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| “ | It's fine... being a goddess doesn't feel so bad, either. | „ |
| ~ Ymir to Bertolt, about being selfless and helping others. |
| “ | Krista... I have no right to tell you how to live. So this is just... a wish of mine. Live your life... with pride. | „ |
| ~ Ymir to Historia before revealing her Titan powers. |
Ymir is a supporting character of the Attack on Titan franchise. She serves as a minor supporting character in the 104th Training Corps arc, the Battle of Trost District arc, and the Female Titan arc in the manga and Season 1 of the anime adaptation, a major character in the Clash of the Titans arc in the manga and Season 2, and a posthumous character onwards.
She is an Eldian of Marley, who was condemned to deportation to the penal colony of Paradis Island and serve a life sentence as a Pure Titan, about 60 years prior the beginning of the story. Throughout most of the story, she is chronologically older than 75. She is usually seen with Historia Reiss, (formerly known by her fake name Christa Lenz) who is her love interest.
Ymir was named after Ymir Fritz, the ancient Founder and very first Titan in history, by a scammer to present her as a member of the Fritz royal family to an Eldian cult in an impoverished ghetto in Marley. Ymir was actually a fraud, as she had no royal blood and she was only a homeless Eldian little girl taken from the streets by the scammer. She inherited the power of the Jaw Titan from the Warrior Marcel Galliard in 845. After being set free after sixty years of banishment in Paradis Island, she made her way to the Walls where she lived as a hobo and petty criminal in the capital Mitras within the Interior, until she joined the 104th Training Corps two years after the Fall of Wall Maria.
She is voiced by Saki Fujita in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Elizabeth Maxwell in the English version of the anime.
Background[]
On the streets of a Marleyan city, a man of the cult finds a homeless little girl and names her "Ymir"
Many years ago, an orphan Eldian little girl who lived as a beggar was found by a unknown man in the streets of a city in Marley. He gave her the name "Ymir", a bed, food and a fancy dress. Because of her name, many adults started to kneel and worship her to be "blessed with immortality". She felt so happy to bring this group joy and felt her role as "Ymir" was fulfilling. Several years later during Ymir's preteen age, the authorities of Marley discovered the existence of Ymir's cult and raided its gathering place where Ymir lived. They started calling her a devil, and even the man who had given her name claimed that he had been deceived by her to believe she had Fritz blood. However, Ymir still tried to keep her role and to save the people who did worship her, much to their surprise, but she was not successful. The girl and her worshippers were all arrested by Marley's Public Security and condemned to deportation to the penal colony "Heaven", in Paradis Island. She was hated by the people in the city that threw rocks on her and her fellow cult members. Ymir and her people were injected with the Titan serum by the Marleyan soldiers, and transformed into mindless Titans to be banished to roam on Paradis.
60 years later, still as a Pure Titan, Ymir encountered the young Warriors Marcel Galliard, Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, and Annie Leonhart. The mindless Ymir tried to grab Reiner, but Marcel pushed him out of the way and was devoured before he could transform. After eating Marcel, she transformed back into a human, obtaining the power of the Jaw Titan in the process. When she opened her eyes, she witnessed herself in the Paths of the Coordinate, before returning to the physical world a few moments after, finally feeling freedom from her long nightmare and torment as she awakened in Paradis's Titan territory. She then travelled to the Walls with the Jaw Titan, only to find Wall Maria deserted and overrun with Pure Titans. Ymir used the Jaw to smuggle herself within the inner walls, presumably scaling them from the wild areas without people and human settlements. Although she had no clue about the characteristics of the Nine Titans, after a bit of struggle she managed to make her way through. She bypassed both Wall Rose and Wall Sheena and entered the most inner wall, which had the wealthy lands of the Interior and the royal capital Mitras.
