History WMG / AttackOnTitan

When Annie is released from the crystal she will ofter the chance to live by teaching Eren what she knows about the Titan's powers including the hardening ability that she has made full use of.

All connected via the Paths that connect every Subject of Ymir, as well as the Attack Titan's ability to see past and future events, this mysterious girl actually met Eren -- likely the future, grown up Eren -- and they talked, with the [[TimeTravelTenseProblem eventual meeting of them in the past]] occuring at the end of the series. Eren, having inherited his father's memories, knows what happened (and will happen) to her, and that's why the young Eren, even before getting the Attack Titan and its event-seeing ability, somehow recalls this girl and her tragic life. Because of those paths, and that's why he cried after waking up.

This means that paths can carry messages throughout time. It migh be possible that seventeen centuries of ethnic cleansing are the worlds
future, and there will not be a '''''single strain of non-eldian hair left.'''''

* This actually does have some backing to it; [[spoiler: Eren Kruger, the holder of the Rogue/Assault Titan before Grisha and Eren's seeming namesake, tells the latter what he has to do to save ''Mikasa and Armin'' even though neither were even born by that point. When Grisha naturally expresses confusion at the unfamiliar names, Kruger admits he doesn't know either and asks "who's memories are these?", implying it's possible some of the shifters can get glimpses of their reincarnation/next life through the whole "invisible connections" thing that tie all Eldians together]].

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.

Like is stated below the titans were organic weapons made in a war. Though this war was won, and what we are viewing is a futuristic version of reforming criminals. The original people inside the Walls were criminals that had dangerous personalities and so the government wiped their memories and implanted fake memories that the titans had chased them into the walls. All of these people, or their ancestors were convicted killers and so are all on Death Row, Deadman Wonderland style, where they can be killed at any moment, the mindless titans are the prisoners turned into titans, if your personality is seen to have changed they are required to remove them, so Grisha Jaeger was removed from the community even though he didn't want to because he was seen as reformed. the titans shifters are humans who broke in and are using modified titan technology to fight the system because they see it as wrong to hold humans in captivity like that. When Dr. Jaeger was told about this he escaped and got to the refuge camp, once there he was approached by one or more of the titan shifters and asked to be part of their resistance, he was given time to think about it and a vial of the titan technology, he injected it into his son as a last resort when the outside forces came for him. The coordinate power is knowing without specifically knowing it that the titans were made by humans and if told by someone who is perceived to have authority they are to obey, Eren knows this somewhat, like the same way he can turn into a titan by injuring himself, because Dr. Jaeger told him this when it happened and he still can't remember it all. The Beast titan is the Warden in his own personal titan suit and has no respect for the prisoners, even turning some of them into titans, like Connie's mom. He didn't expect them to speak so he thought about that, and he also didn't expect them to have created weapons to fight the titans, the 3DMG, it's why he didn't recognize it when he saw it. Ymir was one of the titan shifters who invaded the Walls, but she was captured and exposed to the Titan changing process, some leftover memory of her comrades brought her to Berwick, Bertoldt, and Reiner, but her titan instincts took over and she ate Berwick, this gave her the power again and she was able to turn human but she didn't have any of her memories (Why they didn't recognize her i have know idea, I'm hand waving/lamp shading it here, someone edit this and put in a reasonable idea of why they didn't recognize her). The reason of the whole fake king plot was due to the prison staff wanting to keep the people in the prison calm and orderly, so they removed the current king and put in a fake one, and since they were techniquely not allowed to kill any prisoners the staff just let Krista live. All the different people from different races and nationalities was due to this being an international prison, for any murderous, and insane people. This explains Eren's complete and utter insanity being accepted in the world, because just most people were like that, and it explains how Miksasa and Eren were able to kill a bunch of adults with no hesitation or remorse, because [[InTheBlood it's in their fucking blood]]. The titan shifters are looking for the coordinate and the Beast Titan, people with the knowledge of what titans are, and the warden of the prison. The only thing this can't explain are why their are only children titan shifters (maybe their are a lot of prisons and this is just a less important one so they sent less experienced soldiers) and why [[Manga/FutureDiary Yuno.]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Fucking.]] [[Yandere Gasai.]] Isn't in the prison.

