Titans (Attack on Titan)

The Titans (in Japanese: 巨人 Kyojin) are the false main antagonists of the anime/manga series, Shingeki no Kyojin, known in the western world as, Attack on Titan. Within the Attack on Titan universe, these human-esque monstrosities had nearly brought forth the extinction of the entire human race, with most of the world having been lost and forcing the remaining human beings to retreat inside the confined walls of a massive city state.

Much like the Romero Zombies of modern day horror fiction, Titans are hinted to be an off-shot of the human race now cursed to forever devour the rest of humanity. This was due recent chapters of the series reveals that their nature are almost same with Titan Shifters albeit their human bodies within their titan's nape are crushed and partially assimilated.

Physical Appearance and Characteristics
Titans are creatures closely resembling human beings, but with various deformities, ranging from either over/under-sized heads and limbs, massively fat stomachs, or even skeletal frames. As the species' name would imply, titans dwarf over any human being. All titans keep their eyes constantly opened, their mouths possess lots of molar teeth used to grind human flesh. Titans possess no visible reproductive organs, thus it is unknown how they keep increasing their numbers. Each titan possesses unique facial features and hair style, much like any individual person. Strangely, despite their large size they are unnaturally light, with humans of average strength able to lift up their body parts without trouble. They also produce a high amount of heat and emit steam to control their body temperature. Due to lacking a digestive track, they don't require eating of humans to survive, instead they can absorb sunlight like a plant does. Titans also possess a high amount of regeneration which allows them to survive dismemberment, disemboweling, and decapitation while the back of their neck is undamaged. To exploit their weakness, the Three Dimension Gear were developed to target the nape of their neck.

Pure Titans
Ranging from 3 - 15 meters in height, these Titans compose the vast majority and have wide variation. They all resemble humans but with lesser to greater deformities, some of them walk on two feet while others walk on all fours. They are also variable in regards of their level of activity and response to pain. Their only common feature is their mindless nature. They would always head towards the first human on sight, without further planning or reasoning, making them easy to deceive and lure into traps. However, they are still dangerous due to their sizes, physical strength and numbers. In the past, they were used by humans with the power of the Titans as cheap killing machines against the other nations of the world. Unlike the free Titan Shifters, the human bodies get a fusion with their normal Titan bodies and become prisoners. The worst thing about these Titans is that they are still conscious and mantain their memories, but they lost their wits and ability to control themselves. They are forced to keep eating humans out of a strong and mad desperation to return humans once again, hence why they lose all interest on other people when they find a Titan Shifter. Notable subtypes of this category are Dina Yeager, Sonny, Bean, the Bearded Titan, the Gluttonous Titan, and the Peering Titan. All the Titan Shifters in the story were previously Pure Titans who devoured human Titan Shifters. Ymir confided to Bertolt Hoover her experience as a mindless Titan for 60 years, showing how a Titan never ages. She explains to Bertolt that while she barely remembers faces and details, she felt like it was an eternal nightmare and was also aware of what was happening and felt bad for eating Marcel. So far Ymir and Bertolt are the last Titan Shifters that were eaten by normal Titans. When freed by his mindless Titan form, Armin Arlert was mortified for eating Bertolt to the point that he cried and vomited.

They have several size variants:


 * Three Meter Titans: The smallest type of Titan. Due to their smaller stature, they are the weakest of the Titan types. Even farm equipment can gravely damage if not kill them, as Christa demonstrated. Sometimes they are feared more than the bigger titans, because their size does not grant their victims a quick death, but a terryfing, slow, and painful one instead. They are also the fastest of the three types. Most of them used to be Eldian children, toddlers, and adults of short stature.


 * Ten Meter Titans: The most common type of Titan. They are medium sized in the grand scheme of things and can smash through buildings and are virtually immune to gunfire. Titans of these size require Three Dimension Gear to kill. Mammon and the Dina Yeager are examples of this subtype.


