She’s just another traumatized Attack on Titan character.
Summary:
- Just like all Eldian slaves, Ymir had her tongue cut off.
- She got it back when she acquired her Titan powers.
- However, Ymir never spoke again because she considered herself a slave.
Even after the finale of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin), Ymir Fritz remains a mysterious character, perhaps the most mysterious of anyone else in the series. And the most upsetting thing is that we never even heard her speak, but why is it so?
Her tongue was cut off
Back when Ymir was little, her village was attacked and enslaved by King Fritz and his army. They killed a lot of people, including Ymir’s parents, and turned the survivors into slaves.
They cut off the tongues of all the slaves to keep them silent and obedient, so Ymir was not the only one to suffer this fate. She wasn’t allowed to express her opinions and do anything the Eldians did not want her to do.
Did her tongue grow back?
As we know, Titan Shifters have the ability to regenerate parts of their body. So when Ymir found the Titan Curse tree and became a Shifter, she grew back her eye she lost while hunted by the soldiers. However, it was never revealed whether or not she also got her tongue back.
Ymir never speaks in the manga or anime, so we don’t even know if she can anymore. However, fans believe that she did grow her tongue back and was able to speak again after acquiring the Titan Power.
It didn’t matter to Ymir that she became a god-like creature, capable of destroying whole armies, she always considered herself a slave. Ymir developed feelings for King Fritz and was unhealthily attached to the man, so the idea that she could be free didn’t even cross her mind.
That’s why Ymir kept playing the role of a slave, and slaves are not supposed to talk. It didn’t matter if she had a tongue or not, she had to stay silent and obedient until her very end.
Fans wanted her to speak at the end
When Eren showed her freedom, it was the first time we saw her eyes properly. It showed us that something was changing inside her and she was starting to move from her slave mentality.
However, Ymir was never free until the moment Mikasa kills Eren. That’s why fans were hoping to hear her speak after that. They think it would’ve been great if she had said “thank you” to Mikasa and then left. But it never happened.