Nine Titans

"After her death, Ymir's soul was split into nine Titans, who built the Empire of Eldia."

- Mr. Yeager recounts the origins of the Nine Titans to Grisha

The Nine Titans (九つの巨人) are nine Titan powers that have been passed down through the Eldian people for nearly 2,000 years after Ymir Fritz's death, each of them having their own name. They are called the Founding Titan, the Attack Titan, the Colossus Titan, the Female Titan, the Armored Titan, the Beast Titan, the Jaw Titan, the Cart Titan and the War Hammer Titan.

History
Around 2,000 years ago, Ymir Fritz obtained the power of the Titans and became the first Titan, which is the Founding Titan. Thirteen years later, she died and her power was then split into three by her daughters who devoured her. Eventually, the powers split into the Nine Titans, which were subsequently inherited by nine of her descendants. The Nine Titans soon destroyed the ancient nation of Marley and conquered the entire continent to build the Eldian Empire. As family relations play a significant role in passing inheriting memories from the previous inheritors of the Titans, the Nine Titans normally resided within noble families during Eldia's reign. Examples include the Fritz family with the Founding Titan and Tybur family with the War Hammer Titan.

The noble families who held the Nine Titans, other than the Fritz family, were in a constant state of conflict with each other, but the Founding Titan had maintained the peace. When the 145th King, Karl Fritz, inherited the Founding Titan, he held great shame for the actions of his people and carried sympathy for Marley, a former nation that was conquered and oppressed by the Eldians. He conspired with the Tybur family as atonement for the actions of their ancestors and fabricated the story of Helos, a Marleyan hero who defeated King Fritz. They succeeded in inciting a civil war, the Great Titan War, with the help of the people of Marley and while Eldia collapsed from the inside, Marley seized control over seven of the Nine Titans, with only the Founding and Attack Titans escaping their grasp. They distributed the Titans they had (except for the War Hammer Titan) among Eldians loyal to them known as Warriors. Karl Fritz then moved many Eldians onto Paradis Island and built the Walls by transforming thousands of Subjects of Ymir into Colossus Titans, which hardened to form three concentric walls. The king then erased the memories of the Eldians on the island, except for a few minority races which were immune.

The Tybur family was allowed to keep their Titan because they were the first to fight for Marley, leaving them and the Reiss family (the renamed Fritz family) the only remaining Eldian houses left with their Titan after the war. The Reiss family later lost their Titan to Grisha Yeager in the year 845. After Grisha's Attack Titan ate Frieda Reiss's Founding Titan, the two Titans mixed into one; this resulted in the number of Titans being reduced to eight. The number was reduced again years later when Eren Yeager's Attack Titan consumed the younger sister of Willy's War Hammer Titan, bringing the number of Titans down to seven.

Names and attributes

 * The Founding Titan (始祖の巨人), by screaming, can turn Subjects of Ymir into Titans, control the minds of Titans, and alter the memories and bodies of Subjects of Ymir, but only if the inheritor has royal blood or is in contact with a Titan of royal blood. It is connected to all Subjects of Ymir and Titans via paths.
 * The Attack Titan (進撃の巨人) can receive memories from both past and future inheritors of the Titan. Guided by these memories, it always moves ahead, fighting for freedom.
 * The Colossus Titan (超大型巨人) can evaporate its body to release immense amounts of steam.
 * The Female Titan (女型の巨人) is able in every field and can attract nearby Pure Titans by screaming.
 * The Armored Titan (鎧の巨人) is covered by hardened, armor-like skin, except in key areas necessary for movement.
 * The Beast Titan (獣の巨人) has a unique bestial appearance and has devastating throwing capabilities.
 * The Jaw Titan (顎の巨人) is the swiftest of the Nine Titans and has sharp teeth and claws capable of breaking almost anything.
 * The Cart Titan (車力の巨人) is quadrupedal, has great endurance, and can stay transformed for long periods of time. Its speed rivals that of the Jaw Titan.
 * The War Hammer Titan (戦槌の巨人) can harden its flesh into various weapons and structures. It can also be controlled from afar through a cable of Titan flesh.