Like is stated below the titans were organic weapons made in a war. Though this war was won, and what we are viewing is a futuristic version of reforming criminals. The original people inside the Walls were criminals that had dangerous personalities and so the government wiped their memories and implanted fake memories that the titans had chased them into the walls. All of these people, or their ancestors were convicted killers and so are all on Death Row, Deadman Wonderland style, where they can be killed at any moment, the mindless titans are the prisoners turned into titans, if your personality is seen to have changed they are required to remove them, so Grisha Jaeger was removed from the community even though he didn't want to because he was seen as reformed. the titans shifters are humans who broke in and are using modified titan technology to fight the system because they see it as wrong to hold humans in captivity like that. When Dr. Jaeger was told about this he escaped and got to the refuge camp, once there he was approached by one or more of the titan shifters and asked to be part of their resistance, he was given time to think about it and a vial of the titan technology, he injected it into his son as a last resort when the outside forces came for him. The coordinate power is knowing without specifically knowing it that the titans were made by humans and if told by someone who is perceived to have authority they are to obey, Eren knows this somewhat, like the same way he can turn into a titan by injuring himself, because Dr. Jaeger told him this when it happened and he still can't remember it all. The Beast titan is the Warden in his own personal titan suit and has no respect for the prisoners, even turning some of them into titans, like Connie's mom. He didn't expect them to speak so he thought about that, and he also didn't expect them to have created weapons to fight the titans, the 3DMG, it's why he didn't recognize it when he saw it. Ymir was one of the titan shifters who invaded the Walls, but she was captured and exposed to the Titan changing process, some leftover memory of her comrades brought her to Berwick, Bertoldt, and Reiner, but her titan instincts took over and she ate Berwick, this gave her the power again and she was able to turn human but she didn't have any of her memories (Why they didn't recognize her i have know idea, I'm hand waving/lamp shading it here, someone edit this and put in a reasonable idea of why they didn't recognize her). The reason of the whole fake king plot was due to the prison staff wanting to keep the people in the prison calm and orderly, so they removed the current king and put in a fake one, and since they were techniquely not allowed to kill any prisoners the staff just let Krista live. All the different people from different races and nationalities was due to this being an international prison, for any murderous, and insane people. This explains Eren's complete and utter insanity being accepted in the world, because just most people were like that, and it explains how Miksasa and Eren were able to kill a bunch of adults with no hesitation or remorse, because [[InTheBlood it's in their fucking blood]]. The titan shifters are looking for the coordinate and the Beast Titan, people with the knowledge of what titans are, and the warden of the prison. The only thing this can't explain are why their are only children titan shifters (maybe their are a lot of prisons and this is just a less important one so they sent less experienced soldiers) and why [[Manga/FutureDiary Yuno.]] [[MiraiNikkiTheAbridgedSeries Fuck]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis ing.]] [[AxCrazy Gas]] [[Yandere ai.]] Isn't in the prison.

[[WMG: Erwin is a bad guy]]

[[WMG: The titan shifters have greater enemies]]

[[WMG: "Ymir's Curse" does not actually exist, and was just about keeping the shifters controled]]

[[WMG: in the "a choice with no regrets" OVA,Erwin did not say those mean things to Levi, it was all in Levi's head ]]

* Jossed: It seems to have been an ordinary Titan.

[[WMG: Eren does not have the Warhammer Titan]]

* He was very eager to consume Porco. To obtain the Jaw Titan as well or because he still had not successfully obtained the Warhammer Titan? He has yet to use the Warhammer's abilities in combat, and she was actually in the Jaw Titan's mouth when she died.

When Eren essentially betrayed Mikasa and Armin in chapter 112, that wasn't actually him talking. It was Grisha. What he said about doing it of his free will was true, but it wasn't ''his own'' will. Grisha's will has essentially taken over at this point. [[Main/AndIMustScream Worst still is that the real Eren knows what's happening, but can't do anything while his own father turns him against his friends and allies.]]

When Eren essentially betrayed Mikasa and Armin, that wasn't actually him talking. It was Grisha. What he said about doing it of his free will was true, but it wasn't truly Eren's doing. Grisha's will has essentially taken over at this point. [[Main/AndIMustScream Worst still is that the real Eren knows what's happening, but can't do anything while his own father turns him against his friends and allies.]]

[[WMG: Eren devoured the Mysterious Woman and ''that'' is how he gained the Coordinate.]]
Chapter 53 has Eren stating "Father...had me..." before it trails off. Many think this means Grisha had Eren eat ''him''...but that would require Grisha to be both a Titan Shifter and the Coordinate. While he is mysterious and certainly possesses knowledge of whatever is going on, Grisha seemed very much an ordinary human and he certainly had lived in Shiganshina long enough to start a family. It's more likely that Grisha injected Eren with the Titan serum, transformed him into a mindless Titan and goaded him into eating the Mysterious Woman, thus gaining the Coordinate power. For all we know, she could have been a Shifter too. The Shifter Trio targeting Eren the moment his Titan powers were revealed hints that it might be something only a Shifter could successfully wield.
* Jossed; the "that would require Grisha to be both a Titan Shifter" thing is actually true. While it's true that the Mysterious Woman, Frieda Reiss, was the Coordinate Shifter, it was Grisha who ate her rather than having Eren eat her.

