Under @momtaku‘s request, I decided to address the issue surrounding Ymir’s death from my review in a separate post.
More accurately, this isn’t about how it was handled, but more about the circumstances surrounding it. After chapter 89 came out, I saw Ymir’s death coming from miles ahead, for logical reasons. Since Marley lost a shifter power on the road, they have to destitute it as soon as possible to arm themselves from conflict. Moreover, we learned their military relied mostly on titans, unable to expand past the sea, but dominating the land. Hence why they need to mobilize as soon as possible. From that point onwards, Ymir’s survival was ridiculous: they couldn’t let an ex-felon in possession of the titan power.
However, they didn’t execute her in the most tasteless way, the way some Eldians have been treated in the past, according to Grisha’ flashback and Ymir’s letter.
Fay eaten by the dogs (Ch. 86), the Kruger family burned alive (Ch. 87), Ymir being sent for a lifetime as a titan to Paradis, the fate of every Eldian opposing themselves to Marley (Ch. 89)
This world carries a strong hatred for Eldians, not just Marleans, as seen by that scared prisoner from the Middle Eastern Alliance, to the soldiers of the same faction calling them “descendants of that whore”. Yet the way Ymir was executed was rather… merciful.
Ymir about to be executed – Ch. 93
Look at the structure. Very reminiscent of a certain ceremony, isn’t it?
The Reiss passing ceremony. – Ch. 64
And everything there has been reproduced to a certain extent: the chains, the stairs, even the white costume. And in Ymir’s case, it was done for the sake of a single warrior. Not the future king, just a warrior.
Since Marley treats Eldians like canon meat and can execute them without suffering any severe consequences, I wonder if them imitating the coronation isn’t connected to some kind of superstition as the next warrior being haunted by their predecessors if not done correctly.
While this isn’t as efficient as the coordinate, it happens shifters can pass memories between holders, under certain conditions.
Galliard seeing through Ymir’s memories – Ch. 93
Galliard was also able to understand Ymir a little and even felt pity for her sake, almost as if he and Ymir made some kind of connection between the moment Galliard crunched her and the moment he woke up as a shifter. Galliard didn’t say when he saw the memory illustrated above, so I assume it could happen randomly at any point in time.
Now what was the difference between Galliard and the rest of their shifters? Ymir was given a royal treatment for her status: she got to stay prisoner for a bit, ask a last favor to Reiner and delivering her letter to the girl she loves, and got a full ceremony. Others devoured shifters weren’t as lucky.
Shifters being quickly and brutally devoured: Marcel (Ch. 40), Frieda (Ch. 63), Grisha (Ch. 62) and Bertolt (Ch. 84)
I was reluctant onto putting Grisha to the list because he willingly let himself fed to Eren. If anything, it’s Eren who got coerced without much explanation, only agreeing with his father that he’s going to avenge his mother. According to this month’s chapter, Grisha left 22 years ago, where he became the holder of the Attacking Titan. That means he would’ve died 9 years before the present point… just the time needed to pass the power to his son before his time was up. He surrounded himself to his progeny without any further waiting, and is now relieving his memories through him.
Now that any shifter can experience the memories of their predecessor, the coordinate probably kicked in once Eren read through the journals, because Grisha wanted his will to fight to pass down inside Eren, something he did successfully. Him raising his arms in a defense posture makes me think if he didn’t regret what he was about to do at the very last moment, though.
Of course, before succumbing to his fate, Grisha forcefully removed the Founding Titan out of Frieda’s nape. The two of them fought and Grisha won, devouring Frieda alive. We didn’t experience any aftereffect since Grisha died soon after, but Eren caught glimpses of Frieda here and there.
Eren through Frieda’s memories – Ch. 53
The coordinate allows Eren to delve deeper in the memories of his predecessors, but the most blatant so far have been Kruger’s and Grisha’s, since, as Attacker titans, they both shared the same ideology. That’s the reason why Kruger wasn’t in the list: him passing his power to Grisha was in his agenda. He wanted the leader of the restorationists to own it and the latter agreed, after a short conversation.
