Grisha Yeager

"If I knew this was the price to pay for freedom... I never would have paid it. I'm sorry, but... You've made a terrible miscalculation. I apologize. I can't hate anything anymore."

- Grisha faces the consequences of his actions

Dr. Grisha Yeager (グリシャ・イェーガー) was an Eldian doctor and Titan shifter who originated from the Liberio Internment Zone in Marley, and was a member of the Eldia Restorationists movement.

After mysteriously showing up outside Wall Maria around twenty years ago, he lived in Shiganshina District before it fell, and was acknowledged for saving hundreds of lives from a plague that hit the city.

From his marriage to Dina Yeager he had a son, Zeke Yeager. After being sent to Paradis, he re-married to Carla Yeager and had a second son, Eren Yeager. He also adopted Mikasa Ackerman in the year 844.

Human Form
Dr. Yeager had a gentlemanly appearance. He had straight black hair neatly parted down the middle, a light beard and mustache, and gray eyes. He wore a gray suit with a black vest and a white shirt, a plain bolo tie, and round glasses. In the anime, his hair and eyes are both brown, and he wears a brown suit with a white cravat and a white shirt with ruffled sleeves. He had also been seen wearing a small, black hat with a gray stripe. On the left side of his chest, he had a large cross scar that he carved into himself as an oath and rite of passage to join the Eldia Restorationists.

Titan Form
As a Titan, he was tall and had a body with a notoriously bulkier torso than his arms and legs. He had long, dark hair, elongated ears, small eyes, and his mouth was covered in flesh and a dark, thick beard along with black chest hair. His Titan form had several similarities with Eren's, including their long dark hair, elongated ears, sunken eyes, and a muscular physique. His Titan form somewhat resembled that of Zeke's, in the fact they both possessed large and wide torsos.

History
As a child, Grisha lived in the Liberio Internment Zone with his family. One day, he and his sister ran out of the internment zone chasing after a blimp and were found out by two Marley public security officers. One of the men punished Grisha while the other one took Fay away. However, when Grisha returned home she was not there. She was later found dead and mangled in a river. The Marley men visited the family home and explained that Fay and Grisha were at fault for leaving and denied any knowledge of her death. As Mrs. Yeager was filled with tears, Mr. Yeager smiled and explained that he will re-inform his son of their evil history. Mr. Yeager then explained the history of the Eldians and why their ancestors' actions are good reason for their currently cruel subjugation under the Marley people. However, Grisha explains that he believes the Marley men were lying and tries to say they killed his sister but Mr. Yeager silences him and the two fight over their situation as Eldians. Grisha continued to live his life being shamed for being an Eldian and when he was a young adult he became a doctor. One of his patients had a curious scar on his shoulder which he explained was a symbol for the Eldia Restorationists. This led Grisha to learn of their real past and his sister's fate at the hands of the Marley men's dogs. He then joined the group to fight for his people's restoration to power. A mole in the Marley legal system named 'The Owl' supplied them with information and at one point a person of royal descendant, Dina Fritz. She brought them important information for their cause and a year later she and Grisha married and had a child which they named Zeke.

