Season 3 is branded as the “meat of the series” by Attack on Titan fans. This is simply because a lot of reveals take place in this season. But hey, this is Attack on Titan that we are talking about, so along reveals come more mysteries.
Attack on Titan Season 3 is one of the most confusing seasons as there are various flashbacks, which sometimes have overlapping timelines that you cannot seem to pinpoint when these events happened. Additionally, you are bombarded with a lot of information that one may not grasp completely.
If you are hyperventilating with too much information after watching Season 3, just relax, as we go over the most confusing parts of Season 3.
Why Attack On Titan Season 3 Is Confusing
Again, as there are major revelations on this season, a spoiler alert is in effect!
Note: we also explain why the other seasons are so confusing. Check our articles on that here:
- Why AoT is so confusing (Major things explained)
- Why Season 2 of Attack on Titan is so confusing
- Why Season 4 of Attack on Titan is so confusing
Why Is The First Interior Squad After Krista?
A lot of people are left to wonder as to why the First Interior Squad was after Krista Lenz even if there are some clues given via the flashback of Krista, who we now know as Historia Reiss. A quick recap for everyone, the Reiss family is the royal family in Paradis.
They are also the descendants of the original royal family which is the Fritz family. They just changed their name to Reiss.
Keep in mind that the royal family can erase memories, and this is precisely what they did to Eldians in Paradis. After memories were wiped out, they simply created a new history.
Historia Reiss is discovered to be the true Queen of Paradis as it was revealed that the reigning King is not of royal blood, rather, a puppet king. The First Interior Squad is also after Historia due to the orders of her father, Rod Reiss.
In general, the squad is in pursuit of Eren and Historia as Rod wanted Historia to get the Founding Titan from Eren. You may ask, why go through the hassle of capturing the two when Rod himself, can just eat Eren?
Well, my friends, that is because Rod Reiss is a coward. He knew that after becoming the holder of the Founding Titan, he only has 13 years to live and that he will also be bound by the vow of King Fritz.
He is too much of a chicken (no offense to the chicken) that he would rather sacrifice his own children to save his own skin. Not exactly worthy of the Dad of the Year award.
AOT 101: It was revealed in Season 3 that Marco, the best friend of Jean, was not actually killed in action by titans. He learned that Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were traitors and upon this discovery, he was left for dead by the three. His death was not only brutal to Jean, but also to Reiner and Bertholdt, who began questioning themselves.
Why Does Historia Need To Eat Eren?
The simple answer to this is for Historia to gain the Founding Titan. It was only in Season 3 that Eren was led to know that he also possessed the Founding Titan along with the Attack Titan. But how did this come to be?
Spoiler alert again! The next part will shed light on Eren’s memory gaps in Season 1.
Before the fall of Wall Maria, Grisha Yeager already knew that it will fall as he can see the future memories of the Attack Titan that is within him.
He set off for the Reiss family in order to ask for their help to stop the attack with the use of the Founding Titan.
The current holder of the Founding Titan is Frieda Reiss who is the eldest daughter of Rod Reiss.
The conflict of Freida with Grisha’s request is the fact that no matter how much she wanted to help Paradis with the power of the Founding Titan, she could not do so as she is bound to King Fritz’s vow of peace.
It was then that Grisha’s resolved to steal the Founding Titan from them as they will not be able to do something. He was actually apprehensive at first as he does not want to murder children.
But he was spurred on by the future memories of the Attack Titan (Eren) that this was what he was supposed to do.
In the end, he killed Freida and the other members of the Reiss Family. The only one that he spared was Rod Reiss (upon future Eren’s orders). This was how he acquired the Founding Titan, which he then passed on to Eren.
AOT 101: Titan shifters gain the memories of past and future titan shifters. This is the reason why Grisha knew what he was supposed to do during the Attack on Wall Maria. He already saw the memories of Eren as the Attack Titan. This is also the reason why Kruger knew of Mikasa and Armin as he saw the future memories of Eren.
What Is The Truth About The World?
By the time you reach Season 3, the truth that the people who are residing within the walls are not the only humans left in the world will probably not come as a shock to you.
But what is more shocking is the realization that the many deaths of our favorite characters may seem to be in vain.
Spoilers ahead!
The life of Grisha, Eren’s father was revealed in this season as they finally locate the secret in the basement of Eren’s house.
Basically, Grisha was an Eldian living in Marley. They learned that Grisha joined the Eldian Restorationists movement when he and his sister experienced the harsh truth of being an Eldian in Marley.
Case in point: A Marleyan officer killed his sister by way of attack dogs.
This was also the time when he met Dina Fritz, who is a descendant of the royal family. They fell in love, got married, and had a kid named Zeke.
During this time, Marley has started training warrior recruits to inherit the powers of the titans at their disposal (Colossus Titan, Jaw Titan, Cart Titan, etc.)
It was then that Zeke was pushed by Grisha and Dina to do well in the warrior program as if he was chosen to inherit a titan’s power, he can then aid the goals of the Eldian Restorationists.
At this point, the goal of Marley in attacking Paradis is to steal the Founding Titan so that they can use its power for wars against other nations.
Fast forward to Grisha and Dina’s demise, their son, Zeke betrayed them. Both parents were caught and were punished by turning them into a Pure Titan.
Grisha did not suffer the same fate as Dina as it was revealed that one of the officers was actually the informant of the Restorationists (the owl). It was Kruger and he was the holder of the Attack Titan.
AOT 101: Season 3 is where you can find the sequence that fans have dubbed as “The Charge of the Light Brigade” This charge involves Erwin and what was left of the Survey Corps. If you are familiar with this poem, then you know the dramatic ending. Prepare tissues for S3 Ep. 16: Perfect Game
Conclusion
Attack on Titan Season 3 actually made a lot of viewers quit watching the show. (It’s also part of the reason why AoT is getting a lot of hate. We explain that here.)
When the truth was revealed about the titans roaming Paradis, the origins of the titan shifters, and even the backstory of Grisha, viewers felt that the deaths of their favorite characters were in vain.
I felt the same way. My mouth fell open with the gruesome deaths in Seasons 1 and 2, and when Season 3 came around, it felt like we just have a pile of bodies of such great characters for what?
They fought for their freedom and truth, yet we were brought to the realization that they were simply casualties of political war and generations of hate.
The last episode can really leave a pit on your stomach. But trust that all of their deaths will be worth it, come Season 4. Hold on, comrades!