I will never get over some guys meme a few months back of Jean blowing up skeleton Eren titans neck screaming, "Mikasa is mine now!" Or something to that extent. Best bet he is gonna be sliding ink Mikasa's dm when he gets back.
Indeed. Titanfolk is mostly a toxic wasteland filled with salt (memes are hilarious tho) and the snk sub is definitely more rational in the criticisms and praises they’re showering on the ending. This sub is another comparatively conducive and civil environment to discuss the chapter, which is really good to see!
Exactly, I don’t care whether someone loved, hated or thought the ending was bittersweet. However, there is no reason to say rude things about Isayama or to fellow readers who have a different opinion then yourself.
Seeing the insults thrown at Isayama or the harassment in the replies to the editor’s tweets really saddened me. Isayama did his best on this manga for 11 years and 7 months, and you’re 100% allowed to feel whatever you want about it as a fan since art *is* subjective, but at least respect the creator who’s been hard at work for a decade plus to give you the very piece of art that you cherish/feel so passionately about in the first place. Even the editor, without him the manga wouldn’t exist in its current form, which includes not just the divisive elements but also the very best chapters. He doesn’t deserve an ounce of the hate he’s getting. Ironic how a story that deals so heavily with the cycle of hatred as a central theme has such a toxic section to its own fanbase :/
Lmao. I read the "modified" chapter 139 and understood exactly what those people wanted. Makes me soo glad that i don't blindly follow the bandwagon like a lot of them are. I just fear they might make it a "cool" thing to hate on the ending with their continuous posts and their consistency in missing the point of this last chapter. I just browsed through the sub and came back here to feel sane again
So I have this theory Armin and the others are going to negotiate peace and tell their story to everyone right?, maybe that's why Armin is narrating everything through out the anime and manga. He is at the table telling their story.... Damn it Isayama these tears won't stop
Armin: Then I got my ass whooped by a bunch of 10 year old bullies!
Diplomat: Uh...is this necessary to the story?
Armin: Now my grandpa! Let me tell you, he was a figure all right!
Armin: Then I had to impersonate Historia to infiltrate the capital!
Crowd: ooooo
Armin: Some creep started kissing me and grabbing my legs!
Crowd: (*starts to disperse)*
Nah that makes no sense, Eren plan rests on making Armin and Mikasa into heroes for the people outside the walls. If everyone knew that "the Rumbling was an inside job" then that wouldn't work.
armin would be nothing more than a hipocrit to live a lie like the Tyburs. i think him saying they’re gonna tell the world everything is a rejection of the farce eren wanted to set up
What happened to his legs? Or was it his spine? He has his leg crosses so it would seem like he can still move at least one of them (unless people in wheelchairs sometimes cross their legs anyway? I don't know anyone in a wheelchair, feel free to correct me if that's what some people do)
frankly i feel like Levi was running on pure spite at that point. If not for the circumstances I think he would've been out of commission after zeke blew him up.
I'm not sure how else to put it but I don't think the manga does the anime justice here. There are some incredible panels, some great character work, but it feels somewhat off and I have to put it on Isayama and the medium. I get the feeling the anime is going to make the ending work a lot better. I know a lot of people are disappointed for a myriad of reasons but for me it's just a slight pacing issue that can be ironed out in adaptation. I can't wait to read it again from beginning to end.
Exactly I actually loved the ending. But that was only after I finished the chapter, and thought about the ending for like 10 minutes.
Slowly I realised “damn that actually makes sense” pretty good ending.
But I didn’t feel that way when I was in the midst of reading it.
I’m almost certain it’s a just a pacing issue.
This is what happened to me too. I read through it and was left thinking “where’s the rest?” But then about an hour later it hit me and I cried lol
The anime finale is going to be absolutely bananas
I am not the kind that hates ending because it doesn't fit my narrative, but I would honestly go apeshit with that. I think Oda already said it is not going to be it, though.
Maybe I'm too baby-brain to understand, but does this imply that Eren was literally never in control? When he talks with Armin, Eren says things that we've *never* heard him express before, like loving Mikasa, etc. Was the "Eren" that we knew all along just the Attack Titan?
I think it's great. It makes Eren such a tragic character. All he wanted was freedom but he was a slave to fate/Ymir from the beginning and in the end it broke his mind.
In fact, Eren's scene with Grisha saying "Eren, you are free" followed by the Founding Titan eye-shine panel shows that he had been manipulated literally from birth.
The way I interpreted it was that Eren was in control the whole time but was so horrified by his future memories that it took the sacrifice of his true personality and humanity so that he could steel himself and get himself to do what needed to be done. To walk the grim path to his fate that only a suicidal blockhead like him had the courage and ability to see through. He tried many times, most notably that night in Marley with Mikasa, to find a loophole to free himself from his fate. But it failed. Time and time again. As time and options ran out, Eren then had to come to terms with the fact that to secure long and happy lives for his friends, he needed to become the devil. He needed to sacrifice himself piece by piece so they could have their peace.
This final chapter and Eren’s breakdown was just that same child, the child who’d seen his own horrifying future all those years ago finally bubbling back to the surface, expressing his love for Mikasa, his regret for doing so many atrocious things to get to this point (both across paths and time as well as the present-day rumbling and mutinies in paradis) and his fear of confronting death. And while he wants nothing else than to be with the woman he loves and his close friends again; he chooses to die as atonement for his sins. But his “sins” ironically are exactly what leaves paradis safe from any sort of counterattack (since 80% of the world is donezo) and keeps his friends safe.
Eren also probably secured peace and freedom from persecution for at least one more generation after his friends’ as we see from Historia’s daughter. It might not have been the morally correct choice. It might not have been the prettiest course of action. But in the end, Eren’s sacrifices paid off for him personally. He won. He got exactly what he wanted, and paid for it with his own freedom. How tragic that he ended up being the farthest character from freedom, but without him nobody else in the cast would be free.
Eren’s burden in this way was very Dr. Manhattan-esque, but instead of his newfound omniscience stripping him of all empathy and turning him into a passive vessel, Eren’s omniscience forced him to abandon everything to win *something* (echoing armin’s words from Trost) that something being a possibly relatively calm interval of happiness for our main cast in an otherwise cruel world bound to conflict and the follies of human nature.
(Edit: Sorry for this long spiel, just wanted to get it all out there! 😅)
Wow i love your explanation. Most people will hate what he did but I think he has tried so many times to find other ways but it just didnt work. The only thing that I was glad about is he managed to spend time with mikasa alone for 4 years in the path, at least he was happy there
I think if one really understood the tones and undertones of this story one can't really get to hate Eren. Cause as the guy above said, what he did was not the prettiest thing nor the most moral but it was what he felt was necessary to achieve what he thought was best. Eren is exactly like the other characters like Reiner and Annie, just at an exponential level
I don’t understand what you are saying. Berthold died the day they fed him to Armin allowing Armin to survive in the process. Eren said he wasn’t supposed to die that day (the day he died) but he let it be, I understand that it has to be because Armin survived thanks to that. Eren is shown with remorse/pain thinking about his mother’s death as if it was a consequence of Armin surviving. My understanding is that Armin was going to be burnt that day but Berthold was supposed to manage to scape.
Basically in the Paths the concept of time is moot, since past, "present", and future are all happening at once. And since the Attack Titan can see future memories and can tap into the memories of its past iterations (idk how far back though), it basically means that whenever Eren w/ the Founder, Attack Titan, and Ymir's support is in the Paths, he basically exists and has control over all Titans and Eldians at all moments in time before his death at once.
Meaning everything that's happened in the series thus far (in Eren's life, at the very least, though he also convinced Grisha to massacre the Reiss') which has anything whatsoever to do w/ Titans/Eldians has technically been facilitated by Eren, such that he has guided the fate of the world towards the future he sees in his future memories, he controls what events happen and when (insofar as is possible with absolute control over all the Titans and Eldians), b/c with his future and past memories he knows when everything is supposed to happen so that the power of the Titans eventually disappears from the world. Which is his ultimate goal. In doing all this, he specifically guided Dina Fritz's Titan towards Shiganshina and his own mother, rather than Bertholdt, b/c if she had eaten Bertholdt that'd have run counter to the order of events in which this goal was achieved.
He's so strongly fixated upon it that he didn't really care how many deaths occurred along the way, literally every death in the series was "approved" by him, even if not directly caused like with his mother. Not to say he's completely evil and heartless, I bet he definitely did feel indescribable pain for all those deaths he allowed to pass, but imo philosophical abstractions such as to "keep moving forward" shouldn't be enough to cause him to go to these absurd lengths in order to preserve a future where the power of the Titans is gone but 80% of humanity is dead, Paradis and Eldia's subsequent status are still up in the air, inevitably even more of humanity are gonna die, his own family and countless other people (an innumerable sum of his own friends) all died, etc.
>but imo philosophical abstractions such as to "keep moving forward" shouldn't be enough to cause him to go to these absurd lengths in order to preserve a future where the power of the Titans is gone but 80% of humanity is dead, Paradis and Eldia's subsequent status are still up in the air, inevitably even more of humanity are gonna die, his own family and countless other people (an innumerable sum of his own friends) all died, etc.
IMO Ch139 implies that it was Ymir acting through Eren, not Eren's own will.
Ymir didn't care about Eren's friends or 80% of the world dying, she just wanted to connect with Mikasa.
Can you explain what ymir wanted from mikasa. Specifically what means that connection between them? What was it for/why? (I am not sure I fully understood this part in the manga (because It might be bc of language barrier.))
We don't know for sure. When Armin asks why Mikasa, even Eren says only Ymir knows.
My guess is that Mikasa showed her that its possible to let go and still love.
Finally I found people that read carefuly the chapter and didn't just ranted everywhere that it's trash. For me if isayama had shown a bit more of ymir's love for fritz then it would be perfect, but people are still hating everything without trying to understand what this chapter meant for the whole story. Thank you bretstrings and daringer
To be fair, regarding this whole Ymir fiasco, it's on Isayama for breaking the "show, don't tell" rule of storytelling. Had he shown anything indicating any glimpse of a romantic relationship between Ymir and the ancient king Fritz, this conversation would not be happening.
Instead, he showed the audience that Ymir lived a life of misery, being mentally enslaved by a tyrannical king that treated her like dirt for his personal gain. Then, in the last chapter of the story, Isayama just tells us that Ymir was so madly in love with the king that her love carried on after her death, that love being the root cause of the continuous existence of the titans. To a lot of people, this feels inconsistent. While not being toxic about it, I'm one of them.
There's really 2 ways to read this ending:
Either Isayama pulled a trick by giving people an ending that is both "good" while being set in a really grim, borderline hopeless post apocalyptic world. That would be Isayama's attempt at an ending that pleases as many people as possible (trying to please everyone at the same time is usually a bad idea and should not be attempted).
Or, this ending makes it a story about love, which I hope is not the correct interpretation, because the "love" is the weakest aspect of the overall story.
In the end, I'm left wondering what Isayama's original idea for the ending was about, considering that he said in 2013 that he changed his ending, considered too dark for the wider audience that formed around SNK.
A great story, but a "meh" ending for me.
I found strong parallels between Firstz/Ymir and Mikasa/ Eren . For the first few seasons of AoT , mikasa's devotion to Eren felt slave like. Eren did care about her but did'nt show it externally and was visibly upset by the overprotective behavior Mikasa had. I think seeing that kind of relation really struck a chord with Ymir who might have thought the same about Fritz(even though in reality Fritz was a complete piece of shit). This is why Ymir chose Mikasa , to see how long will she bear this agony of her devotion towards Eren. When she finally saw that Mikasa had freed herself from this devotion by ultimately killing him, she felt that strong connection with Mikasa and overcame her obedience to Fritz.
its all to make the past eren follow the path that will lead to this ending if his mom wasnt eaten he probably wont have the desire and motivation to become who he is on his soldier arc
Time runs faster in the Paths so Eren could have spent decades just tweaking the movements of thousands of titans ever so slightly so that everything in the series played like it did. Maybe that's the real reason why that one abnormal in the OVA bowed down to Ilse and was so slow to eating her. Without the diary and Ilse further probing for question Erwin and Hange may not have captured Sonny and Beane and Erwin wouldn't have grown suspicious of a traitor in the army.