Later in their lives, Marleyan officials recruited children to take on the power of the seven Titan shifters their people had stolen from the Eldians so many years ago so they could go to Paradis and take down King Fritz, who had fled there and built Walls for his people 80 years ago. "The Owl" informed the group that Marley’s real goal was to steal the Founding Titan so they could bring back the Eldian Empire. Grisha then decided he would send his own son into the program as a mole for them. Unfortunately, at the age of seven, Zeke exposed his parents and all the restorationists, and they were sentenced to go to Paradis as mindless Titans eating Eldians of their own kind. After being turned in to the Public Security Authorities, Grisha was subjected to nude torture as the soldiers attempted to get him to reveal who the Owl was by cutting off his fingers. Once they give up on obtaining the information, Grisha and the rest of the restorationists are taken to Paradis and sat on there knees before a large Wall by the ocean. After kicking Grice off the Wall alive, the rest of the restorationists are turned into Titans with Titan serum except for the Yeagers and another member. When it is Dina's turn, Grisha pleads for her life, trying to point out that she is a royal and could be of potential use to them, but is silenced by Kruger before any of the soldiers can overhear him, to Grisha's surprise. He watches her transform into a Titan and run after their friend Grice. Sergeant Major Gross decides not to turn Grisha into a Titan, but to throw him to the other restorationist after he has been transformed. After adjusting the dose to create a 3-4m class and injecting the other man with serum, revealed to actually be Titan spinal fluid, he throws him off the Wall to transform. He begins explaining how watching people be devoured makes him feel alive in such a dull society. He then begins pushing Grisha off asking him to fight and die in an interesting way. However, before he could do so, Kruger pushes Gross off the Wall. As Gross is devoured, Kruger asks Grisha if he enjoys such a sight. He then reveals that he is The Owl and claims that he will show Grisha how to truly use the power of the Titans. Kruger then transforms into a Titan an destroys the ship that took all the soldiers to the island. After destroying the Marleyan men and their equipment, Kruger returns to the top of the Wall and, after introducing himself and explaining how he became a spy, he begins to speak with Grisha who asking him why he left only him alive. Kruger falls to his knees from exhaustion and tells Grisha of his terrible acts against several thousand Eldians, saying he did it all to serve Eldia in the end. Kruger then says that he is entrusting Grisha with his final mission, and goes on to express regret for playing a role in his sister’s death, but that the hatred he say in Grisha's eyes the next day was part of the reason he chose him. This reminded Kruger of his own uprising, when he watched his family be burned alive and chose to get revenge for them, however, it turned out that he had to torture fellow Eldian's to maintain his identity until that day. Kruger tells Grisha that he must enter the Walls and take back the founding Titan, using the power of the Titans Kruger will give him. Grisha then asks why Kruger doesn't do it himself, he explains that 13 years after inheriting the power of the Titans, the host will die, and it has been 13 years for him. He then explains that all Eldian's are connected by paths to the Founding Titan Ymir Fritz once had and that no one can ever be stronger than her, so they die after 13 years like she did. Grisha then questions this logic and the Eldian history, which Kruger explains is probably not true from the Marleyan or Eldian perspective. When Grisha asks Kruger why he allowed for Dina to die, he says that he believed it would be better than having her give birth to royal children for Marley until her death. Grisha tells him that he does not believe he is fit to take on his mission, and that he would not have paid the price for freedom if he knew what it was. Kruger then commends Grisha's father for trying to keep his family safe when he knew what happened to Fay. Kruger confronts Grisha, and tells him that the reason he chose him is because at the expense of others, he sought freedom by going past the Walls. He says that their brothers and sisters paid the price for their freedom, and that those actions will follow them until they are repaid, even after death. Grisha then stood up and accepted Kruger’s mission. He then told him the name of the Titan he was going to take: the Attack Titan. After taking his power, Grisha went to the Walls and began his mission.

In the year 832, Grisha was found wandering outside the Walls, near the Shiganshina District, by Keith Shadis. The soldiers were very surprised to see him, not only because he was outside the Walls, but also because he claimed to have suffered amnesia and he had no memories about the civilization inside the Walls and the military. He was taken to a Garrison cell by Keith and Hannes, where he said that he remembered his name. After being released, Grisha told Keith that he "remembered" being a doctor and asked him for knowledge about the world inside the Walls.

Keith took Grisha to a pub in Shiganshina where Keith taught him about the world. Grisha recognized the work of the Survey Corps, which surprised Keith. There, Grisha also met Carla, his future wife. Grisha eventually found work at a hospital. He proved to be a talented medic, and his relationship with Carla grew stronger. They finally married, which made Keith very sad, as he too was in love with Carla. They would later have a son, Eren.

Years later before the fall of Wall Maria, Grisha Yeager was making a house call, with Eren tagging along, to Mr. Ackerman and Mrs. Ackerman for an appointed medical examination in the year 844. When he arrived there, he found them dead for hours. He asked Eren if he had seen the girl named Mikasa anywhere, but he was too shocked to answer. He then told Eren to wait for him at the foot of the mountain while he finds the Military Police.

After the MPs and Grisha arrived at the murderers' hideout, Grisha hugged Eren and scolded him for the murders he committed when saving Mikasa, asking if he even understood what he had done. However, instead of continuing to scold him for killing Mikasa's kidnappers, he tells him that this time he was lucky and he could have been killed himself. Mikasa, cold and depressed, asked Grisha in what direction her home was and stated that she was cold and wants to leave. In response, Eren gave her his scarf and Grisha told her to come live with them. The day Wall Maria fell, Grisha went to the Reiss Chapel in the night time and stole Frieda Reiss' power, killing all her family members except for Rod Reiss, who escaped. After locating Eren with Keith Shadis, he took Eren to the forest after learning of the death of his wife, despite Keith's attempts to stop him, and asked Keith not to follow them. In the forest, he entrusted Eren with the key to his basement and then injected him with Titan serum, causing him to transform into a Titan. Eren then devoured his father and returned to his humans state, having gained the Founding Titan and Titan shifting abilities.

Fall of Shiganshina arc
Dr. Yeager is living in Shiganshina District with his wife, Carla; his son, Eren; and his adoptive daughter, Mikasa Ackerman. He keeps the basement of his house locked and does not allow anyone inside. Before departing to a journey, he promises Eren that he will show him what was in the basement when he gets back. After the fall of Wall Maria, a tearful Grisha injects a serum into Eren's left arm, which Eren believes is responsible for giving him the ability to shift into a Titan. Telling Eren that the serum will cause him memory loss, Grisha gives him the key to the basement, saying that all of the answers can be found there, and that "their memories" will guide him.

