The Carnage Of The Rumbling Is Even Worse Than Expected In Part 3 Of Attack On Titan's Final Season

The following article contains spoilers for Attack on Titan, The Final Season: Part 3

Few television seasons have been as pivotal in reshaping the legacy of their protagonist as Season 4 of "Attack on Titan" has been for Eren Yeager (Yuki Kaji/Bryce Papenbrook). Though the wistful suggestion of getting revenge on Marley seemed to be all Eren was referring to at the tail end of Season 3, his vicious rampage and murdering of innocent civilians since has shown that he's become as villainous as any of the antagonists in the show's history thus far.

From his brutal, vengeful attack on Marley, which put all of his friends and allies in danger, to the fascist and genocidal campaign that Eren has marked as his final act on this alternate Earth, "Attack on Titan" has shown again and again that this is just who Eren is, despite fans and his friends hoping that he was being controlled or manipulated in some way. While these revelations have left a painful road ahead for the surviving characters, none of this could prepare viewers for how brutal The Rumbling would truly become.

Like "Game of Thrones," the mega-popular "Attack on Titan" is known for its horrific violence, nasty character deaths, and shocking plot twists. Still, the bar has been raised considerably by Part 3 of The Final Season. As the episode opens, Eren remembers a boy he once saved from being brutally beaten and how he walked the boy home to safety. Eren then notices the boy among those being killed by his onslaught, and the sequence ends with the boy being crushed to death.

This savagery is just the beginning. As families burst into flames, some choose to end their lives, and city after city is leveled into rubble; this apocalyptic march makes the attack on Marley look tame by comparison. Though a few civilians are able to flee on a steam train, they look to be the only survivors thus far, as most of the Marleyan continent is destroyed before Eren can even be confronted.

Furthermore, now that Eren has asserted to his friends that the only way they can stop him is to kill him, the road is set for "Attack on Titan" to end in a grim and brutal tragedy that befits its tone. Who of the central cast will survive the final battle this fall is all that remains to be seen when the upcoming series finale arrives at last.