 * Fifteen Meter Titans: Formally the largest type of titan known, they were also the most dangerous. A single 15 Meter Titan can take down an entire squad of troops without effort, smash through two story buildings, and even withstand cannon fire due to their rapid regeneration.

Abnormal Titans
They are still mindless Titans who used to be humans. However they don't act like the average Pure Titan and are far more unpredictable. Any Titan that displays abnormal behavior or intelligence is classed as an Abnormal. Unlike most Titans which mindlessly attack and devour humans on sight, Abnormals often ignore nearby humans and charge to more important locations where they can do more damage. Any Pure Titan might turn into Abnormal if they meet someone they once knew in their human lives, like the "Talking Titan" who mistook Ilse Langnar for Ymir (who worshipped the farud girl when it was a woman) in her reduced intelligence and tried to restrain herself from eating her; she purposely led Hange Zoe to Ilse's body and died under what she thought it was Ymir's body. Also Connie's mother greets her son when she sees him, as every Titan is conscious and suffering for freedom, either by death or by eating a Shifter. Notable titans of this type are Rod Reiss, the Talking Titan, the Jumping Titan, the Bigmouth Titan, and Ms. Springer. Rod Reiss's mindless titan so far has been the biggest titan ever seen in the series, being a 120 meters tall and crawling giant.

Wall Titans
First discovered inside Wall Sheena when the Female Titan tries to escape over it, these Titans have a similar appearance to the Colossus Titan and can be found inside the Walls. Although they appear to be alive, they are weakened and immobile due to lack of sunlight. A century ago, these Titans were guided by the First King's Founding Titan to create the three Walls through the hardening of their skin. They are 50 meters tall, the third biggest type of titans after the Colossal Titan and Rod's crawling titan.

Titan Shifters
There are some humans capable of transforming into Titans who have various unusual traits and skills that can be honed and directed with purpose. These Titans are usually stronger and/or faster than pure Titans and retain their intelligence during a controlled transformation. They generally do not have any deformations that hinder their skills, and often resemble their human "pilot." A skilled human with the power of the Titans can move more quickly and regenerate parts of their body just by focusing, and even discard their body entirely and regain a new Titan form within minutes.

The nine titans are:


 * Colossal Titan: The largest and strongest type of titan, not counting Rod's abnormal 120 meters form. It is 60 meters in height. It is considered the most powerful titan form, although Zeke Yeager is the strongest Warrior and the main weapon of Marley against its enemies. Bertolt Hoover is the very first titan ever appeared in the series and was the one which ended the era of peace which "humanity" was enjoying behind the walls of Paradis by destroying the gate of Wall Maria with a single kick, creating a shockwave that destroyed the first few districts that were near the gate. This power grants him incredible strength like no other, capable of causing monumental destruction with little effort or damage sustained on his body. Due to this size its body temperature is extremely high,to the point that it is constantly emitting steam. However, because this Titan is so large, Bertolt can only move slowly while in its form. Furthermore, Bertolt has the potential to, at need, release an explosive amount of energy during Titan transformation, with the potential to completely level buildings in a short radius of his transformation, killing everything in open area and generating a mushroom cloud of steam. It is also able to produce super-hot steam as a defensive mechanism due to their size hampering their movement. It is able to blow up entire places like a bomb. The damage of the attacks depends on how much power and strength is used. Bertolt Hoover was the holder of this power, followed by his unwanted heir Armin Arlert. Originally, according to Marley, Bertolt's power was to be given to one of his future children of the Hoover family, but it has been stolen by the Eldian resistance. Under Armin's control, the Titan looks much smaller and weaker. Furthemore, Armin does not have Bertolt's personal abilities, experience, and training to use the Colossus properly.