Grisha finding resolution after hearing Kruger – Ch. 87
This panel clearly shows Grisha is ready to accept Kruger’s power. There’s consenting on both sides.
The same thing happened with the Reiss ceremony: each ruler was prepared for it as their time was near, and each successor did the same, promising they won’t let their ancestors dominate them, asking for their family to pray, and falling victim to the sin of their bloodline everytime.
In the next cases, taping onto memories is a very tedious thing to do:
Ymir and Bertolt discussing Marcel’s fate – Ch. 47
Ymir stated she had no recollection, nor vision of who Marcel was. If she had memories from him, she would recognize Reiner and Bertolt on sight. Bertolt also states he, Reiner and the other warriors don’t have any memories of their predecessors either. What he meant by that could be the temporary amnesia every shifter experiences once they’re reverting back to their human form.
The thing is, the warriors were all submitted to the classical ritual, so the passing method stayed the same. The seven titans always won Marley’s wars and going on Paradis was a first. When Ymir inherited Marcel, it was an accident. Marcel shielded Reiner back then. When he was eaten, Ymir couldn’t remember him or see through him, as if Marcel’s soul sealed itself. That explains why not even his twin brother could see the moment where he died.
And now, probably the most disturbing case: Bertolt.
Bertolt about to get devoured by Armin – Ch. 84
His execution was completely messy and sloppy. Not only did he spend the whole serumbowl completely unconscious, but also gets held on the other side of the house so Armin could take his time to get him. When he woke up, he was completely unaware of his surroundings and got an audience who only wanted Armin to come back as a shifter. Other devoured shifters stayed silent, Bertolt begged for help. As a result, the first image that comes into Armin’s mind is that giant Colossal, screaming in pain. I explained in my chapter analysis how similar it was to Japanese ghost stories, but Armin doesn’t remain affected, from what we’ve seen. Maybe a bit down considering what transpired at the serumbowl, but no doubt Bertolt would do like Marcel did: keeping his secrets well-protected.
Unless he actually made Armin relieve his worst memories but… that’s probably left for when we switch back to Paradis. Him being pictured as sinking ships makes me think something changed in him but it’s more than potential nightmares.
In any case, I think those paths aren’t completely random. They can connect briefly if all the conditions are reunited, especially through a ceremony. That’s why Ymir’s death wasn’t as awful as people made it out to be. We should be grateful enough we’re spared the definite crunch because not even Titan Jesus Uri was granted this…
Frieda devouring Uri – Ch. 64
Yep, clear dismembered king right in front of our eyes. I doubt many of you would’ve been happy to see Ymir’s limbs dangling to the chains while her lower half would just lay there as Galliard was taking back his human form.
Chapter 93 gave us the confirmation that Ymir has in fact been eaten by Galliard, Marcel’s brother, seemingly marking the ending point of her character once and for all. Given the context of the new episode, as well as the little focus or pages dedicated to her apparent last moments, many of us are very upset with the seemingly lackluster climax of her character arc; and her decision to abandon Historia to save RB and let herself be killed seems to go very much against everything her characterization according to many fans.
The point of this post isn’t to argue about any of that, but instead, to illuminate a possible indicator that we may have not seen the last of everyone’s favorite goddess.
Please let us think back to chapter 50; one of the most impactfull and monumental chapters in the entire series, for many reasons. It marks the only time so far in the story that Eren has successfully manipulated the founding titan within him, the godlike power at the center of the current (and probably final) plot, aimed at his very first enemy; that alone marks a milestone in the series, not to speak of the various character interactions happening along the way. Among others, this chapter also marks the moment Ymir chooses to abandon Historia, the person she seems to care for more than anyone else, despite the fact that the coordinate marks a real hope for the walled world to survive the dangers Ymir is aware of.
