#AoT Theory

[luvarlertz]

the funniest thing about reiner and bertholdt's reveal in season two was that reiner basically outed the both of them even before the whole "I'm the armoured titan, he's the colossal."

when eren was helping armin up over the ledge, reiner turns to him with frustration and clearly says, in the dub, "armin, go ahead and tell eren about that time when annie nearly crushed me like an insect!" to which it then shows us a flashback from when the female titan had reiner in its grasp, about to crush him before he broke free at the last second.

reiner and bertholdt were never supposed to know about annie being the female titan—none of the scouts were told to inform them about her reveal in stohess. this is why we hear armin go quiet for a split moment before quickly whispering a small "yeah" under his breath—he had caught onto this slight mistake that reiner included in his rant, although reiner himself hadn’t noticed. more reasons as to why armin arlert should be in everyone’s top ten aot characters.

[sunflowersunite]

Alright hear me out.

Grisha arrived in Shiganshina from Marley in 832, started working as a doctor and then saved the city from an epidemic that broke out there, an event mentioned twice in the story. He saved a load of people including Carla, her parents, and Hannes' wife.

We can roughly estimate the year when that occured, keeping in mind Grisha lived in Shiganshina for 13 years, since 832. Eren was born in 835, three years after his arrival, so we can assume Grisha and Carla married in 834. With those in mind, the epidemic must have broken out in 832-833 and stopped by 834.

Here's the idea: considering the illness was limited to Shiganshina only (thus the term "epidemic" instead of "pandemic") and it broke out so soon after Grisha settled in the Walls, we can safely assume he was the cause of it. Grisha carried germs that he himself was immune to due to Marley's advanced medicine compared to Paradis. However the population of a secluded area sealed off from the outside world couldn't have possibly come in contact with them any other way and couldn't have developed immunity to them. Therefore it makes sense why the reaction to it was so serious.

So Grisha was only picking up after a problem he caused. And he couldn't even tell anyone about people outside the walls so he kept to himself that it was his fault (if he even had any suspicions about it, that is).

TLDR: Grisha Yeager is responsible for the Shiganshina epidemic he saved the city from.

[happybird16]

"We were running towards that tree on the hill... to see which one of us would get there first.."

This is just a gut feeling, but I think Armin was the last of the trio to die. He was probably the one to make sure Mikasa was buried at that tree, right by Eren's side.

[pretty-lovely-things]

Hey so I had this not so little idea about why Armin cut his hair. Of course I have no tangible arguments it's just a really awful theory that I can't get out of my head.

Soooo, in season 3 Armin has to dress up as Historia for their mission, right ? And that's when the horror begins. He gets sa'd by that scumbag. We see in his face how uncomfortable and humiliated he was, the look he gives to Jean, almost impossible to forget...

He looked like Historia, because of his soft face (and of course their similar looks but) and his long hair. Which is why he got chosen to impersonate her. The thing is the others didn't see him as manly, and manly most of the time (unfortunately) rhymes with bravery. Armin, compared to Eren or Reiner or even Jean is clearly a soft boy. And throughout the whole show, Armin depicts himself as a coward that can't defend himself.

So cutting his hair was a way of forgetting the old Armin, who couldn't fight back, couldn't find the courage to protect his friends. But most importantly, to forget the memory of his molestation. 'Hair holds memory' we say. But in season four not only his hair changes, but his eyes. Oh...his eyes ? We're not looking at a kid when we look in his eyes, we're looking at a soldier, a man. They're not innocent and pure, they've seen things, and we know what Armin goes through during the show.

So overall, he could have cut his hair to appear more manly and never be seen as a weak little thing again (kind of toxic masculinity but it's actually interesting how it can reflect the reality of a lot of boys who got told to 'toughen up' because of how they will embrace their side of feminity)

I don't even know what I'm saying I feel like I should just go to sleep but I needed to post about this and see if others could have interpreted his transformation that way. Please bear with me lol

[imparateasa]

really fucked up of Eren to hold Reiner accountable for his mothers death when he KNOWS Reiner is a DID system and wasn’t there during her death it was “Evil Reiner” who’s is in a g4g (gay 4 gay) relationship with Bibarel. THE ABIELISIM IN THIS SHOW IS ASTONISHING!!!!!

[wilddflowerrwildfire]

watching aot s1 with my dad—asked him who he thinks the female titan is and he said “definitely eren’s mom” 💀

[nikakistos]

Did Mikasa (re)marry?

