Attack on Fanfic (Eruri) #1
I’ve wanted to start this series of posts for quite some time now, but for some reason I kept postponing it. Maybe because I wanted to start my meta and analysis series first, or because I’m always too busy ... Or maybe it’s just that I’m lazy, ‘cause summarising and recommanding my favourite Eruri fics is not that time-consuming, tbh.
Whatever, I’m doing this now, and I want to launch this series, this list of Eruri fanfictions, with an absolute favourite of mine.
He Chose Titans, by masksarehot
This particular fanfiction is probably what made Eruri my OTP. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this fanfic is one of the best I’ve ever read. In general, not just in the SnK AO3 fandom.
In my opinion, what makes this story unforgettable is the intricacy of the plot and the exploration of the sentimental bond between Erwin and Levi. Sure, there are a lot of sex scenes (which are all marvellously written) and maybe that’s what the reader is interested in, at first. But that’s not the reason you’ll want to reread the story a million times, or never hear about it again, depending on how much you enjoy torturing yourself.
He Chose Titans is a long (almost 500000 words) story filled with romance, humour, smut, tenderness, friendship, fondness, but also excruciating sadness, angst, loss, regret, disillusionment, and emotional pain in general. The ending is such a punch in the gut that I’d be surprised if you wouldn’t start crying and even regretting ever reading the fanfict to begin with. I’m not saying this to discourage you, of course, but you should know just how painful this story can be.
The plot starts with the fall of Wall Maria and ends the night before the departure for Shiganshina. During this time span, we read about the evolution of various relationships: as I said, there’s love in this story, but also friendships, camaraderies, and ... rivalries.
One of the things I’ve loved the most about this fic is the worldbuilding. Masksarehot worked hard to create a backstory for the characters, but more importantly an intelligent, complicated, and detailed original plot that perfectly intertwines with canon. I could only list few other examples of such a narrative complexity and sophistication in the fanfiction world.
The world Erwin and Levi inhabit is not just a contour, a frame, a background for their sentimental and sexual relationship. The society inside the Walls, their respective roles in the SC, the enemis Erwin makes in Wall Sina, the Titans ... all of these things have a huge impact on the evolution of their relationship. They have the power of fostering it or destroying it completely.
In most fanfictions with a minimum of plot, you can read quickly and superficially or even skip entirely the plot-heavy chapters, if the writer gets lost in too many boring details, or the plot is uninteresting or relatively meaningless. You don’t have the choice to do so with this fanfiction.
I really don’t want to spoil things for you, so I’ll stop here. I’ll just add that, even though I have a different headcanon for how Erwin and Levi’s realtionship went and I think that, in some chapters, they’re not entirely in character with the choices they make and the actions they take, I’m still absolutely spellbound by this story. And I’ve loved to read it, even though sometimes it truly hurt me.
This is the kind of fanfiction you never forget ...
Tags
Angst
Romance
Drama
Action
Love
Friendship
Canon Compliant
Consensual
Worldbuilding
long multi-part fic spanning several years
character evolution
relationships evolving
camaraderies developing
action sequences
lengthy plot that intertwines with canon
Fluff and Smut
versatile sex roles
Trust
character backstories
Cast
Erwin Smith
Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Hange Zoë
Mike Zacharias
Keith Shadis
Nile Dok
Petra Ral
Marie (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Original Characters
pretty much the whole cast
Link to the fanfic
https://archiveofourown.org/works/1223362/chapters/2505955
