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NOTE: This article is about the King of Eldia from 2,000 years ago. You may be looking for information on the 145th King of Eldia.

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The blood of Ymir must not die out. If you die, my daughters, have your grandchildren eat your spines. If my grandchildren die, their spines will be passed from child to child. To all of my progeny. My Eldians will rule the lands of this land with their massive frames. And my Titans will continue their reign. Into eternity, so long as this world of mine remains.
~ Fritz's desire to rule the world even after death.

Fritz is one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside the Source of all living matter) of the anime/manga series Attack on Titan. He was the tyrannical king of Eldia roughly two thousand years ago, using Ymir's Titan powers as a weapon to conquer the world and start the Eldian Empire.

He is also the one who started the Fritz royal family's rule over Eldia by the use of Titans, making him an ancestor to Karl Fritz, Rod Reiss, Dina Fritz, Zeke Yeager, Historia Reiss, and all Subjects of Ymir. Because of this, he is responsible for all of the events of the series.

He was voiced by Eizou Tsuda in Japanese and Kenny James (who also voices Bowser from Mario) in English.

Biography[]

The chieftain Fritz ruled the Eldians over 2,000 years ago when they were still a small tribe. Even then, he was as cruel as he was greedy, raiding and enslaving the villages of the land he and his tribe lived in, a mainland mainly controlled by the powerful Empire of Marley. A custom of the Eldian tribe was cutting out the tongues of its slaves, as they were not needed for talking. During one of Fritz's raids and burning of a village, the parents of a young girl named Ymir had been among the killed victims. One day, when a pig was let loose by one of the slaves, the slave villagers blamed Ymir for the crime (who was actually the one who did it). As punishment, Fritz had his men gouge one eye out from Ymir and then "release" her to hunt her for sport. However, Ymir found her way to an old tree containing a pool and a strange, otherworldly spine-like entity that gave her the power of the Titans.

Upon witnessing her destructive power, Fritz pardoned her of her "crime" in exchange for lending him her power. He used Ymir's power to expand Eldia's influence into an empire, building cities and bridges, and crushing the nation of Marley in the process. As a "reward", Fritz "allowed" Ymir to bear his children (essentially making her a sex slave), three daughters named Maria, Rose, and Sheena. Fritz moved to wage war on other cultures, mainly his most bitter enemy, Marley, the greater empire ruling the mainland he lived in at the time. With the aid of the power of the Titans, Fritz achieved his dream of ruling the mainland, turning the Marleyan captives into slaves, and founded the Eldian Empire. He then moved to a power pursuit of world domination and had Ymir terrorize neighboring nations with her Titan. For 13 years, the Marleyans kept fighting the Titans and Fritz's army back.

With the aid of his concubine Ymir, King Fritz killed countless human lives, mainly Marleyans. His victories led to his kingdom's ability to expand its barbaric customs unpunished, his warriors raiding and mass raping as they pleased. Inexplicably, his wife Ymir chose willingly to aid him in his conquest and atrocities. Fritz held no love for his slave wife, having even humiliated her by keeping other mistresses around him in her presence, and destroyed Ymir's native village and killed her family. Despite having the godlike power of easily killing her oppressor tribe with the Power of the Titans, Ymir willingly chose to raid and slaughter other people and cultures. The Eldians took over the Marleyan Empire and hijacked its cities and culture's aesthetics and elements to rebuild everything into the Eldian Empire.

Thirteen years since Ymir made contact with the Power of the Titans, a group of Marleyan soldiers approached King Fritz to surrender to him. Apparently, ancient Marley had almost completely fallen under Eldia's domination at the time. One of the Marleyan soldiers, however, attempted to assassinate the King with a concealed spear. Ymir dashed in front of her master and took the hit in his place. The Marleyans present were executed, but King Fritz believed that, because of the Titan powers, the spear did not kill Ymir, nonchalantly ordering her to rise and continue to work.

Ymir did, in fact, die (out of suicide upon the harsh realization that he deems her as nothing more than a tool). Fearing that the power of the Titans was lost for good, King Fritz promptly had Ymir's corpse butchered into many pieces and ordered his daughters to eat their mother's remains in order to inherit her power. With Ymir being the one carrying the source of such power, this method succeeded in passing the power of the Titans down to her daughters. Fritz continued his wicked reign until his final days, upon which he ordered his daughters to reproduce and pass down their powers to their descendants by having them cannibalize their mothers' spines, and so on with the descendants' own children in the future. This would allow Fritz's empire of Eldia to dominate the world forever. Fritz died of natural causes in his bed.