Exactly three years ago, i wrote a post with the title "Mikasa will kill Eren". I haven't written a lot about AoT since then. I still keep AoT in my heart and i read news and posts about it daily. Although i do not participate that much in discussions about it, i still read what other people have to say. This is about to change. Yes, i know that the anime ended 3 months ago and i know that AoT's time in the spotlight is probably gone for good, with very few events ahead of us. In time, people will move on to other works. That is the cycle of life for fans of stories of any medium. And yet, now, more than ever, i want to start writing about AoT and my favorite characters (Mikasa, Eren etc) again. I will begin by offering my view on whether or not Mikasa married or, more accurately in my opinion, remarried after Eren's unfortunate end.

Why remarry?

Why do i use the term remarry? After all, Mikasa and Eren were never officially married. There was no ceremony, no rings, no nothing. If anything, in the physical world, the last time Mikasa and Eren spoke was when Eren told her he hated her. That is indeed true. However, Mikasa and Eren spent quite some time in the paths together (be it months, years, or a few minutes). The realm of the paths is (was) not a dream place. It wasn't something fictional. It was reality, just like Armin described it in chapter 136. It is a different dimension where time goes by very differently compared to the physical world.

Eren brought all of his friends in there to speak to them and reveal his true intentions. With Armin, he also went on a journey, visiting all the places they wanted to see. With Mikasa, after talking to her about his plan, they decided to forget it all and spend their time together. They replayed the "What am i to you" scene from chapter 123 and Mikasa chose to express her true feelings to him, while also telling him to run away together. Eren then grabbed her arm and they escaped to the mountain cabin. From the way they act towards each other, it is easy to tell that they viewed themselves as husband and wife. This is also showcased by what Mikasa wrote in Eren's tombstone. The last word is "あなた", which typically means "you" in japanese, but, when used by a spouse to her husband, it means "sweetheart, dear etc". So, it is obvious that for Mikasa, Eren was her husband and the same holds true for Eren. This means that if Mikasa were to marry, it would be her second marriage, or, at the very least, this is how it would seem to her. For all intents and purposes, Eren and Mikasa were husband and wife in the Paths and after his death, Mikasa is presented as a widow.

The extra pages and the songs

Anyone who was reading the manga during its run knows that the original ending, the one shown in the Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, had Mikasa thanking Eren for wrapping the scarf around her while the bird was flying away. The bonus pages expanded the original ending and showed Mikasa visiting Eren's grave again and again, once with a man and a newborn child, still young, and once accompanied by two couples and their young children, while old. The difference between the two is also reflected in the episodic format of the anime ending, where the bonus pages do not appear and the closing song is different. Instead of "二千年… 若しくは… 二万年後の君へ・・・", which played in the special version, the episodic format uses "いってらっしゃい".

The episodic format provides an emotional closure for the relationship between Eren and Mikasa. The lyrics of the song reveal that Mikasa wants to and believes that she will meet Eren again. The original animation of the ED song implies that Eren and Mikasa do meet again in the afterlife after Mikasa's death. They are now free to be with each other for eternity.

The special format represents the theme of "life goes on". Wars never end permanently. They are just interrupted by long periods of peace. The same applies to Mikasas' life. In the anime, Eren's grave is visited by all of his friends, exactly 3 years after his death. Exactly 11 years after his death (7 winters and 8 springs after his friends visit his grave, slow it down as much as possible and count the season changes), Mikasa visits his grave with a man and a child. This scene has 2 very popular interpretations. One is that Mikasa married someone (Jean) and had a child with him and the other one says that Mikasa remained single and virgin forever and that the kid is adopted and that the man is Armin.

Let's start with the second option. The major arguments are that (in the manga) Mikasa still covers her Hizuru tattoo with the bandages and that she she offers roses to Eren's grave and that the number of the roses signify that she never found someone else. Some people also argue that Mikasa loving someone else romantically goes against her character.

I do not agree with this interpretation. Covering her tattoo does not mean that she didn't pass it down to her children and even if she didn't pass it down, it doesn't mean she didn't have kids. Also, in the anime, the flowers she offers are not roses. I would agree that it would be out of character for Mikasa to find someone else, but only as long as Eren was alive. It would probably take her a very long time, but if the right man appeared, maybe she could fall in love again.

