Ymir Teams Up With the Armored Titan on 'Attack on Titan'

Commander Erwin’s group of soldiers finally catch up to Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir, and Eren in the forest and it becomes a mad chase. Flashbacks also finally reveal Ymir’s comparatively ancient untold story as she wavers between siding with the humans or the Titan shifters.

Spoilers follow for Attack on Titan Season 2, Episode 10: “Children.”

Human soldiers come upon Conny’s village, Ragako, on Attack on Titan. You probably remember that everything is destroyed but there’s no blood whatsoever. When one of them discovers the Titan over Conny’s house and a photo of Conny’s parents, they finally come to the conclusion that all of these Titans they’ve been seeing might just be transformed people rather than there being a hole in the Wall.

Of course, before they can really come up with any solid theories, the focus shifts elsewhere to much more interesting conflicts in the Titan forest, where Ymir and Eren are still prisoners of Reiner and Bertholdt.

The four Titan shifters spend their time dawdling for just a bit as Reiner basically convinces Ymir to join their side, but mainly so they can use her to get to Christa, whose status as a family member of the Church is somehow important. “As cute as Christa is,” he says, “we have other reasons to bring her to our side. She’s an important person in the family of the Church.”

But even more pressing is their mention of the “Coordinate,” which fans of the manga will immediately recognize as the entire focus of their mission. “If Eren turns out not to be the Coordinate, our job isn’t over yet. Having Christa with us at that point will make our search much easier.”

But why does Christa/Historia matter and what is the Coordinate exactly? Neither Reiner nor the show have enough time to spell it out just yet. As the human soldiers catch up, they run away deeper into the forest.

Ymir becomes the focus of the entire episode, and her full backstory is revealed. She was a homeless child long ago that plucked from the streets to be falsely worshiped as some sort of queen with the “blood of the king.” But when some kind of police authority discover the truth, she’s injected with something and kicked over the Wall.

She transforms into her Titan form, which she was stuck as for about 60 years, which to her felt like a “nightmare that would never end.” This would explain why she could read the very old language written on canned food at Castle Utgard.

We also revisit when she had eaten Marcel, the comrade of Reiner and Bertholdt. After being buried under the sand for what must have been years, she awoke when Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Marcel made camp nearby. Marcel saved Reiner’s life, and by eating Marcel, Ymir apparently was able to shift back into a human.

Ultimately, Ymir’s love for Christa compels her to hatch a plan to kidnap her, and she forces Reiner and Bertholdt into participating. In the forest, despite the small size of her Titan form, her agility gives her a great advantage. She transforms, relying on the friendliness of her old squadmates from the 104th recognize her. They don’t attack, but are confused when she just keeps looking around at them all.

When she swallows Christa hole, they all realize all too late that Ymir has joined sides with Reiner and Bertholdt.

In the episode’s final moments their plan seems to succeed, but many of the soldiers are hot on their trails, no doubt teasing another confrontation next week.

Lingering Questions:

• What happens if one of Reiner’s warriors eats Ymir? Why does that seem to be something she’s afraid of?
• When will somebody finally confirm how humans are getting transformed into Titans? Does it have something to do with the Beast Titan?
• If a Titan eats a Shifter, does that turn that Titan into a Shifter? How come that wasn’t the case when Eren was first eaten?

Watch the simulcast of Attack on Titan Season 2, Episode 11, “Charge,” on Funimation and Crunchyroll at 10:30 a.m. Eastern next Saturday, June 10, or on Hulu at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.