Now, despite the fact that this game changing power debuts in this chapter, the narrator this time around focuses on one arguably lesser important event: the aforementioned separation. Let’s look at it.
“At the time, we didn’t know what Ymir’s actions meant. But after that, the armored titan stopped chasing after us”-narrator, chapter 50.
This narration is interesting for various reasons. First of all, it marks one of the rare occasions in which the narrator is not impersonal, but in fact identifies with present characters. Other notable occasions of this include Kenny’s flashback in 69, and Eren’s description of the photograph in chapter 85 (both chapters with heavy plot and thematic value for the story, just like ch 50, if I may add). Here, the narrator refers to himself as part of a group, but opposes themselves against the armored titan, implying narrator is not part of RB’s team, but in fact of the Survey Corps escaping back to the walls (most likely part of the EMA, maybe even Armin himself considering Marina Inoue typically voices the narrator. We should hear that animated soon enough).
That’s not the only thing the narrator is implying though. The use of the past tense as well as “at the time” is crucial. It literally means that, although they did not understand Ymir during chapter 50; at the time of narration, some form of understanding is clearly present. If, at the time of narration, the narrator was still as clueless as back then, there would be no need for “at the time” of past tense, but this particular formulation very much implies that an understanding of Ymir’s actions is very much there in the present time. And here’s the thing: even though Ymir’s death has been confirmed, our characters among which the narrator finds himself have yet to reach a point of understanding Ymir’s actions.
First of, let’s determine “Ymir’s actions”. Ymir herself is a big mystery to our cast, but according to the narrator, Ymir’s actions are what directly precedes the armored titan not following narrator and co; in which case, “Ymir’s actions” has to refer to her abandonment of Historia and her helping out R and B. In that case, the narration above implies the following: the narrator part of the surviving SC forces will eventually come to understand the meaning behind Ymir’s betrayal. Now, as of chapter 93, let’s ask the question: Does anyone present back then understand Ymir?
yeah……
Ymir herself expresses surprise at her actions, Ymir herself is unsure of her actions when writing the letter, which marks the most recent time anyone inside the walls has received information concerning Ymir. As of chapter 90, the last moment we spent with whomever the ch 50 narrator is, said narrator has yet to reach a point of understanding Ymir. OUR CAST STILL DOES NOT KNOW THE MEANING OF HER ACTIONS, AS FORETOLD BY CHAPTER 50. Isn’t that basically a confirmation that Ymir’s story isn’t done yet?
You may counterargue that its been 4 years and that Isa has changed his mind since, esp since he doesn’t want to drag the story out at anymore. But I find it so hard to believe that, in one of the most important chapters in the series, one that is still relevant to this day, the narrator focuses on this one plot point that simply ends up dropped over the course of the series. Chapter 50 is too important for that kind of redesign, wouldn’t you say? Who knows, maybe it’ll wind up different in the anime and will mark a retrofit by Isayama that fits better in line with 89 being the end of her story, but until we see it animated, I’ll chose to keep doubting that.
As for how Ymir’s story can still be told to our main cast? Here’s one possible option: Galliard
According to the (admittedly bad) fan translation, Galliard understands Ymir and her wish to bring back her titan-something neither us readers nor the narrator in question do as of right now. Granted, this could just be terrible translation, but Galliard could wind up being the gateway between Ymir and the main cast. Or its something entirely different. In a story about time travelling memories, matter that forms out of thin air, and the literal power of a god capable of reshaping the planet and controlling an entire species, death seems like a far too small barrier to stop someone from being relevant to the story, one way or another.
Since the majority of this argument is based off the lines spoken by the narrator in 50, there is a minor chance this is all ridiculous blunder if the official translation turns out to somehow differ from the Japanese original, and if anyone knows if it does, I would appreciate if you could inform me. But otherwise, I personally will start taking those words from chapter 50 as heavy evidence Ymir’s story hasn’t fully been told yet. I don’t want to create false hopes for anyone, but until proven otherwise, I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to believe in it.
midnight-in-town 