Attack on Titan's ending is actually GENIUS. Here's what everyone missed.

Attack on Titan ending explained: what you missed, what all the characters missed, and why everything you think you know is a lie.
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[@WeebJail]

Notes: 1. Yes, Ymir had her tongue cut out. The reason she doesn't talk isn't important. The point was that she DOESN'T talk. Not sure why everyone is commenting on this... maybe because I explained the reason in terms of its purpose in the story but yes that's not why she physically can't talk lol. 2. Yes, other people bite their hand very occasionally when it's necessary. The point isn't that Eren is the only character that does this. It's that he ALWAYS chooses to do this. Also, a lot of people are commenting that it's because Frieda does it. This is just a random fan hypothesis, it's never actually stated anywhere. There is a bit where he wonders why he knew he had to bite his hand, but this is more likely wondering how he knew to use titan powers themselves, not SPECIFICALLY bite his hand. Again, other characters DO bite their hand very occasionally, this is not unique to him or Frieda. What is unique to Eren is that he ALWAYS chooses to do it. Lastly, as pointed out by someone below this, something I missed in the video is that Eren does stop doing this sometime after he leaves Paradis. So the fact that he does this is very much an integral part of his character here that changes once he turns to genocide.

[@VGInterviews]

For 2. It's because most of the time he couldn't do it any other way, many times he is taken in by surprise or already wounded, so for the early seasons that's "just the way it works for him" It's not until season 4 where he already knows how titans work where we see him not once but 3 times premptively cut his hand as a warning that he controls the situation and could transform any time he wants

[@WeebJail]

@@VGInterviews he premptively cuts his hand but i dont think we ever actually see HOW he does it in these scenes, all we see his him sitting there with his hand already cut

[@VGInterviews]

@@WeebJail I mean... We see the cut, it's clearly done with a blade, so used a tool, meeting Reiner he was still in his army facade so he would have access to knives (the one he used to chop his leg) And with Armin and Mikasa he is in a restaurant, again pretty easy With Pieck I don't really remember right now but by that point he has control of the military HQ, so he would have access to any tool he needs there

[@WeebJail]

@@VGInterviews hm, do you have a page number for this one

[@VGInterviews]

@@WeebJail chapter 99 page 7 against Reiner, slit hand Chapter 112 page 10 in the restaurant, slit hand Chapter 116 page 19 with Pieck and Gaby, slit finger, Pieck specifically wants him to take his hands out of his pockets, he refuses and when he does he is already bleeding, he clearly had a something sharp in his pocket just for that purpose

[@isoutoforbit]

We must also consider Mikasa's role in this. Ymir needed Mikasa to kill Eren in order to break free from the never-ending attachment and twisted love she had for King Fritz. She saw herself in Mikasa, and had to create the only scenario in which Mikasa would through her own free will choose to kill Eren and sever her bond with him. The only way Mikasa would have ever done this was if Eren became the ultimate monster. I think Ymir took advantage of Eren's personality and used him as a pawn to gain her own freedom. She sacrificed the world to free herself, ultimately I think Ymir is the true villain of the story.

[@eow4317]

Couldn’t have said it better myself, I was thinking that Ymir had more to do with things than the fandom made her out to.

[@lProN00bl]

Except Mikasa also chose neither. She killed Eren, but clearly did not break her bond with him at all.

[@isoutoforbit]

@@lProN00bl Maybe that wasn't necessary. Maybe all that was necessary was for Mikasa to sacrifice her future with Eren for the greater good.

[@rodrigomendes3327]

That's exactly what I think about Attack On Titan. In the end is just Ymir using Eren as a puppe without strings attached. That level of violence, determination, hatred, but at the same time his love for Mikasa (romantic or not) and his friends would be a main hole in achieving her goal (Ymir goal). It's all done in a way so that Mikasa has no other choice than kill Eren. And with Mikasa freeing herself from his love, she could free herself from hers. Absolutely incredible. That was the way I interpreted the AOT by trying to observe all the facts, not fanfics.

[@SoundsOfTheWild3]

That whole plot of Ymir-Mikasa chosen one is so stupid.

[@aqualucasYT]

Oh boy can’t wait to binge all these AOT ending vids as they come out, cool

[@lincolnhaldorsen5649]

Same bro, it’s cool to watch. Eren gang btw 💯

[@DJR4TL3Y]

Literally what I’m doing rn😂

[@angelinaoliver5587]

Me too👏🏾

[@ranttv2482]

Same😂

[@fromthefieldgaming]

Fr I’ve watched about 3 so far

[@chrislogan2580]

I think the point drawn by then ending and its tone that you have an issue with is the scene between Zeke and Armin. They both come to realize that “the need to multiply” as determined by the original hallucinogenia is in fact the meaning of life and as such conflict will always arise because the need to multiply inherently causes a struggle. But the ending of the story sides with armin in the fact that while life has its pitfalls, being able to exist and experience trivial joy outweighs the cons of life. So when everyone is happy and getting a full life it’s because the whole point of the story is that “life is a struggle, and struggle causes conflict, so you must fight fight fight to live, but to live is beautiful and full of joyful moments that cannot exist without life having happened”, Ill probably cone back to edit this when I have more of my thoughts fully ready but for now I ask not that you disregard your issues with the ending but to try to see it from another angle, Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[@nonbreapelido3549]

Look, i get it, but a) its arguable that trivial joys outweight the suffering of life. B) why the heck did eren do everything he did if it just ended back in square zero. C) why dont just finish the rumbling so at least some people can know peace? D) none of the characters behaved remotely in character and even contradicted themselves multiple times in the same episode... And i could go on...just such a trashy way to end what started as such a great series

[@macncheeezeeeeee]

@@nonbreapelido3549 eren shouldve killed all humanity to achieve true freedom i agree. i would love to see the way that ending plays out and also i just felt like the revengence that erens chracter has throughout the whole show doesnt really come up in this last episode

[@justsomeguy6336]

Yeah go tell that to Zeke who’s entire life was being a prisoner in Marley, a boy who deported his own parents, and a warrior who killed his own people just because of his race.

[@namelessweeb7673]

⁠@@nonbreapelido3549 say that he did kill the rest of the 20% will that achieve everlasting peace ? No, one of the messages in the show that there is no answer to conflict and war Eren’s goal wasn’t to end all conflicts but to ensure that his people keep existing no matter the cost

[@nonbreapelido3549]

@@namelessweeb7673 yeah, i agree, thats why i think getting the 100% instead lf 80% made more sense for eren as a character, and we could skip the hole pretending to be heroes from armin and the rest who have done some f** up shit in the past

[@Evilbusdriver12]

A few notes: It's revealed in the Uprising Arc that Frieda also bit her hand to transform into a titan, and it's suggested that Eren just unknowingly inherited this habit from her. The first time he even bites his hand to transform was done purely on instinct. The takeaway from the Eren saving Ramzi scene is that he feels like a total hypocrite. He compares himself to Reiner, someone who infiltrated the walls only to eventually make friends with the people there and inevitably betray them. Reiner obviously feels guilt over this and thus refers to himself as a "half-assed piece of shit". However, Eren sees himself as worse than Reiner, because when he is in a similar situation with Ramzi (saving a boy who he knows will inevitably die in the rumbling anyway), he realizes that his actions have been the exact same as someone he once despised. His small act of kindness was meaningless in the face of the horrors he's about to commit. It's such a sad moment for his character while also providing him some insight into what Reiner actually went through and how he shouldn't hold such hatred for him. At the end of the day, Eren sees himself as the worst of them all.

[@djcarlo]

The message of the ending, which was lost on many in the manga, is that as human nature dictates, there will always be conflict. However, through our choices, we can build a future where there is hope for mutual understanding. The power of the titans is gone, but violence still perpetuates. So was it the titans, or our human nature that ignited so much bloodshed?

[@LuisSierra42]

The Marlians

[@MrFox-xr9cc]

The Titans. Pretty much all human weaponry can be countered in some way and treaties not to use them exist. But the titan powers pretty much turned the people into an entirely different species. A species that on an individual level by far surpasses humans. Of course humans would fight back the otherworldly invaders trying to kill them. Imagine Aliens suddenly descending on earth and trying to kill us. Of course we wouldn't just wait until we'd be wipde out.

[@artorhen]

@LuisSierra42 there are only Eldians left in the ending however. And yet that didn't make anyone happy or wanting to make peace.

[@will_of_europa]

Yeah that's a stupid moral position. "There will always be conflict." Ok why did you spend so much time wasting the potential of the best show ever made trying to make that stupid position? Stop preaching. (Not YOU, I mean the writer). This anime could have gone so many different ways, and ever single mystery was explained stupidly. Just the worst.

[@LuisSierra42]

@@will_of_europa except that was the position of the show from the very beginning, the ending changed nothing. You could interpret AoT in multiple ways but you specifically choose the one that you don't like. It can be read as a warning for humanity about conflict, but you can also read it as statement of fact that humanity is forever f*cked or you can also read it as "you can always find an answer to nihilism in the present moment"

[@stephenwarren9355]

As a writer, I believe the ending to any good story will always spark controversy. If everyone hates an ending it is poorly written. If everyone loves an ending it is poorly written. If an ending divides people and makes them dramatically and vehemently vocalize their opinions and perspective regardless of which side they are on, it is superbly written.

[@MaryMarie666]

Exactly my thoughts, I second that! It also reminds me of something... As Oscar Wilde said in his preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, "Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself".

[@bluethan806]

I wouldn't say it's poorly written if everyone loves it, but it doesn't push it's narrative into as much nuance and depth as a well written story could

[@ekimolaos]

well, to be fair, AoT's ending didn't divide the people. Most hate it with a passion, while the rest of us are like "meh. It's wasted potential, but it's not game of thrones at least".

[@svetabogush8266]

​@@ekimolaosi see that many people actually like it

[@corbettmacful]

Lmao... this is LITERALLY a screenshot of the downfall of culture. What a lame ass soyjak take.

[@Dhrazor]

The only thing Eren ever had was his love for the people around him, he was never free and never had the chance to become free(only in death maybe)... but he did manage to do one thing, he saved the people he loved, so one could argue that most of the cast(and the people they love) surviving isn't that out of line because if they didn't that would mean Eren failed the only thing he ever really wanted to achieve... he couldn't fix the world or humans, but he wanted to give them long lives instead of being slaughtered by marley and he did just that by giving up on everything else... he gave them the chance to live through those little moments...

[@illusionzks7345]

​@@karlfranz583smiling titan killed his mom...

[@Echo-nn8dt]

@@karlfranz583that’s was one of his hardest sacrifices

[@computerlearingchannel4257]

​@Echo-nn8dt sacrifice that makes no sense, aot requiem has a better explanation

[@captainvanisher988]

@@karlfranz583 he couldn't save everyone he loved. Sasha died, hange died and a bunch of his comrades died, his dad died, his mom died. But at least he saved those that he could.

[@MagiaBased]

Moral of the Story: If you want to be free go commit forever sleep

[@DE_Wulf22]

im glad i decided to keep watching the show since 2013. It will forever be in my heart. It was a hell of a ride.

[@thesamuraiman]

Same

[@Clazex]

ok

[@Gokaruto]

honestly the divided views on this ending is exactly why i love AOT's ending, it truly shows that no two people are the same, and conflict arises anywhere and everywhere "until theres only one human left on the planet"

[@shaikmohammedfaraz8451]

Words of comander erwin

[@griseldaflores6362]

Reminds me of that doomsday clock and how my history teacher used to say, that the only time it would reset was if there were no humans left on Earth.

