WARNING: This page contains HUGE unmarked spoilers from manga Chapters 86 and on. Beware if you are not updated with the manga.

Eldia

TOP: Maria, Rose and Sheena/Sina, The Three Walls of Utopia at the Island of Paradis, last bastion of the Eldians; MIDDLE: Map of the Island of Paradis with Marley to the west; BOTTOM: The Eldian Nine-Pointed Star

"Get a good look at that^note. That's who you people really are. All it takes is for your bodies to absorb some Titan spinal fluid and you turn into giant monsters. And you think you can call yourselves just as human as us? [...] All of humanity wishes for the same thing. For every last Eldian to be eliminated from this world."

— Sergeant Major Gross, from the Kingdom of Marley's Public Security Bureau

The Eldians (or Elodians) are a nation and an ethnic group that originated from Ymir Fritz, the Original/Progenitor Titan. Upon obtaining her Titan Powers, Ymir, her Nine Titan Powers, and the Eldians sought to aid the human race, according to Grisha Yeager, subduing the Kingdom of Marley to form the Empire of Eldia. However, according to the Marleyans, they started to frown upon other races and initiated a campaign of eugenics-based ethnic cleansing against them that lasted seventeen centuries.

Upon losing most of the Titan Powers to Marley, the Eldians and Marleyans fought in the Titan War, which unofficially concluded when the 145th Eldian King (now referred to as the First King) refused to fight and abandoned the continent and some of the Eldians, retreating and settling in the island of Paradis where he built the Three Walls, secluding his people from the outside world.

Within the Three Walls, the First King used the Coordinate to erase the memories of the population, thus initiating a policy of stagnation in what's called "The Will of the First King". As such, the people of the Three Walls lived under the impression that they were the last remnants of humanity as a whole. The Eldians that remained in the continent were thus rounded up by the Marleyans into ghettos and forced into serfdom to "pay for their ancestors' crimes".

The policies and ideologies of the First King came to an end following the Fall of Wall Maria and the death of most of the Reiss Royal Family, having lost the Coordinate Titan Power that kept the Eldians under control, concluding with the fall of the Royal Government, the ascension of Queen Historia Reiss and the Military Junta, the extermination of the extant Mindless Titans, the retaking of Wall Maria and exploration that led to the discovery of the then-unknown sea surrounding Paradis Island. These came to fruition due to the actions of the Survey Corps and the Restorationist conspirators Eren Kruger -an Eldian mole in the Marleyan army-, Grisha Yeager -an Eldian physician from Liberio who successfully infiltrated the Three Walls-, and the latter's son, Eren Yeager, who carried their legacy as the Attack Titan. These events took place during the first 90 chapters of the manga.

Due to their complete isolation from the rest of the world, the Eldians of Paradis are one century behind technologically, militarily and socially, being forced to face the fact that they're considered enemies to the rest of humanity, and they are almost completely without any allies.

The origin of the Eldians and the Titan Powers is shrouded in mystery due to the fact that these originally appeared about two millennia before the events of Attack On Titan, in which different historic events and political manipulation have murked the waters surrounding these, as well as the effect produced by the general negative bias against the Eldian people by the rest of the world. As such, the origin of the Eldians subscribes to semi-mythological sources and hearsay.

Following the events previous to Chapter 105 of the manga and after their first contact with the sea four years prior, the proselyte pro-war and anti-Marley faction have dubbed their territory and domains as the New Eldian Empire, though the military junta that rules the country does not approve of this denomination.

Note: There are factions of people who are Eldian nationals, though they are not ethnic Eldians; ethnic Eldians refers to the Eldians who can be manipulated by the use of the Coordinate. As such, people who cannot be manipulated, but live in the Three Walls include the Ackerman clan and the Asian clan, both on the brink of total extermination.

Note: For technical purposes, up to chapter 85 of the manga all^note characters in Attack On Titan were Eldians; further chapters introduced characters who are expressively detailed to be Marleyans in the Kingdom of Marley character page (which also happens to have an Eldian population included in the Liberio Internment Zone section and the Warrior Unit page). Refer to the Main Character Index before including characters in this page.

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The People of Ymir

The Empire of Eldia

Eldians / Elodians / The People of Ymir / The Devils of Paradis / The Children of the Devil

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_great_titan_war.png

Eldian factions and some of the Titan Powers during the Titan War^note

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8titans_3.png

Eight of the Nine Titans conquering the world.

[...] We are the "Subjects of Ymir," a special race even within the country known as Eldia who are capable of becoming Titans. These Subjects of Ymir once ruled the world, and could possibly rule it again. That is why the world attempts to eradicate us, the Subjects of Ymir.

— Commander Hange Zöe of the Survey Corps, discussing Dr. Yeager's notes.

Arch-Enemy: Of the Marleyans.
Artistic License – Biology: The laws of genetic inheritance and what constitutes "being" Eldian do not subscribe to Mendelian genetics, as the very deed of having a child of an Eldian parent makes the child an Eldian. Two millennia of intermingling with Marleyans and other races also did little to "dilute" the Eldian traits, so these are more overwhelmingly dominant than what real-world genetics would feasibly allow; also, as history has shown, the Eldians were certainly not isolationists (either that, or the Marleyans and other races are more "Eldian" than they think). As various characters have pointed out, there's something indeed fundamentally supernatural about Eldians beyond being Titans in the making. This is only solidified when it's revealed the Founding Titan has the power to remake the biology of every living Eldian simultaneously, having previously granted their entire race immunity to a plague.
Artistic License – Geography: The 145th king swore off the war and retreated to the Island of Paradis, which looks an awful lot like Madagascar, and the continent looks like an upside down and mirrored Africa; however, while Madagascar is pretty big, its topography and climate don't match what we see within the walls, and if they are concentric circles of the radius shown, there would be several places that overlap with the ocean or at the very least be within sight of it, something actively contradicted by the characters.
Asshole Victim: Invoked, according to the Kingdom of Marley. The Marleyans have sent waves of their Eldian minorities turned into mindless man-eating Titans to hound the peoples of the Three Walls allegedly because the Eldians engaged in a centuries-long ethnic cleansing against them. However, Paradis also has large natural resource reserves, including oil, so the conflict may actually be to gain control of these resources.
Big Red Button: The whole reason the Marleyans have sent undercover Eldians to infiltrate the Three Walls is allegedly due to the fact that a more direct provocation would led the Eldians to release the millions of Titans embedded in the Walls and raze the Earth barren.
Blatant Lies:
- Invoked. As Eren Kruger states, seventeen centuries of Eldian ethnic cleansing should have wiped out the Marleyans; also he states that Ymir Fritz was probably not as egalitarian or as influential as both the Eldians and the Marleyans speculate, and that in those terms, the Titanization of Ymir followed a simpler, non-politically-charged explanation in that she just stumbled upon the origin of all organic matter.
- Eren Kruger also states that the First King's threat to release the Wall Titans at the slightest provocation was an empty threat. This is due to the logical conclusion that a leader who fled a conflict is in no position to make threats, and also because said leader refused to fight even when he had the advantage and dominion over his enemies' powers. In hindsight, a century of Mindless Titan siege should have been more than enough provocation to release the Wall Titans, though the First King and his descendants did exactly jack shit about it.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The current state of Eldians living in Marley: they live in ghettos and are taught to aspire to be "honorary Marleyans" by having their young children accepted to the Warrior Program. The greater population of Eldians, meanwhile, are used as frontline troops in Marley's expansionist wars or sentenced to be turned into Titans as punishment and transformed when heavier weaponry is needed. With new technological developments threatening to render Titans obsolete in warfare, the Eldians realize that a Final Solution is close at hand.
City in a Bottle: The inhabitants of the lands inside the Three Walls are led to believe that humanity was wiped from the face of the Earth by the Titans and that they are the sole remnants.
City with No Name: In the manga, the Three Walls are sometimes referred to as "Utopia" by the inhabitants of Marley, mainly referring to "King Fritz's Utopia". Whether this is the formal name of the location is not yet known, but it's unlikely because it has markedly pejorative overtones. The island where the Walls are located is named Paradis, so the parallel "paradise"/"utopia" use of the terms might be a case of Lost in Translation.
Cowardly Lion: A negative example. The general opinion from the Eldians living at the Marleyan ghettos about the Eldians in Paradis is that they're a bunch of overpowered and extremely dangerous cowards who abandoned their kin to their horrible fate. This is not including the Marleyan propaganda, however.
The Dreaded: To the world, the Eldians of Paradis are a gigantic powder keg ready to burst, taking the whole of humanity with its wake. Going by the happenings in Paradis after the attack on Liberio, powder keg they are indeed.
Dystopia: One that lasted a thousand years, as expected of a country founded by a slaving rapist. With the power of the Titans, they imposed a totalitarian regime on all of the territories they conquered, complete with eugenics, human experimentation and enslavement/genocide of non-Eldians. Even behind the walls, the descendants of their regime, the Reiss family, forced widespread censorship and suppression of information, having anyone who invented something advanced, assassinated.
Early-Bird Cameo: Invoked. In the anime's second season ED, an horde of thousands of individuals is shown to be walking towards the horizon; this closely mirrors the First King-led Eldian exodus towards Paradis Island where they sequestered themselves from the Kingdom of Marley behind the Three Walls.
The Empire: The Eldians defeated and subdued the Marleyans in order to form their empire.
Fantastic Racism: On both the giving and receiving end.
- According to Marley, the Eldians spent 1,700 years committing genocide and mass rape against the "lesser races" of the world. While this could just be propaganda, the fact that the Asian minority within the Paradis territory was hunted to near extinction does lend some credence to the idea.
- In the present day, the entire world views Eldians as being sub-human and would like nothing more than to wipe them out in their entirety. This hatred runs so deep that Eren eventually decides to use the Wall Titans to wipe out everything beyond the walls because no matter what other options are tried, the hatred will never end.
- In practical terms, there are no racial distinctions between Eldians and Marleyans other than the former's capacity to transform into Titans (which has very little to do with the concept of "race" per se). Still, it practically functions in the same degree of discrimination.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Going by garb, naming conventions and appearance Ancient Eldians were based on Germanic Tribes while modern Eldians are reminiscent of Germanic Jews with Paradis Island being akin to Israel, as a refuge surrounded by aggressive nations.
Fish out of Water: For a hundred years, the people of Paradis are locked from the outside world and remain oblivious of the world beyond the walls as a result of the First King's will. Following the Battle of Shiganshina, the islanders are astonished of the things they learn from people from the mainland, from technology to cuisine and culture.
From Nobody to Nightmare: The Eldians attained an incredible power, which they used to subdue the Kingdom of Marley.
Guilt-Free Extermination War: The reason Marley is seeking to exterminate the Eldians, and most of the nations of the world see them as threats, is because of their inherent and universal potential to become Titans and engage in nigh-unstoppable warfare. As long as there's Eldians, there will always be Titans. This is reason enough for the Marleyans to round up Eldians in ghettos and send them as cannon fodder to Paradis to besiege their countrymen as Mindless Titans and Titan Shifters.
Hereditary Curse: Invoked. Tom Xavier speculated that all Eldians can turn into Titans because they carry a portion of Ymir's powers within them. As such, this is why they can be manipulated in mind and flesh by the use of the Coordinate. This is the main reason Zeke wants to obtain the Coordinate, as he can use it to sterilize the entirety of the Eldian population.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Seven of the Nine Titan Powers of the Eldians are now being used against them by the Marleyans. They're also using the people they abandoned against them by turning them into Mindless Titans sent to hound them in Paradis Island.
Let Us Never Speak of This Again:
- The in-wall Eldians were forced to forget that they were Eldians; the ones that get curious about the outer world are suspiciously forced quiet or altogether disappeared.
- The Eldians living in the ghettos in Marley are forced by the establishment to believe that they are guilty of the ethnic cleansing of the Marleyans, and that they are fully deserving of serfdom and total submission.
Lovecraftian Superpower: Their abilities to turn into Titans, which are all but stated to be exclusive of the Eldians; in addition there's the "Coordinate" power that can control the Titans and erase other Eldians' memories.
Made a Slave: The Eldians that were left to their devices in the Kingdom of Marley were forced into ghettos and deprived of most of their rights.
Mark of Shame: Under Marleyan law, all Eldian residents are required to wear bracelets with the Eldian insignia on their left arms when out in public. Members of the Tybur family are the only exception to this law due to their role in overthrowing the First King during the "Great Titan War" a century ago.
Master Race: The first real King Fritz, a thousand years ago, once envisioned the Eldians to be this, for Eldia to conquer and enslave the world with their Titans.
Meaningful Name: Eldia / Elodia has overtones that are similar to Elohim, another name for God in Hebrew.
Meaningful Rename:
- Because of the Will of the First King, the in-Wall Eldians' knowledge of being "Eldians" was completely wiped, and they were led to believe that they were the remnants of humanity as a whole; this is one of the main plot points of the story.
- In Chapter 93, Zeke Yeager argues that the families Fritz and Reiss are one and the same and that the Fritz changed their name like so to rule behind the scenes; this is contrary to what Rod Reiss said, arguing that the Fritz family entrusted the powers and the Will of the First King to the Reiss family. Still, it's not quite known how Zeke learned of this, or whether he is making an educated guess based on the results yielded by his failed campaign in Paradis Island. There's also the possibility that Rod Reiss didn't know himself, as he is driven by fervent zeal and his own limited experience caused by the succession crisis that Frieda's death and the loss of the Coordinate and the Will brought.
Mysterious Past:
- The origins of the Eldians and their role in history are shrouded in legend and hearsay. This is so prevalent that even a century past their exile to Paradis, it's not quite certain whether they were indeed as tyrannical as they are painted.
- There are fortifications inside the Three Walls, like Castle Utgard and the fort where the Survey Corps are garrisoned, which are abandoned for no apparent purpose. Given the secretive nature of the Kings of the Walls, it's implied that these fortifications might have belonged to rebellious lords or factions that were vanquished and wiped from the memories of the common folk with the use of the Coordinate. These are among the many secrets the Kings and their royal court have hidden from their subjects. Castle Utgard in particular is a glaring example, as it was stocked with goods that were labeled with an unknown language that Ymir, the survey corps member and formerly condemned to titanization over 60 years ago, could read, which was possibly pre-Walls.
- It's not known what the Island of Paradis represented to the Empire of Eldia as a whole, but as the last bastion of the race, it's implied that it was a crucial territory. Further down the story it's revealed that the island is vastly rich in resources that are sought after by the Marleyans, and it's further implied that the Kings of the Walls did not want their own subjects to exploit these resources, or even be aware of them in the first place.
Pop-Cultural Osmosis: Mainly due to political and ethnic bias:
- The Marleyans argue that the Eldians gained their powers from Ymir's deal with the Devil; the book being read to Historia Reiss by her sister Frieda suggests that there was a deal, but that it was not with the Devil, but with a cloaked figure.
- The Eldians have been the subjects of the punishment by the Marleyans, but both sides' tampering of official records of what happened has made all claims dubious at best; still, the polarization of both ideological spectra is so extreme that it has led to an attitude of My Way or the Highway for both sides.
- The Marleyans argue that the Titan War started with the 145th Eldian King's coronation that led to him abandoning the fight and fleeing the continent; according to Dina Fritz and the Eldian Restoration Movement, the tribes of Eldians and the Titan Powers were already fractioned and fighting against each other, making the Powers available to the Marleyans for easy pickings; the King's abandonment only made things easier for the Marleyans.
- The Eldian Nine-Pointed Star has been a symbol of the Eldians from even before Ymir's Nine Titan Powers existed. The Star was the heraldic symbol of the Ancestral Fritz King, who was Ymir's master. The fact that there are nine points to the Star implies that this might have been why there are nine Titan Powers, and not the other way around.
Psychic Link: It is theorized by the Marleyan Institute of Titan Research that all the "People of Ymir" share a metaphysical link, from which the bones, flesh and blood to form the Titans' bodies comes through, and not only that but also memories, the will of other people or a Titan power looking for a new vessel. It is also stated that these links are stronger between blood relatives and there's the possibility there is a degree of predetermination as to who will become the next Titan Power host.
Quest for Identity: What the Survey Corps and by proxy the people inside the Walls ended up finding in Grisha Yeager's account, though they were actually looking for a way to stop the Titans. The mystery of the barrage of Titans inflicted upon them is directly related to who they are and what happened a century before. Turns out, they are the a small portion of the People of Ymir, the Eldians, and they're being self-punished for a centuries-long ethnic crime against their enemies, the Marleyans.
The Scapegoat: Invoked, to horrific international levels. The Marleyans publicly blame their native Eldian population as the reason why the rest of the world hates them, even though the Eldians there are entirely a Slave Race. The Eldians trapped in Marely suffer from Stockholm Syndrome to such levels that they identify with Marley and blame the people in "Paradis" for why the Marleyan population hates them, despite the fact that they know Marley's been abusing them for centuries, using them as canon fodder and in some cases like Reiner's mother sex-slaves, as well as "sending them to Paradise" by turning them into mindless Titans and unleashing them on Paradis while standing back and laughing. All without Paradis retaliating.
Screw Your Ultimatum!: The Warriors attempt to steal the Coordinate from the King of the Walls by avoiding the awakening of the Wall Titans, this being the threat that the First King poised upon the rest of the world should they attempt to meddle with the affairs of the Eldians. Later, in not so many words, Eren Kruger argues that by having fled the fight during the Titan War, the First King and his descendants wouldn't have the balls to do it, or would have done it already after the century-long Mindless Titan siege that the Marleyans threw upon them. He turns out to be right, as the First King indeed thought that himself and his subject Eldians were entirely deserving of their fate.
Sins of Our Fathers: The Eldians have been the subjects of the ire of the Marleyans due to the aforementioned ancestral ethnic cleansing they supposedly conducted against them. As such, the Marleyans forced the remaining Eldians into serfdom and hounded the ones that left with the First King with mindless Titans produced from the stock of their own people they left behind.
Slave Race: Played for all the horror one can imagine, and then some. If the government of Marley, or any official, so much as thinks one if them is being "rebellious" or "insulting one of the nine", that Eldian's entire family is dragged off to being used as cannon fodder, by being injected with "Titan" serum and then being air-dropped on their enemies as they shift into Mindless Titans. This is in addition to the already shown horrors of their ghetto existence. Their only hope being the earning of sufficient war accomplishments to free their family, by becoming "One of the Nine." Something they're certain to not survive, at least not long-term.
Staged Populist Uprising: The revolt to take down the Reiss Family and the Royal Government ended with the rise of Queen Historia and the Military Junta under their flag carrier, Eren Yeager, the Attack Titan... that is, until their flag carrier turns against them, and turns a great portion of the troops and the population against the junta.
Superpower Russian Roulette: Invoked. As a result of the intricacies of inheriting Titan Powers, this is more than likely the reason why Marley were able to wrest the Titan Powers from the Eldians. Should a Titan Shifter die without being devoured by another Titan, the ethereal links that connect all the Eldians ensure that the Titan Power has a random host; in this case, the hosts might have been Eldians that were under the power of the Marleyan authorities and/or were loyal to Marley.
Took a Level in Badass: Having been given the ability to turn into gigantic, nigh-invulnerable behemoths certainly would give anyone an advantage.
The Unreveal:
- It's not known why the 145th Eldian King (the First King) abandoned the continent, leaving a significant amount of his subjects behind for the Marleyans to punish.
  - Another aspect of this abandonment lies with the fact that he abandoned the Titan War in spite of him having the power of the Coordinate, which dominates and towers over all of the other Titan Powers. The main reason the Marleyans have hounded the Eldians within the Walls with waves upon waves of Titans is precisely to gain the Coordinate for themselves.
- Although it's apparent that the aforementioned king deemed the humanity he confined within the Three Walls as sinful and deserving of their fate, it's not known why he adopted that narrative or why he forced this notion upon his descendants for decades on end.
  - On this note, Willy Tybur's account of the events that led to the Eldian exodus and isolation is dubious at best, as he purposely told a narrative during an extremely anti-Eldian rally at Liberio meant to make the powers of the world attack the island of Paradis.
- When it comes to Eldians as a people, it's not known what entails being an "Eldian" from a scientific standpoint, and fundamentally, what makes them genetically more prone to becoming Titans. As it is, a genetic trait of the sort would be, and has been presented as, overwhelmingly dominant and surprisingly resistant to being lost even as two millennia worth of generations have come and gone. From the racial and ethnic standpoint, though Eldians are treated as an ethnicity on their own, the differences between them and Marleyans are negligible at best.
Vestigial Empire: All that's left of their former glory is the territory surrounded by the Walls.
Walking Spoiler: Any information pertaining to "Eldia" or "Eldians" packs huge revelations about the story's setting, the history of the world and the nature of the main conflict.
What the Romans Have Done for Us: For better or for worse, the Eldians gave shape to the world of Attack On Titan, and continue to have a looming presence on the world, even in exile.
Wild Card: This is one of the possible reasons why the Empire lost control of the Titan Shifters that the Kingdom of Marley appropriated for themselves. If the process of transmission of the Titan Power is not controlled and focalized, the Power will end up in a random Eldian because of the ethereal pathways that every Eldian individual shares. This is also a risk that Marley has with the Titan Shifters they control, because if they die, the Power can end up in an Eldian in Paradis; this happens to be one of the reasons why Marley wants to exterminate the Paradian Eldians.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: It's revealed by Zeke Yeager that the Eldians of Paradis are sitting on a rich source of iceburst stone ore, which is a resource so valuable that it's one of the main reasons the people of Hizuru makes an alliance with them.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: While Marley has been content to use their captive Eldian population to fight their wars for them as human and Titan soldiers, other countries have developed anti-Titan weaponry that makes the Titans and Titan Shifters obsolete. As a result, while the military and government were willing to set aside the fate of the Eldians in their internment zones for a time, with their eyes turning to Paradis and its resources and the technological advances made by other countries, it might be time to discuss the answer to the Eldian Question, which was always the intended end game.

