*NEWS!* -2023-
This has been quite a long ride, much longer than I expected! :P But it's alright, over the process of writing all this I was really able to develop myself and my writing style a lot! Thanks for being here with me! Even with all the flash-forwards and flash-backwards, all the time-jumps, the timelines and all the complications :P
The last 3 chapters are all about 20% to 30% written and everything about them has been planned to the minimal detail, I hope you'll all enjoy it!
PS.: this has been kind of a secret since last year but I have real publishers interested in this story, how cool is that? I kinda wanted it to be a graphic novel, so it fits better with AoT, but we're still discussing it all. So let's keep it low-key guys! I'll tell you more if something happens! :DD
And talking about graphic novels: THERE'S A NEW AOT CHANGES COMIC! Illustrated by Hikaru.990 AND IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL! The small comic has 6 pages and it covers the opening of Chapter 4! The work took the artist 3 months to complete and it truly looks stunning, so please support Hikaru.990 on all the socials: instagram, twitter and pixiv! I'll post the comic on the fic's subreddit [ reddit DOTcom / r / snkchanges ] and on the website [ aotchanges . art ] and in there I'll be adding all the artist's info, so check it out!
2PS.: As I'm approaching the End of this story I decided to repost it on ao3 again, under the name "I'll see you in 2000 years" you might be reading this on it right now! Or you might just be on FFdotnet, like the OGs, hehe (don't know if I'll add it back on wattpad, still considering it)
3PS.: I know it's been over a year since I don't update Fun things, tidbits and references, I'll try to compile some stuff and post here eventually, cheers!
C.T. :D
2022
-All chapters have been re-revised. [1 to 15]
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Chapter Four: "Promise [867]" has been *thoroughly* revised.
I never took a proper second look on it before, but now I have and I found many scenes were too difficult to understand, so in result I added over two thousand words in scene setting and some extra dialogues too. So it might be fun to revisit it! (if you have read it before) After all, that chapter was released over one year and three months ago! (can you believe it?)
And I'm doing the same for Chapter 5! But so far it feels like the text won't be altered nearly as much. [update - the chapter has been completely re-revised and the alterations were minimal compared to Chapter Four]
Cheers! :)
older news:
AoT Changes now has its own Website! You can visit aotchangesDOTart to read all chapters and to also take a good look into all the extra material in there! It's aotchangesDOTart (yes ".art" is a domain)
aotchanges . art
extra news, if you are not completely aware, this fic has been deleted from Ao3 and wattpad, but it will remain here while I post chapters 15 - 21. And a couple of months after the fic has ended I will delete it from here as well and the only place that AoT Changes will be available will be the website!
Stay tuned for chapter 16 :)))
Cheers!
C.T.
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CHANGES
The Tree
Part Three: In Between
Chapter Twenty - "Fight"
This Chapter is already in the works!
Join Alternate Kyojin on Discord know more!
[Invite Link on my profile page]
-Chapter nineteen is already completed and available.
s2
Visit the AoT Changes Official Website! :)
[aotchanges .art]
Chapter List:
Arc I
The old World
-Part One: What happened to them?
Chapter 1 - "The Field" √ Completed & Revised
Chapter 2 - "The Girl" √ Completed & Revised
-Part Two: Where did you go?
Chapter 3 - "Deal [854]" √ Completed & Revised
Chapter 4 - "Promise [867]" √ Completed & Revised
-Part Three: Why am like this?
Chapter 5 - "A Young Dream" √ Completed & Revised
Chapter 6 - "Pure Soul" Completed & Revised
Chapter 7 - "Going Back" Completed & Revised
Arc II
The Castle
-Part One: A Happy Ending
Chapter 8 - "Hizuru" Completed & Revised
Chapter 9 - "Paradise" Completed & Revised
-Part Two: "The Wood Between The Worlds"
Chapter 10 - "Tybur" Completed & Revised
Chapter 11 - "Ackermann" Completed & Revised
-Part Three: The Battle For The Heart
Chapter 12 - "god of war" √ Completed & Revised
Chapter 13 - "A Safe Place" √ Completed & Revised
Chapter 14 - "See you later" √ Completed & Revised
Arc III
The Tree
-Part One: The Future
Chapter 15 - "Blue" √ Completed & Revised
Chapter 16 - "Ezra" √ Completed - in review
-Part Two: The Past
Chapter 17 - "Ymir" √ Completed - in review
Chapter 18 - "A Z" √ Completed - in review
-Part Three: In Between
Chapter 19 - "2000 years apart" √ Completed - in review
Chapter 20 - "Fight!" - To Be Released
Chapter 21 - "You Are Free." - In First Draft
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News* I might have decided to add a Ch. 22 ... (Called "Aftermath") oO
It will be just one long epilogue - if i actually release it (still considering)
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Tree 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.
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.
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 create a topic on our AoT Changes Forum. I have the link for it on my profile.
Cheers!
-Creative Tree
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*WARNING!
This next section contains slight spoilers, proceed at your own accord.
**This is a Changes Guide, for readers to come and check when they have trouble understanding certain points in the timeline, I recommend to only read it after finishing Chapter Seven.