[@jibsonmadison]

Except people have almost unanimously loved plenty of anime endings, like code geass or steins gate.

[@emx8989]

Havent watched steins gate, but the ending of code geass is way easier to understand than the ending of aot.

[@theknightikins9397]

EXACTLY! All the people fighting over the ending are just proving it right

[@cathygrandstaff1957]

I think it was obvious in hindsight that Ymir’s will plays a large part. Consider that the power of the Attack Titan means its owner is ultimately enslaved to the will of the final owner of the Attack Titan, because every owner of the attack Titan is ultimately acting to bring about that one future that exists at the end of their future memories. Who is the final owner of the Attack Titan? Ymir. She ultimately has to have taken all of the titans back before moving on because all of the titans were originally part of Ymir. The Founding Titan was Ymir’s devotion to King Fritz and their descendants while the Attack Titan was her desire for freedom. With his treatment of Mikasa I think what everyone is missing is he knew his future was to be killed by Mikasa. And that this was probably the case from Historia’s coronation when he takes her hand and his future memories come online. This is also the point where he says he won’t allow anything to happen to Historia, most likely because Ymir wants her to survive. But back to Mikasa let’s say you know your best friend who is wholly devoted to you will someday kill you, how do you treat them? Do you treat them warmly knowing they will kill you? I think it’s natural to become cold towards them and want to separate yourself from them, and that’s ignoring Eren might have been trying to make killing him easier for Mikasa by treating her badly because he wanted the best for her. He knew they could never be together and instead of wanting her to join him in death or pine for him forever he wants her to cast aside her feelings for him and move on, fighting for what happiness she can get in the world instead of dying with him. I think that’s why she never stops loving him, because in the end he did care deeply for her.

[@nagolici3206]

yeah but problem is that this explanation of ymir needing mikasa was so late given, that i cant just change my experience of what i already watched. so to bring such important story point so late its just not working for me and does not give me satisfaction. it should be better explained through out the way.

[@may.b.tomorrow]

I began watching it back in 2013 when it was a series still unfolding, and I've kept up with it through all these years. And now, having reached the end, I'm struck by a profound sense of emptiness. The tears haven't been many, but the experience is undeniably bittersweet and filled with a lingering melancholy. The finale has echoes of Code Geass, but the impact of Attack on Titan resonates on a much deeper level for me. It's as if a significant phase of my own life has drawn to a close as I've watched these characters reach the end of their journeys. Letting go of them feels almost impossibly hard. Each nostalgic, tragic, and soul-stirring scene that was depicted has left a lasting mark, but what truly weighs on me is the future. Even though they experienced happiness, grew old, and met peaceful ends, there's a sorrow in acknowledging that their time has passed and with it, a piece of the world they shared with Eren. it adds a layer of heartbreaking feeling to their story-knowing that their time with him was limited to less than 15 years, depending on who it was. Just a brief chapter in the entirety of their new long lives. It's heartbreaking to consider that as time passed, the vividness of his face and voice might have faded even in Mikasa's memories, making it seem as if he were becoming more of a distant dream than a reality they once lived. This brief intersection of lives in the grand tapestry of their world makes the end that much more impactful. The happy scenes of their childhood, bring a stark, aching clarity to the fleeting nature of their relationships, and the realization that the moments we often take for granted are, in fact, incredibly finite and precious. Eren wanted his close friends to cherish these moments and create even more in a new world, that he created for them... Reflecting on Eren, his break down was a biggest surprise to me in this ending (Sadly i was already spoiled about his death by manga readers, so i already expected that) Realizing that he was, in essence, still just a naive 19 year old struggling to find a solution, he just couldn't find a better way to resolve all of this mess. People may have found his emotional breakdowns funny, but these moments actually reveal the enormous burden he carried as an ordinary individual compelled to make extraordinary sacrifices for the sake of his friends' futures. It underscores the depth of his character and the immense pressure he faced in his quest to secure a brighter reality for those he cared about. This is a tragic story of a ordinary boy trapped by the inherent vices of human nature, compelled to engage in the very act-war-that humanity perpetually initiates. His story is a somber illustration of the cycle of violence that often defines human history and the individual lives caught in its tumultuous waves.

[@shinoobie1549]

it doesn't just "echo" Code Geass it literally copied it to the point that once Eren claimed he was going to wipe out the world in the anime and the alliance started forming I instantly knew where the show was going without even readin the manga, simply because I had already seen Code Geass. What I couldn't predict though was how lame the playthrough would be with all those wack memory conversations and some of the most ridiculous plot armor for characters that should have died 10 times in that final battle

[@solymossyakos8526]

And? Who cares? Its a perfect ending for the series, as wqs Code Geass's ending good for it's series. And AoT's version has so much more layers, and is a million times more thoguht provoking, so cope with it being a cheap copy of Code Geass ending Talking about plot armor when we are talking about anime is an instant redflag of just made up excuses. CODE GEASS had insane amount of plot armour on multiple people through all of its runtime. Killing even more charachter in aoT would have undermined the conclusion so freaking much. This charachters (maybe except Levi) HAD TO LIVE, to get the stories point across more. I love Code Geass, but people are so god damn high on that show, like it isnt even close in quqlity to AoT.

[@shinoobie1549]

@@solymossyakos8526 attack on titan is a MUCH better story than Code Geass which is why this ending sucks so much. It had so much potential but it was wasted because the author wanted to give an ending that would appease the massive fanbase the anime got him, instead of giving the ending nthat he originally intended. Let's not even talk about all the massive plot holes that invalidate so much of what happened in the ending. Like the fact that Eren used the founding titan's powers to manipulate Mikasa's memories despite the fact that she is the offspring of two bloodlines which was explicitly stated to be immune to the founding titan's abilities

[@Momo-zi7sp]

@@shinoobie1549Its the opposite. This ending is the original one Isayama envisioned. In a recent interview he admitted he wanted to change things but the ground work was already set to change the ending. As for Mikasa, he never erased her memories like Armin. He had the convo with Armin before the final fight, but gave Mikasa memories of her wish with Eren as she said the table scene couldnt be the last time they talked.

[@shinoobie1549]

@@Momo-zi7sp "recent" interview. So basically after chapter 131 when he started to change the story to fit what the crowd wanted. In interviews before that he has always hinted at Eren being a villain. And he did erase her memories because she only remembered what had happened after he died same as Armin. Either way even if he only "gave" her memories that is still memory manipulation which is a power of the founding titan, which should not work on ackermanns.

[@JumelCouto]

Eren never fought for his own freedom, he fought for the freedom of his friends. He knew that him being free would mean running away (just for 4 years) and leaving everybody to fight or die. So he assured a prosperous life to everybody he cared for. That’s why this “happy” ending is the right one. If everybody or many of them died he’s sacrifice would mean a failure and probably not worth it (although he probably conformed with just Armin and Mikasa). A life without violence its a free life.

[@Leo-yq1cr]

I absolutely agree. And proof of that is how humanity was still at war and Paradis Island got obliterated, but only years after his friends died. He literally did all of this to make a safe world for them and that's it. What happened next, was not his problem.

[@ashmorris4067]

Ye but didn't he say to mikasa or his best mate ( I'm shit with names) that he didn't even know that they would survive till the end. Admittedly there are contradictions but I suppose things do overlap. Like can't he see the future and know? But yet he still says that....I don't know but its been good watching first anime I started watching and learning japanese

[@coreys6421]

I think this is a huge misconception that everyone has. Everyone says that eren did all of this to save his friends and completely ignores the rest of the convo and eren’s own words. When Armin says “you did this all for us,” eren says “no I didn’t.” He says he wanted to flatten the earth regardless. He was so consumed by his “slavery to freedom” and his vision of an open unoccupied world that he just wanted to destroy everything so he could achieve his own selfish idea of freedom. He admits he doesn’t even know if his friends were going to die based on his actions and in fact Sasha and hange did die because of it. That said, I love eren’s character and find this makes him more human and realistic. He did care about his friends and wanted them to live long happy lives, but that was only secondary to his main motivation which was to flatten the earth so he could “see that scenery” (ie the places in armins book in a completely unoccupied world). This is further supported by eren’s convo with ramsi in the episode just prior to the finale where he says that “the reality of the world outside the walls was different than he dreamed of. It was different from the world he saw in armins book.” He said that he was disappointed when he found out that humans existed beyond the wall. He says “I wanted this. I wanted to wipe everything away.” I think he feels bad about what he did but he just couldn’t help acting on his incessant need for what he viewed as true freedom

[@Ccassiusclay-ot9hm]

@@Leo-yq1cr So Armin being able to talk no jutsu his way out of the alliance members getting shot by marley made sense to you. Like how did eren know that the world wouldn't just band up to kill paradis after the rumbling once they confirmed that titanization was no longer possible. Did you forget Paradis was left relatively untouched thorughout the rumbling. They would have at least wanted their resources for themselves. And don't say the yeagerists would have prevented it, because despite the rumbling, the world *still* outnumbered paradis significantly, and they had every excuse in the world to ensure that a tradegy like the rumbling should never happen again. The truth is Eren never knew or wanted anything; his mind was literally scrambled by the founder's powers, and he was just operating based on ymir's will. That might not be what the anime *tells* us, but the issue is that's what it *shows* us.

[@Leo-yq1cr]

@@Ccassiusclay-ot9hm Armin was even able to use talk no jutsu on Zeke and the previous titan users, and that was stupid as it gets. But let's face it: Eren saw the future and allowed for all of that to happen. He already knew everything, even how much of the world population he will kill and the fact that Armin will be able to do all of that. If he wanted to, he could have stripped the other titan users of their power (Armin included) and give the entire planet no choice, as regular weapons were useless against him. But the main reason why Armin was able to save everyone after the Rumbling is because the Marley commander was a man with a brain in his head. Let's not forget minutes before the end of the fight, he had the option to kill the Eldians he meet on the top of that mountain, and he chooses no to. Plus, as someone said (I think Annie), if the Eldians still had the titan powers, they could have used them to protect themselves as soon as the Marley soldiers pointed their guns at them. And Armin was the hero who saved everyone. So it's not surprise they left that place alive when facing a man like that commander, who clearly was tired of killing and harm the others. As for the retaliation...let's keep in mind that 80% of the world population (and probably even more resources such as food, water and wood) were burned to a crisp. Nobody has the luxury of going to war when starving to death and lacks manpower and other resources. In this conditions, clearly nobody would have attacked Paradis Island for a while. Not until they could get the resources they needed. And that's exactly what happened, as years after these events, when the world healed, the population grew and the tech evolved, Paradis Island was obliterated with rockets and jets. Yes, I am sure everyone wanted the resources Paradis Island had, but you can not move an army across the ocean, if you barely have any water/food/wood/soldiers/etc. and the rest of the world had no idea what is happening on Paradis Island and what resources or army they might have. And talking about politics, we don't know what happened with the rest of the world and who took the power in the years to come, especially given the fact that before the Rumbling, the nation of Marley went to war and made slaves of many other countries. Maybe the next leaders decided to keep the little resources they have left and stay away from wars and other countries, so they could rebuild their army before acting against anyone. But well, that's for the author to decide. All we can do is speculate what might have happened, as long as we barely know anything about the aftermath of the Rumbling.

[@CoopaCoop]

1000x better then game of thrones ending.

