't try. Stand
31:32proud and put your all into this. You
31:33chose this path knowing the risks, just
31:35as you did when you joined the Survey
31:37Corps as long ago. Nothing has changed.
31:39The odds were always next to zero.
31:41Dedicate your hearts." But, much to
31:44their surprise, they make progress
31:46rescuing Armin. Connie even says to
31:47himself, "Isn't this a little easy?"
31:50Jean says not to jinx it, but Hanji says
31:52he's right. She's pretty sure these
31:54Titans' reaction times are slower. But
31:57just then, Ymir is seen out of the
31:59corner of their eyes, and things begin
32:01to get more intense. The elder Titans'
32:03reaction time speeds up. Furthermore,
32:05the Titans themselves seem to change and
32:07get more terrifying and untitan-like as
32:10Ymir pushes the bounds even more. It
32:12starts to become like nightmare fuel.
32:13Albeit, a lot of the Titans fail and
32:15don't function properly as Ymir pushes
32:17the bounds, seemingly giving the
32:19alliance a few lucky breaks and near
32:21misses with death. The result of all
32:23this is that Armin is rescued, but
32:25they're all left precariously hanging.
32:28They're about to be finished off. Jean
32:30orders Armin to blow up, even with his
32:31friends around. Armin, infuriated with
32:34his own failure, finally steels himself.
32:36But when he bites, nothing happens.
32:39I can't do it. I just can't sacrifice
32:42you. It seems like everything is lost.
32:44Mikasa makes her last stand, but in the
32:46nick of time, Falco saves the day. This,
32:49of course, is a massive shock to
32:51everyone cuz they thought they were
32:52dead. They explain what happened, and
32:54Armin makes the same theory Annie did,
32:55theorizing that Eren sent some Titans
32:57back to protect Paradis from something.
33:00Hange is preoccupied by something else,
33:02namely what the [ __ ] Falco? How could
33:04you already fly? Not only is a flying
33:06Titan unprecedented, especially under
33:08these circumstances, but it's baffling
33:10he learned how to fly in one try. Falco
33:13doesn't know. Plus, he can't speak.
33:15Anyway, they stipulate more about what
33:16to do next. After Armin botched his
33:18transformation, Pieck says there's no
33:20guarantee Armin will be able to
33:21transform even if it's just Eren he
33:23risks killing. But that's okay cuz she
33:25never cared about Eren. Falco has
33:27brought the bombs with him, and so Pieck
33:29disconnects the bombs and jumps onto
33:30Eren to wrap it around his neck. Despite
33:32everyone telling her to wait, all except
33:34Jean, who agrees with Pieck and holds
33:36her back. Even if Eren's not in the
33:38head, they can at least take out his
33:40eyes and slow the Founder from rumbling
33:42the people on Fort Salta. Also, note
33:43that the head is mostly free of Eldia
33:45Titans because they moved away following
33:47the alliance before Falco showed up.
33:49This gives Pieck her opportunity. This
33:51was like a really good moment for Pieck
33:52that I wanted to keep. As I hinted to
33:54before, when you make an alliance like
33:56this in storytelling, you never want to
33:58fully hive mind them. What makes a plot
34:00interesting is that you have all these
34:02different gears, i.e., characters and
34:04plot devices that have their own rules.
34:06Seeing those rules constantly engaged to
34:08create unique outcomes is what makes a
34:10plot feel deep. If you combine your
34:12characters into a hive mind, you ruin
34:14the complexity of the plot. Uh if you've
34:15ever seen Ranking of Kings, uh amazing
34:18example of this. I've never seen a show
34:20a hundred to zero itself so quickly
34:22because of all these clashing gears
34:23uniting into one conglomerate by the end
34:25of the season. Did you know season two
34:26came out? Yeah, no one was [ __ ]
34:28talking about it cuz the plot lost all
34:29its his
34:30Anyway, I'm actually going to be playing
34:32this non-hivemindedness up as we go on.
34:34You'll see. Anyway, Jean gets everyone
34:36to follow Peak and focus on blowing up
34:38the neck. He doesn't have any clever
34:39strategies and he doesn't even know if
34:41Eren is in the neck, but at the very
34:42least they can take his eyes and they
34:44can slow the founder from reaching for
34:46Azumabito. So, that's their priority. He
34:48also sends Falco and Gabi to pick up
34:50supplies from the crashed plane before
34:52flying below the founder to operate as a
34:54flying base. Gabi and eventually
34:56Onyankopon when he's picked up will help
34:58resupply gas and replace broken parts as
35:00well as keep an eye out to catch anyone
35:02who falls. It also gives the fighters an
35:04option to intentionally fall from the
35:06founder as a last resort to escape bad
35:08situations. This was sort of a minor
35:10thing, but all the nitty-gritty details
35:12of battles in Attack on Titan was
35:13disregarded in the Battle of Heaven and
35:15Earth. Remember running out of gas,
35:16minor injuries, broken parts, protecting
35:19the horses, flares and information?
35:20These little rules made battles feel
35:22real and it's one of the reasons the
35:23Battle of Heaven and Earth feels like
35:25Hollywood and not something more tightly
35:27written. Anyway, Armin says he will drop
35:29first location and try one more time to
35:31blow everything up, but again, it
35:33doesn't work. Deep down he doesn't want
35:35to kill Eren. Mikasa follows him up for
35:37backup and everyone else drops near the
35:39head to back up Peak. Peak, who goes to
35:41blow up the neck, says her vanish
35:43nightmare line. Amazing [ __ ] line by
35:45the way, but just as in the original,
35:47Peak is stabbed by the Warhammer who
35:49seemed to have been hiding underneath
35:50the founder and has just now come up for
35:52some reason. Armin and Mikasa catch up
35:54with the group just as they Peak run out
35:55and bite the Warhammer's nape before
35:57moving on to the others, but the
35:58Warhammer repairs and is still active
36:01and the alliance notice something. It's
36:03the only one with a Warhammer coil they
36:06can't see the end of. It's Eren. That's
36:09why there's so many loose Warhammer
36:11coils. They're camouflaging Eren's
36:13location. The coil seems to lead all the
36:15way back down to the end of the Titan.
36:17Armin says if they follow the coil they
36:18can capture or kill Eren, but Jean says
36:21it's suicide to follow it all the way
36:23into all the Eldia Titans where it seems
36:24to be leading, but Armin says he'll take
36:26responsibility. His failure is still
36:29eating him up. Besides, he says, if
36:31blowing up the neck doesn't work,
36:32they'll have no leads. The coil is now
36:34disintegrating, so there won't be a
36:36chance to change their minds and follow
36:38it later. And then,
36:40Armin starts to think. He realizes
36:42something. Jean smiles and says he knows
36:45that face. Welcome back, Armin.
36:48Armin says, "It's just a hunch." But he
36:50calls for Hanji and they begin following
36:52the disintegrating coil. Armin says to
36:54Hanji, "Hey, do you feel like you keep
36:56seeing a random girl out of the corner
36:58of your eye?" And Hanji says, "I don't
37:00know. Maybe. Why?" Armin tells Hanji how
37:03weird it is that Eren came out to defend
37:04the neck. He risked his location when he
37:06could have used the other Founding
37:07Titans. Why? Is it possible that the
37:11Eldia Titans are controlled by a
37:12different will than Eren? I don't know.
37:14Maybe that's crazy. But Hanji backs him
37:17up. She noticed the Titans' reaction
37:19time was slower, and it got quicker when
37:20Connie pointed out. Also, Falco's Titan
37:23makes no sense, nor the fact he mastered
37:25it so easily. It's like someone is
37:27helping us, but doesn't want us to know.
37:30It brought us the explosives on Falco,
37:31right? And Eren only revealed himself
37:33because he felt like the neck wasn't
37:34properly defended, right? So, this will
37:37wants us to blow up the neck. More
37:38importantly, it doesn't want them
37:40following this coil, says Armin,
37:42watching the growing number of Titans
37:44trying to get in their way from chasing
37:45it. So then, could this coil be going to
37:47the second will? No. Why have a Titan
37:50with a coil if they can control them
37:52remotely? The Eldia Titans must be the
37:54second will defending Eren. Perhaps Eren
37:56is just protecting his head because he
37:58needs his sight to assault Fort Salta
38:00and monitor the rumbling. I doubt he'd
38:02hide somewhere so obvious. Hanji's like,
38:04"So then, what the hell does this thing
38:06want? Is it helping us or not?" Armin
38:08says, "All we know is it doesn't want us
38:10knowing Eren's real location. It doesn't
38:12want us dead. It wants us to blow up the
38:14nape, but most importantly, it didn't
38:16want us knowing any of this, which means
38:18it wants us to believe our first
38:19assumption, which is blowing up the nape
38:21will kill Eren and stop the rumbling.
38:23But if Eren's not there, there's no
38:25reason to think this would stop the
38:26rumbling.
38:28So, that implies that this is some form
38:30of trick. Hanji goes to tell the others,
38:32but Armin says, "Wait." Armin says that
38:34as long as they have time, they
38:35shouldn't play right into its hands.
38:37Nothing has changed in Shiganshina. They
38:39need to be a step ahead. So, let's put
38:42pressure on this second will instead. If
38:44it doesn't want Eren dead, let's
38:45pressure on that to force it to give us
38:47a real way to stop the rumbling. And
38:49with that, they form a plan. Hanji turns
38:51back and says she's taking back command.
38:53She directly tells the scouts to stop
38:55targeting the neck. Instead, split up
38:57and start looking for the rest of the
38:58coil in case it doubles back. "Look for
39:00the longest coil," she says. Meanwhile,
39:02Armin and Mikasa start to follow the
39:03coil. It eventually wraps back around
39:06and starts to go back, but they lose it
39:08and get caught up in a fight. But,
39:10Hanji's group picks it up as it heads
39:11back to the head. They get cut off, too,
39:14but only on its exact position. So, at
39:15least they know Eren's general area.
39:18Hanji thinks that if they get Armin to
39:19blow up that area, though, they'll be
39:21able to kill Eren. Armin just needs to
39:23be able to steel himself. He needs the
39:25motivation to kill Eren. She stares into
39:28the Titan's maw and steels herself.
39:31"Last chance," she says. "Give us
39:32another way to stop the rumbling or
39:34else," and jumps directly into the
39:37Titan's mouth, forcing Ymir to commit to
39:39killing her. Meanwhile, Armin and Mikasa
39:41are trapped. Falco comes to the rescue
39:43and they jump onto him right as Hanji
39:45goes into the mouth. And suddenly,
39:48Hanji and Armin find themselves in
39:50paths. So, this all solves four
39:53problems. One, there is immense amount
39:55of plot armor in this fight. I like the
39:56spectacle of the other Titans, but
39:58surviving this is a stretch in a series
40:00that's defined by its realistic
40:01brutality. So, instead, we've turned it
40:03into a trick. The fight can still be
40:04tense and look like the Titans are
40:06really going to go for them, but we add
40:07in the caveat that they're holding back
40:09enough to avoid lethal damage, risking
40:11killing them, but never directly
40:13intending to, allowing to look like a
40:15lethal fight where they're truly doomed
40:17before we pull this mid-fight twist.
40:19Two, the way into Paths made no sense.
40:22The original really tries to have it
40:23both ways without actually setting up
40:25the logic to make it possible. In mere
40:26Titans, they're seemingly really trying
40:28to kill them, and yet Ymir captures
40:29Armin to stop him from blowing up only
40:32to help him so that he can blow up after
40:34forcefully being freed by the alliance,
40:37presumably against Ymir's will. It's
40:40very muddled, but here it's much
40:41simpler. Once they work it out, Ymir has
40:43two clear objectives that operate very
40:45consistently. And at the very least for
40:47the start of this battle, we maintain
40:48the tension. Three, the way into Paths
40:50felt very unearned. This is related to
40:52the last point, but because Armin's way
40:54into Paths is because he was captured,
40:56it feels more like he won because he
40:57lucked out than because he outsmarted
40:59Eren. I was actually going to do this
41:00myself with having Ymir give them a way
41:02to stop the rumbling, but not only does
41:04this make Ymir kind of silly given her
41:05true intentions, which we haven't gotten
41:07to, but once I realized that, I figured
41:10I could use the context clues to have
41:12Armin realize Ymir's existence and
41:14exploit her so that way getting into
41:15Paths and finding a real way to stop the
41:17rumbling is on him. And finally, four,
41:21the way that Paths worked was retconned.
41:23Uh when we're introduced to Paths, the
41:24real world is effectively time stopped.
41:26That's how one little girl could build
41:27all these Titans for everyone. But in
41:29the battle of Heaven and Earth, time
41:31passes while Armin is in Paths. Okay,
41:34well, anyway. So, Ymir pulls Armin and
41:36Hange into Paths. Remember when I said
41:38uh Falco sees Zeke and he has that small
41:41sandcastle in front of him? Well, now
41:43it's a full-blown castle inside Paths
41:46that Hange and Armin find themselves
41:47walking through. And it's not just sand,
41:49either. Just like the chains of Paths,
41:51these are real things, and it
41:53establishes that anyone in Paths can use
41:55the sand to make whatever they want.
41:57Anyway, they find Zeke on the throne
41:59with the same look of the false king of
42:01the walls. Good little parallel there
42:02since a fake king is effectively what
42:04Zeke became. Hange and Armin still think
42:06that killing Zeke will stop the
42:07rumbling, so they try to convince Zeke
42:09to die for them. They're like, "Hey,
42:10Levi's out there. Don't you want
42:11revenge?" But Zeke explains killing him
42:13won't work. The Titans are made by Ymir.
42:16She's just a girl and the royal blood is
42:18bunk. That's why even the way the Titans
42:20have looked and functioned has changed
42:22with her will. Honestly, she probably
42:23only chose to even make Titans cuz it
42:25was the form she thought best suited the
42:27king. But now all those restrictors are
42:28now removed. This is all happening
42:31because she wants it to and Zeke has no
42:33control. This was another one of the
42:35baffling things. Ymir was shown to be
42:37just a human, enslaved and traumatized
42:39to the point felt like following orders
42:41was her only option. After Eren told her
42:43it's okay to choose, royal blood should
42:45mean nothing. And yet, killing Zeke
42:48works. I don't know, man. No, they need
42:50a new way to stop the rumbling. Zeke, of
42:52course, wasn't going to leave anyway.