[[WMG: Eren's difficulties with his Titan form are a result of being the Coordinate]]
When one thinks about it, Eren has the most difficulties with his Titan form of all the Shifters we've seen so far. He doesn't have any special powers like Annie's specialized hardening, Bertolt's heat-shield, Reiner's body armor or Ymir's insane agility, and he's almost lost his humanity twice, once while just training. Plot-wise it makes sense that the main character wouldn't have perfect control, but perhaps the in-story reason is because he is both the Coordinate and a Titan Shifter, and the two powers are either incompatible or simply interfere with one another. Grisha made Eren a Shifter in order to protect him -- and possibly the Coordinate ability but he didn't, ''couldn't'' forsee how the two would adversely react. The argument could be made that the Shifter trio had [[TykeBomb been trained in the use of their powers for their mission]] thus, their superior abilities, but what about Ymir? She may have knowledge of the AncientConspiracy and history of the world, but she outright states that she barely knows anything about her own Titan powers. Yet she was able to harness her Titan form easily when it's implied the only other time she shifted since regaining human form was rescuing [[ButtMonkey Daz]].
** I disagree. While we can't rule out the Coordinate theory yet, but it seems more likely that Eren has problems with Shifting because he doesn't know what he's doing. It's been confirmed that Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt underwent training before their mission, so that's probably how they gained their unique abilities. Of course, that Training may not have been related to their powers at all, but for now it's a more plausible explanation.
** Additionally, the reason Eren has little knowledge of how to use his Titan form may be because the line of people who have passed it down have never really known how to use it -- it's specifically said that his father was able to steal it because the previous holder wasn't able to fight effectively as a Titan, and there was little reason (or opportunity) for the royal family to practice with it. Ymir, on the other hand, stole her Titan Shifter abilities from someone with Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt's background, who probably had a lot of training that she was able to access (since we've seen that Titan Shifters can access the memories of others who have held the ability they cannibalized.)
** This has been more or less jossed. It's been proven that Shifters do not have an unlimited amount of stamina. Powerful as they are, they still get tired like normal humans. [[spoiler: this is the reason The Female Titan/Annie was not seen during the Shinganshina attack. She was out cold on The Armored Titan's/Reiner's shoulder, having acted as transport for the other two.]] A good portion of a Shifters training is building up their endurance, and ''discipline'', so they can fight for longer periods of time. Eren's having to learn on the fly, which is why we see him burn out so often.

[[WMG: Eren was injected ''before'' the series started.]]
Something is not jiving with the scene where Grisha injects his son. One of the things that Eren says to Grisha is "you haven't been the same since Mom died!" This implies that Eren has been around his dad long enough to notice changes, which couldn't have been after Shiganshina fell. It's clear from the scene that Eren and Grisha are alone; if this took place after the first episode, there's just no way in hell Mikasa would ''ever'' let Eren out of her sight, considering how protective she is of him and how close they've brushed death. So, the conclusions:

1. Carla Jaeger was not Eren's biological mother, but was rather a woman who Grisha married some time after the injection. The serum erased Eren's memories of his original mother so he quickly accepted Carla as his mom.
2. The serum's side-effect also gave Eren a viciously sociopathic HairTriggerTemper, which explains how he could [[TheUnfettered kill three criminals]] at the age of 9 without blinking an eye or suffering any kind of trauma over it.
* Then how do you explain Eren's resemblance to his mother?
** Or how Eren was the same age in the flashback as he is after the Wall falls?
*** New chapters provide evidence. The woman from Eren's dreams has an insane resemblance to her, due to the eye motif. Said woman is nearly identical to Eren, as opposed to Carla who had less of a resemblance. Perhaps that woman is an illegitimate child, much like Historia, of the woman and is thus connected to the nobility in that way. Isayama loves to put irony in Eren's lap; he hates Titans with a passion *BOOM* he's a Titan himself AND has the capacity to control them; thus, he can treat them like livestock. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that his resentment for the nobility ''simply because of their cowardice'' would have him be connected to them to further do the YouAreWhatYouHate thing.
* Jossed; Grisha really did inject Eren during the series; [[spoiler:it's revealed he gave Eren the injection the night after Shiganshina fell, by which time Mikasa was already part of the family - and since Shiganshina falling is the first scene of the series, it means the injection took place after the series starts. Furthermore, Carla Yeager is proven to be Eren's biological mother via flashbacks showing Grisha marrying her before Eren was born. The Mysterious Woman turns out to have been Frida Reiss - another Titan Shifter and the original holder of the Coordinate]].

[[WMG: Eren's titan form is a combination of Grisha's and Frieda's, and he has Frieda's "invincible" power, which is crystallizing, like Annie's power.]]
* Jossed; While it's true that Eren's Titan form is a mix of Grisha's Attack Titan and Frida's Founding Titam, Eren only gained a crystalizing power only after ingesting a vial of "armor" fluid; the power he gained from Frieda is the Coordinate, not crystallization.

