All into soft things

Trying to escape life by being here | Anyway, AruAni 🖤 | USER IS ON A SHORT SOCMED BREAK !! DW, IM ALIVE <3

[moonspirit]

Hello, Moon!

For the director's cut game:

In Planetisimal Feelings, what's your input on the scars on Annie's lower back, how she was afraid of letting people see them, including Armin, but grew to be more comfortable with Armin seeing them (later chapters)

Falling into Neptune (my personal favorite of the series!), the scene where Annie describes Armin's shoulders and hands, how she thought he might grow and become

As for VBEOW, you know I want more about Annie's thought process buying the family name seal (and maybe even receiving it later on)

Best of luck!

-Clouds

Heya clouds! And thanks for asking xD This becomes a little hehe sexy toward the end xD

1. PF, Annie's Scars.

So it's my personal headcanon that pre-shifter scars and marks remain intact even during limb regeneration and Titan healing. Good old Ymir in the paths probably has an anatomy book for every shifter in history to make sure she doesn't mess them up when she rebuilds their legs and arms. Anyway, this is why Annie has scars at all, in this series. Wounds she sustained from her dad's training.

I think Pre-Armin Annie would've cared very little who saw what and what they made of it. Post Armin however and her realisation that he saw her as a nice person, she develops a whole avalanche of emotions that she doesn't really figure out. But anyway at this point, she wants to be a good person for him... But her scars are a memory of her ugly upbringing. Proof that she was trained "not to be good", in direct contrast with Armin who's the epitome of goodness. It doesn't really matter atp because he traps her, she crystallizes and any emotional advancements between the two is pretty much doomed before it even progressed.

Post Rumbling, she's alive, he's alive, they've talked their feelings out and it can't be ignored anymore. Armin who stopped the Rumbling because he's never been a person who's liked the idea of killing anybody ever, and Annie, who killed so many out of a selfish/desperate desire to go home. She feels ugly. Not good enough. Not "clean" enough. She doesn't want him to see it. She also doesn't want him to see proof of the shit she went through as a child because now, it all seems pathetic. Her life has been a pathetic existence. What would he think of her, wanting to go back to the very man who gave her those scars? At least, these are her fears.

But then, throughout the series, Armin wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn't seem to be fazed by anything belonging to her past. He pops a vague-ish "will you marry me" question in PF. Tells her how much he desired her, physically, in Falling into Neptune. In TFLM, he tells her it's okay to live and desire happiness despite everything and that he wants to live his life loving her. Most importantly, there's the letter he gives her in which he very clearly promises to "Love her in all the ways it is possible to love her and maybe someday, the pain that rests in the scars on her back will no longer be a bad memory." which is basically a moment of reveal for her that he already knows about them through Bertholdt's memories. And he still loves her just the same. He doesn't see her as a used war weapon, now useless; he sees her as a girl, a woman, his future.

Her fears begin to dissipate. In VBEOW, she goes through a lot of reckoning over her feelings and her needs and desires, trying to make sense of them beyond just the surface level sexual frustration, and she makes several reckless (and cute) decisions that only serve to tell her that he means so much to her, more than she can even begin to describe. She wants him in her life, for good, for long, forever. And he reinforces all these beliefs by constantly telling her how much he loves her (too). By the time chap 5 comes and she learns of Pieck's sparse time with Porco, she understands the miracle it is to still have Armin alive, and the miracle of being granted long, ordinary, human lives. The scars will remain but she's fine with showing them to him, because it's Armin, he wants her and her alone, exactly for who she is and nothing more or less, and he's never going to let her go.

(More on her scars in chapter 11, Armin's going to... make good on that promise. Literally.)

2. Falling into Neptune - physical changes.

A horny midnight hour idea that arose out of the frustration of being robbed of the moment when Annie really SEES the man Armin's become, in canon material. Anyway. Since none of the sequels were planned at this stage, this was just a fic that focused on the purely physical traits that people grow to desire and want.

There's something to be said of a teenage girl's fantasies over a boy she likes. Annie, despite all her pessimism and seeming disinterest in romance and sex, was no exception. These thoughts are intrusive. You just can't help having them. At 15, as military trainees, while Armin was puny and frail, he was still taller than her. After becoming aware of her special fondness for him, she would've started becoming aware of... other things too. Like the size of his hand when he handed her a loaf of bread - a little bigger than hers. The protrusion on his throat that bobbed with every hearty laugh and shout. The back of his neck when the wind blew his hair away and how it would feel to hold onto it. The curve of her hips in contrast to his - slim and narrow. The wider shoulders compared to hers, narrow and small. The heat and scent of his body when he came especially close to her in totally normal situations, but her heart races. She would've gone to bed after training replaying all the little sounds he made while talking to her, all a little deeper in tone. She liked him, and he was a boy, so... different from her, a girl. At this age, you're hyper aware of every single change that you go through and she would've imagined how much taller he'd grow, how the features would change and etc. At the end of the day, she was just a girl with fantasies like anyone else.

At 19, things are very, very different. She's been listening to his voice deepen in register over four years, but seeing him is... a shock. Suddenly he's way taller. His shoulders are now broad. Much stronger. For all the strength and muscles she packs in her arms, his are now much bigger, and longer. Her neck, thin and long, and his neck, thicker and wider. The back of his neck, exposed permanently by that stupid gorgeous undercut that makes him look so good. Longer legs, thighs slimmer than hers but very firm and strong, and when she sits on his lap, she can feel how easily they remain in place and don't buckle under her weight. Waist and hips still narrow. When he turns his neck and yells at someone, she can see a vein straining. Beautifully long fingers and attractive as fuck forearms. The clench of a sharp jawline. He's lost the baby fat from his cheeks, but while he still looks a little boyish, there's no doubt that this is a man. And far sexier than in all her fantasies put together.

3. VBEOW, Annie's hanko.

So an unplanned but very significant subplot now, the hanko is, undeniably very cute xD While she doesn't find out about the hanko's existence until she actually visits the stamp maker, this subplot begins the very moment she undertakes Armin's job of getting that official seal made. The way I see it, the common family stamp in Japan is affixed on all official documents as a signature, and everyone carries one around. In VBEOW however, I made it so that a married couple has just one, and they share it. When she agrees to visit the stamp maker, she's already begun to share his responsibilities. Seeing the hanko there is just a physical manifestation of what she wants in their relationship, both consciously and sub-consciously.