[@mysterin5061]

I thought the ending was perfect in the view of a story writer. The time travel twist was handled with a lot of care, and the end just proves that as long as people exist, hatred will too. Eren knew it changed nothing, but for his friends, the chaos was worth it.

[@UpturnTheUncool]

Had they had it so that you can view memories of the past but can’t alter them-eliminating the time altering aspect, I wonder how that would work for the story. Like you, I think it was handled well but I still wonder what would have come of that ending.

[@ashanithesharp]

In the vision with Armin, Eren shows he’s still there. The best friend he grew up with was still there. When he obtained the attack titan power and saw his fate at such a young age, it’s like he stopped maturing in the right way. He was stunted and fueled purely by animalistic, survivalist behavior in order to save the ones he loves. They wouldn’t have lived long either way being turned into Titans themselves. Not only did he attempt to sever that but he wanted to leave the world a better place for them once they were free. My heart ached for Eren. My husband thought him as a psycho but I could feel the characters deep sorrow and fear for the loss of those he loved. He’d rather die than live without them. The freedom I think he’s trying to obtain is not just for him but for his loved ones which he thinks will make him free but doesn’t because of all the heinous things he did. Being a mother, I’d give my life to save my daughter. I can understand the rage he felt towards the world that he knows wants to hurt the people he loves. It’s relevant today. At first, I thought the ending sucked but the more I’ve thought about it the more I’m moved to tears at how masterful and deep all of it is. I feel I’ve lost friends from this ending which I always do when completing any story, but this one is different and has hit me harder than I thought it would.

[@jadenhall7938]

No, it didn't need to be a super sad ending where almost everyone from the main cast dies. A lot of characters who were once a part of the main cast already died and there was already a lot of deaths in the show even before the rumbling start so no it wasn't off in that regard. At some point, they needed to find a way to pull thru. If they took the akame ga kill route and killed off most of the remaining main cast, the ending would've been even worse. The ending was good but bittersweet. It could've been better, but given his vison for the ending, there wasn't a whole lot else he could do.

[@7th_phoenix546]

Early on Eren pursued freedom for his self but after kissing historias hand, he stopped pursuing freedom for himself, and started pursuing freedom for his friends and family at the cost of his own freedom

[@harry6270]

I think one really important thing that also got overlooked is Eren’s mental state, not just on the surface, but much deeper. People keep saying why did Eren do this or why did he not do that, and it doesn’t make any sense. To understand his actions, not only do we need to consider Yimr’s influence but also Eren’s thought process. From the moment he touches Historia, his mind begins being torn apart by memories from 2000 years pain and anguish. Both the future and the past coexisting in an endless cycle inside his mind. Reality, and what is important to him, becomes skewed. He sees that no matter if people fight or die, war and suffering never truly ends. (As shown in the ending when civilization advances and war continues) The only thing Eren can be sure of at this point, is the future that he can see. In this future, there is hope for Mikasa to grow old, and she does. Perhaps he decides that if the suffering and war will never truly end, at least he can give his friends a chance of temporary peace. In all his confusion, one thing that would have at least made sense was him mindlessly following the path of the future, the path that he believed was already set and unavoidable anyway. So, I think Eren did what he did because it was easier for him in a way and because, in his mind, it was a better chance for his friends to have some form of peace. And I think that’s exactly what Yimr wanted. Eren’s story is a tragedy and he is a truly broken mind.

[@UpturnTheUncool]

Copy and paste this wherever there is someone wondering about his “character assassination” in the paths.

[@dinabelyaeva4051]

I think the dog thing was a really good point, and how i see the ending when the bird ties mikasas scarf, is that he finally stopped being this “dog” and became the free bird he was always longing to be… (not saying he physically reincarnated as a bird, but metaphorically)

[@masonmillsape3966]

I think the point of aot is that things are hard and can be so bad but those little moments of happiness are enough to propel you into living life

[@zanegroenewald9875]

Eren biting his hand can also be linked to the founders' memories . He bit his hand to transform, and since eren has the founders' memories, they could be a trait that got past on

[@justsomeguy6336]

No. You’re overthinking it.

[@VGInterviews]

​@@justsomeguy6336nope, he is correct, when Grisha faced Frieda Grisha used his scalpel to injure himself, yet Frieda transformed by biting her hand in the exact same way Eren would later do it Not saying that's where Eren got it from, but......he did subconciously remember it from somewhere

[@kodaxmax]

Possibly, but keep in mind they are just memories. It's not mind control, future attack titans dont control past ones, they can only communicate to them.

[@VGInterviews]

@@kodaxmax you are correct, I meant more as "inspiration" maybe during Eren's transformation to defend from the Garrison's attack he only managed to get glimpses into Grisha's memories for brief second and he saw that instant of Frieda biting her hand through his eyes, so out of instinct his brain told him "that's what you need to do" and since it worked, he just stuck with it

[@billalzerouali4436]

​@@kodaxmaxits not just memories though he feels the experiences

[@PSIChris]

Erin really is a slave to freedom frfr. I never had the ending spoiled so this is the first time hearing someone talk about it. People didn't like it? WHAAAAT? I thought it wrapped everything in a neat lol bow. I think something that's not talked about enough is the effect on character growth that inheriting titan memories does to someone. Armin became a total dweeb after eating Bert. (But finally had story agency after going to paths and separating from him.) Erin became a hot goth badboy after eating Lara. And young erin learned to attack AND resent captivity by becoming founder and attack at the same time at a young age. He was always trapped. Erin's a dog because Ymir was physically treated as such, and sadly that dog loyalty too. Ymir needed to touch grass, and it's so funny that zeke sacrificed himself after being reminded to touch grass. Cheeky ass editor "So too does happiness. *Snot.*" Also WeebJail, is Class of 09 in your radar? It's a visual novel, fairly new and trending, you might like. 👓 [[This video was 2 years in the making.]] This comment to you... 2 years from now.

[@WeebJail]

i have never heard of it what's it about lmao

[@PSIChris]

@@WeebJail toxic high schoolers in 2009 with funny dialogue. "Rejection simulator." I replied earlier but I think it was removed. A youtube made it and I saw some funny clips on tiktok that was very WeebJail coded I thought. I cant link the youtube video of an animation they made on youtube but Wrath Club will have it.

[@WeebJail]

lmao ok will look it up

[@jimmyorgenkaccrow4961]

@@WeebJail AoT left me with a shit taste in my mouth because of the nonsensical revelations that Eldians are Jews and Marleys are Nazis. That plot twist is fucking garbage. Isayama is really pro-imperialist, pro-fascist, pro-ultranationalist, and pro-Zionist. It's kind of funny that he represents Marley as the old oppressors, which are the Nazis, and the Eldians as the new oppressors, which represent the Zionist Jews. On the Marley side, they have the infamous Eldian concentration camp, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Nazis' Jewish concentration camp during the Holocaust. On the Edian side, they have Eren's religious ultranationalistic cult called Yeagerist, for which they have a prejudicial agenda against non-Eldian races that bears resemblance to Zionist Jews' agenda in wiping out all of the Palestinians in their "land". For example, there was a time when Erens' rumbling stomped out all of the Muslim and African nations just for the sake of his ultranationalistic pride.

[@justsomeguy6336]

If he’s a slave to freedom he would’ve killed all his friends and completed the Rumbling…..oops

[@DystopiaWithoutNeons]

What I like the most about the anime changes is how they reinstate that destroying 80% of humanity keeps paradis united against a weak common enemy. There were seeds for civil war and without anyone left outside they would be killing each other for the throne in the first year. With 20% of the world left everything was balanced, as all things should be 🍷

[@waytoguidance]

wow I didn't even think of that.. now I love the ending even more

[@massiveboss7717]

From my perspective, I tend to incline that the basis for people missing this crucial part of the narrative are the 2 (maybe 3 and some side narrations) motifs berried within this final arc as means for providing some fundamental elucidation on the very perplexing subjects. Of course I could be wrong and this is by no means designed to insult or undermine anyone who has their own perspectives on the ending. 1. Ymir's love for the King Fritz: Eren tells Armin that Ymir did what she did due to her love for king Fritz. But, if that is true then why side with some rabid dog who objectively disagrees with King Fritz. Her apparent love interest. She had POWER but lacked the WILL, just like you said. Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Stronger than fear or hate. IF Ymir loved Fritz, not only would she NOT choose to side with Eren, but stood up when she was PIERCED WITH A SPEAR all the way back during the assassination attempt on Fritz's life. Based on what was presented to us, she had the ultimate power to do whatever she wanted. However, she didn't know what to do. Not necessarily what COULD but what SHOULD be done with that power. Let me ask you, How old was she when she received this power? 9? 13?. She was a child when she got this power. How's a child supposed to think for themselves (without parental guidance no less) with THAT kind of power. She did the only thing she COULD do and what was doing before gaining this power. Serving her master as a slave. It's what she's always being doing after the attack on her village. We know what to do and how to do stuff thanks to our parents and the internet. She had neither. She lacked the WILL and PERCEPTION. I doubt anyone at that camp after attack told her "Hey, you do know it is perfectly reasonable for you to kill that bastard Fritz, right?" No one told her anything. But Eren did. He told her "you have a choice". 2. It was Mikasa who set Ymir free: Due to some "similarities" between Eren and Mikasa & Ymir and Fritz relationships the argument could be made that Ymir saw herself in Mikasa. And while valid at first, I don't think it remains so due to contradictory prior-events. Eren asked Ymir "Are you the one who lead me here?" because he was set on a path to free her from this subservience to the King by showing his lack of POWER but abundance of WILL. Of course, this argument could work, but if AND only if the aforesaid motif holds true. That is Ymir's love for the king. If she didn't love him then this argument also falls apart. They are intertwined. It's like a domino effect. For this to work they all have to make sense. You debunk one, the rest falls apart. After Eren hugged 3. Eren's "pathetic" plea for Mikasa's affection: I do believe that Eren loves Mikasa. Everyone believes that and the table scene was nothing more than a ruse to help his friends. So, Eren's weep for Mikasa's love and spending time with her is, not only believable but also EXCPETED. The issue, though, is that's it's out of place with no prior similar displays. THIS was the only time we see Eren showing any kind of serious/overzealous reaction towards Mikasa. It would have worked and be more senseful if the audience witnessed similar (or just slight and brief) outbursts (since we know he has struggled to control and express his emotions) so that this scene of him crying in a lake wouldn't be so...odd. Some side narrative that also played a role in people missing this crucial piece: Annie got scot-free after literally MURDERING LEVI'S SQUAD. She suffered no consequence. Levi didn't show any anger or hate towards what she did (and we know he did since we all saw him going berserk mode on that titan who killed Furlan and Isabel), Historia has no role. She did nothing. The ending's tone is too happy. Titan problem didn't disappear. And conflict was re-emerged for obvious reasons (Humanity felt bitter after the genocide) even it would be more poetic if full-scale genocide would happen and it would be future generations that started conflict, thus holding one of the messages of the show in validity and integrity. Again, I could be wrong, and I'd love to hear your perspectives on this guys, but this is what bothered me and maybe others for them to miss this. Thanks for reading!

[@make7551]

I agree with the most of statements here. The idea of love to Friz shoud have been explained better because its hard to accept it at the first watching and you need to think of it. Speaking about titan's issue, it's more about the problem of violence. The power of titan is a tool which uses by people in the cursed cycle of cruelty. The final scene is clasical asian idea that the history is a spiral (which made an another cycle in the world of aot).