[[WMG: Eren was originally going to be kicked out of the Trainee Corps.]]
He's completely useless and can't get the simplest things done, even when everyone around him is perfectly capable of doing them, and yet somehow he was ranked #5 in the entire Trainee Corps. This obviously happened by Mikasa helping pull some strings to keep him from getting kicked out, and even raise his terrible score monumentally. How did she do this? Well, let's just say she received a more thorough explanation of where babies come from in the process.
* Jossed; Eren being both skilled and determined enough to get into the corps was proven in how he was one of the top-ranked in hand-to-hand skills besides Mikasa and Annie - and that's impressive considering [[spoiler:the former comes from a line of gene-modded superhumans and the latter already underwent years of TrainingFromHell from both her father and an entirely different military well before this point]]. In fact, if one were to base judgement purely off of rookie status, that would [[spoiler:automatically eliminate Reiner from #2, Bertholt from #3 and Annie from #4 since they all had years of soldier training as Titan Warriors prior to joining the 104th and therefore aren't rookies, whereas Mikasa's #1 status comes from, again, her being part of a clan of superhumans resulted in better agility and endurance than is normal. So out of all the actual rookies with zero prior combat training (Armin, Jean, Marco, Sasha, Connie, Krista and so-on), Eren could actually be considered the ''best'' of the rookies with the possible exception of Ymir, who purposefully underscored so that Krista would get in the top 10]]. To make a long story short, Eren's hardly useless in a fight - he just doesn't tend get an actual chance in many cases, or gets OvershadowedByAwesome whenever Mikasa, Annie or Levi are in the mix.

[[WMG: The Titans are an Environmental Response to Humans.]]
When you look at them, the Titans seem perfect for the purpose of [[GaiasVengeance protecting nature from humans]]. They don't die, they don't devour other animals or plant life, they can't accidentally overpopulate and once the last human was gone they wouldn't do any damage to anything else.
** Jossed.

[[WMG: The Coordinate was used to make the mindless Titans into man-eaters. It was stolen from the Shifters' home town.]]
The Titans eat humans out of impulse rather then a desire to. The titan that killed Ilse looked like it was trying to restrain itself from eating her. I believe that when the Titans were created they didn't have this impulse. Like when Eren overuses his transformation, they were always fused to the bodies and would become violent but didn't eat people. When the impulse is not presented (either not added or there are no humans nearby) they act more reasonable, such as the talking Titan calming down after eating Ilse. The people who hadn't been transformed recreated the process that heals the Titan's body and applied it to humans. They used the Coordinate to make the Titans eat those people to regain their human bodies and become "warriors".

However humanity was fighting along itself. A portion stole the Coordinate and granted it to two people. One created the Walls and modified the memories of the people who went inside the Walls. The others is the Beast Titan who made the Titans all into man-eaters to make them become a single common enemy for humanity. The remaining people who created the Coordinate was almost completely destroyed by the Beast Titan. They sent out bra to reclaim the Coordinate by letting the titans into the wall. If the Titans eat the person with the Coordinate they would either see an intelligent Titan like the Beast or a Titan Shifter. When they saw Eren they thought he was outside and had regained humanity inside the wall. Once they found him they no longer needed to destroy the walls and changed the plan to capturing him.
** Jossed: The Coordinate was always held by the King; each titan power can only be held by one person at a time. The titan that killed Ilse was a former member of the cult Ymir was a figurehead of, sentenced at the same time, and mistook her for Ymir after all those years.

[[WMG: There is a flying Titan]]
Not an original theory but something I found online yasminozrose of tumblr found a moment from the manga chapter 95 about the Teiber family and the 9th titan and came to realize that "WAR HAMMER >>> THOR >>> AND THOR CAN FLY" and earlier in the manga when the Marley officials were having their meeting one of them said if only one the titan can grow wings and fly. Zeke in his own meeting said that they were going to recruit that family and since the 9th titan isn't revealed yet, the 9th one could be a flying titan so they could use it to take over the Marley government.
** Jossed.

[[WMG: Normal Titans were a failed experiment to create Titan Shifters]]
Yes, the First King most probably wanted to use Titans to unite humanity (under his/his descendants' rule), but it is possible that the Titans' creators had wanted something else from them.

Normal Titans were formerly humans, and they eat people in the subconscious hope of regaining their humanity; they don't seem designed to be like that indefinitely. So, what if Titan Shifters had a different origin and normal Titans were a failed experiment to create more of them? ''Something'' went terribly wrong and, though close to finishing the process (they only need to eat a Titan Shifter), until achieving it they are trapped in a unnatural state of being that they want to end.

