Path (Anime)

"It's as if all the Subjects of Ymir are connected by something we can't see. One inheritor said they saw paths. The blood and bones that form a Titan, and at times, even memories and thoughts are sent through those paths. All the paths cross at a single coordinate. In others words, that's...the Founding Titan. Every single Subject of Ymir is connected to that coordinate."

- Eren Kruger explains the secrets of Titans to Grisha Jaeger

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 by something invisible, and what connects them are called paths.

Paths serve as channels for the transportation of several things, such as, but not limited to, memories and thoughts from other Subjects of Ymir, and the flesh and bones that make up a Titan's body.

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.

Paths also transcend physical space and time, as proven by the fact that Eren Kruger had "memories" of Mikasa Ackermann and Armin Arlelt before they were even born.

Unknown land
Although paths are invisible in the physical world, they can be seen by entering an unknown land. There, granular soil covers the ground and paths manifest as trails of bluish-green light in the sky, similar in appearance to an aurora. Time is irrelevant and conflicting there. Zeke Jaeger says that it felt like he was there for years, but it was also all over in an instant.

Ymir Fritz inhabits the land as a little girl, often carrying a pail of water. She is capable of creating anything out of the earth. She is the cause of Titan transformation and regeneration, as she is the one who molds their bodies whenever the power of the Titans is invoked. Those with royal blood, her descendants, are able to command Ymir Fritz; Zeke considers her a slave with no free will of her own.

Ymir entered that land after she gained the power of the Titans. While dying, Zeke Jaeger also enters the realm when a nearby Titan shoves his body into its belly. Eren Jaeger enters this land when his decapitated head touches Zeke. Zeke speculates that those who inherit the Founding Titan enter the land in order to command Ymir Fritz.

Coordinate
When paths cross, the point is known as a "coordinate" (座標 Zahyō?). 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 Colossal 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. In the unknown land, the Coordinate is manifested as a giant pillar of bluish-green light that branches out like a tree.

Other Coordinates
While the term "Coordinate" is most commonly used for the Founding Titan's Coordinate, Zeke Jaeger also uses it to describe his own abilities with the Beast Titan. If Zeke'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 faux Founding Titan to those connected to him: he can transform them into Titans, and he can give those Titans commands.

History
In the year 990 B1, the soul of Ymir Fritz came to inhabit the unknown land where the paths manifested after her death, under the form of her younger self when she first attained the Power of the Titans thirteen years prior. At this point, the Coordinate was newly formed, only having three paths manifesting from it, likely representing Ymir's daughters: Maria, Rose and Sina Fritz.

As Ymir's daughters began to birth children of their own, new paths began to manifest from the Coordinate, in which Ymir's power was eventually separated into the Nine Titans.

During this time, Ymir had obtained a pail of water in the unknown land, which she used alongside the sand in the area to slowly mold the bodies of titans, whenever it was called upon her through the Power of the Titans. Such an example would be the Wall Titans that Karl Fritz ordered Ymir to create, to form the Walls.

According to Eren Jaeger and Eren 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 unknown land. When she saw the paths in the sky, she called them "freedom" spread out before her. She vowed to live a life without regrets afterward.

War for Paradis arc
As Zeke Jaeger is dying from the wounds inflicted by a Thunder Spear explosion, he has a vision of Ymir Fritz, in tattered clothes, in a world full of sand. A Titan approaches him and opens its abdomen to put his body inside. Zeke awakens inside the unknown land to Ymir rebuilding his body using the surrounding earth, and he sees trails of light in the sky above. Zeke later comes out of the Titan, fully recovered, and speculates that what he just saw are paths.

When Eren acquires the full power of the Founding Titan, he sends Eldians from both within and beyond the Walls a telepathic message rejecting the world's desire for the destruction of not just inhabitants of Paradis Island, but also the subjects of Ymir as a whole. Having unleashed the Wall Titans from their confinement, Eren states his intentions for them to trample the land beyond the island until all life have gone extinct. As the Alliance plan their strategy to stop Eren, he brings them to the Paths. There, he tells them that he will not talk to them and he will not stop them from fighting him, but he will keep moving forward.

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