Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan (Manga Discussion)

112 is leaking. Shit is wild.

• Eren shows up at the restaurant, talks with Mikasa and Armin while Gabi is present. He makes Mikasa cry by claiming he always hated her, and catches hands from Armin. I am 100% positive he's trying to Shoo the Dog and not being honest.
• Zeke's guards poisoned, he turns them all into titans with only Levi left to face the new horde.

Well, shit.

Further text from the Usual Source(tm).

• Eren brings up Annie, and taunts Armin by saying he is being controlled by the "enemy" (Bertolt).
• Eren gives an explanation of the Ackerman Clan's power. Considering what is going on, I don't know how reliable I consider his claims. But he states that they gain access to the Paths via an Eldian master's blood, giving them the combined experience and strength of their clan. He states they are a clan bred for service, bound to their master's will and that Mikasa hasn't had her own will since they first met. He mocks her and compares her to the cattle he always hated. Mikasa cries and brings up the scarf as evidence of kindness between them.
• Eren uses the same "oh I cut my hand" tactic as used with Reiner. Armin calls his bluff, and there is table-leaping so Eren's face can have a very long discussion with Armin's fist.
• Again, I am absolutely certain that Eren is intentionally trying to burn his bridges. I don't think he means a single word of what he is saying to them, especially since "SAVE MIKASA AND ARMIN" is one of our Path Mysteries. He's provoking and hurting them, either to keep them away from what comes next or to otherwise protect them.

I mean, is there anyone reading this story who would believe that Eren means all of that?

Edited by LSBK on Dec 5th 2018 at 8:48:10 AM

The sad thing is even if he doesn't mean it, he's kinda a little right about Mikasa.

Like I said, I am.....not sure how much I believe that exact explanation. He seems to frame it as the Ackermans being bound to obey their master. When them being hunted down was because they DEFIED King Fritz. More over, the major hole in Eren's claim is that only Mikasa awakened at the same time as meeting someone they would become devoted to. Kenny and Levi were already op before meeting Uri and Erwin, respectively. Eren seems to be playing on Mikasa's own doubts here, making her feel like her loyalty and bond to him was a lie.

MORE LEAKS.

• Eren showed up at the restaurant with his followers, who capture the others at gun point. Floch gives them a creepy smile. Eren is playing the Big Bad to the hilt, making a speech about how now that Zackley is dead and his followers have disabled the military, Paradis belongs to him. "I am free". He explains that to him, freedom means being able to do anything he wants without anyone being capable of stopping him.
• Armin can't beat Eren in an actual fist fight, and they apparently are going to try to force him to lead them to Zeke?
• Levi sees a vision of all his comrades that died over the years, dedicated to humanity and giving their lives to protect Eren. We see Erwin, Mike, his original squad, and his old friends from the underground as well.
• Levi's comrades being turned into Titans and falling from the trees seems to be the cliffhanger?

Edited by harostar on Dec 5th 2018 at 10:13:13 AM

Good ol' Monkey Trouble and his 11/10 int stat, rigging his prison long before he even got there. I kind of feel bad for Levi.

FlexSeal understands our pain

So at this point it seems safe to say Eren is attempting to pull a Lelouch, anyone agree?

It does seem that way.

Chapter is out on Comixology.

