Attack on Titan RECAP: Full Series before the Final Episode

Welcome to the Man of Recaps, this is Attack on Titan: full series recap before the final part 100 years ago, the Titans appeared. They’re naked, creepy looking, man eating giants that hunted humans almost to extinction. But some survivors managed to build enormous walls, and the walls work extremely well, they're way taller than any Titan. So for the last hundred years, humanity's had a relatively peaceful, happy existence. But some people are not happy, like our main character, Eren Yeager, wh

o hates that humanity is penned in here like cattle! Eren is a real angry kid who likes to yell a lot. His best friend Armin is a smart kid who likes to cry a lot. And their other best friend Mikasa is the strong silent type who's there to keep Aaron in line. One day everything changes when a Colossal Titan appears! This thing is taller than the walls and it kicks open the gate, letting the Titans inside. It is a slaughter. And Eren watches as his mom is devoured by a titan. His hometown of Shig

anshina is destroyed, but the interior gate is still intact. Until another abnormal Titan appears, this one an Armored Titan. And oh, it charges the gate, BOOM! Bursts it wide open! Now the Titans are flooding into Wall Maria, and the entire outer ring, the bulk of humanity's land, is lost. Eren Yeager vows revenge, he's going to kill all the Titans, “Every last one!” So as soon as he's old enough Eren joins the military, along with his best friends Armin and Mikasa. And he meets some new best f

riends among the other recruits. There's Connie who's bald, Sasha who's hungry, and Jean, who's kind of cocky, becomes Eren's rival. Now the humans fight Titans in a super cool way, using ODM gear, omni directional mobility units, that shoot out grappling hooks and let them fly around. You got to get up high because the Titans’ only weakness is at the nape of their neck. Pretty soon Eren's training is almost complete, But just then, the Colossal Titan appears again! But this time Eren Yeager is

ready to fight back. He gets up there ready to take this thing out... But just as quickly as it appeared, it vanishes! What is going on here? But before it left, it destroyed the gate so now titans are pouring in. And it's up to our group of recruits to fight them off! It's time for their first epic fight against the Titans, but OH! Titans look kind of silly, but they are way faster and stronger. It's not a fight, it's a massacre. Armin is about to be eaten - well, there he goes. But oh! Eren gr

abs him and gets him to safety. How is he going to get out of this one? Well, he doesn't, he’s swallowed. Maybe he's not the main character? With Eren out of the picture, his friend Mikasa takes the spotlight. She is by far the best in the class, she's a titan killing natural. Until her ODM gear runs out of gas, Then things are looking bleak. But wait, what's this? One Titan attacks the other! And now it's his turn for a Titan killing rampage, all right! When he's finally defeated, something ver

y strange happens... At the nape of his neck is Eren Yeager! What is going on?! It might have something to do with his father, Grisha Yeager, Who five years ago gave him a mysterious injection and the key to his secret basement. But that will remain a mystery for the next 50 episodes. Eren figures out he can transform by drawing blood like biting himself, So boom! He's a Titan again! He grabs a big old boulder and uses it to plug the gate. So this time, humanity has stood its ground! So now Eren

Yeager is given over to Commander Erwin of the Scout Regiment, who’s just a real smart good guy. And once they officially graduate, all of Eren's friends join the Scouts too. The strongest of the Scouts is Captain Levi, who is an absolute Titan killing machine. And the smartest of the Scouts is Hanje, who’s the scientist type, trying to figure out what Titans even are. So pretty soon it's time for their first mission into Titan country. But today a new abnormal Titan shows up, the Female Titan!

