In the last two chapters, we witnessed Marley battle the Mid-East Allied forces in a four year-long war using the four Titan powers they currently have. Marley managed to win the war, but it wasn't an easy victory. The chapter opens with the top Marley military officers + Zeke discussing what has resulted from the war. Zeke managed to sink the Allied Fleet only because Reiner shielded from the shell blasts. With Reiner taking such a heavy blow, the world now views this as the moment they can finally beat the Armored Titan, what was once thought to be the most unstoppable weapon on the planet.
Before we talk about Magath's elaboration, I want to give a mention about the Marley general...
...Yep, he's none other than Mads Mikkelsen! Well, technically it's a character whose design is heavily designed from the actor's appearance, but I'm going to refer to this general character as Mikkelsen for now until he is named, because why not.
Magath tells the other Marley officers that the war with the Mid-East Allied Forces is the moment when humanity finally surpasses the Power of the Titans. He brings up how most of the war was fought through naval engagements, and the Mid-East forces had far superior technology overall. A point that Magath really drives home is that Marley has become too reliant on the Power of the Titans, to the point that they think the Titans are all that they need to be a world-power. This meant they chose not to develop their technologies further, and now other nations have been improving their weaponry to combat the Titans to stand a chance.
Speaking of nations, we now have a bigger glimpse of the world in Attack on Titan:
Yep, it really is our planet, but mirrored and flipped upside down. We also see the extent of Marley's empire. If we are applying our countries in comparison to this, we can deduce Marley's territory includes all of Africa, all of the Middle East, all of Europe, and parts of Brazil. Quite the empire!
Anyway, Magath assures Mikkelsen and the other Marley officers that Marley should still have an advantage on ground combat for now thanks to the Power of the Titans. Indeed, while anti-Titan machine guns now exist, Marley can still find ways to work around them if they are lucky; just look at how Gabi managed to destroy the armored train two chapters ago, or when Galliard managed to crush the heavy machine gun with high speed before it could fire on Reiner. But of course, as Magath points out, the other nations' improving technologies will reach a point where they will use aircrafts in their military. That moment is when "the skies will become the main stage on which war is fought, and Titans, the devils who rule over all land, will only be able to look up and watch." Mikkelsen responds:
Fandom speculation has been running nuts because of this sentence. As we'll see, it turns out there is only one more Titan Shifter, the 9th Shifter, that is yet to be revealed. What could the 9th Titan Shifter look like? Could it be the Winged Titan? It's a possibility. I mean, wings have been a major symbolism throughout the series. Look at the Survey Corps logo: the Wings of Freedom. Then you have the hawk that Falco was pointing to at the beginning of Chapter 91. What better way to top this symbolism than with a Winged Titan! Of course, the way Mikkelsen speaks about this Winged Titan is more of an unsure guess, so perhaps that may not be the 9th Titan after all. I do think a Winged Titan Shifter would look pretty cool though.
As Mikkelsen laments at the idea that Marley is starting to fall from grace as a world power, Zeke manages to offer some advice. He argues that Marley should resume its Paradis Island Operation and retake the Founding Titan as soon as they can. But wait, doesn't Zeke know the world is developing technology to beat the Titans? He knows that. Zeke explains Marley can't just wait and improve their weaponry in the meantime, because an enemy nation could strike at any moment. To deter the enemy nation from attacking, they need to steal the Founding Titan so that they can make the headline that Marley has acquired the Founding Titan, which could cause some nations to reconsider the idea of attacking Marley right away. Zeke also explains he wants to go all out on this mission since he only has a year left to live.
I have to highlight this though:
"Former son." Wow, Zeke really does despise his father. Can't blame considering that Grisha forced him to believe certain ideologies AND treat him more as a tool for the Eldian Restorationists instead of an actual son. I think this line also reinforces the notion that Zeke is effectively no longer Grisha's son by ratting out his parents. Mikkelsen even points that out. In fact, Mikkelsen's words imply that Zeke was praised for selling out his own parents as a child, and because of Zeke's fame from doing so, he has now earned a spot in the military not just for his role as a Warrior but also as one the Marley military can turn to for advice.
We now transition to the next part of the chapter where Colt and Zeke discuss the recent events. Colt greatly admires Zeke, as he mentions how amazing it was for an Eldian having his opinion considered by Marley general. He admits that he will likely be nowhere as good of a Beast Titan as Zeke was, and it is with these lines we finally gain some clarification on Zeke's Titan transformation powers from last chapter. It turns out any Eldian that is injected with Zeke's spinal fluid can turn automatically turn into Titans if Zeke roars at them, and from there, these Titans follow Zeke's command AND can move during the night. Yep, this most certainly sounds like what happened to the Ragako Village residents during the Clash of the Titans arc. They displayed those exact traits. This only begs the question: how did Zeke spread his spinal fluid to all of the Ragako residents? It's hard to imagine him injecting each person one by one, so it's possibly he could've released his spinal fluid via a pathogen.
