Reiss family

"This is the duty that the royal line, the Reiss family, is charged with."

- Rod reflects on the Titan succession rituals

The Reiss family (レイス家) is an influential and wealthy family living inside the Walls. While they masqueraded as a minor noble family living inside northern Wall Sheena, they are, in truth, the true royal family who were in possession of the Founding Titan until it was stolen by Grisha Yeager. Currently, Historia Reiss, the illegitimate daughter of the late Rod Reiss, is the ruling queen of humanity and the last known, living member. In ancient times and on the continent of Marley, the royal family was known as the Fritz family.

History
In ancient times the royal family was known as the Fritz family. The family was descended from Ymir Fritz, the first of all Titans, whose descendants founded the nation of Eldia. However, towards the end of the Great Titan War, the 145th Fritz King, the holder of the Founding Titan, moved Eldia's capital to the island of Paradis and constructed the Walls by use of the Founding Titan. To accomplish his goal of "true peace" he controlled many Colossus Titans and forced them to harden their skin and encage themselves into the three Walls; Maria, Rose, and Sheena. After he gathered as many Eldians as he could on the island, he wiped their memories of the outside world, making the people believe they were the last of humanity in a world overrun by the Titans.

However, this brainwashing did not affect those of minority bloodlines, such as the Ackerman family and the Asian clan. Those who agreed to the wishes of the First King were given the status of nobility. The Ackerman family and the Asian clan, however, disagreed, and were hunted to near extinction for this. To protect his subjects, the First King sent an ultimatum to the Marleyan government, stating that if they were to interfere with his vision of peace, the millions of slumbering Colossus Titans would be unleashed upon the Earth. After this, the royal family cast aside the Fritz name and renamed themselves the Reiss family.

Some time later, King Reiss gave the Founding Titan to a successor, dying in the process. The Reiss family ruled the Walls in secret for the next 100 years by masquerading as a minor noble family living inside of Wall Sheena near the Orvud District. The King of the Walls would be their figurehead.

A special ritual was conducted every generation in which the Founding Titan was passed down from one family member to another. The current holder of the Founding Titan would be chained in the cavern beneath the village chapel near the Reiss family estate. Meanwhile, the successor to the Founding Titan, would inject themselves with a serum and transform into a mindless Titan to devour their predecessor. This would give them the power of the Founding Titan and the lost memories of humanity. However, this would also give them the ideology of the First King and force them to keep humanity under the Titans' rule, even if they previously had a desire to free them.

They would never reveal the reason for this, even to their own friends and families. Being bound by this will would be noticeable by the user's dark, vacant eyes, which was apparent in Uri, Frieda, and Mr. Reiss. However, the user's eyes would differentiate between dark and their normal color, the former only occurring when they acted under the First King's will or used their Titan shifting powers. The Reiss who possessed the Founding Titan would be the true king or queen of mankind for however long they possessed it, as shown by Uri and Frieda. Presumably, the ceremony would be conducted every thirteen years or so, due to the Curse of Ymir, as the Founding Titan would be reborn into a random individual Eldian if one were to die without passing on their powers.

One of the many Founding Titans was Mr. Reiss, the father of Rod and Uri. The brothers always begged him to exterminate the Titans, but he always refused, so much so that he locked Rod behind bars for his attempts. When it came time to pass his position to a son, Uri volunteered, asking Rod to pray. After the procedure, Uri had inherited the First King's ideology, but wished to build a paradise for mankind inside the Walls, believing that the world would end in the near future. One way he did this was by stopping the persecution of the Asians and the Ackermans after a failed assassination attempt by Kenny Ackerman, who later became a Reiss bodyguard and Uri's closest friend. Many years later, Rod married and had five children with his wife; Urklyn, Frieda, Dirk, Florian, and Abel. He had also conceived a sixth child, a daughter with one of his maids, Alma, his mistress and confidant. When it was discovered that Alma was pregnant, he sent her away to a ranch where she gave birth to Historia. Historia had an isolated upbringing and raised to believe she was an unfortunate, unwelcome mistake, which led to her developing a martyr complex; she wished to die in a way in which everybody would remember her fondly and not hate her for existing. She had no friends, could never leave the ranch, was constantly harassed by children around the ranch and very little interactions with her mother, who only talked to her twice, both times wishing she did not exist. Her grandparents rarely talked to her, only interacting with her to instruct her on her chores and her duties around the ranch. Her only forms of companionship were the animals being husbanded, and Frieda, who visited her in secret and taught her to read. Frieda told her to be a lady; a girl who was kind, gentle, and thought about those around her; a girl all would love. She would often scold Historia for not doing this and would become emotional when Historia viewed her as a proper lady. After her visits, she would wipe Historia's memory to protect her. These memories were only accessible in dreams for some time, yet Historia would forget them when she awoke.

When Frieda was 15, she inherited the Founding Titan by devouring Uri in the Reiss succession ritual. Before she inherited the Founding Titan, she was a cheery and generous girl who would be known to go to the fields to thank the farmers for their work. However, after becoming the true queen of humanity, she began to experience bouts of depression and mania. Historia mentions how she would go on ranting about how all humans were sinners and then feel very depressed afterwards. Historia has a flashback in which she screams at Historia, horrified, when Historia mentioned she had gotten a splinter from climbing over the fence.

