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Dr. Jaeger was a travelling doctor, so it's reasonable to believe that he'd have visited many villages during his travels, including those of the aforementioned characters. Reiner and Bertolt stated early on that they came from a small village in the Southern area of Wall Maria, so it's reasonable to believe that they would have made contact with Dr. Jaeger. The Doctor could have easily administered the serum as a "medicine," due to the Titans' ability to regenerate it could have easily been passed off as so. This would explain why Zhiganshima was the first village to be breached by the Titans.
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Dr. Jaeger Yeager was a travelling traveling doctor, so it's reasonable to believe that he'd have visited many villages during his travels, including those of the aforementioned characters. Reiner and Bertolt stated early on that they came from a small village in the Southern area of Wall Maria, so it's reasonable to believe that they would have made contact with Dr. Jaeger.Yeager. The Doctor could have easily administered the serum as a "medicine," due to the Titans' ability to regenerate it could have easily been passed off as so. This would explain why Zhiganshima was the first village to be breached by the Titans.
* One problem: Reiner and Bertolt lied about where they came from. It's been explicitly stated that their real homeland is somewhere outside the Walls, likely to the south. It's still possible that they targeted Zhiganshima on purpose, though.
[[WMG: Titans' eating habits are actually attempts to replace a dead pilot]]
Except they are disoriented mindless meatpuppets so they fail badly at this.
* One problem: Reiner and Bertolt lied about where they came from. It's been explicitly stated that their real homeland is somewhere outside the Walls, likely to the south. It's still possible that they targeted Zhiganshima on purpose, though.
[[WMG: Titans' eating habits are actually attempts to replace a dead pilot]]
Except they are disoriented mindless meatpuppets so they fail badly at this.
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[[WMG: Titans' eating habits are actually attempts to replace a dead pilot]]
Except they are disoriented mindless meatpuppets so they fail badly at this.
Except they are disoriented mindless meatpuppets so they fail badly at this.
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Except they are disoriented mindless meatpuppets so they fail badly at this.
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[[WMG: Titans' eating habits are actually attempts to replace a dead pilot]]
Except they are disoriented mindless meatpuppets so they fail badly at this.
Except they are disoriented mindless meatpuppets so they fail badly at this.
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[[WMG: Dr. Jaeger is responsible for Reiner's, Annie's, Bertholdt's, and Ymir's status as Titan Shifters]]
Dr. Jaeger was a travelling doctor, so it's reasonable to believe that he'd have visited many villages during his travels, including those of the aforementioned characters. He could have easily administered the serum as a "medicine," due to the Titans' ability to regenerate it could have easily been passed off as so. This would explain why Zhiganshima was the first village to be breached by the Titans.
Dr. Jaeger was a travelling doctor, so it's reasonable to believe that he'd have visited many villages during his travels, including those of the aforementioned characters. He could have easily administered the serum as a "medicine," due to the Titans' ability to regenerate it could have easily been passed off as so. This would explain why Zhiganshima was the first village to be breached by the Titans.
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[[WMG: Dr. Jaeger is responsible for Reiner's, Annie's, Bertholdt's, Bertolt's, and Ymir's status as Titan Shifters]]
Dr. Jaeger was a travelling doctor, so it's reasonable to believe that he'd have visited many villages during his travels, including those of the aforementioned characters.He Reiner and Bertolt stated early on that they came from a small village in the Southern area of Wall Maria, so it's reasonable to believe that they would have made contact with Dr. Jaeger. The Doctor could have easily administered the serum as a "medicine," due to the Titans' ability to regenerate it could have easily been passed off as so. This would explain why Zhiganshima was the first village to be breached by the Titans.
Dr. Jaeger was a travelling doctor, so it's reasonable to believe that he'd have visited many villages during his travels, including those of the aforementioned characters.
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[[WMG: Dr. Jaeger is responsible for Reiner's, Annie's, Bertholdt's, and Ymir's status as Titan Shifters]]
Dr. Jaeger was a travelling doctor, so it's reasonable to believe that he'd have visited many villages during his travels, including those of the aforementioned characters. He could have easily administered the serum as a "medicine," due to the Titans' ability to regenerate it could have easily been passed off as so. This would explain why Zhiganshima was the first village to be breached by the Titans.
Dr. Jaeger was a travelling doctor, so it's reasonable to believe that he'd have visited many villages during his travels, including those of the aforementioned characters. He could have easily administered the serum as a "medicine," due to the Titans' ability to regenerate it could have easily been passed off as so. This would explain why Zhiganshima was the first village to be breached by the Titans.
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[[WMG: Eren is headed for a major emotional crisis, as a direct result of his BlackAndWhiteMorality.]]
Eren has a very stark view of the world, with little room for moral grey areas or sympathy for anyone he considers evil. As a child, his viewpoint resulted in him brutally murdering criminals with the justification that they weren't human. In his confrontation with Reiner and Bertolt, he echoes this opinion that they aren't human and expresses anger over the very idea that Reiner might be guilty over his actions, accusing him of playing the victim. Ymir even criticizes him for how simplified and immature his worldview is, making it clear she cannot trust him when he has those sorts of attitudes. Considering the dark nature of the series, and the many harsh lessons Eren has already gone through, it's unlikely his black-and-white attitude will be changed in a way that won't involve him suffering a major blow.
Eren has a very stark view of the world, with little room for moral grey areas or sympathy for anyone he considers evil. As a child, his viewpoint resulted in him brutally murdering criminals with the justification that they weren't human. In his confrontation with Reiner and Bertolt, he echoes this opinion that they aren't human and expresses anger over the very idea that Reiner might be guilty over his actions, accusing him of playing the victim. Ymir even criticizes him for how simplified and immature his worldview is, making it clear she cannot trust him when he has those sorts of attitudes. Considering the dark nature of the series, and the many harsh lessons Eren has already gone through, it's unlikely his black-and-white attitude will be changed in a way that won't involve him suffering a major blow.
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[[WMG: the story doesn't actually place on earth]]
it takes on planet similar to earth that was colonized by humans in the past since earth was either getting destroyed or overpopulated.
it takes on planet similar to earth that was colonized by humans in the past since earth was either getting destroyed or overpopulated.
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** Two theories. A) The titan shifters feel it's better to get the super-weapon out of humanity's hands than just wiping out humanity. It's like leaving a warring faction so humiliated and disarmed that they can not fight. Second theory: They changed their goal- seeing Eren as an alternative to wiping out humanity. To them, using Eren is the more expedient of the two options for them.
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** Doubt it. The turn into more titans thing would be plausible, were it not for Connie's village. There was no blood, no sign of conflict aside from a destroyed house. Plus- the titans 'pilots' would have to be alive to function anyway, be it on auto-pilot or manual.
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[[WMG: Titan reproduction.]]
* Maybe they eat humans to chemically modify them in their stomaches, and after regurgitating the dead, they turn into more titans?
* Maybe they eat humans to chemically modify them in their stomaches, and after regurgitating the dead, they turn into more titans?
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The Sasquatch/Beast Titan has been explicitly stated to be responsible for the Titans it travels with; it\'s not a WMG anymore.
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* It turns people into Titans.
** It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
** It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
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* It turns people into Titans.
**It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
**
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* The Sasquach titan is responsible for causing titans to appear within walls that remain unbroken.
* The Titan Shifters initial goal was in fact the capture of the Sasquach Titan.
* The Titan Shifters initial goal was in fact the capture of the Sasquach Titan.
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* The Sasquach Sasquatch titan is responsible for causing titans to appear within walls that remain unbroken.
* The Titan Shifters initial goal was in fact the capture of theSasquach Sasquatch Titan.
* The Titan Shifters initial goal was in fact the capture of the
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** To be fair, there's no evidence that their people can't reproduce sexually and we don't know whether they all have powers or not. I mean, Annie had a father and nothing ever stood out about any of them during their three years of living with very little (if any) privacy. But in terms of culture, it's quite possible they have different attitudes concerning sexuality.
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** It's an easter egg hidden in the covers. Check out the entries in the Fridge page for more information.
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** It's an easter egg hidden in the covers. Check out the entries in the Fridge page for more information.
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** To be fair, there's no evidence that their people can't reproduce sexually and we don't know whether they all have powers or not. I mean, Annie had a father and nothing ever stood out about any of them during their three years of living with very little (if any) privacy. But in terms of culture, it's quite possible they have different attitudes concerning sexuality.
[[WMG: Theories on Sasquach Titan.]]
* It turns people into Titans.
** It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
* It turns people into Titans.
** It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
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[[WMG: Theories on Sasquach Titan.]]
* It turns people into Titans.
** It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
* It turns people into Titans.
** It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
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* It turns people into Titans.
** It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
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** It probably experiments on humans because reasons unknown to reach some unknown goal. Maybe to restore his own kind since it is the only one of such type we saw by far.
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[[WMG: Ymir's People know how Titans are made, and may be able to turn them back into humans.]]
In the Ilse's diary sidestory, the Titan that finds her seems to be mistaking her for Ymir. But when Ilse starts asking questions, it just groans as if it's crying, bending its head to her as if supplicating and tearing at the skin on its face. Maybe it understood what she was asking, and couldn't answer because it was cognizant enough to be ''ashamed of itself'', knowing something is Very Wrong with it, and by prostrating itself before "Ymir-sama" it hoped she would cure him. It eats her only when it realizes she isn't who it thought she was, and doesn't look anywhere ''near'' as happy as most Titans are when they're having a snack...
In the Ilse's diary sidestory, the Titan that finds her seems to be mistaking her for Ymir. But when Ilse starts asking questions, it just groans as if it's crying, bending its head to her as if supplicating and tearing at the skin on its face. Maybe it understood what she was asking, and couldn't answer because it was cognizant enough to be ''ashamed of itself'', knowing something is Very Wrong with it, and by prostrating itself before "Ymir-sama" it hoped she would cure him. It eats her only when it realizes she isn't who it thought she was, and doesn't look anywhere ''near'' as happy as most Titans are when they're having a snack...
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Sex doesn't have any biological meaning to a race of creatures that can't breed anyway. They're clearly capable of love and caring and possibly even of sexual desire, but culturally and socially, sexual orientation isn't any more significant than hair or eye color (maybe even ''less' so, if Ymir's dark hair and freckles are any indication). Reiner isn't bisexual: as a Titan-shifter, he's gay, but his human other-consciousness is straight, because that's moral typical of humans. His crush on Christa is his mind's way of reconciling the conflict between his loyalty and belief in humanity and his mission as a Titan-Shifter spy.
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Sex doesn't have any biological meaning to a race of creatures that can't breed anyway. They're clearly capable of love and caring and possibly even of sexual desire, but culturally and socially, sexual orientation isn't any more significant than hair or eye color (maybe even ''less' ''less'' so, if Ymir's dark hair and freckles are any indication). Reiner isn't bisexual: as a Titan-shifter, he's gay, but his human other-consciousness is straight, because that's moral more typical of humans. His crush on Christa is his mind's way of reconciling the conflict between his loyalty and belief in humanity and his mission as a Titan-Shifter spy.
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[[WMG: The Titan that nearly swallowed Armin and actually did swallow Eren was Armin's grandfather.]]
Because now we know they're people, and Armin's grandfather was sent out to reclaim Trost and never returned. We never really get a good look at him, but it makes sense that a balding old man would be attached to his hat, and a smart guy like he probably was could probably get by pretty well out there in the wilderness for a little while. Not a very long time, mind, but maybe long enough to grow a beard out... It's also notable that although he picks up Armin and tries to eat him, he doesn't try to eat him again once he escapes, even though he was right there in front of him, traumatized and rendered a helpless sitting duck.
Because now we know they're people, and Armin's grandfather was sent out to reclaim Trost and never returned. We never really get a good look at him, but it makes sense that a balding old man would be attached to his hat, and a smart guy like he probably was could probably get by pretty well out there in the wilderness for a little while. Not a very long time, mind, but maybe long enough to grow a beard out... It's also notable that although he picks up Armin and tries to eat him, he doesn't try to eat him again once he escapes, even though he was right there in front of him, traumatized and rendered a helpless sitting duck.
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*** It's stated repeatedly that the Titans don't digest what they eat. We get to see inside the Titan that ate Eren in the anime and the manga, and both show a victim still alive inside its stomach: if you don't drown in the remains of fellow victims and you don't die of your own wounds, the inside of a Titan is near-literally ''boiling'' hot. That's why the remains are a mess when we see the pile of Titan vomit. Ironically, they haven't been digested, they've been ''cooked''.
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*** In the anime, at least, Eren's flashback to Grisha injecting him with Titan-juice has him talking about how he knows Eren won't remember it, but they're going to have to gamble on "their" memories. Maybe he meant it literally?
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[[WMG: Sexuality is meaningless among Titan-shifters, and Reiner isn't bisexual at all.]]
Sex doesn't have any biological meaning to a race of creatures that can't breed anyway. They're clearly capable of love and caring and possibly even of sexual desire, but culturally and socially, sexual orientation isn't any more significant than hair or eye color (maybe even ''less' so, if Ymir's dark hair and freckles are any indication). Reiner isn't bisexual: as a Titan-shifter, he's gay, but his human other-consciousness is straight, because that's moral typical of humans. His crush on Christa is his mind's way of reconciling the conflict between his loyalty and belief in humanity and his mission as a Titan-Shifter spy.