But that's not all to Zeke's Titan transformation powers. It turns out this specific power isn't associated with the Beast Titan, but with the Founding Titan! This means the whole "transform Eldians into Titans via a scream after giving them specific spinal fluid: is only done by those that have royal blood, which Zeke has. It's funny how Colt tells Zeke, "It's not as if you have royal blood in your veins." Ah Colt, little do you know that Zeke is one of the only two remaining members of the Fritz royal family alive. Zeke puffs out a smoke and shrugs it aside, mentioning the answer may never be revealed. Here's where things get interesting:
A secret huh? On the surface level, it could just be referring to Zeke having royal blood. Makes sense for Zeke to keep this information hidden from the public. If Marley knew about this, they would probably turn Zeke into a breeding sow to produce multiple royal children the same fate Dina could've experienced if she wasn't turned into a Titan. On the other hand, Zeke seems to have an agenda of his own. His words to Eren that he will "save" him back in Chapter 83, his statement that "war is a terrible thing" from last chapter, and his desire to "end this already" as mentioned early into the Shinganshina arc do raise a few eyebrows on what Zeke's goal really is. He is very loyal to Marley, but there could be something hiding behind this loyalty. Maybe, it's a plan to establish a new world order? Perhaps one where there were always be peace, just like how he thinks "war is terrible." This kind of mystery to Zeke and the way he approaches things makes him quite an interesting antagonist. Each chapter he appears in fleshes him out more and more, and I can't help but be drawn to him.
Zeke states his secret is the way he wipes his bum, but I think that's just a cover-up. Anyway, Magath walks in and wants Zeke to expand on that secret about his bum, and it leads to some humorous dialogue between the two. This casual dialogue also shows Magath and Zeke are close since Magath states he has known Zeke for more than twenty years. Yet, even Magath knows Zeke is a perplexing individual. Their conversation transitions into something interesting:
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Marley was sending spy ships and destoyers to Paradise Island to spy on walled society in the last three years? Ohhhhh boy, this is huge. Our heroes finally reached the ocean, and in the following three years, Marley ships visited the island! Marley has the superior technology compared to the Walldians. How on earth did those ships disappear? What on earth could have possibly went down on that island? This is the question Magath poses onto Zeke, and Zeke gives a rational explanation that may be all too true.
Four titan powers currently reside on Paradis Island: The Attack Titan, The Founding Titan, the Colossal Titan, and the Female Titan. Eren has both the powers of the Attack and Founding Titans, Armin has the Colossal Titan power, and Annie is still on that island (but who knows whether or not she broke out of that crystal in the span of those 4 years). Zeke doesn't know that Armin inherited Colossal Titan, nor does he know what has become of Annie. To him, they are still unknowns, because if Bertolt and Annie naturally died, some random Eldian babies should've inherited their powers, but no such babies on the Marley continent have been found with them. This means these powers do reside within Paradis still. Zeke also brings up that the Walldians gained knowledge on how to pass down Titan powers thanks to the Attack Titan, passed down from the Owl to Grisha, devouring the Founding Titan.
He also states that the Fritz changed their name to Reiss. Looks I was right. It makes sense for the Fritz royal family to change their name and then put a fake figurehead with the given name "Fritz". It's a hiding technique. If Marley were to invade, they would likely go for someone named "Fritz," so what better way to fool them than to give them the fake figurehead with that name. However, it seems that ploy wouldn't work for long. We do now that Reiner and Bertolt had an interest in capturing Historia back in the Clash of the Titans arc because they stated that she had ties with a family closely related to the Church: the Reiss family. Now that we know Reiss is actually royalty, it's possible that they too knew the truth that the Fritz changed their name.
And what could the people on Paradis have possibly done about these boats? Zeke gives the answer!
Yep, Eren and Armin worked together to destroy those boats using their Titan forms. It's possible Annie could've helped with that as well. That is, assuming she broke out of the crystal and is fighting with the Walldians now. Take a good look at that Colossal Titan as well, because this looks like our very first glimpse at Armin's Titan Shifter form. You can definitely pinpoint a major trait with this new Colossal Titan body: it's more gaunt in appearance.
But this reveal makes me interested in seeing the Paradis perspective on this event. If they think tactically, they should keep most of those boats. That way, they can learn more about Marley technology and have new weapons of their own to fight back. They could even use those boats to reach Marley soil!
Magath concludes they should send battleships for the Paradis Island Operation, but Zeke tells him Titans are not the only threat to worry about. He tells them about the 3DMG & the Lightning Spears and how they led to his loss four years ago. He also brings up another thing the Marleyans should worry about: the Ackermans. There's more than a warning though. We get a major reveal about who the Ackerman family are!