42:53He's depressed. He says there's no point
42:55in anything anymore. Without the
42:57euthanasia plan, we are all doomed. But
43:00Hanji, in direct contrast to Zeke, is
43:03anything but nihilistic. She gushes over
43:05the lore dump she just got about how
43:06paths works and how the Titans work. In
43:09fact, she starts putting things
43:10together. She says, "That explains why
43:13shifters must have a goal to transform.
43:16It's a request to Ymir." Zeke's like,
43:18"I'm telling you it's hopeless and
43:20you're grinning." But Hanji is like, "We
43:22have infinite time here, right? Where's
43:24the harm in completing my research?" And
43:26Zeke says, "How can you find this farce
43:29fun?" Hanji is surprised he doesn't have
43:31a passion for Titan science, but Zeke
43:33says that was just a means to an end. "I
43:36don't have passions in general." Hanji
43:38says, "You're miserable. It's no wonder
43:40you came up with the euthanasia plan."
43:42And Zeke goes on with his usual
43:44nihilistic [ __ ] about how humans exist
43:46to reproduce, yada yada. But Armin
43:48suggests it's more than fun. Maybe Ymir
43:51wants them to work something out. It
43:53can't be a coincidence Ymir chose to
43:55show these two to Zeke. Hanji agrees.
43:58Much of her research doesn't make sense
43:59now and now needs to be
44:00recontextualized. Once they do, they
44:03might have an answer. As I said, the big
44:04problem I had with Hanji's death is her
44:06sacrifice feels relatively meaningless.
44:08If there's one part of it I really
44:10liked, it was Hanji looking over the
44:12Titans and saying they really are
44:13beautiful. It's a great callback to what
44:15makes Hanji Hanji, but it's still
44:17lacking in a lot of that narrative
44:18weight. The better way to do this is
44:20have Hanji be instrumental to stopping
44:22the Rumbling via her vast amount of info
44:24and passion for Titans. It also gives us
44:27a chance to reveal a lot of the
44:28mysteries and mysterious mechanics that
44:30have underpinned the whole series and
44:33through Hanji's excitement, her
44:34characterization, we can motivate Zeke
44:36in a much more natural way. Zeke's
44:38redemption is rather cheap. It's crazy
44:41to think little moments have value
44:43because their fun would be a thought
44:45that would never have occurred to Zeke,
44:46much less one that would completely turn
44:48and motivate him to sacrifice himself.
44:51But I think we can use the same logic to
44:52evoke a more sensible reaction. Just
44:55keep in mind as this conversation goes
44:56on, Hanji's passion is getting Zeke's
44:58gears turned. So, the first question
45:00Hanji sets out to answer is if Titans
45:02are all made from Ymir by sand and
45:05transferred through paths during an
45:06infinite realm, why is there limits on
45:08transformation and regeneration? Ymir
45:11couldn't have gotten bored or tired, not
45:13in a time-stopped world, and Zeke had
45:15the same issues despite his royal blood.
45:17So, Hanji thinks, "Hang on. Who's been
45:19shown to have power to control Titans?
45:21Just Titan shifters, right? But not
45:23normal Eldians, even if they have royal
45:25blood. Given what Zeke said about Ymir,
45:28it would make no sense why she would
45:29only listen to shifters with royal
45:31blood. She doesn't even listen to pure
45:33Titans with royal blood. What makes the
45:35shifters special?" Zeke thinks about it
45:37and says his history of Eldia that
45:39Grisha drilled into him states that Ymir
45:42split her soul into nine Titans. Perhaps
45:44that was more literal than first
45:46thought. Hanji asks, "Is there nine
45:48Ymirs?" But Zeke says there's only one.
45:51So, perhaps each shifter has 1/9 of
45:54influence over the real Ymir. Hanji says
45:57that would explain why they still have
45:58control over the Titans. But Armin says
46:00that might just be because Ymir wants
46:02them to. After all, one ninth would not
46:05outweigh eight ninths. That said, five
46:08ninths would, and they have five Titan
46:11shifters. But wait, if it works like
46:13that, wouldn't it be possible to stop
46:15the rumbling just by getting at least
46:17five Titan shifters to make an order at
46:19the same time? Zeke says, "No, it can't
46:21be that simple. Marley would have
46:22discovered that ages ago." Hanji thinks
46:24before something hits her and she goes
46:26into a ramble. "It's because your orders
46:28are obfuscated by paths. Every shifter
46:31has access to one ninth of Ymir, but
46:33because that ninth is in paths with the
46:36real Ymir, you have to communicate your
46:38order through paths, which is difficult.
46:41That's why you have no control when you
46:42first transform and why you can do more
46:44with practice. It's the user getting
46:46better at giving orders across paths.
46:49The difficulty would also explain how
46:51you exhaust your power by using it too
46:53much. Likewise, any injury makes giving
46:55an order much harder. I bet that's what
46:57made the Founding Titan and royal blood
46:59so powerful. It's the one Titan Ymir
47:01created to directly answer to. So, if
47:04you have royal blood, Ymir would
47:05willingly bring you into paths so you
47:07could directly make orders. It even
47:09explains why the coordinate remained
47:11active when Eren first activated it, but
47:13then wore off. Communicating through
47:15paths was intuitive to Eren after it
47:17happened so recently, but after a bit of
47:19time passed, he lost his groove and
47:21forgot it, so it became much harder.
47:23Likewise, I bet making orders around
47:25your own Titan is easier both because
47:27you're closer and much more familiar and
47:29much more connected to your Titan, but
47:31also because that's how Ymir designed
47:33and intended them to be used, meaning
47:35the orders are more familiar and
47:37sensible to her. Oh, oh, being hurt must
47:40be like a jump start. You hurt yourself,
47:43you hurt Ymir, she senses your urgency,
47:45and it helps get your orders across. Oh,
47:48oh, and when you put spinal serum from
47:50shifter into a subject, it both hurts
47:53them and puts a bit of Ymir inside them
47:55from a shifter that desired a
47:56transformation. That's why they
47:58transform and why Zeke requires serum to
48:00control his Titans.
48:02Then, Zeke actually laughs cuz Hanji has
48:05worked out some of their methods. Yes,
48:08when they extract spinal fluid, the
48:09shifter needs to have a strong will
48:11about what it's going to be used for,
48:13just like when they transform. Hanji
48:15then realizes that explains the Armored
48:17serum in the cave in season 3. Yes, I'm
48:21filling in that plot convenience. A
48:22previous Armored Titan put the serum in
48:24a bottle intending to give his hardening
48:26to someone else. Hanji says, "That's how
48:29you and Annie got hardening powers,
48:31isn't it?" Zeke confirms. Hanji says
48:33that this is good then. All of this
48:35indicates that it's possible for you to
48:36use your ninth of Ymir to influence
48:39Titans.
48:40Zeke says that her obfuscation theory
48:42makes a lot of sense, but then why did
48:44the hardening take to some of the nine
48:46Titans better than others? The Cart,
48:49Colossal, and even the Jaw Titan
48:50couldn't adapt the crystal hardening
48:52from the Armored Titan. Hanji says that
48:54maybe because the Cart, Jaw, and
48:55Colossal are too physically different
48:57from the Armored Titan that the serum
48:59came from. Two are bipedal and one is
49:01way too big. And then, Armin's eyes
49:04widen. He's the Colossal Titan. The
49:07rumbling is all Colossal Titans. Maybe
49:10it is possible for them to stop the
49:12rumbling, at the very least in theory.
49:14At the very least, the obfuscation of
49:16power between him and his targets should
49:18be virtually nonexistent. Hanji says,
49:21"Can we think of any other logic that
49:22supports that? Where physical
49:24similarities between the shifter and the
49:26target affected control?" And Zeke is
49:28reminded of a moment all the way back in
49:31season 2 where the smallest and most
49:33disproportionate Titan refused to follow
49:36his orders. They start to get excited,
49:38but Zeke stops them. "I could only do it
49:40all because I had royal blood and
49:42besides, you need to get serum into
49:44every Colossal Titan. Getting serum into
49:46targets was the most important part of
49:47his control." Hanji says it makes sense.
49:50It's probably easier to get your part of
49:51Ymir to do things or fudge the rule if
49:53you had royal blood. And then her eyes
49:55widen.
49:57Oh, that explains Rod's massive Titan
50:00and why he didn't need a proper
50:01injection to transform. The serum gave
50:04him a piece of Ymir and the royal blood
50:06did the rest. Oh. Oh, says Hanji. Then
50:10this all explains your moon titans,
50:11doesn't it? We assumed sunlight was a
50:13biological need, but perhaps that was
50:15wrong. Perhaps it was just an order.
50:18Zeke confirms saying that when things
50:20are undefined, Ymir seems to use the
50:22person being transformed as inspiration.
50:24Just like their appearance, their
50:26behaviors are also a reflection of what
50:28they were like as humans. That's what
50:30Aberrants are, but the behaviors can be
50:32applied even all the way down to their
50:33sleep pattern. So all I had to do was
50:35order them to not sleep at night, says
50:37Zeke. I imagine the rumbling Colossals
50:39are under a similar order. Again though,
50:41you don't have royal blood or serum in
50:43your targets.
50:45But Hanji says not having royal blood
50:47might not be an issue for us with the
50:48five nines of Ymir giving the same
50:50order. Perhaps if they were to give
50:52Armin's spinal fluid to each of the
50:54shifters and had them transform with the
50:56intention of helping Armin, he may be
50:58able to leverage their nines of Ymir in
51:00unison, which would outweigh the
51:02majority of the Ymir's will. It wouldn't
51:04give them power equivalent to the
51:05founder because they still have to
51:07overcome the obfuscation of paths, but
51:08they might be able to use the power
51:10similar to Zeke if the order is easy
51:12enough, which shouldn't be too hard with
51:15the Colossals being almost identical to
51:17Armin. Getting the serum into the
51:18Colossal Titans is a much trickier
51:20hurdle though. But whatever, let's keep
51:22going, see what else we can learn. They
51:24think for a bit on what to tackle next
51:25and Armin asks Zeke about the Ackermans
51:27and what Eren told him and Mikasa. Zeke
51:31says Eren gave the theory to him too,
51:33but it didn't align with Marley's
51:35current research. But then it occurred
51:37to him that Eren must have gotten the
51:38idea from the memories of the previous
51:40attack titan. So perhaps Marley knew but
51:43kept the information confidential. It
51:45wasn't until he started digging that he
51:47found the truth. The Ackerman family
51:50wasn't Eldian Empire Titan science or
51:53Marley Titan science. They're the
51:55product of giving an Eldian the Attack
51:57Titan's spinal fluid. So, as established
52:00in the story, the Attack Titan rejects
52:02the will of the founder. It always does
52:03its own thing. You want to know why? You
52:06want to know why Ackermans are immune to
52:07the founder? It's because the Ackerman
52:09family was the followers or descendants
52:12of the followers of the Attack Titan
52:14given his serum. But, unlike normal
52:16serum that made them pure Titans or
52:19royal Titan serum that made them
52:20controllable, Attack Titan serum did the
52:23opposite. They gave them the qualities
52:25of the Titan, but made them
52:26uncontrollable by anyone, including the
52:29founder and the Attack Titan itself. The
52:32catch is those powers can only be
52:34awakened by true loyalists.
52:37Eren's assumption was incorrect. It's
52:40not that they're slaves, it's that only
52:42those who could never kill who they are
52:43loyal to could become awakened
52:45Ackermans. This whole idea of the Attack
52:48Titan gets Hanji thinking. It's
52:50interesting that one particular knight
52:52of Ymir is immune to the founder. Zeke
52:54says that Ackermans are probably only
52:56immune to the Founding Titan, not Ymir
52:58herself. The Nine Titans are probably
53:00not just nine separate parts, but
53:02something more like specific parts of
53:04her psyche. The Founding Titan, for
53:06instance, is probably her consciousness
53:08and allows direct communication with
53:09Ymir without the obfuscation of paths.
53:11But, the Attack Titan is her will that
53:13remained uncontrollable, always moving
53:16to what Ymir wanted deep down. Perhaps
53:18that's why Ymir split herself like she
53:20did. It was because of her unconscious
53:22desire for something she didn't feel
53:24like she was allowed to have. Of course,
53:26this is all fascinating to Hanji. Then,
53:29that means all the other Titans are
53:31aspects of her. Warhammer is her
53:33creativity, Colossal is her strength,
53:35the Beast is her instinct, Jaw is desire
53:38or craving, Armor is her loyalty, Cart
53:41is her endurance, Female is her passion
53:43and femininity, or perhaps it's her body
53:45and that's why it's so good at
53:46adaptation. Throughout all of this,
53:48Zeke's been kind of mesmerized by
53:50Hanji's passion for titans. He finally
53:52zones out looking at Hanji until he
53:54blurt out
53:55baseball.
53:57Huh?
53:58You asked about my passions.
54:00Baseball was my passion.
54:03He looks more resolved about something.
54:05He says his goodbyes, his final words to
54:07them, then gets up, leaves the castle,
54:10and walks towards the center of paths.
54:12As he walks, Zeke begins to think to
54:14himself. Begrudgingly, he mocks his
54:16father. Sorry, Grisha, but I won't be
54:19doing what you want either. Stop Eren.
54:21You think you can just burden me with
54:23another mission at the very end? It
54:24doesn't even make sense. If you wanted
54:26to stop Eren, you'd have never given him
54:28the attack titan in the first place.
54:30Even to the end, you were full of
54:32contradictions. So, instead, I'm just
54:35going to do what I want.
54:38Armin and Hanji follow him saying,
54:39"Wait, what are you doing?" Zeke stands
54:42in front of the paths tree and looks
54:44back. I'm going to play
54:47one more game of catch.
