....

[hamliet]

Now that SnK is over...

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Honestly you should never have gotten invested in this inbox either, but welp. Behold the fruits of your labor. 

Who’s laughing now? 

[hamliet]

I never really interacted with the north american part of the snk fandom, but here in brazil (at least for the people that I follow) mikasa's character arc is not liked because she is too tied up with eren, to me is fine to have a character having a romance, but sometimes mikasa felt like the only defining personality trait she had was loving eren, I know she's strong physically and a badass, but to me this is not enough for her to be a good character, even more because I really really don't like eren post time skip, seeing her going after him even after he was such a dick to her and living her whole life still attached with that scarf made me really upset and actually uncomfortable

You are entitled to like or dislike a character for any reason (or none at all!), but I think to say definitively that she is “only” defined by that is misreading because that is entirely the point: she is a deconstruction of two seemingly opposed extreme misogynistic tropes, including the “girl only defined by her love interest” (Naruto’s Sakura) and its opposite “girlboss who don’t need no man” trope (JJK’s Nobara) . @aspoonofsugar wrote an excellent breakdown of this here. 

[hamliet]

When do you think Eren became aware of his feelings for Mikasa? Do you think there is a moment we can pinpoint (maybe chapter 50?) or do you think he might’ve loved her romantically since childhood? Curious to know your thoughts on this

I don't really know. It's unclear, but chapter 50 seems like the dawning of a realization that he's been in love with her, while he probably was earlier? Especially since we now know Isayama intended to draw a kiss between them there but was too insecure to do so (I mean, *looks to how he draws kisses* okay fine, but it would have saved a lot of fandom wars and as Isayama said, Mikasa deserved it hahaha!)

I do think he's been in love with her pretty much since the start. Being Eren, though, he's dense and took too long to realize it.

(Gotta love Isayama doubling down and annihilating the arguments that Eremika was fanservice lol or wasn't planned from the start--though his latest interview is legit just repeating what he's been saying since 2012 interviews: Mikasa is the central character of the story, EMA's conclusion was planned from the start, etc.)

[aspoonofsugar]

Hello. I remember Isayama said he thought it would be pitiful if Mikasa's life was all about Eren, that her growth would be by seperating her from him but it's incredibly frustrating the only thing until her end he show is all in context of Eren. Only thing we see is married with kids, but that he could have given with E anyway (had he not nuked the world but he had planned to seperate them even before he did that). What's your opinion on it? I feel it's a waste to use her last panels like this

Hello anon,

sorry, but I disagree.

I have shared my thoughts on Mikasa here.

I think some people had imagined her arc to be about Mikasa becoming a woman who needs no man kind of character. I do not think this is a bad thing per se, but it never fit with Mikasa’s character and arc to begin with.

Mikasa mixes together two tropes (the strong woman who frees herself from men and the love interest that frames herself through her relationship with the male main character). It explores and problematizes both and it offers a solution that is original and it does not fit with neither trope.

Mikasa kills Eren, but she does not regret her feelings for him. These feelings do not go in the way of her own life. If anything, we know she gets what she has always wanted aka a peaceful life with her family. Not only that, but she physically goes back home aka Shiganshina. This is where the Tree on the Hill is.

Not only that, but Mikasa is a character that has always been linked to grief. This is what her introduction in the Trost arc is about. She presents grief not as something negative, but as something that is connected to life, just as it is connected to death. It is a way to keep your lost ones alive, even when they are gone.

Of course if one is consumed by grief to the point that they can not appreciate life anymore, that is a problem. Still, this is not Mikasa’s case at all. She lives her own life and we have no reason to think it was not fulfilling and happy.

She simply keeps Eren’s memories close to her heart. This is not something unhealthy or uncommon. It is normal... this is why many cultures have rituals to celebrate the deads. This is why there are specific holidays where one goes to visit their love one’s grave.

I mean, this is what the whole movie Coco is about and yet I have not seen anyone call it unhealthy.

Finally, I dislike the notion of Mikasa having children as somehow something that undermines her. This is what she has always wanted. Mikasa did not want to be a queen, nor a soldier, not a business woman. She wanted to live peacefully with her loved one and this is just a great and honorable objective as any other.

