Why Did Ymir Fritz Obey The Royal Family For 2,000 Years In Attack on Titan?

Daksh Chaudhary
May 18
3 min read

Why Ymir Fritz obey the royal family in Attack on Titan

Ymir Fritz was a poor slave in Attack on Titan, who gained the Power of the Titans, yet kept serving the king who tortured her. For 2,000 years, she built Titans, obeyed royal bloodlines, and watched her descendants suffer. But why? How could someone with god-like power stay trapped in loyalty to her abusers?

The answer is her trauma and the false love for King Fritz. Ymir wasn’t just physically enslaved; her mind and soul were shackled by centuries of abuse. Even in death, she couldn’t break free, until a boy named Eren showed her a different path.

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Ymir And Her Slave Mentality In Attack on Titan

Ymir didn’t serve the royal family because she wanted to; she did it because she didn’t know how to stop. She was enslaved as a child, hunted like an animal, and forced to obey King Fritz even after he cut out her tongue. When she gained the Power of the Titans, she could’ve crushed him. Instead, she took a spear meant for him and died.

This was her twisted love for the king, but also her helplessness that she learned over the years. Years of abuse taught Ymir that her only value was serving others. For 2,000 years, she kept building Titans because obeying felt like her only purpose.

The Paths: A Prison Outside Of Time

When Ymir died, her consciousness got trapped in the Paths, a desert dimension where time doesn’t move. Here, she became a literal puppet, molding Titans from sand for every Eldian. But the Paths aren’t just a place, but a reflection of Ymir’s mind.

The endless desert depects her loneliness, the sand, her crumbling sense of self, and the royal family’s control, a loop she couldn’t escape. Ymir wasn’t just building Titans, she was reliving her trauma, over and over, because she believed she deserved it.

The Royal Blood Curse: A Cycle Of Pain

King Fritz didn’t just enslave Ymir, he cursed her descendants. By building a system where only royal blood could access the Founding Titan’s full power, he ensured Ymir would serve his family line forever. Every time a Fritz king demanded genocide or oppression, Ymir had to comply.

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However, the royal family didn’t control her through force, they manipulated her guilt instead. Ymir blamed herself for King Fritz’s death, and for 2,000 years, the Fritzes weaponized that guilt, making her atone by serving their heirs.

Eren And Mikasa Shattered Ymir's Curse

Eren and Mikasa kissing while Ymir looking

Eren didn’t free Ymir with strength - he freed her with understanding. When he hugged her in the Paths and said “You’ve been waiting for 2000 years, for someone,” he showed her she wasn’t alone. For the first time, someone saw her pain instead of using it.

But the real key was Mikasa. Ymir watched Mikasa choose to kill Eren, the man she loved, to save the world. This mirrored Ymir’s own choice to spare King Fritz. But Mikasa’s act came from love, not fear. That contrast made Ymir realize: She could let go.

Final Verdict: Ymir Was Waiting For Someone

Ymir didn’t serve the royal family for 2,000 years out of loyalty. She did it because she was waiting for someone to show her another way. Her obedience was a cry for help, a hope that someday, someone would see her as more than a slave.

Eren and Mikasa became her eye-opener. They gave Ymir the permission she needed to stop punishing herself.