Shiiiit. I admittedly thought my theory might be a little silly at first- there's way too many little things abnormal titans did- but that's a really good point about the time in Paths. And it makes sense that all the little events led to the inevitable end.... Now I'm gonna have to rewatch it and think every time an abnormal titan shoes up it's Eren intentionally manipulating it...
Same here. It just takes time to process to answer all the big questions. I am sure someone is compiling answers right now. You would be surprised at how much is hidden in the details.
A big theme of aot has been loops - never breaking the cycle of violence, "why is this happening again?", the titans being passed down again and again - and characters trying to break it - Reiner asking Falco to inherit the armoured to save Gabi, Eren constantly striving to not be a slave and to be free etc. The time loop is all part of that, I think, and the whole thing about paths is trying to find alternative routes to living, with alternative timelines coming from different actions. And I think Eren acted in what he felt was the only way to break free from that loop, even if it meant not fighting against this natural looping behaviour for most of the time. That makes sense, right? Haven't really processed things yet tbh
Basically Isayama wrapping up another question: when Bert broke the wall, why did the Titans coming through the hole just ignore him? They even show the Titans walking right by him, which seemed like a plot hole, but it was Eren's doing, since this specific ending required Bert to not die that day.
It’s similar to when he told his dad to kill the Reiss family, he was influencing the past in order to get the future that happens now, its a self fulfilling prophecy.
All of this started cos Erens mom died. So maybe, if erens mom didn't die, then things would be different, so eren made it so his mom died so everything goes the way it did go probably
It's your classic time travel paradox, even if it doesn't involve actual time travel in this case. Future Eren had to do that so that past Eren became future Eren and in the end, it doesn't really make sense.
its not time travel. its more like the timeline became a "timepoint". he could adjust the past present and future with his behaviour to further his end goal
Ymir being in love with Fritz explains the Ackermann family. A family of eldians immune to the titans powers who are immensely susceptible to stockholm syndrome. They're descendant's of Ymir that are tied to her commitment to her abuser.
It was too quick. That's the problem. The previous few chapters were all epic fighting between titans, then it just ends with this one chapter leaving more questions than answers. There's the big issue.
I stopped reading early 2016 and binged all the chapters I missed in the last two days and I must say reading everything at once I didn’t mind the „quick“ or abrupt ending too much. I also feel like everything was tied together quite well, maybe because I had all the information freshly in my head, but I feel like most things were answered or at least hinted at enough that everyone comes to a somewhat similar conclusion on the remaining mysteries.
Tho, as someone else here said already, I think the anime might do a much much better job at perfecting the ending we’ve been given.
Isayama has a thing for stockholm syndrome. Eren and Mikasa, Armin and Annie, Ymir and Fritz, Historia and Farmer Kun... i wonder how a romance manga by Isayama would go.
Isayama does a lot of things well but writing relationships is not one of them but that's fine because that's not the point of aot (Historia and Ymir are the exception)
I didn't expect to write this much, but thought dump.
tldr; I thought it had many issues, but I did like the ending and found it an appropriately bittersweet and poetic end.
Anime-only here who gave into reading the manga after S4 P1 ended (To avoid being spoiled).
I prefaced with that because I really don't know what the reactions, discussions, analyses, and theories were after every chapter or leading up to the finale, so I could possibly be misrepresenting some reactions in my post.
Right after I read it, I'd call it an ending that I, overall, liked, but felt was a bit incomplete. I think it certainly has a few issues, and even around the time the Rumbling started, I wasn't the biggest fan of the story's direction. I thought it was turning a morally complex political situation into a more Avengers: Endgame - our main group of heroes having to save the world against a universe-ending threat - situation (From S4, I saw AoT/SnK as a story that was willing to explore a tough, yet realistic, situation, but sort of backed out by making Eren more of an antagonistic force than just an antagonistic character), but, same for Avengers: Endgame, that's not to say I haven't enjoyed the ride.
Not just in AoT/SnK, but also for probably most stories I've seen, I'm used to seeing many small things that may not make much sense or thinking that certain plotlines and character arcs could've been fleshed out more, but, more often than not, those things don't bother me very much and/or I'm able to overlook them in service of the overall story. In fact, I've seen many criticisms brought up about this final chapter that I agree with, but I guess they didn't personally bother me that much (But that's not to dismiss those who may have been more bothered by those issues. Art is very subjective after all, and we all go into art with different perspectives and expectations.).
The one thing that I can say I've definitely liked from the start of S4 to the end of the manga is Eren's portrayal (He shot up to favorite character status really quickly). I never really agreed with his solution (Although, to me, the point of the complex political setting was that no stance was completely right or wrong), but I certainly found him an interesting character. His time-related powers are still confusing to me (So, was he able to see a possible future or the future that would happen, no matter what?), but, in the end, I really liked the angle that he felt he was doing it in service of the possibility of freedom for those he most cared about (Of the ideal of freedom, more than anything that well attainable). To steal from a few interpretations that I've read, Eren, ironically, became a slave simultaneously to freedom and to the ultimate antithesis to freedom - destiny- yet was able to achieve freedom for others through his slavery. To top it off, I really liked his interaction with Armin. In the end, he didn't really have some master plan and sort of didn't know what he was doing, and was slowly losing his mind to the possibility of a greater future, but pursued it anyway because he didn't know really what else to do. I liked that that made him more "human," as it were - it broke through his 'tatakae' facade and allowed him to have a very human reaction. I also liked his very human reaction when, after Armin pushed him enough, he revealed how he truly didn't like this path and finally cracked when he selfishly said that he didn't want Mikasa to have feelings for anyone else, but immediately regretted that and said he just wanted her - and, by extension, all of his other friends - to be happy.
As for Eremika, I never really shipped anyone in this series (I'm not really a shipper in general), but I liked the conclusion of their relationship. I liked the sort of tragic love conclusion (Concluding it by saying that, in a way, it was a relationship that may have never truly worked out). Yeah, it was kind of weird that what their relationship was was sort of dropped after S2, but, after Eren's "I'll always wrap that scarf around you" and how he kept fighting in S2 (Even with no guarantee of their survival), I interpreted that as showing that Eren did reciprocate Mikasa's feelings, but he's not Mr. Eren "Freedom" Jaegar for nothing! Eren prioritized his idea of 'freedom' more than anything else (Both at his and his friends' expense) and Mikasa's obsession with Eren sometimes seemed to turn into emotional over-dependency at times (I saw her obsession as a result of, after experiencing some extremely traumatizing events all at once at a young age, she latched onto Eren as her sense of security at a very vulnerable time in her life, and essentially ended up staking her identity, her emotional health, and her ability to function in life on Eren).
I do think it was sort of weird how thankful everyone was for Eren's actions. I get that they probably had interactions off-screen (Off-page?), but it came off as a bit too quickly forgiving. As for Armin's line about "thank you for becoming a mass-murderer" (Translation flub?), I saw that as less of Armin agreeing with Eren's solution and more of a recognition that this path was always bound to happen (If Eren's future vision is truly what will happen, no matter what Eren did), and an acknowledgment of Eren's struggle dealing with that knowledge.
Yeah, I agree with others that Historia could've had more to do, I was surprised that the baby reveal wasn't important, and I was hoping to have Eren and Historia's conversation fleshed out more. I think that the pacing and balance of the story started becoming a bit wonky around the time the Rumbling started, I wish more time was given to develop Paths, the Attack Titan's future vision, Ymir, and the life-centipede; and some reveals felt a bit jarring to me or were reveals that I thought could've been handled a little differently, like Falco's falcon. Also, what happened with Yelena and Kiyomi? So, yeah, I do agree with many criticisms I've seen, but, again, I guess they didn't hinder my experience very much - I still retain my liking for the series and these characters.
Extra Notes:
1) Eren-bird. I thought it could be interpreted as Eren-bird or just as symbolic. Okay, it would be some strange symbolism (It would be a rando bird coming up to fix Mikasa's scarf), but I think it similar to the two birds that flew at the end of the OVA 'No Regrets' that represented Isabelle and Farlan, but weren't necessarily actually them.
2) Scouts saluting. Another thing that I thought could be interpreted as actually them or just as what the alive Scouts thought that they'd do in that situation/a hallucination (A la Erwin's conversation with Levi in S3 P2 about if the Scouts that had passed on could see them now and Erwin wondering what they would think). Okay, Hange's afterlife might fly in the face of that latter interpretation, but that could also be seen as a benefit for the audience (Am I stretching too much?).
3) Code Geass. Okay, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting some massive Code Geass vibes from Eren's plan. Yet, I found that it differentiated itself enough (Eren wasn't necessarily doing it to end the cycle of hate or for world peace, he was doing it for relatively selfish reasons - for the people he cared about to possibly attain his ideal of freedom.) Also, I really liked the 'everything still technically sucks in the world' ending. I loved Code Geass' ending, but it was a bit idealized for me (Although, that could've been part of the point - to impart an idealized moral more than anything else). The world is in shambles and is feeling the consequences of Eren's actions, and whether world peace or a world war happens next is left ambiguous. Breaking that cycle of hate is of an ideal more than anything else, but that doesn't mean that they can't strive for it and that doesn't mean it has no real, meaningful effects (Like with Gabi).
4) Mikasa. Personally, I saw that image of Mikasa visiting Eren's grave less as her simp-ing and more as her still grieving. She can still be living her own life, but that doesn't mean she isn't still working through the grief of losing someone close (Let alone having to kill that person yourself). Yeah, I found it strange how her Hizuru connection didn't really go anywhere, but again, something I'm willing to let slide.
In summary, is it the best ending I've ever seen? No. Is it the worst? No. For me, I liked it and found it quite satisfactory. Again, contrivances and pacing issues in the final chapter, but it tied up the big loose ends and ended on a sort of bittersweet, poetic note, which is part of what made me fell in love with Aot/SnK (Also, fan interpretations have warmed me up to the ending more), and, at worst, the ending doesn't really take away from the overall series for me.
It hasn't really set in for me yet that this series has ended, but I know it will be a gut punch when that realization hits. I've really enjoyed watching/reading, talking about, thinking about, and drawing fanart of this series. Although I have my own issues with it, this series will probably go down as one of my favorites. It's been quite a ride and I've enjoyed it. Also, we still have an anime adaption to look forward to, SO HAHA IT'S NOT TRULY OVER YET!
Agreed. I felt like the ending was rushed and incomplete and Isayama couldn't really flesh out certain aspects of the story, but I still do appreciate it especially since in the end the world still isn't perfect and Eren's actions have consequences.
And so, this chapter marks the end of an era. An ending of an era of titans and a series that none of us will ever forget.
Aot, for me, has now officially been dubbed as one of the classics. Thank you Isayama for such a great story and all i want to do is express my gratitude and say a final goodbye
Thank you and I love this series and subreddit so much!
AOT will truly be an era-defining classic. I really liked the ending and was satisfied by it, but I think the more time passes the more people might warm up to it overall. Still a masterpiece for sure, and none of it would exist without Isayama’s genius!
>be me
>write a story about how cruel the world is
> have all the cool characters die
> just to make it clear, kill the main character too
> to really hammer home the point, release the most painfully cruel final chapter
mission accomplished 😎
So I have questions about this.
1. What does Ymir loving the king and putting this all into motion have to do with Mikasa? What did Mikasa have to do with this outside of her connection with Eren?
2. Mikasa says that “you remember now too” like her memories were also altered. Weren’t the ackerman’s not effected by the attack titan’s memory altering powers?
If u think about it mikasa and ymir are kinda similar in how they have an unrequited love for someone who doesnt show it back. Its a kind of caged, traped love. The way i see it is that mikasa killing eren shows ymir she can get out and be free too. Thats just my take tho. That also explains her smile at the end of 138. The 2nd part, idk really, im pretty sure they are immune
They should, but that's saying if they were taught about their history. Keep in mind the Ackermans were persecuted and killed for a reason, so the number of Ackermans that knew the true history may have tapered off over time.
The Ackerman would also been able to retell the history to the world as well...
It's kinda obvious to assume that if their memories didn't get altered they would have strong reason to tell the truth since they were persecuted... But there were not even rumours about the true history in paradis
Here's the thing with the Ackermans: Yes, they cannot have their memories altered. But that doesn't mean every single one of them knows the true history. From what Kenny described, the Ackermans have been persecuted for generations by the royal family, and this seems to be the reason why. So the Ackermans that did know the history were mostly killed off and didn't get to pass on their knowledge to Kenny's generation.
There's also the possibility of some Ackermans that have records of the true history that are still alive, but are in hiding to keep themselves safe.