I am also confused by your statement that “she could have gotten this even with Eren”. I mean, isn’t it true for any other life objective Mikasa had put her mind on? What if she were shown to have become a lawyer... couldn’t she have done it even with Eren?

In short, Mikasa’s ending is fitting with the kind of character she is. I understand the wish to see more female characters having resolutions that are different from the classical family with children ending.

That said, there is a reason if these kinds of ending are so popular for specific storylines and it is not that they are inherently bad.

Anyway, if you want a story with a female character who defines herself through a man and finally is able to stand on her own legs by the end, I recommend Eva’s arc in Monster, which is exactly about it. Incidentally, even the main heroine Nina has a fulfilling resolution that has nothing to do with romantic subplots.

Thank you for the ask!

[hamliet]

I'm confused, wasn't Mikasa in Jean's dream, that was highlighted as selfish, which he had to go through in order to finish character arc, chosing the right thing to do over comfort? I even remember him thinking "I have earned the right to live peacfully with my wife & offspring", since we never saw M any voice in any of it, how is she not treated as a prize in the end? sure she got a family but apart from that she had no agency in it, we are left to assume the rest but we do know that above

Anon, do you think Connie having to let go of his dream of his mother and getting her back was selfish?

Let’s look at Jean’s development over the course of the story, which was to go from entitled to sacrificial. He gave his life in the end to stop mass murder. If you’re talking entitlement, how on earth is Eren screaming he only wants Mikasa to love him not entitled? Even Eren said it was entitled! Just because Eren didn’t get it in the end isn’t because Mikasa didn’t offer him chance after chance after chance after chance to come back. He refused to grow and caused more trauma to the woman he loved. Jean grew and didn’t even see her for three years post Eren’s death, hence I’m pretty sure we can conclude that she had agency and that he was respectful. Jean is happy to help Mikasa visit Eren’s grave with his kids, even, so he clearly supports her undying love for him. She’s buried with Eren’s scarf. 

I’m not saying that Jean deserves Mikasa or anything. I ship Eremika and don’t ship Jeankasa, even if I’m neutral-positive on it. Eremika embodies the themes of the story, including sacrifice and growth and unconditional love and beauty just because you exist. Jeankasa is not nearly so thematically rich. I’m just saying that thematically, your argument doesn’t hold water because of the themes present in Eremika itself. Mikasa chose to kill Eren, but he tried to remove her agency by telling her to forget him, and setting it up so that she would kill him. She thwarted him by refusing to give up on her love for Eren, and refusing to endorse him at the same time. This was Mikasa’s freedom.

All this shows is that Jean understood the themes of the story, as is the case with most characters and plot points in SnK--letting something die lets something grow. Isayama is almost surely referencing Dostoyevsky, and regardless, this is like a common trope in fiction, I’ve written about it before, others have also written about it before, etc.

A narrative reward does not inherently objectify. Jean and her family are Mikasa’s reward as well. In fact, the narrative makes it explicitly more about Mikasa than about Jean, whose face isn’t even shown, so why the hell are people making it all about Jean and not about Mikasa? The narrative doesn’t define Mikasa by a man, but the overwhelming takes I’m seeing from, primarily, Eremikas sure sounds like they define her by one guy.

Mikasa was never the “Badass Woman Who Don’t Need No Man” trope. That trope objectifies, defining a woman by her lack of a man instead of by herself as a character, which the narrative does for Mikasa thank God.

No more bad faith Jean asks, people.

[hamliet]

On the Extra Pages

Paradis and War

We see Paradis being bombed, but bombing is not necessarily equal to destruction, and just because one city is wiped out doesn’t mean every city was, as horrible as that one city’s loss is. In fact, the story itself seems to subtly offer a hint that Paradis was not entirely destroyed, or at the very least not wiped out in a genocide, because the child looks to be a descendant of Mikasa. It’s ambiguous so people can choose what to believe about this, though.

Personally, I think it’s a good choice to show that Eren’s genocide did not in fact bring a forever peace. However, the war looks to be after Mikasa’s death as a very old lady, so hence we can conclude most of our cast lived good lives. Maybe the war was a result of Jaegerism and the genocide; maybe it was something else entirely, like the crystal resources. It is a cycle, war and peace, and neither are completely gone–because after the war comes a peaceful scene of a child trotting around and playing.

