Biggest Paradox in Attack on Titan
“So long as I, with my royal blood, will it.“
Zeke Yeager — Episode 120: A Fleeting Moment, Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
The following article contains manga spoilers.
INTRODUCTION
Both anime watchers and manga readers should have wondered once:
“If Founder Ymir’s blood is what makes Zeke and Historia royal, doesn’t that make all Subjects of Ymir royal too?”
Yes, that’s right. That is the most confusing topic that Isayama has never explained in detail in AoT history. If you already read manga or watched anime up to season 3, you must have assumed “Oh all Eldian kings must have been Founding Titan shifters.”
In fact, that’s where our understanding of the “royal bloodline” goes wrong. Actually, I think that most of the Eldian kings in history were NOT titan shifters, and they were NOT even Subjects of Ymir. Let me get to the conclusion first even though I know you must be confused right now:
THE ONLY ROYAL LINEAGE WHO CAN MANIFEST FOUNDING TITAN’S POWER IS KARL FRITZ, 145TH ELDIAN KING’S DESCENDANTS (Reiss family) and DINA FRITZ’S DESCENDANTS.
Yes, I know it doesn’t seem to make sense but you will get it if you keep reading this.
First, you have to get one thing to understand what the royal bloodline truly is. That is, there are TWO royal bloodlines in Attack on Titan
- ① a Pure-blooded Eldian line (untainted with Ymir’s blood) = All kings before 145th king
- ② a line mixed between ① and the Subjects of Ymir
From now on, I call ① “Pure Royal Line” and ② “Mixed Royal Line.”
Throughout the story, the Mixed Royal Line is what the characters call “royal bloodline.” If you consider the “royal bloodline” in AoT as a line MIXED between the Subjects of Ymir and Pure-blooded Eldian Royal Family, this royal blood paradox can be solved.
Now, let me explain step by step.
Chapter 1: Difficulty Distinguishing the Subjects of Ymir and the Royal Bloodline
The very first question you guys want to ask Isayama would be “Aren’t all Subjects of Ymir royal?”
If the Subjects of Ymir are descendants of Founder Ymir and the first king Fritz, that makes all Subjects of Ymir royal. But it doesn’t make any sense because Isayama writes the royal bloodline as a special line independent from the rest of the Subjects of Ymir. However, if you can understand the following three groups within the Eldians, everything makes sense.
- Mixed Royal Line = What they call the “royal bloodline” in AoT
- Subjects of Ymir = Ordinary Subjects of Ymir, every single descendant of Founder Ymir
- Pure Royal Line = The first king Fritz and all his heirs before Karl Fritz
Chapter 2: Two Royal Bloodlines
Let me keep assuming that there are two royal bloodlines.
The first one is the royal line derived from the first king Fritz and all of his heirs (those in bright yellow in the picture above).
Another one is the line whose blood comes from both Pure-blooded Eldian kings and the Subjects of Ymir (those in pink).
The “royal bloodline” all characters talk about in their time frame is probably the later one, whose blood is mixed between the Pure-blooded Eldians and the Subjects of Ymir.
As I already said, I will call the former “Pure Royal Line” and the later “Mixed Royal Line.”
※Note: The “Pure-blooded” here does NOT mean anyone with blood whose origin is the first king Fritz. It means all heirs whose origin is not only the first king but also someone who is NEVER tainted with Ymir’s blood (wives or husbands are probably nobles from other nations in the Eldian Empire).
■ The Mixed Royal Line was created just before the Great Titan War
The Mixed Royal Line was born during the reign of Karl Fritz, 145th Eldian king, and this line had quite few members: Karl Fritz’s descendants and Dina’s branch family left behind in Marley Continent.
After the Great Titan War, Karl moved to Paradis Island with the Founding Titan and became the founder of the Reiss family, a new secret dynasty of Eldia.
Whilst Karl and some of the Establishment of the Eldian Empire successfully escaped to the island, other Pure-blooded Eldians, the rest of the Establishment, must have been annihilated by Marleyans.
As a result, Dina’s family probably had difficulty remaining pure-blooded and ended up mixing themselves with the Subjects of Ymir to survive. And even doing so, only Dina Fritz alone survived in the continent.
If you take everything above into account, you can easily differentiate the “royal bloodline” from the rest of the Subjects of Ymir.
Now, your “Are all Subjects of Ymir not royal?” idea should have been gone by now.
Next, let me add more explanations to it to make it even easier to understand.
