Attack on Titan: Who is Ymir and how did she become a Titan?

Attack on Titan featured Ymir in a pivotal role; however, not many fans are aware of who she actually was and how she became the Founding Titan.

The dark-themed series takes place in a world where humankind lives with the terror of the huge titans. It comes with several mind-bending twists and turns, one of which is the tragic backstory of Ymir.

Ymir wasn’t mentioned in the first two seasons of Attack on Titan, but we learned a fair bit about her in the following seasons. We even got an entire episode dedicated to Ymir’s backstory, which finally shed some light on the history of Titans.

That being said, Attack on Titan took several long breaks before eventually coming to an end, so not everyone remembers the events that unfolded in the previous seasons. However, to truly understand the phenomenal finale, you must know about Ymir’s history.

Who was Ymir in Attack on Titan?

Ymir walked on Earth around 2000 years ago, when her village was destroyed by the Eldians. After killing her parents and cutting off her tongue, Ymir was taken as an enslaved person by the Eldian soldiers. Ymir was simply a child at the time, and since the very start, she knew nothing but to serve the Eldian King, Fritz.

Ymir was a helpless girl who was earlier being hunted by Eldian soldiers for sport. On the brink of death, Ymir came across the power of Titans by merging with the Hallucigenia worm. Even after coming across such devastating powers, Ymir only served Fritz and fought off Marley and other nations so that Eldians could rule the world. Fritz also had three children with Ymir: Rose, Maria, and Sheena.

One day, an assassin launched an attack on Fritz, and Ymir decided to sacrifice herself for the King. She did that not because she was his slave but because she loved Fritz.

After Ymir’s death, Fritz forces his daughters to eat her body so that the titan powers can be passed on to them. These girls then passed on their powers to their children, and so on. That way, the Founding Titan’s powers were divided into nine Titans (the ones we saw in the series).

After her death, Ymir found herself in The Paths, a space where time and space don’t exist. In this space, Ymir continued to create titans for the Eldian empire using the sand. So, even after her death, Ymir was still loyal to Fritz and continued to serve the Eldian empire.

Who freed Ymir in Attack on Titan’s final season?

Interestingly, it was Mikasa who freed Ymir from the shackles of love. The Titan powers only existed because Ymir couldn’t relinquish her love for Fritz, even though the King only saw her as a puppet. Eren got the Founding Titan powers after convincing Ymir that he would free her from this cycle; however, it was Mikasa who was bound to help Ymir.

Mikasa loved Eren even after he mocked her feelings. She wanted to save her love even when he went on to carry out genocide. Similarly, Ymir loved Fritz even though he killed countless innocent people. So, Ymir was observing Mikasa because they both were in a similar situation. And when Mikasa chose humanity over love and killed Eren, it inspired Ymir to let go of her feelings for the Eldian King and find peace.

You can check out our Attack on Titan coverage here, and other anime coverage here.