History Tearjerker / Attackontitan

** The fact that Paradis is destroyed thanks to advancing technology and weaponry. It's true what they say. [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} War. War never changes.]]

--->'''Eren:''' I... I wished... for everything to somehow disappear. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. '''I'm so sorry...'''

* Pay close attention to the conversation Eren has with Connie after Sasha dies. Even Pre-emptively says Sasha wanted "Meat" despite not being in earshot. Now this could be played off as him know Sasha. But in reality this is actually Eren knowing what she would say when she was going to die after kissing Historias hand.And that's why he laughed and cried. Because this showed the Rumbling was going to happen.

-->'''Eren:''' There's a sea... and just across that sea, freedoms wait. That's what I always believed, at least. But I was wrong. I know what's waiting across the sea now. It's our enemies. Everything we've seen... has been ''exactly'' as it was in my father's memories. Hey... if we did cross the sea and we killed our enemies... after that, will we ''finally'' be free?

** Hange sacrifices their life to delay the Rumbling, buying the alliance precious seconds to fix the plane's fuel tank and escape. They manage to down a few Colossal Titans by nailing their napes with thunder spears, but eventually ends up burnt alive by their scalding steam. As they fall, they seemingly meet Erwin and all the other deceased Survey Corps members in the afterlife. Erwin tells them they've fulfilled their duty and that they are eager to hear their story. In the real world their trampled corpse can be seen in one of the Colossal's footprints. Even knowing fully well she is about to sacrifice their life, they insist that they want to go out like this and before engaging the Titans she is shown to be in awe of their existence once more, true to their nature.

** Levi's short, but heartfelt interaction with Hange before the latter departs to sacrifice herself. Hange notes that they feel their time has come and asks Levi to let them go out like this. Levi just looks on in sadness and resignation, before giving them a reserved Survey Corps salute.

** Of note is a scene with Hange and Erwin, with Hange looking more distraught than she has ever looked before over Kare's death. It should be noted that she was the one who introduced Kare to the Scouting Legion at Trost, and was the one who saw their fighting potential, effectively putting her and Kare in a similar relationship that Eren and Levi had. By the look of things in the scene, she must be trying to convince Erwin to send a search party to find them, only it seems to be in vain, since Erwin doesn't budge.

*** Tom emphasize the fact she never stopped loving Eren she marked his grave as “Here forever rest peacefully my most beloved dear”. To add to this the flowers she puts on his grave: a single dandelion, a white rose, and a yellow tulip signify “true love”, “love at first sight”, and “unfulfilled love”. The flower she places as an old lady is a single red rose meaning “I still love you”, however the anime changes this to 4 white roses meaning “I will love you until I die”.

** This final chapter presents a singular interpretation that is perhaps the most depressing of all: [[AllForNothing none of this mattered]]. For all of Eren's plans to save Paradis and the Eldians, Paradis is unceremoniously destroyed and the Eldians are more than likely still persecuted, potentially more than ever following the Rumbling. Paradis's destruction proves that any success Armin had as an ambassador did not survive into the future. The efforts of the Eldians to protect themselves and their home were ultimately fruitless, and the horrors of the Titans will very likely begin again as the cycle renews itself. Ultimately, there is nothing left but the utter indifference of the passage of time toward all of the uncontrollable, insane, vicious, evil mayhem that has transpired. The anime heavily implies that the bombardment and the kid encountering the tree happens 20,000 years after the Rumbling, which may either bring a degree of bittersweetness that nobody in the cast lived to see this or may just make the whole point worse.

'''Hange:''' (''holding back emotions'') Haha! I've never heard you say that before.

** This final chapter presents a singular interpretation that is perhaps the most depressing of all: [[AllForNothing none of this mattered]]. For all of Eren's plans to save Paradis and the Eldians, Paradis is unceremoniously destroyed and the Eldians are more than likely still persecuted, potentially more than ever following the Rumbling. Paradis's destruction proves that any success Armin had as an ambassador did not survive into the future. The efforts of the Eldians to protect themselves and their home were ultimately fruitless, and the horrors of the Titans will very likely begin again as the cycle renews itself. Ultimately, there is nothing left but the utter indifference of the passage of time toward all of the uncontrollable, insane, vicious, evil mayhem that has transpired.