Eldian Royal Family / Reiss Family / Fritz Family

Note: For the entry on Dina Yeager (née Fritz) and Zeke Yeager see their entries at The Kingdom of Marley character page.

For technical purposes, King Fritz is not included in this folder. For character tropes related to him, see his entry at the Eldian Government section below.

The Royal Family

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reiss_family.png

The Royal Family as of the year 845: Mrs. Reiss, Florian, Rod, Abel, Queen Frieda, Dirk and Urklyn (not pictured, Historia)

The direct descendants of the ancient lineage of Ymir Fritz, the Fritz family has led the Eldian people for close to two millennia. They are the holders of the Coordinate Titan, the Titan Power that towers over the other Powers, which they used to shape the fates of the nations of Eldia and Marley.

Under mysterious circumstances, a century before the Fall of Wall Maria, the Royal Family steadily began losing control over the Nine Titan Powers of Ymir, leading to a civil war known as the Great Titan War, on which ancillary clans that held the Titan Powers fought each other. Hostilities were halted when the 145th King of Eldia refused to fight and fled with a sizeable fraction of his people towards Paradis Island, where they quartered themselves. Some of these powers were seized by the Kingdom of Marley, who sought to conquer their neighboring states using them.

A portion of the Eldians and a faction of the Royal Family refused to retreat and were rounded up by the Marleyans into Ghettos, living lifes of suffering and toil under the yoke of the Marleyans.

In Paradis Island, the King built the aforementioned Three Walls and wiped the memories of the Eldian People, switching his family name to Reiss and started governing the Eldians by using puppet Kings. This king is known by the Reiss family as "The First King", who uttered a final threat to Marley to leave the Eldians in Paradis alone, lest he'd release the Wall Titans to raze the Earth barren.

The Royal Family lost the Coordinate Titan following the Fall of Wall Maria by the actions of Grisha Yeager, an Eldian physician and former revolutionary from the Liberio Ghetto at Marley who was entrusted the mission to wrest the Titan Power and restore the Empire of Eldia to its former glory. Most of the story surrounding the Royal Family involves the attempts to recover the Coordinate to be able to remain in power and maintain the status-quo.

Achievements in Ignorance: Invoked. The Royal Family were in the personal circle of the King of the Walls, but were not privy to the thoughts and actions of the King. They, much like the rest of the Eldians, were left outside, looking in. Rod and Uri tried to make their father stop the barrage of Mindless Titans besieging the Three Walls to no avail; Uri received the power himself, hopeful that he would do something different, but stating in not so many words to Rod that it would most probably be a fool's errand; Frieda suffered the same fate. As such, the very least thing the Royal Family could do was to keep the Coordinate in the family's hands, perpetuating the status quo. How were they supposed to convince a physical God of doing anything?
Ambiguous Situation: It's not known how aware the Royal Family were about the situation outside the walls due to the fact that they too were subjects of Ymir. Rob Reiss' testimony reveals that they might not have been privy to the King of the Walls' thoughts and actions, so they may have been more in the dark than it initially seems (see The Unreveal down below for more).
Applied Phlebotinum:
- The luminous ore of the cave beneath their chapel shines with enough light to rival a modern light bulb, though its light doesn't run out. The military junta re-purposes it precisely with that end.
- Their vials of Titan serum were carefully labeled according to their uses, and it's implied that as such, it was more sophisticated than what the Marleyans had come up with to date, just haphazardly injecting Eldians according to dose to make them Mindless Titans of various sizes. How the Royal Family procured the serums and where they kept them were lost with the collapse of the luminous cave and the death of Rod Reiss.
Badass Family: The Kings of the Eldians and the Kings of the Walls are a few hairs short of being physical gods.
The Beautiful Elite: The Queens Frieda and Historia Reiss are considered unusually beautiful.
Blessed with Suck: The Kings of the Walls have no will of their own, as it's superseded by the Will of the First King, leading them to inaction regarding the Titan siege.
Blue Blood: They are the descendants of a dynasty that has lasted for close to two millennia.
Can't Argue with Elves: Due to the Will of the First King, they are both unwilling and unable to answer to a call to action.
The Clan: They are an unbroken line of regents that heavily rely on ceremony and hermetism.
Compelling Voice: They can manipulate the minds and the will of the Eldian people and manipulate Titans.
Conditional Powers: Invoked. There is a possibility surrounding the Will of the First King and how it affects the potential candidate for King that involves the ephemeral pathways that the Titan Powers take to select a host. For instance, there is no reasonable explanation why Frieda was chosen as Queen of the Walls other than the possibility that she was uniquely fit for the Will of the First King to hinder her free will. This implies that the Will might not affect other members of the Royal Family in the same way that it did to Frieda, or act differently from what the Will entails. As such, the line of succession might have rules for the Will to act like it's supposed to.
- Another possibility, of course, is that the Will affects all members of the Royal Family unequivocally and that any royal that inherits the Coordinate will be affected.
- The last, but not least important possibility is that the members of the Royal Family that do not come from the line of the First King, like Dina Fritz and her son Zeke Yeager, might not be affected by the Will like the members that live on Paradis (though it's important to point out that Dina is dead).
Cruel and Unusual Death: Grisha Yeager in Titan's form proverbially painted the walls red with their blood. Urklyn was squeezed to death by Grisha's grip; Dirk and Abel were crushed under Grisha's hand; Florian and Lady Reiss were stomped together.
Devil's Advocate: The Royal Family serves the purpose of prolonging the rule of the King of the Walls, basically because it's the only thing they can do. Any call to opposition, any progressive initiative, any plead towards ending the barrage of Titans besieging the Walls of Utopia, fall to the King's dispassionate, deaf ears. They don't oppose the King because of whether it's the right or wrong thing to do, but rather because it's overwhelmingly futile.
Didn't Think This Through: The enforced inaction that the Royal Family has forced upon the Eldians and themselves led Frieda Reiss to be grossly inexperienced in the handling of the Coordinate Titan, who was overpowered by Grisha's Attack Titan and devoured.
Dissonant Serenity: The Kings of the Walls are completely unsympathetic to the plight of their people, as they believe that the Eldians are deserving of their fate.
The Exile: They dragged their subjects to Paradis Island and quartered behind three walls, forming the last bastion of their people.
Feuding Families: A great deal of their exile was due to the action of clans like the Tyburs, holders of the War-Hammer Titan.
Foregone Conclusion: As Rod Reiss argues, it's not that the Royal Family didn't do anything to prevent the person holding the Coordinate from doing absolutely nothing. He himself fought for his father, Uri and Frieda to lift the stagnation policy, but to no avail. The very least they could do was to keep the Coordinate in the family's hands, which they did for a good century. The Will of the First King overwhelmed any notion of reform that any holder of the Coordinate had previous to their appointment. It's kinda difficult to expect answers from what amounts to a physical god, though. This is the reason why Historia tells the Survey Corps that she rejected the Coordinate, as the Will answers to no man, not even to its holder.
Government in Exile: Subverted. They don't give a damn about the Eldians in Marley.
Heir Club for Men: Subverted. The line of succession has very little to do with primogeniture or the gender of the individual destined to be King. Though there hasn't been rules exposed in the manga, it's implied that the line of succession has something to do with the ephemeral pathways that all Eldians share.
The Madness Place: The Kings of the Walls become irrationally isolationist at the notion of crossing boundaries.
Meaningful Rename: The First King changed his name to Reiss after he raised the Three Walls of Utopia.
Meet the New Boss: Just to illustrate how little Rob Reiss knew of his family's history, he states that the Reiss Family was entrusted with safeguarding the Coordinate by the Fritz Family. It's later revealed that the two families are one and the same, just with a different name.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: They are the holders of the Coordinate Titan, the most powerful of the Titan Powers of Ymir. This is one of the reasons the Marleyans are unable to engage the Eldians in open combat, as they are overwhelmingly powerful with the Coordinate in their hands.
Orcus on His Throne: As a consequence of being the holders of the Founding Titan and inheriting the Will to keep their kingdom safe (even as foreign powers plan to invade), their only course of action is inaction.
The Power of Blood: Only the members of the Royal Family can use the Coordinate to its full extent, and it's shown that holding other Titan Powers gives them an advantage and additional powers over holders that have no Royal Blood.
The Remnant: They are the Kings of a once great empire.
Royally Screwed Up: Becoming the King of Eldia and gaining the Coordinate means that you'll surrender your free will.
Royalty Superpower: The Coordinate can manipulate humans, Mindless Titans and Titan Shifters all alike, though only a holder who is of Royal Blood can do this.
Shadow Dictator: They employ puppet kings to rule behind the scenes. This serves two purposes: to avoid scrutiny and to protect themselves from having the Coordinate stolen from them.
Succession Crisis: With the death of Frieda, the massacre of the Royal family and the loss of the Coordinate, Rod Reiss remained as King and spent a considerable effort trying to recover the Coordinate for the Reiss family and to integrate his illegitimate daughter to gain the Titan Power. It didn't work for them.
Spare to the Throne: Invoked with the last iteration of the Royal Family, as they had three daughters, two sons and an illegitimate daughter as spares to inherit the Coordinate. After the massacre of the Royal Family, it's implied that this is one of the main reasons Rod Reiss opted for not killing Historia, his last remaining daughter, as he was unwilling to inherit the Coordinate himself.
The Unreveal:
- It's not quite known whether any other member of the Royal Family, or even their court, knew about the pact of the First King and the Tybur Family to subject the Eldians to exile and punishment. The possibility implies that even if they didn't know, the royals and the court act following just zealotry and self-preservation to maintain the status quo, ignorant of what started it in the first place.
  - For that matter, it's not known how much the Royal Family knew about the outside world in the first place. The wielder of the Coordinate would certainly know due to Paths, but they very likely never told anyone because of the Will. Judging by Rod, Uri and Frieda's ignorance at the situation regarding the Titans, and the fact that even after Historia's ascendance to Queen, it took Grisha's notebooks to reveal the truth it's entirely possible that no living person inside the walls knew exactly what was going on on the other side.
- It's not known what their intentions were regarding the procurement of the Female Titan Power, but it's implied that the main concern surrounded the recovery of the Coordinate exclusively. The complete lack of prioritization regarding a whole Titan Power at the disposal of the authorities opens even more questions as to their inaction.
What the Romans Have Done for Us: Good or bad, the influence of the Eldian Royal Family shaped the history of Eldia and Marley.

