Attack on Titan’s status as a legendary manga and anime may be unquestionably set in stone, but that didn’t stop it from having a surprisingly divisive finale. Depending on who's asked, Chapter 139 “Toward the Tree on That Hill” was either a masterpiece in long-form storytelling, or one of the most disappointing flops in recent memory.

The finale rubbed some the wrong way, whether it was because of the clumsy political implications, the unanswered questions, or unresolved character arcs. While it wasn't the worst conclusion to a manga in history, Attack on Titan’s ending will surely inspire debates for years on end, but not for the expected reasons.

Updated on November 27, 2023, by Angelo Delos Trinos & Ajay Aravind: After a long wait, Attack on Titan's conclusive anime arc came back in Attack on Titan: The Final Chapters. The anime has adapted the manga's last chapters, but with some major changes. As such, this list has been updated to reflect on the manga's original polarizing finale one more time.

10 Not All The Dead Got Closure

A Couple Of The Characters Were Missing In The Closing Moments

During The Rumbling’s closing moments, some of the deceased Survey Corps made brief returns to bid their friends farewell. This was bittersweet for both the Alliance and readers. Seeing the likes of Sasha and Levi’s entire squad one last time was touching. However, dead characters who arguably left a bigger impact were nowhere in sight.

Specifically, Marco and Ymir were missing. Their deaths nearly drove Jean and Historia, respectively, into despair. Whether they were alive or dead, Marco and Ymir (who was clearly in love with Historia) still greatly affected the plot and other characters. Their absences were missed opportunities that only attracted more negative attention over time.

9 Ymir Started The Rumbling Because Of Love

Her Romantic Connection To Her Abuser Is Questionable

The tragedy of the founder Ymir was that in death, she was still chained to King Fritz’s will. However, the final chapter revealed Ymir continued to give Eldians the Titans’ powers as per the king’s demands because she apparently still loved him. Eren admitted he didn't get it, but this was Ymir’s way of showing affection for the king who exploited and abused her.

A common interpretation of this was that Ymir was waiting for someone in a similar position as hers to break free of the cycle. This was the incredibly popular Mikasa who, despite loving Eren, killed him. This inspired Ymir to break free, as seen in how she erased the Titans’ powers. That this was portrayed as romantic felt questionable to many readers.

8 Undoing The Titans’ Shifting Undermined The Tragedy

Jean, Connie, And Gabi Are Only Temporary Titans

In the penultimate chapter, the impossibly powerful Founding Titan turned surrounding Eldians into Pure Titans as reinforcements. Among those shifted were Jean, Connie, Gabi, and more. As sad as this was, this was par for Attack on Titan’s course. Whatever tragedy this could've elicited was abruptly undone by Eren at the last second.

In-universe, this implied that Eren could’ve saved many Eldians (Connie’s village, those who drank Zeke’s wine, etc.) at any time, but chose not to. As a plot beat, Eren devalued the manga’s signature bleakness. Eren eradicating the Titans’ powers and fan-favorite characters regaining their humanity are nice, but together, they led to a jarringly saccharine ending.

7 Eren’s Masterplan Was Terrible

The Rumbling Turned Paradis Into A Global Target

To free Edlia, Eren killed 80% of all life. He did so in such a way that only the Alliance could stop him. This, in turn, redeemed the “Demons of Eldia” to the world since they were the selfless heroes who stopped The Rumbling. The Rumbling would also theoretically scare the world away from Eldia. That said, this was a horrible plan.

Instead of leaving Eldia alone, the surviving nations turned it into a target. Eren, thinking he could end eons-long wars and prejudice through a single act of intimidation, was too naive. All Eren really did was justify an already hostile world’s fear and hatred of Eldia. Eren’s plan didn’t just backfire; it made things worse.

6 Leaving Everything In Armin’s Hands Was Too Risky

Armin Barely Managed To Accomplish His Missions

As a contingency plan, Eren deferred the rest to Armin. Eren believed Armin — the smartest person he knew and his closest friend — could broker peace and a place in the global community for Eldia. To say that Armin had an uphill battle, especially in light of Eren using what amounted to a superweapon, was an understatement.

