The Role of the Royal Family, Explained

Attack on Titan‘s Royal Family’s history goes all the way back to 2,000 years ago, when the first Titan was born. Over the years, the family held on to the power of the Founding Titan and impacted its people and the world accordingly. From the first king to the last, how did this family impact the events of Attack on Titan?

When Ymir Fritz turned into the first Titan and married King Fritz, the Eldian lineage started. The Eldian nation once dominated the world, but with time became the center of the world’s hate. Even thousands of years later, its people continued to suffer. Was the Royal Family responsible for its people’s suffering?

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The Royal Family’s History and Impact

The Start of the Curse

After Ymir received her Titan powers, King Fritz married her to extend the usage of her powers by his offspring. Ymir gave birth to three daughters: Maria, Rose, and Sheena. When Ymir died while protecting King Fritz from an assassination, her corpse was served to her daughters, so the power of the Titans wouldn’t be lost. As time went on, the family continued to pass on the Titan’s powers and maintain its world dominance.

Known Members of the Fritz Royal Family

Sins That Weren’t Forgotten

King Fritz’s wish for eternal dominance was carried on by later generations. Each generation passed on the Founding Titan power by cannibalization. As long as the power remained, Eldia obliterated countries like Marley. As the Eldian bloodline extended, the subjects of Ymir grew in number and the world started to fear them. King Fritz’s tyranny continued as Ymir endlessly created Titans in a mysterious space and watched the Coordinate grow.

Karl Fritz’s Betrayal

Karl Fritz, the 145th king of Eldia, finally decided to end Eldia’s dominance over the world. He conspired with the Tybur family, which led to Eldia’s downfall. Karl Fritz moved to Paradis Island with many Eldians, erasing their memories of the outside world and warning the world not to obstruct their peace. The Eldians left on Marley now became the target of suffering because of the sins of their ancestors. As time went on, Royal Blood on the mainland perished, leaving Dina Fritz and Zeke Yeager as the only known descendants.

The Rise of the New Royal Family

After establishing themselves behind the walls, the royal family gave up on the Fritz name and became the Reiss Family. They continued to pass the Founding Titan from one successor to another. But the family lived secretly as a minor noble family while holding the strings to a puppet king who acted as the figurehead.

Known Members of the Reiss Royal Family

Karl Fritz’s Forced Peace

Upon receiving the power of the Founding Titan, the successors would gain knowledge of the outside world, but at the same time, Karl Fritz’s ideology would be forced upon them. Just like Karl Fritz, they would start to believe that Eldia’s sins were unforgivable, and were they ever to be attacked, they would accept their punishment and not fight back. This stopped rulers like Frieda Reiss and Uri Reiss from acting against Karl Fritz’s wishes.

The Loss of the Founding Titan

After over a thousand years, the royal family finally lost control of the Founding Titan when Grisha Yeager attacked and took the powers away from Frieda Reiss. He went on to give this power to Eren Yeager, who, unaffected by Karl Fritz’s ideology, refused to surrender to the outside world, caused the Rumbling, and finally freed the Eldians from their cursed fate.

Historia Reiss, the Queen of the New World

After Rod Reiss’s death, he was succeeded by his illegitimate daughter, Historia Reiss. During her first reign, Historia was heavily influenced by the Military and was even on the verge of being turned into the Beast Titan. But after the events of the Rumbling, she was able to take her rightful place as Eldia’s ruler. Attack on Titan‘s final credit scene suggests that she did a good job at leading Eldia till her death.

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The Royal Family was responsible for the suffering of its people. First, their tyranny made its people hated by the world, and later, its people were left at the world’s mercy when Karl Fritz decided to surrender to his family’s past sins. Eren Yeager stripped the Royal Family of its control over the Titans and made a harsh decision that saved Eldians at the cost of the world.

Attack on Titan is available to watch on Crunchyroll.