Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan officially ended after the premiere of Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 4. It is the end of an era, as Eren’s quest for true freedom concludes. Here’s Attack on Titan’s ending, explained in detail.
RELATED: Attack on Titan Confirms Anime Ending Change: All You Need to Know
What Happened in Attack on Titan's Ending?
The Survey Corps soldiers, along with Reiner, Pieck, and Onyankopon, arrive at Fort Salta, where the Founding Titan continues to advance with a husk of Zeke Yeager’s Beast Titan.
Armin Arlert, who’s now the Commander of the Survey Corps, orders everyone to target the Beast Titan and put all their power into stopping him, and most importantly, the rumbling.
Chapter 3: The Battle of Heaven and Earth Recap
Reiner and Pieck transform into titans, while the Survey Corps has a hard time landing on top of the Founding Titan. Onyankopon regains control of the flying boat, while Armin remarks that he wants to ask Eren a question.
As Ymir watches from the sidelines, the Armored Titan kills off the Beast Titan’s husk, making Armin realize that Zeke was using the same method as the War Hammer Titan to hide himself.
Armin plans to blast Eren’s pile of bones apart to find Zeke while the others get clear. But before he can do anything, husks of former titan shifters made by Ymir appear, and a titan that looks like an Okapi takes him away.
The former titan shifters overwhelm the allied soldiers, while Levi believes that Armin was taken far behind with countless titan shifters blocking their path.
Levi plans to act as bait before Mikasa charges off, but Pieck argues that the Founding Titan’s powers can resurrect an unlimited number of former titan shifters.
Pieck’s Jaw Titan swiftly makes its way above the Founding Titan’s skeletal nape in her attempt to finish everything. Mikasa screams for Pieck to wait, but the husk of the War Hammer Titan stabs Pieck from behind with a huge fork-like weapon.
Levi affirms that they will all die if they never retrieve Armin, seeing how Jean could’ve died from the Jaw Titan’s sudden attack and how Reiner’s Armored Titan struggles against their enemies.
Armin feels like he’s going to die from suffocation inside the Founding Titan’s tailbone. He realizes that it’s not Eren who wants to kill humans but Ymir who wants to slaughter humanity. He sees Bertholdt in tears, and all of a sudden, a husk of the Colossal Titan beheads the Armored Titan.
Everyone is on the brink of death because of their busted ODM gear and lack of thunder spears. Reiner is barely hanging onto Jean, while Levi injures his leg to protect an unconscious Conny.
Mikasa draws the attention of the enemies, but Annie and Gabi arrive on top of Falco’s flying Jaw Titan form. Annie reveals that the Azumabito ship sank because it couldn’t withstand Falco’s titan transformation. Kiyomi and Yelena are fine.
Levi suggests splitting into two teams: the first one goes to Armin, while the second one tries to blast the Founding Titan’s nape since they no longer have the luxury to worry about Eren, much to Mikasa’s dismay.
Mikasa painfully agrees with Levi’s plan, with Annie asking her to focus on rescuing Armin instead of worrying about Eren.
The Eldians, led by Mr. Leonheart, try to seek treatment from the Marleyan soldiers, but to no avail. Secretary Muller appears with a gun in his hand, and a gunshot is heard three times before the scene cuts back to the allied soldiers.
It was later revealed that Muller emptied his gun into the air, which stopped the fighting between the Marleyan soldiers and the Eldians. Muller and Mr. Leonhart also agreed to start working together.
Reiner and Jean move according to plan, while Pieck transforms into the Cart Titan as many times as she can to support them.
On the other hand, Annie transforms into the Female Titan to corner the Okapi and rescue Armin with support from Conny and Mikasa. Gabi wants to use her rifle on top of Falco, while Levi worries about fighting Zeke in his condition.
Armin forces his body to move, knowing that the rumbling continues to flatten the earth, killing thousands of innocent lives, including his comrades. He is within the Paths, where Zeke takes his time molding sand.
Chapter 4: A Long Dream Recap
Zeke narrates the events that led to where they are today, including the truth about the founder, Ymir, and the Paths, where death is non-existent. Unlike Eren, Zeke failed to understand Ymir, and so she sided with Eren.
Armin asks for a way to stop Eren, but Zeke says that he doesn’t know if it’s possible. Besides, Zeke is not interested in the meaningless activities of life as long as the calamity of fear exists.
Armin argues that they can still save some humans from fear, but Zeke responds that living means dying eventually. Armin finds a baseball and a dry leaf on the sand, which reminds Zeke of some of the smallest things that make him happy and content with life.
As the former titan shifters, such as Bertholdt, Marcel, Ksaver, Grisha, Ymir, and Galliard, appeared in the paths, their titan husks started to help Mikasa, Jean, and the others, much to everyone’s surprise. Mikasa takes this chance to hit the Okapi, and Armin is saved.
Zeke calls Levi’s attention after he awakens their comrades in the Paths, where there’s no life or death.
Armin explains that all Eldians are connected via the Paths because the founder, Ymir, is seeking connection or something that’s within them. Armin also revealed that they asked for everyone’s help in the Paths.
