Thread by @cactuzzshash

Aot Manga Spoilers

‘Then someone appeared. It was Mikasa’

My thoughts on why Mikasa Ackerman’s conclusion strengthens not only her arc, but Attack on Titan as a whole.

Mega Thread

To preface this thread, i will be speaking not for the execution in the final chapters, but the ideas behind them. +

To understand mikasa’s overarching development we first need to look back to the start. She doesn’t run because anyplace without her loved ones would feel too cold. Eren saves her and gives clarity to the cruelness of the world, he gives her the opportunity to combat it.
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In fact words that represent trauma stick with mikasa throughout the manga, from eren’s to carla’s request. She internalises them into her identity because, broken as she is, she hasn’t yet found her own purpose. Her journey is one of agency, self worth, and finding meaning. +

Due to this idea that eren gives meaning to her life, when faced with the news of his death she loses control and goes on a suicidal charge. Even when she finds the will to fight it’s still only in order to remember him, it’s still not truly for herself. +

Her speech to the others is a direct parallel the battle of heaven and hell, where at the end she’s truly fighting out of a desire to protect others. She is strong and she’s proud of that, but she’s a victim of trauma who can’t separate her life from that of eren, at the start. +

We see her subtle growth from this throughout the manga. She goes from ignoring orders in favour of eren and hating levi, to recognising the faults of her actions and wanting to atone for them. The change in her attitude towards levi specifically is an obvious measurement. +

At stohess, angered by eren’s inability to fight the foe she feels responsibility for, she reminds him of the cruelty of the world, much like he had once done for her. She gives him that same clarity that allowed her to fight back for the first time. +

Her emotions also become clearly less solely focused on eren (x armin). In the clash of titans, she clearly has to psych herself up to kill those she once thought of as friends, lamenting her own lack of strength to take their lives previously. +

She feels the burdens of her choices and the outcomes they lead to. This is clear in rts, where she willingly allows eren & armin to fight for themselves while she plays her own separate part in an attempt to help ‘humanity’ and her friends. +

She even lets hange take her away in serum bowl, despite having the strength to change the outcome, because deep down she accepts that erwin is the better choice and it would be unfair to act selfishly. Isayama emphasises this through flochs words and her reaction. +

In fact mikasa and eren have pretty much opposing character arcs up to the sea. Eren begins to think less big picture and more amount those around him, while mikasa learns to do the opposite. +

Don’t want to just keep pointing out areas of development but one that clearly shows her compassion is when she stops kaya from stabbing gabi, protecting the girl that had murdered her friend and caused her so much pain. +

However when eren, both a reflection of her trauma and her ‘saviour’ from it, attacks her deepest insecurities about meaning, agency, and purpose she reverts back to that girl in the cabin who had none of these things. +

It hurts her even more because it’s a betrayal of the promise he made to her facing dina. She removes the scarf that was the representation of warmth and home, one that was supposed to last forever, because she can no longer feel that. +

Side point but i believe this is the crux of her attitude towards louise. In her mikasa sees the ugly parts of herself. Louise joined because of her attachment to mikasa who had given her meaning (parallel obvious) and mikasa’s pride rejects this when it’s shoved in her face. +

She’s confused, hurt, lost. These emotions, the realisation that her attachment had blinded her to the uglier parts of eren, and her slow acceptance that she really may have to kill him culminate in one of my favourite chapters: 138. +

Her first big headache here comes after eren ‘dies’ and her pain is driven even deeper by witnessing everyone reconnect to the warmth that had been forever taken from her, the panelling in particular emphasising this. +

She sincerely wishes to be free of the cruelty and to regain the warmth and beauty of love/comfort (home) after the titans are turned. This is when she, an ackerman, breaks the founder’s influence and regains her memories. +

First thing i want to make clear is that this is not some delusional mental landscape made by mikasa. Not only is that ridiculous by the standards of ackermans being completely unable to do it, but it also goes against the context of the final 2 chapters. +

Eren takes the two people he cares for most to places that best embody their bond. For armin that is seeing the wonders spoken of in the book, and for mikasa it’s the concept of ‘home’. Love in those closest to you and the comfort that brings. +

Mikasa breaks down and starts crying, questioning if it’s ok for her to finally indulge in her most selfish wish. To have and enjoy the ‘home’ she thought she would never experience again with the one most important to her. It’s heartbreaking. +

It also works on the level within the ‘au’, tying into how guilty they would actually feel in doing this. This couldn’t happen as neither are made up of the type of selfishness that would lead to inaction and so the pipe dream of a different scenario is just that, a dream. +