On the Titan Curse

So the spoilers said the curse still exists, but we do not see that. Yes, it is true that the tree opening looks like the opening Ymir fell into an d received the titan curse from the… spine creature, for lack of a better name/term. However, we simply don’t know this is the case for sure, and we don’t know what the child will decide to do should they inherit anything. Remember, technology has also advanced, so even if they ended up cursed, they wouldn’t have to immediately be cosigned to a short life, and their choices mean they are not doomed to create other titans like Ymir.

If we think of the spiny creature as evil in the world, evil born out of power, people will always encounter it. It’s part of human life on earth. But we have choices about what to do with it. Ymir was a slave who had no choice about what to do with it. Presumably, this kid, as a descendant of Mikasa’s, might well be able to choose differently if they even take the power and if the power is even there.

On Jeankasa

I agree entirely with @momtaku‘s analysis that this is a very Jack and Rose story, wherein Eren and Mikasa are Jack and Rose, and Jean is Rose’s unnamed husband. (I’ve actually been comparing Eremika to Jack/Rose for months now even before the ending came out.)

Eren and Mikasa are the main love story of SnK. We have Jean also loving Mikasa, and that it seems to imply they ended up together is a good conclusion. However, his face is never shown, so people can conclude it isn’t Jean if they don’t want it to be; however again, the authorial intent is pretty clear that this is Jean, but it’s also left a little bit up to people’s imagination and people can think what they like.

For Eremikas… Mikasa finding love again seems consistent with her personality to me, but I get that some people would have wanted her not to. To me it reminds me of Katniss having kids at the end of The Hunger Games, wherein it seemed to me like the obvious choice for her personality and arc, but having it confirmed was upsetting for fans who wanted something else, and that want is not inherently wrong.

But it’s also worth remembering that Mikasa and Jean and their kids, and her grandkids, are shown visiting Eren’s grave her entire life. She never “moved on” from Eren. She found a new love, and that new love (Jean) supported her love for Eren, and probably loved her devotion to him. One love does not replace the other because love is not a finite resource. She can be committed to both for life because Eren is dead; love is not limited by death in the same way as loving commitments are limited by life (and they are); love transcends death and life. It’s something many who lose a spouse IRL experience, as I’ve written before. Her grandkids helping her lower the rose to his grave implies that they know all about him, too.

Imo, the ending is, as Momtaku says, a win for Eremika as much as it is for Jeankasa. Sip your champagne, fine people.

Moving Forward

I love the ending. The final pages I actually like as well. I think critique is very valid and I get that people are not happy about different elements, but I don’t want further asks requesting validation for not liking an aspect (you are valid, you don’t even need any reason for it), or asks demonizing Jean or Isayama himself, and I especially do not want asks implying Eren was justified after all just because there was more war (if anything, it thematically implies the opposite). I’ve gotten hundreds of these asks, and I’m really stretched thin right now and tired. I love getting asks, but sometimes these asks can be emotionally exhausting, and I am only human. Asks about what I thought of a particular aspect, asking about a critique you’re genuinely curious about (not one you just need validation for an opinion of), etc are still very much welcome, but any asks like the above will not be answered.

[takanova12]

One of the hallmarks of the aot fandom is massive panic everytime leaks drop and mostly the release of full chapter ends up pleasing if not all majority of the readers. Yet, we still don't learn and negatively react everytime even with the understanding that we are missing context for the leaked panels/dialogues. So amid all of this, here I am just trying to share my positive and hopeful interpretation of leaks, which mostly concern mikasa.

I wholeheartedly love eremika. They will forever remain my comfort ship. The leaks haven't changed anything. If anything, they just reinforced the idea that mikasa loved eren till her last breath. I admit that I loved the ambiguity of last panel of chapter 139; does mikasa live by herself till she dies? Or does she find love again and end up being surrounded by people who cherish her and will be there for her until the end?

