Board Thread:Wiki/@comment-5774380-20180601014250/@comment-24407809-20180601021748

I think a lot of people aren't recognizing all of the factors that need to be met in order for our man to be alive:

1: Our man has to somehow escape the Titans surrounding him, on foot, without any blades to cut himself free if he gets grabbed (we all know what happened to Ilse Langnar in that situation)

2: Even if our man survived that initial danger, cut-scenes confirm that the Survey Corps didn't return to go looking for him, meaning that if he would have to survive on his own in Titan territory for an extended period of time.

3: The final post credit scene shows him approaching an undamaged blade to retrieve it. Like I mentioned in point 1, all of his blades are broken, which means that if he has a whole blade in that scene, then it would have to take place either before the final level of the game (which I have suggested before). For him to have full blades after the final level would only be possible if the Survey Corps returned for him, which they didn't, as I pointed out above.

4: I probably could have led with this one and saved myself the trouble, but oh well; during our man's death scene, the narration of the game describes him as "a soldier who fought to the very end." I don't really need to feel the need to explain this one.

Bottom line, even without the in-game confirmation of his death, our man would have had to out run Titans on foot (keep in mind that Titans have been know to catch up to horses when running), and survive on his own for an extended period of time with no way of defending himself in Titan territory. He's dead.