54:50And we cut back to real time. The real
54:52beast titan emerges out of paths
54:55breaking off a piece of bone from the
54:56top of the founding spine. Levi spots
54:59him and thus begins their final duel.
55:02Meanwhile, Hanji finds the titan mouse
55:04she's jumped into has disintegrated
55:05around her and Armin and Mikasa are
55:07rescued by Falco. It's clear something
55:10else has happened in paths after we cut
55:11away because in Armin's hand are two
55:14titan serum injections. He injects some
55:16of it into Falco, passes both to Mikasa,
55:19and shows us something written on his
55:20hands. Mikasa takes them and flies off.
55:23Armin also flies off. Falco flies above
55:25the founding titan and Yelena, who's
55:27been clinging onto Falco this whole
55:28time, spots Zeke as he fights Levi.
55:31Using a parachute that was unloaded from
55:33the flying boat when they were cutting
55:34weight back on the ship, she jumps off
55:37Falco and lands nearby Zeke. Zeke, she
55:40shouts. What happened? What do we do
55:42now? Zeke replies, there is nothing we
55:45can do. I'm just trying to enjoy myself.
55:48Yelena is baffled like, you're having
55:51fun? The fight continues until Levi wins
55:54by forcing Zeke to eject from his Titan.
55:56Zeke is helpless, defeated, ready to
55:58accept his fate, but he's at peace. Levi
56:01rounds the corner, this time aiming for
56:03the kill. Yelena only becomes more
56:05frustrated as Zeke awaits his fate.
56:07Zeke, I don't understand. I dedicated my
56:11life to you. What was it all for?
56:15Zeke, who had remained calm up until
56:17this last line, opens his eyes slightly
56:20and starts to think.
56:22Finally, Yelena now getting angry
56:24shouts, damn it Zeke, you betrayed me.
56:27What did you even do all of this for?
56:29Did anything even matter to you?
56:32Zeke grimaces in frustrated thought, and
56:35then right before accepting death, opens
56:37his eyes wide in realization, dodges
56:39from Levi's blade at the last second,
56:41and makes a desperate run for the head
56:42of the Founding Titan. Levi gives chase,
56:44but the elder Titans get in his way.
56:46Yelena also follows him, but can't quite
56:49catch him. Zeke miraculously makes it
56:51all the way to the top of the Attack
56:52Titan's head. Levi is almost on top of
56:54him again, but he dodges again and grabs
56:56a chunk of Eren's hair. He slides down
56:59to look into Eren's eyes. Zeke shouts,
57:02Grisha, can you hear me?
57:05I'm sorry, I couldn't stop Eren.
57:08But
57:09but you have to promise me that you'll
57:12still give the Attack Titan to Eren
57:15anyway.
57:16Cuz if you don't
57:18if you don't I'll have never heard what
57:21you said to me.
57:23I love you, too.
57:25Dad. Levi finally takes Zeke's head.
57:29I definitely like the idea of Levi
57:30killing Zeke, completing his mission.
57:32It's got spectacle that's very
57:33intertwined with his character, but Zeke
57:35coming all the way around to a quote
57:36good person is kind of lackluster, not
57:38just because it's rather weak logic, but
57:40because it's also so far removed from
57:42the Zeke we know. It doesn't really feel
57:43like a Zeke moment as much as a generic
57:45redemption moment, which I don't think
57:47you need. Cuz more core to his character
57:49wasn't his nihilism, it was actually his
57:51daddy issues, which is a far more
57:53reasonable jump for the character than
57:55like becoming a hero. Also, it's much
57:57more personal, too. I noticed all the
57:59way back in 121, Zeke never said I love
58:02you back, which makes sense cuz he was
58:04still held out on his mission and he
58:05wasn't going to go back on the reasons
58:07he did it all when he was so close to
58:09victory. But now having lost everything,
58:11he finally realizes what really matters
58:13to him. And to intertwine even more,
58:15Yelena ended up being the perfect
58:16character to inadvertently make him
58:18realize that. I'm still so pissed she
58:20was left out of this conflict. There was
58:22so much potential. And I realize you
58:25could intertwine it even more by using
58:26the mechanics already established in the
58:28narrative for Zeke to make up with his
58:29father. No need for some elegance
58:31needed. The Attack Titan can see the
58:33future. Grisha had the Attack Titan. So
58:35Grisha might see Eren's memories of Zeke
58:37telling him this. And on top of all of
58:39this, I could make a great plot twist
58:41out of this, as well as making it make
58:42perfect sense to Zeke why this would
58:44work. There are theories on this, but
58:45Zeke knowing that Carla would be killed
58:47and Grisha doesn't know yet, comments
58:49himself that he doesn't know why Grisha
58:51gave Eren the Attack Titan, implying
58:53it's a mystery. He thinks Eren gave him
58:56some other memory from the future, but
58:57plot twist, it was actually Zeke. And
59:01finally, even though Grisha is a dead
59:03character, we can actually give him a
59:04moment at the very end. Grisha, after
59:06every horrible thing that happened,
59:08decides, "Fuck the world. I'll just give
59:10Eren what he wants because more than
59:12anything, I want to make up with the son
59:14who I treated so horribly." I'm very
59:17proud of this moment if you can tell.
59:20Anyway, back to the rewrite. Yelena is
59:22now even more baffled and frustrated as
59:24she watches Zeke's head fall. This was
59:26no grand goal. This was all for nothing.
59:30Yelena says,
59:31"I don't understand.
59:33What could have been more alluring to
59:35you
59:36than saving the world?" Suddenly,
59:39something happens. It's like Paths is
59:41glitching. Tormented imagery of Ymir
59:43flashes in front of the Eldians eyes.
59:45What the [ __ ] was that about? No one
59:47knows. Armin then catches up with Levi.
59:49They hold in front of Eren's eyes and
59:51they observe the rumbling. It didn't
59:53stop. Despite Armin knowing this would
59:55probably be the case, Armin acts like
59:57this is total news to him. "Why didn't
1:00:00it work?"
1:00:01Armin then orders Levi to rejoin with
1:00:04Falco so he can blow the place up
1:00:06without knowing anyone will get in the
1:00:07way. Noticing Armin's change in tone,
1:00:09Levi follows the order. Armin is nervous
1:00:12as he climbs back up to the top of the
1:00:13head and we flash back to Hange and
1:00:15Armin inside Paths right before they
1:00:17were about to leave the same way Zeke
1:00:19did. Hange's mood seems to change. She
1:00:21says, "The truth is they have no idea if
1:00:23this will work." And Armin
1:00:24lightheartedly says, "I guess it's a
1:00:27gamble then." And Hange replies,
1:00:29"No.
1:00:30I don't think I'm capable of that. I
1:00:32think we both realized it, didn't we? We
1:00:35couldn't live up to him." Armin says,
1:00:37"Hey, what are you saying? We've got a
1:00:38plan." But Hange says, "Clever plans is
1:00:41all we ever have and clever plans won't
1:00:44give you the will to transform.
1:00:46Floch was right. We need an Erwin, our
1:00:49own devil.
1:00:51We don't need two naive hopefuls who
1:00:53care way too much." Armin starts to get
1:00:56worried but Hange cuts him off. And here
1:00:58is where Hange appoints him as the new
1:01:00leader of the Scouts. Hange walks past
1:01:02Armin and Armin yells, "What are you
1:01:04doing?" Hange, her back turned, says
1:01:07seriously to Armin,
1:01:08"Awakening the devil." And then turns
1:01:11and with a more lighthearted tone says,
1:01:13"Oh, this means Levi's your subordinate
1:01:15now. Welcome to the bone." and
1:01:16disappears into Paths. This was a good
1:01:18line. I wanted to keep it and honestly a
1:01:20lighthearted final message to everyone
1:01:21is probably more to Hanji. We come back
1:01:24to real time. Hanji, who is underneath
1:01:25the Founding Titan, has made her way to
1:01:27the general area they know Eren is
1:01:29hiding. She climbs to the top side and
1:01:31sees Armin on the head looking
1:01:33apprehensive. Hanji shouts, "Armin, the
1:01:36rumbling can be stopped. We can control
1:01:39Ymir through the Titan shifters." As
1:01:41Hanji says this, a War Hammer Titan
1:01:43forms behind her from one of the nearby
1:01:45spines. It's Eren, moving to silence her
1:01:50at the expense of revealing his exact
1:01:51position. Hanji shouts, "I've already
1:01:54done the setup. Everyone needs to
1:01:56transform simultaneously, but the order
1:01:58in their minds needs to be simple. So,
1:02:00command the Titans to" and the Attack
1:02:03Titan's arms shoot out before she
1:02:05finishes her sentence and crushes the
1:02:07breath from Hanji's lungs.
1:02:10Weakly, Hanji laughs and says,
1:02:13"I actually didn't know what comes next,
1:02:15but thanks for proving the theory,
1:02:17Eren." All right, so now that's pretty
1:02:19obvious that I'm killing Hanji. Let's
1:02:20talk about her original death. Look, if
1:02:22you're going to kill major characters,
1:02:23don't do this arbitrary dwindling party
1:02:25[ __ ] Why not have Eren do it directly?
1:02:28Again, you have so much juicy drama to
1:02:30tease out of this. You have comrades,
1:02:32friends who are directly opposed to each
1:02:34other, who both have a higher purpose in
1:02:36spite of that friendship. You have a
1:02:37character who is defined by his desire
1:02:39for freedom and his determination to
1:02:40reach that goal at any cost. That is a
1:02:42motivation well worth crystallizing
1:02:44through your character's actions and
1:02:45proving to your audience just how
1:02:46extreme this conflict is. And what would
1:02:49that do for the drama to see these
1:02:51characters truly try to kill each other
1:02:53and actually cross the point of no
1:02:54return. What would happen next? What
1:02:56would that evoke in the characters?
1:02:58That's exciting. The other thing is this
1:03:00death is actually necessary within the
1:03:02narrative. That is to say, Hanji's death
1:03:04is necessary to get Armin to change.
1:03:06It's not just the writer making an
1:03:08arbitrary situation that coincidentally
1:03:10requires someone to stay behind. Anyway,
1:03:12at this point, Eren's Titan looks
1:03:14intimidating, like the dominating force
1:03:16he's been built up to be, finally making
1:03:18his return. But, as Armin stares into
1:03:21his eyes, he starts flashing in and out
1:03:23of paths, seeing the Attack Titan's eyes
1:03:25staring at him, then Eren's, then the
1:03:27Attack Titan's, and then Eren's, before
1:03:29finally he sees the eyes of child Eren.
1:03:32His eyes now horrified, blood on his
1:03:35hands, a broken wooden figure of a
1:03:37Survey Corps member in his hands. The
1:03:39Attack Titan gently lies Hanji on the
1:03:41ground, the hands of his Titan shaking.
1:03:44The others scream. Armin and the other
1:03:47shifters start to come in to engage
1:03:48Eren, aiming to break him out of his
1:03:50newly revealed location. Ymir's Titans
1:03:52in full force come to defend him. Eren
1:03:54and Armin start flashing in and out of
1:03:56paths. Armin sees child Eren at first,
1:03:58but with every flash he gets closer,
1:04:00older and more deranged each time.
1:04:02Bloodshot eyes, hair a mess. You came.
1:04:06Why?
1:04:07Why do you have to wake me up from that
1:04:10dream? Eren finally turns into his adult
1:04:13form and puts his hands on Armin. Armin
1:04:15pulls away. As the fight on the back of
1:04:17the founder continues, Eren keeps
1:04:19pulling Armin in and out of paths while
1:04:21talking to him, throwing off his
1:04:22movement. Note, as this fight and
1:04:24conversation goes on, Ymir and Eren push
1:04:27the alliance further and further away
1:04:28from Eren's real location. There's a lot
1:04:30of Armin outsmarting Eren in this
1:04:31section and I worry Eren isn't living up
1:04:33to the dominating force he's been. But
1:04:35here, as Eren is pushing Armin back from
1:04:37his location, is probably the point
1:04:38where it should feel like Eren is
1:04:40getting the upper hand. Anyway, as this
1:04:41is happening, Eren and Armin talk. Armin
1:04:44glances at Hanji before telling Eren
1:04:46that this has gone too far. The partial
1:04:48rumbling was meant to destroy the enemy
1:04:49military, not slaughter innocents. He
1:04:51tries to invoke Eren's mother, how he
1:04:53felt when the wall was destroyed. There
1:04:55are good people, innocent families,
1:04:57children. But Eren retorts, "Don't you
1:04:59think I know that? Of course there are
1:05:01good people out there, people that don't
1:05:02want to harm us, but there's bad people,
1:05:04too. If I could target just them, I
1:05:06would, but I can't." But Armin says that
1:05:09was the whole point of the the rumbling,
1:05:10to take out only what was an immediate
1:05:12threat, but Aaron says that it's not
1:05:14that simple and he knows it. The problem
1:05:16isn't the military, it's the people that
1:05:17want to kill us. As long as they exist,
1:05:19they'll rebuild and with their greater
1:05:21numbers and technology, they will out
1:05:22peace us and they will kill us. This is
1:05:24all to say that a partial rumbling
1:05:26doesn't work unless they maintain the
1:05:28founder and make children eat their
1:05:29parents.
1:05:31Armin says, "We don't know that. There
1:05:33might have been a better solution."
1:05:34Aaron retorts, "How convenient for you?
1:05:37As long as you choose to do nothing,
1:05:38cling on to some hopeless better peace.
1:05:40You don't have to feel bad cuz you're
1:05:41not directly hurting anyone, but I won't
1:05:44do it. I will not leave our fate up to
1:05:46chance." Armin says, "Are you hearing
1:05:48yourself? At the very least, wouldn't
1:05:49the 50-year plan sacrifice less
1:05:51innocents than doing this?" Aaron
1:05:52retorts, "Oh, is it that simple? You
1:05:54just boil this down to a math question?
1:05:56We were open to make peace at any time,
1:05:58but the outside world wouldn't let us. I
1:06:00refuse to sacrifice our people just
1:06:02because they didn't care about theirs. I
1:06:04accept the innocent collateral that
1:06:06comes with killing our enemies. I won't
1:06:08accept sacrificing innocents for the
1:06:09sake of those enemies. It's them or us,
1:06:13Armin. Choose."
