THE RUMBLING IS HERE. We all knew it was coming, but man, a part of me hoped it wouldn’t come to this. But considering the opening is literally called “The Rumbling”, it was inevitable. Not to mention if they talked about it this much, they’re gonna follow through with it. But man… I’ve been watching people react to this series from the beginning on youtube and after knowing what happens in this final season, you literally can’t view certain things in earlier seasons the same way. Back in season 3, Eren talks about how he’d used to just stare up at the sky until Armin showed him the world beyond the walls. It was then that Eren realized that his freedom was stolen from him by the titans. He was ALWAYS searching for freedom and hated those who would take it away from him, just as he said.
Even while chained up, Eren is still intimidating as heck. Even when Zeke ejected himself out of the memories, the way he just casually says “we haven’t seen the part where I eat him” is just… bruh why you so scary? Though it’s pretty wild to think that if Zeke hadn’t taken Eren to see their father’s memories things could have ended up differently. The situation is definitely hard to swallow. Especially when you compare plans, Zeke’s plan seems to be the better of the two. However, it kind of falls onto the side of the world where they all seem to believe things would have been better if Eldians didn’t exist. Which completely goes against Eren’s ideology so that plan was never going to fly with him.
We finally get the backstory of the founder Ymir… who ends up being completely different from how she’s been depicted. The story described her as someone who made a deal with the devil, thus cursing her entire race by being able to transform into titans. However, upon seeing just who she was and what she went through, we find out she’s just this little girl who never had the chance to develop a sense of self. I think the kicker to it all was that she wasn’t even Eldian. Just a girl from a nameless tribe that was conquered and made into a slave by the Eldian king.
Her entire flashback was just absolutely horrific. It was most likely the most revolting thing in this entire series. First she gets her tongue cut off, but then she gets blamed for letting go of a pig and accepted the punishment for it. This scene felt very reminiscent of titan shifter Ymir’s flashback of her trying to take the fall in order to hopefully save the others despite being accused as the one who tricked everyone. Unfortunately, both situations essentially turned out to be the absolute worst outcome with titan shifter Ymir and the other cultists being turned into titans and founder Ymir being “freed” while being hunted down. What was seen as “kindness” ended up just being the catalyst for a downward spiral. I don’t think I would even describe it as kindness. It felt like allowing others to dictate their fate without taking into consideration what they actually wanted from the situation. Or something along those lines. It’s kinda hard for me to explain it.
Ymir didn’t even make a deal, she just ended up in a place with that strange organism that kind of forced her to take on this titan power. She then had to deal with her power being abused by the King who ended up also just using her as a baby making machine. When thinking about it, that’s most likely what could have happened to Historia if she was successfully taken back to Marley. Thank goodness Ymir decided last minute to let her stay back in the walls. Especially since I’m sure Ymir had no clue that that would have been the fate Historia would face.
So many things were just foisted upon her without her consent and she only stood idly by without a word. While she did have the power to fight back against the King and Eldia as a whole, she most likely still viewed herself as a slave and only followed orders that were given to her. Culminating in her just taking an assassination attempt for the king and passing away despite being able to heal. She just let it happen… just as she did with everything in her life. But boy was I glad that they mostly censored them butchering her dead body and feeding it to her daughters… that was probably the most disgusting part of this backstory. Which created the cycle of cannibalism of the titans and how the powers were passed down.
The whole thing is absolutely terrible and I think one of the worst things about the whole thing is that the sole reason why titans never stopped existing was because of a selfish wish made by the accursed king who only wanted the titans to exist so they can dominate. It’s absolutely disgusting. Especially considering how much suffering titans had brought to everyone involved. Not to mention, Ymir was essentially forced to continue serving the king beyond the grave, creating titans because he had ordered her to do so for eternity. This flashback essentially showed us how everything in history continues to repeat itself. Surprisingly enough, Eldia did commit all the atrocities that Marley claimed they did. However, Marley is doing the exact same thing Eldia did to them now. All the while Ymir tirelessly continues a cycle of creating titans. The theme of cycles continues to be ever strong.
It’s not until Eren intervenes, acknowledging who Ymir truly is. Not a slave and not a goddess. Just a little girl who needed to be set free. It was at this moment where Zeke started acting like the king, ordering her to do as he wished, while Eren gave her the strength to finally think and act for herself. And man… it was extremely hard hitting to finally see her eyes for the first time all the while making the same face Eren made when he witnessed himself urge his father to kill the Reiss family. Which just added a layer of foreboding. The moment would have been really sweet… if not for the fact that Eren was going to use her power to destroy the world.
The entire scene of the Rumbling being activated was just so good. The soundtrack, the cinematography, the lighting, the sound design, everything just made you feel a sense of dread while it was all happening. Just seeing the walls collapse and in its place were just rows upon rows of colossal titans. I could only shake my head at how Armin said that Eren was on their side and was only doing this to protect them. Armin please. While he was correct in the fact that Eren was trying to protect Paradis, he definitely realized real fast that Eren was going above and beyond what the initial plan was. Eren wasn’t here to play games. He was here to trample the world except for the Eldians living in Paradis. No more, no less. Making that last scene of him telling every Eldian via paths extremely chilling. Especially accompanied by that image. Chills man, CHILLS.
This episode surely gave Kenny’s quote “everyone is a slave to something” a whole new meaning. Poor Ymir had been a slave almost her entire life and even after death. This entire episode was just masterfully done with all the symbolism, storytelling, animation and everything. You can’t help but feel a mixture of excitement and dread once the Rumbling started happening. Eren officially has the power of the founder and is set on leveling the entire world of life. Eren has been pushed to the absolute edge and while I can understand why he believes this is the only way, I could never agree with the ideology. Especially when it involves killing innocent people who have nothing to do with this. It just feels like Eren is continuing the cycle of hatred. Next week is sure to be yet another doozy and I am all here for it.
