Savagery

Gabi Braun, waiting under guard, cannot understand why the people whose comrade she killed keep protecting her. Eren Jaeger then appears, palm freshly sliced open as an unspoken threat, and sits Armin Arlelt and Mikasa Ackermann down for a talk. When Armin asks whether Zeke and Yelena pushed him into attacking Marley alone, Eren insists the choice was entirely his own free will. He then turns on his oldest friends. Armin, he claims, has been shaped by Bertholdt Hoover's absorbed memories and is no longer himself. As for Mikasa, Eren declares the Ackermann line was bred to guard Eldia's king, that her instincts bonded her to him as a host the day he told her to fight, and that everything she feels for him is programming. He says he has despised her since they were children, calling the unfree no better than livestock. Armin snaps and swings at him; Mikasa's reflexes slam her friend onto the table before she can stop herself, seemingly proving Eren's point. Eren batters Armin, has everyone detained, and moves them to Shiganshina District.

In the Forest of Giant Trees, Levi Ackermann receives word of Dhalis Zachary's death and relays his intention to feed Zeke Jaeger to a captured Jaegerist. Before he can act, Zeke bolts and screams. The Scouts stationed in the trees, who had all drunk the wine laced with his spinal fluid, tumble to the ground and erupt into Titans. Zeke taunts Levi with the question of whether he can butcher his own innocent subordinates, then leaves him surrounded. Levi does exactly that. Cutting through the unnaturally fast, coordinated Titans, he catches Zeke at the forest's edge armed with Thunder Spears, baits him into transforming into the Beast Titan, and blasts him out of the nape. Refusing to let him die yet, Levi rigs a Thunder Spear against Zeke's stomach wired to a neck detonator and methodically slices flesh from his legs to prevent another transformation.

In Shiganshina, Floch Forster and the Jaegerists seize the 109th Cadet Corps at gunpoint, parading a captive Hange Zoë. Cadets who pledge to the new Eldian Empire are ordered to prove themselves by beating their commandant, Keith Sadies, until he cannot stand. Keith takes the beating without protest. As Zeke drifts into unconsciousness in the wagon, he remembers playing catch as a boy with Tom Xaver and telling him he already had a mission.

Eren claims sole responsibility for the Liberio attack and rejects the idea that Zeke or Yelena control him.

He lays out his theory of the Ackermann bloodline, dismisses Mikasa's devotion as instinct, and tells her he has always hated her.

Armin attacks Eren and is decisively beaten; the group is taken to Shiganshina.

Zeke's scream transforms the wine-drinking Scouts into obedient Titans, forcing Levi to slaughter his own soldiers.

Levi defeats the Beast Titan with Thunder Spears, then mutilates Zeke's body to keep him from transforming again.

Floch coerces the 109th Cadet Corps into the Jaegerist fold and has Keith Sadies beaten as proof of their loyalty.

Savagery is the 14th episode of the fourth season and the 73rd overall, produced by MAPPA. It adapts the chapters Ignorance and Savagery, directed by Jun Shishido and scripted by Hiroshi Seko, with "My War" opening and "Shock" closing.

Its original NHK broadcast on March 15, 2021 was cut short by earthquake news coverage from Wakayama, so the full episode ran a week later on March 22, 2021. The US airing followed on April 18, 2021.

The information segment explains the spinal fluid wine: Marleyan red wine dosed with Zeke's fluid that primes Subjects of Ymir to become Pure Titans under his command once they hear his scream.