Ymir X Fritz: The DUMBEST Thing In Attack On Titan

[@Youngblood-Pirates]

When I first read the chapter where Ymir took the spear for King Fritz, I imagined she did so to finally free herself from him, since he’d never allow her to die. That seemed more plausible than protecting the man she “loved”.

[@flockinify]

Exactly, Ymir HERSELF disobeyed Fritz's order to get up and heal herself, choosing to die instead. That's already a better defiance of an abuser than Mikasa ever commits, why does Ymir need her for encouragement?

[@jo0rd73]

@@flockinifyShe does this and then continues to serve him and their offspring for 2000 years, fulfilling his desire of conquering the entire world with the eldian empire. Yeah she gave up and defied him but only momentarily thats it, she continues to serve him far after his own death.

[@flockinify]

@@jo0rd73 By the same logic, Mikasa only defied Eren momentarily and continued to think of him for 10 years at least, why was she necessary for Ymir to be free?

[@jo0rd73]

@@flockinify Defied him momentarily by killing him and saving 20% of humanity from an ongoing slaughter he was enacting. There is a huge difference between these two situations, the point is Mikasa chose to kill Eren over allowing him to continue to commit atrocities unlike what Ymir did. She let herself die and continued to give him and his empire the means to conquer and slaughter anyone who opposed them. Also the scarf funnily is her still defying him, he tells her to forget about him and throw it away, yet she refused to do this. She decided how she would grieve, not how he wanted her to.

[@kayzaac]

Frankly I didn't see it that way. Her death felt like a result of her protecting him, but then just being too tired (emotionally or physically) to bother continuing. I could easily see her thinking "oh, maybe if I die he'll realize how much he cares for me, and will pine for me for at least 10 years, how romantic" etc. etc. delusions. But that said, she still continues to serve on and on, him and his bloodline. tbh, due to the circumstances of her existence in a world where time is warped, I don't even know if it was possible for her to undergo personal development without external influences. But I always found it ironic that despite everyone's interpretation of Eren "freeing" her, her siding with Eren ultimately coincides exactly with the King's will. Glory to Eldians, death to all others; as opposed to the Euthanization plan's death to Eldians.

[@cauaazevedo3224]

In a thousand years, Mikasa was the first Eldian to get out of an abusive relationship.

[@zenbamboo7978]

And Historia was the first to get into a *good* one... Until Ymir was chowed down by Porco. God damn.

[@falconeshield]

​@@zenbamboo7978Offscreen!!

[@Hollowmello1285]

​@@zenbamboo7978And then they retconned her having a kid woth eren like damn the writer hates historia

[@falconeshield]

​@@Hollowmello1285Wait the kid isn't the farmer's?

[@animetionnation]

​@Hollowmello1285 the kid isn't Erens it's literally some rando but your point still stands

[@meganwilson5125]

When I read the manga’s ending, I honestly thought that Eren and Armin had a more compelling love story then Eren and Mikasa.

[@juannaym8488]

Idk Eren is abusive towards Armin too. Arguably even more so then towards Mikasa, however Armin enables him much less than Mikasa Eren shouldn't be with anyone. He's a fucked up mess. Grisha should've ditched him and given his ability to Armin

[@JazzSicaa]

​@@juannaym8488 I think the op means Eren before season 4.

[@juannaym8488]

@@JazzSicaa He was still a mess back then. Less so but still

[@meh4294]

I agree, but post time skip eren is a asshole loser who deserves no W what so ever ,seeing Mikasa kiss him PAIIIIIIIIIIINS me so much

[@kawaiipotatoes7888]

LGBTQ123XQYZ woke shit commenter lol

[@ArtTheGaleWind]

FUCKING THANK YOU ABOUT COMMENTING ON HISTORIA, Historia treatment post time skip is so awful AS WELL as the fact that it's implied she only had a baby for the benefit of not eating Zeke, making her JUST as bad as her mother which did the same shit... Historia is literally my favorite character in the entire manga and post time skip treated her so fucking poorly I hate this

[@elijahdodd2086]

Every time someone talks about Historia it’s always about how she’s just queerbait. Aside from just treating her like her sexuality is the only thing that matters in the story, they always try to justify it with “she was just a side character”. Like??? Okay… so is Annie, Pieck, hell even Erwin. It’s actually tragic that she ended up this way.

[@Aural4444]

Literally giving us an arc in which she fights against oppression and becomes queen and then disappears from the story simply for being pregnant, it was the most sexist thing in anime I have ever seen in my life...

[@ArtTheGaleWind]

@@elijahdodd2086 Historia should have been the Ymir parallel instead of Mikasa, I said this 2 years ago and I still say this now

[@semajowens8962]

​@@Aural4444or her arc was complete, and she had no reason to be in the story anymore

[@lolabee1825]

MAN SAME!! I love love Histoira so much I HATE how Isayama misused her. She could’ve been important she could’ve had a child born out of love and be the first free royal blood princess but instead… :/

[@flockinify]

It's not just Historia and Gabi, Ymir HERSELF disobeyed Fritz's order to get up and heal herself, choosing to die instead. That's already a better defiance of an abuser than Mikasa ever does.

[@jackmayor3574]

Even that is stupid as hell because she abandoned her children to their abusive father.

[@kafukwamekemeh]

She disobeyed the king after finding out the king never loved her after saving his life from assassination attempt and eren never abused Mikasa

[@Omega-jg4oq]

I’ve seen people making an excuses like Yimir has some kind of mental illness for loving the man who humiliated her and she goes back to him even after she got the Titan power because she is so desperate and wants to do everything just for The King Fritz loves her back

[@kafukwamekemeh]

@@Omega-jg4oq Yes because that is what actually happened But continue playing dumb

[@Omega-jg4oq]

@@kafukwamekemeh it’s honestly kind of disappointing to find out that Yimir is just a desperate powerful Slave lover to the King Fritz, the only reason Yimir got the Titan power because she fell under that tree and that worm got attached to her.. It’s just an accident.. it’s very possible that the hunters could have killed her or not go into that tree.. and Everyone in the world will not suffer and die because of Titans, and that’s what every Eldian worshipper.. a just little poor girl who’s a victim because of king’s cruelty, Aot was never about Love.. yeah Eren and Mikasa because they’re the main characters but there’s always more important and complicated things that is happening in the world than their relationship

[@Hollowmello1285]

Ymir had more parallels to historia than mikasa ever was

[@quaktoons331]

Yes, blondes do have a lot alike.

[@kittylitty01]

Ah yes, BLONDES

[@Hollowmello1285]

@@quaktoons331 wha-

[@quaktoons331]

@@Hollowmello1285 😂

[@juannaym8488]

@@kittylitty01 no daddy eh same last name hmm I think that's it

[@DistantKingdom]

her "love" for Fritz is also contradicted by the fact that after taking a spear for him and seeing how he didnt care she lost the will to live and died despite her being able to walk that off and Fritz commanding her to rise. so for her to continue on "living" for millions of years due to her "love" for Fritz makes no sense

[@vz4900]

I don't think it makes no sense. She allowed herself to die because maybe she expected the king to be concerned for her in her final moments. After hearing him calling her a "slave" she allows herself to die out of heartbreak, mainly because the man she devoted herself to would be so callous as she was dying. That want to be loved and to be useful to him kept her in paths, fulfilling his will even in death. Agreed with this video overall, but your criticism of that is very surface level.

[@DistantKingdom]

​@vz4900 so she died from "heartbreak" but continued to live for love? What? Which is it?

[@vz4900]

@@DistantKingdom she died from heartbreak and stayed in paths due to her unrequited love, the pain of not being valued by him kept her in paths for 2000 years. And the reason why paths connects Eldians together is because Ymir craves human connection, that was explained by Armin. Paths wasn't her "living for love" it was basically her pain trapping her there, keeping her from passing peacefully.

[@DistantKingdom]

@@vz4900 the pain was so strong it kept her going for 2000 years... but wasnt strong enough to keep her from dying in the first place. im not following its never explained how ymir suddenly gained agency by refusing the kings order to live, only to immediately revert back to a slave with no agency

[@vz4900]

@@DistantKingdom the pain is what caused her death and what kept her in paths. Fritz's command calling her a slave is what started the curse of Ymir. She only came to the realization she didn't matter to him and that her love wasn't returned after she took the spear. The question was never about if she actually had agency or not, she freed the pigs and then still obeyed Fritz after gaining her powers. The question was why despite having all the power in the world and the freedom to do what she wants (agency), why would she still follow the king's orders to make titans after she died? We know why she died, but why after? Eren didn't free her because the curse remained even after he talked to her. The answer is her unrequited love. Wish it was another explanation, but yeah. Mikasa was able to free her because she was able to do what Ymir couldn't.

[@azureashes-i8v]

What kills me is that Mikasa isn’t free of Eren at the end, either, even if she does kill him. She literally dies on his grave, and the bird (that’s supposedly Eren reincarnated) only tightens the red scarf around her when it pulls at it. Both Ymir and Mikasa are stuck on their abusers. I think this angle could have worked if they stuck with Ymir not being able to see herself as more than a tool, and had Mikasa talk to her about that. But the romance element was just too much, and wasn’t done well. Why can’t people-especially women-just be angry?

[@strawberries_597]

OMG, YES FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT. I SEE SO MANY TIKTOKS OF "Omg Mikasa died with the scarf😢❤" like it's something cute? AS IF THAT SCARF ISN'T LITERALLY LIKE A CHAIN.

[@anitaremenarova6662]

I mean, the romance element was always there since the beginning. If anything felt forced it was Armin x Annie given how that never goes anywhere anyways.

[@Lulu_Loves_Sheep]

​​@@strawberries_597Sadly the scarf thing really did used to be cute and meaningful but as time passed and as some fans grew to resent Eren's treatment of her, it became less cute :(

[@SaiScribbles]

Because true freedom doesn't exist. Everyone is always tied down, bound or limited by something in life. The concept of "freedom" Eren desired drove him mad.

[@darthcappuccino4482]

Eren was not an abuser though, and he was never portrayed as one.

[@heywhat6676]

Its honestly an absolute slap in the face to AOT's whole ideology of fighting for freedom against oppression, I expected at least a deconstruction of Ymir's 'love'

[@toasterowens8916]

So you need your hand held through obvious Stockholm syndrome

[@jiv3o275]

Mikasa calls her "Love" a nightmare. That's all I really needed to know that it's Stockholm syndrome 🤷‍♂ Especially seeing as she became a slave as a child with no exposure to the idea of "freedom"

[@SaiScribbles]

If you think that's what AoT is about you might want to rewatch it. And consider our "hero" who lusts for freedom literally committed genocide for his ideology.