Sex doesn't have any biological meaning to a race of creatures that can't breed anyway. They're clearly capable of love and caring and possibly even of sexual desire, but culturally and socially, sexual orientation isn't any more significant than hair or eye color (maybe even ''less' so, if Ymir's dark hair and freckles are any indication). Reiner isn't bisexual: as a Titan-shifter, he's gay, but his human other-consciousness is straight, because that's moral typical of humans. His crush on Christa is his mind's way of reconciling the conflict between his loyalty and belief in humanity and his mission as a Titan-Shifter spy.
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[[WMG: Marco was killed by the Wall Cult, and ''they'' gave Annie his gear.]]
Something's been bugging me about Marco's death. Yeah, Annie took his 3DMG and the evidence points to her at least being the last person who saw him alive, but look a little closer at his body when they find it: he's been smashed through a fence, which has tucked (what's left of) his chin against his chest and probably broken his neck, but his hand is still making a fist and he's flat on his back. Now, imagine how he would have looked if a Titan had picked him up and bitten off his upper right side, then tossed him back on the ground: he'd just be flopped down like a rag doll, right? But he's not. It's because he'd been dead for some time and had already gone into ''rigor mortis'' when the Titan bit him. He had to have been laying flat on his back ''with his hands clasped together on his chest'' for him to land in that position! In other words, whoever killed him couldn't bury him, ''but still posed his body according to religious rites for the dead'', something that the Titan shifters would probably have no idea how to do, much less be inclined to do it at all. Considering that the Shifters all know who Christa is and why she's important, and so does the Wall Cult, there's no reason that they ''couldn't'' all be part of the same conspiracy.
Something's been bugging me about Marco's death. Yeah, Annie took his 3DMG and the evidence points to her at least being the last person who saw him alive, but look a little closer at his body when they find it: he's been smashed through a fence, which has tucked (what's left of) his chin against his chest and probably broken his neck, but his hand is still making a fist and he's flat on his back. Now, imagine how he would have looked if a Titan had picked him up and bitten off his upper right side, then tossed him back on the ground: he'd just be flopped down like a rag doll, right? But he's not. It's because he'd been dead for some time and had already gone into ''rigor mortis'' when the Titan bit him. He had to have been laying flat on his back ''with his hands clasped together on his chest'' for him to land in that position! In other words, whoever killed him couldn't bury him, ''but still posed his body according to religious rites for the dead'', something that the Titan shifters would probably have no idea how to do, much less be inclined to do it at all. Considering that the Shifters all know who Christa is and why she's important, and so does the Wall Cult, there's no reason that they ''couldn't'' all be part of the same conspiracy.
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* The Sasquach Titan is confirmed to have been their original goal. Why they'd be willing to abandon it in favor of making off with Eren is still up in the air, though.
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** But why would snagging Eren be enough for them to leave humanity in peace?
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* Also, settlements in steep mountains. It's not impossible, and think about how narrow and steep some of those paths can get. Titans simply wouldn't be able to get up there, so the humans have another safe haven in that sense.
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Moved to the \"Things we know for sure\" list. It\'s been confirmed that the Sasquach Titan is responsible for the appearance of titans within unbroken walls.
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** When was this revealed?
* The Sasquach titan is responsible for causing titans to appear within walls that remain unbroken.
* The Titan Shifters initial goal was in fact the capture of the Sasquach Titan.
* The Sasquach titan is responsible for causing titans to appear within walls that remain unbroken.
* The Titan Shifters initial goal was in fact the capture of the Sasquach Titan.
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* Humans can be turned into titans, as demonstrated by the desertion of Connie's village. The Sasquatch Titan may have something to do with this.
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* Humans can be turned into titans, as demonstrated by the desertion of Connie's village. The Sasquatch Titan may have something to do with this.
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* The Titan Shifters seem to be after the Sasquach Titan specifically because it somehow causes titans to appear out of nowhere. This could also be why they'll settle for Eren, since he doesn't seem to be a "natural" Titan shifter like they are.
[[WMG: Theories on Sasquach Titan.]]
* It turns people into Titans.
[[WMG: Theories on Sasquach Titan.]]
* It turns people into Titans.
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** The Titans have the entire rest of the world to themselves, as far as we know; how much more territory could they possibly need?
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[[WMG: Mikasa will become a Titan]]
Not a shifter either. She's already tapped into her brain for absolute control. She's been getting head pains that may not have been from wounds(I can't see any). Something will happen that will trigger her transformation into a Titan. As suggested by the Monkey Titan, they too have humans in the napes of their necks. Being enveloped too deep in emotions bonds you with your Titan(think back to Eren's smiling face as he recovered from his first Titan transformation), making you irretrievable and indistinguishable from the flesh in the neck. Mikasa freaking out about Eren will become a Titan this way.
Not a shifter either. She's already tapped into her brain for absolute control. She's been getting head pains that may not have been from wounds(I can't see any). Something will happen that will trigger her transformation into a Titan. As suggested by the Monkey Titan, they too have humans in the napes of their necks. Being enveloped too deep in emotions bonds you with your Titan(think back to Eren's smiling face as he recovered from his first Titan transformation), making you irretrievable and indistinguishable from the flesh in the neck. Mikasa freaking out about Eren will become a Titan this way.
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**** Wall breakers aren't opposed to humanity. They're opposed to the walls. Feeding off the human livestock theory, imagine where Berthold and Reiner's village was. That's right. They got hit first. Now what if they discovered their villages were left so far on the outside to be sacrifices, while the corrupt inner walled cities got to live nice and comfy on their families and friends' blood. Now, breaking the wall isn't so much of an act to exterminate humanity, as an act of putting everybody in the same frying pan. So why infiltrate the military? Why not keep up the assault? Because they're not natural Titans and the the natural ones would attack them too. It's known now that Titan shifters get tired in their Titan forms as well. The best option for them is to break the walls, return to human forms and travel to the next with the other humans, allowing them safe, rested passage right up to their next target.
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**** Wall breakers aren't opposed to humanity. They're opposed to the walls. Feeding off the human livestock theory, imagine where Berthold and Reiner's village was. That's right. They got hit first. Now what if they discovered their villages were left so far on the outside to be sacrifices, while the corrupt inner walled cities got to live nice and comfy on their families and friends' blood. Now, breaking the wall isn't so much of an act to exterminate humanity, as an act of putting everybody in the same frying pan. So why infiltrate the military? Why not keep up the assault? Because they're not natural Titans and the the natural ones would attack them too. It's known now that Titan shifters get tired in their Titan forms as well. The best option for them is to break the walls, return to human forms and travel to the next with the other humans, allowing them safe, rested passage right up to their next target.
target. Now, starting from the inner most wall and then moving outward is a different story. Their only opposition would be the soldiers(lol at that), which would make Berthold wanting to be MP make so much sense. So what went wrong? Reiner Went Mad From the Guilt and had a personality split. The Soldier who wanted to become a scout, protect his team, and defend against the Titans--and the Warrior who set out to destroy the walls. The Soldier in Reiner deviated from the plan and became a scout. Berthold(who never realized the split until later and began triggering switches by mentioning soldier/warrior) went along with it, because he's not only rather weak willed (as said in his aptitude test) but Reiner's best friend.
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** This one's been Jossed. He ''can'' walk, but he's extremely slow and his physical reaction speed is in the pits. He has the steam-release ability to compensate.
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'''This page is full of unmarked SPOILERS, being speculation about a story with many mysteries.'''
[[WMG: The Titans are scientific experiments on biological weapons of mass destruction.]]
This is similar to how zombies are often used in movies, and it would explain how the titans have so easily taken over as well as how Eren can transform into a Titan. This ties into how Eren's father could be involved in the plot overall.
[[WMG: The Abnormal Titans have the same origin.]]
This isn't necessarily surprising, since this has already been speculated in-story, but it would make sense if the formula that Eren's father used to turn Eren into a "Human able to don the flesh of a Titan", was the same formula that created the others, only from a different group of Humans.
* At least partially confirmed with the revelation of who the other abnormal titans aside from Eren are. Whether they were given the same formula or not has yet to be revealed.
[[WMG: The Humans that can turn into Titans were intended to be weapons against that "Thing"]]
In chapter 35, a Sasquatch like creature appears. It is nothing like the Titans seen in the series thus far, and it even defies the standard height limits of normal Titans by being 17 meters tall. Given its command over the Titans, it is still affiliated to them, but '''not''' them. To top it off, it '''KILLS''' a Titan that does not listen to him. Perhaps that "Thing" is one of the creators of the Titans, and possibly one of "Ymir's People".
[[WMG: Speaking of Ymir...]]
There is one character named Ymir, and she turns out to be a more benevolent Titan shifter. Is it a coincidence or is she the leader of some titan-turned-human race or something?
[[WMG: Theories on the Titan's motivations.]]
Yes, this includes the human titans. Why do the giants feed off of humans when they clearly don't need to in order to survive? Why wipe out all humans, who've been living rather peacefully within the walls? Because they were picking off weaker titans outside of the walls? It's been made clear that the human titans see them as nothing more than tools for their goals to wipe out humanity and get Eren back.
* The Titan Shifter trio (Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie) are {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s, or at least started out as such. In particular, Reiner's VillainousBSOD and Annie's admiration of people with strong convictions both seem to suggest that they genuinely believe their actions are for the greater good and justify the horrible things that they have done. They also don't seem to be operating from a [[FantasticRacism hatred]] of humans, or any other sort of [[AbsoluteXenophobe malice]] and seem relieved when the discovery of Eren means they no longer have to continue the extermination. Beyond that, their most obvious goal of smashing a hole in each Wall could have been accomplished without joining the military. As refugees, they would have still been able to reach the Walls, smash them, and then blend back into the fleeing crowds of civilians. But instead, they spent two years apparently just blending in before joining the military, even though all three were already eligible for recruitment. They waited two years, and then spent another three in training, before making their move again. And all three had originally planned to join the Military Police, suggesting a goal beyond simple destruction of the Walls.
* Another theory concerning the Trio and their motivations. Their village/people are a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race]], which explains all their discussion of themselves as warriors (as opposed to the human soldiers). Annie and Reiner both criticize themselves for [[BecomingTheMask failing]] as warriors, while Bertholdt passive aggressively states Reiner ''used to be'' a warrior after he risks his life to protect Conny. Considering the massive amount of DoubleMeaning going on with them, it's possible that when Reiner and Bertholdt discuss their motivations for enlisting.....they're actually talking about the ideals of their ''own'' culture, not the one within the Walls. Reiner focuses on ideals of duty and personal effort, while Bertholdt focuses entirely on what society expects from the young.
* There's another society comprised of Titan Shifters, and they're at war with the human settlement we see in the story.
[[WMG: Other Humans may still exist]]
We know that they say most of humanity was eaten, but what about areas separated by oceans and seas? The idea of having other races seems to been forgotten, so most likely any kind of contact between nations separated by sea is gone and they simply forgot those countries existed. It is possible Titans did not appear there or they made walls like the main series.
* Since it is 9th century Germany [Due to Eren Jaeger's name being derived from the German phrase [roughly translated in English: They are the prey, we are the hunters]. While Asia itself was established to have been wiped out in Mikasa's flashback, there is no reason to doubt the ability of the Native American tribes to actually transform into Titans.
[[WMG: Titans are people.]]
That sounds weird, but what else would be the reason that they continue to thrive, despite the fact that Titans don't have any sexual organs? The other titans running around might be an imperfect process/procedure of what Eren and all the other Titan-Shifter's might possess.
[[WMG:The unintelligent Titans are infants.]]
In the prequel visual novel, A crying baby was found inside a titan as it died. Why else would the titans be so driven by instinct, and sometimes not even listen to orders- such as when Mr. Sasquatch killed a titan for not listening to him? They are all babies, driven by nothing more than their own instinct. Them eating humans is not unlike a child trying to eat its own toy. The unusual titans, such as the Sasquatch, Eren, and the rest- are all mature enough to know what they are doing- Eren lost control due to youthful inexperience at one point.
* This makes sense with the smaller Titans, since a full-grown human "pilot" would be vulnerable to much more than an attack to their WeakPoint. But an infant would be small enough to avoid harm from the majority of bodily damage.
[[WMG: The Titans that appeared within Rose Wall are the people from Connie's town]].
This is tied into the 'Titans are people' theory and is supported by their sudden, unexplained appearance and the one Titan discovered in the town. Connie is horrified to realize it sort of resembles his mother, and it attempts to greet him as a mother would, welcoming him home. That Ymir is so quick to shut him down seems to add strength to this possibility, given what ''she'' is. Someone may have done something to the villagers to cause them all to transform, creating an instant army inside the human territory.
[[WMG:The Titans are the result of a disease or genetic mutation, artificially created to control the population.]]
Eren's father was working on finding a cure when the Colossal Titan attacked. He was planning to show Eren what was in the basement because he knew it was almost ready.
