#aot 135

Levi just seems to be suffering with every chapter ITS SAD. I love the Mikasa/Levi parallels, he saved her in the beginning and she finally gets to repay her debt. From what I’ve seen she’s been saving everyone in the chapter, best girl.

So are you telling me that it really is Ymir who released the pigs?! It looks like as if she did this on purpose tho, I just don't get it. All of this mess started because of the damn pigs, like WTH.

I suppose this all begins with one afternoon with a dream shared between friends. Armin discovers a book and begins to dream about seeing the outside world. He tells his friend Eren about it and at first Eren is dismissive but as Armin talks he can see something in his eyes. Something he didn’t know could exist was suddenly real, something he could see for himself. And just like that Eren and Armin shared a dream of seeing the outside world.

As time goes on Eren will sometimes feel lost in what’s happening, unable to see beyond the present and the past. Armin will always remember his dream, Eren will hear those words from him and he remembers the dream too. He’ll remember that there is a future, that there’s hope because of the world they can explore together.

Time and time again, Eren and Armin are forced to see the cruelty of this world but Armin would always remember his dream will remind Eren of that dream. He might have sounded a little naïve but it gave Eren something nothing else did. Real hope for the future, that things could change.

When Armin was on the brink of death, Eren did everything in his power to save him. He had to remember the dream and tell it to others to make them understand. Someone with a dream like that has to live because the dream is something precious. It gave Eren hope when nothing else would, it gives everyone who hears it hope when there seemingly is none. It allows people to see the true beauty in this world.

Until the inconceivable happens. When Eren taps into the memories of past shifters he inherits an entirely new perspective. He is informed of the true cruelty and suffering that lies beyond the wall, the suffering of his own father and other’s like him simply for being born into this world.

When Armin talks about his dream, Eren can’t see the beauty of it past the cruelty suffered by those before him. Because the past is so visceral, and the present is so fleeting, he can’t be brought back by Armin’s dream of the future. To Eren, it does not exist unless they can remove that horror from the world in a decisive way. The people outside of the wall are inseparable from cruelty, and once they are gone, then we can be free.

This is where Ymir comes in. At the very beginning of chapter 130, there is a flashback to Ymir’s perspective revealing that she was indeed the one who freed the pigs. Up to this point it was assumed that she was merely a victim of circumstance, but this moment confirms that she is indeed the one who started this story with a simple act. On first glance, you could look at this and say she values freedom just like Eren does. But what she is doing is saving the pigs from being slaughtered for food. What this conveys is that she sees inherent value in life itself believes that life should have the freedom to exist.

This small act led to a series of events in which Ymir learns the true cruelty of this world. A life of slavery lasting long after her death. For 2000 years she is left alone trapped with this pain.

This is the essence of her connection to Eren. How he is able to empathise with her, reach her as no one else has. Because he knows her pain. Because he is also a child force to learn so early that the world is a cruel place. Forced to learn this again and again and again until something broke. The world is just.. cruel. He needs to have the power and the strength to do something about it. He believes he knows how to save her from this suffering and put and end to this cruel world. But a drowning person cannot save a drowning person.

The interesting thing about emotional connections is that they are participatory. Both ways. Eren was able to see Ymir’s memories and so Ymir is now looking at his, notable a memory of Eren and Armin when they first share their dream of seeing the outside world.

Ymir is now fully awake. She wants to understand him, his intentions and the realisations of those intentions. She explores his memories while observing the rumbling unfold in the form of birds.

She has seen Eren confide in Ramzi why he is doing this. An innocent person dying in the name of freedom. Ymir gave Eren this power and now millions of people like Ramzi are being slaughtered like pigs. When Eren reached out to her, she was in so much pain that she needed a release but now that she has seen what Eren is doing, does Ymir really want to commit to this?

She also notices when Eren brings Armin to paths. Eren wants to show Armin that the dream is finally real but it is apparent that Eren does not know what that dream is anymore. Seeing that dream of freedom become a reality was Eren’s intention but that is not what has happened. At least not from Armin’s perspective. If this is not the dream, then what is?

Eren is lost because he has lost that dream, lost his humanity. He has freed Ymir but he is now isolated and alone in the dark. He has not overcome enemies of freedom he has succumb to the cruelty of this world. Since he was brought to paths, Ymir has been watching Armin. She is paying attention to him and this dream, she is deciding where she lands between the two of their perspectives.

Armin may be trying to talk to the wrong person. Eren refuses to listen to Armin because he now sees him as too naïve but Ymir’s will is undecided at this moment. Does she want her will to be realised as an expression of the cruelty of this world or of its beauty?