by: James A. Barnes

The Attack On Titan manga has been full steam ahead as Hajime Isayama wraps up the epic story that he started back in June of 2012.

The chapter begins with Ymir’s backstory in which we learned that she was a slave of King Fritz as a little girl. The next 2-3 panels show us that the world of Attack on Titan has always been filled with death and suffering in the seemingly never-ending war between Marley and Eldia.

King Fritz learns that one of the slaves set all of the pigs free and tells the slaves that if someone doesn’t confess, he’s going to cut out 1 eye from each slave, and all of the slaves point at Ymir and blamed her for the pigs being released.

As punishment, King Fritz sets Ymir free and sends some of the town’s people to hunt her down and kill her with dogs while shooting arrows after her. While running through the woods, Ymir trips on a tree branch and finds a very tall tree that stands alone and looks completely different from all of the surrounding trees.

The tree immediately reminded me of Yggdrasil, the tree that connects the nine realms in Norse mythology, and in the case of Attack on Titan, Ymir stands as the physical representation of Yggdrasil being the connection between all of the titans across time and space.

Ymir walks inside an opening in the tree and falls into some form of liquid that turns out to be spinal fluid, which we have learned is the source of a Titans power. As Ymir falls deeper and deeper, we see a spine come into frame and the spine attaches itself to Ymir and at this moment she is transformed into the very first Titan.

With no other place to go and no one to turn to, Ymir returns to King Fritz who sees and uses Ymir as a weapon to kill the people of Marley and decides to use her power to ensure that Eldia rules the world. To ensure that his newfound power never runs out, King Fritz forces Ymir to have his children and over time Ymir gave birth to 3 girls named Maria, Rose, and Shina.

We then fast forward to an undisclosed moment in the story of Ymir & the story continues…

After being defeated in battle by Ymir, a captured Marlian soldier threw a spare at King Fritz, and in a display of her always unwavering loyalty Ymir jumps in front of the spare to protect a man that has done nothing but try to kill her and use her as a weapon for his own personal gain. The spare ends up killing Ymir and King Fritz forces their 3 daughters to eat Ymir’s spine so that her power can live on within them. King Fritz tells his daughters to have as many children as possible and have those children eat their spines when they die and to keep that cycle going to ensure that Eldia rules the world forever.

As Zeke orders Ymir to remove the subjects of Ymir’s ability to have children, Eren tells Ymir “You’re not a slave”, “You’re not a God either”, “You’re just a human being”, “You don’t have to serve anyone”, “You’re free to choose”, “You’re the one to decide”, “You choose”, “Whether you want to stay here forever”, “Or end it”. “You’ve been waiting” , All this time”, “Since 2000 years ago, “For someone”. Ymir starts crying because at this moment she realizes she is more than just an asset, she realizes she has the power to choose her own destiny.

The next panel takes us back to the huge battle between the Marlians and Eldians on Paradise Island and everyone’s attention is drawn to the fact that the walls are starting to crumble.

The last panel of the chapter shows Eren transforming into his titan form and all of the titans inside of the walls have awakened and Eren is now the ruler of the titans.

I thought this chapter was absolutely amazing and it answered a lot of questions that manga readers and anime watchers have been asking since the beginning, and it revealed even more questions that need to be answered.

Attack on Titan has always been one of my favorite manga of all time and this chapter has solidified that fact.

Let us know your thoughts on chapter 122 in the comments below!