[@---ro1fc]

@@toasterowens8916 the existence of Stockholm Syndrome is wishy-washy in the first place and the term didn’t even originate with romance in mind- just the feeling of any kind of sympathy for a captor or seeing them as ‘human.’ Just because the current understanding of Stockholm Syndrome may or may not be a thing people experience (probably because of intense stress and the brain trying to minimize the trauma the person is being put through- in this case inadvertently making more) doesn’t mean it isn’t frustrating to watch

[@toasterowens8916]

@@---ro1fc nigga are you serious😐

[@starlette7820]

Thank you for acknowledging how Mikasa's "love" isnt actually love and is just obsession, so many people i know who read this idealize her relationship with Eren and say it's relationship goals and how they want to love as deeply as she has, when obsession is not love, period.

[@juannaym8488]

It's somewhat of a parasocial love. Despite them having grown up together, she doesn't really love him for who he is (no one ever would, let's be real, Eren is a fucking mess) and rather for how he makes her feel. She loves the idea of Eren, of the boy who saved her life, not the psychopathic abuser that she enables and obsesses over

[@kafukwamekemeh]

@@juannaym8488 How is eren a psychopathic abuser?

[@bioticjedi3864]

Absolutely. Though with many anime and manga writers those men do view that type of relationship as pure and genuine. And that's the horrifying part

[@kyordannydelvalle523]

@@kafukwamekemeh He never barely abuses her??? It was just mikasa obsesively tailing behind eren the whole time.

[@muntu1221]

I mean, that's the point. If she would've started a relationship based on this, based on assuming Eren was who she thought he was, she'd be unsatisfied. But if she accepted who he was, she could grieve what could have been if he wasn't, you know, her enemy at the time.

[@JazzSicaa]

What Isayama did to Historia still pisses me off to this day and I'm glad more people are talking about it, she was my favorite character and season 3 was the main reason why. And to see Historia's arc of being herself and independent, only to later just get her previous arc throw in the trash and get her character butchered. I HATED this shit and it's really sad what Isayama did to her. Historia deserved way better.. Also, Historia x Ymir forever lol.

[@angelo8606]

Still don't understand in what way her character was butchered. Season 3 part 1 was her time to shine and concluded her arc. Not every side character need to stay in the spotlight for the entire series.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

@@angelo8606 I don't that's what their asking.

[@angelb33ts]

Historia choosing someone to get pregnant and just sit back was wild.

[@Sofiaode18]

⁠@@angelo8606But she had way more potential than being a side character. She’s the royal bloodline, has a deep relationship with Ymir, matured from a scared child into someone brave. And instead she gets wifed up by a hillbilly, worst downgrade ever. At least let her fade into the background in a way that makes sense.

[@Dualgas]

​@@angelo8606While I do think she is firmly established as a main character during the middle arcs of the story, and that her parallels to Ymir and her position as Queen could have been put to more use post time skip, I don't think her being sidelined is really the problem. She is mostly absent in the Return to Shiganshina arc, so her having a reduced role from then on would be natural. Rather, it's that how she is depicted post time skip is actively degrading and greatly undermines her previous character development. She is visibly unhappy with the situation, and she doesn't love the man she married (it's said he threw rocks at her when they were children! And then there is the question of whether she is even attracted to men in the first place). It is strongly suggested that her pregnancy is simply part of Eren and Zeke's plan rather than something she actually wanted to do. All this for a character whose entire arc was doing what she wanted rather than what was being forced on her by others!

[@chiveCakes]

It's been a long time since I read the manga, and maybe because it was months between updates but the entire ending confused the absolute hell out of me, but the one thing I remember being absolutely baffled by was that Ymir loved Fritz.

[@GearZNet]

Really? The whole being a quasi-goddess and still putting herself under the thumb of a human king didn't tip you off to how she may have felt about Fritz? Was it really that baffling? 🥴

[@justsuuki]

@@GearZNetbecause maybe it was logical due to her condition as a slave She was physically and mentally abused to the point that every move she did was obeying to the Fritz (even after she died) Being in love with the king just so Mikasa can be tied to her was ridiculous because we already had a good explication

[@GearZNet]

​@@justsuuki Not ridiculous at all imo. It helped to 1. tie the story together across generations. Creating a parallel to make the story stronger and more cohesive. 2. Humanized Ymir even more by showing her as not only a slave girl but one who developed agency. Instead of the typical jump from gaining power to fighting the big bad male character she's shown as having fault(s). That in spite of her becoming this powerful being that could easily stomp out not only King Fritz but his entire empire she made herself subservient and ending up causing a lot more pain for millions of people. If it were written in a western lens there would have only ever been one option as soon as Ymir became a Titan and that would have been, "Girl Boss Paragon of Virtue with 21st century Politically correct opinions and a hint of marxist ideology." Instead we got mentally broken slave girl who in a twisted turn of events fell in love with her captor and brought great misery to Millions if not Billions. It's a cruel but I'd argue fresher less cliche take.

[@justsuuki]

@@GearZNet 1. Ymir was already paralleled with 3 different characters : Ymir freekls (life of oppression, treat like either a god or a monster but never treat as a human), Historia (being a good girl to please other people until she choose to live for herself thanks to Ymir) and Eren in her whole sense of freedom. And everything made sense too because they all directly paralleled Ymir in different kind of way. Adding Mikasa didn’t add anything great to her character, at most, it just confused the real pacing of the story. 2. (Sorry in advance for my bad English lol) I think the love between her abuser and herself doesn’t add anything to that, because we already know that she was just a human in a very poor condition We knew why she didn’t use her power against Fritz (she was abused to the point that she didn’t even think about rebellion and that’s how slavery work), you let them ignorant, you don’t give them anything to the point where even if they can kill you because they are stronger than you they won’t do anything because they are tied to their condition, they are broken The love plot isn’t necessary at all and I would say that’s it’s even a weird choice when you see the parallel with Mikasa who had a pretty good relationship with Eren IMO, a toxic love story is not a problem, but you can’t do that as a conclusion to a slave who only known oppression, abuse, r//pe and all the worst king of thing We didn’t need this « love » to prove that she is indeed human because eren already state that when he talked to her (you’re not a god, you’re not a slave, you’re just a human being)

[@GearZNet]

​@@justsuuki 1. Already parralleled doesn't mean it can't be done again. Adding Mikasa's desire to be with Eren even though his aspirations made him a monster paralleled with Ymir wanting to be loved by a monster is just another deeper layer that makes the story more interesting in my opinion. 2. Your english is excellent no problems there. One can make a case for many plot points being unnecessary hence the extensive fanfictions people write on their free time. Ymir as a character already lacked a great deal of agency or even characterization. We barely even see her eyes throughout the manga and I don't think she even speaks a word ever lmao. She's a character who is defined by her actions. When given the power to change her destiny she shows that she isn't a slave who is too dumb to think of liberation but instead she's a slave who has grown to love her condition. Her condition is FAR more profound and perverse than simply being broken she's become apart of the problem itself. I appreciate the shift from merely a damsel in distress to being a corrupted victim who has become villaneous by proxy. It's not a common story point AT ALL and offers a unique plotpoint that many are too afraid to venture down. Notice how you react to the idea that a slave could act in such an unsavory way and realize that there are recorded events of this very type of strange "love" or infatuation actually happening throughout history. Again in the west this plot point would be critiqued to death and likely die in the writers room because even in the gray worlds of many western fiction the victimized can never become the victimizer unless they are retaliating to a greater evil. In this instance Ymir ends up victimizing innocent people because of her twisted infatuation.

[@playererror4044]

I think someone needs to let writers know that you can still be sexist even if you write a girl who can fight better then the boys, it's really, really large scale with what you do.

[@notsalemm]

you realize ALL ackermans fight better than ANYONE you forget that clan is mikasa AND levi

[@illuminaticomfirmed6948]

@@notsalemm And Kenny

[@fr0stdr4ke95]

​@@notsalemmDamn. Mikasa really can't get a single solitary W.

[@trika91]

@@notsalemmIt wasn’t just Mikasa and her Ackerman blood; Annie was also an asskicker and she was a pure blood Eldian, plus Gabi was a better fight when comparing her to Falco. I think what OP and Chorus’s video is trying to say is that just writing a woman to be badass isn’t enough to make her a ‘good character’. Mikasa, Annie, Historia, Gabi, Hange, and even Sasha had their badass moments, but those moments often took a backseat to their male counterparts. In comparison to the male main characters, the females start getting smaller roles, is relegated to supporting/secondary roles, is killed off or written out of the story, or if still an important character, gets less screen time/dialogue.

[@strawberries_597]

Look there's so much STRONG good written women (Hange, Annie etc...) in SNK BUT of all the woman the fandom choose Mikasa? Like Mikasa the girl who's only goal for most of the series was to protect a man? Ok...

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

Imagine an Alternate timeline where Ymir Fritz let the spear hit the king.

[@SaiScribbles]

I mean she ended up wishing that's what she did.

[@Jornunvosk]

that's literally what she ends the show wanting to happen

[@Lulu_Loves_Sheep]

If she did.. perhaps the ancient Eldian rebellion wouldn't have ever took place. And the following events afterwards wouldn't have either.. Oh Ymir if you had just stood there, so many things could have been avoided ;-;

[@joebin3106]

Imagine Aaron actually commit to 100%. Go full Fire Punch mode

[@Flipitmixit]

Attack on titan fans dont watch their own show😂

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

Remember when this Anime was about slaying Titans and seeing what was inside a doctor's basement?

[@falconeshield]

Good times

[@bboi1489]

It'd be a shittier ending for it to end at the basement

[@terrafletcher1930]

😂 Oh my gosh, I was so curious about the basement! So long ago now

[@AbisexualCarpenter]

Honestly my favorite part

[@semajowens8962]

​@@bboi1489calling the ending shitty at all makes you sound dum

[@greengamerjd8361]

I am so happy this video exists, as someone who also could never get past this decision in the story. I geniunely felt like the "love" thing was only added to tie into Mikasa's story without making much sense for Ymir's. It's as you said, the perfect and understandable answer to why she would continue to serve him is because he BROKE her. All the way up to Eren convincing her she has a choice, it made sense! The "love" thing is quite dumb and REALLY undermines the abuse she went through from the King. In general though, AoT was never a story about "love" to me, which only made the decision to linger on that for the finale more confusing.

[@kafukwamekemeh]

We see in a flashback of her watching the King kiss a woman and being enticed by it So yeah there was a build up and explains why she continued to serve the king even after gaining powers

[@blubblubblup]

@@kafukwamekemeh thats like one scene where she looked more empty and traumatied. its a stretch to say she was 'enticed.' we already had the clear explanation for why she kept serving fritz. its the slave mindset

[@kafukwamekemeh]

@@blubblubblup dude stop making this up You are one ignoring the details Isayama puts in his work and then blame him for not something he didn't do She was not traumatised we see her looking at a king kissing a woman while holding a jar, that does not look like someone being traumatized.

