Zeke Yeager

"How sad they haven't learned a thing from the mistakes of their past, it's a tragedy that King Reiss took the memories of the world away from them. Because of that, they make the same mistakes over and over again. I'm sure that by the end, they'll be sending every person inside those walls off on a suicide charge, from their elders to their children, they'll go on saying that if they're going to die anyway, they might as well die a proud death. It only proves how unimaginative and set in their ways they are. The little fools. Oops. I crushed it into dust, heh, what am I doing? What're you getting so worked up for? You're not like your father, remember? You need to find joy in every little thing. Now let's turn those soldiers into proud little chunks of meat."

- Zeke as he is suicide-charged by the Survey Corps.

Warchief Zeke Yeager (in Japanese: ジーク Jīku Yega), otherwise known as the Beast Titan (in Japanese: 獣の巨人 Kemono no Kyojin), is a major antagonist in Attack on Titan and Eren Yeager's half-brother.

He is the Eldian son of Grisha Yeager and Dina Fritz, who was indotcrintated by the Marleyan government and its rulers. Reiner Braun refers to him as "Lead Warrior" and considers him to be strongest warrior. Zeke is also the half-brother of Eren Yeager, the nephew of Fay Yeager (whom he never met as she died at the age of 8), and a member of the Fritz royal family through his mother.

He was voiced by Takehito Koyasu in the Japanese version, who is best known for voicing Dio Brando, and Jason Liebrecht in the English version.

Appearance and Abilities
Zeke in Titan form is 17m in stature, larger than the common 15m Titan. While all other Titans seen in the story thus far have been distinctly human in appearance, Zeke's titan form possesses more animal-like features. It has apelike features, and most of its body except for the face and torso is covered in fur.

Zeke possesses numerous abnormal traits while in his Titan form. In his Beast Titan form, he has the ability to speak normal human language. Possibly as a consequence of this, he is capable of controlling other Titans through a combination of verbal orders and physical intimidation. Additionally, the Beast Titan possesses the strength to throw heavy projectiles great distances with excellent accuracy and the dexterity to scale the Wall Maria. He also seems to be a formidable fighter, as he was able to defeat the Armored Titan without sustaining any visible injuries.

He is revealed to possess some unknown means to transform humans into Titans. These Titans are able to function at night, unlike regular Titans.

In his normal human form he has well toned body, has wavy blonde hair along with a beard and mustache. He also wears glasses.

Clash of the Titans arc
The Beast Titan makes his first appearance when Titans are mysteriously appearing within Wall Rose even though the Wall remains intact. He is encountered by Mike Zacharius, who instantly notes the strangeness of his characteristics, mistaking the Titan with a regular Deviant-type. The Titan displays an unexpected behavior when he grabs Mike's horse and launches it at him, preventing his escape and throwing him from the roof he was on.

After Mike falls to the mouth of another Titan, the Beast Titan displays the ability to speak, ordering the other Titans to not eat him so that he can question Mike about the Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear. However, the Titan disobeys him and the Beast Titan crushes its head to release Mike.

The Beast Titan then proceeds to interrogate Mike, but as he neglects to respond out of shock, he theorizes that Mike does not speak due to them not speaking the same language, or Mike being too afraid. After inspecting the gear, he allows the surrounding Titans to devour Mike. As Mike screams in horror, the Beast Titan is amused to see that they did actually speak the same language after all. He finally leaves the scene contemplating the 3D Maneuver Gear.

He next appears walking past Castle Utgard, seemingly ignoring those taking refuge within. Instead, he uses his incredible strength to scale Wall Rose and then disappears.

As the soldiers manage to fend off an attack, he suddenly turns his attention towards them. He begins to break off chunks of the Wall, hurling them long distances at the members of the Survey Corps trapped in Castle Utgard. The first shot kills their horses, and the second kills Lynne and Henning. He then howls, summoning more Titans to continue the assault on the castle. Nanaba angrily notes that he seems to be intentionally toying with them. Afterwards, he climbs over the Wall and disappears into the lost territory of Wall Maria.

When Ymir and Eren Yeager are kidnapped by Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover, Ymir states that the Beast Titan is directly responsible for the appearance of Titans within Wall Rose; possibly in order to "test" humanity's strength. She also notes that the reaction of Reiner and Bertolt to his appearance resembled gawking, excited children. She theorizes that locating him must be one of their primary goals and that it is key for them to return to their village.

The Uprising arc
In the aftermath of Eren's failed kidnapping, an investigation is performed at the village of Ragako. The investigation confirms the suspicion that the villagers had been transformed into Titans, though the methods employed by the Beast Titan remains undisclosed.