I am happy that she found happiness in life. I saw people criticizing her choice of finding love again and how they were wrong about her making a selfless decision and living with pride etc. I personally don't see how her having a family cancels out what she did? She did give up the most precious person to her in the entire damn world to save the damn world. To people who wanted her to be a stronK woman who needs no man to live a empowering life, well she was that in the entire series. It was eren who needed her to save his ass 24/7, it was her and not a man who contributed most significantly to saving the alliance and we all know it was her who freed ymir. Not only that but one of the most popular EM moments where she gave eren emotional support (chap 50) ended up leaving such an impact on him that it helped me activate the coordinate and was also shown to be one of his most cherished memories of her. So, at the end if she wants to live a peaceful and simpler life, let her have that. Most importantly, let her have that considering she never wanted this life of a soldier. So, I am glad isayama gave her that. After all the shit she's been through she deserved some happiness, she deserved to be around her very own family. She deserved to be loved and cherished just like she loved and cherished eren. I am happy for my girl. I am happy that she had such a lasting impact on the story and on eren. I am happy that she wasn't alone her entire life. Sure, she has armin but let's admit it armin is with annie. They were not welcome on the island and even if mikasa left with them or they somehow settled back on paradise, aruannie would have their very own family. Sure, mikasa could be the stronK independent who needs no mAn and be an aunt to other kids so she won't be alone (reminds me of what eh wanted for mikasa; her to be aunt of her beloved dead eren's baby that he had with historia). Okay now being honest, I would have no problem with mikasa being single for her entire life and be some govermental figure of sorts if she was ever presented in that way. Never has ever mikasa shown any interest in politics, being some military leader or some princess to hizuru. She didn't join SC because it was her dream. She did because of eren and now that eren is gone and she served her purpose, she has no reason to become involved in nasty politics that she never wanted to be associated with. Also, she always left the strategic thinking, planning etc to armin. She has always pondered upon how many times does she have to lose her family and restart again. It always came down to home/family/love and a sense of belongingness for her. Sure eren was her home but before that her home was her parents and then carla and grisha. I am not saying that with eren gone, she has to find happiness in another man, but out of these other miserable options for her like living alone in the island, I prefer her being with loved ones. She doesn't have her dad like annie or parents like pieck with her to give her that home and sense of belongingness so I find it even more hard to swallow that some people actually wanted her to be not loved and die not having a home even after everything she has been through. Moreover, it's better for her mental health that she stays as far away from dealing with the mess eren left behind. Didn't she already do enough? She killed him and that was the most painful thing she ever had to do. So, I don't understand why people still want her to be some single stronK woman in power who dedicates her entire life to cleaning eren's mess? Hell no! No more misery for my girl! And thankfully yams agrees.

She has already had her fair share of trauma so isayama did the right thing leaving the diplomacy part to armin and others. Also, people making baseless claims that she is unhappy in her married life? Where and how? Mikasa surely wasn't ever gonna marry someone if she wasn't ready to. Did she visit the grave alone? Nope, she had her man with her, which suggests she is happy and can trust him with her feelings for eren and that he very much respects those feelings. She is not sneaking out of the house to visit her beloved's grave but she is living with pride. She is not doing anything wrong in remembering eren because irl we never forget our most beloved person even if we find love again.

On the topic of jeankasa, Idc whether it had 2 panels together or a 1000, it doesn't matter to me either way because aot was eremika's story ( as in I mean the story only told us about their journey of platonic to romantic feelings). Post titan world jk happened, so I find the jk don't have development and armuika makes more sense argument very out of place. First of all jk do have some development, where they end up trusting each other. Mikasa initially didn't like jean always fighting and criticizing eren and just didn't care about him. Later just like she forged close platnoic bonds with rest of 104th, she did so with jean too and most of it happened off screen because it was not needed for the story. I mean we found out sasha and mikasa were bunkmates not through the story but the guidebook. And this is in line with the fact that mikasa is not a very vocal person to begun with, she mostly speaks through her actions and that is why we hardly ever see her screaming how she is gonna help rid the world of titans or how she saved gabi because she is a child just like them caught up in war. About armuika it is a 100% platonic bond. With jeankasa, only mikasa considered jean as just a friend while jean since day 1 has been romantically attracted to mikasa so much so that he jumped right at a titan for the first time in his life when he saw mikasa in danger, before that his legs would shiver at the thought of fighting titans. So, it makes sense if it was him who ended up marrying her because he was in love with her the entire time and respected her feelings. The execution could have been better but I don't have any qualms with it because it doesn't make me ship eremika any less and overall knowing that mikasa was with someone who had always secretly loved and admired her for a long time just she did with eren makes me believe they both have a solid mutual understanding and good relationship.