1:06:15"You don't know that. There's no
1:06:17guarantee of any of this. You don't know
1:06:18how quickly technology will progress.
1:06:20You don't know that the outside world
1:06:21won't change and you don't know if
1:06:23rumbling this much is required to stop
1:06:25us from being attacked. There's still
1:06:26time to stop, to save innocents." But
1:06:29Aaron says, "No, I don't. But that
1:06:31doesn't even matter anymore, does it?
1:06:32You had 2 years at most to find a
1:06:34solution, but now you've killed Zeke. If
1:06:36I lose connection with the founder,
1:06:38there is no longer a way to get back
1:06:39without turning Historia into a titan.
1:06:41If we stop now, we lose our ability to
1:06:43defend ourselves. So, we have to pull
1:06:45the trigger. We have to do something or
1:06:47we're completely defenseless. Fine, then
1:06:50let's be defenseless. As long as there's
1:06:52a chance to talk it out, to avoid this
1:06:54bloodshed, I refuse to pull the trigger.
1:06:57We have to try."
1:06:59Aaron sighs and sobers.
1:07:02"Don't make me do this, Armin. I don't
1:07:04want to kill my best friend."
1:07:06So, a bunch of this dialogue is actually
1:07:08some paraphrasing {slash} copying from
1:07:10uh AoT no Requiem, a fan manga of the
1:07:12popular original ending theory. I have
1:07:14varying opinions of this fan project,
1:07:16but this section here with Armin and
1:07:18Eren arguing is exactly the sort of [ __ ]
1:07:20I want out of a fight between these two.
1:07:22Really capitalizes on the conflict. One
1:07:24of the big things I'm doing differently
1:07:25is that my Eren isn't the cool, calm,
1:07:27dominating Chad character he has been.
1:07:29I'm not even saying there's anything
1:07:30wrong with that. That aspect of his
1:07:31character was undoubtedly what surged
1:07:33his character popularity even before 123
1:07:36and 131 that added amazing motivation
1:07:38and depth, which surged it even higher.
1:07:40Also, anyone who said you weren't
1:07:41supposed to like this character only
1:07:42changed their minds because the manga
1:07:44changed its mind. The same as subreddits
1:07:46who praised the decision to make this
1:07:48Eren a fraud was enraptured by Chad Eren
1:07:51too. You can't fool me. This is consumer
1:07:53bias. You were always going to side off
1:07:55on whatever the creator did. That's why
1:07:56the popular AoT subreddits defended
1:07:58lines like this only to turn around and
1:08:00say it was a good change when the anime
1:08:02signed off on it. All of a sudden it was
1:08:03okay to say the old version was bad.
1:08:05Just like Chad Eren. Face it, Chad Eren
1:08:08was the first time Eren was universally
1:08:10loved. You You loved a main character
1:08:12that ends up as a badass dominating
1:08:14force within the plot. If nothing else,
1:08:16from a purely consumer metric, this is
1:08:18the version of the character that should
1:08:19have been stuck with. Anyway, that's
1:08:21what AoT no Requiem does, but only
1:08:22that's kind of what I'm doing. Reason
1:08:24being is I've realized I could do a few
1:08:26different new versions of Eren that are
1:08:28still connected logically to this Eren,
1:08:30but I can arrange them into an arc. This
1:08:32will keep things fresh and interesting,
1:08:33but still bear with me. Do this
1:08:35character justice in both new additions
1:08:37to his depth and the way he that he's
1:08:39this dominating force in the plot. So,
1:08:41first off, this is the more manic
1:08:43version of Eren, which makes sense. This
1:08:45is kind of the first time he's actually
1:08:47killed his friends directly, and after
1:08:49the rumbling, this has taken a massive
1:08:51toll on his mental state, which is why
1:08:52he reverted back to a kid in the first
1:08:54place. But wait for it, it's going to be
1:08:56super cathartic when you see where I'm
1:08:57going with this. Meanwhile, Jean and the
1:08:59other The
1:09:00rush to Hange's side and start to
1:09:02bandage her up. Bones piercing aside,
1:09:04she coughs up blood. She tells them
1:09:06she's as good as dead and they have more
1:09:08important things to worry about. Armin
1:09:10is going to blow this place up and the
1:09:12people on Fort Salta are going to need
1:09:13defense from the Colossals. We need to
1:09:15get every non-shifter on Falco and back
1:09:18to the ground. This is my final order.
1:09:20Armin is the new commander. Go. Now.
1:09:24While Eren and Ymir fight the shifters,
1:09:26the founder's head looms over Fort Salta
1:09:29and a number of Colossals have started
1:09:30to move up in front of the founder and
1:09:32climb up. Jean finally finds a moment
1:09:34and blows up the head, flattening a
1:09:36number of the Colossals and slowing the
1:09:38founder's movement. Then the
1:09:39non-shifters get on Falco and down to
1:09:41the ground. There's no time for
1:09:42reunions, of course, with family. In
1:09:44fact, the people are cowering inside as
1:09:46the alliance grab extra leftover
1:09:47supplies for the plane. Hanji's left
1:09:49with Onyankopon, who keeps trying to
1:09:50stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, Falco
1:09:52waits by the base, watching the fight on
1:09:54the founder, waiting for the signal as
1:09:56the non-shifters start killing the
1:09:58Colossals on Fort Salta. Back on Eren's
1:10:00back, Armin continues his conversation
1:10:02with Eren and out of the corner of his
1:10:04eye, Reiner appears, snatches Pieck away
1:10:07and out from Eren's view, which is
1:10:08suspicious, but Eren's too held up to do
1:10:11anything. He's just told Armin that
1:10:12he'll kill him if he has to, but Armin
1:10:14says that he's not sure he will.
1:10:17Clearly, Eren isn't all he's cracked up
1:10:18to be. He didn't finish off Hanji like
1:10:20he should. Eren says, "No, she'll die.
1:10:24It's only a matter of time." It causes
1:10:26Armin's eyes to twitch. His anger starts
1:10:29building. "What about you, Armin? Can
1:10:31you kill me? All this time you wanted to
1:10:33talk. In fact, you're doing it right
1:10:35now. I don't think you have it in you to
1:10:37go through with this either." Armin
1:10:39replies, "You sure about that? Wouldn't
1:10:42be the first time you were wrong about
1:10:43me." "Ah, and what was the first?"
1:10:46"The first time was you thinking this
1:10:48whole thing was just me talking rather
1:10:50than stalling."
1:10:52Armin reveals Hanji tricked him. Ymir
1:10:55helped them and brought both of them
1:10:56into paths beforehand. They already had
1:10:58a plan and while Armin's been talking
1:11:00the shifters have been spreading the
1:11:01plan to each other. Eren twitches in
1:11:03anger. He knew that Ymir was helping
1:11:05them since they had their titans and he
1:11:07reveals he hadn't actually been able to
1:11:08find Ymir since the rumbling started,
1:11:11but he thought he'd fix the problem when
1:11:12he killed Hanji. Eren admits he doesn't
1:11:14know what's going on, but he says that
1:11:16if Armin thinks he understands the
1:11:18founder better than him, he's wrong.
1:11:20Armin is being tricked, but Armin
1:11:22counters that this plan wasn't given to
1:11:23them, they worked it out themselves. We
1:11:26finally flash back to Armin in paths
1:11:27with Hanji right after Zeke left. He
1:11:29stares into the paths tree Zeke left
1:11:31from. If someone goes through that, I
1:11:33assume they go through paths and find
1:11:35their way back to their body in the real
1:11:37world, right? But what happens if
1:11:39something other than a subject of Ymir
1:11:41goes in by itself? Armin tears off a
1:11:43patch of his clothes and throws it in.
1:11:45It disappears.
1:11:47Where do you think it would go if I put
1:11:49my spinal fluid into that? If that's the
1:11:51connection point of paths that all
1:11:53Eldians are connected through, it would
1:11:55spread out and go to every Eldian,
1:11:56right? Including the colossal titans.
1:12:00Armin starts thinking. He drops to the
1:12:02ground and starts messing with the sand.
1:12:03If Zeke can make a castle and Ymir can
1:12:05make muscle and tissue from this, it
1:12:07must be possible to make anything,
1:12:09right? He manages to make a rudimentary
1:12:11syringe. He passes it to Hanji. They use
1:12:13the syringe to take a spinal fluid and
1:12:15put it into the tree, but says the
1:12:17shifters will need specialized fluid
1:12:19with a different command. Next, we go
1:12:21back to the moment with Armin on Falco
1:12:23after he's just coming out of paths. He
1:12:25takes one of two syringes in his hand
1:12:26and puts some of it into Falco and then
1:12:28passes the two syringes to Mikasa
1:12:30and we get to finally see what's in his
1:12:32hands, a message drawn with a knife. Put
1:12:34this in each shifter, tell them to
1:12:35transform when I do, willing themselves
1:12:37to be controlled by me. Inside inside,
1:12:39maybe that maybe that message could be a
1:12:41bit shorter or like on his arms. I don't
1:12:43know. Either way, Mikasa reads the
1:12:44message and then flies off with the
1:12:46syringes. Armin does as well. He finds
1:12:48Annie, slices her out from her titan and
1:12:50when she turns around like, "What the
1:12:51[ __ ] Armin? Armin kisses her.
1:12:54I wasn't going to do the ship, but then
1:12:56I realized I could do the Chainsaw Man
1:12:58it's vomit, but instead it's spinal
1:13:00fluid. Armin explains the plan to Annie
1:13:03and then flies back to Falco to explain
1:13:04the plan to him. Meanwhile, Mikasa gives
1:13:07the serum to Reiner and explains the
1:13:08plan and Reiner says Mikasa needs to
1:13:10leave for Armin to have the best chance
1:13:12of transforming and to leave the serum
1:13:14with him. Mikasa agrees, in fact that
1:13:16was probably what Armin intended. This
1:13:18is why she later goes with Hange and the
1:13:20rest of the non-shifters down to Fort
1:13:22Salta. Also, I should note that the
1:13:23patch of Armin's clothing that he ripped
1:13:25off is still gone. This is super anal of
1:13:28me, but it's just confirming the exact
1:13:29logic of the paths tree for something
1:13:31super late. So, you can just ignore this
1:13:33for now, but I suppose right now is
1:13:35proof that anything thrown into the
1:13:36paths tree that isn't an Eldian will be
1:13:38split evenly amongst subjects of Ymir.
1:13:40Anyway, when we come back to the
1:13:42present, Reiner has successfully given
1:13:43Peak the fluid. Everyone is in position,
1:13:45which is what gave Armin the tip-off to
1:13:47start revealing the plan. Meanwhile,
1:13:49Hange hears screams. Protecting Fort
1:13:52Salta isn't going well. That's fine, she
1:13:55didn't want to die in this room anyway.
1:13:56Onyankopon wants us to stay put, but she
1:13:58pulls herself up with sheer will,
1:14:00coughing up blood, she re-gears and
1:14:02enters the fray in a way very similar to
1:14:04her original show death. And because she
1:14:06comes in at the last minute, she is much
1:14:08needed backup and saves a bunch of the
1:14:10alliance members from the Colossals,
1:14:11which gives her a moment alone in the
1:14:13spotlight to solo the Colossal Titans
1:14:14when everyone else is out of gas. Again,
1:14:16as much as I don't like this scene, it's
1:14:18got good spectacle and I don't want to
1:14:19lose that. After taking out a bunch, she
1:14:21flies high into the sky, taking out
1:14:23one's nape on the way up, she surveys
1:14:25the area from up high. We flash back to
1:14:27Armin and Hange in paths after putting
1:14:29the spinal fluid into the tree. Hange
1:14:31says that even if they've done all the
1:14:33prep work, they should have an easy
1:14:35order to follow. Stop the rumbling is
1:14:37too abstract. They need something simple
1:14:40and direct to overcome the obfuscation
1:14:42of paths. Hange thinks to herself,
1:14:45reflecting on all her research with
1:14:47Titans. Meanwhile, in the present, Eren
1:14:49has been pushing all the shifters away
1:14:51from his location. Whatever Armin's plan
1:14:53is is a one-in-a-million shot that Ymir
1:14:55is not letting him do anything about
1:14:56anyway, but if they blow him up, he's
1:14:58dead for sure, so that's his priority.
1:15:00Eren is shaky, but he's sure he didn't
1:15:02misread Ymir's emotion. She wants the
1:15:04rumbling, and if they had a plan that
1:15:06was actually going to work, Ymir would
1:15:08have done something by now to stop it.
1:15:10The shifters, on the other hand, have
1:15:11been giving up ground until the plan got
1:15:13around. But now, they want to push again
1:15:16to Eren's location. Eren and Ymir work
1:15:18to stop them, which works, so it forces
1:15:20the alliance to take Armin and throw him
1:15:22over the elder titans and as close to
1:15:24the Eren's location as they can get.
1:15:26Whether it's close enough to kill Eren
1:15:28in the explosion is a toss-up. It's high
1:15:30up, and Ymir's titans respond by getting
1:15:32in the way, forming a collage of titans
1:15:35up to him. This was a good visual, uh so
1:15:37I wanted to recreate it somehow. Visions
1:15:39flash in Armin's mind as he flies. Eren
1:15:41telling Mikasa he hates her, beating him
1:15:43up, the rumbling, and finally, Hange
1:15:46getting crushed, and Eren saying that
1:15:47she will die, and that he'll kill Armin,
1:15:49too. Armin says, "You were right, Eren.
1:15:52I can't kill my friends, but maybe I can
1:15:55kill you." He bites his hand. Meanwhile,
1:15:59another colossal falls to Hange. She
1:16:01looks at the fight from afar and
1:16:02realizes Armin must be close. She
1:16:04reflects on her life. The blood loss
1:16:06finally starts to take her. She says
1:16:08she's sorry to Erwin and Eren. She
1:16:11couldn't be a good commander, and she
1:16:12couldn't find Eren a better solution for
1:16:14peace. She says, "I'm sorry. I don't
1:16:16understand devils, and I don't
1:16:18understand people, either." She looks
1:16:20over the rumbling, a light smile on her
1:16:23face.
