Based on a prompt @hanjo-love gave me about her headcanon that Levi and Hange sometimes forget they are communicating through telepathy and just sit there, having conversations in their minds making everyone else freak out. Bless you for helping me with my artist block ✌🏻
Side note: I wish I had recorded myself while drawing the expressions just to see how stupid I looked mimicking them.
Breaking the Cycle: Eren’s Real Plan and the Ending of Snk
The more I thought about it and reread, the more apparent it became that Eren’s real plan is to unite the world against him. I know a lot of people dislike this theory, but Eren’s conversation with Reiner as well as Willy’s speech throughout chapters 99-100 make it very clear that this is the case.
I mean, why go through the Attack on Liberio if he was going to kill everyone outside of Paradis anyways? Eren could’ve made physical contact with Zeke months ago and ended things without risking the safety of his friends, whom he wanted to protect the most. And why forgive Reiner, go out of his way to let him know that, and not kill him when he had the chance if he was going to kill all non-Paradisians eventually?
Why announce his plan to all subjects of Ymir if most of them would be dead soon? Why say he rejects the world’s desire after mentioning how their hatred would eventually spread to the rest of Ymir’s descendants if he was going to kill them himself? No matter how you look at it, Eren’s current public goals don’t quite line up with the rest of his actions or his core values.
Moreover, I believe Willy’s narration of the world’s history has a lot more significance than meets the eye. If you look closely, it’s setting up the key players in the upcoming battle in accordance with this theory. Given the strong emphasis on cyclical patterns throughout the story, it’s not surprising that Isayama would foreshadow the ending in this way.
Before delving any further, a key point I want to draw to your attention is that Eren went into the festival undecided and unknowing of why exactly his future self activates the Rumbling (see his conversation with Falco in chapter 97 for proof; I’ve also talked about his mental state prior to this scene here and here). This is necessary to realize in order to see past the outward surface of this scene and fit all the pieces together. In essence, Eren’s decision fully relied on Willy’s narrative and the rest of the world’s reaction to it.
WARNING: Really long analysis ahead, but I encourage you to read all the attached panels to fully understand my argument.
NOTE: [chapter ###] will be used from this point on to indicate “refer to this chapter ### for proof”.
PART 1 - CONVERSATION WITH REINER
First off, the conversation between Eren and Reiner needed to happen for several reasons: (1) closure, (2) juxtaposing the two sides of the narrative to bring major themes full circle, (3) portraying Eren’s character development/intentions, and (4) founding/foreshadowing the ending.
It’s not a coincidence that this conversation was carried out in the presence of Falco at the same time as Willy’s speech. Eren blatantly requests the former and guides us to pay attention to the latter because his subsequent actions relied on these two factors.
Chapter 99, Page 12
Chapter 99, Page 23
Throughout this scene, Eren keeps directing our attention to one key point by drawing connections between Willy’s narrative, RBA’s mission, and his own intentions. The recurring theme here is the desire to save the world. The historical tale of Eldia’s fall leads to the topic of RBA’s mission, which connects back to what Eren alludes to at the beginning of his conversation with Reiner:
Chapter 99, Pages 21-22
At first glance, it’s natural to conclude that Eren was foreshadowing his recently publicized plan of massacring the rest of the world, just like RBA’s mission was to wipe out humanity inside the Walls. This is precisely what Reiner assumes, but as Willy delves into his speech, Eren makes a point of bringing up the official motive behind their attack:
Chapter 99, Pages 30-31
Recall that Eren was still uncertain about the future at this point [chapter 97]. He wanted to see what the world intended and desired before making his decision [chapter 123]. Thus, it’s only logical that “the same thing as you” was actually referring to “trying to save the world” rather than a particular course of action.
Eren’s relentless prodding as he pressured Reiner into stating Marley’s superficial reason for breaching the Walls further proves this:
Chapter 100, Page 17
Chapter 100, Pages 20-23
Although Eren labelled himself as the “bad guy” here, note the uncertainty in “I might just destroy the world”. This is because Eren had not yet seen the entire future or past the Rumbling at this point [Chapter 121]. Thus, he did not know the outcome of his plan. I think he may have actually seen his announcement from last chapter without context and assumed his future self really meant it, but it wasn’t until he heard Willy’s speech that he got the full picture.
In any case, the followup to his “I’m the bad guy” statement is another clue to his real intentions. Eren juxtaposes his role as the villain with his original perception of RBA. This then paves the way for him to make the connection between RBA’s motive and the recurring theme of saving the world once again.