[@blubblubblup]

@@kafukwamekemeh 💀💀

[@YikYakTikTak]

While it may be realistic for an abuse victim to “love” their abuser, I agree that I think the biggest sticking point is how this neither changes nor adds anything to Ymir. She isn’t made into more of a person by this revelation, and if anything it complicated things in her story more than it helps to clarify anything. Add to that how it still ends up being a revelation made for the sake of two men’s discussion and she is NOWHERE for this, and it really does feel like a final insult to the person who was victimized the most in AOT

[@azureashes-i8v]

This was really well said! My biggest issue really is that her anger was totally understandable in itself. Not enough to justify doing a Rumbling, but I understood her character, and that moment where Eren hugs her and acknowledges her and gives her a choice is SUCH a good moment, I still have chills thinking about it. The weird bit where she “loves” Fritz can’t take away the power of that moment, but I think it muddies the story’s themes when everything up until that moment has been so well-built up.

[@jellyface401]

The writter just wanted to pull a "full circle" with a parallel made from the beginning. But is so forced and the author so disconnected with the immplications of the parallels he is drawing that is just awful.

[@JayceCH.]

While it may be "realistic," there is just ABSOLUTELY NO ELABORATION ON IT thus making it hard to suspend your disbelief.

[@daeith1233]

This is not even realistic tbh, as someone who seach abt a lot of cold cases I can't recall one where someone fell in love with their abuser

[@lordoh.creiftenheim8560]

Stockholm syndrome does exist. However, it's not considered a mental health condition but rather a phenomenon as an emotional response that can occur in the presence of oppressive trauma. It's a form of coping mechanism, which doesn't make it any less real. That all being said, yes shoehorning it into the story when a much better groundwork was laid down is silly.

[@H240909]

Except no, it isn’t a response to trauma. It’s having empathy for people even if that person happens to have done bad things to you. So no, it’s not a “syndrome” and it doesn’t exist in that regard. I agree with the rest of what you said though.

[@quincyc9311]

I mean, it's true that victims of abuse can love their abusers, but even in cases where a person is taken hostage, I would argue that their behavior is more in line with codependency than Stockholm-syndrome. Humans tend to feel love towards pretty much anything we empathise with, even inanimate objects, and since it's often necessary to empathise with abusers in order to predict violent behavior, most people feel a level of love for their abusers. The thing is most people have enough self-esteem to recognise that their abuser is still a bad person. People with codependency have cripplingly low self-esteem, so they don't recognise harm against themselves as a bad thing. They do tend to be loyal to their abuser, but it's formed more out of a hatred towards themselves rather than a love for their abuser. They functionally cause a person to act the same, but I think it's important to understand the motivation behind their actions in order to understand where they're coming from, my issue with the term 'Stolkholm-syndrome' is that its often used more to dismiss the victims feelings rather than help the victim recover. I mean, the term was litterally invented to dismiss a woman's criticism of police-brutality and systemic-oppression by claiming she was in love with her captors.

[@renblais1274]

She literally built titans for Fritz's bloodline millenia after his death. She built an empire for him. She took a spear to the chest for him when she could have let him die. How on earth did this plot point come out of nowhere?

[@b_delta9725]

what do you even mean? she did all those things for him, eren literally says she's a slave for a reason. that reason being "love" doesn't change anything because that was always the reason, in her mind the king was always more important, that's just the only way it could have always been explained. the groundwork you mentioned was either misinterpretation of the story, or the same thing with different words other than love

[@alexsmith2910]

Stockhome syndrome does not exist.

[@devinp.2934]

As someone who read the manga and to this day is dissapointed in various things regarding the final chapters of the manga, THANK YOU for expressing your dissapointment. It's honestly a breath of fresh air compared to what seems to be the majority thinking that Ymir's backstory/explanation and her parallels to Mikasa is peak fiction. Just gonna say it again, THANK YOU!

[@Ultimabuster92]

I love romance, really. I'm someone who says that ANY story can benefit from a well written love story on the side. But here, for the first time, i say that it was a big L to add romance so late in the game, after ignoring it for... 95% of the story. Isayama said it himself, he can't write romance and it shows.

[@crazycookie4645]

And stuff like this is why I DON'T believe every story can benefit from a romance, even if it's well written. Tacking on a love story to a narrative that has nothing to do with it, and is already packed full of other plot points, just makes it seem like you're pandering to obsessive shippers who demand that romance be a part of every story because it's the only kind of relationship they can imagine.

[@Contherage]

My biggest gripe about the ending isn't this, all though it was a bad idea. It was Eren actually causing the rumbling, killing 80% of humanity, just so his friends can kill him and be seen as a hero to the other 20%. Oh, and the fact that Eren actually does love Mikasa. It was really only shown once, from what I can remember that he may actually have feelings for her. When Eren broke down and dropped his facade, it just felt like a copout. I've read the manga. I didn't remember that bit of Ymir being in love with king fritz. But I do remember the moment of Eren just bitching out about not wanting to loose Mikasa to some other guy after he's gone. These are just my personal thoughts and take on it.

[@jo0rd73]

You’re completely wrong on why he did the rumbling, the anime was clear with his motivations. It was a “I did it for me”, he wanted to achieve this twisted notion of freedom and try wipe out everyone beyond the walls. His circumstances made everything fall into place where he could justify this and pretend it wasn’t primarily selfish. This is because as he said he is an average idiot that got his hands on power, when faced with a complex geopolitical scenario like this, the attempted eradication of everyone else was inevitable. He even says to Armin how he ‘thought’ he was doing it for them since he fooled himself so well but his actions caused the death of Sasha and Hange and several times they were put in dangerous situations with Floch. This is what makes the reiner parallel earlier on during the declaration of war conversation so important in terms of foreshadowing. Just like Reiner he fooled himself into thinking he was committing atrocities for noble reasons but in fact it was for a primarily selfish reason (‘freedom’ for Eren and to be seen as a hero for Reiner).

[@s3nsation646]

​@@jo0rd73I'm pretty sure in the manga it's moreso emphasized to be motivated by wanting to see his friends live full content lives without needing to worry about the outside world, no?

[@jo0rd73]

@@s3nsation646 Nah its the same but the anime has a few more lines elaborating so people know exactly why he did it, probably because “Eren doesn’t even know why he did it, trash character” was such a major talking point when the manga ended for people that sped read it and were mad things weren’t working out how they wanted them to.

[@jo0rd73]

@@s3nsation646 Like he does still want them to live long lives, but the manga still tells us the reason he did it all in the first place came from a selfish desire

[@aleksabanjevic8316]

Imagine being one of the 20% of ppl that survived, all your friends and family and anyone you know is dead, and someone tells u "no u see, the guy that did a global genocide is the hero cuz he helped his friends be the hero's (another comment I read somewhere)". Like, I know it's fiction, but sometimes how civilian life's are treated in fiction, especially anime, really fucking annoys me, that's why I don't even wanna watch evangelian. Like, OK, have civilian casualties, but ffs, have ur main character be at least somewhat emotionally impacted by it, they borderline look like narcissists who only care about themselves, and I don't wanna watch that kinda character, unless he is shown to be evil and not morally neutral (I'm not talking just about killing millions of civilians themselfs, I'm talking about not even caring when it happens, and attack on titan is fuuuuul of characters like this, who barely care about how many innocent people die, just cuz they aren't related to the main characters). Sorry for the rant.

[@creativevisiongaming]

I'm sick and tired of hearing about Mikasa's parents dying as something unique. 1000s of kids lost their parents when the warriors attacked not that later. Armin lost his Grandparents and seems like his parents were already dead earlier. Eren lost his parents, Levi lost his parents, Connie lost his parents, sort off, Historia lost her parents, Scout Ymir was an orphan, the list goes on and on.

[@carbootstudios2459]

Ymir and Historia deserved their happily ever after.

[@falconeshield]

It was queerbait. Time to move on.

[@Natasha-tq2mn]

"My only regret is that I never got to marry you." Yeah... seems pretty baity to me. Tbf I feel Yumihisu get similar treatment to most other AoT pairings as the show basically never has romantic pairings turn out.

[@elijahdodd2086]

@@Natasha-tq2mnI hope this doesn’t sound homophobic but, I was never invested in them as a couple. They were a background gag in season 1, in season 2 their dynamic is only for story purposes and no actual chemistry with their personalities. It was always just “Hey Christa marry me!” “Ok lol”. That’s it. That’s their relationship. And the fact that Yams kills Ymir off screen just shows that their relationship was just tacked on to make their whole ordeal feel just oh so sad. All of the relationships in this series suck and Yumihisu is no different, I’m sorry.

[@zecaneca3774]

​@@falconeshield it was poorly written and underused, just like historia herself, but it was not queerbait, it was clear they love each other and had at least some development it was def homophobic to just abandon their characters like that tho, but not queerbait

[@zecaneca3774]

​@@elijahdodd2086 ​ I think this is just a matter of personal taste, to me they were the only couple in the series who actually had chemistry I like Armin and Annie, Falco and Gabi, but they are written in such an one sided way and left to the side so much in the romantic aspect I can't help but think they are meh

[@MsGhoulz]

It's kinda criminal how Historia was just tossed aside in the story. It started falling apart slowly till the point that I really had no investment at the end.

[@greycrimson3228]

I did like the scene where Ymir realized her own alternate timeline, of what she should've done for true love, which would be protecting her kids, not her husband. I don't have much of an opinion on Ymir but overall liked the ending.

[@kittylitty01]

Same

[@nolangerrans6083]

Yeah, the pieces of this situation being portrayed better were all there, it just needed the care and breathing room to say what it was trying to better which is so frustrating. Just as the video said, they should have expanded mikasas conversation with Ymir like they did for eren and armin’s and put the Ymir explanation into her own words, which would give mikasa the chance to deconstruct her “love” with more than a sentence

[@greycrimson3228]

@@nolangerrans6083 That's fair, I felt it was a little rushed too but I could understand it enough

[@b_delta9725]

​@@nolangerrans6083 i guess isayama's approach was to be straightforward with everything, mikasa had her reasons to love eren, whether they good and bad doesn't matter, she had to take action in order to be free, it was the same with ymir and king fritz. he doesn't seem too interested in explaining or deconstructing love, but more the overall idea of being free and what stops you from it

[@jaipandey7142]

I think we were mistaken to think too much about AOT. It was an average shonen romance comedy story all along. I am sorry, but many of us wasted our years watching this anime and looking too much on details, themes and entire lore, to be fooled later

[@buchelaruzit]

I can always count on you to have trustworthy, reasonable and most of all incredibly based takes. the 'ymir loves fritz' thing really drives me insane because it's just shitting on the entire theme and the explicit point of the scene between ymir and eren. and like you mentioned the irony of having 2 guys talk about a girl ignoring her own thoughts, just like the eren/zeke/ymir scene, but unironically this time..... the parallel is hilarious in a really depressing way

[@liyahjoon4908]

I hope I'm not the only one who thought mikasa kissing erens dead head was not in fact cute but very weird lol i felt bad for her. I never picked up any signs that eren had romantic feelings for her. Except that last scene with him and armin, but even then i only remember him saying he wants mikasa to miss him when he dies and not move on for 10 yrs(that is a long ass time), NOT that he loved her idk maybe i missed something🤷🏾‍♀️

[@kafukwamekemeh]

what about chapter 50 where he states he would wrap the scarf around her for ever and ever after Mikasa confessed her feelings to her when they all thought they are going to die

[@RonniV2]

​@kafukwamekemeh that is one line from one scene. The way that Eren treats and speaks to Mikasa in all the other scenes just point to him not being romantically into her. Personally I always saw their relationship as her obsessing over him while he sees her as a sister. She's always doting on him and he gets annoyed, like a Sibling relationship. She has an unhealthy obsession with him and that is not "love." Him saying "I want to be with her" to Armin after all that has happened just seems like a huge retcon.