Ever wonder why Mikasa and Levi are OP? Well, here you go.
The Ackermans are bioengineered soldiers, created by the Eldians themselves! We don't know the specifics on how the Ackermans were scientifically created, so this is will probably be revealed in the later chapters, but hey, at least we know something else about the mysterious Ackermans! I'm willing to bet those headaches Mikasa gets has something to do with the bioengineering thing, but we haven't seen Levi experience such pain though.
Zeke wishes that he doesn't have to fight the Ackermans ever again, and who can blame him. Zeke utterly destroyed him in their last battle together. This transitions into the next part of the chapter where we see how Reiner is doing following the battle. It begins with Reiner dreaming of the past events when Levi tried to kill him and Mikasa defeated him, both during the battle to reclaim Wall Maria. It was a great transition on Isayama's part because it matches Reiner's PTSD of the Ackermans and Zeke's fear of facing them again.
When Reiner wakes up from his PTSD, another warrior is in the same room, and he is eating a sandwich. He tells Reiner that he decided not to wake him up because it seemed like he was having a nice dream. This warrior is none other than...
Porco Galliard, the Jaw Titan!
Yep, he's the human behind the Jaw Titan. While he is still referred to as Galliard in this chapter, the next chapter reveals that his first name is actually Porco.
Reiner thanks Porco for saving him back in the Fort Slava, but Porco brushes it off and says the only reason he did so was to prevent Marley from losing the Armored Titan. Porco continues that none of this would've happened if he inherited the Armored Titan instead, and the dialogue the follows shows that Porco
hates Reiner. Why? Because he blames Reiner for Marcel's death. Did I mention that Marcel was Porco's brother? Yep, no wonder he hates Reiner. Porco thinks if he inherited the Armored Titan, he would've been capable enough to fight back and not be suddenly be surprised a Titan suddenly emerging from the ground to the point Marcel had to sacrifice his life.
Zeke previously mentioned that Colt would inherit his memories when he passes the Beast Titan, and this next panel confirms the validity of Zeke's words. Previously, we thought only Founding Titan holders could recount the memories of past holders of the same Titan. Now, it turns out all Titan Shifters can inherit the memories of the previous holder, but the main difference is that they can
only recount the past holder and not all the previous ones, unlike the Founding Titan. This is evident when Porco states he hasn't recounted Marcel's memories but can remember Ymir's-
Wait, he can recount Ymir's memories? That can't possibly mean-
I'll be honest though: with each passing month, I was growing more pessimistic that Ymir would still be alive. The more I looked at the evidence, the more I was convinced she really was dead. However, I thought Zeke ate her since the Beast Titan gained claws and a jaw that looks similar to her Titan form. However, Porco's Titan does have sharpened teeth just like Ymir's Titan, so this could mean he too was another possibility who Ymir was eaten by. This chapter confirms the latter. It also confirms Ymir's Titan and Porco's Titan are the same Titan. This means there is only one Titan Shifter left to be revealed. Porco also reveals that Ymir willingly gave back the Jaw Titan. This means she felt guilty of unknowingly stealing it in the first place, but this could also tie in to the bargain she was given: return with the Warriors to hand over her own life, or not do so and let Historia take the role instead. She chose to save Historia.
Porco continues that another bit that she saw in Ymir's memories was how Reiner acted like a dependable figure when he infiltrated the Walldian military. Porco comments, "It was almost like... you were trying to imitate Marcel." Reiner replies, "You're exactly right, Galliard." This reveals how Reiner's soldier persona came to be: Reiner felt guilty at the fact Marcel sacrificed his life to protect him, so his soldier persona was a way of imitating Marcel and coping with the guilt.
It is then a long-figured walks into a room and tells Porco to stop picking on Reiner. This character is none other than...
Holy smokes, a waifu! Err... I mean-
Pieck, the Cart Titan
So this is the girl who is behind the same Titan that brought supplies during the Shingashina battle and saved Reiner & Zeke during that time. She is best girl indeed! As the panel shows, we also learn one advantage that the Cart Titan has over the other Titan powers: it can maintaining its Titan form for a very long time, much longer than other Titan Shifters who can only maintain their form for less than a day. However, because of the length of time it takes to maintain that form, Pieck forgets to walk on two legs. I can't blame her since she was walking on fours for quite a while.
Best waifu Pieck tells Reiner to visit Gabi and the other young Warriors because they worried about him, so Reiner heads out. Pieck rests on the bed, and she and Porco talk to each other about how they fight have fought together on the same battlefield for a while yet the latter feels it's been a while since they saw each other (because of how Pieck was in her Titan form for a while).
