Just as I predicted, Chapter 87 examines how Grisha and his fellow compatriots in the Eldian Restorationists were punished.
The chapter begins where the basement books left off from the previous chapter. Grisha realizes that it was a mistake for him and his wife to to force their ideals about Eldian revolution to their son, Zeke. This same action harkens back to what Grisha's dad did to his son, giving him extreme ideals about the past Eldian oppression on the Marleyans that ultimately led to Grisha to resent his father. Grisha admits he never treated Zeke as his son, but rather as the "hope for the Eldian people." Even Grice, the guy who introduced Grisha to the Eldian Restorationists and the one who was punished to be Titan Food later on, questions him,
"What kind of father would raise a child to sell out his own parents?" Indeed, if only Grisha and Dina treated Zeke like their own son while giving him the hope of the Eldians, perhaps that's how this mess could've been prevented. Grisha also comments then Zeke ends up living with his grandparents, a.k.a Grisha's parents. We already know Grisha's dad was a total suck-up to the Marleyans, so I can imagine he played a role in instilling Zeke with the ideology that he should do what's necessary for the sake of the Marleyans.
But good lord, that torture scene was absolutely
brutal! Before he was taken to the island of Paradis, Marleyan soldiers tortured Grisha. They demanded Grisha to tell them who the Owl is, but Grisha doesn't know, and
the soldiers cut off each of Grisha's fingers one by one... while Grisha is strapped to a chair naked. This has to be one of the grizzliest scenes in the entire series. I legitimately cringed because of how disturbing it was, and you can even see how painful it was because Grisha was crying out of pain.
It isn't long before a higher-up soldier arrives and asks the soldiers if they got anything from Grisha. The soldiers tell him they still don't know the Owl's identity, and the higher-up soldier ponders to himself how dangerous this spy is. He then tells them the boat to Paradis is ready, and they blindfold Grisha and prepare him to be sent to Paradis. Grisha remembers that higher-up soldier from somewhere before, and he ponders who that soldier was during the trip to the island. By the time he reaches there, Grisha realizes that higher-up soldier was in fact Kruger, the same one that beat him up when he was child for escaping the Ghetto confinements with his sister. Kruger stands over Grisha for the rest of the chapter until the end.
Oh yeah, remember the theory speculating there is another wall beyond the three walls? Turns out that theory was true!
So there really was another wall beyond Wall Maria, but unlike the three walls we're familiar with, this wall was constructed by the Marleyans and is 30 meters high. At the bottom of the wall are sand dunes so that when criminals fall off the wall, they have a safe landing. The wall also serves as a way to keep the Titans contained, because it turns out Titans don't travel close to the ocean.
Grice is the first to be punished, but instead of being titanized, he is thrown off the wall to be used as Titan bait for the following Titans that come after. Grisha then notices the chubby soldier that threw Grice off the wall was the same one that fed Grisha's little sister to the dogs when he was little. This chubby soldier's name is revealed to be Sergeant Major Gross, and he is a pretty high position in the Marleyan military. This time, he is carrying out the entire titanization process of those Eldian criminals.
And now we witness another shocking scene. I pointed out last month that many of the Eldian Restorationists resemble Titans that appeared in the Battle of Trost. Well, guess what? ...
Pay attention to these panels, because it turns out those Titans that appeared in the Battle of Trost were indeed the same Eldian Restorationists from Marley that Grisha was a part of. I wasn't surprised by this reveal, but I'm glad we got a visual of what happened (albeit a bit of a disturbing one too).
The next person to be titanized is Grisha's wife, Dina Yeager. Grisha is shocked by this because he told the Marleyan authorities that Dina was of royal blood and was thus important to the Marleyans, but Kruger silences Grisha. Grisha wonders why is Kruger letting Dina become a Titan like that, but then it hits him that Kruger is only covering it up. As she is being injected by the Titan serum, Dina tells Grisha these final words:
"Grisha... I... no matter what I become... don't worry, I will find out."
She is then kicked off the wall, and we witness this shocking reveal:
That titan... I remember it... oh man... the reveal here is...
Grisha's first wife was the Smiling Titan all along, the same Titan that ate Eren's mom!
I think most readers saw this coming from a mile away ever since Dina was first revealed last month, but even then, it's still worth pointing because of the irony going on. Even Dina's last words before her transformation are worth noting:
"No matter what I become... don't worry, I will find you." Those final words match up with the fact she wandered into Shinganshina the day Wall Maria fell and stumbled upon Grisha's house there. Yes, she was a mindless Titan at the time, but I can't help but point out how her words coincide with that. It's also worth mentioning that she smiled to Grisha as she spoke her final words, and the next thing you know it, her Titan ends up getting the signature smile. Perhaps someone's expression right before titanization can impact how the Titan form will look like?
The chapter briefly interrupts with Eren waking up with a loud scream and crying, waking up Mikasa and Armin nearby. We find out Eren and Mikasa are in prison cells because of their actions in Chapter 84, and it seems like Armin is just there just to accompany them. During this scene, we also learn that Eren has been receiving his father's memories as of late following that Basement scene, and they match up with what was written inside those Basement books. He now knows the Smiling Titan was Dina all along.
