Why does the āAckertalkā hasnāt happened yet ?
The deliberate obliteration of Levi in Mikasaās life
As the title of this post indicates, āWhyā, that is the question.
Iāve read a lot of posts on it, that seemed really confused about the reasons for this silence. It may not be very interesting so you decide to read it or not if you want, but Iām gonna give my opinion about this, as there was a slight clue in the chapter 118 that confirmed to me that it were possibly right.
Why, while Levi was aware that Mikasa is part of his family since that moment :
didnāt he tried to establish a different bond with her?
Firstly, we donāt even know if he told to anyone he was an Ackerman too, as in the moment Kenny told him, they were only the two of them. Since that, we never saw him talk about his origins again, and as heās an extremely withdrawn person, it is likely that he did not tell it to anyone, not even Erwin or Hanji.
But, it is also possible that a moment when Levi arrives and says āBtw, my surname is Ackerman if youāre interestedā happened without being shown on the screen (even if I canāt imagine Levi doing that). Or, other characters could have guessed there was a family-like connection between Kenny and Levi, since Levi himself had long believed that Kenny was his father, but do not want to talk about it to avoid rushing Levi who seldom talks about himself.
After all, Levi may have let drop this relationship because he thought that with Mikasa it was impossible to communicate as sheās difficult to access owing to her extreme coldness in general, and especially with him. In appearance, their connections have never been very cordial and although Mikasa has learned to temporarily trust him as a leader in the Uprising arc, serumbowl has shattered all this. Itās is a possibility not to dismiss, but thatās not the theory Iām leaning towards.
Levi is someone who value very much the family. When he was a child, he passed through the same experience of brutal loss of his parents in front of his eyes than Mikasa, and had the same reaction as her : whatās the point to live then ? Mikasa, without Eren, would have been dragged by her kidnappers in a sort of morbid indifference, and Levi, without Kenny, would have let himself die of starvation.
Itās hard to believe that someone willing to let himself die, besides on the ground in order to leave the bed for his mother to lie on, could just not care about a member of his family. If he resented Kenny so much for his abandonment, it was precisely because he held the family as an essential value and that it was inconceivable for him to let down anyone of his own flesh and blood.
Thatās why, although it is possible that Levi just shut the door to Mikasa, I donāt think this behave would correspond to him. Because even though she has been aggressive towards him on many occasions, he has never blamed her for that. She has insulted him personally, she has disobeyed his orders and pushed him to his limits by being at the origin of his leg injury, she pointed her blade against his throatā¦ and all he have done for this, is to give her advice, and kind of āpatā her on the head. Itās true that Levi is a character who does not pay attention to insults about him in general, as we have seen with Flegel Reeves, but what Mikasa did is quite of another level.
This means that Levi does not only see Mikasa as an impulsive brat, taciturn, who does not thinking before acting, that he avoids for the inconvenience of linking a relationship with her.
Therefore, my opinion is that if the Ackertalk didnāt happened yet, itās because Levi is preventing it to arrive.
He does care for Mikasa, in a very discreet way. Nevertheless, he understands that she resents him because, paradoxically as him about himself, she only sees in him, his abnormal, violent and strong side. And for that reason, he doesnāt want to impose his presence in her life.
I may have over-interpreted this scene so this statement is to be nuanced, but I had this feeling of the deliberate obliteration of Levi in Mikasaās life especially in the chapter 107, when she met Kiyomi for the first time.
Yelena warned Mikasa, we understand it because as soon as Mikasa sees Kiyomi away, she tells her : āDoes her face resemble your motherās ? Itās just like I told you.ā
And on a few cases before :
Heās standing next to her, as if heās watching that everything is going well knowing that Mikasa will meet someone who is important to her, someone of her family. I find the way he stays there, arms crossed, gauging the situation, almost comical. It looks like a father waiting to see if his son-in-law is worthy his daughter.
Then, we have this plan which is deliberately ambiguous :
āThe two blood relativesā refers to Kiyomi and Mikasa. But with a staging that obviously highlights the look of Levi towards Mikasa and the two of them - the reader knowing what heās knowing - there is very little chance that this hint is left by chance.
I thought that he was just there to receive Hizuru at the harbor with everyone, but then by looking at it well, I realized that he were there too, next to Historia, when she showed her mark.
But in the next case when all Hizuru citizens are moved and when the plan comes on Historia again, we donāt see Levi next to her anymore, and we donāt even see him at all after that.
Itās really as if he had kept a discreet eye on her, without interfering in this scene, and once assured that everything would be fine for her, had fled before we could know that he had been there.
I also came to that conclusion because of an interview of Isayama in the Answers Guidebook. To quote directly it, it is said that :
Levi maintaining his surroundings and distance, and the way he avoids facing those who wander in, itās all because of the huge power he possesses?
Isayama : He may have been scared of building deep relationships. Since he is living in a world where he doesnāt know when heāll be eaten by a titan, he avoided having people he considered his family.
ā Being the only one left as everyone dies around himā¦ the pain he would feel.
Wouldnāt it be a reference to a form of family that he could have, but from which he would deliberately stay away, presumably Mikasa?
More recently, as Levi is finally mentioned by the protagonists since he got caught in the explosion of a thunder spear, the subject of the free will of Ackermans is on the table again.
To go back to the slight clue that leads me to believe that this theory might be true, the fact that none of the characters think Ā "What if we compare with Levi the next time we see him to unravel the true from the fake ?ā shows that no one knows he is concerned too. Armin tells to Mikasa that they should ask to Eren āwhen everythingās overā, more details about Ackermanās family, but donāt mention Levi. If he had even a small ray of hope to exploit elsewhere to try to explain and understand this concern, he would take it without hesitation. But he does not, and I do not think itās because heās reluctant to talk about Levi to Mikasa at such a time. Itās just because he ignores that fact.
Ackertalk is going to happen, itās just a question of time. With all the clues that have been started since the beginning of this arc, it would really be a screenwriting mistake to miss out on that.
Remember, even the first time they appeared in this arc, it was together :
In Snk, the primary impossibility between beings to communicate can be overcome. The chapter 118 shows it well : the characters are able to overcome their greatest weaknesses, gradually, in stages and their manners, but they are capable of it.
The overthrow that has occurred in Mikasaās life leaves room for her and her life for other radical changes, and that of her relationship with Levi is probably one of the next ones to come.
Well, now on the more technical side of the development of this relationship ā¦ Levi being dead-alive right now, probably hiding to heal somehow at Historiaās farm with Hanji, it probably will not happen before a moment. Also, it will probably take time for him to recover from the loss of his strength, which was what defined him until now, and the obligation for him to give up his murderous promise. He will probably go through a reversal of everything he believed, just like Mikasa, but idk yet whether in this incredibly hard task at the scale of a lifetime, they will come to support each other or if Levi will just serve as a guarantee for the truths and lies about the Ackerman clan to Mikasa.
But these are just suggestions, weāll just see how it will be drawn into the manga progressively, hoping it will be as excellent as it is now and hoping not rave too much about this ahah.
