As sad as this development makes me for her (and I totally get why people don’t like it), I do believe it makes narrative sense for Historia’s arc and fits with the cruel aspect of SnK’s world (really not much different than our own). Also, I do not believe this dooms Historia to tragedy.
It’s no secret that the one piece of Isayama’s writing that I’ve thus far hated completely is Ymir’s death. It didn’t seem to fit with what we knew about Ymir, and left a lot unresolved between her and Historia, especially in terms of how they affected each other. Her death was confirmed way too late to have any real thematic impact since the characters were already used to living without her.
But with 107, we see that Historia is not cured and has in fact regressed. Historia is still trapped in the same dangerous cycle that killed Ymir: sacrificing herself and her own desires to be a figurehead for her people, and allowing her children to suffer the same fate. This flaw killed Ymir twice (firstly when she was turned into a Titan, secondly when she was too kind to leave Bertolt and Reiner), and Historia is currently heading down a path that will kill her and kill her children.
The irony of the situation is palpable: Historia is deliberately having a child to sacrifice them for a cause. That’s what Grisha did with Zeke.
It also carries parallels to what happened to Ymir–hopeless people used a street child to fulfill their own desires, to give themselves hope.
Eren just sacrificed children for a cause too (to somehow break with this plan and thereby protect Historia presumably), narratively showing Historia the horrors of just what she is planning to do.
This development gives Ymir’s death resonance, rather than her death being just a letter way too late in the game with no real impact. Because of her own and also directly because of Ymir’s martyr complex driven decisions, Historia has sunk into a similar place: allowing herself to be a figurehead, endangering her life and her child’s for the sake of a cause.
No, Historia, that is not all. Because someone still has Ymir’s memories:
I think we’ve all thought Ymir’s memories would be relevant at some point, but this development is giving me hope that it’s going to be not just a sweet heartwarming moment, but instead a powerful one. If Porco does share certain memories of Ymir’s with Historia, including how she actually felt about her and how she felt about her own decisions (this is surely not what Ymir would have wanted for Historia), I have hope that might jumpstart Historia’s development in a positive direction again.
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.
As explained earlier I have no concrete idea aside from some matter containing a virus being the origin of all titans. Marlean books mention Ymir making a pact with the devil while Kruger implies otherwise. From my first reading I thought it would be mostly mythological/occult-ish because of the “paths” connecting Eldian minds. But now I’m starting to think the source of her powers was more her coming in contact with some weird entity (a virus) infecting her and her people. That doesn’t explain the origin of the nine shifters inheriting her powers.
Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central and considered very holy. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their things. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the wyrm (dragon) Níðhöggr, an unnamed eagle, and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór.
Conflicting scholarly theories have been proposed about the etymology of the name Yggdrasill, the possibility that the tree is of another species than ash, the relation to tree lore and to Eurasianshamanic lore, the possible relation to the trees Mímameiðr and Læraðr, Hoddmímis holt, the sacred tree at Uppsala, and the fate of Yggdrasil during the events of Ragnarök. – Wikipedia
My knowledge in Norse Mythology is rather limited but this is a tree that connects nine worlds, as in, nine shifters so the truth must be there somewhere.
“… And all of these paths cross at a single coordinate.”
Well, that’s… interesting.
We’ve long known that there’s something pretty damn wrong with humanity inside the walls. There was Grandpa Ackerman’s creepy pronouncement:
One people, who all came from the same bloodline. Specifically, they seem to have come from Ymir–and all of them are still connected to her. And to each other.
They’re like… that fungi network underground. Like how individual plants are connected by a fungal network they’re all plugged into and kind of communicate. Except the Eldians are all the same species… like they’re all one large organism split into many different people.
Creeeeeepy.
This same mechanism allows all of them to be controlled by the Coordinate.
This same mechanism ensures that shifters never die out, and when a shifter is killed without transferring power to someone else, randomly a baby will inherit the power.
(@momtaku and I had a conversation about how brain-breaking of a concept this is–do you get a titan shifter toddler?? do you get their powers randomly kicking in at a certain point? whichever, the powers clearly get to them through the paths that connect Ymir’s people.)
As a result, you have a whole race of people who are all, as has been said, part of a larger whole, and who can all be jerked like puppets on a string.