■ Why was the Pure Royal Line necessary?
A king needs an heir, I mean it’s their most important duty to make kids.
So the first king Fritz should have had more kids other than Maria, Rose and Sheena.
Was Founder Ymir the first king Fritz’s wife? I think not.
Episode 122: From You, 2000 Years Ago, Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
Fritz made Ymir bear 3 kids, yet he never saw her as a human being but a mere slave.
Even though there is a real example of a king adapting a slave as a legitimate wife like one king of the Ottoman Empire, that was never the case for Attack on Titan.
Ymir was a slave or a concubine at better till the end. This implies that the three daughters were not heirs of the Eldian tribe but “vessels” of the Power of the Titans.
Fritz’s wives portrayed
Episode 122: From You, 2000 Years Ago, Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
In Episode 122, Fritz is surrounded by five women who are possibly his wives.
Some of them, or all of them are probably his wives. Considering how primitive his age was, there is nothing strange about a king having more than one wife.
And what should be noted is that the upper classes normally marry people with the same social status. They do whatever they can to stay pure so that their power and wealth won’t fall off their hands.
The Fritz family should have applied that logic to themselves too. So the first King Fritz had to choose his wives from the Eldian nobility or foreign nobilities. At least, he should have never taken anyone from his slaves or the conquered Marleyans as any of his wives.
So one of the fives was his legitimate wife, and it is probable that one of the children between them became the 2nd king of Eldia. And that 2nd king probably did the same. This way, they kept the Pure Royal Line pure and sacred until Karl Fritz’s reign.
Chapter 3: The Relationship between the Two Royal Bloodlines and the Nine Titans
“The true power of the Founding Titan can only be used if it resides inside someone from the royal bloodline. However, if the Founding Titan does reside inside anyone of royal blood, they will be consumed by the will of the 145th King, leaving them with no choice but to take their own life. I dare say that this is what the Vow Renouncing War does.”
Hange Zoe — Episode 89: Meeting, Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
“A Titan with royal blood, should be able to draw out the Founding Titan’s powers by coming in contact with the one possesses them.”
Tom Ksaver — Episode 115: Support, Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
In Episode 89, Hange explains her analysis on Grisha’s books.
And likewise in Episode 115, Ksaver, a titan science researcher and the holder of the Beast Titan teaches Zeke the way of breaking through the Vow Renouncing War.
One thing in common between their knowledge is that someone of royal blood (or Eldian kings) should have one of the Nine Titans.
And because it’s specifically these two titan maniacs who say something like that, it misleads us to a wrong conclusion that Eldian kings always exercised the Founding Titan’s powers.
But if you re-read Episode 122, that gives us a new impression on inheriting the Titans.
■ The Titans are nothing but slaves
The first king Fritz obviously saw Ymir’s Titan as a slave and forced her three daughters to eat up Ymir’s remains to keep the Power of the Titans.
Yes, he never wanted the Power of the Titans within himself because they are slaves.
In his mindset, an Eldian king is supposed to give orders to the Titans and to make them serve Eldia.
■ They never wanted to be the Titans
Have you ever imagined what the Pure-blooded Eldians thought seeing Ymir’s Titan destroying enemies and cultivating new lands?
There is no way they thought “OMG I want that power too!!.”
They must have thought “I never want to be a monster like that” instead.
Livestock like cows and horses are used by humans just to make human life easier. And would you ever want to be like them if they were physically stronger than you?
Most people would say “No.”
No matter how big and strong you may be able to become as a Titan, you would never want such power if you knew that they would enslave you for the rest of your life.
■ But they wanted to use the Titans
After the 2nd king, a Pure-blooded Eldian, became in charge of giving orders to slaves, and one of Ymir’s three daughters must have inherited the Founding Titan.
Since then, probably they kept the same system where the throne is inherited by the Pure-blooded Eldians whilst the Titans are inherited by the Subjects of Ymir who are slaves, at least for more than 1,800 years.
I assume that the idea of inheriting the Titans NEVER crossed the Fritz family’s minds in old times.
■ The Relationship between the Eldian kings and Founding Titan holders
A king gives orders to a Founding holder: the holder implements them.
I don’t see any problem with this system at all.
In fact, that is exactly how the first king destroyed Marley and developed new lands. All kings after him should have done the same.
So why is it that all characters keep saying “the true power of the Founding Titan can only be used if it resides inside someone from the royal bloodline?”
There should be no problem even if the Subjects of Ymir, the race of slaves inherit the Founding Titan, as long as there is a king sitting on the throne. Isn’t that right?