She's also impulsive. Had Armin seen that hanko, he wouldn't have bought it. (If I can say it without spoiling, I'd say Armin's... going about this in a different way xD and I'm so excited to write this scene later on!) Armin is methodical and he'd have done it by the book, and got their hanko after being married. But Annie had one look at all the family names embossed so cutely in little rubber circles, and she thought "Oh... Arlert... would look nice on one of these."

All it took was once glance. And it becomes a fixation. Better at expressing her emotions by actions (sometimes not even that) than words, she runs back to the store the next day with enough money in her pocket, little to no thought of how it would look like to get a seal typically ordered after getting MARRIED of all things, until after she actually reaches there, she blurts out his surname and scrams back home, mortified and embarrassed. Subconsciously, she wanted something of him to keep with her at all times, but how embarrassing would it be to ask him to give her something of that sort? But here's a thing she can buy, put his name on it, and keep close.

Once she receives it out of the stamp maker's kindness (for free! basically trying to say that the things you do for love, in love, are priceless), she becomes instantly attached to it. At this point, she's still battling with putting a proper name and description to her love for him, so to have this little stamp carrying his name in her pocket, in her hands, something of her own that makes her happy and warm and safe and most importantly, loved (in contrast to the ring, that reminds her of awful things) feels like magic.

The hanko will be important in future too, and there will be plenty of cute shenanigans around it :D (some moments i'm literally DYING to write T^T)

Oh god sorry this is so long T^T I hope you made it through ifhsoighsgg.

[moonspirit]

I love the idea of everyone thinking that Ambassador Armin is this calm, level headed, and incredibly strong guy (I mean, he killed the Devil of Paradis!) who turns out to also be incredibly nice, soft spoken, sweet and kind in person. Politicians have that to say and civilians are flabbergasted by how down to earth and humble he is. Truly an awe inspiring figure. A role model for young children! Kids, you should all aspire to become strong like Ambassador Armin.

But only those within the walls of the parliament building know. Of the horrifying truth. That separation comes at a cost. That too much space can pay a heavy price. That if Ambassador Annie isn't at any given point in time in the immediate vicinity of Ambassador Armin, there is a grave risk that he will at once turn into a pathetic puddle of his own tears.

They have all heard of the rumour of the tailor who was commissioned to make the Ambassador a new suit. Expecting to find someone intimidating and authoritative, so taken by the Ambassador's gentle demeanor was he, that he was even prepared to stay there and make the suit in two days! He was in awe. This is a great man, he thought. This is a man, if there ever was a man, he decided. Some time had passed with taking the Ambassador's measurements when he heard a sniffle. Then another. Then yet another. To his utter shock, he found in the mirror reflection, the Ambassador teary eyed and glancing at the empty corridor like an abandoned puppy. Bewildered, the tailor was torn thinking what could have possibly caused the great Ambassador such distress. But his confusion was quickly put to rest, when in a few moments, the Ambassador Annie walked in. Now she was intimidating, the tailor thought, and she regarded him coolly before speaking to the Ambassador.

However, the change that came over Ambassador Armin was so great that it almost threw the poor tailor off balance. A radiance filled the room. The sun shone through the window. Ambassador Armin brightened, a wide smile splitting his mouth, and bounded to Ambassador Annie, enveloping her in a tight hug. His actions seemed to the tailor to be like that of a dog seeing its beloved after a dreadful absence of three minutes.

So speechless was the tailor that he's said to have returned to his rural hometown after making the suit and could never speak properly again.

Oh but, that is just a rumor. Or so the clerks and secretaries and spokespersons of the Parliament Building thought.

Until that day.

When they were reminded of how they were in the presence of a truly pathetic lovesick creature of an Ambassador.

It was a particularly unbearable day in the country of Nauland when nothing was getting done. Bureaucracy had slowed paperwork, the weather was too hot and humid, some were also plagued, unfortunately, by colds (especially torturous in such weather). If it wasn't bad enough that they were in a foreign land for the signing of the treaty, it only made matters worse that they were under security protection and therefore couldn't even venture out to kill some time.

Ambassador Pieck had discovered, from some mysterious library, a book about dark magic and voodoo and had managed to occupy herself in that world. Ambassador Jean was assessing the money value of the paintings hanging in the great hall. A few of the clerks had decided to play word games to pass the afternoon. It was thus unfortunately, the burden of the youngest on the team, to assemble the day's paperwork and get the Ambassador to sign them.

And so he went, expecting to find the Ambassador in some state of unnecessarily complicated thought or dilemma, surrounded by a pile of books and dusty documents. Out of consideration for the heat, he also balanced a glass of cool water (it was known that the Ambassador was prone to sudden fevers and burnouts). At the door, he heard voices coming from inside the room and perked up. Surely! That must be the Governor of Nauland calling to say all is well and they may proceed! The Ambassador's room was the only one with a telephone. Hesitating over interrupting, he knocked slowly and opened the door.

What he didn't expect to find was Ambassador Armin, sprawled on the floor with the telephone to his ear, tie askew, legs up on the chair kicking and swaying, a finger twirling the cord round and round, and the most blissful, serene blush on his cheeks. "Annie, I miss you," he crooned happily and then proceeded to tell her in such delightful detail how this country fucking sucked without her. He said, in such a pathetic little voice, that he wished she was here, that the sun wasn't shining and the poor junior secretary could only gawk at him, sweating under his own clothes from the day's lurid temperatures. A brief silence followed where Ambassador Annie said something on the phone, and Ambassador Armin broke into such a fit of happy laughter, his hair falling back and chest heaving that the junior clerk was somehow so blinded that he nearly missed noticing the way the Ambassador kicked his feet while giggling.

The junior secretary closed the door quietly and returned to his desk downstairs in a stupor and reportedly never recovered from what is now known by those in the Parliament building as the Ambassador's utter uselessness in the absence of his beloved Ambassador Annie.

TLDR: Hero popularly perceived as awesome little guy turns out to get absolutely nothing done and devolves into 🥺🥺🥺 and tears without his awesome intimidating girlfriend around.