[@sasaki999pro]

I think people miss the point out of sheer denial. The idealized concept of "Freedom" has been ingrained into human society on an almost genetic level, freedom to be able to act without consequence is the ultimate human fantasy, and its one we cling to our entire life. To be told that said freedom doesn't actually exist, that it can NEVER exist and the only options one has is to either fight for the opportunity for more suffering or embrace death (The ULTIMATE consequence) which is ACTUALLY the correct choice is just far too sobering for anyone still under the delusion to handle when they are trying to experience escapism in media, Anime alone just doesn't have the strength to shift someones whole perspective into existential absurdism, only genuine real world interactions can do that. ...That and... Also Annie and Reiner just getting away with their warcrimes and the blood of literal hundreds of the thousands of people on their hands is TOTAL BS. One act of selfless heroism doesn't automatically undo all that unless it ACTUALLY requires them to sacrifice something meaningful to them. They should have either sacrificed their lives in the battle, or turned themselves in to be judged for their crimes, but just sweeping that all under the rug and giving them a tonally jarring happy ending? Thats just disgusting.

[@kelmacett2456]

- Annie got scot-free after murdering Levi's Squad much the same as Reiner got away with causing the deaths of so many at the beginning of the series. You need to remember many years have passed since then, holding this against Annie would be no different to holding Reiner to account as well. - The titan problem did disappear for a few centuries at least however the show posits that history will repeat itself and so war was waged with technology instead of titans. - We see only the bombing of Paradis Island but frankly im pretty sure that prior its obliteration i am sure that the technological war would've had plenty casualties & destruction globally. We can see that centuries of peace reigned on Paradis Island until we transition to a time where war has reached the island itself. This does not mean that they were not waging war outside their borders already. - Once that mikasa-like wanderer finds Eren's grave we can assume she becomes the new Ymir thereby beginning a new cycle again. Frankly I don't think the ending is happy but bittersweet, the survivors of our anime lived in peace but it is sad to see that in the long term humanity didn't learn the hard lessons painted into their history with the blood of millions.

[@MG-qc5jw]

About your 3rd point : don't forget protagonists were children until S4, and Eren could have influenced himself to push away Mikasa his whole childhood (it's only a theory). About Historia : her true role starts after the events, in the new world. Though, she served Eren's purpose by becoming pregnant, which prevent Paradis to give her Zeke to eat.

[@MG-qc5jw]

@@make7551 Personnally, I've never been able to explain love. :/ Believing in Ymir's love or not is up to the viewer, according to his own experience of love. However, IRL, a lot of atrocities are made in the name of love (a fucked up one maybe, but still), and you can also think about mental illness's. Would Ymir have a mental illness ? It's up to the viewer again.

[@SozioTheRogue]

The more and more I hear and learn about this ending, the more I learn from it. It's like, the world is an abusive parent, not caring about you one way or the other, sometimes even actively harming you due to it not caring or even due to it genuinely wanting to in a direct or indirect way. Sometimes it's even happy for you and does nice things for you but ultimately, you still know it doesn't care. You as the person in that mental cage dealing with the abuse may or may not feel as though you have a choice but eventually you come to understand you have always had a choice, Stay or leave, live or die, fight or die, work to end the abuse or be passive to it. After you grow and eventually become an adult (hoping you live that long) you now have the full autonomy from the perspective of the world to either continue the abuse or work to end it. You can go down 3 paths, positive, neutral, or negative, to achieve your goal. The positive path tends to come in the form or begging the universe/the abuser/government/the evil of the world, to stop and be compassionate, changing its mind. The neutral path tends to come in the for of passively watching the abuse of the uncaring universe from the side lines while also hoping or wondering if it will get better and reach a state of peace. The negative path is the most common and, in my opinion, the most interesting and most effective. It tends to come in the form of a "villain." Forcing those under it to live in a state of peace, eventually forcing the universe towards a genuine state of peace. Whether it's someone killing most humans causing the rest to unite in order to defeat the villain and become one for a time. Or it's concurring the world and forcing/manipulating the world to unite under relatively similar values. Those last two, if not obvious enough, are referencing Eren/Lelouch type Villains and European conquest/influence in the world currently. No path is neither right or wrong, good or bath. There are negative and positive ramifications for the path chosen no matter the degree you choose to enact your will. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[@Funsize4all2love]

This makes so much sense to me. The thing I noticed when Eren had his last conversation with Armin is that he was very inconsistent in his thoughts. There was this cognitive dissonance that, to me, screamed Ymir vs Erin. It felt like he was doing this because he literally didn’t have a choice but struggle because he didn’t want too. I resonated with this video soo much.

[@WaveePapiii]

Honestly, I just want to say that this video has done so much for me and helping me understand what the creator was trying to do. You are a talent cause I just want to enjoy but I had questions and you helped me understand more would love to speak you on this more.

[@faithkim8503]

This is the most perfect and realistic ending for such masterpiece I don’t even know what people want!! It’s perfect for the story line if the ending was pinkish forced happy ending it would be silly and unneeded!! Even tho it is heartbreaking and made me cry my eyes out, it was supposed to be this way!! COULDNT ASK FOR A BETTER ENDING

[@Majima669]

Def a good ending, in the manga when Armin and Eren were talking Armin thx him for becoming a mass murderer, which alot of ppl were upset about and am glad they removed that shit and also the end credit, the manga made it seem like only 50 to 60 yrs went by and a lot of ppl were upset bout it cause wat Eren did was pointless but def am glad they changed it to make it look like it was way into the future.

[@ballbreakr]

@@Majima669Eren still didn’t achieve anything… his one goal was to exterminate titans but the little boy at the very end finds a Ymir tree

[@maizewindu.4827]

@@ballbreakrbruh that tree has been there since episode 1 - it just shows life will continue to go on and humans will find a way to wage war

[@ballbreakr]

@@maizewindu.4827 yeah it’s the same tree but it grows to be a Ymir tree only after Eren is buried there

[@faithkim8503]

@@ballbreakr Ymir tree but without the creature! We’ve seen it totally ruined and dead when Eren died so even if the boy goes to the tree, nothing would happen. You have to understand something, the tree here represents “the starting point” in which everything in the story started, but here it represents how people create conflict, resolve them, forget about them, and then start creating conflicts again! Which means returning to “the starting point” this story is about human cycle and the way everything appeared and ended was perfect

[@Reinatakahara115]

The ending was perfect to me idk why anyone got mad . I especially dont undetstand why some people sent death threats when the manga ended . The anime was the same ending and i still think it amazing and poetic. Kenny had a line that said we are all a slave to something and i fully believe even in real life it is true . Even something like freedom . The whole story i find tragic poetic and very real in a way. The cycle the desperation the very human responses in a world full of inhumanity .

[@useruseruseruser424]

Isayama changed the ending due to fan-pandering.

[@LuisSierra42]

@@useruseruseruser424 read his interview with the NYT, he knew this was the ending from the very beginning and the clues are all over in the first episodes. In the first chapter of the manga, you can even see mikasa say "see you later eren"

[@waytoguidance]

I completely agree the ending is beautiful and perfect for me. It is MUCH MUCH better and more real than the AnR theories. I can understand though people have different opinions

[@waytoguidance]

​@@useruseruseruser424He didn't change anything, he stuck to his original story

[@cosmoframe3466]

It's far from perfect. But better than anything I could have come up with. That's good enough for me.

[@alariclixi]

So.. give up on your dreams and die??

[@harpe9415]

Only if you're Eren. It's totally fine to fight if you're the Alliance or Reiner or Marley. But if you're Eren then it's wrong, apparently.

[@likenicesinging]

Oh wow, great perspective. I'm gathering all the interpretations over the internet, yours added up to the whole picture big time, thanks!

[@MrVecheater]

12:29 "and what does he ask of her?" German ad: "exotic reptiles"

[@tristantorres3558]

I was looking for this video for so long thanks for finally saying the things about Eren that everybody else missed this was an awesome analysis

[@gerharddamm5933]

I disagree that Ymir’s will is taking over Eren’s. Yes there is a circular inevitability and purposeful ambiguity to it but I think we’re made to understand that Eren would always choose the eradication of the world, it is in his nature… he never changed.

[@WeebJail]

right but WHY was he choosing it

[@Leo-yq1cr]

@@WeebJail maybe to create a world where his friends (especially his love, Mikasa) can live without being behind the walls or in danger because of Marley, the world, or the Titans. From my point of view (at least for now) that was Eren's main purpose all along. And he did it. Mikasa and his friends got to live a life without wars or titans, apparently. He did not care about the world or the other humans and the proof of that is leaving 20% of humanity alive. He literally killed enough (and eliminated the Titans) just to make sure nobody in the world has enough power to harm his friends. Still, he let some people alive who eventually, in time, became stronger and still obliterated Paradis Island (and probably other nations). So as soon as his loved ones got to live, he did not care about what happens next. If he cared about what happens with the world, he would have eliminated everyone but the Eldians from Paradis Island. So yeah...if we tackle the subject from this perspective, it's a love story where the main character goes to such lengths to protect his loved ones (except his mom, apparently), and he does not care about the rest of the world.

[@harpe9415]

@@Leo-yq1cr But Eren literally says that he "can't accept an end like that" where the Eldians are wiped out. Otherwise he would have gone through with Zeke's plan. Why does he oppose Zeke if he doesn't care about the Eldians?

[@gerharddamm5933]

@@WeebJail because he is a “slave to freedom”. He dreamed of the empty natural world Armin showed him in his books and could never accept that that idealized world never existed, that “freedom” never existed. He was so infuriated with the reality of the world that he wished to destroy the world so that he could be “free”. Of course, we know he was never free. AoT really isn’t about attaining freedom but about living without.

[@jibsonmadison]

Here's the thing about the story. Ymir had the CHOICE to give eren the founder's power. She only did it because she knew mikasa moving on from eren would free her. It's a love story, not a realistic perspective story. Seeing it as a love story, it's not too bad as logical inconsistencies stop mattering.

[@gerardesc7221]

Man, I haven´t finished watching the video but it seems that most of your ideas are on point. Everything you´re saying is what a friend of mine were talking after watching the ending. It´s pretty impressive.

[@poker1237]

why would anyone think Eren is a bird in the first place!!!??? the bird thing was symbolic, nothing else

[@ForrestJWilson]

Excellent points. This was 100% my problem with the ending. I could tell issy got so close to putting all the peices together like a jigsaw puzzle, but it felt like he gave up 70% of the way through and quit. Instead of finishing the puzzle he took out a new puzzle of a big heart and a baseball player and finished 70% of tgose puzzles too then glued all 3 puzzles together. Everything conceptually is brilliant to me. The objective end of each characters arc is great. The conversations about motivations was not.

[@LuisSierra42]

My guy, the only things rushed in the final season are: The formation of the alliance, Ymir + Fritz, the memory between Armin + Eren all of which can't represent 30% of the whole show. Isayama only rushed the final chapter technically so he went at least to 90%. It is very hard to be a mangaka sometimes so I can understand why he wanted to finish so fast

[@MrFox-xr9cc]

​@@LuisSierra42 But the finale of a show should tie everything together, answer open questions, and leave people surprised. All it did for me was put a lot of character development and motivation into question due to clear contradiction, just more questions, the plotholes in regards to time travel and the source of the centipede,... I mean... if all Ymir needed to be free is watch someone bound by love to kill the one they love because of how bad they are; OR EVEN JUST LETTING GO OF THEM.... She should have just watched humanity for those 2000 years and not orchastrate worldwide genocide... And that whole "Fight or Die" Crap is a lie they tell themselves to excuse their atrocities. The world is only cruel and merciless if you make it that way... there are many choices outside of fight or die.