1:16:24"But I do understand titans." Almost
1:16:27deliriously, she stretches out her arms
1:16:29in front of the titans, welcoming them
1:16:31into her arms. She tenderly says,
1:16:34"Sonny, Bean,
1:16:36don't be afraid. I'll come with you, so
1:16:38you don't have to be scared." The shine
1:16:41of the titan shifters transforming
1:16:42appears from Falco and on the founder,
1:16:44while we see Hanji from the flashback
1:16:46give her solution. The order that needed
1:16:48to be simple to overcome the obfuscation
1:16:50of paths.
1:16:52"Close the Colossals' eyes." The
1:16:54explosion rings out. All of the Titans
1:16:57transform and Hanji smiles, satisfied
1:16:59she has achieved her mission.
1:17:01As she looks over all the Colossals
1:17:04closing their eyes together with her.
1:17:07Mikasa, who's been helping kill
1:17:08Colossals, stretches out her arm and
1:17:10screams Eren's name. She was holding out
1:17:13hope this wouldn't happen. Again, one of
1:17:14the only things I did like about Hanji's
1:17:16death was this panel here. I'm generally
1:17:18against character deaths at the end that
1:17:19don't achieve anything, but if you're
1:17:21going to do it, they should at least go
1:17:22out in a way that's relevant to the
1:17:24character. Hanji is the crazy
1:17:26Titan-obsessed character. To make her
1:17:28death climatic, she should go out in a
1:17:29way that reflects that. In that sense,
1:17:31it's good that Hanji goes out fighting
1:17:33Titans and this panel here really
1:17:34emphasizes that. But ultimately, I felt
1:17:36like it was just lip service. It could
1:17:38have been a lot more tangible. Now,
1:17:39actually playing an integral role in
1:17:41stopping the Titans by using her crazy
1:17:43Titan knowledge. Now, that's a much
1:17:45better homage to the character and it's
1:17:46even better emphasized with Hanji being
1:17:48the one character who was sympathetic to
1:17:50Titans dying with them, happily moving
1:17:52on with them so they don't have to be
1:17:54alone. Back to the reread. The Colossal
1:17:56begins to slow and stop as the founder
1:17:58falls into rubble. The elder Titans
1:18:00disappear much to Armin's surprise and
1:18:02the shifters do their best to survive
1:18:03the collapse. Falco, now transformed,
1:18:06leaves Fort Salta and goes to pick up
1:18:08the other shifters. They're watching to
1:18:10see if Eren reappeared from the massive
1:18:11pile of bones, but he doesn't. When
1:18:13Falco gets back to Fort Salta with
1:18:15everyone on his back, the civilians are
1:18:17starting to come out from their shelter.
1:18:18Everyone is ecstatic to find out their
1:18:20parents are alive and they reunite with
1:18:22them. Like in the show, Karina tells
1:18:24Reiner she's sorry, that this is all she
1:18:27needed, but also that she knows now that
1:18:29Reiner was putting on a brave face, that
1:18:31this is her fault and she should have
1:18:33treated him better. But Reiner denies
1:18:35anything is her fault and he confesses
1:18:37how guilty he feels over everything, how
1:18:39he's a bad person. She tries to convince
1:18:41him otherwise, but it's not getting
1:18:43through. "You're not bad. Your father is
1:18:46bad. He abandoned us, but you've done so
1:18:48much good, tried so hard." But Reiner
1:18:50says it can never outweigh his sins.
1:18:53Karina frustratedly asked if he'd say
1:18:55that in the opposite situation. "If you
1:18:57lived your life as a hero, but did one
1:18:59bad thing, would you be allowed to
1:19:01ignore it because your deeds are so
1:19:03great?" Reiner doesn't agree, but he
1:19:05thinks to himself, "But she's right. Why
1:19:08can't I be proud of anything?" But he
1:19:11can't think on it anymore. A Titan bolt
1:19:13appears past the plateau. The Attack
1:19:15Titan rises from the cliffside and Eren
1:19:17pulls himself out and balances on the
1:19:19shoulder using the War Hammer to
1:19:21maintain the Titan through connection.
1:19:23Eren has bloodshot eyes with bags. His
1:19:26pose is somewhat off, like he's holding
1:19:28himself together. He's clearly stressed
1:19:30after killing Hanji, but he's
1:19:32determined. Mikasa goes to call his
1:19:34name, but Eren's eyes widen in
1:19:36realization as he looks past her. He
1:19:38cuts her off by
1:19:40laughing. In context, it seems like a
1:19:42manic villain laugh, like Kira at the
1:19:45end of Death Note, but the laugh itself
1:19:47doesn't feel sadistic.
1:19:48It feels like relief, like someone who
1:19:51was going crazy with stress now just
1:19:53releasing that tension.
1:19:55When they look at him unnerved, he says,
1:19:59"You haven't realized it yet, have you?
1:20:01You're all so focused on reuniting,
1:20:04you haven't looked around you,
1:20:06have you?"
1:20:08And slowly, Eren raises hand to point
1:20:11behind them.
1:20:12They squint behind them at the horizon
1:20:14as Eren mimics his pose from when they
1:20:16were enemies beyond the sea, but now
1:20:19beyond the sea, on the cliff, there is
1:20:21only
1:20:23Titans.
1:20:26A telling steam now begins to rise on
1:20:29the horizon, all but confirming what
1:20:31they're seeing.
1:20:32It hits Armin the hardest. They stop the
1:20:35rumbling, but they stopped it too late.
1:20:38He failed. He knew it was possible when
1:20:40they saw the Titans' top speed on the
1:20:41boat, but they saw the full rumbling and
1:20:43it wasn't going that fast. Eren explains
1:20:46that the rumbling was split into two
1:20:47groups. A densely packed group of fully
1:20:49fleshed Titans who would take out the
1:20:51global alliance that had gathered in
1:20:53Marley, and a second group of much more
1:20:55split up Titans that were much faster
1:20:57and constantly regenerated and let off
1:20:59steam that would take out the rest of
1:21:00the world and weaker leftover forces.
1:21:03Eren himself admits it was close. He
1:21:05didn't know if he would make it in time,
1:21:06and before his head got blown off, he
1:21:08was closely watching the horizon so he
1:21:10could stop the fight. So, yes, I did the
1:21:13full rumbling. Why? Okay, three reasons.
1:21:16One, it has the most spectacle.
1:21:18Obviously, just like the snap, it would
1:21:19be very underwhelming to build up to a
1:21:21catastrophic event and then not deliver.
1:21:23In the same vein, it cheapens the
1:21:25spectacle of the hypothetical to know
1:21:27that another solution existed. It'd be
1:21:28like Thanos at the end of Endgame being
1:21:30like, "Oh,
1:21:32Doy, we could have just doubled the
1:21:33resources." Two, just like the snap,
1:21:36again, it's unpredictable. It's by far
1:21:38the most unique outcome that most people
1:21:40won't be expecting. Now, granted, you
1:21:42now have to find a new way to end the
1:21:44story that delivers on a new kind of
1:21:46closure as the good guys have just lost,
1:21:48but that's a problem I can solve. You'll
1:21:49see. Three, it actually has very little
1:21:52problems with closure. Remember when I
1:21:53said these characters need to be in an
1:21:55immortal battle for a proper climax, but
1:21:57you can't kill Eren cuz it [ __ ] his
1:21:59closure, and you can't possibly have him
1:22:00win by killing all the alliance either
1:22:02cuz it hurts their closure. Well, here's
1:22:04the solution. You have Eren win before
1:22:06killing the alliance, and then there's
1:22:08no need to fight. All it costs you is
1:22:11the entire world. But let me ask you a
1:22:13question. Who's more important? 8
1:22:15billion people or 11 people? Trick
1:22:17question, it's 11 people because these
1:22:18people are named characters and the 8
1:22:20billion are not. No [ __ ] you kill the 8
1:22:22billion in a heartbeat. You don't need
1:22:24them for anything. They're not required
1:22:26for closure. Now though, you might be
1:22:28thinking, "Hold on, that's it? That
1:22:30wasn't much of a moral battle. You
1:22:31didn't deliver on the spectacle."
1:22:34Uh hold on.
1:22:35We're not solving the conflict yet
1:22:37though. No, we're reshaping it and this
1:22:39is just a setup. Many of the Alliance
1:22:41fall to their knees grappling with the
1:22:43horror of what's happened, but Armin
1:22:45manically says, "Oi,
1:22:48don't.
1:22:49This is no time to mourn. We're not done
1:22:52yet. Or have you not looked at their
1:22:55faces?" The remaining Marleyan soldiers
1:22:58look furious.
1:23:00Armin, realizing what he's implying,
1:23:02snaps. His failure and his newfound
1:23:04hatred of Eren boils up inside him. He
1:23:07immediately draws his blade. "No, no,
1:23:09no, no, no. You are not doing this."
1:23:11Armin is bloodlusted at this point,
1:23:14finally the devil he needs to be, but at
1:23:16what cost? But Connie brings him back to
1:23:18reality. There's still people they can
1:23:20save by avoiding a conflict. As long as
1:23:22that's true, they haven't failed. Armin
1:23:25grimaces and lets it go, reverting back
1:23:27a bit to the old Armin. He talks to
1:23:29Eren. "You said it yourself, there's too
1:23:31much of a technological gap and too many
1:23:33numbers, so we couldn't just rely on a
1:23:35single partial rumbling, but that's not
1:23:37the case anymore." Eren says, "That
1:23:40depends. What are you going to do? You
1:23:42can't leave them here. You got to bring
1:23:44them back with us, where they will kill
1:23:46us in our beds." Armin retorts that
1:23:48that's not true. "You still have the
1:23:50Yeagers. You have all the power, so
1:23:52what's the harm in sparing a couple of
1:23:54lives?" But Eren says he'll only live a
1:23:55few more years. He can't burden the
1:23:58children. The old Eldian Empire thought
1:24:00it had all the power, too, but the hate
1:24:02festered and grew with each generation.
1:24:04Somewhere down the line, they will
1:24:06secure their revenge.
1:24:08While he says this, he uses his
1:24:10Warhammer power to pull the flying boat
1:24:12up to his level and grabs two spare gas
1:24:14canisters from it before using the
1:24:16Warhammer and hardening to form his own
1:24:193D maneuver the to place them in. So,
1:24:21this solves two missed opportunities. A
1:24:23lot of fans were disappointed that the
1:24:25Warhammer was kind of a one-and-done
1:24:26type plot device that never saw much
1:24:28other use. And I was disappointed that
1:24:30we never got to see adult Eren use ODM
1:24:32gear, which when you think about it
1:24:34would be a great climax for the
1:24:35character to circle back all the way
1:24:37back to season 1 Titan killer Eren. In
1:24:39fact, just in general, he never got to
1:24:40use ODM gear much. So, this should make
1:24:43a nice change of pace with a cool new
1:24:44spin. Shiny blue ODM gear with stretchy
1:24:47fleshy Warhammer coil for the wires.
1:24:50It'd be weird, but cool. And you can't
1:24:53say I can't do it. Warhammer makes
1:24:54weapons even long stretchy part. The
1:24:56only thing it couldn't do would be the
1:24:57gas, which adds a nice restriction on
1:24:59it, which stops us from retroactively
1:25:01questioning why it wasn't used in other
1:25:02scenes. Although a lot of the time the
1:25:04Warhammer would have been useful, he was
1:25:06out of stamina anyway. Also, if you want
1:25:07to see when he learned this, you could
1:25:09say it's a tricky practice while either
1:25:11in prison or in paths. Anyway, I
1:25:13digress. So, Eren says that if they take
1:25:15the Marleyans home, they will eventually
1:25:17take revenge and start the whole thing
1:25:18over again. Armin says, "You can't know
1:25:21that. You don't know that." Eren says,
1:25:23again, quite manically, "But you don't
1:25:25know what's necessary either. All I know
1:25:28is that we're so close, Armin. What's a
1:25:31few more deaths if it means finally
1:25:33ending this cycle, finally securing
1:25:35peace?" "It means everything!" yells
1:25:38Armin. "I get why you felt like you had
1:25:39to do the rumbling to secure peace, but
1:25:41where's the line? How far are you
1:25:43justified in going for absolute
1:25:44security?" "This far. Nothing more."
1:25:47replies Eren. "Are you sure about that?
1:25:49Do you have any idea what Paradis was
1:25:51like when we left? What will you do
1:25:52about the people in Paradis who didn't
1:25:54agree with you? Are they a threat to
1:25:55you? Maybe not now, but in a few years,
1:25:57hate festers, right? When people write
1:25:59about your actions, will you control
1:26:00what they write? This cycle of violence
1:26:03excuse is horse [ __ ] Discord about this
1:26:05is inevitable." Eren goes to speak, but
1:26:07Armin cuts him off. "And what if the
1:26:09rumbling wasn't perfect? What if
1:26:10survivors appear in a year? Will you
1:26:12kill them, too?" Eren starts to retort,
1:26:14"If they were a threat, then of course."
1:26:16"But how much is a threat? says Armin.
1:26:18What if it wasn't a group of survivors?
1:26:20What if it was just one? What if it was
1:26:22just a child? What if it was just a
1:26:24baby? Baby would never know, Eren bites
1:26:26back. They'd find out eventually. Stop
1:26:28dodging. I want you to draw a line. What
1:26:31is your limit? Who won't you kill to
1:26:33secure your precious peace?
1:26:35Eren starts to struggle. Armin, seeing
1:26:38weakness, finally points to the Marleyan
1:26:40family that came in on the train. The
1:26:42dad was one of the Marleyans making an
1:26:43angry face at Eren before. Armin points
1:26:45to the kid. Come on, Eren. Look that kid
1:26:48in the eye and say you have to do this.
1:26:51Eren thinks of Ramsey. He falters, but
1:26:54he says, "I can't just stop now, can I?
