After nearly twelve years, Attack on Titan has come to an end earlier this month. Since the first chapter released, readers had a lot of questions, and many more mysteries were introduced as time went on. This ultimately turned Attack on Titan into a convoluted manga with deep lore and a lot of fans theorizing over the questions they had.
The most important answers that fans needed were revealed in the final chapter, or before then, while some things were left for interpretation, allowing readers to continue theorizing. Even with these answers, there are some parts of the story that may confuse readers. In chronological order, the most confusing things will be explained.
SPOILERS AHEAD
10 How Were The Titans Created?
One of the first questions readers asked when the series came out was how the titans came into existence. A young girl named Ymir fell inside of a tree when she was being hunted down. At the bottom of the tree, she came into contact with the Source of All Living Matter, which turned her into the first titan. She married King Fritz, the leader of the Eldians, and the two had three children. He forced them to eat their mother after she died, allowing them to gain her abilities, and had his descendants do the same. Centuries later, a serum would be created to turn Eldians into titans without them needing to eat someone. This was the most common way that normal and abnormal titans were made, which could not shift back into people unless they ate an inheritor of one of the Nine Titans. Some Eldians also transformed by drinking Zeke's spinal fluid and hearing his scream.
9 Who Are The Nine Titans & What Are Their Powers?
The Nine Titans are some of the most powerful beings in the series, and it may be difficult to remember what each of them can do. The Founding Titan is the strongest among them and can control every titan and Eldian, both alive and dead, including the other Nine Titans. The Colossal Titan is huge, causing its transformation to be the most powerful, and it can burn those around it. The Beast Titan can turn into an animal, with each inheritor having their own, such as a gorilla or a bird. The Armored Titan has incredibly strong skin that inheritors can harden, allowing them to turn their body into a shield. The Jaw Titan is very fast and has incredibly sharp teeth and claws. The Cart Titan is also fast and doesn't get tired as soon as the other Nine Titans, allowing its inheritors to stay transformed longer. The Female Titan can absorb the powers that the other Nine Titans have and is able to summon normal and abnormal titans. The Attack Titan is a great fighter without needing experience in combat and can see into the future. The War Hammer Titan can easily create weapons, and its inheritor can control it from afar.
8 How Did Ymir Fritz Survive For Centuries?
Despite how horribly he treated her, Ymir was in love with King Fritz. When he had her by his side, he used her to defeat his enemies. Ymir sacrificed her life for King Fritz when one of them tried to murder him. However, she only died in the physical sense.
She woke up in the coordinate, where she was forced to create titans for nearly 2,000 years, being controlled by the Founding Titans that came after her. Unfortunately, this proved to be even worse than the misery she faced when she was alive in the real world as she was all on her own, waiting to be saved and finally die.
7 How Did Marley Obtain Seven Of The Nine Titans?
Karl Fritz, a descendant of Ymir's, was the king of the Eldians 100 years prior to the beginning of the series. Sickened by how the other titan shifters behaved and feeling sympathy for the Marleyans due to how they were treated for centuries, he started a war that would change the world. The Marleyans were able to take seven of the Nine Titans. The Founding Titan continued to be controlled by Karl, who brought a group of Eldians to Paradis and created the walls that they would live in for 100 years. The Tybur family helped Karl, so they were able to keep the War Hammer Titan and maintained a friendly relationship with people all around the world. The remaining Eldians that were in Marley started being treated the way their ancestors treated the Marleyans, and Eldian children, such as Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie, would become Marley's warriors, each inheriting one of the Nine Titans so they and their families could have better lives.