[distortedclouds]

Ok I've been holding on to this for forever, but:

Post-Rumbling Armin can't look at himself in the mirror! That's why Annie has to either do or fix his tie in the morning and help him shave often because it's unsightly to have that many cuts as an ambassador

The others also keep track to warn him about his hair before a meeting and give a few pointers on "where" and "how" because he won't turn to look in the hallway mirror behind him

He learns of his undereye bags and pale face from people's reactions. In fact, that's maybe the only time he does look in the mirror; it's to confirm how he feels on the inside

Armin also won't look at Any photographes of himself. They're even worse because the photographer often spends time perfecting Armin's pose with the lighting and everything. He looks grand. Almost like he's worth a lot. Armin hates those photographs and the fact that this is how the world is going to remember him. This would also explain why he has that ugly-ass haircut post-canon lol

[annawayne]

What a great angst potential T_T

I was thinking about it for a while too, and this whole idea of Armin not looking at himself post-canon runs deep into his self-loathing, to the point where he thinks that he has grown into the man who doesn't deserve all the age he gained. Armin lived for some time with the limited time ahead of him, and I think this fact really developed in him not just the "I have to repay for this second life" mindset, but also the "I'm already dead, I need to be useful as much as possible within this period of time", so when the curse is lifted and he's face to face with not the load of the new responsibilities, but also with the years ahead, his whole "plan" ruins just like the sand-castle with the new tide.

I think that he can develop another stage of his self-hatred with it, since he would look at this double in the mirror and eventually remembered this one time in the Paths when okapi held him and he was looking at himself from another angle - pathetic "piece of shit" he hates, like he said back then - but when he saw himself a few times in the mirror, accidentally, he saw another man he didn't recognize, someone, like you said, worth something, and someone much older than he imagined himself he would be, and this led him to another paralysing, terrifying thought - this man in the mirror isn't me and I hate him even more because he's better then me. I guess, he really can develop this dissociation with his present -self and past-self, which would be tightly linked to that experience in the Paths. He saw himself laying motionless with a dull gaze while everyone was fighting and he couldn't do anything, and this experience, unconsciously, sipped so deep down into his mind, that this is the only thing he can see about himself.

When Annie looks at him, sometimes, he thinks when time will come when she will realize that he's not the one she sees. He doesn't doubt her feelings, no, but he can't understand how the sheer love and a small curve on her lips when she looks at him appear every time when her eyes glide over his frame, how doesn't see in him this pathetic man with so little to offer - this world and his world, her?

Until one day Annie gives him the small book, and he looks at her, puzzled.

"Open it", she just nods, her hands behind her back.

And when he does, all he sees - the pictures of him, in all the mundane and small, ordinary moments of life, caught by her on their new, small photo-camera, a luxury not a lot of people can allow, but for Ambassadors there's always the way.

Here, he curls with the book and blanket, on another picture - him, laughing with Pieck and Connie, on another one - Jean teaches him how to play a billiard and Armin has such a funny concentrated face as if Jean teaches him some difficult geopolitics, here - he cooks her pancakes in the apron, his hair clipped with the hair clip he borrowed from Pieck, here he smiles with such pure and child smile when he reads the new letter from Mikasa, on another one - he and Reiner between the pile of books.

This book is full of pictures of him, just living this life, for one year, and he sees how he also changes, how much he grows and becomes older. And it's not something to be ashamed of.

A few drops of tears fell into the picture of him, where he laughed with Connie, Jean, Pieck and Reiner hugging him, his birthday cake with the candles that showed that he's already 28. He remembers this day, but he doesn't remember Annie taking this picture either - he didn't know she was even doing it all this time.

So when he looks at her, through his glossy eyes, she smiles at him, too, like she always does.

(sorry if it was messy, I just woke up from the nap)

[smithsluvverr]

My mom's screaming yelling at me calling me selfish even tho im just depressed and im just sitting there thinking about dating my goat armin 😛

[moonspirit]

armin is definitely a trick when it comes to annie

I really had to google what trick meant in this case and-

I'm gonna assume you intended that Armin would let Annie use his wallet liberally for whatever the heck she likes xD

In that case- hell yeah! I'm pretty sure he earns decently BUT. He never has any money 😞 the monthly spending on donuts and ice cream and sweet tea easily soars over his ANNUAL budget for books (and he buys a hell of a lot of books). This is very very abysmal financial planning but does he care? Does he do anything about it? Does he say, "Another cake box annie? We have 19193764 cake boxes at home." ?

No. He says "Ehehe sure Annie, eat all you want you're so cute (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡"

while his pocket is visibly burning a hole through his clothes and his clothes are set on fire.

[moonspirit]

can we hear your favorite aruani headcanons?

Heyyyy nat! Been a while, how've you been?

This blog is kinda infamous at this point for having a ocean's worth of Aruani smut, but believe it or not, some of my most favourite headcanons are those fuzzy, cute, old-soul, slow and lazy moment types!

Off the top of my head I guess some hcs that particularly make me feel all warm and giggly inside are:

1. Aruani playing word games on a rainy day when there seems to be nothing else to do. Armin, out of the very goodness of his heart, with the simple desire to make Annie scowl cutely as much as possible, uses some of the hardest, most convoluted words possible. But to her credit, Annie, deeply annoyed and very much pissed by how much he's enjoying this, simply makes up words that she says are exclusive to Liberio and so ofc he hasn't ever heard of them. 100% he suspects she's bullshitting but she's just so cute (and a very sore loser!) he just goes with it. (And anyway, this is why they're so good for each other 😌)

2. Aruani discovering vinyl! Brand new shiny invention, he's definitely buying one for their home as soon as he can find one and making her dance to all these jiggy records he buys (doesn't have very good musical taste unfortunately ☹️) but hey, she actually enjoys it? It's fun, and they end up actually having a hell of a time moving as ridiculously and stupidly as possible before making out so hard they have to pull away to laugh.

3. Annie getting her ears pierced for earrings and Armin absolutely freaking out at the needle that (obviously) has to go through her ear (to pierce it ofc) but hey. Sometimes he's a stupid blond fellow.

4. Annie just closing her eyes and listening to the sound of his voice as he rambles on about this and that sometimes. It reminds her of the crystal and how much has changed since then.