[@LuisSierra42]

​@@MrFox-xr9cc It is not necessary for a finale to respond all your questions, in fact, I very much respect an open ended finale because at the end of the day, the value of a piece of art is what you end up carrying with you when it's over. If it closes all open questions, then that's it but if it leaves more questions than answers then it will force you to make a meaning for yourself. This is probably one of the reasons why Evangelion has been kept alive for so many years. I feel Isayama purposely wanted to leave the origin of the titans and Ymir herself shrouded in mystery because Ymir has "lived" for thousands of years and so we today will never be able to know all of the things that have happened in a similar timeframe in our world so many ancient things will always remain a mystery for us As for Ymir's desire to get liberated, I think she was looking for a specific dynamic. I don't think the show makes a parallel between Eren and King Fritz as they are very different characters BUT they are similar in the scale of their powers, so I think Ymir was looking to see a liberation with a similar power dynamic and basically Eren is the most powerful character that's ever been in AoT. As for the "Fight or die" line, I think sometimes it is used as an excuse, sometimes as a motivator. It never has just one static meaning.

[@UpturnTheUncool]

@@LuisSierra42Very well said.

[@logic8965]

​@@LuisSierra42 this is why I see aot ending realistic, it gives us mysteries and many questions and the end credits we don't know who attacks who, I see it realistic fitting relatable ending, like our world who have mysteries

[@lmperiun]

Good video, thank you for making it! Here's my take! There is really no reason to think that Eren's pursuit of freedom was instilled in him by Ymir. You mentioned that Eren started to wonder if he himself wanted freedom or was it actually just Ymir's desire but I really cannot remember when he said something like that. The problem with the idea that Ymir manipulates Eren to break free is that if she did that she would be going against Fritz's will something that she is not capable of doing because of her love. Breaking free would be against Fritz desire to have his Eldians supreme over the world using the Power of the Titans and that is why she would not have done anything to achieve her own freedom. That is why she is only capable of going contrary to Fritz after she is inspired by Mikasa, who herself went against her love for Eren. However, until that actually happened not once did she directly go against Fritz will; even when she chose Eren over Zeke since if anything it was Zeke who was asking her to end Fritz' world of titans. Of course, this is why Eren says its Mikasa who freed Ymir, not him. Eren saved Ramzi not because 'its been decided, lamenting that the future cannot be changed' but rather because he felt like that was the right thing to do even though he knows its pointless since Ramzi will die anyway. The reason why he laments that the future cannot be changed is because although he attempted to change the future (by not saving Ramzi), he wasn't able to look past the injustice that was happening to Ramzi even knowing that Ramzi will die anyway. Likewise, he is unable to give up on his desire to achieve 'freedom' in spite of knowing that billions will die. So you see, Eren is doing the things he is doing not because there is a path set for him, but rather because he cannot help but do the things he wants. That is why the Rumbling happens, because he wanted it (he wants it because he is 'stupid', according to himself). Also I dont remember Eren saying I'm worse than a half-assed piece of shit because 'im merely following a path set for me'. I think that the reason why he says he is worse than a half-assed piece of shit like Reiner is because while Reiner became a half-ass due to knowing what he is doing is wrong; Eren knows that what he is doing is wrong and does it anyway.

[@wiiztec]

It's a time paradox in a deterministic timeline Ymir did not have the ability to break free of king fritz's control until Eren and Mikasa gave it to her but then because of her abilities to communicate with her subjects beyond the restrictions of time, she then always had the ability and used it to guide Eren to give it to her

[@BayBayJordanz]

I recently read a reddit post with a diff perspective: “He (Eren) tells himself that he doesn’t deserve to help Ramzi since in the future he does awful things. However he succumbs to the future, helps Ramzi, and comments to himself how it cannot be changed. That is the moment when he realizes that he cannot defy the future, and that it will all become true (hence why he speaks in a past tense; in a way it has already happened).”

[@MichaelSplatkins]

18:30 This fits really well. Almost everyone else inside of the walls were happy to have safety and prosperity. But Eren felt trapped like some beast of burden in a cage. Ymir was a slave who spent nearly an eternity in a cage of her own. Maybe that was her claustrophobic need to achieve freedom. Or, perhaps, when Armin revealed the truth of the outside world it created a synching of desires and wills across spacetime. He had what Ymir needed and they both wanted the same thing. It's the inability to definitively answer these questions and the deep, self-propagating nature of the mysteries that makes this ending so satisfying. Stories that you can put down and come back to time and again are the best. A story that just ends almost always leaves me feeling kind of mournful. Because there's no chance to revisit it as anything other than the memory of something I loved.

[@juniperz58]

So Levi was right all along… “Give up your dreams and die.”

[@robertosoto7167]

the tone is off only if you wanted an edgy/depressing ending where everyone died and the world is on fire for ever end.... because at the end of all battles comes another day (except if the rumbling complited its cause)... because as painful or hard it is, life goes on, so this is the perfect ending for an anime that was about the struggle of livining from every prespective, just the battle ends and people make their lives waiting for another battle... this battle ends with death and sorrow, but at the same time with relieve.

[@ScrewyDriverTheMan]

This is the best essay there ever was. You did an amazing job explaining the whole thing. Well done. Really appreciate your effort.

[@WeebJail]

ty i appreciate you friend : D

[@ilikepie2274]

Man I appreciate all the anitubers putting in work after this ep dropped. Good vid yo!

[@stevus23]

I'm a little late and a new sub but this was fantastic mate. Loved every point you made and keen to see your channel from here on.

[@WeebJail]

time to binge all of my videos!!!!!

[@elizathepainter8604]

Feeling so much more closure after applying your perspective to the ending. I always discounted Ymir's significance but after seeing her clear influence on the entire plot, it makes her desire and others desires to stop fighting and let go that much more special

[@captainvanisher988]

Great analysis. You've earned yourself a sub.

[@eanarchygle]

Really love this breakdown!! Thanks for sharing your thoughts🤙🏿🤙🏿

[@einfachnurjo3129]

I didn't know that the ending was such a controversy I personally loved the ending and didn't think that it was "happy". Yes, it had a happy undertone. But I think that's because the war.... the fight and struggle was finally over. It's still sad remembering all. The. Many. Lives. That. Were. Lost. It's like in real life during the end of WWII. It's a "happy" ending that the killing stopped and the right side won. But the aftertaste of millions upon millions lost lives is still there. And the extended ending is also fantastic in my opinion. It shows that in the grand scheme every fight, every death is meaningless. Yes Mikasa, Armin, etc. Went on to live (more or less) happy lives. But they're going to be forgotten and history will repeat itself.

[@yellowstar11193]

Great takes and love your analysis 🎉 Eren never fundamentally changed his philosophy, just changed his understanding of who his enemy was. The goal was always the same- eradicate them all.

[@muneebhaider104]

While I certainly agree with you on almost all of the points, I will like to say that I don't think the ending being hopeful was a mistake. While all of this is greatly complex in its own right, this is just one thread of the fabric that is woven to make aot. And you have to remember, while this show shows the cruelty of life, it reminds us it is also beacutiful, every now and then. And with the ending it showed us that sometimes even after the uttermost tragedy, there are things that make life worth living. Plus there is also the art of distraction, AOT never clearly states it's messages, but encrypted so well it is impossible to know until it is executed. I don't think a sadder ending would've fixed the issue. It is just that AOT having such a large audience not everyone will be able to realise the message that was hidden behind the encryption even after it has been executed. Which just ties into the fact, that no two people have the same views, and war will never end until there is one person left.

[@kevinbroberg3504]

"The goes against literally everything I've been describing so far" suggests that your thesis -- that "fight or die" is a true dichotomy and we must choose to die -- is an incomplete understanding of the story. Set aside all of the time travel interactions and consider Eren's moment with Ymir; is he fighting or dying in that moment? No, he's talking. His moment of greatest triumph, his biggest power-up, occurs because he talks to Ymir and treats her as a person, the ONE TIME where he isn't "kill kill kill" like someone Armin knows. I really like your analysis of season 3 as both Armin and Erwin "chose to die", but it's just not big enough to wrap around the rest of the story, and so it comes out with a deeply misanthropic reading that clashes with the two major alternatives to violence -- Mikasa's love, and Armin's existentialism. There's no room in this reading for the Sasha-Gabi-Kaya story and "getting the kids out of the forest".

[@UpturnTheUncool]

I love this explanation. So many people expected a genius madman as their ending character but this was the most consistent way. Yes it’s a little flawed in the delivery and something’s could’ve been handled a little better but man was this a great conclusion all around. I actually wonder what would’ve happened had they just made the final chapters a “part 3” full season instead and fleshed out everything.

[@Dundun11]

For me I understand what the author was going for, but I think it really was poorly executed. While I think the ending (without the extra pages) was alright at best, I find it a bit goofy that everyone is making this ending to be some sort of masterpiece. While you may personally like it and I respect anyone that does, the ending for me just fumbles on so much in terms of character writing and esp during the final fight with a lot of the ass pulls that happen that its hard to overlook as someone who has been following this since day one. The ending was what I was sort of expecting I never thought for a minute that Eren was gonna make it out alive or there was gonna be some sort of bright happy ending (I'm bringing this up because anyone who criticizes the ending is always hit with that) for everyone but man it could have been done so much better and I am in the camp that the author was not cooking during this ending.

[@anonymity11]