Ymir started her new life within the Interior, also called the Center, the safest and better region of the Walls and the heart of Wall Sheena, where she would learn all about the lifestyle and beliefs of the Eldians. Ymir found out the Walls were even less advanced than the world she had known about 70 years ago, being a whole century behind, and even their writing system was outdated and old. From the population, Ymir learnt that the ones responsible for the Fall of Wall Maria were holders of the Nine Titans sent by her homeland Marley, although the citizens of Paradis did not even have any idea about their history, the globe and even the ocean, believed they were the last humans left in the world, and only knew that the Walls were breached by two Abnormal Titans called the Colossal and Armored Titans. Because of this, Ymir could not share her real identity with anyone, mainly because she did not want any part in the world's wars and factions, nor she wanted trouble with the military and the Eldian government, and out of fear of Marley's agents finding out and killing her, as she did not even know if anyone from her country was hiding within the Walls or if the Warrior Titans left and went back home after they attacked.
For two years Ymir survived on the streets of Mitras by begging for food and money or stealing both of them and other values by doing petty thefts and robberies, while also and spying on the Eldian nobility to learn any news about the real world outside. It was during this time, in late 846 or early 847, that she overheard conversation between priests of the Church of the Walls in the Interior and learned that a girl who was an illegitimate child of a noble family's regional lord's mistress was cast away from her own home in northern Wall Rose to live in the southernmost and least safe part of the Walls in the southernmost region. The girl was sent away two years before when she was younger, only a few days after the Fall of Wall Maria in 845, was given the false name Christa Lenz and was forced to join the Cadet Corps as soon as she would reach the eligible age, which would be in 847. Ymir's interest in Christa led her to leave the Interior and enlist the Cadets of southern Wall Rose to search for her, having spent a long time alone and friendless. Christa would later reveal herself to be Historia Reiss, although Ymir would not learn her real first name for years, while she already knew her noble family's name.
Story[]
Ymir and Christa/Historia
Ymir was initially a selfish, cynical, exploitative, confrontational, argumentative, and uncooperative girl. She very often criticized people for being untrue to themselves, as when she berated Sasha Braus, who developed an extremely polite and formal way of speaking to hide her native accent. However, sometime later she reveals a kinder side, especially towards Christa. She also harshly criticized Armin Arlert's flaws, deeming him incompetent and going as far as stating how unfair it was that he was the sole survivor of his squad after a Titan ambush in the Battle of Trost District.
By her own admission, Ymir's greatest fear was actually dying. This turned out to be a lie, and she eventually chooses to return with Reiner and Bertolt to their homeland, so they wouldn't leave empty-handed. Having failed to deliver both Eren and Historia, Reiner and Bertolt received an ultimatum by the Marley government but Ymir payed with her life.
As the story progress, it is revealed that she is actually brave, selfless, and quite emotional. This is shown when Ymir accepts Reiner and Bertolt's offer to return to their hometown in exchange for a pardon. She also has shown regret over eating Marcel (even though she had no control over herself during her time as a mindless Titan and has no memory of the event). But she states that she is very thankful to them, because their presence allowed her to be released from her Titan form, which she deemed as an endless nightmare.
Ymir is in love with Christa/Historia and is very protective of her. She openly expresses her feelings when she promises Christa that they will marry after the war. During the Female Titan arc',' she worries about Christa and asks Bertolt where she is. Later, before she leaves to save Bertolt from the Pure Titans, she apologizes to her and gently caresses her head while in her Titan form. As a prisoner of the Marleyans, Ymir writes a love letter to her, revealing all her tragic backstory, telling that she will probably die soon and once again apologizing that she didn't marry her.
