10 Years of Attack on Titan: Ending Theories

[Warning: Contains spoilers]

Something embarrassing happened while I was out with friends the other day. A friend’s boyfriend was saying how Jean’s remembering Marco at this point in time means there is now a death flag over his head, he was going to die and no one will really notice or care. So I yelled at him, “No! Shut the MFU you @$&*&%’!!!,” inside the restaurant. Now everyone thinks I’ve lost my marbles, duh!

My friend’s mad at me for yelling at her beau, and I’m mad at her for having such a dick for a boyfriend. He knows Jean’s my favorite character in AoT so whenever we meet he tries to piss me off by stating the reasons why it’s Jean’s turn to die. If that’s not a dickhead then I don’t know what is.

Anyway, we’ve been discussing (again!) the possible “bittersweet” endings of AoT and have come to a deadlock.

1. Isayama caves in to the pressure from eremika fans (especially that annoying anime director Araki) and gives the two a happy ending, along the lines of End of Evangelion movie but unlike Shinji and Asuka, who have a vague ending, Eren wraps the scarf around Mikasa again and they end up holding hands on the sand in Paths, or something like that. Everyone else is dead, except for Historia’s baby. Bitter for everyone, sweet only for eremika. (Alternative version: Eremika descend from Paths into the real world and have a baby who mates with Historia’s baby, repopulating the world.)
2. Isayama is already a millionaire many times over so he doesn’t feel the need to cave in to any pressure. He kills off everyone, except Historia’s baby and Armin+Gabi+Falco, because someone has to be left behind to narrate what happened. Armin raises the baby and she builds a new world by procreating with Gabi+Falco’s baby. In other words, Isayama grows balls and goes back to his original preferred ending: the one like the horror film The Mist. He no longer cares if 90% of his fans get mad at him. He’s got enough money now to open an onsen wonderland.
3. Isayama is in a hurry to end the manga because he’s tired of drawing and wants to move on to the live action adaptation. He gives a tropey, eye-rolling, Eren-vs-the-world/104th/veterans, Code Geass type of ending, where Eren becomes the devil/enemy so the world can unite against him. Eren dies but his ultimate sacrifice somehow results in world peace. Fans are very angry and scream rip-off. Isayama couldn’t care less because he’s already set for life.
4. All the 104th and veterans die, but thanks to their efforts in talking down Eren, the world is saved. Paradians’ ability to transform into titans has been removed by Eren/Founder Ymir before they died; Gabi & Falco find a way for the world to forgive the remaining Eldians. The pair adopt Historia’s baby.
5. Armin figures out that Eren has the ability to put all Eldians in a different plane of existence, a separate dimension. So he puts them in a world of their own, away from ordinary folk. History repeats itself there, however, with the Eldians breaking up into tribes and fighting over titan inheritance. Intra-racial war becomes the default mode of existence. It’s bittersweet because our beloved characters are alive but now they fight amongst themselves.
6. We get a The Matrix type of reveal, where the world simply resets every 2000 years because the designated savior (Eren) always makes the same decision: destroy the rest of the world except Paradis. But this time Armin convinces Eren not to make that decision. Instead he goes back in time to save Founder Ymir from her fate. The loop ends, there are no longer titans, which is sweet, but the bitter part is that the characters cease to exist.
7. We get a Guardians of the Galaxy: Infinity saga-inspired thingy. Eren is Thanos, and he destroys half the world in a misguided effort to save Eldians. Armin finds a warp in time and undoes this act of destruction, defeating Eren. He also finds out that Eren allowed himself to be defeated because he believes he’s not worthy of being god, and that his current actions are being dictated by the future Eren. Eren actually reveals to Armin how to defeat this future evil version (via the united nine titans). Or something like that. Eren dies (bitter) but everyone lives (sweet). Founder Ymir/Eren  erases the memories/power of all that have Eldian blood (half the world): they can no longer titanize and just live as ordinary folk. The non-Eldian half try to destroy them but they unite and forge a peace treaty with their enemies.
8. None of the above. The manga never ends, like in the Berserk manga. Isayama decides not to write up a decisive ending but instead goes on TV to encourage fans to write their own finale, a multiverse or alternative universe, fan-propelled kind of ad infinitum thing. The fandom blows up and descends into Evangelion-type chaos. Everyone is bitter except for Isayama, whose fat bank account is already very sweet and needs no further sweetening.
9. Armin convinces Eren not to destroy the world but instead manipulate the memories of everyone with Eldian blood, which it turns out makes up more than half of the world’s population. To keep the rest of the world from hating Eldians, Eren/Founder Titan also removes the power of Eldians to titanize. He dies in the process, because his physical body had been shot and killed by Gabi. But the surviving 104th are able to live as ordinary human beings. They still have to fend off enemies from foreign lands, but they do so as regular soldiers. It’s like our current world. Mikasa becomes an ordinary woman and lives a happy life with Jean and their kids.
10. The manga does not end in 2020. Isayama decides to take an infinite hiatus and keeps us all hanging at the edge of our seats. He tells us to wait patiently, the way Mikasa waits and waits for Eren to confess his love for her. For years and years, like the masochistic, self-flagellating person that she is.

ETA December 1, 2020 – Here’s another ending theory, one centered on the Nine Titans and the concept of the Ultimate Sacrifice. In this story, Eren is the father of Historia’s child, and the Nine Titans make a sacrifice in order to help him free this baby as well as the rest of the world. Long but worth the read, though admittedly I’m biased in saying this because I wrote it. It’s the final chapter of a seven-chapter fanfic, but may be read as a standalone piece.

So, which do you think is the most likely ending?

I’m with no. 9, of course, because it’s the one that fits my Jean Kirschtein novela.

As much as I want to be able to accurately predict the ending, I don’t think any of our “theories” above are any good. One huge part of me is still hoping Isayama comes up with something so completely original and mind-blowing we fans will worship at his feet for as long as we live. But the more realistic part of me thinks he will disappoint us all, the way that infamous Game of Thrones TV finale disappointed a lot of fans. The less you expect, the less you’ll be disappointed, doncha think?

There was that time (after Isayama revealed the last panel of the manga–the one where a man holds a baby and says “You’re free”) when I made everyone around me upset by saying I wished that man would be Jean (meaning he’s alive and saved Historia’s baby).

Everyone else had a different idea: the man’s Eren Jaeger, or Grisha or Eren Kruger or even Zeke…

Oh well.

Happy 10th Birthday, Attack on Titan manga!

Thank you so much for reading! What is YOUR ending theory? Please consider sharing a thought or two in the comment section below. Your comments give me life and are a real source of encouragement to keep up this blog. xoxo, hana

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