Board Thread:Manga/@comment-27321453-20191008222936/@comment-27125793-20191009005820

Well, I didn't think Isayma would be able to outdo himself after the last chapter, but lo and behold, I was wrong.

There have been many attempted explanations for the spinal cord thing that attached itself to Ymir; I'd like to throw my two cents in. Basically, the source of Ymir's power is the one Kruger believed was most likely to be true, where she came into contact with the "source of all organic matter". However, this infinite source does not exist in the same dimension (or realm, if you'd prefer) as Ymir's and Eren's, but in a separate realm, where time flows differently. In other words, the Paths Realm is the source of all organic matter; the very sand that she uses to build the Titans and heal shifter injuries. I believe what she came into contact with was but a small physical manifestation of that realm in Ymir's world. When she merged with it, not only did she gain control of that inexhaustabile amount of organic matter, but the realm became an extension of Ymir herself.

Initially, like most I imagine, I believed that when she gained the power of the Titans, she could exert her powers on all Eldians due to no other connection than ethnicity, which, honestly, I found a little weird. However, this chapter pretty much shows that Ymir could only exercise that power on herself or her blood, as we saw when the coordinate first appeared with three protruding branches after her daughters ate her corpse. All Subjects of Ymir are related to her by blood, so why does the royal family specifically have so much power over her? Easy. It gets down to two things.

One, Ymir's slavery mentality is so deeply entrenched into her that, even after death, she could not escape it. She didn't know anything else, even though she was suffering.

Two, I said "royal family", not "royal blood". It's about status and authority. Though all her subects are genetically her descendants, the royal family is like the central authority, the one she acknowledges they have, for they are a continuation of the first Eldian King's will and power; the very person she'd shown absolute obedience and submissiveness too. I'd already said that all her subjects exerted varying levels of control over her, but that's because all other Eldians are an extension of the royal family's (and the first king's) power and domain, plus the fact that, in life, she'd served the Eldians almost as much as she did the king. All her actions were for the benefit of the tribe-turned-empire.

This also proves that all the powers shifters possess, they possess indirectly. Ymir's grants them whatever they wish, as long as it's within their specific Titan form's limits and abilities.

It's a very satisfying twist that all accounts of history are predominantly correct. She came into contact with the source of all organic energy, and, in a sense, she made a deal with a devil, that being the first Eldian King, doubtlessly the most vile, despicable, power-hungry character in all of AoT (and that's saying something). Another thing of note is the usage of the apple whenever Ymir is depicted making the deal with the Devil of all Earth, which is often a symbolism for sex and fertility, which is, again, true since the king 'rewarded' her by making her bear his children.

I was also glad how Isayama decided to use the scene of Frieda and Historia talking about what it means to be 'ladylike', immediately cutting into Ymir's life of blind obedience after that. It's been done before in AoT, but I believe this is again Isayama pretty much telling us that, if your desire to help others is without bounds, you're most likely not of the healthiest mentality. He's basically telling us that altruism, while fundamentally positive, should know limits, like anything else. So many other manga and anime espouse it to the point that the lesson boils down to "the only things worth doing are the things you do for others", but Isayama's like, "to hell with that. Are you crazy?!"

Like Ymir (Historia's hetero-sexual life partner *wink wink*) said, you should live your life with pride, and that means being unafraid to do things for yourself. Isayma doesn't say that kindness and altruism are wrong. Many of the heroes' actions are done for the sake of a collective good, after all. He's only saying that, past a certain point, parts of your mentality focused on thinking about others are there at the heavy expense of your self-pride, identity, and preservation. Or, like in Historia's case and partly original Ymir's, you're doing it because it's the only way you know to affirm your existence, since you hate yorself so much, self-confidence and pride are pretty much out the window. However, despite how sunny and good (*ugh*) it appears superficially, it's a terrible and extremely self-harmful thing to base your sense of identity off of, and you most likely have it cause you've seen and experienced some crap in your life and you haven't yet got over it.

The use of old Germanic and Viking clothing for Eldians and Roman garments of Marleyans was a pleasant surprise. Kinda makes sense, since the Roman empire stretched along the Mediterranean coast and the sea is a common theme with Marley. Most people tend to compare Marleyans with the Nazis, but I can't helpbut disagree. Sure, I get why, but you got to remember what Udo said; other nations treat Eldians even worse than Marleyans do, and they all no doubt use the same system of selecting them out with armbands or whatever. Personally, due to the constant sea theme as well as the time period compared to our own, I've recently likened Marley more to the aforementioned Roman and the British Empire, especially after seeing the description of Marley's territory being likened to the latter empire in size. When we think colonization, what country could come to mind first but Britain?

All in all, excellent chapter, and I'm equally as hyped for the next one as I was for 122.