6 What Was Grisha's Backstory?
Eren's father, Grisha, was one of the most mysterious characters in the series until Eren, Mikasa, Hange, and Levi finally found out what was inside of his basement. He wrote down what the world beyond the walls was like, as well as his personal life before he went to Paradis. He grew up in Marley and had a little sister named Faye. As they were Eldians, they were treated terribly by the Marleyans. Faye was murdered by a Marleyan officer, causing Grisha to hate his country more than he already did. He eventually became the leader of the Eldian Restorationists with Dina Fritz, who he married. Their son, Zeke, heard that the Eldian Restorationists were close to being discovered and turned them in so he and his grandparents could live. The Marleyans sent the Eldian Restorationists to Paradis and turned all of them, except Grisha, into titans. Grisha met Keith outside the walls and pretended to not have any memories of his past. As all of this was revealed, along with there being multiple races and locations outside of the walls, it was hard for fans to keep track of all they suddenly learned.
5 How Did Kruger Know Who Mikasa & Armin Were?
The reason why Grisha wasn't turned into a normal or abnormal titan like Dina and the other Eldian Restorationists was that Eren Kruger, one of the Marleyan officers who brought them to Paradis, was the Attack Titan. He had been helping the Eldian Restorationists behind the scenes and waited until the moment was right to reveal his identity. Knowing that Grisha would be his successor, Kruger gave him his power. However, Grisha was hesitant to become a titan shifter, especially as he had just witnessed his wife and friends get transformed.
In order to convince him to become the Attack Titan, Kruger mentioned Mikasa and Armin, who weren't even born yet. Grisha asked him who they were, but Kruger didn't know. At the time, fans thought that Kruger was a time-traveling Eren Yeager, not knowing that Attack Titan inheritors could see into the future, causing this to be one of the biggest mysteries for a long time.
4 How Did Eren Become A Titan?
When Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt attacked Paradis, Grisha found the Reiss family and took the Founding Titan from Frieda. He then found Eren and injected titan serum into him, having his own son eat him. This gave Eren both the Attack and Founding Titans, though he wouldn't know it until years later. During this time, he trained as a soldier from the 104th Cadet Corps. Once he graduated, he had to fight titans in Trost District, and one of them swallowed him. However, Eren was still alive inside of the titan and as he had the desire to defeat his predators, he was able to transform. Most of the times that a titan eats a titan shifter, they will inherit that shifter's abilities, but as Eren is much more powerful than they are due to his abilities and didn't actually die upon being eaten, he became the exception to this rule.
3 How Is Falco Able To Fly?
As mentioned earlier, Zeke's spinal fluid can turn Eldians into titans if they drink it. He used this ability to turn many Eldians in Paradis into titans when Eren brought him there. One of these Eldians was Falco. However, moments after transforming, Falco ate Porco and inherited the Jaw Titan. Unlike Porco, Ymir, and Marcel, the Jaw Titans throughout the series, Falco was able to fly. It turned out that Zeke's spinal fluid gave Falco an ability that a former inheritor of the Beast Titan had, allowing him to transform into a birdlike creature. Falco even gained a memory of this former Beast Titan inheritor flying in the sky.
2 How Was Eren Able To Speak To Armin & Mikasa Without Them Knowing?
In the last two chapters of the series, Eren visited Mikasa and Armin and had a very mysterious conversation with each of them. Some parts of the conversations are up for interpretation, especially as he acts differently depending on who he's talking to. Though these interactions were shown in chapters 138 and 139, they took place before then. It turns out that as the soldiers and warriors were on their way to fight Eren, they spoke to him one last time. He told them anything that he needed to and got to say goodbye to each of them individually, before removing their memories of the encounter. When he died, he could no longer control their memories, and so they were all able to have closure, understanding why he pretended to be their enemy.
1 How Did Mikasa Get Rid Of The Titans?
Though many fans debate on how she loved him, Mikasa loved Eren more than anyone else. Because of that, it was hard for her to watch him become a devil that slaughtered thousands of people, and even as she and her friends fought against him, she didn't want to kill him. However, when the time finally came, she knew that she had to let him go in order to save the world. Ymir saw her decapitate him and, knowing that Mikasa could kill Eren despite loving him, was able to defy King Fritz and cause the titans to disappear. Without Mikasa's actions, the titans could still be around and Eren could have killed more people. She became the savior of the world and granted everyone their freedom.