 * Armored Titan: As the name suggest, this titan can produce crystalline armor. It is 15 meters tall, and is more muscular built. It also possess a high amount of speed and durability with cannonballs just bouncing off their armored bodies. The only areas that aren't armored are its joints which are vulnerable to attack. Though not particularly fast, this form is strong and agile, capable of destroying a fortified Wall after a sufficient running start. While he is able to communicate through roars, it is unknown whether he shares Annie's ability to summon other Titans. Reiner Braun is the current holder of this power and having fathered no children, he will pass it to a new Warrior. Marley's best candidate to inherit it is the girl warrior Gabi, but Reiner wants to give it to Falco Grice. Both Gabi (resembling Marcel) and Falco (resembling Galliard) are cadets under Zeke and Reiner's training, along with Colt Grice, Udo (resembling Bertolt), and Zophia (resembling Annie).


 * Attack Titan: A 15 meter class Titan, its most prominent characteristics are its elongated ears, fleshless jaws and highly muscular build. Eren Yeager's Titan form has so far been shown to have fairly substantial physical strength, knowledge of martial arts techniques, and incredible endurance. Prolonged and repeated use of this Titan form has allowed Eren to gradually increase control over its initially unstable mental state. Under Grisha's control it had a bulkier body built. Unlike most Titan shifters shown so far in the series, Grisha's Titan body was very heavy-built. He used his Titan form to kill and devour Frieda Reiss along with her family, excluding Rod and Historia Reiss. Eren Krueger's Titan face is very similar to his human form and has long dark hair, like Grisha and Eren. He appears to have great strength, as he is able to crush a boat. His Titan form is also quite muscular. Eren Yeager eventually revealed the powers of the "Coordinate": A special ability which allows him to take control of other Titans. In his blind state of rage, he would subconsciously command them to relentlessly attack his chosen target until they are dead. This power was originally another Titan form known as Founding Titan, stolen by Grisha and now merged with this form. This Titan has also recently gained the ability to harden after Eren has consumed a jar labelled with the family name "Braun". Eren Yeager is the current holder of this power. He was preceeded by his father, Grisha Yeager and Eren Kruger.


 * Female Titan: As the name suggest this the only titan form with female characteristics. It is a 14 meters class Titan. It posses immense strength and speed. A Titan shifter of athletic appearance with lean muscle and minimal skin, the Female Titan is a Titan of unusual power. It has the stamina and focus to maintain a running pace capable of keeping up with horses over a long distance. This Titan form also has the unique ability to harden its body parts by generating a crystalline substance across chosen areas of its body; allowing it to simultaneously protect its nape and fight, showing far greater agility than its male armored counterpart. Combined with refined martial arts techniques, it can perform incredibly deadly and destructive attacks. When cornered, the Female Titan's call has the ability to draw other Titans to it and drive them into a feeding frenzy. Annie Leonhardt is current holder of this power. It is actually unusable for both Marley Eldians and Paradis Eldians. According to Marley, Annie's power was to be given to one of her future children of the Leonhart family.


 * Beast Titan: As the name suggest, this titan that has animalistic appearance resembling an ape. It is also larger than the 15 Meter Titans, reaching a height of 17 meters. Dark fur covers the large majority of his body, with the exception of his face, hands, feet, and torso. His arms are also elongated, with long fingers and fully-functional thumbs. The proportions of his upper body are similar to that of the Colossus Titan, possessing a massive chest and small head, as well as unusually slim arms. It is suggested that this form contains massive strength, for it was able to hurl chunks of the Wall from very far and was able to accurately hit members of the Survey Corps. He was also able to defeat the Armored Titan without seemingly any sustained damage. Very hard for Titan Shifters, Zeke Yeager in this form is able to perfectly communicate with humans by speaking their language. A very hard thing to do with a titan's mouth, but not totally impossible. Zeke's real unique power is the ability to control other Titans, even at night, and freely turn Eldians into Titans with his scream, after the prisoners are injected by the Titan serum, created by Marleyans. This ability does NOT belong to the Beast Titan: it belongs to Zeke ONLY, due to his Fritz blood from his mother's side, ancestor of Queen Ymir Fritz, the First Titan. It has been noted that Zeke is the "strongest" Warrior, but only in his own abilities and power: his titan form with another holder would be different. The Colossus is considered the strongest Titan, due to its massive power. Zeke Yeager is the current holder of this power and having fathered no child, he will pass it to a new Warrior. Marley's best candidate to inherit it is Colt Grice, Falco's brother.