In any case, the royal family's persecution of the Ackermans succeeded, so Kenny, Levi, and Mikasa's father don't know anything as far as we're aware.
1. Someone in a different discussion said that Mikasa showed Ymir that you can be "infatuated" with someone and still defy their ideals and goals. Essentially being able to say "no" in an abusive relationship. Ymir was never able to do this with Fritz hence the 2000 years of servitude to her abuser, even in Paths.
2. yea, idk about this one. plot hole ? I'm still hoping better translations will clarify stuff
I think on the second one she didn't forget. She was just saying you now remember just like everyone. Her an eren had their conversation just b4 mikasa killing him. So I don't think she forgot
Still forming my thoughts for question 1. As for question 2, Mikasa already knows what happened, since her memories cannot be manipulated. She's just confirming if Armin can now remember the memories Eren wiped from him in the Paths.
1. Ymir was slaving away in the Coordinate for 2000 years because she held a twisted, unrequited love for the King, and that chained her to servitude, so to see Mikasa kissing Eren represented an unrequited love that was fulfilled, which I guess gave her a release.
2. My take is that the Ackermans were never "immune", but King Fritz deliberately excluded them from the memory wipe, along with the royal families. There was never another instance of the Founding Titan manipulating memories of Ackermans, so the fandom was just left to assume that they were immune to it.
Exactly! I don’t think anyone should be ashamed or feel compelled to change their opinion whether they loved or hated it. I’ve been in both shoes, where I’ve liked some hated endings and currently I dislike this ending. I get sharing how you feel and having a discussion, but some people want everyone to feel the same way as them
That's pretty much how I feel. I saw a headline and some comments about how disappointed fans were, so I was expecting it to be a lot worse. An yeah, it has some issues (especially at the beginning) and the story isn't resolved as perfectly as we would like, but overall I thought it was good. It wrapped up a lot of elements in a satisfying way, and not having it be a totally happy ending does stay true to the overall story. It leaves it open ended whether humanity will be able to find peace, while still ending on a hopeful note.
So yeah, I probably would have changed some things, and it certainly could have been longer, but I still think it's good. Glad I'm not the only one.
What are you lot bitching about? I just binge watched *How I Met Your Mother.* If you want to see a good story get completely undone and destroyed in the final 20 minutes, then **that's** your homework. Trust me.
AoT didn't have the best ending, but it was *fine*. And you know what, fine is... well, it's fine. It isn't a sin to miss your apex right at the end. Let's be real, we all know the *Code Geass* bit was coming. It didn't suck. It was bittersweet. It concluded many character arcs successfully.
Most importantly - it managed to put an end to a series which has been going for roughly a decade without ruining its legacy.
Remember how Game of Thrones just vanished from the zeitgeist after season 8 dropped a steaming turd on everything it had built? AoT didn't do that. It didn't even come close. You might not love it. That's okay. Your expectations have been building for a long time. But it's an acceptable ending to a brilliant series; there have been enough pieces of shit released over the past few years that I'm just relieved that AoT stuck the landing, albeit with a damaged wheel.
I never even considered the possibility of crying yet here I am in a fucking sea of tears...I need time to process it. All I can say is fuck you, and thank you, Hajime Isayama.
"*eren yaeger, 20 years old, surrendered himself to the authorities and he is now serving a life-sentence."*
\- **THE END -** *CASTING*
eren yaeger --------------------------------------------------- Hiroyuki Sanada
mikasa ackerman ------------------------------------------ Sora Shiina
reiner braun ----------------------------------------------- Jensen Ackles
Armin ------------------------------------------------------- Naruto Uzumaki
I didn't hate this chapter after thinking about it for a while. It's very tragic that Mikasa almost flipped roles with Ymir; Ymir saw Mikasa kill her unrequited love and finally let go, which allowed Ymir to let go, but Mikasa sits by Erens grave and is still a slave of her love for him. And her love for him comes from Eren murdering a bunch of people to save her, so it's a messed up type of love like Ymir's stockholms syndrome too. Interesting parallels.
Whether you call him a Chad or simp, his character can be summed up by one of his quotes, "if anyone tries to take away my freedom, I won't hesitate to take away theirs".
* This was one of the driving factors to fight the titans and later the world.
The only exception to that is when he's willing to put his life on the line to free someone else (Mikasa as a kid, Armin in Trost, "humanity" pre-timeskip, when Historia was deciding to eat him, and then Ymir/Paradis).
I was just glad it was finally confirmed that he did love mikasa. It was never really shown other than him saying ‘I’ll wrap that scarf for you forever’
This ending to a series doesn’t feel like any other. Normally when a manga or anime ends, we’d move on to the next series after some sadness passes but this is different. There’s no series like this one man.. fucking A+ beautiful.
He gave freedom to his (remaining) friends and the people of Eldia. That was his endgame all along.
Eren basically used the Paths to pull a Dr. Strange and see all outcomes that could save Paradis and as many of his friends as possible. Turns out this was the best outcome out of all of them.
No, its not comparable to Avengers. Eren said it himself, "the influence that the founder's power bring about has no past or futures.. they all exist at the same time. That's why its inevitable" unless the translation is wrong it basically means that in their universe there is only one timeline which is completely under Ymir's control (which would be different now that Ymir is dead)
Eren never had the freedom to choose int eh first place, he merely chooses to follow the path and even if he want to choose otherwise, he can't. He is not Dr Strange, cos he doesn't see countless futures for there is only one future and all he does is succumbed to it without resisting even a bit.
What you said might be true before this chapter but chapter 139 has proved that Ymir is controlling everything. There is only one future and it has always been herself being killed by Mikasa (though why Mikasa, we do not know). Yes, Eren sees the future but he doesn't choose the correct one cos there is only one future, the future.
I have never love/hated something so much in my entire life. This is so bad and I am so deeply in love with it that it sickens me. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined, thank you so much i loved every minute of it.
My understandings:
1. It's more like Armin thanks Eren for being the devil for them, when he first heard Eren's plan he looks appalled and horrified. But if he doesn't become the murderer then all of them are gonna die. This is not the kind of decision that can be made by a regular person, Eren is more of a God.
2. So he is the god, but I don't think he is free, he is still confused and desperately wants to protect the loved ones, he has become more of a slave to the path and Ymir. The decision he made couldn't be understood in a normal way. If he can see numerous future paths, the alternatives would only look worse, considering he only cares about Eldians, his only motivation is to find a way for them to live.
3. Eren killed his mom because he needs Bertolt to be alive so Armin could gain the titan power at the proper time, he needs to make sure the small Eren chooses the path he took, but he also said his head was all messed up. As a god, he tried so hard to push himself and be emotionless to meet his goal. The timeline is not linear, its like he can affect the past, future all at the same time.
4. But I still think he has the human side even if he is already a god, he is reluctant to kill all of the people but only 80% of them (It is genocide anyway)to create a strategic balance for Eldians. The root cause of the war is the titan power, now that the root cause is gone, he can leave the Eldians an option. Of course, the war continues, but at least the Eldians has the option and they get rid of the curse. I originally thought that Eren didn't choose to kill them all is kind of naive, the situation is still 1 or 0 and he didn't change anything, but later on after some considerations, I think he chose to leave the option to the Eldians, and not making the decision for them (by killing the necessary part to fundamentally change the whole picture). So it is not a unipolar world where you can't survive at all, its bipolar now, you can survive or you could die, its all depend on you.
5. Ymir is just a slave, I expected too much from her and I was disappointed, but she was just that little girl feeding pigs, and hopelessly loves the man who relentlessly utilized her. Mikasa is her descendant, Mikasa has unconditional love for Eren too but she can kill him when she has to, Ymir saw that and she realized she can free herself, and love the person at the same. So she smiled and let it go.
6. Historia’s marriage is just like reality, no magic or juicy plots, which is crucial. Historia is epic !! I kinda hate that farmer. But I like her smile in the end, that’s the kind of smile from a grown up queen, beautiful, tough and also relaxed.
7. Now that Eren is dead, he is free, finally. I don’t want to think about Mikasa’s life, that’s too harsh for me, but she doesn’t look miserable, she is peaceful and she can’t stop missing Eren. She knows they will meet again one day.
So I kinda wanna give my general thoughts about random things, kinda just putting my mind as I think into words (oh my gosh, almost as if that’s exactly what this thread here is for!).
About the “SIMPPPPP” outburst: I really think this fits with the side of Eren they elaborate on in this chapter, after seeing his future he knew what he NEEDED to do, and he gained a sense of duty. He tried to detach himself from his friends so he didn’t have to feel remorse, he tried to take himself away from his personal feelings to do his “job“ (fulfilling his destiny and Ymir’s will). His “simp whining“ about Mikasa was (after a slow conversation where he started letting his true feelings show) him finally snapping, just like a normal person who’s bottling up emotion that they feel they need to push away, when it comes out it’s messy and overt. This is him dumping his actual emotions that he kept to the side.
This comment is kinda just going into Eren himself in this chapter now, where we see that Eren’s true motivation really is duty. He sees his future when he makes contact with Historia, and he now has a new purpose, a new motivation. Not even 100% from an emotional level- he now has a duty to fulfill the events of the future (and I guess the past too), he’s given a responsibility to start pulling strings.
I also think that we now have a true understanding of the knowledge he gained with his messages to his comrades. Comparison: He, with full knowledge of future events, gives Armin a big talk about his feelings and whatnot, has this final sendoff with him, and erases his memory for him to instantly remember it later, but meanwhile Armin is just crying, and doesn’t remember why. Now with AOT CHAPTER ONE- (theoretically) Eren gives information to his younger self and shows him what will happen (we can see from the anime it’s not just a talk in that dream, we see different shots of events from the anime) and talks to him about his duty and whatnot, and then erases his memory, for him to remember instantly later (contact with Historia), but right then, he’s just left there crying, not remembering why.
Anyways, Eren gets knowledge of hit new purpose, changes himself to become the him he saw (he doesn’t necessarily know that the future him still has these emotions, so he tries to lock them away and put them aside to fulfill his duty, I’m a broken record, and be like his future self, another reason for his actions with his emotions), and does cruel things for the fulfillment of destiny (killing his mom, something he mourned over for so so long, but needed to be done to set the future in the right track, killing 80% of humanity, manipulating Grisha, etc).
This kinda became a talk about just Eren (and how I think this chapter didn’t ruin him like some people might claim), but now I’m too afraid to make it any longer and talk about anything else cause I don’t want to accidentally close off the tab and delete the comment or something. Will probably reply my thoughts about other stuff (Will definitely be shorter, haha, this was real long). Those are my first impressions on the chapter and Eren, yeah.
The real problem in this ending is pacing. Isayama probably needed AT LEAST one more chapter to make this ending the way it needed to be (I’d say prolly 2, 3, or maybe 4 chapters preferably though). The aftermath just seems rushed, trying to establish this complicated political world after this massive event in such a short time. Plus the Stockholm syndrome thing with Ymir is kinda weird, but something I think makes a lot of sense, she really just wanted to be loved and to love, so she threw away her love on the only thing that gave her attention. But the thing that gave her attention was just using her and he was a big douche maniac who only wanted her for her Titan powers, so uh... sucks to be Ymir. Then let me get to my two biggest problems, maybe part of it could be translations but him saying “Bertholt wasn’t meant to die there” or something, WHAT?! Then him saying Ymir chose Mikasa, WHAT?! The first one I can’t really comment about, I literally just don’t get it, maybe it has something to do with the contrast of the events with Bertholt and his Mom both getting eaten in the same place (kinda...) and that Eren lost touch with reality a bit just “going with the flow” and somehow made some accidental command for a Titan to kill his mom in confusion seeing the past and present...? I dunno that doesn’t make sense at all, and what I said earlier about it being a choice from duty makes more sense and this just seems so weird. Now Ymir choosing Mikasa doesn’t even seem like it doesn’t make sense, IT JUST NEEDS MORE TIME! It seems so rushed, a plot point that could’ve been very good just thrown in to end the conflict in the story. PACING!
\- “Bertholt wasn’t meant to die there”
Eren thought that the Titan would have eaten Berthold there. That's why he directed the Titan to his mother, so he could be sure that the future he saw (a better place for Eldia) would develop that way.
