If Eren hadn’t relied on Levi's squad members and transformed to fight Annie, their deaths could have been avoided.
It would have changed the impact of the scene, though.
We can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if Levi had chosen Erwin over Armin.
Historia should have been more important in the finale of the series.
100% Rumbling would have led to a more sinister ending.
Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) definitely deserves its immense popularity for being one of the best-written anime out there. Its intricate plot twists, relatable characters and fascinating world have lured a lot of people in, and fans have always praised the series for its great writing and awesome decisions. However, there are some things that they would like to change in the series. And even if they wouldn’t want these changes canonically, it would still be super interesting to explore them.
Eren’s decision to trust Levi’s squad
Back in Season 1 when Attack on Titan was still full of mysteries and unanswered questions, the Survey Corps found out that there was a traitor among them. They later discovered that it was another Titan shifter and decided to try to capture them in the forest. It was obvious that the Titan shifter — okay, let’s stop pretending that we don’t know who that was — so it was obvious that Annie needed Eren, that’s why the best and most skilled team, Levi’s squad, was protecting the boy.
The Survey Corps underestimated Annie’s abilities and she murdered dozens of scouts easily. She was very close to Levi’s squad when Eren decided to transform into a titan and fight her. But Petra asked him not to. He was thinking about it carefully but made the decision to trust Levi’s squad and let them deal with Annie. A mistake that kept haunting him for long.
The entire squad gets murdered violently, and Eren feels guilty. He transforms and fights Annie regardless, so their deaths were in vain. If he decided to fight her first, she might have been exhausted after the fight, which would make her an easy target for Levi's squad. And fans can’t help but feel sorry that it didn’t happen. And we can’t even try to guess how many Levi/Petra shippers had their hearts broken by that moment.
However, while being a scene that filled Eren and us with regrets, it was also a scene that showed us how extraordinary Attack on Titan really was. The entire episode of Eren contemplating his decision was about him bonding with Levi and his squad. In other series, his decision to trust them would lead to their success. Power of friendship can solve everything, after all. But Attack on Titan was like “not on my watch”. And all the squad members got annihilated.
On top of that, this scene showed how special Eren was. There’s this annoying trope of main protagonists always blaming themselves for everything bad happening to other characters. And while Eren did blame himself, of course, he also managed to collect his thoughts. There was a moment when he acknowledged that he was not the one to blame, it was Annie. He ruined the trope and showed he was a true fighter at the same time.
Levi choosing Armin over Erwin
It is one of the biggest Attack on Titan mysteries: what would have happened had Levi chosen Erwin to become the Colossus Titan? Starting from the shallow but obvious “would he look hot as a titan?” and ending with “could he resolve the entire conflict without the Rumbling?”
While we doubt that it would change the story and the finale of Attack on Titan a lot, there are definitely chances that it would alter it a bit. Erwin has always been very persuasive and influential. On top of that, we can’t forget his brilliant intelligence. If he had paid careful attention to Eren and the state of his mind, he might have predicted what his true plan was and tried to impact it the best way he could.
Some fans also think that Erwin might even side with Eren. Erwin sacrificed his comrades before, since he believed that he was doing what was best for humanity. We can’t know if he would feel sympathy for Marleyans, or if he would focus on the survival of Paradis only. It would be truly curious to learn his opinion about the Rumbling and Eren’s plan.
Historia being sidelined
While Historia didn’t promise much at the beginning of the series, she turned out to be a fascinating character later. Season 3 was especially nice to her when it came to character development, and we saw another side of this girl. She even became the queen, for God’s sake!
Historia was the only one who Eren was honest with, and she was ready to support him no matter how horrible his plan was. Their conversations were full of interesting ideas, and it would be incredible if she played a bigger role in the finale. We aren’t even asking for Eren to be revealed as her baby’s dad, but just something would be amazing.
The Rumbling was stopped
This one is kind of specific, but still, there are those who were hoping for 100% Rumbling, and they had a point. While the official finale resembles a happy ending a lot, completing the Rumbling would lead most of our favorite characters to their death, and bring immense suffering to those who would survive. Sounds horrible and unfair, but we can’t deny that it would be a fitting conclusion for a series like Attack on Titan that has never been afraid of hurting its characters and its viewers.
What would the story be like with these changes?
