#shingeki no kyojin theory

[cielettosa]

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

[eirenses]

rewatching aot with full knowledge of what are the motives of certain characters is just mind blowing. like observing reiner, annie and bertholdt in every scene just gives me such a whiplash. every single little interaction and everything they say gives the viewer clues.

isayama really planned certain scenes years ahead. like every plot twist is so well refined and thought out

[titan-desuu]

How I rewatch / reread AoT after seeing those symbolism theories

[aoehacker]

[theory] Five Year War

tldr: in alternative timeline Mid-East War was 5 years long, instead of 4.

Illustration by Hajime Isayama for 3rd anniversary of Hita's museum opening.

As you can see, it is an alternative timeline where Reiner and Berthold decided to join forces of Paradis (+Marco is alive). As for the reasons... this theory is not about why Reiner joined Paradis, but I will point out some foreshadowing.

chapter 108 - nice foreshadowing: Porco is looking down on Reiner, and calls him traitor.

chapter 46 - foreshadowing of Reiner becoming a soldier.

chapters 15 and 96 - obvious contradiction; in different timelines Reiner had different experience.

chapters 40, 47 and 95 - obvious contradiction; but I'm not sure how it impacted Reiner's personality; I didn't find any clues that could explain his different behavior shown in chapter 15. Also, Ymir has consistent devil ears in 40 and 47, but in 95 she has normal ears.

chapter 93 - Porco mentions the moment, when contradiction starts.

Alright, enough with Reiner acting different. Let's talk about the war!

chapter 108 - 4 year war, 4 years ago Anti-Marleyan Volunteers

If you are not aware, Isayama is constantly switching back and forth between multiple timelines in his story and trying to present it like it was all a single timeline. It is very easy to spot in artistic choices by WIT. In another cases, you will have to look for contradictions in dialogue. I suggest you read u/Ellen_Yevner theories if you want to be convinced about constant switch of narratives.

So, in essence: every single panel of manga and every single cut of anime can be a completely different timeline. The above image (ch108) is another example of that.

First panel shows Reiner and says that Zeke planned raid on Marley for four years.

Third panel doesn't show Reiner, and says that Zeke snuck Anti-Marleyan Volunteers four years ago.

chapter 90 - waited through winter

Of course it makes absolutely no sense! It was clearly shown in the story, that after battle for Shiganshina, Paradis waited through winter, before they went to explore the southern port, where Marley turned Eldians into Titans. And Paradis came into contact with Anti-Marleyan Volunteers by ambushing them on the sea.

In my opinion, no matter which timeline it is, the earliest Paradis could have met Anti-Marleyan Volunteers is one year after battle for Shiganshina (because they have to clean up the Titans first).

With above assumption in mind, and with the hint from Isayama about Reiner and Berthold joining Paradis, we can conclude that there exists an alternative timeline, where Mid-East War was fought for five years (in this post, I will refer to it as Timeline 2).

Because Reiner & Freckled Ymir didn't return to Marley, Marley would only have Zeke and Pieck. That will surely restrict them in their war efforts, and they would be much more cautious, which would prolong the war for one more year.

chapter 93 - Zeke has 1 year left; ships started missing 3 years ago

In Timeline 2 Zeke would have 0 years left, by the way.

"Alright, but is that it? So what if they fought for five years, instead of four? What does it matter?" I hear you ask.

Well, it does matter! Because what Paradis lacks the most? Time!

Here are some examples of Isayama re-iterating the lack of time for Paradis:

chapter 106

chapter 107

chapter 108

It also matters from strategical perspective, when it comes to The War for Paradis arc.

chapter 108 - Reiner; Zeke has 1 year left; Global Alliance will attack in 6 months

What would change in Timeline 2, if Zeke has 0 years left?

Reiner proposed to attack immediately, because he didn't want to give Zeke time to prepare any plans (because he still has 1 year left).

If Zeke had 0 years left, (we have to remember, that in Timeline 2 Reiner joined Paradis) Magath decision would probably be conservative - to wait for Global Alliance to form and attack in six months.

Although, it is hard to predict. Magath may also think why Zeke even escaped to Paradis, even though he has 0 years left.

From one perspective, Paradis will only gain a mediocre Titan.