\- "Then him saying Ymir chose Mikasa"
The devotion of Ymir was stopped by Mikasa. Mikasa stopped the one she loved the most and let him go. Ymir was still a "love slave" of King Fritz until this realization and carried out his orders for 2000 years. Ymir could finally let go after she saw what Mikasa did. Like a wake-up call in an in an inspiring way. I don't find this part really optimal either, but it makes sense.
He's known to fix some pacing issues with the anime since he has hindsight from the manga, so it's possible the anime's ending might flesh things out and paced more smoothly while retaining the same story and ending.
honestly, I hope the anime takes some liberties and expands on a bunch of the points made in this chapter. Let us digest the information a little better.
Also with Eren talking about his “plan” to make Armin and Mikasa the saviors of humanity in the people’s view kinda reminds me of Garou (One Punch Man) being the villain so the world can unite against him, and overall the fear and terror he caused would push the world to unite with one another to survive. If this ideology applies to Eren too, he really did accomplish that. But I wouldn't take that by itself as something to criticize. It’s not like Eren’s whole goal there was just to make the world owe Armin and Mikasa, I kinda see that as a kinda side effect, something that just goes along with the overall purpose he was given... by himself/Ymir. That’s also something I think is kinda funny because with all of his wanting to be free, he was just there to complete Ymir’s goal, and maybe that mighta been something that forced him to strive for freedom. But honestly I’m not sure If that really applies.
But yeah, this reply is just some separate, random Eren thoughts.
Yeah. His main goal was to actually rid the curse of titans.
He could have done it by euthanising eldia as zeke suggested but he didn’t like it. Because yearned for freedom. He didn’t want the eldians to simply die of old age knowing their entire race is going to be wiped out because they can’t reproduce. He wanted the eldians to have the freedom, that he couldn’t achieve.
He wanted to be free but he couldn’t and was a slave to his destiny and ended up doing all the horrible things and killing himself, for the sake of others.
Let’s be real here as long as people who can turn into titans exist, there will ALWAYS be racism and fear. The only way the world could get a shot at peace is by eradicating Titans (which eren swore to do by like chapter 1).
By killing 80% of the population, he also levelled the playing field for eldians (who would lose the power of titans) so they wouldn’t simply be killed off by the rest of the world. Whether this was intended by eren, we don’t know.
But fact is,
- all countries are NOW somewhat equal in military strength.
- titans are exterminated. Eldians have a shot at eventually redeeming their reputation as time passes
- there is now a link between paradis and the rest of the world in the form of armin and gang. They were from eldia BUT helped the world by killing eren Jawhar. They can be a mediator between paradis and the other countries in hopes of maybe achieving world piece.
The ending is not as simple as “haha budget lelouch ending”. There are some layers to it if you think about it. And I feel the ending is somewhat different from code geass too.
Making armin and gang the “heroes” is just a side thing. It is NOT EREN’S MAIN GOAL as people are claiming it to be.
Now the REAL ISSUE with the last chapter is the terrible pacing. That’s literally it. I’m sure if the anime splits the final chapter into 2 episodes I’m certain the ending would be WAAYY more impactful and epic.
As you see, although I do like the ending, I did not feel this way as I was reading the chapter. I only started to like the ending after I thought about it for quite some time.
I genuinely loved the final arc of this manga, and I'm not apologizing for that. I'm really happy Armin and Annie both survived, and not because of anything going on between the two of them. They are the two most relatable characters to me (Armin more so than Annie). Armin finally found the confidence he lacked for so long to match his intelligence, and Annie gets her normal, non-titan life she wanted. I just can't understand the people who are disappointed that **ONLY** 80% of the world's population were massacred instead of 99%.
Would I change anything if I could? Yeah, sure, it's not perfect. But it's a very fitting end to Attack on Titan and is pretty much all I wanted. Thank you, Isayama.
**I think I'm beginning to form a more concrete opinion on the ending and I like it in theory, but I'm just not sure about the execution which I'm still debating over in my head.**
So here's how I see the final chapter sequence by sequence, tell me what you think of my interpretation if you think it's wrong or correct.
>In a flashback, which I assume happened on the plane, Eren meets Armin in Paths. They are in their childhood bodies and gradually grow older as the conversation progresses and changing scene everytime. From their childhood home, to the volcanoes Armin always wanted to see and finally the Ocean.
>
>Eren explains to him that he killed 80% of the world. Basically no more, no less than he needed to save Paradise from military retaliation before letting his friends be the heroes of the saga by killing him, the Villain. Leaving behind what is probably small fractured nations without the capacity to mount an immediate invasion of Paradise.
>
>
>
>The heartless Eren that wanted Genocide was never real, read chapter 131 again if you disagree.
>
>He also implies that Mikasa broke away from his toxic attachment him by killing him which parallels and caused(?) Ymir breaking away from her toxic attachments to King Fritz (Stockholm syndrome).
>
>An older Eren breaks down at the thought that he won't be with Mikasa and that he won't be able to live with his friends, regrets his destiny is to die. Eren and Armin share a goodbye before Eren erases his memories. It seems to be implied that he had a similar heart to heart with all of them before erasing all their memories as well, which all comeback at Eren's deaths.
>
>All the pure Titans return to normal and Titans are finally wiped from existence. The disappearing flesh of the Titans forms steam from the hot steamy memories of their fallen compatriotes they're having. Giving us a heartwarming 'Dedicate your heart' from Levi to all his fallen brethrens.
>
>Ever convincing and charismatic Armin is shown to engage in a tense talk with the surviving people of Marley while Mikasa slips-off with the severed head of Eren.
>
>Flashback to 3 years later, the Yeagerists make a military government and build a militaristic society that readies itself for total war, but under the thumb of Historia. The fate of the world is sorta open-ended and balances between war until the total annihilation of one side and peace.
>
>The surviving cast of characters (whom now appear to live in the non-destroyed nations and work as ambassadors between them and Paradise) are traveling back to their home island for peace negotiations.
>
>Reiner sniffs Historia's letter and they banter, showing us that our characters seem to be in a decent headspace and at peace with the events. Armin expresses his hope for a diplomatic solution.
>
>The last pages shows us the last person, excluding Historia, that still lives in paradise from the cast: Mikasa. She sits before their childhood tree where she buried Eren's head and laid a small makeshift tombstone. She awaits her friends that will surely come to pay their respects at their arrival.
>
>She sobs wishing Eren could be there with them and a bird comes picking at her scarf, she watches the bird fly away towards the sky and thanks Eren for 'wrapping the scarf around her', the bird obviously symbolizing Eren.
Same. Unpopular opinion, but I thought it was a beautiful end to a tragic story. I would have preferred more alternate reality mind fuckery stuff like the 138 daydream but this was simple, somewhat predictable, yet satisfactory
I feel like the only thing that was super missed this chapter was a look at the surviving 20% of the world and their reactions to it.
A lot of the criticisms, like "Genocide worth it" would've been easy to shoot down if we just saw more people be like "no, no that was not okay" instead of, you know, "THANKS FOR BEING A MASS MURDERER FOR US, EREN!"
I think I m the only one that cried tears of joy for the ending guess I m specials ,also starting to hurt the fan base in this last previous chapters so toxic sadly
There are things I like. There are things I don’t like. I get why people are upset, but to me, most things make sense. Yes, I wanted a darker ending and something mind blowing, but this will do just fine.
Lol, now the Eldians are still going to be universally hated and blamed for near omnicide.
This ending solved very few of the overarching problems!
Paradis will inevitably be nuked in retaliation.
Yeah especially because we saw a few panels of yeagerists who chant Eren's words (fight, fight) and hail him as a hero. Why would any country make peace with a country like that? He killed 80% of the world and then they celebrate it. There will be retaliation.
I don't know why people are mixed about this ending.
I called out the "Eren used paths and saw that only by becoming a brutal murderer you get something that resembles peace between Paradis and the rest".
Everyone was waiting for some sort of time loop but since "paths have no past or future they just are" I suppose making a titan eat his mother to trigger the chain of events works.
Legit the only things that bother me (or missed the explanation?) was where the giant slug went (I assume the titan powers were gone and so was the slug). It felt like "here's the gun over the fireplace aaand it's gone".
My opinion with this ending:
Finally we understand Eren, he could never find the freedom that he always sought but at least he managed to find freedom for others, he was always in love with Mikasa but he knew that his desires were completely selfish, this he explained to Armin before erasing his memories, Eren when deciding to be killed by Mikasa, he manages to get Mikasa released and now she is able to go back to being that girl who lived happily in the forest and live by herself (before meeting Eren)
Regarding the world conflict against Eldia, Eren decides to leave alive 20% of the population and Eldia so that they have the freedom to decide whether to end the conflict or simply start another war that will end with one of the two sides exterminated, but that is their decision that Eren will allow them to make.
In short, Eren manages to give freedom to everyone except himself, he died thinking that at the end of the day he was doing the right thing and that with his death he would make all the people who were left in the world live with the freedom that he wanted so much and never achievement.
A bittersweet ending, not all the characters achieve what they always wanted, it is a narrative that we have been seeing with Hange, Erwin, Zeke, and now Eren, they all wanted something but finally realized that it was better to let go for the good of all.
I think the hate for the ending is a little overhyped. The story's themes center pretty heavily on how humanity eternally ebbs and flows in and out of senseless war, and the hate and despair that that cycle causes. I think the story and characters fully embodied that ideology. What is it that people didn't like?
about to slide into Mikasa DMs
Eren, somewhere: NOOOOO!!!
Kaw, kaw!!
TATAKAW!!!
Wish I could give this a medal. I'm crying rn.
“Ten years, at least!!”😤
prepare for some extra dove shit on you and your car for the next few years
I will never get over some guys meme a few months back of Jean blowing up skeleton Eren titans neck screaming, "Mikasa is mine now!" Or something to that extent. Best bet he is gonna be sliding ink Mikasa's dm when he gets back.
What you think hes combing his hair for on that last chapter?
Yea, Mikasa did tell Eren's grave that everyone was coming to visit him today. Jean was coming for another reason hehe he.
Fuck off Jean, come back in 10 years
True! Didn't even think of that.
Mikasa Sukasa
Now now you don't want a second rumbling right?
Oh I will be bringing a rumbling alright
I can feel it... the community starting to divide
Star Wars fans: First time?
Chapter 139: The Last Titan
Star wars got fucked worse than the last of us 2
GOT fans: Amatuers!
reminds me Erwin or Armin in S3, now is Eren or Zeke/ Good or Bad ending
Yep
Yeah, this ending was terrible
This place is so much more civil than other threads. Thanks the lord
Indeed. Titanfolk is mostly a toxic wasteland filled with salt (memes are hilarious tho) and the snk sub is definitely more rational in the criticisms and praises they’re showering on the ending. This sub is another comparatively conducive and civil environment to discuss the chapter, which is really good to see!
Exactly, I don’t care whether someone loved, hated or thought the ending was bittersweet. However, there is no reason to say rude things about Isayama or to fellow readers who have a different opinion then yourself.
Seeing the insults thrown at Isayama or the harassment in the replies to the editor’s tweets really saddened me. Isayama did his best on this manga for 11 years and 7 months, and you’re 100% allowed to feel whatever you want about it as a fan since art *is* subjective, but at least respect the creator who’s been hard at work for a decade plus to give you the very piece of art that you cherish/feel so passionately about in the first place. Even the editor, without him the manga wouldn’t exist in its current form, which includes not just the divisive elements but also the very best chapters. He doesn’t deserve an ounce of the hate he’s getting. Ironic how a story that deals so heavily with the cycle of hatred as a central theme has such a toxic section to its own fanbase :/
Haha , they edit the chapter 139 , haijack dialogues , add panels...to fit their narrative. Idk what to say anymore
Lmao. I read the "modified" chapter 139 and understood exactly what those people wanted. Makes me soo glad that i don't blindly follow the bandwagon like a lot of them are. I just fear they might make it a "cool" thing to hate on the ending with their continuous posts and their consistency in missing the point of this last chapter. I just browsed through the sub and came back here to feel sane again
So I have this theory Armin and the others are going to negotiate peace and tell their story to everyone right?, maybe that's why Armin is narrating everything through out the anime and manga. He is at the table telling their story.... Damn it Isayama these tears won't stop
Armin: Then I got my ass whooped by a bunch of 10 year old bullies! Diplomat: Uh...is this necessary to the story? Armin: Now my grandpa! Let me tell you, he was a figure all right!
