Thread by @lovelyYmir

"𝐼 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛... 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚" - Ymir

A little exploration of the possible reasoning behind this certain depiction of Paths and the Curse of Ymir and their relation to Ymir Fritz.

[THREAD]

Structure of the thread:
📌Curse of Ymir: Beginning
📌Paths: Escape
🔸Paths appearance
🔸Ymirs apperance
🔸Coordinate
📌New Development: Rage
📌Breaking of the Curse: Healing

Tags: #aotmangaspoilers #aotspoilers

📌𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐘𝐦𝐢𝐫: 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠
The beginning of the curse can be pinpointed to either the time, when Ymir first gains the power or once Ymir first enters the Paths as Ymir is the first ever shifter and the founder of this power.

As we know the length shifter can live after inheriting it's power is 13 years, which mirrors the length Ymir lived after gaining the power. We can see that Ymir set the ground rules of how her power would be used by her descendants.

Ymirs power has no limits, but she only ever uses it under the command of Royal Blood(starting with Fritz).

"𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑠ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎 𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛" - Zeke

Powerful yet powerless, resrticted by her own beliefs formed from her experiences; Freedom brought her suffering, insecurity, fear, while pleasing her abuser kept her safe. It is clear Fritzs goal was to ensure his authority over his subjects.

"𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒" - Fritz

📌𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬: 𝐄𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞
As the curse itself, Paths, that was created as a result of Ymir trying to escape from the pain, also plays the part in depicting Ymirs situation, her power, her experience and her mindset.

🔸 Paths appearance
Paths consists of endless fields of sand under the sky without a sun or clouds reaching into endless space, which could be a visual depiction of Ymirs limitless powers in a literal sense and how Paths transcends time(endless sand) and space(endless space).

🔸 Ymirs apperance
Ymir has taken an appearance of a child, seemingly the appearance she had when she first got the power, with her clothes run down continuing the work of a slave. This could be the visual depiction particularly of Ymirs mindset.

🔸 Coordinate
"𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝐸𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑡ℎ. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟, 𝑌𝑚𝑖𝑟, 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑" - Armin

"𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒. (...) 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑇𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑠... 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑆𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑌𝑚𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒." - Eren Kruger

The coordinate is depicted as a pillar of light splitting into branches resulting in it resembling a tree. The coordinate itself is the Founding Titan, to which all the subjects of Ymir are connected to.

Ymir, who had always felt lonely next to Fritz, wanted connection.

She believed her children are the proof to her bond to Fritz, but once hit by a spear, when saving his life, and looking to him to find any sign of concern, she was met with the dissapointing reality of her true worth to him, losing her will to regenerate and escaping to Paths.

It is no wonder, that Ymirs longing for connection would manifest itself into her as the coordinate being connected to her descendants through paths. Specifically being able to access their memories would also explain this desire to be more connected with their experiences.

📌𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝐑𝐚𝐠𝐞
Once breaking out of submitting to royal blood for the first time we see Ymirs eyes, she is no longer an empty shell with no sense of self, she is a person.

With that starts the Rumbling and Ymir, now as a person, not a god or a slave, can be seen finally using this power for herself, Royal blood has no power over her. The pent up emotions, that she has towards the world that was created from others using her, are finally released.

It can be viewed as a form of taking back her power from her abuser/abusers, with the support provided by someone she had be wating for, that person ended up to be Eren.

📌𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞: 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠
Ymirs apperance changes as she sees the result of Mikasas choise, which is to do the right thing and save the world, while still loving Eren, showing Ymir she can choose to do what's right, while still loving Fritz.

Another new appearance, one of an adult Ymir, we can view when Ymir faces Mikasa. With the realisation, that all this time she had this choice, came regret, yet she was blinded by her own self imposed restrictions that came from her experience.

Before, having an unchanging appearance as if time stopped for her, she continuously relived her trauma. But, once breaking out of it, being demonstrated an option she wasn't aware of before, her appearance changes as she can choose to face it and grow (literally).

She understands she cannot change her past decisions and she accepts it, as without it, Mikasa (and EMA in general), who had showed her the path to her healing, wouldn't exist. In a way she created her own healing.

Lastly, all this time her experience is never told by her, only shown through her memories. We hear interpretations of these memories by Eren and Zeke, which are strikingly different, but understandably so, since both have different experiences.

As Zeke views these memories from the point of abuse, thinking she had resentment towards her abuser, Eren, who hadn't been abused, looked at it through the point of love, validating both her love and pain, hence the appearance of eyes as she is treated as a human with feelings.

Victims of abuse rarely have a voice(during and after abuse has occurred) and their story is usually bent by peoples perceptions and in the end we never truly know what happened and how it impacted the person. I think that Ymirs silence is intentionally included to depict this.

Thank you very much for reading!

I know that it's kind of reminiscent of my other Ymir threads, but this specifically focuses on the way elements regarding Ymirs journey are depicted. Hope this shined a light to new details or gave food for thought.

[END]

Bonus Question: If Ymir builds everyones titans, who built her titan?

My answer: I guess it would be herself, since, when we first see her in paths, she doesnt seem to be unfamiliar with it, but I wonder, how her titan came to look exactly like that.