[@kafukwamekemeh]

@@RonniV2 Why are you using season 1 as a reference it is clear eren was envious of Mikasa's strength but he grew out of it and love how you forget the eren punching a titan scene after hearing Mikasa's confession to him saying he would wrap that scarf around her for ever and ever which is implied to be romantic And saying sibling relationship does not change anything that eren cared for Mikasa

[@Kw0806]

Yes!!!

[@koii319]

i just finished aot today and yeah i felt kinda weirded out bcs i thought their relationship was platonic, like siblings. oh well💀

[@Richark26]

I completley agree with this take. Ymir's backstory used to be my favourite chapter of Attack on Titan, and my perception of her character was exactly the way you described. The ending simplifying Ymir's reasoning to be because she loved her abuser, who only ever treated her cruely, not only made no sense but also took Chapter 122 from my favourite chapter to shooting it far away from my top ten.

[@kafukwamekemeh]

The same chapter that showed her looking at the king kiss a woman and wanting that same kind of love and affection

[@Aesong15]

The fact that Historia had more development with Eren that can be interpreted as romantic only for her to be sidelined is just so sad. Her character had so much potential. Also with Mikasa, I really wish her story didn’t end up like that, still obsessed with Eren, it’s almost reminiscent of sasusaku t.t

[@PedroLucas-mg5je]

I'll never forgive Isayama for not canonising ErenHisu, especially after all the development, scenes, interactions, parallels and foreshadowing they received in both during and after the Uprising Arc AND the entire Season 4...

[@darklordsatan4383]

No, she didn't. EreHisu fans are delusional. You even convinced yourselves Zero Eclipse was about Historia and Eren, when it's literally Ymir's point of view about Historia.

[@darklordsatan4383]

@@PedroLucas-mg5je EreHisu was never real. Keep coping.

[@Unstable_constant]

@@darklordsatan4383 what are you, twelve?

[@ConstantinDOSSOU-vy1zo]

​@@PedroLucas-mg5jeafter people will say Isayama only wrote this garbage because of the shippers. Because Isayama wouldn't change his story for the fans if YOU are the fan satisfied , I guess ? And I am an ending hater of all my soul

[@lolabee1825]

OMG I AGREE SO FREAKING HARD. The Ymir twist is easily the WORST thing about the ending it is genuinely insulting. Also still in support of a Eren x Historia video because man they deserved SO MUCH BETTER. With how Eren accepted and liked her true self to Historia freeing him and saving him not just physically but emotionally by declaring herself the worst girl in the world and his ally in being enemies of humanity it just seemed so PERFECT. I also agree that Historia already stood up against a abusive king so her being a parallel to Ymir makes way more sense and hell even her backstory starts with a Historia flashback. I love Mikasa killing Eren but I don’t think it had to be romantic via kissing his head in order to make Ymir free it feels like such a shoehorned way of fanservice.

[@lolabee1825]

And also adding to this Mikasa isn’t even free from Eren because Eren literally encouraged her to kill him and was completely fine with it. And then you say well she’s defying him by saying she won’t forget him but that was proven to be false as that’s exactly what Eren wants. Mikasa does exactly what Eren wants in the end so how did she free Ymir!!!

[@gretalomasto5298]

Yes I agree! We definitely need a Eren x hisu video

[@lolabee1825]

@@gretalomasto5298 it would be a banger

[@lolabee1825]

@user-wy8ve5nr2n It’s ridiculous to expect fans not to think about any possibilities outside of canon.

[@lolabee1825]

@user-wy8ve5nr2n bruh what the hell are you talking about you’re so weird bye bye.

[@TehPiemaygor]

I do agree it's weird. I personally want to pretend Ymir being in love with King Fritz isn't part of the canon.

[@Sofiaode18]

Same. I mean I think exploring how the abuse broke Ymir into obeying Fritz is interesting but to say that it is “love” is so cruel. Because to me when reading the manga, I thought that after Eren pushed her to be free, she unleashed her rage unto the world against Eldia’s abusers. Like what she wished she had done with Fritz and his people who abused her. So maybe that was the clearer intention but the love tidbit was very shoehorned.

[@CringeGamingOG]

This only makes Ymir’s reason for wiping out humanity even more confusing. Why does she do this if she’s following orders out of love? Why suddenly get angry and wipe out humanity if it’s not out of anger for her abuse and finally deciding to act for herself?

[@hayaamthariq433]

Yeah, the rumbling should be pointless to her, why destroy the rest of the world? It isn't going to fix her whole issue of being enslaved.

[@iasked147]

Because she needed to see mikasa killing eren so she could be free🤓☝️

[@mikeclarke5732]

Man I miss when Historis was important, Potato Girl was alive and funny, and when Eren knew what he was doing

[@aiuugh]

Yeah those were good times

[@scarlightemperor3410]

And then.... Season 4

[@kev33666]

Sudden realization that might help: the scarf is supposed to be the metaphorical collar and chain that bounded Mikasa to Eren to complete the parallel. (Eren pretty much said how Mikasa was genetically predisposed to obey, which was untrue by the end) The parallel Mikasa/Eren, Ymir/Fritz are there... and superficial. It wasn't that no Eldian had never broken of an abusive relationship in 2000 years, Ymir "love" was conflated with obedience by trauma, the persons that broke free of that did what she couldn't... but the point was she couldn't. Mikasa on the other hand, like Ymir didn't broke off her bond because she couldn't either. Eren wanted Mikasa to get rid off the scarf because in his head it was the metaphorical chain he placed on her and he wished to set her free from him... but remember: Eren is a dumbass! The scarf were never chains, like Mikasa's love was never like Ymir "love". It took someone to be so parallel but different in that key way to truly set Ymir free. Now... if that was the intention, yes the execution could have make it a lot more clearer and less messy.

[@patrickblanchette4337]

Thank you for making the ending better.

[@Kreze202]

The execution was fine. A lot of people including myself was able to grasp everything you said in the first watch. The problem is AoT is so mainstream that the average ordinary people who aren't exactly accustomed to parallelism in stories won't pick up on these parallels and can't grasp the message behind all the seemingly jumbled mess of contradictions and irrationality. Once you can grasp the meaning, it truly is a beautiful conclusion. It's the epitome of the values that the story has been praising since the beginning; freedom, enslavement, love, and the never ending cycle. Let me elaborate. The story had always made a point of repeating Kenny's words: everyone is a slave to something. It's what drives people to act. This, is to show that people act on their desires. The worst of humans are those who are "enslaved" or obsessed by their own desires, even if it was to the detriment of everything else around them. Ymir loving King Fritz showcases this. Ymir loved someone who literally enslaved her and made her suffer for 2000 years, because that's the nature of human desires. People can be obsessed with love, in real life and in this story, and that obsession can make people act in ways that we may see as irrational. That's the nature of Ymir's love. Ultimately, Ymir was "enslaved" by her desires and love for King Fritz that she endured 2000 years of suffering to do his bidding, all in the detriment of everyone around her. You can think of Eren and Mikasa as the embodiment of King Fritz and Ymir. Mikasa loving Eren, a person that is dead set on genocide and had broke her heart, is a mirror of the relationship between King Fritz and Ymir's relationship. Mikasa, as the story explained, showed Ymir that you can love someone without being enslaved to that love; that you can love someone and still draw a line; that you can love someone and still be free to do what you must, even if it's to the detriment of the person you love. By killing Eren, Mikasa showed Ymir that you CAN draw that line. You CAN be free. This is further emphasized with the scene where Ymir didn't save King Fritz; it was a glimpse of a scenario where Ymir was not enslaved to her love. Had that happened, had Ymir been able to let go of her obsession with her love, the 2000 years of titan domination and suffering would've never happened. THAT is the reason why Mikasa's actions broke the cycle of Titan domination. Just like Mikasa letting go of her obsessive love for Eren by killing him, Ymir decides to let go of her obsession with King Fritz by letting go of the creation of Titans that King Fritz envisioned. Is that not beautiful?

[@Redjanuary17]

Bruh people just mad cuz they wanted eren and historia as a couple trust me theres nothing more than that

[@blubblubblup]

@@Kreze202 wait so the spear scene didnt actually happen? was it just a glimpse into the scenario???

[@thekid36]

@@Kreze202 that was so well explained

[@warmy2009]

I still can't believe some people think mikasa is a strong female girlboss. If anything, she's the antithesis of a strong female character because all her strength is superficial and was gifted to her.

[@starknight103]

Don't forget the fact the she obsesses over a guy and it is her whole personality.

[@ranoutofgoodusernames8394]

While yes, she is stronger and more gifted than the others, it doesnt take away from her character at all. Tht's like saying Goku or Ichigo aren't really strong because of theri genes. She still had to train just like evryone else, her achievements arent just because of her biology, they're because of her actions.

[@VidiaReePhoenix]

@@ranoutofgoodusernames8394 Her "character" is being obsessed with her step brother. She obsesses over him until the day she dies, on his grave, and is then buried in the ratty scarf. She has no character.

[@ranoutofgoodusernames8394]

@@VidiaReePhoenix I was tallking about how her achievements weren't solely because of her genes but because of all the effort and training she took to gain that strength. I'm not talking about personality, I'm talking about raw power, addressing the claimOP made about her strength being "superficial" and "gifted to her". I'm pretty sure I was clear on the fact I was referring to strength, especially with that Goku analogy. Do I have to switch the word "character" for "feats" or "accolades" for you to understand?

[@VidiaReePhoenix]

@@ranoutofgoodusernames8394 Sorry, I am pretty sure I replied to the wrong person. The person I meant to reply to claimed that Mikasa has the best character arc in the Manga, which I disagreed with. I don't even recognize your original comment. Sorry about that.