During Eren's crying tantrum about Mikasa to Armin, he mentioned that if she were to find someone else it should take her 10 years at least. The anime went out of its way to show Mikasa appearing with her new family, a man and a newborn kid exactly 11 years after his death. This points towards Mikasa remarrying. The anime also added a ring to her left ring finger during her funeral scene. The lyrics that play during Mikasa's visits to Eren's grave with her new family are these "時が運んだ 穏やかな日々 手向けた花のように秘めた言葉は 誰にも告げず逝く". This means that the time brought gentle days to Mikasa and she kept her feelings for Eren to her heart, with the flowers and the words on the tombstone revealing their true extent. In my opinion this showcases that Mikasa spent peaceful days with her new family, but she kept her feelings to Eren deep in her heart, as shown by her constant offering of flowers to his grave and the words she wrote in the gravestone.

For me the biggest indication that Mikasa did remarry is the fact that these scenes exist in the first place, both in the manga and in the anime. Isayama felt the need to show these images, when the Magazine ending was very open to interpretation. There would be no point to adding these scenes, only to make the ending more ambiguous. The bonus pages are there to clarify what happens to Mikasa's life and the island in the long years after Eren's death, not to muddy the waters. If Isayama wanted the ending to be completely open to interpretation, then there would be no reason for the new pages.

Why Jean?

Shipping wars are part of most fandoms and the AoT fandom is no exception. During its run, the biggest rivalry was the one between the EM and EH supporters. Now it is between EM and JK fans. EH was never a thing in the story, but the relationship between Eren and Mikasa was the most important in the story. The entirety of Attack on Titan is built based on the relationship between its male and female leads. They are the backbone of the story and without them there would be no AoT. Of course, a tragic conclusion for them hurts people. Especially when Mikasa eventually gets married to someone that, during the duration of the plot, she didn't show any interest. But, this is not really relevant. The moment Eren died, the plot pretty much ended. The plot does not follow Mikasa's healing process and family life, because it doesn't affect anything. Also, it is so far into the future that the characters involved are practically different people. Maybe in the future Isayama will show this development in a short story, like he will do with Levi in vol. 35, but, for now, this is just an additional detail that is only 3 panels long.

Even without mentioning the physical aspects of the man shown next to Mikasa, Jean, throughout the story has been presented as the "Eren-lite". He is second best to Eren and he compares himself to his "rival". He is jealous of how much Mikasa cares about Eren, he places directly under him in training, he views him as more courageous, strong and cool than him. On the other hand, Jean is presented as a mentally stable person, while Eren is not. Jean of course can never be as passionate as Eren and he can't match Eren's kindness when Eren is kind, but he could also never be as cruel as Eren. He disguises as Eren throughout the story and he is presents himself as the best successor for Eren's titan. Most importantly, Jean shares a special connection with Eren, he understands him and he loves him.

So, it is no suprise that Isayama would have him end up with Mikasa after Eren's death. There really is no one better for Mikasa. Jean is the best option if she can't be with Eren. He cared for her throughout the series, protected her once and he even tried to paint Eren in a better light after the latter offended Mikasa. He is also the only one who can understand her love for Eren and still be with her without getting jealous over the fact that she would never be able to love him as much as she loved Eren. This is something that even Jean's voice actor expressed in the recent Attack on Titan festival that celebrated the 10 years since the beginning of the anime. He felt that Jean got to be with Mikasa and he was comforting her, but he knew that he could never replace Eren in her heart. Yui Ishikawa, Mikasa's voice actress, also said that for Mikasa, no matter how many years pass and how many things she experiences throughout her long lifespan, Eren will always be the number 1 in her heart.

Does that diminish her love for Jean? Does that mean that she never truly loved Eren? No. It simply means that Mikasa fell in love again, 10 years after Eren's death, with a man who is as close to Eren as possible. Jean most likely won her over. She didn't marry him out of some desparate need to be with a man, but because she found the strength in her heart to love someone again, even if it wasn't to the same extent as before. That doesn't make her dirty or impure, like some fans want to believe. This obsession with virginity is frankly stupid. First of all, Mikasa, by the time the she remarries, is, probably not a virgin. Unless she only spent a few minutes with Eren in the world of the paths, the two of them probably did more things than just talking and fishing. Even if she were, virginity is nothing special. Mikasa marrying someone else and having kids with him does not mean Eren got cucked. It doesn't mean that Jean won against Eren Mikasa still loving Eren does not mean that Jean got cucked by a dead man, nor does it mean that he got damaged goods. These points of view are ridiculous and are only expressed by very immature individuals and/or incels. Jean is probably somewhat sad that Mikasa and Eren didn't get to live the life they wanted together and he is probably thankful to Eren for giving him the chance to live his dream life. Jean is not the type to gloat or ridicule his dead comrade, nor the type of guy to be bitter, because Mikasa loved Eren so much.