* Eren's father was getting too close to a cure so the Armored and Colossal Titans were dispatched to destroy his town.
* The tribes/clans that the Titan Shifters are from are part of a shadow organization that wish to maintain the status quo, which may involve the king. They use the people's fear of titans to stay in power, therefore knowledge of the outside world is forbidden.
* Top recruits are pointed at the military police so the recon legion is devoid of exceptional talent. The organization then sabotages the efforts of the recon legion so that inquisitive and capable leaders die in the line of duty and humankind neither gains nor losses ground.
[[WMG: Reiner will end up either undergoing a HeelFaceTurn or RedemptionEqualsDeath]]
When asked about what Reiner was like in the past, Bertholt is critical of how he's no longer a warrior. In fact, Bertholt makes suspicious or annoyed looks whenever he sees Reiner acting close to any of the humans. This is because Reiner is BecomingTheMask, and he's already admitted that his friendship with the others has left him deeply confused over his mission.
* Related: Reiner sabotaged the attack on Wall Rose. Whether he did it consciously or not, he's pretty clearly hesitating to do his part and quite literally jumps at the first opportunity to get out of it. Mikasa and Jean leading the charge towards Headquarters simply gave him an easy out, with Annie and Bertholdt both visibly shocked when he joins the other trainees.
** And now looking very uncertain, with the revelation that his behavior is the result of having [[MurderMakesYouCrazy gone mad]] from [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]]. He wasn't sabotaging their plans, or doubting his mission....he quite literally had moments where he thought he ''was'' human and didn't remember his true identity and mission. Based on him being driven that far over the edge because of guilt, RedemptionEqualsDeath is still a possible outcome.
** Reiner will undergo a Heel Face Turn. Bertholt will not. The conflict will be milked for as much existential and emotional drama as realistically possible. Given Reiner's status as AmbiguouslyBi it's possible that this will end in LoveRedeems for Bertholt.
[[WMG: Every human being has the potential to turn into a titan.]]
They just need some kind of push. Also, possibly, the titan shifters' transformations were triggered naturally while others (e.g. if the WMG up there is true, Conny's village) were changed due to some kind of mutation spreading, resulting in less/unintelligent titans. Or vice versa.
[[WMG: This world is in the same universe as TengenToppaGurrenLagann]]
* On another world, faced with the growing technology of spiral powers and waist mountain grappling hooks, the anti-spirals, or even a spiral warrior placed the titans to contain their race in the three walls. Whenever a spiral warrior, also known as a titan shifter, arises, the spiral king of this world sends his men to capture them.
[[WMG: Sasquatch Titans were what the Titans were originally designed by humanity to fight]]
* That thing clearly defies the laws of Titans (17 meters, CreepilyLongArms and monkey-like hair, as well as the ability to communicate with humans) and seems unpleased and disgusted with the more primitive Titans to the point where it kills one. These things were what humanity originally fought against and lost HORRIBLY. Humans then created Titans to try and combat them and it [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]].
[[WMG: The Sasquatch Titan is a Shifter too.]]
* While it does seem impressed on how humans created the 3D Gear, he could still be human, just from another part of the world.
[[WMG: Ancient WMG -- Mikasa is somehow part Titan.]]
Concocted after reading the first few chapters, now completely defunct (maybe). It would've explain her bizarre strength (as it didn't seem to be "comedic anime girl strength"), plus her (at the time) unexplained parentage-- because no one is ever adopted in fiction unless they have a mysterious plot-relevant past. I held onto the theory even once her backstory was revealed, because honestly, who can break a floorboard just from the pressure of jumping off it? Maybe it was the result of some crazy science experiment, or maybe Titans actually had some way of reproducing, and she was half-Titan or Titan-in-human-form? Of course, now that [[spoiler:everyone and their mom is turning into Titans]], this may still come true in a round about sort of fashion.
* I've reread the chapters, and I'm inclined to agree. There was a panel which shows her brain doing...something, and she might actually be a perfected weapon of some sort. Also that number carved into her by her mother is very suspicious. At the very least, Mikasa has been genetically modified.
** It might also explain why Titan-Eren attacked her the second time he changed, the same way the Titans tried to eat Eren even while he was in Titan form...
** It could also make sense if Grisha had something to do with it. There's no way Mikasa would ever allow Eren to be experimented on... but she might not interfere if she could be assured it would work by offering herself as a guinea pig first.
* Could also be why Dr. Jaeger visited Mikasa's residence when she was young.
** There's not a whole lot of proof to back this up, but I think it's weird that Mikasa and her mother were living in a place full of people with Germanic surnames but were still the last of their kind. The revelation that the Walls were found by a bunch of aristocratic refugees only makes it weirder that there aren't more "Oriental" people around. Could be she's not the victim of weird science, but descended from people that were?
* Something also bugs me. Looking back at the beginning of the manga, Mikasa gets some weird headache and then the same thing happens in the most recent chapter. Perhaps this could be a memory block like how Eren forgot what his father did to him before his [[spoiler:Titan transformation]]? Maybe Mikasa was experimented on as a child and just doesn't remember.
[[WMG: The regular Titans are actually some form of plant life, and the Titan Shifters are made using their extracts.]]
They're sustained by sunlight, they grow obscenely tall, they don't gain nourishment from eating meat, they ignore animals, they don't reproduce sexually, and they come out of a forest. Sounds like plants to me. Mandrakes are also said to kill whoever digs them up and everyone who hears them scream (and whoever first discovered or engineered the first Titans is almost assuredly dead), and the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk explicitly wants to kill Jack and eat him; it seems like a plausible connection.
* Alternatively, going with this and the failed experiment theory, the smaller titans have plant cells, allowing them gain energy from sunlight. Them eating humans can be also be likened to those of carnivorous plants, such as Venus Flytraps. In a similar vein, the Sasquatch titan and maybe even the dancing titan could've been the result of experiments with animal cells. The female and armored titan on the other had to have been the result of geological experiments, allowing them their rock defenses. The Colossal Titan's heat and steam could also be classified as such if you think about it.
** So... [[OnePiece Devil fruits]] gone bad?
[[WMG: The purpose of the three walls are not unlike that of the settlements in [[spoiler: {{Manga/Claymore}}]] ]]
The AnachronismStew that is the 3DMG and the blades used by the military hint that mankind either has or had a much higher level of technology than they do now. Combining several other theories, the humans living within the walls are subjects of a biological war machine experiment not unlike that seen in [[spoiler: {{Manga/Claymore}}]]. There are other humans out there; these poor souls are actually an isolated community used to test and refine the Titans. The Titanshifters are just the latest breakthrough.
[[WMG: Eren is so important because his father ran off with all the research on Titanshifters. Ymir and her people are the ''original'' Titans that all further research was based off.]]
After the discovery of Titanshifters, Dr Jaeger ran off with the remaining formula and all of his notes. Eren is so important since he's the latest "model" as it were and someone talked about the key around his neck. Many of the Titanshifters were close friends and comrades of Eren and at the very least, they may have heard rumors that he knows how to access his father's work. The Titanshifters also seem keen on acquiring Ymir who is patently unaffiliated with them, mainly because she may be a live sample of the original Titan or Titanshifter line.
[[WMG:The Sasquatch Titan is Eren's father]]
Think about it for a minute. He was able to remain calm and acted out of curiosity when it came to the 3D maneuver gear. He also didn't like the fact he had to kill a fellow titan to keep Mike alive when interrogating him- although not to the degree of a father being heartbroken over killing his own son, he would have still killed one of his own creations. The timing is also too much to be coincidence.
* Extremely unlikely. Eren's father knew people in the military, and would therefore have seen the 3D Maneuver gear before. The Sasquatch is surprised by the equipment, and interested in learning how it works. It also worries that the language it speaks isn't the same as the language Mike speaks. These both suggest that this is its first time interacting with humans, and it's first time inside the Walls.
[[WMG: The Titans were made as an effort to unite humanity, and it backfired horribly.]]
At one point, Pixis talks about how, once upon a time, humans squabbled over race and principles, and "someone" once said that if humanity had an enemy that wasn't human, they would have to band together and put aside their differences to succeed; Eren answers that he's familiar with that piece of folklore. It's more than just folklore; it's the explanation for why the Titans exist, warped by generations' worth of word-of-mouth into ordinary apocrypha. It may also explain the significance of the walls: they represent strength through unity. Especially if the first Colossal Titans ''volunteered'' to serve as the foundation for the walls, hoping that they could further humanity's goals by doing so; it fits in nicely with the conceit of self-sacrifice, because if the Titans hadn't been made at all, none of the atrocities in the story could have happened.
* Although the author confirmed the Walls do ''not'' symbolize strength through unity- the theme behind the walls is the complacency in humanity- as opposed to Eren's adventurous desire to see the outside world.
** I meant more in-universe than an actual symbolic motif; ie, it's what the Wall Cult's religion is based on.
* The GeniusBonus in the "runes" might support this: by the time the Titans came around, humanity had already come close to wiping itself out.
[[WMG: Time Travel is involved.]]
I have nothing to back this up, other than the fact that the author said Muv Luv Alternative was an inspiration. What if he didn't just get the grimdark hopeless aspect of it, but also got the idea of a protagonist going through the motions over and over again?
* Well, the very beginning of the manga (and subsequently anime) does provide sufficient bait for this, as Eren wakes up with the feeling of having had a long dream (the end of which is Mikasa saying "see you again, Eren"), tells Mikasa "your hair grew longer, didn't it?" (when in the 'future'/life or lives he'd lived previously, it'd be short), and crying for no reason (or so they think)... Maybe Eren being incredibly adamant right afterward that the soldiers be ready "WHEN ''THEY'' BREAK THE WALL!" comes from residual memories of that previous life or lives he's had to survive, and must come to survive again.
[[WMG: Somewhere out there, there's a ResetButton, and Eren's been the one pushing it.]]
Going with the above theory, Eren wakes up in the first chapter the way he does (crying, wondering about Mikasa's hair length, etc) because he's just coming around into the new start of a StableTimeLoop, but can't hold on to those memories and is stuck going through the same loop. ''That's'' what's in the Jaeger house basement: not just the secret of Eren's [[spoiler: turning into a Titan]], but Grisha's collected knowledge of the loop: the nightmare Eren had about his father acting weird since his mom died and doing creepy science to him happened in a past loop, the same way his opening dream did. Grisha's become aware of his son's ability to carry himself through time, and has been gathering new resources for his son to save humanity every time Eren starts the loop over.
[[WMG: Carla knew more than she let on.]]
Going with the above two theories: when Hannes shows up to rescue Carla, Eren, and Mikasa in the first episode, he first goes to face the approach the Titan, Carla says, "''You can't fight it.''", not "forget the Titan, save my kids". It could just be that she had no faith in the military (which is why she's so against the idea of Eren enlisting), but she's crushed under a building and can't actually ''see'' the Titan until it picks her out of the rubble; she would have had no way to gauge whether Hannes was up to the task. If there really is time travel or a reset button at work, Carla may have been aware of it from a previous iteration.
[[WMG: Regular Titans are living {{LotusEaterMachine}}s, and each one is controlled by a hallucinating human.]]
It's shown that Eren has extremely vivid hallucinations of his family when he's inside his Titan body. But he's not the only one: ''every'' Titan is controlled by a person having an intense but beautiful dream, and because of it, they really have no idea what their bodies are doing. They eat humans not because they think humans are tasty or because they enjoy it, but because the Titans have a critical design flaw: they instinctively know that they are supposed to have people inside them, but they don't see a difference between eating someone and having a pilot.
[[WMG: Titans are [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Witches/Warlocks]] and/or their Familiars.]]
Surprised that one hasn't come up yet.
* Unlikely, considering this is a somewhat sci-fi setting the injections being the lead on the whole biological weapon concept.
** Not as unlikely as you might think (outside the meta, anyway). [[spoiler: Madoka's wish unmade and then remade the universe. There's nothing to suggest that another magical girl couldn't do the same, or that Madoka was the first magical girl to do it.]] For example, some particularly savvy one might have wished for humans to have a Barrier, too, and it resulted in the Walled City. The equivalent despair couldn't be contained by just one Soul Gem, so it was released into the universe as the Titans we know, and the Titan-shifters are the Puella Magi of that world.
[[WMG: The Walled City is a GeniusLoci, the Titans are TheCorruption, and there is no outside world.]]
It's held in place by the dreams of the Titans in the wall. As long as the walls stand, exposure to something in the outside world can't mutate normal humans into normal Titans, but the walls are gradually coming down and allowing the Titans in, and they're carriers of whatever changed them. The world beyond the Walled City was destroyed long ago, and everything the characters can see of it is just the wall-Titans' memories made manifest.
[[WMG: The Wall Cult is the real villain]]
As unlikely as it is, perhaps Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie know something that humans have kept secret from Eren. While the majority of humanity is blissfully unaware, the Wall Cult and the corruption within the Military Police shows that there is more to everything than face value. While King Kong (bad pun, I know) is causing trouble, Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie were trying to save Eren, a fellow titan shifter, before the Wall Cult could figure out a way to execute him or before Mr. Sasquatch could kill him- as it seems that he is unaware of the armored, colossal, and female titans if he was unaware of the military tech of the time while the group had prior knowledge. The Wall Cult has been trying to control humanity, and while the titans are indiscriminately killing, they are perhaps trying to take down the wall cult who have subjugated the colossal wall-titans
[[WMG: There are different Titan cultures, and they're at war.]]
