Board Thread:Manga/@comment-37224578-20190720011315/@comment-25933225-20190720212214

ErenZeke2020 wrote: I like your argument that there just isn't enough time to explore this plot line. I think that makes sense. In regards to her titan scream having a different effect...After Zeke was inserted into the stomac of a random titan and then reassembled from sand/clay by an unknow child in a twilight dream world, I have given up at measuring their powers. I think the fact that non of the titans Annie was influencing were created by her spinal fluid (as far as we know) kind of cancels out her lesser level of control over them. And there is no reason to expect two siblings, even sharing both parents, to have equal levels of power in an anime.

In regards to how it could be used as a plot device, I think that the only real way it would work as a plot device would be offer Annie an interesting set of choices if she were to get out of the crystal while the Warrior unit is still active in the story and a choice is available between the Warriors and the Eldians. I have a hard time accepting that they would keep her in the crystal for all of this time, show us that the crystal can be breached with the War Hammer Titan, and have Arman talking to her for a chapter or two, without meaning to wake her up befoer the end of the series. It is Isayama's style to use flashbacks to the past to explain a persons present state of mind, and I feel that there are still unexplained things about Annie, so I am expecting so amount of flashback to her time in Marley when she wakes up. About Zeke in chapter 115, just take in consideration that what really happened is: he regenerated fast inside a pure Titan, partly because he unconsciously "stole" its... Body? Energy? Paths? (that explains why the smoke was going inside the Titan and why it already was a skeletton when Zeke showed up). About the area where Zeke thought he was, with the girl building him again, it's not a physical place, it's mostly metaphorical/illusionnal/etc, and as the girl made his body again with clay, it corresponds to the regeneration of him as I just described it at the begining of the paragraph: when she reconstructed his left arm, within the Titan, Zeke's left arm was regenerating, etc....

At least this is how I interpret it, it makes more sense than Zeke really being mold with clay by this little girl again (plus, no one has ever stated that what Zeke had the impression to live was some physical stuff). However, it isn't really related to the powers of his Titan, so we can't really take this in consideration for "Annie's powers, comparison with Zeke, and how could it means that she has royal blood".

My theory about "Why Annie can "control" Titans?" is this: she doesn't properly control them. I would say that she "triggers" their instincts, and so, they attack or follow (we haven't seen them making more complex actions, so I can assume she can't make them do more complicated stuff, that stuff belongs to the Founding/Titans with royal blood). So, it's not surprizing that she can "control" pure Titans that don't even have her spinal fluid, and I assume that even if they had it, that wouldn't change anything. She only "triggers" them into doing simple tasks, but it's not pure control. Just as Sasha said when the Female Titan screamed while being captured, it looks like the scream of a trapped animal, calling for others. Those trapped animals don't control at all the others, they just send a signal, and the others animals respond to this signal. Here, it must be the same, as Sasha said: when Annie screamed, Titans were triggered and came to her position.

Compared to Zeke, her scream isn't that impressive at all. Sure, Zeke can't trigger pure Titan that don't have his spinal fluid, but he can do far better with Titans that have it: he doesn't just trigger them. He litterally controls them. When Falco attacked Reiner in pure Titan form, he didn't attack like a random pure Titan: Falco used his two arms to grab Reiner's, in order to limit his moves at the begining of the fight. And when Reiner was ready to let himself being eaten by Falco, Falco went specifically for the nape, a thing that most Titans never did when they were facing a Shifter (Eren in Trost, his first transformation, none of the Titans came for his nape, or when the Female Titan was devoured in the forest, the Titans weren't looking for the nape). Or, the Titan that Zeke used to escape in chapter 113, that was holding him. So, as we see, when Zeke controls his Titans, they litterally do whatever he wants them to do, in every move they make (the only exception being the Gluttonous Titan that ate Mike Zacharias, but it just shows that bugs can occur). While Annie can only trigger them to do a simple action, but she doesn't control at all their moves, they just instinctively act in order to achieve the simple purpose they were given.

So, when we have the comparizon with Zeke, and when we take in consideration the fact that Eren never triggered the power of the Founding Titan when he touched her, it's pretty easy to assume she doesn't have royal blood at all.

Your second paragraph doesn't need at all Annie being royal blooded: she can still make that Warriors/Walldians choice, she can still have a conversation with Armin. Of course, she's still mysterious, but I don't think it's related to some secret she keeps or anything else. To me, it's just about her own feelings, how she sees Marley, her own perception of the world, her personnality, her psychology. She has a loner personnality, it's logic if she is mysterious about her motivations or her convictions. If she was to have a talk with Armin, yes, we might have a few flashbacks about her talking about her feelings related to her mission, her convictions, her promise to her father, etc... But that doesn't necessarilly need more than a few pages, 4-5 could be enough to show how she feels. But as a loner person, will she have such a talk with Armin? I guess that she might, if during the time Armin spoke to her in her crystal, he opened his heart. I think that sometimes, he felt like he could say everything he has on his mind to her, because she was in the crystal, it's a bit like a private journal. So Annie, as Armin opened his heart to her, might think that she also can talk about herself to him, without being judged or anything. Or, another possibility, explaining why she would talk about herself, would depend on how she gets out of the crystal and what happens right after: will it be a stressfull moment for her? A calm one? Maybe, she could be in a "I don't give a f*ck anymore" mood, that could be the kind of moment she could express about herself, as she wouldn't care anymore if she's judged or anything.