Attack Titan - Attack on Titan
The Attack Titan (also translated as "Attacking Titan" in the original Japanese, Shingeki no Kyojin) is one of the Nine Titans, appearing in episode 7, "Small Blade: The Struggle for Trost" during the Trost District Battle Arc in Season 1 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 heirs, who can transform into an Attack Titan.
Origin
The Attack Titan, along with the other Nine Titans, was created upon the death of the Founding Titan , whose power was held by Ymir Fritz approximately 2,000 years before the time in which the plot of the Attack on Titan anime 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's power and continue using it for the benefit of the Eldian Empire. Eventually, the Founding Titan's power would be divided into nine and inherited by Ymir's descendants.
For nearly 2,000 years, the Assault Titan's power was quietly passed down through generations of Ymir's descendants, until it came into the possession of Eren Jaeger , who was unaware that he had the Attack Titan's power and could transform into his Titan form until Season 1, Episode 7. In the previous episode, during the Battle for Trost District arc, the Colossal Titan appears at the district wall, breaking through its gate and destroying the cannons along the wall, allowing a swarm of normal Titans to flood 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 in Season 1 following the Fall of Shiganshina , attempted to fight several Titans, but was ultimately devoured by one after throwing himself in its path, in order to save his friend, Armin Arlelt. The Attack Titan mysteriously appears shortly after, helping the remaining soldiers kill the Titans until he collapses from exhaustion, with Eren Jaeger emerging from Titan form as his friends in the Scout Regiment look on.
In the year 845, Eren was inherited the Attack Titan power as a child by his father, Grisha Jaeger, along with the Founding Titan power shortly after the Fall of Shiganshina , when the Colossus Titan appeared at Wall Maria and destroyed the gate there, five years before the events of Trost District. Grisha Jaeger found his son near Wall Rose, the second-innermost wall, where refugees from Shiganshina District were arriving. Grisha took Eren to a nearby forest, where he injected him with a Titan serum with the ability to transform Subjects of Ymir (his descendants) into Titans.
With the power of the Titans flowing through his veins, Eren killed and ate his father, inheriting both of the Titan powers. Eren, in his human form, returned to Wall Rose with no apparent memory of the event, living a life completely unaware of his powers for five years, until the events of the Battle of Trost.
SKILLS
Like the other Nine Titans, the Attack Titan possesses special abilities that can be used by the inheritor in their Titan form. In addition to transforming from human to Titan itself, allowing the inheritor to have full range and movement in a much stronger and more skilled form, the Attack Titan is capable of:
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Legacy of memory
An ability shared by all Nine Titans, the memories of all previous heirs are passed on to the new heir along with the Titan's power to transform. -
Legacy of future memory
While this ability was not fully utilized in the existing anime, Season 1, Season 2 , and Season 3 , it was revealed and explained in the Attack on Titan manga that the Attack Titan inherits future memories, though these memories, much like memories inherited from the past, are often incomplete and only give glimpses of what may be to come for the inheritor. -
Hereditary capacity
Like all Nine Titans, the Attack Titan's power can be passed from person to person. However, only a person of royal blood from the Fritz or Reiss family can use the power to its full potential.
The Attack Titan's full abilities are currently unknown or difficult to discern, as the current heir, Eren Jaeger, also possesses the power of the Founding Titan, who possesses similar abilities. It is likely that the exact range of the Attack Titan's abilities will be explained later in the anime, once we get to see him in action more often, or hear about his former heirs.
Known heirs
In order from least recent to most recent, the Attack Titan had three known heirs after Ymir Fritz, who possessed all the powers of the Nine Titans:
- Eren Kruger
- Grisha Jaeger
- Eren Jaeger
Not much is known about Eren Kruger and Grisha Jaeger's backstory, but it has been revealed in the anime and manga that they are both 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 neighboring continent. Kruger was in 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 on Paradis Island. Afterward, 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 believed that no person can live with one or more of the Nine Titans' powers for more than thirteen years, as their bodies begin to degenerate. The power must eventually be passed on, either through a Titan serum or by consuming the inheritor's body. Indeed, Ymir Fritz, the Founding Titan, only lived thirteen years after inheriting her power. While Ymir's curse has not been explained or even proven, its effects have been observed on previous inheritors of the Nine Titans' powers, such as Eren Kruger.