From another perspective, Magath may question why raid on Liberio (with the intention of evacuating Zeke) was done in the first place, and what are the future plans of Paradis.

Magath could conclude that they are plotting something, but it is debatable whether he will make a surprise attack. Porco won't propose anything hasty, because in chapter 95 he was described as someone who follows orders.

chapter 118 - Reiner is described as the main reason, why Marley attacked so early.

chapter 118 - sounds very contradicting; isn't Global Alliance not formed yet? Isn't there like still 5 months before they all come together?

So, from above images, without Reiner pushing the decision, I'd say that in Timeline 2 Marley would attack together with Global Alliance, presumably in 6 months (we can't be 100% sure that it will still take 6 months in Timeline 2).

[authenticleviackerman]

The takes I see on Levi on TikTok, not showing emotion ≠ not feeling emotions like other people. What Levi does isn't stoicism. It's emotional numbness caused by shutting down emotions in order to survive and not go insane.

Also to clarify, stoicism doesn't equal not feeling emotions, but rather accepting things as they are without outbursts of anger or hatred towards other people, life or even oneself. Levi isn't really an example of that.

[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.

[moonspirit]

Man, talking about Rod Reiss' titan and the whole serum fight is making me miss the years before the manga ended when there were whole pages worth of theories on titan lore and stuff :<

[fishblush]

JeanMarco Week - Day 5: Soulmates

"The Red Thread of Fate... [originates] from Chinese mythology. It is commonly thought of as an invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation as they are their one true love."

Marco cosplayer (me) uses they/them pronouns & the Jean cosplayer (my husband) uses he/they

[ukeshik]

I have one Edith by AOT, which makes me goosebumps and almost hysterical every time.

And now I'm thinking about the whole story.

What if Eren Kruger came to see the airship on purpose? Because I saw that it was Eren Jaeger who had to finish everything. Did Kruger come there on purpose to meet Grisha and his sister, and deliberately killed his sister so that Grisha would hate Marley and take the road that was needed, just because Kruger saw it in his memories of the future?

Maybe someone has already talked about it, but now I'm really thinking about it. And I feel bad about it. It's horrible.

[starshower1215]

Another [Popular] Thought: Asexual Levi

No, he is not a sex god, he is a thirty— now forty— year old virgin. But I imagine this is related to his fastidious need for cleanliness and, therefore, his past. He seems to take it upon himself to make the deaths of his comrades matter, and it was mentioned (I think) that Levi thought Kenny left him because he wasn't good enough, so we can vaguely assume that, despite his no-regrets mindset, he is in part trying to wash his hands of the metaphorical blood of his comrades, who he was not able to save. Redemption, almost? So maybe he is trying to maintain some sense of purity (I am losing my train of thought), and this subconscious desire transfers a bit into his external actions. Well, I've officially lost my train of thought, but I am posting anyway because why not?

It could also be that he just does not like physical touch much, and then one day, when Hange explained to him all about the bacteria and germs that are exchanged via kissing, Levi firmly decided, "Not for me."

And I know asexuality is not a trauma-induced trait, it is that his lack of sexual interest can be seen in ways that relate to the word (???).

[briebysabs]

It’s so odd seeing that so manga readers were upset with the post-credits scene meanwhile for me, it was arguably the best part of the finale. Except maybe the baby scene, that was so heartbreaking to watch. That is what made this conclusion an Attack on Titan ending. The story didn’t lose itself and maintained what it’s been about from day one. It could’ve been done a somewhat better but the more I reflect on the end, the more I do like it.

Because of course the world will inevitably enter war. Eren didn’t change humanity, he shrunk the population and got rid of Titans. That is literally it.

“Oh well that’s why Eren should’ve done a 100% rumbling.” Then Paradis would grow in size, repopulate what’s left, and eventually go to war against each other. What happened was the most logical outcome. For all we know that may have happened and the conflict we see in the far future had no correlation to Paradis’ past whatsoever.

I have seen reasonable criticism for what could’ve been adjusted or added in which I understand or agree. But I believe a lot, not all, of the irrational hate the ending originally got stemmed from two sides. One side wanted Eren to fully eradicate everything and saw him as this chad, edgelord who appealed to their toxic fantasies. Another side wanted a happy fairytale ending that had peace reign and pain finally vanished.