Mikasa moved forward with her life (not moved on, widows hate this term, because it is closer to forgetting your previous spouse), without ever forgetting her big love or changing her feelings for him. And in the end, after spending many decades with her new family, she passed away peacefully and reunited with her most beloved person in the world in the afterlife. For some, Mikasa reuniting with Eren in the afterlife means that she didn't remarry, because her husband should be her soulmate and if she is with Eren she didn't have a second husband. I disagree here as well. There is no information about how the afterlife works and making assumptions about it based on real world theology is dumb. People can love more than once. If your last spouse is your soulmate, then what happens to people like Grisha? The only thing we can do is go by what is shown and what is shown is that Mikasa both remarried and met Eren in the afterlife.

The same goes for those who believe that Mikasa should not meet Eren in the afterlife, because Eren is a criminal. Attack on Titan does not pass judgement to the actions of its characters that much. Of course, Eren's actions are horrific, but the entirety of the cast and the narrative tries to shift the blame to many more people than just Eren. Eren is not the only one responsible for how things turned out. All the characters sinned. Not to mention, Mikasa expressed her certainty that she would meet Eren again in the end in the final ED song and this is what is shown. Furthermore, after Mikasa's death, the lyrics that play are these "レクイエムレクイエム檜には君た花を 罪を散すなら 暁よ照らせ". This means that if sins are to be forgiven, then dawn will illuminate the flowers under the cypress. Eren's sins by the time Mikasa died have, probably, been forgiven. In any case, repeating my previous words, we can only go by what is shown and what is shown is that the two of them do reunite in the end.

What is the point of the debate?

The debate is probably meaningless. Whether or not Mikasa married does not affect the story in any way. It simply concludes Mikasa's story. Of course, this means that i wrote close to 3 thousand words for nothing, LOL. Nonetheless, i find it ridiculous that large amounts people still debate about the frankly obvious context of 1 panel. This toxic debate should have stopped long ago. What matters is that Mikasa got to live a long and happy life with a person who loved and respected her, just like Eren ultimately wanted and she then reunited with her most beloved. Sure, it hurts that we couldn't see more of Eren and Mikasa as a couple, after being introduced to them from the very first page of the story, but this is no reason to slander other parts of the fandom or the voice actors who did their best to portray these characters for over a decade. Mikasa was lucky enough to be loved so much by two men. She got to spend her time on Earth with one of them and infnity with the other. Despite all of her shortcomings and the bad luck she faced in her life, Mikasa rose stronger from each challenge and earned her happily ever after. This is what's important. In the future, we might get to see more of her family life with Jean and the time she spent with Eren in the paths and her next meeting with him.

[luvarlertz]

the way that marco had shaped jean as not just a soldier, but a person too, is something so beautiful and unique about jean’s character development—his shift in mentality from arrogance to consideration and thoughtfulness. it’s why he was able to forgive reiner.

[alcafrach]

Listen, guys, I have an insane theory

I was reading a book of Nordic myths and came across one interesting and quite well known legend. It is about Thor's journey to Utgard.

Thor and Loki (with two of their companions) were on their way to Utgard, a fortress in Jotunheim, when they met a giant, Skrymir. They continued their journey together and put their bags with food into Skrymir's. In the evening, when the travellers wanted to make something to eat, they couldn't untie giant's bag and Thor in a fit of irritation hit Skrymir with his magic hammer, Mjolnir. The giant only snored and continued to sleep peacefully. That was the first strange event on their way.

In Utgard the king of the frost giants, Utgarda-Loki, insisted that every and each guest of the fortress must show his best skills and talants. Long story short, Thir and co seemed helpless in front of the giants. I should remind that Thor spent veeeeery long time in battles with giants and smashed their heads with Mjolnir. He was known as one of the strongest (the STRONGEST, I must say) gods if Asgard. But he couldn't even raise a cat from the floor!