Bertholdt and Reiner talk about their childhood friend being killed, and we find out later that the killer was Ymir; Bertholdt also picks on Reiner about how he used to be a soldier. Knowing Reiner and he are spies, it's possible that the two of them are soldiers in a Titan-folk army combating Ymir's People, and the regular Titans are their tools of war. They infiltrated the human ranks and broke down the gate in order to get access to a new stable of humans to turn into Titans, and they captured Eren because he's an ideal candidate for front-line fighting in such a war. That's why Reiner offers to leave humanity alone if Eren comes of his own volition: if Eren goes, the Titans ''won't need'' any more humans.
* That actually makes the most sense, although I wonder why they went out of their way to capture Ymir rather than kill her. It also makes sense to the idea of the Sasquatch Titan's faction (which I doubt is the same as Ymir's) going after humanity- they are killing humans to keep the potential weapons out of their enemy's hands. That, plus the 3D maneuver gear that the Sasquatch titan stole, lends credibility to a sort of arms race.
* Reiner admits their original goal was the extermination of the humans within the Walls, but on the other hand it ''does'' seem to be at least one goal of the Sasquatch Titan. He lead and seemed to be in charge of the Titans hinted to have been created from Connie's village, and seems to represent a ''third'' group of Titans out there in the world.
** It's possible that, rather than gaining access to a new supply of humans, they meant to exterminate humanity in order to cut off the arms supply for good. It might also explain why Annie says that her father taught her to fight and to treat the rest of the world as her enemy: she was (or still is) a Titan-shifting child soldier.
*** Further possible evidence: Titans have no sexual organs. The Titan-shifters ''probably'' do, although I guess we can't really assume that until someone actually gets brave enough to look down their pants, but the regular Titans? They ''can't breed''. The Titans inside the walls pretty much ''had'' to have purposefully dedicated themselves to it (because how in the Hell would anyone force them into it?), but if they're the enemy of humans, why would they go to such lengths to protect them? Simple: The Walled City isn't the last refuge of human civilization, it's a ''breeding pen'', and the humanity-as-livestock metaphor clicks right into place.
**** Mind. Blown. Horrified, but there's something so perfect in the livestock metaphor and how the Walls existed prior to their arrival. I also noticed that all three of the Titan spies have a CleopatraNose, suggesting closed or similar bloodlines. Ymir's features are completely different, in a nod towards her not belonging to their group and being able to read that mysterious language.
***** The FridgeHorror on this just keeps getting worse. The purpose of the Recon Corps is to go out and learn more about the Titans in order to better combat them, right? And the government sent a huge chunk of its population to "''re-conquer''" Trost? Yeah. If the Wall Cult and the monarchy know all the secrets about the city and the Titans (because how could they ''not'' know more about the Titans than they're telling), and it really is a breeding pen? They've been deliberately sending people outside the walls because ''that's what the entire city is for: producing humans to replenish the Titan population''. And as if that's not terrifying on its own, think about how the military and the aristocracy work: the most talented soldiers get to stay in the safest part of the city, which makes no sense for a culture fighting an ongoing war, so that they can protect the royal peerage. But it makes ''perfect'' sense if the City is a breeding pen: it means the people with the best genes will spend most of their time together, and keeping them all away from the threat of being eaten practically guarantees that they'll live long enough to have children.
**** Humanity had already come close to wiping themselves out by the time the remaining humans found the Walls, and the Titans gorging themselves on humans would cut down their population drastically. Think about what that means: ''Humans are an endangered species.'' The ordinary Titans are such mindless gluttons, they don't realize that they've been over-hunting, and ''without'' the Walls as a deterrent, would have hunted them to extinction. The Walls are a ''conservation effort''. If the Titans really do depend on them for reproduction somehow, of ''course'' they'd be fighting over it... and a couple of preteen boys could be forgiven for thinking that the fighting would stop if it weren't there to be fought over.
** Another sneaky piece of evidence supporting the 'warring factions" theory. In Bertholdt's story about the attack on their village, [[http://www.mangareader.net/shingeki-no-kyojin/13/16 the Titan he sees]] is ''hairy''. Because of the darkness of the panel, and our not yet knowing about ape-like titan existing, it's easy to mistake it as a Titan with a beard. But it's not just facial hair.
*** I'd kinda forgotten about it because it's been in the audience's face for ages, but Eren's never told anybody about his nightmares about his father doing weird science to him, has he? Of course the other Titan-shifters want to capture him, and it might be why Reiner is so casual in telling him who they really are: they don't know Eren isn't one of their own kinsmen.
[[WMG: The Walls were built in a compromise between humans and Titans, and the Wall Cult is tasked with keeping that knowledge from the public.]]
Continued from the above WMG (I promise I'll stop after this): The complacency of humans is a big thing in this series, along with the livestock metaphor. Humanity had already been mostly wiped out by the time they made it to the Walled City, and the Walls had been prepared ''in advance''. The human leaders who made it happen were basically making a deal with the devil: the Titans would provide humankind with a safe, secure place to live and assured survival of the species, and the humans would provide Titans with sacrifices. That's the AwfulTruth that the Wall Cult is hiding; the peace of the Walled City is literally paid for in blood, but when that arrangement was made, it was the best way to ensure that the human race wouldn't go ''extinct''. Historia's family was give the authority to release the truth in the event that someone finally finds a way to wipe Titankind off the face of the earth for good.
** .....suddenly the entire purpose of the Scouting Legion becomes more horrifying. If this is true, then they are the sacrifices and also serve as a method of removing people that are too curious, while creating a deterrent for everyone else. It would also raise more questions about the motivations behind the attack on humanity, since that would mean the Wallbreakers were breaking the agreement. Radical factions opposed to the deal, maybe?
*** I don't think so; if the wall-breakers were opposed to the Walled City/humanity's existence, there wouldn't be any reason to infiltrate the military, they could have just kept up the assault on the walls until the Titans swarmed the center. Bertholdt mentions that his plan was to join the Military Police, so maybe they're after something specific in the capital? Either way, yeah, the Scouts just got pretty damn creepy, and it means that the government has been using military operations as an excuse/euphemism for sending people to the slaughter. If all this actually does pan out? Armin's grandfather was probably exiled ''because'' he owned that book Armin treasures so much, and Grisha may not have been far behind him. The innocence/ignorance of the Walled City is ''that'' crucial to the upper class and the Wall Cult.
[[WMG: All Titans are capable of speech.]]
Ymir spoke, that 6m class Titan in Ilse's side story spoke, as well as Conny's possible Titan-turned mother, which in fact was seemingly able to recognize him. Couple that with the Sasquatch, which in my opinion belongs to a group of very ancient Titans that can fully think and talk the human language, and who possibly lead the entire Titan race. I don't know, to me it's possible that Titans can remember their past as humans (if all of them were humans to begin with, that is) or can learn the language with time since they are seemingly immortal, it's just that most of them are stupid beasts who have given up their humanity and memories. All Titan shifters can talk as well. Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner probably choose simply not to talk while in their Titan forms and Eren can too, but he doesn't know it since he's almost single-minded and feral when transformed.
[[WMG: There are multiple ways of creating titans out of humans, but a specific way of creating Titan Shifters.]]
Castle Litgard/Utgard for some reason showed recent signs of human habitation despite being close to the wall. Considering that the lettering on the can of herring that Ymir found was of a different language and the Sasquatch Titan was concerned about language barriers, the food that Ymir found is likely to be a source from outside the walls and contains a trigger to turn humans into Titans. Also, the recent inhabitants were from beyond the wall.
* In the case of Eren, it seems like to become a Titan shifter, one must have to have the transforming serum injected directly, which is why when ingested as food, it only turns you into a normal Titan, not a Titan Shifter.
[[WMG: Reiner, Bertholt and Ymir all know the Sasquatch Titan.]]
An entire frame is dedicated towards their reaction on seeing it. Considering their backstories, this is not entirely impossible.
* Confirmed, at least in that they know ''of'' him. Ymir states that the infiltrators are after him, and if they find him they can go home. Based on this, it's possible finding him was part of their original goal from the beginning. He's a being that can apparently transform humans into Deviant Titans that can operate at night and are obedient to him, making him a very serious threat.
[[WMG: All of Eren's dreams are prophetic in some way, but not the same way every time.]]
He has the foreshadowing dream in the first chapter, and later dreams of his father injecting him with something, and he's dreaming of being home with his parents while he's in his Titan form. It's possible that every dream he has is connected to either an event that hasn't happened yet, or one that only happened in another timeline.
[[WMG: Titans are the inadvertent results of research into immortality.]]
[[WMG: All of the Titan Shifters grew up inside the walls, but were subverted and turned against humanity or were raised by human factions to unknown ends]]
We repeatedly see flashbacks from them that apparently took place inside the walls, from Annie and her father to Ymir as a street kid to Reiner and Berthold getting attacked by a titan.
* Seems to have been shot down, as Hanji states their destination is somewhere outside Wall Maria. That just raises bigger questions, since they seem very similar to the human settlements within the Walls.
[[WMG: The Walls aren't the only structures in the city that are filled with Titans.]]
Chapter 9 shows a Titan, apparently (and awkwardly) gnawing on a support pillar in what is implied to be one of the oldest buildings in the city. This is the same chapter that shows Titan-Eren being eaten by other Titans, apparently being able to sense the tasty human meats inside him; maybe ALL the major architectural structures use Titan foundations. They do come in all shapes and sizes, after all...
[[WMG: The regular Titans are deformed because whoever is changing them is getting sloppy with their work.]]
All the Titans are friggin' horrible anyway, but the further along the story goes, the Titans seem to get more and more deformed; the Sasquatch Titan in particular crushes one that has such a messed up face it looks like something out of Picasso's nightmares, and the one that is most likely Conny's mother can't even move itself because its limbs are too small. It may be because changing humans into Titans is ''supposed'' to be a delicate, careful process, but whoever's responsible for performing the "operation" is getting desperate and cutting corners.
[[WMG: Ymir is Titan royalty, or what passes for it.]]
This one's probably fairly obvious, but Ymir seems to have a pretty good grasp of Christa's situation, and she also seems to think they have a lot in common... but they really couldn't be more different, except for their one conversation about their names.
[[WMG: The name is not gramatically incorrect in English]]
It takes place on Saturn's Largest Moon.
[[WMG: Annie told Marco everything before she killed him.]]
I don't have a lot to base this on, except Marco looked peaceful and calm after he died. He may not have been a top-notch hand to hand combatant, but if Annie killed him suddenly or violently he would have been panicking and ended up looking more or less like the other Titan victims. She told him everything, knowing that it'd become a "Now I have to kill you" scenario... but Marco, being thoughtful and unusually good at seeing the best in people, understood, and didn't resist when Annie finally did kill him.
[[WMG: How Titans-Shifters form Titans out of nowhere]]
* They use the elements from their surroundings, or they use the Digimon Tamers Realization(Bio-emergance) theory. False proteins are used to build up their Titan forms minus the blue cards and the portal from another world.
[[WMG: There's a limit as to how much Titan-shifters can shift]]
* Just as it says. Maybe once they've exceeded their limit, their bodies become too engrossed to their Titan forms that they just practically disappear. Which explains as to why the army couldn't find any human inside the nape of Regular Titans. The limit also varies from each individual. Also supports the theory that all regular Titans were once humans.
[[WMG: The purpose of breaching Wall Maria in 845 isn't just to retrieve Eren, but rather to expand Titan territory.]]
Ever since Wall Maria's been breached, the purpose of the Recon Corps have changed into retrieving Wall Maria, rather than their original goal of exploring the outer world. Maybe they were too close to discovering some kind of secrets that the Titans had (that other human settlements exist, comprised of [[spoiler: Titan shifters]] or what not)...
[[WMG: The city is not the only human settlement left]]
The others are located in mountain ranges. Titans would not be able to traverse such terrain.
** How do you figure? They're several meters tall, they don't feel pain, they don't need to eat, and unless they're so deformed they can't move at all, they can't be held back or stopped unless they're killed. A mountain range wouldn't be any harder for them than it would be for the average human to walk up a flight of stairs.
*** Mountains have numerous chokepoints which can be jammed up, there is a lot of stone in the way and have. Titans are large humans who don't use tools, they are not adapted to traversing rough terrain like that.
**** Are you reading a different manga or something? The only obstacles that Titans have been shown to be unable to negotiate are sheer surfaces that are too solid for them to break down (the walls, the castle, and the giant trees). In fact, rough terrain would be ''easier'' for them to get through because they're big enough to use entire rock formations as handholds, no tools required. And we see what Titans do with choke points in the series: they ''break through them''. There could very well be other human settlements, but the only way a mountain is going to protect one is if it's either sheer cliffs on all sides, or if the Titans don't know there's a settlement up there.
