Fun things, tidbits and references

SPOILER WARNING*
I had to add this spoiler warning as I see many first time readers come straight to this page! This is an extra notes page and it's filled with spoilers! If you want to get a vague notion of AoT Changes and my style of writing I recommend either quickly reading "The Chase" sequence at the beginning of chapter 1 or reading "Tree Notes" as those notes are spoilerless. Or doing both, idk, you decide. :) Anyway, welcome to Changes madness. I hope you'll stay!
Cheers!
[Spoilers from now]
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Fun things, tidbits and references
Azzy slightly looks like Armin, at least in some major features, like facial features, voice and mannerisms. But he actually looks a lot more like Mikasa's dad, specially in physical build. I got that idea from The Flash when (spoiler) Barry's mom sees him as an adult and says "You look like my father" (I cried like a baby in that scene:') Also there are a couple of references and lines from the first season of the show around my writing of Changes. The main one being "That's my cue to leave".
There are many references and quotes that I add randomly just because a specific show or movie came to mind when I was preparing the dialogue. From Downton Abbey to Ben 10, you will find a bunch of stuff in there. Of course, the main references are to Doctor Who, after all Changes is all about time travel.
(I could occasionally update this document whenever I remember a reference here and there, it's been 9 months since chapter one so I would have to re-read things carefully to remember them. Or I could just let my dear readers try to figure them out;)
Also, there are a lot more references to the anime and manga than silly pop culture, of course. (More anime than manga)
Whenever I am back on depression land thinking of how bad the ending was and how that is one thing that can never be CHANGED (yes, that's why I named this AoT Changes) I go around looking for AoT fanart, to remind myself of how much I love these characters and how much potential this lore has.
Despite many other alternate endings coming around after mine and becoming waaaay more popular than mine, I never read them, that's because I don't want to read anything AoT related before I finish writing this. I have seen some panels here and there, but not much.
My initial plan (back in March) was to finish these 21 chapters around September and December, but it seems I didn't calculate it very well. XD
I first heard of the timeloop theory back in 2019, and it fascinated me. I love time travel or any time related things in storytelling, and I was expecting some time travel since day one. The "To you in 2000 years" line definitely did NOT pay off.
Of course I added some Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole in there and some slight Narnia references because why not? I just really like the idea of Ymir from the future being the same Ymir from the past, I just took that idea and ran with it! I even took the rabbit's pocket watch.
122 is my favourite chapter. Writing down a scene from it, however, was very difficult.
Ezra is my favourite character. I already wrote A LOT of dialogue for him, even back in March and April, back then I was already planning for his character to only show up in Arc II and III, but even so, I would stop writing Arc I whenever I had a good idea of dialogue for him and write that. This was very good and helped me develop more of his personality, which in turn helped me fully develop the second and third arcs.
I planned the 3 Arcs and 21 chapters and gave them names all in one sitting. I just really like naming things, and the names help me to remember and focus on what each chapter is about and gravitates towards. The chapter names are more like code words for me, like when you are trying to remember things for a test.
Speaking of code words, I really like aviation, you might have guessed that from a couple of chapters. The plane in Chapter 4 being called "X1" is a homage to Chuck Yeager, the first pilot who crossed the sound barrier and to the plane "Bell X-1" commonly known just as "X1".
*And, by the way, Armin's plane in Chapter 9 is called the "Eagle" that is not a reference to the band (lol) nor is it to the United States. It is a reference to the surname Arlet, (spelled Arlert in SnK) that comes from an old German word that means eagle. PS.: I know the band is called Eagles, and not just Eagle.
I have multiple references to real life things and events around that era when AoT is supposedly set. You might catch some WWI references here and there, also some references to nowadays as well. (I think I have a covid reference somewhere but I don't remember it right now)
For Chapter 8 and Arc II, Shenzhou is the version of China in this, same way Hizuru is supposedly Japan. "The Mountain Side" is just a vague European country, not really based on any specific one, but probably situated in a region similar to the Alps.
Eldia and Marley would also be a vague division between Northern and Southern Europe, with Eldians resembling Nordic and Germanic cultures and Marleans resembling Latins, Macedonians, and Greeks! (After all, the name "Titan" must've come from somewhere XD) *Also Eldians have been shown to look Viking-like and Marley seems a lot like a certain "Roman Empire", but that might be just me.
Talking about old times and Eldia, I already wrote most of the Nine Titans origin storyline and Maria, Rose and Sina's demise, it was all very dark and I had to write a sweet scene with the girls afterwards so I could sleep better (it was 3 a.m.) So just remember this: "butterfly". Whenever you get to the butterfly scene with the girls, just remember I wrote that right after writing their gruesome demise. The 2000 years ago storyline is progressively darker, it just gets worse and worse, it's the most "Attack on Titan" thing I have ever written in Changes. And I confess I'm not really sure of how people will react to it.
Anyways, this was supposed to be fun things, not sad things. XD
Whenever I think of something I planned or references I added, I might write down here, so keep an eye on this document!
I just wanted to write some things to commemorate the fact that we are over 18k views! (Almost 19k, actually!) I gather there are only about 800 to 1600 constant readers, but I can't really be sure because none of those sites gives me metrics very well. At least in fanfictionDotnet I can see chapter progression, but not the others. I can also see that people from over 20 countries read my fic! So, thank you all! Most people are in the US, UK or Australia (makes sense, since the fic is in English) but there are people from so many countries beyond that! I feel very proud! Even if it's only 2 or 3 people from a small country here and there it still amazes me to know people so far way from me are reading my story! Again, thank you. :)
(either that or some of you guys have a very powerful VPN) xD
That is it for today, I thought about doing something like this before for months! And I'm glad I finally did. I might edit this document to add more stuff if I think about anything new. You guys can also ask me things too. For now, this is it.
Cheers!
C.T. [28/10/21]
25k views! So here are a few more tidbits:
BIG SPOILERS (kinda)
While Arc I follows the events of ch. 138 of the original manga (with my own flavour of madness, ofc) Arc II will modify the timeline around chapters 127/128, which of course isn't enough, so wait for Arc III to completely turn the manga upside down with the timeline change happening around 115-119 (hehe)
I wrote an anime style ending (even though I'm not watching the anime anymore) I haven't published it anywhere because it has similar parts from Arc III, so when I finish Changes I will add it as bonus content, there's a second anime style ending that I thought about more recently and I am not sure if I will develop it or not, but I can add everything in a package with miscellaneous scenes that I couldn't add in the main storyline. The fun part is that since I introduced multiple timelines in Changes, it means all of those unattached scenes can be considered Tree-Canon. xD
The chapters "Tybur" and "Ackermann" (10 & 11) mark the middle part of the fic, considering plot and chapter numbers, but not considering word count, since the word count has increased significantly every chapter, specially now in Arc II.
I have DeviantArt, Instagram and Twitter accounts (all called TreeCreativeMe), and also a couple of YouTube channels. (Tree TV - "old AoT Central" and Creative Tree) I often post things related to the fic, and arts I make for it. I recently made concept art for the Nine Titans and some panels for Chapter 9.
