Ymir and Krista’s Relationship Explained

Attack on Titan is a story filled with ships and potential romances. However, so many of them are left unfulfilled, few more so than the story of Ymir and Krista.

While bubbling in the background of Attack on Titan’s first season, the story becomes pivotal during the major events of the second season and the Clash of the Titans Arc. With so much stuff happening, some fans believe the nuances of their relationship were lost in the maelstrom. Digging deeper into their time together, it’s clear their relationship is one of the most critical in the early stages of Attack on Titan.

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The “moe” character from season 1 formally known as “Krista”, Historia has a lot more of an impact than most might think.

Ymir and Krista’s Shared Trauma

When Ymir and Krista first appear in the series, they seem like just two more side characters, a rich-girl-poor-girl double act in the 104th Training Corps. However, we later discover that Ymir’s connection to Krista goes back much further. We learn at the end of the second season that Ymir was a homeless child outside the walls when she was picked up by a cult and given the name Ymir, which holds importance in Attack on Titan. After living a pleasant life being adored inside the cult, they are discovered and Ymir is forcibly turned into a titan and banished.

Through great fortune many decades later, Ymir devours Marcel Galliard and inherits the Jaw Titan, allowing her to return to human form where she manages to sneak into the walls and live a relatively normal life. During this time, she hears about Krista, an illegitimate royal child forced to abandon her name and right to succession for the Reiss royal family’s throne, as well as join the military where her life would be at risk.

Ymir is struck by the similarities between her and Krista’s situations, particularly how both were bestowed false names and forced to live lives that were not theirs. As a result, she joins the Training Corps herself and ends up in the same group as Krista, where they soon strike a bond.

A Secret Bond Formed in Snow

In the early Attack on Titan episodes, a lot of Ymir and Krista’s relationship happens behind the scenes. We only get a clear idea of their connection in episode 30 during a flashback to an incident during winter training.

Titled ‘Historia’, the episode reveals a rift in their early relationship. While Ymir has moved beyond the people who sought to use her through her name and live for herself, Krista still hung onto her fake identity and bears the guilt of her existence. Ymir also secretly reveals her identity to Krista, including being one of the titan shifters.

This winter training incident was likely crucial in cementing their relationship, creating a sense of shared struggle that continued throughout much of Attack on Titan’s second season. As friends turn into enemies, Ymir and Krista – by then going by her real name Historia – operate on a neutral, almost selfish ground, deciding to live for themselves.

Unfortunately, just as Krista’s winding character arc brings her to a situation where she sees the world in a similar way to Ymir, circumstances force the two of them to part ways for good.

Attack on Titan Doesn’t Allow Time for Romance

At the end of the second season, when Ymir realizes that Eren holds the power of the Coordinate, she decides that Historia will be safe within the walls and decides to help Reiner and Bertolt survive out of guilt for how she inherited her titan powers. While this moment is the last time Ymir and Krista are together, Ymir does later send a letter explaining her impending death and revealing her love for Krista.

Because so much of Ymir and Krista’s early relationship happens in small moments and off-screen, there’s a lot of debate about whether they were ever actually a couple or not. It’s clear that, at some point, Ymir developed romantic feelings for Krista, but there’s no concrete evidence Krista reciprocated such feelings. Krista deeply cares for Ymir, but that could be as a close friend who went through similar experiences to her and not a romantic connection.

Ultimately, Attack on Titan is a story riddled with almost-romances that, in another world, may well have developed into something more. At the end of the second season, Eren and Mikasa’s relationship appears to become stronger, while Armin and Annie are another iconic ship from the series.

The chronological events of Attack on Titan happen remarkably fast, so while Ymir’s feelings for Krista were real, the world was unfortunately not on their side. However, that doesn’t mean their brief time together wasn’t important. Ymir plays a key role in encouraging Krista to embrace her identity as the royal Historia Reiss, and it’s the courage Ymir gives to the once-timid girl that motivates her to take on a crucial leadership role in the latter stages of Attack on Titan.