Attack on Titan Iceberg (Part 2)

Level 4

The original ending
The author of Attack on Titan, Hajime Isayama, stated that before the popularity of this title, he planned to end the manga with the death of all the characters, but then he abandoned this idea in favor of a slightly less gloomy ending.

The ending of the manga Attack on Titan

Sasha's Original Death
Initially, Sasha Braus was supposed to die much earlier, namely, in the scene in which she fights a titan with a bow in her native village. However, Hajime Isayama changed his mind because the manga editor cried in the bathtub over the death of this character.

Death of Sasha Braus

Mikasa's Scarf
Initially, in the Attack on Titan manga, Mikasa's scarf was black. But after the release of the anime adaptation in which her scarf is red, Isayama Hajime changed his mind about its color and Mikasa's red scarf became canonical.

Mikasa with her scarf

Symphony of the Titans
Symphony of the Titans is a 2020 event in the Japanese game Senki zesshō Symphogear XD Unlimited, which is a collaboration with Attack of the Titans.

The announcement of the Symphony of Titans game event

Marko after death
In the manga, Marco died early enough without seeing Eren close the gap in one of the walls, and in the anime, he died after seeing it. In one of the sketches, Isayama showed what Marco would look like at the time of season 4.

Sketch with Marco from the future, drawn by Isayama

Level 5

Oliver Pieck
According to the original plans, the Titan Carrier was supposed to be a man named Oliver Pieck, but later the author of the manga abandoned this idea, changing the gender of this character to a female one and coming up with the name Pieck Finger.

Eren and the birds
In the last chapters of the AAttack on Titan manga, it was hinted that Eren can control birds, namely, control their movement and see through their eyes. He can do this by using the power of the Beast-like Titan he has.

Eren and the birds

Yeast Titans
There is a theory that titans are made up of yeast. It is based on the fact that yeast can easily generate a large number of cells from a single cell, just as titans can regenerate their cells. Yeast releases a large amount of heat gas during growth, which also occurs during the transformation of humans into titans. In addition, yeast is less active at night, as well as regular titans are much less active at night than during the day.

Cancelled game
Attack on Titan: Team Battle is a massively multiplayer online arcade game announced in February 2015 and developed by Capcom. The game was canceled on November 30, 2018 due to the fact that, in the opinion of the company, it did not come out of high quality and most likely would not have interested the players. According to the idea, the player had to control a hero using a controller in the form of a super-hard steel blade.

Poster of the cancelled game Attack on Titan: Team Battle

The prototype of Erwin Smith
Erwin Smith's appearance is based on a little-known actor named Matthew Hall, namely his appearance in Paris Hilton's 2008 music video Paris for President. After learning about this, Matthew Hall made a cosplay for Erwin at Halloween in 2020.

Actor Matthew Hall's cosplay of Erwin Smith

Level 6

Chapter Zero
There is a chapter zero of the Attack on Titan manga, which is the original version of the first chapter of the manga. It differs from the first chapter in that instead of three walls on Paradise, there is only one wall and it consists not of titans, but of trees, the Titans also had a vulnerable point located on their chests and people fought the Titans with fire katanas.

The cover of the zero chapter of the manga Attack on Titan

Gaby's Prototype
The original version of the first chapter of the Attack on Titan manga featured the character Tsubaki, who was removed in the final version. However, he became the prototype for Gaby, who appeared much later.

A page from the original version of the first chapter of Attack on Titan manga

Obscene verse
In chapter 57 of the manga Attack on Titan, there is a panel in which Armin holds a piece of paper with an image of Levi and a verse that is the text of an obscene Japanese children's song called "Rock Paper Scissors", which has obscene language. It turned out that this text was added by the manga author's assistant without his knowledge.

Obscene verse from chapter 57 of the manga

Falco and Jesse Pinkman
According to the author of the manga, Isayame Hajime, the character Falco Grice is inspired by the character Jesse Pinkman from the famous TV series Breaking Bad.

Falco Grice

Ehren killed his mother
In the 139 chapter of the manga Attack on Titan, Eren Jaeger hinted that his actions led to the death of his mother. Eren from the future, using the power of the Founding Titan, forced the Smiling Titan to eat his mother so that little Eren would hate the Titans.

A page from chapter 139 of the manga

Level 7

The musical
There is an official musical about Attack on Titan, which premiered on January 7, 2023 at the Orix Theater in Osaka, Japan. The musical covers the material until the end of the Battle for the Throne arc, ending at about chapter 11 or 12 of the manga or episode 10 of the anime.

Attack on Titan Musical Poster

An animated book
Bergheim is an animated book available in the Attack on Titan manga reader app. In it, Intelligence corps soldiers Sylvia Krieger and her ally Bonnie search for Officer Lucas Krieger in the abandoned city of Bergheim. It was planned to release its sequel, but this did not happen due to the closure of the Attack on Titan application in 2018.

The cover of an animated book on Attack on Titan

Predicting Eren's Death
In the eighth OVA episode of the anime Attack on Titan, in which Mikasa dreams of living in an alternate reality where her parents are still alive, there is a hint of Eren's death at the end of the story. In this episode, the man in the mirror mask tells Mikasa that he will turn her into a murderer, and that she will not be able to escape Eren's death. As a result, Eren dies both in this parallel reality and then at the end of the manga and anime in the main reality.

A shot from the eighth OVA

Favorite animals
The owners of the Beast Titan transform into their favorite animals. This was hinted at by children's plush toys: Zick Yeager can be seen in one of the scenes with a stuffed monkey toy, and Tom Xavier with a ram toy.

Little Zick Yeager with a monkey toy

Berthold's sleeping position
Berthold sleeps in the same position as the man on the traditional tarot card called "The Hanged Man." It depicts pittura infamante, an old method of punishing traitors in Italy. This may hint that Berthold will betray the 104th Cadet Corps. It may also be a reference to the hanged man whom Berthold had met earlier.

Berthold's sleeping position and the tarot card called The Hanged Man

Eren and the Devil
There is a theory that Eren is related to the devil. Firstly, the Eren's Titan has the same pointed ears as the devil, but when the owner of the Attacking Titan was Eren Kruger, he did not have such ears, the titans of all other members of the Yeager family have the same ears. Secondly, the conversation scene between Zick and Eren from season 4, episode 15, is similar in meaning and visually to the picture in which the devil and Ymir make a deal. Reiner also said in one scene that Eren is the worst candidate for the power of the Founding Titan.

Eren Yeager