Contemporary Royal Family Members

Rod Reiss

Lord Rod Reiss

Voiced by: Yusaku Yara (Japanese), Kenny Green (English), Pedro D'Aguillón Jr. (Latin American Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 52 (Manga), Episode 38 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rod_reiss_8.png

"My brother had become the sole creator of this world... and its ultimate governing force. An all-knowing, all-powerful being. Do you know what that's called? God. Our word for that is God. There is meaning in every catastrophe. Whether humanity is fated to perish or survive, that decision is in God's Hands. My mission is to summon God back into this world and offer my prayers to her.^noteFrieda"

— Rod, to his daughter Historia

Lord Rod is the father of Historia Reiss, a Heroic Bastard living under the alias Krista Lenz. Rod abandoned his daughter to be raised on a farm owned by the Reiss family, but came to claim her shortly after the fall of Wall Maria. Confronted by members of the 1st Brigade, Reiss allowed his mistress to be murdered and ordered Historia to live under a new identity if she wished to live. In truth, the Reiss family are the true rulers of mankind and part of the Government Conspiracy within the Walls. Lord Reiss is the true ruler of mankind, with the King merely a figurehead that allows him to rule from the shadows. He ruled as King of the Walls from the years 845 to 850.

Rod is the main antagonist of the Uprising arc, which deals with his efforts to use Eren and his daughter Historia for his own ends.

Achievements in Ignorance: Most of the stuff that he reveals comes from his own experiences, which are entirely second-hand. This is made evident with his own titanization, which destroys the chamber where he is because he becomes larger than the chamber's space, leading Kenny to believe that Rod might have not known much about titanization in the first place; considering he only had witnessed the ceremony, he might have had to fill in the details from memory.
Alas, Poor Villain: Although he tried manipulating his own daughter into becoming a Titan Shifter (a process which involves eating one of her closest friends) to reclaim the Founding Titan, he still wanted to do the right thing when he was much younger and his desire to see "god" returned seems just as much the actions of a man who has long since crossed the Despair Event Horizon. It's hard not to feel sorry for what happened to him.
Ambiguously Evil: He claims he's doing what's in humanity's best interests, and we really don't know enough about what's going on to contradict this. Historia ends up vouching for her father, and there do seem to be some much more serious external threats, but his actions are still seemingly quite damning. Tying Eren up in a creepy, bizarre dungeon and hanging around Kenny hasn't really helped his case all that much, either.
Archnemesis Dad: He becomes Historia's arch-enemy when the latter decided not to go through the titanization.
Arc Villain: The main antagonist of the Uprising arc.
Authority in Name Only: Implied Trope. Rod Reiss' rule and his status on the Royal Government depended on him successfully attaining the Coordinate for the Reiss Family once again. The fact that he doesn't have as much sway even when he's King is exposed at the moment the 1st Central Brigade are ordered to execute Alma and Historia, something that he's not made aware of until it's actually happening. This order, they're carrying from the Royal Government, who are acting on their distrust of Rod. The guy did have an illegitimate child while being part of an extremely important royal lineage. Ironically, this illegitimate child ends up bringing him down in the end.
Big Bad Wannabe: Reiss' rule is already incredibly tenuous, and the fact that he trusts Kenny to be loyal says a lot about how desperate he is. His manipulations of Historia quickly fall apart once she sees through his lies, and transforming himself into a Titan is a last act of desperation that quickly goes off the rails.
Blatant Lies:
- Invoked. His claim that the Coordinate can be used to its whole potential only by the Reiss lineage directly contradicts Grisha Yeager's actions to steal it from them, which implies that this might not be the case at all and that the Will of the First King is hindering its use in the first place. The fact that Marley is actively trying to steal the Coordinate without having a Reiss or a Fritz to receive it drives this point even further (as a reminder, the Marleyan authorities are not aware that Zeke Yeager has royal blood).
  - As it turns out, he was telling the truth, and the Marleyan authorities were apparently just unaware that someone with royal blood was needed. That being said, there turns out to be a way to circumvent this problem. If the holder of the Founding Titan/Coordinate makes physical contact with a Titan or Titan Shifter with royal blood, then they would be able to use the full power of the Coordinate unimpeded.
Blessed with Suck: Invoked:
- It's shown that Rod was somewhat uncomfortable with his reign and was altogether not quite prepared to assume the responsibilities that it entailed. It's fair to say that he was not next in succession and that the office was dropped on his lap when his family and Frieda were slaughtered.
- Related to the previous point, Rod argues that he is not fit to inherit the Coordinate or the Will of the First King; this implies that he was either giving the responsibility to Historia to avoid the trouble of doing it himself, or that he was actually incapable due to the pathway network that the Titan Powers follow that Eren Kruger mentions to Grisha, meaning that there's a possibility that Rod was not meant to inherit the Titan Power or the Will in the first place, which is why Frieda was chosen and not him.
Broken-System Dogmatist: He insists that the lands within the Walls should be ruled by a member of the Reiss family with the power of the Founding Titan and the Will of the First King, even though this has thus far resulted in a century of inaction and then losses against the titans.
Calling the Old Man Out: After Reiss spends quite a bit of time sweet-talking and manipulating Historia, Kenny points out to her that he's not the good man he says he is. Historia's terrible life was all because he was horny for a servant (despite being the ruler of all humanity). The only reason he let her live was because of her blood and all he really cared about was himself.
- Historia herself gets her chance when she refuses to keep obeying him and destroys the Titan serum he intended to use on her, refusing to let him manipulate her even further.
- Rod himself tried it in the past with his own father, numerous times, but it always ended in failure, and he was even thrown in a cell at one point. Eventually, he just gave up.
The Corrupter: He attempts to corrupt Historia into becoming a Titan Shifter and eating Eren, but it doesn't work out.
Despair Event Horizon: When Rod was younger, he attempted to plea to his father to use the Reiss' powers to save humanity but was unsuccessful. Then, both his brother and daughter ended up following the same path and becoming slaves to the First King's will despite promising to liberate humanity. Then he lost his entire family to Grisha Yeager. And Alma, the only person he felt understood him, was killed by the Military Police. By the modern day, Rod has becomes a broken shell of a man whose only goal in life is to bring his "god" back into the world.
Didn't Think This Through:
- He never considered that Historia might have not been very keen to him titanizing her, considering that he discarded her on the very moment he met her.
- He grossly overshoots the titanization he intended to use on Historia, leading to the destruction of the chamber and the deaths of the entirety of the 1st brigade, who succumb to the collapsing roof.
Dirty Coward: He reached to Historia in the first place because he was unwilling to go through the titanization and receiving the Will of the First King himself. It's also implied that this is the reason why Historia wasn't killed alongside her mom, as she would be the only royal other than himself that could receive the "Coordinate"
Disappeared Dad: Historia only met her father when she was 10-years-old, when he tried to take his mistress Alma and daughter to safety. However, he ended up abandoning one to die and forced the other to take an alias and go into hiding.
Dramatically Missing the Point: Played with. Uri's last request to Rod before he received the Coordinate was to "pray". Uri probably meant that he hoped something different would happen and that his own willpower wouldn't be superseded by the Will of the First King. Rod didn't quite get it at first, but witnessing the fact that the Will took over Uri anyway, caused him to conclude that it meant that he should devote himself fanatically to maintaining the Coordinate in the family's hands and not question anything further, thus, Rod was to insure that everything stays the same. Good job, Rod... you imbecile!
Exact Words: While manipulating Historia, he claims that if the Coordinate ability stayed in the Reiss family, that "Even ridding this world of the Titans would have been possible." But Historia soon realizes that even though they had this power all along, they never actually used it against the Titans. Rod then admits that while they had the power to do so, they never did because they inherited the will of the First King.
Godzilla Threshold: He needed Historia to not only become the holder of the Coordinate, but it's also implied that he intended for her Titan to be overwhelmingly strong and massive; this further implies that he did not want the holder to lose the Coordinate like Frieda did, overpowered by a more experienced and physically stronger Titan Shifter.
Heroic Resolve: You wouldn't expect it from him of all people, but when Kenny Ackerman threatens his goal of bringing "god" back into the world by shoving a knife down his throat and calling him out for his misdeeds in front of Historia, Rod grabs the knife by the edge, and finds the strength to pull it out while telling Historia to trust him.
Hidden Agenda Villain: Notice that he wanted Historia to become a Titan and reclaim the Coordinate from Eren, but at no point he mentioned that she would become Queen, meaning, he was not going to relent his power.
Hidden Depths: It's shown that Rod is not particularly happy with any of his actions, and a great part of himself has been consumed by overwhelming sadness from the loss of his family, particularly Uri and Frieda. His is a look of permanent sorrow. This, however, does not justify or remotely redeem his cowardly actions regarding Historia.
Horrible Judge of Character: He outright states to Kenny (who is about as Obviously Evil as we have gotten in this series) that he trusts him, and is it really all that surprising to find out which of the two of them turns out to be the bigger threat?
Idiot Ball: Rod decides that it is a good idea to have Historia transform into a "combat" Titan larger than the cave they are in. Had he had succeeded in having her transform, he probably would have been killed when her Titan breaks the ceiling.
- Lampshaded by Kenny, who wonders if Rod knew that much about Titans at all.
- There was no reason why Historia would ever agree to carry the Coordinate if it would completely remove her free will; when asked about it, Rod doesn't even try to lie, and just spills the beans as if this knowledge were inconsequential. He thus expects her to accept the powers of an all-mighty, nothing-doing God as if it's just meant to happen. Nice job, Rod.
Jerkass Has a Point: Invoked and provided that he's telling the truth, of course. He wants the Coordinate and the Will of the First King to return to the Reiss family because they're the only ones that can use them correctly. There are problems with this, of course, as the Reiss that carries the Will has never, ever used the Coordinate to stop the Titans once and for all because that's part of the Will. Still, Rod's reasons are not altruistic at all, as he plans to manipulate the potential carrier, Historia, for his own benefit.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: He was once an idealistic young child who desperately wanted to save humanity from the First King's will. However, Frieda and Uri became slaves to the First King's will, and his entire family was killed years later. Rod went completely mad as a result.
Karmic Death: He gets killed by Historia after he unsuccessfully attempts to transform Historia into a Titan Shifter. Even better is that she is his illegitimate daughter, who not only rejects the Coordinate but becomes the antithesis of Rod Reiss by becoming the Queen of the Walls.
Karmic Transformation: After Rod unsuccessfully attempts to transform Historia into a Titan Shifter to reclaim the Founding Titan, he ends up transforming into a Titan himself.
Kick the Dog: Lord Reiss gives up his mistress and watches her be murdered without a second thought. However, he's unable to let them kill his daughter and spares her at the last moment.
Manipulative Bastard:
- He tricks Historia into becoming a Titan Shifter by eating Eren so that she'll acquire the Coordinate ability, and brainwashing her into being absolutely loyal to him so that he will be able to control everyone through her. He fails though.
- At the same time, Rod is also manipulating Eren into thinking that due to his father's actions, humanity will be ultimately doomed to extinction because the Coordinate ability is no longer in the possession of the Reiss family, which according to Rod, is the only family who can use the Coordinate power to its maximum potential. Even though they never actually used it to save humanity in the 100 years of possessing it.
Meet the New Boss: His mission consists in perpetuating the Reiss rule by ensuring that the Coordinate returns to his control. He disassociates himself from the details of the Will of the First King by trying to make Historia gain the power, which would have resulted in another all-powerful, nothing-doing demigod like Frieda and Uri when they were the rulers.
Mr. Exposition: Rod's lips reveal many secrets that mankind (and the audience) have long been kept in the dark about.
Mysterious Parent: Lord Reiss, the father Historia only met once when she was 10. He is hinted to be an important figure connected to the Wall Cult, and later revealed to be the true ruler.
My Greatest Failure: The loss of Uri and Frieda's humanity to the Will of the First King, especially the monumental inevitability of it, left him feeling like a cog in a huge machine whose operation he sought to perpetuate. In perspective, there is little else he could do beside sit and watch how God (Uri and Frieda) looked down on him. Frieda in particular was precious to him, and he had allowed God to take his beautiful daughter away.
The Napoleon: Subverted. In spite of being of short stature, Rod Reiss didn't come off as irascible, domineering, or overly compensating for his height. As a matter of fact, he was about the most powerless King of the Walls, especially compared to his immediate predecessors and the daughter who took the throne from him. Still, Rod was conscious of this, which manifested in an inferiority complex due to the fact that his predecessors were basically physical gods.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Rod plots to obtain the Coordinate and the Will of the First King to return to the Reiss family. However, when he pushes Historia to transform into a "Titan Shifter" to kill Eren, she decides to rescue the latter and stop Rod's plans for good.
One-Winged Angel: After Historia shatters the vial of "combat Titan" and he sees Squad Levi about to rescue Eren, he licks it up, becoming the Titan he was preparing to turn Historia into and goes on a rampage.
Only Sane Man: Out of his entire family and bloodline, he was the only one who realized the sheer madness of the First King's Will and tried everything to change that. He eventually snapped like a twig after becoming the lone survivor of the Fritz bloodline and railroaded to the throne.
Pet the Dog: Spared Historia if she agreed to changing her name and keeping her identity secret. Later subverted as it turned out he mainly kept her alive because he needed her blood since all his other children had died.
Plot-Triggering Death: His death marked the definite demise of the Royal Government and the policy of perpetuating the Will of the First King. It also signaled the coronation of Historia Reiss as the Queen of the Walls and the start of the military junta that supports her; as such, it gave leeway for the Survey Corps to eventually retake Wall Maria and learn about the secrets the old government kept from the people of the Three Walls.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The first thing that he did when he survived Grisha's attack on the luminous cave was to gather his things and try to get the hell out of dodge with Alma and Historia; that is, it was his firm intention until Kenny and the 1st Brigade sprang on them and forced him into his role as the King of the Walls. Rod certainly did not want anything to do with that shit.
Shadow Dictator: Reiss is the real ruler of mankind, though only a select few know him as anything more than a minor nobleman.
Sole Survivor: Of Grisha's attack on the chapel. His wife and all of his children present in the church died.
Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: When Historia rejects the vial of Titan serum and smashes it on the ground, the first thing he does is try to lick it up, and then go after the largest concentration of humans he can find.
Tom the Dark Lord: Assuming it isn't short for anything, Rod isn't the most impressive-sounding name for being the actual ruler of humanity. His brother has a much more impressive-sounding one, which fits given that he was the original king until he, and his daughter, bit the dust.
Unreliable Expositor:
- The information Rod provided while playing Mr. Exposition might be true. However, given his end-goal regarding Historia, there's a very good chance he had to distort the truth, or outright lie at certain points in order to achieve it.
- In Chapter 90, kissing Historia's hand gives Eren a clearer memory of the night Grisha attacked the Reiss Chapel; He actually revealed to Rod as well as the rest of the Reiss family that he came from beyond the Walls and pleaded with Frieda to use the "Coordinate" ability to stop the Titans before they killed everyone, to which she refused due to being influenced by the First King's will. Only then did Grisha have no choice but to steal it. Rod deliberately withheld this information during Eren's capture to further his own agenda.
The Unreveal: It's not quite known why it took him five years for him to find Eren, or why there was complete inaction from his part when Eren was revealed to be the Attack Titan in the first place. With this, it's implied that Rod was acting from snippets of information that he slowly found, and that Grisha Yeager might have not revealed his own identity in the glowing cave when he vanquished Frieda and her family.
Unwitting Pawn: Rod doesn't realize that Kenny is using him to further his own plans until it's too late.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: In Chapter 68, Historia gets a glimpse of his memories as she finishes him off. She sees that he used to be an idealistic youth who wanted to use the Coordinate to free humanity from the Titans. Seeing his own brother and daughter, who both swore not to succumb to the First King's will, succumb anyway, broke him.
Villainous Breakdown: He slowly but surely loses his composure as the Survey Corps draw closer and even more so once Kenny's betrayal is revealed. But after Historia rejects his order to eat Eren and shatters the vial of Titan serum, he loses it and uses the serum to transform himself into a Titan.
Walking Spoiler: His existence provides hints of the greater conspiracy within the Walls.

