Attack on Titan Season 3 Episode 20

Grisha and Fay Jaeger find themselves in a larger part of the city beyond the security gate of their neighborhood. They bump into a man who curses them as "devil-bloods" and comments on Eldians going where they please. Fay is uneasy, but Grisha distracts her by showing her the way to where the airship would land. They climb a short set of steps to see a river stretched out before them with a hanger on the other side.

As Fay admires the airship, one of two men from Marley Public Security ask if the kids have come to see the airship and whether they have their exit permits. Grisha panics, knowing they do not and have entered the city without permission. Faced with the choice of doing labor or receiving a beating, he chooses a beating, to avoid getting his parents in trouble. He also offers to take on Fay's punishment since he forced her to come with him.

The officer's partner tells Kruger to go easy on Grisha and informs Fay that he will escort her home. He leads her away while Grisha is beaten.

After dispensing Grisha's punishment, Kruger sits on the grass by the river, smoking, and tells Grisha that he and his sister were smart to have kept their armbands on. Eldians without one would be sent to "paradise" regardless of whether they are children. Grisha manages to get up and says that he will go home, but Kruger tells him that he came all this way to see the airship, so he might as well see it.

The next day Fay's body washes up in the river, and the officer who had escorted her tells Grisha's parents that he took her back to the Liberio Internment Zone and then went on his way, claiming that he was busy. The man places the blame for Fay's fate on the kids, who should not have entered the city without a permit, and then their parents, for not having taught them correctly, but Grisha is aware that the man is lying. Though Grisha's mother is devastated, his father dutifully thanks the officer for his guidance and promises to do better with his son. Grisha begins to hate both men, as well as cursing his own foolishness.

Grisha is told a story by his father about Ymir Fritz, who 1820 years ago made a contract with the Devil of All Earth and obtained the Power of the Titans. Upon her death, her spirit was split into the Nine Titans who formed the Eldian Empire. They defeated the nation of Marley and ruled over the continent, thus beginning the Dark Ages, when the Subjects of Ymir oppressed the other races.

However, Marley was able to steal seven of the Nine Titans and bring them under their control, handing them victory in the Great Titan War that ended eighty years ago. The Eldian King at the time retreated to the island of Paradis where he erected three Walls, taking many of his people with him, but Grisha's ancestors were abandoned on the continent, and can only live there by the grace of Marley.

Rather than taking his father's storytelling to heart, Grisha sees a man willing to debase himself on his master's orders, even though he had just lost a daughter. Grisha insists that the man from Public Security was lying about Fay, because the truth was inconvenient for him. Grisha's father warns him that the walls are thin, but Grisha pushes ahead, speculating that the officer himself was likely the one who took Fay.

His father yells at him to be quiet and tries to reinforce that their ancestors did horrible things, but Grisha exclaims that he and Fay did not do any of that themselves. Exhausted, his father asks what is wrong with him, and if Grisha wants to get all of them shipped off to paradise. This, at last, causes Grisha to hesitate and his father begs him not to do anything that would cause his family to share Fay's fate.

Grisha grows up, and at eighteen he takes over his father's clinic, which is when he notices an odd scar on a patient of his. The man calls it proof that he is a patriot, and reveals that he knows Grisha's history and how Fay died. The patriots have an informant in the government and the man tells Grisha that there are some things he should hear.

From the patriots, Grisha learns the truth about Fay's death, being torn apart by dogs. He joins the resistance in order to correct the world and restore Eldia.

Their informant, "the Owl," leads the Restorationists from the shadows, never showing himself, and sends them old documents, detailing their lost history; how Ymir cultivated the wild and built roads. She helped develop the continent rather than conquer it. The Restorationists see it at proof that the history taught by Marley is a deception. Grisha's companion is impressed that Grisha is able to read such an ancient language, but Grisha admits that he cannot understand most of it. Rather, he believes in Ymir.

As his comrades cheer in agreement, the door to their hideout opens and a man announces that the Owl has sent them someone. A woman enters the room, introducing herself as Dina Fritz, a descendant of the royal family. She is the last descendant that remains on the continent, and provides the Restorationists with information about the Titans that only the royal family knew, including that the King took the Founding Titan into the Walls with him. Grisha tells the other Restorationists that if they can take it back, they can control all the other Titans and annihilate Marley.

The next year, Grisha and Dina marry, and the year after that they have a son, Zeke, who Grisha says will lead them to victory.

A few years later, Marley begins recruiting Subjects of Ymir for its Warriors, who will receive one of the seven Titans under Marley's control. The families of those chosen would become Honorary Marleyans. According to the Owl, Marley is preparing for a resource struggle as technology advances and the dominance of the Titans begins to wane. There is a large cache of fossil fuel beneath Paradis that they can no longer ignore, despite the fact the Eldian King had warned that he would send millions of Titans to flatten the earth if his island was ever interfered with.