Lastly, the takes on her still wearing the scarf is disrespectful to her husband is another thing I don't agree with. The scarf is not a romantic gift given to her by lover. The scarf is what saved her as a little girl. The scarf is what made mikasa understand the dichomoty of life at such a young age. The scarf is what allowed mikasa to realize that the world is not just cruel. It is what saved her and helped her save the world. It is a life-changing and beautiful treasure for her that sheltered her from turning into a cold-hearted revenge seeking psychopath. So, I find it satisfying to know that she is capable of embracing that part of her life and being anle to move ahead in life with her head held high.

On a side note I wanted to wait until the official release but I saw some mikasa slander and just couldn't wait any longer. I do think I am immune to mikasa slander now because I got everything I wanted for her character ( of course I would have loved for her to be with eren but I knew after liberio raid that they were never going to have a happy ending) but still sometimes I like to share my thoughts because I think it helps some people who are at times enjoying the content but the fandom discourse and constant negative interpretation of said events makes them hesistant to admit/enjoy it.

I am content knowing that my comfort character found some comfort in her life at the end :')

[hamliet]

But do you think that Jean has been faithful to Mikasa ? Because I always pictured him wanted to impress all the girls he can get in my head lol I always thought he was that kind of guy

Anon, there’s literally no evidence of this in canon. The key phrase is “in your head”--ie, it’s a headcanon. And headcanons are fine! I’m not intending to imply that it’s crazy or anything; it’s not. But in canon, Jean has never been depicted this way--he’s focused on Mikasa from the very beginning.

As a lead off from this, because my in box is a disaster right now... I’m annoyed  and on the verge of posting that I don’t want a single other SnK ask because of the fandom’s ridiculousness. No one is looking at actual canon. EHs and EMs are mad at the same thing, which is that Mikasa dared marry someone else even if she mourned Eren her entire life, and they’re projecting their own personal desires, understandings, and headcanons onto the actual characters and dissing Isayama.

I love the ending. It is not perfect (and I prefer the ambiguity of the magazine one actually), but it is satisfying for me personally and makes sense thematically, so it’ll likely hold up to the test of time. People are entitled to dislike it, and maybe I’ll be wrong about the test of time thing, but I do not want dozens more asks in addition to the literal hundreds I have demanding validation for disliking it or “what ifs” from headcanons or telling me I should dislike it. I’m so tired. Just let me like things in peace.

[princessofevil54]

All in all, I’ll say that I’m satisfied with the way SNK ended.

What brought me to this fandom was the fact that all the characters seemed so human to me— There was no “I’m gonna die here like a hero for the sake of my comrades”; they died with fear, with thoughts of “why me?” and even when Carla was about to die and was glad that Hannes took her children away, she still muttered to herself “don’t go...” because who on earth really, REALLY wants to die alone and away from those who you love? I can say for a fact that I would have been heartbroken and would wish to have them with me at the very end.

Because that’s how we are, people. We are humans, and we are selfish and we cry and sometimes wish for things that we shouldn’t.

I have read a lot of people who said that Eren is toxic for not wanting Mikasa to move on—But I really needed to see him being human and just wanting the girl he loves to remind him.

(Disclaimer—I’m not a shipper of EM or whatever; I’m here for the story).

He did all of those things, terrible things, so that his friends could truly be free and happy while giving up the opportunity of himself being with the woman he loved; and you all are calling him a complete and utterly selfish person for thinking “I don’t want her to forget me and move on—I want her to keep loving me” ?

Of course that’s a thought that hurts; he gave up all of those things: happiness, love, friendship, honor, loyalty... And there was absolutely no recompense to him at all. (Yes, his friends are alive and free but I’m talking about his life directly).

I’m not excusing him. All those things were horrible and everyone can see that. None of it changes the fact that he ended up being the “evil” that ultimately brought them all together—But that’s the thing, isn’t it? He willingly took it upon himself just so he could grant them the “freedom” he desperately wanted.

The idea of Mikasa moving on with someone else, forgetting about him and just—leaving him (in a sense) all alone must have been really painful.

Just because someone wants to be “the bigger person” or “a good person” *Armin laughed in the background* doesn’t magically turns you into one and, in the end, what really matters is that when being for the last time with her, Eren said he wanted her to forget about him and move on. To live a long life and be happy.