AoT Changes Timeline I [The old World] in Chronological Order
≃2000 - (Ymir is 4yo) Chapters 2&7
≃2000 - (Ymir is 13yo) Chapter 7
743 - Karl Fritz and the sealing of the Walls - Chapter 3 (teaser for Arc II)
850:
- Autumn - The Medals Ceremony - Chapter 5 (follow up for the original manga, Ch.90)
- Early Winter (around December) - Chapter 5 - The Retrieving of the Fallen Soldiers' Bones in Shiganshina (follow up for RTS Arc - Original Manga)
- End of the Year - Commander Erwin's and all RTS soldiers' wake and funeral - Chapter 7
851 - Mid-Summer - Historia's nightmares and Azzy on the way - End of Chapter 5
852 - Azzy is born (in January, 29th) & Summertime Flashbacks - Chapters 4&6 (baby Az)
853 - Toddler Az - regeneration flashback - Chapter 5
854:
- Eren and Azzy's pre-Rumbling talk - Chapter 7
- "It can't be stopped" moment (Is Sunny a ghost?) - Ending of Chapter 7 *When the Timeline CHANGES
- Rumbling (Fort Salta) Chapters 3&6
- Rumbling Aftermath - Chapter 1
- Ezra is dead (stillborn) - Chapter 7 (briefly mentioned in Chapters 1&2)
859:
- January - After Historia's birthday - Chapter 7
- January - Azzy's visit and the princess' disappearance - Chapters 2,5&6
- February - Azzy awakes alone in the Field - Chapters 5&6
- Summer - Pieck visits the Island - Chapter 2
866 - A quick stop at the Royal Library - Chapters 6&7
*866 - Chapter 4 - "The Hizuru Dream" - The dream Azzy has in Chapter 4 is a teaser for Arc II and foreshadowing for how unreliable his memories are, the dream is a memory from a different Timeline.
867:
- The boy is introduced - Chapter 1 - "The Chase"
- Waking up in the field (again) - Chapters 1&2
- "A trip to Hizuru sounds nice" - Azzy runs away - Chapter 2 - briefly followed up in Ch. 3
- Armin comes back - Chapter 4
- Searching for the boy - Chapter 4
- Azzy meets Eren again - Chapter 4 (*Time runs back at the end of ch. 4)
- Paths - Sunny's introduction - Chapters 4&5
(*Sunny is Sonnenblume's nickname)
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*Deeper spoilers now, if you haven't read Chapters 1 to 7… well this won't make much sense then.
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The old WorldTimeline won't be completely changed in Arc II, Azzy is still present in old times in Arc I, but of course, I couldn't explore that yet as that is "his future". Arc II will be exploring the world back in that time (2000 years ago) and 100 years ago as well. All that will go parallel with a new version of "The Rumbling" and the changes made to the year 859 and the year 867. This version of The Rumbling will be "less impactful" than the previous one. In "The old World" the destruction caused by the rumbling decimated over 90% of the human population, in this second arc "The Castle" those numbers will CHANGE. (Pun 100% intended) But will that be the end? Will Azzy die in the past, like Sonnen said? How "perfect" will the "happy ending" be? Well… as they say: stay tuned!
PS.: I hope this all helps! This is supposed to work as a guide for readers, for whenever they get confused with the flash-forwards and backwards midway through chapters. And if you want more detailed explanations you can just ask me on Discord or in the Forum and I will add broader explanations to specific topics here or on Tree Notes.
**This is a Changes Guide, for readers to come and check when they have trouble understanding certain points in the timeline, I recommend to only read it after finishing Chapter Fourteen.
AoT Changes Timeline II [The Castle] in Chronological Order
≃2000 - (Ymir is 4yo) Chapter 9
- Toddler Ymir arrives in the past through the tree portal and wonders through the dark forest
≃2000 - (Ymir is 13yo) Chapter 12 (also mentioned in ch. 9)
- Ymir becomes The Founder
≃2000 - (Ymir is 16yo) Chapter 9
- AY talk near the river (away from battle)
≃2000 - (Ymir is 18-19yo) Chapters 8, 10&11
- the Queen's "spy" leaves the marlean army and joins the eldian army
- finding out more about Ludvík, the King's "right hand man"
≃2000 - (Ymir is 25yo) Chapter 12
- picnic with the girls - Maria, Rose & Sina (sweet)
- the battle of the merciless
*Az is two years older than Ymir, when he jumps to the year when she is 13 (when she first transforms), he is 15. When she is 16, he is 18. When she's 19, he is 21, and so on.