* The theory of mountains making for safer villages has already been Jossed in the series, and is addressed in the fake backstory of Reiner and Bertholdt. They mention having come from a "remote mountain village", and Armin immediately recognizes that this was ''very bad'' because the villages in the mountains suffered the worst during the attacks. Sasha's village is also stated to be in the mountains, and was similarly not safe from Titans.
[[WMG: Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt are not the only agents living within the Walls.]]
Regardless of how powerful they are, it seems unwise to leave three children to their own devices for five years. Reiner also sounds pretty confident that Eren agreeing to come with them will end the attacks, something he probably wouldn't be able to decide completely on his own. Beyond that, Annie was living in the Inner Districts as a member of the Military Police, while the other two were living near the edge of civilization with the Scouting Legion. Coordinating their plans would be much easier if they had others to serve as messengers between them, nevermind that their orders changing would require them to have someone with authority acting as their handler.
[[WMG: There will be more references/shoutouts to Mythological Giants]]
Assuming there are more Titan Shifters out there, and that they are probably going to be some unique things associated with them, there will be more characters and other stuff that will reference Mythological Giants. We already have Ymir and Utgard which reference Norse Mythology, and the Titans themselves, while some would argue is wrong, reference the pop culture view of the Titans from Classical Mythology.
[[WMG: Somehow, we'll have a Thor and Mjolnir reference]]
Considering Norse Mythology is a recurring source, it's likely.
[[WMG: Christa is far more important than we realize.]]
Beyond the revelation that she's from a Noble family with access to secrets about the Walls, Reiner states that he and Bertholdt ''both'' want to keep her from being killed. He admits that he cannot guarantee Ymir's safety if she goes with them, but they ''can'' guarantee the safety of Christa. It seems odd that Ymir (another Titan) isn't necessarily safe from their people, but a human would be. Bertholdt also has yet to show a single bit of concern or empathy towards the others, but Reiner includes him in their statement about protecting her. Therefore, it's likely that she has some importance to their overall goal.
[[WMG: Titans are essentially an organic alternative to giant robots.]]
The Titan-Shifters clearly age, but their Titan forms apparently don't. Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner were all kids when they first infiltrated the Walled City, but the Armored Titan and Colossal Titan don't look any different. There's also no indication that the Titans inside the Walls, who have been in stasis for a hundred years, have declined in any way since being sealed up. They serve more or less the same function as a frickin' ''Gundam'' would, just made of Titan-meat instead of metal!
[[WMG: Annie was not the one responsible for Marco's death.]]
Bertholdt was the one that actually did it, and Annie was merely the one that ended up using his stolen gear. Annie is shown to have hesitated to almost dangerous degree when it came to attacking her former comrades from the 104th, and is visibly bothered when asked how she ended up with Marco's equipment. Reiner also ended up helping the 104th during the battle of Trost, shooting their whole mission in the proverbial foot in the process. On the other hand, the most recent chapter shows that Bertholdt has a complete LackOfEmpathy when it comes to anyone outside his own group. Not even Eren gets an ounce of sympathy from him, and he was in the end the only one to fully carry out his mission without fail. As such, he seems to be the one most capable of killing one of their classmates in cold blood if necessary. Annie was simply the one assigned to carry out the destruction of the two test subjects, possibly because she wouldn't stand out as much as super-tall Bertholdt or built-like-a-linebacker Reiner. Her build is perfect for blending in, and wouldn't allow them to have any sort of defining traits to look for when searching for the culprit.
[[WMG: Reiner's dissociative episodes are the result of the battle of Trost.]]
During the battle, Annie and Bertholdt both follow his lead. Annie is an established lone wolf, and probably wouldn't have asked him what their next move would be, if she had even suspected him of being psychologically compromised. But we see very clearly that the battle, and the cleanup afterwards deeply effected both Annie and Reiner. For the first time, he was forced to ''truly'' confront what their actions would cause, as they watched their classmates being EatenAlive and later had to gather up the remains for disposal. Such an experience would be traumatizing enough, as shown by Jean's CharacterDevelopment. But Reiner had the extra push of being partially responsible for all that suffering and death, to people he actually knew. Annie leaves within the next few days to join the Military Police, and continues to trust him to handle providing her with information and assistance. Again, I cannot see her relying on him if she'd suspected him of having bouts of crazy. Likewise, in the aftermath of their first battle, people probably wouldn't even notice if Reiner started behaving strangely or was having problems with his best friend. Anything unusual would be written off as him simply being a ShellShockedVeteran, as opposed to a villain being crushed by [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]].
[[WMG: There's a massive MemoryGambit in the works.]]
And its possibly all because of Eren's dad, or at least the serum involved in Titan Shifting. In chapter 46, Reiner also reveals that his memories are pretty faulty. This could mean its only for the people who became Titan shifters through the serum, but throughout the chapters, there have been instances where many characters go into flashbacks wondering why they're remembering those memories in the first place. So far this includes Armin, Mikasa and Sasha. As a well regarded doctor, I don't find it too farfetched that Grisha could've given his patients something that could cause them lapses in memories. And its more than likely he was involved in treating people who suffered from the plagues in Sasha's village.
** Reiner's memory issues as his own doing, according to Ymir. But I definitely think it's possible that Dr. Yaeger did something to his various patients when he cured that plague. Memory seems to be a significant thing in the series, especially in terms of it being unreliable or spotty.
[[WMG: The Sasquatch Titan is humanity's true enemy and can turn normal humans into titans:]]
Judging by chapter 46, it seems Reiner and Bertholdt true objective was related to the Sasquatch Titan. When Reiner told Eren about their identity, he said they wanted to destroy every human living inside the walls, but now everything changed and they are willing to let them live, as long as Eren goes with them. The reason everything changed is because they saw the Sasquatch Titan, which was their primary objective.
See, normal titans are dangerous to titanshifters as well. And judging by Connie's village, it's safe to assume normal titans used to be normal humans. It would be a problem to the titanshifters kind if every human alive turned into a titan, something the Sasquatch Titan could do. They knew he could do it, as he was the one who created the first titans, but didn't know where he was to hunt him down, since he was probably hibernating or something like this, as he was not aware of mankind's 3D maneuver gear.
As they couldn't kill the titan who could create more titans, they decided to kill every human being instead, preventing them from ever transforming. But now that he is awaken and started the cycle again, their objective changed.
* Wait, so Reiner and Bertholdt's story about their village being attacked could be true, and they are of the few survivors? That could be why Reiner is so torn over guilt, maybe they had a logical reason so get inside of the walls, maybe related to Sasquash Titan or the Wall Cult/Titans in the Walls thing, an option to a FinalSolution. But they were young, naive and uncaring about humans, so they did what the first thing that crossed their minds and the one that was the simplest, kill all humans. But then they got in, started to interact with humans and understood how horrible were their actions ( at least Reiner and a bit Annie, as Bertholdt has LackOfEmpathy as big as the Colossal Titan). That could explain why Ymir is actually hairy compared to the other 3, she is (or [[HeelFaceTurn wa]][[LoveRedeems s]]) part of Sasquash's faction and did attack Reiner's village. Reiner and Bertholdt's surprise is not about being attacked by a Titan-shifter, but about Ymir being that one.
[[WMG: The Colossal Titan is incapable of walking.]]
Both times that he attacked the Walls, Bertholdt was hanging on to it with at least one hand -- which suggests a need to balance himself since his Titan form is so disproportionate and massive. There's a good chance it doesn't have the balance and coordination necessary to walk, being limited to swinging his arms or kicking with one foot while hanging on to the Wall for dear life. This is one reason that it was so vital to make certain the other Wallbreaker would be highly mobile. Otherwise, there would be absolutely no way to destroy the interior gate.
* I couldn't say he cant walk, but more that he is awkward and slow to walk, and anything more that walking (like kicking a Wall's gate) needs a support.
----
[[WMG: The Grand List Of Things We Know For Certain:]]
* Titan Shifters are piloted by humans inside the nape of the neck.
* It is possible to survive being eaten by a titan for an as yet undetermined period of time, assuming you are swallowed mostly whole. The titans don't digest, and are stated to regurgitate their stomach contents when full.
** I would argue against titans not digesting as something that is known for certain. Case in point, in Chapter 15 we see a giant pile of regurgitated human remains that a titan heaved up, and much of the remains are a mushy, grotesque, indistinguishable mess. Although the titans may not eat humans for any reason other than pure instinct and don't receive any nutrients by absorbing what is broken down in to their bodies, they still have some sort of stomach and accompanying stomach acid which makes quick work of any poor human that gets eaten.
* At least some titans have means of accessing the contents of their stomachs, as seen when Bertholdt exited his titan form carrying Ymir, and wearing the gear of a swallowed soldier.
* There are at least three settlements outside the walls. That flashback Berthold and Reiner had about Ymir attacking their village was definitely real, and the four non-Eren Titan Shifters we've seen so far have to come from outside. Furthermore, Annie does not come from that village, and none of them recognized Ymir as a shifter, indicating a third settlement, and all sentient titans including Sasquatch speak the same language as the humans within the walls. Conclusion: Titans definitely have some form of organized society outside the walls.
* As noted above, Ymir has attacked this village. She also has subordinates and seems to be helping the protagonists (or at least Christa, possibly just for her knowledge), indicating multiple factions within the sentient Titans.
* All five titan shifters seen so far seem to default to human form, and have all the same biological processes as regular humans - they need to eat and sleep, they age, et cetera. Emphasis: shifters ''do'' need to eat.
* Sasquatch has not encountered 3D maneuver gear, but at minimum has knowledge of the events of the previous war with the titans. While this probably rules out his being a shifter, it also rules out his having encountered a member of the scouting legion prior to the invasion, or receiving any kind of report of the humans' capabilities during the intervening century.
* Humanity did not build the Walls, but rather discovered them upon landing in the new world. Hence referring to them as a "Gift from God".
[[WMG: Things We're Pretty Sure About, But Can't Confirm:]]
* Titans were artificially created as an external threat that would force humanity to unite. This implies that, at minimum, someone was pulling the strings to begin with.
* The Colossal Titans inside the walls do not have pilots.
* All titans have something that at least resembles a pilot in the nape of their neck, with the possible exception of Sasquatch.
* Humans can be turned into titans, as demonstrated by the desertion of Connie's village. The Sasquatch Titan may have something to do with this.
* Marco was murdered by one of the Titan spies. Annie was in possession of his missing gear, and visibly hesitates when asked ''how'' she ended up with it.
----
[[WMG: The Titans are scientific experiments on biological weapons of mass destruction.]]
This is similar to how zombies are often used in movies, and it would explain how the titans have so easily taken over as well as how Eren can transform into a Titan. This ties into how Eren's father could be involved in the plot overall.
[[WMG: The Abnormal Titans have the same origin.]]
This isn't necessarily surprising, since this has already been speculated in-story, but it would make sense if the formula that Eren's father used to turn Eren into a "Human able to don the flesh of a Titan", was the same formula that created the others, only from a different group of Humans.
* At least partially confirmed with the revelation of who the other abnormal titans aside from Eren are. Whether they were given the same formula or not has yet to be revealed.
[[WMG: The Humans that can turn into Titans were intended to be weapons against that "Thing"]]
In chapter 35, a Sasquatch like creature appears. It is nothing like the Titans seen in the series thus far, and it even defies the standard height limits of normal Titans by being 17 meters tall. Given its command over the Titans, it is still affiliated to them, but '''not''' them. To top it off, it '''KILLS''' a Titan that does not listen to him. Perhaps that "Thing" is one of the creators of the Titans, and possibly one of "Ymir's People".
[[WMG: Speaking of Ymir...]]
There is one character named Ymir, and she turns out to be a more benevolent Titan shifter. Is it a coincidence or is she the leader of some titan-turned-human race or something?
[[WMG: Theories on the Titan's motivations.]]
Yes, this includes the human titans. Why do the giants feed off of humans when they clearly don't need to in order to survive? Why wipe out all humans, who've been living rather peacefully within the walls? Because they were picking off weaker titans outside of the walls? It's been made clear that the human titans see them as nothing more than tools for their goals to wipe out humanity and get Eren back.
* The Titan Shifter trio (Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie) are {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s, or at least started out as such. In particular, Reiner's VillainousBSOD and Annie's admiration of people with strong convictions both seem to suggest that they genuinely believe their actions are for the greater good and justify the horrible things that they have done. They also don't seem to be operating from a [[FantasticRacism hatred]] of humans, or any other sort of [[AbsoluteXenophobe malice]] and seem relieved when the discovery of Eren means they no longer have to continue the extermination. Beyond that, their most obvious goal of smashing a hole in each Wall could have been accomplished without joining the military. As refugees, they would have still been able to reach the Walls, smash them, and then blend back into the fleeing crowds of civilians. But instead, they spent two years apparently just blending in before joining the military, even though all three were already eligible for recruitment. They waited two years, and then spent another three in training, before making their move again. And all three had originally planned to join the Military Police, suggesting a goal beyond simple destruction of the Walls.
