Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan is easily one of the most acclaimed contemporary anime titles. With its incredible plot, jaw-dropping twists, highly memorable characters, and compelling dark fantasy setting, Attack on Titan has rubber-stamped itself as one of the best stories the medium has to offer. The anime adaptation, first taken on by WIT Studio and then MAPPA in its “Final” stages, elevated Isayama’s art with incredible visuals and a score that might go down as composer Hiroyuki Sawano’s very best. That being said, however, it is undeniable that the aspect of the series that captured quite a lot of attention from fans and casuals alike was its relationship with death.
Ironically, while it was clearly set in an unforgiving world with a narrative approach that was painfully “realistic” about its set-up, most of the main cast we come to love end up surviving its harshness. Many were not so lucky. Here’s a list of the top 10 most brutal deaths we’ve seen in Attack on Titan.
Attack On Titan: 10 Deaths That Rocked The Anime’s Foundation, Ranked
Although Attack on Titan has no shortage of character deaths, these, in particular, left a lasting impact on the series and its fandom.
The Sacrifice of Colt Grice
Attack on Titan: The Final Season turned the entire narrative on its head, introducing a whole new cast of characters fighting in a war that looks eerily similar to the first World War, complete with trench warfare. Falco Grice, a child soldier fighting for the Kingdom of Marley, is dazed after getting caught in an explosion. His brother, Colt, rushes through enemy fire to retrieve Falco and take him safely to their barracks, where Falco mumbles something about flying through the air with a sword.
The connection between the characters we’d come to know and these new ones wasn’t immediately clear, but Falco’s dazed visions call back to Eren’s foresight being shown in the very first episode of Attack on Titan. Eventually, Falco and the rest of the new cast are embroiled in the savage ongoing historical war between the nation of Eldia and Marley, as well as the truth of the geopolitical situation.
When the supplies of the Survey Corps brokered from Marley by Yelena contained wine spiked with Zeke Jaeger’s spinal fluid, Falco ended up being exposed. Eldians exposed to Zeke’s spinal fluid could then be turned into Titans at Zeke’s call, due to the fact that he was of royal blood. When Falco is exposed to the laced wine, Colt asks Zeke to only unleash the roar to activate the dormant Titans once Falco is no longer in range. Regrettably, Zeke understands Colt’s desire to protect his younger brother, but activates the dormant Titans anyway. Colt hugged his panicking, transforming brother tightly, promising that he’d never leave him by himself as the heat and explosion of the transformation ripped his body apart.
The Deification of Ilse Langnar
The first season of Attack on Titan had a number of interesting OVA episodes attached to it that featured side stories set at various points; including the harsh training regimen undertaken by the 104th Training Corps, slice of life episodes and the like. One episode featured the story of the 34th expedition beyond the Walls, in which a young woman named Ilse Langnar, a member of the Scout Regiment who was in charge of the left flank of the second brigade when her entire unit is annihilated by Titans.
To make things worse, her horse is scared off, and her 3D Maneuver Gear broken, so she has to attempt to get back to the Walls on foot. She understands that she has a very small chance of survival, and decides to keep a journal of what she sees in the landscape beyond the Walls. As expected, a Titan spots her and begins pursuit, and corners her in a small wood. Instead of eating her immediately, the Titan hesitates before doing something that had never been seen in the Attack on Titan narrative until that point: it spoke to her.
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It called her “Subject of Ymir,” before prostrating itself in front of her, calling her “Lady Ymir.” The interaction leaves her stunned, but she takes the opportunity to learn more, asking it various questions about the true nature of Titans and their origins. When the Titan does not respond, her grief, anger and fear all spring forth as she screams at the Titan, asking why they eat people and what their objective is. The questions leave the Titan very uncomfortable, and it becomes unsettled, tearing away at its cheeks. Ilse tries to escape, but it very quickly catches up and locks its teeth around her head.
She spends her final moments furiously scribbling the details of her encounter into her notebook, until the very moment she is decapitated. In the aftermath, the Titan leaves the rest of her body untouched, propping them up in the hollow of a tree as if in reverence. The sheer terror of the entire encounter, and the disorienting confusion Ilse experienced, including its grim end, make this one of the worst deaths in Attack on Titan for sure. Her corpse remains in the hollow of that tree, a morbid symbol of a Titan’s lingering human thoughts.