[[WMG: How Titans Shifters form Titans out of nowhere.]]
* They use the elements from their surroundings, or they use the Digimon Tamers Realization (Bio-emergence) theory. False proteins are used to build up their Titan forms minus the blue cards and the portal from another world.

[[WMG: Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt 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, never-mind that their orders changing would require them to have someone with authority acting as their handler.
* Jossed, although ''some'' parts of it were on to something;[[spoiler:It's revealed that the Beast Titan [[spoiler:("Warchief" Zeke Yeager)]] and [[spoiler:Quadrupedal/"Mule" Titan (Pieck)]] are the leader and logistics of the Warriors respectively, with the former being the one that leads them. However, they operate within the boundaries of the fallen Wall Maria and observe from ''outside'' the territory humanity fell back into, with Reiner, Annie and Bertolt having to work on their own for the most part and only doing otherwise after the Beast Titan comes to ''them'' rather than the other way around.

[[WMG: Annie and Reiner are artificially-made Titans; Ymir and Bertolt are not.]]
Bertholdt doesn't seem to be unique in his Titan form, if all the other Titans in the Walls are also Colossal Titans like he is, and Ymir is apparently a member of her own Titan shifting people, but Annie and Reiner are fairly singular: for one thing, they both have strongly gendered appearances, they're both blonde, and generally resemble their Titan forms much more than the other two do. It may also explain Bertholdt's coldness where Annie and Reiner show some care for their fellow soldiers; going by Ymir's conversation with Christa about not being what others want, she may be rejecting the same approach Bertholdt is taking on principle.
* It should also be noted their appearances and abilities are closer to Eren's than any other Titans, and we know that Eren's powers are artificial in origin. Considering how they function, it's possible Reiner's powers were tailored so that he could serve as a bodyguard and partner to Bertolt.
** Jossed, at least for Ymir. She stole the Titan's Power, and only regained control of her powers 5 years ago.
*** In fact it is proved for Ymir and Bertholdt. She was a normal Titan and then she became a Shifter and, according to her dialog with Bertholdt, so did he. But we know neither abour Reiner's nor Annie's past before they became Shifters. However, I suppose all the Titans are artificial, but ERA are simply a second, improved generation.

[[WMG: The village the Titan Shifters come from is a village populated...]]
... by former Titans. Chapter 47 shows that Titan Shifters happen when a Titan comes out of the dreamlike state and becomes human again. It's happened more than just with the Shifters we've seen, and so they have a refugee village out there somewhere.
* Jossed: [[spoiler:They come from the Eldian race, which is the only race with the ability to become Titans. Said race is oppressed/enslaved by the Marlayens, who use them as disposable weapons - so it's more accurate to say their home is populated by potential future Titans rather than former ones]].

[[WMG: Reiner lied when he claimed that exterminating humanity was their original goal.]]
The destruction of Wall Maria and the attack on Trost were merely a means to an end, not the actual goal. The original attack was merely a diversion, to allow the trio to infiltrate without trouble. It may have also been done in an effort to bring the Beast Titan out of hiding or awaken him, accomplishing one portion of their mission. Since they seem to believe the "Coordinate" is a person, or a person will help them find it, exterminating humanity completely would be detrimental to their goal since they risked killing the very person they were looking for in the first place. Of course, there's always the possibility that the trio were unaware of the full nature of their superiors' plan, considering Ymir calls them "small fries" and suggests killing them won't accomplish a thing.
** The Titan Shifters may be just as in the dark as the Survey Corps.
** Jossed; while it turns out that the Wall inhabitants don't represent ''all'' of humanity, the Shifters were in fact tasked with completely wiping out the human population of the walls; Reiner really ''was'' trying to avoid their original goal on the hope that taking Eren back would mean they didn't have to carry out the original planned genocide.

[[WMG: Annie, Reiner and Bertolt are not their real names and they have Norse Giant names like Ymir.]]
Bertolt could be Bolthorn (frost giant and grandfather of Odin in Norse mythology) for example.
* Unlikely, as they never refer to each other by different names even in private or when doing so would be useful -- such as Bertolt snapping Reiner out of his delusional "Soldier" state.
* Jossed; it's confirmed in Chapter 94 that these are very much the names they were all born with. In fact, ''Ymir'' is actually the one who's name is false/adopted - [[spoiler:she was given it as part of a con to portray her as the reincarnated Messiah-figure Ymir Fritz, which made her feel special and resulted in her abandoning her original name]].

[[WMG: Titans and Titan Shifters are the curse/reward of the God(s) of their world.]]
Using the anime for reference, every Titan-shift is represented by a Shazam! styled lightning bolt, all followed by one common element -- a blood sacrifice. Taking it literally, it would mean that the person who can Titan shift would need to give up blood in order to transform, but let's take a look at this a little deeper.

