Attack on Titan Finale Ending Explained: Do the Titans disappear in the End? What’s the Use of Rumbling?
Attack on Titan (best known among fans for its original Shingeki no Kyojin) came to an end. While on Netflix we only have until the first half of the last season, on Prime Video we also have the second batch of episodes, leaving only the last two specials in 2023, the one in March and the one in November. We have been able to see them both on a Crunchyroll collapsed by the millions of viewers who wanted to witness the outcome of a story that has united many for a decade, that has broken the barriers of anime, and has been the initiation into the genre for so many. It’s hard to even say it, but Attack on Titan has already ended, it has done so with a special of almost an hour and a half that has put an end to the story of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. Although perhaps we should start by saying that what the ending has told us, is that Attack on Titan was always Mikasa’s story told by Armin from Eren’s point of view. Do you see how things have to be explained? Well, that’s what we are for.
This is our analysis of the complex finale of Attack on Titan. Ten years later, the Attack on Titan anime came to an end, a controversial and faithful ending to the manga, which had generated several debates among fans. Even Hajime Isayama himself apologized for the outcome of his story, implying that he could have written something better. It was even thought that there could be some change in the ending for television and that was not the case. Which means, at least for me, a success for the proposal and tone of Japanese fiction.
Attack on Titan closed its circle and ended where its plot began: in the Paradis tree where Eren slept and woke up crying. In front of him, always Mikasa. Both at the beginning and the end, Eren looks at Mikasa. In a fiction marked by the variations of time, intrigue, and, of course, war, an ending at the height of the circumstances was expected: realistic, tragic and with an even pessimistic view of humanity. Perhaps because of Isayama’s ever-changing and innovative narrative, a more explosive and original conclusion was expected. But even the biggest fish in the world is difficult to bring to shore: it deteriorates along the way, like the marlin caught in Hemingway’s The Old Man. Isayama had a great story and the closing suffered from his natural anticlimax.
Attack on Titan Finale: The Story Plot
Eren, a boy who lives inside a city confined by impassable and very high walls, created to protect the population from the threat of the Giants, dreams of being able to join the Research force, as he wishes to see the outside world. But, one day, after years of not appearing to attack the city, the Giants reappear and the inhabitants are forced to flee; Eren, losing his mother, and accompanied by his adoptive sister Mikasa and best friend Armin, vows to exterminate every giant on earth. However, this is only the beginning of a long complication of military choices, which will change his destiny, discovering unexpected backstories that will make both the protagonist and the audience reflect on their moral beliefs.
Attack on Titan Ending Explained: The Cyclical Destiny of Humanity in the Face of War?
At the end of the Attack on Titan anime, Armin leads the last members of the Survey Corps to stop the Rumble of Eren Jaeger, who has crushed 80% of the world’s population, outside the walls of Paradis. his homeland. The strategy is to find Zeke and kill him; Then, Armin’s colossal titan destroys the bones of his friend. Pieck had another plan, to blow up the founding titan’s neck with an explosive. Between the doubts and the intentions to reason with Eren, the battle is complicated by the previous titans that form in the bone structure of the Rumble. All generations of carriers come out, from Galliard to Bertolt. The situation for Levi, Jean, Connie, Pieck, and Mikasa becomes even more grim when one of the Titans kidnaps Armin. When it seemed like it was the end of the protagonists, Falco discovers that he can fly with his titan and brings Annie and Gabi to the battlefield. With Annie, there is a greater chance of achieving a victory. The two little ones also help a lot in stopping the invincible ancient Titans.