Legacy[]

A few generations later, Ymir's descendants multiplied and the original power of the Titans eventually split into nine parts. Normally, the moment the holder of the power dies their power is passed to a newborn descendant of Ymir yet to be born in the world through the Paths, but back in the Empire's early days the only people related to Ymir's blood were Fritz's daughters, who were the ones who gained the split Titan power from eating their mother's corpse. Eventually Ymir's descendants became known as the Subjects of Ymir, all connected with her soul. Eventually the Nine Titans became property of separate families. The Fritz royal family only kept the Founding Titan, the main and most powerful part of the Power of the Titans, having the ability to control minds, memories and body anatomy of the Subjects of Ymir. The families of the other eight Titan holders became the most powerful nobility of the Eldian Empire and continued the cruel customs of King Fritz after his death. The Eldians kept waging war against Marley and many other nations, utterly destroying them and obtaining complete rule over the continental mainland. This marked the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Dark Ages.

At some point in late antiquity or the early Dark Ages, the royal family discovered the ability to turn all the Subjects of Ymir into mindless giant monsters known as Pure Titans, lesser and simpler versions of the Nine Titans. The descendants of Fritz and Ymir kept multiplying and would become viewed as a superior race meant to rule above all others, including the Eldian people who still did not have any relation with Ymir's blood. In need to expand Ymir's blood in order to make more of the "ruling race", as well to use Pure Titans as cheap war weapons, Eldia started to develop beliefs in eugenics and decided to increase its numbers by turning Marleyan women and women of other cultures into sex slaves, forcing them to bear children descendants of Ymir. When the world became filled with countless Subjects of Ymir, humanity faced a countless amount of death and destruction by the Pure Titans and the Nine Titans. An enormous number of humans were eaten alive by the mindless monstrosities, due to the inability to stop their rampages unless the kings of Eldia wanted to.

During the Dark Ages, Marley still existed as a smaller kingdom in constant war against Eldia. About 1,200 years ago, the large Marleyan city of Lago was destroyed by an army of Pure Titans sent by the Eldian Empire over the course of a single day, in the massacre known as The Tragic Fall of Lago. The Titans would continue their advance and went on to commit The Devastation of Monte and The Ravaging of Valle, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Marleyans. According to the world's history, Eldia's tyranny and abuse of power continued for generations and centuries, as the power of the Titans remained the mightiest force on Earth for another millennium. The Eldian Empire conquered countless other civilizations, mainly by using Pure Titans as cheap weapons of mass destruction. The Eldians' brutal customs resulted in massive casualties and entire cultures being wiped out. The majority of the world developed a deep hatred for the Subjects of Ymir for their nature, actions, supremacism and aggressive imperialistic expansion. Infighting from internal rivalries also often broke out between the several Eldian aristocratic families for control over the eight Titans, but the Fritz family always maintained order by using the power of the Founding Titan to alter their minds.

At some point the Eldian Empire's fiddling with the Subjects of Ymir, the Coordinate's power and the Eldian bloodlines resulted in a Founding Titan holder granting the Ackerman clan superhuman strength. The Ackermans were then made the sword and shield of the royal family. A King of Eldia had also used the power of the Founding Titan to alter the biology of the Subjects of Ymir to give them immunity from a pandemic that had been leading to a significant drop in the worldwide population. During the centuries of Eldian domination, being a Subject of Ymir was seen as a sign of superiority of race and status among the world's elite. In Eldian books and religion, Ymir Fritz used to be considered a miracle of God, and her descendants the "chosen children of God". The arrogance of the Eldian Empire disgusted the other human races, especially the Marleyans, and further fueled sentiments of revenge. Presumably at some point in history, humanity gave up on fighting Eldia and begrudgingly accepted it as the world's super power. During its last century of domination, Eldia had made an alliance with the Azumabito clan of Hizuru, a nation that was never conquered by Eldia because of its distance. The Marleyans had remained an oppressed class of people and servants in the mainland ruled by Eldia.

