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Attack on Titan's recent season explored the depths of the lore surrounding the nine titans, especially the Founding Titan. Ever since the first mention of the 'Founding Titan,' it was deducible that this Titan was a special link to the truths regarding Ymir and the history of Eldians.
Eren is now a manifestation of the Founding Titan – a walking catastrophe looming over the continent, threatening to annihilate all human life as a reprieve for his loved ones and the Eldians. This godlike Titan has displayed frightening powers in the hands of different people, so here’s a review of the Founding Titan’s abilities.
Who Was the First Founding Titan?
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After leaving viewers in the dark for three seasons, Season Four Part Two of Attack on Titans finally unraveled the dark mystery behind the Titan lore. In the episode titled "From You, 2,000 Years Ago," an interesting flashback starring the first-ever Founding Titan, Ymir, was uncovered. Based on the way 'Ymir' has been portrayed throughout Attack on Titan's previous seasons, most fans were expecting a power-hungry woman or a mysterious-looking individual to be Ymir; however, shockingly, Ymir happened to be a young slave girl whose home was invaded by Fritz, the Eldian King.
On a fateful day, Ymir was blamed for allowing a pig to go missing, and as punishment for her supposedly careless actions, a cruel leader ordered her execution through hunting. In short, Ymir was to be hunted down like an animal and killed. While her executioners chased her, Ymir discovered a strange tree with a gap in the middle. Quickly, she entered the opening, but she slipped and fell into an underground water cave, where she mysteriously connected with a Titan of unknown origin. Soon she emerged from the cave with her newfound powers, shocking her pursuers and people in the surrounding area.
After hearing Ymir's exploits, King Fritz married her and used her as a tool to develop Eldia's agriculture and infrastructure. Fifteen years later, Ymir died while protecting King Fritz from an assassination attempt; however, despite her noble sacrifice, her body was desecrated at King Fritz's behest, who ordered his daughters: Maria, Rose, and Sheena Fritz to devour Ymir's corpse, allowing them to gain Titan Shifter powers. These powers were now passed down through the Ymir-Fritz bloodline.
What Are The Founding Titan’s abilities?
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After King Fritz's death, generations later, the 145th Eldian King, Karl Fritz, first displayed the true extent of the Founding Titan's abilities. After inheriting the memories of the Founding Titan, he was able to uncover the Eldians' dark past and the constant oppression his country dished out to Marley, leaving him horrified. Karl Fritz then decided to end the Great Titan War, using Helos – the revered Marley Hero, as a makeshift cover to deceive everyone into believing that Marley won the war. Afterwards, Karl Fritz then journeyed to Paradis Island with as many people as he could. On arriving there, Karl Fritz used the Founding Titan's powers to erase the memories of the Eldians, revealing a dimension to the Titan's powerful abilities.
Eldians...Titans...they never should have existed in the first place. I will accept the responsibility of righting this wrong. Only...until the day that this retribution comes, I want to live inside the Walls...I want to enjoy this brief paradise, this world without conflict.
As explained earlier, the Founding Titan abilities could only be harnessed by the Fritz bloodline – the reason Zeke, the son of Diana Fritz and Grisha Jaeger, decided to try and use its power to carry out his "euthanasia" plan. Even though his plan didn't work, viewers were able to gain insight into the frightening of the Founding Titan's powers. It could even remodel the biology of the Eldians, forcing them to become barren – Zeke's master plan. It was even alleged that the Founding Titan powers were used to cure the Eldians of a ravaging illness by altering their body structure.
Unfortunately, Zeke's plan was foiled by Eren, his half-brother, and cohort, who wanted to use the Founding Titan powers for a totally different reason. Usually, the Founding Titan, possessed by Ymir, can only be harnessed when a descendant of the Fritz bloodline commands her. Regardless, Eren managed to obtain more than a mere power puppet; he convinced Ymir to abandon the cruel servitude placed on her by King Fritz and his generations. Eren’s words moved Ymir, and she passed down the Founding Titan powers to him, making him the second true Founding Titan.
The first noticeable thing about Eren’s Founding Titan was that he was able to communicate telepathically with all Eldians around the world, even the ones miles away in Marley. However, a more impressive power of the Founding Titan is its ability to control other Titan Shifter transformations, even the Nine Titans. A valid proof of this ability was the un-hardening of Annie Leonhart, the Female Titan, freeing her from her self-imposed imprisonment.
Notably, among all the powers of the Founding Titan, its most feared power is The Rumbling. King Fritz created a large number of colossal Titans, which he used to form the three walls: Maria, Rose, and Sina, which he used to threaten Marley, preventing any possible war. However, from Fritz's actions, it can be inferred that he didn't want to use this frightening power. Also, after King Fritz wiped Eldian’s memories, most people had forgotten about it. However, Eren's awakening as the Founding Titan successor allowed him to unleash the power of The Rumbling – a large horde of gargantuan titans on the world, signaling doom for Humanity and any non-Eldian nation.