Eren, being the protagonist, is the face of the whole theme of the story: stop being complacent. Although his Titan shifting abilities *may* be artificial, the underlying principle is the same -- he is willing to pay, to give up something, to use the Titans' power. The problem he had when he tried to transform against Annie the second time was that he refused to accept that Annie was the enemy -- he refused to give her up, thus he could not 'pay' the price to the gods.

The blood sacrifice is symbolic in the fact that the Titan Shifters are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals.

Ymir claimed she stole the Titans' power, she took it without paying for it. She had not 'earned' it, thus the mindless Titan she was for at least 60 years. Ymir thought she was being clever, yet whoever was watching over the world caught onto this and, like all humans who are not willing to pay for something, Ymir was punished for her hubris. During her endless nightmare, she would eventually find a way to prove she was finally worthy -- finally willing to give up everything just to get what she wanted. Thus, the curse was lifted and she was given the blessing.

* Jossed;[[spoiler:While the power of the Titans ''is'' seen as a curse by many, it's reasons for such are far different than what was theorized here]].

[[WMG: The Shifters have taken whatever is in the basement.]]
Last we saw them, Bertholt, Reiner, and Ymir had made it to the Shiganshina district. They were desperate to bring back ''something'' to prove they had achieved at least partial success, and since the 57th expedition had the explicit goal of reaching the basement, the three know something is in there. They may not have the key, but I doubt the Armored Titan would have trouble ripping the place out of the ground if necessary. Plus, if it prevents the audience from finding out what's in there, the author will probably do it.
* [[http://motorcyclles.tumblr.com/post/89886089605/they-probably-spent-the-whole-night-trying-to-find Here's]] an artist's rendition of this scenario.
** Jossed. Eren and co. finally make it to the basement in chapter 85 and find it untouched. There would have been signs had someone been in there before them since Levi had to bust down door to get in.

[[WMG: The "Hometown" is located in a forest of giant trees.]]
The is based on the "Chapter Zero", in which the human city is surrounded by massive trees the Titans won't break. The Shifters must protect themselves somehow, and all we see of the terrain in Annie's flashback is the thick foliage.

[[WMG: Titan!Historia will end up not eating Eren in Chapter 66.]]
Rather, she will break free, go on a rampage, and eventually, find and eat Ymir instead. Don't ask how she'll find her, though it's not impossible for Ymir, Reiner, and Bertolt to be hiding out inside the walls. Regaining her human form, Historia will fall into a depression, then become angry at her father for causing this. What happens next is up to them, though this troper is starting to support Eren x Historia...
* [[spoiler: Just jossed myself. Historia doesn't end up transforming AT ALL. Her father transforms instead, Historia pulls a Main/BigDamnHeroes moment, and Eren apparently becomes a new Armored Titan.]]

[[WMG: The injection Eren's father gave him is not what gives Eren the ability to Titan-shift, but what lets him keep his wits when he does so.]]
All humans (or some humans for some other reason) are able to Titan shift, which is hinted at by Connie's "mother" he found in his "destroyed" village.
* Jossed.

[[WMG: Grisha was studying memories, not Titans, and discovered the concept of Titan Shifters by accident.]]
The concept of memory seems to come up a lot: Eren "remembers" Mikasa's hair being short, he knows how to trigger his Titan transformation but doesn't know how he learned, he gets lost in his dream of home and has to remember the real world to get out, Grisha even talks about "their memories" when he injects Eren. It's possible that he found a way to take memories from people, and just happened to get a sample from a Wall Cultist or Titan Shifter, learning about the possibility of humans that become Titans. Injecting Eren with literal memories of that concept gave him the necessary knowledge of how to change back and forth.

[[WMG: Eren is a Titan because his dad is too.]]
* While the "Mr. Jaeger made his own son a Titan through science" theory seems more plausible, I believe that the creation of Titans may be more of a biological thing; i.e. "THIS POWER HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION" kind of thing. [[spoiler: Bertholt, Reiner, Ymir, and Annie]] were shown to be able to transform, the former two especially, at such a young age, so for it to be passed down from birth could be possible. Problem with this though, is that if it were the case, there would be a good chance that [[spoiler: Connie would be a Titan too, based on the attack on his village.]]
* Assuming that the second ending of the anime is as big of a spoiler as we think, there is a history of Titans attack as such against something other than humans. But that's not the important part; what's important is how long ago does the history predate to and whether or not the Titans existed before the creation of Mr. Jaeger's injections.
** Grisha Jaeger's injections couldn't possibly have predated the Titans (if only because there's no way he's over 100 years old, even Titan Shifters age normally), unless they aren't his to begin with, in which case Titan-ism wouldn't be a hereditary trait at all because the formula would have to have come first. Being children after becoming Titan Shifters doesn't lend any evidence either way, it just means they were Titan Shifters as children (like Eren could easily have been, if he'd had the right trigger).
** [[spoiler:Jossed; while it's true that Eren inherited his Titan Shifter from his father Grisha, it was because he ''ate'' Grisha while mindless rather than being something passed down through blood/genetics]].

