#aot final

Disclaimer: contains ending spoilers so anime-only nation proceed with caution

Warnings: mentions of death and genocide; obscene language (?)

a/n: it's not a hatepost on the ending or anything. Jean and Connie are my faves in the Survey Corp so I want to explore some of the ending options with their characters

Many people say that chapter 123 was the last good chapter in SnK and it started going downhill from that. I personally didn’t mind the last chapters (hell, I still haven’t formed an opinion about the ending). And I didn’t seem to notice the “downgrade” in content quality until I’ve reread chapters 128 and 129 — the whole battle of the port. I’m referring to the murder of Daz and Samuel and how conflicted Connie and Armin felt about that.

On my first reading this moment literally brought me to tears. How much has changed in those 4 years, how black-and-white it all was in the beginning and how people who used to be comrades are now forced to be at each other’s throats. 

Shout-out to Isayama-sensei for including a flashback with Bertolt. Although Bertolt’s words here are not stated, it’s implied that it’s “someone has to get this blood on their hands”

Connie is also a brave soul for having it in him to kill his former comrades. (my poor baby has suffered so much already)

But as I’m reading this now… It seems so lackluster to me from a dramatic standpoint. I get why it’s hard for Connie and Armin and the murder felt so emotional because I’ve known their characters for so long and empathized with them. In short, it was hard for me to read because it was also hard for the characters to do. 

But come to think of it, why should I feel sad about the death of Daz and Samuel? They don’t have any outstanding personalities apart from Daz being a scaredy-cat. The last time I saw them was during the Battle of Trost, not to mention flashbacks in the Clash of Titans Arc. Hell, even in the official Encyclopedia Samuel was erroneously stated to be dead. And after more than 100 chapters they bring those characters back just to kill them off and then expect me to care? 

So I was thinking — how to make it more dramatic? An idea came to me. Now hear me out because it would (kinda?) make sense in the end. 

*deep breath in* Jean and Connie should have joined Yeagerists. I think it makes sense from a motivational standpoint. Because — let’s face it — all of the Alliance members have their reasons to stop Eren and the Rumbling.

☆ For Reiner, Annie, Pieck, Falco, Gabi, Magath and Onyankopon it’s to protect their homeland and their loved ones from being trampled to death.

☆ For Mikasa and Armin it’s to bring Eren back home.

☆ For Hange it’s to stop the meaningless genocide. 

☆ For Levi it’s not to stop the Rumbling per se but to kill Zeke and through his death give the meaning to the lives of his comrades that were sacrificed (at least that’s what I understood from chapter 112 don’t @ me)

But when it comes to Jean and Connie there’s no clear motif behind their actions. Why did they join the Alliance in the first place?

You know, for a story that’s built around the idea that there is no good or evil, the ending sure does come off as being lopsided when all of the main characters that we care about unite against the forces of evil. No matter how main of the character Eren is, he is not enough to tip the scale and make the viewers cheer for his victory. Not to mention Floch — I know Isayama-sensei stated that he made Floch into a Yeagerist just to create some opposition against the Alliance — but considering how disliked Floch was even in the Return to Shiganshina Arc, it’s still not looking good for Yeagerists.

Why not 〜increase the tension〜 and have Jean and Connie join the Yeagerists? 

First of all, out of the whole Eren’s friend group Jeanis the only person to question Eren’s true motives. Even his best friends couldn’t come to the conclusion that it was unusual for Eren to act like this. And Jean was right in the end.

The activation of the Rumbling is basically the point of no return. If before Paradis had a small chance at ending the cycle of hatred between Eldians and other nations and mending the relationships — now it is hopeless.

Jean is not driven by idealistic motives like Armin or Hange. The Rumbling leaves no other options — either the outer world is destroyed and the Paradisians live in prosperity or the Alliance stops the Rumbling which would spell the end for the Island. It’s in Jean’s egoistic (and kinda cowardly) nature to question Alliance’s plan. Jean doubts that they even have a chance at stopping Eren. And that’s true. It was a fucking miracle that the Alliance stopped the Rumbling with NO casualties (Hange doesn’t count they died before the Battle of Heaven and Earth). 

