Night of the End

A flashback shows Hange pulling Jean from a daydream of comfortable interior life to recruit him. With Levi gravely wounded and a shaky truce struck with Marleyan stragglers, Hange intends to stop Eren's genocide. Jean hesitates; even a successful intervention leaves the world hating Eldians and Eren with four years left on his Titan. Hange admits the strategy has holes but refuses to accept extermination as an answer, and the memory of Marco Bodt decides it. Jean is a Scout, and always will be.

At the campfire in the present, suspicion crackles between the factions. Magath wonders why islanders would surrender their coming paradise; Jean bristles at being called a devil for resisting annihilation; Hange cuts the historical relitigating short, noting nobody present witnessed any of it. Annie asks the question underneath everything: if talk fails, can Eren's friends actually kill him? She predicts the alliance will fracture the instant Marley moves against him, and accuses Mikasa of holding Eren above all else. Blades nearly come out before Annie softens, admitting she only wants her father saved, and both women agree to postpone any fight until diplomacy has its chance.

Yelena, exposed by Pieck and Magath as a disillusioned Marleyan rather than a liberated volunteer, begins cataloging everyone's atrocities, from Reiner breaching Wall Maria to Armin leveling part of Liberio. Jean actually thanks her for airing it all, until she reaches Marco. Reiner confesses the full truth: he ordered Annie to strip Marco's gear after the boy overheard too much, then watched a Titan eat him. With his final breath, Marco lamented that the two sides never truly talked. When Reiner keeps dwelling on his own guilt, Jean snaps, beats him to the ground, and accidentally strikes Gabi when she shields her cousin. Gabi absorbs the blow, acknowledges his hatred is earned, and still begs the Scouts to save her family in Liberio. By morning Jean has cooled and committed. The company rides for the port, where Pieck's scouting reveals Jaegerists already holding it in force, with Floch keeping a pistol trained on the captive Kiyomi.

A flashback establishes how Hange recruited Jean and Mikasa into the plan to stop the Rumbling, with Marco's memory tipping Jean's decision.

Annie forces the alliance to confront whether the Scouts could ever kill Eren, then stands down after she and Mikasa agree to try persuasion first.

Magath and Pieck expose Yelena's true origin as a Marleyan who reinvented herself after meeting Zeke.

Reiner reveals the complete circumstances of Marco's death, including Annie's role and Marco's final plea, driving Jean to beat him and accidentally strike Gabi.

Gabi's apology and appeal for her family help seal the fragile alliance, which reaches the port to find it occupied by armed Jaegerists under Floch, who holds Kiyomi Azumabito hostage.

This is the 25th episode of season 4 and the 84th Attack on Titan episode overall, animated by MAPPA. It aired in Japan on March 7, 2022 and in the United States on April 10, 2022, adapting the single War for Paradis arc chapter Night of The End.

Mitsue Yamazaki directed from Hiroshi Seko's script; there is no opening theme, and Akuma no Ko plays over the credits. The episode's informational segment is lighter than most, describing Hange's stew, a potato-heavy dish built from ingredients pilfered out of nearby villages. Hange's vision of the regiment's dead spans dozens of fallen comrades, from Erwin and Moblit to Petra and Marco. Pride comes before it and Traitor after.