"two fingers are all I need to get the job done."

this one I've brought up one billion times before, but I'm putting it in for completion's sake:

"is that the destroyer or the creator?" (Bauklötze, ətˈæk 0N tάɪtn)

both. but let's not talk about it.

this one is very similar! which is why it caught my attention. there was a lot of symbolism about a definite good and a definite evil in the early soundtrack!

"is that the angel who descended from the dawning sky? / is that the devil who crawled forth from the rock crevice?" (YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T, Vogel im Käfig)

this symbolism almost comes across as somewhat of a deliberate red herring, because it turns out there's no such thing as pure good or pure evil in this story.

next:

"we will fight until the hot wind takes our wings." (Bauklötze, ətˈæk 0N tάɪtn)

this just made me think of Hange, especially because Bauklötze is playing during their death scene. it tickled me because the hot wind of the wall titans literally burst them into flames and took their wings (of freedom).

I mentioned this the other day:

"the earth rumbles and turns red / the people will remember this tragedy." (ətˈæk 0N tάɪtn)

well. the word is literally in there!

now. this one:

"we will fight against our fate / we mustn't surrender to our fate.

with grief and decision in our hearts / we display our will to go on / no one shall be willfully robbed of their life." (YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T, Vogel im Käfig)

this makes me a little insane, because it lists everything Eren didn’t do by the end of the story. he stopped fighting fate and surrendered to the rumbling (because he wanted it to happen, as we all know). he refused to go on. just waited to be killed. and, famously, he willfully robbed quite a lot of people of their lives! fascinating.

yes!!! I never hear anything about that from his bootlickers!

somehow him admitting that he killed his own mother just so he could motivate himself to one day commit genocide never comes up. I wonder why!

that's a very interesting thing to consider!

I think a LOT of things would have gone differently with Erwin there, but I have no grip on the scope of the changes.

with the utmost respect to my legally wedded spouse, Erwin would not have been as overwhelmed as Hange was. Erwin has the experience as commander to fall back on, and I think he would have adjusted to the knowledge of the cellar very quickly. he's experienced in diplomacy. it also would have opened Hange back up to their usual nonsense, so they could have probably made some more advances in defense technology.

I don't claim to be as smart as Erwin, so I really can't speak on what he would have done with Zeke. I think he'd definitely put Levi in charge of him, but idk if he would have let the situation be as loosey goosey as just a camp in the forest.

I think he would not have trusted Zeke, and he would not have trusted Eren after the stunt he pulled. I think he would have been much sterner with Eren post Liberio raid, because Erwin would have lost any reason to trust him. Eren basically deserted. from the military. and forced their hand by using himself as bait. I don’t think he'd like that very much!

this is very speculative, but maybe with Erwin as commander and Hange left to their devices during the time skip, they could have engineered a way to contain a titan shifter. maybe not necessarily with Eren in mind, but it would sure come in handy.

in that case, Levi wouldn't have ended up in that situation at all.

I also think Erwin wouldn't have drank the wine. that's one suspicious motherfucker, and he probably doesn't even accept random drinks from acquaintances, never mind FORMER ENEMIES.

“I thought he wasn’t your boyfriend!” Zeke blurted out, finally, gesturing at poor red-faced Armin who looked like he was doing his darndest to become one with the couch.

“He- he isn’t!” Eren yelled back, fingers digging into the cushions with white knuckled horror, wide eyes darting around the room without ever settling directly on Zeke—or Armin, for that matter. The kid vibrated on the spot, about to spring apart at any second.

“He could be?” Armin piped up, much quieter than their yelling, but it struck like a nuclear bomb. Eren whipped around to face him, and they just sat and stared at each other from opposite ends of the couch for an endless moment.

“...huh?”

little pins, maybe, not to commemorate years served or any achievement. they don't send them to Erwin, because they know he'll trash them instead of giving them out.

nope. they just show up directly in the barracks or private rooms.

and they're awarded just for turning twenty. twenty-five. thirty. thirty-five.

they've never had to send one out for forty.