Carla Yeager

Carla Yeager (カルラ・イェーガー) was the mother of Eren Yeager, the adoptive mother of Mikasa Ackerman, and the wife of doctor Grisha Yeager. She was devoured by the Smiling Titan just moments after the fall of Wall Maria.

Appearance
Carla highly resembled Eren. She had light eyes and dark hair. In the anime she had brown eyes and black hair. Her hair was rather long, kept tied loosely to the side on her right shoulder with a dark red tie and only a few short hairs around her ears and forehead were loose. When she was seen inside her home, she wore a cream colored sweater with frilled sleeves and a long red skirt with a white apron and small tan boots. During her younger days, Carla worked at a small shop and could be seen wearing a short sleeved dress with a black front laced corset over top.

Personality
When Eren wanted to join the Survey Corps, Carla forbade him on the grounds that it was too dangerous, showing her motherly care. She seemed to genuinely care for Eren's safety, and had been known to be protective of her family, enough to put them before herself when Eren and Mikasa were in potential danger for attempting to rescue her. However, once her children left earshot, she whispered that she didn't want them to leave her alone to die and continued crying until her death.

History
During her youth, Carla worked as a waitress in a bar that Keith Shadis frequented. One day, Keith brought along Grisha Yeager, who he had recently been found lost outside of the Walls. Carla reprimanded Shadis, thinking that he wanted to beguile Grisha into joining the Survey Corps, but both men denied this.

Some time later, Carla became ill with a disease that plagued Shiganshina and was urgently taken by Keith to Grisha, who had become doctor. However, Carla was more worried about her parents, but Grisha ensured her that everyone would be fine. Grisha managed to save Carla and her family, and Carla hugged him as she rejoiced in tears.

They soon fell in love, and some time later married and had a son named Eren. When Shadis returned from an unsuccessful mission as commander, he approached Carla with a young Eren and she expressed her and Grisha's worry for him. Out of spite, he accused her of being ordinary and lacking in imagination. However she stated that some people don’t have to be special or greater than everybody and existing on its own was special.

Fall of Shiganshina arc
Carla is first shown forbidding Eren to join the Survey Corps after Mikasa spoke of Eren's desire to join the military. Though Eren's father Grisha remained passive and even insistent of Eren's ambition before leaving the house, Carla continues to attempt to convince Eren otherwise, leading Eren to yell at her and run off to ignore her protests. Upon this, Carla tasked Mikasa with looking out for Eren, saying he needed to be protected from himself.

During the invasion of Wall Maria, the Colossal Titan breaches the Wall of the Shiganshina District by kicking at its main gate, and some of the flying debris fall on the Yeager's house, destroying it when Carla was inside. She gets trapped with her legs crushed, and Eren and Mikasa attempt to free her but they are not strong enough. She begs them to leave because of the Titans swarming the city, in which a Titan is visibly approaching their house.

Soon, Hannes arrives, initially declaring that he would save the three of them from the approaching Titan, despite Carla's protests that he should grab the children and run. However, Hannes loses his nerve at the frightening appearance of the Titan, and decides to take the children to safety instead, abandoning Carla under the wreckage as she requested. Against Eren's desperate protests, Carla screamed to her children that she loved them and pleaded them to stay alive. Once the three were on the run and out of earshot, Carla mutters that she doesn't want them to go, but covers her mouth with her hand so that the children cannot hear her last words. The Titan pulls her from the debris and squeezes her in its hand, causing her innards to spew out of her mouth and driving her eyes from her head. Just after Mikasa looks away, it then devours her as Eren watches in horror.

Return to Shiganshina arc
When Eren, Hange Zoë, and Squad Levi go to question Instructor Keith Shadis on his knowledge of Grisha Yeager, Keith puts into words his meeting Grisha and loosing Carla to him, and the experiences that led up to, and followed those events.

Relationships

 * Eren Yeager - Eren is Carla's only son. She felt a deep love for him, seen when she told him not to join the Survey Corps because it is too dangerous. Also, when she was trapped under the debris of their house, she ordered Eren and Mikasa to run away and leave her behind, so that they could escape for the Titans. She also told Hannes to do so, feeling happy when he accepted.


 * Grisha Yeager - Carla fell in love with Grisha after he was able to cure her and her family of a life threatening disease. After Keith introduced them, she soon married Grisha and they lived together with their son Eren until Grisha's departure and her death at the hands of a Titan.


 * Keith Shadis - Though it is hinted that Keith had strong feelings for her, Carla seemed to be always unaware of his thoughts. However, she respected him and was worried for the dangers that he experienced in the Survey Corps. After one of the expeditions in which she hadn't heard from him, she awaited Keith to scold him for risking his life. Despite the fact that Keith responded rudely, she didn't seem to be offended but only momentarily surprised, and continued talking to him kindly. After her death, Keith regretted his reaction and tried to prevent her son Eren from joining the military in order to save his life, though ended up changing his mind since Eren's wishes were too strong.

Manga and anime differences

 * The scene of her death differs slightly from the anime than in the manga. In the manga, the Titan squeezes her until her spine snaps, making her vomit blood and twitch in its hand before it eats her, whereas in the anime, it breaks her spine off-screen with both hands and it shows the Titan biting downward, with blood spraying.

Trivia

 * Carla is the first character in the series that is shown being eaten by a Titan.
 * Some fans speculate that Carla's legs where never actually crushed and that it was a lie to get her children to stop trying to free her. This theory is lightly supported by a scene in the anime. When she is being held in the Titan's hand she can be seen freely moving her legs.

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