Summary

• Attack on Titan features a variety of Titans, from mindless Pure Titans to more intelligent Titan shifters like the Female Titan.
• Pure Titans are dangerous due to their numbers, strength, and enormous size, and can only be killed by slashing the nape of their neck.
• The Attack Titan has the power to receive memories from past and future inheritors, while the Armored Titan has thick, hardened plates for defense.

Warning: Spoilers for Attack on TitanEach of Attack on Titan's titular monsters play an irreplaceable role in the popular anime series, but what makes these Titans so compelling is that they vary greatly, from the mindless Pure Titans, to the more sophisticated Titan shifters like the Female Titan.

As the show revealed more and more about the nature and lore of the Titans, the basic facts are clear: a Titan’s sole purpose is to seek out and devour humans, although they do not necessarily derive food-based sustenance from human flesh. The differences between Titan types multiply from there, with a few mysterious Abnormal Titans, the infinitely more powerful Nine Titans, to the towering threat of the Colossus Titan. Here's every type of Titan in Attack on Titan explained, and how they operate in the confines of the show.

The Pure Titans

Titan Shifters: All Subjects of Ymir

Pure Titans resemble humans but with varying levels of enlarged forms. The majority of the observed Titans both in the manga and the anime belong to this category, their overarching feature being their inability to form and process thoughts. Despite being made similarly to Attack on Titan's other Titan types, Pure Titans are mindless and tend to attack humans without discrimination. They are often dangerous due to their sheer numbers, formidable strength, and enormous size.

Pure Titans have been used as weapons of war since they appeared, first by Eldia and then by Marley, and can only be killed by slashing the nape of their neck with two swords. A notable example of a Pure Titan would be the humanoid dubbed Bean, who first appeared when the gates of Trost District were broken by Attack on Titan's epic Colossus Titan, after which, Eren and the rest of the human forces are able to reclaim the district. Bean was one of the two Titans kept alive for the sake of experimentation in an attempt to better understand the nature of these beats and their innate weaknesses.

The Abnormal Titans

Titan Shifters: Multiple, including Rod Reiss and Connie Springer's Mother

The Abnormal Titans are one of the most bizarre Titan types. Abnormals are Pure Titans that display unusual behavior and intelligence, allowing them to perform unpredictable moves. Abnormals often tend to ignore nearby humans and move on to strategic locations to inflict more damage, while being adept at performing tremendous leaps, running, speed-walking, and in a few cases, communicating in human tongues. An Abnormal Titan’s ability to form thoughts and speech has been chronicled in the diary of Ilse Langnar, who had run into a hesitant Titan amid an expedition massacre.

After the diary was found by Hange Zoë, along with other members of Levi’s squad, it is revealed that the Titan addressed Ilse as “Lady Ymir”, mistaking her for Attack on Titan's Founder Ymir Fritz. Confused by the possibility that a Titan can experience emotions, Ilse became increasingly frustrated during her attempts at communication, ending with the Titan crushing her skull whilst shedding tears. The existence of the Abnormal Titans forces humans to approach the beasts with more nuanced perspectives, as not all Titans are mindless killers.

The Attack Titan

Titan Shifters: Eren Jaeger, Grisha Jaeger, Eren Kruger

In Eren's possession and acting as his default Titan form, the Attack Titan can receive memories from both past inheritors and those yet-to-come, which is described by Zeke Jaeger as “the power to transcend time.” This power actually enabled Eren to paradoxically manipulate his dad Grisha to cause his own Titan creation. Although these memories allow a glimpse into the future and the lives of those who would inherit the Attack Titan subsequently, they are often incomplete, blocking the user from perceiving the larger picture.

In terms of appearance, the Attack Titan is 15 meters tall and is characterized by a highly muscular build and fleshless jaws. As the name suggests, the Attack Titan is an offensive powerhouse, especially after Eren drinks the Armor serum that makes it so he can harden the Attack Titan's skin at key points.

The Armored Titan

Titan Shifter: Reiner Braun

Reiner Braun’s Armored Titan stands at 15 meters and has a slight resemblance to WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar. In terms of appearance, the Armored Titan has thick, hardened plates all over its body, acting as a natural defense against external attacks including cannon hits, steel blades, and vertical maneuvering equipment, making it the most defensively strong of the Titan types. In addition to this, these AoT Titans are able to harden their arms and feet, creating sharp claws in the process.

The Armored Titan's only weakness seems to be the areas on the back of its joint that are armorless in nature and the fact that the armor is not capable of withstanding high-power weaponry, such as the Mid-East Allied Forces’ artillery. In the end, during the War for Paradis arc, Reiner's Armored Titan form is dissipated after all Eldian Pure Titans are transformed back into people.

The Colossal Titan

Titan Shifters: Armin Arlelt, Bertholdt Hoover

Users of the largest Titan type, the Colossal Titan can control the energy produced during their transformation to create various effects, such as when Bertolt attacks Trost District and his transformation triggers a powerful wind blast. The Colossal Titan can alsoe create a mushroom cloud of dust and rubble, leading to the death of many Survey Corps members during the Battle of Shiganshina District. Also, as indicated by its name, the Colossal Titan is known for its enormous size, able to topple the outer gate of Wall Maria with a single kick.