5. Armin trying (and failing) to replicate the knot Annie puts her hair in after he spends all his mornings watching her wake up and do it, determined to learn as well. He's very bad at it. 0/10.

6. He's very good at pulling her poker-face cheeks wiiiiiiiide for no reason other than to laugh at how cute she looks. Reporters who accidentally get a peek at this are shocked. That's Ambassador Leonhardt, the most intimidating! And he's just pulling her cheeks and laughing! Anduhxkdnhd what sorcery is this?!

7. She's very good at tickle-attacks. Ymir may have been a bitch ass kid but atleast she didn't give her the tickle genes. Armin, however, is veeeeryyy weak to tickles. And Annie learns to dole them out generously 😌

8. Playfighting that leads to sex, and slow, unhurried kisses. I'm not elaborating.

9. Nightmare nights when neither can sleep, and they end up comforting each other with whatever they can think of. Armin's the guy with the clever words but Annie uses her actions to convince him he doesn't deserve to die. While he speaks into her ear and calms her shaking, she makes him look into her eyes until his racing breath steadies. Slow breathing, in tandem with each other, until they eventually drift off into an uneasy sleep, but atleast without anymore nightmares.

10. Just those glances they share with each other that silently say "I'm here for you," and "I've got your back." No matter how harrowing things in their lives get. He's the voice that helps her out of the dark and she's the hand that pulls him up. Every time.

[tttossskkka]

a shy bouquet receiver and a very proud giver

[the-last-thread-of-my-sanity]

Have a very lazy little sketchy collage of these two :P

[annawayne]

In full bloom

[folklorespring]

You know when you visit someone for a few days or weeks and then you have to eventually go back home and both of you are sad. I've always thought that it is more difficult for the person that stays than the one leaving. Person leaving kind of has built-in distractions into their travel. Like find your seat, get your tickets checked, are your seatmates okay, how do you commute from the station, need to plan what to eat when you get back home, errands from not being home for some time. While the one staying has to face the absence immediately.

[aruaniversary2026]

And without further ado.... here are the prompts for Aruaniversary 2026!! 💙

But wait! This aruaniversary will feature BONUS PROMPTS!!! You may use the following four prompts however you wish, you have complete freedom!

And here are our rules!

We look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! 💙

[moncherilim]

I need all of them ❤️😮‍💨

[moonspirit]

Aruani fluff??

I'm not saying Aruani are the type to gossip... But Aruani are absolutely the type to gossip. Because Annie looks aloof as fuck but can get really nosy actually, and Armin, well... let's just say... he likes making... theories.

Sometimes I headcanon that the two of them are just lying in bed in their room during a scheduled power cut at night with nothing but the faint moonlight shining through the window and the sounds of frogs from the garden. And they're staring into the dark of the room, feet propped up on the wall above the bed, just talking. About that couple they saw today at the town square and well, didn't they look suspiciously distant? Hadn't they just announced their engagement last month and it was very rushed? Oh? The guy's family disowned him? Where did you hear that? The girl's got a secret dark past? Where did you hear that? Thats weird, haha. What do you think that could be? Like she killed someone or something? Or, hmmm, I wonder why the guy was disowned, wait, isn't his family really wealthy? Was it because he-

And their conversations go on and on and on in between small giggle breaks where they compare their feet sizes in the pale pool of moonlight illuminating the wall. A hand strewn across the other's torso, a thigh pressed against the other, fingers slowly combing through hair, an absent minded kiss over a wrist that's held tightly, close to the chest. Armin and Annie concoct wild scenarios and explanations in soft voices, laughing and kissing and tickling and jostling one another. Because - well - the power is out, the moon is mellow, the night is long and there's no better way to be.

[mercutiosaruanishop]

Sleepy Annie refusing to let Armin get outta bed in the morning.

He tries to get up and she just wordlessly pulls him back into bed

Armin: A-annie, i really do have to start getting ready

Annie: (sleepy murmer) no, I forbid it

This scenario of Armin trying to get up only to have Annie pull him back to bed can go on for 30 minutes to an hour before Armin concedes

Armin: you really aren't letting me go are you?

Annie:(sleepy smile) no your mine forever and ever

[mercutiosaruanishop]

Actually thinking back, I think this would be even more adorable with Annie in her titan form, just picture it: tiny Armin who's roughly the size of a small hamster to her,

he tries to get up and walk somewhere when Annie gently scoops him up or better still, uses her arms to create a little enclosure or squished him to her cheek

any time he tries to get up she just gently pulls him back, maybe gives his hair a little tussle with her finger or maybe even a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

So much fluffy potential between fierce warrior Titan Annie and her little hamster boyfriend

[melimpostor]

I am now entering 2025, happy New Year everyone!

I wish you good health and success in your projects! Please remember that your work is always worth it ♥

I'm really bad at keeping resolutions but i'll try to stop being ashamed when it comes to repost my own work. So you can expect old stuff from me pretty soon- ... sorry

Also, this blog is almost 1 year old! I have a lot to say, but i'll make a post about it in due time

May 2025 be full of Aruani stuff, fluff, angst etc-

Cheers !

[lu3hansky]

[wvvmrn]

Armin and Annie: Perfect for Each Other

Many people seem to misunderstand or feel confused about Armin and Annie’s relationship. But the author wouldn’t have connected them without careful intention.

Some might find it hard to understand Armin and Annie’s love, but simply assuming it’s because of Bertholdt’s influence isn’t the right approach. It doesn’t align with the story’s emphasis on autonomous, self-driven love. In fact, this behavior is very much in line with Armin’s character. Ideal people often act in ways that don’t make rational sense.

I believe their relationship has roots going back to Season 1, sharing well-crafted, complementary traits. Considering Armin’s development through to the end, this is clearly an intentional relationship established by Isayama from early on. Moreover, they share a relationship that is too meaningful to be simply dismissed.

I’ve reinterpreted the events surrounding them while inferring the author’s intent. I’m not trying to force anyone to agree, just hoping people might take it lightly and see that this is one valid way to understand their connection.

1. Boy Meets Girl

In my view, their relationship was not forced by anyone, but rather portrayed as a natural result of mutual growth and understanding—a journey of self-discovery.

Their bond is built on complementary traits that allow them to admire one another. Annie possesses inner flaws but outward strength, while Armin has outward weaknesses but inner strength. Annie’s vulnerability was an internal cynicism and nihilistic attitude rooted in her troubled family background, while Armin’s vulnerability was an external lack of confidence in being “a weak person,” as revealed through the admiration—tinged with inferiority—he felt toward Eren and Mikasa. This mutual awareness explains why they took notice of each other.

In the ODM inspection scene, Annie shows concern for Armin, and when she learns he plans to join the Survey Corps, a faint sadness flickers across her expression. Armin tells her she’s kind for worrying about him. In that moment, at the very least, he sees her as a good person. Annie, in turn, recognizes Armin’s quiet determination, and he becomes the first to truly notice the hidden kindness within her. They each saw something in the other that quietly stood out. In particular, Armin’s speech in Trost demonstrated the kind of strength to go against the tide—something she deeply admired.

(Annie cared about Armin, and when she heard that he was going to join the Survey Corps, she showed a sad expression.)

Also, through the close-up interviews on AU Smartpass (2014), we gain further insight into how they perceive each other.

— Annie: “Armin... he lacks strength, so is often a hindrance, but he doesn’t complain or ask for help... he has willpower.”

— Armin: “I thought that, Annie, despite coming off as cold and unfriendly, is pretty observant of her surroundings...”

And their interactions in the OAD, we can see that they had a relatively close relationship.

1-1) A Good Person Doesn’t Gamble

Their meaningful interaction was revealed in Stohess, underscoring the bond between them. Armin was able to recognize the Female Titan’s identity just by looking into her eyes. He voluntarily took the initiative to lure Annie out. It seemed he believed he had something within himself that could persuade her. Armin saw through Annie’s inner longing to be a good person and made use of the goodwill she felt toward him. This entire course of action would have been impossible if Armin hadn’t cared about her.

Armin’s gamble was the right one. We may never know how far he had to push her inner world down to make it happen. But Armin cared about Annie, and he was one of the few who could catch even a faint glimpse of the world inside her. She wanted to be a good person, and Armin chose to use the fact that, to him, she already was.

(Even though she was somewhat aware that it was a trap, Annie couldn’t bring herself to refuse to show kindness to Armin.)

(Though the words are directed at Eren, the gaze is fixed on Armin — a deliberate directorial choice.)

(Annie is hurt by Armin’s gaze—their relationship formed through glances.)

(Just as Annie couldn’t bring herself to kill Armin, Armin also couldn’t bring himself to expose Annie’s crime—the discovery of Marco’s ODM gear—for an entire month.)

(Annie couldn’t kill Armin because of an “indescribable something.”)

Annie nearly killed Jean, but she couldn’t bring herself to do the same to Armin—twice. It’s true that she felt a sense of camaraderie with the 104th trainees and tried not to harm them more than necessary. However, it is also a fact that Annie treated Armin in a uniquely special way. Her kindness was focused on Armin—with deliberate narrative intent. Armin represents the humanity that Annie couldn’t let go of, even within her cruelty.

(Right after Annie accepted the mission and during their later reunion, there are depictions of Armin feeling guilt about this matter.)

“Armin, I'm glad I could be a good person to you...”

In that moment, Annie was seized by a sudden, inexplicable sense of liberation. Betrayal, trust, friendship, the charade she had played, even her faith in Armin—all the things that had weighed her down—fell away. She could now betray even the faint trace of hope that remained within her. Just as Armin had. Because they were not necessarily good person, they gambled.

1-2) The Things That Get Us Into Trouble

(A magazine that hints at Annie’s feelings for Armin)

— Armin: “There are also people who are forced into a dilemma because of such special feelings. I realized that those feelings are often made use of... That is why, even if I have someone I like, I won't say it. Because it will end up as a weakness of mine...(close-up interviews on AU Smartpass, 2014)”

Armin spoke about love in this way. His perspective mirrored the situation they found themselves in: Annie, caught up in that “indescribable something” she felt toward Armin, had ended up putting herself in a difficult position.

It was a momentary whim. For a brief time, she placed being a good person to Armin above returning to her father. This choice ultimately led to her downfall. Armin, too, was unable to reveal her alleged guilt for an entire month. Deep down, he denied or wished to ignore the possibility that the enemy might be Annie. Even after her true identity was uncovered, he still tried to communicate with her. Whether this was mere camaraderie or something more cannot be determined. But at the very least, it was clear that something was unfolding between them.

In the Female Titan arc, Annie was portrayed as a monster alongside Eren, while her human side was emphasized through Armin. I felt that Annie and Armin were connected on a deeply human level.

Armin represented the humanity that Annie still couldn’t fully let go of. However, after the Battle of Stohess District, Armin realized that while he could love Annie as a human, he could not love her as a monster. Armin was responsible for the blood spilled by the Survey Corps that day.

1-3) The Monster and the Good Person

Of course, at this stage, it’s not certain whether they were already in love. However, it’s clear that they regarded each other as somewhat special—and that there was a genuine human affection between them.

In particular, Annie’s feelings for Armin are expressed quite openly. For example, she deliberately directs her gaze toward him when she mentions “the feelings of a feeble maiden.” And she couldn’t bring herself to kill Armin because of that indescribable something she felt.

​Furthermore, Armin was the first person to recognize Annie’s kindness—to see her as a good person. He was the only one who treated her as a girl, not as a weapon. That might seem like a small detail, but to someone starved of affection, those words must have been a true source of comfort.

However, due to the cynicism shaped by her difficult family background, Annie was unable to fully understand her own emotions, while Armin was a boy who hid his feelings because of his particular view on love. This likely served as the author’s justification for portraying their relationship in such a complex and nuanced way.

​Personally, I believe Armin symbolized the kind of person Annie aspired to be—a good person. Their relationship repeatedly invokes the metaphor of the “monster” and the “good person.” At this point in the story, it’s enough to understand that they either hadn’t fully recognized their feelings yet—due to emotional immaturity or conflicting circumstances—or that their bond simply carried the potential to blossom into love.

2. Bertholdt Effect

I believe the author introduced the so-called 'Bertholdt effect' only to explicitly refute it—just as Mikasa’s obsessive attachment to Eren was ultimately revealed to be nothing more than simple love, not driven by any deeper or mysterious cause. There are far more reasons to reject that theory than to accept it.