1:26:58Not when I've come so far.
1:27:00I have a duty to finish this."
1:27:04Whether you kill them or not, it'll make
1:27:06no difference. We'll all go home, be
1:27:09safe for now, and discourse about the
1:27:10rumbling will fester over generations
1:27:12anyway.
1:27:13There's still the Marleyan prisoners,
1:27:15the volunteers, the Azumabito, even the
1:27:17warriors, after all.
1:27:19This path will never end, Eren.
1:27:22But, if you give them mercy, treat them
1:27:24better than how the Marleyans treated
1:27:25Eldians,
1:27:26hate will probably still fester, but
1:27:29you'll have saved a few lives that
1:27:30wouldn't have mattered anyway.
1:27:33Isn't that worth more?
1:27:35Looking into the child's eyes, Eren
1:27:38finally
1:27:40relents.
1:27:41He lets it go.
1:27:43And the group sigh in relief.
1:27:45They can finally go home
1:27:48and put an end to this.
1:27:50Everyone is in agreement,
1:27:53except
1:27:54one.
1:27:56Every Eldian starts to feel like
1:27:58something is off. A distant rumbling in
1:28:00their heads grows before they're pulled
1:28:02into paths. A little girl stands in the
1:28:04center of the group, and she screams.
1:28:07Just as suddenly, all those Eldians are
1:28:08ripped out of paths again, and then they
1:28:10begin to glow.
1:28:12The Marleyans try to run, but they're
1:28:14grabbed by some of the Eldians and held
1:28:16there. Almost automatically, as if they
1:28:18can't control their actions, the only
1:28:20non-Eldians free from this are
1:28:21Onyankopon and Yelena. Yelena was
1:28:23sitting on the sidelines, and Onyankopon
1:28:25was much closer to the Alliance tending
1:28:26to their wounds. So, if he got grabbed,
1:28:28he was close enough for one of the
1:28:29Alliance to free him. Reiner looks at
1:28:31his mom. Sorrowfully, she tells him to
1:28:34promise her, "Promise me your smile,
1:28:36that you'll forgive yourself. I don't
1:28:38want to die thinking I hopeful, heroic
1:28:41boy that I was so lucky to have." Reiner
1:28:44says he promises before she pulls away
1:28:46from him and steps back. Almost
1:28:48immediately, he sees Gabi and Falco
1:28:50refusing to let go of their parents and
1:28:52rushes to drag them away. They scream.
1:28:54Karina gives a somber smile as she sees
1:28:56a hint of the old Reiner, but Reiner
1:28:58thinks to himself, he doesn't believe a
1:29:00word of what he's saying.
1:29:03Also, when Falco is finally dragged
1:29:05away, his desperation turns almost into
1:29:07shell shock. His hearing is dampened and
1:29:10his vision blurs. It's like he shuts
1:29:12down. Something inside him just breaks.
1:29:16I just want to remind you that he
1:29:17already lost his family once and it hit
1:29:19him hard, but now he got them back just
1:29:22to lose them again. Something inside him
1:29:25starts to build.
1:29:27Or perhaps it was building all along.
1:29:30Meanwhile, Annie, similar to Gabi and
1:29:33Falco, can't accept it. Almost
1:29:35manically, she says to her dad, "Don't
1:29:37worry. I'll bring you back. I'll find a
1:29:40way."
1:29:41The Titans transform as the Alliance
1:29:43runs away toward the military complex.
1:29:45Surprisingly, Eren in his Titan runs
1:29:47between the Titans and the Alliance and
1:29:49makes a wall with the War Hammer Titan,
1:29:50protecting them. Eren looks unnerved but
1:29:53relieved. He says, "Ymir wanted to kill
1:29:55the Marleyans to keep it simple. Maybe
1:29:57we can have true peace." He says, "Ymir
1:30:00just needs to change the Eldians back,
1:30:02and we can all go home." But, they don't
1:30:06change back. Suddenly, everyone except
1:30:08Aaron and the non-Eldians wince in pain
1:30:11as a vicious burn begins searing on
1:30:13their chest. Yes, even the Ackermans
1:30:16start burning, too. As mentioned before,
1:30:18Ackermans are immune to the Founding
1:30:20Titan, but not Ymir herself. Aaron
1:30:23doesn't understand what's happening.
1:30:24Armin, trying to work it out, notices
1:30:26Ymir left untransformed all the
1:30:28combatants.
1:30:29Why?
1:30:32And then it hits Aaron.
1:30:34He says, "She wants you to struggle, to
1:30:37suffer. That's why her Titans never
1:30:39finished you off, why she brought you
1:30:41into Paths. That's why she made that
1:30:43absurd flying Titan for you. She wanted
1:30:46you to come all this way, to think that
1:30:48you won,
1:30:49only to find out you did it for nothing,
1:30:52and slowly burn to death."
1:30:55Armin says, "That's why we keep seeing
1:30:57her. She's watching us. That's I bet why
1:31:01Aaron didn't stop Zeke's Titans. Aaron
1:31:03called for it, but Ymir lied and didn't
1:31:05do it." Aaron confirms it, only now just
1:31:07realizing it for himself. This was
1:31:09another small plot hole fixed. In
1:31:10hindsight, I think this was done to keep
1:31:12Pures relevant and keep the chaos and
1:31:14spectacle building, but it's referred to
1:31:16like it's a mystery, and it never gets
1:31:17like an answer. Armin says, "She's
1:31:20enjoying this.
1:31:22But is this all because we wanted to
1:31:23stop the rumbling? She won, didn't she?
1:31:26The rumbling was successful. Why would
1:31:27she be so spiteful?"
1:31:30Aaron thinks, says,
1:31:32"I
1:31:34I
1:31:35He trails off. He thinks about what Ymir
1:31:37was like in Paths, a girl imprisoned for
1:31:40thousands of years. And then he thinks
1:31:41about what he was like as a kid, when a
1:31:43Titan ate his mother. Aaron's suffering
1:31:45was just a fraction of hers. Ymir didn't
1:31:48even have a single ally until Aaron. And
1:31:50Aaron, he saw everything as his enemy,
1:31:53but he changed. He crossed the ocean,
1:31:56slept under his enemy's roof, ate the
1:31:58same food as them, saw that there was
1:32:00good people.
1:32:02But Ymir
1:32:04Ymir had not. Eren starts to
1:32:07hyperventilate. He says, "No.
1:32:10No, it's not just you. She's spiteful to
1:32:13everyone."
1:32:15And he shouts into the sky, "Ymir,
1:32:18please tell me you didn't turn the
1:32:20Titans back on Paradis." The alliance in
1:32:24horror finally put the pieces together
1:32:26and tell Eren what they saw on the boat,
1:32:28Titans marching backwards. Eren says,
1:32:32"My people,
1:32:33Historia,
1:32:35no."
1:32:37Connie and Jean are both distraught.
1:32:39Both their mothers are dead. Anger
1:32:41starts to build in Jean at Eren. And
1:32:43Yelena, Yelena laughed. She doubles over
1:32:48in laughter. Laughs harder than anyone
1:32:50has ever laughed in the whole series.
1:32:51Everything's [ __ ] Nobody got what
1:32:54they wanted, but it's like divine
1:32:56retribution for her. The euthanasia plan
1:32:58was the correct choice all along. She's
1:33:00so happy she decided to see this through
1:33:02to the end. So now that the twist is
1:33:04revealed, let's talk about Ymir. I love
1:33:08kids given godlike power. I think I
1:33:09might have had left too much of a gap.
1:33:12But it's probably my favorite character
1:33:13trope. Not only does it have innate
1:33:15irony in something with a weak
1:33:16association given something with a
1:33:18strong association, but it also gives
1:33:20you all the plot influence and impact of
1:33:22a big bad with all the unpredictable
1:33:24plot turns, unique aesthetics, and
1:33:26shenanigans of a wild card character who
1:33:28usually play a much smaller role in the
1:33:30story. And it all comes with a free pass
1:33:32to make unpredictable plot twists cuz a
1:33:34kid can use any number of warped logical
1:33:36leaps to make choices in the plot cuz
1:33:38it's a kid. I suppose technically Ymir
1:33:41isn't actually a child, but she's like
1:33:42emotionally and intellectually stunted
1:33:44and her physical form is a reflection of
1:33:46that. Ymir was such a late input into
1:33:48the story, but I thought she had amazing
1:33:50potential. Making Eren dependent on her
1:33:52not only made it an amazing moment for
1:33:54Eren where only he with his focus on
1:33:56freedom was capable of getting through
1:33:58to her, but it instantly made her
1:33:59character interesting and important in
1:34:00the story. The rumbling is her choice as
1:34:03much as it is Eren, and it makes her
1:34:05this terrifying force of nature that not
1:34:07even Eren can control. And she's the
1:34:10perfect representation of the themes of
1:34:11the story, the cycle of revenge. She is
1:34:13by far the biggest victim in the story,
1:34:15but at the same time she's the biggest
1:34:17perpetrator in the story. And I think
1:34:18this could have been so much better
1:34:19realized by having her and Eren show
1:34:22that difference in a big way. And so,
1:34:24game-breaking plot twist number two,
1:34:26Paradis was destroyed. Armin tries to
1:34:30talk to Ymir as Eren mourns. He yells
1:34:32into the sky with no avail, using any
1:34:34angle he can think of. Eren, who this
1:34:36entire time after killing Hange has
1:34:38looked like a wreck, who has hands that
1:34:40have been shaking anytime he's
1:34:41considered killing his friends, clenches
1:34:43his fists and steels himself as he puts
1:34:45back on the mask he wore at the
1:34:47restaurant. Armin tries yet another
1:34:49angle talking to Ymir, but this time now
1:34:51Eren bursts out in a vicious manic
1:34:54laughter, much to Yelena's surprise. You
1:34:56can't talk her out of this. She was
1:34:59enslaved by Eldians, forced to build
1:35:01Titans out of sand with her bare hands
1:35:03in a time-stop world for 2,000 years.
1:35:06No, a million more like it. Every time
1:35:08you or I called her now, you reinforced
1:35:11that. You think you can just reverse all
1:35:13that with a few words?
1:35:14Armin asks why Eren isn't being burned,
1:35:17to which he replies, "I gave her a
1:35:19choice." "Then you can talk to her,"
1:35:21replies Armin. "That doesn't mean she's
1:35:23loyal to me," says Eren. "She was
1:35:25determined to bury Paradis despite what
1:35:27I wanted. That should make it obvious
1:35:29enough." Eren laughs. "Even before that,
1:35:32she betrayed me almost immediately with
1:35:34Zeke's Titans to get any amount of
1:35:35revenge she could. You think I can
1:35:37reason with that level of hate?" Armin
1:35:39keeps at it, but Eren cuts him off and
1:35:41shouts to the sky. "Ymir, please, I
1:35:43don't want this." But the burns on the
1:35:46alliance suddenly start to accelerate.
1:35:47The pain worsens. See?
1:35:50She doesn't want us to talk. Armin keeps
1:35:53trying, but Eren cuts him off. Oh,
1:35:55please. Talk, talk, talk. That's all you
1:35:58want to do. When has that ever worked
1:36:00for you, let alone now? The commander
1:36:02back in Trost, he was desperate to fire
1:36:04that cannon at the subject of his hate.
1:36:06Your words meant nothing. What about
1:36:08Annie? What about Bertholdt? How do you
1:36:10get that flying boat from Floch, huh?
1:36:11Did talking work then? They don't
1:36:13answer.
1:36:14No, you had to kill him for it. No, it's
1:36:17never worked and it won't work now. The
1:36:19only reason we're here now is cuz
1:36:21talking didn't work. We could not
1:36:23overcome that level of hate by talking.
1:36:26And yet you keep trying and people keep
1:36:29dying. Maybe it was you who killed
1:36:32Hange. Armin grimaces. The pain
1:36:34exacerbates his anger and it takes him.
1:36:37Armin says, "Okay, new plan. Paradis is
1:36:40destroyed, right? There's no Eldian baby
1:36:42for the founder to go to, right? That's
1:36:44what happened when Zeke died, isn't it?
1:36:45That piece of Ymir had nowhere to go.
1:36:47So, what happens if we kill the founder
1:36:49instead? End Eren, end paths, end Ymir's
1:36:53influence." Eren says, "There we go.
1:36:56That's the conclusion she wanted you to
1:36:58reach." Reiner objects.
1:37:01"Hey, Armin,
1:37:03this isn't like you. Is this it? Eren
1:37:06isn't even threatening anyone this time.
1:37:07We're just going to hunt him down and
1:37:09risk all our lives, too? It's the
1:37:10founder that's the issue, isn't it? You
1:37:12don't have some kind of clever plan?"
1:37:14Armin says, "Why? Eren's right. If we
1:37:17want to live, we need to make a
1:37:18sacrifice. If I had just accepted that
1:37:20earlier, maybe this wouldn't have all
1:37:21been for nothing." Armin screams in
1:37:23anger, drawing his blade. Armin's brief
1:37:26foray into his old self was rewarded
1:37:28just as badly as it was previously, and
1:37:30so he lets his anger return in full
1:37:32force. And so, here's how we reshape the
1:37:34conflict now that the rumbling is
1:37:36completed. A final fight to the death at
1:37:39the end of the world when everything is
1:37:41already lost. It allows us all the
1:37:42climax and spectacle of a full rumbling
1:37:44without having to end the fighting
1:37:46itself anticlimactically with the
1:37:47Alliance just being too late. And so,
1:37:50the tension rises. But then,
1:37:54it's broken by Annie,
1:37:56who quietly walks over to Eren and joins
1:37:59his side.
1:38:00She explains that if Armin's plan works,
1:38:02they won't be able to turn her dad back.
1:38:04She has no choice. She has to capture
1:38:07one of them alive and feed them to her
1:38:09dad. And the burn on Annie's chest
1:38:12subsides. Side note, as they talk, Eren
1:38:15will begin to make another set of ODM
1:38:16gear with the War Hammer Titan, and that
1:38:18will go to Annie.
