With Attack on Titan's final manga chapter fast approaching, fans have been theorizing about what the end result will be. Will their favorite character make it? Will the titans be erased from the world? Will Levi clean something? The world cannot wait another month to find out the answers to these important questions.
With speculative fans posting their theories, the Internet has seen some crazy predictions. Some of the theories seem to be too good not to be true. Then there are other theories... Theories so bad that if they end up being true, they might wind up breaking the Internet harder than if the Game of Thrones ending married Mass Effect's. The following theories must be taken with a grain of salt, as they are all speculative, and there will be heavy spoilers for the manga and anime if you aren't fully caught up. Be warned.
10 Perfect: Eren Is Uniting The World To Hate Him
Since Eren transformed into his new Titan form and released the Wall Titans, everything seems to be up in the air for our characters. His old squad is now actively fighting to stop him along with former enemies. This world-ending event Eren has let loose is bringing people together that just a few chapters ago, were at each other's throats.
It would be interesting to see that Eren's final plan is to sacrifice himself to be the ultimate big bad for everyone to unite under. The only problem with this theory is that we've seen the ending before in other stories; notably Watchmen.
9 Bad: The Wall Titans Are Titan Shifters
This has been a theory that has been tossed around for a while now. It didn't even die down in some message boards after it was revealed how the Titans actually work. Knowing that there can only be nine Titan shifters at a time and they each have specific abilities and hosts, devalues this theory completely.
The theory has grown into something else entirely now. Apparently the Wall Titans are shifters who are loyal to the first King of Paradis. Eren only thinks he has them under his control, but at some point, it will be revealed the big bad is once again the Reiss lineage.
8 Perfect: Everyone Misunderstands Eren's Plan
Another theory is that Eren is actually doing the most good for everyone. It could be that he is pulling an Ozymandias and pitching himself as the big bad to unite everybody or it could be another plan that brings world peace. However, some people have come to the conclusion that the scouts and their new allies will succeed in stopping him and kill him before he accomplishes his goals.
Of all of these possible endings, this one may be the most heartbreaking. Imagine the final scenes of Eren where he describes to his friends what his plan was, and they realize what they had done was doom the world. Eren dies and everyone is doomed. That certainly would fit the motifs of the story.
7 Bad: Eren Will Destroy Paradis
Eren's endgame has a lot of people on the Internet throwing all the spaghetti at the wall just to see what sticks. One such spaghetti is that Eren plans to destroy what the world fears the most: Paradis. The latest arcs in the manga revealed that some people do have sympathy for Eldians, but not those on Paradis.
What if Eren destroys Paradis and everyone on it? Problem solved, right? Yes, but Eren has much more motivation to kill everyone outside of his home instead of his friends and the people he grew up with. Even if he left the people alive and just destroyed the island, people would still fear the former inhabitants. All of this doesn't even mention the fact that the Wall Titans are currently walking away from Paradis.
6 Perfect: Eren Will Change The Past
This one would be a total game-changer. It's been established that the Attack Titan can influence the past. It's seen when he convinces Grisha to kill the Reiss family using the memory powers of the Titan. What if that isn't the full extent of the Attack Titan's powers?
There is a scene in episode 23 in the anime where Eren is flashing back at the moment from episode one where he hits the man who insults the returning scout regiment. Only this time he doesn't do it. This could be just a what-if scenario, but it feels more substantially set up. There is a possibility that Eren, using the Attack Titan's powers, could rewrite history. He could go back to not only his past but a former Attack Titan user and change an important piece of history, stopping centuries of carnage.
5 Bad: Eren Is From The Future
What if we took that last theory and really went crazy with it. Eren isn't just somebody who can travel through the past and future with nuanced memories. He has the ability to literally travel through time. He was sent back in time, Terminator-style, to stop certain events from transpiring.
While the story does have heavy elements of time travel, this theory doesn't really respect how they work. There is nothing in the show that sets up this twist, so if it were to be true it would pull the rug out from every single audience member.
4 Perfect: Mikasa Will Free Eren By Leaving Him
The series has always done well with parallels and the idea of breaking cycles. One theory would be a big pay off for the parallels and cycles of the Ackerman family. Every Ackerman we've seen has lived their life by serving someone. Levi served Erwin, Kenny served the Reisses, and Mikasa served Eren.
This theory is that Mikasa will be the one to break free from the Ackerman cycle and stop serving Eren. This will either convince Eren to stop his tirade, or she may kill him. Either way, Mikasa will end up the hero by breaking her cycle.
3 Bad: It Has A Happy Ending
After over 120 chapters of the manga, people have become very invested in our characters, and it's safe to say a lot of people want what's best for their beloved characters. They want all of our heroes to not only succeed, but to live on in a happily ever after scenario.
Let's be real. That's not how Isayama does things. Anyone who has watched or read AoT for this long should be mentally prepared for the worst outcomes. Maybe the story as a whole will have a hopeful ending, but with how things have gone in the story, it's best to assume that your favorite character won't get to see it.
2 Perfect: Gabi Will Inherit The Attack Titan
The newest character to receive a lot of attention is Gabi. She's almost assuredly being set up for something. There is evidence that she may inherit the Attack Titan. She has a lot of similarities to Eren, and her story with the Braus family is leading to something.
Isayama released a draft of the final panel of the manga. It is an unknown person holding a baby saying, "You are free." There is a theory that this is Eren speaking through Gabi to Historia's newborn baby. There is a lot of steps to get to this, but the groundwork is laid out.
1 Bad: It Was All A Dream
Dreams do play a big part in the series. The first images we see are of Eren's fever dream of the future. There is a possibility that Eren is still having that dream right now. The theory posits that everything we have seen in the show has been a dream and the last moments will be of Eren waking up. It's possible.
Come on! Imagine if this is the ending. This would be the most controversially bad ending to a great story full stop. The 'it was all just a dream' trope will drive everybody up the wall. If this is Isayama's vision for the end, surely someone stopped him. Right?