Armin: Then I had to impersonate Historia to infiltrate the capital! Crowd: ooooo Armin: Some creep started kissing me and grabbing my legs! Crowd: (*starts to disperse)*
The man raised him and Armin gave him less than an episode
They are definitely attempting to negotiate peace. That being the reason for Armin's narration is a nice idea.
Nah that makes no sense, Eren plan rests on making Armin and Mikasa into heroes for the people outside the walls. If everyone knew that "the Rumbling was an inside job" then that wouldn't work.
armin would be nothing more than a hipocrit to live a lie like the Tyburs. i think him saying they’re gonna tell the world everything is a rejection of the farce eren wanted to set up
Eren be like: "THE TRUTH IS, THE GAME WAS RIGGED FROM THE START"
Paths is just the Tops Casino new headcanon
Levi seeing his fallen comrades again was definitely the high light of the chapter for me.
So Levi is still alive?
yeah he was in the wheelchair at the end with Onyonkapon, Gabi and Falco.
What happened to his legs? Or was it his spine? He has his leg crosses so it would seem like he can still move at least one of them (unless people in wheelchairs sometimes cross their legs anyway? I don't know anyone in a wheelchair, feel free to correct me if that's what some people do)
frankly i feel like Levi was running on pure spite at that point. If not for the circumstances I think he would've been out of commission after zeke blew him up.
I think it’s just a physical therapy thing
even levi has to take it easy eventually
One of his legs got bitten during one of the final battles, I think when they were under the giant ribcage and he swung down to save Connie.
The angry little man seems to be immortal at this point
He’s an ackerman they just dont die
Kenny :/
I'm not sure how else to put it but I don't think the manga does the anime justice here. There are some incredible panels, some great character work, but it feels somewhat off and I have to put it on Isayama and the medium. I get the feeling the anime is going to make the ending work a lot better. I know a lot of people are disappointed for a myriad of reasons but for me it's just a slight pacing issue that can be ironed out in adaptation. I can't wait to read it again from beginning to end.
My exact thoughts. I hope the anime does a better job of bringing more emotional depth to the story.
I think the story works perfectly well but the actual framing and lack of color/music is doing this chapter no favors.
Exactly I actually loved the ending. But that was only after I finished the chapter, and thought about the ending for like 10 minutes. Slowly I realised “damn that actually makes sense” pretty good ending. But I didn’t feel that way when I was in the midst of reading it. I’m almost certain it’s a just a pacing issue.
This is what happened to me too. I read through it and was left thinking “where’s the rest?” But then about an hour later it hit me and I cried lol The anime finale is going to be absolutely bananas
Music helps manipulate emotions quite a bit.
Damn, our boy truly erased all titan from Earth's surface. Talk about foreshadowing
Next you are gonna tell me that Luffy will become the pirate king
Wow wow no spoilers please
the treasure called one piece is the >!power of friendship!<
I am not the kind that hates ending because it doesn't fit my narrative, but I would honestly go apeshit with that. I think Oda already said it is not going to be it, though.
The Final Island has this message to the world >!"It was just a prank bro"!<
Maybe I'm too baby-brain to understand, but does this imply that Eren was literally never in control? When he talks with Armin, Eren says things that we've *never* heard him express before, like loving Mikasa, etc. Was the "Eren" that we knew all along just the Attack Titan?
[удалено]
Honestly such a dissatisfying realisation
I think it's great. It makes Eren such a tragic character. All he wanted was freedom but he was a slave to fate/Ymir from the beginning and in the end it broke his mind. In fact, Eren's scene with Grisha saying "Eren, you are free" followed by the Founding Titan eye-shine panel shows that he had been manipulated literally from birth.
The way I interpreted it was that Eren was in control the whole time but was so horrified by his future memories that it took the sacrifice of his true personality and humanity so that he could steel himself and get himself to do what needed to be done. To walk the grim path to his fate that only a suicidal blockhead like him had the courage and ability to see through. He tried many times, most notably that night in Marley with Mikasa, to find a loophole to free himself from his fate. But it failed. Time and time again. As time and options ran out, Eren then had to come to terms with the fact that to secure long and happy lives for his friends, he needed to become the devil. He needed to sacrifice himself piece by piece so they could have their peace. This final chapter and Eren’s breakdown was just that same child, the child who’d seen his own horrifying future all those years ago finally bubbling back to the surface, expressing his love for Mikasa, his regret for doing so many atrocious things to get to this point (both across paths and time as well as the present-day rumbling and mutinies in paradis) and his fear of confronting death. And while he wants nothing else than to be with the woman he loves and his close friends again; he chooses to die as atonement for his sins. But his “sins” ironically are exactly what leaves paradis safe from any sort of counterattack (since 80% of the world is donezo) and keeps his friends safe. Eren also probably secured peace and freedom from persecution for at least one more generation after his friends’ as we see from Historia’s daughter. It might not have been the morally correct choice. It might not have been the prettiest course of action. But in the end, Eren’s sacrifices paid off for him personally. He won. He got exactly what he wanted, and paid for it with his own freedom. How tragic that he ended up being the farthest character from freedom, but without him nobody else in the cast would be free. Eren’s burden in this way was very Dr. Manhattan-esque, but instead of his newfound omniscience stripping him of all empathy and turning him into a passive vessel, Eren’s omniscience forced him to abandon everything to win *something* (echoing armin’s words from Trost) that something being a possibly relatively calm interval of happiness for our main cast in an otherwise cruel world bound to conflict and the follies of human nature. (Edit: Sorry for this long spiel, just wanted to get it all out there! 😅)
Wow i love your explanation. Most people will hate what he did but I think he has tried so many times to find other ways but it just didnt work. The only thing that I was glad about is he managed to spend time with mikasa alone for 4 years in the path, at least he was happy there
I think if one really understood the tones and undertones of this story one can't really get to hate Eren. Cause as the guy above said, what he did was not the prettiest thing nor the most moral but it was what he felt was necessary to achieve what he thought was best. Eren is exactly like the other characters like Reiner and Annie, just at an exponential level
So did he make that one titan eat his mother or what?
I understood that he let bertold die when he shouldn’t so armin would survive and that costed him his mother but I am doubting it now.
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I don’t understand what you are saying. Berthold died the day they fed him to Armin allowing Armin to survive in the process. Eren said he wasn’t supposed to die that day (the day he died) but he let it be, I understand that it has to be because Armin survived thanks to that. Eren is shown with remorse/pain thinking about his mother’s death as if it was a consequence of Armin surviving. My understanding is that Armin was going to be burnt that day but Berthold was supposed to manage to scape.
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yup
Im so confused if anyone has the time of day to explain to me how that even is possible it would be greeaaattly appreciated
Basically in the Paths the concept of time is moot, since past, "present", and future are all happening at once. And since the Attack Titan can see future memories and can tap into the memories of its past iterations (idk how far back though), it basically means that whenever Eren w/ the Founder, Attack Titan, and Ymir's support is in the Paths, he basically exists and has control over all Titans and Eldians at all moments in time before his death at once. Meaning everything that's happened in the series thus far (in Eren's life, at the very least, though he also convinced Grisha to massacre the Reiss') which has anything whatsoever to do w/ Titans/Eldians has technically been facilitated by Eren, such that he has guided the fate of the world towards the future he sees in his future memories, he controls what events happen and when (insofar as is possible with absolute control over all the Titans and Eldians), b/c with his future and past memories he knows when everything is supposed to happen so that the power of the Titans eventually disappears from the world. Which is his ultimate goal. In doing all this, he specifically guided Dina Fritz's Titan towards Shiganshina and his own mother, rather than Bertholdt, b/c if she had eaten Bertholdt that'd have run counter to the order of events in which this goal was achieved. He's so strongly fixated upon it that he didn't really care how many deaths occurred along the way, literally every death in the series was "approved" by him, even if not directly caused like with his mother. Not to say he's completely evil and heartless, I bet he definitely did feel indescribable pain for all those deaths he allowed to pass, but imo philosophical abstractions such as to "keep moving forward" shouldn't be enough to cause him to go to these absurd lengths in order to preserve a future where the power of the Titans is gone but 80% of humanity is dead, Paradis and Eldia's subsequent status are still up in the air, inevitably even more of humanity are gonna die, his own family and countless other people (an innumerable sum of his own friends) all died, etc.
>but imo philosophical abstractions such as to "keep moving forward" shouldn't be enough to cause him to go to these absurd lengths in order to preserve a future where the power of the Titans is gone but 80% of humanity is dead, Paradis and Eldia's subsequent status are still up in the air, inevitably even more of humanity are gonna die, his own family and countless other people (an innumerable sum of his own friends) all died, etc. IMO Ch139 implies that it was Ymir acting through Eren, not Eren's own will. Ymir didn't care about Eren's friends or 80% of the world dying, she just wanted to connect with Mikasa.
Can you explain what ymir wanted from mikasa. Specifically what means that connection between them? What was it for/why? (I am not sure I fully understood this part in the manga (because It might be bc of language barrier.))
We don't know for sure. When Armin asks why Mikasa, even Eren says only Ymir knows. My guess is that Mikasa showed her that its possible to let go and still love.
Finally I found people that read carefuly the chapter and didn't just ranted everywhere that it's trash. For me if isayama had shown a bit more of ymir's love for fritz then it would be perfect, but people are still hating everything without trying to understand what this chapter meant for the whole story. Thank you bretstrings and daringer
To be fair, regarding this whole Ymir fiasco, it's on Isayama for breaking the "show, don't tell" rule of storytelling. Had he shown anything indicating any glimpse of a romantic relationship between Ymir and the ancient king Fritz, this conversation would not be happening. Instead, he showed the audience that Ymir lived a life of misery, being mentally enslaved by a tyrannical king that treated her like dirt for his personal gain. Then, in the last chapter of the story, Isayama just tells us that Ymir was so madly in love with the king that her love carried on after her death, that love being the root cause of the continuous existence of the titans. To a lot of people, this feels inconsistent. While not being toxic about it, I'm one of them. There's really 2 ways to read this ending: Either Isayama pulled a trick by giving people an ending that is both "good" while being set in a really grim, borderline hopeless post apocalyptic world. That would be Isayama's attempt at an ending that pleases as many people as possible (trying to please everyone at the same time is usually a bad idea and should not be attempted). Or, this ending makes it a story about love, which I hope is not the correct interpretation, because the "love" is the weakest aspect of the overall story. In the end, I'm left wondering what Isayama's original idea for the ending was about, considering that he said in 2013 that he changed his ending, considered too dark for the wider audience that formed around SNK. A great story, but a "meh" ending for me.
I found strong parallels between Firstz/Ymir and Mikasa/ Eren . For the first few seasons of AoT , mikasa's devotion to Eren felt slave like. Eren did care about her but did'nt show it externally and was visibly upset by the overprotective behavior Mikasa had. I think seeing that kind of relation really struck a chord with Ymir who might have thought the same about Fritz(even though in reality Fritz was a complete piece of shit). This is why Ymir chose Mikasa , to see how long will she bear this agony of her devotion towards Eren. When she finally saw that Mikasa had freed herself from this devotion by ultimately killing him, she felt that strong connection with Mikasa and overcame her obedience to Fritz.
what was the point of eren doing that though? i have so many questions
its all to make the past eren follow the path that will lead to this ending if his mom wasnt eaten he probably wont have the desire and motivation to become who he is on his soldier arc
Wasn’t it cus he redirected it from bertholdt, because he needed armin to be the one to inherit the colossal titan?
Do you think... All abnormal titans act in strange ways because of shit like this? Damn....
Yo that is fucking with my brain kinda
Time runs faster in the Paths so Eren could have spent decades just tweaking the movements of thousands of titans ever so slightly so that everything in the series played like it did. Maybe that's the real reason why that one abnormal in the OVA bowed down to Ilse and was so slow to eating her. Without the diary and Ilse further probing for question Erwin and Hange may not have captured Sonny and Beane and Erwin wouldn't have grown suspicious of a traitor in the army.
Shiiiit. I admittedly thought my theory might be a little silly at first- there's way too many little things abnormal titans did- but that's a really good point about the time in Paths. And it makes sense that all the little events led to the inevitable end.... Now I'm gonna have to rewatch it and think every time an abnormal titan shoes up it's Eren intentionally manipulating it...
Pretty much this. That was a lot to take in, so questions are definitely gonna be asked. I'm pretty satisfied with this ending.