104th Training Corps arc
After Eren finally succeeds in the use of vertical maneuvering equipment, head instructor of the 104th Training Corps Keith Shadis expresses to himself that Grisha would be proud of his son, Eren, and that he is finally becoming a soldier.

The Uprising arc
When Eren transforms into a Titan, during experiments conducted by Hange, they ask him to try and communicate with them and the other Survey Corps personnel. He writes on the ground that he does not know how to harden his body. He then sloppily writes, "What my father did to me", referring to Grisha. As he rests after the experiment, Eren wonders where his father is and why he thought of him at that moment.

While Eren is chained up in an underground cavern belonging to the Reiss family, Rod Reiss and Historia place their hands on his back, which allows him to experience his father's memories of the night Wall Maria fell. Rod later explains that Grisha confronted the Reiss family in their chapel with a frightened expression on his face. His daughter Frieda Reiss stood in front of her family, protecting them. Grisha then stabbed himself through the hand with a scalpel and transforms; causing Frieda to shift by biting her hand to fight him. Rod states that Grisha was after Frieda's Titan power, and though it was "invincible," she was not experienced enough to defend herself. Grisha ate her, obtaining that power, and he then brutally slaughtered the remaining Reiss family members. Among the victims were 14-year-old Dirk and 12-year-old Abel, both of whom Grisha crushed with his hand. He also stomped on 10-year-old Florian and the girl's mother, and squeezed Rod's eldest son Urklyn to death. Finally, he destroyed the chapel. Rod and Historia were the only members left alive; Rod due to fleeing blindly and Historia due to not being present. Grisha then found Eren that night and took him to the woods, entrusting him with the key to the basement and his Titan power by forcing Eren to devour him with Titan serum.

It is later gathered that he stole the power from the Reiss family because each Founding Titan would not only receive the power, but fall under the ideology of the First King, who deemed a world ruled by Titans as a true peace. So long as they were the users of the Founding Titan, none of them would ever stop the Titans, even when they have the power to do so and the only hope to use the Founding Titan against the Titans was giving the power to a member of another bloodline. Since Eren vowed to kill the Titans for Carla's death and was not under the influence of the Reiss family and therefore the First King, he could accomplish what the family would never do.

After Eren received more memories of his father thanks to Historia, he searched for the man that his father met the day Wall Maria fell. Eren finally realizes that he is Keith Shadis, their previous instructor.

Return to Shiganshina arc
When meeting with Keith Shadis, Eren has a conversation with him where he reveals all he knows about Grisha Yeager and his past, including how he met Carla and his mysterious apparition.

Afterwards, in the aftermath of the battle for Shiganshina, War-chief Zeke encounters Eren, noting that the young man looks nothing like his father Grisha. Zeke claims to be a victim of Grisha just like Eren, who he claims was brainwashed by him. As Eren thinks on Zeke's words, he notices an uncanny resemblance between the War-chief and his father. When the Survey Corps finally reaches the basement of the Yeager household, they find that Grisha had set it up to appear as much as possible, a common doctor's office. However, after further investigation, they discover a locked drawer in his desk, which his key unlocks. Grisha had left the drawer empty, but beneath the false bottom were hidden three book kept intact with various preservatives. Within the first book, the Survey Corps finds an uncannily realistic image of Grisha standing beside a fair-haired woman and young child. Upon the back of the image, Grisha had left a message stating that it was not a drawing, but the light of the objects shown burned onto special paper called a photograph. Grisha's note reveals that humanity beyond the Walls lives in refinement, far from extinct.

The books later go on to tell the story of Grisha's past life outside the Walls, beginning with the day his sister Fay Yeager was killed.

Medicine
Grisha was a very skillful doctor, and served many families within the Walls. He was able to cure hundreds of people from a sickness that attacked mankind during his time in the Walls. After the plague broke out, Grisha was skillful enough to stop it. When Carla got sick, he not only cured her, but also her entire family. His great skill in medicine is likely attributed to him coming from a more advanced society outside the Walls with further advancements in medicine. He was able to gain knowledge of medical care from his father who owned a clinic in the Liberio Internment Zone in Marley, and served many patients before being sent to Paradis.

Titan shifting
Grisha was able to turn into a very large Titan; it appeared that he had all of the regular abilities of Titan shifters, like extraordinary regeneration, incredible strength, and endurance when he is transformed. Other than these, it is unknown if he had any other unique abilities. He had some experience with Titan shifting; that was the reason why he managed to kill and eat Frieda Reiss, a Titan shifter that almost matched his size and possessed the Founding Titan. He stabbed his own hand with a knife in order to trigger the transformation.