Major Gross then taunts Grisha over Dina's transformation, musing at the idea that Dina is chasing after Grice and perhaps was attracted to him along. Grisha becomes frustrated and calls out Gross for killing his younger sister back then. Gross pretends to ignore as they prepare the final Eldian Restorationist to be turned into a Titan. He then tells Grisha that he will turn the man into a Titan for it to eat Grisha just for his (Gross's) own personal enjoyment. Disturbed, Grisha asks Major Gross why is he doing this.
And what follows demonstrates how Gross truly is a despicable person.
Major Gross explains that it is fun to watch humans getting devoured by creatures, and people love to watch brutality. However, because there has been peace for so many years, there's a sense of something lacking: the desire of feeling entertained from watching blood and gore. He also explains that it is normal for animals to think everyday could be their last, but it isn't conventional to think that when you live in a peaceful era. Gross states that he is different from that, and he is prepared for the day he dies because he faces the truth of the cruel world and wants to better understand it. As Major Gross learns, he wants to have fun, and he thinks that feeding Fay Yeager to the dogs was education for his sons, and they grew up to become "fine men" because of it.
As Gross injects the titan serum to the other man that will become the Kawaii/Peering Titan. Grisha questions Gross if his heart acts, but Gross tells him that while his chest tightens at the fact his sons will eventually die, they are still innocent. Grisha comments that his younger sister was innocent too. After all, she just wanted to see the blimp. Gross then comments,
"Poor thing, if only she wasn't an Eldian."
...What? So even if Fay was innocent, she still deserved to die just because she was Eldian? Wow, Major Gross is racist. The following dialogue even expands on that. He explains that Eldians are the only race that can turn into Titans the moment Titan spinal fluid is injected into their spinal cords, making them "monsters" compared to other races. While there is an era of peace going on right now, there are people like the Eldian Restoriationists that show up every now and then that threaten this peace. Gross adds. "All of humanity wishes for the same thing... for every last Eldian to be eliminated from this world. Don't do anything about about rats that take up living in your home and it can lead to an epidemic, so of course you need to eliminate them." For Gross, his heart doesn't ache when killing Eldians like this because
"[they]'re the killers," and even those like the Eldian Restorationists might've had the potential to commit violence of that past.
You know, Major Gross's attitude is a reflection of how racism tends to look in today's world. Some will still display racial attitudes towards a certain person just because of that person's race. Even if that person is truly innocent, those people don't care because they'll probably think about the past actions of that race to justify racism onto them. I've got to applaud Isayama for making a social commentary like that.
Moving on, I think it's worth mentioning that this guy was the one that Gross wanted to titanize for him to eat Grisha:
Looks familiar? Sure does, because this is who he eventually turns into:
Yep, that Eldian Restorationist was the Kawaii/Peering Titan all along.
Getting back on track, Gross prepares to throw Grisha off the wall as the latter screams for him to stop, but then this happens:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Kruger pushed Gross off the wall?! What's going on here?
Kruger falls down and lands on the bottom, and then he comes face to face with the new Titan he just created. Grisha and Kruger then watch as we witness that Titan eat Gross alive.
Damn, Gross's death was truly
satisfying to watch. Prior to this, I couldn't help but feel more and more contempt for this guy each time he spoke. From taunting Grisha about Dina's transformation to stating that racist ideology of his, this guy really was despicable monster. What made his death even more satisfying was how karmic it was. He was telling Grisha,
"I'm totally prepared for the day I die, so I'll confront death just fine." Next thing you know it, Gross unexpectedly gets pushed off the wall and gets the attention of a nearby Titan. Before long, he is completely scared and starts screaming for his life as the Titan proceeds to eat him. He wasn't prepared for his death at all. Take about karma at its finest! The panels showing that titan bite off half of Gross's jaw was also really entertaining too.
It's also worth mentioning one panel was a parallel to a prior scene in the series:
The panel on the left was when the Kawaii/Peering Titan was about to eat Mina Carolina during the Battle of Trost, while the one on the right is the same Titan about to eat Major Gross. When we first saw the Kawaii Titan eat Mina back then, we couldn't help but feel pity for Mina as she was devoured. An innocent girl getting devoured by such a frightening creature, it was a sorrowful sight. Now that we know who that Kawaii/Peering Titan really is, we'll look back on that scene differently. When we see that same titan encountering Gross in a similar manner to what happened with Mina, instead of grieving, we the audience can't help but chant,
"Eat him, eat him, eat him, eat him," especially for the evil demon that Sergeant Major Gross is.
OK, that's enough gushing over Gross's enjoyable death. Why did Kruger push Gross off the wall?
I can't believe it...
Kruger was "the Owl", a.k.a. the person who helped the Eldian Restorationists behind the scenes, all along!
That caught me by surprise: this guy appeared to be pretty loyal to the Marleyan forces. How would the Marleyans not know this?