Yes, that’s right. “As long as there is a king.”
If you put it in another way, a pure-blooded king is absolutely necessary for a Founding holder to manifest its true power.
My point here is that everything in AoT became confusing just because these “Pure-blooded Eldian royals” were all gone due to the Great Titan War.
And I can think of the following scenario of what actually happened during the war.
■ The reason why the Great Titan War happened.
Dina Fritz — Episode 86: That Day, Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
In Episode 86, Dina says “The Great Titan War began when the 145th king inherited the Founding Titan” in English translation.
Yap, her statement obviously contradicts the king-slave system I have explained.
If that system was set in motion as usual, there is no way any Eldian king from the Fritz family could inherit the Founding Titan.
First of all, the Subjects of Ymir are supposed to inherit the Titans as slaves, and it should be impossible for members of the Fritz family to become even a Pure Titan because they are not the Subjects of Ymir.
The Pure-blooded Eldians sit on the throne and the Subjects of Ymir are the Titans. The Fritz family kept this system for 1,800 years throughout 144 reigns.
But anyway anyhow, Karl Fritz inherited the Founding Titan. Yes, he broke the rule.
No, he actually broke EVERYTHING.
■ Karl Fritz pulls off a coup
Now it’s the 145th king Karl’s reign.
All Pure-blooded Eldian royals got wiped out, and only Karl Fritz survived and became the 145th king of Eldia.
This coup must have been also supported by the Tyburs and Marleyans who had obvious reasons to hate Fritz family’s rule (I mean who would like being oppressed?).
What’s surprising is that Karl was the FIRST child between a Pure-blooded Eldian Royal and a Subject of Ymir, a slave. Karl became an Eldian king who gives orders and a Subject of Ymir who possesses the Founding Titan’s powers all at once.
I assume that the Tyburs were planning to destroy the Fritz family by transferring both the throne and the Funding Titan to Karl whose ideology is extreme pacifism. Because it should not have been difficult to provoke each house holding a Titan to kill each other once the Fritz family got ruined.
Putting how actually the 8 Titans’ internal conflict dismissed the Eldian Empire aside, the event where Karl became an Eldian king and inherited the Founding Titan was probably PLANNED.
And doesn’t that remind you of something? Yes, that coup in the Walls. It was planned by Erwin Smith. Then Historia, a child between Rod and his maid Alma, took over the throne. If something similar to that really happened 100 years ago during the Great Titan War, wouldn’t that be quite ironic and interesting?
Chapter 4: What Does “using the true power of the Founding Titan” Truly Mean?
Willy Tybur — Episode 99: Guilty Shadow, Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
■ Two factors to activate the Founding Titan’s powers
For a long period of time before the Great Titan War, how exactly had the Eldian Empire used the Founding Titan’s powers?
Probably, the Subjects of Ymir as slaves only did what the Pure-blooded Eldian kings told them to do.
In other words, holders of the Founding Titan were NEVER able to spontaneously use the powers. That says that the Founding Titan only works when it meets two things:
“a king who gives orders” and “a slave who follows them.”
But Karl Fritz, the 145th king put these two roles into one process. The activation process was completely changed by him.
From his time, Eldian kings ended up giving orders to themselves as a slave.
What he did could also be described as sealing the Founding Titan, because the Founding Titan’s true power would be never used unless someone other than his descendants steals it.
■ What is it that makes it impossible to use the Founding Titan’s powers?
What if someone out of the royal bloodline like Eren Yeager inherits the Founding Titan?
The Founding Titan in such a situation misses one of the two factors: a king who gives orders and a slave who follows them. Here it lacks “the king.”
This is what not being able to use the Founding Titan is.
Eren alone can’t do a thing.
That is why they all started saying “The Founding Titan must be inherited by those of royal bloodline.” That leaves us no choice but to admit that what Willy Tybur said was right.
■ The only way to get access to the Founding Titan’s power
The only way to activate the Founding Titan’s powers is to access the Coordinate where they can directly command the Founder Ymir through physical contact between the Founding Titan shifter and another Titan with the royal blood.
That is exactly what Eren did touching Dina and Zeke.
Considering how Eren managed to tell the Founder Ymir to do as he wanted twice, apparently all that matters seems to be whether she listens to you at the Coordinate, being royal or not.
The reason why Eren won over Zeke was that he could feel the Founder Ymir’s pain and desire, and also the reason why Eren was able to manipulate the Titans by touching Dina should have been due to lack of Dina’s will as a Pure Titan.