I edited video versions of the first 3 chapters of Changes, they are all uploaded to my YouTube channel "Creative Tree"
There will be a "cameo" or a small appearance of Ymir (104th) in one chapter of the second arc, I'll explore more about her story in another chapter of the third arc.
The small and ancient book with odd symbols that no one can decipher is a joke on the Voynich Manuscript, it has been joked around that this book could be just the scribbles of a teenager and that it doesn't really mean anything. So I thought, why not add something similar? Azzy's small notebook comes up in chapters 7 and 10 so far (and it will come up a few more times before the end). *Not to confuse with Azymondeus' book, that is an illustration book, made for children, and it has a whole different origin.
Both Armin Tybur's wife and Armin Arlert's mom are named after butterfly species. (And that wasn't on purpose)
My friend who strongly motivated me to start writing this fic was really interested in the whole Armin Tybur storyline, she was very excited for it. She has since dropped out of this fandom completely (and I don't blame her) but I really hope she reads chapter 10 someday, and tells me what she thinks about it. (She is also one of only 2 people who truly know the ending of Changes)
I thought of adding Jean, Connie and the Warriors talking about Marco too, at the beginning of chapter 10, but then I realised that would be a topic they would avoid.
The sandbox = Paths thing that I hinted in chapter 2, then again slightly in chapter 7, with Ymir's imaginary friends, was a last minute addition to chapter 2. I hadn't realised how well it would fit in the whole story until I started writing the dialogue of little Azzy and little Ymir in that chapter (ch 2), the whole bit with "sand" and "the ocean" was added at the very end so I had to go back and add the seashell section in the dialogue between little Azzy and Eren, earlier in the chapter.
Talking about Azzy and Ymir, yes, this whole fan fiction was based on the idea of Ymir having a prior relationship with the man who (accidentally) killed her. Congratulations, if you guessed that you will get a cookie! More cookies for the folks who figured that out early on in the story.
Also their storyline is somewhat based on the lyrics of Barricades: "Wouldn't it be nice to take a walk on some pure white sand, gaze at the horizon, without living in fear? Wouldn't it be sweet to watch the sun curve down meets the waves?[…] We've got to learn to Get back. Get back / But is it worth the price of our soul? / You know you had to Kill her. Kill her! / Oh my dirty hands It never fades / How long I haven't seen the light shine through in my life / Lost everything. Family, confusion on the way / Someone tries to talk to me and signpost the righteous road […]" and so on.
Although this pair is at the very centre of this fic, I wouldn't consider them as an "ideal" couple, they are far from it. Still, is very enjoyable to write their complex relationship, specially as they get older and closer to the tragic end.
The hardest character for me to write is Zeke, since his character arc goes from -evil and mysterious villain- to -complete wimp- I never know quite where to place him. He was more of comic relief to me in Arc I and I'm still working on his storyline in Arc II, all I can say so far is that it will be a secondary storyline and it might involve Levi and Annie.
Eren's writing on the other hand requires a small trick, for him I usually have to first write everything and then revise it and rewrite some parts using a more "eren" vocabulary, which means making sure I'm not using expressions that Eren would never use. For the older versions of him I do that less, as I believe he would become more refined with time.
I've mentioned Downton Abbey before and I absolutely love that series, I often rewatch it which helps me visualise the aesthetic of the beginning of the XX century, that helps me imagine this AoT world better. Also their representation of WWI in season 2 is very good. PS.: Falco reminds me of William. :'(
Sunny and Torin are loosely based on How to Train your Dragon characters, not movie characters, book characters. If you ever read that series you can clearly tell who they are based on, it's pretty telling. While there are some references to The Magician's Nephew (Narnia) in this, Azzy and Ymir are not based on Digory and Polly, I just like their imagery, and I took a bit from the cross-dimensional forest (more the trees than the ponds XD).
As you can see, most of my references are very (*sips tea and eats biscuit) British, but I am not. I did learn to speak and write in a more British English, and Brits can probably tell. XD Even so, I feel the need to Americanise some words just in case. You can see I write mom instead of mum, meter, center instead of metre and centre, or diapers instead of nappies and so on.
Arcs II & III are about 30% complete, beyond that are outlines for each scene of each chapter. The dialogues are the main missing part, and those take a while to be completed. Every chapter has at least 10% of the dialogue already written down, so I can set the mood for future me writing each chapter in the right tone. For the very last (Ch. 21) I already have pretty much the last dialogues and epilogue scene done, because that was all written around chapter one. I still tweak somethings here and there but not much.
I always write while listening to background music, if you want some soundtrack while reading: "Serene", "Elysium" and "Frozen Star" from the YouTube channel "Pandora Journey" and "Memories Forgotten" and "Fragments of time" from the YouTube channel "Epic Music Channel" are the song compilations I hear the most while writing AoT Changes. Those songs definitely shape my mood and entice my creativity while writing!
I said on Tree Notes that I also get inspired by some pop songs as well (lots of those) and I did make a playlist, you can find it on Spotify is called "[SnK] Changes", headlining the list would be "Run boy Run" and "In the End", but there are lots of others that I love a lot and make me think of this story.
This is it for a new update! See you soon with the rest of chapter 10!
Cheers!
C.T. [13/12/21]
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- new after ch. 11! -
:)))
Arcs 1 and 2 have a similar structure, they first start following the future (867 and 859) until it finally gets to 854, focusing on the rumbling towards the end. In Arc 1 the focusing on the rumbling is on chapters 6 & 7, while in Arc 2 it goes from chapters 12 to 14. However in Arc 3 the rumbling will run parallel with other storylines throughout the 7 chapters.
In the rumbling scene, in chapter 6, Ymir notices Azzy's presence the moment he lands in that time, she calls him "old friend" and she immediately sends a herd of titans to attack him. Afterwards she follows him around and tries to confront him but he has no idea who she is and he can't even see her, since she is trapped in another dimension (a.k.a "paths").
-You will find a lot of little moments, lines and references like this while reading this story for a second time. I planned everything starting from how the story ends and then going back all the way to the beginning, so I always add things that can only be noticed in a second reading, after the reader is aware of certain reveals that only come later on.
Azzy still has a strong bond to Levi in arc 2, even if his uncle has only raised him in a forgotten timeline.
Sunny calling Azzy "zizi" in ch. 8 is a nod to Azula, who calls Zuko "zuzu".
Fun tree-canon fact [for chapter 10] - Diana married again after Ode was already a young adult, she had more children and Erwin is a descendant of hers, that makes Armin as closely related to Erwin as he is to Willy, just from the other side. This is all Tree-canon only ofc ;)
I did it.
I had to .
I gave Levi a specific age. (And a date for No Regrets)
And also, it fits perfectly within the story. No Regrets will be set in 841, a hundred years after the flashback in chapter 10, and in the same year as the flashback for chapter 11!
*PS.: I did some light research and all I could find about it was that it was set "several years" before the main story, 850. I never read that No Regrets storyline (only saw the OVA) but I'd say if it was set on a specific year I would have found that info online, just sayin'.
In chapter 4 - when Azzy wakes up over a stand in Trost - is a reference to Mikasa and the pomegranate in the Trost Arc. His dream in the scene is foreshadowing for Arc II and the Hizuru storyline, that same dream comes back to him later in chapter 4 when he is talking to Eren in the small forest.
