From You, 2,000 Years Ago (Chapter)

"You must have been waiting. All this time. For 2,000 years...for someone."

- Eren understands Ymir's will

To You, 2,000 Years Ago (二千年前の君から) is the 4th and final chapter of the 30th volume and the 122nd chapter overall of the Attack on Titan manga, written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama.

Overview
Two thousand years ago, Ymir was a slave in service to an Eldian tribal leader named Fritz. When she took the blame for an escaped pig, his men hunted her for sport. She fell into a chasm beneath a tree while trying to find a safe place to hide, and merged with an unknown substance below, which transformed her into a Titan. Fritz kept her as his slave, forcing her to work the land for his people, wage war on his enemies, and to bear his children. When she died, he fed her body to their daughters to ensure her power would be passed on for generations to come.

In the present, Eren Yeager calls out to Ymir, saying that she does not have to be a slave and obey Zeke's orders. She has the ability to choose. He believes she is the one who led him here, and that she has been waiting for 2,000 years. Though Zeke tries to stop them, Ymir hears Eren and lifts her head in tears. Outside of the paths, Wall Maria shatters, revealing the multitude of Colossus Titans inside.

Summary
Frieda Reiss tells her sister Historia that she should be like the girl in her storybook, because she is kind and always thinking of others.

However, the girl lives in a harsh time when her people are enslaved by the Eldian tribe. When one of the slaves lets a pig escape, Fritz, the tribal leader calls for his slaves to identify the culprit or he will gouge out an eye from each of them. The other slaves point to a single girl, Ymir. She is surprised, but bows her head and takes the blame.

As a result, she is set loose in a forest and chased by hunters on horseback with dogs and arrows. Blood runs from one of her eyes and she is struck multiple times, but she still runs until she finds a gigantic tree with a crevice at the base of its trunk. Ymir walks inside and stumbles into a chasm, where she falls headfirst and lands in water. A spindly substance is beneath her, lined up with her spine, and tendrils of it reach up to her back as she drifts down.

The forest erupts and the tree falls as Ymir emerges as a Titan.

Fritz keeps Ymir as a slave and puts her to work. By the time she is an adult, she has built roads, cultivated the land, and made bridges between mountains, allowing the Eldian tribe to prosper. Fritz decides that she will bear his child and sends her to annihilate the people of Marley, which she does with brutal effectiveness.

Time passes and Ymir bears children for Fritz in between fighting his battles. When Marleyan officers kneel before Fritz, one of them rises in retaliation and throws his spear at him. Ymir intervenes, letting the spear impale her through the shoulder. She collapses in front of Fritz as her daughters look on in horror. Fritz is surprised, but asks what she is doing since a spear should not kill her. He commands her to rise, calling her his slave once more, but she does not.

Fritz cuts up Ymir's body and has their daughters, Maria, Rose, and Sheena eat her remains. He commands his daughters to bear children and multiply so the blood of Ymir does not die out. When they die, they are in turn to have themselves fed to their own children, so the power is forever passed down and the Eldians will rule the land through their use of the massive Titans.

In the present, Eren Yeager grabs hold of Ymir while they are inside the paths and tells her that it ends now. He asks her to lend him her strength so he can put an end to this world. Eren tells her that she is a person, not a slave, and that she has the right to choose rather than to serve.

Seeing this, Zeke panics and runs after Eren. He yells his command a second time for Ymir to sterilize all Subjects of Ymir and reminds her that he is the one with royal blood.

Before he can reach them though, Eren cradles Ymir close and asks if she was the one who led him here. She must have been waiting for 2,000 years for someone to come. Tears in her eyes, Ymir lifts her head.

Back in Shiganshina District, a long spinal cord connects Eren's decapitated head with his body, even as his head rests in Zeke's hand. Though the battle continues, Wall Maria begins to shatter beneath and around the combatants. The Wall crumbles, revealing the Colossus Titans inside, as the skeleton of another Titan rises in front of Gabi Braun.

Trivia

 * Eren's pants and shoes are once again shown to be fully intact despite being eaten in Chapter 116.

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