Children of the Forest

Levi listens as Zeke recounts how the villagers of Ragako became Titans four years earlier: gas laced with his spinal fluid, deployed to keep Marley from suspecting where his loyalty lay. The explanation does nothing to ease Levi's suspicion, since Zeke shows no remorse for the dead. Word then arrives that Zachary has been killed and that the Jaegerists now hold the Walls, a takeover the military believes Zeke, Yelena, and Eren planned together. Levi reflects bitterly on every sacrifice he made in the belief that Eren represented humanity's hope.

At the restaurant where Nicolo works, the Braus family enjoys a meal in his honor to Sasha's memory. Gabi and Falco slip away to reveal themselves to him as Warrior candidates from Marley, hoping he can get them home. When Gabi proudly admits she shot the female soldier, Nicolo swings a wine bottle at her head; Falco shields her and is knocked out cold. Nicolo drags the pair before the family, hands Artur Braus a knife, and demands vengeance for Sasha. Artur instead speaks about the forest his daughter grew up in, arguing that the whole world is one great forest where everyone fights to survive, and that adults must shoulder past sins to keep children out of it. Kaya snatches the knife and lunges at Gabi anyway, stopped only by Mikasa.

Once subdued, Nicolo urges the Scouts to wash Falco's mouth out: the shattered wine was likely dosed with Zeke's spinal fluid, stock that Yelena instructed him to pour for high-ranking officers. Before the bath is finished, Floch and armed Jaegerists seize the restaurant, tipped off by Nicolo's coworker Greiz. Hange lets slip nothing about Military Police drinking the wine, yet Floch mentions it himself, proving he is part of the scheme. In a side room, Eren sits down across from Armin, Mikasa, and Gabi, shows them his bleeding hand, and says he wants to talk.

Zeke gives Levi his account of the Ragako transformations, blaming the needs of his cover inside Marley, while Levi remains unconvinced of his sincerity.

News of Zachary's death and the Jaegerist seizure of the Walls reaches Levi's camp, implicating Eren, Zeke, and Yelena in a coordinated plot.

Nicolo discovers that Gabi is Sasha's killer and attacks her; Falco takes the blow and loses consciousness. Artur Braus refuses revenge and defuses the standoff, though Kaya still attempts to stab Gabi before Mikasa intervenes.

Nicolo exposes the wine plot: shipments packed with Zeke's spinal fluid have been served to senior officers under Yelena's direction.

Floch and the Jaegerists capture the Scouts at the restaurant, and Hange deduces from Floch's own words that he already knew about the tainted wine. Eren corners Armin, Mikasa, and Gabi for a private conversation.

Produced by MAPPA, the episode adapts the manga chapters Counterfeit, Children of the Forest, and Ignorance within the War for Paradis arc. Yasuhiro Geshi and Kōnosuke Uda direct from a script by Hiroshi Seko, bookended by the opening My War and the ending Shock.

The title echoes Artur Braus's central speech, in which he reasons that Sasha died because she wandered the world's forest too long, and that ending the cycle of violence falls to the adults.

The episode's supplemental lore page covers Marleyan cuisine, a seafood-heavy regional style famous for the red wine of Southern Marley, which doubles as both a secret ingredient and a table pairing.