[@MarvKage]

"The entire world of Attack on Titan is built on Stockholm Syndrome" Damn, that is the perfect summary

[@naciabell7903]

You know. Ymir's backstory could of made a ALOT of sense if it was proeprly tied into one theme of AOT. Sacrifice. And how Toxic and harmful trying to enforce that virute really can be on someone. The scouts under Erwin constantly had the idea of sacrifice hammered into their heads and how them sacrificing themselves for others was what they HAD to do. IF the show had tied that into both Eren and Ymir, with both Ymir and Eren belving so much in the idea of sacrificing themselves for the good of others, that they had a responsiblity to, due to their power? It could of been acttually impactful. JUst imagine revealing that Ymir did everyting she did, beacuse she had internalized the idea that as terrible of a person as Fritz was, he WAS a great king and just to his own people and that her sacrificng herself for the good of others was the best thing she could do? Even if she HATED it and that later was parralled by Eren? ANd Armin calls out how incredibly stupid that is and how all it did was ruin their lives and make things so much worse? I think this could of worked brilliatnly.

[@may.b.tomorrow]

I like the idea but how it would explain Mikasa killing Eren and lifting the Titan curse? Ymir wanted that to happen because she couldn't kill her loved one, when it was the right choice, while Mikasa could do it. That's why the curse was lifted.

[@naciabell7903]

@@may.b.tomorrow Then just ignoe that. It's honeslty a dumb idea. Why does THAT have to be what lifts the curse when you really think about it? As Sarcastic said Overthe course of every titan shifter of every timeline, Ymir never once encoutered a sitation where she saw an Eldain break free of and kill their abuser despite 'loving' them? In 2000 yeras alone that's increidbly unlikley . But given other factors more like a milion as Sarcastic said? That's virtually impossible. Why on earth would it be MIKASA And not someone 500 or 1000 years ago? It's a dumb idea that honeslty doesn't make logical sense.

[@naciabell7903]

@@may.b.tomorrow What would make MORE snese is Ymir seeing how Een making her same choicesa nd following her path of sacrifice, only casued far more suffering and hurt and got killed the very people he was trying to protect. And realizing how her own sacrifice was not only the wrrong move. But activily made hte world a worse place and that all her actions truly accomplished was ruining countless lives and causing unimaganiable suffering that makes what she went through, look like she was a pampeed princess, by the sheer scale of dead, enslaved and tortured people. Eldian or not. If anything having both Armin and Mikasa say and or point this out and Ymir listining and understanding it, would of had FAR more impact than anything else.

[@may.b.tomorrow]

I agree with you. "Why does THAT have to be what lifts the curse when you really think about it?" I personally don't like everyhintg Ymir related but i like the general broader idea behind the ending. Why did this happen? Well, Isayama wanted to have this type of ending.. Where Heroine has to kill her lover for the sake of the world. He first created the ending and then made up a story for it. Sadly he couldn't write anything better. This is where problem starts, and he couldn't change the ending along the way because he got trapped by it. That's what he said NY times interview. While your perspective on sacrifice is intriguing, it would alter the story's moral and conclusion significantly. Most of the viewers who liked the ending, will say that Eren's sacrifice was worth it, at least for his own people, those who he loved. He secured their peace for centuries. His lack of concern for the distant future aligns with a common human trait - we typically prioritize those we know and love, often viewing others as mere numbers. because he only cares about his close ones. That's a human nature, we only care about those who we know and love, others are just statistics for us. This idea that Eren's actions were "justified" for the sake of his loved ones reflects a broader, albeit sometimes harsh, truth about human nature The ending of the story creates a divide in opinion, with some arguing that it was worthwhile and others disagreeing. I think it was intentional. Those who support the ending might argue that life is cyclical and human nature is unchangeable. So why not do it? In this light, Eren's decision, though complex, becomes somewhat understandable, as it reflects the inevitability of human behavior and the cyclical nature of events. This whole story was a critique of humans, and what is a better way to show the conflicting nature of humans, than creating fight over the ending lmao@@naciabell7903

[@jaipandey7142]

And then Ymir Fritz could be freed from Historia and Ymir's action and decision to become worst girl and give away their love or oppressor, who was sacrificing her.

[@iasked147]

Good to see someone being bold enough to say this out loud when every other youtubers acting like this shit is masterpiece

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

"I will continue to move forward. Until my story is destroyed." *- Hajime Isayama*

[@Peasham]

Whenever people say there's no political agendas pushed in Japanese media I point em to AOT, and god were they to the series' detriment lmao

[@errorx_x1063]

Is that what happened to Game of Thrones?

[@anitaremenarova6662]

@@Peasham What are you on about?

[@Peasham]

@@anitaremenarova6662 The entire story of AOT is basically just the premise for Japanese ultranationalism, which is that every other country in the world is out to get Japan and that Japan needs to get 'em first.

[@anitaremenarova6662]

@@Peasham Okay, this has got to be one of the most unhinged takes on this show ever. I mean sure, these are the themes of the show but the people with these ideals are clearly portrayed as depraved monsters. If you saw Floch or Eren and thought that's appealing then that's on you lol.

[@Saitou98]

The funniest thing about all of this is that Ymir's reasons where clearly stated before chapter 139 and they made perfect sense. We see a little girl trying to free another creature, an initiative that turns out so bad she then decides to never doing anything on her own, even though she now has the power to erase continents. We see her being raped, used as a weapon and a toll, discarded and mocked even after she took a spear because she thinks as herself as a slave; and then, even when she could get rid of this life, she goes on serving Fritz's plan because (as Zeke says) she still yearns for some kind of connection, and she does so the only way she knows- serving. And then, someone comes, someone who tells her that the world her master dreamed of is at an end; someone who tells her she's not a slave neither a god, she's a HUMAN, a PERSON, everything Ymir was never considerated in her life, and gives her a choice. She could help Zeke (and, in doing so, keeping to serve what remains of the man she supposedly "loved") or she could discard him and doing something no one ever ordered to do. She resolves for the latter. So what, exactly, does Mikasa teach her about? What more realization did Ymir needed when she had already moved on her own, even if it was for a path of destruction? Isayama does not tell us: he just makes Eren say "He does not understand Ymir's heart" which is the most hypocritical way ever to discard the fact that you reduced this girl's agony and struggle to the idea that she was chasing after a man, just like Mikasa does never really get over Eren.

[@denam6235]

I actually read a nice theory which explains the last part very nicely, It mainly built upon a recurring theme in aot , "give up on your dream and die"~by Levi Ymir wanted love and freedom her all life, as she was treated as a slave for all her life, she wanted to to free and be loved like a normal person, that's why she tried to love fritz and to be precise "wanted to be loved" that's why after death she served the eldian empire so that people will appreciate her doing that knowing the only way she could , by serving them , now after 2000 years finally being treated as a human she snapped on the world and started rumbling but as following the alliance and listening to armin and zeke and seeing mikasa giving uo on her dream 'eren' , she realized what she is doing is bad beacuse at core she a Good person who help others, So she finally erases the titan curse and let go of the misery.

[@Saitou98]

@@denam6235 The problem I have with this interpretation is mainly the fact that the correlation between Ymir and Mikasa was brought up at the very last moment, and from a narrative point of view, it does not really makes sense for Ymir to see herself in Mikasa. Zeke clearly stated that Ymir stayed in the Coordinate and followed Fritz out of fear of isolation and desire to be connected: Eren was the first one to break her solitude and treat her like a person, so why should she suddenly turn against him? Because she never saw a love like Mikasa's, which, in 2000 years, in unrealistic as hell? Isayama hipocritically tried to connect the two of them by talking of love, which, in Ymir's case, is the most insulting semplification ever, so much that Eren doesn't even TRY to add this explanation some depth: "Fritz cut her tongue, enslaved her, raped her, yet she loved him, no idea about why". When, in Ch. 122, what we saw was never "love" in the sense he meant- slavery, yes, dipendence, lack of self-esteem, desperation, twisted loyalty, never love. Besides, Ymir's and Mikasa's situations do not really mirror each other: Mikasa is not in love with someone who took away her freedom, is not tied to an abuser. Her following Eren is always her own choice, she refuses to let go even when he tells her so ("Sorry, Eren, I can't forget about you" and then the scarf). She kills the one she loved because her morals requested so, not because she realized her relationship was never real, and even if we want to read Ymir that way, she already let go the wishes of the man she supposedly love to follow Eren. And the theme "Give up your dream and die" (which I wouldn't define AoT's core) does not apply to Ymir because her point was she gave her dream from the start, when she had and enormous amount of power, BUT kept to act a slave: and so, when someone finally gives her a choice, although a bad one, it sounds very forced to renounce it so quickly.

[@justaguy7732]

@@denam6235she abandons the one guy who ever did anything nice for her and took care and loved her, for random people that did nothing for her? Why would she care about them more than eren? Why does she care about being a good person? But her nature is to want freedom, like when she freed the pigs. Of course she’d help Eren, the one trying to free Eldia, instead of the alliance trying to kill Eldia

[@arabelleproductions3682]

My thoughts on this situation is summarized like this: great, realistic idea, executed poorly. It could’ve been easily fixed with having mikasa point out in that conversation that “she woke up”. Love exists in abusive relationships, a toxic love, and so ymir love the king is not only realistic but expected. The brain will do a lot of things to justify what’s happening to them and try to frame situations into something that will keep them sane. Just they executed it poorly by making it seem like Ymir was even partially responsible for what happened to her when it was just the horrific men taking this poor girl and abusing her to hell and back. We can debate on whether or not Stockholm Syndrome exists, but at the end of the day the brain does things to protect the user. That’s why multiple personality disorder exists

[@sorgius01]

And one more thing: to better explain this whole situation they should have put more emphasis on the fact, that Ymir was longing for human connection. I mean, there is one whole sentence suggesting this, but i think that's very important. For someone socially isolated even an abusive person's attention can (sadly) mean the world.

[@darnellmillien4345]

I would’ve preferred to finally hear her speak and have her resolve the end of the story through somebody with a tongue. Whether that be killing everyone or ending the rumbling. But even something like Ymir never knew love. Mikasa didn’t either but being able to end the life of the abuser you loved is something she is glad, then vanish. Cause at the end of the day neither knew true love.

[@ningmushii]

Years ago when I first watched attack on titan, I always imagined the ending of the story to go one or two ways. One, Eren would’ve defeated the big bad (at the time I was thinking the colossal titan was behind everything and defeating that, would’ve solved all the problems.) Then two, characters like Levi, Armin, even Mikasa, etc were dying or maybe everyone that Eren came to love would die and Eren would kinda be alone (without the ppl he cared about obviously) and would end on a bitter note. Then when I read my friends’s brother manga (basically where I found out about Eren, Annie being in that crystal, and Historia, etc cause I don’t remember what volume it was) I thought the story would’ve ended with everyone including Eren dying as a big sacrifice. I always imagined that the story would’ve ended with Eren making a big sacrifice which did technically happen I guess, but it was his powers or his life he sacrificed for the greater good of humanity. However seeing the twists and stuff happened made me go, what? I feel like what kinda messed up AOT when they start doing that time stuff. Like Eren having the ability to see the future and whatnot seemed lowkey cheap. I don’t mind that being in a story but AOT gave me vibes of a story where everything was happening and it was up to the mc to succeed or die trying. On another vid I commented that I think the ending would’ve been better if Eren slowly became “evil.” Like he just gave up on trying to achieve freedom and when the rumbling happens it’s because he has a huge breakdown and not because he’s doing it for the better good.

