Warrior

Rain falls as the Scouts regroup on Wall Rose after Utgard. Ymir, hauled up on a stretcher, is missing her right limbs with her organs in ruin, injuries only a Titan could survive, and Historia pleads her case to Hange, who sees real value in an ally with inside knowledge of the Titans. Hange also probes Historia's claim of Reiss blood. Word arrives that upends the mission: Hannes reports the Garrison rode the whole stretch between Trost and Krolva and found no breach anywhere, and not one Titan on the way. Eren jokes that he must have searched drunk, while Hange begins theorizing about a Titan that digs.

Reiner, visibly fraying after his second brush with death, pulls Eren aside. In a flat, conversational tone he states that five years ago the two of them cracked the Wall to wipe out humanity, naming himself the Armored Titan and Bertholdt the Colossal, and promising that if Eren simply comes with them, no one else needs to suffer. The destination, he says, could be called their hometown. Eren stalls, dismissing it as exhaustion talking, and Reiner himself wavers, wondering aloud whether he has lost his mind.

A flashback to Ehrmich the previous night explains Eren's act: records showed Reiner and Bertholdt claiming Annie's home region, both carried false intelligence about Eren's position during the 57th expedition, and Armin pieced together that Reiner, caught in the Female Titan's grip, had scratched Eren's actual position into Annie's palm. Hange's standing order was to feign ignorance until the pair could be cornered underground.

The deception collapses on the Wall. Reiner, mourning three years spent among people he was sent to destroy and cursing what the Walls made of him, rips the sling from his arm and heals the wound in plain view, choosing to see his duty as a Warrior through to the end. Mikasa is airborne instantly, carving into Reiner's arms and opening Bertholdt's neck, but Reiner knocks her from the Wall before she can finish.

Twin blasts of transformation energy scatter the Scouts. The Armored Titan snatches Eren while the Colossal Titan closes its hand around Ymir, and Historia screams after her. Descending the Wall with his friend-turned-captor, Eren cycles through their cadet years, accepts the betrayal, and transforms in fury for the rematch that opens the next episode.

Sixth episode of season two, 31st overall, from Wit Studio and Production I.G with Hiroyuki Tanaka directing and Hiroshi Seko writing. Japan aired it May 6, 2017, the US on June 4, 2017; source chapters are Warrior and The Armored Titan within the Clash of the Titans arc.

The information segment covers the lightweight lifts used to move materiel over the Walls. Production trivia: the dub alters a flashback line of Reiner's from Episode 17, and the original broadcast lost track of Reiner's severed hand and bloodstains during the betrayal sequence, continuity that the blu-ray release repairs.