* Another theory concerning the Trio and their motivations. Their village/people are a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race]], which explains all their discussion of themselves as warriors (as opposed to the human soldiers). Annie and Reiner both criticize themselves for [[BecomingTheMask failing]] as warriors, while Bertholdt passive aggressively states Reiner ''used to be'' a warrior after he risks his life to protect Conny. Considering the massive amount of DoubleMeaning going on with them, it's possible that when Reiner and Bertholdt discuss their motivations for enlisting.....they're actually talking about the ideals of their ''own'' culture, not the one within the Walls. Reiner focuses on ideals of duty and personal effort, while Bertholdt focuses entirely on what society expects from the young.
* There's another society comprised of Titan Shifters, and they're at war with the human settlement we see in the story.
[[WMG: Other Humans may still exist]]
We know that they say most of humanity was eaten, but what about areas separated by oceans and seas? The idea of having other races seems to been forgotten, so most likely any kind of contact between nations separated by sea is gone and they simply forgot those countries existed. It is possible Titans did not appear there or they made walls like the main series.
* Since it is 9th century Germany [Due to Eren Jaeger's name being derived from the German phrase [roughly translated in English: They are the prey, we are the hunters]. While Asia itself was established to have been wiped out in Mikasa's flashback, there is no reason to doubt the ability of the Native American tribes to actually transform into Titans.
[[WMG: Titans are people.]]
That sounds weird, but what else would be the reason that they continue to thrive, despite the fact that Titans don't have any sexual organs? The other titans running around might be an imperfect process/procedure of what Eren and all the other Titan-Shifter's might possess.
[[WMG:The unintelligent Titans are infants.]]
In the prequel visual novel, A crying baby was found inside a titan as it died. Why else would the titans be so driven by instinct, and sometimes not even listen to orders- such as when Mr. Sasquatch killed a titan for not listening to him? They are all babies, driven by nothing more than their own instinct. Them eating humans is not unlike a child trying to eat its own toy. The unusual titans, such as the Sasquatch, Eren, and the rest- are all mature enough to know what they are doing- Eren lost control due to youthful inexperience at one point.
* This makes sense with the smaller Titans, since a full-grown human "pilot" would be vulnerable to much more than an attack to their WeakPoint. But an infant would be small enough to avoid harm from the majority of bodily damage.
[[WMG: The Titans that appeared within Rose Wall are the people from Connie's town]].
This is tied into the 'Titans are people' theory and is supported by their sudden, unexplained appearance and the one Titan discovered in the town. Connie is horrified to realize it sort of resembles his mother, and it attempts to greet him as a mother would, welcoming him home. That Ymir is so quick to shut him down seems to add strength to this possibility, given what ''she'' is. Someone may have done something to the villagers to cause them all to transform, creating an instant army inside the human territory.
[[WMG:The Titans are the result of a disease or genetic mutation, artificially created to control the population.]]
Eren's father was working on finding a cure when the Colossal Titan attacked. He was planning to show Eren what was in the basement because he knew it was almost ready.
* Eren's father was getting too close to a cure so the Armored and Colossal Titans were dispatched to destroy his town.
* The tribes/clans that the Titan Shifters are from are part of a shadow organization that wish to maintain the status quo, which may involve the king. They use the people's fear of titans to stay in power, therefore knowledge of the outside world is forbidden.
* Top recruits are pointed at the military police so the recon legion is devoid of exceptional talent. The organization then sabotages the efforts of the recon legion so that inquisitive and capable leaders die in the line of duty and humankind neither gains nor losses ground.
[[WMG: Reiner will end up either undergoing a HeelFaceTurn or RedemptionEqualsDeath]]
When asked about what Reiner was like in the past, Bertholt is critical of how he's no longer a warrior. In fact, Bertholt makes suspicious or annoyed looks whenever he sees Reiner acting close to any of the humans. This is because Reiner is BecomingTheMask, and he's already admitted that his friendship with the others has left him deeply confused over his mission.
* Related: Reiner sabotaged the attack on Wall Rose. Whether he did it consciously or not, he's pretty clearly hesitating to do his part and quite literally jumps at the first opportunity to get out of it. Mikasa and Jean leading the charge towards Headquarters simply gave him an easy out, with Annie and Bertholdt both visibly shocked when he joins the other trainees.
** And now looking very uncertain, with the revelation that his behavior is the result of having [[MurderMakesYouCrazy gone mad]] from [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]]. He wasn't sabotaging their plans, or doubting his mission....he quite literally had moments where he thought he ''was'' human and didn't remember his true identity and mission. Based on him being driven that far over the edge because of guilt, RedemptionEqualsDeath is still a possible outcome.
** Reiner will undergo a Heel Face Turn. Bertholt will not. The conflict will be milked for as much existential and emotional drama as realistically possible. Given Reiner's status as AmbiguouslyBi it's possible that this will end in LoveRedeems for Bertholt.
[[WMG: Every human being has the potential to turn into a titan.]]
They just need some kind of push. Also, possibly, the titan shifters' transformations were triggered naturally while others (e.g. if the WMG up there is true, Conny's village) were changed due to some kind of mutation spreading, resulting in less/unintelligent titans. Or vice versa.
[[WMG: This world is in the same universe as TengenToppaGurrenLagann]]
* On another world, faced with the growing technology of spiral powers and waist mountain grappling hooks, the anti-spirals, or even a spiral warrior placed the titans to contain their race in the three walls. Whenever a spiral warrior, also known as a titan shifter, arises, the spiral king of this world sends his men to capture them.
[[WMG: Sasquatch Titans were what the Titans were originally designed by humanity to fight]]
* That thing clearly defies the laws of Titans (17 meters, CreepilyLongArms and monkey-like hair, as well as the ability to communicate with humans) and seems unpleased and disgusted with the more primitive Titans to the point where it kills one. These things were what humanity originally fought against and lost HORRIBLY. Humans then created Titans to try and combat them and it [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]].
[[WMG: The Sasquatch Titan is a Shifter too.]]
* While it does seem impressed on how humans created the 3D Gear, he could still be human, just from another part of the world.
[[WMG: Ancient WMG -- Mikasa is somehow part Titan.]]
Concocted after reading the first few chapters, now completely defunct (maybe). It would've explain her bizarre strength (as it didn't seem to be "comedic anime girl strength"), plus her (at the time) unexplained parentage-- because no one is ever adopted in fiction unless they have a mysterious plot-relevant past. I held onto the theory even once her backstory was revealed, because honestly, who can break a floorboard just from the pressure of jumping off it? Maybe it was the result of some crazy science experiment, or maybe Titans actually had some way of reproducing, and she was half-Titan or Titan-in-human-form? Of course, now that [[spoiler:everyone and their mom is turning into Titans]], this may still come true in a round about sort of fashion.
* I've reread the chapters, and I'm inclined to agree. There was a panel which shows her brain doing...something, and she might actually be a perfected weapon of some sort. Also that number carved into her by her mother is very suspicious. At the very least, Mikasa has been genetically modified.
** It might also explain why Titan-Eren attacked her the second time he changed, the same way the Titans tried to eat Eren even while he was in Titan form...
** It could also make sense if Grisha had something to do with it. There's no way Mikasa would ever allow Eren to be experimented on... but she might not interfere if she could be assured it would work by offering herself as a guinea pig first.
* Could also be why Dr. Jaeger visited Mikasa's residence when she was young.
** There's not a whole lot of proof to back this up, but I think it's weird that Mikasa and her mother were living in a place full of people with Germanic surnames but were still the last of their kind. The revelation that the Walls were found by a bunch of aristocratic refugees only makes it weirder that there aren't more "Oriental" people around. Could be she's not the victim of weird science, but descended from people that were?
* Something also bugs me. Looking back at the beginning of the manga, Mikasa gets some weird headache and then the same thing happens in the most recent chapter. Perhaps this could be a memory block like how Eren forgot what his father did to him before his [[spoiler:Titan transformation]]? Maybe Mikasa was experimented on as a child and just doesn't remember.
[[WMG: The regular Titans are actually some form of plant life, and the Titan Shifters are made using their extracts.]]
They're sustained by sunlight, they grow obscenely tall, they don't gain nourishment from eating meat, they ignore animals, they don't reproduce sexually, and they come out of a forest. Sounds like plants to me. Mandrakes are also said to kill whoever digs them up and everyone who hears them scream (and whoever first discovered or engineered the first Titans is almost assuredly dead), and the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk explicitly wants to kill Jack and eat him; it seems like a plausible connection.
* Alternatively, going with this and the failed experiment theory, the smaller titans have plant cells, allowing them gain energy from sunlight. Them eating humans can be also be likened to those of carnivorous plants, such as Venus Flytraps. In a similar vein, the Sasquatch titan and maybe even the dancing titan could've been the result of experiments with animal cells. The female and armored titan on the other had to have been the result of geological experiments, allowing them their rock defenses. The Colossal Titan's heat and steam could also be classified as such if you think about it.
** So... [[OnePiece Devil fruits]] gone bad?
[[WMG: The purpose of the three walls are not unlike that of the settlements in [[spoiler: {{Manga/Claymore}}]] ]]
The AnachronismStew that is the 3DMG and the blades used by the military hint that mankind either has or had a much higher level of technology than they do now. Combining several other theories, the humans living within the walls are subjects of a biological war machine experiment not unlike that seen in [[spoiler: {{Manga/Claymore}}]]. There are other humans out there; these poor souls are actually an isolated community used to test and refine the Titans. The Titanshifters are just the latest breakthrough.
[[WMG: Eren is so important because his father ran off with all the research on Titanshifters. Ymir and her people are the ''original'' Titans that all further research was based off.]]
After the discovery of Titanshifters, Dr Jaeger ran off with the remaining formula and all of his notes. Eren is so important since he's the latest "model" as it were and someone talked about the key around his neck. Many of the Titanshifters were close friends and comrades of Eren and at the very least, they may have heard rumors that he knows how to access his father's work. The Titanshifters also seem keen on acquiring Ymir who is patently unaffiliated with them, mainly because she may be a live sample of the original Titan or Titanshifter line.
[[WMG:The Sasquatch Titan is Eren's father]]
Think about it for a minute. He was able to remain calm and acted out of curiosity when it came to the 3D maneuver gear. He also didn't like the fact he had to kill a fellow titan to keep Mike alive when interrogating him- although not to the degree of a father being heartbroken over killing his own son, he would have still killed one of his own creations. The timing is also too much to be coincidence.
* Extremely unlikely. Eren's father knew people in the military, and would therefore have seen the 3D Maneuver gear before. The Sasquatch is surprised by the equipment, and interested in learning how it works. It also worries that the language it speaks isn't the same as the language Mike speaks. These both suggest that this is its first time interacting with humans, and it's first time inside the Walls.
[[WMG: The Titans were made as an effort to unite humanity, and it backfired horribly.]]
At one point, Pixis talks about how, once upon a time, humans squabbled over race and principles, and "someone" once said that if humanity had an enemy that wasn't human, they would have to band together and put aside their differences to succeed; Eren answers that he's familiar with that piece of folklore. It's more than just folklore; it's the explanation for why the Titans exist, warped by generations' worth of word-of-mouth into ordinary apocrypha. It may also explain the significance of the walls: they represent strength through unity. Especially if the first Colossal Titans ''volunteered'' to serve as the foundation for the walls, hoping that they could further humanity's goals by doing so; it fits in nicely with the conceit of self-sacrifice, because if the Titans hadn't been made at all, none of the atrocities in the story could have happened.
* Although the author confirmed the Walls do ''not'' symbolize strength through unity- the theme behind the walls is the complacency in humanity- as opposed to Eren's adventurous desire to see the outside world.
** I meant more in-universe than an actual symbolic motif; ie, it's what the Wall Cult's religion is based on.
* The GeniusBonus in the "runes" might support this: by the time the Titans came around, humanity had already come close to wiping itself out.
[[WMG: Time Travel is involved.]]
I have nothing to back this up, other than the fact that the author said Muv Luv Alternative was an inspiration. What if he didn't just get the grimdark hopeless aspect of it, but also got the idea of a protagonist going through the motions over and over again?
* Well, the very beginning of the manga (and subsequently anime) does provide sufficient bait for this, as Eren wakes up with the feeling of having had a long dream (the end of which is Mikasa saying "see you again, Eren"), tells Mikasa "your hair grew longer, didn't it?" (when in the 'future'/life or lives he'd lived previously, it'd be short), and crying for no reason (or so they think)... Maybe Eren being incredibly adamant right afterward that the soldiers be ready "WHEN ''THEY'' BREAK THE WALL!" comes from residual memories of that previous life or lives he's had to survive, and must come to survive again.
[[WMG: Somewhere out there, there's a ResetButton, and Eren's been the one pushing it.]]
Going with the above theory, Eren wakes up in the first chapter the way he does (crying, wondering about Mikasa's hair length, etc) because he's just coming around into the new start of a StableTimeLoop, but can't hold on to those memories and is stuck going through the same loop. ''That's'' what's in the Jaeger house basement: not just the secret of Eren's [[spoiler: turning into a Titan]], but Grisha's collected knowledge of the loop: the nightmare Eren had about his father acting weird since his mom died and doing creepy science to him happened in a past loop, the same way his opening dream did. Grisha's become aware of his son's ability to carry himself through time, and has been gathering new resources for his son to save humanity every time Eren starts the loop over.