[@nziom]

i mean there are victims like that especially since she got gr*mmed as a CHILD no wonder she wanted to kill humanity

[@ireymm]

i literally just finished the episode half an hour ago, i cried my eyes out.

[@meawiyaothman7872]

Same, because of how bad it was

[@kittylitty01]

I personally enjoyed the ending

[@joebin3106]

Floch was right

[@Plsmfndow0596vm]

​@@joebin3106 King Floch

[@blubblubblup]

@@kittylitty01 i envy you 😭😭

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

Ymir Fritz getting powers from a tree was like Kaguya from Naruto getting power from a tree.

[@quaktoons331]

Who doesn’t?

[@Dezsr]

And then came 9 giants Let that sink in

[@sissysovereign1294]

Seriously I can't help but see the titan shifters as this world's version of Jinchuuriki.

[@akamered4483]

Ymir as a whole just confused me. I constantly asked myself while watching "Bro, what do you even want? What is your motivation and goal?". Your video made me understand the issue around her much better, thank you for that! I have many issues with AOT's 4th season and ending, but all of that might be too much to bring up here. Thank you for covering one of them tho!

[@aokhoinguyenang3992]

_ Lelouch planned his assassination -> prevent more damage & have a smooth transition of power. _ Eren doesn't or you can say his plan was everyone please kill me while I am heavily defended-> most of the planet dies & wars will still plague everyone

[@kylemarlonlikesavocaship1810]

Mikasa isn't a victim of abuse by an outside abuser, her obsession is self inflicted. So ymir wanting her to kill eren, makes as much sense as eren saying "I don't know" to when he was asked why he committed the rumbling.

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

Ymir Fritz was a plot device like Mikasa.

[@semajowens8962]

Media illiteracy

[@erenyeager7705]

The main reason why Wit Studio didn't animate AOT anymo-

[@Lucitaur]

Didn't watch the anime and read the manga quite some time ago, but I thought that her 'love' for the king was a mere coping mechanism at work. In case I remember it wrong and it wasn't, then her being in love with the king is pure idiocy. All in all, it is fascinating how Attack on Titan, one of my favorite mangas of all time, managed to remain nothing short of a masterpiece for its entire run, only for it to be ruined with the handful of final chapters.

[@spinach001]

I think Isayama has a weird thing for women who are ABSOLUTELY WHIPPED, because I believe if he actually understood he was writing a toxic relationship he wouldn't have doubled down on it and tried to pass it as "love in a purest form😇"

[@justasimplenobody2666]

Thank you so much for this video cuz holy crap was I upset by the whole "she loved him" thing. I started watching the show when it first came out YEARS ago, and it was my favorite ongoing series for the better part of a decade; so after years of anticipation and all these puzzle pieces finally coming together and everything finally kinda made some sense and then they had to hit us with "she loved him" which to me just made no sense. She couldn't have possibly actually loved him, there was never a single ounce of actual love shown between them. I remember asking myself if we'd ever even been given a reason for why she supposedly "fell in love with him". There was no inciting moment where he might've shown her actual kindness, he never was portrayed in a positive light *from her perspective* that I could recall and to this day I don't think anyone else does either.. My hot take: I truly believed at the time and partially still do that a part of the reason they decided to take what was a carefully crafted story of a victim of abuse beyond our comprehension finally breaking free of that cycle within herself, which also is the first step to humanity breaking free of their cycle of abuse towards each other; and then with ONE sentence completely tainted the message is because of the popularity of another ship. I think we all knew Mikasa and Eren were Endgame since episode one, them being together seemed like a given and while conceptually it's neat to see the *parallels* between Mikasa and Ymir; I hate how it was executed because while yeah Mikasa was a victim to some rough shit I never got the same vibe as I did from Ymir. Mikasa while obviously troubled and a little obsessive, had her own full-fledged character arc from Ymir that could've also been more fleshed out (like her whole ass lineage) had this kiss not been so forced into a moment that was already meaningful but now it also has to be the most important kiss in 2000 years??? Like yes I'm sure a lot of people myself included were like "fucking finally" after a decade of knowing Mikasa was obsessed with Eren; but I felt so betrayed like there was so much more depth for not just Mikasa, but for Ymir and hell even Eren that could've been dived into that seemed to be completely swept under the rug so we could focus on this being "the most important kiss in 2000 years". We could've just had the rumbling, and had the backstory and explanation, tbh a lot of the same stuff could stay the way it is but it really is just the absolute ferocity that they pushed this idea of "Eren and Mikasa are Fritz and Ymir; therefore Ymir Loved Fritz" that I think broke the writing for me. Cuz do I think Mikasa and Eren have the best dynamic? Fuck no especially as Eren himself kinda starts treating Mikasa pretty shittily, I think going as far to say he hated her just to get her to realize he was serious about his intentions; but these 2 characters have YEARS of established reasons as to why it might make sense for Mikasa to fall for Eren. Another big difference is that Eren actually did reciprocate Mikasa's feelings, even crying to Armin that he doesn't want Mikasa to be with another man even after Eren dies (is it fucking toxic? Absolutely but we can see he actually looks at Mikasa as so vital that he can't imagine her leaving him for someone else). We also have an on-screen inciting incident that we can point back to and say "yeah it makes sense why Mikasa might fall in love with the boy who saved her life and is the reason she had a home growing up". Again is it weird yeah, but using 2 seconds of thought we could see the rationale behind these two finally kissing after knowing each other from childhood to adulthood. We never got ONE, not a single hint at any point that Ymir had some inciting moment where she just realized she loved Fritz. We never got any indication that Fritz loved her in return but was just a little crazy. Everything actually made sense before the "she loved him" cuz we could understand how this girl who was born and raised a slave might be conditioned to obey even when from the outside looking in it might not make sense. We could rationalize to ourselves that the reason she went back after getting her powers wasn't love, but Fear and probably hope that if she could be of value to him her suffering would be reduced, and that maybe she thought he'd continue hunting her til her death if she didn't. We could understand her being so psychologically broken that she couldn't conceptualize her own personhood as she was never given a choice. But love?? There was never a SINGLE indication before this random conversation between Eren and Armin to link together the "Eren/Mikasa are Fritz/Ymir" idea that there was an ounce of love in either of them for each other.. (Can you tell this still really bothers me)

[@kayzaac]

I think your disappointment might mostly be due to projecting a lot of your own interpretations onto the character which were honestly very idealistic. Obviously Mikasa isn't the same as Ymir, but they suffer from similar emotional issues which are not uncommon (the anime parallels them, but doesn't call them identical). Personally I never related to why Mikasa was so fond of Eren, but it wasn't really my place to assert that it's impossible for her to feel that way about him, only that it would be impossible for me to feel that way. And the same goes for Ymir. Though different in their circumstance and severity, I don't resonate with either of these girls (I do get infatuated with guys, and care about them when I probably shouldn't, but there's always a clear line for me.) In many instances, me and many others could assert that Mikasa doesn't love Eren, she's obsessed/infatuated. But defining these terms isn't really the point, because love means different things to different people. The point is that they do feel what they feel. And the "why" doesn't always make logical sense, as is the case with a lot of human emotions. Personally, my interpretation of Ymir from the start was always based on what Frieda told Historia; about how the girl in the story book was always trying to please. Wanting to be useful to others even before her slavery under Eldia. And somehow, that's all I needed to know to believe that she'd let herself become a willing slave obsessed with her master.

[@mx9226]

I remember when I first read that, I was like “That is f**king stupid.” Then I remembered that Stockholm syndrome is a thing. And then I remembered that Ymir was just a kid so everything she went through really screwed up her way of thinking and her views on relationships. I don’t think Ymir’s “love” for Fritz and Mikasa’s love for Eren are meant to be a one-to-one comparison. The thing is Mikasa’s love was a strong motivation for her and was the main reason for a lot of her actions if you backtrack enough. In a way, Ymir deluded herself into thinking her “love” was her main motivation for serving Fritz when really it was a mix of fear, desperation to survive, and the need for some form of connection with another even if said connection wasn’t real. And given Ymir was still in her child form in the Paths, I interpreted it being her still stuck in the mindset of “loving” Fritz. So Mikasa ending Eren while still loving him allowed her to see what true love actually is. Mikasa still cared for Eren and condoned his horrible actions. Meanwhile Eren did indeed love Mikasa and let’s this all happen so she’d live a better life.

[@zecaneca3774]

Actually Stockholm syndrome is more a very popular concept than an actual real syndrome, is not actually scientifically proven

[@nelsonguerrero1952]

Glad someone here understands the whole story of Ymir and how much weight it holds and why it's well done in the anime. I get are gonna be left confused and this not being to everyone's likings. But this elements in the story holds a brilliance to it that compliments the story and the depths it holds is so much more.

[@jackmayor3574]

That's 100% headcanon. Also still dumb, that's not an interesting ending to Attack on Titan's story.

[@Flipitmixit]

You explained this perfectly and both the person above me and sarcastic chorus are as dumb as they claim ymir to be

[@starknight103]

​@@FlipitmixitStockholm syndrome isn't real it is unbacked by science and most psychologists don't believe it even exists.