Zeke, for his part, hides behind Eren’s bones, but Armin finds him in the Paths. That’s where they debate the meaning of life. The first believes that it makes no sense, but Armin makes him understand that everything is worth it if they can enjoy it, in his case, the discovery of the world outside the walls; Zeke realizes that he could be reborn to play baseball with Tom Xaver, who appears along with the other titan wielders. Armin and Zeke, in this way, convince the other Titans to support them in stopping Eren. Zeke, for his part, comes out of hiding, praises nature, and calls Levin, who kills him on the spot. Thus, Jean manages to activate the explosive wrapped in Eren’s neck, thanks to Pieck, and his head is separated from the titan marrow, which joins once again to the founding titan. That’s why Armin transforms into the Colossal Titan, understanding that Eren will not back down on his plan, and destroys Rumble’s bone structure. But Eren does not die and regenerates into the Founding Titan. Armin confronts him, while the unknown organism infects all the Eldians and turns them into titans, including Jean, and Connie, among others.
Mikasa, for her part, between indecision and a headache, decides to finish off Eren. Putting on the red scarf, with the help of the others, he manages to break the Founding Titan’s teeth and goes in to cut off Eren’s head. In the middle of that, the conversation she had with him in an alternate reality is shown, in which they were both escaping from the war, when Eren asked her what he was to her (in the Rumble reality, Mikasa tells him that “family”). They were both in a cabin, where they lived the last four years of Eren’s life as the bearer of the founding titan. Until Eren falls asleep/dies, he opens his eyes in the Founding Titan’s mouth, before Mikasa cuts off his head. She says goodbye and kisses Eren’s corpse. She buries him in the Paradis tree where they rested after a day of work, where they played whoever arrived first, along with Armin, the one who usually arrived last.
Eren, Is He a Victim or An Executioner?
At the beginning of the final phase of “Attack on Titan,” we were left with a brutal surprise: absolutely all the story events that occurred since Eren was a child were given by his person. NO ONE escaped Eren’s influence. He was the perfect villain. But…was he the perfect villain? The reality is that no. How can it be that the same determined Eren that we see in the final season is later the one who, talking to Armin, almost starts crying thinking about Mikasa with another guy? Well, because the composed and decisive Eren is nothing more than a false ‘I’ that the protagonist must adopt for the freedom of his people.
- The real Eren is that broken kid who walks through the minds of all his friends to talk to them for a while, only to then have to erase all traces of said conversations so that the story can continue its course. The only possible course is the one that coincides with his death and the liberation of his people.
- Eren is not a genius. He is not an absolute protagonist like so many of us have seen. He is someone who discovered overnight that he had a wild power that he never knew how to manage. The only thing he wanted at that point was for his people to be able to live free of being seen as a global threat. But Eren, at his purest essence, is a young adult like any other. He is stubborn until he can’t, and that is seen in the resolution of his actions. But ultimately someone who was overcome by everything around him.
- That does not exonerate him of his crimes. Eren had options, but he chose the one that he thought was most convenient for him, and that was to wipe out 80% of existing humanity.
What’s the Use of Rumbling?
The Rumbling is the greatest tragedy that occurred in the universe of “Attack on Titan“, initiated by Eren himself. What was the purpose of starting such a massacre? Once again, Eren’s plan succeeded.
- The Rumble is only necessary because it is with it that a threat capable of wiping out all of humanity is posed. Thanks to this, Mikasa, Armin, and those who remain from Paradis take on the role of heroesand, therefore, stop being seen as that threat behind walls with which the story of Attack on Titan
- The Rumble, therefore, was not an ‘End’ of Eren’s plan, but rather it was a tool to fulfill Eren’s true plan: to achieve freedom for his people. And for this he not only started El Retumbar, but he even made decisions as wild as causing the death of his mother. Because in effect, the titan that originally ate Eren’s mother does so on his orders. However, his initial objective was Bertholth, but without Bertholt Eren’s plan could never have gone ahead. So, between the freedom of Paradis and his friends and the life of his mother, Eren ended up choosing the former.
Do the Titans Disappear in Attack on Titan?
Yes, by the end of “Attack on Titan,” the power of the Titans has been completely eradicated. This is also part of Eren’s plan and is the reason why he eventually ends up betraying Zeke.
- Zeke had the Eldian Euthanasiaplan in mind. This implied that, if carried out, the lineage of Ymir’s descendants would be ended forever. But Eren didn’t want this for his people, and that’s why he turned his back on her at the last moment.