[[WMG: Carla knew more than she let on.]]
Going with the above two theories: when Hannes shows up to rescue Carla, Eren, and Mikasa in the first episode, he first goes to face the approach the Titan, Carla says, "''You can't fight it.''", not "forget the Titan, save my kids". It could just be that she had no faith in the military (which is why she's so against the idea of Eren enlisting), but she's crushed under a building and can't actually ''see'' the Titan until it picks her out of the rubble; she would have had no way to gauge whether Hannes was up to the task. If there really is time travel or a reset button at work, Carla may have been aware of it from a previous iteration.
[[WMG: Regular Titans are living {{LotusEaterMachine}}s, and each one is controlled by a hallucinating human.]]
It's shown that Eren has extremely vivid hallucinations of his family when he's inside his Titan body. But he's not the only one: ''every'' Titan is controlled by a person having an intense but beautiful dream, and because of it, they really have no idea what their bodies are doing. They eat humans not because they think humans are tasty or because they enjoy it, but because the Titans have a critical design flaw: they instinctively know that they are supposed to have people inside them, but they don't see a difference between eating someone and having a pilot.
[[WMG: Titans are [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Witches/Warlocks]] and/or their Familiars.]]
Surprised that one hasn't come up yet.
* Unlikely, considering this is a somewhat sci-fi setting the injections being the lead on the whole biological weapon concept.
** Not as unlikely as you might think (outside the meta, anyway). [[spoiler: Madoka's wish unmade and then remade the universe. There's nothing to suggest that another magical girl couldn't do the same, or that Madoka was the first magical girl to do it.]] For example, some particularly savvy one might have wished for humans to have a Barrier, too, and it resulted in the Walled City. The equivalent despair couldn't be contained by just one Soul Gem, so it was released into the universe as the Titans we know, and the Titan-shifters are the Puella Magi of that world.
[[WMG: The Walled City is a GeniusLoci, the Titans are TheCorruption, and there is no outside world.]]
It's held in place by the dreams of the Titans in the wall. As long as the walls stand, exposure to something in the outside world can't mutate normal humans into normal Titans, but the walls are gradually coming down and allowing the Titans in, and they're carriers of whatever changed them. The world beyond the Walled City was destroyed long ago, and everything the characters can see of it is just the wall-Titans' memories made manifest.
[[WMG: The Wall Cult is the real villain]]
As unlikely as it is, perhaps Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie know something that humans have kept secret from Eren. While the majority of humanity is blissfully unaware, the Wall Cult and the corruption within the Military Police shows that there is more to everything than face value. While King Kong (bad pun, I know) is causing trouble, Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie were trying to save Eren, a fellow titan shifter, before the Wall Cult could figure out a way to execute him or before Mr. Sasquatch could kill him- as it seems that he is unaware of the armored, colossal, and female titans if he was unaware of the military tech of the time while the group had prior knowledge. The Wall Cult has been trying to control humanity, and while the titans are indiscriminately killing, they are perhaps trying to take down the wall cult who have subjugated the colossal wall-titans
[[WMG: There are different Titan cultures, and they're at war.]]
Bertholdt and Reiner talk about their childhood friend being killed, and we find out later that the killer was Ymir; Bertholdt also picks on Reiner about how he used to be a soldier. Knowing Reiner and he are spies, it's possible that the two of them are soldiers in a Titan-folk army combating Ymir's People, and the regular Titans are their tools of war. They infiltrated the human ranks and broke down the gate in order to get access to a new stable of humans to turn into Titans, and they captured Eren because he's an ideal candidate for front-line fighting in such a war. That's why Reiner offers to leave humanity alone if Eren comes of his own volition: if Eren goes, the Titans ''won't need'' any more humans.
* That actually makes the most sense, although I wonder why they went out of their way to capture Ymir rather than kill her. It also makes sense to the idea of the Sasquatch Titan's faction (which I doubt is the same as Ymir's) going after humanity- they are killing humans to keep the potential weapons out of their enemy's hands. That, plus the 3D maneuver gear that the Sasquatch titan stole, lends credibility to a sort of arms race.
* Reiner admits their original goal was the extermination of the humans within the Walls, but on the other hand it ''does'' seem to be at least one goal of the Sasquatch Titan. He lead and seemed to be in charge of the Titans hinted to have been created from Connie's village, and seems to represent a ''third'' group of Titans out there in the world.
** It's possible that, rather than gaining access to a new supply of humans, they meant to exterminate humanity in order to cut off the arms supply for good. It might also explain why Annie says that her father taught her to fight and to treat the rest of the world as her enemy: she was (or still is) a Titan-shifting child soldier.
*** Further possible evidence: Titans have no sexual organs. The Titan-shifters ''probably'' do, although I guess we can't really assume that until someone actually gets brave enough to look down their pants, but the regular Titans? They ''can't breed''. The Titans inside the walls pretty much ''had'' to have purposefully dedicated themselves to it (because how in the Hell would anyone force them into it?), but if they're the enemy of humans, why would they go to such lengths to protect them? Simple: The Walled City isn't the last refuge of human civilization, it's a ''breeding pen'', and the humanity-as-livestock metaphor clicks right into place.
**** Mind. Blown. Horrified, but there's something so perfect in the livestock metaphor and how the Walls existed prior to their arrival. I also noticed that all three of the Titan spies have a CleopatraNose, suggesting closed or similar bloodlines. Ymir's features are completely different, in a nod towards her not belonging to their group and being able to read that mysterious language.
***** The FridgeHorror on this just keeps getting worse. The purpose of the Recon Corps is to go out and learn more about the Titans in order to better combat them, right? And the government sent a huge chunk of its population to "''re-conquer''" Trost? Yeah. If the Wall Cult and the monarchy know all the secrets about the city and the Titans (because how could they ''not'' know more about the Titans than they're telling), and it really is a breeding pen? They've been deliberately sending people outside the walls because ''that's what the entire city is for: producing humans to replenish the Titan population''. And as if that's not terrifying on its own, think about how the military and the aristocracy work: the most talented soldiers get to stay in the safest part of the city, which makes no sense for a culture fighting an ongoing war, so that they can protect the royal peerage. But it makes ''perfect'' sense if the City is a breeding pen: it means the people with the best genes will spend most of their time together, and keeping them all away from the threat of being eaten practically guarantees that they'll live long enough to have children.
**** Humanity had already come close to wiping themselves out by the time the remaining humans found the Walls, and the Titans gorging themselves on humans would cut down their population drastically. Think about what that means: ''Humans are an endangered species.'' The ordinary Titans are such mindless gluttons, they don't realize that they've been over-hunting, and ''without'' the Walls as a deterrent, would have hunted them to extinction. The Walls are a ''conservation effort''. If the Titans really do depend on them for reproduction somehow, of ''course'' they'd be fighting over it... and a couple of preteen boys could be forgiven for thinking that the fighting would stop if it weren't there to be fought over.
** Another sneaky piece of evidence supporting the 'warring factions" theory. In Bertholdt's story about the attack on their village, [[http://www.mangareader.net/shingeki-no-kyojin/13/16 the Titan he sees]] is ''hairy''. Because of the darkness of the panel, and our not yet knowing about ape-like titan existing, it's easy to mistake it as a Titan with a beard. But it's not just facial hair.
*** I'd kinda forgotten about it because it's been in the audience's face for ages, but Eren's never told anybody about his nightmares about his father doing weird science to him, has he? Of course the other Titan-shifters want to capture him, and it might be why Reiner is so casual in telling him who they really are: they don't know Eren isn't one of their own kinsmen.
[[WMG: The Walls were built in a compromise between humans and Titans, and the Wall Cult is tasked with keeping that knowledge from the public.]]
Continued from the above WMG (I promise I'll stop after this): The complacency of humans is a big thing in this series, along with the livestock metaphor. Humanity had already been mostly wiped out by the time they made it to the Walled City, and the Walls had been prepared ''in advance''. The human leaders who made it happen were basically making a deal with the devil: the Titans would provide humankind with a safe, secure place to live and assured survival of the species, and the humans would provide Titans with sacrifices. That's the AwfulTruth that the Wall Cult is hiding; the peace of the Walled City is literally paid for in blood, but when that arrangement was made, it was the best way to ensure that the human race wouldn't go ''extinct''. Historia's family was give the authority to release the truth in the event that someone finally finds a way to wipe Titankind off the face of the earth for good.
** .....suddenly the entire purpose of the Scouting Legion becomes more horrifying. If this is true, then they are the sacrifices and also serve as a method of removing people that are too curious, while creating a deterrent for everyone else. It would also raise more questions about the motivations behind the attack on humanity, since that would mean the Wallbreakers were breaking the agreement. Radical factions opposed to the deal, maybe?
*** I don't think so; if the wall-breakers were opposed to the Walled City/humanity's existence, there wouldn't be any reason to infiltrate the military, they could have just kept up the assault on the walls until the Titans swarmed the center. Bertholdt mentions that his plan was to join the Military Police, so maybe they're after something specific in the capital? Either way, yeah, the Scouts just got pretty damn creepy, and it means that the government has been using military operations as an excuse/euphemism for sending people to the slaughter. If all this actually does pan out? Armin's grandfather was probably exiled ''because'' he owned that book Armin treasures so much, and Grisha may not have been far behind him. The innocence/ignorance of the Walled City is ''that'' crucial to the upper class and the Wall Cult.
[[WMG: All Titans are capable of speech.]]
Ymir spoke, that 6m class Titan in Ilse's side story spoke, as well as Conny's possible Titan-turned mother, which in fact was seemingly able to recognize him. Couple that with the Sasquatch, which in my opinion belongs to a group of very ancient Titans that can fully think and talk the human language, and who possibly lead the entire Titan race. I don't know, to me it's possible that Titans can remember their past as humans (if all of them were humans to begin with, that is) or can learn the language with time since they are seemingly immortal, it's just that most of them are stupid beasts who have given up their humanity and memories. All Titan shifters can talk as well. Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner probably choose simply not to talk while in their Titan forms and Eren can too, but he doesn't know it since he's almost single-minded and feral when transformed.
[[WMG: There are multiple ways of creating titans out of humans, but a specific way of creating Titan Shifters.]]
Castle Litgard/Utgard for some reason showed recent signs of human habitation despite being close to the wall. Considering that the lettering on the can of herring that Ymir found was of a different language and the Sasquatch Titan was concerned about language barriers, the food that Ymir found is likely to be a source from outside the walls and contains a trigger to turn humans into Titans. Also, the recent inhabitants were from beyond the wall.
* In the case of Eren, it seems like to become a Titan shifter, one must have to have the transforming serum injected directly, which is why when ingested as food, it only turns you into a normal Titan, not a Titan Shifter.
[[WMG: Reiner, Bertholt and Ymir all know the Sasquatch Titan.]]
An entire frame is dedicated towards their reaction on seeing it. Considering their backstories, this is not entirely impossible.
* Confirmed, at least in that they know ''of'' him. Ymir states that the infiltrators are after him, and if they find him they can go home. Based on this, it's possible finding him was part of their original goal from the beginning. He's a being that can apparently transform humans into Deviant Titans that can operate at night and are obedient to him, making him a very serious threat.
[[WMG: All of Eren's dreams are prophetic in some way, but not the same way every time.]]
He has the foreshadowing dream in the first chapter, and later dreams of his father injecting him with something, and he's dreaming of being home with his parents while he's in his Titan form. It's possible that every dream he has is connected to either an event that hasn't happened yet, or one that only happened in another timeline.
[[WMG: Titans are the inadvertent results of research into immortality.]]
[[WMG: All of the Titan Shifters grew up inside the walls, but were subverted and turned against humanity or were raised by human factions to unknown ends]]
We repeatedly see flashbacks from them that apparently took place inside the walls, from Annie and her father to Ymir as a street kid to Reiner and Berthold getting attacked by a titan.
* Seems to have been shot down, as Hanji states their destination is somewhere outside Wall Maria. That just raises bigger questions, since they seem very similar to the human settlements within the Walls.
[[WMG: The Walls aren't the only structures in the city that are filled with Titans.]]
Chapter 9 shows a Titan, apparently (and awkwardly) gnawing on a support pillar in what is implied to be one of the oldest buildings in the city. This is the same chapter that shows Titan-Eren being eaten by other Titans, apparently being able to sense the tasty human meats inside him; maybe ALL the major architectural structures use Titan foundations. They do come in all shapes and sizes, after all...
[[WMG: The regular Titans are deformed because whoever is changing them is getting sloppy with their work.]]
All the Titans are friggin' horrible anyway, but the further along the story goes, the Titans seem to get more and more deformed; the Sasquatch Titan in particular crushes one that has such a messed up face it looks like something out of Picasso's nightmares, and the one that is most likely Conny's mother can't even move itself because its limbs are too small. It may be because changing humans into Titans is ''supposed'' to be a delicate, careful process, but whoever's responsible for performing the "operation" is getting desperate and cutting corners.
[[WMG: Ymir is Titan royalty, or what passes for it.]]