 * Jaws Titan: This form grants the holder rather long arms and sharp claws. It provides the Eldian with such great agility that the Titan appears to be "dancing". Ymir's Titan is a 5 m class Titan with long hair, very large irises and an agile, chimpanzee-like body. The smallest Titan shifter known yet, her Titan form has a mouth with all pointed teeth, as well as sharp claws that can either be used to grasp on to things or for combat. Its long arms and small, muscular body enable it to maneuver itself around with great speed and agility in the same environments as those with vertical maneuvering equipment, making it a formidable foe in battle. Unlike the other shifters who apparently gained their powers under a controlled process by the Marleyan governement (or Eldian rebels in cases like Eren's), Ymir wandered as a mindless Titan for 60 years, and only after eating Marcel Galliard did she regain her humanity and become a Titan shifter. Porco Galliard's Titan is bigger than Ymir's and possesses long, light hair and a thick beard at the chin. However, the face above the jawline is hairless, and his Titan's mouth takes a cog-like appearance in place of lips or cheeks. The fingers of this Titan apparently possess segments of hardened skin. Porco (who prefers being known by his surname), Marcel's brother, is the current holder of this power, after eating Ymir during her execution by the Marley government, preceeded by Marcel, who had been eaten by Ymir. Galliard was also previously a candidate to become the Armored Titan but lost to Reiner years prior the events of the series. Although his Titan has a beard, Galliard is actually clean-shaven.


 * Founding Titan: The greatest power of the goddess queen Ymir Fritz. The Eldian holder is able to transform into a 13 meter Titan with white hair. Little is known about the Founding Titan's first physical appearance beyond what is depicted in romanticized illustrations. In all pieces of artwork depicting Ymir Fritz's Founding Titan, she appeared to possess a very tall female Titan form with long blonde hair. The Marleyan legends says that Ymir Fritz was the first individual to receive the power of the Titans after making a deal with the "Devil of the Earth", making her the true Founding of all Titans. With her powers as the Founding Titan, she used the Titans to make great advancements for her subjects, such as cultivating barren lands, building roads across the world, and building bridges between the mountains. After some time, she died, and her powers were split between nine Titans, the first of all Titan shifters, and her power as the Founding Titan would be passed down through the Fritz family (and later the Reiss family) over the next two millennia. If the holder is a female, the Titan will be able to take female characteristics like the Female Titan. It was passed down in the Reiss royal family for generations. The last holder, Frieda Reiss, was said to have an "invincible power", but she died before she could learn how to use it. She devoured her uncle below the Reiss chapel when she was fifteen in order to receive his Titan abilities and secrets of the world. The "invincible power" is now known as the "Coordinate" or "Founding Titan", which allows the user to control Titans and potentially, humans. This however, was stolen from her by Grisha Yeager, and is now in the possession of Eren Yeager with the Attack Titan form.


 * Cartman Titan: A 4 meters tall Titan and has always been seen moving on its four limbs. Its head, canine-like mouth, and nose are notably oversized in contrast with its eyes and ears. Its holder is able to stay in this form for months without ever turning human once. The Marleyan woman warrior Pieck is its current holder. Her Titan has no female appearance at all, not even her long black hair.


 * Ninth Titan: The last Titan power is yet to be revealed in the series.

