#grisha jaeger

I think that Grisha’s reputation is one of the most dangerous things about him, even more so than being a Titan-Shifter or his high intelligence in general.

But I think that his connections, which are borne from his reputation, are the most dangerous thing about him, period.

As I’m sure you know, since we’ve both been through the wringer with the American healthcare system, when you find a doctor who 1. is extremely skilled and knowledgeable 2. actually listens to you 3. does everything in their power to help you get as healthy as possible, that creates a certain amount of loyalty. Like, if my rheumatologist asked me to testify to her character in court, I wouldn’t even hesitate to do so.

One of Grisha’s first major acts within the Walls was during a bunch of people of the epidemic… including Hannes’s wife. That’s a very major in with the local Garrison, since Hannes himself has many friends in the Garrison. You can’t convince me that Hannes wasn’t originally looking out for Eren and his two close friends because he was Grisha’s son, and Hannes wanted to return the favor of saving his wife by keeping Grisha’s son and his friends alive. During the Fall of Wall Maria, Hannes dropped everything to save Grisha’s family himself, even if he only succeeded partially. He only went back to saving others once Mikasa and Eren were safely on their way to Wall Rose. And I seriously doubt that Hannes is the only local Garrison member who Grisha has helped. If Grisha ever wanted to go full planotic yandere, the local Garrison would back him up 100%. “That’s the guy who saved me/my loved one, he’d never do what you’re accusing him of! Grisha says that you’re a patient of his, so I’ll return you to him so he can help you too…”

And outside of the Garrison, plenty of other people in Shiganshina would surely be happy to do favors for Grisha as thanks for his work as a doctor over the years. I personally headcanon that after helping a butcher with the epidemic, Grisha was able to get meat from that butcher with a hefty discount for the rest of his life, allowing him to afford even more animal protein than he would’ve with his already impressive doctor income. He could probably get clothes, produce, etc. for cheaper than usual or even free, too!

Shadis is kind of in love with Grisha if you’re capable of seeing it. At the very least, he has a massive amount of respect for Grisha. That gives Grisha an in with Shadis’s former coworkers (the Survey Corps), some of which were almost certainly still at least somewhat loyal to Shadis despite Shadis’s own perception of himself. And it also gives Grisha a MAJOR in with the Cadet Corps, since Shadis is a Commandant by the time Eren is running around Shiganshina, which means he’s one of the highest ranking people in the Cadet Corps, only matched by the other Commandant(s) and only outranked by the Premier and the Monarch (and potentially the Commander of the Cadet Corps if they have one, but in my AU they don’t).

In canon, Grisha only found out where the Founding Titan was because he was able to treat nobles high-ranking enough to put him in contact with Kenny. And he was only able to treat people in Wall Sina in the first place because he’s created a reputation of being a truly exceptional doctor starting with the epidemic in Shiganshina.

The fact that nobles trusted Grisha to be the one to treat them and their loved ones means a LOT. Nobles have far more power than, say, Hannes when it comes to Paradis as a whole. If Grisha needed to get custody paperwork for a darling approved ASAP, there are likely plenty of powerful people in Wall Sina who would happily sign off on it and push it through the system quickly. 

He doesn’t have a clear in with the Military Police in canon, but it can be easily assumed that he’s treated at least one Military Police member and/or a loved one of a Military Police member, giving him that in. The vast majority of the Military Police are easy to bribe. Grisha could easily call upon a favor if he needed them to help him recapture a darling, or look the other way while he did less than legal things. 

Essentially, if Grisha really wanted to, he could call upon favors from pretty much every level of the military and government (minus the royal family, probably) to get his darling fully under his control. He wouldn’t have to do anything but act seriously concerned for his darling’s wellbeing (honestly, not an act, he would genuinely be concerned), and everyone would just assume that he was using his doctor knowledge to come to that conclusion (and not that he only really thinks that because a supernatural parasite is telling him to protect). No Titan powers needed. He’d barely even have to lift a finger.