In chapter 6 Eren comments to Historia about how Sasha taught him how to look for someone in a dense forest. That is a reference to the OVA "Distress" where the 104th has to rescue Christa.
In chapter 3 Armin is not able to control the Pure Colossal Titans, he is able to create the dark crystal, similar to the one they were trapped before for a hundred years. The reason for that is only teased in chapter 3, and again in chapters 6 and 8, and it's finally explained in chapter 10.
For the scenes in the Palace and around Court it's possible to separate the Yeagerists from other servants, the Yeagerists consider Eren as their King while the servants from the old regime - that Historia kept around for political reasons - do not, they are loyal solely to their Queen and the Fritz lineage. So, perhaps Historia kept them around to balance her power play with Eren.
A reader asked me once what was Azzy's plan. The answer is he has none. He is not Armin. He just stumbles upon things and messes things up even more, and in the end he might pretend it was all part of a plan. (This is a Doctor Who reference by the way, if anyone is counting) -Also his ending might surprise him more than anyone else, because that's when his story starts.
Chapter 11, "Ackermann" is a continuation to Levi's "No Regrets" and Mikasa's "Lost Girls". The proto-airplane the Arlerts were building and the fact that they passed away when Armin was 7 years old are shown Mikasa's "Lost Girls" story.
In the scene where Azzy learns Lud's surname I was inspired by the "McFly?" moment (in the diner) from Back to the future, of course I couldn't replicate that or even make it as comedic, because that is a classic cinema moment and what I'm writing has a completely different tone. Still, I did get the whole idea from Back to the future.
Also about ch. 11, Hannes and Sannes are both in this chapter, I hope it wasn't confusing for anyone.
Although the 2000 years ago storyline is supposed to be, well, 2000 years ago, it gives me early medieval England vibes. And I don't think that's a problem since medieval Europe was a time when technology and science were forgotten so it bears similarities with the ages over a thousand years before.
Yes I really like History, and Historia as well. *winks
(And I also really like Geopolitics)
(ch. 11) And about medieval England, I really wanted to write "Tis but a scratch" when Az lost his arm, but I contained mself.
lewl
For those who follow me outside of the AoT fandom and know how much I absolutely love the "How To Train Your Dragon" series of books, and how I religiously re-listen to them every couple of years. For me King Fritz (the 2000 years ago one, not Karl Fritz) sounds a lot like the Green Death, the gigantic sea dragon Hiccup has a philosophical discussion with in Book 1. It might have something to do with the whole discussion about creatures eating other creatures and also how snobbish David Tennant makes him sound.
There are countless references to the River Song storyline (Doctor Who) throughout the fic, because that is one of my favourite storylines in any show ever. And I think Alex Kingston is just brilliant.
Ymir can't tell the symbols in Azzy's small notebook are not from any known language and that he made it all up as a code only he could understand, she doesn't even ask about it while she goes through the pages, like other people had done before. That's because Ymir is illiterate, she never learned to read or write, because she was too young when she left civilisation.
Another Tree-canon only: The "titan in the wall" who shows up early in the series is the man who was in love with Orla, (Chapter 10) That's why he stares at Mikasa, even though she doesn't look much like her great-great grandmother, still, it's enough for him. Perhaps because of her mannerisms and her eyes, he thinks, in his cursed mind, that it is in fact his long lost crush.
At 15 Azzy is already 1.73, meaning he is 13cm taller than Levi and 5cm taller than Armin. He grows up to be 1.85, while Ezra ends at 1.83, Sunny grows up to be 1.71 and Ymir 1.65. I thought having details like characters heights were meaningless when I first started reading AoT, but now I have to admit that helps me a lot when imagining scenes and character interactions.
Sometimes I feel like I'm in a limbo, not having contact with most of the fandom and AoT related things for almost a year now, yet somehow I never lost focus on what I want to write. I guess I know that if I step out of my limbo I will feel more discouraged to keep up with this, if I only take a moment to think of how toxic this fandom can get and how awful things got after 139 - not that they weren't bad already leaning up to that 'finale' - I already lose my hope and drive to keep writing this story. I feel that if I ever leave this limbo and try just looking up AoT things around Social Media I will lose my hope and drive completely.
The scene in chapter 7 when Eren holds baby Ymir's hand is the one from the Sasageyo op, so just imagine that. s2
Lewis is a variation of the name Ludvík.
Sannes calls Mikasa "little miss number one" in ch. 11, and Levi calls Historia "little miss sunshine" in that same chapter.
Küchel means "kitchen" in German, apparently. And it can be a last name, "Kuchel" is a spelling variation of that last name.
Mikasa doesn't actually mean "burning mountain", it's the name of a mountain in Japan that used to catch on fire (over the summer? because of the heat? Idk tbh I didn't find much about that on google) I just wrote Kimiko explaining it like that (in ch. 11) because it was a faster reply and one can imagine she doesn't know as much about her own culture since they've been inside the Walls of a few generations at that point.
I took the idea of Sunny's powers and the way she helps Az in both timeline one and timeline two from the "Run Boy Run" lyrics - Run, boy, run, the sun will be guiding you - and that's not the only part of the song that inspired this fic, the whole lyric fits super well with my ideas for the fic. And the music video as well! (that actually spooked me a bit the first time I watched, I wasn't expecting the vibe to fit so perfectly with Changes)
PS.: Of course, I took that song from Umbrella Academy, that's the introduction song for Number Five, the character that inspired Azzy's powers.
The 'children in the woods' reference in chapter 11 is taken from a real medieval story, about kids found in the woods that the villagers thought were aliens. Just search 'the green children of Woolpit' to know more, if you're interested.
That's it for today, I hope everyone enjoyed ch. 11! I might be back with some more fun facts and references after ch. 12, who knows..
Cheers!
C.T. [17/02/22]
NEW! :D
[Ch. 13] "All those cursed souls wanted was to be human again."
Yes, I did think of the beauty and the beast song when I wrote that. And yes, I also start singing it in my head every time I read this part again.
[Ch. 14] I initially had Reiner call Armin and Mikasa "Tweedledee and Tweedledum" from Alice in Wonderland. But I decided to change it to "Thing One and Thing Two" from Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat), even though it's a more recent reference and it wouldn't match if one were to place the AoT timeline somewhere between the 1920's and 40's in the real world. I just think it's funnier so I don't care if the timeline doesn't properly fit. XD
Continuing with the theme of children's entertainment, yes, the opening for AoT Changes - "the chase" sequence - is 100% copied from Aladdin (the animation, of course). I love that movie and I really like the whole chasing sequence / musical number, it's a really fun and upbeat way to start a story.
[pure tree-canon] All Ackermanns are born premature, they just develop faster than regular humans. In Levi's case, his prematurity and later poor nutrition highly contributed to his low stature.
-Azzy was born of seven months and Sunny was closer to eight months.