• Everyone is frantic about trying to save Falco, and Nicolo recounts how Marley once destroyed a capital in one night by sending in poisoned Eldians.
• Floch arrives with troops, taking them all prisoner. One of the other cooks called them, and says that Nicolo has been compromised by getting too close to the Eldians. Hange tries to talk to Floch about the negotiations, but apparently Eren has rejected them and won't trust anyone with the fate of the island. They bring up the poisoned wine, and how Zeke is playing them all. Floch tries to play dumb, but slips up and reveals he was part of the plan. Hange, Jean, and Connie are tried up and taken prisoner.
• Gabi pleads with Mikasa and Armin to spare Falco, who is innocent of her actions. She offers her life as payment for killing Sasha and beating up that guard. Armin and Mikasa mention that she reminds them of someone — just in time for Eren to walk in with his palm bleeding.
• Floch signals that the others are captured, while Eren deals with the three in the private room. He states the others will be fine, and he wanted to talk to them privately. Armin tries to talk to him, stating they've been desperate to talk and find out why he's doing these things. They ask if Eren is being influenced by Zeke and Yelena. Eren says he's done everything of his own free will — everything he does, is because he wants to. Mikasa says she doesn't believe it, because he isn't the kind of person to endanger his loved ones or murder children. She brings up the scarf and how he saved her.
• Eren interrupts her, and turns on Armin. He brings up Annie, and says that Armin has gone soft because Bertolt is influencing him. He says Armin cannot be trusted and is siding with their enemies, as he keeps favoring "talk" instead of leading them to the ruthless answer. He says that "ignorance" is the furthest thing from "freedom".
• Eren turns on Mikasa, and starts talking about the Ackermans. He explains that they access the power of the Titans while maintaining human form, and their power activates when they recognize a "host" to serve. He says she awakened by his command to "Fight", and the real Mikasa died when the Ackerman instincts took over. Ackermans suffer headaches as the "real" personality tries to fight the instincts. He calls her a slave and says he now understands why he always hated her.
• Armin tries to attack him, and Mikasa stops him. Eren says this is proof that she's just a thing controlled by her clan's instincts. This time Armin does jump the table and punch him. Eren cruelly tells him there was never any reason for them to fight, because Armin is weak. He beats Armin up, kicking and punching him until he collapses. He then orders his followers to capture Mikasa, Armin, and Gabi. Armin asks if this what he wanted, if freedom simply means being able to hurt his family. He tells Eren that he's a "slave to a piece of shit". For the first time, Eren reacts and is visibly furious at being called a "slave". He says they are going to where it began, back to Shighanshina.
• Levi discusses events with his soldiers, while watching Zeke from a distance. He realizes now their only hope is to have someone eat Eren, so prevent Zeke from ruling their land via Eren and Yelena's actions. He thinks back to all the times he saved Eren, and how each time his comrades were killed as a result. He thinks how it's all one big joke, that "Humanity's hope" is now their greatest enemy.
• Levi decides they have another option, to kill Zeke and have a temporary host until Historia's child is born. They'll have to buy a bit of time. Zeke is pulling all the strings, so killing him will give them a chance to end this. He sends someone off to notify Pixis of the new plan, while he prepares to kill Zeke. Zeke suddenly jumps up and runs away, screaming and transforming all the other soldiers into Titans who fall around Levi.

Edited by harostar on Dec 6th 2018 at 6:40:44 AM

I am another person thinking that Eren intends to pull a Lelouch. He's setting up some great Plausible Deniability for Paradis, with his little revolutionary group assassinating leaders and having his old friends all imprisoned. He even has himself some reliable witnesses, between Pieck's investigations and Gabi being a witness to his Kickthe Dog sequence. Everything can be blamed on the "Yeager Faction", with the actual government of Paradis and its Queen basically innocent in all this mess.

Yeah, I'd be really surprised if that wasn't what is going on.

The question I am asking right now is did Zeke always plan on turning his guards into titans, or was that a failsafe he activated when he realized what Levi was planning? I have a feeling it is the latter for some reason...

Great chapter though!

Edited by MagnumForce on Dec 6th 2018 at 4:11:49 AM

I think it was the first. He asks about whether they have any wine left, before running off. And Nicolo mentions the wine bottles were sent with the first survey vessel. It was Zeke's plan all along.

Edited by harostar on Dec 6th 2018 at 7:30:44 AM

Okay, stumbled across a reaction to the chapter that has me shook.

Remember what detail was dropped about adult Eren in an interview, seemingly a random factoid?

