#aot139spoiler #AOT139 #aot139spoilers #aot

Thoughts on the final AOT chapter:

Where do I start...

At this point, I'm definitely feeling more positive than negative. I think Isayama had a lot of interesting ideas but the 1 chapter wasn't enough and the stretch of the final 15 leading up to it got messy and the execution took a big hit

I think the tight narrative and strong plotting that AoT is known for took a big hit in favor of a huge emotional payoff with eren's character. I've never had an issue with logical consistency being sacrificed for an emotional payoff but it didn't hit for many people

When I was first saw this i was like what???? This makes no sense and is weird. But I thought about it more and realized that it's a really interesting idea. Ymir is someone who hasn't really had a purpose in her life. From what was shown, she's been a slave without purpose

not really "living" and not at all free but when she gains the power of titans, she gains relevance and control. She gains a purpose and Karl Fritz gave that to her. She's someone who went from being just a slave to someone expanding an empire, creating a national infrastructure

and just doing all sorts of things that she never thought she was capable of. Her titan gave her a newfound strength and Karl Fritz molded that into a purpose for her.

The use of the word "love" is really interesting to me considering how ironic and fucked up it is

AoT has maintained the themes that love must overcome hate and human empathy is necessary to stopping the cycle of tragedy. But here we see a messe up kinda love where Ymir is shackled by it. Her love for Karl Fritz is the source of her agony

She is "bound" to Karl because she doesn't know anything else. You gotta remember that she's just a little girl who gained godlike powers and was manipulated by Karl.

I don't think she literally loved Karl but I think it was moreso that she was grateful to him for giving her

a purpose in life.

Then comes the parallel with Mikasa. Mikasa is in a position just like Ymir. She is indebted to Eren for saving her life and thus finds "purpose" and a will to live. It should be obvious what I'm getting at but Mikasa being the one to free Ymir due to their

similar circumstances was a reaally cool idea. Maybe the execution did fall short but i really liked it.

And it gets even cooler when you realize Ymir not only parallels Mikasa but also Eren, which I'll get to in a bit

I've seen people criticize this part for being open-ended. I think when you consider how similar ymir and mikasa's circumstances are, it makes sense as to why she chose her but this leads me to believe there's something more. I'm not sure yet but I'll think about it

okay this is where things get even more divisive. We have to keep in mind how time/time travel works in AoT. There's a reddit thread that explains it very well but the gist of it is:

AoT is in a fixed timeline where despite influencing the past, certain events are fixed.

Meaning, no matter what a time traveler does to change/influence the past, the circumstances will find a way to make that event happen.

Maybe this is just my interpretation but EREN DID NOT KILL HIS MOTHER!!! She was literally trapped under the rubble with broken legs so she was dead regardless of whether or not the Dina titan ate her

Yes he "influenced" the dina titan somehow to eat his mother and save berthold and I found this to be really interesting in theory. It adds a lot to Eren's character for me because it shows how futile his efforts for freedom and power were and the only thing he can do is

give his mother a mercy killing and "adjust" the past in a way that fits what he wants best. We already know that despite time travel being a thing, Eren cannot change the past nor the future. He can only influence how it happens.

Even if he didnt convince Grisha to take the FT

The FT wouldve found a way into Grisha's hands because it is a fixed point in time.

Anyway, many others have pointed out the issue of the dina titan reveal being way too messy and opening up countless plotholes.

"If eren can do this why didnt he do that?" etc etc

It's because he can't.

Eren is trapped within his destiny and the best he can do with the powers of the attack titan and founding titan is knowledge of what will happen and small influences in the past to make things happen in a way that suits him best

Yes there are still countless questions and "plotholes" but this is what happens when you include time travel in a story so it doesn't bother me too much

anyway, LMAO this panel was really good. I don't get the hate on it but I'm guessing it comes from those ppl who always saw eren as this stoic badass and didnt realize he was just putting up a front

I thought it was a really good, honest, and vulnerable moment

This moment wasn't surprising at all. Eren has always been a person who's possessive and obsessed with control. The "freedom" he talks about isn't really freedom but rather control over his oppressors. He just wants power but you can read all about that in the linkspooky analysis

i guess this is the most divisive thing in the final chapter either because people are taking it at face value (WHICH IS STUPID AF) or people don't like the interpretation of it

I think it drives in the point that Eren is an ironic tragedy of a character who was a slave to fate

and despite his lofty ideals of "freedom", he never really had it. In the end, his motivations are blurry even to himself because he's overwhelmed with the time-transcendent knowledge

Going back to the founder Ymir, you guys GOTTA remember that both ymir and eren are children who gained godlike power. Eren was never this mastermind character who was pulling all the strings and changing the timelines and shit. He was just a dumb, emotional kid who hated how

the world is and then gained insight into the future and realized that no matter how much he fights, he cannot change anything. So the best he can do is protect his friends.

AoT is about the cycle of violence, war, genocide, so many important topics but that's not eren is about

this wording is atrocious LMAO like cmon...

I get the sentiment though. It's not "thank you for committing mass murder" but rather "thank you for shouldering all the responsibility and suffering so much on your own for your friend's sake"

Armin didn't thank Eren for doing what he did but understood that Eren had no choice. The rumbling is a fixed event in time and if it has to happen, Eren decided it'll happen this way.

And I think that's brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!

Eren has had countless moments of powerlessness and hates the lack of control over his life. So the one time he DOES have it, he chooses to become the person hated by the world to give those he cares about a chance to protect themselves.

He wasn't trying to save the world or destroy it. He just knew the rumbling was going to happen no matter what and decided to make it happen in a way he wanted it to and shoulder the responsibility so no one else will

I don't wanna spend too much time complaining since other people have done it for me but to sum it up: i knew this was coming but poor/rushed execution

LEVI FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOAT. THIS MADE ME TEAR UP AHHHHHHFSRTGEYHRJGMJKYUTJYRHTEGRWESF

I liked and disliked this for several reasons. Dark pretty much explained why it sucks but I wanna add that im GLAD the conflict didn't just end here

do you guys know how shit it wouldve been if eren committed fuckin genocide and things magically became peaceful??? implying that genocide was the solution??? no way man

Eren's conquest essentially being futile was great because it showed that violence is never the answer. This air of "peace" is what naturally followed when 80% of the world dies. It was actually nice to see that things weren't solved that easily but that people still have to work

to fix things.

On that note, I really don't get ppl being disappointed by Isayama not answering the question of how to end the cycle of violence? Is there an answer? How the hell is Isayama supposed to know lmao

AoT was a story to explore these issues in an intelligent, nuanced way that shows both sides of the conflict. Not answer an eternal question

But AoT was also a story about Eren who didn't have an answer either. He was just a dumbass kid who did something morally reprehensible

quick side note: this was pretty cool. might be looking too much into this but its a visual symbol of the end of a generation, the end of a fight, and the beginning of a new generation better equipped to take on the cycle of violence and tragedy

I don't have anything new to add about the epilogue stuff. I stopped caring about Reiner long ago but it was nice to see the characters.

This page made my heart happy and I think that's important

In summary: I liked some things and disliked some things. Isayama had cool ideas but they fell short execution wise and I totally get why people dislike/hate the ending. It doesn't ruin the series for me but it was def not as good as it couldve been

I could complain more about stuff but I didnt wanna add to the negative stuff on the tl and I didnt wanna turn this into an "i told you so" kinda thing regarding how messy paths/founder titan stuff is soooo yeah