* Bertholdt is rather stoic and unflinchingly comments on the war and how people must die, which is either awesome (if you think he's right that he himself needed to grow a pair) or alarming (if you find this shift upsetting). But this chapter delves further into Bertholdt feeling that although no one is at fault, people have to die, so he'll do what he can to make sure no more people have to suffer. He ends the chapter with a very deliberate parallel to Mikasa's CatchPhrase about the world being both beautiful and cruel, except that he never remarks on anything being beautiful. For Bertholdt, the world really has only ever been cruel.

** This final chapter presents a singular interpretation that is perhaps the most depressing of all: none of this mattered. For all of Eren's plans to save Paradis and the Eldians, Paradis is unceremoniously destroyed and the Eldians are more than likely still persecuted, potentially more than ever following the Rumbling. Paradis's destruction proves that any success Armin had as an ambassador did not survive into the future. The efforts of the Eldians to protect themselves and their home were ultimately fruitless, and the horrors of the Titans will very likely begin again as the cycle renews itself. Ultimately, there is nothing left but the utter indifference of the passage of time toward all of the uncontrollable, insane, vicious, evil mayhem that has transpired.

** This final chapter presents a singular interpretation that is perhaps the most depressing of all: none of this mattered. For all of Eren's plans to save Paradis and the Eldians, Paradis is unceremoniously destroyed and the Eldians are more than likely still persecuted, potentially more than ever following the Rumbling. Paradis's destruction proves that any success Armin had as an ambassador did not survive into the future. The efforts of the Eldians to protect themselves and their home were ultimately fruitless, and the horrors of the Titans will simply begin again as the cycle renews itself. Ultimately, there is nothing left but the utter indifference of the passage of time toward all of the uncontrollable, insane, vicious, evil mayhem that has transpired. There is no hope for a better world, and the pain will simply continue without escape. There is no catharsis, no redemption for mankind, and no deeper knowledge to be gained. This story meant nothing.

** This final chapter presents a singular interpretation that is perhaps the most depressing of all: none of this mattered. For all of Eren's plans to save Paradis and the Eldians, Paradis is unceremoniously destroyed and the Eldians are more than likely still persecuted, potentially more than ever following the Rumbling. Paradis's destruction proves that any success Armin had as an ambassador did not survive into the future. The efforts of the Eldians to protect themselves and their home were ultimately fruitless, and the horrors of the Titans will simply begin again as the cycle renews itself. Ultimately, there is nothing left but the utter indifference of the passage of time toward all of the uncontrollable, insane, vicious, evil, mayhem that has transpired. There is no hope for a better world, and the pain will simply continue without escape. There is no catharsis, no redemption for mankind, and no deeper knowledge to be gained. This story meant nothing.

*** Him sobbing and desperately apologizing to the refugee boy he just saved from the mob. But "saved" isn't the right word... he just granted him a respite until the Rumbling. And sure enough, that same refugee boy dies in utter terror under the Wall Titans' feet.

** Even when faced with an unstoppable horde of titans threatening to end all life outside of Paradise, the Eldians and Marleyans are unable to put aside their differences, engaging in a stand off despite Annie's father's urging. The last we see of them, it's implied that one of the Marleyans guns down Mr. Leonhart. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome This proves that one common enemy in the form of a Wall Titan’s army won’t be able to erase years of hatred and discriminations at the drop of a hat]].

** Floch's [[VillainousValour final stand.]] Grievously wounded and on his last legs he faces the Alliance outnumbered twelve to one, trains his gun on them...and shoots the fuel tank of their plane moments before Mikasa takes him down. At the very end, after everything he did, he could not turn his gun on his former comrades, and even as he lays dying he can only beg them not to stop Eren. The look of conflicted grief on Jean's face is haunting.

* Meta: When the cast additions for the dub were announced, Creator/KellenGoff dedicated his performance to Daz's voice actor Brad Venable, who had passed away earlier that week.

* The brief shot of a little girl walking through the ruined streets of Stohess, covered in blood with tears pouring down her face. If the expression on that girl's face doesn't make you want to hug her, then you don't have a soul.

** The anime takes it UpToEleven with the sad, hopeless music that plays during their transformations, not to mention the mix of betrayal and heartbreak in Eren's inner voice as he transforms to fight the ones he called his friends. BrokenPedestal at its most gut-wrenching form...

* It should be noted that the possibility of there having been any romantic feelings between these two characters, and whether it actually was Petra's crest that Levi cut off or not has never been confirmed and is entirely left open for interpretation.