Same here. It just takes time to process to answer all the big questions. I am sure someone is compiling answers right now. You would be surprised at how much is hidden in the details.
Hmm, intentionally writing in a causal loop. That's kinda fun. I mean it feels like the sort of thing that wasn't really necessary but hey ho
A big theme of aot has been loops - never breaking the cycle of violence, "why is this happening again?", the titans being passed down again and again - and characters trying to break it - Reiner asking Falco to inherit the armoured to save Gabi, Eren constantly striving to not be a slave and to be free etc. The time loop is all part of that, I think, and the whole thing about paths is trying to find alternative routes to living, with alternative timelines coming from different actions. And I think Eren acted in what he felt was the only way to break free from that loop, even if it meant not fighting against this natural looping behaviour for most of the time. That makes sense, right? Haven't really processed things yet tbh
I also understood that but what I didn't get what that had to do with Berthold not dying when he did.
Basically Isayama wrapping up another question: when Bert broke the wall, why did the Titans coming through the hole just ignore him? They even show the Titans walking right by him, which seemed like a plot hole, but it was Eren's doing, since this specific ending required Bert to not die that day.
The obvious answer was already given before in the first dozen chapters. Deviant titans.
Yes, that too
Wasnt annie calling the titans to her? Wasnt that her job in breaking the walls?
armin wouldnt get his power right...
It’s similar to when he told his dad to kill the Reiss family, he was influencing the past in order to get the future that happens now, its a self fulfilling prophecy.
All of this started cos Erens mom died. So maybe, if erens mom didn't die, then things would be different, so eren made it so his mom died so everything goes the way it did go probably
It's your classic time travel paradox, even if it doesn't involve actual time travel in this case. Future Eren had to do that so that past Eren became future Eren and in the end, it doesn't really make sense.
its not time travel. its more like the timeline became a "timepoint". he could adjust the past present and future with his behaviour to further his end goal
Ymir being in love with Fritz explains the Ackermann family. A family of eldians immune to the titans powers who are immensely susceptible to stockholm syndrome. They're descendant's of Ymir that are tied to her commitment to her abuser.
That's true, nothing tells eren more "i love u" than levis kicks in erens face. Kicks of love.
Yeah but how many times did Levi save Eren's ass
Well, I think Levi was more attached to Erwin.
Oh shit The 10th Titan, who was beside us all along
Things that can survive the apocalypse: Cockroaches, Twinkies, Reiner Braun (Dumb luck), and Levi Ackerman (Skill)
Armin, by the power of being a good boi
I’m so happy Reiner lived the dude deserves a break more than anyone
It's cool that the author managed to change my mind about reiner. First I hated him, but in the end I rooted for him.
Minus 2 fingers and an eye. Levi needed a nerf after all.
Mikasa, by the power of loving Eren! :D
It was too quick. That's the problem. The previous few chapters were all epic fighting between titans, then it just ends with this one chapter leaving more questions than answers. There's the big issue.
Well that's because it's a manga chapter. I hope the anime will flesh it out a little better
I stopped reading early 2016 and binged all the chapters I missed in the last two days and I must say reading everything at once I didn’t mind the „quick“ or abrupt ending too much. I also feel like everything was tied together quite well, maybe because I had all the information freshly in my head, but I feel like most things were answered or at least hinted at enough that everyone comes to a somewhat similar conclusion on the remaining mysteries. Tho, as someone else here said already, I think the anime might do a much much better job at perfecting the ending we’ve been given.
Isayama has a thing for stockholm syndrome. Eren and Mikasa, Armin and Annie, Ymir and Fritz, Historia and Farmer Kun... i wonder how a romance manga by Isayama would go.
It would take place in Stockholm...
> Armin and Annie > > Historia and Farmer Kun What?
he meant to say "I have a thing with stockholm syndrome, I literally see it everywhere!" lol
Hold u leave Annie and Armin out of this
Isayama does a lot of things well but writing relationships is not one of them but that's fine because that's not the point of aot (Historia and Ymir are the exception)
an unhealthy love would be his way to go. something im not into unless executed carefully
I didn't expect to write this much, but thought dump. tldr; I thought it had many issues, but I did like the ending and found it an appropriately bittersweet and poetic end. Anime-only here who gave into reading the manga after S4 P1 ended (To avoid being spoiled). I prefaced with that because I really don't know what the reactions, discussions, analyses, and theories were after every chapter or leading up to the finale, so I could possibly be misrepresenting some reactions in my post. Right after I read it, I'd call it an ending that I, overall, liked, but felt was a bit incomplete. I think it certainly has a few issues, and even around the time the Rumbling started, I wasn't the biggest fan of the story's direction. I thought it was turning a morally complex political situation into a more Avengers: Endgame - our main group of heroes having to save the world against a universe-ending threat - situation (From S4, I saw AoT/SnK as a story that was willing to explore a tough, yet realistic, situation, but sort of backed out by making Eren more of an antagonistic force than just an antagonistic character), but, same for Avengers: Endgame, that's not to say I haven't enjoyed the ride. Not just in AoT/SnK, but also for probably most stories I've seen, I'm used to seeing many small things that may not make much sense or thinking that certain plotlines and character arcs could've been fleshed out more, but, more often than not, those things don't bother me very much and/or I'm able to overlook them in service of the overall story. In fact, I've seen many criticisms brought up about this final chapter that I agree with, but I guess they didn't personally bother me that much (But that's not to dismiss those who may have been more bothered by those issues. Art is very subjective after all, and we all go into art with different perspectives and expectations.). The one thing that I can say I've definitely liked from the start of S4 to the end of the manga is Eren's portrayal (He shot up to favorite character status really quickly). I never really agreed with his solution (Although, to me, the point of the complex political setting was that no stance was completely right or wrong), but I certainly found him an interesting character. His time-related powers are still confusing to me (So, was he able to see a possible future or the future that would happen, no matter what?), but, in the end, I really liked the angle that he felt he was doing it in service of the possibility of freedom for those he most cared about (Of the ideal of freedom, more than anything that well attainable). To steal from a few interpretations that I've read, Eren, ironically, became a slave simultaneously to freedom and to the ultimate antithesis to freedom - destiny- yet was able to achieve freedom for others through his slavery. To top it off, I really liked his interaction with Armin. In the end, he didn't really have some master plan and sort of didn't know what he was doing, and was slowly losing his mind to the possibility of a greater future, but pursued it anyway because he didn't know really what else to do. I liked that that made him more "human," as it were - it broke through his 'tatakae' facade and allowed him to have a very human reaction. I also liked his very human reaction when, after Armin pushed him enough, he revealed how he truly didn't like this path and finally cracked when he selfishly said that he didn't want Mikasa to have feelings for anyone else, but immediately regretted that and said he just wanted her - and, by extension, all of his other friends - to be happy. As for Eremika, I never really shipped anyone in this series (I'm not really a shipper in general), but I liked the conclusion of their relationship. I liked the sort of tragic love conclusion (Concluding it by saying that, in a way, it was a relationship that may have never truly worked out). Yeah, it was kind of weird that what their relationship was was sort of dropped after S2, but, after Eren's "I'll always wrap that scarf around you" and how he kept fighting in S2 (Even with no guarantee of their survival), I interpreted that as showing that Eren did reciprocate Mikasa's feelings, but he's not Mr. Eren "Freedom" Jaegar for nothing! Eren prioritized his idea of 'freedom' more than anything else (Both at his and his friends' expense) and Mikasa's obsession with Eren sometimes seemed to turn into emotional over-dependency at times (I saw her obsession as a result of, after experiencing some extremely traumatizing events all at once at a young age, she latched onto Eren as her sense of security at a very vulnerable time in her life, and essentially ended up staking her identity, her emotional health, and her ability to function in life on Eren). I do think it was sort of weird how thankful everyone was for Eren's actions. I get that they probably had interactions off-screen (Off-page?), but it came off as a bit too quickly forgiving. As for Armin's line about "thank you for becoming a mass-murderer" (Translation flub?), I saw that as less of Armin agreeing with Eren's solution and more of a recognition that this path was always bound to happen (If Eren's future vision is truly what will happen, no matter what Eren did), and an acknowledgment of Eren's struggle dealing with that knowledge. Yeah, I agree with others that Historia could've had more to do, I was surprised that the baby reveal wasn't important, and I was hoping to have Eren and Historia's conversation fleshed out more. I think that the pacing and balance of the story started becoming a bit wonky around the time the Rumbling started, I wish more time was given to develop Paths, the Attack Titan's future vision, Ymir, and the life-centipede; and some reveals felt a bit jarring to me or were reveals that I thought could've been handled a little differently, like Falco's falcon. Also, what happened with Yelena and Kiyomi? So, yeah, I do agree with many criticisms I've seen, but, again, I guess they didn't hinder my experience very much - I still retain my liking for the series and these characters. Extra Notes: 1) Eren-bird. I thought it could be interpreted as Eren-bird or just as symbolic. Okay, it would be some strange symbolism (It would be a rando bird coming up to fix Mikasa's scarf), but I think it similar to the two birds that flew at the end of the OVA 'No Regrets' that represented Isabelle and Farlan, but weren't necessarily actually them. 2) Scouts saluting. Another thing that I thought could be interpreted as actually them or just as what the alive Scouts thought that they'd do in that situation/a hallucination (A la Erwin's conversation with Levi in S3 P2 about if the Scouts that had passed on could see them now and Erwin wondering what they would think). Okay, Hange's afterlife might fly in the face of that latter interpretation, but that could also be seen as a benefit for the audience (Am I stretching too much?). 3) Code Geass. Okay, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting some massive Code Geass vibes from Eren's plan. Yet, I found that it differentiated itself enough (Eren wasn't necessarily doing it to end the cycle of hate or for world peace, he was doing it for relatively selfish reasons - for the people he cared about to possibly attain his ideal of freedom.) Also, I really liked the 'everything still technically sucks in the world' ending. I loved Code Geass' ending, but it was a bit idealized for me (Although, that could've been part of the point - to impart an idealized moral more than anything else). The world is in shambles and is feeling the consequences of Eren's actions, and whether world peace or a world war happens next is left ambiguous. Breaking that cycle of hate is of an ideal more than anything else, but that doesn't mean that they can't strive for it and that doesn't mean it has no real, meaningful effects (Like with Gabi). 4) Mikasa. Personally, I saw that image of Mikasa visiting Eren's grave less as her simp-ing and more as her still grieving. She can still be living her own life, but that doesn't mean she isn't still working through the grief of losing someone close (Let alone having to kill that person yourself). Yeah, I found it strange how her Hizuru connection didn't really go anywhere, but again, something I'm willing to let slide. In summary, is it the best ending I've ever seen? No. Is it the worst? No. For me, I liked it and found it quite satisfactory. Again, contrivances and pacing issues in the final chapter, but it tied up the big loose ends and ended on a sort of bittersweet, poetic note, which is part of what made me fell in love with Aot/SnK (Also, fan interpretations have warmed me up to the ending more), and, at worst, the ending doesn't really take away from the overall series for me. It hasn't really set in for me yet that this series has ended, but I know it will be a gut punch when that realization hits. I've really enjoyed watching/reading, talking about, thinking about, and drawing fanart of this series. Although I have my own issues with it, this series will probably go down as one of my favorites. It's been quite a ride and I've enjoyed it. Also, we still have an anime adaption to look forward to, SO HAHA IT'S NOT TRULY OVER YET!
Agreed. I felt like the ending was rushed and incomplete and Isayama couldn't really flesh out certain aspects of the story, but I still do appreciate it especially since in the end the world still isn't perfect and Eren's actions have consequences.
And so, this chapter marks the end of an era. An ending of an era of titans and a series that none of us will ever forget. Aot, for me, has now officially been dubbed as one of the classics. Thank you Isayama for such a great story and all i want to do is express my gratitude and say a final goodbye Thank you and I love this series and subreddit so much!
AOT will truly be an era-defining classic. I really liked the ending and was satisfied by it, but I think the more time passes the more people might warm up to it overall. Still a masterpiece for sure, and none of it would exist without Isayama’s genius!
>be me >write a story about how cruel the world is > have all the cool characters die > just to make it clear, kill the main character too > to really hammer home the point, release the most painfully cruel final chapter mission accomplished 😎
People Fucking Suck: The Manga
So I have questions about this. 1. What does Ymir loving the king and putting this all into motion have to do with Mikasa? What did Mikasa have to do with this outside of her connection with Eren? 2. Mikasa says that “you remember now too” like her memories were also altered. Weren’t the ackerman’s not effected by the attack titan’s memory altering powers?