Although she hated the government of Marley, Ymir was actually neutral in the war between Marley and Paradis. She called Eren childish and was the only potential ally of the Survey Corps who opposed to kill Reiner and Bertolt, calling the two of them "small fry". She decided to help them against Mikasa and the others, even tried to convince Historia to go to their hometown together. This because Ymir knows the unfortunate position of the Warriors as Eldian pawns. She already guessed that the destruction of the Walls had been planned by the Marley's power. And also knowing about the short lifespan of a Titan shifter and how horribly Eldians are treated in Marley, she felt sorry for her two kidnappers. She had to chose between staying with her beloved Historia or following Bertolt and Reiner to avoid them to suffer punishment for returning home empty-handed. However, she decided to let Historia stay in Paradis, much to Bertolt's anger at first, only to find out that Eren had the Coordinate power after all, thus making the kidnapping of Historia pointless and Eren the only target.
She sacrificed herself by following Reiner and Bertolt back to Marley where she was eaten by Porco Galliard, Marcel's younger brother, in order to give him the power of Jaws Titan. She felt that she owed Marcel's life and power to his Warrior friends and brother. Bertolt and Galliard were both sorry for her unfortunate position as an Eldian and Galliard had no hatred towards her, knowing that it was beyond the control of a normal Titan to avoid eating people. Galliard thanked her for giving back his brother's Titan.
Along with Grisha, Bertolt, Eren Kruger, the Galliard brothers and Tom Ksaver, Ymir is one of the deceased Titan shifters that Zeke Yeager manages to free from Eren's control, allowing them to fend off the army of Titan shifters of the past while the Warriors and Survey Corps destroy Eren's main Founding Titan body.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Her name was never mentioned throughout the manga until the Clash of the Titans arc, and the first season of the anime adaptation credits her as "Freckles", due to her name being kept hidden and like in the manga, no one says her name until in the second season.
- This due to the name "Ymir" and the term "Subject of Ymir" being mentioned as potentially important pieces of information during a special chapter in the beginning of the 5th volume, right before the begin of the Female Titan arc in Chapter 19. During said chapter, a Titan (who used to be a friend and tutor of Ymir in the past) is seen speaking words of meaning for the very first time in the story, naming Ilse Langnar "Ymir".
- An OVA episode about Ilse's notebook was released shortly after the end of the anime's first season, which adapts the events of the 5th volume's first and special chapter, showing the first talking Titan ever met and the name "Ymir" being used.
- When Ymir's name is mentioned to Hange and Levi in both manga and anime versions of the Clash of the Titans arc, both are seen acting with surprise and interest, remembering the testimony of Ilse in her notebook.
- Ilse Langnar was said to resemble Ymir, being mistaken for her by a Pure Titan.
- Ymir and her cult are never seen wearing Eldian armbands, despite living in Marley.
- It is mentioned by Kiyomi Azumabito and some Marleyan merchants that more and more Subjects of Ymir have been constantly found out living outside the internment zones illegally in the recent years of the story, and many of them even managed to escape the zones. Because of this, the citizens of Marley and other countries are paranoid about having Subjects of Ymir pretending to be normal people living near them. Tom Ksaver is an example, having escaped an internment zone during his youth and pretended to be a Marleyan to live freely and marry a Marleyan woman he loved.
- Only at the time of Grisha Yeager's childhood, the blood tests to detect Subjects of Ymir improved and became obligatory in the world's countries. Before Annie Leonhart was born, her adoptive father was found to be an Eldian as an adult from a blood test, while he was unaware of it.
- As the two cult members who found Ymir on the streets did not wear armbands, it is possible they were illegally living outside the internment zones, although both them and the whole cult were well aware of being Subjects of Ymir and even proudly referred themselves as such. It is also simply possible that the men who found Ymir did not bother to wear their armbands while walking in the middle of the night, while the other cult members would not need to wear them behind closed doors in their own buildings. Ymir and the orphan children who lived with her did not wear armbands however, possibly because no local authority ever met them or because they lived outside the zones. If the cult of Ymir was living illegally as Marleyan citizens, this would be another reason for their arrest, along with the worse offense of adoring the Founder Ymir and the Fritz family.