Also in tree-canon - all unborn Titan Shifter children give their mothers the power to regenerate as a protection mechanism, that's why both Mikasa and Historia can regenerate while pregnant and also became more resilient during pregnancy. This is based on real science, because apparently unborn children can lend their mothers their stem cells, which help them heal themselves and even cure some diseases. The fetal cells stay with the mother for years after the baby is born. #themoreyouknow
The momentary regeneration was also the reason Grisha had to finally tell the truth about the past to Carla when she found out she could heal herself while pregnant, still, he didn't explain things to her completely, because he himself was a very confused man. (Again, this is all tree-canon)
On that note, yes, Eren does freak out when he learns Historia is pregnant and everything unravels the way it does because of that. He promises her he would stop the curse and the rest is history. (I was gonna say "and you know the rest" but I saw an opportunity for a pun there and I took it. xD)
I'm making a chart with the whole AoT Changes family tree (it's taking a while, there are too many characters XD) - with the Fritzs and Ackermanns and all. I'll post it on my socials and on the subreddit since I can't post it here, and I recommend for the readers to check it out, it might help with some doubts and confusions with all the relations in this.
Way before Azzy was a character and AoT Changes was a fic, he was already a joke on some discord servers I am in - especially on the Armin x Mikasa server ofc - (it all started there, actually) - anyways, he didn't have a name, but I used to joke that he was AAA, or triple A, because both Mikasa's surnames and Armin's (the one we know), start with the letter A: Azumabito, Ackermann and Arlert. And that might have influenced me in two ways:
First - to change from the previous name I had in mind "Ozymandias", (a DC character Erwin apparently is based on) to a more "A" sounding name. So it could truly be AAA, Azymondeus Ackermann-Arlert, or Arlert-Ackermann, or just Az Arlert, depending on the culture. xD
PS: other names I considered were Osmond (a name that I later used), and Azaliah (that's what Azzy is commonly short for); the fun fact is that both Osmond and Azaliah mean similar things, "near God" or "protected by God", and if I break down the name Azymondeus between Hebrew, old French and Latin, it still means under God's protection.
And Second: initially his powers weren't really an actual "power" as in some "energy" thing, but as I developed the story I started learning more towards science then just "magic", and I'd say the whole triple A or AAA, made me add a few battery jokes about his character (and ofc, develop the "otherworldly energy" part of the story)
[Ch. 3] when Ymir looks up the tree light and says "I'm sorry about your mother," she's not talking to Armin. She's talking to herself while thinking of Az, she's referring to Mikasa, who had just died. Ymir feels bad because she knows how much he loves his mum (Az is 100% mama's boy) and she realised he would have to grow up without her now.
-Now the misdirect is that Armin thinks she is talking to him, and a second misdirect is at the end of the chapter when he sees a ghost of a child in paths and tells Mikasa that looks like his mother:
"Who is that?" He was looking behind Mikasa, a little further away. It was difficult to tell but it seemed to be a young girl with bright yellow eyes.
"Who is what?" Mikasa asked as she turned to look. The apparition was gone.
"Nothing." He was unsure... "It's just-" he wondered, a little perplexed.
Then he finished the thought:
"It looked like my mother."
The little girl is of course Sunny, and that is brought up a few times again, in ch. 9, when Eren comments with Armin how Sunny looks like Armin's mother. In ch. 11, when Armin's mother looks at him with her "bright yellow eyes", which means Sunny inherited her eyes from her grandmother (this is also a nod to Armin yellow eyes in the Manga, instead of blue in the Anime; btw, I prefer his eyes to be blue)
And finally, in ch. 13, when Armin is having a Paths hallucination, he dreams of Hizuru in the future and he hears Sunny's laugh, which is very similar to his mother's laugh, again confirming one more thing she inherited from her grandmother.
PS: Sunny might have her grandmother's laugh, on Armin's side, but her voice is actually very similar to Mikasa's voice, almost identical. (She just sounds more infantile and happy)
Yes, Mikasa smells like jasmine, I also considered lavender and gardenia, but jasmine just felt right.
After Annie passes out in ch 13, Levi takes her back to the garden and places her under a tree, her laying there reminds him of Petra and he is for a moment tempted to finally kill her. But the Captain is done with revenges for the day and quite tired.
Still on the topic of Season 1 storylines, yes, the part with Jean and Floch being cut in half is a Marco reference.
Chapter 14, in a similar way to Chapter 7, has two main tasks: first to set up everything that has happened in the future in this Arc, in a way that the reader can go back to previous chapters and re-read the future storylines in arc II (years 859 and 867) and see it all fit in from how the rumbling was left in ch. 14. And second to build up expectation for Arc III and undo everything timeline-wise. Arcs I: "the old world" and II: "the castle" became forgotten timelines, but that doesn't mean they didn't happen. ;)
[Ch. 14] When Maria says to Rose: "I'll see you both on the other side," is to foreshadow that they will die and eventually see each other on the actual "other side"
Too dark? I did my best to keep their story light, or the least dark I could. :/
Most of the 2000 years ago events that happen in chapters 13 and 14 were first written down in June of 2021, at the time I was constantly updating the discord server, posting tidbits about Fritz's death and the three girls in the "ceremony".
I eventually gave out the name of the Nine Titans and told people to guess each one's Titans by their names, the clue is that most names have a lot to do with their Titan; one example is "Torr", even though it sounds like "Thor", the name is not Nordic, it's old English for "tower" and he is the Original Colossal Titan. Or "Jari" which means "helmed warrior" or some variation of that, he is of course the Original Armoured Titan.
Now I didn't specify at the time that those Nine Titans were all King Fritz's children, but I left their names pinned (under spoilers of course) so people who saw it would eventually figure it out once they were slowly introduced in Arc II. Out of all the Royal children the only one who doesn't have a line in Arc II is Dorian, the Original Attack Titan. That's because I wanted to keep his personality a little away from the reader, and keep his character a little more mysterious. (You can make your own fic with him and if want ;)
There will be more about Fritz family and the 2000 years ago storyline in Arc III, it will run currently with the pre-rumbling (post ch. 119) storyline and another future storyline. Arc III is all prepared and most of ch. 21 (the very last chapter) is already written down. But I will take a longer break and will take more time to prepare this Arc, because it will be the final one and I wanted to be perfect - I need time to make sure I won't forget anything.
I know it's frustrating that time ran back again, but I really wanted to go back to somewhere between chapters 118 and 119 of the original manga. The initial plan was for the first time-jump in the story to be straight back to that Shiganshina conflict, without a middle arc, meaning just from Arc I to Arc III. But I quickly realised that I would need time to introduce all those concepts about the past and the Titan origins and Az and Ymir's development, and some of the stuff in the future. So I created this middle arc to fit a lot of the story development in, I hope people don't get too frustrated over that. ;-;
If you feel sad while reading the story of Maria, Rose and Sina just listen to "Child and the Guardian Angel" by Peter Roe, that's one of the songs in the music compilation that I listened to most while writing that storyline and it just gives me chills and it's oddly comforting at the same time. It really encapsulates my feelings while writing The Girls' storyline.
Okay, this is it for this section of fun things, tidbits and references. Chapter 14 is done, Arc II is done and the FanArt Festival is almost upon us! As I said before I'm finally taking a break, it's been over one year and I learned a lot about writing and about myself throughout this process. I am really glad you came on this ride with me, dear reader, and let's hope you will stay to read the final and definitive conclusion to this story. (I'm not kidding, no time-reversals this time, the end will truly be the end.)