1:38:19So, okay. Remember when I said if you're
1:38:21making an alliance, you never want to
1:38:22hive mind them, and I'd be doing more of
1:38:24that? This is what I meant. There's
1:38:25actually a couple more instances of this
1:38:27as we go on, but this is the biggest.
1:38:28Pieck going for the kill on Eren against
1:38:30the wishes of the rest of the Alliance
1:38:31was cool, but a full-on side switch
1:38:33really shakes up the plot. It also
1:38:36solves a lot of my and other people's
1:38:37issues with Annie. When I saw this line
1:38:39from Annie, "I'd do it all again." I was
1:38:42excited. This felt like Chekhov's
1:38:43shotgun. But instead, it turned out to
1:38:45be more of a Chekhov's butter knife with
1:38:48Annie choosing not to get on the flying
1:38:49boat and help the Alliance, and then
1:38:51changing her mind after like two
1:38:52sentences from Kiyomi being like, "Well,
1:38:54I wouldn't do it all over again." And
1:38:56it's just it's just kind of lacklustre.
1:38:58I suppose it's a little bit of character
1:38:59development, too, but only specifically
1:39:01of an opinion that was only just
1:39:02established recently and crystallized
1:39:04with actions that you never fully got
1:39:06the consequences for. Annie's temporary
1:39:08absence from the Alliance basically
1:39:10meant nothing. Furthermore, a lot of
1:39:11people take issue with Annie not
1:39:13suffering any sort of consequence. And
1:39:15while I think it makes sense within the
1:39:16story for her to not as part of the
1:39:18Alliance, putting her back into the
1:39:20antagonist role is going to allow us to
1:39:22give this much more leverage to make a
1:39:24significant arc out of this. With Annie
1:39:26reverting back to her old self and
1:39:28forcing her to weigh her dad against her
1:39:30newer bonds and suffer consequences
1:39:32directly because of that rather than
1:39:33some sort of divine judgment from the
1:39:35author. So, Annie switches sides, and
1:39:37Falco, who's been quiet till now, is in
1:39:40disbelief.
1:39:42Oi, you're not the only one who's lost
1:39:44someone. You're going to let everyone
1:39:46here die just to save one life?
1:39:48"Sorry, kid." says Annie.
1:39:50"Maybe that one life just means more to
1:39:52me than anyone you lost." And suddenly,
1:39:54the rage that's been building in Falco
1:39:57boils over. "You selfish [ __ ] Sophia,
1:40:01Udo, Colt, mom, dad, Porco, Magath, my
1:40:03country, my people, I've lost more than
1:40:05any of you. I've been betrayed,
1:40:07manipulated, fed to a Titan, given false
1:40:10hope, had it stripped away. I did
1:40:11everything I could and kept going, kept
1:40:13trying to be good. I didn't come to the
1:40:15ends of the world to save total
1:40:17strangers just to watch you be so
1:40:18selfish. I'll kill you." Gabi looks on
1:40:21in shock. Like looking in a mirror of
1:40:23the past, it breaks her heart, powerless
1:40:25to do anything. But with no other
1:40:26answers, she grimaces and lets herself
1:40:29get swept along with Falco into the
1:40:30conflict. Eren laughs. "The brat's got
1:40:33you there, but if you're looking for
1:40:34selflessness, you're out of luck,
1:40:36especially among them." At this point,
1:40:38Eren begins chewing out the alliance,
1:40:40mirroring his rant in the restaurant,
1:40:41being almost uncharacteristically mean,
1:40:43like he's trying to work himself up. The
1:40:45tension rises with each one. "You think
1:40:47you banded with the heroes? points to
1:40:49Levi. "Notice how shorty there has been
1:40:51so quiet? It's cuz he lost his reason
1:40:53for being here the second he killed
1:40:54Zeke. That was all he was here for,
1:40:56selfishness." Levi twitches in anger.
1:40:58Jean goes to interrupt him, but Eren
1:41:00speaks over him. "Ah, horseface here. If
1:41:02it wasn't for me guilting him into it,
1:41:04he'd probably be living comfortably
1:41:05among the military police watching your
1:41:06people get squashed. I bet he's only
1:41:08here now cuz he's being pulled along by
1:41:10that same guilt, not because he actually
1:41:11thinks this was smart or right." Jean
1:41:13yells back. Reiner tries to get him to
1:41:15calm down, but Eren cuts him off. "At
1:41:17least Jean's better than his best
1:41:18friend. You said you got fed to a Titan?
1:41:20Sounds like you already know what Porco
1:41:22is like deep down. But now mommy's dead,
1:41:24I suppose he just wants revenge. Ironic
1:41:26coming from a miserable traitor." Reiner
1:41:28turns to Connie to get him to calm down,
1:41:30but much to his surprise, Connie is
1:41:32silent, melancholic. It seems like he's
1:41:35the only one who's internalized the
1:41:36conversation with Reiner in the flying
1:41:38boat. Aaron continues, "Speaking of
1:41:40miserable traders, who could forget the
1:41:41Cart Titan? First time I met her, she
1:41:43ran and abandoned Bertholdt, and the
1:41:45second time she immediately tried to
1:41:46turncoat. Did that brat ever tell you
1:41:48that?" he says, pointing at Gabi. "She'd
1:41:50probably do the same now, but the coward
1:41:51doesn't have as clear odds this time.
1:41:53Everyone is progressively getting more
1:41:55and more pissed at Aaron, but Reiner
1:41:56interrupts him. "Hey, let's stop this.
1:41:59Aaron, this isn't like you. I know this
1:42:01isn't you." "And what would you know?
1:42:03You don't even know who you are. I don't
1:42:06even know who you are. Was there even a
1:42:07shred of the real you in your soldier
1:42:09persona? Or was all you ever were that
1:42:12miserable puddle that kneeled before me
1:42:14begging for forgiveness and wanting to
1:42:15die? You're pathetic." And to this,
1:42:18Reiner's eyes widen, and he draws his
1:42:20blades, too. The others react like,
1:42:22"Hey, weren't you trying to be the calm
1:42:23one?" And Reiner says he's just realized
1:42:25Aaron doesn't mean what he says. What
1:42:27he's doing is stealing himself. He's
1:42:30going to strike first. The others put
1:42:33their hands on their blades, getting
1:42:34ready, but Mikasa, after hearing
1:42:36Reiner's theory, calls out to Aaron. He
1:42:38snaps back, "I thought I already told
1:42:40you to shut up, slave. I've already said
1:42:43everything I needed to say to you. Did
1:42:44you not get the message last time? I
1:42:47hate you." And immediately, Mikasa
1:42:49shoots back with, "I love you." And it
1:42:51breaks Aaron's mask. He pulls back,
1:42:54silent for the first time, genuine shock
1:42:56on his face.
1:42:58Mikasa says,
1:42:59"If I had told you back then, if I had
1:43:01chose a different answer, would it have
1:43:04changed this outcome?"
1:43:06Aaron's expression goes from shock
1:43:08to sadness, to remorse, to somber, and
1:43:12then an eerie calm.
1:43:14His manic and stressed state of mind,
1:43:17and even his grimmest determination, is
1:43:19replaced with serenity,
1:43:22acceptance.
1:43:24At peace, Aaron draws his blades and
1:43:26says,
1:43:30"Yeah." He clicks the trigger and rushes
1:43:32the alliance. The others move to kill
1:43:34him. Mikasa moves to grab him. She makes
1:43:36contact and memories flood her brain. We
1:43:38don't see what they are though, but we
1:43:39see her shock and tears. Eren
1:43:41immediately gets his leg sliced up, but
1:43:43he knew that. He switches to guard his
1:43:44neck and then once he's almost through
1:43:46the line, he transforms, slides next to
1:43:48the flying boat, picks it up and throws
1:43:50it over the alliance to Annie so she can
1:43:52grab gas. Seeing what she's doing, some
1:43:54of the alliance go for her. Peak tries
1:43:55to transform, but it doesn't work. The
1:43:57attack titan screams and rushes them
1:43:59drawing their attention, but it's
1:44:00another fake out. Eren ejects from his
1:44:02titan and uses his 3D maneuver gear to
1:44:04bust into the military complex. Some of
1:44:06the alliance including Levi follows and
1:44:07start a small skirmish, but not before
1:44:09telling Mikasa to do something about
1:44:10Annie. Quick as lightning, Mikasa
1:44:12evaluates her order. Instead of going
1:44:13for Annie, she climbs the Warhammer wall
1:44:15blocking off the pure titans and finds
1:44:17and goes directly for Annie's dad, but
1:44:19somehow Annie, who shouldn't be this
1:44:21fast, clashes with her in midair
1:44:23stopping her. Annie knocks her away,
1:44:26transforms into the female titan and
1:44:28screams to attract the titans. She
1:44:30smashes through the wall, runs past the
1:44:32military complex as Eren busts out the
1:44:34window, latches onto Annie and they both
1:44:36start sliding down the cliff with the
1:44:37pure titans now following. Armin calls
1:44:39out and stops them from following. They
1:44:41need a plan. Jean, Connie, and Levi, who
1:44:43chased Eren, are blindsided. They've
1:44:45never seen Eren move like that. Mikasa
1:44:48comments the same with Annie. Levi has a
1:44:50theory. Ymir has made them Ackermans.
1:44:53Armin confirms. Ymir wants Eren to win.
1:44:56You can expect she'll pull out [ __ ]
1:44:57like this. Thankfully, she also wants us
1:44:59to struggle and suffer, so we might
1:45:01still be able to catch her off guard and
1:45:02kill Eren before she realizes it's
1:45:04happening. Unfortunately, they could
1:45:05probably only transform freely this
1:45:07whole time because Ymir was letting
1:45:09them. But the alliance still has all of
1:45:10Armin's spinal fluid. So Armin says we
1:45:12might be able to transform and use our
1:45:14titan powers if we work together. With
1:45:16certain orders, we should be able to
1:45:18outweigh Ymir's will, especially after
1:45:20Zeke died. Firstly, the alliance test
1:45:22the theory. They stand back from Falco,
1:45:23but together with each other to take
1:45:25advantage of the subconscious
1:45:26unwillingness to actually transform. And
1:45:28then they bite their hands, willing
1:45:29Falco to transform. It works, but Armin
1:45:31warns them because they have to do it
1:45:33together. Once even one of them takes a
1:45:35serious injury, they won't have the
1:45:36stamina to use their power. Meaning
1:45:38together they'll only have a minority of
1:45:40Emia and none of them will be able to
1:45:42transform or even regenerate. Any injury
1:45:45they take in this fight will be
1:45:47permanent. The alliance need to pick a
1:45:49decisive point to summon all their
1:45:50titans before they can get injured and
1:45:52strike all at once. Particularly, they
1:45:54need somewhere they can use 3D maneuver
1:45:56gear. Armin says that Eren's heading
1:45:57towards the wall of colossal titans.
1:45:59He'll probably use the warhammer to
1:46:01cross the ocean and climb the cliff.
1:46:03We'll strike there. They ask why Eren
1:46:05would give them that opportunity and
1:46:06Armin says it's because Annie wants to
1:46:08feed one of them to her dad. She'll want
1:46:09to fight at some point, so they're going
1:46:11to let this burn weaken us first and
1:46:13bait us into a fight later. They're
1:46:14promising us we'll have that opportunity
1:46:16by going that way. Worst case scenario,
1:46:19we'll drop the cart titan and armor
1:46:20titan on either side to force them
1:46:21towards the sea. Mikasa is silent and
1:46:24Reiner is apprehensive. Reiner says yet
1:46:26again, "Hey, is this really what it
1:46:28comes down to? We're just going to
1:46:29slaughter each other?" And Armin says,
1:46:31"Well, if you've got any better ideas,
1:46:33I'm all ears." And Reiner's like,
1:46:34"Normally you're the clever idea guy,
1:46:36aren't you?" "Well, I'm out of ideas,
1:46:38aren't I? Are you coming or not?"
1:46:40Reiner, in a moment of clarity, utters,
1:46:43"Hey,
1:46:44Eren's words, that burn, our failure to
1:46:46stop the rumbling, aren't
1:46:49aren't you all losing your heads a bit?"
1:46:51Armin looms over Reiner, the aspect of
1:46:54the devil. Armin says, "Are you coming?
1:46:56Or are you just going to let Gabi and
1:46:58Falco burn to death?"
1:47:00Reluctantly, Reiner submits. Mikasa
1:47:03looks back and forth between Reiner and
1:47:05Armin trying to make up her mind between
1:47:07who is right. The burn worsens, forcing
1:47:09them to hurry up. They mount the flying
1:47:11titan and go. Yelena and Onyankopon jump
1:47:13on, too. Yelena is determined to see
1:47:15this through. She's been lapping up all
1:47:16the drama and Onyankopon has grabbed a
1:47:18first aid kit from the plane. He says to
1:47:20Reiner, "For what it's worth, I think
1:47:22you're right. But if you're going to
1:47:23slaughter each other anyway, I'll do
1:47:24what I can to save who I can." Reiner
1:47:26thanks him. I might take a quick moment
1:47:28to describe the location of our final
1:47:30battle in more detail before we get
1:47:31there. It's the cliff across the sea
1:47:33that Eren pointed to, which is sort of a
1:47:35little weird for there to be a cliff of
1:47:36another continent within vision and
1:47:38Titan walking distance. But this could
1:47:39also just be an island that just
1:47:41happened to be the last place the
1:47:42Rumbling needed to hit. But this is
1:47:44where our final fight takes place, along
1:47:46a cliffside facing an ocean lined with
1:47:48these unmoving gaunt Colossals.
1:47:51Depending on where the fight is, as we
1:47:52move along the wall, we can have a whole
1:47:54bunch of different visuals. The water
1:47:56below can have rocks in a sea of blood
1:47:58out to a certain point where people have
1:47:59jumped. And the land, depending on how
1:48:01close the Titans are together at this
1:48:02point, can be a floor of blood and
1:48:04corpses as the Titans have started to
1:48:06group back up near the center. Meaning
1:48:08the Alliance literally have to fight
1:48:09surrounded by their failure and Eren and
1:48:12his actions. Or, as you get further out,
1:48:15the Titans are less steppy and more
1:48:16steamy, which means you can keep some of
1:48:18the infrastructure on this island.
