Thread by @cactuzzshash

Ymir Fritz’s journey through the 5 stages of grief.

Thread on how Mikasa is the perfect antithesis

#aotmangaspoilers

1) Denial. This is the creation of paths and the last 2000 years. She maintains the same role, subservience to the king, to maintain her connection to the one she ‘loves’ along with her sense of worth as she lacks individuality. +

The last paragraph is exactly what happens as eren connects to her, and the difference to mikasa is that she needs someone outside of herself to take that first step, which continues throughout. This is also why eren is so vital in her journey. +

2) Anger. This anger is her emotions that start the rumbling, lashing out at the world as opposed to confronting her feelings about her trauma. The innocents she is trampling are not to blame, but in her state she cannot understand that. +

Again it’s important to note that she is not doing this by herself, she needs others as she lacks enough sense of self to have agency. The anger subsides through the act of rumbling itself, which is embodied in the next step. +

3) Bargaining. This is the what the choice to rumble represents. ‘It’s your choice’ as she attempts to regain control. The deal is her going with eren to do this, and considering the devil/god commentary surrounding him i think that’s very significant. +

4) Depression. This is what happens throughout the rumbling. She starts to face the choice she has made. This is shown through her constantly watching things, from ramzi’s death, to the alliance fighting, to armin/zeke’s conversation. +

You can even see how through eren and her journey she’s started to gain more agency. She’s the one to take away armin because, despite still not being able to take the step herself, she understands that she does need help and acts on that. They are the ‘therapist’. +

5) Acceptance. This is what mikasa provides through her own acceptance. Mikasa went from valuing eren’s life above all, to killing him for the sake of others but proving that her love had always been real by putting the scarf back on. This allows Ymir +

to understand that her ‘love’ was merely the byproduct of her trauma, as shown through her wish that she hadn’t jumped in front of the spear. She no longer needs that attachment as mikasa gave her the last lesson to fully regain agency, as shown by her adult form and open eyes. +

The titan curse was born from the trauma of the quintessential ‘child of the forest’ (symbolism overt in this case) and it’s each part of the main trio that together allows her to grow past that. Mikasa is the perfect choice which i’ll show now. +

Mikasa is ymirs antithesis, and we see this retrospectively throughout the story. The base ‘similarity’ is that of extreme trauma. Mikasa values eren’s life above all due to this, meanwhile ymir forms her subservient attachment to the king. +

This is where they diverge. Mikasa constantly defies what eren actually wants meanwhile ymir does everything the king says. Mikasa embodies pride as opposed to ymir who lacks any sense of self or worth. +

Eren saved her from sex slavers who killed her parents, while the king is the one who killed ymir’s and then abused her. Eren’s ‘you died in that cabin at 9’ is a lie, but for ymir this is the truth (hence in paths she’s the same age + wearing the same clothes as that day). +

Mikasa’s royalty even ties in perfectly. Mikasa is born into royalty but rejects that due to her sense of identity, however ymir is born with nothing and accepts said royalty in order to gain worth and purpose. +

This is all emphasised in the additional pages. Mikasa remembers eren out of her own volition, against his explicit wishes ie the scarf, but ymir ‘remembers’ the king for 2000 years in order to create the world that he wanted. +

And ofc it’s shown through each journey through the 5 stages. Mikasa does it on her own (true acceptance comes in denying eren), whereas ymir needs the others.

This was ymirs journey through trauma, and a brief explanation on why mikasa is the perfect choice. Thank you!