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Attack on Titan chapter 123/episode 87, especially the scene where Eren asks Mikasa what he means to her, has been one of the most anticipated chapters to be adapted into the anime. Mikasa’s answer to this question has been treated with mostly fond exasperation in the fandom, with many lamenting that she failed to get her feelings across to Eren.
However, to Mikasa herself, a sliver of doubt continued to gnaw at her even years later. Despite knowing better, she continued to wonder if she could have steered Eren towards a different path had she given a different answer. This article explores why this blame is misplaced and what the moment could have signified for Eren.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers up to Attack on Titan anime and manga and reflects the writer’s interpretation.
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The significance of Eren’s question and Mikasa’s answer in Attack on Titan chapter123/episode 87
In Attack on Titan chapter 123/episode 87 of the anime, during their visit to Marley, Mikasa kept noticing a change in Eren's behavior but was skeptical to accept it then. This part of the story is narrated as a flashback through Mikasa. Eren and his friends explored the world outside the wall and tried out new things. However, an incident with a young pickpocket made them realize the general hatred towards the people of Ymir.
Later, Eren asks Mikasa why she is so protective of him, specifically what he means to her. He asks if it’s just because she considers him family, to which she awkwardly agrees. However, before she can elaborate further, they are interrupted by one of the immigrants nearby.
After a night of revelry, they return to surveying and attending councils. Though people advocated for the rights of the people of were, they still harbored fear and distrust for the residents of Paradis. Eren disappears after that, and Mikasa sees him again during the raid on Liberio.
Mikasa’s guilt and self-awareness
This incident is presented to the audience entirely through Mikasa’s flashbacks, in both the manga and the anime. She prefaces the flashback with a monolog about being aware of her insignificance, in this particular case, in the development of Eren’s nature.
Mikasa firmly states that she is aware of Eren’s propensity toward the extreme, his innate attraction toward freedom, and his single-minded ferocity. She understands that no matter what answer she would have given, they would have ended up in this exact situation. She could not have done anything to prevent it, because Eren was predisposed to turn out this way.
While she is unaware of how tumultuous and twisted the notion of pre-destination and fate can be for the Attack on Titan universe, especially at the hands of someone like Eren Yeager, Mikasa is aware that sometimes one cannot influence the inherent tendencies of another. She accepts Eren’s nature, however, she is no longer blind to the collateral damage that lies in his wake.
Eren’s possible reasons behind asking the question
Speaking of Fate and Pre-destination, Attack on Titan established early in the final season part 2 that Eren might not only be aware of everything that will transpire in the future, but he might have set everything up to control it to his liking. By that understanding, Eren not only knew what Mikasa’s response would be, but he also knew that it would not affect him in the slightest.
In one light, it can be interpreted as Eren’s last effort to hold onto some semblance of hope. While Eren has resigned himself to what he must do in order to achieve his goals and protect his loved ones, he does not particularly want to do so. He laments several times that this is the only path forward, that fighting is the only way to live.
In such a predicament, it is impossible to say if he wanted a different answer to see if the future could be changed, or if he simply wanted Mikasa’s answer to solidify the notion that his own designs have now become inescapable chains.
Either way, this question was less about the response and more about the fact that Eren asked it despite having probably seen this transpire several times via the Paths.
A long dream
Some posit that the natural conclusion to this moment and their conversation was shown at the end of Attack on Titan chapter 238, "A Long Dream." Mikasa was shown an alternate future by Eren, where they had run away, and lived his remaining four years in peace. It is still debated within the fandom whether that was one of the timelines in the popular “See You Later Universe” theory.
At the end of Attack on Titan manga, Mikasa tells Eren, after his death, that he was someone she cherished, which many believe to be a late answer to his question. Either way, neither Mikasa nor Eren hinged anything significant onto the question or the answer. What mattered more was Eren’s reasons for asking it, and the impression it left behind on Mikasa.
Final thoughts
Although Attack on Titan fans often joke that Eren went berserk after Mikasa rejected him, the dominant belief is that this was his last humane moment. This was the cusp where he still had hope and in turn projected that hope onto Mikasa, not to be reassured, but to be remembered.
This moment leaves an imprint on Mikasa’s mind, and it can be assumed that this is not the first time she has thought of it in context to what Eren is doing, and her unwitting role in it.
Perhaps, Eren wanted to plant the seed of his machinations in Mikasa’s mind, which would result in her final action. Perhaps this was the last moment Eren deluded himself into believing that he was free.
It is equally likely that Eren was looking for a reason, not to stay and change the course of his actions, but to follow through with his plan because essentially, Mikasa represented what he was fighting for. At the end of the day, this moment is famous or infamous in the fandom because it marks the end for Eren and the beginning for Mikasa.
They both moved forward from stagnation after this moment, Eren marched towards his goal, and Mikasa drifted away from Eren. Where they will meet now, and what results from that meeting, will be revealed in Attack on Titan Final Season part 3.
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