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Attack on Titan recap: the entire story so far before Final Season Part 3

We give you a summary of the complete story of Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) before the third part of the final season. Are you ready for the finale?

Update:
Attack on Titan recap: the entire story so far before Final Season Part 3

There is no doubt that Shingeki no Kyojin is one of the most acclaimed manga of recent years. Hajime Isayama released the first volume of his creation on September 9, 2009, and the last one on April 9, 2021. As for the anime, it began airing in April 2013 and will end this 2023 with parts 1 and 2 of part 3 of its season 4. Although we still don't know if the final outcome of the story will differ from the controversial anime ending of the manga, for which Isayama apologized in tears, it won't take long to find out. After all, there is already a premiere date and a platform to see the outcome of the series.

One thing that is clear to all Attack on Titan fans is that it is not easy to keep track of the story, since we have been with it for more than a decade and it has evolved and become more complex over time. For this reason, and to help you understand all the important facts about the plot of Attack on Titan in order, below we will recap everything we know about the Titans and the history of the inhabitants of this dystopian world created by Isayama.

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Ymir, the Founding titan and the conflict between Eldia and Marley

Legend has it that in the year -1003, a human named Ymir Fritz came into contact with the Demon of the Earth to make a pact with him and gain great power. Of course, this was also the beginning of the curse, as the ability the demon gave her was to become a titan. Although the organic matter of these creatures is somewhat unknown, we do know that they perform a process similar to photosynthesis and therefore can only move when there is sunlight, besides being made of water vapor (and thus the great vapors that usually cause). With this power/curse, Ymir was able to overthrow all of her enemies, who at that time were grouped in the well-known Marley Empire.She did not do it alone, as part of her people, the Eldia, were also transformed into Titans in order to win a series of battles that lasted for a long time.

Thirteen years after Ymir became a Titan and left her people in an era of prosperity thanks to the use of this magical power, the leader of Eldia was forced to separate her body and soul into nine parts before her death. The power of the Founding Titan was left to her three daughters: Maria, Rose, and Shina, while the rest were the Armored, Beast, War Hammer, Colossal, Female, Attack, Cart and Jaw Titan.

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From the year -989 to 710 (yes, practically a millennium) was a dark time for humanity. The great power granted by the Nine Titans made their wielders believe they had the right to dominate different parts of the world, steal their possessions, and even choose some humans to mate with. Thus was born the Ackerman family (to which both Levi and Mikasa would belong many years later). From the beginning, they were brainwashed to protect the bearer of the Founder Titan, something we will see in the aforementioned protagonist's behavior towards Eren from the beginning of the anime. The Ackerman, who were characterized by their incredible fighting skills, were eventually joined by the Asians of the Hizuru clan (led by the Azumabito family), who had a lot of dealings with the royal family that passed the Founder Titan from generation to generation.

We remember that one of the Founding Titan's powers is to transform any Eldian with the necessary organic matter in their blood into a Titan. They used this power to win several wars, as the enemies of other nations did not have the necessary weapons to confront them. A time that well illustrates the use of this power is known as the "Tragedy of Lago," in the year -368, when the Titans annihilated a large portion of Marley's population. Another of the Founding Titans' abilities is nothing more or less than the ability to alter the genetics of their own people, something that was especially useful to them in the year 110 when the Black Death ravaged the entire world. The Eldians became immune, proving once again the great benefits of having "Titan blood".

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The great war of the Titans and the arrival at Paradis

Far from giving up, the few remaining inhabitants of Marley after the massacre began to organize and plan how to overthrow the mighty Founding Titan. They managed to get the Eldian clans to start fighting each other, causing the gradual destruction from within the empire once built by Ymir Fritz. In 743, the 145th descendant of the royal bloodline, King Fritz, made a pact with the Tybur Clan, holders of the War Hammer Titan, to finally end the Great War of the Titans. To do this, they had to pretend that Eros, a Marlyan, had ended the king's life. They wanted to give the people of Marley a heroic figure, but at the same time, they created an alternative version that they told to the rest of the world, assuring them that the Tybur Clan would take credit for the event.

In the year 745, King Fritz ordered the rest of his family and the inhabitants of the kingdom of Eldia to leave with him to the island of Paradis, located in Madagascar (while Marley would be Africa in an alternate universe), and where all the action of the anime begins when we still do not know the whole truth we are telling. Using his power as the Founding Titan, the King transformed several Eldians into Titans with a mixture of colossal, feminine, and armored powers. With them, he formed the walls of Mary, Rose, and Shina, named after the three daughters of Ymir. Not content with that, he used the power to alter the genetics of his people, erasing their memories and making them believe they were the last inhabitants of the world, survivors of a great global catastrophe. To end the matter, he signed a peace treaty, ensuring that the people of Eldia would remain within the walls to avoid future conflict with the people of Marley.

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It should be noted that the original plan of Tybur and Fritz with this pact was to imprison the inhabitants of Eldia until such time as the armies of humanity developed enough weapons to invade the island, confront them, and defeat the Titans once and for all. When that time came, the intention was to minimize the damage, infiltrate the right Titans for the mission, find the hidden Founding Titan of that time, and ask him to relinquish his power as they had agreed so many years before. This was to happen with Bertholdt (Colossal Titan), Reiner (Armored Titan), and Annie (Female Titan), but their plans were thwarted when Grisha Jaeger (father of Zeke, owner of the Beast Titan, and Eren, and part of a group called the "Eldian Restorationists") arrived to assassinate the royal family and steal the power of the Founding Titan.

