Attack on Titan Episode 74

Rewriting History

I don’t want to spend too much time writing this review since Wednesdays are usually my day off. But, Attack on Titan: The Final Season Episode 74 is an extremely important episode that I’m not going to skip a review for. In fact, I’d say it’s more important than the previous episode.

So, the first thing that I want to touch on from this episode is the alleged history of the Eldians. I actually didn’t remember this part from the manga, so it was like I was watching the first part of this episode blind.

What makes the history of the Eldians such a big deal is that nobody other than the Nine Titans really has any idea about it. And more specifically, only the wielder of the Founding Titan, Eren Yeager, knows most of the details.

Why does this matter? Because it means that the history of the Eldians that’s taught in Marley — and likely elsewhere in the world — isn’t exactly true. As Grisha explained to Zeke, many of the massacres that the Eldians were supposed to have committed never actually happened.

But, since Grisha himself wasn’t the wielder of any Titan at this point, even his words can’t be trusted 100%. However, it does seem clear that a large portion of Eldian history is merely Marleyan propaganda. The one thing we can be certain of is that there really was a war that resulted in most Eldians retreating to Paradis.

As far as the Titan war goes, nobody has discredited that. But, what we’re beginning to learn is that the one-sided massacre that Marley attempts to paint the war as probably isn’t factually correct. Was there a war? Yes. Did the Eldians previously commit genocide? Ehhh. Maybe, maybe not.

Tom Ksaver

Tom Ksaver is effectively the man who set all of the events of this series in motion. Without him, Eren literally wouldn’t have been born. Just think about that for a moment. After this episode, a lot of people blamed Grisha for the events of the series. But really, it was Tom.

Was Grisha a bad father to his sons? Absolutely. But, his behavior can kind of be forgiven when you consider that he was attempting to save his entire race of people from being wiped out. But what about Tom? Can we really blame him for everything?

I’d argue that we can. Tom was the one who told Zeke to report his parents’ restorationist activities to the military police. And because of that, Grisha ended up acquiring the Attack Titan, having Eren, and giving Eren both the Attack and Founding Titans.

Also, I would argue that without Tom’s guidance, Zeke wouldn’t have become his successor and acquired the Beast Titan. Really, Tom’s suggestion regarding Zeke’s parents is what set everything in motion. It’s unlikely that Zeke would have done that without the push from Tom.

I’d also like to point out how interesting it was that Tom claimed his Beast Titan wasn’t suited for battle. We know that the Nine Titans have different appearances based on their wielders, so it’s possible that his was entirely different in form from Zeke’s.

However, even if his Beast Titan wasn’t a giant ape, it still would have had access to the Beast Titan’s ability to create and control pure titans. So, I guess he just somehow wasn’t aware that he had those abilities. Even that doesn’t make much sense, though. He was a researcher and also should have had access to previous Beast Titan memories.

Eldian Euthanization

Another big reveal in this episode is Zeke’s plan. Until now, we’ve kind of just assumed that the plan was for Zeke and Eren to come into contact so that Eren could start the “rumbling” and destroy all of Paradis’ enemies with titans. Now we know that’s not the plan.

Instead, Zeke’s plan is to use the Founding Titan’s power to genetically alter every Eldian so that they can no longer reproduce. I know some people are going to say that development is stupid, but it’s not actually that crazy when you take a look at other aspects of this series.

But, what does this plan solve? And how does it solve it?

The “threat” that Marley claims the Eldians pose is that at any point, they could use the power of the Titans to destroy the rest of the world. Zeke’s solution “solves” this by having all of the Eldians naturally die off within about 100 years. This both avoids war and eliminates the threat of the Eldians.

But, the fact that this plan would take 100 years is a huge flaw. A lot can happen in 100 years. Eren and Zeke will be long dead, and in that time someone else with the Founding Titan could decide to destroy the world anyway.

It’s a very idealistic plan. I get that Zeke wants to solve the problem without conflict, but I just don’t see it happening. Even if his plan comes to fruition, why would Marley agree to it? They need a scapegoat to distract from their constant aggressive expansion, and the Eldians are it.

Also, it’s kind of funny that this is the solution Zeke and Eren decided upon. Grisha raised both of them to free the Eldian people, and their solution was that if all of the Eldians are dead, they can’t be oppressed.

Conclusion

What do you think of Attack on Titan: The Final Season Episode 74? Do you think Marley’s telling of the Eldian’s history has any basis in reality? Who would you blame for the events of this series? And how would you solve the “problem” that is the Eldians? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 75 is available.