I'll be back sometime around July. In the meantime, I'll update a few things on my YouTube channel and other socials, I'll also post from time to time on r/snkchanges, our official subreddit and I also always reply whenever you send me questions.
(I might just take a little longer to reply now)
And no, I will not give anyone spoilers about Arc III.
If you want to help this fic become more known, it really helps to share! So just share it around! :D
Thank you guys for everything. :')
And I'll see you in a few months!
C.T. [19/04/22]
NEW NEW NEW! :D :D :D
It's been waay over a year since I added anything here, but now that I FINALLY finished writing this story I decided to write down some more fun stuff ;p
It took me 3 years, 3 months and 6 days to write this. And it reached past 500 thousand words or around 2000 book pages. hehe
In chapter 11, "Ackermann" both Levi and Azzy are the same age, twenty years old. And both are new recruits: Levi of the Survey Corps (in 841) and Azzy of the old Eldian Army (many centuries before). Levi was a thief before joining and Azzy had had a brief experience in the Marlean army.
"-at the same time, giving birth to these giant, reddish, flesh-and-bones creatures that hadn't seen the sun in over one hundred years." Httyd reference- book 5 about the Lava-Lout dragons.
"It's my birthday," she said with a smile. (Ymir- Ch. 14)
-just imagine that line delivery in the same tone as River Song telling that to Rory on DW S6E7 "A good man goes to war" (it was in my mind at the time)
In chapter 9 you will see two similar conversation scenes in the woods, one of Ymir and Az and other later in the chapter with Eren and Armin, you can also notice Eren and Ymir are sitting on a rock while Az and Armin are standing closer to the trees, the night setting is also similar in both scenes, with mentions of the sky and the moon.
Ymir and Azzy's relationship mirroring Eren and Armin's relationship is obviously by design. And the fun part is that their Fritz and Ackermann sides come from Historia and Mikasa instead, and those two clearly have a more amicable and less complicated relationship, although they are not very close.
I don't know if I ever explained the concept of "Titan Children" completely, so here we go:
The first wave of Pure Titans were made after Maria screamed (end of arc 2) activating the power in the soldiers who had eaten the rests of Ymir's carcass. The second wave was made by Torin's scream, and this time it activated the power in the people who had eaten Maria's Titan's carcass. But after that, the Pure Titans were also created out of the Nine Titan children (the kids they had after becoming Titan Shifters) Those Pure Titans were activated without requiring the person to eat some of a Founding Titan carcass (actually the only thing they need is to consume the spinal fluid of the Founding Titan, but you guys already know that) And those Titan Children were usually turned into Abnormals as well, since their DNA is clearly altered because they have a Shifter parent, and Shifter grandparent and so on.
-btw the Female Titan was a fun concept to play with, Elke being the only woman consuming the power, when Ymir and her 3 children are all females gave this extra meaning to all this. My idea was that Elke ended up consuming certain powers from Maria (who herself ate Ymir) that her brothers could not manifest since their DNA is XY, not XX (hehe)
(I'm not the biggest fan of Biology, I was always a Math, History and Geography nerd in school, but I loved studying Genetics)
The overall idea with the Titan Children concept is that over the course of those two thousand years, all the people who were labelled as "Eldians" were Titan Shifter offspring, so when Azzy and Ymir are in the past, not all the Eldians in that village will necessarily be ancestors of the current Eldians - although there's a lot of mix and matching over the centuries as we all know. But all the current Eldians definitely are descendants of the OG Nine Titans and all the Nine Titan Shifters that came after the Original ones - meaning they can all be turned into Titans with the Founders' scream, but also some Founding Titans over the centuries have made concoctions of Shifters' spinal fluids to get specific Titan powers in their mindless armies (like what Karl Fritz did to create the Wall Titans for the 3 Walls) and all that is a fun concept to explore as well.
-Also the closer a Titan Child is from the 9 Titan Houses the stronger they'll be as Titan Shifters and the more likely is that their Pure Titans will come out as extremely abnormals. (This is a royal system so you can imagine a lot of intermarriage going on lol) The furthest off you go from the main houses - meaning Titan Children marrying regular humans and those also marrying regular humans and so on - the weaker their Pure Titan and possible Titan Shifters will be. In this case the Warriors are not Royal or Noble to they don't manifest the Nine Titan powers to their fullest capacity. So Bert's CT is not nearly as strong or capable as Armin's CT, for instance. (Sorry Bert, I love ya s2) -Armin is from the Tybur family, not from Torr's House (where CTs come from) but the Tyburs are also infamous for experimenting wildly with their mix and matching and making sure their Titan Children would be very mutated as hell (*X-Men theme plays) So Armin manifests a lot of the CTs powers with no issue, and he also suspects that his family's weird history also contributed to Azzy and Sunny being born the way they were (that plus Mikasa's Ackermann blood as well)
But as I assume you're reading this AFTER reading chapter 21, then you know that is not necessarily the case - although Azzy and Sunny are Titan Children (see ch. 8, they talk about it then) and they are also Ackermanns, which is a cool combination - their powers come from the light tree and the Titan Realm itself - so it's kind of a "reverse" situation XD
Since the light tree is what starts all this, and the powers are passed from Azzy to Ymir, then from Ymir to the girls then from the girls to the nine Fritz siblings (in that family barbecue XD)
And with Eren and Grisha (and Zeke) - remember: Zeke is a Titan Child, sure. He's a Fritz and from the royal line - but that's from Dina's side, not Grisha's. Grisha is Eldian but very mixed with other ethnicities, as it is more common in the continent - versus Paradise, where most Eldians are descendants of Torin, who went to live there and made the island his capital - meaning a lot of people there are lowkey Fritzs, but not exactly royal. Now Eren was born after Grisha became a Titan Shifter (differently from Zeke who was born before) so he is very much a Titan Child too. Summing up: Zeke is a Titan Child because of Dina and the Fritz line, Eren is a Titan Child because of Grisha, who was a Titan Shifter when Eren was born.
(just like Azzy and Sunny are because of Armin, and Danso is because of Annie, and Pieck's and Reiner's kids too; and Flora because of Falco - although the Warriors' kids were born after 854, when the rules of the curse changed, so that's a whole different conversation hehe)
Eren has those dreams at the beginning - when he's still a kid- (Titan Dreams - or future memories, if you will) because Grisha passed down a little of his Attack Titan abilities in his mutated DNA (*X-Men theme plays) to Eren, and those types of memories and vision powers are actually common in Titan Children. Now Eren is a Titan Child and then later a Titan Shifter - by eating his own father which you can imagine mutated his DNA even further (than if he had inherited the power from a Shifter that wasn't related to him) And Historia is a full blooded Fritz -from all sides- (a lot of incest going on in her bloodline for sure)
But what really made the twins' power so extremely weird and over the top was the fact that Ymir's DNA (which starts all this) is Historia's and Eren's DNAs combined - and Ezra's DNA is also the same as hers (full-blooded siblings have the same DNA, just rearranged)
*to sum up - Ymir is being born into a power that comes from the very fabric of her own being - her own code, if you will - her DNA starts all this, so madness ensues once her DNA is formed again as she's conceived into existence. Remember she's the daughter of History itself. *winks
This is the History of Titans, it starts with Ymir and it ends with Ezra.