The Colossal Titan also possesses the unique ability to control the steam emitted from its body, burning and repelling attacks in proximity in the process. During his final moments in a fight against Armin and Mikasa, Eren's Titan form engages in a hand-to-hand fight with the former in his Colossal Titan form. While Eren bests Armin in terms of physical and strategic prowess, Armin manages to immobilize him long enough for Mikasa to enter his Titan's mouth and kill him before kissing him goodbye.

The Female Titan

Titan Shifter: Annie Leonhart

Much like other powerful Titans, the Female Titan exercises a certain degree of influence over Pure Titans through a scream-based ability. However, this attraction ability has its disadvantages: once arriving near the Female Titan, the others tend to attack and eat its body.

The Female Titan is also known for its tremendous endurance and mobility and can harden its skin at will in order to shatter blades of ultrahard steel upon contact. Interestingly, Annie can also come out of her Titan’s nape to create a hardened crystal cocoon around herself for protective purposes. During the 57th Exterior Scouting Mission Arc, Mikasa succeeds in slicing the Female Titan's fingers off, allowing Eren to rip the Titan form apart, although he had begun to merge before Levi stops him and stops the process.

The Beast Titan

Titan Shifters: Zeke Jaeger, Tom Ksaver

Taking on a beast-like appearance, the Beast Titan is slightly larger than most and exhibits animal traits that depend upon the user. The Beast Titan is known to have displayed traits common in elks, birds, bulls, and wolves among others, as shown in Attack on Titan's Season 2 opening, while Zeke’s Titan assumed ape-like form. It is also interesting to know that Zeke’s spinal fluid was used to transform Falco into a Titan, which later gave his Jaw Titan falcon-like epithets similar to that of the Beast Titan.

Moreover, Zeke’s Beast Titan possessed the formidable ability to throw objects with great accuracy and destructive capability, notably during the battle of Shiganshina District wherein most of the Survey Corps was wiped out with crushed rocks. Also, due to his royal blood, Zeke’s Beast Titan held the ability to turn Subjects of Ymir into Pure Titans.

The Cart Titan

Titan Shifter: Pieck Finger

Possessing greater endurance levels than Pure Titans and other members of the Nine Titans, the Cart Titan can partake in longer missions without having to pause for rest. This Titan’s absorption resistance allows it to maintain its beastly form and wear armaments such as battle armor, mobile machine gun platforms, and cargo packs.

As opposed to most bipedal Titans, the Cart Titan assumes a quadrupedal form, which potentially hinders the user from walking upright in human form. In terms of weaknesses, the Cart Titan has lower defenses and slower regenerative abilities as opposed to the others, and is more likely to be taken down by a fatal blow. However, similar to the Jaw Titan, the Cart Titan possesses immense speed, such as when it defeated Zeke and Reiner during the Battle of Shiganshina while catching a member of Attack on Titan's strongest family Levi off guard.

The Jaw Titan

Titan Shifter: Falco Grice, Porco Galliard, Ymir, Marcel Galliard

As indicated by its name, the Titan type called the Jaw Titan possesses a powerful set of jaws that can tear through almost anything, even if it is considered to be the weakest of Attack on Titan's Titan Shifters. Last in possession of Falco, the Jaw Titan can move fast enough to catch some of the Nine off-guard and cause severe damage to armored opponents. Those who held the power of the Jaw Titan demonstrated an incredible amount of speed and agility.

However, the jaw manifests in slightly varying forms with respect to different users, such as Ymir only having hardened teeth, while Falco and Marcel's sport hardened, armored masks and jaw plating that is almost bulletproof. Also, Falco’s Jaw Titan can sprout wings and a tail, allowing it to take flight whilst carrying people on its body.

The War Hammer Titan

Titan Shifters: Eren Jaeger, Lara Tybur

Attack on Titan's War Hammer Titan has powers that allow it to produce and manipulate structures made of hardened Titan flesh, weaponizing them in the form of spikes and blades with serrated edges. Theo Magath states at one point that while a formidable asset, the War Hammer Titan’s structural hardening should be used in moderation, as constant usage can led to serious exhaustion

However, unlike the rest of the Nine, the War Hammer Titan can remove its control center from its nape, connecting the Titan and the host with a long cable of flesh, a unique ability that the rest of the Nine in Attack on Titan do not possess.

The Founding Titan

Titan Shifters: Eren Jaeger, Grisha Jaeger, Frieda Reiss, Uri Reiss, Rod and Uri's Father, Karl Fritz, Ymir Fritz

Also known as Progenitor Titan and the Coordinate, the Founding Titan is the first of all the Titan types with the ability to create and control others, modifying the memories and bodies of the Subjects of Ymir with its "Coordinate" Ability. Although the Founding Titan was last in possession of Eren, its power can historically only be harnessed by members of the royal family. This Titan possesses several abilities, including titan creation and control, memory alteration, and telepathic communication.

The power to command other Titans was unwittingly used by Eren in an attempt to protect Mikasa, while anatomical manipulation was used by an Eldian king to make the Subjects of Ymir immune to a rampant epidemic. In terms of height, the Founding Titan stands at 13 meters, although it grows taller when its full abilities are tapped. As the first, the Founding Titan is easily the strongest of Attack on Titan's 11 different titan types.

All episodes of Attack on Titan are streaming on Crunchyroll.

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