Eventually Eldia fell into a long inner conflict called the Great Titan War, fought among the families holding the Nine Titans. The war had been deliberately caused by Karl Fritz, the 145th King of Eldia, who grew to despise his own culture and position, and was sickened by the endless oppression of Marleyans. Presumably, Karl might have seen a lot of past memories of past Eldian kings and their cruel customs, including the ancient King Fritz and Founder Ymir. Disgusted by his own race, Karl conspired with the Tybur family to defeat the other noble Eldian families ruling the mainland, and allow Marley to take back its freedom and enslave the Eldians in return, while Karl brought as many Eldians as he could to a remote island. The Eldian Empire ended after less than 1,900 years of domination. During this whole period, according to human history, Fritz and his descendant monarchs massacred humans numbering more than triple the world's current population as of year 854. Except for two Titan powers, the Power of the Titans went into Marley's control, granted by the Tybur family, who also gave the Marleyans complete freedom of governance and right to control the Eldian people as a sign of atonement. The Subjects of Ymir and their rulers were killed or exiled and imprisoned. After the fall of Eldia, Hizuru's reputation in the world was tarnished for its association with the empire.

The whole history of the Titans and the Eldian Empire ended up defining most of civilization and humankind's history in the world. As a result it is also referred to as "cursed history". Eldian language remained the most spoken international language in the world, spoken by all ambassadors of other countries. Marley reversed the Subjects of Ymir's self-declared image of being "God's chosen race", and told the world in its books that Ymir's people are instead the "spawn of the Devil". During his youth, radical Eldian Restorationist Grisha Yeager used to be in denial of the violent history of Eldia and its crimes of war and slavery. He especially denied the atrocities committed by Ymir for her owner husband, believing a more innocent false history in which Ymir "used to bring peace and build bridges to connect the world". Ymir indeed built buildings and bridges to connect lands on Fritz's orders, but only to bring prosperity to the Eldian tribe, not for the world's other civilizations. Due to his personal grudge against the Marleyans, Grisha also used to deny the crimes of descendant Eldian rulers, believing with no basis that massacres such as the Tragedy of Lago were made up stories.

Personality[]

The best way to describe King Fritz is with one word, megalomaniac. His only goal in life was power, destruction, wealth, and dominance over everyone and the rest of the world. Whatever he sees and wants, he must possess it and claim it as his, one way or the other. And he will not be satisfied until he knows for sure that everyone and everything is placed below him beneath his feet. He was eager to rule the world with tyranny and shed blood on anyone whether they are on his side or not. A psychopathic tyrant who exerts his influence on the world to dominate and get his way. Even before building his empire, Fritz was a bloodthirsty warlord who was bent on conquering weaker tribes to expand the Eldian tribe. He was extremely cruel as he had his tribe slaughter and raid villages, taking the survivors for slaves and raping the females to force them to bear his tribe's children and expand its number. His ultimate life goal had been world domination and he was willing to accomplish that goal post-death. He did not show any genuine affection for his fellow Eldians, having enslaved its weaker tribesmen. He viewed both his family and his people as an extension of himself, declaring that so long as Eldia ruled the world, the world was "his."

He has also displayed an extremely unforgiving nature, having disfigured, muted, and partially blinded his slaves for any kind of misbehavior. He had absolutely no qualms in engaging in brutal torture for the slightest of offenses, such as when he ordered his men to cut off the tongues of his defeated enemies who posed no threat to him or when he threatened to gouge an eye out of all the slaves for setting a pig free. He also displayed a twisted sense of humor when he told Ymir that she was "free" before letting her be hunted for sport and gouging her eye out too. When Fritz witnessed Ymir's Power of the Titans, he shamelessly took advantage of the little girl by convincing her that she was still his slave, "rewarding" her by "allowing" her to have kids with him (a clear indication that he treated Ymir not as an equal spouse, but as a useful tool). Needless to say, Ymir was a queen in name only. This shows a complete lack of remorse over his previous actions, a sense of entitlement over her, and a skill in manipulation. Because Ymir as a Titan was so powerful, Fritz's lust for power grew to the point of attempting to destroy the Marleyans, a nation that was originally larger and stronger than Eldia and that presumably Fritz envied for its power.

