The 8 Saddest Deaths in Attack on Titan

In this article:

• One of the best anime shows in recent history, Attack on Titan is full of heart-stopping action, dramatic monologues, unexpected twists, and because titans are giant killing machines, a lot of deaths.
• Though thousands of characters lose their lives on and off-screen, there are several heartbreaking deaths that stay with the audience.
• Grab a box of tissues, it’s time to commemorate fallen soldiers and lost loved ones on Attack on Titan.

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Like many other Attack on Titan fans, I started watching the show and reading the manga a few years ago believing that I knew what I was getting into: a man-versus-monster adventure with amazing action scenes and a killer score.

While the action scenes are stunning (thanks to the hard work of Wit Studio and MAPPA) and the music has gotten even better over time, Attack on Titan has become so much more than heroes fighting humanoid giants. It’s a tale of war, freedom, sacrifice, power, and ultimately, what it means to be human — told against stunning landscapes, with compelling characters, and at a masterful pace.

There’s plenty to love, think about, and cry over in this show as it balances death and destruction with hope and humanity. That’s a huge feat given that there’s so much death on this show. 

Throughout the four seasons, characters are eaten, decapitated, dismembered, tortured, trampled on, and mauled, with giants — and governments — regularly wiping people out en masse. With the ninth and final arc showing us the War for Paradis, all this destruction is far from over.

So before the War for Paradis takes more lives on-screen, let’s take a look back at the saddest character deaths we’ve seen thus far on the show, and what they mean for the story and for the audience.

There are spoilers ahead for obvious reasons, though this list only covers the anime and not the manga for those who haven’t read it yet. Also, trigger warnings are in order for blood, gore, and death.

Grab a box of tissues, and let’s get started.

Carla Yaeger

Though we only see her alive for a grand total of one episode, plus some flashbacks via Keith Shadis (RIP, sir) and Eren himself, Carla Yaeger’s passing is one of the saddest and most crucial deaths on the show.

She wasn’t the first one to die at the fall of Wall Maria in the anime’s very first episode, but she is the first character we see being eaten alive by a very creepy Smiling Titan (more on her later). This, and Eren’s reaction to it as he and Mikasa are carried away by Hannes (RIP to you too, sir), set the tone for everything that follows.

That’s true not just because of the gory way the Smiling Titan squeezes her before snacking on her body. This is how the show told us two things: One, that it was not afraid to show us death in all its horror; and two, that no one was safe from titans.

But the show also establishes what kind of story it is by how Mikasa and Eren handle this very traumatic experience. Mikasa turns away because she can’t bear to look, and Eren can’t look away. It’s the kind of story that simultaneously makes you want to do both.

And as the titan sinks its huge teeth into Carla, the show does the same to us — metaphorically speaking, of course — and we’re in for the ride.

Sasha Blouse

So we go from that very first death, to one of the most recent in the anime: Sasha.

Her death is tragic for many reasons. For starters, we meet her early on in the show, when she earns herself the nickname of Potato Girl on the very first day of military training. She grows so much throughout the series and survives time and time again thanks to her uncanny ears, impressive combat skills, and a healthy sense of humor.

She’s a character that’s hard not to love, and that’s true within the show’s universe as well. She’s grown close with other soldiers like Connie and Jean, and even has a special connection with Marleyan chef (and prisoner) Niccolo, whose grief deepens the tragedy of her death.

Part of her bond with Niccolo is due to how she refused to dehumanize the enemy: She saw him for who he was, and appreciated him, especially for the food he was able to make. This kind of compassion is what led her to spare the life of her would-be killer. And it’s really, really hard not to hate Gabi at that moment.

For all the destruction of the show, Sasha’s death is especially terrible because it happens after the fighting has ceased. She’d come out of so many battles alive, including the attack on Liberio, only to be shot just as she was celebrating with her team.

Her death highlights just how senseless the killing can get, and also draws out a chilling reaction from Eren, who only lets out a soulless laugh. Her last word, “meat,” can be taken as either a reference to her love for food or, more darkly, a comment on how humans are treated in war.

Marco Bott

Marco Bott was a relatively early casualty on the show, as he was found dead after the Battle for Trost, in which he fought valiantly and did his best to support his team. However, the reasons behind his death were only revealed in the third season, when we see how Marco overheard Reiner and Bertholdt not being very good secret agents.

His death is tragic because he would’ve lived if only he didn’t care to check in on his teammates and if he had kept his mouth shut and left.

It’s also tragic because we get to see just how badly the Marleyans and the war had broken Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt (RIP). We don’t learn it until much later, of course, but they were just kids thrust out into the world to do the unthinkable, brainwashed by their communities into thinking it was for the greater good. 

In his life, Marco had been one of the best in his batch of recruits, and also sought to bring out the best in others, including Jean, who wasn’t very likable. His death made Jean realize that there’s a bigger fight out there.

Petra Ral

Annie’s titan easily wipes out the entire elite squad of Levi’s handpicked troops in the Female Titan Arc, but it’s Petra’s death that really stays with you.

