Founding Titan - Attack on Titan
The Founding Titan is the first of the Nine Titans that appear in the Attack on Titan franchise. Approximately 2,000 years before the first events of the Attack on Titan story line, Ymir Fritz, from whom all Eldians descended, became the Founding Titan (or Shiso no Kyojin) as a young girl.
Founding Titan History
Ymir Fritz was a slave who lived in a small village enslaved by the Eldians approximately 2,000 years before the events of the series (the Common Era). When a pig escaped from its holding in the village, Fritz, the village leader, asked who was to blame. The other slaves condemned Ymir, whose punishment was to be hunted down by the men of the village and their dogs.
She managed to escape the hunt, and it was during this time she gained the ability to transform into a Titan. Armed with her powers, Ymir returned to her village and served Fritz and the Eldians, producing three daughters with him; Maria, Rose, and Sina.
Ymir lived thirteen years with the Founding Titan power, using it to strengthen Eldia. After her death, Fritz forced the three daughters to eat Ymir’s corpse, so that they could inherit the ability to transform into Titans as well. Fritz then commanded them to reproduce and cannibalize each other, so that Eldia could continue to use the power of the Titans to rule. Doing this, all subjects of Ymir gained the ability to transform into Pure Titans.
Founding Titan Origin
The Founding Titan is one of the Nine Titans, each of whom carry a piece of Ymir’s soul.
The exact events of how Ymir came to possess the power of the Founding Titan are unclear, though there are several theories.
The Creationist (or Eldian) theory, is that Ymir was given the Founding Titan’s powers by God. Meanwhile, Marleyans theorize that Ymir was given the powers by the Earth devil. Lastly, Eren Kruger believes Ymir transformed into the Founding Titan when she came into contact with the ‘source of all living matter’ while seeking refuge in the hollow trunk of a tree, which led to an underground pool of water. Ymir slipped and fell into the water accidentally, where an unknown spine-like creature pierced her back and spine, triggering the first Titan transformation.
Memories of the Founding Titan are passed down from each inheritor, so the true origin story of Ymir Fritz cannot be made clear until Eren Jaeger, or another of the inheritors, access Ymir’s memories.
Abilities
The Founding Titan has several abilities unique from all other Titans, which can be activated by the inheritor’s scream. The inheritor also doesn’t need to transform to be able to use these abilities. They can be used merely by talking, although it is unclear if and how much the volume of the scream affects the range of abilities. It is also unclear if only Titans within hearing range are affected, or if these abilities could possibly extend to all titans. However, the full extent of the Founding Titan’s abilities cannot be used by anyone who does not have Royal blood; the descendants of Ymir Fritz, or the Reiss family.
Titan Control
The Founding Titan is able to control the actions of Pure Titans by screaming. However, the Founding Titan’s scream does not have the power of control over the other Nine Titans. The Wall Titans’ existence is first discovered in Season 2, Episode 1. Eren Jaeger is also seen using this power in Season 2, Episode 12.
Titan Creation
The scream of the Founding Titan can also turn subjects of Ymir into Titans. This ability does not affect those who are not of Ymir’s bloodline. Karl Fritz, the 145th king of Eldia, used this ability to turn hundreds of subjects of Ymir into Titans as large as the Colossus Titan, using their bodies as the foundations for the three Walls on Paradis Island, named after Ymir’s three daughters. The Beast Titan has a similar ability, though the user of the Beast Titan must inject those he wishes to transform with his/her spinal fluid before activating their transformation with a scream.
Memory Manipulation
The Founding Titan is able to manipulate and erase memories of the subjects of Ymir. The most notable use of this ability was also by Karl Fritz, who manipulated the memories of the entire population of Paradis Island, leading them to believe they were the only humans left in the world. Frieda Reiss also used this ability to erase Historia’s memories of their time together in Season 3, Episode 7. This ability may not be absolute, as Historia was sometimes able to recall those memories in her dreams.
Hereditary Capability
The Founding Titan can be passed onto inheritors of both royal blood and common blood, although the powers won’t be as complete for someone of common blood. It’s currently unknown how well the abilities of the Founding Titan function when used by someone of common blood in comparison to royal blood. If someone comes into contact with royal blood, they can temporarily use the Founding Titan’s powers - this is shown in Episode 37, when Eren Jaeger was able to use the Founding Titan’s power after striking Dina Fritz’s hand.
There are more abilities potentially to be discovered in the future that the current inheritors of the Founding Titan may not have been seen to use yet. The Founding Titan may also share abilities with the other Nine Titans.
Known Inheritors
In order of least current to most current:
- Ymir Fritz.
- Karl Fritz, The First Reiss King, and 145th King of Eldia.
- Rod and Uri Reiss’s father.
- Uri Reiss.
- Frieda Reiss (niece of Uri Reiss).
- Grisha Jaeger.
- Eren Jaeger (son of Grisha Jaeger).
The Fritz family passed down the Founding Titan from successor to successor. However, after Karl Fritz inherited the Founding Titan and used its powers to build the Walls, he took a vow to remain peaceful with the rest of the world’s population across the sea, all those who inherited the Founding Titan after him would also inherit his ideology and be overcome with it. This causes huge personality changes to all those who inherit the Founding Titan; they become peaceful, calm, and lose all will to instigate war with the Titans.
However, this vow becomes null if someone who does not have royal blood inherits the Founding Titan. Eren Jaeger came into possession of the Founding Titan from his father, Grisha Jaeger, who stole the power from Freida Reiss, and because he is not of royal blood, it can be assumed that the vow renouncing war is now void.