Physiology
The heights of the Nine Titans vary greatly: the Cart and Jaw Titans are small at 4 and 5 m, respectively, and the Colossus Titan is enormous at 60 m. The rest hover around 15 m, with the Founding and Female Titans being slightly smaller at 13 and 14 m, respectively; the Beast Titan being slightly larger at 17 m; and the Armored and Attack Titans being exactly 15 m. The War Hammer Titan is also around 15 m.

These heights are definite and it does not matter what the height of the Pure Titan was before inheriting the power of the Titans. For instance, Eren's Pure Titan was originally 4 m, but grew to 15 m after inheriting the Attack Titan, and Armin's Pure Titan form grew from barely being tall enough to look over the buildings in Shiganshina to the immense 60 m size of the Colossus Titan. The opposite is also known to occur. Falco Grice's Pure Titan form was approximately the same size of the Armored Titan, but shrank down to 5 m upon receiving the power of the Jaw Titan.

If an inheritor possesses two or more Titan powers, it appears that one of them would take precedence over the others. Eren Yeager has both the 13 m Founding Titan and the 15 m Attack Titan, but his Titan form is 15 m.

Age does not affect the appearance of the Nine Titans. The Warriors' Titan forms remain constant through their childhood and into early adulthood.

Some Intelligent Titans can talk while others cannot. Those who cannot talk have mouths that physically prevents them from proper speech, such as Eren's. The ones that can talk include Ymir, Zeke, Pieck, and the younger sister of Willy. Speech is not defined by the Nine Titans, as Ymir could talk in her Titan form while Porco Galliard could not, despite them both having the Jaw Titan. The fact that even some Abnormal Pure Titans are capable of speech implies that the ability to speak is completely arbitrary.

Inheritors of the Nine Titans do not adopt the appearance of the previous owners' Titans, as both Ymir and Frieda's Titans' appearances are vastly different from Marcel Galliard and Uri Reiss's Titans, respectively. The current inheritor's Titan form does experience certain changes depending on which of the Nine is received, as Ymir's Titan form gained sharp claws and teeth after acquiring the Jaw Titan and Armin's Titan form became much larger after acquiring the Colossus Titan. Eren's Pure Titan form was much smaller than his current form, and both Ymir's Titan form and Frieda's Titan form were noticeably more emaciated than their Titan bodies after inheriting their Titans.

Some of the Titans have been shown to possess the ability to harden. The Armored Titan is particularly skilled at this, being able to naturally harden its entire body. It can also control the areas of hardening, removing armor for more mobility or creating claws on its fingertips and toes. The Jaw Titan has naturally hard teeth and claws; this hardening is much stronger than normal hardening. The Female Titan is also capable of hardening: Annie is able to selectively harden regions of her Titan and even create a protective layer around her human body. The War Hammer Titan takes it a step further and can even make weapons out of hardening. The Attack Titan does not have this as an innate ability, but it can still be gained through specialized serums, such as the case with Eren. Zeke's Beast Titan can also harden parts of itself.

Trivia

 * Many transformed Titan forms are modeled after mixed martial artists. For instance, the Armored Titan is modeled after and the Attack Titan is modeled after.
 * Grisha Yeager consuming the Founding Titan and Eren Yeager consuming the War Hammer Titan are the only known cases where a person inherits one of the Nine Titans while already having one.
 * When inheriting the War Hammer Titan, Eren's eyes light up. Similarly, a light is also shown in Frieda's eyes when she was influenced by Karl Fritz's vow of renouncing war.
 * Inheritors of the Nine Titans retain some traits in terms of appearance to their Pure Titan forms. For example, Eren's Attack Titan has a jagged jawline which resembles his Pure Titan form's jaw. Reiner and Bertolt also recognized Ymir as the Pure Titan that ate Marcel.
 * Inheritors typically tend to lose control of themselves during their first transformation into a Titan.

Navigation
Neun Titanen Nueve Titanes Dziewięciu Tytanów Девять Титанов