He didn’t told her “please don’t forget about me, please keep loving me” ‘cause that would’ve been just wrong and Mikasa deserves to move on and be happy in the end; we all know that she would’ve been devoted to him (as always) had he said the word— He didn’t.

Let the poor guy have some selfish thoughts for once in the company and intimacy of his best friend, for gods sake.

There’s so much to say about this ending that doesn’t entirely revolves around Eren, but I just wanted to be somehow a defender of the principal reason I liked SNK in the first place.

We are selfish—even while we want to be all altruistic and “good”.

We are human.

Learn to live with it.

[haruchihoe-deactivated20230807]

Sincerly guys, I'm just going to share my love for Mikasa in this post because I have so much to say about her.

I never loved someone as much as Mikasa. Usually, I tend to roll my eyes at women characters in some anime but I loved how Isayama made Mikasa's feelings both her weakness and strength. Some people may hate how her character revolves around Eren but I do not think it is a problem for my part.

When Mikasa's parents died, she felt cold because she lost everything. In a post where I wrote about Mikasa's development, I said that the warmth she lost was associated to her parents. I would say that Mikasa's encounter with Eren made her live again and this is why I totally understand why her character is linked to Eren's character.

This is why sometimes, I struggled to understand why people find her obsessive. Her love for Eren was her strength and her biggest weakness. In the end, the strength of her love overcame the fear she had to lose him.

Mikasa and Eren's relationship did not need an arc because it was developed during the entire story, from ch.1 to ch.139.

I even fail up until today to understand why the scarf scene in ch.50 was considered a friendzone to some people? It is as if they did not listen to what Eren said afterwards.

I still find it tragic that the simplicity of her wish was just to live by Eren's side. She never asked anything else and I guess this is why the ending broke me so much. The only wish she had was not fulfilled. However, I do not think Mikasa regrets her choice, she just misses him.

I admire also Mikasa's selflessness, she took the hardest decision of her life by letting go of her selfish desire to live with Eren to free him and free Eldians too from the curse. I agree with a lot of posts I've seen from Mikasa stans or EM stans, Eren must have made her live a full life with him so she could accept his death more. I think also what triggered Mikasa is how he asked her to forget him. I will forever love ch.138, my favourite chapter in the entire series tbh.

Thank you for reading if anyone actually read. I was mostly rambling to myself.

[takanova12]

I just wanted to respond to this beautiful post because it feels like you adore mikasa just like I do. So, I wanted to take this opportunity and share my love for her with you. I have also never loved a character as much as I love mikasa. There is something so special about her that I can't ever seem to put into words but I just know for a fact that she will always be the most precious character to me.

She is a person with simple desires and just because she didn't have any big plans for her life people like to ridicule her. But they don't understand that her whole life she has been trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy. She lost her home twice and then is constantly met with fear because of how reckless the only person she has close to family is. Little did she know that the person she so deeply cherished and only wanted to stay close to had always been a troubled child who would keep running from her until he was so far away that she could no longer reach him.

Before she met eren, she was a girl being raised in an isolated part of the village. She didn't have any friends, she just grew up being loved by her parents. It's important to understand that mikasa was 9 years old when Dr. Jeager took eren to see her, which indicates that up until at that point mikasa never had any other friends. The only people she knew were her parents. She didn't have friends like armin to tell her about the outside world or anyone to tell her that she can have dreams, that there was more waiting for her in the world than just living with your parents, gardening and learning about your's mom family tatoo. But mikasa was always content with her life, she was a very happy child before she met eren. Her parents had provided her enough comfort and love and she didn't have that rebelious nature in her to defy her parents and go into the woods like eren would. Simply, by nature she was a kind person full of life and was content in living her days peacefully with her parents.

But then her parents got murdered in cold-blood. She didn't even expect anyone to come and save her because why would she? She didn't know eren or anyone else who could be looking for her. The only people who ever cared for her had been brutually murdered. She is lying there on cold hardwood floor while her kidnappers are discussing about selling her to undergound perverts. There is a knock on the door but she is so oblivious that she doesn't even sense anything until she hears eren screaming about "animals". He walks towards her, unties her, tells her she is safe now, but then another one of those animals shows up, it is through eren's insistence of fighting for survival that she realizes that " The world is cruel" but that is such a nihilistic view of the world. It would leave one completely helpless and devoid of any desire for living. Until, eren wrapped his scarf around mikasa showing her that there is beauty in this world. The reason mikasa keeps remembering that moment is because it was that simple act of kindness from eren that saved her.