 * The Founding Titan: After eating Frieda, he possessed this power for a very short amount of time. However, he could not make use of it before passing it on to Eren due to his lack of royal blood.
 * Regeneration: As a Titan shifter, it is believed that he could regenerate his body faster than regular humans, even from fatal wounds.

Relationships

 * Fay Yeager - Fay was Grisha's little sister. As children, Fay was the closest person to Grisha, and he loved her dearly, wanting to protect her, even accepting punishment in her place. Fay's murder was what motivated Grisha for the rest of his life.


 * Dina Yeager - Dina was Grisha's first wife. He loved her dearly and was heartbroken after she became a mindless Titan.


 * Eren Yeager - Grisha was perhaps closer to Eren than anyone else in his life, surpassing even his relationship with Carla. As a father, Grisha left home a lot on medical duties, however, he encouraged Eren's dreams to venture outside the Wall and offered to reveal to him the secrets of the basement. However, when Wall Maria fell, Grisha took it upon himself to do all he could to stop the Reiss family and then entrusted the very fate of the world to Eren. Grisha spoke of Eren as 'different' when he was questioned by Keith, and put an enormous amount of trust into his son. Grisha believed in his son's ability so sincerely that he allowed himself to be devoured, believing that Eren would one day use the powers from the Founding Titan to control the Titans at utopia outside of the walls to fight back against the Marley's military (Zeke, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, who infiltrated the walls).


 * Zeke Yeager - For much of his early life, Zeke was simply Grisha's normal and loving son, though Grisha seemingly desired to make use of the royal blood within him. However, when the Marley government decided to recruit Eldian warriors, Grisha forced Zeke to enlist as the Eldia Restorationists' mole. For a short time, Dina and Grisha engraved their beliefs and philosophy into Zeke's mind, eventually causing him to turn on his parents because of their mistreatment of him. Aside from disliking his mother, Zeke grew to hate his father and Grisha felt remorse for the way he treated his son. Around twenty years later, Zeke mentions to Eren when meeting him that the two of them are "victims" of Grisha and have been brainwashed by him, showing his dislike for his father.


 * Carla Yeager - Grisha was very taken by Carla, as they married not soon after he had cured her and her family. However, Grisha did not put all his trust in Carla, as he did not share with her his secrets off the outside world. When Grisha heard of Wall Maria's downfall, he shed tears in fear that his family had perished. When Eren and Grisha met after the fall, he was told by his son that the Titan has eaten Carla and, after a moment of silence, told Eren to get revenge for Carla and took him away. Grisha was visibly affected by her death and when turning Eren to a Titan, was told that her death has made him crazy as his son screamed.


 * Mikasa Ackerman - Grisha knew Mikasa when she was a small child from visiting her home as the family doctor. When taking Eren along for a visit he had hoped that the two would be able to get along as friends. After her rescue from the human traffickers, Grisha showed sympathy toward Mikasa and told her to come live with him and his family. Years later, after the fall of Wall Maria, Grisha mentions her name as he sheds tears in fear that she had been killed by the Titans. Before giving Eren an injection of the Titan serum, Grisha mentions Mikasa as one of the people Eren must save.


 * Keith Shadis - Keith was a special friend to Grisha, as he was the one to bring him inside the Walls and nurture him of the society within. Grisha referred to Keith as special and chosen, both of which deeply resonated with Keith. Grisha viewed as a very admirable man, however, as the years went on their relationship declined. Distance grew between them as Keith believed that he was not special or chosen, he had blamed Grisha for leading him to misunderstand himself. Ties with them loosened more so when Grisha married Carla, the woman Keith sought. Before Grisha's death, their relationship appeared to still be stable as Grisha ran toward Keith in a panic, however, they two were on much worse terms as Keith accused Grisha of "cursing another person" to which he responded by saying "this child is not like you".


 * Mr. Ackerman & Mrs. Ackerman - Dr. Yeager was well known to the Ackermans as their family physician. They appeared quite friendly when speaking about each other, and Grisha had been known to have been their Doctor at least since Mikasa was small, however it appears that as she grew older his visits were less frequent. Grisha seemed quite disturbed at the sight of their deaths.

People Killed

 * Eren Kruger (mindless Titan)
 * Frieda Reiss
 * Dirk Reiss
 * Urklyn Reiss
 * Abel Reiss
 * Florian Reiss
 * Lady Reiss

Indirectly

 * Fay Yeager

Failed attempts

 * Rod Reiss

Trivia

 * The appearance of Grisha's Titan may be a reference to the giant of Norse mythology. According to mythology, he is the leader of the fire giants in the south, the ruler of Muspelheim, and, at Ragnarok, his hordes will rush to the north like a southern wind to overwhelm the gods.
 * Keith says on the day he found Grisha, there were no Titans in the area, similar to the Beast Titan.
 * Grisha was the first human seen in the series who secretly possessed the Titan shifting ability.

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