Attack on Titan has trudged into the realm of climax. The upcoming fourth season has been established as its final installment within the series, and the manga is estimated to end this year.
As the series is winding up its narrative for an exciting showdown — the question of its ending looms into existence. Will Attack on Titan have a happy ending?
1. Article Highlights
Hajime Isayama has abandoned his original plan of a traumatizing ending for a more pleasant or less traumatizing one.
The final panel of a man holding a baby and telling him, “you are free” seems to coincide with this plan. It is unknown what the cost for a pleasant ending is.
2. What is Iseyama’s Original Ending?
Hajime Isayama has revealed in previous interviews that the manga has evolved throughout the years as he keeps adding new elements to it.
But the most substantial evolution of the manga comes from Isayama’s original plan for the ending. He discloses that his editor didn’t allow the story to be published without an end in mind.
Originally, Attack on Titan’s ending was meant to be a traumatizing one. Isayama states that there were changes in the original plan due to the monumental support the series gained after its release.
His abandonment of the original plans may not be an indicator of a happy ending. Still, it is likely to move away from a traumatic one.
It is unclear whether Attack on Titan will have a happy ending since nothing is set in stone in terms of the plot progression.
As per our theory, the series’ nihilistic undertones are likely to prevent an overall happy ending and would settle on a bittersweet one.
3. Attack on Titan’s Final Panel
In 2018, Isayama revealed a rough sketch of the final panel of the manga during a documentary.
The panel, etches a tender scene where a man — with his back towards us — is holding a baby with a text of him telling the child that he is free. To be exact, it translates to “you are free.”
The context of the line is unknown, yet Attack on Titan fans went wild with their theories on Twitter and Reddit in response. The baby’s distinguishable eyebrows were not lost on fans — ones that were eerily similar to Eren’s.
This led to two main theories that people have failed to debunk in the past two years.
One in which they claim that the panel is a flashback of Grisha telling Eren that he is free. According to fans, this climax is the one where Eren dies trying to achieve freedom, and in turn, his death brings freedom to the world.
The other theory is that man is Eren himself, and he is holding his child after creating a free world.
Both theories seem to suggest a melancholic ending to the story. They both establish that a free world has been created at the end. Still, the cost of this freedom — be it Eren’s death or the elimination of non-Eldians — is saddening. As they say, freedom comes at a price.
4. About Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. Kodansha publishes it in the Bessatsu Shonen Magazine.
The manga began serialization on September 9th, 2009, and continues to date with 30 tankōbom formats.
Attack on Titan follows humanity settled within three concentric walls to protect themselves from the terrifying titans that prey on them. Eren Yeager is a young boy that believes that a caged life is similar to that of cattle and aspires to go beyond the walls one day, just like his heroes, the Survey Corps. Yet the emergence of a deadly Titan unleashes chaos.
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