While it’s nice that Eren trusted and respected his childhood friend, leaving the future of an entire nation in one person's hands was too risky. Realistically, even someone as smart and verbose as Armin couldn't talk down a post-Rumbling world from blowing up Eldia in anger. This was unfortunately proven true by the epilogue.

5 Mass Murderers Were Forgiven Too Easily

It's Not Heroic (Or Antiheroic) To Massacre 80% Of The World

After listening to Eren’s justifications, Armin thanked him for becoming a mass murderer. This was meant to endear Eren to readers, but after killing most of mankind, sympathy was the last thing he deserved. Eren being a monstrous antihero was acceptable, but him being easily forgiven and even valorized was not.

Conversely, Annie and Reiner got new leases on life only after they did everything they could to atone for their atrocities and sins. When compared to Annie and Reiner or even the equally culpable Bertholdt and Zeke (whose death was unsatisfying), Eren only got a slap on the wrist for ending the world and driving humanity to extinction.

4 Eren Didn’t Need A Last-Minute Redemption

He Could Have Just As Easily Died A Villain

At the final arc’s start, readers both feared and lauded Eren’s villainous turn. Many loved how Eren devolved from an edgier take on the typical hot-blooded shonen hero to an unstoppably determined monster. Fans viewed this as a gutsy deconstruction. Unfortunately, this praise didn’t last, since the final chapter revealed it was a ruse.

Eren’s villainy was a front, and his atrocities — including killing his mother — were motivated by secretly good intentions. This wasn't bad or wrong writing, but it’s unnecessary. Besides deflating Eren’s terror, this robbed the finale of a clear stance. This refusal to commit to Eren's evil or dark heroism ruined whatever legacy he could've had.

3 Eren Doesn't Actually Understand Freedom

Freedom Is By Definition Universal And Belongs To Everyone

Since the beginning, Eren has been driven by freedom. Whether it was freedom from the Titans’ terror or freedom from a hateful world, Eren did everything for its sake. The final chapter revealed that through The Paths, Eren planted the idea of “freedom” in himself when he was born. However, Eren gave himself a very simplistic understanding of the concept.

As Eren said in Chapter 121: “If someone will take my freedom, I won't hesitate to take theirs.” Basically, Eren was willing to commit global genocide for his self-centered freedom. If Eren was depicted as a villain, this would make sense. However, since he’s Eldia’s savior, Eren's self-centered ideology was inexplicably depicted as heroic and just.

2 The Finale Canonized A Militaristic Subtext

Paradis Takes A Deep Dive Into Jingoistic Fascism

One of the most enduring criticisms of Attack on Titan was how it can be read as an endorsement of fascism. The defense claimed that the manga was a deconstruction of such politics. Case in point, Eldia’s militarism was a fragile, dead-ended last resort. However, this reasoning fell apart after the last chapter.

Fearing global retaliation, Eldia becomes a fascist state. A militaristic solution was almost always the only answer in the manga, and the finale cemented this problematic constant. In other stories, a country turning militaristic meant things went terribly wrong. Meanwhile, it’s a cross of self-defense and a necessary evil in Attack on Titan.

1 The Overall Message Is Fatalistic

Eren Should Have Taken The Path Of Peace Instead Of War

Despite the characters' determination and themes of fighting against the odds, Attack on Titan's divisive closing message was ironically pessimistic. War and hatred are inevitable, so people should anticipate it at every turn. While these exist in reality, they’re things Eren could literally fix or even erase from existence in a few seconds.

Instead of using his powers to arrange things to lead to the most peaceful outcome, Eren begrudgingly started The Rumbling because that’s what his "fate" said. For all his talk of freedom, Eren was too defeatist and myopic to imagine a truly free world. Not helping was how the manga framed this as a self-fulfilling prophecy rather than an avoidable one.