When she dies, she is 26 and when he dies, he is 28. (but more on that on the final arc)
≃2000 - (the night after Ymir's death) Chapters 13&14
- the "ceremony" (Goodbye Maria, Rose & Sina)
≃2000 - (thirteen years after Ymir's death) Chapter 14
- The Nine Titans and Paradise Island
741 - Armin Tybur arrives in Paradise Island - Chapters 9&10
743 - The Sealing of the Walls - Chapter 10
820 - Grandfather Ackermann dies - Ending of Chapter 10
841 - Levi joins the Survey Corps, Kenny visits his brother & Armin's parents die - Chapter 11
844 - Mikasa and Armin first meet - Chapter 11
850 - Kenny's Funeral & Mikasa's dagger - Chapter 11
852:
- Azzy's birth at the Lighthouse/ A certain reemergence at Tybur Lake - Chapter 12
- Raiding Tybur Castle's vault - Chapter 13
853 & 854 - Quick and sweet Lighthouse flashbacks (the nephew and the scarf) Chapter 13
854:
(Pre-Rumbling)
- Looking for Eren (around Marley) Chapter 10
- Questioning the Queen about Eren's whereabouts - Chapter 12
- BACK at the beginning - Gabi shoots Eren - Ending of chapter 14 *when time runs back and the timeline CHANGES
(Rumbling - before time ran back)
-The Harbour - the plan is formed - Chapter 12
-The Queen's Farm - Historia gives birth - Chapters 12, 13 &14
-Near Tybur Castle - The fight against the Founder - Chapters 12, 13 &14
858 - Quick Sunny & Azzy flashback at Tybur Castle - Chapter 13
859:
- Mountain trip - Chapter 8
- Back to Paradise - Chapters 8&9
(Armin and Mikasa visit the Queen and her family)
-Toddler Ymir disappears to never return - Chapter 9
867:
- Uncle Levi comes to visit - Chapters 8&9
- The state visit - Chapter 8
- Armin's plane crash and vigil - Chapters 9&10
- Azzy jumps back in time - Chapters 9&10
- Ezra's Birthday - Chapter 12
870:
- Ezra and Azzy talk in the garden - Chapter 10
- Azzy asks Sunny for help to go much further back in time - Chapter 11
871 - Sonnenblume leaves Hizuru and Mikasa behind to follow her own path. - Chapter 14
There are many similarities and little references to the way the first arc unraveled in this second arc. I suppose it's easier to spot certain trends when the timelines are put side by side. The third arc is coming soon to complete this story!
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*SPOILER WARNING*
I had to add this spoiler warning as I see many first time readers come straight to this page! This is an extra notes page and it's filled with spoilers! If you want to get a vague notion of AoT Changes and my style of writing I recommend either quickly reading "The Chase" sequence at the beginning of chapter 1 or reading "Tree Notes" as those notes are spoilerless. Or doing both, idk, you decide. :) Anyway, welcome to Changes madness. I hope you'll stay!
Cheers!
[Spoilers from now]
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Fun things, tidbits and references
Azzy slightly looks like Armin, at least in some major features, like facial features, voice and mannerisms. But he actually looks a lot more like Mikasa's dad, specially in physical build. I got that idea from The Flash when (spoiler) Barry's mom sees him as an adult and says "You look like my father" (I cried like a baby in that scene) Also there are a couple of references and lines from the first season of the show around my writing of Changes. The main one being "That's my cue to leave".
There are many references and quotes that I add randomly just because a specific show or movie came to mind when I was preparing the dialogue. From Downton Abbey to Ben 10, you will find a bunch of stuff in there. Of course, the main references are to Doctor Who, after all Changes is all about time travel.
(I could occasionally update this document whenever I remember a reference here and there, it's been 9 months since chapter one so I would have to re-read things carefully to remember them. Or I could just let my dear readers try to figure them out)
Also, there are a lot more references to the anime and manga than silly pop culture, of course. (More anime than manga)
Whenever I am back on depression land thinking of how bad the ending was and how that is one thing that can never be CHANGED (yes, that's why I named this AoT Changes) I go around looking for AoT fanart, to remind myself of how much I love those characters and how much potential this lore has.
Despite many other alternate endings coming around after mine and becoming waaaay more popular than mine, I never read them, that's because I don't want to read anything AoT related before I finish writing this. I have seen some panels here and there, but not much.
My initial plan (back in March) was to finish these 21 chapters around September and December, but it seems I didn't calculate it very well. XD
I first heard of the timeloop theory back in 2019, and it fascinated me. I love time travel or any time related things in storytelling, and I was expecting some time travel since day one. The "To you in 2000 years" line definitely did NOT pay off.
Of course I added some Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole in there and some slight Narnia references because why not? I just really like the idea of Ymir from the future being the same Ymir from the past, I just took that idea and ran with it! I even took the rabbit's pocket watch.
122 is my favourite chapter. Writing down a scene from it, however, was very difficult.
Ezra is my favourite character. I already wrote A LOT of dialogue for him, even back in March and April, back then I was already planning for his character to only show up in Arc II and III, but even so, I would stop writing Arc I whenever I had a good idea of dialogue for him and write that. This was very good and helped me develop more of his personality, which in turn helped me fully develop the second and third arcs.
I planned the 3 Arcs and 21 chapters and gave them names all in one sitting. I just really like naming things, and the names help me to remember and focus on what each chapter is about and gravitates towards. The chapter names are more like code words for me, like when you are trying to remember things for a test.
Speaking of code words, I really like aviation, you might have guessed that from a couple of chapters. The plane in Chapter 4 being called "X1" is a homage to Chuck Yeager, the first pilot who crossed the sound barrier and to the plane "Bell X-1" commonly known just as "X1".
*And, by the way, Armin's plane in Chapter 9 is called the "Eagle" that is not a reference to the band (lol) nor it is to the United States. It is a reference to the surname Arlet, (spelled Arlert in SnK) that comes from an old German word that means eagle. PS.: I know the band is called Eagles, and not just Eagle.