It is interesting how you point out that Eren's desire for freedom and lack of free will is the manifestation of Ymir's desires and not Eren's himself. His lack of free will is actually due to Ymir's will being channeled through Eren. So Eren was a slave to Ymir's will. You can build a strong case for this. But I think there's a problem. If Ymir wanted full destruction of the world because of how cruel it is, then pray tell why she decided to let the Alliance stop her. Remember, when Armin entered the Paths, Ymir gave him power to stop the Rumbling. The white titans of the past users who were close to the Alliance joined their side. Ymir allowed this to happen. So I think it was really Armin who changed Ymir's mind, the same way he changed Zeke's mind. Ymir could very well have wanted what Eren wanted, they were one and the same will and it was irrelevant who had true control. But this all changed when Armin entered the picture. He gave Ymir an understanding of what value life can have. Because to her, all she saw was misery and she never experienced a joyful moment in her life. Ok so it seems like we probably agree up to this point still. But I'm not liking your conclusion and interpretation of the ending. You miss some of the points. The takeaway isn't supposed to be nihilistic. It just reflects the reality of our world and the purpose of the story was to help us think about how we can strive to be better and not embody the evil presented in the story, which parallels very well with the evils in our world and history. It was not a pessimistic message. What the Alliance managed to pull together was quite inspiring given the heavy odds stacked against them. If all we are to think about is that death is the cure for all, then why set up a point in the story where the MAIN characters put aside their differences and band together to stop the Rumbling? If that was the author's true intention, then why not just say fuck it all and let the Rumbling finish? Because the Rumbling is wrong and not a solution to our problems. But the Rumbling stands as a warning about what could happen in our world if we don't learn the lessons from the story. Eren dies because his friends had to kill him. Ymir dies at the end because her mortal body was already dead. Her spirit was just stuck in another plane following the king's will. As for Ymir, why is it necessary to interpret that her dying at the end meant that she was released from the cruelty of the world? Because what changed Ymir's mind was that she could let go of her bond to her abuser and find meaning in a different way. Meaning presented in panel where we see her thinking in retrospect how she could've made a better bond with her daughters and instead let the king take the spear. That panel disproves your conclusion about the message being nihilistic. Rather, the message was about Ymir lacking agency and clinging to her abuser because that is the only thing she knew. It is true that her bond caused a lot of suffering to the world by perpetuating the titan powers. Once she found a better meaning in life, along with seeing that she can let go of her abuser, she then was able to be freed from her curse. So what she was searching for was an answer to the meaning of her own existence rather than a way to escape the cruelty of the world. The lack of meaning meant that she was stuck in the Paths doing the king's work. I would say that Ymir wasn't searching for freedom in particular, but she used Eren's desire for freedom to help her find the answer. And we couldn't argue well that Eren was a slave to Ymir's will. Why? Because Eren expresses contempt for his actions, his OWN actions. He calls himself an idiot. He doesn't call Ymir an idiot. Meaning that the desire to destroy the world was Eren's all along. If Eren breaking down at the end meant he was a slave to Ymir's will, then he wouldn't be blaming himself for the actions he took. But could this be Ymir blaming herself then? No, because we assumed this was true Eren speaking when he broke free from Ymir. So the two clearly have separate wills. "The only true freedom from the world is death." I'm not agreeing with this and that's quite a nihilistic interpretation. Erwin died because he didn't have a choice. He had to go out dying so that Levi and the others could continue to fight and finish the mission. You are adding context to this which you don't need to by saying he realized that the only way to escape the world is to die. He may have died, but his friends were able to carry out his dream. Armin also had a dream, and while it didn't exactly turn out the way he imagined, he didn't die at the end. As for Levi saying to his dead comrades that this was what their sacrifices amounted to, that does sound a bit tone deaf. I'll have to think about that one a bit more. But I would say for now that the scene was about just giving their sacrifices meaning, even if it was not something that was highly desirable. The point was that their sacrifices were not in vain and they did accomplish something and it's not about placing value judgements on the outcomes. The characters at the end celebrating their reunion with their loved ones is not tone deaf. That was their main mission from the beginning. To stop the Rumbling but also to save the people they cared for. If it was just the Alliance alone celebrating, then you could make a better argument that it's tone deaf. But there would still be some room to celebrate given the almost impossible task they managed to accomplish and how they all survived in the end.

[@ugovillemalard4218]

I subscribed because I like your analysis but I'll remember you because you used Homestuck music on your AOT video and it gave me whiplash

[@WeebJail]

haha gottem

[@J_Sovereign]

I truly love this perspective….it’s not as left field as some might think and honestly the best and most interesting thought on this that I’ve heard so far

[@maynetiong4030]

I really like the ending but I do acknowledge that the last bit of the tone is very different from the entire series. From a cruel and unforgiving world of Aot, in the end it becomes a happy ending that only Eren sacrificed, the rest survive the unthinkable battle. My perspective for this tone shift could be happened because of two aspect, one is plot based, second is writer's choice. 1. Eren truly wish his friends to stop him and live a long live, including those who were once against him. 2. The story start of with a lot of mysteries and basically people are ignorant. When people have yet to find out the truth of the world and keep pushing each other into hell by assuming and lying there are pure evil enemies like titans and devils, the world are remain cruel and unforgivable. But during the battle of heaven and earth, both parties start to realize that those enemies, devils, titans, slaves or all sort of conflicts are basically all created by themselves to push each other into hell. Now all the conflicts they had have become so insignificant when hell is visible to them then that is the time when both parties start to empathy each other, seeking for forgiveness and chances to be good again. This is the moment where we see the scout somehow are able to survive this terrify battle and the tone started to be less cruel and more forgiving. I believe the author purposely shift the tone for the message he tries to tell us.

[@jhovanielperez4763]

Never read the ending until I watched the anime and think thay a lot of people overreacted so hard on it. It wasn't even as "trash" as they called it and still do. Of course the anime had minor changes (thank God they removed the "thank you for becoming a mass murderer for is" line) but even still man this isn't a bad ending at all. Somethings I didn't like for example I would have liked if Isayama did a more personal final scene for Reiner. I wish Mikasa moved on (all though in a way she did) and Historia was sidelined as a character soooo hard ever since S4 started. Despite all of that, I am quite sad and happy that my fav story ever finished. Mainly an artwork that inspired me to seek an art career and do manga. Hopefully I can shake Isayama's hand as a fellow manga artist and thank him for everything.

[@ballbreakr]

still Eren achieved nothing 😭 His people and island were exterminated, he “loved” Mikasa but never showed it before the final episode, and titans didn’t disappear

[@aashas8553]

We've read the manga, it was trash. Sprinkle some animation, music and voice acting and you might get the illusion that its not trash. You can spray poop with most expensive perfume in the world, its still crap.

[@Shaady786]

@@ballbreakr he wanted his friends to live out their lives which did happen, Mikasa did die as an old lady. So he did achieve what he wanted but AOT has never been a fairy tale happy ending anime, its always been bleak and depressing and the ending fit the bill.

[@btchiaintkidding7837]

trust me, the whole thing in the manga feels really trash garbage. the adaptation despite almost being identical made it 100x better somehow. few extra bit of dialogues, just a few extra seconds of new scenes made all the difference. or maybe it is just the toptier OST and soulful performances from the VA pulling the manipulative emotional strings. for example: Hange's death in the manga is the shittiest AoT death it felt so fruitless pointless , rushed with only a couple panels, came outta nowhere and unnecessary F tier death meanwhile in the anime her scene is nicely animated with appropriate amount of screentime to her last stand as the most underratee AoT OST blares in the background made her sacrifice such a badass semd off easily my fav AoT character d^ath and an S tier death in general. so yeah, same thing kinda applied in the final episode as well.

[@earvinmanansala5213]

⁠@@ballbreakr you didn’t see the Sprinkles of Eren’s love for Mikasa? End of season 2? In the paths with Zeke staring at Mikasa as a child with the scarf on? Asking Zeke if Mikasa like him or it’s the ackerman bloodline? He may not have SHOWN to everyone that he was in love with her but it wasn’t non existent and could’ve been inferred. Titans disappeared after he died, what’re you talking about. Ending credits implies that the cycle of Titan can possibly start over again but it’s been a couple hundred of years. Speaking of hundred of years, his friends lived for that much longer after his death, that’s what he ensured.

[@games-wz7sz]

I think what you are misisng is that THE WORLD DIDN'T DIE. Arin realised he had barely any will, that Ymir wanted to kill everyone. He found a way to save some of them. He had no choice but to start the rumbling. That didnt mean he couldn't stop the RESULTS of the rumbling. Arin's victory is that he found his freedom, he manipulated everyone so that he could be killed at the only possible moment. To save what little was left. It's like a chess game. At a certain point you only can move forward, the game may be mostly decided, and the outcome mostly won't change. But you can change the little details and find your own victory.

[@_SaadJamil]

I love your breakdown. Smart thought

[@DjuraValtr]

Ngl Eren at the end kinda reminds me of Walter from breaking bad. They both did heinous stuff in the name of their family/friends but towards the end they realized that they actually enjoyed/wanted to do it. Walter actually enjoyed the thrill during his meth phase while Eren did the rumbling because he was born free to do what he wants.

[@Momo-zi7sp]

Finally someone else points this out! I’ve been saying this. Isayama is a big fan of breaking bad so I knew he was inspired by Walter. In his last conversation with Armin he admitted to Armin that it wasnt about being a hero and saving his friends anymore, but because of his selfish wis of seeing a trampled world outside of Paradis with no enemies. I really adore the similarities and hope we get an epilogue like El Camino did

[@built4everything297]

Agree! People love to follow the hate trend without a legitimate reason tbh the ending wasn’t bad at all! Aot gave us great season and it have been consistent all the way through and it still my top 3 anime. It’s not easy creating ending and they did a great job !

[@PenguinPotential]

Yo nice Mabinogi music 🎵 Also great review!

[@WeebJail]

👌👌👌

[@denversupermarket7484]

Dude really appreciate the vid. I still wasn’t getting it till now.

[@mitromney]

So, we're like, not even gonna talk about the fact that Eren totally nailed Mikasa's fit ass,prolly hundreds of times, when they were living in the Paths for 4 years? I see it as absolute win for them both. How often do we see anime ships come true? Let's celebrate! :)

[@mariokart9227]

That is one way to look at it

[@bigmoneycape]

wait, at what point where they in the Paths for 4 years?

[@ItsMe-bt4tm]

lol

[@ItsMe-bt4tm]

​@@bigmoneycapethey didnt but erens time was all at once so he could of experienced that if he wanted to try it xd

[@earvinmanansala5213]

@@ItsMe-bt4tm Eren and Mikasa run away in the paths towards the end. The flashbacks Mikasa got about living in the log cabin was him and her in the paths. Was it 4 years? Probably not since the paths time is weird. But it simulated the time as he only had 4 years left before curse of Ymir killed him , probably to make it seem more real for Mikasa.

[@richardjberryiii]

I was going to comment about the video, but then you distracted me with maplestory music at the end and now all I can think about is that game

[@Koalarix]

For me when I read the manga to find out the ending, I was hoping of more explaination on how the hallucinogenia came about and how its powers tied to the creation of titans

[@estevaoabel3439]

Q: The tree that ymir originally fell into definitely was not in paradis island, it was somewhere in mainland Marley, now its in Paradis island. So does that means the alien like organism that causes the existence of titan and was in the spine of Eren still exist or something? Or is the tree a supernatural being just reincarnate every now and then? Because judging by that last panel, theres definitely someone before Ymir who obtained the power and the cycle jus continues. Man…im hoping the ending could put everything to conclusion, now im even more curious about this shit💆‍♂️

[@destruction8192]

The organism should be inside the giant tree in the last episode, last moment. Mikasa reincarnation fell into the tree and titans are reborn. With modern tech, they can become mech titans and fight against opposing gundams

[@DjNaste]

The tree at the end is just symbolism. People are taking things way too literally. Its only purpose is to remind the viewer of how things are cyclical.

[@est02]

@@DjNasteso his point still stands then, the titans reincarnate and so on and so forth

[@est02]

@@destruction8192😂

[@SailorTortilla]

My question is, how is the worm in the tree if the worm disappeared while Reiner was hugging it?

[@-Genxzys-]

Eren isn't free, because he didn't chip in his buck'o'five

[@Mazaroth]

"Freedom isn't free, it costs folks like you and me."

