Mikala is considerably more withdrawn after the murder of her parents; however, she still loves and cares deeply for her friends, especially Erin and Armin, seeing them as the last remnants of a family she cannot afford to lose. Her personality as an adult is very much influenced and molded by Erin when they killed robbers who killed Mikasa's family when they were children, with Erin telling her that the world is a cruel place and she has to fight to survive - words that stayed with her till this very day and became the very drive that drove her to train herself to be one of the best soldiers ever seen.