What is the ability to send memories? Attack Titan? or Founding Titan?
The fact that the Attack Titan’s characteristic is seeing the memories of future inheritors is made clear by Grisha’s statement in Chapter 121 and by Armin’s statement in the final chapter, after Eren told him about it. There is not a single scene that denies this or calls it into question.
The Attack Titan nor the Founding Tinta can’t send memories to past inheritors. After all, we are literally never shown any instance of this supposed power.
Eren didn’t send memories to the past, nor can he. And the story doesn’t require us to assume that he did in the first place. There is no reason for Eren to do it, because he had already seen those things through his father’s memories at the medal ceremony, and this also means that Eren knew that Grisha had seen Eren’s memories.
Preparing to send memories?
If Eren can send memories to Grisha, what would it take for him to do so?
Eren must first and foremost know Grisha’s memories in detail. This is because he needs to know exactly when he should send the memories - on what day, what time, what minute and what second of what year. There is no point in just blindly sending memories.
However, Eren himself does not have the ability to know Grisha’s memories in detail. It is clear from the story that he learned about Grisha’s past memories little by little, step by step, by chance.
Despite this assumption, it would be a fool’s errand to think that the Attack Titan has the ability to send memories to the inheritor of the past.
The past never changes
There is one more thing. Let us consider the situation in which Eren would want to send memories to Grisha.
Wouldn’t it be when Eren wants to change the past?
For example, Eren saw the scene where Grisha failed to kill the Reiss Family and wanted to change it.
We know, however, that in the AOT universe the past and future are not changed.
If Eren were to learn about Grisha’s past, that past would be confirmed and absolutely unchangeable. Before sending the memories, Eren would know the past at the time he wanted to send the memories, and at that point it would already be too late.
Eren cannot send or choose memories in fixed timeline
If you want to argue that AOT has a deterministic universe with a fixed timeline, then the idea that Eren chose to send his memories to Grisha must be abandoned.
This is because at age 10, Eren knows that Grisha did not know the day the wall would come down or the death of Carla until she came to the Wall Rose shelter. Therefore, there would be no motive for Eren Grisha in ch.121 to send/choose to send memories to Grisha in the first place.
Conversely, if Ellen were to try to force Grisha to send her memories, they would be pushed back.
The only thing that is certain is that “Grisha saw Eren’s memories”.
From the above, we can see that Attack Titan does not have the ability to send memories. Of course, the Founding Titan has no such ability either. Eren cannot send memories to Grisha as he wishes.
What happend in chapter 120, 121
It may seem as though Eren is using an ability to choose which memories to show Grisha, but in fact, this is determined by Eren and Zeke choosing which of Grisha’s memories to view. Because Eren and Grisha are in the same place at the same time, those memories become memories of events that Grisha is certain to experience in the future. As such, Grisha naturally recalls them when he eventually finds himself in those situations. In sense, Eren can be said to have deliberately brought this about by making use of the power of the Attack Titan that Grisha inherited. However, Eren himself does not use any Titan power in these scenes.
Grisha could not see the memory in which he learns of Carla’s death because the memory tour ended when Grisha embraced Zeke, without Eren and Zeke ever viewing the memory of that scene in Chapter 71.
The scene in which Grisha sees Eren’s future memories is overlaid with an image of Eren at the medal ceremony, visually conveying the synchronization between them. Similarly, both Kruger and Grisha mention “Mikasa and Armin” when passing the Titan power on to the next inheritor. Furthermore, Grisha feels that the “BEARDED OLD MAN” is Zeke, even though he should have no way of knowing this, while Eren suddenly addresses Zeke by his first name. These scenes illustrate the mutual influence between them, and these parallels provide clues for understanding how the Attack Titan’s power works.
Grisha said, “why won’t you show me everything?”
There are a lot of people trying to use Grisha’s statement as a basis for their argument. But it is a pitfall. What this line has to show in order to prove their hypothesis is very diverse.
- The Attack Titan has the ability to send memories.
- Eren uses that ability to show Grisha his memories.
- Grisha sees Eren’s memories, not because he himself sees them, but because Eren showed them to him.
Can we really say that Grisha understands all these things perfectly? It would be absolutely impossible for him.
Incidentally, in the Japanese version, there is no subject in Grisha’s lines. In other words, the practical meaning is not much different from lamenting, “Why can’t I see everything?”
We should think based on what happened, not just on words.
The fact is that Grisha could not see the memory he wanted to see.
If you try to read more than necessary into what is not depicted, you may fall into a pitfall.