Tag: ymir

Historia and Ymir’s Shared Paths

Oh, Historia. 😦

image

As sad as this development makes me for her (and I totally get why people don’t like it), I do believe it makes narrative sense for Historia’s arc and fits with the cruel aspect of SnK’s world (really not much different than our own). Also, I do not believe this dooms Historia to tragedy.

It’s no secret that the one piece of Isayama’s writing that I’ve thus far hated completely is Ymir’s death. It didn’t seem to fit with what we knew about Ymir, and left a lot unresolved between her and Historia, especially in terms of how they affected each other. Her death was confirmed way too late to have any real thematic impact since the characters were already used to living without her. 

But with 107, we see that Historia is not cured and has in fact regressed. Historia is still trapped in the same dangerous cycle that killed Ymir: sacrificing herself and her own desires to be a figurehead for her people, and allowing her children to suffer the same fate. This flaw killed Ymir twice (firstly when she was turned into a Titan, secondly when she was too kind to leave Bertolt and Reiner), and Historia is currently heading down a path that will kill her and kill her children. 

image
image

The irony of the situation is palpable: Historia is deliberately having a child to sacrifice them for a cause. That’s what Grisha did with Zeke. 

image

It also carries parallels to what happened to Ymir–hopeless people used a street child to fulfill their own desires, to give themselves hope.

image
image
image

Eren just sacrificed children for a cause too (to somehow break with this plan and thereby protect Historia presumably), narratively showing Historia the horrors of just what she is planning to do. 

image

This development gives Ymir’s death resonance, rather than her death being just a letter way too late in the game with no real impact. Because of her own and also directly because of Ymir’s martyr complex driven decisions, Historia has sunk into a similar place: allowing herself to be a figurehead, endangering her life and her child’s for the sake of a cause.

image

No, Historia, that is not all. Because someone still has Ymir’s memories:

image

I think we’ve all thought Ymir’s memories would be relevant at some point, but this development is giving me hope that it’s going to be not just a sweet heartwarming moment, but instead a powerful one. If Porco does share certain memories of Ymir’s with Historia, including how she actually felt about her and how she felt about her own decisions (this is surely not what Ymir would have wanted for Historia), I have hope that might jumpstart Historia’s development in a positive direction again. 

Do you think Reiner and Historia will ever see each other at any point? He said he wanted to marry her twice so I wonder if that was set up for something. Since she had such a big impact on Eren I wonder if it will be the same for Reiner as they’re parallels.

I honestly don’t know. Reiner’s “I want to marry Historia” honestly contrasts with his “I don’t like women” statement, so it’s difficult to read too much into what Reiner says. Tbh, I think the reason Reiner latched onto Historia because here was a girl who had been through hell and still was kind. Had anyone ever shown Reiner that kindness?

I do think Historia might be relevant though especially when we consider Porco killed Ymir. If Ymir isn’t going to be a totally botched storyline, logically Ymir’s memories might be important and could give Historia closure. So Porco and Historia might very well meet, and she and Reiner could meet then… but no, I don’t necessarily see them having a big impact on each other at this point in the story. I could be wrong though!

Who are your favs in snk? I knew you liked Eren Mikasa Armin Annie and Historia. Did I miss something? You also said you liked Erwin and Levi but aren’t particularly attached to them. I love everyone! Hope Annie Comes back tbh! <3

I also really love everyone! The vets are not characters I’m especially attached to for the same reasons I love characters like Eto and Arima in TG but they’re never going to be faves: the focus is on children coming into an adult understanding, so I find myself drawn to those children. If I had to rank, I’d say my top would be:

1) Armin

2) Eren

3) Historia

4) Annie

5) Mikasa

6) Jean

7) Reiner

8) Ymir

9) Zeke (what the hell I’m yelling at myself for this because I can’t believe I’m saying this; I hated him a year ago, like hated hated, and I still think he’s a malicious bastard but damn if he isn’t interesting)

10) Bertolt

shout out to Levi as well sometimes I contemplate switching him with Zeke or Bertolt.

Wdym about Ymir’s death? I am salty about it & her wasted character potential to be something more but I think it fits her character. Y was always seen as a selfish person before her past was shown proving she was actually selfless.Y vowed that she’d live for herself after sacrificing her 1st life but then does the exact same thing and sacrifices herself for Historia and then for R&B proving that despite how much she wanted to be selfish she was just too selfless. It’s the irony of her character

It’s not so much how she died but more the way in which it was written. You don’t keep a character who is that important MIA that long and have their death be shown via a letter and a flashback. That’s, frankly, poor writing.

And sure, it’s ironic. But it all depends on what SnK is ultimately going for. Is the message that the cycle is going to repeat and repeat and repeat? If so, then Ymir’s death makes sense. If not, it makes less thematic sense.

fuku-shuu:

Had a slow day at work yesterday, so I scanned the two exclusive posters that came with the SnK Escape from Certain Death Nintendo 3DS game Treasure Box Edition (Thanks to @girwants for the reminder a while back)! Enjoy 🙂 I don’t believe either of these have been distributed online in high quality before.

Haven’t scanned anything for a while since I only have access to a scanner at the office, but will try to do more in the future!

Note: I tried to make the watermark unobtrusive, but if any editors would still like to work with completely non-watermarked versions of the images, please feel free to message/ask me and I’m happy to provide! 😀