And it's the same thing for Azzy. His DNA, which is Armin's and Mikasa's DNAs combined, starts the mutation of the Ackermann bloodline. Meaning Mikasa and Levi (whose DNA is obviously similar to Mikasa's) are almost as strong as the first five Ackermanns that ate Azzy 2000 years before (the Ackermann power sort of waned over the centuries, but it became strong again as it was arriving into Azzy's bloodline once again) Also all that explains the headaches too, Mikasa's (and Levi's) powers come from Azzy's DNA, which is very similar to theirs, especially Mikasa's, and that messes with their brains - especially when they use the power too much.
*Sunny's DNA is also the same as Azzy's (again full-blooded siblings have the same DNA, just rearranged)
-But don't forget that Azzy's, Ymir's, Ezra's and Sunny's powers all come from the light tree, which starts all this, so although they are all Titan Children, their powers are actually straight for the source. Azzy and Ymir start all this (while Ezra and Sunny are just kind of adjacent tbh) And Edan's blood will effectively end the Eldian curse - but more on that in the Aftermath chapter.
Was that too overcomplicated? XD
Let's move on -.-
In chapter 2, in the year 867, Historia mentions that Eren "has his own door" when she sees he coming from the woods inside the Palace walls, and he even asks if she would throw him out. Eren has created a crystal tunnel from a regular building in Mitras to the woods of the Palace - that's the "door" Historia mentioned, as he uses it to come in and out unnoticed. Although nothing specific about this crystal tunnel is fully mentioned in chapter 2, for at this point is just left as a small mystery of how Eren got in; the crystal tunnel concept is further explained and better explored in chapter 4 when Azzy goes down that tunnel in that abandoned building and Armin later does the same, both emerging surprised to be in the Palace woods.
Levi's line to Historia in Chapter 1: "I have to admit, that's a bold strategy, using the children as human shields." - about the orphanage children - is a reference to President Snow's last strategy in the Hunger Games - using children as "human shields"
The name I first gave to Chapter 19 was: Chapter Nineteen: 2000 years apart [ A Tale of Two Kingdoms ] but later on I found the second part to be too generic and the name to be too long. In a similar way, chapter 15 was initially called "Sunny", but sometime around 2021 I wrote that dialogue in which Ezra decides to call her "Blue", so I changed the name of that chapter as well.
Beyond those 2, I haven't changed any chapter names since the 15th of march, 2021 - when I first sat down and named all the chapters, since back then I knew exactly what I wanted to happen and I just reversed my way into the story. The first ever outline of a scene written was the ending scene in chapter 20, and my second scene written was "the chase" sequence in chapter 1. So from that I started to make my way into Ymir throwing Az into the light, since that was the point I wanted to arrive at.
"If only they could see me now, what would they think?" - Azzy thinks this at the ch 1 opening sequence "the chase", he at that moment is wondering what would his parents think if they could see him, and it's my own foreshadowing/inside joke as, yes, his parents can see him through paths - which is revealed in ch 4.
At the beginning of chapter 15 Sunny arrives in Paradise, and she gets caught on the immigration line XD - They of course need proper documentation like in any other country. But also the police is very strict to avoid non-eldians getting close to the Wall, because they know it will kill them if they try to cross through (and many people from the outside world don't believe that) - non-eldians are still welcomed, but they need to follow the instructions and stay in the open area around the Wall, they can't get inside.
I, of course, couldn't mention any of that because the reveal that the Wall Titans would form one giant Wall as Ymir's last gift to her people was only going to happen in chapter 21. And of course, as Sunny arrives in the island all those years later this has already happened. I know how a lot of people don't like the constant flash-forwards and backwards, but they are needed in this story.
I had to be careful not to reveal too much stuff in the future storyline (871 onwards) so it wouldn't ruin the 854 storyline - but there were things I couldn't avoid - for instance, Eren shows up after 871, that already tell us he is not going to die in 854, same thing for Queen Historia, and Mikasa. Now Levi only makes his first appearance in the future after the tension that he might die is concluded in 854 - and he regenerates instead (all in ch 19) what adds to the sweetness of his relationship with Sunny, since her mere existence saved his life all those years before.
Levi fighting Azzy was one of the first thoughts I had back in march 2021, I just really wanted to get to that, and to the moment when toddler Azzy just disappears with Ymir in his arms and his older self can't do anything about it -which gives Levi the upper hand, followed by older Azzy also jumping when his uncle is finally about to kill him, giving Levi an inkling of who he had been fighting with that whole time-
All of that were in my first notes, over two years ago and when I finally sat down to write all this fight it was way too much fun! As A Slap on Titan Levi would say: "I'm batman."
In ch 19 Eren has 3 wildly different conversations: one with Armin, one with Historia and another with Mikasa, in 3 different points of his life and also showing the different aspects of these relationships and the importance these 3 people have in his life.
"War-Hammer-Attack Titan" and "Onyankopon" were always annoying to write a hundred times over, yes, I would mostly copy-paste those words but a lot of the times I couldn't, since it would break my writing rhythm - I write real fast, and just writing those overly complicated words was sometimes faster than looking for them on the page to do a copy-paste lewl (I'm so tired :Smiling-Face-with-Tear: )
Talking about Onyan, the young Onyan - old Onyan stuff was planned since the beginning. Those who followed me on twitter back in 2021 (in my old acc) might remember that I said there that Onyan's storyline in Arc 3 was by far my favourite. At that point the conversation between his younger self and older self was already written down and the fact that Annie appears in front of him right after the old man disappeared, wishing he would have a good life, was also planned from the beginning. BUT I wanted to left things ambiguous, I just was not planning to ever confirm if they went on to have a romantic relationship or just a very nice friendship, since I just didn't feel like Annie was the dating type, she's a loner after all.
(And I really didn't want this to turn into a soap opera ending with a bunch of couples getting together - even though it kinda went that way for the most part, still I'm doing my best here for this ending not to be too soppy)
The next scene they were (are) set to appear together is a moment in the Aftermath chapter (still coming) where they are shown in some form of expedition, many years later - if you're reading this after the Aftermath chapter came out then you know the scene - if not, just think safari expedition vibes. And in that scene I also was not going to confirm any form of relationship status for them, they would just interact like old friends, leaving to the readers' interpretation.
