What is The Founding Titan? Attack on Titan tells the story of Eren Yeager, a young boy living behind great walls which protect him and his family from cannibalistic giants known as Titans. One day, though, the Titans make it through the Walls and destroy Eren’s life.
Determined to wipe out the Titans, Eren and the rest of the Attack on Titan characters launch a war on the monsters, but as the anime series goes on, we learn things aren’t as simple as they seem. Nine people, one of whom is Eren, can transform into Titans.
Known as Titan Shifters, these nine people are exceptionally powerful people, but none are more powerful than the Founding Titan. As Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 3 is finally here, we thought it’d be fun to explain what The Founding Titan is. In this article, we’ll break down its powers, its weaknesses, and who controls it.
What is the Founding Titan?
The Founding Titan was one of the Nine Titan Shifters and arguably the most powerful. All Titans are derived from the Founding Titan as all of them, whether shifters or mindless Titans, got their powers from Ymir Fritz, the first known Titan in history.
Ymir originally possessed the abilities of all Nine Titan shifters, but these abilities were passed on to nine different families over time. By the time Attack on Titan began, the Founding Titan’s only remaining ability was to create and control other Titans through screaming.
What are the Founding Titan’s powers?
Through screaming, the Founding Titan could control other Titans and create Titans. These are only the most basic abilities that possessing the Titan possesses. It’s this power that Eren uses to begin The Rumbling.
The Founding Titan could also be used to manipulate people’s memories as well as telepathically communicate with the subjects of Ymir. It seems the Founding Titan could also control the anatomy of the Subjects of Ymir as Zeke Yeager planned on rendering the Eldian’s sterile using its power.
What are the Founding Titan’s weaknesses?
The Founding Titan’s greatest weakness is that, unlike other shifters, its abilities can’t be used by just anyone. To activate its powers, the user must either have royal blood or be touching royal blood.
This weakness is why Eren was initially unable to control the Founding Titan’s powers and needed his half-brother’s help to activate The Rumbling. Ultimately Eren managed to convince the spirit of Ymir Fritz, the original Founding Titan, to help him, completely circumventing this weakness.
A similar weakness built into the Founding Titan was Karl Fritz’s vow. Karl Fritz was the king who used the Founding Titan to build the Walls on Paradis. After he had built the walls, Fritz vowed that he would never use the power for war, and this vow was passed down to all the royal inheritors of the power, preventing them from using the Founding Titan for violence.
Known inheritors of The Founding Titan
The Founding Titan was passed down the Fritz royal line for 2,000 years before Grish Yeager stole it and passed the power on to his son Eren.
Who had the Founding Titan?
- Ymir Fritz
- Karl Fritz
- Uri Reiss
- Frieda Reiss
- Grisha Yeager
- Eren Yeager
If you love Attack on Titan, check out our list of the best horror anime. We’ve also got articles on the best anime villains and the best anime characters. If that’s not enough, we’ve also got guides to the One-Punch Man season 3 release date and the Demon Slayer season 3 release date.