Since that day, she tries her hardest to protect eren because he is the one who saved her from falling into an abyss of despair. The yeager family starts to treat her as their own. And before she could ever recover from her first trauma, her second family falls victim to the cruel world. Still, she can't let herself believe the world is just cruel, she assures herself it's beautiful because as long as eren is there, she has a place to go home to.

Then when eren dies back in trost mikasa doesn't give into despair, she picks herself up remembering that even if eren is gone, there is still beauty in this world. As long as she is alive and is willing to see it, the world will still be beautiful. This is why I don't agree with people that mikasa sitting by eren's grave is bad for her. We don't just forget our loved ones ever. We still visit their graves, bring flowers and cry. It's a very human thing to do. And mikasa who tried protecting eren her whole life, only to have to kill eren at the end is not some weak person. She is a strong, determined and kind person who is very capable of living a good life. She did that back in trost too when she was just a little girl.

Her journey also shows us how perseverant she is and how she stayed true to herself till the very end. Remember when everyone from the 104th wanted to use falco for some personal agenda, connie wanted to feed him to his mother, armin and jean wanted to use him for some strategic reason ( all understandable given their circumstances) mikasa was the first person to stop jean and ask what they were going to do with falco. She was also angry when connie took off.

But even then people bashed her for her quiet personality when her priorities have always been very obvious.

This also shows that Mikasa mostly speaks through her actions and again that is another thing I love about her.

Some people say that mikasa's end was disappointing because she is miserable. I disagree, if mikasa was in a horrible state now she would have comitted suicide or would have never been able to kill eren in the first place. She is mourning her loved one as it's his third death anniversary and she brought three flowers and gently placed them on his grave. She wished to see him which broke my heart but then that bird wrapped the scarf around her. The act of warmth and kindess that saved her back when she was a 9 year old, is repeated again to show her that even if eren is gone, she can still keep going, just like she did back in trost. So, mikasa is going to be fine.

This was her face as she left the scene after killing eren. She is calm and collected. She knew what had to be done and thanks to that shared dream with eren she had made her peace with it.

And this is how we saw her the last time. She is smiling which is telling us that she will be fine. Eren is gone, but even now the world keeps reminding her that there is still beauty in it.

You also noted her selflesness at the end and this is another thing that made her really stand out. I think she is the most selfless person in the series. She gave up eren while not getting anything in return. Everyone else had a lot to gain by killing eren but mikasa had nothing to gain from it. All she knew was that she couldn't let eren kill every person outside the island. She had to stop him even if it was the hardest thing she had to and she did it. And I admire her so much for this.

I enjoyed her journey and can proudly say that she is my favourite female character ever.

[lordchainsaw-deactivated2022041]

what am i to you?

[toukatan]

Eren · Mikasa · Armin ✧ First and Final Appearances

[momtaku]

Hi momtaku! Have you seen the translation yet for Eren’s headstone? “Here forever, resting peacefully, my most beloved, my dear. 854.” I’m crying.

I think most everyone who follows me knows I have a complicated relationship with Eren. He’s not my guy. I’ve never understood him. I never liked him. I spent the majority of this manga wanting to punch him in the face. There have been times I’ve barely been able to control my animosity towards him. But I’ve never had that problem with Mikasa. Her ability to love unconditionally is something I can relate to. 

When I reread the chapter this afternoon, her burying Eren in an unnamed grave with just the words “Here forever, resting peacefully, my most beloved, my dear.” had me sobbing. No name. Nothing heroic. Just that she loved him. I thought that was gorgeous. 

I hope I never have to experience someone I love doing something unthinkable, but were it to happen, I know me. I wouldn’t turn my back on them. I’d still love that person no matter what. The idea of separating the action from the person (hate what they do, but not them) is something I think that would come easy to me. 

Thanks for the ask!

[momtaku]

Ok, I just don't get the whole "OG Ymir chose Mikasa and was waiting for her for 2000 years. " ... to do what? Kill the guy that said Ymir could be free to decide what she wants?