Grisha is bothered that Marley now has the same goal as them, to infiltrate the Walls and capture the Founding Titan. The Restorationists are disheartened that Marley could beat them to their goal, but Grisha comes up with a solution. He will have Zeke become a Warrior.

To do this, Grisha and Dina drill Eldian history into their son, so he will be aware of his people's true heritage even as he hides everything from Marley and follows their orders without question. In retrospect, Grisha realizes that he was doing to his son, as his father had done to him, and wonders if he had ever thought of Zeke as simply his son, rather than the hope of Eldia or a child of royal blood.

In the end, Zeke chooses to protect himself and his grandparents, by turning in Grisha and Dina to Marley Public Security. In their custody, Grisha is tortured for the identity of the Owl, and in agony Grisha says he already told them everything, though he is not believed and loses his fingers as part of his ordeal.

Later, he is taken to a wall by the ocean, where he finds himself facing inland at a desert when his blindfold is removed. Grisha realizes that this is "paradise." The man behind him confirms that this is Paradis Island, the penal colony for Eldian traitors, where Grisha will serve his life sentence here as a Pure Titan. However, Grisha realizes that he recognizes this man as the officer who beat him by the river when he was a child. Kruger seems surprised that Grisha remembers that, but Grisha finds it unbelievable that he could ever forget.

Behind him, Grice is led sobbing by another officer. He calls out to his friend and Grice asks why Zeke betrayed them. Grice calls himself an idiot for trusting Grisha, the Restorationists, and Dina.

Sergeant Major Gross finds Grice's breakdown to be lively and kicks him off the wall. He tells Grice to run north, and if he is lucky he will make it to the Wall. Gross explains to one of his newer subordinates that if they let Grice run, the newly formed Titans will chase after him and leave the area. As he talks, Grisha recognizes Gross as the man who had killed his sister.

Gross orders his men to hurry up since they have a lot of prisoners to get through, and the security officers begin injecting their captives. The Restorationists are kicked off the wall and land on the ground below where they turn into Titans and chase after Grice. Grisha shouts at them in horror and Gross tells Kruger that his prisoner is being too noisy, but Kruger says that he would like to interrogate Grisha a little more.

Then, to Grisha's horror, Dina is led out on the wall. He says that she should not be here because he told them about her, including that she is a royal, but before he can say more, Kruger tackles him to the ground and orders him to shut up. Grisha realizes that Kruger must be trying to cover up Dina's heritage. As she watches Grisha struggle, Dina tries to comfort him, and assures him that no matter what form she takes, she will come and find him. When she falls from the wall, she becomes a familiar Titan.

In the present day, Eren Jaeger wakes up with a scream, realizing that Dina became the smiling Titan who had eaten his mother and Hannes. Confused, he looks around his cell, wondering who and where he is. Armin Arlelt informs him that he and Mikasa Ackermann are in the stockades for insubordination. In the cell next to him, Mikasa asks if he was having a nightmare.

Eren admits that he was and it feels like he woke from the longest dream ever, but it was not actually a dream. He was connected to his father's memories. Eren cries, tears running down his face as they had Grisha's, as Dina joined the other Titans in pursuit of Grice.

In the past, Gross taunts Grisha about Dina leaving him, and Grisha tells him to shut up. He confronts Gross about killing Fay fifteen years ago. Annoyed, Gross stops the officer escorting the last prisoner and most of his men go back to their ship, not wanting to see their superior partake in his idea of fun. Gross says that if Kruger is done with Grisha, he would like to make him dance. He has decided not to make Grisha a Titan and instead have him fight the other prisoner, who Gross will turn into a small 3- or 4-meter Titan.

Numb, Grisha asks if Gross enjoys watching people getting eaten by Titans. As he prepares the injection for the last prisoner, Gross philosophically explains that he takes it as a lesson in times of peace, when people might otherwise lose touch with life and death, so he will be ready to accept it when his own death comes for him. He claims it was educational to have Fay eaten by his sons' dogs. It is not that Gross does not understand Grisha's point of view, but Grisha and his sister are Eldians. He points to the Titan newly formed from the last prisoner, and tells Grisha that is the true form of the Eldians, a gigantic monster.

Because of this Gross is unbothered by what he does. Eldians should be wiped out, because in his eyes Eldians are the murderers. He asks Grisha what the Restorationists would have done to Marley and if Grisha feels any remorse over that. Grisha does not rise to the bait though, and recalls everything he learns about Eldian history through the Restorationists. Gross tells him he can share it with the Titan down below and tries to push him over the edge.

Before he can succeed, Kruger intervenes, and shoves Gross off the wall where he lands next to the Titan he created. Kruger asks Grisha if he finds it interesting to watch Gross get devoured, and reveals that he is in fact the Owl. He tells Grisha to watch closely to see how a Titan uses their power. Kruger cuts his hand and transforms into a Titan, which then breaks the Marleyan ship over its back.