Jean acts as the voice of reason. His sense of self-preservation doesn’t allow him to be with a group that is being hunted down and join them on their suicidal mission. 

But then the thought of Marco convinced Jean to agree to the Alliance’s plan. 

“You know... I wished I could've stayed cooped up in my room, ears shut... But... If I had... The burnt ashes of the dead would never have forgiven me…”

I get what Hange says in chapter 127 about the fallen comrades and that they would never sacrifice all of humanity for the sake of their island. The same thing with Marco — I can’t see this precious boy being ok with genocide. But Marco has been dead for 4 years. Back in those days when everything was black-and-white and the Pure Titans were the only concern for humanity, it was easy to distinguish right and wrong. Marco didn’t get to see the ocean and find out the truth about the people outside the Walls. So it’s hard to tell what Marco’s opinion on genocide would be. In this situation it seems counter-intuitive to look for future-determinative answers in the past when the past was so drastically different. So at this point (when deciding on which side he is on) Jean should have left the memory of Marco and aimed for the future i.e. siding with the stronger group that shares the same goal —  successfully finish the Rumbling — and that will appreciate Jean’s support. The Yeagerists.

So I guess it would be in character for Jean to accept Floch’s offer (but for different reasons, his ambitions would have nothing to do with this) and decline the Alliance’s offer to join them.

As for Connie… It’s so sad to see this cheerful baby have all of the joy sucked out of his life. Unlike the golden trio Connie didn’t go through the loss of his parents and family. Up until the Clash of the Titans Arc he doesn’t have any particular reason to be unhappy with his life. But then chapter 37 happens — and suddenly Connie loses his entire family. And not only the family, his entire fucking village — the place where he was born and raised. What’s sad about this is that at this point in the story Connie does not even know what exactly has happened to his parents and siblings. They’ve just disappeared and all that Connie gets to find is a Pure Titan laying on top of his house.

Later Connie learns that the population of Ragako was turned into Titans for the sake of the Marleyan military operation (he finds out about this much later but still) and the Pure Titan was actually his mother. But this knowledge doesn’t bring any relief. In fact, now he knows that his family and fellow countrymen were indeed killed in their Titan form. All he has left is his mother but it’s very likely that she will stay a Titan for good.

After 4 years I think Connie gets used to the fact that he is never getting his mother back and finds a new family in his friends — Jean and Sasha (mostly Sasha). 

And then Connie suffers another blow, Sasha’s death. And again, she dies as the result of the cycle of hatred that has been going on for 2000 years. (Connie himself doesn’t openly blame Gabi for the murder of Sasha so hush)

All of the deaths that deeply affect Connie: his family, the population of Ragako, Sasha — are caused by people from outside the Walls. Those losses break Connie and he consequently becomes spiteful and aggressive. It comes to the point that Connie doesn’t hesitate and kidnaps unconscious Falco when he learns about him becoming one of the Nine Titans. Connie, this goofy guy as we know him, is willing to kill a child — all to get his mother back. 

Connie has no one left apart from Jean. Hatred towards the Paradisian took all of the people he loved from him. Blinded from grief and emotionally scarred, he is ready to do anything in order to protect the few people he still has with him. Connie would want to break the cycle of hatred so that nobody could hurt the people from the island, his friends, anymore. With the Rumbling activated and being in full swing — all it takes is to wait until all of the other nations are wiped out thus destroying one of the sides of conflict.

Of course Connie would realize how cruel it is to let other nations be crushed to death — even after having kidnapped Falco and while being confronted by Armin and Gabi he is aware of the foolishness of his actions. Maybe they would have had the room and the time for negotiations, but the Rumbling left them no other options. 

So I guess it would also be logical for Connie to join the Yeagerists in order to make sure that the Rumbling is carried out fully and on all continents.

Now 〜imagine〜 with Jean and Connie joining the Yeagerists and being in port. How gut-wrenching it would be to watch the Alliance fight not some NPC Yeagerists but their actual friends.

Ok my rant is coming to the end now sorry if you don’t like it. Just wanted to share my very unpopular opinion. 〜bye〜

Guys, I keep crying over that scene, because you can see by now how the Shiganshina trio is starting to crack.

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