Hi, I was wondering if Erwin is German or English, judging from his looks or some other things? What do you think? German or English or .... ?

You mean do I headcanon Erwin as being German or English? I don't have particularly strong feelings either way tbh. Erwin is not a common English name, but Smith very much is, and with his blond hair and blue eyes, he could certainly pass for either. I did write him as English in Cardamom, but in modern AUs I usually leave his nationality unstated, to let other readers make their own minds up.

Incidentally, I recently discovered that in the past Erwin was a variant spelling of the common Scottish name Irvine. It doesn't seem to appear very often, but it's enough for me to claim Erwin as Scottish 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

are you excited about ch136 animation?

I'm not sure if excited is the right word 😬 Apprehensive? Emotional? The crate scene is so emblematic of Erwin and Levi's relationship, seeing it one last time, and under such devastating circumstances is really going to hurt. I just hope MAPPA do it justice.

Hey Lost what do you think people thought of Erwin making Levi his captain? I grew up surrounded by soldiers because my father was a colonel and military in aot feels weird sometimes. I ignore the most of it but it's interesting that Erwin made Levi his captain because even if they managed to hide Levi's background from public in ACWNR we see that other SC soldiers knew that he was a thug. This guy one day shows up randomly, has no military training and in a short time he gets a huge promotion before other veterans? People would talk. And Erwin isn't stupid, he wouldn't just promote someone because they are good at killing titans which makes my Eruri brain ho crazy because how did Erwin decide that he can fully trust Levi, when did they form this bond HOW DID IT HAPPEN I need isayama to tell me because I know that's how they fell in love lol

Levi’s rank has been the subject of enormous speculation and confusion over the years precisely because it is so anomalous. Unfortunately we never get to see Levi’s promotion to captain, but if you line up the dates, it must have been Erwin who promoted him. It’s unlikely to have been Shadis.  But Erwin didn’t just promote Levi, he created an entirely new rank for him that sits outside the normal chain of command. Isayama confirmed this in a 2014 Frau magazine interview where he said that Levi’s rank is an “exceptional role that does not belong to the ranking hierarchy” (transl. @tsuki-no-ura).   Levi is the one and only captain of the Survey Corps. It doesn’t appear that Levi outranks the other Squad Leaders though, his rank seems to be tangential to theirs.  @momtaku, @tsuki-no-ura and I have written few posts about Levi’s rank over the years, which you can read here and here. The Shingeki no Kyojin Outside Guidebook also contains a lot of information about the structure of the different branches of the military if you can track it down.

When Erwin first recruited Levi to the Survey Corps, some of the other Squad Leaders where clearly unhappy, Flagon in particular,  but Erwin was adamant that Levi could revolutionise the Corps.  It’s impossible to know if Levi’s promotion to captain was met with similar mistrust or if people had come to appreciate his skill and strength by that stage.  I can’t help wondering if Levi became known as Humanity’s Strongest round about the same time, and whether Erwin had something to do with that epithet.  It was certainly useful in raising the profile of the Survey Corps and Levi’s acceptance within it.

As to how Levi and Erwin came to trust each other, that’s a question that has fascinated the fandom for years, and I know many fans would give their right arm for a manga or anime that covered the period from ACWNR to SnK.  Thankfully we have the amazingly talented writers of the Eruri fandom to help us imagine what might have happened. Almost every author has written their own post ACWNR fic at some stage.  I’ve got a rec list of some of my favourites here: Post-ACWNR fics

An interesting observation maybe but do you think fix-it aus are underrated in Eruri fandom? Or Attack on Titan fandom in general? My SW and Demon Slayer ships have all one dead member and I swear it's really common to see fix-it fics where the dead character lives/survives and it made me think of Eruri. I guess we as a fandom very depressed because it's all just angst and in most fics Erwin dies either way and if he doesn't, Levi does asdfgdSDFGdsfg Do you know have any good fix-it fics :D Do you think Eruri happy ending is very underrated?

That’s a really interesting question.  I mean there are plenty of fix it fics in the Eruri fandom, but it’s true that there perhaps aren’t as many as you might expect, given the untimely death of such a beloved character.  I think part of the problem is that allowing Erwin to live doesn’t actually fix anything, in fact it arguably makes it worse.  The whole point of Levi’s choice was that he allowed Erwin to die with his dreams intact, rather than dragging him back to the hell of the world where people saw him as nothing more than a monster.   In order to really fix canonverse, you have to find a way for Erwin to survive, without becoming the “devil himself” and being crippled by overwhelming guilt, and you also have to prevent the Rumbling, eradicate the Titans, end the persecution of the Eldian people, and resolve the centuries old conflict between Paradis and Marley.  That’s quite a tall order! This is one of the reasons that a lot of Erwin Lives fics tend to be more than a little angsty. 

