The latest chapter of Attack on Titan really gave me something to chew on. It answered on of the series biggest questions, but it also rose a few questions for me.

‘Why did Grisha do what he did?’, 'Who was the short black haired girl?’, and 'Who was the real culprit?’.

Now, I actually don’t believe that Grisha was that one who slaughtered the Reiss family. There just seem to be a few things that don’t really add up, especially in the matter of perspective.

The images that Eren saw couldn’t all had been from Grisha. First off, a hand, with a black sleeve, is shown to open the entrance to the secret chapel basement, where we then see the Reiss family from a distance. But then, the next shot is shown from what could only had been a child’s perspective.

I can’t say what they were so shocked about, but it certainly couldn’t had been Grisha they were looking at. The only ones out of frame is Rod’s wife, and the little black haired girl, who is the only one short enough to had been the one seeing this.

Another thing is that the Titan that attacked the Reiss didn’t seem like one of the mindless ones, but maybe more of someone already a Shifter. Now, I can hear the counter arguments to this being:

“But my good fellow, the Titan went after the Titan Shifter first, instead of the humans, which is what mindless Titans tend to do”.

Yes, ordinary Titans do prioritize eating Shifters, but after having (presumably) incapacitated the Blond Titan, it killed the Reiss, but not in a way a mindless Titan would usually do.

Rod’s wife and one of his children were left with their upper body intact, while most other victims of Titans were eaten either whole or at least with their head first, which seems to be the trigger to turn a Titan into a Shifter, and also to gain their powers.

When Eren ate his father, he only had to eat the brain and vertebrae to shift back. And Ymir ate RB’s friend with his head first. Also, when Eren changed into a Shifter at Throst, he didn’t try eating any humans, even though his consciousness was blocked off.

Also, a mindless Titan against a Shifter is pretty one-sided fight, as the latter have a much better coordination and mobility. Mindless titans move pretty sluggish and their reaction times aren’t the best either.

So I think that the attacker might already had been a Shifter, and might had been fully aware the whole time.

To the next flashback shot.

I am guessing by the low angle here, that it’s Eren being escorted to his father, or back to his friends. The problem is that it’s shown right before Eren gains his fathers memories, and so either these memories were shown out of order, or Eren and his father’s memories were mangled together.

As for why I think Grisha isn’t the culprit, it’s mainly due to the low angle shot of the Reiss family looking at shock and just the sheer brutality that was used.

The only other character who would use such brutal force would be Eren. He also fits the height of the POV shot, but it’s likely it could had been the black haired girl as well.

I know blaming Eren for this seems like a huge leap, but hear me out. All the way back in the chapter 'The World the Girl Saw’, Mikasa’s parent’s were killed, and Mikasa got kidnapped.

Grisha’s solution was to let the MP handle the situation instead of handling it alone, which would had been extremely risky. Eren on the other hand decides the best course of action is to track them down, and attack the kidnappers all by himself despite his odds.

Grisha only wanted to reduce any further casualties, and even if his decision might not had saved Mikasa, it showed that he wouldn’t use extreme methods to solve an extreme problem.

Eren’s solution was rather reckless, and risky, and it resulted in the deaths of three men who Eren saw fit to kill if meant they wouldn’t cause anymore harm to anyone.

Some people are better alive than dead in many cases, and I think that’s what Grisha would had thought about in this case too. Just my thoughts.

As for what the little girl’s role is in this, I’m guessing she is Eren’s long lost fraternal twin. Only reason I’m guessing this, is so I can insert this picture.

Welcome Home…

But those are just my thoughts on what could had happened. What do you guys think happened? And what would Grisha’s motives be for all of this?

Also, I excuse for any comma errors. Danish uses commas very differently compared to English, and those habits don’t tend to die easily.