Part of it is because we got to know her a little bit before her death. Among the intimidating members of her squad, Petra showed the most kindness to Eren as he was trying to figure out just what he was and what his place would be in the military. When they realized they were wrong to mistrust Eren, she bit her hand to signify that she trusted him.

Her death was brutal (crushed against a tree by Annie), but perhaps even more so was how her comrades had to make the impossible choice of dumping her body in an effort to escape. Captain Levi, who gave the order, had to face her father once the Scouts returned to the walls.

Mike Zacharias

Like Petra, Mike isn’t one of the major characters in this show, but his death is really hard to forget. Not only did it serve to open the second season with lots of blood and screaming, but it also marked the first time we got up and close with the Beast Titan. 

Mike is also a little too valiant. When the Beast was about to leave him, he remembered his own words to Nanaba (RIP, ma’am): “Humanity’s first defeat will come only when we stop fighting. As long as we keep fighting, we haven’t lost.”

This gave him the courage to attempt to fight back in a clearly hopeless situation, and so the Beast turned back, instructing the mindless titans to move.

And horrifyingly for Mike and the rest of us, move they did.

Ymir

Not a lot of people talk about Ymir’s death, and it’s probably because it was never shown on screen. But just like much of her life in general, her passing is quietly tragic.

Of course, it’s implied when she says her final goodbye to Historia that she knows she is going to die. We eventually get confirmation through the letter she writes for Historia, delivered by Reiner. Sure enough, the next time we see the Jaw Titan in battle, it looks decidedly different, and we get to see her last moments in Porco’s memories.

The show does us the mercy of not showing Ymir being eaten alive, which makes her death somewhat less traumatic than some (or all) of the other deaths on the show. But it’s no less sad given what she wrote in her letter: “I have no regrets. That’s what I’d like to say, but there is one thing: It’s that I wasn’t able to marry you.”

We see Historia tear up, but even at this moment of loss, she can’t be Historia, Ymir’s lover and griever. She is Historia the Queen, and she quickly wipes away her tears to attend to her people. Like the soldiers around her, we probably witness just a tiny fraction of the grief she feels, but it’s clear in later episodes and chapters that she is forever changed by the loss.

Hannes

In the first episode, Hannes declares that he will save Carla Yaeger and the children, but freezes at the sight of the Smiling Titan. It’s hard to blame him — she’s creepy as hell — but he carries the guilt over not being able to save Carla for the rest of his life.

It’s at the end of the second season, in the chaos of the Clash of the Titans Arc and with Eren being unable to fight, where he gets to face that same titan again. “What are the odds of this?” he jovially asks Mikasa and Eren. 

We can’t help but root for the former lazy drunk as he rises to the challenge this time and attempts to kill the Smiling Titan. But ultimately, he fails, and Eren and Mikasa once again have to watch as the same Titan gobbles up another important figure in their lives.

But still, we see Hannes briefly before he passes, and he seems almost at peace with everything, knowing that he dies a hero.

Erwin Smith

And finally, we go to Commander Erwin Smith.

Of all the memorable moments this show has given us, Erwin screaming, “My soldiers, rage! My soldiers, scream! My soldiers, fight!” as he led his troops to certain death against the Beast Titan is arguably something I will never forget.

A calm and discerning officer, he had led the Scouts for years with a keen intelligence that saved many soldiers’ lives, but with a ruthlessness that knew when lives needed to be sacrificed.

Smart, tall, and muscled, he seemed almost invincible until a Titan bit his arm off in Season 2, and even then, he continued to lead his troops in battle. 

One of the most haunting images in the manga (and later adapted into the anime), is of him reflecting on the deaths he had caused. But perhaps most tragic about his death is that he was so close to achieving his lifelong dream — finding out the truth about their world.

He was very nearly saved, too, as Levi considered making him the new Colossal Titan. And when that little hope of seeing Erwin, alive and with both arms once more, was extinguished, it’s like he died a second time.

Honorable Mentions

• Faye Yaeger: Before Grisha Yaeger ever met Carla and had Eren, Faye’s death set the stage for everything that happened before the main story, and forms a huge part of Grisha’s — and by extension, Eren’s and Zeke’s — development.
• Grisha Yaeger: He didn’t make it to the list above mostly because his death was a bit more horrifying than it was sad, as we realize alongside Eren that not only was he never going to see his father again, he had actually eaten him to gain the power of the titans.
• Dot Pixis & Keith Shadis: These two were eccentric men for sure, but it’s hard to believe they died not in battle — they died because of spiked wine.
• Franz Kefka: He’s not a major character, but he was one of the first losses in the Battle of Trost, and the way we find out about it is horrific. We see his girlfriend Hannah Diamant trying frantically to resuscitate him, and Armin just stares and tells her it’s no use. The camera shifts, and we realize Franz has been torn in half.
• Nanaba: She dies alongside her comrades while defending Utgard Castle, but the most chilling part of Nanaba’s death is what she began saying as titans devoured her. She seemed to be begging her father to stop, and that she won’t do it again. Whatever “it” was, it’s a stark reminder that no matter how tough these soldiers are against titans, there’s more than one type of monster inside the walls.