I have multiple references to real life things and events around that era when AoT is supposedly set. You might catch some WWI references here and there, also some references to nowadays as well. (I think I have a covid reference somewhere but I don't remember it right now)
For Chapter 8 and Arc II, Shenzhou is the version of China in this, same way Hizuru is supposedly Japan. "The Mountain Side" is just a vague european country, not really based on any one specific, but probably situated in a region similar to the Alps.
Eldia and Marley would be also a vague division between northern and southern europe, with eldians resembling nordic and germanic cultures and marleans resembling latins, macedonians, and greeks! (After all, the name "Titan" must've come from somewhere XD) *Also eldians have been shown to look Viking-like and Marley seems a lot like a certain "Roman Empire", but that might be just me.
Talking about old times and eldia, I already wrote most of the Nine Titans origin storyline and Maria, Rose and Sina's demise, it was all very dark and I had to write a sweet scene with the girls afterwards so I could sleep better (it was 3 a.m.) So just remember this: "butterfly". Whenever you get to the butterfly scene with the girls, just remember I wrote that right after writing their gruesome demise. The 2000 years ago storyline is progressively dark, it just gets worse and worse, it's the most "Attack on Titan" thing I have ever written in Changes. And I confess I'm not really sure how people will react to it.
Anyways, this was supposed to be fun things, not sad things. XD
Whenever I think of something I planned or references I added, I might write down here, so keep an eye on this document!
I just wanted to write some things to commemorate the fact that we are over 18k views! (Almost 19k, actually!) I gather there are only about 800 to 1600 constant readers, but I can't really be sure because none of those sites gives me metrics very well. At least in fanfictionDotnet I can see chapter progression, but not the others. I can also see that people from over 20 countries read my fic! So, thank you all! Most people are in the US, UK or Australia (makes sense, since the fic is in English) but there are people from so many countries beyond that! I feel very proud! Even if it's only 2 or 3 people from a small country here and there it still amazes me to know people so far way from me are reading my story! Again, thank you. :)
(either that you some of you guys have a very powerful VPN) xD
That is it for today, I thought about doing something like this before for months! And I'm glad I finally did. I might edit this document to add more stuff if I think about anything new. You guys can also ask me things too. For now, this is it.
Cheers!
C.T. [28/10/21]
25k views! So here is a few more tidbits:
BIG SPOILERS (kinda)
While Arc I follows the events of ch. 138 of the original manga (with my own flavour of madness, ofc) Arc II will modify the timeline around chapters 127/128, which of course isn't enough, so wait for Arc III to completely turn the manga upside down with the timeline change happening around 115-119 (hehe)
I wrote an anime style ending (even though I'm not watching the anime anymore) I haven't published it anywhere because it has similar parts from Arc III, so when I finish Changes I will add it as bonus content, there's a second anime style ending that I thought about more recently and I am not sure if I will develop it or not, but I can add everything in a package with miscellaneous scenes that I couldn't add in the main storyline. The fun part is that since I introduced multiple timelines in Changes, it means all of those unattached scenes can be considered Tree-Canon. xD
The chapters "Tybur" and "Ackermann" (10 & 11) mark the middle part of the fic, considering plot and chapter numbers, but not considering word count, since the word count has increased significantly every chapter, specially now in Arc II.
I have DeviantArt, Instagram and Twitter accounts (all called TreeCreativeMe), and also a couple of YouTube channels. (Tree TV - "old AoT Central" and Creative Tree) I often post things related to the fic, and arts I make for it. I recently made concept art for the Nine Titans and some panels for Chapter 9.
I edited video versions of the first 3 chapters of Changes, they are all uploaded to my YouTube channel "Creative Tree"
There will be a "cameo" or a small appearance of Ymir (104th) in one chapter of the second arc, I'll explore more about her story in another chapter of the third arc.
The small and ancient book with odd symbols that no one can decipher is a joke on the Voynich Manuscript, it has been joked about that this book could be just the scribbles of a teenager and that it doesn't really mean anything. So I thought, why not add something similar? Azzy's small notebook comes up in chapters 7 and 10 so far (and it will come up a few more times before the end). *Not to confuse with Azymondeus book, that is an illustration book, made for children and it has a whole different origin.
Both Armin Tybur's wife and Armin Arlert's mom are named after butterflies. (And that wasn't on purpose)
My friend who strongly motivated me to start writing this fic was really interested in the whole Armin Tybur storyline, she was very excited for it. She has since dropped out of this fandom completely (and I don't blame her) but I really hope she reads chapter 10 someday, and tells me what she thinks about it. (She is also one of only 2 people who truly know the ending of Changes)
I thought of adding Jean, Connie and the Warriors talking about Marco too, at the beginning of chapter 10, but then I realised that would be a topic they would avoid.
The sandbox = Paths thing that I hinted in chapter 2, then again slightly in chapter 7, with Ymir's imaginary friends, was a last minute addition to chapter 2. I hadn't realised how well it would fit in the whole story until I started writing the dialogue of little Azzy and little Ymir in that chapter (ch 2), the whole bit with "sand" and "the ocean" was added at the very end so I had to go back and add the seashell section in the dialogue between little Azzy and Eren, earlier in the chapter.