So now Eren transforms too, and it's a Titan fight! But she has the ability to harden certain parts of her body, and oh! Beats Eren handily. Now one of their friends and fellow recruits is Annie. And, I don't want to jump to conclusions, but she looks exactly like the Female Titan. They lead her into a trap, but it doesn't work, and she transforms again. It's Titan Fight round two! And his time Eren takes her down. We might finally get some answers. But something unexpected happens, she hardens

into a crystal shell. And that's where she stays the rest of the series. So in season two, Titans appear within the walls! But where did they even come from? The walls were not breached. But now our gang is surrounded. With them this time are Ymir and Christa, Ymir's a real tough gal, and Christa’s real nice. And Ymir has a huge crush on Christa, She's like, “Hey girl, I love ya, sorry about this secret...” She leaps off the tower and cuts herself... Yes Ymir can turn into a Titan too! How many

people can turn into Titans?! What is going on?! Ymir’s Titan is a weird little gremlin one, And when she comes to, hopefully we'll finally get some answers. We do solve one mystery of where those Titans came from. It seems like they started at Connie's hometown, and one of them is still stuck there. And there's just no denying it, that Titan is... Connie's mom! Yes it seems that all Titans are people! Blagh!!! But how and why was that village transformed? Well it might have something to do wit

h the new abnormal they saw. They name him the Beast Titan, but he didn't stick around - more on him later. So now, after their latest brush with death, Our one friend Reiner has had enough. He's like, “Yo Eren, me and Bertholdt are undercover Titans” “on a secret mission to capture you,” “so just come with us now and we'll stop all the fighting.” Um, wait... What?! Yes our friend Reiner is the armored Titan, and Bertoldt is the Colossal! So they get him and are out of there. Soon they have to s

top for rest though, And by the way, anyone with Titan powers can regenerate any injury. It'd be nice if we finally got some answers on where these two came from and what's going on, But they don't say nothing. They brought Ymir with them, too, though she wasn’t “with” them, And she's not saying much either. We do get a vague part of her story. For reasons unknown she was turned into a Titan, which was for many years a waking nightmare. But she stumbled upon Reiner and Bertholdt and Annie’s unde

rcover crew, and ate their fourth friend. And apparently if a normal Titan eats someone who has a Titan transformation power, they turn back to human and now get that power. Anyway the scouts catch up to them so it's a big old chase with a bunch of normal titans following. But now Reiner's chucking other Titans at them, it turns into a whole mess. And Eren Yeager comes face to face with the Titan that ate his mother! He tries to transform, but he doesn't have the strength yet, so he goes to just

punch this thing, and oh! It actually works? Something unexpected has happened, For reasons unknown, Eren can now control other Titans! What is going on?! Eren doesn't keep his Titan controlling power, it only worked that once. So once again, we're left with more questions than answers. So season three begins with an unresolved mystery from the start of season two... There are Titans in inside the walls! The high priest of the Wall religion seems to know something about it, But now he dies unde

r mysterious circumstances, smells like a government cover up. Indeed, the powers that be have decided the Scouts are getting too close to the truth. So for a while our crew has got to go into hiding as fugitives. And hunting them is an incredibly skilled fighter, It's Kenny, Kenny the Ripper. He and his crew use ODM gear with guns, specifically trained to fight other humans. But they're still no match for Captain Levi. Kenny himself though, is a match for Levi, in fact Levi is his nephew that h

e raised in the under city until one day he got bored and left. Turns out Kenny and Levi are both Ackermans, who for a long time were the bodyguards of the King. Something in their genes make them incredibly strong fighters, which is why they're so much better than everyone else. And guess who else’s last name is Ackerman, it’s Mikasa. Yes it's not by chance she's that skilled, it's in her blood. So now the government is going to execute Commander Erwin and disband the Scouts. But the rest of th

e military's like, “Yeah, nah, you guys are clearly corrupt.” They have a little coup and the scouts names are cleared. But Eren Yeager was captured, along with Christa - why her? Well turns out her real name is Historia Rice. She's a secret daughter of Lord Rice, who turns out, is the true royal family. So Eren's chained up in a weird crystal cavern, and we actually finally get some answers! The royal family has the power of the Founding Titan, or, “The Coordinate,” which lets them control othe