And that’s just from making inferences with canon! (Minus the parasite part ofc)

In my AU, he also has an in with the Priests, because they believe that he’s a partially divine being with the special favor of the gods. Plus two of the children he’s raising are believed to be Very Religiously Significant. So if Grisha tells the Priests “the gods told me that I need to have total control over this person to help them :(“ they’ll just. Believe him. Plus he’s probably treated at least one local Priest tbh.

Thoughts?

OOO YUS~

I absolutely agree about doctors, I would throw myself into traffic for my primary doctor! (Not literally ofc but you get me) Considering the level of Paradis' technology, Grisha would probably be considered on the level of a miracle worker. While they've been dealing with cholera and typhoid like they are insurmountable, invisible enemies, and Grisha's just like: Oh, wow this is the perfect opportunity to use those newfangled antibiotics to save everyone!

As you said, this is how he saved the people of Shiganshina, and Hannes' wife(and probably other loved ones of the Garrison) thus ingratiating himself to them. His seemingly miracle healing potions(antibiotics) would easily get him noticed by the noble families who also definitely don't have that technology. He's no doubt canonically saved countless lives, and thus made many invisible friends and connections throughout the walls.

So, you have this incredibly kind, well mannered, miracle doctor, versus darling who said that he kidnapped and tortured them?? No... they must be mistaken. Grisha Jaeger is an upstanding citizen, and a kind soul. He would never. In fact, he says that darling is just mentally ill? Yes, he must be right. There's absolutely no way whatsoever that such a sweet, gentle soul would do such a thing.

Also, to quote the movie Shutter Island: "Once a doctor declares you insane, no one will believe you." (Okay, I'm paraphrasing I don't remember the exact quote) Combine that with Grisha five star reputation, and absolutely no one is going to listen if you say anything at all to contradict him. He could easily have darling put into his custody, and then have paperwork written up to say that they don't know what's best for them and that all of their care should be left in Grisha's hands. And no one would bat an eye. 🤭

My HC is that his reputation is why no one questioned him when Mikasa's parents were mysteriously murdered, and then her apparent captors were also viciously murdered. He's never even questioned about those events, the MPs are just surprised that a child could be capable of such violence, they don't even think to actually question Grisha's story.

And I mean, think about it. Mikasa's parents are brutally murdered, and then three more men in a distant cabin are also brutally murdered. The only witnesses are two children and a grown ass man. It would be reasonable to immediately arrest said man because he's the most obvious culprit. But he's just allowed to go home and take Mikasa with him. Note: I don't actually think Grisha had anything to do with her kidnapping, I think he just happened to be at the right place at the right time. But it's hella suspicious if you are coming to see the aftermath.

Almost everyone in the walls implicitly trusts Grisha, even the MPs!

If he went platonic yandere mode, darling would be completely unable to get away from him. He is too powerful.

His reputation alone makes him an unstopbable platonic yandere, but add in his intelligence, charisma, and titan powers?

He was already sick of all the shit between his dad and his older brother. He just wanted to sleep.

“Never in my 7 days of life” Baby Eren

Fun fact: Carla was the one who dressed him like a Victorian baby when he was a infant and like a normie when he was a teenager.

Like, in my AU, he at first thought himself as nothing more than a tool to honor Fay’s memory, by living a good life as a doctor who helped people. And later, once the hot and rebellious Mr. Ben Grice invited Grisha to join his ragtag group of revolutionaries and Grisha received a divine message about what he had to do, he thought of himself as nothing more than a tool to bring about the salvation of the Eldian people by creating and rearing a son borne of the two most important and powerful bloodlines in Eldian history. And that worked out arguably worse than in the first (canon) loop of the timeloop, lol. His son was always going to be more important than he was. An Eldian god straight-up told him that. But in addition to caring about Zeke’s political and religious role, Grisha truly loved Zeke just for being his son. But he was so focused on getting Zeke to the future that had been prophesied for him that he never told that to Zeke, and he would regret that for the rest of his life.

