Board Thread:Manga/@comment-27321453-20191008222936/@comment-35822279-20191009013004

There will be no cons as this chapter took the series biggest mystery and turned it into a brilliant chapter that effortlessly blended themes, myth, and character into a nigh perfect brew.

Pros:

- The biggest thing I loved about the chapter was how minimalistic it was as it effortlessly communicated Ymir's entire story with no line of dialogue from the woman herself which was A.) an excellent way of reflecting her slave mentality and B.) made sure the entire chapter ran at a crisp pace and could effortlessly cover 13 years. It was refreshing to simply read a story without being suffocated under a mountain of lore and jargon and it made the chapter stronger as a whole. A+ job by Isayama here.

- Another thing I loved is how the chapter proved both Eldia and Marley right and wrong at the same time. Helos was a real man who killed the mightest titan (Ymir) but he was long dead by the time of the great titan war. Ymir was simultaneously the angel Eldia revered her as and the devil Marley feared but ironically enough neither of these actions were of her own will but King Fritz pupptering her actions. This was a brilliant way of reinforcing the murkiness of history and how for such an important figure in history no one ever truly knew who Ymir was till Eren.

- I also found Ymir's story really well told in general as it was quite touching and a unique take on the mortal gains godlike power story that is so popular across all mediums. Usually when someone gains power in these types of story they become more inhuman either in form or personality as a price for acquiring power and start acting purely on what they believe is best (for themselves, society etc.) even at the expense of others (Ex. The Master from Fallout). What I find fascinating about Ymir is that she is a complete subversion of individuals like the Master as she is an individual who gained ultimate power but never used that against the people who harmed her, for her own ego, or even selflessly for others instead being an individual who started out less than human and never escaped that lack of identity. I have to admit it was ballsy choice to go with this as I assumed a couple of chapters ago that her current slave like disposition was the result of a type of Faustian bargain but instead making her a slave since her youth and still mentally one resulted in something I've never seen before across movies, games, or tv which is incredibly impressive. I do think though with the revelations in this chapter the Ymir reborn ending has shot up significantly and is something I would greatly enjoy as a proper ending.

- The ending was just fantastic and the fact that I can't tell if Eren is going to go full psycho and squash the world in a act that would make even Ozy from Watchmen go chill dude or he's just going to merely kill the world's army is pretty great.

Other Thoughts:

- About our friendly neighbourhood spine I have to admit I really don't mind if we never know about its complete origins as not everything needs a reasonable explanation like for all I know it's a elder thing (to be honest the first thing I thought about when I saw it was Bloodborne) or it arrived on a meteorite and seeded all life. Any of those answers are cool by me and I'm satisfied with the answers given in the chapter.