- Eren wanted his people to continue living. Enough suffering was the life they had lived until then for its end to be so gloomy.
- With the path that Eren chooses, what is done is eliminate the root of the power of the Titans, which is both Ymir and that strange centipede that joined her thousands of years ago.
- Thus, we see that at the end of Attack on Titancharacters like Pieck, Reiner, or Annie manage to recover a life expectancy that they had lost due to being bearers of the power of the Titans. And that is what Eren wanted: that his people could continue living without the threat of the titans, both in their lives directly and because of what they represented at the level of stigma.
What Does the Attack on Titan Post-Credits Scene Mean?
Right at the end of the “Attack on Titan” anime, we can find how a boy appears before a gigantic tree. Likewise, around it, some modern buildings are covered in weeds. The ‘ look ‘ of the boy as well as the symbolism of the tree hints at the general message of “Attack on Titan“: human history is a cycle of war and violence that repeats itself endlessly, even with sacrifice and the understanding of a few. It is also worth mentioning that the post-credits scene does not lead to any Attack on Titan 2. The scene falls within the content published a while ago by Hajime Isayama and, as I say, it speaks more about the general message of the work than about a potential continuation in the future.
Mikasa, The Tree and The Post-Credits Scene Explained?
With Mikasa taking Eren’s head back to Paradis, the rest of the protagonist is left to deal with Marley and the rest of the world, causing them to spare the life of an Eldian who no longer has the power of the Titans. Armin, as Eren had predicted, succeeds with an “I’m the one who killed Eren Yeager, the Attack Titan.” This is when we see a fairly quick montage of what happened in the world immediately afterward. Paradis, under the leadership of a happy Historia, continued to worship Eren and armed herself in order to intimidate his rivals so that no one would attack the island. However, let’s not forget that Historia was also a friend of Eren, and she knows that, although she could not see beyond his death, she was correct in predicting the future of humanity: “The titans are dead, but the conflicts are not”. Now it’s up to Historia and the rest to try to ensure that peace remains as long as possible. Thus, three years after Eren’s death, Armin, Jean, and the rest go to Paradis as emissaries of peace.
Levi, having already fulfilled his promise to all of his companions, seems not to return and stays around the world, helping. There, in addition to Historia, a Mikasa awaits them who buried Eren next to the tree where he slept as a child. Mikasa, with the scarf clinging to her neck, cries and remembers the love of her life. Then, a bird arrives and releases her from her, a metaphor that Eren is still there, not to enslave her but so that she can be free from her. After the visit of Eren’s friends along with Mikasa to her grave we see how the years go by. Specifically, in year 11, Mikasa returns with a man (she can be seen from too far away, but everything points to Jean, although he leaves himself open) and a baby. Mikasa waited ten years, but she rebuilt his life. He had offspring, but he never forgot Eren who would also see Mikasa buried next to her, in a tree that now has the two graves of the children who grew up under its leaves.
The Infinite Cycle of Hate, More Titans?
As Eren anticipated, the peace in Paradis lasted a long time. We see how civilization develops around his tree until a future in which war finally arrives. Everything explodes and, after the battle, nature takes its place again. In Eren’s tree appears what appears to be a descendant of Mikasa, judging by his hair, face, and scarf around his neck. There, this character seems to be about to enter the tree in a clear reference to how the young and mistreated Ymir acquired the power of the Titans. There, Eren and Mikasa await her, the couple who could have transferred the power of the titans, and the love hidden in her brutal violence. The cycle may begin again, it may be necessary for that love to revive again. It’s a pretty heartbreaking, but coherent, ending to the inevitable cycle of violence that Eren’s brutal sacrifice only delayed. It is, however, a definitive ending. Yes, we can understand that the Titans can return to the world, but it is not the job of this story to tell it. It is not a continuation, but a “history repeats itself.” The story, however, we have already seen and once is more than enough. We only have one heart to be broken, thank you.
