Attack Titan - Attack on Titan
The Attack Titan (also translated to ‘Attacking Titan’ from the original Japanese, Shingeki no Kyojin) is one of the Nine Titans, appearing in Episode 7, ‘Small Blade: The Struggle for Trost’ during the Battle of Trost District Arc in Season One of the Attack on Titan anime. Like the other Nine Titans, the Attack Titan possesses unique, supernatural abilities and can be passed down to human inheritors, who can transform into the Attack Titan form.
Origin
The Attack Titan, along with the other Nine Titans, were created upon the death of the Founding Titan, whose power was held by Ymir Fritz approximately 2,000 years before the era in which the Attack on Titan anime plot takes place. After her death, Ymir Fritz’s corpse was cannibalized by her three daughters; Maria, Rose, and Sina, in an attempt by their father to inherit the Titan power and continue using it to benefit the Eldian Empire. Eventually, the Founding Titan’s power would be split into nine and inherited by Ymir’s descendants.
For almost an entire 2,000 years, the power of the Attack Titan was discreetly passed down from generation to generation of Ymir’s descendants, until it came into the possession of Eren Jaeger, who was unaware he had the Attack Titan power and could transform into its Titan form until Episode 7, Season 1. In the previous episode, during the Battle for Trost District arc, the Colossal Titan appears at the district’s wall, breaking its gate and destroying the cannons along the wall, allowing a swarm of normal Titans to flood into the district, immediately causing chaos by destroying buildings and devouring its citizens.
Eren Jaeger, who had joined the Survey Corps after the 104th Training Corps arc earlier on in Season 1 after the Fall of Shiganshina, attempted to fight off several Titans, but was ultimately devoured by one after flinging himself in its path, in order to save his friend, Armin Arlelt from being devoured instead. The Attack Titan mysteriously appears shortly after, helping the remaining soldiers in killing Titans until it collapses with exhaustion, Eren Jaeger emerging from the Titan form as his friends in the Scout Regiment look on.
In the year of 845, the Attack Titan power was inherited by Eren as a child by his father, Grisha Jaeger, as well as the Founding Titan power, shortly after the Fall of Shiganshina, when the Colossal Titan had appeared at Wall Maria and destroyed the gate there as well, five years prior to the events at the Trost District. Grisha Jaeger found his son near Wall Rose, the second innermost wall, where refugees from the Shiganshina District were arriving. Grisha took Eren into a nearby forest, where he injected Eren with a Titan serum with the ability to turn the Subjects of Ymir (her descendants) into Titans.
With the Titan power in his veins, Eren killed and ate his father, inheriting both Titan powers. Eren, in his human form, returned back to Wall Rose with no seemingly no memory of the event, living life completely unaware of his powers for five years, until the events of the Battle of Trost.
Abilities
Like the other Nine Titans, the Attack Titan has special abilities which can be used by the inheritor in their Titan form. Other than the transformation from human to Titan itself, allowing the inheritor to have full range and motion in a much stronger, adept form, the Attack Titan is able to:
Memory Inheritance
An ability shared by all the Nine Titans, the memories of all former inheritors are passed down to the new inheritor along with the Titan power to transform.Future Memory Inheritance
While this ability has not been fully used in the existing anime, Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3, it has been revealed and explained in the Attack on Titan manga that the Attack Titan inherits future memories, although these memories, much like past inherited memories, are often incomplete, and provide only glimpses of what may be to come for the inheritor.Hereditary Capability
Like all of the Nine Titans, the Attack Titan power can be passed down from person to person, however, only a person with royal blood of the Fritz or Reiss family can use the power to its full strength.
The Attack Titan’s full abilities are either currently unknown, or hard to distinguish, as the current inheritor, Eren Jaeger, is also in possession of the Founding Titan power, which has similar abilities. It is probable that the Attack Titan’s exact range of abilities will be explained further along in the anime, once we are able to see it in use more often, or hear from its past inheritors.
Known Inheritors
In order of least to most current, the Attack Titan has had three known inheritors after Ymir Fritz, who possessed all Nine Titan powers:
- Eren Kruger
- Grisha Jaeger
- Eren Jaeger
Not much is known about the history of both Eren Kruger and Grisha Jaeger, however it has been revealed in the anime and manga that both are outsiders to Paradis Island, where the entire human population lives within three walls; Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina (in order of outermost to innermost walls). Both Kruger and Grisha Jaeger are originally from the kingdom of Marley, on a nearby continent. Kruger was in the possession of the Attack Titan for thirteen years before Grisha Jaeger inherited it from Kruger after being injected with a Titan serum during a military operation to Paradis Island, after which Grisha decided to join the human population within Wall Maria, and had his son Eren Jaeger with his second wife in the Shiganshina District.
Curse of Ymir
It is suspected that no person can live with one or more of the Nine Titan powers for more than thirteen years, as their body begins to degenerate. The power must ultimately be passed down, through a Titan serum or through the inheritor’s body being eaten. This is because Ymir Fritz, the original Titan, lived only thirteen years after inheriting her power. Though the Curse of Ymir has not been explained or even proven, it’s effects have been seen on previous inheritors of the Nine Titan powers, such as Eren Kruger.