Attack on Titan Reveals How Its Special Titans Came to Be
Attack on Titan has revealed how its Nine Special Titans came to be – and like everything else in the series, the answer to that long-running mystery is a much bigger head-trip than fans ever bargained for! Episode 80 of the Attack on Titan anime is "From You, 2,000 Years Ago" and it takes Eren Jaeger and his brother Zeke into the life and memories of Ymir, the founder of the Titan power. Ymir's story turns out to be a mix of deep tragedy and sci-fi horror – everything fans love about Attack on Titan!
(WARNING: i Episode 80 SPOILERS Follow!)
Titans Origin Explained: Ymir's Backstory
Ymir's story turns out to be that of a poor girl from a rural town in the middle of nowhere – a town that was eventually ransacked by King Fritz and his Eldian tribe. Ymir and her people had their tongues removed and were taken as slaves by King Fritz – it didn't take long before Ymir attracted the king's wrath, and Fritz sadistically set his hunters and dogs after her in the woods. While running for her life, Ymir wandered into a massive tree and fell into an underground river beneath it; there she was discovered by the entity which bonded to her body and transformed her into the first Titan.
Creating The Special Titans
When King Fritz discovered what Ymir has become, he used her as the ultimate weapon and tool to advance Eldia to being the dominating world power. As thanks for her service, Ymir was forced to kill multitudes of people as well as bear Fritz's children, Maria, Rose, and Sheena. As a final sacrifice, Ymir jumped in front of an assassin's spear to save Fritz's life and died.
However, as Attack on Titan has revealed, even death was not freedom for Ymir. Her death stranded her in the Paths dimension, where she remained in service of the Fritz royal bloodline. The king had Ymir's daughters consume her corpse and become Titans themselves; over the centuries, Ymir's spirit worked using the sands of the Path Dimension to create the Nine Special Titans and their unique powers, which she passed on to her descendants through the Coordinate that links all Titan users.
In short, the Special Titans were gifts from Ymir to her descendants in order to help them in the brutal cycle of blood and battle that comes with the Titans and their cursed beginnings. Now, with Eren Jaeger's arrival, Ymir is finaly ready to end that cycle, once and for all...
Attack on Titan is now streaming on Hulu and Funimation.