I immediately remembered the very beginning of the second season of "Attack on Titan" where the Beast Titan appeared. You remember that the old castle outside the wall Rose was called Utgard? The first thing to notice for me) Then the loss of the Survey Corps because of very strange titans, who seemed to be conscious (in the legend giants from Utgard were bigger than other Jotuns). Also the fact that Zeke was of royal blood (and Utgarda-Loki was the king of the Utgard's giants). And, finally, the fact that this story show us some external force beyond the control of asgardian laws. And it seemed to me sooo familiar as even id the titans are just transformed eldians from beyond-the-sea world... for soldiers who are stuck in the old fortress these titans are uncommon and more dangerous than their previous enemies

Maybe I'm just overthinking... but I'm glad to think that Isayama pur this parallel knowingly for these 10-15% of fans who will understand his ref)))

[kittyis19]

Yall I just got a conspiracy theory about aot (attack on titan) so yk how how there's nine (i think) special titans like the founding,attack,beast, etc? How they have to eat the past user to be able to switch from human to titan, or how ymir ate someone i think one of the users that was reiner and Berthold's freind, and how titans tend to have a thirst for human blood or an appetite for humans in general. From that I believe that pure titans somehow know they'd have to eat a titan shifter to revert to human form so they roam and eat as many humans as possible in an attempt to devour a titan shifter and revert to human form. Because whatever is going on in their titan form having to eat humans looking for a titan shifter to revert to human i can only imagine how bad they feel

Remember this is just an opinion and it's not well worded but I explained my theory to the best of my ability. thanks for reading!

[moonbeammochi]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN SUO MEANS TRAITOR??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY GLORIOUS KING SUO MIGHT BE A TRAITOR BECAUSE TRAITORS DON'T GET MUCH BACKSTORY UNTIL THEY'RE FOUND OUT AS TRAITORS!?!?!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT HOE???

it's the reiner and bugatti situation all over again bro 💔

nii-san I'm on yo ass hoe 🫵

[cielettosa]

fanfics, headcanons, theories, fanons and fanarts keeps a fandom alive, even after it ends

[luvarlertz]

“remember the night when we burned those bodies, jean?”

“yeah.”

“just so you know, it’s your fault that we got stuck saving humanity.”

even in their last moments, they never regretted anything they did. they never regretted joining the scouts like their fifteen-year-old selves expected them to. because if they never did, then they all would have never found each other and loved each other the way they did. that’s the beauty of growth.

[joogios]

Zeke’s 29 in s4 so he did this at 19 the age his parents were when they birthed him. And he got his Titan at 17, two years before this. Factoring in all the experimentation on his body needed to realise that he could make Pure Titans from his spinal fluid and that his scream awoke them AND that his Titans worked in moonlight oh my god they must’ve been working him like a dog.

[eldritch-sanctum]

Just a ramble I want to make about the Ackerman clan. Their origins and if they aren’t “fully human”.

An interesting way some fans described the Ackermans, is that they are “titans in human flesh.” In other words the “Power of the Titans” runs through their body without actually being titans themselves.

Curiously they are resistant to attempts to turn them into titans. Maybe because in a sense, they already are titans. Which has a lot of strange implications. The Ackermans see themselves as fully human; but what if they knew about these origins? Would they think of themselves as fully human? Would others think of them as monsters? What if when King Fritz hunted them down he accused them of being titans?

Levi would have been seen with even more fear and respect, and maybe others would speak of him as a "monster that slays monsters". Mikasa might say to Eren something like "we're both monsters" and empathize with him during the trial arc.

It would be interesting, if after Levi did drink the wine with Zeke's spinal fluid, he gained some kind of ability, or maybe his appearance became more "bestial". What if drinking the titan serum boosted their natural abilities? If they drank enough of it, they might start exhibiting more titan-like traits for awhile like regenerating limbs. Imagine Kenny accidentally drinks titan serum; he freaks out thinking he is going to become a pure titan, but instead he grows armor like an armored titan for awhile. Would have loved to see them be little freaks like that.

[ferrarininja]

So my mom has seen a handful of random episodes from season 4, but for the most part she’s going in completely blind lol

• When Mikasa saves the citizens and that little girl:

“Oh that kid’s going to grow up and become a soldier just like her, I’m calling it now”

• When that one soldier shoots himself so he doesn’t have to fight the titans:

“Hmmm… this is actually a dark show..”

(I forgot to tell her that before hand, whoops)

• everyone asking if Armin is okay after he watched Eren get eaten:

Cadets: “Omg Armin are you okay!?”

My mom: “Uh, Armin’s kinda roasted right now..”