One of the Attack on Titan manga’s most mysterious characters has finally made her way into the anime with this week’s introduction of Frieda Reiss.
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Attack on Titan had a dialogue-heavy episode this week, answering a whole lot of questions while showing very little action. Fans are not complaining, however. Season 3, episode 43, “Sin,” answered some of the series’ biggest lingering mysteries, and brought one of manga readers’ favorite characters in for a belated introduction.
Warning! Spoilers for Attack on Titan lie ahead!
With the figurehead king exposed and the military coup complete, the only thing left for the Survey Corps to worry about is Eren and Historia. Thankfully, Hange deduced the location where the Reiss family was most likely holding them. She explained her theory to the othe scouts as they rode, while Rod Reiss told the same story to Historia in the Reiss’ crystalline underground temple.
When she touched Eren’s bare skin, repressed memories were triggered in Historia. She realized all at once that an older girl had visited her regularly as a child, teaching her to read and showing her affection. This was her older half-sister, Rod’s legitimate daughter, Frieda Reiss.
The Reiss family patriarch pulled a classic villain movie, revealing just about everything in front of Eren. He explained that Eren’s father, Grisha Jaeger, has titan powers of his own. Even Reiss did not know how the scientist had come across the ability, but he claimed that Grisha went after the Reiss family, seeking to absorb their power as well.
In the very same underground chamber, Grisha transformed and fought with Reiss’ beloved daughter Frieda, who was also a Titan shifter. Taking advantage of her inexperience, Grisha ate Frieda, absorbing her Titan-shifting ability in the process. He then devoured the rest of the Reiss family as well, except for Rod himself.
If Rod Reiss can be trusted — many fans feel he cannot be taken entirely at his word — then it seems increasingly plausible that Grisha allowed himself to be eaten by Eren, so that his powers could be absorbed. In the last episode, “Reply,” Eren had a few traces of Frieda’s memory floating in his mind, suggesting that he has absorbed her somehow.
For those that do not follow the manga, the Frieda reveal was much more drawn out in that version. The dark-hared girl was teased for several issues without being identified. Fans came to refer to her jokingly as “Geographia,” suspecting that she was Historia’s sister.
However, the series creator Hajime Isayama explained in a blog post last month that the storyline would have a more streamlined look in the anime. He felt that his pacing was off in the manga, and the show gave him a chance to revise his work a bit.
Attack on Titan airs every Monday on TokyoTV, with simulcasts on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Anime Lab in North America. New episodes are typically available every Monday at 2 p.m. ET.