BUT Danso changed all that. I started thinking about the possibility of a cool Back to the Future storyline (minus the incest, people. Please.) And Annie, Onyan and Danso were just the perfect fit for all that. I first thought: "hey what if one of those pilots from the future is related to one of the main characters" and then developed the storyline from that. This storyline and a few other later editions were what made these last few chapters become so damn long! XD
Also Annie and Onyan's love story doesn't start right away, there is a hint of that when I left in passing that Danso is only born 11 years after the whole mess that is happening in the island at the moment (in 854) he is born in 865. I didn't want to focus on their story for much longer in ch 21, but here is a small sum up: Annie is slightly attracted to him from the start, he on the other hand thinks she's too young (obvi) and immature (and clearly very self-serving) but they become friends in those next few months after the island rumbling and remain friends after they go back to Marley. They eventually begin dating around 5 years in and after a few years in and off (not really smooth sailing, specially in the first 3 years or so) they eventually settle down and have Danso. Annie is around 33 at this point and Onyan is 40. They'll show up again in the epilogue chapter and so will Danso, finally reaching the age we saw him in at the beginning, but no, this version of him will not be a pilot. (that's some little spoilers for u s2 s2 …since I don't know when I'll write that epilogue, I need a very long break and a looot of sleep)
I had a scene in paths between Ymir and Torin where he asked her to stop haunting his children and she yelling at him saying "you ate my children" - it was supposed to be after a flashback with a descendant of Karl Fritz (maybe his son or grandson idk) and Ymir haunting him, making him paranoid about the Azumabito in the island, which was supposed to explain that Ymir wanted to stop Azzy from existing - all of that was followed by Sunny and Ymir's conversation in Paths at the beginning of chapter 20, in the conversation Sunny talks about all that and maybe if I ever decide to expand these scenes I'll add that section.
The reason I removed that was because the beginning of chapter 20 already had too many flash-backs and forwards and I already knew this would be a monster of a chapter so I had to trim it a little bit. :P
Another flashback that I never added in (also in chapter 20) was a pillage of the Eldian village when Torin, Elke and Torr are very little, followed by a flash forward to a few decades later when Torin is already king and him punishing the last Marlean official involved in that by throwing him into a Titan pit, because of course. That was a fun idea, but it also got cut. :C
I also planned to expand more into the Fritz and the Ackermanns in the 2000 years ago storyline. I had a romance plotline between Elke and Axl which I wasn't completely sure about. Especially because of Axl's involvement in Tara's death and the Ackermann complications with their offspring. But then I decided what to do about it, so enjoy this extra nugget of "Tree-Canon"
(here we go)
- Elke and Axl already had 6 children by the time she became a Titan and he became a cursed Ackermann, all boys - and like I mentioned at the beginning of ch 21, Elke is currently pregnant again, but only the couple knows about it since it's pretty early on. I mentioned how Axl hopes this time it's a girl and it finally is, this girl will later become the second Female Titan. And she's also their seventh child and last one to be born before their parents' genetic code changed completely. (But she's already being formed when her mother ingests the titan spinal fluid, so that affects her own DNA in some level, making the girl a Titan Child but NOT a cursed Ackermann. Too complicated? ;-; )
But here is the fun part! (I just love to add some little fun nuggets to my dear "Tree-Canon", and only you guys who come here to read everything will know these lil details). The oldest boy, Axl and Elke's firstborn child (who is Ludvík's and Fritz's first grandchild) forms the line from which Bertholdt directly descends from - So that's why he has the sword at the end. :D
(meaning Bertie is an Ackermann and a Fritz but not from the curse) :D
:D :D :D
Now Elke and Axl still had a bunch of children after that, of course, all Ackermanns and none of them could be turned into Titans. Many of their kids died in the countless battles the Eldian Empire had to face to conquer the rest of the world.
- ps: Elke and Axl first got together when she was 16 and he 17 and their first kids soon started to pop-up. And if you think it's weird that I'm showcasing people getting together and having kids "so young" then you need to study History more. People now, in the 21st century, are studying more and also living much longer, but that was never the case in past centuries. And it is still not the case in some countries. In the 20th century and further back, people only lived to around their late 30s and early 40s, especially in lower classes and small villages. So their lives were much more "compacted" in a sense. Couples married in their late teens and early 20s and they had a bunch of kids right away, and also a lot of them died soon too, infant death was much more common, which is sad and I'm glad Medicine has advanced so much in the last 200 years or so. But beyond that, people also are much slower to mature nowadays, it seems. If you pick up a diary or letters written by those people in the past 2 centuries you'll see that people in their late teens were so much more mature than people that age in recent generations. The characters in the Attack on Titan world live in what can be described as "Europe - late 19th to early 20th century vibes" and I write these characters with that in mind. Same for the characters I created for the 2000 years ago storyline, I'm basing their maturity and personality in what we know about people from that time period. Like I said before, I REALLY like studying History. -
Now back to Fun things, tidbits and references
Elke and the other Fritz kids all moved to different sections of the Eldian Empire - and I kinda wanted to expand all that part and talk more about the Titan Houses and all that - Especially to explain that they set off to discover more about the glowing rocks and how that's the reason Torin eventually settled in Paradise, where they found another mine of those rocks, while Osmond built his castle where the first glowing mine was (Tybur Castle)
But honestly, if you haven't been watching my struggle closely, as a few of the readers have, writing this fan fiction has consumed me completely. All my free time goes into writing, I haven't done anything else in the past 3 years and I really just want to stop. :S
Don't get me wrong, I love my characters and I'm writing all this with all my love and passion but I have passed the oversaturated state ages ago! XD
my brain is just mush and I'm beyond fatigued :S :S :S
So maybe in like 10 years I'll come back to write more, or maybe never lol
(I just want to sleep)
I also have commented on the server (discord) that I have a backstory for Hange and that I might one day (*might) write a fan fiction focusing on the Survey Corps in their early years, like Levi in his 20s, after No Regrets or even before, idk yet. But it is one of the many ideas I have.
And I also have considered making more concept drawings of what all the nine Fritz siblings look like, and Lud and the Ackermanns and other characters that I created too, and all the new Titans that showed up in the later chapters. But again, for now I just need a long break and much sleep.
The original ending of Attack on Titan sucked beyond measure, let's be honest. I can't find any redeeming quality in all that mess. Except for one thing. If the ending of this story hadn't been as bad as it was, I would have never set out to write any of this! I never wrote fan fiction before, I never even read fan fiction before. It was just the middle of the Pandemic and this felt like a new fun challenge for my bored mind. And I discovered my writing abilities because of it. So that's one redeeming thing about the terrible canon ending for me. I got to create my Tree Canon and have fun with my friends along the way. And now, I'm not stopping here, I want to keep writing more stories and creating more characters. Writing is something I never thought of pursuing before, now it feels like my future career. And, in a way, Attack on Titan's bad ending is what brought me here. Maybe I would have found out my passion for writing in a different way in the future, but that's how it happened. XD
I would love to bring some of my own AoT characters to life in animation at some point, in some of the more memorable scenes that I wrote, and perhaps I'll get some people together and pay for that when I'm earning more money, right now I'm a little too broke for that. :S
:'D
In the second timeline I was going to expand that Ezra inherited Zeke's Titan together with the Founding Titan (remember, Levi burned him alive that time hehe) and how that helped mess up his mind a little more, while in the third timeline he only inherited the Founding. Now I don't subscribe to the theory that the previous memories can change someone's personality (like that whole thing of Eren saying how Armin likes Annie cuz bertoto liked Annie, that whole thing was very stupid and you know the writing was already getting out of character when Armin didn't immediately bring Freud into the room and asked Eren if he thought his momma was hot XD. We all know Armin's sharp wit, come on. Armin Arlert never loses an argument, please.) Now going back to Ezra, I subscribe to the theory that inheriting multiple Titans can mess up someone's head. Especially if your DNA is closer to the previous holder (like I expanded before here) In Eren's case he inherited two Titans directly from his dad, not good, then went over and got himself another one, so he was going cray-cray. (At the time, I actually liked the theory that he was trying to consume all the powers, that was actually interesting. Like always, most theories are much better than what we got in the end *pukes).