Levi beheaded Zeke, who had a change of heart. He doesn’t mind being reincarnated again as long as he can play catch with Ksaver, something that he owes to his father, Grisha.
The rumbling stopped, and the allied soldiers began to move, particularly Jean, who blasted the Founding Titan’s nape. Reiner holds the hallucinogenic-like creature from reaching Eren’s head again while everyone evacuates due to the Colossal Titan’s impending explosion.
Armin’s Colossal Titan causes an explosion, while Historia gives birth to her child. As the smoke clears, the Founding Titan’s bones are scattered on the ground, which gives the impression that Eren is finally dead.
While Gabi, Pieck, Annie, and Falco reunite with their family, Eren transforms into a titan again after his head connects with the glowing creature. Levi bluntly tells everyone that they need to target Eren himself, or else their nightmare will not be over.
Without a warning, the glowing creature releases vapor, which turns everyone into titans, while Levi, Mikasa, Reiner, Falco, Pieck, and Annie head to where Eren is.
The Armored Titan, Cart Titan, and Female Titan desperately hold the glowing creature, while Connie, Jean, and everyone who’s been turned into a titan attack them. Mikasa’s head continues to ache as her desire to go home with Eren grows stronger.
In a cabin somewhere, Mikasa wakes up from a dream and finds Eren in front of her. Mikasa shares that she had a long dream, and it was weird that she felt like she shouldn’t be with Eren.
Eren informs Mikasa that they have cast everything aside to run away to their own place. He also reveals that he couldn’t bring genocide upon all humanity outside the island, which is why he wanted Mikasa to live with him peacefully in his last four years of life.
Eren also asked Mikasa to throw away her red scarf once he’s dead so she can forget about him.
Mikasa apologizes, and the episode cuts back to the grim and brutal battlefield again. This time, Mikasa is more than determined to finish everything, as she asks everyone’s help to lead her to Eren, who’s inside the Titan’s mouth.
Thanks to everyone’s efforts, Mikasa bitterly reunites with Eren and beheads him. Mikasa kisses Eren’s head and says that she’ll see him later, while the founder, Ymir, watches from behind.
Final Chapter Recap: Toward the Tree on That Hill
A younger Armin talks with Eren in their usual hangout within the walls. He understands that all he did was for the sake of the future he saw with the Attack Titan ability, but he complains about him being beaten up badly.
Eren apologizes, saying that he left himself to be carried away after doing everything he could to push Mikasa and Armin away. Armin says that Eren should apologize to Mikasa instead, and not to him.
Armin remarks that Eren made them into heroes who killed him and saved humanity from annihilation. Eren agrees, saying that every surviving human now owes them a debt of gratitude, which would make them the most respected individuals in the world.
As Eren took Armin to places they wanted to go, he also told him about the founder's life story. The power of the titans continued to exist because Ymir kept on following King Fritz’s orders because she loved him even after 2,000 years.
Ymir suffered so much as she waited for someone to release her, and that person was Mikasa. It was Mikasa because she kept Eren moving forward to reach for freedom.
Eren also revealed that the Founding Titan’s powers have no past or future since everything exists simultaneously. He was about to spill the truth about her mother’s death, but Armin stopped him.
Afterward, Armin punches Eren after talking nonsense about Mikasa. Eren starts crying after telling Armin that he doesn’t want anyone else to be with Mikasa, even after he dies, much to Armin’s surprise. He also confesses that he doesn’t want to die and leave everyone.
Armin wants to come up with new plans, but Eren says that he has killed 80% of humanity and it can’t be undone. He has tried so many times, but he was always a slave to freedom in the end, much to Armin’s horror.
Armin takes responsibility for putting the context of freedom in Eren’s head after he has shown him the book about the outside world. He says that he will wait for Eren in hell after killing 80% of humanity.
Eren erases Armin’s memory, but it all comes back to Armin after Eren is dead. Mikasa and the others also have their memories back.
As it turns out, Eren came to tell them that the outcomes of the choices they bring about through their choices are to erase the power of the titans from the world.
Levi sees a vision of her dead comrades, who gave all their hearts to humanity. Jean and Connie see Sasha for the last time, while the others hug their surviving families and friends.
Mikasa walks away from Armin to put Eren in his final resting place, while Armin declares that the titan powers are now gone after he killed Eren.
Three years after the incident, the conflict never wavered, according to Historia’s letter, with the Jaegirists leading an army of Eldians and the Marleyans wanting to fight to continue living.
Armin and the other Survey Corps soldiers who fought Eren, including Pieck, except Mikasa, became ambassadors for the global alliance to tell their story to the world.
Mikasa visits Eren’s grave with tears in her eyes. As soon as she expresses her desire to see Eren again, a white bird suddenly appears to wrap the red scarf around her neck.
As the credits roll, Paradis Island modernizes and falls into chaos once again.
In a post-apocalyptic world, a young boy wanders into the forest and finds Eren's tree resembling the same tree Ymir found before.
Want the latest on all things anime? Make sure you follow us on Twitter!
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!