Behavior and Goals
Some humans such as Eren Yeager, have the unique ability to summon and control a Titan body. While in this form, the human's normal body rests in the weak point at the base of the neck, connected via masses of muscular tissue, indicating a connection between the sentient and feral Titans. Certain Titans are noted to be Deviant-Type (奇行種 Kikō-Shū), acting in a way that is not normal for Titans, such as not eating humans directly but acting in a way to help their fellow Titans and easily controlled by Titan Shifters that have ability to control regular Titans.

Over 1,820 years ago, Ymir Fritz as came across the "source of all organic material". With this discovery, Ymir gained the power of the Titans, becoming the progenitor of all Titans. The power of her Titan, the Founding Titan, was the coordinating point linking unseen "paths" which united the minds of her subjects. What she accomplished with her powers is unknown, but after 13 years Ymir met her death, and her "soul" was split between nine successors. However, her memories would live on throughout the generations due to the abilities of the Founding Titan. Furthermore, all inheritors of her power would be doomed to die after 13 years as she did, in a phenomena that would later be known as the "Curse of Ymir". No Titan would possess more power than Ymir had possessed in life.

Ymir's story is slandered in Marleyan legends. Some time after her death, Ymir's existence was hailed as a god-given miracle. Many would claim that as the Founding Titan, she used her Titan power to cultivate barren lands, build roads across the lands, and raise bridges through the mountains of the world, overall bringing great changes to the Eldian Empire though these claims could never be supported. On the other hand, after the fall of the Eldian Empire in the Great Titan War, the new Marley government would spread slanderous legends that Ymir's power was derived from the "Devil of All Earth". All Titans originate from Eldia. Every single Titan was a human being with Eldian origins who can become a Titan if injected with a particular serum. Only select few like the Ackerman clan, Asians, and certain royals are unaffected by this and thus will never be able to turn into Titans or Titan Shifters.

The Marleyans (normal humans) have been dominated by Ymir's people and according to the Marleyans, they were also eaten by them. Over a century before the battle of Trost, the 145th King of the Fritz family inherited the power of the Founding Titan. For many hundreds of years, eight houses led by the eight Titan shifters subservient to the Fritz family were constantly at war with each other. Rather than following the method of his ancestors and using the Founding Titan to maintain order in the nation of Eldia, King Fritz chose instead to move the capital of Eldia to the island of Paradis to the east of the mainland of their nation. In the King's absence, the oppressed society of Marley instigated the Great Titan War in Eldia, taking control of seven out of the nine Eldian Titans and rising up against their oppressors.

During the 830s, the nation of Marley had become aware of the diminishing power of the seven Titans obtained during the Great Titan War. In order to meet the coming need for technological progress, the authorities of Marley turned their attention to the island of Paradis and the plentiful fossil fuels it possessed. However, the island was also home to the remnants of the former empire of Eldia, ruled by the Fritz family which possessed the Founding Titan, the greatest of all Titans.

At the closing of the Great Titan War, King Fritz had made the ultimatum that if Marley made any move against the remnants of Eldia, the Founding Titan would be used to unleash the countless Colossus Titans which made up the three Walls surrounding Eldia's last territory. In order to avoid the ultimatum and a direct act of war, the military of Marley chose to begin a warrior program in which low-class Eldian citizens within Marley would offer their children between the ages of 5 and 7 to the Marleyan military, where they would train until seven would be chosen to inherit the seven Titans in Marleyan possession.

The shifters known as Wall Titans used their hardening abilities to erect 50 meter walls to isolate Paradis from the rest of Earth. The royal family erased the memories of their own people, which caused them to remain ignorant for 100 years, never develop their technology, and thinking that humanity is almost exinct beside themselves who live protected by the Walls. In reality the Marleyans have been banishing drugged Eldian prisoners, injected them with titan serum, to the island of Paradis.