The

While the wording is terrible, what “release her from the agony of love” really means is “destroy Paths and end the titan curse.” Ymir wanted release. She wanted her existence to end. Because of the mechanics of the world and her being bound by the will of the king, she was powerless to do that on her own. What she saw in Mikasa and Eren were two people who could make it happen. Eren because of his indomitable will and desire for freedom, and Mikasa because her  devotion to Eren had limits. They were the perfect combination for Ymir. Eren would go to any lengths to free his friends from the titan curse. Mikasa has the physical and emotional strength to stop him.

I also see people confused my the mechanics of what happened. It wasn’t killing Eren that ended the titan curse. It was killing the Founding Titan while the source of the titan power (aka the shiny centipede) was disconnected from the host body. The parasite died as soon as the host did. Not being in the spinal fluid at that moment meant it couldn’t be passed on. Killing Eren while the centipede was outside his body ended the titan curse. 

Also important is that the genocide was not Ymir’s plan. That was 100% Eren. Ymir’s only plan was End the Titan Curse, not Wipe out Humanity but Eren needed to create a reason for his friends to kill him. Since global genocide was something he wanted anyway, he chose that path. What was immutable - the part of the journey he couldn’t choose, was that Mikasa would be the one to kill him.

Ending the titan curse was a noble goal but the mechanism Eren used to achieve that wasn’t. I like what my friend Angrian said in the podcast discord:

We can all agree that the desire to make it so no person in the world ever has to suffer the horrors of cancer is a noble goal. But someone with the desire to achieve that specific goal at all costs could decide to blow up the entire planet, and this really would make it impossible for anyone to ever have to experience cancer again.  But we would never say their deeds warrant a “thank you”.

Eren had other options. There were other ways to arrange things to end the titan the curse. He chose the most horrific and the world and his friends are all in a worse position because of that. I think the series exposes that but doesn’t emphasize that point enough.

I hope this helps clarify the chapter for you. Thanks for the ask!

[tamhrayis]

Bye. Mikasa is making me cry again.

[midnight-in-town]

Oh My God, I didn’t expect such a twist !!!

Because, all along, this above from ch1 was actually about...

“MIKASA”

Not gonna lie, at first I was like “????” but as I kept on reading, I figured it out.

Ymir Fritz wished for freedom because her love for King Fritz made her unable to stop him, his quest for domination and massacre causing her pain, because all she could do was participate in it.

Meanwhile Mikasa...

...stopped the man she loved, saving what was left of the world from his terrible plan.

Mikasa did what Ymir couldn’t.

So to anyone who’s wondering why Isayama left Ymir an abused woman, that’s simple : love is never about suffering or submitting to your lover’s horrible actions.

“To you, 2000 years from now” is Ymir wanting to convey to Mikasa not to make the same mistake as her.

[momtaku]

hi mom, i just saw people arguing that 139 has a pro-war message and that undermines the anti-war themes of the whole series. what do you think of that?

There’s a lot to be said here and a lot to unpack on this topic, but I’m going to give you my short answer. 

I’ve also heard people express this but I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of the series. It’s clear to me that this story is a tragedy. The fascists on Paradis and the Jaegerists before them, were not presented in a positive light. War is not shown as a positive. Genocide is not shown as a positive. Eren was executed by his friends because his actions were unconscionable to them.  I’ll add that Titan Folk and the fandom Jaegerists are in total meltdown over the ending so clearly Isayama is doing something right.

I agree with (and have always agreed with) the criticism that the messaging has been clumsy. That’s not anything new here. Eren’s friends so openly forgiving him made some people uncomfortable and rightly so. He wiped out 80% of humanity. A little more anger would not feel misplaced. But in-story they are all remembering their Paths moments with him where he said his goodbyes and tried to make them understand. The feeling is very much that he’s an idiot, but he’s their idiot.  They disagree with his action and what he’s done, but they still care about him as a person. I can understand that. I wish there was a little more said against him, or a little more anger expressed but Isayama has said he wanted to create a manga that didn’t expressly pass judgment so here we are.

The epilogue was good. They are still fighting. They are still trying to undo the problems Eren caused. War never ends but they’ll never lose hope for a better world. It was ultimately a positive message and one I can stand behind.

Thanks for the ask!!