Frieda Reiss

Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Dawn M. Bennett (English), Erika Ugalde (Latin American Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 53 (Manga), Episode 42 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frieda_reiss.png

"This world is full of pain and suffering. That's why you should be someone everyone can love, who depends on others and on whom others can depend."

— Frieda to her young sister Historia

Rod Reiss' eldest daughter, and Historia's half-sister. In secret, she befriended Historia and taught her how to read while encouraging her to become someone the people could adore. She was a Titan Shifter who inherited the power of the Coordinate from her uncle, Uri, and was killed during Grisha's raid on the chapel. Her own lingering memories exist within Eren, and Historia unconsciously based her "Krista Lenz" persona on her. She was the Queen of the Walls from the years 842 to 845 succeeding her uncle Uri, and was later succeeded by her father Rod in office.

Action Girl: Sprung to the defense of her family from the Attack Titan, Grisha Yeager.
Adaptational Early Appearance: Albeit not in the main continuity, Frieda first appears in the anime Attack on Titan: Junior High as a playful ghost that haunts the members of the 104th.
Beauty Equals Goodness: Beautiful and kind-hearted, even being the only member of the Reiss family to show her sister any affection.
Became Their Own Antithesis: Frieda wanted to use the Founder to destroy the Titans, free the people of the Walls and bring peace to their little corner of the world, just like Uri Reiss. And just like Uri Reiss, once she actually ingested the Coordinate, the Will of the First King utterly overpowered that part of her mind and forced her to remain passive.
Berserk Button: After Historia innocently tells her that she tried to climb over the fence around the farm to follow her, Frieda became absolutely livid and violently lashed out at Historia for disobeying her. This was due to The First King's influence manifesting itself when in front of "sinners" that would leave the boundaries set for them.
Big Sister Instinct: Quite clearly adores Historia, which is good, considering how everyone else related to Historia felt about her.
Brainwashed and Crazy: As with all royal Titan Shifters. How much of Frieda was Frieda and how much was King Fritz is unclear, so absolute was his hold over her. Despite this, she's seen visibily struggling against the Will at times, such as when Grisha comes to beg for her help.
Butter Face: Not her, but her Titan form. Unlike Annie, Frieda's Titan actually had skin, so her physique wasn't as hard on the eyes◊... but, as if to make up for this, her Titan instead had a demonic◊ Nightmare Face.
Compelling Voice: Her powers appear to be tied to spoken commands, and is later revealed to have previously held the Coordinate power inherited by Eren.
Cool Big Sis: To Historia, her younger half-sister.
Cool, but Inefficient: As a Reiss who inherited the Coordinate ability, she has full access to its power, has the potential to manipulate all the Titans and could even eliminate them all. Too bad that like all the previous Reiss's she also inherits the will of the First King, which makes her feel humanity deserves their fate. So outside of wiping the occasional memory, she never actually uses this ability for anything. Which is why Eren's father chooses to break the cycle and steal the ability from the Reiss family.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Grisha tore off her Titan's head with his teeth, taking the entire spinal cord with it. Suffice to say, she did not survive being eaten.
Dead All Along: According to official records, she was murdered along with the rest of her family by bandits while in a chapel which the bandits proceeded to burn down. However, it's later revealed that she was eaten by Grisha Yeager and is the source of Eren's Coordinate power.
Dissonant Serenity: As the carrier of the Coordinate, she can effectively solve the century-long carnage that the Titans have carried out on humanity... or at least that was the plan until she gained the Will as well, which convinced her (and her uncle Uri) that humanity wholly deserves the penance. All plans for justice and a bright future goes away as soon as the Will passes on to the next carrier. This quandary turns her father into a misanthropic mess, having witnessed how tranquil they became with such monstrosity.
Epic Fail: She singlehandedly lost the Founding Titan, ending a dynastic line of two millennia. This is implied to have been a direct consequence of the peace enforced by the First King, as Frieda was not versed in combat; she can't be blamed entirely, though, as she lost it to an individual with a Titan Power specifically made to beat the crap out of other Titans.
Girl of My Dreams: A non-romantic example. Our first glimpse of her is when Eren has a vision, seeing her brushing her hair at her dresser.
Headbutt of Love: Shares one with Historia prior to erasing her memory.
Hidden Purpose Test: Invoked. The picture book that she reads to a child Historia contains details of the titanization of Ymir Fritz, the Original Titan; she even asks Historia whether she identifies with Ymir, implying that she was probing Historia as a possible candidate to succeed her as the carrier of the Coordinate and the Will of the First King, and also providing a possible reason why Historia was kept alive and under wraps regardless of her sordid origins.
How Do I Shot Web?: She was inexperienced with using her Titan form, and did not know how to tap into its "unlimited strength", allowing Grisha to overpower and kill her.
I Coulda Been a Contender!: This, Rod argued, was his hope when Frieda became the Queen of the Walls. She could have done things differently, she could have ended the century-long siege, she had the character and the drive, but she too was a subject of the Will of the First King just like her uncle Uri had been before her. This effectively broke Rod inside. It's also worth mentioning that Frieda was the shortest-lasting office holder as Queen of the Walls before Rod haphazardly had to take over after her demise (that is, presuming that the Kings of the Walls and the Kings of Eldia before them had uninterrupted lives before the Curse of Ymir took their lives after 13 years of inheriting the Titan Power).
The Ingenue: Historia's "Krista" persona is based upon lingering memories of Frieda, beloved by the locals for her gentle and loving personality.
Jedi Mind Trick: She commands Historia to forget about her, instantly erasing the girl's memory. It's clear she's done this repeatedly, though some echo of Frieda remains in Historia's subconscious.
Last of Her Kind: She was the last Queen of the Walls that held the Coordinate and the Will of the First King.
Living MacGuffin: Like Eren, she possessed the power of the Coordinate. She regularly erased Historia's memories of their time together.
Lovecraftian Superpower: A Titan Shifter, and stated to have unlimited strength.
Meaningful Name: Hers is Scandinavian for "beautiful/beloved". It also incorporates the German word for "peace". She was such a dignified and well-meaning person that Historia later based her Christa persona off of her.
Mysterious Waif: Next to nothing is known about this beautiful, delicate woman before the big reveal that Eren knew her through a memory. Her own memories passed on from his father consuming her as a Titan Shifter, to be exact.
Mystical Waif: She possesses the same Coordinate ability as Eren, but she can use it on normal humans.
Nice Gal: Was well loved by the people and it's easy to understand why. It also makes it easy to understand why she is dead.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Considering that the Kings of Eldia and the Kings of the Walls reigned for an uninterrupted 1700 years, Frieda being the fault point doesn't quite speak good things about this aspect of her.
Not So Above It All: Much to her father's chagrin, even when she decried the Will of the First King and wanted to use the Coordinate to stop the Titan threat once and for all, she too succumbed to the Will like her uncle Uri did and all her wishful thinking was for naught. So, for another generation, the Coordinate went to waste until Grisha Yeager devoured her in an attempt to break the cycle.
Only Friend: To a young Historia Reiss, being the only person who genuinely cared for her besides Rod, who was forced to keep up appearances.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Historia points out that the only times that she behaved completely unlike herself was when she (Historia) attempted to climb the fence in the farm; Frieda then began angry and fanatic-like tirades against the very nature of humanity and they deserving their cruel fate. It was as if something took over her.
Posthumous Character: Frieda is revealed to have died the very night Wall Maria fell, along with the other legitimate children of the Reiss family in a fire that destroyed the chapel they were praying in. However, through a memory scan, Eren realizes that his father Grisha actually murdered them as a Titan Shifter, ate Frieda for her Coordinate ability, and ended up getting eaten by Eren himself. Hange finds similar factual errors since the chapel was built to withstand a fire, yet was demolished, hinting that it was the work of a Titan Shifter.
Princess Classic: Everything "Krista" was, Frieda genuinely was in life. The eldest daughter of the Reiss family, she was secretly a princess and acted very much like one — gentle, kind-hearted, and always encouraging Historia to grow up to be a lady that people would love.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Dark-haired, and obviously a lovely young woman. Eren initially thinks that she resembles Historia.
Silk Hiding Steel: Implied, since when we witness a flashback to Grisha's attack on the chapel, Frieda is seen possessively protecting her family from the possible threat. Turns out she was also a Titan Shifter.
Split-Personality Takeover: The First King's ideology she inherited along with the Coordinate ability slipped through shortly after her Berserk Button was triggered by Historia. Frieda starts screaming at her that humans are all sinners, and that we deserved this fate.
Strong, but Unskilled: She has the power of the Founding Titan in her blood, but her lack of combat experience lead to her death.
Suicidal Pacifism: When Grisha confronts Frieda and implores her to kill the Pure Titans, she lectures him on how the Subjects of Ymir must atone for the sins of their ancestors and accept their end at the hands of the world. Although Frieda was under the influence of Karl Fritz's will, her speech infuriates Eren who goads Grisha into slaughtering the Reiss family and steal the Founding Titan.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Loved and admired by all, Frieda had everything it took to fill in as Posthumous Character.
Uncanny Family Resemblance: Pretty much an older, black-haired version of Krista. Eren also noted that she looked like Krista after having a short vision about her. Her Titan form looks very similar to Krista, including changing her black hair to blonde.
Universally Beloved Leader: Everyone who knew Frieda loved her. Safe to say that she'd be popular if she were publicly known as the Queen.

Uri Reiss

Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (Japanese), Nazeeh Tarsha (English), Esteban Desco (Latin American Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 64 (Manga), Episode 44 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uri_reiss_9.png

"Not long in the future, this world will be ruined. I want to create a paradise for the surviving, waning remnants of humanity."

— Uri, to Kenny Ackerman

Rod Reiss's younger brother, he was the previous ruler of humanity and a Titan Shifter who wielded the Coordinate Titan Power after inheriting it from his father. He was the King of the Walls from the years ~827 to 842. A humble and compassionate man, he befriends Kenny Ackerman after thwarting his assassination attempt and defeating him. Expressing regret that he was unable to "build a paradise for humanity" before it is inevitably destroyed, Uri passed his powers to Frieda before he could die.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Kenny cites the main reason for his loyalty to be that he considers Uri to be the strongest man within the Walls.
Best Friend: To Kenny. Even though Kenny became friends with him due to his power and his drive to find a way to exploit it for his own benefit, it's shown that Uri was indeed dear to him.
Empty Shell: It's implied through his behavior and words that Uri Reiss no longer existed by the time he met Kenny, instead the man had become Karl Fritz, The First King, in all but name. This is likely the fate of all holders of the Founding Titan in the Reiss family: Losing more and more of themselves until one day they're an unrecognizable vessel.
Evil Power Vacuum: Invoked. Kenny sought to obtain the power of the Kings of the Walls partly because of the loss of Uri, whom he considered worthy; as he held no respect towards either Frieda or Rod, he resorted to appropriating the power to himself.
Go Out with a Smile: He was shown to be smiling warmly when Frieda was preparing herself to inherit his Titan Power; he is the only character in the series to do so before being eaten by a Titan.
Horrible Judge of Character: Towards Kenny, and a worse offender than Rod. Uri trusting Kenny leads to Kenny waiting for an opportunity to steal the Coordinate power from him, and later his niece.
Lovecraftian Superpower: He was a Titan Shifter, and skilled enough to perform Partial Transformation.
Last of His Kind: He was presumably the last King of the Walls/King of the Eldians who served a full 13-year term. The subsequent 3 kings/queens have served 3-5 years.
Major Injury Underreaction: Knowing he has a Healing Factor, Uri does not flinch in the slightest when a knife is stabbed through his arm.
Meaningful Name: Uri is Hebrew for "light of God" and may be derived from Uriel, an angel whose name means "flame of God". Given that he had the Coordinate, an ability Rod classifies as "being God", and his last name is derived from the German word for "Titan", this is a clear nod towards him being the bearer of the First King's power. He may have even been given such a name on purpose.
Modest Royalty: Does not look down on others despite his status. He even bows to Kenny, apologizing for everything he has suffered.
My Greatest Failure: He states that he had sought to create a paradise for humanity before its destruction, but he regretfully admits to Kenny that he certainly did not achieve this goal.
Only Friend: To Kenny. Despite their initial meeting and vastly different backgrounds, the two come to respect and genuinely like each other.
Partial Transformation: Uri was able to conjure a Titan upper torso and arm to grab and restrain a target.
Post Humous Character: Uri died before Wall Maria fell, so everything we know about him are from the memories of others.
Recruiting the Criminal: To Rod's shock, it was Uri who advocated having Kenny work for them.
Vagueness Is Coming: He somehow knew Wall Maria would eventually fall years in advance, hinting it only to Kenny. Having received the memories and Will of the First King, he was likely aware that one day the Marleyans would no longer be content with just creating more Titans out of the Eldians to haunt the island outside the walls.
Younger Than He Looks: He looks considerably more aged than Rod, despite being his younger brother, and he was outlived by the latter. It's implied that his appearance is due to Ymir's curse, and how the Titan Powers shorten the lifespans of their vessels.

Historia Reiss

Queen Historia Reiss

The bastard daughter of Rod Reiss and his servant Alma. See her entry on the Krista Lenz page as Krista Lenz.

Royal Family Ancestors

Ymir Fritz — MAJOR spoilers

Ymir Fritz

Voiced by: Chiyuki Miura (Japanese), Apphia Yu (English), Jessica Ángeles (Latin American Spanish)

Ymir as she appears in the ethereal plane of the Paths

^{Click here to see Ymir before her death}

^{Click here to see Ymir's true face}

The mythological creator of the Titans and the First Queen of the Eldians. For the mythological figure, see her entry on the Titans page as the Original / Progenitor Titan.

A slave girl living nearly 2000 years prior to the series. She came into contact with a strange creature that granted her the power of the Titans, and spent her life enslaved to the Eldian King. Her soul continues to wander within the ethereal plane of the Paths, still enslaved to the Royal family.

Note: For information related to Ymir, the member of the 104th who was named after her, see the 104th Trainee Corps character page.