The Eldians who were born in Marley are treated lowly: they live in the ghettos as a low class and are used as soldiers for suicide missions. Zeke Yeager is one of these soldiers and doesn't share the views of his father Grisha Yeager and his mather Dina Yeager, who were Eldia Restorationists who rebelled against the Marley government. Such group was born from the hateful cruelty of the Marley soldiers, whos actions weren't controlled by the government and also provoked the leaders (Eren Kruger and Grisha) by burning alive Kruger's family in front of him and sadistically murdering Grisha's little sister, Fay Yeager, by having her mauled by hounds. The Public Security Authorities eventually discovered the cult of the Eldia Restorationists and punished them by injectting them with titan serum and throwing them off to Paradis, including Dina.

Plan to regain the Founder and War against Paradis
Marley's real goal is to regain the Founding Titan and remain the most powerful nation in the world, using Titans to control it. As Marley kept fighting the war against Eldian factions and their human allies, a group of Titan Shifters was sent to Paradis to recover the coordinate (Founding Titan) from the Reiss family, retrieve the Attack Titan stolen from Krueger years ago, eradicate all the Eldians who lived inside those walls, and bring the Reiss member with the coordinate to Marley. As of Marley's decision to move against Paradis to secure its vast fossil resource, the PSA are also tasked with recruiting warriors from among the Eldian children aged 5-7 in service of the Marley government with the promise of designating the Eldian families of the chosen children as honorary Marleyans. Zeke Yeager, Bertolt Hoover, Reiner Braun, Annie Leonhart, Marcel, Galliard, and Pieck are known to be among those chosen children, and were also chosen to inherit the seven titans. It seems the warrior recruits were subjected to pro-Marleyan indoctrination as part of their training, as Zeke exposed the identity of his parents after he was selected. Meanwhile, Grisha had inherited Eren Krueger's titan power and escaped Marley a long time ago, and abandoned Zeke, as he made a new life in Paradis, befriended Eldians such as Keith Shadis and Hannes, and married an Eldian woman Carla from whom he had another son, Eren, who shares his first name with the deceased Krueger.

Out of the seven Eldian children, Zeke was chosen to become the warchief of the seven warriors, likely due to his older age and royal Fritz blood inherited from his mother Dina Fritz. Annie, in particular, faced grueling combat training in her early childhood in preparation for the program, supervised by her father. However, before she departed on her mission, her father gave her his heartfelt apologies, assuring her that even if the world came to hate her, she would still have her father by her side. All that he asked of her is that she would promise to return home.

In the year 845, Marley sent Titan shifters to the Walls with the mission of wiping out its inhabitants, taking the Coordinate from the Reiss family, and putting an end to the cursed history of the people of the Walls. The four known Titan shifters sent were Bertolt Hoover, the Colossus Titan who would destroy the outer gate of Shiganshina District; Reiner Braun, the Armored Titan who would destroy the inner gate; Annie Leonhart, the Female Titan who presumably called forth the Titans who would invade Wall Maria; and Marcel whose Titan form and purpose are currently unknown.

When they arrived at Shiganshina District, the warriors succeeded in breaching both gates and sending the Titans swarming into humanity's territory. However, before Marcel could succeed in whatever task he was given, a mindless Titan attacks Reiner. He sacrifices himself to save the others, being consumed by the Titan. As the other warriors flee, this Titan inherits Marcel's Titan shifting power and returns to her human form, Ymir, a homeless girl with a name to great for her to bare.

Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover were to lead the genocide by kicking the Walls to let mindless titans in. This group of soldiers was disfunctional and their poor planning led to their failures: Marcel died as a kid before even reaching the destination, Annie started to get sympathetic towards Eldians, Reiner developed identity crisis, and Bertolt remained the only one still fully obedient to Marley and decided to act on his own to protect his friends and just kill all people of Paradis.

Two years after their successful attack on Wall Maria, in the year 847, the warriors enter the 104th Training Corps in the hopes to achieve the highest ranks possible and entering into the Military Police Brigade, giving them easy access to the Interior, and by extent the Reiss family, the holders of the Coordinate. Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie succeeded in earning ranks within the top ten of their Training Corps.

