Thread by @whofavoredfire

Gabi Braun - A Child in the Forest

A happy birthday thread for one of my favorite characters illustrating how Gabi represents the fight and hope for a better future

#aotmangaspoilers

Gabi's story is so important for many of AoT's messages because she's used to illustrate:

1. The children in "the children of the forest" theme / the potential for a brighter future

2. The capacity of people for change

1. Child Soldiers vs. Children of the forest

More than even the 104th, the Warrior candidates are used to highlight the horrors of child soldiers; Gabi is a major example of this & she's introduced treating war as almost a game, laughing and cheering at blowing up the train

Her competition with the other candidates & inability to see why Falco would try so hard to get the Armored Titan instead of her highlights this further

While she has deeper reasons for her pursuit of becoming a Warrior, it's shown almost childish at time, like "winning" a game

The story repeatedly ties protecting children with the future- and a hope for a better future

The story uses Gabi to highlight this with Reiner's attempts to protect her, Mikasa and Jean sparing her from hatred, multiple Marleyans like the guards & Magath shielding her, etc.

The most prominent example is the children of the forest theme, which Gabi's the center of; the speech and theme is conceptualized through Gabi and Sasha's family's decision to not continue the cycle, spare the kids and "shoulder the burden" of hatred as the duty of adults

Gabi's also linked to Magath's change of heart, apology, & ultimate sacrifice for the Alliance- he's moved by Gabi's actions the night before the port battle & it leads to a dramatic reevaluation of his choices and his thematically relevant speech is shown to be inspired by Gabi

Even beyond the children in the forest speech, there's other moments that connect children with the future, a goal for adults to protect their lives, innocence, and dreams

The Rumbling especially highlights this & emphasizes trying to save children

Gabi exists partially to be protected, to illustrate how people still want to protect children who represent innocence in society (even though Gabi herself is a soldier) and are hopeful for this better future where children won't be killed or used because of the wars of adults.

We see countless should-be jaded soldiers hesitate or avoid hurting her because they see her as a kid- from the Mid-East soldiers in her intro to Lobov & Sasha

While that's not to say they wouldn't fight back if she were a threat, they still can't help but hesitate seeing a kid

And this is a hopeful kind of stance, that they weren't so jaded despite being at war that they could just shoot implies a level of holding on hope for that better future, the instinct to protect the next gen

Because if they don't protect children, there's no hope for tomorrow

And her being protected by Sasha's parents comes back to help the family later when she in turn saves Kaya

And her being saved by Mikasa and Jean is important because of how she helps their efforts against the Rumbling

Saving her in turn saves others and helps the Alliance

2. Capacity for change

Gabi's introduced as someone completely brainwashed by propaganda and set in her ways even when trusted people like Falco raise opposing viewpoints.

Even when flaws in the logic are pointed out, she still can't understand it, can't wrap her head around it

Many characters are introduced as extremists to highlight a more an idealistic take on the capacity for humanity to change

Like Kenny, who believed violence was all that mattered being moved by compassion

Or Zeke, who believed killing people saved them finding the value of life

Ultimately, Gabi completely changes her ways. She admits there's no devils, partners with and apologizes to her "enemies", and fights for "nameless" people & not her own selfish interests

Which is a great way to highlight the capacity to change and why she is one of Eren's foils

This is one of the reasons why her final page with Levi is so meaningful to me, Levi is a quintessential "Island Devil" in some ways- leading the soldiers on the ground for the Liberio attack, a military leader for Paradis and a major factor for the Warriors' defeat in RtS.

The fact that Gabi overcomes her brainwashing & moves past hatred is highlighted by her bracketing (Levi's purposefully depicted between her & Falco) one of the main representations of the "devils" looking carefree and happy- a visual representation of the closing of that arc

Even before, this panel is great for visual storytelling of former enemies working together seamlessly

Levi's bracketing Gabi to protect her from the recoil, a visual of physical closeness highlighting a level of trust and support as well as Levi shielding the younger generation

This is done to highlight that even people seemingly set on a path can change their ways

This is more hope for the future- no matter how lost someone might be, humanity has great capacity for change and the hope for that change is worth fighting for and can be very meaningful

And that's why Gabi is so crucial for the story for me -

She demonstrates the most lost in brainwashing, who are the most resistant to change, still have that capacity to change and the bright future children represent may not manifest immediately but is still worth fighting for