Attack on Titan: Here’s Why Mikasa Had To Kill Eren

Mikasa had a very turbulent and interesting relationship with Eren Yeager. While the two of them undoubtedly loved each other, the irony would have it that they ended up confronting each other in the penultimate chapter of the manga. Mikasa Ackerman had to face her former ally, who had turned into a genocidal maniac in the meantime. So, does Mikasa Ackerman kill Eren Yeager in the final chapters of Attack on Titan?

Editor’s Note: This post was updated in December 2023 with the release of final episode of Attack on Titan.

Yes, Mikasa was forced to kill Eren

The events we are referring to here happened during the War for Paradis Arc, i.e., in the penultimate chapter of the Attack on Titan manga. While in the air, Mikasa is suddenly seized with a violent migraine and wants everything to stop to go home. She regains consciousness in a dream where Eren tells her to go inside to avoid a cold.

Mikasa tells him that she feels like she had a long dream, to which Eren tells her that she needs to rest and that he will take care of everything. Eren then asks Mikasa why she’s crying, but she can’t give a reason as she hasn’t even noticed her tears. Mikasa feels like he’s not where he should be, and Eren explains to her that they left everything, that the battle of Revelio took place two months ago, and that he refused to sacrifice Historia.

He offers her to stay hidden and to live together for the four years that remain as she had proposed. Eren asks Mikasa to promise him that when he dies, she will get rid of her scarf and forget about it so she can live after he dies. Marks start to appear on Eren’s face. In the real world, Armin’s and Eren’s showdown takes place, and Reiner, Pieck, and Annie are in bad shape, surrounded by Titans ravaging their Titan bodies.

Mikasa tightens her scarf and says Eren is in his Titan’s mouth. She takes care of it herself and asks Levi to cover for her. The corporal uses a Lightning Spear to break Eren’s Titan’s teeth and Mikasa enters. Mikasa rushes to Eren’s head, which she slices without hesitation. In the dream, as in reality, Mikasa takes Eren’s head in her hands and kisses it.

Mikasa killed Eren to stop him

The answer to the question from this section, as well as the next one, can be found in Chapter 139, the last chapter of the Attack on Titan manga. The answers were given to us during Eren’s post-mortem talk with Armin, and here is what we know. In a vision of the Shiganshina before the Fall of Wall Maria via the path, Armin asks Eren why he kicked him in the ribs when they met in Shiganshina before the Rumbling was triggered.

His friend explains to him that it was not supposed to happen like that and that he lost control, because it was difficult for him to achieve his goal: to keep his friends away from him. Armin deduces that if Eren wanted to keep them away, it was so that afterward, they would be recognized as world heroes by the rest of the world and that they could live in peace while having fewer regrets in executing their friend.

Armin then asks Eren why he is doing this when he normally wants to protect the people of Paradis Island. His friend retorts by explaining to him that he killed 80% of the world’s population to ensure that there would be no more war for a long time. His friend is then frightened. Eren ignores the question and says he’s heading to where they’ve always dreamed of going: outside the walls. They, therefore, find themselves in a volcanic setting, observing an erupting volcano.

Armin states that the liquid magma reminds him of a river of fire, and the two friends start talking about Ymir Fritz. Now, this is where we are going to interrupt the story, as the story of Ymir is related to the next question. Here, we can only reiterate that Mikasa Ackerman killed Eren to stop the Rumbling and to save the world, which Eren himself confirms by stating that he had lost control and that he would have killed even more people had he not been stopped.

Does Eren want Mikasa to kill him?

Now, as we have said, the story of Yimir is relevant for this section, and this is what we know. Even after the death of her parents and the destruction of her village, Ymir continued to submit to her enemy. When he met her in the Path, he understood that the young girl was indeed in love with the first King Fritz. That’s why, 2,000 years later, the restrictions still persisted.

She waited 2,000 years to be freed, and it was Mikasa who granted her wish, thus freeing her from the pangs of his love and other reasons unknown to Eren. He then wondered what Mikasa would do now since he had no idea. He reveals to Armin that the notion of past/present/future has disappeared for him because of the power of the Founding Titan and that it was during the Medal Ceremony that he learned of all these events, past and future.

They continue their journey in the limbo of space-time and find themselves facing the sea. Armin questions his friend about his feelings for Mikasa and asks him if she could be happy with another man. His companion replies that he does not know. In response, Armin punches him in the face. He says he won’t settle for that answer after what he had put Mikasa through when she was always willing to put her life on the line for him.

Sitting in the water, Eren looks sad and doesn’t say anything. In an ironic tone, Armin tells him that he hopes she will find someone other than a cad like him. Eren objects and shouts that he doesn’t want this to happen and that he won’t put up with it, that he wants her to keep thinking about him even after his death, even if it means she mourns for ten years. Following this, Eren tells Armin that he doesn’t want to die.

Armin tells him that there must be another way, but Eren replies that there isn’t and that he must die, like all the others who didn’t want to die either, and like those he had killed. Faced with a vision of the ravaged world, Eren confides in Armin that he would have triggered the Rumbling whether they stopped him or not. He then admits to her that he does not know where this irrepressible desire comes from.

Ultimately, Eren did want Mikasa to kill him, as he knew that her act of love would be the only way to free Ymir from her own love for Fritz, which was the only way to destroy the Titans once and for all.

What episode does Mikasa kill Eren in?

Mikasa killed Eren in Attack on Titan Season 4 Episode 30, titled The Final Chapters: Special 2; it served as the finale of the show and recounted the events of the penultimate and final chapters.

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