So yeah, I wish I had expanded more on that with Ezra, in this case, he got his dad's Titans (that were previously his granddad's) and his uncle's Titan. Now there is also the difference of being born a Titan and consuming the previous holder, which is clearly traumatic, and it clearly was for Eren. Again I could have expanded more on that and how the second timeline got darker and darker. I wish I could have written the build up and a scene with Ezra actually killing Eren but this fan fiction just got way too long. So I'll leave for everyone's imagination. Once I finish writing "Aftermath" (chapter 22) I'm out. I need to close the book on this story. It's taken too much of my life so far. :')
In the end of ch 18, Lud yanks out his own heart and dies. I planned that since arc 2, in the flashback at the end of ch 12, we see that the Ackermann sons have his heart with them, but it's not explained that he is the one who removed it. It actually seems like they carved it out somehow, which wasn't the case. I wanted to leave all the drama of Lud's death to the end of chapter 18, and I already had written most of that scene back then (when I wrote ch 12). Now it seems some of you noted that the whole -yank out his heart and dying- sequence felt like a Sasageyo homage, and he is literally "giving out his heart". But no, I was not thinking of that when I wrote the sequence, it's just a very funny coincidence.
"Pip" is a word for seed while "Bap" is a word for small bread. I also chose those as nicknames for the twins because pip has an "ee" sound, like the "Y" in Ymir and bap has an "ah" sound, like the "A" in Ezra. It just seemed logical somehow, when imagining small kids trying to pronounce each other's names. Kids often put hard consonant sounds in front of everything when they're still learning to talk.
The encounter between Azzy and Sunny in the balcony in ch 21 was also one of the first scenes I thought about, even before I completely developed what their characters would be like.
In ch21 the exchange:
Ymir turned to her small boy. "Do you want cake?" she asked Edan very cheerfully.
"Are we already serving cake?" Ezra inquired.
"Mummy ordered far too many sweets," his sister turned to him with the small comment.
"She probably thinks we are still turning five," Ezra commented back and the twins then both smiled at each other sweetly.
-The "turning five" comment is a bit of an eerie joke, because the twins never got to commemorate their fifth birthday together, Ymir disappeared when they were 4.
I did not forget Falco and Gabi at the end of the fight in ch 21. When the Warriors return to Marley in 855, the two preteens stay longer with the Braus and Mrs. Springer, but they eventually return home when Reiner comes back to fetch them a couple of months later. I considered writing more about their relationship with Mrs. Springer, Falco in particular, but the chapter was getting way too long and it felt unnecessary. The reason for them staying quite a few months in the island was that Gabi needed to wait for Historia's decision to pardon her or not - for Sasha's death. I couldn't fit that into ch 21 without feeling forced, or maybe I'm just too tired to write - lewl.
(Historia was supposed to talk about it to Eren in the 858 scene, when they are talking about the Warriors, sitting together in the couch, but I couldn't find a place to fit that topic in so I just gave up x)
*They still show up again in the very end though, with baby Flora. And they will show up in the epilogue chapter.
I had planned for the eremin argument on the military complex (midway to the end of ch 21) to end with the guy who had been a titan ('frank') coming up to eren to strike a conversation, finally revealing his real name was Lars, but it wasn't fitting very well, so I added a previous scene expanding the guy's story in a conversation between Annie and Hitch, it felt better that way, it would feel anticlimactic to have him have a conversation with Eren after Eren was just fighting with Armin, and MA finally leaving, so I had to remove that part. So just imagine that Eren stayed longer there in that military complex and the guy who used to be a titan eventually came over to have a conversation with him about his past and what the world was like in his time - you can fill the gaps yourself, this chapter is waaay too long already.
:v
-also the lil toy soldier "Horace" was a late inclusion, this is a quiet Tangled reference for those keeping count. I was just thinking about the series at that time.
:v
Yes. Azzy is the spine-thing. That was my plan all along, he was the spine-thing in my mind before he even was "Azzy" - I wanted for Ymir to have a romance with the guy who eventually kills her, I wanted him to be marlean, and I wanted to give an explanation as to why she just decided to die instead of regenerating. Because that always felt like a major plothole me, she wouldn't just die from that spear wound and that was what got my wheels turning. I then decided to unite this Ymir is killed by her lover - who is the Ackermann - who eventually becomes the weird spine-thing that attaches to her, with my other personal theory that Ymir is actually Historia and Eren's daughter from the future. Falling into a rabbit hole, Alice in wonderland style.
I first imagined her finding the big tree and falling into the past through that cave, then I elaborated the story better. That's why I decided to create Azzy, because it would tie-in Eren and Armin's relationship with some nice parallels. And it was a very cool way to tie-up the Ackermann story with him being eaten by the first Ackermanns then being born as an Ackermann 2000 years later. It was also a nice way to explain Mikasa's headaches and hers being stronger than Levi's, their DNA is a bit messed up because of Azzy, but Mikasa's is more messed up than Levi's. (Also I've explained that before here) I first had him be born later, after the rumbling, but then I imagined that scene where he's fighting Levi and the toddler Azzy carries Ymir away. And I also imagined them (Azzy and Ymir) in the crystal dimension so I had to backtrack a little bit and make Azzy old enough to be able to carry a newborn Ymir.
(so it was good that I decided all that before releasing the first chapter, I decided quite a lot of things before releasing the first few chapters tbh, I just knew I had to, otherwise I would find myself with plotholes or I would write myself into a corner and I didn't want that)
Azzy is the spine-thing, yes, but he is not the "Devil". He has that nickname in olden times, just cuz I thought it would be fun, but the Devil in this what I explain it was in chapter 17, an ancient creature from outer space, or from other dimensions, something vague like that XD. It's very ancient and evil and likes to create chaos, you know: the Devil.
*The reason why Azzy can never enter the tree cave where Ymir fell through, is because he is already there, in spine-thingy form XD
-that is a portal so it doesn't mean he's been there for ages, it's a timeless space, Ymir falls through it, almost dies and he is transported there when he is dying inside the otherworldly light in the paths dimension, so he connects to her and that is what makes the Titan powers come to be. This is also why the powers are able to be transferred to their three daughters, they don't only eat their mother, they eat their father as well - the glowing part attached to Ymir's spine. The girls' DNA can react and mutate the way they do because of that, it's like getting an upgrade XD (don't call me out on this, I'm not a geneticist:)
This is my last fun things, tidbits and references (probably) and I wanna finish saying that after 3 years I finally realised that people might pronounce Az as: ASS
:O xD And I wanna remind you that the "A" is the British (open) pronunciation of the letter "A" like in Apartment, or Apology or Apollo, and the letter Z is very much stressed, like: Azzz
(Please don't call him ass) xD
And I'll leave you with the little fun fact that in my native language - Portuguese - Az (Azzz) is the pronunciation of "Ás" - the first card in the deck, which in English is called "Ace" but I don't like the name "Ace" in English, it sounds like a dude-bro name. So I decided to stick with Ás.
that is all folks.
-Tree
[22/06/2024]
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