[@zecaneca3774]

Her loving Fritz was very misogynistic but I think it kinda brings a message if you think really hard ? (Like, realllyyy hard they don't explain shit) When Ymir's people were violently opressed, she felt like they didn't belong, she even got snitched by her own people, and accepted her fate as she didn't want other to suffer, she wanted her people to have a future still When Zeke says that fear is the mechanism so living beings can multiply, that also applies to Ymir Her "love" represents her desire to continue her legacy, she "loved" Fritz cause he was the only option for her to have any sort of humanity, having a family, an life, and for her people's lives to not be ended forever, she served the king for centuries cause she could not let her people die, but she hurted other lives to achieve that, so her freeing herself from Fritz and saving her kids represents her love for her people and legacy, while not being willing to hurt any more lives just to keep the eldians safe It would be almost good if they actually put some thought and wrote it off instead of just throwing the love bomb and pretending that was an nice excuse by itself lol

[@storyTeller40-p5n]

Why she didn't kill fritz.. .she was titan

[@nreun345]

If instead of saying "she was in love with Fritz" they said "she was in love her family and her people" , to the point it enslaved to eternally protect by building the titans, it would have been better. Still had to obey the king lineage, still hated the world for what it did to her, still hated King Fritz

[@Chordata7]

Ymirs love for fritz was based on actual real life abuse. Ive met too many victims who refuse to leave their shit partner or sibling where theyd lose nothing but the sense of normalcy it has or hear how bad things are even with an exit plan. Eren being the first guy to call ymir a person and then get the powers of a god is actually profound cause how many victims ive met who were mistreated only to become codependent and idolize the first person who gave em a crumb of human decency is staggering.. the fact ymir in death being told she was a tool and still carried on king fritz will meant yes all of aot bs was the weird worm fault. Her abuser died she is a god and yet she chooses to carry on his will and call it love. This added agency to ymir by being obsessed with mikasa. Mikasa killing eren was her seeing someone she projected onto btw allowed her to let go of her past. The real issue is mikasa and eren had a HEALTHY relationship platonically. Yes eren tried driving mikasa away but he tried driving everyone away. Mikasa genuinely was in actual love with eren. Multiple time shes fought for him and armin and had agency. Just like eren did too. In the what couldve been with the paths their relationship was healthy. Ymir was being like mikasa just like me fr fr but in truth it was mikasa being able to move on from what ymir thought was a slave master relationship. Ymir never knew what healthy relationship was. And if it took mikasa killing her platonic and romantic ideal to inspire a victim like ymir to let go of her unhealthy ideas of love. Then yeah. Your the only creator ive seen bitchibg about this aspect tho. Edit: oh god the comments section infested with so many woke aot is fascist twitter users. Keep your braincells safe y'all. Edit 2: welp it took 3 hours for the replies to turn cancerous. Thats a new record. Read replies at your own risk y'all.

[@notsalemm]

ngl i love this dude but he bitches abt a lot of things tht arent that deep imo but love him tho.

[@azureashes-i8v]

Mikasa doesn’t get over Eren though, and doesn’t move on. One of the last scenes is the bird tightening the scarf around her neck which is pretty symbolic.

[@zealyn12]

Thank you, I couldn't have said it better myself. And the fact that he says stockholm syndrome is "bs" is just mind bogling

[@kittylitty01]

@@azureashes-i8vshe got with a dude and had a kid, she did move on

[@Chordata7]

@@azureashes-i8v the thing is mikasa in the mangas true ending and the animes ending showed her marrying. Ironically mikasa grieving her lover for 3 years makes sense. Just cause she moved on from eren romantically doesnt mean she has to get rid of her scarf. As it can be a reminder of the person who inspired her to fight back. I mean she lives on paradise.

[@danielferrieri7434]

Nah, The Dumbest Thing in Attack on Titan was how long they milked this series.

[@valentinkambushev4968]

So the same thing evry popular anime does?

[@v_AsT]

​@@valentinkambushev4968fr

[@falconeshield]

10 years. The manga ended 2021. 2 years in the making...and the anime stayed on course for the stupid ending for a new Boruto no one wanted or asked.

[@madrespect5536]

@@valentinkambushev4968season 4 the final season the second part part 2 final episode [FINALE]

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

And look how popular it got.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

LOVED the ending! Thanks for this! She did deserve better

[@Fandom-enthusiast]

Bro the video has been out for less than a minute. Genuinely asking how you’ve already seen the ending?

[@fadillangston9797]

If you loved it you're part of the problem.

[@nyodst]

@@fadillangston9797 Bro legit thinks liking the ending of a show is a problem... KZbin comment sections moment

[@Hollowmello1285]

​@@Fandom-enthusiastuhh cause manga 😅

[@semajowens8962]

​@@fadillangston9797smooth brain

[@sageofsixpaths8392]

So are we all gonna ignore that when mikasa was talking to ymir, ymir had imagined what would've happened if she hadn't saved king fritz' life

[@nelsonguerrero1952]

I saw that too and it was very poetic. After everything she had done. Mikasa succeeded where Yimr failed. She in that moment wished she had that same strength centuries ago. To bring and end to such horrors and save the future. But saving him nearly doomed the entire world to extinction. Had it not been for Erens friends and colleagues. The world would've been destroyed thanks to them. In doing so, Eren letting his friends stop him, gave them enough time to live out their lives in a peace, before it would end as the worlds conflicts would continue. Even without titans. The cycle of war continues. But there will always times of peace in the aftermath of it. The beauty of the ending of Attack on Titan is one of the most brilliant forms of story telling.

[@lerneanlion]

I'm glad someone finally pointed this out. And by that, I mean the fact that Ymir never seen an Eldian woman put an end to abusive relationship with her partner like at all. Of course, freeing her means the end of the Eldian Empire back then. But was weaponsed that used gunpowder began to become more and more common, Eldia should shifted from using Titans to Royal Navy instead to maintain its dominance. So when the time has come, Ymir can be set freed like a lot earlier than in the series.

[@ARandomEliatrope]

I'm sorry but it was VERY OBVIOUS that the ending we got was NOT the "Plan from the start". That's just blissfully incorrect.

[@lolabee1825]

And Isayama himself said multiple he couldn’t decide

[@strawberries_597]

​@lolabee1825 Yes, I mean, im not saying it's Isayamas's fault, but people only think that because of the "OMG ITS LIKE THE FIRST EPISODE" thing. And also leads them to think that then Eren's plan must be flawless and defend him with his life.

[@semajowens8962]

Based on what

[@lolabee1825]

@@strawberries_597 Exactly. Meanwhile Isayama just used vague foreshadowing that could be stretched and fit into just about anything and it would “have hints” that’s what it means to foreshadow so I don’t think Isayama planned this all out he just used what he had to create this ending

[@trika91]

Since Chorus brought up Naruto as an example of ‘poorly written female characters in Shounen’, I pray he goes into a deep dive of the Naruto series itself and all the mishandled relationships (mainly Sakura and Sasuke). This series deserves a beating from his ire of bad romances. Not saying all of Naruto’s romances are bad, but by golly, does some characters (namely the female ones) suffer/take a back seat because of it.

[@Peasham]

I actually like Sasuke and Sakura, specifically because, yea, they guy you have zero emotional connection with IS gonna just sex you once and leave lmao

[@CoolMagmar]

My only weak defense for Kishimoto writing is that everyone main motivation of all characters is a man is quite funny when you start noticing it

[@Cloke100]

Eh Sasuke and Sakura relationship works, there's plenty enough videos diving into the works and foundation for them ending up together. Naruto has bigger problems than its romance

[@Peasham]

@@Cloke100 My guy, Sasuke and Sakura don't have a relationship lmao

[@Cloke100]

@@Peasham sure my dude 👍

[@ryanthornton2438]

You brought up a lot of good points about the series. The women of the series do not get the proper treatment they deserved but get taken away tragically.

[@misterzygarde6431]

I’d rather see Eren’s Mom and Dina Frtiz come back to life and start a lesbian relationship together

[@reinsama2.09]

"well uhh you just didn't understand the story bro" -The average ending defender

[@falconeshield]

I miss the basement mystery

[@semajowens8962]

Because most of you clearly didn't understand it and your shitty critiques show that

[@moacirpatricio5718]

Might I recommend Madoka x Akemi (Madoka Magica) as a ship for you to analyze ? The amount of bullshit that both parties had to deal with transcends time and space in their own show. Truly the kind of problem couple that I think it would be your cup of tea, specially now that there's a new movie coming out early next year.

[@diacriticsrue260]

Making someone like Mikasa instead of Eren the main focus for the conclusion of the series was fundamentally a bad idea.

[@MaximumAaron]

I mean, I didn't see Ymir being in love with Fritz as a "oh it's a love story", I saw it as a MONSTROUSLY abusive, one-sided relationship.

[@theentity1839]

Seeing Anime onlies experience the same pain we did 2-3 years ago is truly vindicating. I know you read the Manga I just mean in general

[@mentosvagabond]

So when I drop AOT few year ago was just a blessing in disguise, so I wasn't care about how horseshit the plot is.

[@îts_ARID]

am sorry but r u saying that aot manga ended 2-3 years ago ??!!!!? it has been this long ???!!?

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

I wonder, which of Ymir's children gave birth to the Reiss Bloodline?

[@dinolover]

Its cute when anime watchers finally hit the point that the manga readers had years ago. Trust me, ppl were way more pissed when the manga ended and how it ended.

[@EUGE_T_T]

It’s all a giant retcon because Isayama wants to appease the fans

[@starknight103]

You know I recently made a review on the first 3 seasons of Aot with my friend it is available on KZbin kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJbTZIR3optjgNkfeature=shared

[@starknight103]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJbTZIR3optjgNkfeature=shared

[@gangraff-hr5gz]

the way i interpreted it, ymir's "love" was just the end product of the first explanation you gave rather than its own thing, and that ultimatley the first interpretation is still the correct one for the most part

[@rowanseq2]

i think it would have been better if ymir actually feared fritz even after gaining the power of the titans and kept serving him after death because of it, eren and armin could have talked bout the elephant being tied down from birth being a parallel to ymir's story/abuse (or a version of it since i doubt they would know anything bout circus training an elephant but they still could do it since i assume they can see everything in paths) and probably change the exchange between ymir and mikasa or remove it since its not about love in that case (idk what it could be changed to tho, maybe reflect on their fears in their lifes? and the reason ymir looked into mikasa's life/fears is cuz she was the closest to her "liberator" eren (theres probably better alternatives but thats all i could thing of))

[@Temujin18S]

That wouldn't make sense, that would make her character even more problematic

[@rowanseq2]

@@Temujin18S wells its just an idea

[@Vim-eo2zy]

The elephant analogy could be used for horses instead

[@Italian_Isaac_Clarke]

I actually agree with basically all in this, but you should still have said that "Mikasa's headhackes were Ymir peaking in" was actually a RetCon of Mikasa's trauma about losing people she loves, the heachhacke being an echo of the punch she got that day.

[@kafukwamekemeh]

Those headaches were mysterious and how you just say retcon without elaboration

[@Italian_Isaac_Clarke]

@@kafukwamekemeh I literally elaborated it. Maybe learn to read and then come back to my comment to actually read it instead of pretending.

[@kafukwamekemeh]

@@Italian_Isaac_Clarke You just spoke nonsense in the guise of it being smart

[@Italian_Isaac_Clarke]

@@kafukwamekemeh You are a clown.

[@joebin3106]

When King Fritz say:" It's SEED time", and then seed all over Ymir. It truly is a 10 years at least moment🕊

[@Daniel-df9ru]

Corny

[@MademoiselleRed1390]

Great way to point out Gabi also breaks the cycle cause Mikasa and Historia make fandom go into shipping wars hell. Gabi would've been the perfect answer to avoid all that bullshit since the last thing AOT needed was romance tbh Or at least not for romance to be relevant to the plot when it's never been so far

[@winifredeghrudje9427]

Can you elaborate on that please?