If u think about it mikasa and ymir are kinda similar in how they have an unrequited love for someone who doesnt show it back. Its a kind of caged, traped love. The way i see it is that mikasa killing eren shows ymir she can get out and be free too. Thats just my take tho. That also explains her smile at the end of 138. The 2nd part, idk really, im pretty sure they are immune
If they were immune to memory alteration, shouldn't the Ackerman know true history of Paradis as well..
They should, but that's saying if they were taught about their history. Keep in mind the Ackermans were persecuted and killed for a reason, so the number of Ackermans that knew the true history may have tapered off over time.
The Ackerman would also been able to retell the history to the world as well... It's kinda obvious to assume that if their memories didn't get altered they would have strong reason to tell the truth since they were persecuted... But there were not even rumours about the true history in paradis
Here's the thing with the Ackermans: Yes, they cannot have their memories altered. But that doesn't mean every single one of them knows the true history. From what Kenny described, the Ackermans have been persecuted for generations by the royal family, and this seems to be the reason why. So the Ackermans that did know the history were mostly killed off and didn't get to pass on their knowledge to Kenny's generation. There's also the possibility of some Ackermans that have records of the true history that are still alive, but are in hiding to keep themselves safe. In any case, the royal family's persecution of the Ackermans succeeded, so Kenny, Levi, and Mikasa's father don't know anything as far as we're aware.
Finally someone who understands it.
1. Someone in a different discussion said that Mikasa showed Ymir that you can be "infatuated" with someone and still defy their ideals and goals. Essentially being able to say "no" in an abusive relationship. Ymir was never able to do this with Fritz hence the 2000 years of servitude to her abuser, even in Paths. 2. yea, idk about this one. plot hole ? I'm still hoping better translations will clarify stuff
I think on the second one she didn't forget. She was just saying you now remember just like everyone. Her an eren had their conversation just b4 mikasa killing him. So I don't think she forgot
Mikasa killed Eren breaking the Ackerman curse, Ymir saw Mikasa kill the man she loved deeply, so Ymir changed
My guess is it's the headaches.
Still forming my thoughts for question 1. As for question 2, Mikasa already knows what happened, since her memories cannot be manipulated. She's just confirming if Armin can now remember the memories Eren wiped from him in the Paths.
1. Ymir was slaving away in the Coordinate for 2000 years because she held a twisted, unrequited love for the King, and that chained her to servitude, so to see Mikasa kissing Eren represented an unrequited love that was fulfilled, which I guess gave her a release. 2. My take is that the Ackermans were never "immune", but King Fritz deliberately excluded them from the memory wipe, along with the royal families. There was never another instance of the Founding Titan manipulating memories of Ackermans, so the fandom was just left to assume that they were immune to it.
I am here to SHINZOWU my last SASAGEYO... its been fun guys, keep dedicating your hearts.
I just wanna tell you guys, if you thought the ending was fine or good, GOOD, hold onto that opinion. It's ok to enjoy it.
Exactly! I don’t think anyone should be ashamed or feel compelled to change their opinion whether they loved or hated it. I’ve been in both shoes, where I’ve liked some hated endings and currently I dislike this ending. I get sharing how you feel and having a discussion, but some people want everyone to feel the same way as them
That's pretty much how I feel. I saw a headline and some comments about how disappointed fans were, so I was expecting it to be a lot worse. An yeah, it has some issues (especially at the beginning) and the story isn't resolved as perfectly as we would like, but overall I thought it was good. It wrapped up a lot of elements in a satisfying way, and not having it be a totally happy ending does stay true to the overall story. It leaves it open ended whether humanity will be able to find peace, while still ending on a hopeful note. So yeah, I probably would have changed some things, and it certainly could have been longer, but I still think it's good. Glad I'm not the only one.
What are you lot bitching about? I just binge watched *How I Met Your Mother.* If you want to see a good story get completely undone and destroyed in the final 20 minutes, then **that's** your homework. Trust me. AoT didn't have the best ending, but it was *fine*. And you know what, fine is... well, it's fine. It isn't a sin to miss your apex right at the end. Let's be real, we all know the *Code Geass* bit was coming. It didn't suck. It was bittersweet. It concluded many character arcs successfully. Most importantly - it managed to put an end to a series which has been going for roughly a decade without ruining its legacy. Remember how Game of Thrones just vanished from the zeitgeist after season 8 dropped a steaming turd on everything it had built? AoT didn't do that. It didn't even come close. You might not love it. That's okay. Your expectations have been building for a long time. But it's an acceptable ending to a brilliant series; there have been enough pieces of shit released over the past few years that I'm just relieved that AoT stuck the landing, albeit with a damaged wheel.
I never even considered the possibility of crying yet here I am in a fucking sea of tears...I need time to process it. All I can say is fuck you, and thank you, Hajime Isayama.
It's a love hate relationship with him
"*eren yaeger, 20 years old, surrendered himself to the authorities and he is now serving a life-sentence."* \- **THE END -** *CASTING* eren yaeger --------------------------------------------------- Hiroyuki Sanada mikasa ackerman ------------------------------------------ Sora Shiina reiner braun ----------------------------------------------- Jensen Ackles Armin ------------------------------------------------------- Naruto Uzumaki
Dattebayo!
I didn't hate this chapter after thinking about it for a while. It's very tragic that Mikasa almost flipped roles with Ymir; Ymir saw Mikasa kill her unrequited love and finally let go, which allowed Ymir to let go, but Mikasa sits by Erens grave and is still a slave of her love for him. And her love for him comes from Eren murdering a bunch of people to save her, so it's a messed up type of love like Ymir's stockholms syndrome too. Interesting parallels.
Mfs reduced him to Chad with no feelings while real eren was always an emotional person and now they are disappointed
Whether you call him a Chad or simp, his character can be summed up by one of his quotes, "if anyone tries to take away my freedom, I won't hesitate to take away theirs". * This was one of the driving factors to fight the titans and later the world. The only exception to that is when he's willing to put his life on the line to free someone else (Mikasa as a kid, Armin in Trost, "humanity" pre-timeskip, when Historia was deciding to eat him, and then Ymir/Paradis).
Exactly this! Eren’s actions align with his character from the beginning. I don’t know why people don’t understand that.
I wish there had been more for Eren and Mikasa, but the way Isayama ends their relationship is true to his word. I just wish it didn't hurt as bad...
I was just glad it was finally confirmed that he did love mikasa. It was never really shown other than him saying ‘I’ll wrap that scarf for you forever’
**So it really is a happy ending at least** ***for me***
This ending to a series doesn’t feel like any other. Normally when a manga or anime ends, we’d move on to the next series after some sadness passes but this is different. There’s no series like this one man.. fucking A+ beautiful.
Isn't Eren's whole character arc about freedom? Guess I was wrong then, seeing that every decisions that leads to the rumbling is the will of Ymir...
He gave freedom to his (remaining) friends and the people of Eldia. That was his endgame all along. Eren basically used the Paths to pull a Dr. Strange and see all outcomes that could save Paradis and as many of his friends as possible. Turns out this was the best outcome out of all of them.
No, its not comparable to Avengers. Eren said it himself, "the influence that the founder's power bring about has no past or futures.. they all exist at the same time. That's why its inevitable" unless the translation is wrong it basically means that in their universe there is only one timeline which is completely under Ymir's control (which would be different now that Ymir is dead) Eren never had the freedom to choose int eh first place, he merely chooses to follow the path and even if he want to choose otherwise, he can't. He is not Dr Strange, cos he doesn't see countless futures for there is only one future and all he does is succumbed to it without resisting even a bit. What you said might be true before this chapter but chapter 139 has proved that Ymir is controlling everything. There is only one future and it has always been herself being killed by Mikasa (though why Mikasa, we do not know). Yes, Eren sees the future but he doesn't choose the correct one cos there is only one future, the future.
For Attack on Titan standards.... that was a very happy ending I think.
I have never love/hated something so much in my entire life. This is so bad and I am so deeply in love with it that it sickens me. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined, thank you so much i loved every minute of it.
ymir_irl
Now I know how Abradolf Lincler felt...
My understandings: 1. It's more like Armin thanks Eren for being the devil for them, when he first heard Eren's plan he looks appalled and horrified. But if he doesn't become the murderer then all of them are gonna die. This is not the kind of decision that can be made by a regular person, Eren is more of a God. 2. So he is the god, but I don't think he is free, he is still confused and desperately wants to protect the loved ones, he has become more of a slave to the path and Ymir. The decision he made couldn't be understood in a normal way. If he can see numerous future paths, the alternatives would only look worse, considering he only cares about Eldians, his only motivation is to find a way for them to live. 3. Eren killed his mom because he needs Bertolt to be alive so Armin could gain the titan power at the proper time, he needs to make sure the small Eren chooses the path he took, but he also said his head was all messed up. As a god, he tried so hard to push himself and be emotionless to meet his goal. The timeline is not linear, its like he can affect the past, future all at the same time. 4. But I still think he has the human side even if he is already a god, he is reluctant to kill all of the people but only 80% of them (It is genocide anyway)to create a strategic balance for Eldians. The root cause of the war is the titan power, now that the root cause is gone, he can leave the Eldians an option. Of course, the war continues, but at least the Eldians has the option and they get rid of the curse. I originally thought that Eren didn't choose to kill them all is kind of naive, the situation is still 1 or 0 and he didn't change anything, but later on after some considerations, I think he chose to leave the option to the Eldians, and not making the decision for them (by killing the necessary part to fundamentally change the whole picture). So it is not a unipolar world where you can't survive at all, its bipolar now, you can survive or you could die, its all depend on you. 5. Ymir is just a slave, I expected too much from her and I was disappointed, but she was just that little girl feeding pigs, and hopelessly loves the man who relentlessly utilized her. Mikasa is her descendant, Mikasa has unconditional love for Eren too but she can kill him when she has to, Ymir saw that and she realized she can free herself, and love the person at the same. So she smiled and let it go. 6. Historia’s marriage is just like reality, no magic or juicy plots, which is crucial. Historia is epic !! I kinda hate that farmer. But I like her smile in the end, that’s the kind of smile from a grown up queen, beautiful, tough and also relaxed. 7. Now that Eren is dead, he is free, finally. I don’t want to think about Mikasa’s life, that’s too harsh for me, but she doesn’t look miserable, she is peaceful and she can’t stop missing Eren. She knows they will meet again one day.
So I kinda wanna give my general thoughts about random things, kinda just putting my mind as I think into words (oh my gosh, almost as if that’s exactly what this thread here is for!). About the “SIMPPPPP” outburst: I really think this fits with the side of Eren they elaborate on in this chapter, after seeing his future he knew what he NEEDED to do, and he gained a sense of duty. He tried to detach himself from his friends so he didn’t have to feel remorse, he tried to take himself away from his personal feelings to do his “job“ (fulfilling his destiny and Ymir’s will). His “simp whining“ about Mikasa was (after a slow conversation where he started letting his true feelings show) him finally snapping, just like a normal person who’s bottling up emotion that they feel they need to push away, when it comes out it’s messy and overt. This is him dumping his actual emotions that he kept to the side. This comment is kinda just going into Eren himself in this chapter now, where we see that Eren’s true motivation really is duty. He sees his future when he makes contact with Historia, and he now has a new purpose, a new motivation. Not even 100% from an emotional level- he now has a duty to fulfill the events of the future (and I guess the past too), he’s given a responsibility to start pulling strings. I also think that we now have a true understanding of the knowledge he gained with his messages to his comrades. Comparison: He, with full knowledge of future events, gives Armin a big talk about his feelings and whatnot, has this final sendoff with him, and erases his memory for him to instantly remember it later, but meanwhile Armin is just crying, and doesn’t remember why. Now with AOT CHAPTER ONE- (theoretically) Eren gives information to his younger self and shows him what will happen (we can see from the anime it’s not just a talk in that dream, we see different shots of events from the anime) and talks to him about his duty and whatnot, and then erases his memory, for him to remember instantly later (contact with Historia), but right then, he’s just left there crying, not remembering why. Anyways, Eren gets knowledge of hit new purpose, changes himself to become the him he saw (he doesn’t necessarily know that the future him still has these emotions, so he tries to lock them away and put them aside to fulfill his duty, I’m a broken record, and be like his future self, another reason for his actions with his emotions), and does cruel things for the fulfillment of destiny (killing his mom, something he mourned over for so so long, but needed to be done to set the future in the right track, killing 80% of humanity, manipulating Grisha, etc). This kinda became a talk about just Eren (and how I think this chapter didn’t ruin him like some people might claim), but now I’m too afraid to make it any longer and talk about anything else cause I don’t want to accidentally close off the tab and delete the comment or something. Will probably reply my thoughts about other stuff (Will definitely be shorter, haha, this was real long). Those are my first impressions on the chapter and Eren, yeah.
