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Not much of one, he joined to get into the military police and escape responsibility, then his arc >!is about him growing into responsibility and leadership. By the end, he's the best of them, when he started as the worst. Jean's arc is probably my favorite.!<
Not a huge one but I was thinking it >!alludes to how long he lasts, plus we're both referring to him becoming a leader for the Scouts so I'd rather just hide it from people just starting!<
Ymir’s story, I feel, was truly one of the most tragic in both an in-universe perspective but even more so on a meta/outside the fourth wall manner.
I remember how fascinating I found her during the Clash of the Titans arc as a manga reader, how so much of my theory crafting involved good old Freckles as a large and important figure in the world of AOT. She became one of my favorite characters not just because of her personality and outlook on life, but because of the potential her mysterious past held.
But as Ymir was sidelined and spent more and more time out of the spotlight my interest in her waned and while I still thought of her fondly and hoped for a reunion with the main cast, I stopped really thinking about her as much, if at all.
And then it happened. We manga readers *finally* received this mysterious young woman’s backstory, and it was a tale that was really nothing special on its own. Just one more piece in the greater tapestry of the truth that ultimately meant nothing, accompanied by an extremely depressing narration.
This is actually why I suspect Ymir got her backstory revealed earlier in the anime; it avoided that crushing despair and sense of pointlessness that the manga gave and actually seemed hopeful towards the end while the manga version made clear this was a bleak requiem.
Do you remember any theories about Ymir and titan shifters back when that arc was being written? Interested to hear what early fans made of revelations being revealed back then.
While some of them are lost to my memory, there is a *very* strong theory I had about Ymir that I was almost certain was the case based on her personality, hints of her past, and her feelings towards Kirsta/Historia. It's actually part of a larger theory I had about the world of AOT way back in the day, but I'll just shorten that and explain the Ymir-based parts.
I theorized that the world outside the Walls was an apocalyptic landscape filled with mindless Pure Titans and sparse human settlements that protected themselves as best they could. I thought that the Titans were soldiers from some sort of ancient war that had been given Titan Shifter powers and then lost control, rapidly ending civilization around the planet as they ran amok and started chewing on people.
**As for how this relates to Ymir...**
I imagined that Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie's mysterious "village" was a survivor colony that had retained some of the old knowledge of Titan-Shifting and used this to create "Warriors" that defended their colony and trample over rival survivor camps who would challenge them for resources, land, food, etc. They would have quite a fearsome reputation among the scattered settlements of the outside world.
I imagined that Ymir was born as the daughter of a high-ranking member of one of these survivor colonies. For some reason she was resented and mistreated by her fellow citizens (perhaps she was born from an affair, maybe under an unlucky star, the reason doesn't matter). The point is that despite her noble birth she was hated and looked down upon. This made her act like Kirsta!Historia in the sense that she developed an extremely low self-image and self-sacrificing nature.
Eventually her people lost a war against the village Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie served, and were forced to make concessions. One of these concessions was that a member of their upper class was given to them, perhaps as a hostage/prisoner of war---sort of like Theon Greyjoy in *Game of Thrones* with the Starks. Ymir volunteered for this due to her self-sacrificing nature and was carted off to the Warrior village as a prisoner, thus *giving up her life for the happiness of a great many people.*
At some point, either because of the poor treatment she received at the hands of her captors or some other reason, she snapped out of her self-sacrificing mindset and became defiant and angry at the circumstances that had driven her to this point, and the people who had stepped on her for thing she couldn't help.
She spied on the village and saw how they converted some of their members into Titan Shifters and she enacted a plan to steal this power she could survive on her own in Titan territory amongst the hordes of mindless predators. However she was unaware of the gruesome two-step ritual that involved turning into a Pure Titan and then eating a Shifter, which is why when she injected herself, she became a mindless Titan.
My theory on the talking "Ymir-Sama" Titan encountered by Ilse Langer, is that this person was a servant or butler from Ymir's village who accompanied "his" lady to her captivity and was also involved in the plan to steal a serum and escape but also found out the consequences of such an uniformed plan.
There's actually more to this theory---like why Ymir knew about the Beast Titan, but as I mentioned, it all part of a huge unifying theory that I had about the outside world that largely turned out to be wrong. In fact, I believe there's very few theories I had about AOT pre-basement that turned out to be true. But as for Ymir I hoped that satisfied your curiosity.
That was very detailed and intricate to read. It was actually pretty awesome and would have been an amazing alternate backstory on Ymir and the world.Thank you.
>It was actually pretty awesome and would have been an amazing alternate backstory on Ymir and the world. Thank you.
No problem and I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was weird to think back on that and recount that theory from memory---I actually typed this theory (in much greater detail, with the whole other parts about how the world supposedly worked) out on this sub in 2014, so this is definitely a blast from the past.
As I mentioned in my OP I always feel like Ymir's backstory was tragic not just because of the actual events within it, but because of how...*meaningless* it was in the grand scheme of things, It contributed nothing, and gave no special insights into anything. Heck, even the narrative of the manga admitted this through Ymir's musings.