r Titans. That's how the original King Fritz built the walls 100 years ago, they're made out of hardened Titans. So for generations, this Founding Titan has been passed down through the royal bloodline. You inject yourself with the thing, turn into a Titan, eat your ancestor, and boom, you're the new king. But five years ago, Eren's father Grisha Yeager crashed the ceremony, and somehow he had the power to turn into a Titan. They had a Titan fight but Eren's dad won, and ate the Founding Titan,

taking the power for himself. Then he injected young Eren, who turned into a Titan and ate his dad, and now had the power of both those Titans. “Historia, you've got to turn into a Titan, eat your friend Eren,” “and get the Founding Titan back in the royal bloodline.” So that sounds nice, time to save the world, But Historia realizes the hole in the story. If the royal family had this power for a hundred years, why did they never use it to stop the Titans? Well, turns out, along with the Foundin

g Titan, Comes the memories of the original King Fritz. And whoever gets it never explains why, but is like, “Oh yeah, nah, we got to stay within the walls.” So it becomes clear her dad does not have humanity's best interest at heart, he just wants to hold on to power. And Historia is like, “Oh hell nah,” “time to break the cycle and free humanity from the God King's rule!” Now a desperate Lord Rice licks the Titan potion, which is not how you're supposed to use it. He turns into a massive Titan

! Eren and friends are going to be crushed, but Eren found the bottle that gives Titans hardening power and eats it, So boom! Yeah! Now he makes a hardened Titan thing and saves them. But Lord Rice has turned into such a big Titan he can’t even walk. He crawls his way to the nearest village and the Scouts got to fight him. They ram some gunpowder down his throat and boom! Exploded! So Historia is crowned queen, but not bound to the will of her ancestors, and the day is saved. Now, with Eren’s ne

w hardening power, he can theoretically patch up holes in the wall. So for the first time, humanity has a chance to patch up the holes in Shiganshina, and take back the outer ring! The Scouts right out in force, and at first the mission goes well. But it was a trap! Behind them a whole new crop of Titans pop up, led by the Beast Titan. We briefly get to meet him, his name is Zeke, and he's Reiner and Bertoldt’s Commander. And the Beast Titan is maybe the most dangerous, he's a good baseball play

er... Turns rocks into weapons of mass destruction! So Commander Erwin leads a suicide charge, and almost all the Scouts are wiped out. But that bought time for Captain Levi to sneak around the back, and oh! Takes the Beast Titan out! But Zeke is rescued by another super weird Titan who runs around on all fours, they call the Cart Titan. Our gang blows up Reiner, but the Cart Titan’s there to rescue him too. And now it's Armin who has the genius plan to take out the Colossal Titan. He goads him

into using his steam thing, but he holds on... until oh! Sacrificing himself. But Armin figured out using the steam burns away the Colossal’s muscle mass, And it bought time for Eren, back in human form, to sneak up behind, and oh! Get Bertholdt! Lord Rice had one more Titan creating injection, so if the Scouts can capture one of the transforming Titans alive, they can take that power. And Armin is still alive, just barely. It's like, “Hey, give him the Titan injection so it’ll heal him” “and he

can eat Bertholdt, get the Colossal.” But turns out Commander Erwin is also barely alive, And Levi's got to choose which one to save. But with his last breath, Commander Erwin’s like, “Nah, let me die, save the kid.” And so it's Armin who's turned into a Titan, eats Bertholdt, and now has the power of the Colossal. And so it's an epic victory for humanity, they finally reclaimed their outer ring! But we still have no idea what's really going on, but now that they can get to Eren's old house in

Shiganshina, it's finally time to find out what's in that cellar! The mysterious key opens a secret drawer, which has books in it. A book with a photograph of Eren's father and another family. This is weird because our people don't have photograph technology. Turns out they're not the last humans on Earth, there's a whole world out there! Yes, our walled city is just on one little island. They’re next to the Empire of Marley, which is at like early 1900s technology. That's where Eren's father is

from, but he’s an Eldian, a race that is horribly discriminated against, forced to wear armbands and live in ghettos. The official story goes that Queen Ymir of the Eldians made a deal with the devil to get Titan powers. And the old Eldian Empire used the power of the Nine Titans that people can turn into to dominate the world, and they were awful and evil. But eventually there was a big war where Marley got eight of the nine Titans and defeated Eldia. So the Eldian King Fritz fled with most of