The Mauling of Faye Jaeger
One of the biggest revelations in the final seasons of Attack on Titan is the fact that Grisha Jaeger was a resident of the Liberio internment zone, a section of the Marleyan city of Liberio designated for Eldians. Here, Eldians were subjected to all kinds of dehumanization and violence.
Internment camps are specially designated regions where large groups of people of a specific identity are imprisoned without trial. This treatment is commonly seen perpetrated against non-combatants aligned with enemies in times of conflict. The differences between an “internment” and a “concentration” camp are debated due to perceived differences in the severity of treatment and mortality rates of the different types of large-scale detention of particular groups.
Part of these systems is the restriction of movement, and for the Eldians in Liberio, special permission is needed to leave the internment zone. When Grisha Jaeger and his sister break the rules and are caught by two Marleyan guards, who offer them a choice between forced labour or corporal punishment. The two men beat Grisha while a third takes Faye away. When Grisha returned home, Faye was still not there. The next day, Faye’s body was discovered on the riverbank, with severe injuries that indicated that she had been mauled to death. Eight-year-old Faye Jaeger’s final moments were filled with horror and agony as a sadistic man set vicious dogs upon her.
The Devouring of Carla Jaeger
When Bertholdt Hoover’s Colossal Titan kicks a hole in the outermost wall protecting humanity from the hordes of Titans on the other side, the sense of safety that had been cultivated for a century. The debris that rained around the settlements closest to the hole in the wall crushed the Jaeger home, with Eren’s mother, Carla Jaeger, still inside. When Eren tries to rescue his mother, he finds her trapped under the ruins of their home, with her legs completely crushed.
A Titan with a horrifying grin and blonde hair arrives at the scene. Carla begs Garrison unit captain Hannes to grab Eren and Mikasa and flee. Carla sobbed as the Titan took her from the wreckage. It snapped her in half, breaking her back before eating her while Eren looked on in horror.
As the series progresses, we come to learn that Grisha Jaeger was an Eldian Restorationist alongside his first wife, Dina Fritz, a member of the royal Eldian family, who was transformed into a Titan by the Marleyan general Gross (the same guy who killed Faye Jaeger) alongside Eldian spy Eren Kruger, the vessel of the Attack Titan before Grisha. Before she turned, Dina told Grisha that no matter where he goes, or what happens, she will always find him. It was a horrible death on the surface, but the added context of Dina’s promise makes it all the more chilling.
The Abstention of Erwin Smith
Erwin Smith was the 13th Commander of the Survey Corps and an incredible leader whose charisma and dedication to the cause enabled him to lead scores of knowing soldiers to their demise. His death was the result of a final charge to put a stop to an assault coordinated by the Beast Titan that threatened to decimate the Survey Corps as they fought hard to protect the group in pursuit of the clues in Eren’s basement in Shiganshina district.
Erwin leads a small group of terrified soldiers on a charge towards their deaths as the Beast Titan catapults rocks towards them. When it is all over, Erwin is horribly injured, and carried back by one of the only survivors, Floch Forster.
In Shiganshina, battle breaks out between the group heading to the basement and the Colossal and Armoured Titans trying to stop them, with Armin being burned alive as he confronts Bertholdt’s Colossal Titan. After the battle, Floch brings Erwin to Shiganshina, where various soldiers debate on who to save between the leader and commander of the Survey Corps, and Armin, with the last syringe of Titan Serum. As everyone argues, Erwin uses the last of his strength to raise his hand, recalling a time from his childhood as he does so.
Levi read this action as Erwin’s final decision to reject the serum. The death is brutal, not only for the fatal injury and the inevitability of it in the face of a power far greater than any army can muster, especially for a character so highly admired. The decision to save Armin proved to be pivotal in ensuring the survival of humanity, but the pressure of such a decision, the emotions involved, all made this particular death very difficult to swallow.