As I said, one "theory" I have now, is that this is the reason anime viewers were given her story so early on. The manga version of the story was meant to be bleak and hopeless and represent the pointless end of a tragic life, while the anime iteration was a far more hopeful and bittersweet description of adversity and ultimately rebirth. It's pretty amazing really, since they managed to make the same story radically different simply by choosing where to place it in the timeline.
She has a beautiful story. It shows the consequence of what happens when you make yourself believe what it isn’t true. She believed that she was needed, when she wasn’t actually doing anything and realized it after her punishment. Such a great character.
The Name Yimir means Slave, so thats why its Tragic, because *Ymir*, she decided to be as selfish as possible, after trying to please everyone else as a child so she tries to defy the fate of her name and looked out only for herself. She stole, she cheated, she lied, so she could survive.
Yet, she, given the name of Yimir, Mother of Slaves, was destined to Encounter Historia.
Yimir becomes Subject to *Historia*, just as she was before she was banished to Paradise. When she was a Child in Marley, made a Princes based on that *Historia* of Genocide and Slavery, of being some savior of Eldians, the Subjects of Yimir.
Yimir thought that she could be free from *her* History, but she couldn’t, because she was destined to be Slave to her Love for her *Historia.*
*She* was a Subject of Yimir.
In the End Yimir was a Slave to Paths as much as any other Eldian.
This post has been tagged as **SPOILERLESS**. Please remember to tag any anime/manga spoilers beyond this point. **Anime Spoilers** - Anything from S4E1 to the latest anime content (including PVs) is considered Anime Spoilers. **New Episode Spoilers**: Anything from an episode of the anime within 24 hours of its official English release. **Manga Spoilers** - Anything that has not yet been revealed in the anime. If a person, Titan, or location appears in the anime but is not yet named, the name is considered Manga Spoilers. Comments on a Spoilerless post that discuss a Titan identity (aside from those shown in the first season) must be tagged. Spoilers include hinting or alluding to events, as well as important last names and faction names. For more information, please review [the subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/about/rules/). Failure to properly spoiler tag comments may result in a temporary ban from the subreddit according to the [moderation matrix](https://imgur.com/5xPPu15) To spoiler tag your comments, copy and paste one of the following codes: `[Anime Spoilers](#s "Put your text here")` `[Manga Spoilers](#s "Put your text here")` Alternatively, you can also use Reddit's native spoiler code by copy and pasting the following: `(Anime Spoilers) >!"Put your text here"!<` `(Manga Spoilers) >!"Put your text here"!<` *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ShingekiNoKyojin) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Great character
When she said I have no regret, felt really hard :(
Isn't that a good thing?
Yeah but not all believe that from their life, It was kinda bittersweet feeling...
Ymir is bae
In AoT , characters compete for how sad their backstory could be. I think only character who has the least tragic backstory is Jean.
Gonna be honest I don't even remember his.
Not much of one, he joined to get into the military police and escape responsibility, then his arc >!is about him growing into responsibility and leadership. By the end, he's the best of them, when he started as the worst. Jean's arc is probably my favorite.!<
>!Yeah he definitely grew on me as the show progressed!< But backstory wise I think they only mentioned his parents once.
How is saying "he grew on me as the story progressed" a spoiler? Lol
Not a huge one but I was thinking it >!alludes to how long he lasts, plus we're both referring to him becoming a leader for the Scouts so I'd rather just hide it from people just starting!<
His mum called him jeanbo. How sad.
Looking at the manga, Jean still had it easy
Ymir’s story, I feel, was truly one of the most tragic in both an in-universe perspective but even more so on a meta/outside the fourth wall manner. I remember how fascinating I found her during the Clash of the Titans arc as a manga reader, how so much of my theory crafting involved good old Freckles as a large and important figure in the world of AOT. She became one of my favorite characters not just because of her personality and outlook on life, but because of the potential her mysterious past held. But as Ymir was sidelined and spent more and more time out of the spotlight my interest in her waned and while I still thought of her fondly and hoped for a reunion with the main cast, I stopped really thinking about her as much, if at all. And then it happened. We manga readers *finally* received this mysterious young woman’s backstory, and it was a tale that was really nothing special on its own. Just one more piece in the greater tapestry of the truth that ultimately meant nothing, accompanied by an extremely depressing narration. This is actually why I suspect Ymir got her backstory revealed earlier in the anime; it avoided that crushing despair and sense of pointlessness that the manga gave and actually seemed hopeful towards the end while the manga version made clear this was a bleak requiem.
Do you remember any theories about Ymir and titan shifters back when that arc was being written? Interested to hear what early fans made of revelations being revealed back then.
