Discussion "The Homeland" security - Team RBAM Mission Go - Explained

[POW]

I thought I would address the mission of The Homeland's RBAM team as it seems ever so often a question comes up as to what they were after and it's best to add some clarity to clear up the confusion.

*Note: (RBAM = Reiner, Bertolt, Annie & Marcel )


Survival 101 SnK style:

Firstly we understand that in the world of SnK Titans are roaming all over the surface of the world and it seems the only way for humans to survive is either by special location or Titan power which I will expand below.


1: Possible special locations:

- On a remote island deep in the ocean maybe far enough away titans cant reach.

- Underground in some kind of tight caverns where titans cant fit.


2: It's obvious that if anyone wants to live on the surface of the mainland that you need to have titan powers of some sort.

- The people in the Walled City survived because of the abilities of the Coordinate to create walls and control titans.

- It stands to reason then the means of survival for the Homeland is their titan-shifting powers without which they are helpless.


The Mission:

I point out the importance of titan-shifting powers for the Homeland as you have to take that into account in order to understand how important RBAM's mission is. For them to send off 4 titan shifters from their group means taking a huge risk in loosing those powers permanently. Keep in mind these guys where only 9 years old when being sent on their mission and traveling in dangerous titan controlled territory. We don't know how many titan shifter reside in the Homeland but I imagine they have to balance between sending people on missions and having enough to protect the homeland.


So one can surmise their main objectives is to gather tools that are valuable for survival in a world roaming with titans. Which one could list:

1: The Coordinate - The Master Key which makes survival a breeze.
2: Titan shifters - This can be anyone with titan shifting powers. (Eren , Ymir, Dr Zaius?)
3: Useful information - Any that can lead to the two above or increase their power. (Historia)


RBAM Strategy Explained

It is assumed during their travels outside the walls they took turns transforming into titans while giving the other members a ride on their titan body. The rough time line seems that Survey corps returns, Grisha left, Eren & Msiaka save Armin then start chatting and then Boom ! Titan attack.

- Clearly Bertolt and the others where outside the walls and it's possible they noted the Survey Corps returning via a gate as a weak spot in the wall being hollow. Bertolt kicks down the outer gate while Reiner breaks down the inner gate. Annie supposedly attracted the titans to follow inside. ( It's assumed Marcel either died shortly before they got there)


Why didn't they just destroy all the walls from the start:

1 There goal wasn't simply to destroy humanity but to gather tools for their survival.

2 Failure was simply not an option as I don't think returning home after having lost 1 member would be looked at kindly. Simply put they wont return empty handed !


Why they only attacked 1 district in the first few years:

1 - Firstly given that the walled city is several hundred miles big they had no way of knowing who or where the titan shifters or Coordinate was so the initial attack was meant as a test to see how humanity reacted.

2 - Their own survival is also a factor as they are also human and need to eat and sleep and live some where safe. They also need time to asses things and gather information so they could plan their next move.


Why they attacked Trost's outer gate 5 years later and why they stopped:

1 I imagine it's because they hit a wall in the amount of information they could gather so they decided to force a reaction from the inner government.

2 Clearly they stopped because they found something of value in Eren being a titan shifter.


Why they think humanity has no future and why they wanted Eren initially:

1 Clearly after 5 years they noted that the inner government did nothing and probably assumed the Coordinate had been lost some time ago.

2 It's important to recognize that the reason they initially wanted Eren was because of his Titan shifting powers NOT the coordinate as they had no idea Eren had it.

3 This is why they were leaving with Ymir & Eren as they considered the only thing of value in the walls was the 2 titan shifters.

4 It wasn't until after Eren was rescued that he used the Coordinate that they realized he possessed it.

5 Ymir actually thinks to herself that humanity having the Coordinate means survival is possible within the walls.


Why the interest in the Beast titan aka Dr Zaius:

1 One can draw two possibilities that either the Beast titan was someone their Homeland was aware of but never able to recruit or he was someone from their Homeland who they where suppose to meet up with.

2 Either way he obviously has incredible abilties and is huge asset to them.


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Well that sums up that basics. Feel free to post comment or questions below.

 

[Trolasus]

One thing that bothers me is how was marcel eaten. I mean, any of them could have transformed. I?m gonna guess they were too tired, but still, it's weird. I don't remember if they explained it.

 

[PeaceJasmin]

Sounds pretty good to me and I just wanted to add a possibility
I think the reason RBA initially planned to only take down Wall Maria was to create a distraction in order to get inside the walls to start the infiltration of gaining information and mainly because they were tired and hungry. As everyone is panicking and evacuating, it would be easy to blend in. Also It would be suspicious if three kids came knocking on the walls shouting let me in wouldn't it?

With a small chance, they hoped that by taking this wall down they could lure out the Coordinate. Even though there where no signs of the Coordinate taking action, at least they increased their chances of finding the Coordinate because they pushed everyone back into the inner walls making their search immensely easier.

After five years they commenced the attack once again on Wall Rose in which they hope that the Coordinate will this time show itself. If not at least this act futher increases their chances of finding the Cooridnate as everyone is now being pushed back into the final remaining wall. But of course this plan stopped midway due to Eren making his titan appearance. This lead RBA into thinking that Eren could be the one as nothing happened for five years until now and they don't need to take down any more walls for the sake of the remaining humans.