his people to the island of Paradis, “Paradise.” Where he used the power of the Founding Titan to build the walls, and erase his people’s memories so they could live in peace. But many Eldians were left behind in Marley, where now they're treated terribly because of their “devil blood.” But when Grisha Yeager’s little sister is killed by Marleyan police, he's like, “Oh, hell nah! We Eldians deserve better!” He grows up and joins the underground Eldian resistance. Now it's here Grisha meets his

first wife, who is a descendant of the royal bloodline that was left behind. So they have a dream, if they can take back the power of the founding Titan, they can use it to unleash the million Titans that make up the walls, and stomp Marley to dust! And the Eldian of royal blood who would wield it is their son Zeke! Yes, the Beast Titan is Eren's half brother. And Marley recruits Eldians into their army because they're the only ones that can use the power of the Titans. That’s who Reiner and Ber

tholdt and Annie were, Eldian warriors fighting for Marley. So Dr. Grisha Yeager was indoctrinating his young son Zeke, “You have to pretend to be loyal to Marley,” “so you can become one of the Eldian Titan warriors.” “But secretly you have to be anti- Marley, steal the Founding Titan,” “and use it to lead the Eldian revolution.” This was too much pressure for young Zeke, and he ended up turning his parents in... whoops. Criminal Eldians are taking to Paradis, where they're turned into Titans.

So that's where the Titans are coming from, it’s a punishment for them, and they serve as guards to keep the island Eldians inside their walls. But Grisha Yeager is saved by his guard, who turns out is a secret Eldian in the resistance too. And somehow, through unknown means, he has the power of one of the nine Titans. It's the one Eren gets, the Attack Titan! He's like, “Hey man, I have the same basic plan as you, but I can't do it myself.” Anyone who gets one of the nine Titans only lives for

13 years, and my time's almost up. You got to take this one from me, infiltrate the walls, steal the Founding Titan, and save all Eldians. And so he did, that's the story we know, and passed it on to his son, Eren. But wait a sec, the Founding Titan only works if you have royal blood, which Eren doesn't. But Erin figures out why it worked that one time when he touched this specific Titan... Because that Titan was his dad's first wife who had the royal blood. So now we finally know - mostly - wha

t is going on. And so relatively quickly, our humans finally eradicate all the Titans on their island... They are finally free! Except, they're kind of not, though, because right across the sea is an entire world of people that think they're devils and want to kill them... Kind of a bummer. And so, season four begins four years later over in Marley. We follow a new bunch of kids, they’re the top Eldian warrior candidates to inherit one of the Titans. The main ones are confident girl Gabi, and he

r friend Falco. Now Marley's at war with someone and we get to see their Titans in action. By the way, Ymir was executed, They gave her Titan to a new guy, its proper name is the Jaw Titan. Anyway as we get to know these people, we see they really aren't bad. And Reiner also, who we've thought of as an enemy, but is a decent guy. He and his crew thought they were making their country proud as they were shipped off as kids on an undercover genocide mission. Anyway now, with the recent war won, it

's time to focus on Paradis again. They have a big event to announce they're finally going to go wipe out those Eldian devils. But one of them is closer than they think... It's long haired adult Eren Yeager! Oh! Titan attack! Yes a bunch of Scouts are here, ready to fight in the modern world. It's a massive fight, all the Marley Titans join in, but our crew with their ODM gear are deadly. But now Mikasa is like, “Eren, what have you done?” “You just killed thousands of civilians.” And our new ki

d, Gabi, having seen a bunch of her friends die, swears vengeance! Just like Eren did all those years ago. Our crew escapes on their new airship, but Gabi's not letting them get away. She and Falco get aboard and shoots the first person she sees... Which is-- no! Not Sasha! She was so nice, just loved to eat. Going back a few years to see how we got here, our people captured one of the Marleyan scout ships. The tall girl in command here is like, “Hey, we're part of the Eldian resistance against

