WEEKLY META: Erwin Smith

[silkycuttle]

A different character or plot/setting point will be posted each week for meta discussion. This week:

Erwin Smith!

Discussion can be on anything, so long as it's at least tangentially related to the weekly topic. Reply to the first comment to vote on what next week's topic should be.

Spoilers should be warned for, but are allowed. Creating your own posts on whatever meta you wish, your own or reccing someone else's, is still highly encouraged.

Comments

[silkycuttle]

If you have something you want to discuss, vote here to make it the next week's topic! These topic can be characters, groups of characters (e.g. the Scouting Legion, titans, the relationships within the 104th), themes (e.g. human vs. monster), setting (e.g. the period, sexism within society vs. the military), or whatever you think is large or interesting enough to generate discussion.

[(Anonymous)]

Commander Erwin Smith — add his full name and maybe his title as well to the OP, mods? :) — is not my favorite character, and with all the deathflags he has on him I will feel somewhat cheated if he isn't killed in the next few chapters. But, to some extent, I will be sorry to see him go. He's brilliant, charismatic, and dedicated to the legion he created and led.

Yes, he's got the blood of hundreds, maybe thousands, on his hands, and he's fanatical in how convinced he is that it was utterly necessary. But the Walled Nation is so dystopic that it's hard to say how many more people would have died or would yet die if there weren't some force trying to investigate and combat the monarchy and Military Police. Also, the hindrance of education, exploration, and especially technology would contribute indirectly to death statistics.

Now, it's vaguely possible he has something, uhhhhh, up his sleeve (forgive me) that will at least prolong the time he has before the execution, such as a speech, or some sort of bargain to strike. Maybe Pixis will come to his rescue after all. But, again, deathflags. He would make a great martyr, motivating not only his comrades but all the civilians who learn of his death concurrently with or just after learning how they've all been played.

[(Anonymous)]

SA - huh, I thought the post just said "Erwin!" when I initially replied. My apologies.

[silkycuttle]

No problem :) though, officially speaking, does he even have a title any more, since he passed on leadership to Hange? Or does that only come into effect once he's dead or otherwise incapacitated?

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone know other than Erwin and Hange that he appointed her new commander in the event of his death? AFAIK neither of them has told anyone else, and I think he said that it was only in the event of his death or incapacitation anyway. So, yeah, he's still officially commander.