[[WMG: Grisha made Eren a Shifter in an effort to TakeAThirdOption.]]

He was supposed to find and obtain the Coordinate ability and give it to the Shifters, whether by giving it to a liaison or just leaving the Walls altogether. However, when he ate Frieda, he was also subject to the will of the first king: he understood what made the Titans a necessary evil, and it forced him to turn traitor. Having the Coordinate ability made it impossible for him to act freely because he couldn't actually pick a side to be on anymore, but he also knew that the Shifters would eventually send more people if he failed.

When the Shifters breached Wall Maria and killed Carla, he knew he'd get killed over it one way or another; he gave it to Eren in the hopes that Eren could keep it safe while still having the fortitude to resist the will of the first king.
* First part's been jossed. It's been confirmed that Grisha is ''NOT'', and never has been, aligned with the Shifters [[spoiler: or rather, the Marleyan government]].

[[WMG: The Beast Titan is GaiasRevenge.]]
It is in fact humanity's true enemy, but it doesn't want to wipe them out, per se. It's a being that knows that humans could potentially overwhelmingly overtake the planet if not kept under control, so it has the ability to turn humans into the ultimate population control mechanism, as well as something completely harmless to the environment: a creature that does not care about attacking animals, needs only sunlight to survive, and will only consume humans. It decided to sneak into the Walled City when it looked like the Titan Shifters, who lacked their protection, were going to allow humanity to spill into the world be destroying the Walls.
** Jossed.

[[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".
* 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.
*** Jossed. Beast Titan was their superior. They wanted to capture Eren because he was a potential ally, otherwise it was another Shifter power in Marley's possession. Only later was it confirmed that Eren also had the coordinate all along.

[[WMG: The Beast Titan is the BigBad behind everything.]]
This is linked with the supposedly leaked story behind SNK, which ''(MAJOR SPOILER)'' [[spoiler: talks about a professor creating Titans to exterminate humanity because he thought they had become too religious (a group of religious zealots were against his researches and tried to kill him, but ended up killing his family instead). [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds As a result]], he created the mindless Titans, but also gave himself and a group of chosen followers the ability to become intelligent Titans. Going out from this, the Beast Titan is the professor in his Titan form, which explains why he talks, can create other Titans, and has an intelligence rating of 11/10. The spoiler also mentions that he's unaware of how humanity managed to secure themselves somewhere, so it makes sense that he didn't know about the 3D maneuver gear.]] This is all based on whether or not the leaked story is true, however.
** Jossed.

[[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 Titan Shifters 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 Titan Shifters 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.
* Jossed. He comes from beyond the sea.
* 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 three, 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.
** Jossed. The story about their village was stolen word for word from a survivor they met after infiltrating, who later committed suicide.

[[WMG: Theories on Beast Titan.]]
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.

[[WMG: The Beast Titan(s) will come back with a counter-measure to the 3DMG.]]
That bit about humans needing a common enemy to unite against isn't just flavor-text for the setting; it's ''foreshadowing''. The Titan Shifters and the Humans will be forced to unite against the Sasquatch Titans.

[[WMG: The Beast Titan is a natural Titan, distinct from the rest.]]
We now know of the Beast Titan, it looks like a massive ape with long arms and is incredibly strong, eloquent to the point of understanding and speaking human speech, and even gives lesser Titans orders. But it isn't a Titan Shifter.
It is a genuine Titan.
The Beast Titan might be the remnant (or vanguard) of a natural born race of Titans, which Humanity discovered shortly before their near-extinction living in remote areas. They may have experimented on them,drawing plasma from them and testing its capabilities in humans, possibly in the hopes of creating a super-soldier or virus.
From there, the first batch of subjects exposed to the serum would have malformed horribly, to the point of their limbs becoming disproportionate and their size increasing, all the while their mental faculties are completely erased except for their desire to kill the enemy. They spread, able to expand their numbers by eating enough people to form a new Titan, causing the near-extinction of mankind and making them flee across to sea to presumably Europe, and discover the Walled City.
The Beast Titan may have resurfaced as the last of its kind to enact its retribution on Humanity.
* Jossed. He is a Titan Shifter, Bertolt, Reiner, and Annie's senior officer.

