#reene7890

[aspoonofsugar]

Alternative Reality Asks

Hello anons and hello @reene7890,

All your asks/comments can be answered in a single post.

In short, what Mikasa saw is probably an alternative reality either Eren or Ymir shared it with her through paths.

This is why both Eren and Mikasa saw it:

That said, in the end I do not think it really matters.

These are just my two cents on the whole time-travel aspect of snk.

Of course I might be wrong and next chapter might have a huge plot-twist that shocks us all and changes the whole plot. Still, as for now, this is how I feel.

So far the time-travel aspect of the series has not been relevant plot-wise (at least not in the way it is in time-travel centered stories) and has mostly been thematically enriching and used to give us a deeper understanding of the characters. In a sense, it made the characters more complex.

When it comes to worldbuilding, it is one of the many aspects of the power of paths. All Eldians are linked through time and space thanks to them, after all.

The paths have many powers which manifest in different ways. For example, last chapter dead people managed to briefly come back to help the Alliance.

This chapter, the paths have made possible for Mikasa to see a part of an alternative present/future. Similarly, in the very first chapter Eren saw that same specific possible future.

We might have a more detailed explanation next chapter, but as @aotopmha said here, I do not really think it will be something overly complicated. I think it will mostly be something simple that will not really change the overall plot, but will enrich it thematically. For example, the theory in the post kinda works for me. Ymir/Eren trying to break a loop by experiencing different realities to succeed in the end does not really change the story we have just seen, especially if Eren did not really have memories of it.

It does not change Eren’s massacre being wrong, especially because we have seen the psychologial state he was in when he made it. We saw it was not for a great scheme, but that it was him dissociating. It would not change that in the end the people who saved the world were Armin and Mikasa and that they did so through their choices that were different from Eren’s. It would not change that probably in almost every time-line Eren would not be able to overcome his self-hate and his flaw.

At the same time, for Mikasa what she experienced is and will always remain a dream. In the end it is not what she chose. It is a reality that could have happened if she had chosen differently. Still, it did not happen in the story.

We all as individuals, even without time-travel or different realities, can potentially imagine different possible future selves. And these future selves might have been born if we had taken different choices in key moments of our lives. If I had studied medicine... I would be a doctor right now. I am not, but this does not mean it was impossible to begin with.

For Mikasa, it is the same. She sees a reality that we know it is an alternative reality because we saw Eren seeing it too. Still, Mikasa is experiencing it as a dream. She might never know that was an actual alternative reality she in a sense has experienced and lived. She probably knows this unconsciously, but rationally, it might be left ambiguous.

In the meta I refer to it as a dream precisely because of this and also because it is the realization of Mikasa’s childhood dream. And even in the chapter it is something linked to Mikasa’s personal wish:

She does not see a random alternative reality, but a reality linked to a wish (go back to her home with Eren) and to a regret (what would have happened if she had chosen differently?).

We as people can only imagine different futures, while Mikasa who is in a world where alternative realities exist is given the chance to briefly experience one. And she experiences a reality specifically important for her because it is the reality where she got what she wanted. And she still realizes that even in that case she can’t save Eren.

Let me clarify what I mean when I say that I think time-travel and different realities are used in the series to enrich characters and themes and not really to create structural plot-twist. I’ll try doing so using this chapter.

Mikasa seeing the alternative reality does not let her change the past and does not let her change the future. So, time-travel has no repercussion in the overal events of the story.

What is more, it was really not necessary for Mikasa to see an alternative reality for her to arrive to the choice of killing Eren. In terms of writing Mikasa could have easily come at the same conclusion in a different way. In fact, I think different people had different headcanons about this moment.

Even the first panel:

In the end, it is revealed to simply be an image from a different reality, not even from the reality we are reading the story of. If the loop-theory is correct, it might simply be the conclusive panel of a story that happened before ours. It does not really change what we are reading.

The same goes for the other instances where time travel was used.

Eren convincing his father to kill the Reiss Family is important for his, Zeke and Grisha’s characters. It changes their dynamic making it more complicated. It is also important for Zeke’s arc and character. Still, it does not change what we already know aka... The Reiss Family is killed by Grisha. We discover an ulterior layer to Grisha’s motivation. We also discover Eren’s role in it and how much he has spiralled. Still, the event itself does not change.

Similarly, Eren seeing the Rumbling is important for his psychology I think because we can see him struggling with this idea and partially being consumed by it. Still, in the end it is still Eren’s choice to start it. Other options were still possible and this chapter’s alternative reality proves exactly this.

And it is in this that the time travel aspect of snk works imo. It is enriching thematically. It is enriching thematically because it is used to explore the theme of freedom aka the main theme.

It shows how Eren seeing the future does not make him freer, but a slave of a specific vision he saw.

It shows the fine line between destiny and choices, like in this chapter.

It shows that different realities are born by different choices, even if some factors are meant to remain. It also shows how every reality has within itself different burdens.

Finally, to answer to the anons who asked abt the reality where Eren and Mikasa ran away and its contradictions... I think it is important to remember it is just one among different realities. It is the specific reality Mikasa saw because it is important for her to see it.

Still, other versions were possible too.

As I have written in the meta, a reality where the conflict between Marley and Paradis had developed differently would have probably needed Armin making different choices because thematically he is the character mostly linked to the outside world.

So yeah, there is a reality where Mikasa and Eren choose to leave Armin behind. In the actual story, Eren left both Mikasa and Armin behind, despite clearly loving them, so I do not think it is that surprising that in another reality Mikasa chooses to stay with Eren and to avoid war.

It is implied that in this reality Mikasa conveyed her love to Eren and that Eren opened up to her about the Rumbling. Once she knew about it, Mikasa must have convinced him to give up on this plan and to simply live in peace. Eren was clearly very close to a breakdown when she talked with Mikasa in Marley. He had decided to spare Historia a life as a breeding stock by destroying the world.

Mikasa makes him give up this plan, but Eren can’t still accept the alternative plan, which is about keeping the power of the Rumbling and pass it down from a generation to another forcing Historia and her children to become Titans. This is why they run away in this reality.

Eren says so himself:

He could not choose.

In our story Eren sacrificed the world and humanity for Paradis and Historia (and we see mixed results because Paradis was turning in a dictatorship, many people still died and Historia was still miserable).

In Mikasa’s alternative reality Mikasa and Eren sacrificed Paradis for Histora and humanity.

That said, this does not mean there are not other realities where Mikasa, Eren, Armin and others characters made different choices.

Finally about Mikasa choosing to say “See you later” instead “Goodbye” or something different, I think it is better to ask someone who knows Japanese because the expression translated as see you later might have a different nuance in Japanese. Anyway, I think the context makes pretty clear Mikasa is saying farwell to Eren.

I hope this was clear enough :)

Thank you for the asks!

[aspoonofsugar]

Why didn't you post again? :'(

Hello!

I actually keep posting, I am just a little bit slower than before because I am pretty busy irl. Still, I love writing metas and I will keep doing it :)

I do not know if you are interested in a series in particular, but in that case you are welcome on writing some asks. I might take a while, but I will usually answer them.

As for now, I have still two aks to answer (a snk ask and a rwby/snk one). If one of those is yours, then be sure the answer is coming by the end of this week.

I have also several ideas for metas on different series (rwby, hxh, snk, banana fish, the umbrella academy are just some).

In short, there are a tons of metas I wanna write, but unluckily I am slow and might take a while :) Hopefully, I will get the chance to write them all eventually!

Have a nice day and thank you for the ask!