But looking back at it, I think there were a few hints to this reveal. In the previous chapter, shortly after kneeing Grisha in the gut with Gross taking Fay away, Kruger lets Grisha stay with him to watch the blimp. Kruger actually looked pretty sympathetic there, and the way he observes Grisha during the following scene when his parents are informed of Fay's death makes you wonder there must something more to Kruger than meets the eye.
Kruger than transforms into a Titan, revealing he was secretly a Titan Shifter, and destroys the Marleyan steamboat as Grisha watches from afar...
Hold the phone, doesn't Kruger's Titan form look familiar? Yep, it bears a
very strong resemblance to Eren's Titan form. We know that Eren ate his dad to gain the Titan Shifting powers, so it begs the question: Who did Grisha eat to become a Titan Shifter. Looks like this panel has given us the answer: Grisha ate Kruger to become a Titan Shifter. It's not confirmed, but this panel is a very strong hint to that.
So in summary, the reveals from this month's chapter include the following:
- There is another wall that lies beyond Wall Maria, but it is 30 meters high and was created by the Marleyans.
- Those titans we saw during the Battle of Trost were in fact the Eldian Restorationists Grisha was a part of, turned into Titans as punishment for plotting to restore the Eldian Empire. Among those titan that were originally from that rebel group include the Bearded Titan and the Kawaii/Peering Titan.
- Grisha's first wife, Dina Yeager, was the Smiling Titan all along.
- Major Gross was the soldier that fed Grisha's younger sister to the dogs back then.
- According to Major Gross, only Eldians can turn into Titans, and "all of humanity" hates them just as much as the Marleyans do.
- Kruger was "the Owl" all along. He is also a Titan Shifter.
Quite the shocking stuff!
Additional thoughts:
Now that we now Dina was the Smiling Titan all along, it's worth mentioning that back in Chapter 50, Eren first awakened his Coordinate/Progenitor Titan powers when he punched the Smiling Titan's hand. Considering that Dina was of royal blood, perhaps one way Eren needs to activate his Coordinate powers is by touching someone that comes from royalty. Zeke has royal blood thanks to his mother, so I can imagine he will play a role in unlocking Eren's powers even further (my guess is that when Eren will fight him later on, each punch he delivers onto Zeke will cause multiple Titans to chase after Zeke).
Major Gross also mentioned that only Eldians can turn into Titans. It's clear that some parts of history were fabricated, and we previously learned in last month's chapter that the Marleyans won the Great Titan war by gaining ahold of 7 of the Titan powers. What makes me curious is how did the Marleyans "gain ahold" of those Titan powers. Did they capture a Titan of that power and then used it against the Marleyans, or did they take a power from each of those 7 Titans and became Titan shifters to fight the Eldians? If it's the former, it matches up pretty well with the notion that only Eldians can become Titans. The latter fits with the idea that "only Eldians becoming Titans" is a lie. I can also sense a potential lie coming from Gross when he said "all of humanity" hates the Eldians. It's hard to imagine the Eldians angered those other than the Marleyans, but we shall see.
Even though we barely know him, I'm really liking Kruger as a character because of what he did at the end of the chapter. In fact, I'm thinking of making that panel when Kruger reveals he was the Owl as a potential avatar, but the main thing that's holding me back from doing it is that I don't want to spoil those who aren't up to date with the manga yet.
I really want to know more about Kruger. Is he an Eldian spy that was sent to infiltrate the Marleyan government so that he could attack when the time was right? What his main reason for keeping Grisha alive but letting Dina become a Titan and not saving her?
For the first question, it's possible that Kruger could've descended from a family of Eldians that was tasked by the 145th Fritz king to infiltrate the Marleyan government and take them (the Marleyans) down from within when the time was right.
For the latter question, I speculate that he may be aware that because she has royal blood, her inheriting the Progenitor Titan's power means she will inherit the 145th Fritz king's ideology, which means she could potentially choose to not fight back much like the following members of the Reiss family. He probably wants someone that isn't of royal blood to inherit such power so that they are guaranteed to fight back and not chicken out. He might've thought Grisha was a suitable pick to fulfill this role because Kruger witnessed how interested Grisha was in learning about the outside world back then, and Kruger noticed Grisha's trauma over his sister's death. Kruger probably thought Grisha seemed like the kind of person that would be willing to stand up against the Marleyans when the time came.
Such potential ideology that Kruger could've had matches up with Grisha's reasoning for letting his son inherit the Coordinate powers, so it makes further sense that Grisha ate Kruger; it could also explain where Grisha's mindset was coming from.
My predictions for next month's chapter:
- We see Kruger, still titanized, taking Grisha away to a location near Wall Maria. Kruger will also find a way to keep nearby Titans away.
- Kruger reveals some of his backstory to Grisha and his motivations for doing what he did. We then see Grisha becoming a mindless Titan and eating Kruger
- Probably some more of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin at the jail cells, with Eren continuing to reiterate he remembers more of Grisha's memories compared to the past.
- Chapter ends with Shadis finding Grisha by Wall Maria
...RIP Ridley 