Marley, we want to be friends.” So they helped our wall people get modern technology and meet some allies out in the world. This country was allies with the old Eldian Empire, and turns out their queen went behind the walls, too. And it's Mikasa’s ancestor, so she's a princess. And speaking of princesses, in case it matters, Historia is pregnant. At the time they had high hopes that they would be able to come out to the world, like, “Hey, we are not devils, we don't want to conquer you, please,

let's all live in peace.” But our crew soon discovered that the world hated them more than they even thought, And that's when Aaron left them and went on his own secret plan, to launch the first strike attack on Marley. Most of the military, including Eren's friends, all think this attack was a bad idea. But there's a lot of them who think that Eren had the right of it, and are ready to conquer the world as the new Eldian Empire. And soon Aaron breaks himself out of prison to lead this group cal

led the Yeagerists. And Eren Yeager has grown up from an annoying, angry, yelling kid to a bad ass, stone cold, rebel leader! Now back in the city, Marleyan airships are here for their counterattack. And leading the assault is our old friend Reiner, who is the armored Titan, And he and Eren have an epic rematch! The Beast Titan joins the battle, but remember, he's fighting against Marley now. Zeke's real goal is to touch Eren, uniting the Founding Titan with a member of Royal Blood, they can act

ually use its power. So Marley’s main goal is not to let that happen, they blast Zeke to take him out. But he’s not dead, so now he has to play his trump card... We learned that it’s Zeke’s spinal fluid, that if Eldians ingest it, he can turn them into Titans, somewhat under his control. Turns out the wine his friends brought from Mali were spiked with his juices. He screams, transforming all the Paradis Eldians that drank the wine spiked with the spinal fluid into Titans! Falco accidentally dra

nk some of the wine, So he's a Titan too now, and rushes over to attack Reiner. But wait who's this come to sacrifice himself to save Reiner, it's their other friend who has the Jaw Titan. And oh! Now Falco eats him, got the power of the Jaw. So now Reiner continues to beat up Eren, but Eren Yeager pulls a trick. He hardens to trap Reiner there, then leaves his body and makes a run for it... because Zeke is still alive, and he's going to touch him! But now who’s this? It's little Gabi with a sni

per rifle! Boom! Oh! She blows Eren’s head clean off! But, if there's one thing we know about Zeke, he loves playing baseball... and he makes the diving catch! And Eren’s brain was just alive enough, they've successfully done it. They are in the Coordinate of all Eldians, with their founder, Ymir. So Zeke, who witnessed all the Eldian suffering, doesn't agree with his dad that they should rise up. He thinks it would be best if they just disappeared. Apparently his real plan is to take the Foundi

ng Titan, and use it to sterilize all Eldians, so they, and Titans, will disappear from the Earth. Now at first Zeke is chained up, It's like “Eren, actually you have the power here.” And Eren is like, “Well, sike bro!” “I'm not doing your plan, I'm doing my own plan!” But now Zeke is like, “Yo, double sike!” “I was just pretending to not have power here” “so you would reveal your true intentions.” Long story short, they go on a journey through the memories of their father, Grisha Yeager. And tu

rns out he didn't go through with his plan to kill the royal family and steal the Founding Titan, because, you know, it would involve massacring these kids. But then Eren Yeager starts talking to his father, who can hear him! It's like, “What's up Dad, I'm the spirit of your son from the future,” “here to tell you, you got to go through with it... Trust me.” So somehow it was Eren Yeager himself who started this whole adventure to get to this present moment, Because now it's like, “Triple sike,

bro!” “I actually DO somehow have the power here!” So now Zeke tells Ymir to sterilize all the Eldians, and Eren goes over to stop her. And this whole series it’s been a mystery, who actually was Ymir and how did she end up with the Titan power? Turns out Ymir wasn't Eldian herself, she was a slave of the Eldians, who were, confirmed, terrible people. Somehow she fell into this water with a weird jellyfish vertebrate thing, that oh! Turned her in to the first Titan. But Ymir spent her whole life

