Attack on Titan Ending Explained: Eren, Mikasa, Ymir

Last checked: September 23, 2026 against the official anime site (shingeki.tv), the official Niconico channel's episode list, Anime News Network, Crunchyroll and JustWatch's US listings.

Full spoilers follow for the manga and the anime ending. Events are stated as canon. Anything interpretive is marked Our read.

Key facts

Checked on September 23, 2026. The Japanese episode titles for 88–94 come from the official Niconico channel. The English translations are ours:

What happens to each character at the end?

Eren dies when Mikasa beheads him inside his Titan. Mikasa survives, buries him under the tree near Shiganshina and lives out her life on Paradis. Armin, Annie, Reiner, Jean, Connie and Pieck lose their Titan powers and, three years later, sail to Paradis as peace envoys. Ymir is freed, and the Titans disappear.

How does the final battle unfold?

In eight steps: Armin turns Zeke in the Paths, Levi kills Zeke and the Wall Titans stop, Eren fights on while nearby Eldians are turned into Titans, Mikasa shares a private farewell vision with Eren, she kills him, the Titan power ends, the envoys sail three years later, and an epilogue spans centuries at the grave.

1. Armin reaches Zeke in the Paths. He reminds Zeke why a simple game of catch meant something to him. Zeke changes his mind, and the spirits of past Titan inheritors turn on Eren to help the Alliance.
2. Levi kills Zeke. Levi finally keeps his promise to kill Zeke. Without Zeke's royal blood the Wall Titans stop, according to episode 93's official synopsis.
3. The fight isn't over. Eren fights on as a Titan, and the creature that is the source of Titan power releases a gas that turns nearby Eldians, including Jean and Connie, into Titans. The Alliance has to fight its own friends.
4. Mikasa gets her private farewell. In a quiet vision, she and Eren live together in a cabin, a life they never had. He asks her to forget him. She says she can't.
5. Mikasa kills Eren. She reaches his real body inside the Titan's mouth, beheads him and kisses him. Ymir is shown watching.
6. The Titan power ends. The Titans turn back into people, the shifters lose their powers, and the source of Titan power is gone.
7. Three years later, the envoys sail for Paradis while Mikasa stays by Eren's grave.
8. The epilogue. Across decades, a city grows around the grave, war reduces it to rubble, the tree grows huge, and finally a boy and his dog walk toward it.

Why did Eren start the Rumbling?

Eren gives Armin four reasons and never reduces them to one: to protect Paradis and his friends, to set up the choice only Mikasa could make, because he genuinely wanted to flatten the outside world, and because the Founder's power showed him a future he felt unable to change.

In his last conversation with Armin, Eren gives several reasons and never boils them down to one:

• To protect his friends and Paradis. Wiping out most of the outside world leaves Paradis time before anyone can retaliate. He also sets things up so the friends who stop him are seen as the world's saviors, which gives them standing to negotiate.
• To reach Mikasa's choice. He knows the Titan power ends with her, but he admits he doesn't fully understand why.
• Because he wanted to. He admits he wanted to flatten everything beyond the walls, a desire tied to how different the real outside world turned out to be from the one in Armin's book.
• Because he felt trapped by what he'd seen. The Founder's power scrambles past, present and future for him. The ending also reveals that Eren himself sent the Smiling Titan toward his own mother, the event that started his story.

Our read: The ending deliberately stops Eren's plan from reading as a noble sacrifice. He protects the people he loves, but he also admits to wanting the destruction, and 80% of humanity pays for both. It also explains why the anime rewrote Armin's side of their last conversation so that he judges what Eren did more plainly.

Why was Mikasa the one Ymir needed?

Canon says only this: Eren tells Armin that Ymir stayed attached to King Fritz for 2,000 years and that Mikasa was the person who could free her. Mikasa kills the man she loves, Ymir watches, and the Titans disappear. The story never explains the mechanism, so anything more is interpretation.

Our read: Ymir kept serving the king who enslaved her, even after her death. Mikasa shows her another way: she still loves Eren, but she refuses to let that love excuse the slaughter. The story never spells out the mechanism, meaning why Mikasa specifically, or why this act breaks the system, so any explanation beyond that parallel is inference.

What does the final tree mean?

Canon shows the tree over Eren's grave growing for centuries while Paradis becomes a modern city, is destroyed by war, and a boy and his dog finally approach a tree resembling the one where Ymir found the Titan power. Nothing confirms the Titans return; no Titan appears and the boy never enters the tree.