Talking about Azzy and Ymir, yes, this whole fan fiction was based on the idea of Ymir having a prior relationship with the man who (accidentally) killed her. Congratulations, if you guessed that you will get a cookie! More cookies for the folks who figured that out early on in the story.
Also their storyline is somewhat based on the lyrics of Barricades: "Wouldn't it be nice to take a walk on some pure white sand, gaze at the horizon, without living in fear? Wouldn't it be sweet to watch the sun curve down meets the waves?[…] We've got to learn to Get back. Get back / But is it worth the price of our soul? / You know you had to Kill her. Kill her! / Oh my dirty hands It never fades / How long I haven't seen the light shine through in my life / Lost everything. Family, confusion on the way / Someone tries to talk to me and signpost the righteous road […]" and so on.
Although this pair is at the very center of this fic, I wouldn't consider them as an "ideal" couple, they are far from it. Still, is very enjoyable to write their complex relationship, specially as they get older and closer to the tragic end.
The hardest character for me to write is Zeke, since his character arc goes from "evil and mysterious villain" to "complete wimp" I never know quite where to place him. He was more of comic relief to me in Arc I and I'm still working on his storyline in Arc II, all I can say so far is that it will be a secondary storyline and it might involve Levi and Annie.
Eren's writing on the other hand requires a small trick, for him I usually have to write everything and then rewrite using a more "eren" vocabulary, which means making sure I'm not using expressions that Eren would never use. For the older versions of him I do that less, as I believe he would become more refined with time.
I've mentioned Downton Abbey before and I absolutely love that series, I often rewatch it which helps me visualise the aesthetic of the beginning of the XX century, that helps me imagine this AoT world better. Also their representation of WWI in season 2 is very good. PS.: Falco reminds me of William. :'(
Sunny and Torin are loosely based on How to Train your Dragon characters, not movie characters, book characters. If you ever read that series you can clearly tell who they are based on, it's pretty telling. While there are some references to The Magician's Nephew (Narnia) in this, Azzy and Ymir are not based on Digory and Polly, I just like their imagery, and I took a bit from the cross-dimensional forest (more the trees than the ponds XD).
As you can see, most of my references are very (*sips tea and eats biscuit) British, but I am not. I did learn to speak and write in a more British English, and brits can probably tell. XD Even so, I feel the need to Americanise some words just in case. You can see I write mom instead of mum, meter, center instead of metre and centre, or diapers instead of nappies and so on.
Arcs II & III are about 30% complete, beyond that are outlines for each scene of each chapter. The dialogues are the main missing part, and those take a while to be completed. Every chapter has at least 10% of the dialogue already written down, so I can set the mood for future me writing each chapter in the right tone. For the very last (Ch. 21) I already have pretty much the last dialogues and epilogue scene done, because that was all written around chapter one. I still tweak somethings here and there but not much.
I always write while listening to background music, if you want some soundtrack while reading: "Serene", "Elysium" and "Frozen Star" from the YouTube channel "Pandora Journey" and "Memories Forgotten" and "Fragments of time" from the YouTube channel "Epic Music Channel" are the song compilations I hear the most while writing AoT Changes. Those songs definitely shape my mood and entice my creativity while writing!
I said on Tree Notes that I also get inspired by some pop songs as well (lots of those) and I did make a playlist, you can find it on Spotify is called "[SnK] Changes", headlining the list would be "Run boy Run" and "In the End", but there are lots of others that I love a lot and make me think of this story.
This is it for a new update! See you soon with the rest of chapter 10!
Cheers!
C.T. [13/12/21]
- new after ch. 11! -
:)))
Arcs 1 and 2 have a similar structure, they first start following the future (867 and 859) until it finally gets to 854, focusing on the rumbling towards the end. In Arc 1 the focusing on the rumbling is on chapters 6 & 7, while in Arc 2 it goes from chapters 12 to 14. However in Arc 3 the rumbling will run parallel with other storylines throughout the 7 chapters.
In the rumbling scene, in chapter 6, Ymir notices Azzy's presence the moment he lands in that time, she calls him "old friend" and she immediately sends a herd of titans to attack him. Afterwards she follows him around and tries to confront him but he has no idea who she is and he can't even see her, since she is trapped in another dimension (a.k.a "paths").
-You will find a lot of little moments, lines and references like this while reading this story for a second time. I planned everything starting from how the story ends and then going back all the way to the beginning, so I always add things that can only be noticed in a second reading, after the reader is aware of certain reveals that only come later on.
Azzy still has a strong bond to Levi in arc 2, even if his uncle has only raised him in a forgotten timeline.
Sunny calling Azzy "zizi" in ch. 8 is a nod to Azula, who calls Zuko "zuzu".
Fun tree-canon fact [for chapter 10] - Diana married again after Ode was already a young adult, she had more children and Erwin is a descendant of hers, that makes Armin as closely related to Erwin as he is to Willy, just from the other side. This is all Tree-canon only ofc ;)
I did it.
I had to .
