Ymir Fritz

"1,820 years ago, our ancestor, Ymir Fritz, made a contract with the Earth Devil to gain a power. The power of the Titans."

- Mr. Yeager tells his son of Ymir's tale

Ymir Fritz (ユミル・フリッツ) was a figure of ancient history. She was a Fritz family monarch and is said to be the first of all Titans and the ancestor of the Subjects of Ymir.

Appearance
In all illustrations depicting Ymir Fritz, she is shown as a young girl wearing white robes. In the book Frieda Reiss reads to Historia, Ymir is dark-haired, whereas in the book Mr. Yeager reads to Grisha, she is fair-haired.

In her Titan form, Ymir appears to have had blonde hair. Little else can be said about her Titan form, since all depictions of her in old books and illustrations appear to be highly romanticized.

Personality
Being a subject of ancient history, little is known about who Ymir truly was as a person. However, when reading about her story to Historia, Frieda Reiss describes her as a kind girl who is always thinking of others, as well as lady-like. Additionally, the Eldian people, such as Grisha Yeager, speak of Ymir with great reverence, praising her accomplishments for their people. On the other hand, the Marleyan peoples think of Ymir as a pawn of the Devil due to Marley propaganda about the circumstance that she made deal with the Devil and she and all her subjects were despised for it.

History
Over 1,820 years ago, Ymir Fritz somehow gained the power of the Titans. According to Eren Kruger, this was done when she came into contact with the "source of all living matter" as a young girl. With this power, Ymir became the progenitor of all Titans. The power of her Titan, the Founding Titan, was the coordinating point linking unseen "paths" which united the minds of her people, the Subjects of Ymir. What she accomplished with her powers is unknown, but after 13 years Ymir met her death, and her "soul" was split between nine successors who would afterwards found the Eldian Empire. However, her memories would live on throughout the generations due to the abilities of the Founding Titan. Furthermore, all inheritors of her power would be doomed to die after 13 years as she did, in a phenomena that would later be known as the "Curse of Ymir". No Titan would possess more power than Ymir had possessed in life. Some time after her death, Ymir's existence was hailed as a god-given miracle. Many would claim that as the Founding Titan, she used her Titan power to cultivate barren lands, build roads across the lands, and raise bridges through the mountains of the world, though these claims could never be supported. On the other hand, after the fall of the Eldian Empire in the Great Titan War, the new Marley government would spread slanderous legends that Ymir's power was derived from the "Earth Devil".

The Uprising arc
Many centuries later, Frieda Reiss, a descendant of Ymir, visits her half-sister Historia on the farm where she is raised. During some of her visits, Frieda tells Historia the story of Ymir's deal with the Devil. Frieda advises Historia that she must be lady-like, as Ymir was. She speaks of Ymir as being an altruistic girl, and urges Historia to be loving and beloved like her when she is grown. However, Historia does not remember these visits, since Frieda always used the Founding Titan to erase her memories after every encounter. Historia would only recall vague images of Ymir's story in the years to come.

Return to Shiganshina arc
Some years later, when the Survey Corps discovers Grisha Yeager's basement, they find three journals. Within Grisha's writings, he recounts his childhood when he was told the story of Ymir and her people by his father. Grisha writes of joining the Eldia Restorationists in the nation of Marley several years afterwards, learning of the supposed great accomplishments achieved in Ymir's time. Together with the resistance, Grisha declares that they must venture to the island of Paradis, where Ymir's descendants had fled eighty years ago, in order to retrieve the Founding Titan and bring back the nation of Eldia.

Trivia

 * Her name is the very same as a primeval being in Norse mythology who is the progenitor of all Jotun, or ice giants, and the first living being. In addition, Ymir is the grandfather of Odin, the king of the Norse gods. Ymir also means "the scream". Both names apply well to Ymir Fritz, who was the progenitor of all Titans and possessed the power of the Founding Titan, once known as the "Scream" (叫び) by the Survey Corps.

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