In Attack on Titan Season 4 Episode 24 (aka Episode 83, “Pride”), a conversation between Louise and Mikasa caused viewers to ask one question in particular… When exactly did Eren and Louise talk, based on her flashback? Here’s the answer.
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The Conversation Appears to Have Taken Place While Eren Was in Prison
Louise’s devotion with Mikasa after Mikasa saved her life strongly analogous to how Mikasa’s devotion to Eren. Louise took the scarf simply to be closer to Mikasa. Now the scarf is a source of comfort as she lies dying, pierced with shrapnel from thunderspears.
But Mikasa treats Louise with a distant disdain that is similar to how Eren treated her in their last meeting. It’s like she sees herself in Louise and she doesn’t like what she sees.
But in a last attempt to somehow bond with Mikasa, Louise offers an interesting story. She says that she was able to briefly speak to Eren about Mikasa once.
She doesn’t provide many details of their meeting and, in fact, only talks about the scarf.
Louise tells Mikasa: “He talked about wanting to throw the scarf out.”
This phrase and the flashback left some viewers confused.
Louise didn’t have an opportunity to get the scarf until Mikasa, Armin, and the rest were released from their cell after Eren had already escaped. In fact, Eren was fighting Reiner when Louise and Mikasa spoke before joining him in battle. Louise said she was glad that she and Mikasa were on the same side again, and she inquired about Mikasa leaving the scarf behind.
When she commented on Mikasa leaving behind the scarf, Mikasa simply said, “I am.”
Obviously there was no time after that when Louise could have spoken to Eren about the scarf.
Based on the flashback that was briefly shown, we can deduce that Louise and Eren spoke while Eren was still in prison, before he escaped following the assassination of Zachary. This was also before Eren confronted Mikasa and claimed that he hate her.
While in prison, Eren said he wanted to throw out the scarf.
Many anime-only viewers have said that they believe Eren was trying to distance himself from Mikasa as much as possible and kill some of the endless love and devotion she had for him. Fans have theorized for awhile that knowing what he was about to do, he wanted her to already dislike him so it would hurt her less.
This is likely what he was thinking when he made the comment about the scarf, if those theories are correct. And I tend to believe they are, based on how Eren told Mikasa that he hates people who aren’t free and are slaves. We know that’s not true — he feels sad for them and wants to help them. He demonstrated this with his interactions with the Founder Ymir. So if Eren was lying to Mikasa about that, he was likely lying to her about hating her too.
But he knew he needed to drive a wedge between her, and the scarf was symbolic of how tough it would be to do.
That’s my, and quite a few other viewers’, guess about what Eren meant. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s correct. But it’s a leading theory at the moment.
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