Canon (added in the volume 34 extra pages, also in the anime): the tree over Eren's grave keeps growing through the centuries. Paradis becomes a modern city, war later destroys it, and in the end a boy and his dog approach a tree that looks like the one where Ymir first found the source of Titan power.

Our read: the tree marks the passing of time and keeps Eren's memory alive, and the resemblance to Ymir's tree leaves open the possibility that the same power could come back. It is not a confirmed sequel hook. There is also a difference: Ymir reached her tree alone and hunted, while this boy arrives calmly with a companion. The epilogue also never says who destroyed the city or why, only that fighting eventually returned.

How do the manga, anime and THE LAST ATTACK differ?

All three tell the same ending. Volume 34 added epilogue pages beyond chapter 139's magazine version; the anime rewrote the final Eren and Armin conversation so Armin confronts the massacre directly, a change Hajime Isayama personally storyboarded; and THE LAST ATTACK re-edits the two specials into one 145-minute film with a short post-credits scene.

• Manga: chapter 139 in the magazine ended around Mikasa at the grave. Volume 34 added the pages covering the long epilogue, Mikasa's later life, the destruction of the city and the boy with the dog.
• Anime: the same events and the same epilogue. The clearest change is the final Eren and Armin conversation, which is rewritten so that Armin confronts the massacre more directly and shares the responsibility, instead of the manga line in which he appears to thank Eren. Before Special 2 aired, creator Hajime Isayama said he had personally redrawn a small part of the storyboard toward the end at his own request, and Anime News Network reported that the anime finale would differ "a little" from the manga.
• THE LAST ATTACK: the same ending, re-edited from the two specials into one film with polished footage and new sound. The main addition is a short post-credits scene based on the comedic School Caste spinoff, which doesn't change the ending.

Where can you watch the ending in the US?

Crunchyroll streams the whole series including both Final Chapters specials, subtitled and dubbed, plus THE LAST ATTACK. Hulu also lists the series on JustWatch as of September 23, 2026, Netflix does not carry it in the US, and Prime Video and the Apple TV store sell it digitally.

• Crunchyroll streams the whole series, including The Final Chapters Special 1 and Special 2 in Japanese with subtitles and in the English dub, plus THE LAST ATTACK.
• Hulu also carries the series, according to JustWatch's US listing on September 23, 2026. Check Hulu's app before subscribing specifically for the Final Chapters.
• Buy digitally: Amazon Prime Video and the Apple TV store sell the series.
• Netflix: not listed for the US on JustWatch as of September 23, 2026.

To watch it in order: Final Season Part 2 ends with episode 87. Next come Special 1 and Special 2 (or episodes 88–94 where the episode version is offered). THE LAST ATTACK is the same story, so watch it instead of the two specials, not after them. For costs across services, see our anime streaming service comparison and the legal anime viewing guide.

For another finale where events and interpretation need to be kept apart, see the Evangelion ending explained and the Jujutsu Kaisen ending explained.

Frequently asked questions

Did Eren wipe out 80% of humanity?

Yes. The official synopsis of episode 94 states the battle ended after 80% of humanity was destroyed by the Rumbling. The march stopped when Levi killed Zeke, and Eren died when Mikasa beheaded him.

What happened to Armin after Eren died?

Armin regained his memories of the Paths conversations, including Eren's motives, and lost his Colossal Titan when the Titan power vanished. Three years later he sailed to Paradis with Annie, Reiner, Jean, Connie and Pieck as a peace envoy from the outside world.

What is the true ending of Attack on Titan?

There is only one ending. Mikasa kills Eren, the Rumbling stops, the Titans disappear, and an epilogue follows the tree over Eren's grave for generations until a boy and his dog approach it. The manga (chapter 139 and volume 34), the anime and THE LAST ATTACK all tell it; the anime only rewrites the final Eren and Armin conversation.

Why did Eren become evil at the end?

Eren never calls himself evil, and the story avoids a single motive. He tells Armin he wanted to protect Paradis and his friends, to set up Mikasa's choice, that he genuinely wanted to flatten the outside world, and that the Founder's power made the future feel fixed. The ending treats the Rumbling as a massacre he chose, not a noble sacrifice.

Is THE LAST ATTACK a different ending?

No. It is the two Final Chapters specials re-edited into one 145-minute film, with a short comedic post-credits scene added.

Update log

• September 24, 2026: question headings with direct answers, key-facts table, and FAQ questions taken from Google's People Also Ask. No facts changed.