This one's probably fairly obvious, but Ymir seems to have a pretty good grasp of Christa's situation, and she also seems to think they have a lot in common... but they really couldn't be more different, except for their one conversation about their names.
[[WMG: The name is not gramatically incorrect in English]]
It takes place on Saturn's Largest Moon.
[[WMG: Annie told Marco everything before she killed him.]]
I don't have a lot to base this on, except Marco looked peaceful and calm after he died. He may not have been a top-notch hand to hand combatant, but if Annie killed him suddenly or violently he would have been panicking and ended up looking more or less like the other Titan victims. She told him everything, knowing that it'd become a "Now I have to kill you" scenario... but Marco, being thoughtful and unusually good at seeing the best in people, understood, and didn't resist when Annie finally did kill him.
[[WMG: How Titans-Shifters form Titans out of nowhere]]
* They use the elements from their surroundings, or they use the Digimon Tamers Realization(Bio-emergance) theory. False proteins are used to build up their Titan forms minus the blue cards and the portal from another world.
[[WMG: There's a limit as to how much Titan-shifters can shift]]
* Just as it says. Maybe once they've exceeded their limit, their bodies become too engrossed to their Titan forms that they just practically disappear. Which explains as to why the army couldn't find any human inside the nape of Regular Titans. The limit also varies from each individual. Also supports the theory that all regular Titans were once humans.
[[WMG: The purpose of breaching Wall Maria in 845 isn't just to retrieve Eren, but rather to expand Titan territory.]]
Ever since Wall Maria's been breached, the purpose of the Recon Corps have changed into retrieving Wall Maria, rather than their original goal of exploring the outer world. Maybe they were too close to discovering some kind of secrets that the Titans had (that other human settlements exist, comprised of [[spoiler: Titan shifters]] or what not)...
[[WMG: The city is not the only human settlement left]]
The others are located in mountain ranges. Titans would not be able to traverse such terrain.
** How do you figure? They're several meters tall, they don't feel pain, they don't need to eat, and unless they're so deformed they can't move at all, they can't be held back or stopped unless they're killed. A mountain range wouldn't be any harder for them than it would be for the average human to walk up a flight of stairs.
*** Mountains have numerous chokepoints which can be jammed up, there is a lot of stone in the way and have. Titans are large humans who don't use tools, they are not adapted to traversing rough terrain like that.
**** Are you reading a different manga or something? The only obstacles that Titans have been shown to be unable to negotiate are sheer surfaces that are too solid for them to break down (the walls, the castle, and the giant trees). In fact, rough terrain would be ''easier'' for them to get through because they're big enough to use entire rock formations as handholds, no tools required. And we see what Titans do with choke points in the series: they ''break through them''. There could very well be other human settlements, but the only way a mountain is going to protect one is if it's either sheer cliffs on all sides, or if the Titans don't know there's a settlement up there.
* The theory of mountains making for safer villages has already been Jossed in the series, and is addressed in the fake backstory of Reiner and Bertholdt. They mention having come from a "remote mountain village", and Armin immediately recognizes that this was ''very bad'' because the villages in the mountains suffered the worst during the attacks. Sasha's village is also stated to be in the mountains, and was similarly not safe from Titans.
[[WMG: Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt are not the only agents living within the Walls.]]
Regardless of how powerful they are, it seems unwise to leave three children to their own devices for five years. Reiner also sounds pretty confident that Eren agreeing to come with them will end the attacks, something he probably wouldn't be able to decide completely on his own. Beyond that, Annie was living in the Inner Districts as a member of the Military Police, while the other two were living near the edge of civilization with the Scouting Legion. Coordinating their plans would be much easier if they had others to serve as messengers between them, nevermind that their orders changing would require them to have someone with authority acting as their handler.
[[WMG: There will be more references/shoutouts to Mythological Giants]]
Assuming there are more Titan Shifters out there, and that they are probably going to be some unique things associated with them, there will be more characters and other stuff that will reference Mythological Giants. We already have Ymir and Utgard which reference Norse Mythology, and the Titans themselves, while some would argue is wrong, reference the pop culture view of the Titans from Classical Mythology.
[[WMG: Somehow, we'll have a Thor and Mjolnir reference]]
Considering Norse Mythology is a recurring source, it's likely.
[[WMG: Christa is far more important than we realize.]]
Beyond the revelation that she's from a Noble family with access to secrets about the Walls, Reiner states that he and Bertholdt ''both'' want to keep her from being killed. He admits that he cannot guarantee Ymir's safety if she goes with them, but they ''can'' guarantee the safety of Christa. It seems odd that Ymir (another Titan) isn't necessarily safe from their people, but a human would be. Bertholdt also has yet to show a single bit of concern or empathy towards the others, but Reiner includes him in their statement about protecting her. Therefore, it's likely that she has some importance to their overall goal.
[[WMG: Titans are essentially an organic alternative to giant robots.]]
The Titan-Shifters clearly age, but their Titan forms apparently don't. Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner were all kids when they first infiltrated the Walled City, but the Armored Titan and Colossal Titan don't look any different. There's also no indication that the Titans inside the Walls, who have been in stasis for a hundred years, have declined in any way since being sealed up. They serve more or less the same function as a frickin' ''Gundam'' would, just made of Titan-meat instead of metal!
[[WMG: Annie was not the one responsible for Marco's death.]]
Bertholdt was the one that actually did it, and Annie was merely the one that ended up using his stolen gear. Annie is shown to have hesitated to almost dangerous degree when it came to attacking her former comrades from the 104th, and is visibly bothered when asked how she ended up with Marco's equipment. Reiner also ended up helping the 104th during the battle of Trost, shooting their whole mission in the proverbial foot in the process. On the other hand, the most recent chapter shows that Bertholdt has a complete LackOfEmpathy when it comes to anyone outside his own group. Not even Eren gets an ounce of sympathy from him, and he was in the end the only one to fully carry out his mission without fail. As such, he seems to be the one most capable of killing one of their classmates in cold blood if necessary. Annie was simply the one assigned to carry out the destruction of the two test subjects, possibly because she wouldn't stand out as much as super-tall Bertholdt or built-like-a-linebacker Reiner. Her build is perfect for blending in, and wouldn't allow them to have any sort of defining traits to look for when searching for the culprit.
[[WMG: Reiner's dissociative episodes are the result of the battle of Trost.]]
During the battle, Annie and Bertholdt both follow his lead. Annie is an established lone wolf, and probably wouldn't have asked him what their next move would be, if she had even suspected him of being psychologically compromised. But we see very clearly that the battle, and the cleanup afterwards deeply effected both Annie and Reiner. For the first time, he was forced to ''truly'' confront what their actions would cause, as they watched their classmates being EatenAlive and later had to gather up the remains for disposal. Such an experience would be traumatizing enough, as shown by Jean's CharacterDevelopment. But Reiner had the extra push of being partially responsible for all that suffering and death, to people he actually knew. Annie leaves within the next few days to join the Military Police, and continues to trust him to handle providing her with information and assistance. Again, I cannot see her relying on him if she'd suspected him of having bouts of crazy. Likewise, in the aftermath of their first battle, people probably wouldn't even notice if Reiner started behaving strangely or was having problems with his best friend. Anything unusual would be written off as him simply being a ShellShockedVeteran, as opposed to a villain being crushed by [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]].
[[WMG: There's a massive MemoryGambit in the works.]]
And its possibly all because of Eren's dad, or at least the serum involved in Titan Shifting. In chapter 46, Reiner also reveals that his memories are pretty faulty. This could mean its only for the people who became Titan shifters through the serum, but throughout the chapters, there have been instances where many characters go into flashbacks wondering why they're remembering those memories in the first place. So far this includes Armin, Mikasa and Sasha. As a well regarded doctor, I don't find it too farfetched that Grisha could've given his patients something that could cause them lapses in memories. And its more than likely he was involved in treating people who suffered from the plagues in Sasha's village.
** Reiner's memory issues as his own doing, according to Ymir. But I definitely think it's possible that Dr. Yaeger did something to his various patients when he cured that plague. Memory seems to be a significant thing in the series, especially in terms of it being unreliable or spotty.
[[WMG: The Sasquatch Titan is humanity's true enemy and can turn normal humans into titans:]]
Judging by chapter 46, it seems Reiner and Bertholdt true objective was related to the Sasquatch Titan. When Reiner told Eren about their identity, he said they wanted to destroy every human living inside the walls, but now everything changed and they are willing to let them live, as long as Eren goes with them. The reason everything changed is because they saw the Sasquatch Titan, which was their primary objective.
See, normal titans are dangerous to titanshifters as well. And judging by Connie's village, it's safe to assume normal titans used to be normal humans. It would be a problem to the titanshifters kind if every human alive turned into a titan, something the Sasquatch Titan could do. They knew he could do it, as he was the one who created the first titans, but didn't know where he was to hunt him down, since he was probably hibernating or something like this, as he was not aware of mankind's 3D maneuver gear.
As they couldn't kill the titan who could create more titans, they decided to kill every human being instead, preventing them from ever transforming. But now that he is awaken and started the cycle again, their objective changed.
* Wait, so Reiner and Bertholdt's story about their village being attacked could be true, and they are of the few survivors? That could be why Reiner is so torn over guilt, maybe they had a logical reason so get inside of the walls, maybe related to Sasquash Titan or the Wall Cult/Titans in the Walls thing, an option to a FinalSolution. But they were young, naive and uncaring about humans, so they did what the first thing that crossed their minds and the one that was the simplest, kill all humans. But then they got in, started to interact with humans and understood how horrible were their actions ( at least Reiner and a bit Annie, as Bertholdt has LackOfEmpathy as big as the Colossal Titan). That could explain why Ymir is actually hairy compared to the other 3, she is (or [[HeelFaceTurn wa]][[LoveRedeems s]]) part of Sasquash's faction and did attack Reiner's village. Reiner and Bertholdt's surprise is not about being attacked by a Titan-shifter, but about Ymir being that one.
[[WMG: The Colossal Titan is incapable of walking.]]
Both times that he attacked the Walls, Bertholdt was hanging on to it with at least one hand -- which suggests a need to balance himself since his Titan form is so disproportionate and massive. There's a good chance it doesn't have the balance and coordination necessary to walk, being limited to swinging his arms or kicking with one foot while hanging on to the Wall for dear life. This is one reason that it was so vital to make certain the other Wallbreaker would be highly mobile. Otherwise, there would be absolutely no way to destroy the interior gate.
* I couldn't say he cant walk, but more that he is awkward and slow to walk, and anything more that walking (like kicking a Wall's gate) needs a support.
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[[WMG: The Grand List Of Things We Know For Certain:]]
* Titan Shifters are piloted by humans inside the nape of the neck.
* It is possible to survive being eaten by a titan for an as yet undetermined period of time, assuming you are swallowed mostly whole. The titans don't digest, and are stated to regurgitate their stomach contents when full.
** I would argue against titans not digesting as something that is known for certain. Case in point, in Chapter 15 we see a giant pile of regurgitated human remains that a titan heaved up, and much of the remains are a mushy, grotesque, indistinguishable mess. Although the titans may not eat humans for any reason other than pure instinct and don't receive any nutrients by absorbing what is broken down in to their bodies, they still have some sort of stomach and accompanying stomach acid which makes quick work of any poor human that gets eaten.
* At least some titans have means of accessing the contents of their stomachs, as seen when Bertholdt exited his titan form carrying Ymir, and wearing the gear of a swallowed soldier.
* There are at least three settlements outside the walls. That flashback Berthold and Reiner had about Ymir attacking their village was definitely real, and the four non-Eren Titan Shifters we've seen so far have to come from outside. Furthermore, Annie does not come from that village, and none of them recognized Ymir as a shifter, indicating a third settlement, and all sentient titans including Sasquatch speak the same language as the humans within the walls. Conclusion: Titans definitely have some form of organized society outside the walls.
* As noted above, Ymir has attacked this village. She also has subordinates and seems to be helping the protagonists (or at least Christa, possibly just for her knowledge), indicating multiple factions within the sentient Titans.
* All five titan shifters seen so far seem to default to human form, and have all the same biological processes as regular humans - they need to eat and sleep, they age, et cetera. Emphasis: shifters ''do'' need to eat.
* Sasquatch has not encountered 3D maneuver gear, but at minimum has knowledge of the events of the previous war with the titans. While this probably rules out his being a shifter, it also rules out his having encountered a member of the scouting legion prior to the invasion, or receiving any kind of report of the humans' capabilities during the intervening century.
* Humanity did not build the Walls, but rather discovered them upon landing in the new world. Hence referring to them as a "Gift from God".
[[WMG: Things We're Pretty Sure About, But Can't Confirm:]]
* Titans were artificially created as an external threat that would force humanity to unite. This implies that, at minimum, someone was pulling the strings to begin with.
* The Colossal Titans inside the walls do not have pilots.
* All titans have something that at least resembles a pilot in the nape of their neck, with the possible exception of Sasquatch.
* Humans can be turned into titans, as demonstrated by the desertion of Connie's village. The Sasquatch Titan may have something to do with this.
* Marco was murdered by one of the Titan spies. Annie was in possession of his missing gear, and visibly hesitates when asked ''how'' she ended up with it.
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