Finally, Eren goes on to point out how there is a spectrum of “good” and “bad” people throughout the world. He also addresses the issue of ignorance, and how it can impact one’s actions regardless of their age. This is the cumulation of Eren’s character development:
Chapter 100, Pages 23-27
Unfortunately, Reiner’s guilt prevents him from accepting Eren’s empathy and forgiveness, so it’s really only Eren who gains any closure from this conversation (if any, considering Reiner’s state).
To conclude this part of the discussion, I want to point out how Eren lying about his plan would brilliantly contrast RBA’s mission. Remember that their official motive was to save the world, but we know Marley’s true intention was the genocide of all Paradisians. The flip of that would be Eren superficially claiming he wants to wipe out all non-Paradisians, only for him to end up saving humanity.
Inverting expectations in this way would not be far-stretched considering the flip in the storytelling perspective ever since the Marley arc. Moreover, this technique of addressing past storylines and juxtaposing them with the current situation is the backbone of this scene. Throughout these two chapters, Isayama uses this approach to foreshadow the ending and allude to how Eren will tweak the repeating patterns to break the cycle illustrated by Willy’s speech.
PART 2 - WILLY’S SPEECH
The necessity of Willy’s speech boils down to this: (1) showcasing Marley’s corruption, (2) demonstrating the cyclical nature of human history by drawing parallels between the three storylines presented in Part 1, (3) founding Eren’s real plan by showing the world’s desire for a common enemy, and (4) foreshadowing the ending by setting up the key players in the upcoming battle.
Eren’s Plan: The Why and How
To start off, Marley’s intentions were clearly laid out during a private conversation between Willy and Magath:
Chapter 100, Pages 6-7
Willy admits to using their knowledge of the “unforeseen” attack to paint Marley as a victim, hereby shifting the world’s growing animosity towards them onto Paradis. By scapegoating the island, Marley would get to (a) wash its hands free of its crimes, (b) improve its public image, (c) get help in annihilating Paradis, and (d) maintain its status as the global powerhouse by gaining the resources on the island and reforming their military.
So while Willy revealed their true history during his speech, he only did it to obscure other truths regarding the present, hereby constructing another web of lies. In other words, he’s just another perpetrator of the cycle, keeping the masses ignorant by feeding them a little bit of truth to make his lie believable.
Chapter 99, Pages 38-39
But with his decision to pin the blame on Paradis, Willy set up the foundation for Eren’s real plan. The deciding factor was the audience’s reaction to his speech (which we’ll get to later), but it was his narrative that first introduced and promoted this idea of uniting against a common enemy. In fact, he specifically frames Eren as the main threat:
Chapter 99, Pages 47-49
Willy wasn’t wrong about Eren opposing Karl Fritz’s ideology and the world’s current definition of “peace” here, because Eren’s perspective has always been the polar opposite of the Fritz’ [chapters 120-122]. This is why Eren is the only one who can break the cycle. There hasn’t been anyone else in history willing to play this role (as it requires sacrificing oneself selflessly), but Eren fully embraces it the minute he realizes how things need to play out:
Chapter 100, Pages 31-32
The panel placement here is very important. As many have pointed out before, "I wished for the extinction of all Eldians” foreshadowed Zeke’s ideology. This is followed by “but I do not wish to die. Because I was born into this world”, which very obviously reflects Eren’s core values. In fact, during the Battle of Trost, Eren gave this same exact reasoning in regards to his motivations for fighting.
Thus, based on Eren’s strong connection to this phrase and the emphasis on his reaction to it, I believe a future memory was triggered in this moment that finally pieced everything together for him. We see Eren painfully smile in understanding, close his eyes in resolution, and then stand up to accept the role assigned to him with an “I get it now” as Willy continues to advocate for world unison against “the devils on Paradis” to thunderous applause and the majority’s approval:
Chapter 100, Pages 33-35
This is followed by Eren offering his hand out to Reiner, which he accepts just as Willy continues to talk about the prospect of people setting aside their differences to band together and overcome their problems (i.e. the handshake symbolizes unison). Note that as the instigator of the handshake, this visual brilliantly foreshadows how Eren will be the mastermind behind the world’s unification. He took the first steps by committing himself to the “bad guy” image the world desired. Thus, the handshake combined with the audience’s cheerful reaction to Willy’s proposal demonstrate the feasibility of this plan:
Chapter 100, Page 36
The scene then closes off with a very important series of panels that tie up Eren and Reiner’s conversation by affirming that they’re the same, as Eren too submits himself to fulfilling his bitter duty to the end:
Chapter 100, Pages 37-38
Once again, Willy’s dialogue is used to reflect Eren’s true desire: his “wish for world peace”. I think the placement of this line could also be alluding to how Eren will be the one fulfilling this wish by willingly becoming the world’s common enemy, allowing them to unite.