In terms of fic recs, before Midnight Sun, there were quite a lot of “after the war” fics written, where the Titans are vanquished and Erwin and Levi learn to live on with each other after the conflict. After Midnight Sun, Titan!Erwin fics became popular, the majority of which are either gut wrenchingly sad, ridiculously horny, or more often than not, a combination of both. There are a few fics where Levi actually does break Erwin's legs which, unsurprisingly, are pretty devastating (No Regrets by supasafeboss & King Under Ground by WhisperDan.) More recently there have been some great fics where Erwin survives and does his utmost to resolve the conflict through political means or other means. Here's a list of some of my favourite Erwin Lives fics:

And to answer your final question, do I think Eruri happy endings are underrated? In canonverse, certainly. Here's a few fics & ficlets that give them the happy ending they deserved.

the real hero of the crate scene is the two wooden planks on the left side of erwin that isayama never neglected to draw.

(Immediately goes to check if the two planks are in a compromising position…)

Considering that Isayama forgot to remove Levi's missing fingers this is an achievement indeed :D

I guess this deserves a compendium of The Planks XD

Thank you for your ask! XD

no, erwin's attitude during the office scene was like "go away why are you still here leave me alone it's none of your business i do what i want" . levi tried to approach him like a good friend but he ignored him and rejected his help. he had plenty of time to talk with levi if he wanted to but he didn't. he doesn't think of anyone but himself. uri on the other hand is far from being a spoiled child like erwin is.

Ah. Problem is Levi's "help" was to try and dissuade him from going to Shinganshina because he was a one-armed soldier and his chances of survival out there were going to be poorer, and Humanity would be unable to defeat the Titans without him, and so the biggest contribution Erwin could make by Levi's reckoning was to stay alive, and the best way to stay alive is by not going. Which really is an unrealistic expectation. I expect that it would have been all kinds of wrong and rumours flying if Erwin did in fact not lead the expedition.

The situation was literally boiling down to "Erwin wants to go, Levi does not want him to go". And yes, they fought over it.

And again, you're comparing chalk and cheese. Yes Uri is a gentle creature and yes Erwin is a stubborn brat who will manipulate mansplain and manslaughter to get his way, this is like a fundamental quality to the both of them and complaining that your cheese will not behave like chalk I think is a pointless argument. An argument like "Eren should stop behaving like Eren and be more like Armin" is not going to get us anywhere. Which is why I had put in the "different strokes for different folks" comment. Erwin and Levi are both stubborn old coots and I enjoy their dynamic. And I think I can safely say that Erwin's behaviour annoys you. There's really no resolving that part I'm afraid.

Thank you for your ask! :)

Tbh I felt like EL and LH has the difference that I thought Hange would be able to go on in the absence of Levi, but I didn't think Erwin would be able to manage the same way. Not that he wouldn't manage, but like you said, there would be no one to remind him that he is human. I feel Levi did that for Erwin and to some extent Hange as well, but Hange's issue with that never really ran so deep and they were never as hidden as Erwin. Not that they weren't, just not as much as Erwin. I saw LH as very comfortable relationship between them but EL to me is where they both were each other's strongest support. Not to say that LH doesn't have that element, but the connection between EL seemed more... deeper? to me? Idk the word to describe it properly, but like the "only one who understands me" trope I think.

This of course does not mean that LH is not a support for one another and even EH is also a great support, but somehow EL felt just a bit more closer. Which is again not to dismiss other relationships. You can have one important person and also have other people you love. I do enjoy LH friendship a lot, I just feel like in EL there is the vibe of "No one understands me like you do," and it makes me feel that they have a "stronger" bond. I put the word in quotes because there really isn't any word I know that accurately describes what I mean lol.

What do you think? Love your blog BTW, your personality is very comforting. ❤

Thank you! (^///^)

I would say I am very much in agreement with you, the "weakest link" so to speak is Erwin, in the sense that he had closed himself off the most with his plans within plans within plans, not necessarily maliciously but especially since there was always a certain amount of secrecy needed as well as they were dealing with elements within their midst, whether it was the enemy infiltrated within them or taking on the monarchy. A sad element to that is probably also the fact that the circle got smaller and smaller as this story progressed, I'm sure that he was very close with Mike for example, and the last piece, once again, the unreliable narrator of his self-recrimination and personal breakdown.

