Here’s everything you need to know about episode 84 of Attack on Titan, the ninth episode of the second half of The Final Season, “Night of the End.” This is our comprehensive AOT episode 84 guide.
Previous episode synopsis
Hange approached Magath and Pieck – with Levi in tow – about forming an alliance to stop Eren and the Rumbling. Connie took Falco to Ragako Village with the plan to feed him to his mother, still stuck as a Pure Titan. Armin stopped the plan by nearly sacrificing himself, but Connie saved him. They surreptitiously met Annie, who was ravenously eating savory pies.
Floch took control of the Jaegerists, but was outwitted by Jean, Mikasa, and Armin. A diversion was created where Pieck put Jean, Onyankopon, and Yelena in her mouth while at the same time, Armin, Mikasa, Connie, Annie, Falco, and Gabi rode away in the opposite direction in carriages stocked with supplies. The former group met with Hange, Magath, and Levi while the latter group awoke Reiner to “save the world.”
“Night of the End” – AOT episode 84 synopsis
The episode begins – an episode with much more subdue and much more dialogue than previous ones – with Jean daydreaming about his ideal life with the “prime real estate” of the Central District. He awakes from his daydream to hear Hange pounding on his window. He tells himself he didn’t hear anything and he should just stay there. However, he does meet with Hange and Mikasa outside.
Hange commends them for their work under an “adverse situation.” She tells them both that they’re aligning with the Cart Titan (Pieck) and the remaining Marley forces as she says, in the line of the episode, “Genocide is a mistake.” Hange informs them of their plan, which Mikasa agrees. Jean wonders if the world will still continue to loathe them if they do stop Eren and if the Rumbling should just continue, to which Hange responds more forcefully, “Genocide is wrong! There is no reason to commend such an act!“
The opening credits run on screen as Hange apologizes for yelling, then says Eren engaged the Rumbling “all because of my feckless idealism.” She says she may have just been trying to run from it all, but she’s still the Commander of the Survey Corps. She adds many of her comrades dedicated their hearts and most died without ever knowing there was another world beyond the walls. A visage of fallen Survey Corps members is shown as Jean looks to his left to see a vision of Marco, smiling at him, in a bit of foreshadowing.
After the title screen, a tense scene plays where the remaining Marley soldiers – Magath, Pieck as the Cart, Annie (wearing her Survey Corps uniform), Reiner, Gabi, and Falco – sit across from the non-Jaegerist Eldians – Jean, Armin, Mikasa, and Connie. Hange sits between them cooking stew as Yelena and Onyankopon sit opposite Hange.
Hange asks them to stop staring at each other, but Magath asks why she wants them to eat together after having spent so much time trying to kill each other. He says if they just let Eren destroy the world, the five opposite him will attain the futures they’ve been seeking. Magath calls them the “island devils” and blames them for interfering with the plan to prevent Eren and Zeke from making contact. Hange calmly responds that none of them wished for a genocide; otherwise, they wouldn’t “be hiding here in the forest making a stew.“
Magath and Jean then argue over justice. Jean blames them for continually sending Titans to Paradis, making them fight as hard as they could to survive so they wouldn’t be eaten. Magath says all of their fears about the island came true as the world is on the brink of destruction. Jean responds that if Eren hadn’t seen his mother eaten the day the walls fell, this wouldn’t have happened. Magath counters that Eldia was the first to subdue Marley two millennia ago, and Jean just asks how long they’re going to play the victim. The others are shown looking uncomfortable at the argument.
Hange, ever the mediator, cools heads again by saying an argument over the events of 2,000 years ago bores her. She tells Jean that Magath sees their existence as curious since they’re “strange devils” who are willing to stop the creation of their ideal world to save the very people who persecuted them.
Annie then asks the others if they can truly kill Eren. Mikasa says killing him isn’t the only way to stop him, to which Annie replies that she knew Mikasa would utter those words. She also asks what happens if and when he declines and continues with the genocide. She says she knows if the Marleyans try to attack Eren, they’ll be attacked by the four across from her. She asks Mikasa to confirm since she doesn’t think Mikasa “ever thought of anything more precious to you than Eren.”
Mikasa unsheathes her sword hilts next to her blade containers, asking if Annie is going to stop her. Annie reveals the needle in her ring, then lowers her hand and extends her left hand to them, palm facing forward. She says she understands how they feel as she just wants to save her father. She asks for their help and says they have no reason to fight until they find out if they can stop Eren without killing him, Mikasa relents and agrees. Hange then says the stew is ready!
Hange discusses their plan: it’ll take five hours to reach the harbor and meet up with the Azumabitos. She says Kiyomi Azumabito has an airship with which to view the Rumbling and get close to the Founding Titan, but the key will be locating the Founding without wasting fuel. Magath says he knew they had help from the Azumabitos.
They turn to Yelena to ask about Eren’s destination and that he must have received his information on the mainland from her since he has no knowledge of the mainland. Yelena asks why she should help out a “Marleyan (expletive) like you” when questioned by Magath. When Annie threatens her with death, Jean just says Yelena’s eager to die so it’s pointless. Magath and Piecek then drop that Yelena is “a Marleyan (expletive) just like the rest of us.”
They discuss how Yelena came from a “perfectly normal Marleyan family,” but pretended to be from an annexed nation. This coincided with her meeting Zeke, where Yelena crafted a story and interwove her lie into “an indelible part of human history.” Pieck actually says she’s impressed by the depths of Yelena’s desire. Yelena then softly pets Pieck’s face as she says, “To save the world: are there any words sweeter and more alluring than this?” She turns to the others and says they’re swayed by the notion that they’ll save hundreds of millions of lives, She then gives her own history lesson.