Little as I want to think back to that moment, this noble dude clearly knew what he was talking about. If the nobles are not affected by the mindwipe, are not connected through “paths,” cannot be controlled by the Coordinate–there’s something fundamentally different about their biology.
And, of course, ch88 confirms this also:
Ymir’s people’s blood is literally different from normal humans’.
… And it’s different from the blood of the nobles who live within the walls. The nobles, the Ackermans, the Asians/east sea clan–none of them were affected by the First King’s mindwipe, and I bet they can’t turn into titans, either. Plainly speaking, they aren’t Ymir’s people. They don’t have the same biology. They can’t be controlled by the same means.
Which kind of makes you wonder how they ended up being so close with Ymir’s people to begin with.
Who are these “minority bloodlines”? Are they normal humans just kind of mixed in
with Ymir’s people? The Ackermans certainly aren’t normal, but we don’t know enough about the others–or about why they ended up occupying such a prominent position in Eldian society. The historical and political narratives we’ve had of the pre-walls Eldia imply that it was the shifters who ruled the land. There was the king, with his Coordinate, and eight other shifters from influential families who were on top of the world. No mention of “minority bloodlines” is made in that story. And yet, the Ackermans were a warrior family close to the crown, and only lost their position once within the walls because they refused to abide by the king’s new world order. Most other bloodlines were less picky, and ended up essentially ruling everything in the walled society. That is, of course, the king outranked them, but the nobles–those who sneer at the blood of slaves–were clearly at the top of the social pyramid before Erwin’s revolution.
And it does make sense that the people whose brains cannot be controlled by an outside power, the people not forming part of this giant Ymir-organism are the ones who can both see the world for what it truly is and take full advantage of it.
…
And here’s the thing. This entire manga, Eren’s whole character, and his titan too, are all about the struggle for freedom. But Ymir’s people, whose actions and memories can be controlled by a distant Coordinate, who are all connected and subject to someone else’s will–they cannot be free, by default.
Eren kept talking about wanting to escape the cage these walls represented to him, only to find out that the cage was larger than he could ever imagine.
And his face in this chapter clearly communicates that he realizes this.
Neither Eren nor anyone else among Ymir’s people can be fully free as long as the conditions of their existence–their very biology–are what they are.
Which to my mind means that, in order for this manga to have anything resembling a happy end, all of this titan science must be resolved, Ymir’s curse lifted, what have you. People need to stop turninginto titans, titans need to turn back into humans, and the very concept of shifters needs to disappear from this world. Ymir’s people must be set free, and there must be a way to do this without literally killing all of them.
From the moment we learned that titans were actually humans, we started wondering whether they can be restored to humanity en masse. Now, to that task we must add the breaking of paths that exist between Ymir’s people, the unmaking of shifters… This is why I’m not mourning Armin yet: I still have hope that, before his 13 years are out, we’ll will find a way to fix this.
That said, I’m afraid that fixing this will involve the Coordinate, and Eren making a major sacrifice. As others have pointed out, his health has already been a cause for concern; we’ve seen him at Kruger-at-his-last-stretch levels of exhaustion, complete with nosebleeds. And Eren himself has acknowledged that he may have less than eight years. I can see that time period shrinking rapidly if he takes it upon himself to master the ultimate Coordinate moves likely to be necessary for fixing everything.
I can absolutely see Eren sacrificing himself to make sure that Ymir’s people are free at last. I can also see him not living long enough to enjoy this freedom.
…
I mean, this is obviously just speculation and my take on things, but these are the thoughts and concerns I’m walking out of this chapter with.
I understand nearly everyone is tired of “The Grisha Files”. Initially they were a welcome diversion from the pain and drama of the serum bowl. They gave us something new and interesting to focus on. But after three months without the appearance of the main cast, I too am ready for them to come to a close. Still, when I temporarily deaden the part of me that cares deeply about Levi, Hange and the others, I find much to enjoy in this chapter, primarily…
“My Name is Eren Kruger”
I have a type, and apparently it involves tall powerful men who put their dreams above their morality and carry enough guilt to power a nation. High cheekbones and an aquiline nose are also nice. I’m talking, of course, about Erwin Smith and Eren Kruger. As far as I can tell, the main difference between these two men is that one had an army to help him achieve his dreams, while the other needed to build one from scratch.
