[screaming]
[GRISHA] He squeezed the soldier's lives out
as if he were juicing fruit.
And then, he cast the scraps into the sea.
[GRISHA] I suppose I ought to explain what the sea is.
It's an enormous body of salt water
that covers 70% of our world's surface.
♪ Opening Song ♪
Hold on. You said you were the Owl?
Yes, my name's Eren Kruger.
As you just observed,
I have the power of one of the Nine Titans,
which proves that I'm a Subject of Ymir, just like you.
You got into Public Security by pretending to be a Marleyan?
But what about the blood tests?
With the help of a doctor, they were quite easy to pass.
Doctors make good spies.
In all honesty, you're a fine example of that.
But considering your results,
I see why Grice lamented as he did.
[GRISHA] I have no excuses.
I was a bad husband, a worthless father, and an imbecilic man.
So explain to me.
Why am I the only one left standing as a human?
My wife Dina was special.
A Subject of Ymir with royal blood.
She could've made full use of the power of the Titans.
And if you hadn't shut me up, she'd still be--
Tell me why! Why did you save only me?
Let go. You're just making your hands worse.
I'm grateful for your concern, but I didn't notice much before
when you were cutting off my fingers.
So? Why didn't you transform into a Titan earlier?
If you'd made your move sooner, they'd be fine right now!
What was the point of waiting for them
to be turned into monsters?
[KRUGER panting]
What's wrong? Why do you look so pale?
It wasn't only your comrades.
I've severed thousands of fingers
from fellow Subjects of Ymir.
I've created countless Titans from men, women, and children.
All the while telling myself it was for Eldia.
I'm sorry, Grisha. Time is short.
I'm entrusting you with this last task.
There's no one else I can trust to see it through.
[KRUGER] That day, when I first met you outside,
you may wish you could take it back.
But if not for what happened,
you wouldn't hate Marley nearly enough to come this far.
So is that the reason why you chose me?
It's part of it.
The country. Your father. Yourself.
You bore it all such hatred.
The look in your eyes could've burnt the world to ash.
I felt that same rage for a time.
The branch of the royal family that stayed behind
started a revolution,
and my father was a staunch supporter.
It failed.
Not only did they accomplish nothing,
all of them were burnt alive.
I was still young.
I couldn't help.
I just peeked through the closet door and watched.
After that day,
I swore I would take revenge and restore the Eldian Empire.
But all I've managed to do
is cut the fingers off my fellow patriots,
kick them off this wall, and watch the humanity leave them.
I had to do these heinous deeds,
or else I would've been found out as the Owl.
I'm not sure I've changed since that day.
Perhaps I'm still a child looking at the world
through a cracked closet door.
So go on and tell me.
This task... What exactly is it you're asking me to do?
I want you to make your way into the walls
and take the Founding Titan by force.
After you've inherited my Titan, that is.
You want me to... what? But I--
You'll have to eat me alive as a Titan.
That's also how you'll steal the Founding Titan
from the royal family.
But why don't you do it?
[KRUGER sighs]
Anyone who inherits the power of one of the Nine
will perish 13 years later.
And that's how long it's been for me.
He said that was the rule. Called it the "Curse of Ymir."
The first Titan, Ymir, died that long after getting her powers.
Since none can surpass her, we have to do the same.
So I have 13 years to live.
And you...
I've only got eight left. Not even.
[MIKASA] No. You're wrong.
There's been a mistake.
It can't be true.
If someone with the powers of one of the Nine
should die without passing it on to a successor,
the power will be inherited by a baby born after that death.
A Subject of Ymir, of course.
For that to be the case,
it seems all of us Eldians must be connected
by something we can't see.
There was one successor who said there were paths--
paths that the naked eye can't observe--
through which Titan flesh can move,
along with memories and the will to act.
These paths are countless.
They reach far, and in many directions,
but they all meet at one coordinate.
[KRUGER, EREN] The Founding Titan.
There's not a Subject of Ymir alive
who isn't connected to the coordinate.
Speaking of Ymir, who do you think she really was?
[KRUGER] To the Marleyan State, she's the devil's pawn.
But to the Eldian Empire, she was a miracle of God.
There are those who believe
that she touched the source of all life,
and who am I to say they're wrong?
Huh?
The sole truth of this world, I've found,
is that there is no truth.
Any one of us can become a god or a devil.
All it takes is for people to believe it.
You're the one who sent us Dina,
claiming she was of a royal bloodline.
Was that a "truth" of your creation?
Unfortunately, Dina's royal heritage was objectively real.
Then why'd you let them turn her?
That'd be because she had royal blood.
I couldn't risk letting the Marleyans get her.
She had to go before Zeke could tell Marley more.
