I want to share some of my thoughts about the final panel which was shown last year. A lot ppl thinking the man holding a baby could be Eren or Grisha, but what if it's actually someone else? What if it's Zeke? (1/24)

let's take a closer look at this panel. The man tells the baby that is free (you're free). The pronoun from the "you're" is written in japanese as "omae" and is often used as a impolitely form of you're, which is often used by boys. That's what the text bubble saying. (2/24)

we can see a man with shoulder long hair and a parting fringe, but we can also see on the jawline a beard - or I'm just blind but if we look at Grisha, he doesn't have a full face beard on his jawline. He's just having a goatee on his chin and a mustache (3/24)

if we take a look on Eren. He has the same bodybuild of the man from the last panel, but his hair is a little bit too long currently and he doesn't have a beard. He doesn't have a fringe unlike Grisha or Zeke, he has just a simple middle parting. (4/24)

I doubt that there would be another timeskip by the end of the manga and from how Eren is looking right now in his titan, I'll think he will not survive this. He's literally just a head on a huge spine how can he make it out alive? (5/24)

So, this makes my Zeke theory more possible. How? Let me explain. Zeke has the similar bodybuild like Eren from the back and both of them are on the same height by being 183 cm tall. A coincedence? I doubt it. (6/24)

Zeke has the same fringe like Grisha and has a full face beard unlike his father. We still don't know yet what exactly happened to Zeke after Eren activated the rumbling, but his long absence make it suspecious that he has still an important part to play. (7/24)

the fact that we don't know how Zeke looks like is suspicious as well. We saw him in chapter 119 with his short hair but when Eren entered the path realm we see him with shoulder long hair. Maybe it's not that relevant, but I want to mention that. (8/24)

About what I was saying earlier that Zeke could play a key role for the end of the story. In the path realm Grisha apologized to Zeke and shows his remorse and beg him to stop Eren. If the rumbling "can't" be stopped anymore than Isayama could have finished his manga (9/24)

months ago by let everyone die from the consequences of the rumbling and only concetrate on the questions which are still left, but he doesn't does this, right? So that means there is still a chance that the rumbling can be stopped? (10/24)

another thing we know about the final panel is that during the documentary Isayama was probably talking about the man who's holding the baby by surpassing the(ir) father. It starts with "they" instead of "he", so Isayama keeps everything still ambiguous (11/24)

by using "they" and "their" that means the father who will get surpassed has more than one child because it's used as a plural and not singular person. I wonder who Isayama means, tho

surpassed father - Grisha
they/their - Zeke or/and Eren
(12/24)

why Zeke and not Eren? Like I mentioned above I'll think Eren could end up dying. I can't see any redemption for him and for him to get saved could be already too late. Even if the rumbling can be stopped without killing Eren the damage is already done and who would (13/24)

forgive him for erasing humanity outside the walls and killing billions of innocents? I think the only way to stop the rumbling is to kill Eren. Either that or Eren will succeed, which I'm doubting as well. (14/24)

for Zeke it's only reasonable/logical for being the man of the final panel if
1.) Eren's the father of this child, which would make Zeke to the uncle of his baby since he's Eren's older half-brother
2.) Levi's giving up on violence
(15/24)

3.) Zeke getting a redemption after his father words
(16/24)

tbh, I personally think that every story needs a "moral" for the end and if we look deeply in the topic than we knew the current theme is "liberation from oppression". Isayama confirmed the theme two years ago what it is about: (17/24)

which moral would the story lead us if Eren will succeed to destroy the world? the "moral" that genocide is okay to protect your love ones? I don't think that's what Isayama want to deliver us at the end, especially if the rumbling repeats oppression against humanity (18/24)

outside the walls, that's why I think Isayama could redeem Zeke.
If we look back at Zeke's past that he was born just as being used as a "tool" instead of getting the affection he needs from his parents that could be one of the options to surpass the father (19/24)

Zeke telling his niece/nephew that it's free by not using any future childrens as a "tool" would be very meaningful. I mean it could work for Eren of the same reasons, but like I said it's too late for him to get a redemption. He's way gone too far. (20/24)

the alliance will probably reflecting that not every Eldia on the island are devils and maybe their can be accepted, but that's another topic I doesn't want to focus right now. (21/24)

However, Zeke saw the euthanasia of Eldia as the salvation to end the suffer of his people. He followed the ideology that it would be better to not be borned into this world while Eren's believing the opposite of his ideology (22/24)

but after Grisha's apologize and that he told his son that he loved him and that he wished that he has given him in the past the affection Zeke always wanted there could be something changed with his mindset of believing to born into this world being a great thing. (23/24)

"a man who only saw the freedom in death, but starts to believe that it's a wonderful gift to be born into this world" would be a really nostalgic moral for the end of the story.(24/24)

only a friendly reminder that nobody has to agree with me and it's just a theory/thought of mine. My two cents. It's Isayama's story and I think he knows what's the best for his manga. I'm just prepare myself for every end we could get.