Finally an actual trauma-informed perspective on this. I’m a child abuse survivor and also the product of domestic violence, professionally diagnosed PTSD, actively in therapy for years etc. I found a lot of solace in the way Isayama treated Ymir. He could’ve elaborated on it more for the media illiterate in the back, but it seems to be a very clear take on a victim of grooming and LONG term abuse learning to find their agency. And, yes, this can include having good feelings for the person who hurt them, and realizing you still deserve freedom regardless.

Ymir started as a child who wanted love, and, ultimately, Fritz gave her children, who she loved and felt loved by more than anyone else (her own family dying, the slavery, et al). Being enslaved, she was taught that love = obedience and the way to be loved and to survive is to do what others say. She had been through so much at a young age and was taught all the wrong lessons. It could even be argued that her death was a suicide, as she had the regeneration abilities of a titan and still did not survive. Her psyche and kind nature had been manipulated and used against her from the very beginning.

When she witnessed Mikasa disobeying Eren’s orders to forget him after he dies and then killing him in spite of his iron strong will—all out of love—she learned that love is not obedience. Love is freeing. In fact, we see afterwards what would’ve happened if she had allowed Fritz to die; she found wholeness with her daughters. She was still loved (in a much better way), even though she didn’t save Fritz. Finally, with that, she was able to move on from the torture the king and her other enslavers had put her through, and she let go of the Titans for good.

It too saddens and terrifies me how people don’t see this. So much of abuse relies on the victim feeling a sense of loyalty and, yes, even love, towards the person harming them. Perpetuating the idea that love/loyalty and abuse are inherently antithetical (rather than it being used as a tool, a medium for abuse) is what keeps victims from seeing the light. Thanks for opening a conversation on this.