Cart Titan - Attack on Titan
The Cart Titan is one of the Nine Titans of the universe of [Attack on Titan]. With a quadrupedal form and ability to move on two hands and 2 legs, it is characterised by its remarkable speed and endurance. It is the smallest Titan out of the main Nine Titans, with a height of only 4 meters. In the manga, it made its first appearance in Chapter 74. In the anime series, it could be seen for the first time in Episode 13 of Season 3. It is currently in the possession of Pieck, an Eldian young woman who serves as one of the Marley’s Warriors.
Abilities
The level of endurance of the Cart Titan is more noteworthy and significant than that of the other Titans. Its inheritors must be more perseverant than the average ones, since he or she has to take part on long missions without the need for rest. Also, the inheritor of the Cart Titan’s powers can stay in this Titan form for long periods of time and carry very heavy armaments, like battle armor or cargo packs. As it can be seen in Chapter 95, it is very useful in a large variety of tactics, such as the clearing of trenches, and long-term operations into enemy territory.
On the downside, the Cart Titan isn’t quite skilled in battle and has lower defenses than the other more attack based Titans. It is significantly easier to be taken down, which occurs in Chapter 104. Also, its regeneration capacity is slower than that of the other Titans.
Another notable characteristic of the Cart Titan is its quadrupedal form. Hence the name of “Cart Titan”. However, one of the disadvantages of inheriting the Cart Titan and staying a long time in its form is that the inheritor might forget how to walk normally once he or she goes back to their human form. That is why Pieck is often seen crawling like the Cart Titan or uses crutches in her human state and around the presence of people.
Also due to its more compact small size, another ability of the Cart Titan is its great speed. This is similar to the Jaw Titan who is agile due to being a smaller size. This was the reason why the Cart Titan was used during the Battle of Shiganshina to rescue Zeke Jaeger and Reiner Braun, while also catching Levi Ackermann and Hange Zoe, two of the most talented soldiers of the Walls, off guard.
Origins
The Cart Titan, as well as all the Nine Titans, appeared after the death of Ymir. 1,700 years after her death, one or several of the quarreled Eldian houses that were subservient to the Founding Titan were the ones that possessed the Cart Titan. After seventeen centuries, Karl Fritz, King of the Fritz family, decided to abandon the confrontations of Eldia and moved to Paradis Island. As it can be seen in chapter 86, after relocating to Paradis Island, the nation of Marley took the Cart Titan during the Great Titan War.
Around 843, after acquiring the power of the Cart Titan, the Government of Marley sent Pieck with a warrior unit to a war operation against an enemy country. There she used her power to transport a vessel containing Bertolt inside it, and leave it in an strategic place to carry out his transformation. Once the war was finished, and shortly before Operation Paradis Island in 845, it was announced that both Zeke Jaeger and Pieck would stay in Marley in case the enemies of the country invaded their territory.
At some point, Pieck was sent to Paradis with the objective of providing support to the other warriors during the operation of the island. Upon meeting with Zeke, Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover, they concentrated on the ruins of Shiganshina to wait for the Survey Corps. One night before the battle, Pieck became a Titan to watch the surroundings. During the morning she spotted the enemies, and immediately returned to Shiganshina to inform his companions about their arrival.
Climbing on the back of the Cart Titan, Zeke led Pieck through Shiganshina to rescue Reiner and Bertolt. There they found Bertolt incapacitated and captured by Eren Jaeger, so Zeke decides to abandon him to his fate. In another part of the district they find Reiner, and before he could be killed by Hange Zoë, Pieck rescues him, and together they go to the edge of Wall Maria. After the end of the battle, the three warriors return to Marley.
Four years later, during the Battle of Liberio, Pieck once again equipped herself with the armor and, along with the Panzer Unit, headed to the war zone to eliminate invaders from the Survey Corps. After being shattered by multiple lightning spears, the body of the Cart Titan was mutilated. Pieck fell from the building, Jean tried to give her the coup de grace while Falco Grice stood between them, but a gust of steam emanating from the Titan diverted the course of the spear and caused it to impact elsewhere. Pieck emerged from the body of the Titan being unconscious and seriously injured, so Falco and Gabi took her immediately to another place.
Facts
A curious fact is that the name of the Panzer Unit, the four-man artillery crew atop Pieck’s Cart Titan, comes from the German word “Panzer”, which means “armor”. It refers to the armor of a heavy vehicle or tank.
Along with the sister of Willy Tybur, Pieck is one of the few women with Titan powers whose transformation keeps a completely masculine appearance. Even though the reasons why are not clear, in the August 2017 issue of Bessatsu Shonen magazine, the anime creater Hajime Isayama revealed that Pieck was initially going to be a middle-aged man called “Olivier Pieck”, rather than a young woman. Afterwards, Isayama published a sketch of this initial concept on his blog.