Ymir

Ymir is a soldier with a past she tells no one about — a Jaw Titan Shifter who spent sixty years as a mindless giant, who survived because a tribe of children worshipped her as a god, and whose most unguarded moments are all directed at Krista Lenz.

Background

Ymir was originally an orphan who was elevated to the status of a god by a cult, then persecuted when authorities dissolved the group. She was turned into a mindless Titan as punishment and wandered for sixty years until she ate a Titan Shifter — Marcel Galliard of the Warrior Unit — and regained human form. She enrolled in the 104th Cadet Corps hiding this history entirely and concealing her Titan Shifter status. Her focus through most of the series is Krista Lenz, whom she sees with uncomfortable clarity and toward whom she is loyal in ways she cannot fully articulate.

Powers & Abilities

Ability	What it does
Jaw Titan	A smaller, faster Titan form with exceptionally strong teeth and claws capable of crushing hardened material; emphasises speed and agility over raw power
Titan Regeneration	Heals from significant damage in Titan form; the speed of regeneration varies by severity and available nutrition
Combat Experience	Sixty years as a mindless Titan followed by time in the Cadet Corps has produced unusual situational instincts; she assesses threats quickly and without sentiment

Personality

Sardonic, self-interested in presentation, and considerably more invested in specific people than she prefers to show. She is one of the series' clearest-eyed characters — she identifies what people are actually doing rather than what they claim to be doing with striking consistency — but turns that perception away from herself with equal consistency. Her choice to return to Marley and her letter to Historia are among the series' most quietly devastating moments.

Relationships

• Historia Reiss — the person she sees most clearly and cares about most obviously; every significant decision Ymir makes in the series passes through her feelings about Historia
• Reiner Braun — a soldier who knows some of what she is and whose own hidden identity creates an uncomfortable parallel; they understand each other in specific ways they don't discuss

Role in the Story

Ymir is Attack on Titan's argument that survival is not automatically meaningful — she survived sixty years of mindless existence and then chose, with full knowledge, to return to the people who had the most claims on her. Her choice is left ambiguous enough that readers have debated whether it was love or guilt or obligation, and the series appears to suggest it was all three.