All Your Powers Combined: As the original Titan shifter and origin of the Coordinate, Ymir has limitless control over all the other Titan powers. When she joins the final battle against Eren's former friends in Chapter 135, she proves her status as a godly being by resurrecting and controlling hundreds of past generations of Titan shifters, complete with their own unique looks and skills. It's only by their opponents' past experience with fighting Titan shifters, as well as sheer luck, that they survived Ymir's initial onslaught.
Almighty Idiot: Both in life and as a being existing in the ethereal plane of the Paths, Ymir was barely a person and simply did as her master commanded. While possessing complete power over her descendants, Ymir would merely go about her tasks mindlessly and obey whatever commands the royal family gave to her.
And I Must Scream: After her death, Ymir kept wandering alone in the realm of paths for two millennia. Several hours in that realm is equivalent to one second in the actual world, meaning that Ymir had to endure eons of loneliness. That is until Eren finds her and for the first time tells her that she is no longer a slave.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: After her death, Ymir became the sole resident of the ethereal paths, with only the holders of the Founding Titan to visit and give her any sort of company.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Eren is perhaps the first person to acknowledge her as a person, as opposed to a slave or a god. Because of this, she awakens from her 2000-year trance and rejects Zeke's command.
Breeding Slave: She became the broodmare of the Eldian king, forced to bear him children.
Broken Bird: For her entire life, Ymir was tormented as a slave and her powers were exploited by her horrible master to expand his Eldian empire.
Broken Tears: She starts crying when Eren comforts her and tells her to discard her slavery and pursue freedom.
Butt-Monkey: For the Eldian Royal Family, spanning two millennia. She's practically the most glorified whipping boy in existence.
Conditioned to Accept Horror: She's been trained by her master to accept whatever horrors he wanted to visit upon her and obey his commands. It's so effective that even 2000 years later, she's still obeying his descendents.
Disproportionate Retribution: The weight of the world was put on top of her shoulders, and she endured 2 millennia of slavery... all because she was accused^*correctly of leaving a pigpen open. Doesn't get more disproportionate than that...
The Dog Bites Back: After being granted permission to be free, Ymir chooses to help Eren over Zeke. Part of the reason being to spite the latter for ordering her around like her king did.
Dramatic Irony:
- The mythological Ymir Fritz... was not a Fritz. She was just a slave and a baby factory for the Warlord King Fritz.
- The First Titan wasn't even Eldian, she was taken from some nameless tribe and bore children by an Eldian king. Her actual bloodline before that point is irrelevant and unknown.
- She turns against Zeke and disobeys his command for the exact same reason Zeke betrayed his father, Grisha: both were treated as nothing more than pawns to advance their agenda, until someone else told them to be their own person.
Driven to Suicide: Ymir did not, as the legends state, die because her powers burned out. She was stabbed by an assassin's spear while protecting her master, and simply... gave up, choosing to die.
Empty Shell: She's so beaten down by life that she barely reacts whenever something bad happens to her and refuses to improve her life in any way despite her immense power. Zeke considers her a mindless slave for good reason, since she never showed any sign that she was alive on the inside.
Extreme Doormat: She was a being of near-godly power yet followed around the bloodline of the man who abused her for thousands of years because she'd lost the ability to just say "no" after a lifetime of slavery.
Face Framed in Shadow: Her face remains partially concealed by her bangs and clever shadowing, until she is awakened by Eren.
Frame-Up: When the Eldian king threatened to gouge out one eye of all of his slaves each for supposedly allowing a pig to escape from its pen, they all point fingers to Ymir and blamed her as the sole suspect.
Gone Horribly Right: Frieda had told Historia to be like Ymir (albeit she's referred to as Krista), ladylike, kind and thinking of others. In reality, Ymir was enslaved in both mind and body to the Fritz Family, to the point that she had little sense of self to begin with. Curiously enough, this is what would happen to Historia if she were to be imbued with the Coordinate.
Grew a Spine: Eren convinces her to break free from the power her master held over her and to make her own decisions, just like Historia did.
Hidden Agenda Villain: Until the end of the series, it is not entirely clear what Ymir's ultimate goal is. She had been enslaved by King Fritz since she was a child, and even after she became a Titan, she was subservient to his will. Since her death, she has spent over two thousand years (in the real world; in the world of the paths it is much longer) crafting titans. When she specifically resurrects Zeke when he detonates the Thunder Spear in his chest to kill Levi, he believes that it's because she needs him for a greater purpose. Initially, it seems it was to bring Eren and Zeke together so the former can begin the Rumbling and end the world. However, it gets complicated when it is implied that the Rumbling is not what she wants, and she later brings Armin and Zeke together and subsequently reawakens the consciousness of their deceased friends to help the Survey Corps defeat Eren. Zeke, despite all the time he's spent in the Paths trying to discern her motives, says he cannot guess what she truly wants. In the final chapter, Eren reveals that she was in love with King Fritz but yearned to break free of these feelings, and that she wanted Mikasa to do something, which was to kill Eren despite her love for him, to free Ymir and end the curse of the Titans.
Hidden Eyes: Ymir's avatar in the Paths is depicted with her eyes hidden in shadows, even in memories of her past life. This changes when Eren hugs her and she bursts into tears.
Historical Beauty Update: The legends portray her Titan as a beautiful Goddess. It was actually a hideous, pitiful-looking creature with a skull-like face and external ribs.
Historical Hero Upgrade/Historical Villain Upgrade: She is subjected to both of these extremes, portrayed in legend as a Goddess that helped mankind prosper or a Demon that ravaged the world. The real Ymir was merely an ordinary girl who suffered as a slave and was a tool to build an empire.
I Just Want to Be Free: For almost the entirety of her existence, Ymir has been a slave in spite of her power. She always wanted to hear someone say that she is free. Her wish finally comes true when Eren tells her exactly that and encourages her to decide her fate.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Implied. She stopped doing slave labor for a moment to stare longingly at a happy wedding, and Eren showing her just a small bit of kindness is enough to buck her slave conditioning.
Love Martyr: The crux of Ymir's tragedy, as well as the ensuing millennia of suffering for the Eldian people, ultimately boils down to the fact that she actually loved King Fritz, the same tyrant who destroyed her home, killed her parents and cut her tongue; despite having obtained the godlike power of the Founding Titan, she stood by his side until her death and even beyond, enslaving her own consciousness in the Paths to servitude for Fritz's descendants. Ymir had been waiting all this time in the Paths for someone to free her from the pain of love, something which comes to pass in the closing chapters as she witnesses the love between Eren and Mikasa.
Made a Slave: Her backstory begins with a village being pillaged by warriors, and people in chains including Ymir. This seems to have been how she became a slave to the Eldian king.
Mal Mariée: King Fritz was visibly much older than Ymir, a teenager forced to marry the man that enslaved her. She spent her last years birthing children and finally lost the will to live.
Meaningful Name: In keeping with the norse mythological themes of the series, she is named after Ymir, the primordial giant of Norse mythology. Ymir the giant was slain by the gods Odin, Ville and Ve, who used his corpse to create the world. Likewise, Ymir Fritz was treated as a tool to build an empire, with no real agency of her own.
Monster Progenitor: The source of the Eldian's Titan powers.
My Master, Right or Wrong: She spent her entire life enslaved to the Eldian king, obeying him without question. Even as a being trapped within the ethereal plane of the Paths, she mindlessly obeys the Royal Family because that is all she's ever known.
Morton's Fork: There are two paths for the poor girl, both tremendously awful. First, for Ymir to continue sculpting titans and be a tool for the Fritz kings ad infinitum; second, for Ymir to take up the pent up rage of two millennia of slavery to trample the world under her foot. At the very least, she made her own choice on the latter one...
Mysterious Waif: She initially appears to Zeke as a mysterious girl within the Paths, wordlessly going about the task of building Eldian bodies and Titans out of sand.
A Mythology Is True:
- As it turned out, both the Eldian and the Marleyan account of most of the events surrounding Ymir were true. She did stumble upon a supernatural creature, as the Marleyan researchers state that she encountered the very source of all organic material, she did build bridges and paved roads with her Titan, and brutalized the Marleyans (but both by laboring as a slave to the Fritz Family), and she did die 13 years after receiving the power (but because she was slain).
- In the real-world Norse mythology, the brothers Odin, Vili and Ve slew the primordial Titan Ymir to build the world from his mortal remains, just like in Attack on Titan the Eldian Empire and the history of the world were built upon Ymir's shoulders by King Fritz who wound up chopping up her body to feed to their three daughters: Maria, Rose, and Sina. Also, there's heavy implications that the Ymir from the manga stumbled upon the World-Tree Yggdrasil, and on its roots she encountered the equivalent of the serpent Nidhogg, which gnaws at the tree's roots. Nidhogg is said to play a role in Ragnarok, in which he will fight alongside the Giants against the gods and survive the great battle.
Never a Self-Made Woman: Contrary to all the myths built around her, Ymir did absolutely nothing of her own free will. The power of the Titans she gained? She found it by pure chance while looking for shelter. The empire she built with her own hands? King Fritz told her to do all that. The royal lineage she started that lasted for 2000 years to the present day? Well, there's a reason why it's named after King Fritz and not her...
Nice Girl: Frieda describes her as this. Like most of the myths surrounding Ymir, it's a lie exaggerating how she laid down her life for her master.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Ymir actually did free a pig, setting the entire plot in motion. At first it seems like the other Eldian slaves were just willing to shift the blame on her, but a later chapter confirms she indeed intentionally opened its pen to let it escape. It was still Disproportionate Retribution on Fritz's part to hunt her for sport as punishment, without trial, and the other slaves weren't willing to lose an eye for it (though whether or not they knew she really did it is unclear). Apparently, as a tortured and imprisoned slave herself, the young slave girl freed this lone pig in a moment of empathy for another being in the same state. Her reward? More imprisonment and children-by-rape from King Fritz, followed by eons of solitary servitude building Titans.
Oh, Crap!: How she reacts when all the slaves pin the blame on her. It's one of the last times she showed any expression during her life.
Physical God: Ymir Fritz was the first ever person to wield the Power of the Titans, making her a deity in all but name. Her Titan power is referred to as the Founding Titan, which gives her unlimited control over the Eldian race. Only a direct of descendant of her can use the Founding Titan, or someone who has her permission so long as they're in contact with someone of royal blood. When she joins in on the final battle, she summons the previous generations of the Nine Titans to combat the Survey Corps, who are only able to survive thanks to their years of experience and a lot of luck. After Eren is killed, Ymir departs, but not before erasing the Power of the Titans forever.
Quiet Cry for Help: Implied. Eren states that he only made it to the ethereal plane and to her side because she wanted him there to break her conditioning.
Roman à Clef: In-Universe. The storybook Frieda and Historia read about her refers to her as “Krista.”
Shadow Archetype: She's essentially what Historia would be if the latter never stopped longing for her abusive father's affection, trying to sacrifice herself for others, and asserted her own will. Historia even based her self sacrificing Krista persona off of Frieda's descriptions of Ymir as a Nice Girl.
Shrouded in Myth: After 2000 years, very little is actually known about the real Ymir Fritz. She was, depending on the version, a beloved Goddess-Queen of the Eldian people or a vicious monster that ravaged the world. In reality, she was simply an unfortunate girl who stumbled upon a great power and spent her life being used by a cruel master.
Silent Scapegoat: When someone freed livestock, the king threatened to half-blind the slaves if the culprit did not confess. Ymir was blamed by the other slaves, and, unwilling (or unable) to protest, accepted the guilt. Subverted when a flashback reveals she actually did let out the livestock.
Stating the Simple Solution: For ~2000 years, Ymir was a tool for the Fritz kings. All it took to break this notion was for Eren to give her agency as a person. Her agency? Oh, she's more than justifiably mad.
Taking the Bullet: When she was alive, a captured Marleyan soldier had hurled a spear at Fritz. Ymir intercepted it and died, apparently losing her will to live.
Talking the Monster to Death: How does Eren stop her from fulfilling Zeke's wish to sterilize the Eldian race? He gives her a quick and short pep talk about how she's her own person who can make her own choices, and that manages to break through 2000 years' worth of slave conditioning.
Touched by Vorlons: While fleeing for her life, Ymir entered a strange tree and fell into some kind of well. There, she made contact with a spine-like... thing that merged with her body and gave her the power of the Titans. From her, this power was passed on to her descendants that ate her flesh.
Twisted Eucharist: After her death, her daughters were forced to consume her body. This began the tradition of the Titan Powers being transferred via cannibalism and spawned the Nine Titans.
Unskilled, but Strong: The legends indicate that Ymir was unable to use the individual powers of the Nine Titans to their fullest potential, but considering she had access to all of them at will and there was no other being on the whole planet that could match her, she didn't need to in order to establish the Eldians as the dominant empire in only thirteen years.
The Voiceless: In all her appearances, she has yet to speak. Zeke noted her silence when encountering her. It is strongly implied that she's actually The Speechless (as in, she's incapable of speaking and not just unwilling to) due to a shot of other slaves having their tongues cut out. Before acquiring the power of the Titans, Ymir was enslaved by the Eldians and in the same scene, we're shown a slave's tongue being cut out. It's implied the same thing happened to Ymir, although it's unknown if she grew it back after obtaining her powers.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She started out as a simple slave girl, traumatized to the point she accepted whatever was done to her. When Eren manages to awaken her within the Paths, she chooses to unleash the Wall Titans after 2000 years of suffering.
World's Strongest Woman: Ymir is by far the most powerful character in the manga. Not only is her Titan form enormous even by Titan standards but she also has complete control over all Titans and all Eldians. She also posses all of the Nine Titans powers.
Your Days Are Numbered: Hinted at. There's no evidence to support the "Curse of Ymir," that all Titan Shifters die after 13 years as not to surpass Ymir, is real. Considering that Ymir didn't survive the spear attack, it's possible that 13 years is just the limit all Shifters have.

Fritz / Ancient Eldian King (Spoilers)

Fritz

Voiced by: Eizou Tsuda (Japanese), Kenny James (English)

Debut: Chapter 122 (Manga), Episode 80 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fritz_anime_character_image_1003_b1.png

The overarching antagonist of the series overall, a powerful tyrant who lived nearly 2000 years prior to the main story. He founded the Eldian Empire using Ymir's power, and established the lineage of the royal family. His actions had caused the Titan conflict that plunged into the world of AOT in chaos.

Abusive Parents: He forced his young daughters to consume their mother's corpse raw, bones and all, so that her powers would be inherited by his bloodline.
And Now You Must Marry Me: He presents Ymir's fate as his consort and Breeding Slave as a reward.
Bad Boss: He was Ymir's master and treated her horribly. Her "reward" for all her service to him was being raped and forced to bear his children. Even as she lay dying after jumping in front of him and taking a spear attack meant to kill him, all he does is rebuke her and tell her to get up so she can continue serving him.
Bait the Dog: His expression when Ymir is mortally wounded seems like he's genuinely concerned for her. After all, she's been his queen, gave him children, and practically built his whole empire. Any decent person should feel a little affection after all that. Instead he's just mad she's dying without his consent.
Behavioral Conditioning: His actions doomed Ymir to 2000 years of slavery to the Fritz Family, as she lived, died and endured her role as a slave.
Desecrating the Dead: He made his children eat their mother, Ymir, instead of giving her a proper funeral after she died protecting him.
Disproportionate Retribution: Rather than collect evidence, he intended to gouge out one eye of every slave as punishment for supposedly freeing a single pig. When the slaves blamed Ymir for this offence, he sent her to the woods to be hunted like an animal by his men.
Domestic Abuse: Though he made Ymir his queen, he never stopped treating her like a thing and weapon that existed only to serve him. He raped her, used her to destroy his enemies, and even responded to her death by berating her to get up and keep working. After her death, he forced his daughters to eat their mother's corpse, hence continuing the curse of the Titans.
Dying Curse: He imparted this upon Ymir at the time of her death, conditioning her to the role of the slave to the Fritz family she was tied to for 2000 years:
Get up and work. This is the reason you were born into this world... our slave Ymir.
Early-Bird Cameo: First glimpsed in the anime's 3rd ending, in a painting that depicted him feeding Ymir to their daughters.
Even Evil Can Be Loved: His daughters were holding his hand on his deathbed, implying they were still attached to him despite what a deplorable person he was (including forcing them to eat their own mothers corpse). Eren deduced that Ymir’s loyalty to him was out of love as well.
Evil Overlord: A brutal, monstrous, tyrannical dictator who established an empire through slavery, genocide, and rape.
From Nobody to Nightmare: He seems to have started out as a simple leader of a barbarian tribe, but used the Titans as weapons of mass destruction to crush his rivals and build a global superpower.
Greater-Scope Villain: Of the entire series as the originator of the conflicts associated to Ymir's Titan Powers and Eldia's imperialism. He used Ymir as a weapon to commit the crimes which have made Eldians devils in the eyes of the world, and conditioned her at the moment of her death to blindly obey the Fritz Family.
Hate Sink: Despite only appearing in a single chapter, he manages to establish himself as a brutal warlord, rapist, Domestic Abuser, abusive parent, butcher, and quite possibly the most loathsome character in the manga.
Human All Along: He partially inspired the figure of the Devil of All Earth in Marleyan mythology. Besides his role in making Ymir the mother of all titans, eagle-eyed viewers re-watching the anime's third ED may notice the devil figure portrayed with light hair and horns. King Fritz is light-haired, and before taking the nine-pointed star crown, he wears a horned helmet. While he was not a literal demon, he was still perhaps the biggest monster in the series.
Humans Are the Real Monsters: An ordinary human, despite being a vicious warlord, and the reason for all the suffering in the manga.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: How did he decide to punish Ymir for supposedly freeing a pig? He set her "free" and then loosed his hunters and hounds on her for fun.
Karma Houdini: It's implied that he died of natural causes, avoiding any comeuppance for his atrocities.
Kick the Dog:
- It's probably easier to just say he did little else but kick dogs. His mistreatment of Ymir and their children is the foundation of all the horrors in the series.
- He fed Ymir's mortal remains to his daughters, notwithstanding that she bore him said daughters while she had the power of the Titans, implying that there was a significant possibility that she didn't need to be eaten by them in the first place... However, he could not afford the risk of losing her powers. It's not even known whether Maria, Rose and Sheena/Sina became Titans from consuming their mother.
Lack of Empathy: Doled out brutal punishments on slaves for even the slightest offense. He happily exploited Ymir's powers for his whims. When she died to protect him, he was actually annoyed about losing her powers, so he had his daughters eat the corpse. Then he commands his daughters to have more children so that more Titans would be created.
Mal Mariée: His "queen" was much younger, and little more than a slave and broodmare to him. Ymir's misery finally resulted in her choosing to die.
Master Race: He was the one behind the envisioing of Eldia's future, forcing his daughters to eat their mother, the first Titan, so that their descendants can turn into Titans themselves and create a Superior Species to ensure the rule of the Eldian Empire. In other words, he invented the Titans for World Domination.
Mythology Gag: The Marleyans may have based the story of Helos slaying The Devil of All Earth on the attempt on his life by a surrendering Marleyan general, which ended up killing Ymir after she stepped on the path of the general's lance aimed at the king.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: One of many atrocities he committed was the rape of Ymir, forcing the girl to bear him children. But it was not for lust; it was for him to inherit her powers as a Titan.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: His preferred tactic.
Released to Elsewhere: When he punishes Ymir, he declares her to be "free." And then starts hunting her down for sport. It's startlingly similar to modern Marleyan policy regarding sending Eldians to "paradise."
Right for the Wrong Reasons: His forcing his daughters to eat their mother's corpse. As Ymir was the first Titan Shifter, Fritz had no way of knowing that her power could be passed on by devouring her corpse. He was just throwing things at the wall in hopes that he could retain his power.
Rule of Symbolism: The nine-pointed star on Fritz's crown became the motif of the Eldian Empire; it's implied that this may be one of the reasons why Ymir's Titan power was divided into the Nine Titan Powers.
Shrouded in Myth: Averted. He seems to have been completely forgotten by history and legend alike, overshadowed completely by his slave and at best remembered merely as Ymir's consort. However, he might have been remembered as The Devil of All Earth for his role in Ymir's fate.
Small Role, Big Impact: A footnote in the history of the world, but his actions are the source for 2000 years of horror.
Ungrateful Bastard: Without Ymir, he would have been nothing more than the ruler of some insignificant tribe yet he never gave her any genuine gratitude for her service. Even after she was mortally wounded protecting him, his response was to chide her for dying on him.
Walking Spoiler: Mentioning him gives away the true origins of the Titans.