 

[POW]

One thing that bothers me is how was marcel eaten. I mean, any of them could have transformed. I?m gonna guess they were too tired, but still, it's weird. I don't remember if they explained it.

Yeah I suspect they had to run in titan form while taking turns really between Marcel and Annie mainly cause Bertolt titan form is slow and was necessary to break in along with Reiner. Thus yeah they were probably exhausted and taken by surprise during a moment when they let their guard down.

Dont forget Ymirs titan is the fastest most agile one we have seen yet.

 

[ufnovaes]

One thing that I've always thought was odd is that in every scene representing Marcel being eaten Annie is nowhere to be found.

 

[kkck]

One thing that I've always thought was odd is that in every scene representing Marcel being eaten Annie is nowhere to be found.

Well, isn't the implication that annie was sent later on? In the flashback we saw with her dad she was already about as old as she is now. She was probably sent as support after several years of reyner and berholt not getting results along with one of them dying.

 

[PeaceJasmin]

Well, isn't the implication that annie was sent later on? In the flashback we saw with her dad she was already about as old as she is now. She was probably sent as support after several years of reyner and berholt not getting results along with one of them dying.

Annie is currently 16 years old. I remember seeing in the anime that Annie entered the walls along Reiner and Bertolt when they were 10 years old, which was the time they took down Wall Maria. I believe she was given a piece of bread during the evacuation of Wall Maria.

---------- Post added June 18, 2015 at 12:23 AM ---------- Previous post was June 17, 2015 at 11:47 PM ----------

Found It! Sorry the video's so long but skip to 15:13 for the cutscene of Annie as a kid.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ndz9LhXo3Eg

 

[Eigengrau]

Cool thread, I think it sums things up nicely, but there's probably something else to it that we don't know of (could be either a major or a subplot, I don't know).

Although I have a couple of problems with your logic, so allow me ask a few questions:

RBAM Strategy Explained

It is assumed during their travels outside the walls they took turns transforming into titans while giving the other members a ride on their titan body. The rough time line seems that Survey corps returns, Grisha left, Eren & Msiaka save Armin then start chatting and then Boom ! Titan attack.

- Clearly Bertolt and the others where outside the walls and it's possible they noted the Survey Corps returning via a gate as a weak spot in the wall being hollow. Bertolt kicks down the outer gate while Reiner breaks down the inner gate. Annie supposedly attracted the titans to follow inside. ( It's assumed Marcel either died shortly before they got there)

Was this ever stated, or alluded to somewhere? Because we know that Ymir is at least decades years old, are we even sure about R, B and A's age at this point? When we first saw the flashback where we see Marcel get eaten by Ymir, I thought/figured that this happened a long time ago, maybe even before Eren and Co. were born. Am I in the wrong for thinking this?

Or am I just missing something?

I know Ymir said she wandered outside the walls for a long time, but I don't think Marcel got eaten during the first breach. I hadn't even thought of that.

The other thing was:

Why the interest in the Beast titan aka Dr Zaius:

1 One can draw two possibilities that either the Beast titan was someone their Homeland was aware of but never able to recruit or he was someone from their Homeland who they where suppose to meet up with.

2 Either way he obviously has incredible abilties and is huge asset to them.

I think that RBA know Monkey and are familiar with him, perhaps even from the same place.
The way he told R and B last chapter that they were going to do things his way now (after seemingly having a physical dispute over best interests) and that "Annie could be saved later" made me assume that they're *together*, although not acting as a single unit I guess.

I guess the Ape titan just got tired of their BS and decided to take action.

Another thing is the whole "warrior" thing Reiner talked about. This Monkey guy - with his military boots, attire and all - also seems to fit that description, especially when you take into account that he just kicked the Armored Titan's ass and was also given the "strongest titan" title.

Everything else you said seems spot on to me.

Humanity has a chance, especially because the one currently holding the coordinate is Eren, and he has an absolute lust for Titan erradication; that poses an existential problem/threat to the other shifer-faction(s?) outside the walls, and they just can't let that happen.

But lately I was under the impression that there's actually multiple coordinates, not just one. I mean, Annie did the same thing, right? She called out Titans that ate her up, so she could escape. Unless Eren's power is "special", he's just bothersome at this point, although he's a problem that should be hastly dealt with before he gets to use his power to the fullest.

One thing that I've been thinking about (since I've been re-reading a few chapters) is the talk that Annie had with Marlo and Hitch (I think that's them), shortly after she wakes up and before she's revelead to be the Female Titan. How she talks about humans and "who's actually in the wrong". That, plus when Ymir said that Titans weren't so bad if you were to overlook their faults (eating humans, duh).

I mean, there's been so much talk and beating around the bush about this. There's something that makes them all think/firmly believe that the world would be a better place with just Titans roaming the land.

Like, I get the whole "Titans aren't selfish, greedy, and assholes " and etc. like humans, but come on, there's gotta be a bigger and better reason than that!

 

[Haze]

Imo the reason they breached the walls were to drive humanity into the innermost wall,as they wouldn't have been able to achieve what they were searching for,with humanity spread within all three walls.That's probably the reason why they breached the Trost district even after having attacked Shiganshina and gotten in.