The secret of the origin of the giants in the anime Attack on Titan

Giants, or Kyojin, are giant hominins that act as both catalysts and enemies in the Attack on Titan series. At the beginning of the events depicted in the series, giants appear outside the walls of the last remaining human settlement.

This settlement has been kept safe from giants by the three great walls, Maria, Rose, and Sina (Shina in the manga), which prevent Kyojins from penetrating the city and devouring the last humans.

According to the people who lived inside the walls, giants first appeared about 107 years ago, attacking and eating humans at will and driving humanity almost to extinction.

The origins of the Titans and who they were were a mystery in the Attack on Titan series, and author Hajime Isayama masterfully constructs the story, slowly pulling out vital information and letting the plot swell.

As Season Three draws to a close, the Titans and their origins are revealed. For fans who haven't followed the manga, the revelations came as a shock.

The secret of the origin of the giants in the anime Attack on Titan

The following article contains a big plot burn for "Shingeki no Kyojin" for both the manga and the anime. If you haven't watched the last episode, haven't read the latest chapters of the series and don't want to spoil your experience, we suggest you refrain from reading any further.

So we will deal with the assets that were revealed in both the anime and the manga. Both are basically the same and the series will soon catch up with the manga at some point. We've kept the sections separate so readers don't get unwanted burn-in.

Attack on Titan anime spoiler

Proven in the anime, especially in Season 3, Part 2, the people who can turn into giants are Eldians, also known as Ymir's subjects. Needless to say, fate over destiny.

This origin story has been revealed from the books preserved by Grisha Jaeger. Eren Yeager and the reconnaissance teams retrieve these books from the basement of his now-destroyed house in Shiganshina, and the books are revealed from Grisha Yeeger's view.

While Grisha mentions that Ymir was the first giant, who she was, or how she came to possess such unique powers is somewhat shrouded in mystery. There are some reasonable theories in the anime put forward by the characters.

The events take place 2000 years before the current story and there are two versions of it.

• Ymir made a deal with a demon who gave her powers (or a curse) that enabled her to turn into a giant of her own accord.
• The second theory is that, and that's a bit far fetched, is that Ymir had contact or "touched" the source of all living matter allowing her to transform into a giant at will.

Once Ymir possessed the powers to transform into a giant, she transferred her powers to the Eldians by injecting them with her spinal fluid. However, it is not known whether all the giants formed in this way were pure giants or if some were intelligent giants.

There are believers in both stories in the series. The people of Marley, who had to contend with the wrath of Eldian and the Giants for so long before finally winning the Great War of the Giants, believe in the first theory. According to their version, Ymir was an evil person who brought nothing but death and destruction to the world. This origin story is one of the reasons why they hate the Eldian race as a whole and make attempts to destroy the people living on Paradise Island.

The second origin story about giants is more popular among the concentration camp Eldians, such as Grisha Yeager. According to them, the stories depicting Ymir as an evil person are nothing but lies perpetuated by the Marley Empire.

They believed Ymir was the queen who helped build the Eldian Empire and brought prosperity to its people with the power of the founding giant.

But then, one can guess that both are not the whole truth, especially when it comes to Ymir's nature. It will be somewhere in between, benevolent towards the Aldanians but utterly destructive when it comes to its enemies.

Regardless of which story you believe in, we can safely assume that Ymir was the first Giant, or Founding Giant, to somehow gain coordinator power.

“Although the organic matter of which the bodies of giants are made appear as if from nothing, they are said to be sent from invisible paths that transcend physical space. These paths connect all Ymir’s subjects to a single “coordinator”, the “founding giant”

Coordination is basically how religions and the powers of the giants are connected.

More details are bound to be revealed in the final season of Attack on Titan because we are sure that Ymir and Giant's origins will play an important role in the series and how the plot will unfold.

attack on titan manga spoiler

While the origin story is the same here, the manga is way ahead of the anime in terms of story and reveals more tangible details about how Ymir managed to get her power.

Ymir was actually a slave who worked for the Eldian king.

It gained its power from a skeleton-like creature whose shape eerily resembles a spine, living in a hole in a large tree. When the Eldan soldiers chased Ymir, she fell into the pit and the skeleton lay on her back, merging with her and giving her the strength of a giant.

Ymir's past is revealed when Eren Jaeger meets her on the "Coordination" (Tracks) and he can see her memories when he touches her. So we can safely say that this information is as good as it gets.

It is not known who, or what, the spine-like creature was. Perhaps it will be revealed in the upcoming chapters, or Hajime Isayama may decide to leave it a mystery.

Then the Eldian king used Ymir's newfound power to subdue the Marley Empire and build the Eldian Empire. She always acted as a slave to the Eldian King. She even gave birth to his children and eventually died protecting him.

The giant powers could have ended with the death of Ymir, but then the Eldian king forced Ymir's sons to eat her remains, and then the forces passed on to them.

Then the powers were passed down through the ages, until King No. 145 of Eldea, Karl Fritz, shattered by the guilt of his predecessors' actions, decided to stop all fighting. Marley was allowed to invade the Eldian Empire during the Great War of the Giants by conspiring with the Tibor family.

Then Karl Fritz moved most of the Eldians to Paradise Island, wishing them to live in peace. Use the gigantic giants to raise the Three Walls and warn the rulers of Marley that if any acts of war are carried out against Eldia, he will unleash millions of gigantic giants of the world.

He then erased the memories of the Eldians, causing them to believe that they were the last surviving humans and that the giants were responsible for almost completely destroying the human race.

What do you think of the origin story of giants in Shingeki no Kyojin? Let us know by leaving a comment below.