The Founding Titan Explained (Attack on Titan)

 

    *THIS BLOG CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SHIGEKI NO KYOJIN OR ATTACK ON TITAN*

Welcome to our blog. Today we will be covering the Founding/Founder Titan.We will be explaining the titan in 3 categories 1. Explanation 2. Abilities. 3. Royal Bloodline Necessity

1. Explanation

The Founding Titan (始祖の巨人 Shiso no Kyojin?, also translated as Progenitor Titan) was one of the Nine Titans and the first of all Titans. Its Scream (叫び Sakebi?) could create and control other Titans and modify the memories and body compositions of the Subjects of Ymir, but this power had historically only been able to be used by members of the royal family.

According to Marley's Titan Biology Research Society, the Founding Titan was the point where the paths connecting all Subjects of Ymir and Titans cross. Because of this, those who hail from Marley sometimes called it the "Coordinate" (座標 Zahyō?).

2. Abilities.

The Founding Titan had several abilities that were activated by screaming. The inheritor of the Founding Titan did not have to transform in order to use these abilities; human screams would suffice. Furthermore, the screams did not have to be loud, or even "screams" in the truest sense: Frieda Reiss used the memory-alteration ability by casually talking, although her target was only Historia, who was right in front of her.

Titan Creation

The Founding Titan could transform Subjects of Ymir into Titans and could even make them as massive as the Colossus Titan. Karl Fritz presumably used this ability to create the thousands of Colossus Titans that made up the Walls.

Zeke Yeager's Beast Titan could also transform Subjects of Ymir into Titans by screaming after injecting those he wishes to transform with the beast's spinal fluid. For this reason it was said that Zeke's Beast Titan had abilities similar to the Founding Titan.

Titan Control

By screaming, the Founding Titan granted its user the ability to control Titans at will and make them follow virtually any order without question. This was demonstrated by Eren Yeager, who unintentionally commanded nearby Pure Titans to eat Dina Fritz's Titan and attack the Armored Titan. It appeared to be only effective on Pure Titans, although those with the power of the Titans can still feel its influence.It was also used by Karl Fritz to build the Walls, who commanded many Colossus Titans to harden their bodies and confine themselves within the resulting structures. In ancient times, Eldia used to use this ability to command an army of Titans for war; however, once set loose, these Titans became indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction that would slaughter Eldia's enemies.This ability had no known range, although Karl Fritz used it to command Colossus Titans that span across a large portion of Paradis Island. Rod Reiss claimed the power has the capacity to wipe out all the Titans, if used to its full potential.

Memory Manipulation

The Founding Titan was able to modify the minds and memories of the Subjects of Ymir, even entire populations at once. This ability was related to the Titan control ability: As noted by Erwin Smith, Titans are simply transformed humans (specifically, the Subjects of Ymir); therefore, the screams that control the minds of the former should be able to affect the latter as well. It was used by Karl Fritz to make the Subjects of Ymir inside the Walls forget the history of the world before the Walls' installation. It was also used by Frieda Reiss to remove Historia's memories of her visits. These memories, however, appeared to be accessible in dreams, as Historia would sometimes be able to dream about her encounters with Frieda, although she would forget about them once she awoke. Members of the Ackerman bloodline were resistant to this ability while anyone who was not a Subject of Ymir was unaffected by it.

Anatomical Manipulation

The Founding Titan was capable of changing the body composition of any Subject of Ymir. An Eldian king from 600 years ago once used this power to make the Subjects of Ymir immune to a rampant epidemic. Zeke Yeager wanted to use this ability to make all Subjects of Ymir sterile, so they would die out in a generation and rid the world of Titans once and for all.

Additionally, the Founding Titan was known to have a height of around 13 m. However, it was possible that this size restriction is not as definite as it is with the other eight members of the Nine Titans; an example of this can be seen with the body generated by Eren Yeager after receiving full use of the Founding Titan's power from Ymir Fritz.

Telepathic communication

The Founding Titan could telepathically connect with all of the Subjects of Ymir by way of the paths they are connected to. Eren used this ability to communicate with every Subject of Ymir when announcing his plans for the Rumbling of the world.

Clairvoyance

Similar to the Attack Titan's future memory inheritance ability that allows inheritors to receive future memories from future inheritors, the Founding Titan can take things to a much greater scale and directly influence things in the past, although only to preserve history the way it's already played out. It also enables inheritors the ability to perceive time in a non-linear fashion, being able to see the past, present, and future simultaneously. As a drawback, it causes users to think incoherently to a degree and go with the flow of events they have already seen, even if it is something the inheritor would be against doing. Eren goes into depth about the drawbacks about this ability when he converses with Armin in the realm of paths and sorrowfully reveals that he used it to influence Dina Fritz's Pure Titan to ignore Bertolt and head to Shiganshina instead, indirectly causing his mother to be devoured.

3. Royal Bloodline Necessity

Only those with royal blood—the Fritz or Reiss royal families—were able to use the true power of the Founding Titan. However, if the Founding Titan is inherited by someone outside of the royal family, the power can still be used if the inheritor is in physical contact with a Titan with royal blood. This is demonstrated when Eren Yeager temporarily used the Founder's power after striking the hand of Dina Fritz's Pure Titan. It is implied by Zeke Yeager that it does not matter if the Titan of royal blood is a Pure Titan or one of the Nine Titans, such as the Beast Titan.

If the inheritor touched a human of royal blood, some snippets of the previous inheritors' memories could be realized. The touch of Historia Reiss and her father Rod occasionally resurfaced the memories of Grisha Yeager. However, these memories were erratic and did not always come.

If a person of royal blood possessed one of the other eight of the Nine Titans and that a person comes into contact with an inheritor of the Founding Titan that lacked royal blood, then the royal-blooded person could use the Founding Titan's true potential instead of the actual inheritor. This is due to the fact that the Founding Titan's true capabilities are used through commanding the soul of Ymir Fritz, the first of the Titans, whose slave mentality was kept intact after her death. As the First Fritz King was her master as well as the father of her children, she remained in submission for millenniums, until Eren Yeager freed her and she complied with his wish to activate the Rumbling.