I would say that there was also a two way process here, that it was also because Levi was also constantly keeping an eye on him and picking up on the things that seemed off that created openings for the exchanges that allow? force? XD Erwin to erm, open up more to him as well XDD

Like you say, Hange's troubles had very little to do with their own self and a lot more to do with external circumstances blowing up around them. Their "shall we give up?" had more to do with a moment of weakness than debilitating self-doubt. They were also more easy-going, which would account for a lot, and ready to strike out on new relationships as well, Onyankopon, I'm sure that they worked closely with Armin as well, and even their ill-fated attempts with Pieck XDD, their eggs wouldn't have been as much all in one basket as Erwin I feel.

I agree that all three were close in their various combinations, but I feel like where Erwin and Hange would click best is when they put their criminal critical minds together XD I think that while Hange is better with making the initial interactions they tend to miss out on deeper undercurrents and subtle tells like Levi is attuned to (like Eren not feeling well for example). While picking up on such cues is Levi's forte and he knew Hange's tells as well, like you say, Hange simply didn't need as much help as Erwin. Erwin was a leader's leader to the detriment of his personal self, and only Levi got and I would also say persisted in getting close enough to be able to pierce through his bullshit as I like to call it XD

If we are allowed to believe that Name of Love is indeed "a love song to Erwin" as I like to put it :D, then I feel that they are thinking along the same lines as well, but just to point out a little special thing that I always enjoyed, while the last line 僕のこと 本当のこと boku no koto, hontou no koto is probably translated along the lines of some variation of "About me, about the real situation/truth", it can also be read as something like "About me, the real me" which is what I feel is like the secret bonus unlocked content!! :D and probably the thing that really marks out the special thing between them, that Levi was the one who got to learn the truth of Erwin.

Thank you for your ask! :)

Hello 🌸 I was wondering if there’s a post that collects EruRi canon facts ( If that’s how they are called ) such as Isayama quotes about them, and etc..? I just wanted to read something that would make me happy 😂🤍. Thank you!!!!

There isn't a single definite site that collects everything, there's such a lot that it would be a *huge* undertaking. Here are a few you might want to check out though:

Eruri Receipts Post by @erbeansandravioli This is old now, so it doesn't include recent material, but it's still one of the best.

ERL Round Up - English Version An amazing resource from the Japanese side of the fandom. Thanks to @tsuki-no-ura for putting me on to this one.

@ningen-suki's blog is a treasure trove of content from the Japanese fandom including translations and fan reactions.

@yusenki's blog has a wealth of canon content including translations, Smartpass stories, CDs and more. It's not specifically Eruri, but it's definitely worth checking out, especially for the Smartpass translations, which are a gold mine.

@tsuki-no-ura one of the most diligent translators ever to grace the fandom, really gets into the nuance of translation. Check out the Bessatsu Q&A Masterpost and Dear Girl Stories translations in particular.

@oscarforjm also has some interesting translations in their Eruri tag.

@snknews has a comprehensive post about a fan Q&A session with Isayama in Oita in 2018. There's all kinds of little gems here.

@darlingpoppet, who has been a stalwart of the Eruri fandom forever, also has an excellent archive of translations on their blog.

Hopefully you'll find enough canon facts and titbits here to make you very happy!

Is LH ship bigger than Eruri? Nothing against anyone who ships it ofc, but I wanted to know if you felt like it was a larger ship. Just curious of your experience in the fandom about this. Have a good day!

I can honestly say I've never given it much thought. I tend to focus on my own fandom and leave others to enjoy theirs. How do you measure the "size" of a ship anyway? Is it the ship with the most fanfics? The most fan art? The one with the most accounts on tumblr? Or twitter? Ot TikTok? (God forbid.) Is it the ship that is most active currently? Or the one that has had most fans over time? Are we talking English language fans only, or the whole body of fans internationally? And what about multishippers, where do they come in? Depending on which metrics you chose you'll get myriad different answers.

For example, If you look at the number of fics posted on AO3, there are currently 11,903 fics tagged Levi Ackerman / Erwin Smith; 3,387 tagged Levi Ackerman/Hange Zoë; and 17,889 tagged Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager. So by that measure alone the Ereri fandom is the "biggest". However Laszlo on twitter has done some data crunching of AO3's annual stats and it appears that over the last couple of years the number of Eruri fics posted to the archive has risen faster than Ereri fics, so interpret that as you will.

While digging into the data can be fascinating, I wouldn't get too hung up on the numbers. Shipping shouldn't be a popularity contest, the best fandoms and ships are often the ones that have a small but dedicated following of deeply committed weirdos. It's all about finding your own little community of weirdos!