1:48:20Sometimes giving an undestroyed but
1:48:21cooked building or tower for our ODM to
1:48:23go through and spice things up if
1:48:25ODM-ing around just frozen Colossals
1:48:27gets boring. All right, back to the
1:48:28rewrite. Meanwhile, Eren talks on
1:48:30Annie's shoulder. He's no longer shaking
1:48:33or manic or putting up a front. He's
1:48:35calm. The wind blows through his hair
1:48:37and he breathes deeply.
1:48:39Eren says he realized something.
1:48:41"Remember when you chased me through the
1:48:42forest, murdering Survey Corps without a
1:48:45second thought?" Annie winces. Eren
1:48:47says, "Captain Levi called me the
1:48:51monster.
1:48:53But he was right. It just took me this
1:48:56long to realize it. No.
1:48:58I knew before, I just only now accepted
1:49:01it.
1:49:02I always said that if someone tried to
1:49:04take my freedom, I wouldn't hesitate to
1:49:06take theirs. But I never considered what
1:49:08I'd do in a situation like this. The
1:49:10very friends I wanted to protect are
1:49:12coming to kill me.
1:49:14It'd be easy to give up my life for
1:49:15them. After all, I only have 4 years
1:49:18left.
1:49:19And yet
1:49:21my body moves.
1:49:23The truth is, Historia, the kid, my
1:49:26friends, Paradis, the cycle of violence,
1:49:30these were all the reasons I told myself
1:49:32that I was doing this for,
1:49:33but I don't know anymore if they were
1:49:35excuses.
1:49:37Because now I know
1:49:39that even if it was just me, even if it
1:49:41was only for four more measly years of
1:49:44life on a barren, unpopulated world,
1:49:48I'd do it all over again.
1:49:52I don't know what's right anymore, and
1:49:54yet
1:49:55the moment is broken by any looking
1:49:57back. The alliance is here. Armin, with
1:50:00a dark look, tells Connie and Jean to go
1:50:02in first. They're both unnerved. Armin
1:50:05is using them as fodder.
1:50:07Jean grits his teeth. His anger at Eren
1:50:09has boiled over after Hanji, Sasha, and
1:50:11his mother have died because of him. His
1:50:13character has regressed, forgotten what
1:50:15he's learned. He shares his anger to
1:50:17Connie, expecting him to reciprocate,
1:50:19but Connie just says,
1:50:21"Jean,
1:50:23this sucks."
1:50:24Jean is unnerved. The atmosphere becomes
1:50:27foreboding, but they steel themselves.
1:50:29Meanwhile, Reiner asks himself if
1:50:31they're really going to go through with
1:50:32this.
1:50:33Can he go through with this? But it's
1:50:36time to go. Eren and Annie have crossed
1:50:38the sea with the War Hammer Titan and
1:50:40are now at the wall of Titans. They stab
1:50:42Falco, jump from him. The shift has
1:50:43transformed and that Titans land. Reiner
1:50:46lands past the wall of Colossals and
1:50:47forces Annie to run along the cliff. The
1:50:49Cart Titan lands behind Annie. Mikasa
1:50:52struggles. Her head throbs. The memories
1:50:54she saw are pushing her to do it, but
1:50:56she can't. She just can't. But then, the
1:50:59pain of the burn overwhelms her, and it
1:51:01makes her realize something.
1:51:03Of course, she thinks,
1:51:05"If I don't do this,
1:51:07I'll die."
1:51:08Meanwhile, Eren stretches out his arms,
1:51:11breathes deeply, and smiles with the
1:51:12wind on his face.
1:51:14Perhaps that's why I'm so calm.
1:51:16I'm thankful, really. This has all
1:51:18become so simple.
1:51:21After all, Gabby fires a shot at Eren
1:51:23that misses, but it throws him off.
1:51:25Connie, Jean, Levi, and Mikasa all rush
1:51:27Eren. Mikasa and Eren begin to chant to
1:51:29themselves, "If you win, you live. If
1:51:32you lose, you die." Annie does her best
1:51:34to protect Eren, but it's overwhelming.
1:51:36Jean and Connie provide an opening, and
1:51:37Levi goes for the neck, but but Eren's
1:51:39neck crystallizes ahead of time,
1:51:41breaking his blade. Annie is messing
1:51:42with the fight. Once the attack is
1:51:44finished, the crystals shatter
1:51:45immediately, so Eren can move his neck
1:51:46again. But, Eren is still thrown off by
1:51:48the blow, though, and while Jean,
1:51:49Connie, and Levi are recovering from
1:51:51their strikes, Mikasa and Eren enter a
1:51:53brutal duel. With each glancing blow,
1:51:55they reposition themselves, and both
1:51:57chant, "If you don't fight, you can't
1:51:59win. Fight. Fight. Fight." Their blades
1:52:02lock on the final chant.
1:52:04Okay, okay. You can't tell me that a
1:52:06Tatakai battle between Eren and Mikasa
1:52:08isn't hype as [ __ ] Do Do you see what I
1:52:11mean when I say that not having these
1:52:12characters be in Mortal Kombat is an
1:52:14anticlimax? There's so many missed
1:52:16opportunities. [ __ ] the twist Code Geass
1:52:18ending where one side was never really
1:52:19trying. What a waste. There was so much
1:52:21juicy drama to milk out of this,
1:52:23especially with Mikasa and Eren. Attack
1:52:25on Titan was never the type of show to
1:52:27give you an idea of something at the
1:52:28start, and then have it still be true by
1:52:30the end. The idea that this was ever
1:52:32going to be the type of show where the
1:52:33main female character starts off being
1:52:35in love with the main character, and
1:52:36just gets that affirmed at the end, is
1:52:39so much less interesting than going to
1:52:41lovers to true enemies instead, which is
1:52:43even backed by interviews that were
1:52:45later contradicted. Mikasa's whole arc
1:52:47was about seeing the real Eren.
1:52:49But,
1:52:51but not yet. The blades scrape off each
1:52:53other as they both toss their heads to
1:52:55the side to dodge lethal blows. Only
1:52:57when the blades go through their hair, a
1:52:59chunk of Mikasa's hair is sliced to
1:53:01pieces, but Eren's hair glides gently
1:53:04around the blade. She is still holding
1:53:06back, and what's worse, Mikasa's
1:53:08realized that Eren is really going for
1:53:11it. She tears up realizing that Eren is
1:53:14really trying to kill her.
1:53:16Mikasa thinks back again.
1:53:18What version of Eren had I been seeing?
1:53:21They all follow up and go straight for
1:53:22Eren, but the crystals block them and
1:53:24Annie nearly kills them. Reiner thinks,
1:53:26"This isn't really going to happen,
1:53:27right? They're holding back, right?
1:53:29They'll realize it and stop this
1:53:30madness." But as Mikasa sees her hair
1:53:33and realizes Eren's really going for it,
1:53:35Reiner sees the expression on her face
1:53:36and realizes it, too. Jean, Levi, and
1:53:39Connie pull back a bit and land on the
1:53:40Cart Titan. Armin, who's been watching
1:53:42the fight from Falco, draws his blade,
1:53:44jumps at Eren, and shouts, "Switch
1:53:46plans. Go for Annie's dad." But the
1:53:48second they change target, suddenly Eren
1:53:50sidesteps Mikasa and rushes them,
1:53:52completely ignoring Armin and trusting
1:53:54Annie to stop him, which she does.
1:53:56Realizing a moment too late what Eren is
1:53:58doing, Reiner sprints towards the Cart
1:54:00Titan, jumps with his own, and then in
1:54:02midair pulls out of his Titan and uses
1:54:04ODM gear to close the distance as fast
1:54:07as possible. But it's too late. Connie
1:54:09was the last one to leave the Cart Titan
1:54:11in the direction of Annie's dad. He's
1:54:12singled out. And Eren, with that eerily
1:54:15calm expression,
1:54:17he takes Connie's head.
1:54:19Gone is the Eren whose hand shook when
1:54:21he killed Hange. His conviction is
1:54:23steeled. It's kill or be killed. Reiner
1:54:28is only fast enough to catch Connie's
1:54:30body and fall to the ground.
1:54:33All hell breaks loose. In a rage, Jean
1:54:35turns around, rushes Eren, but Levi
1:54:37focuses on Annie's dad, forcing Annie to
1:54:39throw off Armin and Mikasa and turn
1:54:41around and dive into the crowd of pure
1:54:43Titans, thus creating a giant messy
1:54:45scuffle that everyone gets into drawn
1:54:47into, which is actually going to allow
1:54:48us to tick off a couple of different
1:54:49scenes I want to go through without
1:54:51needing to pay too much attention to
1:54:52character position continuity.
1:54:54And so, this is the arc I wanted to take
1:54:57Eren along. From putting up a mask and
1:54:59pretending he doesn't care about what's
1:55:00going to happen, to denial, to tortured
1:55:02but determined killer wrestling with
1:55:04what he's doing, and then finally a
1:55:06brief foray back into the mask until
1:55:08finally true acceptance of who he is and
1:55:11the terrifying serenity that comes with
1:55:13it. You know what line actually bothered
1:55:14me the most before his retcon? This one
1:55:16about the cycle of revenge cuz I don't
1:55:18think it's necessary. It even plays into
1:55:20the idea of Yelena's saving the world
1:55:22speech. The idea of Eren being reversed
1:55:24Thanos, the counterpoint of for the
1:55:26greater good, one's right to their own
1:55:28life at the expense of the greater good.
1:55:31That's what I was born into this world
1:55:32meant to me. And so knowing that, I
1:55:34think this is the best place to take his
1:55:36character. Just like Thanos, it's to the
1:55:38absolute extreme. What if you had no
1:55:40other reason, no excuse you could point
1:55:43to? What if it was just you versus the
1:55:45world? What if it was just you versus
1:55:47your friends? And the most exciting,
1:55:49interesting, and logically consistent
1:55:51answer this character could give at this
1:55:53moment is I choose me. And we
1:55:56crystallize it with Eren accepting this
1:55:59and finally killing one of his friends
1:56:01without a second thought. This is Eren's
1:56:04final form. And not only does it make
1:56:06good on making him the dominating and
1:56:08terrifying antagonist he's become, but
1:56:10also gives us his final character
1:56:12conflict. Because no matter what happens
1:56:14after this, the genie isn't going back
1:56:16in the bottle. He will always know what
1:56:18he is, what he's capable of if anything,
1:56:21even the people he loves gets in the way
1:56:24of his freedom. And that is the end of
1:56:27part one. But believe it or not, part
1:56:29two is actually done. This whole rewrite
1:56:31is finished. It's fully edited, it's
1:56:33ready to be released. Uh here's my issue
1:56:35though. Copyright has been a nightmare
1:56:36for this video. Even this one that I've
1:56:38already released. This one it's claimed.
1:56:40I'm literally not going to see any money
1:56:42from this until we're going through a
1:56:43whole dispute process that could take
1:56:44like two months cuz like most companies
1:56:47wait the whole ass 30-day time limit
1:56:48before they reject the dispute and then
1:56:49I have to say no, [ __ ] you again and
1:56:51dispute their rejection and then wait
1:56:53like the max 30 days again and then they
1:56:55either have to drop it or take me to
1:56:57court. So, there's a small chance I
1:56:58never even see this money and even if
1:57:00they do drop it, I get paid monthly. So,
1:57:02at most I'll be waiting like 3 months to
1:57:04see any of this, which is not an option
1:57:06cuz like I haven't uploaded in like a
1:57:08year cuz the last 3 years my depression
1:57:10got way worse and now I have insomnia,
1:57:12which makes writing [ __ ] impossible
1:57:14cuz my mood is so shitty that every idea
1:57:15feels [ __ ] and I can't separate my bad
1:57:17ideas, my good ideas and evaluate my
1:57:19work, which is why I'm so [ __ ] behind
1:57:21on everything. I'm sorry, patrons. I
1:57:22will make it up to you. I'm finally
1:57:24starting to work on what it is, which is
1:57:25why this video even came out. Thank you,
1:57:273-year-long La Niña that blotted out the
1:57:29sun and perfectly coincided with my
1:57:31insomnia. Anyway, I tried to butch up my
1:57:33work cutting up clips to solve issues,
1:57:35but [ __ ] YouTube only shows me
1:57:37one copyright infringement at a time.
1:57:38So, I have to repeatedly export and
1:57:40upload a 3 and 1/2 hour video, which
1:57:41takes hours and I can't speedrun it in
1:57:4330-minute sections cuz then half the
1:57:45copyright issues magically disappear.
1:57:47But, I'm not uploading like seven
1:57:4830-minute parts so I can get smited by
1:57:50three manual copyright strikes all at
1:57:52once either and terminate my [ __ ]
1:57:53channel. It's also ugly and I don't want
1:57:55to do it. So, new plan. Okay.
1:57:58I want to try a crowdfunded
1:58:00pay-for-release model, which is actually
1:58:01something I always wanted to try. I even
1:58:03talked about it in my copyright video.
1:58:04In the description is a Ko-fi and a
1:58:06Bitcoin address. Once I get 1,800 USD,
1:58:09I'll make the second part public, which
1:58:11will still take like 48 hours. It's part
1:58:13of the dispute process, but other than
1:58:14that it should be immediate. I
1:58:15understand 1,800 is pretty high, but I
1:58:17don't want to undershoot it cuz once
1:58:19it's out, I lose all my leverage. But,
1:58:20also that number is what I negotiated
1:58:22for my last sponsor, which I say because
1:58:24if this works out, I'll just completely
1:58:26replace all sponsors on my channel with
1:58:28this. So, like at least they'll you'll
1:58:29get like something out of this. I might
1:58:31also consider doing like an ad-free
1:58:33upload since the algorithm is still
1:58:34going to recommend the one with ads
1:58:35anyway. All right, that's all.
1:58:36Hopefully, I'll see you with the next 1
1:58:38and 1/2 hours of rewrite soon.

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