Fall of Shiganshina arc
Days after the fall of Wall Maria in 845, the Reiss family went to the Reiss Chapel to pray. However, Grisha Yeager, a man with the power of the Attack Titan who lost his wife to the attack on Shiganshina, met them there. He begged Frieda to free humanity from the Titans to protect them, but Frieda refused. He then launched an attack on the Reiss family, attempting to exterminate the whole family. He fought Frieda as a Titan to the death, but Frieda was defeated due to not being able to control the Founding Titan to its full potential and was eaten by Grisha through the neck. Grisha then violently killed Rod's wife and the Reiss children and destroyed the Reiss Chapel, with the only survivors of the Reiss family being Rod, who fled blindly, and Historia, who was not present. Grisha then found his son Eren in a refugee camp and injected him with a Titan serum and allowed himself to be eaten. Since Eren was not a Reiss, he would not be influenced by or fall under the First King's ideology; and because of Eren's desire to slaughter the Titans for keeping humanity caged and for killing his mother, he could free humanity and do what none of the Reiss members would. With Frieda's death, Rod succeeded her as the true king. To cover up Grisha's attack, he blamed the Reiss chapel's destruction and his family's death on bandits and had the chapel reconstructed.

Rod attempted to go to the farm and get Historia, possibly in order to bring her up as heir since his true-born children were all deceased. As Kenny describes to Historia, the only reason Rod sought her out was only because he needed her blood. However, the First Brigade of the Military Police beat them there, attempted to kill Historia and Alma, with Kenny slitting Alma's throat, being sent by Rod's congress. This was because they viewed Historia, an illegitimate child, as unfit to bear the Reiss name. Rod decided on a way to keep Historia alive; she would give up her old identity, forsake any claims, and join the Survey Corps, hopefully dying by a Titan. This was seen as an acceptable alternative, and Historia was given the identity of Krista Lenz and sent to live in a refugee camp until she was old enough to enlist in the Military. In the Military, Rod sent the Church of the Walls to monitor her. Under her Krista persona, Historia was the lady Frieda wanted her to be, but also constantly sought to die in a way that would be considered a martyr. She graduated the 10th in the 104th Cadet Corps, as Ymir, her best friend, slacked off the last several weeks of training to give Historia the 10th spot so she could join the Military Police. Historia ended up joining the Survey Corps with Ymir, in a squad under the command of Nanaba, due to her martyr complex.

Clash of the Titans arc
The Reiss Family, like the Fritz family, is valuable to the Marley government. Ymir, who fears being killed by them if ever captured, believes Historia is valuable enough to them in order to earn a pardon. She would also not be harmed if handed over. Indeed, Reiner Braun said that his goals align somewhat with Ymir's because he wants to protect her too, as part of his mission is to capture the Founding Titan. However, according to Eren Kruger, he tells Grisha Yeager it was wise of his royal blooded wife, Dina, to hide her royal heritage as if she was ever taken by the Marley government, she would likely be used by them to bear children to be used as part of Marley's warrior program and inherit the Founding Titan, for only one of royal blood may use it.

Shortly afterward, Historia is captured by Ymir, who has allied with Reiner and his partner Bertolt Hoover to capture her and Eren in exchange for a pardon, due to eating their friend and mission partner, Marcel when she was stuck in Titan form. Historia agrees to go with them if it means helping Ymir, but Reiner and Bertolt are defeated by the combined efforts of the Survey Corps and Eren's newly awakened power to control nearby Titans. Ymir allies with the two shifters and the trio escape. Ymir leaves Historia behind for her own safety and a devastated Historia reluctantly returns with the Survey Corps.

The Uprising arc
In the year 850, Levi and Hange Zoë interrogate Djel Sannes, a member of the Interior Military Police, who reveals that the Reiss family is the true royal family, meaning that Historia has a chance to claim the throne. Erwin Smith plans to overthrow the current monarchy and install Historia as queen.

Historia initially refuses, but after being pressured by Levi, she agrees. However, in an attempt to track down her father Rod Reiss, Historia and Eren are captured by Kenny Ackerman and taken beneath the village chapel to the chamber where the Reiss family passes on the Founding Titan as part of their succession ritual. Rod attempts to persuade Historia to transform and devour Eren, saying that she would be able to meet her sister Frieda again and be strong enough to kill all the Titans.

Historia was about to, until she learned that all the Founding Titans fell under the First King's ideology, her sister included. Historia realized that the Founding Titan destroyed Frieda's humanity and that Rod was only using her to regain the Reiss family's power. She refused to allow this, so she smashed the Titan serum, attacked Rod and attempted to free Eren and escape. Rod was shocked, lightly sobbing, and crawled on the floor and licked the evaporating Titan serum, deciding to devour Eren himself. He called to his father, his brother, and his daughter, saying that he was going to be with them again. This, however, transformed him into the largest Titan in existence, a 120 meter Abnormal Titan and destroyed the Reiss Chapel. With Rod being a mindless Titan, he began to crawl towards Orvud District. The Garrison and Survey Corps led an attack on him, using explosives to blow his hands and head off. They then attempted to cut the nape of his actual body before he could regenerate, with Historia herself delivering the final blow. Historia became popular with the people for saving Orvud and for her past.

After this, Historia took the throne as queen. She, however, let the Scouts do much of the ruling for her, preferring to run an orphanage ranch in Wall Sheena. The orphanage is composed of all of the children orphaned in the Walls by the Titans and in the Underground Districts, with the money confiscated from the noble families. She does, however, sanction the operation to reclaim Wall Maria and gives medals to the surviving members of the Survey Corps.

Trivia

 * The Reiss family is one of three notable bloodlines mentioned in the manga, the other two being the Ackerman family and the Asian clan. The Fritz family is also of great importance, though their bloodline is identical to the Reiss family.

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