[[WMG: The Beast Titan is humanity's harvester, and enemy of the Shifters]]
The Beast Titan is responsible for harvesting human beings (provided to him by the conspiracy within the government), transforming them into Titans as weapons against the Shifters' faction. This fits in with the whole "humans as livestock" theme. The reason the Shifters sent three kids in to destroy the Wall is because they're on the losing side, short on manpower, and need to cut off the Beast's source of Titans, then win by attrition with their ability to reproduce naturally. Reiner and Bertholdt were trying to capture him as an alternate way to eliminate Titan production, since if it was on their side, trying to capture it makes no sense. BT's test of humanity's strength was really just to see if the people within the Walls are a credible threat compared to the Shifters. They aren't. To fill in the rest of the gaps, I'm betting "Ymir's people" are a group she shared the "Titan's Power" with after stealing it from the Shifters, and Grisha was a part of the conspiracy working to undermine it by obtaining Titan Shifting for the people within the Walls to protect themselves.
* Unlikely that it is the Shifters' enemy. Bertolt explicitly mentions that if Eren turned out to be a dead-end, they would have to return with Annie, Krista, and "that thing" (referring to the Beast Titan).
** Jossed.

[[WMG: The Beast Titan used the 3DMG to design the Anti-Human 3DMG, seen in Chapters 57 and 58, as he is allied with the Wall Cult and the corrupt Military Police.]]
The Beast Titan encountered Mike, and after some chatter, removed a piece of his gear, and left him to be eaten, correct? We already know that the Beast Titan is intelligent, and is (presumably) capable of creating plans. He took the piece of the 3DMG, and came up with a design to use it's mobility and weaponry against humans. Because humans are constantly trying to keep distance unless necessary, he used the idea of guns, which he likely has witnessed at some point in his life. He then chose to put the grappling hook mechanism on the arms, for more accurate mobility. He gave this design to the Military Police, who then actually began mass producing them to combat '''their''' threat: the Scouting Legion.
* Two major problems that make this almost impossible. First and foremost, it's only been ''two weeks'' since the Beast Titan appeared. That isn't enough time to reverse engineer, work on a completely new concept, create prototypes, and then have a fully-functional and mass produced version. It takes 3 years of training for recruits to use the standard gear, learning a whole new system would take much longer than two weeks. The second issue, obviously, is that it headed ''out'' to the Titan lands.
** Jossed.

[[WMG: The Beast Titan was the first Shifter.]]

Animal motifs are a big deal in this story; the beast titan looks an awful lot like a gigantic ape, so it might be a hint that he is an early "ancestor" of modern Titans. It would also explain how he's so knowledgeable about Titan behavior (he may have been a scientist who helped create them) but completely ignorant of human technological advancement, and why he knows how to turn humans into Titans. Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt were looking for him because they come from a Titan-shifter-friendly place that presumably has more Titan-shifters, and if the Beast Titan were to find it, he'd feed the entire population of shifters to his own pet Titans. Considering one of Bertholdt's childhood flashbacks, the Beast Titan may have already done it once before.
* Jossed. Ymir Fritz was the first bearer of all the powers.

[[WMG: The Beast Titan is Grisha's brother]]
There's a visible resemblance between the two of them, both as humans and in the proportions of their Titan forms.
* Jossed. Grisha's son, Eren's half-brother.

[[WMG: The Beast Titan is a Coordinate]]
It would explain how he was able to control the Titans he created [[spoiler:from the villagers]]. The reason he's after other Coordinates is simply to remove any competition.
* Jossed. His abilities are because of his royal blood.

[[WMG: Geographia is Eren and Historia's daughter from the future.]]
somehow she manages to find a way to travel back in time.
* Jossed. Geographia's name is Frieda Reiss, and she is Historia's older half-sister.

[[WMG: As of Chapter 51, any PlotArmor previously owned by the characters are now gone.]]
''Attack on Titan'' has never been merciful to its characters, but now, with Jean, Mikasa, Armin, Sasha, Historia, and Connie ''directly'' in charge of Eren's safety, any hint of immunity to death they once had is now gone. As of Chapter 51, all of their backstories and motives have been revealed, making them all ripe for the killing. God speed.
** Jossed. The plot is still protecting certain characters as far as chapter 84. Armin in particular should definitely be dead, yet some DeusExMachina saves him yet again.

[[WMG: The Titans aren't just keeping the humans in.]]
They're keeping the Shifters ''out''.
* Jossed: [[spoiler: Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie's homeland is outside the walls, side with the Titans, and were tasked with infiltrating the walls to find the Coordinate. They are also able to return home once their mission is completed.]]

[[WMG: Levi will use the titan serum...on HIMSELF ]]
because lets face it hes too far away to know about Armin to rush into save him and he might not know where Erwin is....and he needs to deal with all the titans ....solution ? take the serum himself , eat Zeke and fight his way out as a titan
* [[spoiler:Jossed, he used it on Armin]].

[[WMG: both Armin and Erwin will die because Eren and Levi waste too much time debating on who to save]]

Or Levi will somehow drop the serum either by a titan attack or Eren shoving him for changing his mind on who to save.
* [[spoiler: Jossed. Armin was given the serum.]]