Eren’s facial expressions here are also very important. Note the despair on his face following his look of sad understanding [chapter 100, page 34] and leading up to his transformation [chapter 100, page 37]. The shift in his demeanour occurs after he fully accepts his role with “I just keep moving forward” and “until my enemies are destroyed” marks the start of his role as the Devil. The change in his facial expression here reflects the perception he wants Reiner and Falco to have of him. And that’s how the chapter concludes, with Eren taking the first step in becoming the “Devil”:
Chapter 100, Page 39
In conclusion, Willy’s narrative gave Eren the answers he was looking for [chapter 97]. As he listened, he understood that Willy was shifting the blame, saw that it clearly worked on the general public, and realized how this gave Paradis the chance it needed to break through to the world. By complying with Willy’s narrative but isolating his actions from the rest of Paradis, he could shift the world’s target from the group to himself. Willy already set him up as the main bad guy after all.
This would explain Eren’s estranged behaviour following the Attack on Liberio, his silence and refusal to cooperate with the Paradisian government/let anyone in on his plan (including Zeke, whose brother complex would get in the way), his need to break ties with Armin and Mikasa, and his public announcement detailing his fake intentions.
By forewarning people in other parts of the world about the Rumbling and letting them know that Paradisians are the only ones who are safe, he built a strong case for his friends’ inevitable opposition. It doesn’t matter if there are people inside the Walls who do support the Eldian Empire. As the soldiers with the most experience in Paradis, Eren knows the veteran SC members would be the ones to represent the island in this fight. By helping out the other nations despite their guaranteed safety in this situation, the whole “devil” narrative would be disproved once and for all.
Last but not least, this plan would simply be a direct application of a major theme that’s been around since the very beginning. Recall Armin’s conversation with Jean during the Female Titan arc:
Chapter 27, Pages 19-22
This describes the current situation perfectly. Eren has replaced Erwin as humanity’s hope, which required him to throw away everything that’s dear to him and leave his humanity behind. He chose to sacrifice the lives of the people in Liberio, push away his loved ones, and become the Devil because that was the only way to bring about change. In this way, Eren uniting the world against him would bring the themes of the story full circle. Simply put, you can’t break the cycle without becoming involved in it; change requires sacrifice and if you don’t fight, you can’t win.
The Cycle: Parallels and Deviations
Now that we have the full picture, let’s take a look at how the historical reveal foreshadows this ending too. There are three key positions in Willy’s narrative: Helos, the Tybur family, and Karl Fritz.
We’re told at first that Helos joined hands with the Tyburs to defeat Karl. In other words, a Marleyan and a subject of Ymir worked together to take down the Founding Titan:
Chapter 99, Page 27
But then the truth about Karl Fritz being the one to actually end the Great Titan War is revealed. We find out that he staged his own defeat by conspiring with the Tyburs and fabricating the story of Helos:
Chapter 99, Pages 40-42
Chapter 99, Pages 44
Thus, it was the person in the Founding Titan position that was the true saviour. The Marleyan and the Eldian family were mere puppets that acted out the roles assigned to them by the Founding Titan.
Applying this to the present-day situation, the role of Karl Fritz clearly belongs to Eren. Not only does he possess the Founding Titan, but he’s orchestrating his defeat in a similar way to end the situation. As such, he will become the “detestable [usurper] of the Walls who protected this world” [chapter 99, page 44].
It’s also interesting to note some similarities between Eren and Karl from the panels above:
“Even before he inherited the Founding Titan, he lamented the Eldian Empire’s brutal history” [chapter 99, page 41]. In comparison, Eren opposed oppression and advocated for freedom ever since he was a child.
Both of their goals involve peace and the liberation of a victimized group from many years of persecution.
The lines “he offered himself as a way to bring the history of the Eldian Empire to an end” [chapter 99, page 41] and “he did not truly mean this” in regards to Karl Fritz’ publicized threat [chapter 99, page 42] are two more hints at what Eren is doing.
As for the positions of the Tyburs and Helos, there are multiple ways to assign these roles in the present-day situation. Various interactions fit their dynamics: (1) Willy / Magath, (2) Eren / Reiner, and (3) Eren’s friends / Reiner, respectively.