As King of Eldia, Fritz was still so uncaring of Ymir that when she sacrifices herself to save his life he is just infuriated by the fact that he lost his weapon (Ymir) and forces his own daughters to cannibalize their own mother, not caring if the event is traumatizing for them (even his retainers, who are grown adults, turned away with disgust and struggled not to vomit), only caring about getting the Power of the Titans back as soon as possible, which shows his extreme selfishness and complete lack of empathy. By the time of his death, King Fritz became megalomaniacal to the point of wishing for his daughters and all of his descendants to repeat the process so that "his" Titans would rule the world forever.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • His first actual appearance was in the ending credits in the second season of the anime adaptation. It was the very first time he appeared overall, even for manga readers, as season 2 aired in 2017 when the Marley arc in the manga just began.
  • He was mistakenly referred to as "Karl Fritz" on the pre-volume release of chapter 139, misleading the readers to assume that he shared the same name with Eldia's 145th king who lived during the Great Titan War centuries after this King Fritz died. This mistake was corrected on the volume release of the chapter, in which he is simply referred to as King Fritz, instead of Karl.
  • Because of his actions that caused the ascension of the Eldian Empire, the Dark Ages, and future conflicts such as the Great Titan War, as well as using the original Founding Titan as a weapon against other nations, King Fritz is the Greater-Scope Villain of the entire Attack on Titan franchise.
  • He is also the one who is responsible for making the Eldian race seen as "devils" in the perspective of the rest of humanity.
  • In Marleyan history Ymir is referred to as a "pawn of the Devil", as in most legends she is said to have made a deal with the "Earth Devil", although scientifically the scientists of Marley and the rest of the world simply state that Ymir made physical contact with something that has yet to be identified, while staying neutral toward the mystical interpretations.
    • The legends and beliefs are not entirely false, as the real counterpart of the "Devil of All Earth" that used Ymir was King Fritz, under a deal between the two, although Marleyan propaganda suggests that Ymir made a pact with the actual Devil out of power lust. What actually caused Ymir to gain the Power of the Titans however, is the huge primordial anomaly known as the "source of all living matter" by some theorists, or "shiny centipede" by Gabi Braun, which is based on the extinct real life's animal hallucigenia. This anomaly, which is the source of the Power of the Titans, is neither "good" or "evil" nor has any moral agency, as it is simply a parasitic life form protecting itself when attacked.
    • This makes both Fritz and the parasitic being the real counterparts of Marley's Earth Devil. The roles of Fritz and the anomaly are merged as the Devil in the tales, with the anomaly being the thing that "gave" Ymir her power and Fritz being the one she made a deal with in exchange of spreading evil in the world.
  • The surname Fritz is of German origin which means peaceful ruler, which is contradictory since Fritz was a warlike and barbarian.

External Links[]

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           AOT logo Villains

Main Characters
Eren Yeager | Reiner Braun | Zeke Yeager

Titans
Nine Titans
Founding Titan | Attack Titan | Beast Titan | Colossal Titan | Armored Titan | Female Titan | War Hammer Titan

Pure Titans
Smiling Titan | Jumping Titan | Bigmouth Titan | Peering Titan | Bearded Titan | Running Titan | Talking Titan | Four-footed Titan | Araki Titan | Gluttonous Titan | Portly Titan | Mr. Springer

Eldia
Royal Family
King Fritz | Ymir Fritz | The Original Nine | Karl Fritz | Rod Reiss

The Nine Titan Houses
The Ominous Colossal

Eldian Warriors
The Hunters

Paradis Island
Eldian Military: Darius Zackly
Nobility: Aurille | The Puppet King Fritz | Lord Xavi Inocencio
Military Police Brigade: First Interior Squad (First Interior Squad Commander, Djel Sannes, Ralph) | Anti-Personnel Control Squad (Kenny Ackerman, Traute Caven)
Yeagerists: Eren Yeager | Floch Forster | Daz
Religious factions: Church of the Walls | Titan Cult
Civilians: Dimo Reeves | The Kidnappers

Marley
Tybur Family
Willy Tybur

Marleyan Military
Governmental Party: Theo Magath | Calvi
Public Security Authorities: Sergeant Major Gross
Warrior Unit: Zeke Yeager | Reiner Braun | Bertolt Hoover | Annie Leonhart
Soldiers: Airborne Unit (Paratrooper Unit Commander) | Gas Weaponry Soldiers

Anti-Marleyan Volunteers
Yelena | Griez

Eldian Restorationists
Eren Kruger | Grisha Yeager

Civilians
Cult Leader

Other
Kubal | Shikishima | Devil of All Earth | Source of all living matter | Okapi Titan | Snake Titan

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