Even so--
Even so?
The enemy would've forced Dina to bear their children
for the rest of her miserable life.
Would that have been better?
I didn't save our comrades
because they couldn't reach the walls alive.
Only one of the Nine can make it past all those mindless Titans.
I've done my duty. Now do yours.
To be perfectly honest,
I don't think I'm fit for the job.
You're going to do it.
Look at the sergeant.
He was eaten alive by a Titan.
And afterward, you asked me if watching that was interesting.
Well, that's not the word I'd've used.
Each moment I spent listening to his screams was unbearable.
I-I didn't know what I was doing.
If I had realized that this was the price of freedom,
I wouldn't've paid.
[KRUGER sighs]
[KRUGER] Stand.
Fight!
If you want to restore freedom and dignity to Eldia,
then stand!
I just... can't.
[KRUGER] I brought this from your home.
Look at it.
No, I can't.
[KRUGER] So you can't fight, or stand, or even look.
What's wrong with you?
Marley cut your balls off?
There's no point in trying to make me remember my old hatred.
Everything is gone now...
Except my sins.
[KRUGER] Those are all you need.
The main reason I chose you was because of that day,
because you went beyond the walls.
If you hadn't taken your sister's hand
and run past the gate that day,
you would've ended up running your father's clinic,
and your sister might be married by now.
She might even have had children.
But you'll never know what she would've become.
Ever since you tread forbidden ground and took her with you.
Ever since the day I first kicked a patriot off this wall.
We've known that we'd have to keep fighting
to pay for our sins.
Even in death. Even after.
[KRUGER] That's right.
You chose to start this story.
[KRUGER] Each of the Nine Titans has a name to describe it,
and that includes the one you're about to inherit from me.
Throughout history, this Titan's marched in the vanguard.
It has ever pushed forward, seeking freedom.
And for freedom's sake... it fights.
Therefore...
...it's called the Attack Titan.
What's that all about?
"It's called the Attack Titan."
That's what you just did, remember?
No.
[HANGE] Huh?! Come on! He did!
Am I the only one who saw him?
No, but... I think he was just--
[HANGE] Just what? Who the hell were you talking to?
No one. It's nothing.
You said the name of your Titan, right?
Are ya practicing ways to introduce him, or--?
Let it go, Hange.
He's 15 years old. We all go through a phase like this.
[HANGE] A phase where we mutter weird crap while posing?
[ARMIN] Hange, I'll explain it to you later.
It's not right with him in here.
[HANGE] Oh, it's that kinda phase.
What the hell do you want?!
Get out.
What?
But I'm not done. I still have ten full days left.
I'm satisfied.
Hange just gave you ten days worth of pain.
We talked it all over with Premier Zachary, so don't worry.
If we keep the brave heroes
who toppled the Armored and Colossal Titans jailed,
it kinda sends a bad message, you know?
Plus, you were only defying the morons
who had the Beast and Armored Titans at their mercy
but let them get away!
That isn't true.
[EREN] Did you lose some weight?
That's odd. We had plenty to eat.
You look... well enough.
Yeah, I guess.
[LEVI] Let's go.
Get dressed already.
Wait, where are we going, Captain?
A state meeting.
Her Majesty has come to Trost.
[YMIR] To my dear Historia.
As I write this, Reiner's standing at my side.
He knows this is a love letter, but he's still sneaking peeks.
Honestly. It's no wonder the creep's still single.
That said, he did give me his word
that he'd deliver this letter to you.
He says he owes me for the time I doubled back to save him.
I'm sorry about then.
I never would've imagined myself choosing those two over you.
I'm going to die soon, but I'll die without regrets.
Or that's what I'd like to say.
Truth is, I do have one.
It's that I never got to marry you.
With love, Ymir.
[CHRISTA gasps]
[EREN] These paths are countless.
They reach far, and in many directions,
but they all meet at one coordinate:
The Founding Titan.
[gasps]
Wait. What was that?
[HANGE] Something wrong?
No.
I take it this is all she wrote?
Yes.
I doubt that she would be permitted
to write anything that might be beneficial to our cause.
Could there be a secret message that no one can see except you?
Some kind of code?
[CHRISTA] I don't know.
But frankly, that doesn't sound like her.
Heh.
That idiot. What's with her?
So ridiculous.
Playing it off whenever she got embarrassed.
I could never tell with her.
[knocking]
[LEVI] It's us.
Come in.
Your Grace.
--Your Grace. --Your Grace.
[CHRISTA] Oh, stop it. Please.
I'm not actually ruling yet.
But wow. You've been through so much.
Meanwhile, I've done nothing
but watch the south sky and wait.
It's an important duty of yours, just to keep safe and well.
Yeah. He's right.
