10 Second Anime - Shingeki no Kyojin S3 - Episode 40

Historia recounts her past upbringing. Erwin explains his plans to retake lost territory.

Episode 40 - "Old Story"

Hmm.

What a massive info dump of an episode. Historia's memories of being raised on a faraway farm with her unloving mother explained a lot. Erwin's memories of his father the teacher getting disappeared because he told his son about the inconsistent official history of the Walls explained even more. And then Eren's note to Hange explained some more about the Titans.

Historia Reiss' situation appears to be tied into the false history of the Walls. The official story was that the Wall were built 100 years ago to keep the Titans out and the past record was erased during the upheaval. That's all mighty convenient for a coup that deposed the true ruling family. The Walls might even be older, but what's strange is how there were no Titan attacks during those hundred years until the Intelligent Titans came looking for Eren, or actually his Control power. Was there some sort of deal with whoever or however the Titans were produced? Is it a coincidence that the Beast Titan showed up again when Eren revealed his Titan powers? We'll see, we'll see.

Hange's note explains a lot about Ymir. She was a plain Titan running around for 60 years until she ate one of the infiltrating Intelligent Titans. According to the mechanism for Titan Powers, if a plain Titan eats an Intelligent Titan in his human form, that plain Titan regains his awareness and receives the Titan Power. What Power did Ymir get? Does she know how to use it? There are still some questions about the Pure Titans running around and how they get made. The cultists who worshipped Ymir said, "she had the blood of the king." There was another hint about that during the scenes at Connie's village and how he recognized his mother. I'd like to get those questions answered too.

But the real big deal is how big Erwin thinks. His plan has always been to retake Wall Maria, the wall that was busted down at the beginning of this story, causing so many people to flee into even tighter living spaces behind the interior Walls. But Erwin sees that he'll need to overthrow the government first before he can retake and rebuild that wall, because he'll need a Titan to make the wall material, and the current regime doesn't look too keen on repairing the wall for some reason.

This all leads to insurgency. I'm not sure how Rod Reiss figures into this. Is he working for the King? Does he have his own agenda now that he has Historia back? Why is she supposed to be the only one who can save humanity? Do the true royals have some other power running through their bloodlines? Sometimes this story gets a little smaller when questions get answered, but then the story gets bigger again when those answers just make more questions. Erwin's quip last episode about how this little world is going to get much bigger keeps ringing true.

Heh.

Historia tells her story, Sasha keeps her tongue hanging out.

What is up with Historia's mother. She's apparently a kept woman, not of farmstock in any way, but she's totally detached from her daughter. It's like she's afraid of and disgusted by her at the same time.

Wow. It's like the mother thought a rat fell into her lap and had to be swatted away.

Ah. Rod Reiss came for Historia when the Wall was breached, but the King's agents were waiting for him. Kenny, again.

Kenny seems awfully deferential to Rod Reiss. Maybe the agents can do whatever they want to civilians, but the royalty are untouchable.

Historia became Christa Lenz when her mother was killed and she was stashed away with the Wall Priests.

Sannes went right after his betrayer! Except, he wasn't a traitor. He was just forced into reading a script. Oh ho!

Yay! Pixis! He calls Erwin a gambler.

Welp, we're about to get a civil war. The Military Police have arrested all the Scouts. Long live the Resistance!

Levi has a wanted poster. Not a very good likeness...

Sasha has good ears. Connie keeps trying.

Next time, more torture.