“(To Eren, who asks about Bertholdt’s memories) Nothing that seemed useful.”

Considering how inconsistently memory inheritance works, it’s unlikely that Armin inherited much from Bertholdt’s memories. The inheritance period was relatively short—only four years—and Armin isn’t even related to Bertholdt by blood. There are no scenes explicitly showing Armin accessing inherited memories—only indirect implications. In fact, not a single scene depicts him actively using Bertholdt’s memories.

From 845 to 850, Ymir had little to no access to Marcel’s memories, and Eren also took a long time to recall his father’s. Armin had no knowledge of Marley or the Warriors. In fact, he even admitted that he couldn’t retrieve anything useful from Bertholdt’s memories. His awe and wonder when he first saw the ocean — and again when he arrived in Marley — remained completely genuine. The memories of the world outside the walls must have been either nonexistent or extremely faint. The closer we get to Armin’s early visits to Annie’s crystal, the less likely it becomes that Bertholdt’s memories played any role. To explain it as Bertholdt’s doing would be not only ironic, but also misguided. It’s simply not the right approach.

Considering Annie’s isolated personality and withdrawn attitude, it’s unlikely that Armin would have inherited any deep or meaningful memories of her. In fact, those memories would probably have differed little from the way Armin perceived Annie back in their cadet days. Therefore, the claim that he fell in love with her solely because of Bertholdt’s memories — without any genuine feelings of his own — is ultimately unconvincing.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he saw nothing at all—but it certainly wasn’t to the extent Eren implied. It didn’t have a profound impact on him. Rather, Armin’s actions appear to be guided by his own will.

Personally, I believe the memories Armin inherited were mostly from Paradis Island: memories of training with his friends, moments when they felt guilt and helplessness, and especially the trauma of causing Marco’s death. These would have helped Armin, someone who constantly seeks understanding, empathize with the Warriors.

This could be considered a set of “useless” memories that, while not significantly impacting the story (such as Armin obtaining information about the Warrior Unit in Marley from Bertholdt’s memories), help him better understand the Warriors’ perspective.

2-1) A Lie in the Guise of Truth

The idea of inheriting someone else’s emotions is simply absurd. Porco didn’t care about Historia during the Paradis infiltration, and Eren never felt Grisha’s guilt toward Zeke. Armin and Reiner didn’t share a deep bond either. If inheriting emotions were truly possible, the Reiss and Tybur families—who have passed down the Titan powers for generations—would be plagued by incest. And if Erwin had eaten Bertholdt, would he have fallen in love with Annie?

Why would something never shown anywhere else in the story suddenly apply only to Armin—and only in the context of love? Especially when the sole basis for this claim is Eren’s lie.

Everything else shapes Armin’s identity, yet the feeling of love for Annie alone is supposed to belong to Bertholdt. That would require a massive leap in both the scope and impact of memory inheritance—so it’s simply not a reasonable explanation.

The timing of Armin inheriting Bertholdt’s power was merely coincidental or due to circumstantial factors, and Eren exploited that coincidence to support his lie. This seems to be a source of confusion for many people. The creator deliberately planted narrative devices to heighten the shock and plausibility of the “table scene.” These were intentional misdirections—crafted to appear believable.

• The special bond of the Ackermans, and Mikasa’s headaches.

• The highly contrived scene where Mikasa subdues Armin.

• Eren’s ambiguous feelings toward Mikasa and the line, “Mikasa, I’ve always hated you.”

• Armin’s ambiguous feelings toward Annie, and the deliberately unclear timing of his visits to her crystal.

This is a narrative device crafted to make Eren’s lie feel convincing. By first presenting shocking claims to draw the audience in, and then later refuting them, the story reestablishes a sense of justification. Consequently, the emotional threads initially implied may appear subtle or even suspicious—but in hindsight, they can be read either as genuine emotional hints or as narrative evidence of deception.

This is especially true if we focus on Armin’s situation. First, Eren needed to confuse Armin to gain control over the conversation. And to keep readers immersed, the story had to make that confusion plausible. The ambiguous timing of Armin’s visits to the crystal also served to make his love appear sudden.

The limited depiction of Armin’s emotions serves a similar purpose. Looking at Armin’s view on love from the close-up interview on AU Smartpass—“...That is why, even if I have someone I like, I won't say it. Because it will end up as a weakness of mine...”—we can understand this intention to some extent.

It’s highly likely that Eren’s claim about the “Bertholdt effect” was a lie. Considering that he lied to Mikasa to push her away, it makes perfect sense that he’d do the same to Armin—using emotional manipulation. There’s no reason to think he’d suddenly be honest with Armin and Armin alone. After all, Eren didn’t truly want to hurt him.

This also implies that Annie was a significant figure to Armin. Eren used her as a tool to wound him emotionally—which only works if Annie genuinely mattered to him. If Armin hadn’t truly loved her, Eren would have chosen a different method.

This is later admitted once again by Eren. The fact that Zeke indirectly denies the so-called “Bertholdt effect,” followed immediately by Armin’s confession in the very next episode, reveals a deliberate narrative intention.

Armin had already suspected that Eren was lying. Unlike Mikasa, he didn’t waver in the face of Eren’s harsh words—he seemed confident in his own emotions. Furthermore, when Annie’s crystal was undone, Armin initially regarded her as a potential threat. More importantly, he prioritized rescuing Falco. He was never controlled by anyone, nor did he abandon his responsibilities due to personal feelings.

In the confession scene between Armin and Annie, their conversation revolves around the concept of being a “good person.” This alone makes it clear that the dialogue is uniquely theirs. It also confirms that their relationship, which began as early as Season 1, held deep emotional significance. Mikasa, too, disregarded Eren’s words and supported their relationship.

While it’s true that Bertholdt’s memories helped Armin understand Annie better, dismissing Armin’s visits and the love that grew from them as merely the result of Bertholdt’s influence is inappropriate. Such a view completely ignores Armin’s unique personality and his own free will.

3. Armin’s Motivation

(An official voice drama depicting Armin going to see Annie while Eren watches — could this be where Eren’s idea at the table scene originated?)

