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Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan is one of the best-selling manga series in history, with over 110 million copies sold to this date. Fortunately, the anime adaptation of the manga series enjoys the same popularity for its dystopian future arc, especially its characters. Eren Yeager is one of the protagonists of Attack on Titan and perhaps the series' most complex character. His character growth and the shift from an eager young man to anit-hero who shapes the future are outstanding. Eren's childhood trauma, combined with what he faces in the field against the Titans, plays an undeniable role in his resilient personality.
The events of Attack on Titan's final season shows Eren Yeager is in possession of three Titans. He gained the Founding and Attack Titans from his father while he came in possession of the War Hammer Titan after consuming Lara Tybur. Each Titan has its own abilities, especially the Founding Titan, who is practically a god-like figurine in Isayama's dark fantasy world.
Who Are The Founding Titans?
The history of the Founding Titans is filled with blood and political backstabbing and dates back as far as two thousand years. It all started with Ymir Fritz, a slave fleeing the atrocities of the Eldians. In her attempt to escape from being hunted down like an animal as punishment, she comes across a strange tree with an opening. Trying to hide, she fell into an underground water cave and came across an unknown alien-like creature with a spine. Ymir bonds with the creature and transforms into the first Titan.
Ymir came out of the tree bestowed with incredible abilities, and that's when King Fritz developed the plan to exploit her powers by marrying her. She bore three children for the king, and the true power of the Founding Titan was passed down to the Fritz dynasty. According to the lore, even when Ymir died, the power of the Titans lived on through the the Nine Titans as they are essentially fragments of her soul. She can pass down those fragments by her will, but she is the only true Titan who can wield all powers. However, after her death, the Nine Titans used their powers to conquer the world's people known as the Marleyans.
As time went by, the Marleyans fought back and seized seven of the nine Titans and drove the Eldians out. The 145th King, Karl Fritz, who was heartbroken by the misdeeds of his people, sent numerous Eldians to Paradis Island and built concrete walls around it. Karl Fritz conspired with the Tybur family to incite the Great Titan War. Only the Tybur and the Reiss family remained as the last Eldian households with their Titans. Later in the year 845, Grisha Yeager took Frieda Reiss's Founding Titan and, thus, began the story of Eren Yeager.
How Did Eren Get The Founding Titan?
Eren Yeager always had a strong sense of purpose, and that was even before he turned into a Titan. The was always left with burning questions about why Eren was chosen and what made him special. Eren inherited his Titan power from his father, but more specifically, he transformed into a Pure Titan because his father injected him with a Titan Serum. However, not just anyone can inject themselves with the serum and use the Titan's powers. This privilege is only bestowed upon the descendants of Ymir, and the Yeagers were one of Ymir's subjects. When Eren was injected with the serum, he became a Pure Titan – a creature that needs to consume another human being to obtain the Titan's power. Eren ate his father, Grisha and became the most powerful Titan in the world by consuming the abilities of both The Attack Titan and The Founding Titan.
Why Does Eren's Founding Titan Look Different?
Eren's Titan form is the most ferocious and powerful of all, and that's thanks to him gaining full access after he convinces the soul of Ymir Fritz to give him power. Eren's Founding Titan has a physically different appearance than the rest, and it's by far one of the largest Titans in the series. The viewers would also notice that Eren's Titan has a strange skeletal body – more like a monstrous spine, and there's a reason why it's like that. When Eren gained the Founding Titan, he had already been decapitated, and through self-preservation, the Founding Titan connected Eren's head back via the spine.
However, since the head far away from the body, the spine started to grow uncontrollably during the connection – resulting in a Titan form that has a large spine-like structure and looks more like a monster than a humanoid. Most Titans' bodies are a manifestation of their human counterparts. But in Eren's case, the spine played the basis for the transformation because of the severed head, making Eren's Founding Titan more like a collection of bones with a spinal cage.
Eren's Founding Titan's Powers Explained
The Founding Titan possesses several destructive abilities demonstrated by each possessor according to their will. But for Eren, the scale of his powers surpasses any of his predecessors as he holds three Titans:
Titan Control
Before Eren, King Karl used this ability to control an army of 50-meter Colossal Titans to build the three walls surrounding Paradis. He commanded them to harden their bodies and enclose the remaining Eldians within the structures. Eren used Titan Control to influence all the Titans for his fight against Diana Fritz. In the current season, he's commanding all the Titans of the world and marching towards world domination.
Telepathic Communication
The Founding Titan has the ability to telepathically connect with all the Subjects of Ymir, wherever they may be. The Founding Titan does that through the connection of the paths. The Titan can talk to every Eldian at every corner of the world and even experience everything they're going through. Eren already showcased this this ability when he announced his plans to every Titan and Eldian in the world for the Rumbling.
Titan Creation
This uncanny ability enables the Founding Titan to turn any Eldian into a Titan, and it doesn't even require its spinal fluid for the process. King Karl demonstrated this ability when he created an army of Colossus Titans and turned them into a gigantic wall. Even Though Eren specifically didn't "create" any Titans, he uses the Founding Titan's powers to release the Wall Titans for his plan. He then creates a Titan body of his own that's unfathomably large, even bigger than the Colossus Titan.
Anatomical Manipulation
An Eldian King used this ability 600 years ago to make the Subjects of Ymir immune to an epidemic. The Founding Titan can manipulate the body composition of any Subject of Ymir, just like how Zeke wanted to strip the Eldians of the ability to give birth. It was part of his grand scheme of freeing any future Eldian from the curse of the bloodline.
Clayvoirance
It's the Founding Titan's ability to access time – past, present, and future all at the same time. Eren uses this ability to talk to Armin in the realm of paths. He admits to him that he used this ability to influence Dina Fritz's Pure Titan, but it indirectly caused his mother's death. This confirms the limitation of this ability, it only allows the user to manipulate past events in order to preserve history, not change it. As a result, the user goes along with events they've witnessed, even if they don't agree.
The Rumbling
The Rumbling is actually not an ability, but it's the indication of the end of days. King Karl spread the rumor when he enclosed his people on Paradis Island that if anyone disturbs their peace, he'll unleash the wrath of the Titans. Ironically, in the final episodes of Attack on Titan, Eren has indeed unleashed the Rumbling by freeing the Colossus Titans from the walls of the island. Traumatized and eventually angered by the atrocities caused by the Marley, Eren has set out to do the unspeakable and with a Titan form like no other. He wants to destroy the world and anyone in pursuit of hurting the Eldians. The final part of Attack on Titan Season 4 will air this Fall, concluding the worldwide phenomenon of Hajime's dark saga.