Ymir’s “a king’s orders are absolute” idea may be strongly conditioned but is not necessarily unchangeable.
All of these are all because Karl Fritz inherited the Founding Titan. Now you know how important the Great Titan War actually is. It was a turning point in AoT universe history.
Chapter 5: The Creation of the Vow Renouncing War
Just how did Karl Fritz create the Vow Renouncing War?
Taking Episode 120, 121 and 122 into account, using the Founding Titan’s powers should be identical to ordering Founder Ymir at the Coordinate.
Karl Fritz, who was royal and a Subject of Ymir at the same time, should have been able to bring himself to the Coordinate to tell Founder Ymir what to do.
As his order was firm enough to bind the later Reiss kings, maybe he somewhat won Founder Ymir’s sympathy to some extent like Eren.
■ Shared memories
What turned Karl Fritz into an unique individual is that he actually had memories of the Subjects of Ymir.
All kings before him were mere humans, so they should have easily forgotten about the past no matter how bloody their history was. I mean, that’s human nature. Do we even feel remorse everyday just because you learned at school that so many people died at war in human history? No we don’t.
But the 145th King, Karl Fritz actually experienced 1800 years of enslavement, bloodshed, struggle, pain and humiliation among the oppressed through the Paths.
It’s not hard to imagine how terrifying that would be, seeing how Uri and Frieda behaved during their reigns.
If the Vow Renouncing War included forcefully showing Reiss successors those horrible memories, I also would be binned by it for the rest of my life too.
■ Karl’s extreme pacifism
Uri Reiss — Episode 69: Friends, Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
According to Willy Tybur, Karl Fritz really hated the Eldian Empire’s brutal history and felt sorry especially for Marleyans.
In a rough age where “the war of all against all” was a thing, he was born with a peaceful heart like Armin’s or more like Zeke’s in a way.
There is no doubt that inheriting the Founding Titan gave him all brutal memories in the past and resulted in even strengthening his pacifism, which would eventually lead a lot of Eldians into long-lasting hell.
Maybe Karl just wanted to end the history dominated by the Titans.
Conclusion
The Subjects of Ymir and royal bloodline are two different lineages.
The Subjects of Ymir are those whose origin is Founder Ymir.
The “royal bloodline” in the existing characters’ time frame refers to two families: the Reiss family, Karl Fritz’s descendants and Dina Fritz’s family, whose origin is few survivors of the Pure Royal Line who ended up being mixed with the Subjects of Ymir.
And there seems to be TWO royal bloodlines. The one is the Pure-blooded Eldian one, and the other is the one mixed with the Subjects of Ymir.
The later one is most likely born around the 144th king’s reign when Karl was secretly created as half Pure-blooded Eldian royal and half Subjects of Ymir.
If this theory is right, the Subjects of Ymir and royal bloodline are not necessarily identical even if the “Subjects of Ymir” means every one of Ymir’s progeny.
The basis for the theory is that the “royal bloodline” consist of only Karl Fritz’s descendants; the Reiss family and Dina Fritz’s descendants. Even if there are more of them, it would be very few.
In addition to that, the first royal bloodline with Pure Eldian blood was probably wiped out in the process of the Great Titan War.
At last again, the royal bloodline all characters speak of is the 2nd royal bloodline mixed with the Subjects of Ymir.
Counter Argument: Has it been always part of the Subjects of Ymir from the start?
Personally I also think that it is possible that the “royal bloodline” has been that of the Subjects of Ymir from the very beginning. But it’s also quite messy.
Let’s say Maria takes over the Founding Titan.
Then she gives birth to as many children as she can with the 2nd Eldian king.
Assuming she gives birth to 10 or so, they keep doing marriage ONLY between themselves and also limit inheritance of the Founding Titan within their biological circle.
As incestuous marriage was a thing in our world too, it kinda makes sense.
Then kings after the 2nd king do NOT breed with anyone from the group of Maria’s descendants.
It sounds a little bit hard for them to continue the cycle of once-in-13 years inheritance for early few decades but it should be doable as long as they make sure they constantly have a certain amount of kids as shifter candidates.
And if Rose and Sheena’s descendants keep breeding with other races whilst Maria’s lineage focuses on the task said above, eventually the blood of Maria’s lineage would be much more thicker than that of Rose-Sheena lines and results in settling as royal bloodline to which the Founding Titan completely adapts.