Maria, Rose and Shina Fritz (Spoilers)

Maria, Rose and Shina Fritz

Debut: Chapter 122 (Manga), Episode 80 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fritz_has_their_daughters_consume_ymir.png

King Fritz forcing his daughters to eat their mother.

Ymir's three daughters and the namesakes of the three walls on Paradis, Maria, Rose and Shina remain semi-mythological figures in Eldian history, similarly to their mother. In chapter 122 we see them in person for the first time.

Abusive Parents: As mentioned in their father's entry, they were victims of his abuse and following his will, presumably went on passing the ritual of eating their corpses to their children.
Baby Factory: Unlike their mother, who was a Breeding Slave, they were princessess and still had the duty to multiply, by their father's not-so-subtle urging.
Child by Rape: King Fritz robbed Ymir of her own free will, so it's safe to say that none of their children were conceived with any kind of consent involved.
Child Soldier: They are never shown fighting, but they inherited their mother's powers when they were children, so probably continued fulfilling Ymir's duties.
Harmful to Minors: Their father forced them to eat their mother's corpse, raw, bones at all, at a point when even the oldest of them couldn't even have been 13 years old.
Heir Club for Men: The first examples to avert it. It's quite clear that their father is most invested in passing on their legacy and not his other children, if he has any.
Minor Major Character: Even though they were the very first Subjects Of Ymir who ruled the Eldian Empire after their father's death, information on the sisters is very sparse.

Karl Fritz / Karl Reiss / The First King

Karl Fritz / Karl Reiss / The First King of the Walls / The 145th King of Eldia

Debut: Chapter 64 (Manga), Episode 44 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/karl_fritz_anime_character_image.png

The King has stolen the peoples' memories, and has made them think that humanity outside the walls has perished. He's surrounded by the people who he's made into fools and he goes on about how they're in "Utopia". I don't know what this vow that renounces war ^noteThe Will of the First King is supposed to be, but a King who can't even protect his people is no King.

— Eren Kruger, from the Kingdom of Marley's Public Security Bureau.

A mysterious Titan Shifter who used the "Coordinate" ability to aid humanity a century before the story began, saving them from extinction and building the three Walls. He was actually Karl Fritz the 145th King of the Eldians during the Great Titan War, who fled to Paradis Island instead of fighting the Marleyans who gained control of seven of the nine Titan Powers, building the walls around his remaining people, "Ymir's People", secluding them from the rest of the humanity that is hostile towards them with extreme prejudice. He was the holder of the Founding Titan's Power, the Coordinate, and the ancestor of the Royal Family.

A highly polarizing figure, the First King's actions (or lack thereof) led to the century-long siege of Mindless Titans that the Marleyans enacted upon the Eldians living in the King's "Utopia". A Fritz by birth, he's initially speculated to have surrendered his Titan power to the Reiss family, though it's later stated that the Fritz family just changed their names to Reiss and placed a system of puppet kings in order to reign behind the curtains. The First King was also a fervent believer of the Eldians' penance as former conquerors of the world, and fully deserving of whatever punishment the Marleyans put upon them; in order to enforce this potential punishment, he modified the Coordinate so that his successors maintained the status-quo, forcing them, and thus the Eldians of "Utopia", to maintain the state of self-sequestration in what's denominated as "the Will of the First King". His motives for adopting this stance remain a subject of wide speculation, as it's known that he was more than capable of winning said Titan War by just having the Coordinate.

Unable, or unwilling, to force a great number of his subjects at Marley to flee with him to Paradis, the laggard Eldians, which included members of his family that refused to abandon the war, were rounded up by the Marleyans into ghettos and forced into serfdom, providing the Marleyans with the meat of potential Mindless Titans that they would send to Paradis to besiege "Utopia". Revolutionary cells among the Eldians at Marley arose and most were crushed promptly until the Eldian informant known as "The Owl", and a young revolutionary doctor from the ghettos by the name of Grisha Yeager, colluded to remove the Coordinate from the First King's descendants and thus restore the Eldians to their former glory.

His "Will" was enforced by his successors at Paradis until the demise of Queen Frieda Reiss by the hands of Grisha, finally wresting the Founding Titan from them and thus nullifying the "Will". Though the Reiss family remained in power with King Rod Reiss and his daughter and eventual successor Queen Historia Reiss, neither of them was subject to the "Will", as Historia ultimately rejected the Coordinate, being unwilling to surrender her self-determination like their predecessors.

At the moment, the Founding Titan's Power rests upon Grisha's son, Eren, rendering Karl's "Will" null and void. Due to him not being of Fritz blood, Eren couldn't use the Coordinate to its full extent, until he and his brother Zeke contacted Ymir in the Paths realm and Eren freed her after turning on his half brother, giving him access to the full power of the Founding Titan and triggering the Rumbling.

Actual Pacifist: It was his Will that he would never retaliate against any aggression, even if it would mean the complete extermination of the Eldian people.
Ambiguous Syntax:
- His view of humanity as sinful refers to the humanity within the Walls, meaning, the Eldians AKA Ymir's People. As it turned out, the Eldians supposedly carried out a seventeen-century-long ethnic cleansing upon the Marleyans, an aspect that would certainly explain why Uri and Frieda Reiss see this humanity as deserving of their fate. Revealing this to the general population within the Walls would mean revealing that there is a fraction of humanity out there that completely despises Ymir's People.
- According to history records from the Marleyans, he was supposedly a Fritz. In reality, he was most likely a Reiss, as House Fritz are puppet kings; it's unknown whether the Marleyans know this fact, but Zeke, the Beast Titan, is aware that it's the Reiss Family the one who rules the remaining Eldians. On the other hand, if he was indeed a Fritz, it's not known why he gave the Reiss family the Coordinate.
  - Kruger speculated that there could be a false monarchy inside the Walls, since according to him and Dina the Fritz family wanted to fight the Marleyans, so something might have happened between the Walls' formation by a Fritz and the passing of the Coordinate to the Reiss family. Later, it's revealed that the houses Fritz and Reiss are one and the same.
- He imparted his Will upon his descendants, making them unable to use the Coordinate to stop the wave of Mindless Titans hounding the Walls. However, it's unclear whether this applies to members of the Royal Family that are not his descendants like Zeke Yeager, who comes from a Fritz lineage that didn't follow the First King to Paradis.
  - It's revealed in chapter 120 that yes, The Will does affect royals who aren't his direct descendants. However Zeke was able to break The Will because he had not consumed the Founding Titan, it was still with Eren.
Ancient Conspiracy: Karl Fritz and the Tybur family worked together in complete secrecy to trigger the collapse of the Eldian Empire. The Island of Paradis was where Karl along with a sizable portion of his people fled to. Using the Founding Titan's power, the memories of his people were altered and the three Walls were constructed. Karl then left a message to the outside world declaring that if the Island were ever attacked, the Wall Titans would purge all life beyond Paradis. He had no intention of actually doing that, and only left that message to fuel never-ending hatred for Eldians so that the island would be attacked down the line. He along with any successor in his bloodline would accept any form of wrath the outside world decided to inflict on Paradis, even complete annihilation.
Berserk Button: People venturing outside of the boundaries placed around them. This is passed on to his hosts: Frieda flipped out and ranted about humans being sinners who deserved to be locked away when Historia tried to sneak out on her own once.
Big Good: Invoked. He created the three Walls a century ago, making him the only reason any of the free Eldians survived the attack of the Marleyans. He also ended the centuries long war between Eldians and Marleyans. The subversion is that instead of trying to create peace amongst the nations, he chooses to lock himself and his people from the world and live a quiet life until the Marleyans inevitably take the Coordinate from him. Thing is, he never considered the will of his people, forcing them into complete submission and sequestering them against their will. One hundred years later, the rebelling armed forces of the Eldians put an end to the Will of the First King, his royal family and the government cabinet that preserved the Will.
Body Surf: His Will is transmitted through members of the Royal Family who inherit the Coordinate ability, and influences them into forbidding the exploration of the outside or making headway against the Titans. This doesn't seem to work on hosts who aren't part of the royal bloodline such as Eren, though these hosts are also unable to wield his power at its full potential.
Conditional Powers:
- He imparted the Coordinate into his Reiss descendants, but intentionally impeded its use by forcing his Will onto them, which convinces the carrier that humans are sinful and wholly deserve the battery of Titans, leading them to complete inaction.
- According to Rod Reiss, only the Reiss family can use the Coordinate to manipulate the minds of humans, though going by Grisha Yeager's successful attempt to steal it, this opens the possibility that Rod Reiss might not be telling the truth.
Cowardly Lion: Eren Kruger remarks on the irony of a nigh-omnipotent individual like the First King refusing to fight for no damn reason. It's also stated that the First King and his descendants are hated by both the Marleyans, their greatest opponents, and the Eldians at Marley for abandoning them and fleeing a war that was all but won, had he had the courage to do what he was supposed to do.
Didn't Think This Through: He had planned for the Eldian people of his Utopia to gradually die out in isolation by removing the people's self-determination, and intended to let the Marleyans carry it through; what he didn't count on was the fact that the Eldians of Utopia weren't just going to go down without a fight.
- He seriously underestimated the Attack Titan which would slaughter his descendants and steal the Founding Titan.
Dirty Coward: Downplayed Trope. For all his preaching that Eldians should pay for their sins, the First King, rather than actually trying to atone for said sins, decided to flee alongside with his family to Paradis and hide themselves behind three huge walls composed of Colossal Titans to live in peace. All the while leaving the majority of his subjects in the other side of the sea to suffer for the atrocities his ancestors orchestrated, as well as erasing the memories of everyone inside the walls as if trying to make his subjects forget his family's dark past.
Don't Make Me Destroy You: Invoked and played with. The First King erected the Walls and issued a simple threat not to meddle with the affairs of Eldia, lest he'd release the Wall Titans to raze the world barren. However, according to Eren Kruger, it's safe to assume that this was an empty threat, as the First King's philosophy involves the Eldians deserving the punishment that the Marleyans issue at them; also, a person who fled the conflict is not in a good position to make convincing threats. Sending Mindless Titans to besiege the Eldians at Paradis should have been a threat big enough to release the Wall Titans; if that didn't do it, nothing else would.
Foil:
- Karl Fritz's ideals are in stark contrast with Eren Yeager's ideals. Karl Fritz was wracked with guilt about the ghastly crimes of the Eldians and decided to enslave them so that they will be eventually exterminated. On the other hand, Eren- who prizes freedom the most- loathes Fritz's ideology, viewing it as sanctimonious and defeatist.
- He can also be seen see as this to the original King Fritz (and his namesake). Both are rulers of the Eldian empire; but while the ancient King Fritz was a bloodthirsty warlord who was just a human being relying on Ymir Fritz's titan power to raze the nations and expand his kingdom, the 145th King Fritz wielded the almighty power of the Founding Titan but was wracked by the guilt of his ancestors' crimes—which culminated in him fleeing to Paradis (along with some of his people) and letting the Marleyans take over the empire in the process.
A God Am I: Invoked. One of the possible reasons why the First King abandoned the Titan War is because he found the option of mind subjugation of his Eldian opponents to be fundamentally wrong, as constant use of the Titan Powers for warfare only served the purpose of perpetuating said warfare. As such, he fled to Paradis with the Eldians left on his side and sought to preserve them by removing their self-determination with the Coordinate, thus preventing them from engaging in war once again. Subsequent Kings of the Walls preserved the status quo until Grisha Yeager forcibly wrested the Coordinate from the Royal Family's hands, leading to their downfall and the revelation to the people of the Three Walls about their identity and role in the conflict with Marley.
Greater-Scope Villain: According to Rod, his Will influences members of the Reiss family who inherit his power, and is the reason mankind hasn't exterminated the Titans.
- It is revealed that Fritz abandoned his subjects to punish them for the sins of his ancestors. Consequently they were subjected to abuse and oppression from other races. Fritz deliberately imprisoned some of his subjects within the Three Walls of Paradis. As a result of Fritz's policies, the prejudice against the Subjects of Ymir grew within a century, leading to racial violence.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His "Vow to Renounce All War" left Frieda unable to fight Grisha off when he came to take the power of the Founding Titan from her.
Humans Are Bastards: If Frieda's ranting is anything to go by, this is the reason why the First King didn't stop the Titans and free humanity when he could. Rod later states that the only reason he could think of as to why the First King chose not to act was that he sincerely believed a world where humans were ruled by Titans would bring true peace.
Hypocrite:
- The King insists that all Eldians are sinful and deserve to be punished. And yet his plan ensured that only his subjects, both inside and outside the walls, would suffer for the actions that his ancestors made them do. Both he and his family, the only individuals that actually controlled the same Titans that brought suffering to the world, spent the next hundred years living in peace and safety.
- He nearly wiped out the Ackerman family and Asian race within the walls because they proved themselves to be immune to the mind control the Coordinate provides, and he ensured that all of his descendants would carry out his will, even resorting to brainwashing if their will was to falter. These actions shows that he, for all his talk about peace and atonement, was no different from his tyrannical ancestors.
Irony: Before sealing the Walls of Paradis to outside nations, Fritz threatened that if the world attacks Paradis, then the slumbering Wall Titans will awaken and destroy the world. However, Fritz was only bluffing and actually wanted the world to exterminate the Subjects of Ymir. A century later, furious with the constant attacks on Paradis and the persecution of the Subjects of Ymir as a direct result of Fritz's actions, Eren Yeager unleashes the Wall Titans and commands them to destroy the world.
- Fritz erased the memories of the inhabitants of Paradis, and told them that the Titans had exterminated the rest of humanity outside Paradis. Eren very nearly turned that lie into the truth.
Let Us Never Speak of This Again: It has only been 100 years since he wiped the memories of Eldians though the status quo has been so thoroughly enforced that it seems like a distant memory even to the people that lived only 30 years after the event. This has not quelled Eldians' curiosity about the whole deal, but people that get too nosy about it are forcibly made to disappear by the establishment.
Mind Manipulation: The Coordinate ability, when used to its full potential, is capable of this (albeit only on those who can claim Eldian descent) and is the reason why Eldians' memory of the outside world has faded.
Non-Indicative Name:
- He is referred to as the "First King", but he was actually the 145th King of Eldia.
- In the history books, he is descended from Ymir Fritz; according to Rod Reiss, he entrusted the Coordinate to the Reiss family and for some reason House Fritz remained as their puppet kings. Whether Rod is telling the truth, or whether the system of puppet kings was set up in that manner from the very beginning is simply not known, as Rod is shown not to be a particularly trustworthy source of information. As it turns out, the Reiss family and the Royal Fritz family are one in the same and House Fritz was just a decoy house populated by Eldians who weren't Subjects of Ymir.
Not So Omniscient After All: He was completely unaware of the Attack Titan's power to see memories of future inheritors.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Invoked. Even though his name has been revealed in the manga, Karl Fritz, and by extension his descendants, are almost exclusively referred to as "The King" or "King Fritz" by both Eldians and Marleyans. It remains the same even after it's found out that the Fritz are now called Reiss.
Orcus on His Throne: He abandoned all his people, except for those he trapped within the Three Great Walls of "Paradise" and completely ignored the world except for one brief message 80 years ago where he warned the Marley government that "if they ever bothered 'Paradise' again," he'd retaliate with an army of Titans millions strong. Of course, since the Marley government wants to steal the natural resources on "Paradise", they can't let that stand.
Physical God: In the eyes of Rod Reiss, this is exactly what he was due to being in possession of the "Coordinate" ability and being able to use it to such extremes. Subsequently, anyone in the Reiss family who inherits his knowledge and power is viewed as such as well.
Screw Your Ultimatum!: The Warriors attempt to steal the Coordinate from the King of the Walls by avoiding the awakening of the Wall Titans, this being the threat that the First King poised upon the rest of the world should they attempt to meddle with the affairs of the Eldians. Later, in not so many words, Eren Kruger argues that by having fled the fight during the Titan War, the First King and his descendants wouldn't have the balls to do it, or would have done it already after the century-long Mindless Titan siege that the Marleyans threw upon them. He turns out to be right, as the First King indeed thought that himself and his subject Eldians were entirely deserving of their fate.
Shared Unusual Trait: The shown Reiss descendants that carry his Will and the Coordinate share the trait that their Titan forms are blond regardless of their human hair color. The exception is Rod Reiss, who was a descendant but carried neither the Will nor the Coordinate, and his Titan happened to be bald. Eren Yeager is the current holder of the Coordinate, but he is neither a Reiss nor a carrier of the Will. However, this only holds true on the manga, as in the anime, Frieda's Titan retained her stark-black hair color.
Suicidal Pacifism: Fritz preached pacifism and believed that the Subjects of Ymir must be punished to atone for the sins of their ancestors.
Unperson: At a given time, only a few people know he existed and only one knows what he is via memories transmitted by eating the previous holder of those memories.
Walking Spoiler: His existence sheds light on the origins of the Walls, the altered memories of Eldians, as well as the privileges of the Reiss royal bloodline (his descendants).