But Grisha was generously gifted another chance. And thanks to Kruger, who was acting out the will of someone very, very powerful, Grisha was given the Attack Titan. For the first time in his life, Grisha had a parental figure who truly understood him. Someone who wanted what was best for him instead of just itself, and would do anything to protect him. Someone who saw him as a person. Grisha had studied all the information he could get his hands on about Titan-Spirits. He knew that the Attack Titan was almost certainly being genuine (and it actually was). But even with a voice in his head constantly hyping him up, Grisha never internalized that himself 🥲

Now, he was nothing more than a tool to help the people of Paradis. Which he did by saving lives as a doctor. And when he met Carla and had Eren… he became nothing more than a tool to protect them and provide for them. Grisha had such a hard time believing that Carla loved him for being himself, and not for what he gave her. Because he’s not really a person. He’s a tool. Right? And anything that made him sort of like a person wasn’t actually lovable on its own. Right? Over time, he eventually kind of started to believe that Carla truly loved him. But there was always serious doubt…

Grisha also thought of himself as a tool for a certain someone’s plans in addition to all that other stuff. But that’s a Whole Thing. Teehee 🤭

What are your thoughts about Grisha’s perception of himself in your AU?

Ough. Yup. That's Grisha. 😭

For my own AU, Grisha kind of internalizes Faye's death as being entirely his fault. He's the one that wanted to climb over that fence and trespass onto private property. Thus he views it as being entirely on him to 'redeem' himself. It doesn't matter what happens to him, because he forfeit his life when he got Faye killed(or at least that's what he thinks).

In my AU, he and Faye were trespassing. Instead of confronting them, Gross decided to let his dogs out on them. :'] Kruger happened to be patrolling nearby when he saw Grisha climbing the fence and grabbed him. Grisha blames himself for not going back to save Faye, despite Kruger himself repeatedly telling him that it was far too late.

Grisha initially dedicates himself to medicine, helping fellow humans defend themselves against injury and disease. While he feels an intense anger towards the Marleyan government for not doing anything about Faye's death, Grisha ultimately feels like there's nothing he can do about it.

Then, Grice comes along. Once Grice puts the idea into Grisha's head that they can take down Marley, he decides that this is how he'll redeem himself. By this point, it's not even just about redeeming himself for getting Faye killed, Grisha sees himself as nothing more than a tool for a greater purpose.

While he did genuinely care about Dina, their marriage was a means to and end. He also cared about Zeke, but ultimately viewed him as a way to take down Marley. He let his hatred of Marley overshadow his love for his own son, leading him to not give Zeke the love he deserved.

When Kruger betrays them, Grisha is... pretty fucked up by the whole event. He viewed this as his whole life's purpose, only for it to be violently ripped away from him along with all the people he worked so hard to save. When he ends up in the coma, he has a sort of long dream where's he wandering through Hallucigenia's Realm, searching for a reason to keep living.

Once he wakes up, he does try to get back to what he was doing. He only needed Zeke to accomplish this, right? He can still accomplish his life's goal.

Then he ends up in a psychotic episode where he kills and eats Dina. 🤭

It's only after Kruger 'breaks him out' of the insitution he's in that he starts to find meaning to life again. Kruger tries to encourage him to live for himself, but Grisha just dedicates himself to Kruger. So Kruger reveals that he's the one who infected Grisha, and he flees into the Paradisian wilderness.

Once he finds the people of the walls, he ends up believing that his actual purpose in life is to help these people and that all the pain he experienced was just a way to get him to his real purpose. 😭 This idea is reinforced by his saving Shiganshina from a plague.

After meeting Carla and having Eren, Grisha dedicates himself to serving them. By the time he adopts Armin and Mikasa, Grisha does finally start to see some value in his own life. Mainly from the fact that he has genuine friends like Hannes and Siades, and his wife and kids love him unconditionally. It takes a while. but he does eventually learn that his life matters. 😭