👫 i'm a simple vet rper with simple needs .. pls give me that good hange / erwin content.
I.
Before his induction into the Commander of the Survey Corps, Zoe knew very little of Squad Leader Smith save for what they saw at a glance during missions and around headquarters. There wasn’t any ill will towards him specifically, of course - he was just fine as a squad leader, brave and brilliant, but given their previous idealism of Keith Shadis, Erwin paled in comparison to the hero-worship mess in their head towards the twelfth commander. This, of course, was short-lived. Being directly lead by him changed their entire outlook towards the new commander and cemented within them a very stark and steady devotion to Erwin, his ideals, his methods, and his end goals. A lot of their own tactical skill was honed and perfected by watching and growing alongside him.
II.
His very palpable and very obvious (to them, at least) self-loathing and guilt worries them, they live in concern for his mental and physical well-being, they find themselves more upset over his losses and the weight on his shoulders than their own - in a perfect world Zoe would like nothing more for Erwin Smith to live a peaceful life away from this world, somewhere where he isn’t considered to be the devil of humanity but this is also rooted in hypocrisy because when the time comes for him to finally be at peace and rest away from his hardships, they are the one actively fighting to keep him on the stage. This, they’d never admit, is both because their faith in his leadership is so strong and because they struggle with the idea of life without someone they’ve known for so long, and have grown so close to.
III.
Given their common interests, Erwin and Zoe get along quite well, both being intellectual, bookworm types, but they also share personality similarities that cause rifts from time to time - stubbornness, determination, the two butt heads over this and that when their opinions differ but it never does any real harm or causes anything but maybe a few hours (or days) of stifled silence. What Zoe finds most comforting about Erwin (as opposed to Levi, who is also a great deal of comfort for different reasons) is that a lot of their more ‘hyperactive, upbeat, positive’ facade can be laid to the side in favor of a more realistic conversation. Both are very guilt prone but also more than willing to be “monsters” for the sake of humanity, so to speak. Levi is too, most definitely, but Levi and Zoe’s relationship is different in that they’d rather not divulge too much into personal feelings unless things are just absolutely going to shit, providing distractions instead (shit jokes, etc). Zoe has bled out a good deal of personal information at Erwin’s feet because he’s openly relatable without really trying to be.
IV.
Those four panel comics that are floating around out there somewhere? Absolutely canon, 100%, Zoe often urges Erwin to take a break, finds him sleeping in his office, doesn’t return his pocket change when, in sleeping stupor, he assumes they’re the carriage driver. You cannot change my mind on this.
BONUS: Have my headcanon vets theme song.













