Carla Yeager

"Eren!! What are you thinking?! Do you know how many people have died because they dared to venture outside the Walls?!"

- Carla to her only son, Eren after knowing his desire to join the Survey Corps

Carla Yeager (カルラ・イェーガー) was the mother of Eren Yeager, the adoptive mother of Mikasa Ackerman, and the second wife of doctor Grisha Yeager.

Appearance
Carla had light-colored eyes and dark 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 did not 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 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.

Sometime later, Carla became ill with a disease that plagued Shiganshina and was urgently taken by Shadis to Grisha, who had become a 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 sometime 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 do not 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 tasks Mikasa with looking out for Eren, saying he needs to be protected from himself.

During the invasion of Wall Maria, the Colossus Titan breaches the Wall of Shiganshina District by kicking at its main gate, and some of the flying debris fall on the Yeagers' house, destroying it with Carla inside. She is trapped and her legs are crushed. Eren and Mikasa attempt to free her, but they are not strong enough to lift the beams holding her down. She begs them to leave because of the Titans swarming the city as one 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 does not 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. Just after Mikasa looks away, it devours her as Eren watches in horror. She would be avenged by Eren, years later, when he used the Coordinate ability to make the Titans attack and devour the Titan that killed her.

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 of Grisha and losing Carla to him and the experiences that led up to, and followed those events.

Relationships

 * Eren Yeager - Eren was 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 from the Titans. She also told Hannes to take them and run, feeling relieved and thanked him 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. While Grisha did not entrust her with knowledge of the outside world, he did still seem to love her no less. This shows in Eren's memories of Grisha injecting him with the Titan serum, and in confusion tells him that Carla's death drove him insane.


 * Keith Shadis - Carla knew Keith from his regular visits to the bar she worked in but was often annoyed when Keith tried to convince customers to join the Survey Corps. 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 about the dangers that he experienced in the Survey Corps. After one of the expeditions in which she had not heard from him, she awaited Keith to scold him for risking his life. Despite the fact that Keith responded rudely, she did not 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 he ended up changing his mind since Eren's wishes were too strong.


 * Mikasa Ackerman - Carla relied on Mikasa to keep an eye out for Eren, trusting her enough to pull him out of trouble. When Mikasa was first accepted into their home, Carla showed that she was comfortable with Mikasa's company. The two often did household chores together such as washing dishes and they bonded over this. When Mikasa struggled to save her, and when she was taken away, Carla painfully called out to her in her final moments, worried for her safety. She greatly cared and worried for Mikasa, despite her independence and strength. Carla's death had a deep impact on Mikasa who vowed to uphold the promise she made to her in protecting Eren.


 * Hannes - Carla, and Hannes were acquainted for some time prior to Shiganshina's destruction. When it was breached Hannes initially tried to fight the Smiling Titan but out of cowardice fled and took Eren and Mikasa with him, though Carla was thankful that Hannes took the kids to safety. Carla's death and his cowardice to stop it haunted Hannes for the rest of his life, and was ironically killed by the same Titan 5 years later.

Trivia

 * Carla is the first character in the series who is shown being eaten by a Titan.
 * Her death at the hands of Dina Fritz as a Titan is ironic as she was Grisha's first wife.
 * Carla is one of four female characters to have a character song in Linked Horizon's Shingeki no Kiseki album. The others being Petra, Annie, and Ilse. Carla's song is 14 Moji no Dengon (14-Lettered Message).

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