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ghostmartyr · 7 years

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SnK 94 Thoughts

So that’s four, right?

A volume?

We’re done now?

Back to Paradis?

Please?

The manga’s never tried very hard to keep the parallels between Marley and Paradis subtle. Even when we only have Grisha’s story to work with, the story of a young boy consumed with rage over the injustice of not being allowed to see the world without getting eaten alive by monsters isn’t what you’d call new.

In Paradis, wanting to join a military branch that practically guarantees your death is insane.

In Marley, it’s an honor.

Eren’s mother forbids him from joining the Survey Corps. She wants her son alive.

Reiner’s mother is fiercely proud of him for fighting his way into being chosen to die in thirteen years.

Marleyan Eldians hate the fenced camps they’ve been forced into, and every single one wishes it could be better.

Paradis Eldians see their walls as a safe haven from the horrors of the outside world.

There’s obviously a lot in common between the two sides, and I’m not going to list every single thing. But in a story focused on the footsoldiers of a giant war, there is one difference that stands out in this chapter that’s... I don’t know the word for it. Maybe just interesting.

When the Eldians from Marley come home, they’re greeted by their families. Every single one of them. Pieck, Galliard, Zofia, Udo, Falco and Colt, Reiner and Gabi. Zeke. They all have people they’re related to waiting for them to come home. They are loved.

Eren’s parents are dead. Mikasa’s parents are dead. Armin’s parents and grandfather are dead. Historia’s entire family is dead. Levi’s mother and uncle are dead. Erwin’s father is dead. Connie’s parents are titanized (and likely dead at this point) and his siblings are dead. Ymir has no family, and her cult has likely been exterminated.

Sasha has a dad. I can’t remember if Jean’s family comes up in the manga.

Petra has a father.

Unless I’m mistaken, he is the only family member who has ever come to welcome his child home from the outside on Paradis. And at the time, he has no daughter to greet.

This is the first time we get to see a victorious army come home to the arms of their family. When Marleyan Eldians step through the gates of their home, there’s joy and love waiting for them.

The Survey Corps, historically, is lucky not to be yelled at.

On the whole, if you’re talking about themes and detaching from complete moral bankruptcy, Paradis is in a much, much better place than Marley. But it’s interesting to me that Marley’s the side where people have gotten to keep their families, while Paradis life has practically made it a mission to wipe out interpersonal bonds.

Arguably, it provides one more reason for Marleyan Eldians to fight so hard to make things work by Marley rules. On Paradis, people fight because they know they’ll lose everything if they don’t. On the mainland, fighting against the status quo will destroy what they’ve managed to keep.

...And for added fun, Kruger and Grisha, who both lose precious family members, end up leading a resistance group.

I really don’t like Zeke, but seeing him together with his grandparents just gives me feels. It’s weird to think of it, but this is Eren’s family. The people welcoming Zeke home with hugs have a grandson this army wants dead. Ow.

Before I fall too deep down the family feels spelunking trip, I do want to give Falco some attention. He’s the only kidlet to get proper POV segments going, ranking him somewhat above the other cannon fodder, so it only makes sense to start looking for reasons why.

The obvious is that he has a crush on Reiner’s cousin, and sees all of the problems with the current system.

But what I’m starting to like about the kid is that he’s kind. We’ve had four chapters of the kid, and already, it’s a recurring thing that he cares for people who are wounded. He promises their captive in the trench that he’ll be okay, he calls attention to the traumatized enemies on their way home, and he’s the only one who cares enough about the wounded Eldians marching to the hospital to leave his rejoicing family and ask.

Falco’s current defining trait seems to be that he cares about people. It’s... endearing. And it says a lot about the world he lives in that it stands out.

Also obligatory comment about wounded armband guy. I’m going to be honest: The only reason I hope like hell the guy isn’t Eren is because I don’t want returning to Our Heroes’ perspective to involve spending more time on Marley.

But if you’re going to send someone in to spy, a disguise entailing grievous wounds that your spy can play as convincingly as Eren would be really damn useful.

Even if now I have this image of Hange cutting off Eren’s leg and really, I don’t think all of the super healing in the world makes that notion comfortable, and okay, done with that.

(I wonder what the odds are of Falco running into the mysterious Eldian at the hospital.)

Onto the things that I don’t really care about but are definitely interesting.

Hi Reiner.

...I guess he’s just one thing.

Anyway, while we’re on the topic of family, look whose got a full dinner table! It’s Reiner and Gabi! If there’s ever a portion of Reiner’s life revealed that isn’t sad and warped, I will be surprised!

Reiner’s life is messed up enough, but with the family revelation, yay, guess who has to worry about his baby cousin taking on the exact kind of hell that’s been turning him inside out for nine years. Reiner still edges her out with the extension of his personal childhood tragedy, but leaving Paradis has landed him in a nightmare that he couldn’t have predicted.

Unlike the rest of his family--heck, the rest of the camp--he knows that the world is more complicated than he ever thought. He’s doing his level best to refuse letting that matter.

I like that they’ve accentuated Reiner’s loyalty this chapter, because I swear, that is the root of all of this kid’s problems. At his very core, he is a sturdy, hardworking person who cares about people, and when he comes across new concepts that suggest he’s not doing the right thing, he can’t leave.

He can’t defend the friends he made in the 104th. He can’t fully deny the system that will kill his cousin in thirteen years; the best he can do is shove her friend onto the chopping block in front of her. He can’t let go of his mother’s dreams.

Watching the dinner sequence is... painful. Reiner’s been through hell as a Warrior, and his family still thinks that the best thing in the world is for Gabi to follow in his footsteps. Gabi still thinks it’s the best thing in the world.