- Also back during this Ymir's time, not all the Subjects of Ymir were discovered yet, and many still lived in poorer parts of the Marleyan cities away from authorities, so it is simply possible that Ymir and the cult were living in a poor ghetto area as Eldians, where the law of armbands was not enforced much. It is also unclear when the armbands came into play in Marley's law, so it is possible that during Ymir's time they weren't being used or mandatory yet, at least not while in the Eldian ghettos. If the latter is the case, then Ymir and her cult were simply living in a public Eldian area without having to wear armbands. The fact that Ymir says that the whole world hated her just for existing, that she understands exactly what Bertholdt means during his speech when he says "people hate and despise us", and that she grows irritated with Eren and speaks in defense of the Warriors, indicates she always lived as a discriminated Eldian while in Marley, even if she lies to Historia when she tells her there is no one outside the Walls who would tell her she was better off not being born. Ymir claims to be the only person who truly understands the position of the Warriors, and compares it to her own and even Historia's before the uprising against the Reiss monarchy.
- It is possible that during Ymir's time a lot of the Eldians were just left homeless and poor instead of being forced into internment zones (but with better homes and lifestyle), as Kiyomi said that the Subjects of Ymir found themselves exiled in communities more and more as they were found out over the century.
- Chronologically, Ymir is around the same generation of Dr. Yeager, Zeke and Eren's paternal grandfather, or at least not too younger than him, both of them being born around a time closer to the Great Titan War, when the hatred for Eldians was even stronger in the world and numerous older Marleyans had lived under Eldia's tyranny and witnessed the Marleyan uprising. By the time Grisha was a child, only roughly more than 70 years or so had passed since the Great Titan War and the rebirth of Marley.
- Ymir's predecessor, Marcel Galliard, chronologically gets devoured by Ymir and restores her to humanity only several hours prior the beginning of Attack on Titan, as the story's second scene takes place hours later on the same day, with the Survey Corps riding outside the Walls in an expedition (not counting the very first scene with the Colossal Titan looming at Wall Maria, which fully takes place hours later in the episode). Marcel's death occurs at dawn, and after Ymir reverted back into an unconscious human, the other three Warriors were journeying to the Walls with a horde of Pure Titans behind them.
- Also, Eren Yeager inherited the Attack Titan and Founding Titan from his father Grisha only a day after Ymir did, following the Fall of Wall Maria and the massacre of the Reiss family the night before.
- Galliard inherited Ymir's memories, but never shares them with anyone, like Armin refuses to share Bertolt's. As Ymir frequently used to hang around Historia, Reiner and Bertolt, Galliard judged Reiner's behavior during his infiltration years and correctly insinuated that Reiner was imitating his brother Marcel's personality. Despite seeing memories of the trainees within the Walls, Galliard still calls the people of the Walls devils, although it is likely due to the heat of battle, his rage on his enemies invading his hometown and hurting his loved ones and killing Bertolt, rather than genuine ignorance. Also other than Historia, Sasha and the two Warriors, Ymir didn't have many friends, due to her personality. And Ymir being a Marleyan Eldian is not one of the 'island devils'. Also Galliard showed nothing but hatred for Eren and doesn't know much about him, as Ymir wasn't close to him, Mikasa and Armin. During the Raid on Liberio, Galliard recognized Mikasa by sight, likely from Ymir's memories.
- Her English Voice Actress, Elizabeth Maxwell, also voiced Caulifla and Kefla in Dragon Ball Super, Shakuyaku in One Piece, Midnight in My Hero Academia, Arisa Uotani in Fruits Basket (2019 Series), Urbosa and Riju in The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Winter Schnee in RWBY, Sae Niijima in Persona 5, Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell: Arise, Albedo in Overlord, Nagato in Kantai Collection series, Nikki in Camp Camp, Bishamonten in Noragami, Belial in Seven Mortal Sins, Skout in Nomad of Nowhere, Ayano Kosaka in Code Geass: Akito the Exiled, and Phoebe in Battleborn.
References[]
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Shiganshina trio Paradis Island Marley Hizuru | ||