Chapter 139: Additional pages, additional thoughts
I’ve had a few Anons asking if I’ve seen the additional page leaks, I have, and I’ve also seen a lot of outraged yelling about them from certain parts of the fandom. Everyone is entitled to feel angry, hurt or disappointed if they dislike the end of a series that they’ve invested so much time and emotional energy in. However expecting any piece of mass media to cater specifically to your whims, and to threaten violence to the creators if you don’t get your way, is just arrogant and childish beyond belief. Honestly, it shouldn’t have to be said. Sheesh.
From my perspective, the additional pages don’t really change my opinion of the ending. I’m still disappointed that there wasn’t stronger condemnation of Eren’s actions and I’m still disturbed that his friends were so willing to forgive him for slaughtering 80% of humanity. Nothing in the new pages changes that. However, I do appreciate the small glimpses of clarity these pages provide, particular with regard to Ymir and Mikasa.
It seems clear now that Mikasa’s headaches were a result of Ymir “peeking into her mind”, so that’s one mystery solved at least. It also appears that by killing Eren, Mikasa enabled Ymir to rewrite her own story, so that she no longer felt compelled to sacrifice her own life to save the king, thus saving her daughters from the awful fate of having to consume her corpse, which is what originally caused the Titan curse to be passed on to the Children of Ymir. I think it was the fact that Mikasa was able to kill someone she loved that enabled Ymir to make that choice, to realize that she had the power to free herself from the shackles of a love that was a never ending nightmare.
I know some readers have expressed disgust at Mikasa thanking Ymir for bringing her children into the world, when those children were born as a result of an abusive and coercive relationship. While that may be true, I don’t think that there’s any question that Ymir loved her children deeply and by freeing Ymir from her sacrifice, Mikasa ensured that these children did not loose their mother, as she herself had, and that they were saved from the appalling fate their father forced them to suffer. I thought the fact the Ymir and her daughters appeared briefly in the fake preview as a normal mom and kids on their way to the cinema was a really nice touch.
I don’t have particularly strong feelings about Mikasa and her family. Her partner could be Jean but it’s really not clear, so that’s a shrug from me. I guess I’m happy that she did have a life and a family of her own, as family has always been so important to Mikasa. It’s clear that she never forgot Eren though, which is honestly a lot more than he deserved, but it’s also to be expected. Mikasa is an Ackerman after all.
I got an ask last week about what I thought the main themes of SnK were and I said the futility of hatred and war, the power of love, and the dichotomy of fate and freewill. @tsuki-no-ura added freedom to that list. Having seen these final pages, I think another important theme is family. It really struck me that in the last few pages we see Ymir, Historia and Mikasa all portrayed living happily with their children. I don’t think Isayama is suggesting that women can only be happy and fulfilled if they have children, at least I sincerely hope that’s not what he’s getting at. If there’s a message there, I think it’s about the unconditional love that ideally exists between parents and children, a love that so many of the characters in this story have lost or been denied. I do think it’s interesting that all three fathers are “absent” in one way or another; the king is dead, Mikasa’s partner is unidentified, and farmer-kun remains a nameless enigma. I know there has been reams and reams written about the figure of the absent father in literature, but I’m really not the right person to analyse what, if anything, this might mean in the context of SnK.
There’s been a lot of speculation about how much time has passed in the last four pages. Some readers have pointed to the phenomenally rapid modernization of Japan over the last century as evidence that change of this nature can occur within a few generations. It’s impossible to put any kind of precise timeline on events, though I think it’s clear that the destruction of Paradis occurs at least a generation after the main cast’s lifetime. Whether that destruction was caused by civil war or external conflict is unclear, but I’m pretty sure that a direct line can be traced back to Eren’s genocide.
The fact that the tree survived the razing of Paradis has raised a few eyebrows, however almost every city that has been destroyed by war seems to have a single building or monument that miraculously survives, whether it’s the Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima or the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. Though in this case, it does seem like there is more than chance protecting the tree.
One other thing I liked about the additional pages was the fact that Levi didn’t appear. That might sound odd, but I thought his ending was pretty much perfect as it stood and I don’t want anything to change that. Some people have interpreted the empty wheelchair at the end as being the one that belonged to Levi, but I’m pretty sure it’s Mikasa’s, as she is obviously very elderly by this stage. Knowing that Levi will have passed away long before these scenes take place is deeply poignant.
I also rather like the ambiguous open ended nature of the final panel. It could be leaving the door open for a sequel, but I don’t think that’s it’s primary purpose. I think Isayama’s intention is just to leave us with a question mark.
The fake preview also made me laugh. Poor Isayama, he can’t win. People will be arguing over his story until the cows come home. I think this is the first and only time I’ve ever agreed with Eren though. For me, the most important thing about this story has been sharing it with friends.
So thems my thoughts, I think I like the ending more with the additional pages than without them, but my original criticism still stands. Also the dog is still a very good boy.
