Thread by @L_Luck__

An analysis/interpretation of Chapter 122, Ymir Fritz and her character arc in regards to the ending of Attack on Titan.
#aot122 #aot139 #aotmangaspoilers #ymir #mikasa #eren

Before I start, Credits to the cleaned version of the manga panel: @Giossic ;
and to the blue/white manga panel edit: @ColdCriti ;

Let’s start with the “You are free” sequence. Amidst her long captivity, Ymir wishes, in the smallest of ways, for an expression of freedom. She does so, through the release of a captivated pig. 1/30

She is, then, given the words “You are free” by Fritz, followed by her persecution and various attempts at murdering her life and, therefore, at taking the little freedom she had away. 2/30

As fate would have it, she finds the Tree of Life and comes in contact with, presumably, the source of all life. She wishes for something stronger, bigger, and turns into the the first Titan. 3/30

However, she doesn’t use this newfound power to break free of her chains, even though she very much could. Instead, she uses it to, in a way, atone: to obey more orders such as defeating Fritz’s enemies, building bridges, lands and make Eldia prosper. Just as Fritz wished. 4/30

She even goes so far as to accept a child from Fritz. All of this reflects, to me, a complete and dark twist of her concept of freedom and completely erasing the wish for it from her mind… for the time being. She is now programmed to serve and obey any given order by the King. 5

Let’s now move to the spear sequence for a bit. So, a soldier throws a spear at Fritz and Ymir, without being ordered, mind you, throws herself at it to protect Fritz. After this, instead of healing, she loses the will to live (like Reiner in 103), dies, and creates Paths. 6/30

As far as we know, protecting him like that was the first time since she freed the pig that she acted (in this capacity) out of her own instincts/will. And to me, this is only indicative of the existence of some capacity of affection for the King. 7/30

Before you start throwing rocks at me hear me out. I even went so far as to play devil’s advocate and say “Well maybe it’s just a slave instinct to protect her slaver” … but, at the same time, wouldn’t that also be an expression of some sort of weird affection for him? 8/30

Besides that, this being an opportunity to kill herself wouldn’t make much sense either because of what I’ll say next, particularly regarding the creation of something as contradictory as Paths. 9/30

So, how to explain all of this? Let me introduce the concept of Stockholm Syndrome, in case you haven’t heard it. Here is a very nice file containing definitions and real cases. No need to read everything, just get a gist of it. 10/30 digitalcommons.salemstate.edu/cgi/viewconten…

Knowing that, the fact that Ymir did crave this type of romantic connection (through the multiple panels below) and her nature to only obey I previously explained, it’s not hard to imagine Ymir did act out of care for the King. However, something contradictory happens: 11/30

Even after being *ordered* by Fritz to rise and work, she does not obey, and apparently loses the will to live, recreating the same scene as Reiner in 103. Why? 12/30

One interpretation is that she realized this, which caused her to feel not just a sense of worthlessness (a common feeling among Stockholm Syndrome victims) but also of agony, pain and just confusion in general. As in, “the connection that she craved really went for that man.” 13

Another way to look at this is that she called out for her diminished wish of freedom: something she would not have in life, making her lose the will. Even so, this doesn’t negate the fact that she jumped at the spear due to the emotion she had, unknowingly, attached to Fritz. 14

And so, with this deep sense of pain and yet, duty to fulfill the order she was commanded, Paths is created: a world free of death where she can continue to obey, like she has; but also be far from the man and the world that she, unwillingly, had grown to care for. 15/30

This, then, eliminates the possibility of the spear being seen as an opportunity of suicide: not only did she seem relatively “okay” at that moment, the fact that Paths was created means that something more dramatically contradictory needed to have happened. 16/30

Then, we can conclude that Paths will not stop to exist as long as Ymir continues to not have the strength to wish for freedom, as well as until the emotions attached to her mission exist. (One being her affection for Fritz, and another being her belief in her mission) 17/30

Enter Eren: the Last Attack Titan and the one with the most vicious wish for freedom since, probably, ever. Someone, who, through his sheer will and nature, forged the future. A future where Ymir herself must become free due to the end of the Titans being a part of that future.18