In the end, something more grey happened and neither got what they wanted.

[happybird16]

Ackerman are strong and resilient, built to withstand and survive in even the worst conditions. We’ve seen that multiple times throughout the series, in Mikasa, Levi and even Kenny.

So, why then did Kuchel die so easily? Such a sweet, strong lady taken down by some seemingly random disease? Despite being trapped in the Underground, selling her body to survive, she had to have been powerful and imposing just like all the other members of her family. Why didn’t the power flowing through her veins, like it does her brother and son, not help her fight and survive?

By all means it should’ve right? But, what if Ackerman’s are uniquely susceptible to this particular disease?

We know that, at some point, there was a plague within the walls. That some non-described unnamed very deadly disease wiped out thousands of Eldians within the walls and that the king at the time had to use his power to warp his subjects, to make them immune to said disease.

We also know that the Ackerman family is uniquely immune to the effects of the kings powers. They can’t get their memories wiped like every other Eldian and, theoretically, they can’t be turned into Titans.

So, what if, Ackerman’s can’t be effected by the king’s biological decree’s as well? What if what Kuchel had caught, what had eventually taken her down slowly and gruesomely, was that very plague? That they weren’t effected by the king’s decree for immunity from that extremely deadly disease.

Some sort of deadly sexually transmitted disease by my estimate, -given that Levi didn’t get sick in the room with her- passed on to her by her customers. They’re all immune, but some still carry it with them, one eventually passing it on to her. Painfully taking her from her son far too early. Something only Ackerman’s can even get anymore, her very strength ending up her weakness.

(Yes, this theory implies that, should Zeke’s sterilization plan have gone through, both Levi and Mikasa wouldn’t have been affected.)

[thegirlinthecher]

OMG was Ymir having feelings for Historia as the royal family, some kind of horrible parallel to Ymir the founder having feelings for Asshole Fritz?

[teenitrash]

Another sad AOT post (WARNING: It's kind of long because of the pictures :)). I saw a bunch of TikToks and Tumblr posts about random sad AOT facts and then I thought about some of the ones I saw a little more, and I realised something so damn ironic and sad.

Majority of the main characters who died never achieved their goal or desires, regardless of how trivial it was:

Eren never achieved freedom for himself and was rather a slave to it. He also never got to live his life in peace with Mikasa and Armin like he wanted

Sasha never got to see her people take back their island from the titans (and those who hated Eldians) and farm for more cattle like she wanted. Even after Paradis became "independent" and the titans disappeared, she had to fight in the Survey Corps until she died

Hange never got to see a flying titan and never got to properly ride on the Cart Titan's back

Erwin never got to the basement and never found out the secret of the titans

Petra never got to marry Levi (regardless of who you ship with Petra or Levi in AOT, it is canon that she liked him)

Bertholdt never confessed his feelings to Annie and never got to date her like he wanted

Ymir never got to marry Historia

Hannes never got to avenge Eren's mother, Carla, because he was eaten by the same titan who ate her

Kenny Ackerman never obtained the power of the Founding Titan like he wanted and never got to see the world the way Uri did

Keith Shadis never got to become a hero or "someone special." As the watchers, we can think of him as a hero who sacrificed himself to help humanity, but in the show itself, no one will remember his name because they didn't even know he was on the boat and they didn't know he helped them before they left the port.

Zeke never got to experience life after he finally felt that he wanted to live again. He had a very late realisation of this, but it still counts. After Armin reminded him in the Paths about why we as humans continue to live, he decided that he wanted to live again after reminiscing about his time with Mr Ksaver. Levi killed him before he could

Compared to all the characters who lived and either achieved their goal or never really had goals in the first place, it just makes me so sad thinking about the irony of it all. All those who died, morally grey or not, never got to achieve their dreams because of their circumstances and the cruel world they were born into. Isayama when I catch you

[authenticleviackerman]

Are there any AOT fandom claims that sit wrong with you? I'd like to make posts about what I think about people's opinions or theories ^-^

[lenok993]

VOW/CURSE ~ Eren’s respawn ~ Time loop ~ AOE foreshadowing