User blog comment:Neetaku/A (Better) Rewrite of Attack on Titan/@comment-1327106-20181010022738/@comment-24407809-20181010024613

I'll totally agree that Dieter isn't entirely fit for the role I gave him at first, and picking him was partly due to me not wanting to create an original character to throw in there, but I think he can fit in if you squint a little. Based off of how the anime-only scene is written, Dieter obviously ends the scene regretting disobeying Erwin's orders, and Levi seems to empathize with his decision, based on the way he saves Jurgen's (or maybe Ivan's I can't remember) badge for him. I feel like Levi hand-picking Dieter for the squad could expand on how that scene ended a bit. Levi seems to understand Dieter's behavior, and having him choose to give Dieter another chance could act as a small bit of indirect character development for Levi, showing a softer side of him. And you could also throw in the in-universe explanation of Levi picking Dieter partly because of the fact that the casualties sustained by the corps during the Clash arc leaving Levi with few people to choose.

I also just like the idea of throwing Dieter in there because he seems so unqualified. It will make his growth as a character much more obvious, as he starts the Uprising arc as a character that readers think "really, Levi chose him?" and then, by the start of the RtS arc, he will have grown to the point that Levi is recommending him to other officers. And like I mentioned before, he seems to have a new-found respect for Levi based on what Levi did for him in the anime-only scene, so I like the idea of having him be Levi's executive officer not because he's qualified, but because he's willing to grow. He's made mistakes, but his heart is in the right place, and he wants to prove that he can grow.

(In case you can't tell, I got really into Dieter idea XD. I originally just wanted to include him so he could be offed at the Reiss chapel, but the more I wrote this blog, the more I realized that the dude had an actual arc to be told.)

Yeah, I really couldn't find any way around Franz and Hannah surviving that suicide run. I'd wait to bring them back until after RtS, but that would make Franz's death in Liberio feel too rushed, and there isn't really a role for the SC recruits to play in RtS outside of the suicide charge. I decided I would just have to swallow the pill and give them some plot armor to get them through RtS. I figured that since I'm killing off Connie and Mina in this version of the events, I had earned myself a little bit of leeway.