The exact timing of Armin’s first visit to Annie is unclear—it could have been either before or after the retaking of Wall Maria and his inheritance of the Colossal Titan. However, the voice drama is believed to take place shortly after they saw the ocean, and based on what is said in the dialogue, it’s clear that Armin had already been visiting her regularly. While it’s not certain, I currently estimate the timing to be shortly after the medal ceremony.

This is based on several clues: Armin is depicted wearing his medal, and It might have functioned as a kind of authorization to visit. the emotional impact of Floch’s accusations, and the hairstyles of both Hitch and Armin during that time.

3-1) Escalation of Mental Burden

According to Isayama’s Q&A interview (2015), Armin would often scream alone in the forest to release stress. From this, we can imagine Armin speaking to Annie in her crystal. It is also a hint that their relationship was kept in mind. The main reason Armin visited her was to find emotional solace—not just to comfort her or because of some “Bertholdt effect,” but because it aligned with his own emotional needs.

At the time, Armin was under immense psychological strain. Consider how he mentally broke down when the Okapi Titan captured him. He experienced killing for the first time. And he also had to ate Bertholdt, who was once his friend. Eren was changing rapidly. Being chosen instead of Erwin made him feel the weight of countless critical gazes. Armin sought out Annie to relieve that mental burden.

Listen closely to what Armin says in front of Annie’s crystal—in the anime and official voice dramas. He shares his worries and talks about himself while holding the conch shell. Even in a cruel world, we see a version of Armin who still dreams of understanding and hope.

3-2) The Trait of Never Giving Up on Understanding

Another reason lies in Armin’s relentless pursuit of understanding. He genuinely wanted to understand Annie. To him, there was something about her that couldn’t be explained by the simple label of “enemy.” That something was the kindness she had shown him. Annie couldn’t bring herself to kill Armin—yet Armin had, in a way, driven her to her death. Their roles had reversed, and the contradiction lingered in his mind, accompanied by a guilt he couldn’t quite name.

The expansion of the world gave Armin a broader perspective and deeper longing—but also more concerns. To him, Annie was like a forest. The fact that she showed him kindness despite being an enemy reminded him that she wasn’t simply evil. As someone who tries to understand others, Armin naturally wanted to understand her. That desire drove him to visit her.

It seems Armin believed in the warmth he once sensed from Annie. And he projected his ideals onto that warmth. His desire to understand her reminded him of his longing for the unknown and his hope for dialogue. Perhaps that’s why he so desperately sought to know her reasons—why she had to do what she did. Armin might have been trying to find the real Annie, the person beyond all the guilt and bloodshed. Just like when he once retrieved a conch shell from a sea of blood.

3-3) How to Love a Monster

Considering Armin’s willingness to communicate, his persistent spirit of understanding, his ways of coping with mental burdens and stress, and the feelings he harbored since Season 1, it is reasonable to conclude that this love arose from Armin’s own will, independent of external influence. Bertholdt’s memories may have accelerated Armin’s understanding, but not his emotions — and the judgment of that understanding has always been Armin’s own.

After the Raid on Liberio, Armin gained a deeper understanding of the Warriors’ perspective and grew into someone capable of empathizing with both sides. He felt compassion not only for Annie, but also for Bertholdt — the very person who had trampled his homeland, killed many of his comrades, and nearly brought him to death’s door. Yet, they had once been friends. The story consistently emphasizes that they weren’t so different; with just a shift in perspective, they could have remained friends — just as they were during their cadet days. When Hitch tells Annie, “I heard your story from Armin,” it becomes clear that Armin had already come to truly understand them.

Though they couldn’t hold each other physically, they were deeply connected mentally. Armin’s confession of his sins to Annie feels reminiscent of a confessional booth — projecting his inner turmoil onto her, seeking comfort, and trying to console the “monsters” they had become. Just as Annie maintained her sanity through Armin’s presence, Armin found emotional support in her. Given the human affection they shared since their training days, it’s only natural that Armin’s feelings for Annie developed into genuine love over. He built this love slowly and healthily.

Any sense of moral superiority between Armin and Annie had lost its meaning. Now, Armin and Annie faced each other as monsters. To fully accept her was, in essence, to understand himself. I believe that from this moment on, Armin was finally able to truly comprehend his own feelings. What remained unchanged were his feelings. In a turbulent world, the one thing he held onto was love. It was all he could accept.

“Annie, please... say something.” Armin said that as he gently held the conch shell.

4. The Author’s Intention

“Are you human or are you titans—are you a good person, or a monster?”

The charm of “AruAni” lies in their complementary traits and the dynamic way their relationship emotionally evolves depending on the circumstances. It is a subtle yet deeply engaging bond that makes understanding them all the more rewarding. Armin embodies the idealistic side for Annie, while Annie brings a sense of realism to Armin. Furthermore, their perspectives on what it means to be a “good person” enrich the story by exploring the nuances of good and evil, as well as complex moral dilemmas.

In short, the feelings that began as a simple human connection during their cadet days gradually blossomed into love over the four years Armin spent visiting Annie in the crystal. That love ultimately came to fruition as they faced the end of the world together. Their relationship is not rooted in moral superiority, but in mutual understanding. It is a healthy bond grounded in emotional connection and shared growth.

4-1) Fix You

This dynamic between Armin and Annie encapsulates the core message of the series. Thematically, it suggests the possibility of an ideal world—where hatred transforms into love through mutual understanding. On a personal level, it symbolically represents the recovery of humanity: the journey of those who were forced to become monsters—child soldiers swept up in an era of war—gradually becoming human again through empathy and understanding.

This is also why I see their relationship as clearly intentional. Considering that Armin is both the narrator and the one who bears the burden of survival, it seems the author always intended him to symbolize reconciliation between those inside and outside the Walls. When this concept is scaled down to the personal level, it becomes a story of hatred and love between individuals—with Annie being the most fitting counterpart. Their relationship connects silence and conversation, and even if peace on a global scale may be impossible, it shows that the chain of hatred can still be broken on a personal level.

Attack on Titan is a story that emphasizes agency in love rather than blind affection. If Armin’s love had been forced upon him by someone else, he would never have confessed it, and Isayama would never have portrayed it positively. Armin and Annie’s relationship represents, in a narrow sense, personal growth through understanding and love; in a broader sense, it shows the process of rebuilding hatred into love—and ultimately peace—through dialogue. It is no coincidence that Armin was chosen to guide the world toward peace.

