[Main Notes]
I decided to add some extra notes at the end of this fan fiction just for the readers who are curious and interested to know more about it. If you want to comment about it, there's a discord link and a forum link on my profile page.
*If you are enjoying this fan fiction, please recommend it to your friends and consider leaving a review! Seeing people's interest and opinions on it helps me keep going and makes me excited to write! :)
How did it come about:
Well, one of my friends suggested I put all my ideas in a paper and make my own ending to make me feel better. After I expressed my disappointment in knowing that we were so near the end and so many plot points were never going to be addressed again and some many stories in this would be left unfinished. So I did! This is my first time writing a fictional story and I'm enjoying it a lot!
There are a lot of things that inspire me to write, usually songs and other stories that I love even more than SnK. You will see Narnia, Doctor Who, Umbrella Academy and some other references to similar sci-fi and fantasy stories. Songs, I don't think I can list them all, but I might on Spotify at some point.
Timeline:
(I made this calendar on discord so my readers could understand the story better:)
≃2000 years ago - Ymir Storyline (expect to read a lot about that story pretty soon)
- Year 743 - Karl Fritz and the creation of The Walls. (Teased in Arc 1, will be explored in Arc 2)
- Year 845 - Where the manga starts, I haven't done anything in that year, yet, and I don't think I will. *insert old Cap meme here
- Year 850 - This is the most full of stuff year of AoT, from the 104th graduation to the Return to Shiganshina arc, pretty much everything happens in 850
- Years 851/852/853 - I will include some flashbacks from mid time-skip years in this Fic.
- Year 854 - From Marley Arc to Rumbling, remember?
*I am considering October 31st, 854 as the twins' birthday and ending of the rumbling because why not?
Now for future stuff in Changes only:
- Year 859 - Azzy meets Ymir (Please read Ch. 2 "The Girl")
- Year 867 - Azzy purposely Jumps back in time for the first time. (Please read Ch. 4 "Promise [867]") Also the year where the Fic starts and where most things happen, at least in this first arc.
Things to be explored in Changes:
• Ymir's life, 2000 years ago;
• Titan origins (9 titans and pure titans);
• The life and death of Maria, Rose & Sina;
• The Ackermann family 2000 years ago;
• Clear explanation of the Ackermann powers and curse;
• A lot more about Paths;
• The Titan War (100 years ago);
• Karl Fritz and the creation of the Walls;
• Hizuru, Marley & Eldia after the Rumbling;
• Eren's motivations and Attack Titan powers;
• The future of Titans and the world;
• Ymir's freedom.
*Some small facts about characters, inspirations and plot:
About Azzy and Uncle Levi:
"Army-Attack" by: Hiroyuki Sawano (SnK S1 OST) was in my mind while writing "The Chase" sequence at the beginning of Chapter One.
The first storyline comes from a discussion I had with someone a while ago on reddit about Levi and Kenny and if Levi would be a better uncle than Kenny was to him, the answer to that is yes, of course he would.
Azzy was just a plot device to me so I could introduce time travel into this story (it was going to be a portal at first, and we will still get a portal in this :v) over time developing his character made him more interesting to me, but he is not my favourite. Together with 3 other characters that I'm creating for this, he might be the third on my list, maybe second... I don't know yet.
Also, Azzy's abilities are based mainly on Number Five, a time/space jumping comic book character that I love very much. And some aspects are also based on Hiro Nakamura (I love his character but I only recommend Heroes season 1, that show went downhill pretty fast.) and Nightcrawler, even though he is only a space jumping character, the dimension hopping aspect of it is what appeals to me.
The flash-forwards and backwards in every chapter can be confusing, I know, I heard complaints about it. But it is important for the flow of the story. If I told this in some sort of straight line it would be spoiled on the first chapter and it would make even less sense.
Azzy's name comes from a combination of a lot of things, it started with Ozymandias, a DC character Erwin is apparently based on, mainly the looks, I'd say. I didn't want to call him Ozzy because that just sounds like I'm calling him Australian all the time. So I combined that name with a few others to get to Azymondeus.
*Azzy is already a common English nickname but it comes from the name Azaliah.
*Azzy is already a common English nickname but it comes from the name Azaliah.
Ackermann is a German surname, it means "man of the field", I wasn't thinking of that when I named the first chapter "The Field", I already knew that fact so perhaps it was a subconscious decision. Nevertheless, I am definitely exploring Azzy's "roots" and "the field" will come full circle, I can promise that. And I have my own explanation for headaches and powers and all that, and I'll get to it, and we will have a lot of fun along the way. ;p
If you want to get a sense of the story I'm writing, one of my main inspirations, specially around Azzy is The Magician's Nephew, the prequel book from the Narnia Series. (the first one on the timeline)
The golden pocket watch is not a typical clock, it's like the one shown in the first poster for AoT Changes, the watch is a miniaturised version of The Prague Astronomical Clock. It's not very easy to read, but an astronomical clock can tell multiple things beyond the time of day. On the lower side of the pocket watch is The Twelve Medallions that accompany the clock, telling the time of the year.
PS.: You can actually buy a pocket sized astronomical watch like that in real life.
PS.: You can actually buy a pocket sized astronomical watch like that in real life.
About Eren vs Armin:
There's a lot that was left lacking on the clash between these two main characters and that is, sure, not the only, but I would consider the main problem with the ending of the original manga. I don't think Eren should be completely evil and be considered "the main villain" of SnK, but the fear of giving him solid motivation for his actions was what caused his mischaracterisation in the first place. The main villain of SnK is Humanity itself, let's not forget that. Eren is a selfish person, but also very righteous, he has no limits or barriers when he decides to achieve what he wants to achieve. That's the perfect character to cause chaos when given unlimited power, The Rumbling is the result of that and it should have been thought through and better executed by the author. Better treatment of the storyline and more meaningful dialogue should have been delivered in this final arc. Eren is not all evil, and Armin is not a saint either, like most main characters, Armin has been mischaracterised since the timeskip. We had a lot of built up and no end delivery to the promise of an ideological clash between these two childhood friends. I intend to explore all that and recuperate their personalities in doing so, Eren has his faults and they are many, but Armin has his faults as well. Further than that, I will explore parallel relationships similar to theirs in different points in time. Writing that type of discourse and dialogue is like therapy to me. I miss these characters and it's a way to salvage them.
