Note: This article contains spoilers for the possible end of the Attack on Titan manga through the latest chapter, 136. If you do not want to be spoiled or you have not read the manga, do not continue reading this article.
Many have speculated on how Attack on Titan will end. Will it be a Code Geass–type ending? A Death Note-type ending? Eren has already destroyed most of the world via The Rumbling. Will Eren finally break the cycle, as has been hinted at throughout the story? We’re going to go through clues scattered throughout the manga and the anime and give you our thoughts on how the story will end. If anything, it won’t be predictable, as Hajime Isayama is a master of subverting expectations, though in a good way.
To You, 2,000 Years From Now
The title of the first episode of the anime and the first chapter of the manga is titled “To You, 2,000 Years From Now.” Eren wakes up from what he says felt like the longest dream, has visions of what is yet to come, is crying, and even asks Mikasa why her hair is long. The last part is important, as Mikasa has very short hair in the last portion of the story. Is Eren truly having visions from further in the future than we are lead to believe, and how is this possible? The special ability of the Attack Titan is to see memories of the future. This is confirmed in chapter 121 but hinted at throughout the story. The title is also significant because the title is mirrored by chapter 122, “From You, 2,000 Years Ago.” It is possible that Eren is receiving these memories through PATHS via the Coordinate, which connects all the Subjects of Ymir and possibly goes back to Ymir, the founder, herself.
Eren Kruger
Eren Kruger may not be in the manga/anime for very long, but his legacy is everlasting. He is Grisha’s predecessor as the Attack Titan and the scenes between Grisha and Kruger are some of the most important in the series. Yet at the same time, it’s unclear whether it’s actually Kruger talking, or Eren. One of the most important quotes here is where Kruger/Eren describe PATHS and the Founding Titan. The scene is intercut with Eren and Kruger talking, and at the end cuts to Eren’s perspective talking to Grisha. Who is really talking here? Is it Eren? Is Eren really referring to himself, as the “Inheritor” who said they saw paths, as he does later in the manga when he goes to the PATHS world?
“Those who inherit the power of the Nine Titans perish in 13 years. I inherited this power 13 years ago. The Owl called it “The Curse of Ymir.” The founder Ymir lived that long after her powers awakened, so it’s only appropriate we live that long, too.
If one possessing the power of the Nine Titans dies without passing it on, the power is inherited by a baby yet to be born by a Subject of Ymir. It’s as if all the Subjects of Ymir are connected by something we can’t see. One inheritor said they saw paths. The blood and bones that form a Titan, and at times, even memories and thoughts are sent through those paths. All the paths cross at a single coordinate. In other words, that’s…. (Eren and Kruger in unison) the Founding Titan. Every single subject of Ymir is connected to that single coordinate.“
Kruger also echoes what Eren tells his father when he hesitates to kill the Reiss family in chapter 121.
“Stand. Fight! For the sake of restoring freedom and dignity to Eldia stand! …You can’t look. Can’t stand. Can’t fight. Have you no balls? Did Marley castrate you? …The main reason I picked you was because you left the walls that day. That day, if you hadn’t taken your little sister and gone past the walls, you would’ve taken over your father’s clinic, your sister may have grown up, married, and even had children. But you did go outside the walls. Ever since the first day I kicked a patriot off this wall, ever since that day you took your sister outside the walls, we must push forward until the price of our actions is paid. Even in death and even after death. This is a story that you began, is it not?”
Now, this begs yet another question. Is this Eren speaking through Kruger, manipulating his father into helping him attain the Attack Titan from the beginning? Is Eren the mastermind of everything? This is unclear and may never be answered, but it poses a very interesting question.
This next quote is almost just as important and is echoed by Grisha in the second episode of the anime. Yet there’s more to it than that, and we get context. We know that Kruger somehow knows about Armin and Mikasa due to the Attack Titan’s unique ability to see the future, but, there’s something even more interesting here that points to a possible time loop, as referenced earlier.
“If you can’t do that, it’ll only repeat. The same history… The same mistakes… Over and over. To save Mikasa, Armin, and everyone else, you must see it through.
Mikasa? Armin? Who is that?
Who knows? I’m not sure. Whose memories are those?”
This is probably the most important exchange in all of Attack on Titan. The same history, the same mistakes, over and over? It could be interpreted that this simply means “history will repeat itself” in a metaphorical way, but this is not where I think Isayama is going with this, especially given PATHS and how Eren was able to influence the past in the PATHS world. He’s even able to pass memories down to previous inheritors, such as his father, which is confirmed in chapter 121. It’s shown at certain points that Eren truly feels for the people he’s trampling. He sees two boys he knows will die during The Rumbling in a later chapter during a flashback and feels regret. But Eren keeps moving forward. He’s doing what he’s doing because, like Reiner, he’s trying to save the world. How The Rumbling ties into a possible time loop, we don’t know yet. But in Chapter 136, Armin, like Zeke, has been consumed by Ymir and is trapped in the PATHS world. So we know that the PATH world will play a pertinent part in the ending of Attack on Titan.
From You, 2,000 Years Ago
We now only have 3 chapters left in Attack on Titan, as the manga will end in April. Just how Attack on Titan will end is anyone’s guess at this point, but, we’ve laid out a pretty solid case that clues have been scattered throughout the manga and anime that point to a time loop. The same history is repeating itself, over and over again, and it’s up to Eren to break this loop and finally attain “freedom.” In fact, Isayama revealed the final panel of the manga, which shows a man with long-ish hair holding a baby, saying, “You are free.”
This could be Grisha holding a baby Eren, but that’s merely speculation on our point. Regardless, the ending is sure to be unpredictable, as that is how Hajime Isayama operates. Attack on Titan is one of, if not the greatest manga and anime of all-time, and the ending is sure to be divisive, but will also act as one of the greatest endings of all-time. We predict that in the Attack on Titan ending, Eren will use the Founding Titan, after a confrontation with Ymir, and finally break free of her shackles and reset the Curse of Ymir, and finally attain freedom for all Eldians. To do this though, he’s had to sacrifice his soul, much like Erwin. Attack on Titan will end with Eren finally being free, with his friends’ lives saved.
We’ll have to see in April if we’re correct about the end of Attack on Titan.