As I’ve mentioned previously, the current situation isn’t an exact replica of the past. There are some tweaks when it comes to the dynamics between the different key players. For one, Eren isn’t conspiring with anyone else, but we can view him acquiring the Warhammer as being equivalent of the King/Tybur transaction.
{1}: WH + FT = Eren
In this way, Eren and Reiner’s handshake (2) is also a parallel to this:
{2}: WH + FT = Eren, Helos = Reiner (NOTE: we can also look at it as Eren working together with Reiner to destroy the world built by the Fritz: in this case, WH = Eren, FT = the Fritz, Helos = Reiner)
Backtracking a little to (1), we have Willy and Magath’s handshake in the car:
{3}: WH = Willy, Helos = Magath (NOTE: Willy and Magath are fakes so their actions won’t actually be responsible for saving the world; in fact, Willy has a mentality that’s very similar to Karl Fritz; as such, his speech simply perpetuated the cycle)
Although Magath is heavily compared to Helos throughout these two chapters, given the situation in the present, I think it’s clear that Reiner is gearing up to fulfill this role in the upcoming fight. The current conflict requires Eldians to be the saviours after all.
Thus, in terms of the final battle, it’s pretty obvious that Eren’s friends (the Survey Corps) have been set up to serve the role of the Tybur family while Reiner will act as Helos (3). This would make the WH = the SC, FT = Eren, and Helos = Reiner in {1} and {2}.
So you might be thinking, “that’s great and all, but how does all of this fit together to cause a break in the cycle?”
Well, we’ve already established that Eren is the opposition of the Fritz family. Isayama has highly contrasted the two by continuously comparing them to show that Eren opposes the ideology of King Fritz, Karl Fritz, and even Zeke. As such, although he is filling in the role of the Fritz in this cycle, Eren having a polar opposite ideology (and therefore intentions) will cause the system to turn against itself. In other words, Eren will use the system to break the system.
PART 3 - OTHER MISCELLANEOUS PROOF
To end off this really long analysis, I want to point out a few other supporting details.
First, Eren’s decision not to kill Porco/Reiner and his departing message during the Attack on Liberio. I believe Eren either saw a memory (closeup on his eyes [chapter 104, page 37]) or made the connection that Reiner was needed in the future to end the conflict. In any case, he knew they would meet again, hence his “see you...Reiner”:
Chapter 104, Page 34
Chapter 104, Pages 37-39
Note that look of pure sadness on his face [chapter 104, page 39]. Also, recall that Eren didn’t find out about Marley’s counterattack here [chapter 117]. This is why I believe he saw a memory from much further down the line, closer to his “defeat”. Perhaps this is why he says, “as he is, Reiner won’t be able to kill us right now”.
Secondly, there’s Eren’s reaction to the surprise attack. If his plan only required the sacrifices in Liberio to happen, then it’s natural for him to be pissed off at Marley for doing “something this stupid” that would cost them more lives [chapter 117]. His “wait!” also made it very clear that he didn’t want Zeke to scream [chapter 119].
Third, Eren’s demeanour towards “that sight” changed between when he first saw it and after his trip down memory lane with Zeke. If Eren only understood everything after Liberio and realized Grisha gave him the powers in the end because he found out the truth after his younger self told him about Carla’s death, then that would explain why Eren confidently told Zeke they should see that memory, and why he spoke of “that sight” with happiness when he originally found it horrifying [chapters 90/121]. It’s also interesting to note how Eren’s repulsed face coincides with “Zeke, you have to stop Eren” in chapter 121. I don’t think Eren had the full context back then.
Chapter 121, Page 37
Chapter 121, Page 41
Fourth, this theory also explains why Eren would want the world’s military power to gather in Paradis, which Zeke suggested was a shared desire between them [chapter 113]. This way, the world could witness his friends taking him down, and thus be more willing to believe in them.
Which brings me to my next point. We have proof of this unification idea working in the past: during Trost when people overcame their fears and trusted in Eren, and in Uprising when people readily accepted Historia as their Queen after having seen her defeat Rod’s Titan. The narrative has made it clear that you can only push humans so far before they set aside their differences to survive.
Last but not least, this theory complies with the ending of the Guardians of the Galaxy II, which Isayama last shared was the direction the story was heading in. I believe the duality of the situation reflects the influences of The Mist (the original inspiration for the ending) as well. Eren could have gone down that dark path, and that’s what Isayama is fooling us into thinking. I’m sure we’ll be in for a twist though. Otherwise, there would have been no need to keep Eren’s thoughts so hidden.
Bonus
The fake volume previews can contain some hints/spoilers regarding the storyline. I believe this is the case here:
