User blog:Xxkiiroxx/"Shingeki no Kyojin is Set in North America" Theory

The location of the walls (i.e. the country or region) is never revealed in the manga nor the anime of Shingeki no Kyojin. Many assume that it's somewhere in Western Europe, because of the characters' nationalities (German, English, French). However, using some easily-overlooked information from the manga, we can easily rule this out.

Again, like my typical theory posts, I'm not saying that the setting is definitely in America (for all we know Isayama never picked a location), I'm just putting together theories I found over the internet in one pretty post, because theories are FUN!

Wall Dimensions
Many maps of the three walls are extremely unproportionate--there's a HUGE amount of space between them--so the area bounded by Wall Maria is easily underestimated when people guess which country it's located in. Luckily, the anime provided us with neat, precise numbers of the dimensions (image on right). Assuming that this information is reliable, we can do all sorts of fun calculations!

Calculating the Dimensions of the Walls

 * Radius = 250 km + 130 km + 100 km = 480 km
 * Circumference = π * Diameter = π * 960km ≈  3016 km
 * Area = π * Radius² = π * (480 km)² ≈ 723,822 km²

The Walls on a Map
Now wouldn't it be so cool if we had an interactive map where we can drag around a circle with the dimensions mentioned above to test possible locations? David Mear has created exactly this, for all of us to use:

http://davidmear.com/snk/map/

Using this, it is clear that the walls are nowhere near small enough to fit in France, Germany, England, or even Western Europe.

Manga and Anime Clues
Clues from the manga further narrow down the possible locations of the walls.
 *  Ocean : Armin expresses his deep fascination that, according to his grandfather's book, "most of the world is covered by a water body known as the sea!!" and that "the sea is entirely made of salt water," to which Eren responds "Nonsense! Salt is like, extremely valuable" . This implies that the sea, or any large body of salt water, is a foreign concept to the inhabitants of the walls because they live far from it.
 *  Landscape : In OVA 3, several distinctive features that can only be found in some parts of the globe: the characters are roaming a desert landscape, and there are no deserts in Europe . To fit into the theory that SnK is set in America, the big river could be the Mississippi, and the mountains could be the Appalachians.
 *  OVA3-CedarWaxwing.pngife : Also in OVA 3, a bird that resembles the Cedar Waxwing appears while Mikasa and Thomas are discussing possible routes and reading maps (image on right). The Cedar Waxwing can be found only in North America . One could argue that the bird also resembles the Bohemian Waxwing, but birds of this species can only be found in the winter or in regions with cold temperature and high altitudes . The setting of this OVA is clearly somewhere with hot, desert-like temperatures.
 *  Diversity : Based on the last names of the characters, there is a wide range of nationalities present in the story . America is known to be a very diverse continent, while Europe is one of the least diverse.
 *  Wild West : Kenny Ackerman 's encounter with Levi suggests a Wild West theme


 *  New World : Not many people know that there is hidden writing in upside-down Katakana on the inside covers of the manga. There is mention of sailing to a "new world," where walls were had been "previously prepared" (an interesting topic worthy of its own post!)
 * 巨人の圧倒的な戦力に成す術もなく、人類は新天地への航海を余儀なくされた.
 * Unable to match the overwhelming force of the Titans, humanity was forced to sail to a new world.
 * America is known to be the "New World" after its discovery by Christopher Columbus.


 *  Climate : Isayama commented something about the climate and temperature of the story (which is reflected on the type of clothing the characters wear) but I am unable to find the source or the exact wording. Based on the clothing however, it can be inferred that the temperature is moderate.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace
Some have noticed a statue in the recent OVA 4 (No Regrets Part 1) Trailer that looks exactly like the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a 2nd-century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike. Since this statue is currently displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris and is unlikely to leave France due to its fragmented condition, some have hypothesized that the setting of Attack on Titan is in France. But, using our handy map on David Mear's website, we know this is impossible because the walls are too large to fit in this country.

The only explanation for this contradiction is that the statue seen in the trailer is one of the many copies found in the Americas: Las Vegas, Ohio State University, Syracuse University (New York), Connecticut College, Argentina, Cape Town (Africa), and others.