[@LaymensLameMan]

Best take I’ve seen so far. Even better than Invaderz. Although I get the feeling some people will think that isn’t a hard metric to pass lol regardless I think you out of all the ones I’ve seen has the most balanced take on this ending

[@markwick11]

when Eren and Marco are talking to the bench, the tree cast's a shadow of the paths of the brick wall behind them. i love and ill miss this masterpiece

[@saveborg1091]

Eren is never free, not in a single moment of the anime. We know what kissing historia's hand led to, but let me explain this... everything b4 historia was set in stone. Like imagine reading a book. words cant change, nothing could've gone wrong... When he kissed historia's hand he "realized he was alive" like childrens when they get conscious. From that moment on the future could actually change and it was not like a book anymore. Eren was in control to do whatever and modify the future. But a future built by who? himself. He controlled pretty much everyone in the anime to do something so he could kiss historia's hand with the ATTACK TITAN in his body. Pheraps manipulated YMIR too? But anyway he build this road to reach the final plan. We can see he failed COUNTLESS OF TIMES when Mikasa got shown an alternative ending thru the dream, a what if. Eren stating, during the conversation with Armin:" I've tried countless of times, but the future wont change" or something like this. I know countless could be used to talk about a single timeline, BUT! when sasha died he cried like a maniac cos he know she would eventually die, but why like a maniac? cos he probably tried everything to avoid sasha's death but in every single "RUN" sasha dies, so he just gets a meltdown due to insane stress for the whole "past present and future all at the same time" AOT starts with a "flashforward dream" from eren and if i recall, at the end it rewinds back to him sleeping under the three. When he wakes up he's "crying" and noticing mikasa's hair being longer (implying the connection with future Eren MEMORIES). Mikasa did the same, "cried" and stated that "it was like a long dream", Connecting the dots, it's a recursive event happening implying the multiple timelines exists and that eren did this all to himself, building a future, being caged in a road no one wants to be in. (mikasa crying tho it's strange cos she could not see future as Eren... so what's the point of crying after being in "A LONG DREAM"? eren it's excused cos he got the attack titan, but mikasa? there's theories on her too, she could be the one resetting the timelines and doing stuff, but this is more quantum stuff rather than logical stuff.) I don't know the ova but there's the mirror man(?) spoiling mikasa on the future or smth. Eren was never free, not even in his own future, not even being able to see the future, as he was part of a major plan.

[@pierrea241]

my question is who's major plan was it really ? when he says he's a slave to freedom, i get it's because he saw the future and can't change it, but who set that future in stone exactly ? Is this future Eren, who realized it was the only scenario in which he could save his friends (because he explored other disappointing paths before deciding on it), who made sure present time Eren could not deviate from this path ? Or is this Ymir, who forced him into this path in order to be freed from her self inflicted curse, and who "rebooted" the story everytime he tried to deviate ? Because he says to Armin "every detail of my visions always come true whatever i try", like some force literally kept him from chosing another path than the rumbling... For me it changes everything. If he WILLINGLY chose the rumbling path, then it means he still impacted the story with his choice. If he legit didn't have any room for shifting the story because it would get rebooted by Ymir anytime he tries, then anyone could have been in his place and just follow the ONLY path presented to him right ?

[@NightmareCourtPictures]

@@pierrea241 Maybe that's how Ymir finds out...testing each future in paths and see what fails and what doesn't...kinda like an Infinity War-esque thing where Dr.Strange see's all possible realities and only one of them leads to them succeeding. It could be that Ymir (and Eren) was in these timeloops because all the realities happen simultaneously, i wouldn't call it rebooting...it's more like...all of those paths were explored and the story of attack on titan is us the audience, seeing the story that succeeding. This would lend some support in why there are spinoff shows (like mikasa's alternate reality episodes), because the audience is just along for one of the rides.

[@GratissTVofficial]

Man what an adventure this anime was. Almost 10 years of my life marked by this masterpiece

[@jager3090]

Precisely my thoughts. I've been sort of gestating this explanation/understanding of the story ever since the Memories of the Future episode. Glad I chanced upon this video

[@maniachaelchallenges]

What you said about Eren’s will and Ymir’s power reminded me of what Hannes said to Eren after his mother’s death

[@kodaxmax]

I think you hit the nail on the head about us being manipulated by the first 3 seasons or so being told from erins perspective. I think it's the main reason everyone feels uneasy, confused and even angrry about this final season. Because it is inherently different, We arn't seeings erins side of the story, so we see the rabid dog the rest of the world sees him as, rather than the caged bird he thinks/thought he is. It almost makes you feel stupid when you realize erins scout buddies are going through this exact same experience and how obvious the theme is. And as you say this isn't wrong. How can you fault a wild dog for trying to fight it's way out fo a cage? You also touched on something important about erin when you mentioned his vows to kill all X. Erin is a single minded idiot. He says what he means, he never ever lies to anyone but himself. Any rational person would think he can't possibily kill every last titan, but he sincerly believes he will. It's obvious he has feelings for mikasa, but being a dumb angsty teen/young man he almost steretypically throws a tantrum when accused of such, claiming he hates her etc.. like a little kid going "ew cooties". and this doesnt change in season 4, erins personality and worldview are exactly the same. Hes just bigger and a little smarter and much more powerful. But because we are now seeing it from the perspective of the outside world he looks like an insane rabid dog and not a brave hero fighting for freedom. While us the audience and erins closest freinds are trying to reconcile these two juxtaposed characterizations and desperately look for those old justifications. But now that we know he was a rabid dog whos escaped his backyard and not a mistreated bird unfairly caged those jstifications just don't hold up. It's our personalities and that of our main gang that change, not erins or the plots. However i think your forgetting something important about the relationship between ymir and erin at the end. Yes they are a bit of a ying yang, one having power and the other the will to use it. But consider where this power actually comes from, because remeber ymir is only a host, it's not her power. It's a parasite in every sense of the word, literally and metaphorically the embodiment of a parasite it has no higher thought, it's a mindlessly wriggly worm driven by isntinct. What happens after he begs ymir to free herself? think about it. She frees herself of the parasite, giving it to Erin physically and metaphorically. It's not zekes bloodline or the founding titans power or ymir in control, it's erin. Erin isn't a strategic genius, he probably cant even spell philosophy hes just a garden variety idiot or as you describe him a Rabid Dog who knows only to attack anything that seeks to restarin him. Hes the same as ymir, mindlessly continuing their mrotal goals, now with godlike power. I don't think the scene where erin saves the boy was suppossed to show that the attack titan and ymir were directly controlling his fate. But that it was fate that erin would always try to save the boy because of who erin is. Erin knows it's illogical, he's seen his future memories. But he saves the boy anyway, because hes just a regular old human acting on emotions. Of course erin saves the boy, of course erins saves mikasa, of course erin immedately volunteers to sacrifice himself on the frontlines at every oppurtunity. Thats not fate, thats just erin being erin. The attack titans memories never forced anyone to do anything in my opnion. Grisha chose to murder the kings family because erin pushed him too. Nothing physically forced him to do it, like with ymir erin simply pushed his resolve onto him with words and glimpses of the future. I really think that final conversation with armin is important. Erin isn't a special person chosen by the god ymir any mroe than ymir was destined for godhood. They are just people that stumbled (litterally in ymirs case) into power. Erin isn't a genius, he isn't very strong, hes not even a particularly good soldier or son. Hes just a guy. Same goes for Ymir, she wasn't enacting some genius 2000 year long master plan to have specifically erin free her. She was just doing as she was told and helping as many as she could, just like she always has, because thats just who she is. The endings tone is spot on IMO we litterally don't care about the 80% who died. They arn't our portagonists. We are in it for the characters, because we ar ehuman. Same goes for the characters, they never really cared about saving 80 000 faceless people theyl never meet. They cared about about carrying forth the will of their comrades, about protecting the reamining people they did care about. That was always the goal, especially for erin. Kill them all, protect my family. It is messed up, humans are ridicuolous emssed up contradictory creatures. We arn't paragons of mental health or perfect gods and ubermeinsches, we are just people. I do agree it good have been executed a bit better, it is a bit of a bad trope with anime to have high concept philosphical diologue dumps in place of actual writing and direction unfortunately. I also dont agree about the power of love saving the day. The day was saved with a titan grappling erin, levi blowing a whole in his face and mikasa leaping through to cut his fucking head off. We are then eventually informed that yes humans do still all hate eachother and basically eldians have basically become the nazis that maryleans were and now own Paridis and cycle continues on. In case some us were to thick for this, it's drummed into our head again with the end credits scenes, showing an endless cycle of war and ending with yet another regualar old kid stumbling into a tree to presumably discover ultimate power and another adventure all over again. Keep in mind ziek and armin and the rest arn't reliable narrators either, they only assume Ymir continued out of love. But they have the same info we do, glimpses of her memories and there theory holds about as much water as any theory you might find on reddit. They are only guessing, trying to put themselves in her shoes. No one in this story is an all knowing god, they are all just people doing there best. Sure they might be right, love is as good a motivation as any. But shes also a traumitized little girl who may just be broken or mayby shes no better than everyone else. We cant see into her mind any more than ziek or any more than you can see into mine. The answer isn't death or fighting just ebcause thats all you or erin see. As Armin points out to zeke, the meaning of life doesn't have to be the ending, it can eb about racing your freinds across a field or daydreaming about visiting far off lands or playing catch with your dad. There are milion times as many choices as their are personal philosophies and among even the characters on this show is countless philosophies. But what do i know? im just a dumb human too. Did i miss anything? do you disagree? did my awaful grammar give you a headache?

[@teanc99]

Ymir can't speak bc her tongue was cut out by king fritz

[@Constantine-tr9dv]

Great Video!

[@patrickpaterson8785]

Thank you for actually providing some critical analysis of the ending instead of just summarizing it for 30 minutes and cramming like a minute of "but idk tho haha" at the end.

[@Alpakkaa]

I mean... Pieck bites her finger. Reiner bites in the final episode as well. Both of them didn't "have to".

[@WeebJail]

did they have any other options at hand? idk how many times we see pieck transform but we definitely see reiner use a knife. the difference is not that other people don't do it, but that eren ALWAYS chooses to bite his hand. we never once see him use anything else

[@Alpakkaa]

​@@WeebJail I think it's just done for drama. It looks more epic when Eren bites. You can say that the Marley titans are more civilized as they are from a more civilized nation and that's probably how they were trained to transform. Where Eldians are a bit more medieval. But Eren didn't bite his hand in S04 when he was in the basement with Reiner. Sure he could have bit his hand to transform, but the drama is not the same. If Eren did bite his hand at the moment, the seconds gained from Reiner seeing the transformation happening wouldn't have made a difference. So this is all done for drama, not whether they are more feral. Frieda Reiss also bit her hand to transform. Pieck definitely had her whole uniform on in Season 4 when she transformed multiple times. They all could have just very well bit their tongue, but as you know, no drama.

[@carlosriveraauthor]

I get the part about Ymir's will, but ultimately it IS actually Eren who ultimately triggers it. When Zeke dies, the rumbling stops. If it were just Ymir's will, she could have continued the rumbling. It's having Eren in contact with Zeke that allows it. I do agree that Ymir led Eren there because she saw in him the possibility of freedom, but he chose. Then couldn't take it back because he'd entered the cycle already and couldn't exit it.

[@PhilthCollinz]

I think ymir isnt actually a person but an idea

[@carlosriveraauthor]

@@PhilthCollinz It's very possible, because after all that time the creature would have pretty much a simulated her but taking on her image, motivation, and memories in a way. Might not be Ymir as such.

[@Morteanjo2011]

Wonderfully insightful. Thank you.

[@xJisJis]

Good sir, I was already enjoying this video but what really sold me on subscribing was the Mabinogi music. What a cultured gentleman.

[@WeebJail]

they don't call me king of weeaboos for nothing

[@lilbuu7469]

This is honestly a very great great video,I totally agree on Eren being a dog,who think he’s a bird,it makes a lot of sense,bc of his “fight or die” mindset and not being able to trust other and only trusting him self bc of the events,iv been watching aot for 9 years but I honestly never seen that until now,the ending was honestly great in my option,yea their was def sum plot holes but overall all of aot is too great for the ending to ruin anything for me,great vid keep it up🙏🏾🗣️

[@benaube5946]

I agree it feels against the point of the show to have most of the characters survive (would’ve been all except Zeke I believe), that was the one fault I had with the whole energy of the finale. But at the same time, Eren was mainly doing this to make sure his friends could live in peace after, and given he seemingly pulled a Dr. Strange to figure out what he had to do, it makes sense he would figure out a way for the ones he cared for most to survive. If he couldn’t guarantee that, he probably loses a lot of his will to fight too.