Eren is a heavy drinker with a strong alcohol tolerance. Zeke's choice method to bring Paradis under his control was through a shipment of Marleyan Wine including some tainted with his spinal fluid. We've been told that Yelena was in charge of that operation, and that Marleyan Wine is the preferred drink for the military since its introduction.

What if..... Eren drank the tainted wine, connecting him to Zeke via the Path?

People keep talking about how "that isn't Eren" and Isayama flat-out stated that Eren was "influenced" when he asked Falco about his crush.

Wow like holy shit that would be a good detail. 😮 😯 😲

Another thing that could support it: People noted Eren's weird behavior started after he met with Yelena.

We really have no idea what would happen if another Shifter consumed the tainted wine, especially a blood-relative like Eren. (Death seems to be required to pass on a Titan.) We do know that at least a Royal can imprint their Will and pass it via their blood, to influence their successors. What if Zeke used the same trick as Carl Fritz, using the Paths to mess with Eren?

So is the chapter actually out and translated, or still just spoilers and raws?

The chapter is out on Comixology and Crunchyroll. No clue about fan translations, but the official ones are out.

Edited by harostar on Dec 6th 2018 at 9:47:57 AM

I like this theory.

Some might say it's a cop out for Eren to just be mind controlled, but it does work with what we know. There's just enough wiggle room that either possibility is on the table.

Read the chapter.

Even though it's almost certainly a ploy or he's being controlled or whatever, I have to say I find Eren shit-talking Armin and Mikasa hilarious.

Not sure why but Eren's actions reminds me of how Homura subjugates her best friend just because of her ideals, thereby alienating her friends.

Edited by lastfight5 on Dec 8th 2018 at 12:48:05 AM

Watching Mikasa break down in disbelief was honestly really distressing.

Anyway, I'm kind of at a loss. I suppose Onyankopon is not in on this after all. There was a couple of clues pointing to his involvement in the situation - like him accusing Hange of a lack of trust when shuffling a deck of cards juxtaposed with Yelena's passionate admission - but at this point I just can't tell. I do have to wonder what is Eren's endgame. He puts trust in Zeke, but I highly doubt their endgoals align at the end of the day; something which Eren might not be aware of.

Is it really possible for him to pull a Lelouch though? It's my understanding that outside of undercover Warriors, Marleyan POW's like Nikolo and Lady Kiyomi, no one actually knows what's currently happening in Paradiso. Hell, I don't think ordinary Walldians themselves really know what's going on. We're not at a tech level where Eren could transmit his atrocities/speeches/what not to the world.

And as a side note, I find both his and Zeke's ability to casually enter/exit onto scenes hilarious.

I have been thinking about that, and I think it would require Eren's group doing something ENORMOUSLY HORRIBLE around the time other nations arrive ready for war.

I mean, right now there is already some plausible deniability for Paradis. Their own government is being attacked by the same radical group that attacked Liberio, led by the sons of Terrorist Grisha Yeager. They have assassinated the military's commander, poisoned a good percentage of the top brass, and taken another commander hostage.

What is currently happening does fit Willy's narrative, in that the "Enemy of Peace" is trying to revive the Eldian Empire and stirring up violence.

They absolutely could dump everything at Zeke and Eren's feet, since Marley and Paradis have matching details concerning how the brothers fermented war.

Methinks the Yeagerists doing something horrible at Shighanshina would provide the nation potential sympathy. If the Outside World alliance rolls up, to discover the same terrorists wrecking Paradis, that gives a potential to be like "These a-holes are our enemy, too". Kind of like Magath and Willy using Liberio as the slaughter zone, because the world would see the Eldians there as victims.

Edited by harostar on Dec 7th 2018 at 6:16:57 AM

I think Eren was only half lying when he was talking shit to Armin and Mikasa. Like, he definitely doesn't hate them. But he is right that Armin's personality has sorta done a 180. It was always Armin egging Eren to do the necessary thing. To become a monster. Now he has cold feet. And Mikasa is largely self-explanatory. I have to wonder if part of the ending will be her letting Eren go, and I think that may be he wish.