I gave Levi a specific age. (And a date for No Regrets)
And also, it fits perfectly within the story. No Regrets will be set in 841, a hundred years after the flashback in chapter 10, and in the same year as the flashback for chapter 11!
*PS.: I did some light research and all I could find about it was that it was set "several years" before the main story, 850. I never read that No Regrets storyline (only saw the OVA) but I'd say if it was set on a specific year I would have found that info online, just sayin'.
In chapter 4, when Azzy wakes up over a stand in Trost, it's a reference to Mikasa and the pomegranate in the Trost Arc. His dream in the scene is foreshadowing for Arc II and the Hizuru storyline, that same dream comes back to him later in chapter 4 when he is talking to Eren in the small forest.
In chapter 6 Eren comments to Historia about how Sasha taught him how to look for someone in a dense forest. That is a reference to the OVA "Distress" where the 104th has to rescue Christa.
In chapter 3 Armin is not able to control the Pure Colossal Titans, he is able to create the dark crystal, similar to the one they were trapped before for a hundred years. The reason for that is only teased in chapter 3, and again in chapters 6 and 8, and it's finally explained in chapter 10.
For the scenes in the Palace and around Court it's possible to separate the Yeagerists from other servants, the Yeagerists consider Eren as their King while the servants from the old regime - that Historia kept around for political reasons - do not, they are loyal solely to their Queen and the Fritz lineage. So, perhaps Historia kept them around to balance her power play with Eren.
A reader asked me once what was Azzy's plan. The answer is he has none. He is not Armin. He just stumbles upon things and messes things up even more, and in the end he might pretend it was all part of a plan. (This is a Doctor Who reference by the way, if anyone is counting) -Also his ending might surprise him more than anyone else, because that's when his story starts.
Chapter 11, "Ackermann" is a continuation to Levi's "No Regrets" and Mikasa's "Lost Girls". The proto-airplane the Arlerts were building and the fact that they passed when Armin was 7 years old are shown Mikasa's "Lost Girls" story.
In the scene where Azzy learns Lud's surname I was inspired by the "McFly?" moment (in the diner) from Back to the future, of course I couldn't replicate that or even make it as comedic, because that is a classic cinema moment and what I'm writing has a completely different tone. Still, I did get the whole idea from Back to the future.
Also about ch. 11, Hannes and Sannes are both in this chapter, I hope it wasn't confusing for anyone.
Although the 2000 years ago storyline is supposed to be, well, 2000 years ago, it gives me early medieval England vibes. And I don't think that's a problem since medieval Europe was a time when technology and science were forgotten so it bears similarities with the ages over a thousand years before.
Yes I really like History, and Historia as well. *winks
(And I also really like Geopolitics)
(ch. 11) And about medieval England, I really wanted to write "Tis but a scratch" when Az lost his arm, but I contained mself.
lewl
For those who follow me outside of the AoT fandom and know how much I absolutely love the "How To Train Your Dragon" series of books, and how I religiously re-listen to them every couple of years. For me King Fritz (the 2000 years ago one, not Karl Fritz) sounds a lot like the Green Death, the gigantic sea dragon Hiccup has a philosophical discussion with in Book 1. It might have something to do with the whole discussion about creatures eating other creatures and also how snobbish David Tennant makes him sound.
There are countless references to the River Song storyline (Doctor Who) throughout the fic, because that is one of my favourite storylines in any show ever. And I think Alex Kingston is just brilliant.
Ymir can't tell the symbols in Azzy's small notebook are not from any known language and that he made it all up as a code only he could understand, she doesn't even ask about it while she goes through the pages, like other people had done before. That's because Ymir is illiterate, she never learned to read or write, because she was too young when she left civilisation.
Another Tree-canon only: The "titan in the wall" who shows up early in the series is the man who was in love with Orla, (Chapter 10) That's why he stares at Mikasa, even though she doesn't look much like her great-great grandmother, still, it's enough for him. Perhaps because of her mannerisms and her eyes, he thinks, in his cursed mind, that it is in fact his long lost crush.
At 15 Azzy is already 1.73, meaning he is 13cm taller than Levi and 5cm taller than Armin. He grows up to be 1.85, while Ezra ends at 1.83, Sunny grows up to be 1.71 and Ymir 1.65. I thought having details like characters heights were meaningless when I first started reading AoT, but now I have to admit that helps me a lot when imagining scenes and character interactions.
Sometimes I feel like I'm in a limbo, not having contact with most of the fandom and AoT related things for almost a year now, yet somehow I never lost focus on what I want to write. I guess I know that if I step out of my limbo I will feel more discouraged to keep up with this, if I only take a moment to think of how toxic this fandom can get and how awful things got after 139 - not that they weren't bad already leaning up to that 'finale' - I already lose my hope and drive to keep writing this story. I feel that if I ever leave this limbo and try just looking up AoT things around Social Media I will lose my hope and drive completely.
The scene in chapter 7 when Eren holds baby Ymir's hand is the one from the Sasageyo op, so just imagine that. s2
Lewis is a variation of the name Ludvík.
Sannes calls Mikasa "little miss number one" in ch. 11, and Levi calls Historia "little miss sunshine" in that same chapter.
