The final season has come to an end.
*Warning: Full spoilers ahead for Attack on Titan season 4 part 3 special 2.*
Attack on Titan fans have been put through the wringer for an entire decade now. Both Hajime Isayama’s original manga and the Wit Studio/MAPPA adaptation that followed are masterpieces in their own right, but the way this story originally ended was divisive to say the least, and numerous delays to the anime have frustrated fans too.
Yet here we are, finally at the end of Eren’s long saga, and with rumblings that MAPPA have planned to improve the ending with new changes of their own, anticipation has been at an all-time high.
Two and a half years on from the last chapter of Isayama’s manga, anime fans can finally close the gap and devour this final chapter like a greedy little Titan of their own. But there’s a colossal amount of story to make sense of here, so join us as we tower over the competition with the only explanation you’ll ever need.
Attack on Titan ending explained: Is Eren dead?
Attack on Titan season 4 part 3 special 2 doesn’t ease fans in with a moment of peace, and why would it? The war to end all wars is already in full swing by this point, so things kick off with the last of humanity doing everything they can to stop the Rumbling. That’s essentially where an army of gigantic Titans stomp their way across the entire planet and murder every living thing under Eren’s command.
Yep, Eren. That sweet boy who watched his mother get eaten by a Titan all the way back in the very first episode is now a Titan himself. And he’s become the Founding One, no less.
To stop all the endless wars that have plagued humanity, and the Eldians in particular, Eren plans to bring about the apocalypse. His buddies aren’t too keen on that idea though, so the battle rages on as Armin, Mikasa and the others decide to finally stop Eren, once and for all.
In the heat of battle, Levi makes good on his promise to Commander Erwin and kills the Beast Titan AKA Eren’s brother Zeke, who leaves his body vulnerable out in the open after a chat with Armin. But before this, Armin’s words convinced Zeke to enlist the help of his predecessors to support the battle against Eren, and this helps turn the tide long enough for Jean and the Cart Titan to blow Eren’s Titan head off using explosives.
In doing so, Eren’s connection with Ymir is severed, so the Rumbling suddenly stops, halting all the Titans in their tracks. That’s good news for the few humans who are still left alive, and particularly good news for that one baby who’s carried by the crowd like a hot potato as they teetered over the edge of a cliff.
The glowing parasite that’s responsible for the power of the Titans, yes, really, fights to be reunited with Eren following the explosion, but everyone comes together to stop it while Armin fends off Eren himself in his Colossal Titan form. In this moment of weakness, Mikasa realises that Eren’s body isn’t hidden away in the nape of the Attack Titan, like usual. Instead, he’s positioned inside the Titan’s mouth.
With this knowledge, Mikasa is forced to do what she’s fought so hard to avoid: kill Eren. Smashing through the Titan’s front teeth, Mikasa decapitates the man she’s loved all her life, but before his head is severed, the pair exchange a look of love, knowing that it would all come down to this moment.
Mikasa kisses Eren on the lips then, which is kind of gross given that she just cut off his head, but Ymir seems impressed, choosing then to no longer power the Titans because she’s so moved by Mikasa’s decision to kill Eren for the greater good. Ymir didn’t have the strength to fight her own love for King Fritz which he never reciprocated either.
Watching Mikasa kill the hero slash villain of the piece is still all kinds of devastating though, especially as she and Eren have always been positioned as an endgame couple for the show. “Tragic” doesn’t even begin to cover what Mikasa was forced to do.
After the battle, it’s revealed that Eren actually contacted his friends within the Paths mindscape before the fight was over. He wanted to explain to them why he set the Rumbling in motion, but he made it so that their memories of these conversations wouldn’t be recalled until after he had been defeated.
It turns out that when Eren gained all his new power, he also developed the ability to see into the future. Time no longer flowed in a linear fashion for him, so he came to realise that he had to become the villain in order to save Paradis and make the world see his friends as heroes. In doing so, it would redeem the Eldians of their sins in the eyes of those who survived, thus ending the bitter conflict between races that had come to define their lives.
Eren also reveals that he really did love Mikasa all along, finally confessing his true feelings after all this time, but Armin isn’t having any of it and so he punches his bestie in the face. Or at least, the dream-version of Eren who visited Armin before he died.
Mikasa gets to spend some time with Eren too in a cute lush cabin, yet Eren’s still gone now, slaughtered by her own hand.
Back in the present, the Titans all transform back into humans for good, but the surviving humans are still worried, so they threaten the gang with guns and demand they prove that they’re no longer a threat. An ungrateful lot, to say the least. Smooth talking Armin convinces them all to calm down though and a ceasefire ensues.
Mikasa leaves with Eren’s head, deciding to bury it under the tree in Shiganshina District where this entire show began. It’s there that she’s greeted by a bird who adjusts her scarf, the same one that Eren gave to her all those years ago. Yep, Eren’s a bird now, or at least his soul kind of is, which is beautiful when you consider how much he longed for freedom all his life.
At the end, we learn that this world is still not free from war though. Despite killing off 80% of humanity in one fell swoop, Eren is held up as a martyr by a remaining group of Yeagerists who are gunning for war from their stronghold in Eldia. The last we see of Armin and the others is them heading back to Eldia three years later on a ship to negotiate peace with the warring parties still at play.
Good job, Eren.
Attack on Titan finale credits scene explained
As the credits roll, we stay with the tree Eren’s head was buried under. Years roll by until war erupts yet again in this same area, reminding us that conflict is inevitable, despite the best efforts of everyone we followed throughout this series. It’s not just the cycle of war that repeats though…
The fighting eventually ceases, and it’s in this new post-apocalyptic setting where a boy appears wearing a scarf that looks remarkably similar to the one Mikasa held onto so dearly. With a dog by his side, the unnamed character ventures into an opening under the tree, and it’s at that point the credits come to an end.
For those with short memories, this might seem like a strange way to end such an epic tale, but it all makes sense when you recall what happened to Ymir the Founder two millennia prior.
Before Titans were a thing, Ymir was a simple farmer girl in Eldia who fell in love with the King who enslaved her people. Fritz even set her free at one point, but her escape left Ymir severely wounded.
Seeking refuge, she stumbled across a strange tree where a parasite lay in wait below. The creature attached itself to Ymir’s spine, giving her the power of the Founding Titan, but instead of escaping further, Ymir went back to the King and used her powers to serve him rather than seek revenge. Together, they built the Eldian empire and created the Titans who would go on to form the basis of the show’s entire mythology.
Even though present-day Ymir has now found peace through Eren and Mikasa’s actions, it looks like the cycle is about to begin anew with this unnamed boy who will surely stumble across this same power in the future too.
However, that doesn’t mean Attack on Titan will itself begin the cycle anew. Right now, there are no plans to continue the franchise beyond a surprise 35th volume that’s coming our way on 30th April 2023. It’s only going to be 18 pages long, so don’t expect much beyond an epilogue or perhaps new insight into what’s already passed.
As much as fans might want a whole new series in theory, we’re not sure if our hearts can take any more carnage at this point. And given everything these characters have endured, they deserve a rest just as much as we do.
Attack on Titan is available to watch via Crunchyroll and Funimation. Check out the rest of our Sci-fi and Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.