I don’t think the power is triggered through emotional attachment, since Levi was already a badass before he met Erwin, as was Kenny before he met Uri. Additionally, Mikasa’s connection to Eren begins proper when he gives her his scarf (that’s the memory she always comes back to when thinking of him), but she unlocks her power before that incident, when she kills the slaver.
This wasn’t Mikasa’s first headache either; every time her family is endangered, they hit her. When Carla was eaten:
When she remembered her parents’ deaths:
When she thought Eren was dead:
When the Female Titan seemed to eat Eren:
And when Eren was abducted by Reiner and Bertholdt:
So I don’t think it means she’s losing her power or anything like that (after all, Levi kept his abilities when he stopped idolising Erwin). It’s a post-traumatic effect from losing her family in childhood, potentially manifesting in the form of a headache from being clocked on the head back then.
Talking to Louise reminded her of Eren’s dangerous situation, which is what set it off again, but into a full PTSD flashback this time. Witnessing the memories again but with her newer perspective is what caused her to see things so differently.
Also, notice that the headache wherein we see Mikasa’s past for the first time was brought about by seeing Louise. Now, we are seeing Mikasa’s past again under a different lens due to a headache after her encounter with Louise. The parallels are superb.
Concerning that last quote, we can already see how Mikasa is becoming more like herself before the trauma. She is now much more open with her emotions (crying at Eren’s actions in Marley), much more empathetic to people besides Eren (reaction to Sasha), and much more able to control herself (restraint over Eren’s situation). Even as troubled as she is now, more and more she is seeming like the sweet girl she used to be.
Floch is a traitorous piece of garage, who has been working with/for Zeke for at least several months. And represents the voice of Extremism and Nationalism in the story. That he is becoming more and more influential is very concerning.
And god just……the entire part with Gabi and Kaya confronting each other. Their entire argument strikes me as very much leaning into Religious elements. Gabi’s world view sounds a lot like the concept of Original Sin, and the idea that humanity deserves to suffer to atone for their sins. Even so, we’re starting to see her cracking under the pressure. Just like Reiner before her, she’s seeing how wrong everything she was taught actually is……when that has literally been the only thing keeping them going since the beginning.
I loved Kaya essentially echoing back what Gabi had said several chapters earlier. Gabi was angry because she didn’t understand why Liberio was being destroyed, and why her loved ones were being killed. She didn’t believe they had done anything to deserve it, because she’d never seen it with her own eyes.
Now she has. Now, she’s been taken to the ruins of a village destroyed by Titans and heard a survivor’s story. Kaya demands to know why her mother, who never hurt anyone, deserved to die such a horrible death.
We see the classic argument being presented again. Does the current generation hold responsibility for the actions of their ancestors? Should people living today be punished for something that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago?
Gabi has only been able to understand her world through the framework of Atonement. Just like people have looked to Sin and divine punishment as a way to explain their suffering, Gabi needs to believe that her suffering and the suffering of her people has a PURPOSE. She needs to believe that they DESERVE what is happening, and that because it is Atonement, it will eventually end. Someday, someday they will be free and not have to suffer anymore.
But we know that isn’t true. We know that the Warriors have been raised on lies, and fed a false hope. Marley is simply exploiting them, and will simply kill them when they are no longer useful.
Kaya challenges Gabi’s world view in a way even Falco could not.
She rejects the idea that ancient crimes of their ancestors justifies her mother being eaten alive. She rejects the idea that she deserves to suffer, for what someone else may have done long ago. She rejects the idea that suffering is righteous, and atonement is necessary for things that happened long before your birth.
She challenges Gabi to see her suffering as what it actually is – Cruelty and Hatred. Just people doing awful things to each other, when they can choose to do better.
And I share because I’m aware we enjoy those in the fandom. xD
So you know how…
But what if it was meant literally? Not death as a familiar behind a Morinas contract, but rather the whole concept of death as being kin of Time in Assiah/Gehenna?
Wouldn’t that mean that…
in a way Mephisto could actually bring the dead back? You know, just like how he’s able to split some time axes from the original timeline, like he did for Neuhaus and Section 13? Or how his vessel dies slowly because he stops time for himself?
Speaking of Neuhaus, remember how in s1 of the anime he ended up working on a way to bring his wife back from the dead? Meanwhile in the manga he…
just finished
whatever he was working on in that frozen Section 13 time axis????
So what if Mephisto gave Neuhaus a way to work on bringing the dead back, using a part of his own knowledge related to death being a kin of his? And what if Neuhaus is working for him because he can use this to bring his wife back just like in s1 or something, while Mephisto intends on bringing back someone else?
Because, you know who died way early on and who’s at the heart of the story in a way?
And obviously Shiro dying at the beginning was narratively logical because it’s what triggered the whole story, with the Okumura twins being at the mercy of both the Order and Illuminati without him to shield them.
Doesn’t mean it has to stay that way ‘till the end of the story though, especially since…
So I really wonder about a possible resurrection for Shiro slightly later when war starts, also mostly because we’re kinda missing someone powerful in the story…
And Shiro was a clone created from Azazel, specifically for the purpose of giving the Baals new vessels. However, after the blue night that started within Asylum, Section 13 was shut down and Shiro & Arthur are probably the only two clones who are still alive (assuming Arthur is indeed one of Lucifer’s clones).
And I know, maybe Azazel is really a nice demon king who doesn’t want to seek a new vessel because he’s fine staying in cristallized form. But the thing is, we have Shiemi who’s most likely linked to Shemihaza and we don’t know yet if she’s just a nephilim, or if she’s (going to be) Shemihaza’s vessel/host (clearly the plot is giving suspicious vibes about this part).
So let’s just assume for the sake of this crazy theory that Shemihaza might be coming back through Shiemi because…
…the Order needs to be at its strongest to face Illuminati…
…because Illuminati has most of the Baals on its side. Well, in that case, what if, on top of Shemihaza, Armumahel and Azazel are coming back too?
I already proposed an idea for Armumahel’s nephilim or host a while ago, so now I’m proposing undead!Shiro as Azazel’s vessel: Shiro was a clone meant to be possessed by a Baal after all and, even if Azazel isn’t Lucifer or Satan, he’ll still need a strong vessel to withhold him as long as it’s necessary.
Of course Shiro could also be brought back from the dead for reasons unrelated to Azazel but because Mephisto has another plan about him and the twins.
Just like a less crazy version of this theory is simply
midnight-in-town 