Küchel means "kitchen" in German, apparently. And it can be a last name, "Kuchel" is a spelling variation of that last name.
Mikasa doesn't actually mean "burning mountain", it's the name of a mountain in Japan that used to catch on fire (over the summer? because of the heat? Idk tbh I didn't find much about that on google) I just wrote Kimiko explaining it like that (in ch. 11) because it was a faster reply and one can imagine she doesn't know as much about her own culture since they've been inside the Walls of a few generations at that point.
I took the idea of Sunny's powers and the way she helps Az in both timeline one and timeline two from the "Run Boy Run" lyrics - Run, boy, run, the sun will be guiding you - and that's not the only part of the song that inspired this fic, the whole lyric fits super well with my ideas for the fic. And the music video as well! (that actually spooked me a bit the first time I watched, I wasn't expecting the vibe to fit so perfectly with Changes)
PS.: Of course, I took that song from Umbrella Academy, that's the introduction song for Number Five, the character that inspired Azzy's powers.
The 'children in the woods' reference in chapter 11 is taken from a real medieval story, about kids found in the woods that the villagers thought were aliens. Just search 'the green children of Woolpit' to know more, if you're interested.
That's it for today, I hope everyone enjoyed ch. 11! I might be back with some more fun facts and references after ch. 12, who knows..
Cheers!
C.T. [17/02/22]
NEW! :D
[Ch. 13] "All those cursed souls wanted was to be human again."
Yes, I did think of the beauty and the beast song when I wrote that. And yes, I also start singing it in my head every time I read this part again.
[Ch. 14] I initially had Reiner call Armin and Mikasa "Tweedledee and Tweedledum" from Alice in Wonderland. But I decided to change it to "Thing One and Thing Two" from Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat), even though it's a more recent reference and it wouldn't match if one were to place the AoT timeline somewhere between the 1920's and 40's in the real world. I just think it's funnier so I don't care if the timeline doesn't properly fit. XD
Continuing with the theme of children's entertainment, yes, the opening for AoT Changes - "the chase" sequence - is 100% copied from Aladdin (the animation, of course). I love that movie and I really like the whole chasing sequence / musical number, it's a really fun and upbeat way to start a story.
[pure tree-canon] All Ackermanns are born premature, they just develop faster than regular humans. In Levi's case, his prematurity and later poor nutrition highly contributed to his low stature.
-Azzy was born of seven months and Sunny was closer to eight months.
Also in tree-canon - all unborn Titan Shifter children give their mothers the power to regenerate as a protection mechanism, that's why both Mikasa and Historia can regenerate while pregnant and also became more resilient during pregnancy. This is based on real science, because apparently unborn children can lend their mothers their stem cells, which help them heal themselves and even cure some diseases. The fetal cells stay with the mother for years after the baby is born. #themoreyouknow
The momentary regeneration was also the reason Grisha had to finally tell the truth about the past to Carla when she found out she could heal herself while pregnant, still, he didn't explain things to her completely, because he himself was a very confused man. (Again, this is all tree-canon)
On that note, yes, Eren does freak out when he learns Historia is pregnant and everything unravels the way it does because of that. He promises her he would stop the curse and the rest is history. (I was gonna say "and you know the rest" but I saw an opportunity for a pun and I took it. xD)
I'm making a chart with the whole AoT Changes family tree (it's taking a while, there's too many characters XD) - with the Fritzs and Ackermanns and all. I'll post it on my socials and on the subreddit since I can't post it here, and I recommend for the readers to check it out, it might help with some doubts and confusions with all the relations in this.
Way before Azzy was a character and AoT Changes was a fic, he was already a joke on some discord servers I am in - especially Armin x Mikasa server ofc - (it all started there, actually) - anyways, he didn't have a name, but I used to joke that he was AAA, or triple A, because both Mikasa's surnames and Armin's (the one we know), start with the letter A: Azumabito, Ackermann and Arlert. And that might have influenced me in two things:
First - to change from the previous name I had in mind "Ozymandias", (a DC character Erwin apparently is based on) to a more "A" sounding name. So it could truly be AAA, Azymondeus Ackermann-Arlert, or Arlert-Ackermann, or just Az Arlert, depending on the culture. xD
PS: other names I considered were Osmond (a name that I later used), and Azaliah (that's what Azzy is commonly short for); the fun fact is that both Osmond and Azaliah mean similar things, "near God" or "protected by God", and if I break down the name Azymondeus between Hebrew, old French and Latin, it still means under God's protection.
And Second: initially his powers weren't really an actual "power" as in some "energy" thing, but as I developed the story I started learning more towards science then just "magic", and I'd say the whole triple A or AAA, made me add a few battery jokes about his character (and ofc, develop the "otherworldly energy" part of the story)
[Ch. 3] when Ymir looks up the three light and says "I'm sorry about your mother," she's not talking to Armin. She's talking to herself while thinking of Az, she's referring to Mikasa, who had just died. Ymir feels bad because she knows how much he loves his mum (Az is 100% mama's boy) and she realised he would have to grow up without her now.
-Now the misdirect is that Armin thinks she is talking to him, and a second misdirect is at the end of the chapter when he sees a ghost of a child in paths and tells Mikasa that looks like his mother:
"Who is that?" He was looking behind Mikasa, a little further away. It was difficult to tell but it seemed to be a young girl with bright yellow eyes.
