Attack On Titan: The Nine Titans Explained

Attack on Titan is a series covered with layers of intricacy and lore. And, The Nine Titans are a big part of the series’ power system and world-building.

The Nine Titans referred to the nine Titan powers that had been passed down through the Eldian people for nearly 2,000 years after Ymir’s death. In this article, we are going to take a look at the Nine Titans in Detail! 

How Were Titans Created?

Around 2,000 years ago, Ymir Fritz came in contact with a mysterious spine-like creature. The creature fused with Ymir and turned her into the first Titan.

Ymir’s Titan is known as Founding Titan.

Thirteen Years later when Ymir died, her three daughters were forced by the King (their father) to eat her corpse.

This ritual was continued for generations by the descendants of Ymir(also referred to as subjects of Ymir).

Eventually, the powers split into nine Titans.

The Nine Titan Soon Destroyed the ancient empire of Marley and conquered the entire world creating Eldian Empire.

The Founding Titan:

The Founding Titan is the first out of nine Titans to exist. It is the Titan Ymir transformed into.

Founding Titan can turn the subject of Ymir into Titan form by screaming, it can also alter the memories and bodies of the subjects of Ymir.

Though this ability can only be used by a Royal.

Karl Fritz used his power to create the walls on paradise Island and wipe the memories of most of the inhabitants.

The Founding Titan has a height between 14-15 m.

The Colossus Titan:

The Colossus Titan is the tallest of the Nine Titans standing at 60m High. 

Even though upon transformation all titans release steam, Colossus Titan not only released a huge amount of steam but also has the ability to release and control the amount of the steam at will.

The steam from Colossus Titan is so strong that Armin gets literally roasted by its heat.

Colossus Titan’s transformation is also so violent that any Titan near it would get decimated.

The Beast Titan:

Beast Titan is the Strongest Titan amount the Nine Titans.

The Titan is slightly larger than other Titans and takes on the physical characteristics of different animals depending on its user.

Beast Titan also shows the ability to harden a specific part of its body like some other Titans in this list. Tom Ksaver’s Titan possessed a feature of a bighorn sheep whereas Zeke Yeager’s took a form similar to an ape.

Beast Titan is close to founding Titan in terms of founding Titan to create and control new Titans. Though similar to Founding Titan user needs to be of Royal blood.

We see Zeke Yeager use the ability to turn the subject of Ymir injected by his spinal fluid into pure Titan.

The War Hammer Titan:

The War Hammer Titan can produce and manipulate structures that are made of hardened Titan flesh.

We see Lara Tybur create spikes large enough to impale and lift a 15m Titan. War Hammer Titan is also capable of creating flexible weaponry components like strings for a crossbow.

The Titan also has the ability to encase the human operator into a hardened crystal casing and can also control the Titan remotely via a cord connected between Titana and the operator.

The Armoured Titan:

The defining feature of Armoured Titan was the layers of plated, amour-like segments of hardened skin protecting the Titan’s body.

This armour is strong enough to protect the Titan from canons and could break Ultrahard Steel blades of vertical manoeuvring equipment.

Due to its armour, it is the only Titan which can survive the explosive transformation of a Colossus Titan.

The armour can deal great damage upon impact on anything/anyone the Titan charges.

Due to the weight and restrained movement speed of the Titan is reduced. This could be alleviated if the user chooses to shed a segment of the armour.

During Reiner’s first fight with Eren, Reiner shed armour behind the knees, enabling the Titan to move with incredible speed.

The Attack Titan:

The attack Titan is the only one out of all nine Titans which can not only see past memories and memories of the future holders.

Just like in the case of other Titans past memories are incomplete, future memories in Attack Titan’s case are incomplete.

It is also said that Attack Titans have fought for freedom throughout the course of numerous generations.

The Female Titan:

The Female Titan has the ability to mimic other Titans’ abilities. She can selectively harden specific parts of her body.

It is particularly easy for the female Titan to exhibit abilities of those of the other Titans if it consumes parts of them.

Female Titan is also known for her endurance and mobility. Annie single-handedly carried Berthold and Reiner from Paradis Island cost line to the distant Wall.

Female Titan could also focus on healing specific parts of the body to decrease the healing time of the part.

The Cart Titan:

The Cart Titan is the only Titan which is quadrupedal. This enables her to possess immense speed and endurance.

The Cart has the highest endurance of any other Nine Titan, allowing inherit sustain titan form without needing rest for an extremely long time.

Pieck claimed that she could transform hundreds of times before starting to feel fatigued.

The Titan possesses immense speed helping retrieve Zeke Yeager and Reiner Braun and catching Levi and Hangi off guard, one of the best soldiers on Paradis island.

The Jaw Titan:

The Jaw Titan is the smallest but the fastest of all Nine Titans. It also has a ferocious set of jaws and claws that were able to tear through almost anything.

Jaw Titan also has incredible biting and crushing strength. It can even break the hardened skin of Attack Titan and shatter the hardened crystal casing of Hammer Titan.