Does Mikasa Die in Attack on Titan?

However skilled Mikasa Ackerman has proven herself to be, throughout the series, she too has put herself in danger and acted irrationally during vulnerable moments. The return of the latest season has many anime watchers anxious as many loved and popular characters have already either been heavily injured or dead. Fans know that Isayama has no problem sacrificing his popular and well-written characters, which means that Mikasa isn’t so safe. So does Mikasa die in Attack on Titan?

Although Mikasa Ackerman does not die in action as a soldier and lives through the rumbling, it’s indicated in chapter 139 that she passes away from old age as humanity continues to evolve and conflict between each other continues into modern times.

However, the ending may be confusing to some people as Isayam does not outwardly say or point to Mikasa’s death in the manga; it is indicated that she− and everyone else− dies from old age as society continues to develop and history goes on. Let’s look at how the manga shows this and what happened afterward.

Mikasa’s Moral Battles in the Last Season

With the last season, there’s a lot that can be said. It’s clear that every single Attack on Titan character is at their lowest point where their morals are being questioned, there’s tension between all nations, and violence is stronger than ever. Finding the cause of Titans seemed to be more of a curse than the blessing that Eren dreamt it to be. So far into this season, we know Mikasa is fighting against Eren with the rest of the squad. 

The Yeagerists are one of the biggest challenges they’re faced with once they decide to try and stop the rumbling. Throughout the episodes after she and Armin fight with Eren, once her love for him is questioned, so is her will to fight. But why is that? 

That’s because Eren is her reason for fighting. The need to protect him and fight for a safer future has been a major drive to her intensive training and becoming stronger throughout the series. This does not mean that she doesn’t care for others−as. She has put herself on the line for her comrades− but she didn’t have the same strong determination to free Paradis and save people as Eren did.

Mikasa followed Eren into the survey corps to keep him close and protect him, not only because she cared for him but because that was also his mother’s last wish.

This is a small but important detail that a lot have forgotten. An example of this is in season episode 10 after Armin tells her that Eren got eaten by a Titan, she completely loses her will to fight and almost gets eaten by a Titan. She does not want to fight back; the only thing keeping her alive for a little longer is her Ackerman powers trying to fight back.

When she regains her will and confidence and kills the Titan, it is through her remembering Eren’s words. She fights for him even after she believes he has died.

But now things are much more complicated. Eren’s words for her have turned bitter, and they don’t have the same positive meaning that helped her and the others keep going and hoping for a better future. This is the first time we see her take off her scarf, which makes people believe that Eren hurt her to the point where she doesn’t love him anymore, which is not the case.

Mikasa now keeps fighting but loses what she’s fighting for as if it has become a soldier’s habit. She’s torn between what’s right and seeing Eren once again. Even in this state, she refuses Annie’s suggestion when she says that Eren needs to be killed for humanity to be saved, still holding on to the past Eren she grew up with.

Mikasa’s Death in the Manga

But what makes us believe that the manga did show that she’s passed away? In the last part, chapter 139, after Mikasa kills Eren, she takes his head and tells Armin she’s going to bury his head under the tree he liked to nap on as a child, where we see him in season 1 beginning of the anime. She buries his head and spends most of her time under the tree to keep him company.

It’s shown in this panel, that she makes visiting his grave a ritual. She’s shown holding a child and a man beside her under the tree, and later an older version of her near the grave with other family members in the distance.

The place that was previously a field and small houses in the distance, are now modern buildings and cars drive through the streets. The panel shows Mikasa as an old woman, laying in a bed of flowers with the same red scarf wrapped around her.

This indicates that she passes away from old age, as the environment of what we knew as Paradis is now a city, as people continue to live and other wars take place.

The damages caused by humanity’s own hands are heavy, circling around buildings and destruction. All that’s left of the city is now ruined as nature takes over and the place we previously knew as Paradis is now just a dense forest, with its only remaining witness being the tall tree where Eren lies.