The decade-long saga known as Attack on Titan culminated in its 139th chapter in April 2021, bringing the battle between humans and Titans. The story's conclusion continues to be hotly debated by its fans, with a few appreciating the final chapter for its poignant moments and others complaining about the lack of critical plot information.
As such, there are several questions left for readers/viewers who have followed Eren's journey all the way to the bitter end. Most of them revolve around unexplained powers, vague backstories, and ambiguous motivations. More importantly, a few of these questions are so crucial that their answers could have changed the course of the narrative.
10 What Is The Shining Centipede, Exactly?
The Source of All Living Matter, informally referred to as The Shining Centipede, is first revealed in a two millennium-old flashback detailing the birth of Titan powers. Ymir Fritz accidentally encounters this "organism" when she falls into a deep pit (?) at the base of a tree.
She is instantly turned into the first Titan, and ultimately causes genocide and destruction on a massive scale under the orders of King Fritz. This creature is clearly sentient, seeing as it actively attempts to protect itself from Reiner's attack by converting a nearby crowd of humans into Pure Titans. The Shining Centipede apparently disappears after Eren's death, but there is no clarity on what it is or how it evolves in the first place.
9 How Does It Get Its Power?
The Shining Centipede, according to Zeke Yaeger, manifests the existential terror exhibited by Ymir Fritz after she's enslaved by the Eldians, which is why it grants her a body that is invulnerable to damage.
The question, however, is how this entity gets its power, let alone how it can be so easily transferred to human beings. At the end of the manga, the Source of All Living Matter is little more than a weakly fleshed-out deus ex machina, because it basically invalidates natural laws pertaining to the conservation of energy and matter.
8 Why Is Ymir Chosen To Be The Founding Titan?
Another point that bears mentioning is the selection of Ymir Fritz as the Founding Titan. When the terrified child falls into the embrace of the Shining Centipede, it automatically combines with her in an instant.
Does this mean that anyone who encounters this creature would experience an identical fate? Is Ymir special in some way, perhaps in terms of her lineage or innate powers? Currently, it seems like the only factor involved is pure coincidence —which is possible, of course, but there are several other options left open.
7 Are Titans Living Creatures?
Titan biology has stumped human scientists for centuries: they are enormous, but they weigh very little relative to their size. They perform roles like eating, moving around, and, occasionally, express themselves with spoken words.
All of these features strongly suggest that Titans are living beings —they even generate heat from within their bodies like warm-blooded animals and employ solar radiation as their source of power like plants. On the other hand, they don't breathe, excrete, reproduce, or respond to physical stimuli, all of which are pretty much essential aspects of life as we know it. The jury's still out.
6 Where Exactly Do The Eight Titans Originate From?
Upon Ymir Fritz's death, the King orders their children, Sheena, Rose, and Maria, to consume their mother so that the Power of the Titans will always remain under the control of the Eldians.
Over several generations, the Founding Titan in Ymir is inexplicably fragmented into eight others: the Armored, Colossal, Cart, Jaw, War Hammer, Female, Beast, and Attack Titans. The Founding Titan retains its overall authority over its offshoots, but the only fact known about them is that they were given to various Eldian noble families.
5 How Does The World Recover From The Rumbling?
Eren triggers The Rumbling, ending the lives of over 80% of the world's population and preventing the survivors from waging wars of vengeance against Paradis. Three years after Eren's death, however, it is revealed that Armin, Reiner, Jean, Connie, Pieck, and Annie are part of a peace mission on behalf of the rest of the world to Paradis, which has developed a militaristic government.
Is it possible that the horrifying deaths of such an overwhelming majority of people didn't seriously affect national economies, militaries, industries, and so on? Three years for global recovery is just pushing it.
4 What Does Levi End Up Doing?
Levi's final act in battle is opening up Eren's Colossal Titan mouth for Mikasa to enter and finish the dreaded task. After this, he calmly watches the goings-on and imagines his dead friends congratulating him on a job well done (Levi expresses his gratitude towards them, of course).
In the flash-forward, Levi is shown living in Marley with Falco Grice and Gabi Braun, who seemingly take care of him now that he's in a wheelchair. Is this really the last readers see of the magnificent captain of the Scout Regiment? It feels neither fitting nor fair to leave Levi's story hanging in the air like that.
3 What Does Ymir The Founder Really Want?
Ymir Fritz spends two thousand years trapped in the Coordinate, an alternate dimension that connects every Eldian to each other and to the Founding Titan. Eren mentions that Ymir wants to be freed from the yoke of love, from her unbreakable bond towards King Fritz, a tyrant who treats her like little more than a tool.
After Mikasa kills Eren, Ymir smiles and disappears forever, taking with her the Titan curse that had haunted the world for centuries. The issue is that the exact nature of her desires is unclear, given that they are expressed second-hand through Eren (who is himself very confused about the whole situation).
2 Who Actually Kills Eren?
Based on what actually happens, Mikasa is officially responsible for Eren's death when she cuts off his head embedded in the Colossus Titan's throat. However, after the dust of the battle settles, the heroes find themselves at the mercy of the Marleyan military once again.
Armin explains that the Eldians mean no harm, certainly not after the Power of the Titans has vanished from the world. He informs Secretary Muller that he is "Armin Arlert, an Eldian from the island of Paradis" and "the man who killed Eren Yaeger, the Attack Titan." Perhaps it's his way of sharing the burden with Mikasa, or maybe it means something else entirely.
1 Is Eren Truly Dead?
Mikasa and Armin weep over their beloved friend before she tells Armin of her plans to bury Eren beneath his favorite nap tree near their home district of Shiganshina. When Mikasa revisits the grave in the flash-forward, she has an impromptu conversation with Eren and starts tearing up.
This is when a bird suddenly appears and wraps her scarf around her neck much like he used to. Mikasa expresses her gratitude, concluding the manga with a rather ambiguous statement: "Thank you for wrapping this scarf around me, Eren."