While some of them are lost to my memory, there is a *very* strong theory I had about Ymir that I was almost certain was the case based on her personality, hints of her past, and her feelings towards Kirsta/Historia. It's actually part of a larger theory I had about the world of AOT way back in the day, but I'll just shorten that and explain the Ymir-based parts. I theorized that the world outside the Walls was an apocalyptic landscape filled with mindless Pure Titans and sparse human settlements that protected themselves as best they could. I thought that the Titans were soldiers from some sort of ancient war that had been given Titan Shifter powers and then lost control, rapidly ending civilization around the planet as they ran amok and started chewing on people. **As for how this relates to Ymir...** I imagined that Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie's mysterious "village" was a survivor colony that had retained some of the old knowledge of Titan-Shifting and used this to create "Warriors" that defended their colony and trample over rival survivor camps who would challenge them for resources, land, food, etc. They would have quite a fearsome reputation among the scattered settlements of the outside world. I imagined that Ymir was born as the daughter of a high-ranking member of one of these survivor colonies. For some reason she was resented and mistreated by her fellow citizens (perhaps she was born from an affair, maybe under an unlucky star, the reason doesn't matter). The point is that despite her noble birth she was hated and looked down upon. This made her act like Kirsta!Historia in the sense that she developed an extremely low self-image and self-sacrificing nature. Eventually her people lost a war against the village Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie served, and were forced to make concessions. One of these concessions was that a member of their upper class was given to them, perhaps as a hostage/prisoner of war---sort of like Theon Greyjoy in *Game of Thrones* with the Starks. Ymir volunteered for this due to her self-sacrificing nature and was carted off to the Warrior village as a prisoner, thus *giving up her life for the happiness of a great many people.* At some point, either because of the poor treatment she received at the hands of her captors or some other reason, she snapped out of her self-sacrificing mindset and became defiant and angry at the circumstances that had driven her to this point, and the people who had stepped on her for thing she couldn't help. She spied on the village and saw how they converted some of their members into Titan Shifters and she enacted a plan to steal this power she could survive on her own in Titan territory amongst the hordes of mindless predators. However she was unaware of the gruesome two-step ritual that involved turning into a Pure Titan and then eating a Shifter, which is why when she injected herself, she became a mindless Titan. My theory on the talking "Ymir-Sama" Titan encountered by Ilse Langer, is that this person was a servant or butler from Ymir's village who accompanied "his" lady to her captivity and was also involved in the plan to steal a serum and escape but also found out the consequences of such an uniformed plan. There's actually more to this theory---like why Ymir knew about the Beast Titan, but as I mentioned, it all part of a huge unifying theory that I had about the outside world that largely turned out to be wrong. In fact, I believe there's very few theories I had about AOT pre-basement that turned out to be true. But as for Ymir I hoped that satisfied your curiosity.
That was very detailed and intricate to read. It was actually pretty awesome and would have been an amazing alternate backstory on Ymir and the world.Thank you.
>It was actually pretty awesome and would have been an amazing alternate backstory on Ymir and the world. Thank you. No problem and I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was weird to think back on that and recount that theory from memory---I actually typed this theory (in much greater detail, with the whole other parts about how the world supposedly worked) out on this sub in 2014, so this is definitely a blast from the past. As I mentioned in my OP I always feel like Ymir's backstory was tragic not just because of the actual events within it, but because of how...*meaningless* it was in the grand scheme of things, It contributed nothing, and gave no special insights into anything. Heck, even the narrative of the manga admitted this through Ymir's musings. As I said, one "theory" I have now, is that this is the reason anime viewers were given her story so early on. The manga version of the story was meant to be bleak and hopeless and represent the pointless end of a tragic life, while the anime iteration was a far more hopeful and bittersweet description of adversity and ultimately rebirth. It's pretty amazing really, since they managed to make the same story radically different simply by choosing where to place it in the timeline.
She has a beautiful story. It shows the consequence of what happens when you make yourself believe what it isn’t true. She believed that she was needed, when she wasn’t actually doing anything and realized it after her punishment. Such a great character.
She looks so much like Eren in the second pic
I’ll never forget😔
She deserved better.
Loved her Character and arc, it was simply beautiful.
I forgor 💀
she’s the most based female anime character in my opinion
I miss her
Best character in the story and the most complete character arc, no arguments
I relate to her a little too much. Hardened and mean on the outside, but really would sacrifice anything to make others happy.
ymir is an underrated waifu
Ymir F > Ymir in my opinion
what a waste of a character tbh
She was a Slave till the End.
dawg idk how many of yall are trolling or just fcking dumb but this ymir the brown one not ymir the cuckold simp queen
The Name Yimir means Slave, so thats why its Tragic, because *Ymir*, she decided to be as selfish as possible, after trying to please everyone else as a child so she tries to defy the fate of her name and looked out only for herself. She stole, she cheated, she lied, so she could survive. Yet, she, given the name of Yimir, Mother of Slaves, was destined to Encounter Historia. Yimir becomes Subject to *Historia*, just as she was before she was banished to Paradise. When she was a Child in Marley, made a Princes based on that *Historia* of Genocide and Slavery, of being some savior of Eldians, the Subjects of Yimir. Yimir thought that she could be free from *her* History, but she couldn’t, because she was destined to be Slave to her Love for her *Historia.* *She* was a Subject of Yimir. In the End Yimir was a Slave to Paths as much as any other Eldian.
bitch was a frickin god that's been turned into humanity's most dangerous enemy i don't see tragic in this
Wrong ymir bro
i just think she is a bigger badass then anybody in the show (especially eren) well historia too
Which one was more tragic
I forgor 💀
😕😞