Yeah.
[CHRISTA] It's good to see that you're still
acting like yourselves.
Well, that might just be that it hasn't sunk in for us yet.
Why don't we get the ball rolling?
[ZACHARY] The Early Life of Grisha Yeager ,
The Extent of Our Knowledge of Titans and Their History ,
and Information About the World Beyond the Walls .
The only people who know these books exist
are those who are in this room now.
These texts were obtained through the efforts
of the nine Scouts before us,
and the 199 others who were lost.
On this day, and in the Queen's presence.
I'd like for all of us to assess our situation,
and come to an agreement about our next course of action.
Scout Regiment Commander, Hange Zoe.
[HANGE] Sir.
The Scouts have suffered a brutal, staggering blow.
In exchange for the lives of many heroes,
including Erwin Smith,
we have retaken Wall Maria
and seized control of the Colossal Titan,
with all its fearsome strength.
That said, we humans living inside the walls
have just learned how precarious our situation is.
I'd be relieved if Titans were the only monsters
we had for enemies.
Unfortunately, the true nature of the foe we face... is human.
It's a whole civilization.
One could say that it's us against the world.
According to these books,
we're of a special race that can turn into Titans,
called the Subjects of Ymir.
We ruled the world once, and some fear we will again.
So despite our past century of pacifism,
most in this world would like to wipe us out.
[KRUGER] If Marley takes hold of the Founding Titan,
the Eldian race will be finished.
But if they try, the king in the walls will stop them.
The king in the walls won't fight.
[GRISHA] Huh?
[KRUGER] "If Eldia is driven to sin once again,
it shall perish, as is meant to be.
I've made a vow, renouncing war through the Founding Titan."
He said that to the royal family still on the continent,
and then he closed his gates.
But what about the Titans
he threatened to send out from the walls?
It was the last warning he gave.
[KRUGER] Those words were simply meant to deter an attack.
They afforded him a brief time of peace.
The king of the walls stole his people's memories,
and told them that beyond the walls, humanity was gone.
Surrounded by fools of his making,
he tells them they're in paradise.
A king that can't protect his people is no king.
You must find that coward
and strip him of the Founding Titan's power.
That's the mission I'm entrusting to you.
Doctor Jaeger did manage to achieve this mission,
and he passed the Founding Titan on to his son Eren.
The Founding Titan's full might can only be brought to bear
when the power is possessed by someone of royal blood.
However, when a royal comes to possess the Founding Titan,
they're overpowered by their ancestor's will,
and they continue down the path he set before them.
Such is the power of his vow renouncing war.
However, Eren has commanded Pure Titans once in the past
to escape from a dire situation.
So despite his lack of royal blood,
it's at least conditionally possible for Eren
to wield that power, too.
[EREN] That's right.
If only for an instant, it felt like everything connected.
Why? Why only then?
I'm here as a descendant of the royal family.
The last that stayed. My name's Dina Fritz.
--[HANGE gasps] --There's no way!
You scared me.
What is it? What's wrong?
[EREN] Oh, uh...
I just...
If you've something to say, we would be glad to hear it.
Actually, it's nothing.
Huh?
Sorry for interrupting, Commander.
Oh. I get it now.
That's right.
It would appear that Jaeger here
is going through an awkward phase.
He speaks out of turn and often makes a nuisance of himself.
[ZACHARY] Ah. I see.
That's rather unfortunate. But he is at that age.
Eren?
[EREN] I haven't told those two about it yet, either.
About how the Titan who killed my mother and Hannes
was actually someone my dad had been married to.
The thing is, I can't talk about it here.
If someone with royal blood is turned into a Titan,
then it might be possible for me
to use the Founding Titan's powers while touching them.
Who knows... It might not work at all.
But if the military knew it was a possibility,
what would they do to Historia?
[KRUGER] Build a family.
[GRISHA] Huh?
After you've entered the walls, you should start a family.
[GRISHA] What are you talking about?
I'm still married to Dina.
And you're about to transform me, right?
So won't I just forget everything
you're telling me now, anyway?
[KRUGER] That's not always the case.
And it's possible someone else'll see it.
Huh?
[KRUGER] Be it your wife, your child, or even a stranger.
Love someone in those walls.
If you can't do that, it'll only repeat itself.
This cruel history, these foolish mistakes...
They'll repeat.
You have to see this through.
Complete your mission and save Mikasa and Armin.
Mikasa? Armin? Who are they?
I... I don't know.
They aren't from my memories.
♪ Closing Song ♪
[NARRATOR] They believed freedom could be won through war.
Knowing the truth about humanity,
when they finally reach the sea,
what will they make of the world beyond it?
Next episode: "The Other Side of the Wall."