“The Rumbling,” Chapter 130 of the Attack on Titan manga. CREDIT: Courtesy of the “Attack on Titan” manga written by Hajime Isayama.
By Leah Quintero Managing Editor
This article will contain spoilers for Attack on Titan The Final Season.
On Feb. 9, the official “Attack On Titan” Twitter account announced that the anime’s third part of the final season will premiere as a one-hour special in Japan on March 4. The final part of the series is scheduled to air later on in the year. In order to prepare for such a widely anticipated release, here is a rundown of what happened in parts one and two of the final arc.
The series written by Hajime Isayama follows the protagonist, Eren Yaeger, who vows to exterminate the man-eating titans roaming outside the walls of his hometown, Shinganshina after they bring death and destruction to everyone and everything he holds dear.
The first part of season four’s finale starts off in a completely unfamiliar setting and takes viewers through Marley, a nation right across the sea from Paradis, where their enemies lie in wait. The beginning episodes follow Gabi, Falco and other “Warrior Candidates” who are in consideration to inherit one of the nine original titans once their time is up.
With a plan to take over Paradis, Marley prepares for war. During a festival where they are set to publicly announce their plan, Eren and other scouts attack, mass murdering countless civilians.
One of the longest surviving scouts, Levi Ackerman, successfully subdues the beast titan. Meanwhile, Eren uses the power of the jaw titan to eat the warhammer titan after he defeats the armored titan. This gives him possession of three titans total.
As the scouts are attempting to escape on a stolen airship, Sasha Braus, a member of the scouts and one of Erens close friends, is killed by one of the warrior candidates. It’s after her death that it’s revealed Zeke Yaeger, the beast titan, sided with Paradis all along.
Conflict emerges among the civilians of Paradis, and it’s clear they can’t trust Zeke or Marley. As a result, riots arise and factions in higher ranks of the government and military are formed, creating a new type of group, the Yaegerists.
Trust is broken once again leaving Eren and Zeke to flee after some of the remaining members of the scouts unintentionally ingest titan spinal fluid, the key to creating the mindless titans Eren vowed to get rid of, and their true plan to bring peace to the nation is revealed.
Armin, Mikasa and the others uncover Eren and Zeke’s true plan: to start the Rumbling. The Rumbling would unleash the millions of titans hidden in the walls of Paradis which would destroy the world. In one last-ditch effort to save their friend and the world from imminent doom, Armin and the other Scouts begin to move.
Before Eren and Zeke, the keys to freeing the founding titans’ powers, can be stopped from coming into contact, the brothers find themselves in a place called “the paths” with the founding titan, Ymir.
It’s here that Zeke finds out Eren had actually manipulated their father to acquire the founder. He attempts to set the euthanization plan into focus, ending all civilians of Paradis for good, when Eren stops him and gives Ymir the choice to join him.
She does and the rumbling begins. In order to try and save as many people as they can from Erens destruction, those left in the scouts and those in Marley join forces to stop him and the Yaegerists in their way.
The second part ends with a flashback of Eren and the others on the shores of Marley in the hopes of forging an alliance with them. Instead, they witness Eldians from Paradis being persecuted. Eren goes missing thereafter and the following day he begins plotting to get rid of the enemy before they get rid of him.
There’s a lot to uncover for parts one and two of Attack On Titan Final Season and even more is set to come in the third installment.
