Chapter 130 of Attack on Titan, “Dawn for Humanity” was a fantastic chapter that finally showed off the full horror of the Rumbling.
There were numerous glorious double page spreads of Eren’s attack, making me wonder how the hell the alliance is even supposed to beat him and where exactly they go from here.
Well, this is what predictions posts are for and I will kick off my predictions for Chapter 131 with the question,
Will Annie Stay With the Alliance?
“Dawn for Humanity” began with Annie confronting Hange about the decision to go to Odiha, meaning that they couldn’t save Liberio and that her father was likely killed.
Annie then says she plans to leave the alliance because there is now no reason for her to fight and she doesn’t want to have to kill Eren or the scouts if it comes down to it.
So, the question is how is Annie going to be convinced to stay and help the alliance?
Hajime Isayama wouldn’t have brought her back just to have her leave again.
It would seem like Annie is due for a little pep talk but who will dispense it?
Well, given how Mikasa seems to connect with what Annie is saying emotionally in the chapter, she might be able to convince her.
Then there are Reiner and Armin, both of whom feel a little overdue for a one on one conversation with Annie, given their past history.
I expect Annie may be a big part of the next chapter as she struggles with the decision whether to stay with the alliance now that her father is dead.
Or is he?
What Happened to the Eldians in Liberio?
The last we saw of the Eldians in the Liberio Internment Zone, Annie’s father was beginning to lead a revolt after their Marleyan captors refused to listen to their warnings about the oncoming Rumbling.
However, shots were fired leaving the fates of many of those Eldians unknown.
Annie’s father and Reiner’s mother were right at the front of that group with Mr Leonhart wrestling with the gun of one of the soldiers.
Do I think they’re all dead though?
No, Isayama would probably have shown it if they were.
I’m pretty sure some of them made it and will have fled Liberio in an effort to escape the Rumbling.
Maybe they fled to Odiha and will meet up with the alliance?
Although, that does feel a little too coincidental.
Either way, I expect we will get a resolution to Annie’s story with her father, whether that ends happily or tragically.
When Will the Alliance Reach Eren?
Chapter 130 ended with Eren’s monstrous Titan form finally being revealed as his genocide reached Marley’s shores.
By the time the alliance reaches him he will already have killed thousands of people, possibly millions.
So, every second counts for the alliance in reaching Eren but even when they reach Odiha, they will still have half a day to get the plane ready, which Kiyomi said was a gamble itself.
Given this, it seems like there will be a few more chapters before the alliance finally confronts Eren.
This also depends on whether Floch survived and is about to make his move, if Kiyomi will reveal something (I will get to that later), and if Yelena will even lead them in the right direction.
Speaking of which,
Where is Eren Going?
If Yelena does decide to lead the alliance to Eren, where exactly would that be?
Isayama has been implying with Magath’s earlier questions to Yelena that Eren has a specific place to go in mind.
The only places we know in Marley is Liberio and Odiha but Liberio is probably in the process of being destroyed and I doubt Isayama would have the place the alliance is going coincidentally be the place Eren is going to as well.
No, I think Eren has a very different location in mind.
I suspect that he is actually going to the location of the giant tree where Ymir first gained her power from the source of all living matter.
There, Eren may attempt to do something, like remove the Eldians’ ability to transform into Titans.
We may also get more of an idea of what exactly this source of all living matter that gave Ymir her powers is.
Ending the story where it all began would be emotionally fitting.
What’s the Deal With the Fez Kid?
The fez kid that was first hinted at in Chapter 120 and then finally introduced in Chapter 123 made a brief reappearance in Chapter 130.
He was in a memory shard of Eren’s where it looked like he was being attacked by three Marleyans in an alley.
So, Eren definitely encountered him while he was hiding in Marley making me wonder how exactly this kid factors into Eren’s mindset.
He is clearly important since his memory shard was one of the biggest in Chapter 120, and Eren seems to have experienced some future memory of him because he tells Mikasa that nothing bad has happened to him “yet” in Chapter 123.
This could have a number of meanings.
Maybe Eren witnesses the fez kid being murdered because of his race, which only makes him more determined to kill everyone outside the walls.
Or maybe he saves the fez kid from the men attacking him, only he knows that he will end up killing him in the Rumbling.
Knowing Isayama though, whatever purpose the fez kid holds, I will honestly be surprised if his story doesn’t end in tragedy.
Either way, he is clearly important to Eren’s perspective so I think we can expect him to be an important part of the final chapters.
Could Ymir Have Left a Secret Code in Her Message?
I was rewatching Season Three Part Two recently and got to the part where Historia reads Ymir’s letter.
During this scene, Jean asks Historia if there’s a possibility that Ymir left a secret code.
Historia dismisses this but in a comedy chibi skit that is on the DVD Ymir does leave a message.
Now, this message is “marry me” so this was obviously for comedy but it does make me wonder if Ymir actually did leave a secret code for Historia to uncover.
Keep in mind, she was the first character in the main cast to reach the Paths Dimension, going there even before Eren and Zeke.
So, it stands to reason that she may have met the original Ymir there and even learnt something and left that in a secret code for Historia to find.
What this could be and the relevance it will have I don’t know.
All of that said, I’m probably reaching here.
I’m basically just blindly hoping that Isayama will throw us Ymir fans a bone before the series’ ends and give us some content with her.
The Kiyomi, Kruger and Ksaver Theory.
I’ve talked about this theory before in other predictions posts but I wanted to go more in depth here.
Ever since Kiyomi was introduced I have wondered what exactly her point is in the story.
Sure, she provides the plane that the alliance will use to reach Eren but she has to have more of a point than that, especially with her connection to Mikasa.
Now that Kiyomi is actually with the alliance and traveling with them to Odiha I think now would be the perfect time to reveal her importance, which I think may be a connection to Kruger and Ksaver.
This is basically combing the theories that the “See you later, Eren” memory seen at the beginning of the story is actually Kiyomi talking to Kruger and not Mikasa talking to Eren, and that the doctor who helped Kruger was actually Ksaver.
We know Kiyomi’s family had close connections to the Eldian Empire before its fall so they would not have benefited from Marley’s rise to power.
As a result, they may have supported some underground Eldian rebellions, like that of Kruger’s family.
Kruger says that when his family was killed he was rescued by his father’s friends.
What if these friends were Kiyomi’s family?
So, Kruger stays with them in secret and then meets Ksaver who helps him falsify his blood tests to pose as a Marleyan and infiltrate the military.
Kruger, Kiyomi and Ksaver then begin working on a secret plan to overthrow Marley based on Kruger’s future memories as the Attack Titan.
He probably then tells the two of them about Mikasa and Zeke and gives them specific roles around these two.
He tells Kiyomi to watch over and protect Mikasa because of her importance, which she does under the pretense that she is only doing so because of her heritage.
Next, he tells Ksaver to watch over Zeke and pass on his Beast Titan to him because this is needed to activate the Rumbling.
Not only this but he also instructs Ksaver to allow Zeke to find his own mindset and support it, which is why Ksaver is encouraging of Zeke’s euthanasia plan even if he doesn’t agree with it.
So, I believe that Kruger, Kiyomi and Ksaver were all working behind the scenes to orchestrate these events
Although, this is probably more far fetched that the Ymir hiding a secret code theory.
You never know though.
I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
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