The mid-episode infographic was on the beginning of the alliance, showing a picture of the stew Hange cooked.
She basically goes through and gives an account of everyone’s crimes. First, she turns to Reiner and says who knows how many Eldians died because he breached the wall. Second, she says she heard Annie killed a number of Survey Corps members and civilians during her battle with Eren in their Titan forms in the Stohess District, adding the same goes for the soldiers of Paradis. Third, she tells Armin that he’s usually a sensible and decent person, so she was surprised to see him raze a military port so brazenly. Fourth, she says she’s heard of the (facetiously) brave acts they committed in Liberio, especially Jean, where he “valiantly” threw a Thunder Spear at Falco to defeat the Cart. Fifth, she says Gabi shot and killed Sasha, the latter “a really good girl.”
As Jean asks Hange for seconds, he thanks Yelena for the history lesson and surmises she was trying to air out all of the grudges. She then responds by bringing up Marco, which shocks everyone. She asks if they ever asked about the truth behind his death, reminding them that Annie was involved. Annie interjects that she removed Marco’s Vertical Maneuver Gear. Reiner jumps in that she was only following his order.
He adds – as was shown to viewers long ago – that Marco overheard his secret conversation with Bertolt and in fear of being revealed, he thought the best cover was to have Marco eaten by a Titan. He goes over how he pinned Marco down and told Annie to remove his gear, leaving Marco stuck on the roof until a Titan ate him. When Jean asks about final words, Reiner responds that Marco said, “We haven’t even had a chance to talk this through.” Jean says Marco was right, and that’s why they’ve been trying to kill each other.
Reiner then adds that as he saw Marco being eaten, he wondered why it was happening, then falling into a rage and pummeling the Titan. Jean says that’s enough and Reiner is saying the guilt messed with his head. As Reiner continues to wallow, Jean says again to shut up. Reiner continues, so Jean lunges at and punches Reiner square in the face. He gets mounted position and rains down hammerfists on Reiner’s face, bloodying and mangling his face. Connie and Armin hold him back, so he kicks Reiner, but his second kick hits Gabi in the midsection as she lunged to protect her cousin.
Gabi then asks for forgiveness, even prostrating herself to Jean and the others while holding her midsection with one arm. She pleads with them for their help, saying she knows it’s impudent of her to ask. Falco lifts her up, and both begin to beg Jean. He tells Connie and Armin to release him and walks off as Hange asks, “Jean, what about your seconds?” Magath reaches a hand out to Gabi as she sheds tears that her pleading didn’t work, but Magath recedes his arm. Levi awakens to say, “You are all so loud.” Good old Levi!
Jean awakens Gabi and Falco, telling them it’s time to go and that of course he’ll help them. He gives Reiner a less polite wakeup call as he shakes him awake, wondering why he’s still unconscious even though his face healed long ago. They ride off in their horse-drawn carriages where Jean apologizes to Gabi for kicking her, but he tells Reiner he won’t be getting an apology. Annie asks what about her?
Pieck approaches in the Cart form and informs them that, unfortunately, the Jaegerists have taken control of the harbor. She says they took the steam engine to reach it before them and that they’re geared up with anti-Titan equipment, ready for a fight. The camera pans inside where Kiyomi is shown sitting in chair, a stoic look on her face. A figure is shown behind her, wielding a gun. The camera zooms out to reveal Floch as her captor as the show ends.
What is the connection between Paradis and the Azumabitos?
The Azumabitos hail from the land of Hiziru, which is essentially their version of Japan. A century ago, a branch of the Shogun clan moved to Paradis Island, where they became known as the Oriental clan. However, over the century, very few members survived within the walls for a specific reason: they weren’t affected by the King of the Walls’ brainwashing as they aren’t Subjects of Ymir. They rebelled along with the Ackermans, but they were hunted to near extinction.
Later, during Mikasa’s flashback of Eren killing her parent’s murderers, it’s revealed that Mikasa and her mother were the last surviving members inside of the walls.
Kiyomi Azumabito visits Paradis Island later as an envoy, where she meets Mikasa. Mikasa shows them the family crest tattooed on her wrist, and Kiyomi reveals that Mikasa is the last descendant of the aforementioned Shogunate branch. She tells Mikasa she is directly related to the Azumabitos. However, even with this, the Azumabitos decline to help Paradis open trade with the rest of the world as they want the resources themselves.
Before the Rumbling, Kiyomi and Mikasa meet again, where Mikasa correctly accuses the former of not caring who’s in charge as long as the Rumbling is a success. Kiyomi says that will all they’ve invested and the plausible deniability of the Hizuru government, failure would mean the end for the Azumabitos. After Darius Zackley is assassinated by the chair bomb, she is told to retreat to the harbor to wait out the Rumbling. However, as was shown in the episode, Kiyomi and the Azumabitos were unable to escape as the Jaegerists took control of the harbor.
Why was Yelena the one to relive events?
Simply put, with her connections and being removed from the situations, she had the most objective view of what happened. As Jean mentioned and displayed in his argument with Magath, if the others had tried to bring up these issues, it would have blown up into something more dangerous, possibly violent. Further, while she didn’t necessarily reveal what happened to Marco, she was able to use Jean’s attitude to bring up Marco’s death, the truth of which was never revealed to anyone outside of Reiner, Annie, and Bertolt.
What does the ending mean for the next episode?
The next episode will have one of the decisive battles between the surviving Survey Corps members and the Jaegerists. As the episode title suggests, “Traitor,” Armin, Mikasa, Jean, and Connie will have to reveal themselves as allied with the Marleyans in order to continue. There will be several notable deaths in the episode if it follows the same path as the manga.
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