Two months after Historia Reiss is crowned queen, the Beast Titan is shown in Shiganshina District defeating the Armored Titan in battle. While Bertolt takes out Reiner's body from his Titan form, Zeke emerges from his Beast Titan body, telling Bertolt and Reiner to worry about Annie's rescue later. He then reveals his plan to ambush the Survey Corps in Shiganshina with their help in order to capture Eren and steal the Coordinate, their top priority.

Return to Shiganshina arc
After some time, the Survey Corps initiate the operation to retake Wall Maria. After Eren manages to seal the outer gate of Shiganshina, Zeke, Reiner and Bertolt launch their operation. After Reiner's failed attack and its momentary downfall, Zeke transforms into his Beast Titan form along with a numerous horde of Titans outside the Wall. After that, he picks up a giant boulder and launches it at the inner gate, so that horses could not get over the hole, keeping the soldier from running away. The Beast Titan then roars, ordering small Titans to attack Survey Corps horses, while larger type of Titans form a circle around the entrance of Shiganshina district in order to prevent anyone from escaping the district.

When Reiner gets incapacitated, Zeke is shown talking to Reiner and Bertolt the night before the Survey Corps' arrival. He tells them not to worry about Annie and questions their resolve when they doubt his words. He goes as far as to threaten Reiner with a rematch if they still doubt his decision. He then talks how they need to regain the Coordinate in order to put an end to something he calls the "cursed history." They are shortly after interrupted by a scout Titan who informs them of the Survey Corps' arrival.

Back in present time, incapacitated Reiner roars in his titan form, signaling the Beast Titan to throw a barrel containing Bertolt towards Reiner's location.

After Bertolt's delayed transformation annihilates a majority of Scouts on the other side of the Wall, the Beast Titan continues to stay on the sidelines, watching the battle unfold. Erwin asks whether or not everything goes according to Zeke's plan.

As a majority of Scouts swarm the front of the town to fend off the assaulting Titans, the Beast Titan bombards them with stones, shredding humans and Titans alike. Erwin realizes that his plan was to get all soldiers in one location to wipe them out without getting too close.

As he is suicide charged by the Survey Corps, Zeke drops his guard, commenting on how their final move didn't live up to his expectations. He goes on to say that their loss of the world's memories is a tragedy that makes them do the same mistakes over and over again. As they shoot signal flares at him, he thinks of it as pointless, desperate struggling and continues his inner monolog, while shredding them all with boulders.

After Zeke killed all the Scouts charging him from the front, he reveled in his victory and notices too late that all of his Titans on his right side were killed. The Beast Titan then watches an anchor emerge from a screen of smoke hooking into his shoulder, followed by an enraged Levi ambushing him. Though initially stunned, the Beast Titan quickly recovers and swings his paw at Levi. He recalls having been warned by Reiner to be cautious about one particular soldier called Levi, as Levi cuts his paw to pieces along with the rest of his arm, quickly realizing who is attacking him.

As Levi moves to his head, he quickly corvers his nape, but is instead blinded by Levi, who moves too fast for him to react. Levi then cuts the Beast Titan's legs, making him fall before cutting his remaining paw to shreds before the nape is cut open and Zeke is dragged out of his Titan. Injured and helpless, he is at Levi's mercy, but Levi doesn't kill him because he wants to take his power. This does not come to pass as Levi is attacked by Pieck, in her Cartman Titan form, who saves Zeke.

Zeke angrily orders his left side Titans to kill Levi, as the Cartman Titan escapes.

Victims

 * Previous holder of the Beast Titan (as a mindless Titan)
 * Calvary and Infantry unit of unnamed nation
 * Henning
 * Lynne
 * Klaus
 * Marlene
 * Dirk
 * Gordon
 * Sandra
 * Marlowe Freudenberg
 * Unnamed Survey Corps recruit
 * Erwin Smith
 * At least 48 unnamed Survey Corps members
 * Mid-East Union naval fleet

Indirectly

 * Mike Zacharias
 * Gelgar
 * Nanaba
 * Bertolt Hoover
 * Ragako's inhabitants
 * Sixty percent of the Titan kinetic bombardment

Trivia

 * The Beast Titan's appearance resembles several ape-like cryptids, such as the Sasquatch/Bigfoot, Yeti, and Yowie.
 * The Beast Titan is the first Titan fully capable of advanced communication, speaking the human language effortlessly. It also shows greater dexterity and fine-motor control, allowing it to remove Mike Zacharius's gear without damaging it.
 * Zeke appears to have had limited or no contact with humans inside the Walls for at least half a century, as he expresses interest in humanity's Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear. He also wonders whether or not he speaks the same language as Mike, though it's unknown whether this was genuine or simply mocking his terrified state.