We now see the young Warriors from the past two chapters sitting by the sea and discussing what happened. Udo wonders what will become of the Warrior unit if Titans become obsolete to modern technology, and Falco comments that Reiner lost everything but his head when he shielded Zeke from the shell blasts. What a contrast from the Shingashina battle. There, Zeke lost only his head and still survived, but here, only the head remained from the attack. Zophia also discusses the sea:
This line is interesting. It shows contrasting views of the ocean from what the Walldians think of the sea. For the Eldians on the sea, the ocean is nothing to new to them since they know what it is, and it can lead to some dull views on it. Meanwhile, the Walldians are fascinated by the ocean upon discovering, especially through Armin since his life-long dream was to see it for himself.
The young Warriors also notice a group of Mid-East Allied soldiers being transported away due to the trauma from surviving the Pure Titan attack. Udo feels angered by the sight, thinking that these soldiers will be used to demonstrate the inhumane nature of Titan weaponry and thus lower Eldian reputation. Is then Reiner checks on the young Warriors. All of them are overjoyed to see him back except for Falco, who gives a simple "hello" to him. They then decide to take Reiner around town for the time being. There is an interesting page where we see Reiner being reminded of Bertolt, Marcel, Galliard, and Annie by looking at each of the young warriors. This triggers some memories in him, causing him to shout "wait" outloud. The young Warriors are startled at first, but they just let it slide and move on. As they continue to explore the town, we are greeted to something very odd:
What's with that long-haired soldier following behind them? The hair color looks a lot like Eren's, who was also shown to have grown out his hair three chapters ago. Perhaps Eren still kept it long... could Eren be this mysterious soldier we see here? We can't be sure, but next chapter only raises the mystery of this soldier even further.
The final part of the chapter kicks in as we see the Eldian Warriors riding a train that is heading back to the Liberio Internment Zone. A drunken Colt talks praise about Gabi and what she did in the Fort Slava to the fellow Eldian Warriors on board, and it leads to loud cheers amongst them. In the cart in front of them, we see Magath, Koslow, a third Marley officer, Zeke, Porco, and Pieck. Koslow tells Magath to silence the Eldian Warriors, but Magath turns it down and says to let them celebrate for the night.
You know, is it just me, or is Magath the only Marleyan I like thus far? He is clearly racist against Eldians just like the other Marleyans we've seen in the series, but this chapter shows he is the most chill with the Eldians: the way how he casually approaches Zeke and Colt earlier in the chapter and how he lets the Eldian Warriors celebrate on the train. It'd be cool if we see other Marleyans who demonstrate a similar level of approachability to Eldians, because that would further add to the moral greyness the series is going for.
As Gabi and the other Eldian Warriors celebrate, Falco tells Reiner that it really seems Gabi is likely to inherit the Armored Titan, and we also learn that Reiner only has two years left to live. Falco mentions that if Gabi becomes a Titan Shifter, she will only live until the age of 27, indicating she is currently 14 years old. The way how Falco speaks of Gabi inheriting the Titan Shifter presents a disappointed view of the unfortunate fate all Titan Shifters experience. This causes Reiner to snap at Falco because "inheriting one of the Nine Titans is an honor." Reiner threaten Falco that he will report him to the authorities, which will cause Colt to lose his inheritance to the Beast Titan and the rest of his family will be sent away as Pure Titans to be used in future battles. Scared for his life, Falco proclaims his loyalty to Marley and how it's an honor to inherit a Titan power. Reiner then asks Falco if he wants to inherit the Armored Titan. Falco replies, "I
will inherit the Armored Titan." Reiner explains the only way Falco can protect Gabi is if he surpasses her. Falco is shocked by this claim, and Reiner tells him, "You are going to rescue Gabi from the dark, dark future we face." The chapter ends.
In all, this was a really interesting chapter! Zeke is becoming an antagonist I can be attached to whenever he shows up. His secret agenda draws me to him. We also learn more about Reiner and how he developed his soldier persona that made us attached to him at the start of the series. It also seems that even Reiner, despite threatening Falco, is pained at the thought of Titan Shifters living on a time limit, and the "dark, dark future" he mentions begs questions on what he could be referring to. Perhaps the ultimate final battle or potential Eldian genocide in the future? We also learn of Ymir's fate, and we are introduced to the human forms of the Jaw and Cart Titans. Falco is shaping up to be an interesting character, and if these last pages are anything to go by, he may just be the one that will inherit the Armored Titan instead. It's also possible he might defect to our heroes side, especially since he seems keen on stopping this "dark, dark future." We also learn that Marley isn't as strong as they seem. They may better technologies than Paradis, but even they can be vulnerable to attack.
ChikoLad
, since you're a huge fan of Clair, I think you will like these artworks of Clair.