[@harpe9415]

If he just wanted them to live in peace then why didn't he go along with Zeke's plan? Or at least Armin's plan if you think euthanasia is one step too far but knowingly letting your enemy recover to kill you at a later date is fine.

[@benaube5946]

@@harpe9415 Perhaps I should’ve worded it “a big part of why Eren is fighting” and not “mainly” why, there’s multiple reasons. We know straight from Eren’s mouth why he would never go along with euthanasia. And to go back to what Weeb Jail had said early on in the video, Eren is basically a caged dog, he’s not going to pull any punches ever. During his Dr. Strange experimenting (idk how else to better refer to him manipulating the timeline) maybe he tried doing a partial rumbling and it didn’t work. Also worth noting that both Eren and Ymir needed to die to erase the power of the titans. To get Ymir to be willing to let go he kinda has to go along with this sequence of events; otherwise she probably stays “alive” in the paths and Armin dies after 9 more years of being there Colossal Titan.

[@emx8989]

Eren said he was looking for ways to avoid the rumbling but couldnt find any. So I think he at least chose the way most of the alliance members survive.

[@kodaxmax]

Also keep in mind, it was a traumtized "suicidal maniac" trying to fix the world. Erins not very smart, hes not a brilliant academic or master sorceror, just some soldier that stumbled into power. Even if he was askin armin for help each time, armins only human too.

[@Ccassiusclay-ot9hm]

Ya'll keep misunderstanding the ending. First of all, eren didn't become the founder or anything, ymir gave him access to the founder's powers after he "freed" her. 2nd, this isn't a case of multiple timelines; it's *one* fixed timeline, or a time paradox. It was only broken by mikasa, because ymir wanted to witness someone breaking free of toxic love/loyalty to an abusive tyrant/villian. She *used* eren and mikasa to fulfill her desire to break away from king fritz's love and finally pass on to the afterlife. What these things tells, or rather *shows* us, unfortunately, is that eren never had a will of his own from the very begining; he was always just moving to the tune of the founder ymir in order to fulfill her purpose. Imo, this love plotline nonsense was a retcon to satisfy annoying shippers, and it's one of the primary reasons the ending feels *so* tonally different from the rest of aot s1-3.

[@hansgerd8069]

Liked that u used maple story music at the end ^^

[@WeebJail]

hella

[@jessco8950]

I love the maple story music at the end :)

[@mleonpeon]

You know the ending hit you hard when your conclusion is death is the only way to be free

[@erenjaeger1805]

I was only left with the question that if when Eren returns everyone's memories he lets Mikasa know that he loves her, does he tell her what he told Armin? That he wants her not to forget him and not have anyone else, does anyone know? I really hated this ending, it broke my heart and left a void in me :(

[@rocknatex5013]

"Don't tell Mikasa I said that," makes me think that no. He didn't tell Mikasa to stay hung up on him for ten years at least. He told her to forget about him and move on. He buried his feelings for the sake of her happiness.

[@erenjaeger1805]

@@rocknatex5013 i hope armin broke that promise,mikasa needed to knew that eren loved her so bad 😔

[@rocknatex5013]

@@erenjaeger1805 I guess only Ymir knows that one.

[@UltimateTobi]

She knows. Eren and her lived a parallel life in a cabin which she remembers before she kills him. Having lived an alternate reality (supposedly in the paths? Just a different timeline? As Eren says, he has explored multiple decision trees) is as real as reality in AoT (or so it seems).

[@rocknatex5013]

@@UltimateTobi Well, whatever it was, it's interesting how Eren let his friends' dreams come true. Armin wanted to see the world, so that was his Paths thing. Mikasa wished she'd answered Eren differently and got to live with him in peace, so that was her Paths thing. I think it's a mixture of Paths and memory manipulation. Like, he used memory manipulation to take his friends' dreams and memories and used Paths to make them "real." But that's just my speculation.

[@katara9]

I love this analysis! You noticed so many things about the theme of freedom that I struggle to keep up with. And the idea of who is driving Eren throughout his life is always fascinating. I agree that it could only solely Ymir's desperation calling out to Eren. I also hypothesize that, because of the many different paths that are taken, the different timelines, that at some point they all converge into the one we're in. And because time is not linear, the Eren that goes through the paths and time to speak to his father, to Grisha, and to himself, is also Ymir. In a sense, Ymir is Eren and Eren is Ymir. So a young Eren has had his mind overpowered in this converged timeline, filled with Ymir's hate and Eren's desperation. I don't know if Isayama has or ever will confirm these things, but I do love the possibilities of who drives Eren through his life. Something about this video made me realize how deep the value of the manner in which a person dies is in this show. Ymir died in such a way that she couldn't let go of King Fritz and she allowed herself to suffer for 2,000 years because she didn't have the heart or will to allow herself rage and hate, because that was her life. Her life was a cycle of being trampled over, overlooked, and falsely loved. Ymir didn't love herself enough to let go of upholding the world, upholding King Fritz's legacy, until her pain was awoken and she was forced to put a voice to what was taken from her. AoT really is beautiful in all of it's intricate meanings. And I love how every video made, every analysis made, is a very unique perspective from person to person.

[@Tehutidg07]

Eren got biting his hand from freeda she did it first

[@walkertalker3232]

Eren knows the future after his death. In the manga he said he does not know what will happen after his death, which was a big issue. Killing 80% of humanity and crossing your fingers that your friends will fix it is nonsense. In the anime which I would says is the true ending that isn’t mentioned. Eren says quit clearly that the alliance -will- become the heroes of the world. It is not an assumption as in the manga. Also, Historia in her letter says Eren told her about the future. Imagine if Historia tells Armin that in the past Eren told her about the future which is now everyone’s past that he will kill 80% of the world. Something everyone knows by now. That would not make that much sense. I rather believe he did tell her about the future after his death. It is also said he saw a world without titans. If titan powers are gone everything would turn dark for him or at best, he sees a crushed world with titans becoming dust, but it seems more fitting if he did saw a world without titans for multiple years. Does some agree or disagree?

[@adrisedona]

He cannot see the future past his death because both he and the power of the titans (and the paths) don't exist after his death, so he cannot have memories of it (the only reason he knows about the future in the first place)

[@WeebJail]

he cant see past the end of the titans but he does see the end itself, no?

[@sevenode]

@@WeebJail absolutely, he even states that he tested it many times and the outcome was always the same. therefore he knew this was the only way to guarantee peace for his friends one way or another. I'm pretty sure he saw that this path meant peace for his friends in the end. i dont believe otherwise for one second. He even explained how it was gonna go perfectly to Armin in their conversation stating that war would still happen eventually. This was the only way to make sure his friends lived a full life and that Eldia stood tall and had peace as long as possible.

[@sevenode]

@@adrisedona the titans powers definitely still exist to be fair. Eren just erased it from the people of Eldias bloodline. The Founding Titan tree still exist growing at least a hundred years later. almost looks too be the same length as the first even after years of war and decay over Elida. Then a child is seen walking through the same entrance to the hallucigenia pool inside the tree signifying a cycle repeat. Because Eren is dead and the hallucigenia and its powers arent occupying humans anymore i guess you can say the paths are gone but im pretty the ending scene implies a cycle repeat with the Titans powers. At the very least that the Tree and the hallucigenia still exist which are where the powers came from.

[@fadlanibrahim9866]

Exacly, this is why i said the anime actually fixed the ending. I hate how the story goes in the manga, but with a few dialogues changes and add-ons, it makes Eren story more relevant. his struggle, his manipulation and many death he caused to get the founder titan is because at some point, he thought that with the power, he could change things. The lack of this in the manga is what makes Eren is like a slave to YMIR. You could say that Eren control everything way before he got the attack titan. With every changes he tried but always shown a disappointing result. At the end of the day, rumbling is his only choice. He even conflicted by this in his future self to the point makes his past self asking Armin that "if we kill them all, would we be free"? At the end of the season 3. Im convinced that he said this not because he wants revenge, not because he is afraid of the enemies across the sea, but because he himself ask the question that almost most of the allianced asked to him about "Are this genocide and violence, is really the answer to all of this madness? " Sadly in his case, no one answered and he already knew the answer. Only in the anime i could feel the tragic and irony of Eren's life. Which is why for me the ending are perfect.

[@KoltonNay]

What everyone is really missing is how it was Mikasa that helped to free Ymir by giving her the will to move on, and Eren was a tool for her to get Mikasa to that point.

[@kodaxmax]

Yeh id dint really understand that part. could you elaborate?

[@MrFox-xr9cc]

I thought it was kinda meh... She could watch the whole of humanity for 2000 years, but needed to orchastrate that complicated scene, commiting genocide in the process, just to be freed?

[@WolforNuva]

Love the choice of soundtrack, threw me for a loop when I heard the Mabinogi music.

[@DiscountJaba]

I really enjoyed this video. To add context on your question on how much violence and will came from Eren vs Ymir, I argue it’s all him. Isayama in an interview said that an important clue to Erens character can be found in a manga special called attack on high school. In a normal world Eren is bored, but one night he has a dream that zombies attack, and he immediately feels alive and begins killing - violence. He wakes up and cries that this is not his reality. He then postulates that maybe he can make it a real reality and it would make existence better. With this in mind, it is clear that Eren is fundamentally a violent person.

[@jovan1480]

I do still think that Eren is a let's not say hero since he did kill 80 % of the population but, when we find out that after getting the full potential of attack titans powers you could say that Eren was in a time loop, there it is explained that Eren was the one to manipulate his father in the past even before he was born and manipulate everything after. Even choseing to kill his own mother by sending a titan to her instead to the Bertholdt because he couldn't die yet. he even says to Armin that he tried to change their fate many times but ultimately failed, and that he is sorry because they could only stop him after he destroyed 80%. so in that regards you can't say that he is a villain because he was just led through this outcome unable to change it even if he wanted to. We do know that he did want it to end differently, thus with the only power that he exerted was a warning before the rumbling, to all the eldians, and after he gifted memories to Historia about a future to come, mind you a future where he was dead. so he could see before and beyond who knows how far. And a theory of mine is that he still sees, he is still there at the beginning and the end stuck in a time loop, never being free( because we are told that he saw the past and the future, but we are not told how many times did he saw it once thousand, or billion.) forever in a long long dream.

[@LuisSierra42]

EREN DID NOTHING WRONG

[@dasgerbil5189]

Eren may be called anti-hero

[@MrFox-xr9cc]

Oh no. Poor Eren. Had no choice but to commit genocide... like wtf? Of course he had a choice. He could *not* kill off almost the entirety of the world. NOT doing something is literally the easiest thing to do, always.

[@AFoxInFlames]

I was super impressed at how much I enjoyed the end, had a couple tears shed and all in all I'm satisfied. It was a show that ultimately had no point....and they did it with style and we all loved it.❤

[@alonso4136]

Only shows the downfall of society when pieces of art or media are being praised for being pointless

[@yourtube1424]

For those that have watched the anime and read the manga is there a point where I could pick up in the manga without starting from the beginning? I’ve heard it ends differently so want to read it but don’t want to miss anything important!

[@WeebJail]

it's literally almost exactly the same you could just read the last chapter

[@arcanum3882]

Please stop coping