The Annihilation of the Spec Ops Squad
Upon introduction, Levi Ackermann was humanity’s strongest weapon against the Titans, a prolific warrior whose immense talent led to his promotion to leader of the elite Special Operations Squad within the Survey Corps; later known as “Squad Levi”. The squad was made up of extremely capable individuals, each handpicked by Levi. Their close ties enabled incredible chemistry and understanding among them on the battlefield, making them a group capable of handling just about any Titan they came across.After Eren’s ability to Titan Shift was discovered, Squad Levi was entrusted with his protection from enemy units, namely the Female, Colossal and Armoured Titans.
They set up a plan to lure the Female Titan into a trap; however, their mission fails. Annie completely obliterates Petra Ral, Oluo Bozado, and Eld Jinn in various horrendous ways. Petra was smashed against a tree like a bug underfoot; Oluo was kicked out of the sky, and Eld was snapped in half in Annie’s mouth. The obliteration of the entire squad, when the Survey Corps had come so close to capturing the Female Titan, and Levi’s thousand-yard stare as he gazed upon the mangled corpses of his closest friends is a really haunting sight. To make things worse, this would be the second time Levi loses everyone closest to him.
The Immolation of Hange Zoë
One of the most gut-wrenching deaths in the entire series is that of scientist and Titan fanatic, Hange Zoe, who was part of the squad that put a stop to the Rumbling. It was always going to be a suicide mission because the odds were so incredibly stacked against them. Eren, with an army of Colossal Titans and access to the various abilities of The Founding Titan, set out on a destructive, genocidal rampage and did not hold anything back against his former allies when it came to it. With the Titan horde approaching, Armin and Reiner are unable to decide who will stay behind to slow their advance, but Hange volunteers because they cannot afford to use up any more of their Titan ability before engaging Eren himself.
Hange names Armin the 15th commander of the Survey Corps, effectively accepting their impending doom in the name of buying Armin and Reiner more time. After saying goodbye to Levi, Hange takes in the view of the countless Colossals trampling the earth beneath them, their love for the Titans as clear as day, even under the worst circumstances. Hange takes down two Titans using Thunder Spears, but they decide that they’ll need to get up close and kill the Titans with their blades. The proximity to the high heat emitted by the Colossals eventually caused Hange to catch fire, but they valiantly continued mowing down Titans until they succumbed to the flames. It was a heartbreaking death so close to the end, of a character who had been a fan favourite since their introduction in the very first season of Attack on Titan.
The Assassination of Sasha Blouse
Potentially the saddest death of the entire series, Potato Girl is the only death in the core group from the 104th Training Corps. The fact that she and the others survived an intense operation in which they ambushed the Marleyan city of Liberio, regrouped, and celebrated their success, only for triumph to turn into grief minutes later.
Shortly after Sasha regroups with her allies aboard an airship, Gabi Braun manages to climb aboard armed with a stolen rifle. Before anyone can see her take aim, a bullet rips through Sasha’s chest. Her friends wail and sob as she bleeds out, while other members of the Survey Corps unleash an unholy beating on Gabi. The incident made Gabi one of the most hated characters in Attack on Titan, and the episode remains one of the most brutal in the series.
The Murder of Marco Bodt
Marco’s death is the single most brutal in Attack on Titan. There is something particularly chilling about the sheer bad luck of overhearing something he wasn’t supposed to hear, and paying for it in the worst way. When Marco overhears Reiner and Bertholdt discussing their role in the destruction of Wall Maria, Reiner quickly apprehends him and orders Annie to remove his 3D Maneuver Gear. Bertholdt and Annie are shocked by the order but ultimately follow through with it. Marco is left to die, with a Titan closing in. Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt watch in horror as Marco is mercilessly devoured, his body discovered later torn in half.
“Why are you in such a hurry to kill me? Why aren’t you even willing to talk to me? Why?”
– Marco Bodt’s last words (English dub)
He died confused and pleading with his murderers, people he thought were close friends; people whom he’d just heard conspiring against humanity. Still, Marco was willing to talk it through with them, to hear them out. Marco definitely ranks high in terms of characters who truly did not deserve to die. His is one of Attack on Titan’s darkest, most sinister deaths. Marco’s terrified, heartbroken screams remain one of the series’ most haunting voice acting performances in both English and Japanese. Austin Tindle’s work in the dubbed version of the scene stands out particularly for the dialogue choices, and the emphasis on Marco’s confusion just adds to Tindle’s expression of the pain Marco feels as he is murdered in cold blood.