as a slave, she only knew obedience to the Eldian King Fritz, and so used her Titan powers to join his army and help conquer the world. In fact, she had King Fritz’s children, and one day sacrificed herself to save him. To keep the Titan power, they had her children eat her, and that's how we got the Nine Titans. So now Aaron grabs her like, “Yo, it's time to stop being a slave,” “it's time for you to fight back!” And she's like, “You know what, bro? You're right.” So somehow she passes the Fou

nding Titan Power to Eren! And now we realize Eren's true plan is not to threaten the Rumbling to keep Marley away... But to unleash it right now! Yes, the walls are coming down! A million Colossal Titans headed to the mainland, the Rumbling is here! Eren psychically talks to all the Eldians, like, “Hey what's up guys.” It's like, “Look, the outside world hates us,” “and that's just not going to change.” “The only way my home, the island of Paradis, can ever really be safe...” “is if we wipe out

every person on the planet.” and yeah, I mean, that's obviously awful. but it's rough because, he's kind of right? So the Rumbling is happening, and doesn't look like anyone can stop it. The Yeagerists led a coup to take over Paradis, they’re led by this red haired guy, Floch. But unfortunately, he's got kind of a dictator vibe, and executes anyone not on his side. This leaves any Marleyan survivors, like Pieck, the Cart Titan, as enemies of the state. And also enemies of the state are Commande

r Hanje, and an injured but alive Captain Levi. It's like, “Yo, we're not with the Yeagerists, let’s be allies.” And all of Eren's friends are in on the plan. And they recruit another old friend... It’s Annie! Yeah when Eren took down the walls, he undid all hardened Titans, including her shell. So for almost the whole series she's been sitting there in the basement, but now Annie is back! And so, all our main characters are on the same side. it's been complicated, as everyone's had different mo

tivations to fight at different times. But now they all agree, killing everyone in the world is not the right move. They got to stop Eren. But Eren has a head start, the Rumbling Titans have made it to Marley. But our crew has a plan to catch up to him, with the Azumabito’s “flying boat,” which is... a plane. So it's a big fight at the port against the Yeagerists, which is tragic because many of them were our former friends. The Yeagerist leader Floch is ready to stop them, but oh, he’s shot! H

e was the hero in his own story, but not in this one. As they use the boat to tow the plane, Annie and Armin start talking. Turns out he visited her all the time she was frozen. Yes Armin has a crush on Annie, and she thinks that's sweet, so we have a last minute romance blooming. What about a romance between Mikasa and Eren? It's always been, are they just friends? We’ll see... Now on Marley they get the plane ready to fly, But Floch survived and stowed away, oh! Takes some last shots! Now it's

going to take some more time to repair, but they're out of time, the Rumbling is here! And so it's Hanje who's going to buy them time. And she flies off for an epic last stand! The Colossal Titans, remember, are really hot, so she goes out in a literal blaze of glory. The plane took off just in time, and now it's time to strategize, “How do we stop Eren?” Armin and Mikasa hope they can talk some sense into Eren, and in fact Eren brings them in for a psychic convo. And we finally get some insigh

t into what Eren's thinking, turns out he feels real bad about killing the whole world. But he still believes it's the right thing to do, and so he's going through with this. “The only way to stop me, you'll have to kill me.” And so at an airbase, Marleyans and Eldians are united in purpose, as they send out their blimps to make a last stand. But Eren’s new Titan body is a gigantic, skeletal, creepy thing! And Zeke's Beast Titan is under his control, and so real quick, the blimps are destroyed.

And so our crew is humanity's last hope. They fly in on the plane, jump out of there! All our main characters here for one last ride! Reiner goes straight for the Beast Titan, there's the hope that without Zeke's royal blood, Eren won't be able to control the Founding Titan. As the rest of them prepare to fight their friend Eren Yeager, how will this epic saga come to an end? Find out in Attack on Titan, the final, final(?), part. If you liked this recap, hit that Subscribe button, for more of t

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