As a child, Kruger watched as his entire family was burned alive for being part of the Revolutionary Army. He alone remained. As a teenager, he inherited the power of “Shingeki no Kyojin”, the Advancing Titan, the titan power that would “always move forward seeking freedom”.
He embedded himself in the Marleyan military, found a small network of spies and loyalists, and slowly started to build a revolution. He fed them information to raise morale, located Dina Fritz and handpicked Grisha Jaeger. The wheels were in motion and it all might have worked if Grisha hadn’t totally sucked as a father. With time running out and his death imminent, his final act was to put his faith in someone else to complete his mission.
Please tell me I’m not alone in seeing the parallels.
I have to wonder if Erwin was in Kruger’s position, how many fingers would he have cut off and how many of his brothers would he have pushed off a wall if it was necessary to achieve his goal? Both men attempted to achieve their dream using whatever means necessary. Both lost their humanity in the process.
I hope if a Shingeki afterworld exist, Kruger and Smith meet and have a beer together. They can compare notes, confess their sins, and Erwin can tell him how he left his dreams in the hands of Levi Ackerman. I imagine Kruger will be a little jealous of that.
“Why am I the only one left standing here as human?”
I’m keeping this brief. I don’t hate Grisha. True he was a terrible parent to Zeke. He was blinded by nationalism, pride and religious ideologies. He recognized his mistakes, owned up to them and paid a terrible price. I believe he tried to do better the second time around. But when the situation became a choice between the destruction of his entire nation and injecting his son, he chose his son.
Unlike the majority, I don’t think that choice was entirely wrong. Perhaps Grisha reasoned that thirteen years was better than none because, lets be real, the walled world was doomed at that point. His plea to Eren was “if you want to save Mikasa, Armin and everyone else you’ll have to control this power.” It was do or die.
The truth is that Eren Jaeger was born to be “Shingeki no Kyojin”. Go back and read chapter one. Go back and read the whole manga. With or without the titan power, Grisha knew that nothing would stop Eren from seeking freedom.
“That… is the founding titan”
So, it’s a little morbid, but I honestly like that Grisha named his son after the man who gave him a second chance.
I don’t know exactly what unlocked Eren’s memories, but it’s finally happened. Eren is the avatar… uh Coordinate. He has his father’s memories as well as those from previous Coordinates. He was able to tell Armin specific thoughts of previous “successors”. In case there was any doubt about this, Yams drew the incredibly creepy panel above.
The upside of this is that there will be no future need for chapters like this one. The next time we need to access something from “The Grisha Files”, Eren can slip into his avatar state and retrieve them.
“The Curse of Ymir”
Shifting has an expiration date. If I forget the human face of the shifters, I like it as a concept. Such power can’t be unlimited. They aren’t immortal. No one is OP. But the reality isn’t so simple. Zeke, Reiner, Annie, Eren and Armin are living with a death sentence.
I’ve seen many of you in terrible pain at this development, so let me just say that I am sorry. I’ve written a few posts trying to look on the bright side and spin this into something positive, but I I’m aware that doesn’t actually help. Knowing that the character you love is going to die and realizing the pain of those they leave behind is awful and heartbreaking and it hurts like hell. Seeing a large percentage of the fandom grieving is not just sad, but it reopens my own wounds, still fresh from the loss of Erwin. So let’s all just grieve together, ok. Why did any of us think this manga was a good idea in the first place?
And now, the self congratulatory part of my post…
Since I’m rarely right, please allow me to gloat when I am. It’s confirmed that each of the Nine Titans have a unique name and power. It’s confirmed that there will always be nine titan shifters. If Eren were to die, it’s confirmed that his power would be split back into the two titans he possesses. The mechanics of it all are a little dumb, but I’ll take my victories where I can.
I’m sure I’ve forgotten many things I wanted to discuss, but there are dozens of asks in my inbox that will hit on some of them. I won’t be able to answer all of them, but thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.
Oh – last thing! If you have any ideas for this months snk poll, I’m open to suggestions.
midnight-in-town 