The following contains spoilers for Attack on Titan Season 4, Episode 28, “The Dawn of Humanity,” now streaming on Funimation, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.
attack on titans: the final season has brought a number of big surprises to the table, especially when it comes to the Ackermans. Eren, in particular, had a lot to say about her clan, though she used this information to force Mikasa to hate her. She told the poor girl that her feelings for him were an instinctive part of her Ackerman blood rather than genuinely developed feelings of affection. This, among other things Eren said, broke Mikasa’s heart, but it might not have been true.
The last episode of The Final Season Part 2 reveals a different explanation from Zeke. The sum of his information suggests that Mikasa’s feelings are, in fact, genuine and have nothing to do with her lineage. Eren’s apparent lies have made the truth about the Ackermans difficult for fans to understand. To clear things up, here’s a look at everything there is to know about the Ackerman family.
Historically, the Ackermans were destined to live in the service of the Eldian royal family. However, after the fall of Eldia, they rejected King Fritz’s idea of peace, so they were persecuted and hunted to near extinction. It was only after Kenny Ackerman met Uri Reiss, then the reigning king, that the purge stopped.
The Ackerman family was created through the old Eldian Empire’s experimentation with the Subjects of Ymir. As a result of this experimentation, the Ackermans were granted the ability to use the Power of the Titans in human form. This is most observable in his near-superhuman feats, including Mikasa’s strength and Levi’s ability to survive a Thunder Spear at point-blank range.
The Ackermans are also immune to the Founder Titan’s memory manipulation, which is how they preserved their memories of life before the Walls. This is also partly why they were able to reject King Fritz’s ideals; if they could be forced to forget, they wouldn’t even know what they were up against. This inability to be controlled is what led King Fritz to hunt them down to a handful.
Another ability of the Ackermans is to be “awakened”. In addition to their superhuman abilities, they also gain the battle experience of previous Ackermans through the paths. This is what makes them so proficient in combat, especially Levi “Mankind’s Strongest Soldier” Ackerman.
The only caveat is that the Ackermans need to be awakened by their survival instincts. Mikasa exemplified this when he was nine years old and was told by Eren to “fight” when they were attacked by thieves. By tapping into his hidden potential, he could crush the hilt of a knife, shatter floorboards, and stab a thief in the heart from behind. If her life had not been in danger, she would have remained an ordinary girl.
However, according to Eren, there was another cause for this awakening. In episode 14 of the last season, “Savagery”, Eren said that the awakening was caused in response to Ackerman’s instinct to defend a “host”. This could be seen as plausible as many of the Ackermans could also be said to have hosts; for Levi, it would have been Erwin Smith; for Kenny, there was Uri. Every Ackerman who became a warrior had someone they wanted to protect.
Eren further backed up his claim about Ackerman’s instincts by citing Mikasa’s headaches. According to him, the headaches are caused by the Ackermans’ true personalities trying to oppose the host. He went on to say that Mikasa’s penchant for following her Ackerman blood from her, and therefore not being free from her, was what made him hate her.
Later, however, Armin suggested to Mikasa that Eren might have been lying about all of this. In episode 18, “Sneak Attack”, he said that he and Eren knew about Mikasa’s headaches for a long time. He went on to suggest that Eren used that one truth to make the rest of what he said sound convincing. As far as they knew, everything else Eren said was a lie. While this uncertainty about what was and wasn’t true comforted Mikasa, it was also the source of much confusion among fans.
Fortunately, episode 28, “Dawn of Mankind,” helped distinguish fact from fiction. In a flashback, Eren was shown having a conversation with Zeke Yeager about the cause of Mikasa’s devotion to him. While awakening through activated survival instincts was confirmed to be true through research, there was no evidence that he had anything to do with headaches or a host. In Zeke’s humble opinion, Mikasa’s fidelity was simply because he liked Eren.
In any case, the Ackermans are an amazing family. Their strength, battle instincts, and immunity to the Founder’s powers make them a force to be reckoned with. All that said, the cause of Mikasa’s headaches remains a mystery.
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