On the mainland, Eldians have found the enemy to blame their problems on in their unreachable kin. However they’re treated, it’s the fault of everyone on Paradis. It isn’t Marley’s fault. It’s the soulless demons on that island.

They aren’t even people. They’re indistinct masses of evil.

I don’t know what my feelings on Gabi quite are, but she’s so young in this chapter. She’s the one who idolizes her big cousin and cares that the grownups are making him talk about something that hurts him. She listens when he says they were all different, and then we get to watch as Reiner’s mother tries to take that sense away from her.

It’s sickening to read. This woman, who has already done so much damage to Reiner, is continuing to pass that damage down to Gabi. Everything she tells these children is structured to give them a way to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

They need to hate the Eldians on Paradis. They’re the good ones. The people on Paradis are the spawn of evil.

Reiner’s mother is currently the character I like least in this entire manga, but hell, even with her, you can see how it’s all a deflection of the ruin that Marley has brought her and her people.

At the root of all that hatred, there’s that one sentiment.

They left us.

They don’t have to suffer Marley’s wrath. They get a utopia. They don’t have to sell their children off to war in hopes of a better life.

Fuck them for leaving that burden behind.

It’s different from the childish anger you see in the various kidlets. With the younger ones of each generation, they rage and shout about how they’re the ones getting blamed for all of the bad things their ancestors got up to, and how their Paradis relatives are only making that worse. If they get rid of all the bad Eldians, then the good ones will have it good again.

Reiner’s mother has a deeper anger.

There are people alive, just like them, who escaped the life she lives.

She hates them for it.

She says all the same words about their evil, and the smear they leave on the world, but in the end, it isn’t about that. It’s about how they left all of these people behind to suffer for the crimes no one alive committed. That cannot be forgiven.

Her world isn’t about fixing things for Eldians, but punishing the ones who made it this way.

And like all of the others in the concentration camp, she identifies Paradis as that force. Not Marley.

Delightful.

Reiner’s flashback is hard to read. Children trying desperately to succeed in a task that adults have no business assigning is usually unpleasant. Add in the fact that they’re readying these kids for war and death, and that Reiner’s the only one being crushed by the situation...

No wonder Reiner’s having so much trouble.

He clearly belongs on Paradis with all this parental damage.

What’s especially disturbing is that even when he’s a child, he snaps and goes into raving rants supporting Marley. His speech to Falco last chapter isn’t based in new stress; he has always flung himself into fanaticism as a defense mechanism. The difference is that when he tries it with Galliard, Galliard displays his own response to distress, and it’s slightly more violent.

Reiner is just... hell. With the other kids, you can see how they tolerate this life. They shrug off the stress and deal. With Reiner...

Everyone else is okay. Reiner is constantly on the verge of a nervous collapse.

As a child.

Because he wants to live with his mom and dad.

I don’t even like Reiner but what the fuck.

It’s interesting that even in his flashback you can see the small divides between the kids. The blonder Galliard has a mouth on him. Marcel keeps his brother in check, but leaves with him. Zeke doesn’t bother caring about the fighting children, and just wants them to show up at the next checkpoint on time. Pieck, Marcel, and Porco leave with Zeke.

Reiner is on his hands and knees, crying.

Bertolt stays behind to help him.

Annie is ignoring everyone, watching the dead bug by her feet.

The ones Marley chooses for the mission are the loner who can fight, the skilled one with no willpower, the one who will do anything for Marley, and Marcel, to keep them in line.

It could be that Reiner works out another way to stack his resume, but from the looks of it, the ones who were chosen were picked with the odds of them breaking free of Marley’s web in mind. What we know of Marcel comes from the older Reiner’s actions, but looking at what we know of RAB...

They’re the ones that don’t quite fit.

And also the ones least likely to turn traitor. Annie doesn’t appear to let close proximity build friendships, Bertolt will never have the nerve even if he considers it, and Reiner is psychologically incapable of betraying Marley.

If they leave these three alone for five years, can they trust that they’ll still be Marley agents?

Yeah, they can.

With Marcel, it’s hard to tell what he would’ve been like, but someone needed to be in charge. As for the other Galliard... looking at the way he talks, he reminds me a little bit of Annie, weirdly enough. Maybe it’s just the “I respect you for that.”

But so far, it looks like he’s observant, and has a temper.

Better to keep that one on a tight leash.

The other thing about the flashback is that there are seven of them, with six getting Titans at the same time.

This is where I start wondering if Marley having seven of the nine is a massive conspiracy. That’s the number advertised in Grisha’s day, and here too, but of the seven kids presented, I count six Titans we know about.

Which is fine, in theory; Zeke can get his first (he has less than a year and Reiner still has two) and then the rest can have theirs a year or so later... but then there’s Ymir and Galliard, and Marley freaking out over having lost two Titans.

If they have seven, presumably, Galliard is the inheritor of one of those seven. But with that in mind, having him take on Ymir’s Titan would bring the total number Marley has down, which would be a severe decrease in their military power.

Which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Heck, unless they know how to split the abilities back up, that’s a potentially permanent shift.

I guess it’s possible that the Armored Titan is the one left out of the six, but that would mean that all of the other Marley Shifters have less than a year to live, and it’s sort of weird that no one’s brought that up if that’s the case.

I don’t know, this whole thing feels screwy.

And with all the other lying Marley does, saying, “okay, these six secret weapons get deployed all at once while we keep the seventh in reserve,” and then just never picking a seventh doesn’t sound that farfetched.

So yeah, there’s the chapter.

A bunch of tiny humans suffering.

And while tiny Eren is always a plus, that is not what I meant when I asked to go back to Paradis.

#Shingeki no Kyojin #SnK 94 #Reiner Braun #shingeki no spoilers #SnK spoilers #spoilers #tl;dr #chapter post

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