For more on why I say all this about Eren, check out these threads: essentially, even though he becomes a slave to the future he sees, this future is based on who he is fundamentally. Making him, in a way, the freest person to have ever lived. 19/30

This one as well

It’s like she was infected by his wish for freedom. Lit the fire inside her heart to want to choose; to want to be free; gave her strength to *dare* to wish. In a way, for 2,000 years, she waited for that strength. 20/30

Now that she has met Eren, her concept of freedom as well her wish for freedom are restored. She now wants to be free. But… she can’t yet… I mean she hasn’t moved on because the curse hasn’t ended. So, why not? 21/30

That’s right. She’s still bound to the world due to the feelings she developed for King Fritz: one of the two main reasons why she kept on obeying his words to “work”, and to continue the world he wished. The first one being the one Eren helped “cure”, when he touched her. 22/30

Enter Mikasa: someone who, throughout her life, has made Eren the anchor for her emotions and a pillar to rely on to keep her PTSD at bay. And, because of this, showed resolute devotion to be with him and to protect him. 23/30

But, when Mikasa is confronted with her real feelings for Eren, she feels confused. Does she really love him? Or is her behavior only due to the need of being with Eren for her own well-being? In a way, does she only have feelings of gratitude that are mistaken to be of love? 24

I have more of this on this thread but in the end, she accepts that there’s no situation where Eren gets to be alive after that ordeal, and so she gets stripped of her own trauma and her emotional anchor, which allows her to express, for the first time, her true love for Eren25

After Ymir touched Eren and became infected with the wish for freedom, we see her looking for the final steppingstone to move on. To resolve her inner conflict about the feelings she developed for Fritz. 26/30

Now, I know Stockholm Syndrome and Emotional anchors due to PTSD are very different. However, the core consequence of both is similar: development of feelings that are born out of unnatural situations. 27/30

Mikasa was able to sever her connection by moving on from her PTSD and discovering her true love for Eren. Seeing/experiencing this, Ymir severed her connection by acknowledging the ill-founded nature of her feelings and discovering the true nature of said connection. 28/30

Just as a note to 139: when Eren says “She loved Karl Fritz”, I think it’s very appropriate for someone as emotionally dumb as him (sorry Eren) to not be able to put into words how much more complex than love the emotion is. He even tries to say after “the agony of love”. 29/30

To conclude, when I discovered this, I pictured it as Eren and Mikasa holding Ymir’s hands, and guiding her through these very complex emotions, needs and shackles that she, alone, could have never hoped to understand. 30/30

Anyway, thanks for reading and be sure to tell me what you think! As well as what your own interpretations of the spear sequence in 122 are. This is just an interpretation of 122 and Ymir so please don’t massacre me about how wrong or stupid you think it is.

*Leak spoilers* With the leaks of the additional chapters, this conversation between Mikasa and Ymir dropped and, imo, it goes in line with what I said in this thread: Mikasa is presented here with a stance of acceptance, which is exactly what you'd expect from her after 1/?

after overcoming her trauma through severing her connection with her emotional anchor. As in, she accepts (and is grateful) for the path that was crossed because all these circunstances allowed her to be free of her trauma and be herself for the first time. 2/?

As for Ymir, we see this panel of King Fritz being impaled. (kinda called it on the importance of this sequence of 122 a few days ago ;) ) This, for me, is a symbolic panel that expresses a realization within Ymir. Her jumping to protect King represents a act out of affection. 3/

... (unwilled affection) like I explain above on this thread. By experiencing Mikasa's world and emotions, she was able to, like Mikasa, dinstinguish the true feelings inside her heart to the ones borne out of unnatural/unwanted circunstances. 4/

In Mikasa's case, she discovered her true love for Eren, by letting go of the feelings derived from grattitude and dependance she previously had due to Eren being her emotional anchor. 5/

For Ymir's case, she discovered the true origin/nature of her affection for the King. One, unwillingly, borne out of abuse, mistreatment, unconcious reaction to his orders and that, deep down, was nothing but filled with fear, pain and agony. 6/

And this realization is present in the panel of the King being impaled: It means that she'd let it go; that, now, she wouldn't jump to protect him, bc that affection was, now effectively gone due to this new-found undertanding of the intricacies and true nature of said affection.