"Who is what?" Mikasa asked as she turned to look. The apparition was gone.
"Nothing." He was unsure... "It's just-" he wondered, a little perplexed.
Then he finished the thought:
"It looked like my mother."
The little girl is of course Sunny, and that is brought up a few times again, in ch. 9, when Eren comments with Armin how Sunny looks like Armin's mother. In ch. 11, when Armin's mother looks at him with her "bright yellow eyes", which means Sunny inherited her eyes from her grandmother (this is also a nod to Armin yellow eyes in the Manga, instead of blue in the Anime, btw, I prefer his eyes to be blue)
And finally, in ch. 13, when Armin is having a Paths hallucination, he dreams of Hizuru in the future and he hears Sunny's laugh, which is very similar to his mother's laugh, again confirming one more thing she inherited from her grandmother.
PS: Sunny might have her grandmother's laugh, on Armin's side, but her voice is actually very similar to Mikasa's voice, almost identical. (She just sounds more infantile and happy)
Yes, Mikasa smells like jasmine, I also considered lavender and gardenia, but jasmine just felt right.
After Annie passes out in ch 13, Levi takes her back to the garden and places her under a tree, her laying there reminds him of Petra and he is for a moment tempted to finally kill her. But the Captain is done with revenges for the day and quite tired.
Still on the topic of Season 1 storylines, yes, the part with Jean and Floch being cut in half is a Marco reference.
Chapter 14, in a similar way to Chapter 7, has two main tasks: first to set up everything that has happened in the future in this Arc, in a way that the reader can go back to previous chapters and re-read the future storylines in arc II ( ex: years 859 and 867 ) and see it all fit in from how the rumbling was left in ch. 14. And second to build up expectation for Arc III and undo everything timeline-wise. Arcs I: "the old world" and II: "the castle" became forgotten timelines, but that doesn't mean they didn't happen. ;)
[Ch. 14] When Maria says to Rose: "I'll see you both on the other side," is to foreshadow that they will die and eventually see each other on the actual "other side"
Too dark? I did my best to keep their story light, or the least dark I could. :/
Most of the 2000 years ago events that happen in chapters 13 and 14 were first written down in June of 2021, at the time I was constantly updating the discord server, posting tidbits about Fritz's death and the three girls in the "ceremony".
I eventually gave out the name of the Nine Titans and told people to guess each one's Titans by their names, the clue is that most names have a lot to do with their Titan; one example is "Torr", even though it sounds like "Thor", the name is not Nordic, it's old English for "tower" and he is the Original Colossal Titan. Or "Jari" which means "helmed warrior" or some variation of that, he is of course the Original Armoured Titan.
Now I didn't specify at the time that those Nine Titans were all King Fritz's children, but I left their names pinned (under spoilers of course) so people who saw it would eventually figure it out once they were slowly introduced in Arc II. Out of all the Royal children the only one who doesn't have a line in Arc II is Dorian, the Original Attack Titan. That's because I wanted to keep his personality a little away from the reader, and keep his character a little more mysterious. (You can make your own fic with him and if want ;)
There will be more about Fritz family and the 2000 years ago storyline in Arc III, it will run currently with the pre-rumbling (post ch. 119) storyline and another future storyline. Arc III is all prepared and most of ch. 21 (the very last chapter) is already written down. But I will take a longer break and will take more time to prepare this Arc, because it will be the final one and I wanted to be perfect - I need time to make sure I won't forget anything.
I know it's frustrating that time ran back again, but I really wanted to go back to somewhere between chapters 118 and 119 of the original manga. The initial plan was for the first time-jump in the story to be straight back to that Shiganshina conflict, without a middle arc, meaning just from Arc I to Arc III. But I quickly realised that I would need time to introduce all those concepts about the past and the Titan origins and Az and Ymir's development, and some of the stuff in the future. So I created this middle arc to fit a lot of the story development in, I hope people don't get too frustrated over that. ;-;
If you feel sad while reading the story of Maria, Rose and Sina just listen to "Child and the Guardian Angel" by Peter Roe, that's one of the songs in the music compilation that I listened to most while writing that storyline and it just gives me chills and it's oddly comforting at the same time. It really encapsulates my feelings while writing The Girls' storyline.
Okay, this is it for this section of fun things, tidbits and references. Chapter 14 is done, Arc II is done and the FanArt Festival is almost upon us! As I said before I'm finally taking a break, it's been over one year and I learned a lot about writing and about myself throughout this process. I am really glad you came on this ride with me, dear reader, and let's hope you will stay to read the final and definite conclusion to this story. (I'm not kidding, no time-reversals this time, the end will truly be the end.)
I'll be back sometime around July. In the meantime, I'll update a few things on my YouTube channel and other socials, I'll also post from time to time on r/snkchanges, our official subreddit and I also always reply whenever you send me questions.
(I might just take a little longer to reply now)
And no, I will not give anyone spoilers about Arc III.
If you want to help this fic become more known, it really helps to share! So just share it around! :D
Thank you guys for everything. :')
And I'll see you in a few months!
C.T. [19/04/22]