Summary:
If Eren hadn’t relied on Levi's squad members and transformed to fight Annie, their deaths could have been avoided.
It would have changed the impact of the scene, though.
We can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if Levi had chosen Erwin over Armin.
Historia should have been more important in the finale of the series.
100% Rumbling would have led to a more sinister ending.
Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) definitely deserves its immense popularity for being one of the best-written anime out there. Its intricate plot twists, relatable characters and fascinating world have lured a lot of people in, and fans have always praised the series for its great writing and awesome decisions. However, there are some things that they would like to change in the series. And even if they wouldn’t want these changes canonically, it would still be super interesting to explore them.
Eren’s decision to trust Levi’s squad
Back in Season 1 when Attack on Titan was still full of mysteries and unanswered questions, the Survey Corps found out that there was a traitor among them. They later discovered that it was another Titan shifter and decided to try to capture them in the forest. It was obvious that the Titan shifter — okay, let’s stop pretending that we don’t know who that was — so it was obvious that Annie needed Eren, that’s why the best and most skilled team, Levi’s squad, was protecting the boy.
The Survey Corps underestimated Annie’s abilities and she murdered dozens of scouts easily. She was very close to Levi’s squad when Eren decided to transform into a titan and fight her. But Petra asked him not to. He was thinking about it carefully but made the decision to trust Levi’s squad and let them deal with Annie. A mistake that kept haunting him for long.
The entire squad gets murdered violently, and Eren feels guilty. He transforms and fights Annie regardless, so their deaths were in vain. If he decided to fight her first, she might have been exhausted after the fight, which would make her an easy target for Levi's squad. And fans can’t help but feel sorry that it didn’t happen. And we can’t even try to guess how many Levi/Petra shippers had their hearts broken by that moment.
However, while being a scene that filled Eren and us with regrets, it was also a scene that showed us how extraordinary Attack on Titan really was. The entire episode of Eren contemplating his decision was about him bonding with Levi and his squad. In other series, his decision to trust them would lead to their success. Power of friendship can solve everything, after all. But Attack on Titan was like “not on my watch”. And all the squad members got annihilated.
On top of that, this scene showed how special Eren was. There’s this annoying trope of main protagonists always blaming themselves for everything bad happening to other characters. And while Eren did blame himself, of course, he also managed to collect his thoughts. There was a moment when he acknowledged that he was not the one to blame, it was Annie. He ruined the trope and showed he was a true fighter at the same time.
Levi choosing Armin over Erwin
It is one of the biggest Attack on Titan mysteries: what would have happened had Levi chosen Erwin to become the Colossus Titan? Starting from the shallow but obvious “would he look hot as a titan?” and ending with “could he resolve the entire conflict without the Rumbling?”
While we doubt that it would change the story and the finale of Attack on Titan a lot, there are definitely chances that it would alter it a bit. Erwin has always been very persuasive and influential. On top of that, we can’t forget his brilliant intelligence. If he had paid careful attention to Eren and the state of his mind, he might have predicted what his true plan was and tried to impact it the best way he could.
Some fans also think that Erwin might even side with Eren. Erwin sacrificed his comrades before, since he believed that he was doing what was best for humanity. We can’t know if he would feel sympathy for Marleyans, or if he would focus on the survival of Paradis only. It would be truly curious to learn his opinion about the Rumbling and Eren’s plan.
Historia being sidelined
While Historia didn’t promise much at the beginning of the series, she turned out to be a fascinating character later. Season 3 was especially nice to her when it came to character development, and we saw another side of this girl. She even became the queen, for God’s sake!
Historia was the only one who Eren was honest with, and she was ready to support him no matter how horrible his plan was. Their conversations were full of interesting ideas, and it would be incredible if she played a bigger role in the finale. We aren’t even asking for Eren to be revealed as her baby’s dad, but just something would be amazing.
The Rumbling was stopped
This one is kind of specific, but still, there are those who were hoping for 100% Rumbling, and they had a point. While the official finale resembles a happy ending a lot, completing the Rumbling would lead most of our favorite characters to their death, and bring immense suffering to those who would survive. Sounds horrible and unfair, but we can’t deny that it would be a fitting conclusion for a series like Attack on Titan that has never been afraid of hurting its characters and its viewers.
Which change would you like to see in Attack on Titan?