About Mikasa & Historia:
On the other side of that line, I intend to flesh out these two characters, because I believe them to be the two main female characters of SnK. Their treatment, as pretty much all characters in this manga, is lacking and mischaracterised towards the end. Historia was written off the manga midway through the Marley Arc and had "honourable mentions" a couple of chapters since then and Mikasa stayed sidelined in the majority of the Marley and Final arcs. It's upsetting to me the mistreatment and lack of screen time and development they had compared to what it was before the timeskip. "The ladies of SnK" as I often call them in my reviews and discourses are also the mothers of SnK in my story. Especially because out of the younger female cast, these two seem to be the more motherly figures of the group. While characters like Sasha, Annie, and Ymir (104th) behave more like sisters towards others, Mikasa and Historia show more maternal instincts and maturity in their behaviour, not to mention leadership, strength and drive. I intend to explore them and their relationships with others, with their families, culture and ancestry and with each other.
About side characters, like Survey Corps, JSC and Warriors:
I do believe it's better to not focus as much on these characters but still give them their proper characterisation and the complete character arc that they deserve than mischaracterise them or have them sidelined like pretty much extras in the background, like we've seen in the original manga towards the very end. Playing with time travel and flashbacks is fun, I get to bring some people back from the dead and I will do that with Magath, Hange, even Floch! I have plans to utilise these characters and have them play their role, Jean, Connie and the Warriors will be fighting together in the Final Battle in various timelines, Onyankopon and Yelena, Gabi, Falco, etc. I'm not forgetting anyone, don't worry about it. As it stands, now, I have a list of the side characters and which ones will die or live. Except for 3 of them, those three are undecided to me, for now. As I progress with the writing and get closer to Arc III, I will figure out and make my decision.
To add to that: One of the main characters will die, but again, I can't tell you which one.
About new characters and existing unexplored characters:
I was a little hesitant about creating new characters or giving existing characters names and better exploring them, but as I developed this story I just had to, it would be very difficult to progress without their names and their stories being told. In this fan fiction you will meet the original "Nine Titans" and their Houses and know more about Karl Fritz and the creation of The Walls. You will also meet the 3 girls those walls were named after. You will know more about the Fritzs, Tyburs and Ackermanns and meet new characters related to those families. More importantly, you will meet the 4 main characters this story is actually focused on.
About Romance:
I was never a "shipper" when it comes to AoT. I got interested in Jean x Pieck around 2019, after being a fan of this series since 2016, I didn't really know why, I just thought their personalities were a good match, and I never really expressed my interest in their ship or anything ship related in SnK for a long time! Because I know that if there's a cancer in this fandom, is definitely ship related. Now, to explain why I added specifics relationships in this story:
I believe it was a big mistake not introducing any sort of romantic relationships and parings among the main characters in this story. Isayama inadvertently created monster shippers in this fandom because of that. There are a lot of teasers and potential plot lines with romantic undertones, but the fact that he never properly addressed anything in a mature way is what caused so many problems in the fandom community. And he made it much worse by trying to create a romantic plot that he never developed before at the very very end! Thinking millions of readers wouldn't call bullshit on that.
I added specific couples in this, among the main original cast. [Armin x Mikasa; Historia x Eren] And I do like the idea of those characters being together, otherwise I wouldn't have written them this way. It makes sense to me, but I don't think I can write those characters in an extremely romantic light, like you will see in many fics out there. That's not really my style and they are not the focus of my story. There are other couples who are actually the focus, but this will be introduced further down the line. And those characters are my characters, I'm the one creating and developing them, which makes much easier for me to develop their romantic storylines.
About Structure:
It took me around two days to come up with the beginning, middle and end for this story, as you can see in the chapter's list (the "chapter" before this one) I have all the structure for it, I have the message and overall tone all set, since day one. When it takes longer for me to deliver a chapter, it probably means I was developing something else for further down the line.
It usually takes me a week or so to write a chapter, I'll probably take some breaks here and there, specially in between arcs. After I post a chapter, around 2 days after, I review it to see typos I might have accidentally let pass, there usually aren't that many of them. I have a beta reader to help me with editing afterwards, yes, but I never retcon anything already said or add extra pages of dialogue or anything like that after I have already released a chapter.
There will be 21 chapters divided in 3 arcs. Yes, there's a lot of time travel in it, and every arc will be a new timeline. I'll make sure not to be too confusing, I promise! The ending might be a little sad in some parts and the last arc is definitely the darkest. But I believe the story ends in a full circle.
About Ymir:
Depending on where you are in this fic, you might not have realised yet that she is the main character in this story, as she should be. There was so much potential in her story that never got explored in the original ending and it's one of my motivations to write my own version of her. Writing chapter 3 was specially challenging, as it was the first time I had to develop what I thought her personality would be. I took most of her from that old, pretty much discarded, plot line with Ymir and Christa and the comparisons made between them and what the people from Eldia and Marley viewed her as. She is neither selfish not selfless, neither a witch nor an angel, she's pretty much a person living her life in between. And I will enjoy a lot writing for her character.
Those are my main notes so far. If you have questions or want to know more about something specific, you can just send me a message or talk to me on discord!.
Cheers!
-Creative Tree
-Creative Tree