After receiving their desired ranks in the 104th Training Corps, the warriors proceed with their mission on the day before their scheduled graduation. In the year 850, Bertolt Hoover attacks again and successfully breaches the outer gate of Trost District. However, the warriors bring their mission to a halt when they discover a Titan who is openly fighting other Titans, later revealed to be Eren Yeager with newfound Titan shifting abilities. With this unexpected turn of events, the warriors begin to suspect that Eren might have somehow inherited the Coordinate. They halt their plans, and the inner gate is never attacked by Reiner. However, Bertolt and Reiner are caught by the Eldian soldier Marco Bodt, but before he could act they got rid of him, using Annie to let him die at the hands of a Pure Titan.

When the time comes for their graduation, Bertolt and Reiner change their plans of joining the Military Police and instead join the Survey Corps, Eren's chosen military branch. Annie Leonhart proceeds with her original decision to join the Military Police Brigade in the Interior. However, when the Survey Corps embarks on the 57th expedition beyond the Walls, Annie invades the expedition as the Female Titan in order to locate and capture Eren for the Hometown. With the help of Reiner she nearly succeeds and manages to wipe out the Special Operations Squad, but is foiled by Mikasa Ackerman and Captain Levi. Because she spared Armin Arlert in the attack on the expedition, she is found out to be the Female Titan. A few days after the expedition, Annie battles with Eren in Stohess District and is ultimately caught by the Survey Corps. However, she uses her specialized hardening abilities to conceal herself in an ultrahard layer of crystallized skin, preventing interrogation. Annie's comatose body is kept in the custody of the Survey Corps.

On the same day as the battle within Stohess District, a new warrior arrives within the Walls. Warchief Zeke Yeager, an experienced and powerful warrior of Marley, invades Wall Rose, turning the people of Ragako village into mindless Titans, perhaps in order to test humanity's strength, before leaving Wall Rose later that night. During the ensuing efforts of the Survey Corps and Garrison to deal with the event, the Survey Corps receives family records from the chaos of five years ago and begin to suspect that Reiner and Bertolt were in league with Annie. A day after the beginning of the Ragako event, Reiner and Bertolt are indeed discovered to be the Armored and Colossus Titans. Throwing all secrecy away, Reiner and Bertolt battle with the Survey Corps and capture Eren and Ymir, who they learned earlier was the Titan that ate Marcel. Over five hours later, a combined effort of all three military forces embarks on a rescue operation, and Eren is retrieved. In this battle, Eren seemingly unleashes the Coordinate upon Reiner and Bertolt, confirming their worst fears. The warriors flee with Ymir to Shiganshina District to recover and formulate a new plan. Ymir is later taken prisoner by the Marley military and executed by being eaten by Marcel's brother, Porco Galliard, who inherits the Jaw Titan's power.

Two months later, Zeke brings Pieck with him and joins with Reiner and Bertolt in their mission to destroy the Survey Corps. The two express their desire to save Annie from the Survey Corps, but Zeke prioritizes the retrieval of the Coordinate. They lie in waiting in Shiganshina District for the Survey Corps to arrive in search of Eren's basement, which is believed to hold secrets of the Titans. When the Survey Corps arrives, a battle ensues between the soldiers and Zeke's warriors and Titans. The Corps, numbering in over one hundred at the start of the battle, loses nearly all of its soldiers in the attack, though they succeed in defeating Reiner and Bertolt. However, in the last moments of the conflict, Pieck, using her Cartman Titan, saves Zeke from Levi. Using Pieck as a mount, Zeke is also able to rescue Reiner from Hanji and escape from the battle, leaving Bertolt to the mercy of the Survey Corps. Shortly thereafter, Bertolt is eaten alive by a revived Armin Arlert after being administered the Titan serum, signaling the loss of the Colossus Titan. This is the final battle against Paradis. After that, Marley terminated the plan and the Walls were never attacked again.