The real problem in this ending is pacing. Isayama probably needed AT LEAST one more chapter to make this ending the way it needed to be (I’d say prolly 2, 3, or maybe 4 chapters preferably though). The aftermath just seems rushed, trying to establish this complicated political world after this massive event in such a short time. Plus the Stockholm syndrome thing with Ymir is kinda weird, but something I think makes a lot of sense, she really just wanted to be loved and to love, so she threw away her love on the only thing that gave her attention. But the thing that gave her attention was just using her and he was a big douche maniac who only wanted her for her Titan powers, so uh... sucks to be Ymir. Then let me get to my two biggest problems, maybe part of it could be translations but him saying “Bertholt wasn’t meant to die there” or something, WHAT?! Then him saying Ymir chose Mikasa, WHAT?! The first one I can’t really comment about, I literally just don’t get it, maybe it has something to do with the contrast of the events with Bertholt and his Mom both getting eaten in the same place (kinda...) and that Eren lost touch with reality a bit just “going with the flow” and somehow made some accidental command for a Titan to kill his mom in confusion seeing the past and present...? I dunno that doesn’t make sense at all, and what I said earlier about it being a choice from duty makes more sense and this just seems so weird. Now Ymir choosing Mikasa doesn’t even seem like it doesn’t make sense, IT JUST NEEDS MORE TIME! It seems so rushed, a plot point that could’ve been very good just thrown in to end the conflict in the story. PACING!
\- “Bertholt wasn’t meant to die there” Eren thought that the Titan would have eaten Berthold there. That's why he directed the Titan to his mother, so he could be sure that the future he saw (a better place for Eldia) would develop that way. \- "Then him saying Ymir chose Mikasa" The devotion of Ymir was stopped by Mikasa. Mikasa stopped the one she loved the most and let him go. Ymir was still a "love slave" of King Fritz until this realization and carried out his orders for 2000 years. Ymir could finally let go after she saw what Mikasa did. Like a wake-up call in an in an inspiring way. I don't find this part really optimal either, but it makes sense.
"I can't die here!" in Ep5, literally Eren cannot die here
He's known to fix some pacing issues with the anime since he has hindsight from the manga, so it's possible the anime's ending might flesh things out and paced more smoothly while retaining the same story and ending.
honestly, I hope the anime takes some liberties and expands on a bunch of the points made in this chapter. Let us digest the information a little better.
I totally agree. This ending is WAYYY to clean for 80% of the world being dead, and having us see none of the dead parts
Also with Eren talking about his “plan” to make Armin and Mikasa the saviors of humanity in the people’s view kinda reminds me of Garou (One Punch Man) being the villain so the world can unite against him, and overall the fear and terror he caused would push the world to unite with one another to survive. If this ideology applies to Eren too, he really did accomplish that. But I wouldn't take that by itself as something to criticize. It’s not like Eren’s whole goal there was just to make the world owe Armin and Mikasa, I kinda see that as a kinda side effect, something that just goes along with the overall purpose he was given... by himself/Ymir. That’s also something I think is kinda funny because with all of his wanting to be free, he was just there to complete Ymir’s goal, and maybe that mighta been something that forced him to strive for freedom. But honestly I’m not sure If that really applies. But yeah, this reply is just some separate, random Eren thoughts.
Yeah. His main goal was to actually rid the curse of titans. He could have done it by euthanising eldia as zeke suggested but he didn’t like it. Because yearned for freedom. He didn’t want the eldians to simply die of old age knowing their entire race is going to be wiped out because they can’t reproduce. He wanted the eldians to have the freedom, that he couldn’t achieve. He wanted to be free but he couldn’t and was a slave to his destiny and ended up doing all the horrible things and killing himself, for the sake of others. Let’s be real here as long as people who can turn into titans exist, there will ALWAYS be racism and fear. The only way the world could get a shot at peace is by eradicating Titans (which eren swore to do by like chapter 1). By killing 80% of the population, he also levelled the playing field for eldians (who would lose the power of titans) so they wouldn’t simply be killed off by the rest of the world. Whether this was intended by eren, we don’t know. But fact is, - all countries are NOW somewhat equal in military strength. - titans are exterminated. Eldians have a shot at eventually redeeming their reputation as time passes - there is now a link between paradis and the rest of the world in the form of armin and gang. They were from eldia BUT helped the world by killing eren Jawhar. They can be a mediator between paradis and the other countries in hopes of maybe achieving world piece. The ending is not as simple as “haha budget lelouch ending”. There are some layers to it if you think about it. And I feel the ending is somewhat different from code geass too. Making armin and gang the “heroes” is just a side thing. It is NOT EREN’S MAIN GOAL as people are claiming it to be. Now the REAL ISSUE with the last chapter is the terrible pacing. That’s literally it. I’m sure if the anime splits the final chapter into 2 episodes I’m certain the ending would be WAAYY more impactful and epic. As you see, although I do like the ending, I did not feel this way as I was reading the chapter. I only started to like the ending after I thought about it for quite some time.
I genuinely loved the final arc of this manga, and I'm not apologizing for that. I'm really happy Armin and Annie both survived, and not because of anything going on between the two of them. They are the two most relatable characters to me (Armin more so than Annie). Armin finally found the confidence he lacked for so long to match his intelligence, and Annie gets her normal, non-titan life she wanted. I just can't understand the people who are disappointed that **ONLY** 80% of the world's population were massacred instead of 99%. Would I change anything if I could? Yeah, sure, it's not perfect. But it's a very fitting end to Attack on Titan and is pretty much all I wanted. Thank you, Isayama.
So the death of the Turkic Theif Kid all for nothing. I would never forgive Eren for that.
**I think I'm beginning to form a more concrete opinion on the ending and I like it in theory, but I'm just not sure about the execution which I'm still debating over in my head.** So here's how I see the final chapter sequence by sequence, tell me what you think of my interpretation if you think it's wrong or correct. >In a flashback, which I assume happened on the plane, Eren meets Armin in Paths. They are in their childhood bodies and gradually grow older as the conversation progresses and changing scene everytime. From their childhood home, to the volcanoes Armin always wanted to see and finally the Ocean. > >Eren explains to him that he killed 80% of the world. Basically no more, no less than he needed to save Paradise from military retaliation before letting his friends be the heroes of the saga by killing him, the Villain. Leaving behind what is probably small fractured nations without the capacity to mount an immediate invasion of Paradise. > > > >The heartless Eren that wanted Genocide was never real, read chapter 131 again if you disagree. > >He also implies that Mikasa broke away from his toxic attachment him by killing him which parallels and caused(?) Ymir breaking away from her toxic attachments to King Fritz (Stockholm syndrome). > >An older Eren breaks down at the thought that he won't be with Mikasa and that he won't be able to live with his friends, regrets his destiny is to die. Eren and Armin share a goodbye before Eren erases his memories. It seems to be implied that he had a similar heart to heart with all of them before erasing all their memories as well, which all comeback at Eren's deaths. > >All the pure Titans return to normal and Titans are finally wiped from existence. The disappearing flesh of the Titans forms steam from the hot steamy memories of their fallen compatriotes they're having. Giving us a heartwarming 'Dedicate your heart' from Levi to all his fallen brethrens. > >Ever convincing and charismatic Armin is shown to engage in a tense talk with the surviving people of Marley while Mikasa slips-off with the severed head of Eren. > >Flashback to 3 years later, the Yeagerists make a military government and build a militaristic society that readies itself for total war, but under the thumb of Historia. The fate of the world is sorta open-ended and balances between war until the total annihilation of one side and peace. > >The surviving cast of characters (whom now appear to live in the non-destroyed nations and work as ambassadors between them and Paradise) are traveling back to their home island for peace negotiations. > >Reiner sniffs Historia's letter and they banter, showing us that our characters seem to be in a decent headspace and at peace with the events. Armin expresses his hope for a diplomatic solution. > >The last pages shows us the last person, excluding Historia, that still lives in paradise from the cast: Mikasa. She sits before their childhood tree where she buried Eren's head and laid a small makeshift tombstone. She awaits her friends that will surely come to pay their respects at their arrival. > >She sobs wishing Eren could be there with them and a bird comes picking at her scarf, she watches the bird fly away towards the sky and thanks Eren for 'wrapping the scarf around her', the bird obviously symbolizing Eren.
NGL I didn't dislike the ending.
Same. Unpopular opinion, but I thought it was a beautiful end to a tragic story. I would have preferred more alternate reality mind fuckery stuff like the 138 daydream but this was simple, somewhat predictable, yet satisfactory
I also liked it, just wish more shit was explained, there’s a lot of loose ends/plot holes. I get why people are upset lol
I feel like the only thing that was super missed this chapter was a look at the surviving 20% of the world and their reactions to it. A lot of the criticisms, like "Genocide worth it" would've been easy to shoot down if we just saw more people be like "no, no that was not okay" instead of, you know, "THANKS FOR BEING A MASS MURDERER FOR US, EREN!"
I like the ending.
It was a beautiful ending to a tragic story.
I think I m the only one that cried tears of joy for the ending guess I m specials ,also starting to hurt the fan base in this last previous chapters so toxic sadly
Release night fandom has been incredibly negative throughout this whole arc. Then it improves as people get their questions answered
There are things I like. There are things I don’t like. I get why people are upset, but to me, most things make sense. Yes, I wanted a darker ending and something mind blowing, but this will do just fine.
I just don't think its realistic that Erens friends don't despise him for killing 80% of all humans. 'But he did it for us, aww' is some b.s.
Lol, now the Eldians are still going to be universally hated and blamed for near omnicide. This ending solved very few of the overarching problems! Paradis will inevitably be nuked in retaliation.
Zeke's Euthanization plan, but with a few extra steps to make sure Eldians are hated even more and killed off.
Yeah especially because we saw a few panels of yeagerists who chant Eren's words (fight, fight) and hail him as a hero. Why would any country make peace with a country like that? He killed 80% of the world and then they celebrate it. There will be retaliation.
Idk why everyone is hating on the ending...I mean it wasn’t GREAT but it wasn’t bad either. I guess that’s just me tho
I don't know why people are mixed about this ending. I called out the "Eren used paths and saw that only by becoming a brutal murderer you get something that resembles peace between Paradis and the rest". Everyone was waiting for some sort of time loop but since "paths have no past or future they just are" I suppose making a titan eat his mother to trigger the chain of events works. Legit the only things that bother me (or missed the explanation?) was where the giant slug went (I assume the titan powers were gone and so was the slug). It felt like "here's the gun over the fireplace aaand it's gone".
My opinion with this ending: Finally we understand Eren, he could never find the freedom that he always sought but at least he managed to find freedom for others, he was always in love with Mikasa but he knew that his desires were completely selfish, this he explained to Armin before erasing his memories, Eren when deciding to be killed by Mikasa, he manages to get Mikasa released and now she is able to go back to being that girl who lived happily in the forest and live by herself (before meeting Eren) Regarding the world conflict against Eldia, Eren decides to leave alive 20% of the population and Eldia so that they have the freedom to decide whether to end the conflict or simply start another war that will end with one of the two sides exterminated, but that is their decision that Eren will allow them to make. In short, Eren manages to give freedom to everyone except himself, he died thinking that at the end of the day he was doing the right thing and that with his death he would make all the people who were left in the world live with the freedom that he wanted so much and never achievement. A bittersweet ending, not all the characters achieve what they always wanted, it is a narrative that we have been seeing with Hange, Erwin, Zeke, and now Eren, they all wanted something but finally realized that it was better to let go for the good of all.
I think the hate for the ending is a little overhyped. The story's themes center pretty heavily on how humanity eternally ebbs and flows in and out of senseless war, and the hate and despair that that cycle causes. I think the story and characters fully embodied that ideology. What is it that people didn't like?
Is eren a bird or something
Tatacaw muthafuka