​

5. My Own Take

Armin and Annie’s relationship blurs the line between good and evil through the metaphor of the monster and the good person, creating a moral dilemma. What we should focus on is not who is more deserving, but the process by which hatred transforms into love through understanding. It is, at its core, simply the process of one human learning to love another.

The bond between Armin and Annie is the story of “monsters” who longed to become “good person.” To understand each other was, in turn, to understand themselves. Just as Armin picked up a conch shell in a sea of blood, he saw the girl within the monster named Annie.

And he is a boy who chooses to live in a cruel world for the sake of beauty. The love with Annie symbolizes that very way of life for Armin. Through Armin, Annie was able to rediscover her true self. That’s why she was able to break free from her cynicism and make a choice that defied the flow. Recovering Armin from a life stained with regret made her truly alive again

5-1) When You’re Fallin’, You Can’t Dance

“I'd do it all over again.”

All of her actions, it’s said, were not driven by some grand cause to save the world—but simply by the desire to return to her father. For the sake of what was precious to her, she trampled on what was precious to others. Even as she was overwhelmed by guilt and despair at the corpses left in her wake, she admitted she would do it all over again. If it meant seeing her father again.

That was the true nature of the monster named Annie Leonhart—utterly selfish, yet profoundly realistic; almost small-minded in a way. She was still just a “regular people.” It was the burden of a vast current she could not resist, and a cry against her own cynicism.

Annie saw Armin as a good person while regarding herself as a monster. Because of this, she may have felt unworthy of being by Armin’s side. Alongside the compulsion to see herself as a “monster,” Annie also longed to be a “good person.” Her cynicism and avoidance slowly eroded her sense of identity each time she drifted further from that ideal.

But Armin took her hand. He did not deny her monster side, and he accepted his own monster as well. It was a process of accepting each other as they truly were. In a world filled with violence, this was the power and value of understanding and empathy. It was at this moment that Annie named that “indescribable something” by the name of love. Annie sat beside Armin once again.

Armin, too, had lost his humanity countless times under the banner of saving mankind. He knew all too well that he was not a good person. He carried with him an overwhelming sense of guilt—voices not only of soldiers, but of civilians, sometimes even children, and at times, of his own homeland, comrades, and friends.

There was no such thing as a “good person.” What existed were only people—and those who wished to be human. Much less would a monster ever blush.

Annie’s growth lies in her realization of the importance not only of her father but also of her comrades and Armin. She breaks free from her cynical attitude and begins to seek her true self. Until then, she had merely been one of the “regular people,” drifting along with the current—but through Kiyomi’s words and Falco’s help, she finally found the strength to resist it. At the end of that choice stood Armin—whose heart is connected to hers (Guidebook, 2021).

— Annie: “...On the contrary, if I could find one, maybe this meaningless world... might become a little better(close-up interview on AU Smartpass, 2014).”

Morning and evening. Our lives may be nothing more than a cycle filled with emptiness. And yet, if there is anything that can make life rich, it is love. If Annie could find someone truly precious within her nihilistic world, then perhaps that very meaninglessness could finally give rise to meaning. A meaning that allows one to live for tomorrow, with a sense of hope—like Zeke simply playing catch, or like their childhood selves running toward that tree on the hill. Armin is someone who can find meaning in the meaningless, and for Annie, he was that person all the more.

She seemed as if she were dreaming of an escape with her lover—like Eren and Mikasa's life in the cabin. In a world where there was nothing left for her to love, it felt like she just wanted to stay with Armin. But just as Mikasa couldn't stop Eren's advance, Armin too must move toward the conclusion of his choice, and Annie cannot stop him. Armin, too, understood Annie’s fragile heart and wished for her to find peace rather than pain, so he didn’t stop her from leaving. Mikasa cared for them because she knew better than anyone what it meant to carry such regret while moving forward.

There can be no paradise where you escaped and arrived. Just as Paradis Island was never a true paradise for the Eldians, Hizuru-the land Annie's ship was bound for—was never going to be hers. Her paradise was no longer a place, but a "form."

Mikasa's growth lies in letting go of Eren, while Annie's lies in being with Armin. Annie was able to be honest with herself through Armin. She no longer felt bound by the compulsion to see herself as a “monster,” or the yearning to be a “good person.” Because of this, she made a choice without regret. The bird broke the boat sailing on regret—her former self—and flew toward her own “life.”

This imagery evokes the themes of Demian. Armin is a central figure who breaks down the boundary between good and evil—there are no good person, only those who are useful. It was this Armin that Annie found at the end of her journey toward personal growth.

This was something only Armin could give Annie, which is why I believe their relationship holds an even deeper meaning. Without Armin, those four years of conversation would have been meaningless. The complexity and mutual understanding between them moved Annie’s heart precisely because it was Armin—no one else.

"I'm glad, Annie... should just keep on being Annie."

Armin is a character who places great importance on “beauty” in a world that is both beautiful and cruel. He saw kindness in Annie, and even after she became a “monster,” she never lost that kindness toward him. Believing in that beauty and investing his ideals in it, Armin began to see Annie in a new light. As long as he could believe that beauty was real, he was fully capable of loving her.

In the scene where Armin speaks to Annie’s crystal, he’s holding a conch shell in his hand. The conch shell symbolizes his ideals. It also serves as a clear narrative device affirming that his conversation with Annie stems from his own identity. This reflects Armin’s understanding of, and hope for, the unknown that is “Annie Leonhart”—a hope that ultimately encompasses love. The human inner world is like another ocean.

Armin was the reward for the humanity Annie never let go of, and Annie was the realization of the conch shell Armin used to hold—his ideals, hope, beauty, and love—even if they once seemed like empty idealism.

A boy who once longed for the world beyond the Walls falls in love with a girl from beyond them. This is that kind of story. To find love on the side of hatred, to be with someone who came from beyond the Walls—could there be any ending more fitting for Armin?

Eren and Mikasa’s relationship holds significance in the progression of the story, while Armin and Annie’s relationship carries meaning in its resolution. Their love resembles the process of rebuilding what has been reduced to ruins—whether it be the heart, or the world.

​

Thanks for taking the time to read my long post. I hope it was helpful to you.