Path

Paths (道) are channels that connect all Titans and Subjects of Ymir together.

Overview
The idea of paths came from noticing that the Nine Titans are sent to a random baby among the Subjects of Ymir, regardless of distance or blood relations, if they die without being eaten. This implies that the Subjects of Ymir are all connected and what connects them are paths.

Paths serve as channnels for the transportation of several things, such as memories and wills from other Subjects of Ymir, flesh and bones that make up a Titan's body, commands from a Titan's scream, and the power of the Titans.

Paths seem to be strengthened by blood relations: memories are transferred far easier between family members. Karl Fritz's vow renouncing war is only passed down to his own family. The Ackerman clan, who are also connected to each other by a path, gain the battle experiences of all past Ackermans when they awaken.

Paths transcend physical space, and they appear to transcend time as well, for Eren Kruger had "memories" of Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert before they were even born. Paths are invisible in the physical world and Grisha Yeager likens them to magic.

The Path
The Path is a land covered in white dirt with wispy, cloud-like trails of light in the sky. Ymir entered that land after she gained the power of the Titans. Zeke Yeager enters it after dying, when a mysterious Titan shoves his body into its belly. Time is irrelevant and conflicting there. Zeke admits that it felt like years, but also that it was over in an instant.

This land is inhabited by a young girl carrying a pale of water.

Coordinates
When paths cross, the point is known as a "coordinate" (座標). The Founding Titan is the coordinate where the paths of all Subjects of Ymir and Titans cross. It has the ability to alter the memories of Subjects of Ymir, change the body composition of Subjects of Ymir, transform Subjects of Ymir into Titans (even Colossus Titans), and command all other Titans. According to Tom Xaver, the Subjects of Ymir are like a part of the Founding Titan's body, no matter where they are.

If Zeke Yeager's spinal fluid enters the body of a Subject of Ymir, that Subject of Ymir becomes connected to Zeke's Beast Titan by a path and is marked with a coordinate. Zeke's Beast Titan can act like a miniature Founding Titan to those connected to him. He can transform them into Titans, and he can give those Titans commands.

Royal blood is necessary to access a coordinate's power, however. Only those with royal blood can use the Founding Titan's power, and the reason why Zeke can make his Beast Titan a coordinate like the Founder is likely because of his blood.

History
According to Eren Yeager and Kruger, one of their predecessors saw paths.

During the year 845, after Ymir devoured Marcel Galliard and gained the power of the Titans, she awoke in the Path, calling what she saw before her as "freedom." She vowed to live a life without regrets afterward.

Unnamed final arc
As Zeke Yeager is dying from the wounds inflicted by a Thunder Spear explosion, he has a vision of a young girl, in filthy clothes, in a world full of sand. A Titan emerges and opens its abdomen to put Zeke's body inside. Zeke awakens inside the Path to the girl rebuilding his body using the surrounding earth, and sees trails of light in the sky above. Zeke later comes out of the Titan, fully recovered.

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