False Peace and the Cult of Royal Blood

Of course, the era of supposed peace did not last long. Some of the Eldians, who still remembered their past (at least partially), began to rebel against Marley, resenting the neglect to which they were subjected by King Fritz. One of his plans was to take a little orphan girl and name her Ymir, like the first Titan, and care for her until the year 785, when she was unfortunately discovered by an armed group of Marley's, who were sent to crush the Eldian rebellions. As was the custom at the time, they transformed them all into Titans with the appropriate serum and threw them on Paradis Island.

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In the years that followed, Marley, under the command of the Tybur family, organized themselves to use the six titanic powers under their control: Armor, Colossus, Female, Jaw, Beast, and Cart, in order to defeat all enemy lands with little effort (exactly what Eldia did so long ago and for which they were punished). At that time, there was already a strong discrimination against Eldia's people in Marley, as they felt that they should repent for the crimes of their nation's past. We found a real historical analogy that does not need to be mentioned, but the theme of the armbands and the concentration camps should be enough clues to make the connection.

A rebel group of Eldians soon arose within Marley

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They relied on the power of the Attack Titan, which they eventually passed on to the one called Eren Kruger (a descendant of Ymir's family). In 824, Grisha joined the rebellion and eventually became its leader. He met Dina Fritz, a descendant of the royal family, whom he married and by whom he had his first son: Zeke (yes, the one who would later inherit the Beast Titan). The entire rebellion pinned their hopes on the little one to be the hope of the Eldians, but he did not develop the necessary physical skills to stand out from the other companions and thus be among the privileged ones to inherit the titan of the day. However, he eventually succeeded by befriending the owner of the beast titan, at which time he sold his parents and revealed his plans to the Marleyan authorities, who did not hesitate to throw both Grisha and Dinah against the walls of Paradise. Grisha, who had the power of the Attack Titan in her blood, was able to transform without losing consciousness. Dina Fritz, however, turned into a conventional Titan (who would end up eating Eren's mother a few years later).

The structure inside the walls of Paradise

The Reiss royal family, descendants of Karl Fritz, continued with their plan based on transferring the power of the Founder Titan every thirteen years, knowing that they would eventually be destroyed by Marley to end the "curse" of the Titans once and for all. One of the king's sons at the time, Uri Reiss, acquired the Founding Titan and saw that the time for Marley's invasion would soon come, so they patiently waited for its end. However, as mentioned above, Grisha burst into the royal hall at the time of the handover ceremony to acquire the Founding Titan's power and add it to the offensive power he already possessed.

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It was from then on that all the events we see from the beginning of the anime unfolded: the birth of Eren and the adoption of Mikasa by Grisha and his new wife, the transfer of the titan powers to Eren (and his memory being erased so that he could discover them on his own and later when he reached the famous cellar of his house), etc. It is also worth mentioning that inside the walls, they still lived in absolute ignorance (at least of the royal family), thinking that the Titans were enemies they had to defeat. For this purpose, they developed various military divisions: stationary troops, military police, and scout regiment.

The latter are the most famous since they use the famous maneuvering equipment (which evolves until it becomes unbeatable) to be really effective against the Titans. Eren, Mikasa and Armin, as well as the infiltrators Bertolt, Annie and Reiner (whose plan failed and for that reason they had to stay five long years in disguise), and other key characters such as Sasha, Connie, Levi, Hange and more were recruited there. In general, it would take us another whole report to explain step by step everything that happened inside the walls, but with what we have told and the outcome of the text we are approaching, it should be enough to give you a general idea and connect all the main pieces.

Eren Jaeger, the enemy of humanity

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When the protagonists finally manage to escape from Paradis and reach Marley, they discover the truth. With this, Eren's plans bifurcate with those of the rest and he establishes his own strategy to, years later and when he is fully prepared, emerge in his titan form to finish off the leader of the Tybur family while he gives a speech in front of the leaders of the different nations of the world. Although it might seem a victory for Eldia and the rebels, since in this operation Eren manages to absorb the power of the war hammer titan and then flee with the rest (Hange, Mikasa, Armin, who already has the power of the colossal titan acquired after the death of Bertolt) back to Paradis, what really happens is that Tybur's plan is fulfilled.

When he saw that the original peace pact had been thwarted by Grisha's intervention and also knew of Eren's impending attack, he changed his strategy to trap him and turn all the nations of the world against him, making Eldia's victory impossible, simply because he did not have enough weapons to face the entire planet. Soon after, we see Zeke convince Eren to unite as brothers and allies to carry out his own plan, known as the "Eldian Euthanasia Plan".

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Indeed, as their name suggests, they intend to wipe out all Titans and Eldians with blood susceptible to Titan transformation, believing this to be the best outcome for their own. With supposed freedom as their banner, and no matter what methods they use to accomplish their mission, we see them preparing an attack inside the walls, using Zeke's blood to transform various Levi men to allow the Beast Titan bearer to escape from captivity. However, Captain Ackerman demonstrates his great skill by turning the situation around and ending Zeke's life once and for all (and getting his revenge on his partner Erwin). Or maybe not?

The second half of the final season of the anime mainly tells how Zeke manages to survive Levi's attack and leave Levi incapacitated. The giant ape manages to return to the center of Paradise just as a major conflict breaks out between Marley's forces and Eren and his people, who have their own plan and form a faction that follows him without question. After several surprises and plot twists, which we leave you to discover for yourself by watching the anime and/or reading the manga, Eren obtains the power of Ymir to carry out his true mission: to free the colossal giants from the walls of Paradis and march with them and himself, transformed into a titanic being of smoking ribs, to destroy the entire world and all life beyond the borders of the island. Faced with this situation, survivors such as Armin, Mikasa, Gabi, Reiner, Jean, Connie, and even Annie (who was freed from her captivity after Eren's roar) unite to stop Eren and prevent him from wiping out humanity.

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Will they make it?

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