Groups formerly associated with the Royal Family:

The Ackerman Clan

Ackerman Clan

The Ackermans are a special group of Eldians that in the past were tasked with guarding the Eldian Royal family, they are capable of developing nigh-superhuman strength, speed and agility, and it's said that they are a byproduct of the same events that led to the creation of the Titan Powers. When Karl Fritz fled to Paradis Island he took the members of the Ackerman family with him, but because they were immune to the memory wiping powers of the Coordinate, they fell from the King's good graces and were hunted to near extinction; a few surviving members found refuge away from the capital, near the border of Wall Maria, and others in the dark underbelly of the society. The persecution of Ackermans by the Royal Government stopped due to the alliance of Uri Reiss and Kenny Ackerman 15-20 years before the fall of Wall Maria. After the events of the Survey Corps Uprising, there are only two surviving members of the Ackerman family: Levi and Mikasa Ackerman.

Ambiguous Situation: Although it has been mentioned that they are immune to the mind controlling powers of the Coordinate, it wasn't initially made clear whether they are also immune to Titanization:
- Kenny intended to become a Titan to steal the Coordinate from Rod Reiss but he never had the opportunity to try, and when he was dying he ultimately decided to not take the Titan serum and accepted his end.
- Mikasa mentioned that she would like to be the one to inherit Eren's Titan but she was shot down by Jean who said that due to her mixed bloodline of Ackerman and Asian it's unknown if she can become a Titan.
- Levi did feel a jolt upon hearing Zeke's shout which Titanized the other members of his team, but it was later implied that he never consumed the tainted wine in the first place.
- Given the nature of their powers, these being the collective combat experience of their ancestors, plus the strength of a Titan in a human body, it's not quite known what would happen on the off-chance that an Ackerman is Titanized. It's egregious enough that they're supernatural already; if they're Titanized, just about anything would be up for grabs.
- It's finally confirmed in chapter 138 that Ackermans are indeed immune to Titanization, as Levi and Mikasa are the only non-shifting Eldians to not be transformed by the "mysterious organism"'s toxin.
Badass Family: It is revealed that the Ackerman family possess a special trait, which seems to grant incredible strength and skill once awakened. For this reason, they went into hiding near the edge of human territory.
Blessed with Suck: Implied Trope. Given that their powers are intrinsically tied to the power of the Titans, there's a considerable possibility that much like the Curse of Ymir is universal across all Titan Shifters as the ultimate price they have to pay for their powers, the Ackerman powers also come with a pretty asterisk at the end of the sentence. So far, only the hindering of their free will has been implied (which is bad enough on its own), but this only opened the possibility of much worse consequences for them.
The Dreaded: Throughout the world they were second-feared only after the Titans, after Karl Fritz' exile they existence passed into legend.
Eskimos Aren't Real: For Marley and the rest of the world, their existence was dismissed as a myth spread by the the Eldian Royal family; until Zeke encounters not one but two of them in combat.
Half-Human Hybrid: Zeke describes them as "byproducts of Titan science", although their exact origins are unknown; true to form they are known to have superhuman strength and are immune to the mind control powers of the Coordinate. It's later revealed that they're basically Titans in human form.
Immune to Mind Control: They are known to be immune to the mind-controlling powers of the Coordinate, which is the reason why they were hunted to near extinction.
Mysterious Past: No one seems to know exactly how they came into being or how far back the clan goes. They weren't accounted for in Ymir Fritz's flashback chapter that exposed the origins of the Titans. Meaning Ackermans are at least a more recent development than the Founding Titan. It's later revealed that they're basically Titans in human form.
Praetorian Guard: In the past they were the King's Royal Guard; curiously two of their members end up guarding a wielder of the Coordinate (Kenny guarded Uri and Frieda and Mikasa guards Eren).
Superpowerful Genetics:
- As mentioned above, Zeke describes the Ackerman clan as a byproduct of Titan Science, but no other elaboration is given.
- It's later revealed that Ackermans are Eldians who can use the power of the Titans while remaining human. However, it doesn't explain why they're immune to the Founding Titan's mind-manipulation powers, or the price they had to pay to attain said powers.
Superpower Lottery: Played with. So far, there has been no significant power or agility disadvantages on any Ackerman shown, other than the possibility that significant parts of their conscious free will might be hindered by their conditioning.
Undying Loyalty: Ackermans are staunchly loyal to their closest friend, to the point that it becomes frightening. Mikasa is known to be aggressively loyal to Eren; the same goes for Levi towards Erwin and Kenny towards Uri. This is implied to be a mechanism imbued in them originally as the protectors of the Royal Family. However, it's unknown whether it's tied to the "awakening" of their innate powers, as other Ackermans get little to no exposition (like Kuchel and Mikasa's father). This is partly confirmed by Eren, who states that their powers derive from the Titans, and that they're conditioned to extreme loyalty to a single subject. However, while the three members given any characterization all demonstrate great loyalty to one person, Kenny and Levi both possessed their power long before meeting Uri and Erwin. Kenny's grandfather also explained that the clan was hunted down for defying the First King, rejecting their master's will. For his part, Kenny seems to have taken this information to his grave.

The Tybur Family

Tybur Family / House Tybur

The Tybur family is a wealthy and influential family of Eldians living in large mansions on sprawling grounds as "honorary Marleyans" in the Kingdom of Marley, far removed from the ghettos that most Eldians are forced into. See their entry in Attack on Titan: Marley for more.

Members of the Ackerman clan:

Mr. Ackerman Sr.

Voiced by: Tetsuo Kanao (Japanese), Mark Stoddard (English)

Debut: Chapter 65 (Manga), Episode 43 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ackerman_sr.jpg

The grandfather of Kenny and Kuchel Ackerman, and by extension great-grandfather of Levi Ackerman, an old man who spent his final years in hiding while being protected by his grandson Kenny.

Last of His Kind: It's implied that he was old enough to remember the exodus of King Karl Fritz and the Eldians to Paradis Island, as he intended to take his knowledge to the grave.
Morality Pet: For Kenny, he built his reputation as a serial killer by killing the members of the Military Police who came too close of discovering his grandfather's ancestry. But he did this only to protect him.
Mr. Exposition: He explains to Kenny in his deathbed about the reason his clan was hunted to near extinction by the government.
Posthumous Character: He died long before the events of the series, when Kenny was still young.

Kenny Ackerman

See his entry in Attack on Titan: Military Police Brigade.

Kuchel Ackerman

Kuchel Ackerman / "Olympia"

Debut: Chapter 69 (Manga), Episode 47 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kuchel_ackermann.png

Kuchel with Levi

^{Click here to see Kuchel on her deathbed}

"... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Ya seem to have... lost a lot of weight, Kuchel"

— Kenny Ackerman, to his deceased sister

The mother of Levi Ackerman and the sister of Kenny Ackerman. A prostitute in the underground settlement at Wall Sina who went by the name "Olympia", Kuchel's death from a (presumably) venereal disease led Kenny to raise the young Levi.

Bit Character: She serves as the connection between Levi and Kenny, but being dead, she serves no other purpose.
The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: She dies of an illness that leaves her looking like a skeleton with skin wrapped around it. Since she works in a brothel, it was presumably venereal.
Fantastic Racism: Invoked. She is part of the Ackerman clan, who have been relentlessly prosecuted by the Royal Family due to their Immune to Mind Control traits, this being the main reason she went into hiding and into a life of prostitution.
Foil: To Alma (Historia's mother).
- Both were prostitute single mothers who were wanted dead by the government, died when their kids were young and were also connected to Kenny Ackerman. However...
- Alma was wanted dead by the council and the MP for having an illicit affair with Lord Reiss and birthing his illegitimate child, while Kuchel was hunted by the Reiss's ancestors and the MP for being an Ackerman. Alma was executed while Kuchel died of an illness. While Kenny was the one who murdered Alma, Kuchel was Kenny's sister. The biggest difference is that Kuchel genuinely loved her son and decided to keep him despite the greater risk it would pose to her. While Alma HATED Historia, blamed her for her situation and wished that she had the courage to kill Historia herself hoping it would save her own skin. Furthermore, Kuchel took care of Levi until her death while Alma neglected Historia and eventually straight up abandoned her.
Good Girls Avoid Abortion: As a prostitute barely eking out a living and a member of a persecuted bloodline, letting one of her johns impregnate her really wasn't a pragmatic choice. She still carried Levi to term in spite of her brother urging her to not keep her baby.
I Was Quite a Looker: Kenny briefly has a flashback of her while she still was healthy, and she's rather easy on the eyes. Of course, contracting her fatal (and probably venereal) illness robbed her of any semblance of beauty.
Mama Bear: According to Kenny, Kuchel staunchly refused not to carry out her pregnancy of Levi in spite of her precarious situation as both a prostitute and an Ackerman. She took care of the boy until her last breath.
Plot-Triggering Death: Her death causes Kenny to take over the care of Levi.
Posthumous Character: The reader sees her first as an emaciated body on her death bed, mere hours after her demise.
Shed the Family Name: Her alias as a prostitute was Olympia, and it's implied she went exclusively by it as her pimp needs a moment to point her to Kenny (who asked for her as Kuchel) and her son went by Only One Name for almost his whole life. Kenny decides it was her way to escape persecution and remake herself.
Single Mom Stripper: Short of character development, Kuchel was a prostitute who was raising her young son Levi in her brothel.
Strong Family Resemblance: Looks like a female Levi.
Stubborn Mule: She decided to carry her pregnancy against Kenny's advice, in the worst possible environment for a baby, and with a prize for her head. The fact that she ended up bearing the greatest warrior ever to come out of the three walls proved her right in the long run.
Tearful Smile: Seen with one in a flashback as she cuddles her newborn son.
Undignified Death: She dies on a brothel, under the sight of her young son, in a settlement that is a den of thieves and crime. To top it off, her son ends up with her brother, a known serial killer.

Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman

Mikasa's birth parents, see their entry in Attack on Titan: Others.

Levi Ackerman

See his entry in Attack on Titan: Levi Ackerman.

Mikasa Ackerman

See her entry in Attack on Titan: Mikasa Ackerman.

Members of the Eldian Government at Paradis

King Fritz

Voiced by: Osamu Sonoe (Japanese), Charles Campbell (English)

Debut: Chapter 54 (Manga), Episode 38 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingfritzanime2.jpg

The current monarch of the Fritz dynasty, an ancient royal family left over from the previous era. He is the ruler of humanity, and noted for his continued support of the Survey Corps even when popular opinion turned against them. However, he is merely a symbolic figure with little actual authority and a servant of the Reiss family, the true rulers within the Walls. For this reason, King Fritz is not included into the Eldian Royal Family section, as his ancestry has not been established in the story.

The Alcoholic: Implied, as our first glimpse of him has a strong focus on the whiskey bottle beside him.
Authority in Name Only: He is a puppet king, so most (if not all) of his decisions come from the Royal Government subservient to Rod Reiss.
Beard of Sorrow: Our only glimpses of him is of a haggard, melancholy looking man with a beard.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Inverted. He can look imposing and threatening at first glance, helped by his sheer calmness when Erwin or the news of Wall Rose's breach was brought to him. His leitmotif throughout the scene can even imply he's the Beast Titan. Turns out he was asleep with his eyes open the whole time and he's the epitome of Scatterbrained Senior when awake.
Fake King: The Reiss family is the true royal family. This guy is just a figurehead.
No Name Given: He is identified only as a member of the Fritz family.
Perpetual Frowner: From what we see of him, it looks like he's gotten used to frowning.
Puppet King: He is merely a figurehead, while the Reiss family rule from the shadows.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted. Initially is viewed as such by the Survey Corps, due to his continued support of them against strong opposition from the nobility and even the general public. But it is later revealed he is merely a Puppet King for the true powers ruling over humanity, with his apparently reasonable acts part of a much larger conspiracy.
Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: He naps this way when the people around him are arguing about the supposed breach of Wall Rose.
Upper-Class Twit: While a very serious and heated discussion is going on concerning the fate of the Survey Corps and humanity itself, he's... napping. His handlers have to yell at him to wake up, and his immediate response is to wonder if it's lunchtime yet.

Royal Government

Debut: Chapter 52 (Manga), Episode 38 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/government.jpg

Deltoff, Roderich, Aurille, Gerald

I had hoped the same thing until five days ago, when I was summoned to the Chancellery. [...] The government's officials must have had their own reasons, I thought. But I realized something about them. It's not humanity they want to protect. It's their positions and gardened homes. In fact, if anything threatens their authority, even if it's not a Titan, even a human, they will eliminate it all the same.

— Commander Erwin Smith, Survey Corps

The cabinet of King Fritz composed of the highest echelons of the remaining humanity, including noblemen and a representative of the Church of the Wall. Operating from the capital city of Mitras, in truth, just like King Fritz, they are subservient to the actual monarch, Rod Reiss.