[@wilczyca2678]

This all could've been salvaged if Armin just turned around and called Eren an idiot that read the situation backwards.

[@heartunderbruh7735]

I love how AoT became a Romance, Comedy by the end of the series. I guess I can now say that Twilight is a better love story than AoT.

[@nunouno001]

At least Edward and Bella didn’t kill off 80% of the human race.

[@TotalAnalyst2]

You do realize Yimir and the king are intentionally toxic relationship. He is a grown ass man manipulating a child

[@perfectly.natural]

Aot did not need a love story in my opinion it just made the ending worse

[@starknight103]

​@@TotalAnalyst2isayama doesn't know how to write romance he admitted himself.

[@AnYEntertainment]

Ymir's story: another case for r/manwritingwomen ... 😅

[@lunalubanski6284]

I Love it when someone manages to put Something into words that i couldnt. Ymir Loving Fritz literally came out of nowhere, they just went " oh yeah and also, she was in love with him" with absolutely no scenes that even could even hinted at the mere possibly of that. Everything she already went through is explanation enough for why she is mentally stuck serving his will. If they really wanted to add toxic relationship as another reason for Ymirs mental imprisonment to Fritz they could have made it a point during the show with scenes. And with the obvious parallels, it ruined the relationship of Mikasa and Eren beyond just unhealthy obsession. It tained the relationship in a way i dont think the author really had intended to, with the obviously sad romantic scenes of mikasa and eren living happly in a imaginary world while she kisses his head. That scene was there to pull on the heart strings.

[@mgrn.01]

Was Mikasa ever really free though? I doubt it. She never let go of Eren she stuck by his grave until her own death exactly the opposite of what Ymir wanted according to the story.

[@CKATNISS]

I heard about people hating the finale, I did not think it was this f$cked, damn. They never fail to do ya girls dirty.

[@kittylitty01]

Ok

[@jordanchamorro2837]

Did anybody else notice that he’s mentioning Edenians from Mortal Kombat every time he’s trying to say Eldians 😂😂

[@MademoiselleRed1390]

Thank you for pointing out how AOT girls actually get the short end of the stick especially in comparison to the male characters. It's also quite telling that some of the female characters get it better than the main heroine. But then again even Annie was forced into an asspull romance with Armin after being a rock. Isayama really manages to fool people into thinking he's the solution to a problem with female characters, but he's still pretty much part of it at least by the end.

[@Anime_CartoonKIA]

Screw the controversy, I'd LOVE to see you do more anime content in the future!

[@riotron1026]

To be fair….given the failings of this story when under scrutiny….I wouldn’t expect any less. Sad part is that MANY male story tellers aren’t well equipped to properly handle female characters usually being relegated to being an accessory for the male protagonists. It’s dated and if better stories involving female characters are to be told, things will have to get more progressive. More female authors are needed and more male authors need to become more socially aware and empathetic in order to create more well woven stories involving female characters. Honestly to me it feels like a lot of the writers in these stories very likely don’t even interact with women on a normal or healthy basis.

[@WomanInAMustache]

i personally think that the justification of mikasa being the one who freed her would work better without the love part, her design forces her and in a way enslaves her to protect him, by killing him she is breaking free which would be the thing that ymir looked for, is to break free from the cycle and mikasa -as far as i know- would be the only one to go against her own bloodline to do that very thing

[@mintimin8707]

that would have actually been enough for me to make a good ending instead of adding the "love" part. I kinda also wished they'd show and hinted Eren actually holding some feelings too had they gone with the route part. It feels out of nowhere. Mikasa killing Eren and going against her design would have been poetic.

[@Dezsr]

Would be "slightly" better if it's all about the "slave mentality" that passed down to the Ackermans

[@janniegurl05]

I agree with everything here. 😆 That kissing of the bodyless head is wild. 😳Never saw that clip when watching reviews and recaps.

[@RetakeAmerica]

Ymir had more parallels with Historia than Mikasa. They should've either not made Historia pregnant and actually given her a bigger involvement in season 4 or have Eren turn out to be the father of her baby. Keep in mind that Kruger said to Grisha before he died that the reason as to why the Titan Shifters never died naturally was because if that happens, the first newborn Subject of Ymir will receive that power. Remember how this concept was introduced and then it was never brought up again?

[@Spantzcatdog]

Eren being the father isn't going to do shit. The pregnancy subplot was dumb period.

[@thelegend2146]

Ngl comparing eren and mikasa Relationship to yemer and the king is weird I don’t see it Like eren didn’t Force mikasa to do anything The only similarities she has is her devotion and even then it’s not the same Like yemer condition to serve and devote that was beaten into her On the other hand mikasa followed and devoted herself willingly

[@MrWanton16]

Everything Mikasa does is due to simple love. And while Eren does go on to become a monster the one thing that remains consistent is that he does often put Mikasa's happiness before his own. He argues a lot with her early on due to trauma but he always cares greatly about her wellbeing.

[@thelegend2146]

@@MrWanton16 exactly! Yes, she is devoted to eren sometimes to a self destructive degree But he was never abusive towards her or anything , the worst thing that he was kind of mean towards her but he was just a kid so Yumer (I will butcher her spelling not that butchering it’s something new to her) on the other hand is devoted bc this is what she knows. Honestly, it would’ve been interesting is the king knew that she craves that’s kind of love and brainwashed her or talk to her to think that she loves him that way Or to remove yumer romantic love entirely and just let be brainwashed that she is nothing but a slave so of course she has to do this That she is devoted because she don’t know how to not to

[@DepressMosquito]

Incoming hundreds comments of “You just don’t understand the story” coming after you,beware😂

[@ErenDenizMert]

Its true tho. "The story wants us to believe its different" since it literally is? Mikasa k*lling eren is a much bigger deal than the harmless shi before. Also its stockholm syndrome not actual love

[@Daxx019]

Yeah, they should have cut out the "love" angle, and just centered it around "Kill Eren as he has all the powers of the founder, Rumbling, and full control over all Titans" Then after he's gone the power of Titans disappearing would have been better instead of the powers going away because Ymir "felt like passing on" because of "love".

[@n.e.s4LG]

The wild thing is you act like “Love” isn’t the strongest emotion humans feel and is one of the main reasons humans do things for. It’s not cheap it’s good writing to show that even tho you love someone you have to know when to do the right thing like Mikasa did. And it’s done without cheapening her struggles

[@Daxx019]

​@@n.e.s4LG The thing is though, I wasn't talking about Mikasa, we were talking about Ymir and Fritz, the man who cut her tongue out, enslaved her, tried to kill her then used her for her Titan powers. Mikasa's love I believe and her struggle when having to protect Aren, even from his genocidal self. Ymir's "love" I don't believe.

[@supersoldier4079]

What made me stop liking attack on titan was that it overcomplicated itself. I'm not even mad that Eren committed mass genocide anymore, everything is just an information overload especially towards the end. Yet some people defend the show like it's a first grade lesson. Eren and Ymir had sensible motivations up to this point but then the show turns around and says, "Oh yeah it was something else completely." I felt that Ymir could have just been free of her abuse when Eren gave her a choice and she could've simply moved on in the afterlife and gave Eren the founding titan, but no we had to make the Mikasa x Eren ship happen. I wouldn't have minded them being a couple if it weren't executed terribly and ruined the story. There's other things about the ending I didn't like either but I'm honestly tired of ranting at this point. I just feel like the best ending would be for it to end with being more up to interpretation. Like what if the main characters simply found a way to live to fight another day. It leaves the audience to draw their own conclusions and personally I think is better than mass genocide. There are other shows, movies, and games that have done similar things but the more I think about it the more I realize it is the best way to tell a story with themes similar to Attack on Titan's. In war no one is truly the good guy or the bad guy. Everyone's a killer.

[@shubhise]

It doesn't ruined story bro,stop.

[@supersoldier4079]

@@shubhise Dude stop this just makes me hate the story more with people always needing to correct people. So what if I don’t like your show? There’s more shows out there.

[@shubhise]

@@supersoldier4079 all I said is whatever your point or whatever you were saying doesn't ruin anything it's not matter of whether you like the show or not, if you just dislike the show as a whole then go ahead.

[@erenyeager7705]

This is why you can't trust Isayama for Romance

[@yichen4]

I agree with you. In fact, you explained it better than what I had formulated. Ymir loving Fritz DOES NOT make sense at all. I didn’t even see the Mikasa parallel because the stories felt so different. What I took away was Ymir was able to let go because she realized that her “love” was not love.

[@SaiScribbles]

13:00 I'm not sure how else Isayama could have given this bit of information given Ymir doesn't talk. But Ymir also was only able to watch the proceedings AFTER Eren made contact with her. He's basically her avatar, he's bound by the fate he's been orchestrated into. A person who desires freedom above all else who can now never be free, imparting his indomitable will onto her so she can finally act on her own. Mikasa being an Ackerman also means she isn't effected by Eldian bloodline curse/control shenanigans, which differentiates her from Gabby and Historia. I also wouldn't call Mikasa being the one to end Eren's reign of terror "scraps" either. Armin also needed closure with Eren, the three of them have been a complete unit from the beginning.

[@Notyourstodisclose]

Maybe that’s the true role of the Attack Titan and its holders, to march forward towards a future where Ymir can be freed of her psychological chains.

[@SaiScribbles]

@@Notyourstodisclose I think too many people these days search for some moral lesson from media. I never had a problem with the ending of AoT like other people, because I instantly understood it was a reflection of the endless cycle of violence humanity perpetuates.

[@SaiScribbles]

Actually Isayama himself basically confirmed it in a recent interview. He said something like sure he could make a "happy" ending where Eren ended war and protected Paradis forever and ever but that's not really realistic is it.

[@eldorado6770]

Ymir is the true villain of this show. She tormented humanity for 2000 years just to fuel ⛽️ her weird sado-masochistic slave-dominatrix fetish. She possessed Eren and bullied Mikasa into killing him, while she just stood there and smiled 😃. In 137 Armin suggested that the Eldians are connected because Ymir wanted to be connected to them. She can apparently influence the minds of Akermans, even thought it was previously considered to be impossible. She allowed Eren to reincarnate as a bird or control a bird 🐦. All this makes me think that she actually has complete control over the minds and bodies of all living things across all of space and time, not just Eldians. Which means She could have stopped the world's suffering anytime she wanted.

[@eldorado6770]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZvZnWZtd6x8n9ksi=uObv3pBiP8ydIsy_

[@genericname2747]

That's certainly a take

[@eldorado6770]

@genericname2747 That's just a theory. A titan theory.

[@darthcappuccino4482]

I think you overestimate the extent to which Ymir and Mikasa's relationships are meant to parallel one another, especially since Mikasa and Eren's love was mutual and genuine, while Ymir and Fritz's was entirely one-sided and clearly portayed as a deeply twisted misunderstanding of love, born from years of grooming and abuse.