War against the Mid-East Allied Forces and begin of the end of Marley's dominion of the Earth
During the last 4 years, the remainder of the eradicated Survey Corps started exploring the world outside the Walls and liberated the entire island from the Titans and found the ocean. The table turned and Marley suffered great losses, as their navy has been greatly damaged by Eren and Armin's titans. Now free from the royal Reiss and Fritz tyranny of the Walls suffered from their own Eldian rulers, Paradis started developing its technology as well. The nations of the world started to rebel against Marley's Titan power.

The defeats of Bertolt Hoover and Annie Leonhart signed the beginning of the end of the dominion of the Titans in Earth and a huge crisis for the Marleyans. Ever since the great failure, another enemy nation of Marley rose in attack and declared war: the Mid-East Allied Forces. They are generally equal to Marley in terms of military technology, but are superior in some instances. took advantage of their enemy's weakened military capabilities and declared war on Marley. Over the course of four years, the Mid-East Allied Forces gradually lost their advantage against the enemy, losing control of the seas by the time of the battle of Fort Slava. The Allies' navy, however, dealt significant damage to the Marley navy in their naval battles.

At some point before or during the war, the Allies develop the anti-Titan artillery, a heavy cannon designed to kill any Titan in a single shot, even one of the Nine Titans.

After four years, the Allies make a final stand at Fort Slava, a fortress equipped with heavy machine gun defenses and anti-Titan artillery overlooking their last naval station. Commander Magath of the Marley military leads a siege against the fort alongside an 800-man unit of warrior cadets, with their Titan shifters kept on standby, as Magath is unable to use them due to the anti-Titan defenses implemented by the Allies. However, when cadet Gabi destroys the armored train carrying artillery around the fort, the Allied soldiers are attacked by Jaws, the Titan of Galliard.

Reiner's loss of his 3 comrades ended his identity problems, but he suffers from PTSD disorder that haunts his dreams, and he finds huge walls disgusting now. Four years have now passed since the main events of the Attack on Titan story. Reiner acts fully loyal to Marley, but he actually misses his old comrades and his training days at the Walls. In his own thoughts about his former friends, Historia is always avoided. Fantasies about Bertholdt's unseen death still regularly haunts him in his nightmares. Unlike Eren, Reiner has accepted the harsh reality of the situation, that has no true heroes or villains: both sides, Eldia and Marley, have their wrongs, with Marley just being the current "bad guys" over the defeated tyrant Eldians from the past. The now done Survey Corps has literally only 9 S.C. members who survived and all the others died fighting battles. Bertolt and Annie's Titans are considered lost by Marley by the world. Reiner likely feels remorseful towards himself and feels guilty for the death of his entire team (he likely gave Annie for dead, after all these years, as he never learned what really happened to her): himself and Marcel were the true leading and strong ones in contrast to the reserved, taciturn, quiet, and unreliable Annie and Bertolt, yet Marcel died to protect Reiner, Annie disappeared because Reiner let himself be fooled the Survey Corps and failed to be around her in Wall Sheena to save her when her identity was exposed, and lastly it was thanks to Reiner's mental problems and incompetence that Bertolt got exposed and later killed when he had to make a new plan on his own against the Survey Corps, then even Zeke failed to rescue him from Eren and Levi and retreated with Reiner.

According to the Marleyan governors, the powers of Bertholdt and Annie were to go to their children heirs, instead they were stolen by Paradis Island. Ymir has already been executed years ago by the Marleyan government, eaten by Galliard, now the current holder of the Jaws. The main candidate to become the new Beast Titan is Colt Grice, the main candidates for the Armored Titan are either Gabi or Falco Grice.

It's been hinted that the Ackerman family got superhuman strength from scientific experiments with Titans and humans. Hence why Levi, Mikasa, and Kenny are so strong and too quick despite being just mortal humans.