Aristocrats Are Evil: They risk the very existence of humanity for their lands, property and positions.
Blue Blood: Though they are not as high-tiered as the King, it's said that their families have had power over the people of the Walls from even before they were erected. They're also probably not Subjects of Ymir, which gives them a reason to look down on the rest of the people inside the walls.
Corrupt Politician: They only care about the confines of Wall Sina, where they live and have property.
Create Your Own Villain: They had no one in the military high command on their pocket and they started picking on arguably the strongest personnel in the whole military, namely the Survey Corps, not only sending the 1st Brigade to hunt them, but also by trying to smear their reputation to the public. They overplayed their hand and lost in the worst manner possible.
Didn't See That Coming: They order the closure of Wall Sina to refugees when they learn that Wall Rose has fallen to the Titans. Even when they're told that the fall was just a hypothetical scenario, they expect the military to follow through with their order. They find themselves floored when every single official in attendance flat out refuses to carry out the outrageous order and arrests them for intentionally endangering humanity.
Didn't Think This Through: They send the anti-personnel troops of the MP 1st Brigade to hunt down the Survey Corps, who are the greatest combatants the military has to offer, notwithstanding that the 1st Brigade hasn't really seen action of the sort ever before. Immediate shortcomings are found, including the limited capabilities of their anti-personnel 3DM gear and the troops' inferiority in melee combat. Once the 1st Brigade is out of commission, the Royal Government falls after one last provocation against the people of the Three Walls.
Government Conspiracy: They serve exclusively to maintain the status quo and protect the special interests and property of the nobility.
History Repeats: The Military Coup leads to the cabinet being disposed of and their spots replaced with high-ranking military officers to run the Government. The Time Skip shows this new Cabinet very quickly fell into being just as corrupt in their positions as the old, treating Historia as no more than a Puppet King and a Baby Factory. Fitting enough they find themselves falling victim to a Military Coup as well, this time from the Yeagerists.
If You Thought That Was Bad...: Considering their willingness to sacrifice a great portion of their fellow humans, one can begin doubting whether the purge of thousands after the fall of Wall Maria was really necessary, or whether that number of people really needed to die in the first place.
Jerkass: Their immediate order after being informed of the fall of Wall Rose is for the military to prevent refugees from entering Wall Sina.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- Ostensibly subverted. The last time there was a Titan attack within the confines of Wall Sina, it was an infiltration job that had little to do with the integrity of the Wall itself. A great influx of refugees not only increases the risk of other attacks against humanity, but also, an unchecked volume of people might bring more unidentifiable Titan Shifters in their lands within the innermost Wall. Had they raised the previous point, which they didn't, they would have had more credibility even if it's a skewed argument; still, it doesn't change the fact that they issued the order to close off Wall Sina to let a great portion of humanity to die off just because they want to maintain the status quo... not minimize the collateral damage, which is what they're supposed to be doing. The callousness and liberally uncaring attitude towards their fellow humans in favor of material possessions finally tips the balance against them, making all of the military branches rebel against them.
- It's later revealed that the people inside the Walls are not actually the last remnants of humanity, explaining why the Royal Government is so unconcerned with the plight of the people. Skepticism towards an attack from Marley due to the looming threat of the Wall Titans also adds to their overall careless attitude.
Kangaroo Court: They ordered the gallows constructed before Erwin had an audience. It's made abundantly clear that they did not intend for him to come out alive from the court.
Muggle Power: Based on one of their comments to Zackly about how the commoners in side the walls have "slave blood" as well as the speculation of Reiner, Bertholt, and Annie, the nobles within the walls are most likely not Subjects of Ymir. This probably makes them feel justified in their oppression of the Subjects of Ymir, much in the same way that the Marleyans do.
Meet the New Boss:
- Their mission is to perpetuate the status-quo within the Three Walls, which has been their purpose for the last century, and through the reign of about seven Kings since the First King.
- Subverted. Although they are noblemen, it's implied that they don't belong to the original nine noble families of Eldia that held the Nine Titan Powers, as these were largely vanquished during the Great Titan War, and their powers were given to commoners by the Marleyans.
- Invoked and subverted. One of the goals of the military junta is to avoid keeping secrets to the public like the Royal Government used to do.
- Unlike most of the people within the walls, the nobles are not Subjects of Ymir, and thus not potential Titans. This implies that, even during the heyday of the Eldian Empire, the life of the average Eldian was probably little different from it is under Marley: one of constant fear of you or your loved ones being turned into Titans for the sake of the Empire's militarism.
Military Coup: Led by Darius Zackly, Commander-In-Chief of the military, and Erwin Smith, Commander of the Survey Corps on the grounds of the nobility's intentional endangerment of humankind. It is presented as a formal coup when they place Historia Reiss as Queen, though they still lead the cabinet.
Named by the Adaptation: Unnamed in the manga, named Aurille, Gerald, Roderich, and Deltoff in anime.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: To the military branches. They are directly responsible for keeping the Garrison lazy, the Military Police stagnant, and are basically the bane of the Survey Corps.
One World Order: They function as humanity's government as a whole. Subverted after The Reveal that humanity is not extinct beyond the walls.
Sheltered Aristocrat: One of the main reasons for their disconnect with the plight of the military and the common people.
Skewed Priorities: They divert the top-ranking trainees towards the Capitol in order to "protect" themselves and the king. This serves two purposes: (ineffectively) preventing the other military branches from having ace soldiers, and using select soldiers from the lot to man the Central 1st Brigade, the secret police of Rod Reiss. It's not fair to blame them for the whole situation, but they did take advantage of it and endangered humanity by doing so, by misinterpreting that the military serves humanity and not them.
This Is Unforgivable!: Their willingness to outspokenly sacrifice a great fraction of humanity leads even the reluctant commanders of the military to denounce them and support the coup, namely Nile Dok of the Military Police and Dot Pixis of the Garrison.

Yeagerists

The Yeagerists (Spoilers)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jaegerists_28anime29.png

"All of us should want Eren Yeager to lead Eldia. We want a strong leader, one who's even willing to make cold-hearted decisions."

— Surma, a member of the Yeagerists and a former trainee.

An insurgent paramilitary faction comprised of people who believe that only Eren Yeager can save Paradis from the global threat it faces and create the New Eldian Empire. Led by Floch Forster, the Yeagerists overthrow the military junta and quickly gain authority over Paradis.

The Bad Guy Wins: Even though the Rumbling is stopped by the Alliance and Eren is dead, the Yeagerists continue to control the government of Paradis, and the rest of the world is in no shape to stop them from fulfilling their ultranationalist plans.
Black Shirt: They follow Eren and his ideals, trying to support him in order for him to complete his plans. Even staging a coup against the military junta and executing foreigners in the island.
Breaking Out the Boss: They carry out a prison break to gather all of their followers, as well as their leader, Eren Yeager.
Conspicuously Public Assassination: The Yeagerists successfully assassinate Darius Zackley by planting a bomb beneath his chair. It is met with wild jubilations from the public.
Dangerous Deserter: They're formed by defectors from the military and stage a coup against the government. Its members are either idealistic rookies like Surma or psychotic nationalists like Floch.
Defector from Decadence: Most of the Yeagerists are soldiers from different branches who are disgruntled with their present government. A large section of the Survey Corps joined the group because they were dissatisfied with their commander Hange Zoe's leadership.
Evil Power Vacuum: The finale sees the Yeagerists effectively take over Eldia after Eren's death. Even with the Rumbling stopped, 80% of the world's population was decimated, and prior to that the Yeagerest managed to assassinate Darius Zackley. Along side that assassination, many of the military leaders of the three branches were tricked into consuming Zeke's spinal fluid and got turned into Titans (Nile, Pixis) forcing them to be killed. The final kicker is a few of the notable remaining leaders (Shadis, Hange) ultimately died in the line of duty trying to prevent the Rumble. This effectively left a power vacuum that the Yeagerists filled.
Fallen Hero: They're comprised of soldiers who all once fought for the preservation of humanity against the Titans, only to turn into a fascistic military group after learning of the outside world. Three years after Eren's death, they've become Paradis' main military force, and most of the surviving supporting cast from Paradis have become part of the Yeagerists, with Rico and Hitch shown to have joined their ranks.
He Who Fights Monsters: In order to fight the fascistic Marleyans, part of the military becomes fascists themselves. Using wine contaminated by Zeke's titan spinal fluid, they divide the Yeagerists and loyalists from the rest of the military by labeling them with colored armbands, not unlike Marley's treatment of Eldians, the irony of which is not lost by Pyxis.
Ironic Echo: Erwin Smith's "Dedicate your hearts!" is adopted by the Yeagerists and it carries a sinister meaning.
A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Yeagerists believe that the Eldians of Paradis are the master race over the inferior races in the outside world. They rally behind Eren believing in his power to destroy Paradis' enemies and start the New Eldiean Empire.
New Meat: Most of their members seem to be new recruits or trainees. Floch being the only member of the "Old Guard" of the Survey Corps.
No True Scotsman: The Zealotry of the Yeagerists reaches the point where they have no qualms killing other Eldians, even tricking fellow soldiers to ingesting Zeke's spinal fluid to turn them into Titans. To them, a "true" Eldian is one that follows only their convictions.
The Only One: The Yeagerists are of the conviction that they can save Paradis by dedicating themselves to Eren Yeager and thus establish the New Eldian Empire.
Patriotic Fervor: The Yeagerists are very imperialistic and seek to revive the Eldian Empire.
The Purge: Commit one by poisoning any senior head of the Military against Eren or anyone else that can pose a threat with wine poisoned by Zeke's spinal fluid.
Putting on the Reich: The Yeagerists have a lot of rhetoric that resembles the Nazi's and Fascist's.
Renegade Splinter Faction: The Yeagerists are formed by defectors from the military and some civilian supporters. A large portion of them are formed by former Survey Corps members disgruntled with Hange Zoe's leadership.
Villain Has a Point: Part of why the Yeagerists managed to take such a large foothold on the common people of Eldia; they not only played on their xenophobic fears of the outside world's hatred for them, but their disenfranchisement by the corrupt military power.
Villain with Good Publicity: The Yeagerists enjoy support from most of the public, which gives them an advantage over the current Royal government.
We Were Your Team: Averted with a vengeance. One would assume that with the deaths of Floch and especially Eren, it would cause the Yeagerist cause to dissipate since Floch was the organizer and Eren was their symbol. Wrong, if anything Eren's death only makes him a martyr and emboldens them further. Even with the rumble stopped, Eren still managed to wipe out close to 80% of the outside world and the Yeagerist created a power vacuum inside of Eldia, killing all opposing upper-ranked military officers.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: They think organizing a coup against the government, killing dissidents and foreigners, mass poisoning them with Titan fluid and helping Eren activate the rumbling against the outside world is the right thing to do to in order to protect Paradis.

Floch Forster

A member of the Survey Corps and survivor of the Battle of Shiganshina. After discovering the truth, Floch developed a hatred for humanity outside the Walls, becoming a staunch supporter of Eren Yeager and the leader of the Yeagerists. For more information, see his profile in the 104th Trainee Corps page.

Louise

A resident from Trost District, inspired to join the Survey Corps after Mikasa saved her as a child. She later joins the Yeagerists after developing a Might Makes Right philosophy. For more information, see her profile in the Survey Corps page.

Surma

Voiced by: Shogo Sakata (JP), Ben Balmaceda (EN), Manny Rojo (Latin American Spanish)

A young Cadet of the 109th Trainee Corps who joins the Yagerists believing that they are the only ones who can properly lead Eldia. Rallying fellow Cadets in abandoning the Trainee Corps and joining the movement. Despite his radical believes, he still a kind and naïve person.

Branch: Trainee Corps.

If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: He is forced by Floch to beat up instructor Shadis to show his true support for the new Eldian order, he goes through with it, he however regrets it later and tries to protect Shadis from the rest of the Yagerists.
Naïve Newcomer: An unexperienced cadet who has never faced either Titans or human opposition, but still is fervorous in his support of the Yagerists. He later breaks under pressure and frees the prisoners kept by the Yagerists and is almost eaten by a Titan during the Battle of Shiganshina.
Patriotic Fervor: A fervorous supporter of the Yagerists, interrupting Shadis' speech just to show support for them.
Token Good Teammate: He shows remorse and promises Shadis protection from the rest of the Yagerists after he saves him and the rest of the his fellow Cadets from the Titans. Shadis however, rejects the offer and tells him and the other cadets to not oppose the Yagerists.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Different from Floch, he supports the movement because he thinks Eldia needs a strong leader. His views are immediately shattered when he is forced to beat up instructor Shadis.

Daz

A cowardly trainee that survived the Battle of Trost. He would later join the Yeagerists. For his profile, see the 104th Trainee Corps page.

Samuel

Samuel Linke-Jackson

A former member of the 104th Trainee Corps and Garrison, and a survivor of the Battle of Trost. Samuel would join the Yeagerists. For his profile in the 104th Trainee Corps page.

Holger

A Survey Corps recruit that leaks information to the public about Eren's imprisonment along with Floch, Louise and Wim. For his profile, see the Survey Corps page.

Wim

A Survey Corps recruit that leaks information to the public about Eren's long with Floch, Louise and Wim. Later he joins the Yeagerists and acts as The Dragon for Floch. For his profile, see the Survey Corps page.

Other Noteworthy Eldians

Note: From this section on is for all Eldians that are not affiliated with the Walls, the Eldian Royal Family, the Marleyan military, or the Eldian ghettos in Marley. Please see the Main Character Index to find information about these groups.

The Owl

A mysterious agent and informant for the Eldian cause inside the Marleyan goverment. For more information and his true identity, see his entry on the Kingdom of Marley page as Eren Kruger.

Grisha Yeager

A young Eldian physician from the Liberio Ghetto at Marley and eventual leader for the Eldian cause, noteworthy for being responsible for bringing the Attack Titan to the Eldians of Paradis, appropriating the Coordinate Titan from the Royal Family, and uncovering the truth behind the Eldians' besieging. For more information regarding detailing his background and eventual fate, see his entry on the Other Characters page.

Eren Yeager

Grisha's son, a young cadet of the Survey Corps and the inheritor of the Attack and Coordinate Titans from his father Grisha. For more information see his page.

Characters / Attack on Titan: Eldia

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Eldia

The People of Ymir

Eldians / Elodians / The People of Ymir / The Devils of Paradis / The Children of the Devil

Eldian Royal Family / Reiss Family / Fritz Family

Contemporary Royal Family Members

Lord Rod Reiss

Voiced by: Yusaku Yara (Japanese), Kenny Green (English), Pedro D'Aguillón Jr. (Latin American Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 52 (Manga), Episode 38 (Anime)

Frieda Reiss

Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Dawn M. Bennett (English), Erika Ugalde (Latin American Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 53 (Manga), Episode 42 (Anime)

Uri Reiss

Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (Japanese), Nazeeh Tarsha (English), Esteban Desco (Latin American Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 64 (Manga), Episode 44 (Anime)

Queen Historia Reiss

Royal Family Ancestors

Ymir Fritz

Voiced by: Chiyuki Miura (Japanese), Apphia Yu (English), Jessica Ángeles (Latin American Spanish)

Fritz

Voiced by: Eizou Tsuda (Japanese), Kenny James (English)

Debut: Chapter 122 (Manga), Episode 80 (Anime)

Maria, Rose and Shina Fritz

Debut: Chapter 122 (Manga), Episode 80 (Anime)

Karl Fritz / Karl Reiss / The First King of the Walls / The 145th King of Eldia

Debut: Chapter 64 (Manga), Episode 44 (Anime)

Groups formerly associated with the Royal Family:

Ackerman Clan

Tybur Family / House Tybur

Members of the Ackerman clan:

Mr. Ackerman Sr.

Voiced by: Tetsuo Kanao (Japanese), Mark Stoddard (English)

Debut: Chapter 65 (Manga), Episode 43 (Anime)

Kuchel Ackerman / "Olympia"

Debut: Chapter 69 (Manga), Episode 47 (Anime)

Members of the Eldian Government at Paradis

King Fritz

Voiced by: Osamu Sonoe (Japanese), Charles Campbell (English)

Debut: Chapter 54 (Manga), Episode 38 (Anime)

Debut: Chapter 52 (Manga), Episode 38 (Anime)

Yeagerists

Floch Forster

Louise

Surma

Voiced by: Shogo Sakata (JP), Ben Balmaceda (EN), Manny Rojo (Latin American Spanish)

Daz

Samuel Linke-Jackson

Holger

Wim

Other Noteworthy Eldians

The Owl

Grisha Yeager

Eren Yeager

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