Restorationists (Anime)

"My comrades! We'll overthrow Marley and restore the pride of Eldia!"

- Grisha Jaeger rallying up the Restorationists

The Restorationists (エルディア復権派) were a radical group of Eldians in Liberio who plotted to destroy Marley using the Founding Titan, and restore Eldia as a world power.

They received weapons, funds, and historical documents from "the Owl," an informant from the Marley government. The documents were written in an unreadable language, but looking at illustrations, they concluded that Ymir Fritz had used the power of the Titans to cultivate lands, build roads, and bring wealth to mankind.

Ideology
The Eldian Restorationists believed themselves to be "englihtened" compared to the others Eldians in Liberio, negating Marleyan propaganda thought at school, which consisted into categorizing the Subjects of Ymir as a "filthy" and « demonic » race because of their ability to transform into Titans and the innumerable atrocities enacted by the Eldian Empire upon Marley and the rest of the world for millennia.

Because of the daily oppression they suffered at the hands of Marleyan authorities and public, the members of the group held a fanatical hatred towards Marley, and vowed to take revenge for all these years of oppression. They believed that the Eldian Empire did nothing, and that the only way to fight the wrongs endured by the Eldians on the mainland was to bring Eldia back to power and be ruthless to its ennemies.

With the information and history books provided to them by the « Owl », they developped a warped view of the Eldian Empire and Ymir Fritz, believing that there wasn’t any atrocity committed upon non-Eldians, and that the empire only brought peace and happiness to the different peoples of the world, because Eldians never had such a brutal culture since the Founder Ymir would have never allowed the kind of atrocities Marley claims the Eldian Empire to have committed.

The Eldian Restorationists also believed Subjects of Ymir to be « chosen children of God », thus adhering to the racial supremacist mindset at the time of the empire, which consisted into the belief that Subjects of Ymir were a superior race above all others.

The symbol of the group was a cross-shaped scar on each member's body, which they made themselves with a knife.

History
The remnants of the royal family that stayed in Marley formed a revolutionary army; however, this army was unsuccessful and was crushed. All members of this original organization, including Eren Kruger's father, were smoked out by Marley Public Security and executed for treason against Marley.

Grisha Jaeger joined the Restorationists at the age of 18 when a member of the organization came to his clinic and told him that they received information that his sister had been killed by a man in the Marley authorities. Grisha devoted himself to taking down Marley and reviving Eldia. As he was interpreting an ancient scroll sent by the Owl, he met Dina Fritz, a woman of royal blood whose ancestors decided not to move to Paradis Island. The two married and had a son, Zeke Jaeger. Grisha was sure Zeke would lead them to victory over Marley. When the Warrior program of the Marley government was proclaimed, he planned to make Zeke a Warrior who was then supposed to turn against Marley. However, at the age of 7, Zeke reported his parents to the authorities to protect himself and his grandparents, and the Restorationists were arrested. They were then sentenced to be sent to Paradis Island, where they would roam as Pure Titans as they feed on other Eldians.

Before being sent to Paradis Island, Grisha was tortured by the authorities for information such as the Restorationists plans, and the identity of "the Owl." After this, the organization members were shipped to Paradis Island in preparation of their execution. All members of the group were transformed into Pure Titans, except Grice and Grisha. The former, who was simply kicked off the wall to be eaten by the Titans, and the latter, who was kept alive by Kruger for further questioning. Once most of the public service authorities had returned to their ship, Kruger saved Grisha from execution by killing Gross. He then revealed himself as "the Owl," transformed into a Titan, and begun slaughtering the other authorities.

After returning to Grisha from his massacre, Kruger explained his reasoning for saving Grisha and gave him a mission to restore Eldia's freedom and dignity by entering the Walls to retake the Founding Titan. He explained that Grisha would do this by using the Titan powers he would give to him. At first, Kruger was met with resistance from a burnt out Grisha, but after giving him a picture of his family and convincing him further, Grisha's will was reignited and he accepted Kruger's mission.

Trivia

 * Despite "Eldia" (エルディア) being spoken before "Restorationists" in Episode 57, the official English subtitles ignore it and translate the name of the organization as just the "Restorationists." However, in Episode 63, the subtitles include "Eldia".