Attack On Titan's Ending, and [SPOILER]'s Fate, Explained

Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan manga ended in 2021, bringing the emotional roller coaster to a shocking end. In Chapter 139, "Final Chapter: Toward the Tree on That Hill," the story reached a satisfying and emotional conclusion. With the Attack on Titan anime preparing to air its final episode in fall 2023, fans can't help but wonder if there will be differences between the manga and anime, as there often are.

As bleak as the series was at times, there was light at the end of the tunnel for many members of the core cast. However, not everyone made it out alive, nor were they expected to. That said, their sacrifices were not in vain — the Rumbling might have destroyed 80% of the living world, but everyone else survived because of a select group of heroes. Here's a look at the Attack on Titan ending, and what fate ultimately had in store for Eren Yeager and the people of Paradis.

Updated on November 10, 2023, by Ajay Aravind: Despite the Attack on Titan manga ending in 2021, anime fans only got to see the final episode on November 4, 2023. Although some fans have expressed dissatisfaction with the Attack on Titan ending, most of them are pleased to have some much-needed closure about their favorite characters. As such, we've updated this feature with some more information.

Eren Yeager's Ultimate Fate In Attack On Titan

In the penultimate chapter, Mikasa, Armin, Levi, and the remaining warriors battled Eren and the Shining Centipede, the source of all Titans. After making it inside Eren's Titan mouth with assistance from Levi, Mikasa decapitated Eren's human body and kissed him for the first and last time. The final chapter confirmed Eren's death — for good this time. As the dust settled, Mikasa brought his head to Armin, who tearfully mourned his loss with her. She then left the battlefield with Eren's head, knowing a proper burial wouldn't be afforded to Eren after the devastation he caused via the Rumbling.

The final pages revealed that three years had passed since the apocalypse, and Eren's grave site was underneath the tree on Paradis where he often napped as a child. Mikasa mentioned that their friends Armin, Jean, Connie, Annie, and Pieck would soon arrive to visit him. Wistfully, she asked if he was happy before confessing that she wanted to meet him again.

When she says this, the scarf Eren gave Mikasa when they first met slipped from around her neck. To her surprise, a bird appeared in front of her and tied it around her again. Smiling up at it as it continues its flight, she said, "Thank you for wrapping this scarf around me, Eren." Earlier, a similar-looking bird flew past Armin and the others on the ship bound for Paradis. The Scout unit used wings as its insignia and birds, in general, had been frequently peppered throughout the series as obvious symbols of what Eren longed for so desperately: freedom.

Mikasa Liberated Ymir And Turned All Titans To Dust

Eren's endgame was to rid the world of Titans. The first few pages of the final chapter revealed the full conversation he once had with Armin. "You did it for the sake of the future you saw using the Attack Titan's power," Armin confirmed, clearly referencing Eren's decision to kill 80 percent of humanity with the Rumbling. When Armin asked if he really needed to take things to that extreme, Eren showed him a vision of a volcanic, primordial land. According to him, "The power of the Titans continues to exist because Ymir has been obeying King Fritz for 2,000 years." Despite the violence the monarch committed against her village, parents, and even her own body, she shockingly loved Karl Fritz. It was this bond that kept her bound to him and his descendants for two millennia. Eren admitted he didn't fully understand her, but he did know that she yearned to be free.

She'd been waiting all that time for someone to "release her from the agony of love." Up until that point, many believed that person was Eren after he gained the full power of the Founding Titan from Ymir. Instead, Eren revealed that the person was actually Mikasa. That's why Ymir smiled at the end of Chapter 138 when Mikasa chose to kill Eren. Somehow, that choice liberated her, but only Ymir herself knew why. Once Eren and Armin's conversation was done in the Path, he erased Armin's memory of it, which Armin only recovered after Eren's death in Chapter 139. Eren's death and Ymir's liberation by Mikasa caused every Titan body to turn to dust. Those who had been transformed were restored to human form. Knowing his sacrifice, Eren's friends were grateful for being relinquished from the Titan curse at last, but non-Eldians remained suspicious of them.

Attack On Titan Manga Ending, Explained

The chapter ends with the aforementioned three-year time skip; the day that the Rumbling was stopped is now called the Battle of Heaven and Earth. Though Titans are gone for good, the Islanders remain fearful of what the rest of the world might do in retaliation. The new nation of Eldia establishes its military under the Yeagerist banner. In a letter to Armin, Queen Historia, now the mother of a three-year-old girl, writes, "If we win, we live. If we lose, we die. If you don't fight, we can't win. Fight. Fight. This fight will not end until either Eldia or the world disappears. That is what Eren said, and he may be right. Even so, he chose to leave this world in our hands. This place we now live in. A world without Titans."

Armin, Reiner, Annie, Jean, Connie, and Pieck are left to hope that upon their return to the Island — having destroyed the Walls and killed Eren — they can broker a peace treaty as the Allied Nations' Ambassadors for Peace Talks. That said, Connie's faith in Historia, and Armin's assurance that telling their side of the story will be enough means that things end on a hopeful note for Attack on Titan.

Attack On Titan's Anime Ending Episode Runs For 85 Minutes

Eren came to understand exactly what he needed to do to finally end his own suffering and the suffering of his people. Right before Attack On Titan: The Final Chapter - Special 1, Eren realized the only way to achieve peace and destroy the Titans was to exploit the Rumbling. After everything he went through, he understood he would have to become the ultimate villain of his own story in order to liberate the people he loved.

The third, fourth, and final chapters of Attack on Titan are presented in The Final Chapter - Special 2 — the longest episode of the series with an 85-minute runtime. Chapter 3 covers the Battle of Heaven and Earth, which takes place on the Founding Titan's back, whereas Chapter 4, A Long Dream, ends with Mikasa beheading Eren. The Final Chapter showcases the aftereffects of the Rumbling. Paradis escapes retribution only because Armin openly claims to be "the man who killed Eren Yeager." A mysterious bird visits Mikasa at Eren's grave, and she takes its presence as a sign that her beloved had returned for one final farewell.

After everything that's happened and all he's done, the only true redemption for Eren Yeager is sacrifice. However, there's more to the Attack on Titan ending. Hajime Isayama later released a supplementary chapter, unofficially titled Chapter 139.5, which offers a perspective of Paradis for the next few centuries. Fans get to see Paradis develop into a cosmopolitan city before being razed to the ground, with a large forest growing among the destroyed buildings. Here, a small boy and his dog companion discover the enormous tree growing directly over Eren's grave — and it looks exactly like the one in which Ymir Fritz had merged with the Shining Centipede. There can be only one takeaway from this: the path taken by history will always be a circle. Strangely enough, The Final Chapter - Special 2 incorporates this epilogue storyline as part of its post-credits sequence, so many anime fans might have missed watching it.

Airing on both Crunchyroll and Hulu, AOT: The Final Chapter - Special 2 is available to those who subscribe to the services. All the other episodes are available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Adult Swim, and Spectrum. Many episodes are also available for purchase on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.