Here mikasa accepts eren’s death and in doing so is able to sever the attachment she had as a product of her trauma, instead CHOOSING to remember him, despite no longer needing said attachment to live, which i believe is the truest expression of her love in the entire series. +

It’s severely different from both trost, where she wants to live only to remember him, and dina, where she’s content with dying alongside him, because she is no longer using his life as a crutch for her own but instead loving him despite her complete freedom. +

This is why i also believe 123 shows that she truly doesn’t understand her emotional state. Whether it’s attachment, love, gratitude or a jumbled mess of all 3, all she knows is that she equates the warmth he brings her to family - the only other example of that in her life. +

These reasons are why her killing eren but putting the scarf back is such a powerful conclusion to her arc, but this is only heightened by the information given in 139 and the fact that her choice was the final straw for ymir to regain her own choice. +

To be clear, mikasa is NOT ymir and eren is NOT fritz. mikasa grew past her trauma while ymir couldn’t do the same and eren both saved mikasa from slavery and loved her while fritz did neither of those two things. It’s the differences that make the conclusion possible. +

The link is just that of attachment born out of trauma. Mikasa shows that her love was real, by killing eren (severing the emotional crutch) but still remembering him (scarf), making ymir understand that her ‘love’ was purely the twisted result of her stockholm syndrome. +

There’s also other ties. Mikasa is the most powerful human but lived for eren to gain meaning, while ymir was the most powerful being but served fritz for the same reason. M rejects royalty because she doesn’t need it, while Y accepts it. +

In essence it’s the story of one broken girl growing to surpass trauma in order to give back agency to another girl who could never do the same. I find it both beautiful but also extremely refreshing for the medium in general. +

This is why i think leaving the Y/M talk for the additional pages was an egregious error. It explains that ymir found mikasa in her search, and that throwing herself onto the spear was her twisted attachment, an act she wouldn’t repeat now. +

It’s also not as if it wasn’t hinted at. The emphasis on ‘someone’ and the direct close up to mikasa after reiner says the same word is pretty explicit. The idea that love is the way to break the cycle was also the conclusion of one of the most impactful parts of the manga. +

Another cool foreshadowing is M’s tie to the praying mantis. It not only symbolises the cruelty that informs a part of her worldview, but a female praying mantis can often bite off the head of its mate, the parallel being overt. +

Also important to note is that M is the culmination of all the other lessons ymir learns. Each aspect EMA represents allow this to occur. E shows her determination/will for freedom, A shows her humanity and meaning, and finally M shows the beauty in this cruel world. +

Those are essentially the reasons why i think mikasa is brilliant and how the parallel to ymir strengthens not only her arc, but also the core themes of the entire story. I hope it’s clear that yams isn’t romanticising abuse/pedophilia or anything ridiculous like that.

End 🤍

oh and here’s mikasa being socially awkward and then petty towards sasha because she left her alone. might brighten up your day 🤍

not adding mikasa’s life after isn’t a slight or a problem i have with the story it’s just a follow on and showing her living her life but still having that irrefutable bond to eren which i have zero problems with

@vincent5126’s qt made me realise i didn’t expand enough on how the idea that saving one child from trauma is the key to ending the titan cycle and how brilliantly that ties into the story and it’s core themes so i’ll do that now. Mini Thread +

https://twitter.com/cactuzzshash/status/1419330100571648007

A lot of AoT characters are in many ways a representation of their trauma/world. This is primarily showcased through the MC, the vehicle for the narrative. Eren’s hate for titans is what his entire character originally revolves around. +

The same thing is shown again from the opposite perspective through his mirror gabi and her hatred. Grisha x Kruger’s hatred also stems from their childhood trauma and it’s what fuels their patriotism and actions throughout life. +

The outcome of trauma isn’t just anger though. Reiner’s desire to be a hero and an honorary marleyan is a byproduct of his need for affirmation stemming from his childhood. Zeke’s entire philosophy on life and anti-natalism is again a representation of his trauma + experiences. +

This all ties into the ‘Children of the Forests’ thematically. Mr Braus is a mouthpiece for Isayama, and presents the idea that we must do our best to not affect the next generation in our cycles of hatred, or it will never end. To not create more Erens, Zekes, Reniers etc +

Therefore Mikasa, who grew past her trauma, saving ymir, who couldn’t, and ending the titan cycle is such an incredible and powerful message to conclude this theme. Just save one child, and the world will become a better place for it. +

It’s also why i love the additional pages so much, full of the ambiguity & realism that brought me to the story, but also hope. A child forced into the forest in order to find a solution to the problem those who came before couldn’t find. I love Attack on Titan 👍🏼