The Nine Titans (九つの巨人 Kokonotsu no Kyojin?) were nine Titan powers that had been passed down through the Eldian people for nearly 2,000 years after the death of Ymir Fritz until the death of Eren Yeager, with each having their own name. The nine Titan powers were the Founding Titan, the Armored Titan, the Attack Titan, the Beast Titan, the Cart Titan, the Colossus Titan, the Female Titan, the Jaw Titan and the War Hammer Titan. Around 2,000 years ago, Ymir Fritz obtained the power of the Titans and became the first Titan, which later came to be known as the Founding Titan. Thirteen years later, she died and her power was then divided between her three daughters who had been forced by their father to consume her remains. Eventually, the powers would split further into the individual Nine Titans, which were subsequently inherited by nine of her descendants. The Nine Titans soon destroyed the ancient nation of Marley and conquered the entire continent to build the Eldian Empire. As family relations play a significant role in passing and inheriting memories from the previous inheritors of the Titans, the Nine Titans normally resided within noble families during Eldia's reign. Examples include the Fritz family with the Founding Titan and Tybur family with the War Hammer Titan.
The Colossal Titan (超大型巨人 Chō ōgata Kyojin) was one of the Nine Titans and served as the primary antagonist of the first three seasons of Attack on Titan series. It was notable for its incredible size and its ability to control both the steam emitted by its Titan body and the amount of energy released during its transformations.
Unlike the other Nine Titans, the Colossal Titan possesses virtually no skin on its face or body, leaving most of its musculature exposed. In addition, the Titan's skeletal structure is also laid bare on certain parts of its body, most prominently along the face. Bertholdt's Colossal Titan had a heavily deformed appearance, with skeletal ears, no lips and a facial structure that drastically differed from his human form. On the other hand, Armin's Colossal Titan had some skin around its lips but lacked ears entirely.
The Female Titan (女型の巨人 Megata no Kyojin) was one of the Nine Titans and possessed the ability to easily mimic the attributes of the other Titans. It could also selectively harden parts of its skin and attract Pure Titans with its screams, possibly due to its aforementioned mimicry ability. The Female Titan appeared female regardless of the possessor's biological sex.
Similar to the Founding Titan and Zeke Yeager's Beast Titan, the Female Titan was able to exercise a degree of influence over Pure Titans through a scream-based ability;[7] in the Female's case, it was able to attract Pure Titans to itself. Annie Leonhart used this ability to gather Titans on Paradis Island to the Walls during the fall of Wall Maria.
The Armored Titan (鎧の巨人 Yoroi no Kyojin?) was covered by hardened, armor-like skin, except in key areas necessary for movement. It also possessed the ability to harden its arms and feet into sharper claws which could be used to climb structures such as the Walls.
The defining feature of the Armored Titan was the all-encompassing layer of plated, armor-like segments of hardened skin protecting the Titan body. This armor was capable of shielding the Titan from significant amounts of damage, shielding direct hit from a cannon, breaking ultrahard steel blades of vertical maneuvering equipment when struck[5] and withstanding the Colossus Titan's explosive transformation[6]. However, the armor had some limitations and was not capable of protecting the user from high-power weaponry such as the Mid-East Allied Forces' anti-Titan artillery.
The Cart Titan (車力の巨人 Shariki no Kyojin) was quadrupedal and had great endurance that allowed it to stay transformed for long periods of time, as well as transform in rapid succession without needing to rest, hundreds of times per day even. Its speed rivaled that of the Jaw Titan.
The Cart Titan possessed a level of endurance greater than that of the other members of the Nine Titans, allowing for the inheritor to partake in long missions without the need for rest. Its absorption resistance allowed it to maintain its Titan form for long periods of time, making it an ideal candidate for a variety of tactics, including the clearing of trenches and long-term operations into enemy territory. Likewise, Pieck claims that the Cart Titan's power allowed her to perform hundreds of consecutive transformations before she started to feel fatigued. On the downside, the Cart Titan had much lower defenses than the other Nine Titans and was more likely to be taken down by a critical or severe blow.
The Beast Titan (獣の巨人 Kemono no Kyojin) could take on the physical characteristics of different animals that vary between its inheritors. Zeke Yeager's Beast Titan had several unique abilities that no other known Beast Titan had, thanks to his royal blood and throwing experience. The nature of its power was similar to that of the Founding Titan.
Unlike the majority of other Titans, which retained a largely "human" appearance, the Beast Titan exhibited animal-like traits, which greatly varied depending on its holders: some of the various animal appearances shown from prior holders of the Beast Titan have included monkeys, birds, crocodiles, elk, bulls, wolves, snakes, rabbits, dinosaurs, okapis and goats. Zeke Yeager's Beast Titan looked like an ape and Tom Ksaver's contained traits found in bighorn sheep, while Falco Grice testifies that there once existed a Beast Titan with wings. Furthermore, Zeke's spinal fluid, which carried the power of the Beast Titan, was used to transform Falco into a Titan and evidently gave his Jaw Titan falcon-like characteristics similar to those of a Beast Titan.
The Attack Titan (進撃の巨人 Shingeki no Kyojin, also translated as Attacking Titan) was one of the Nine Titans that could see through the memories of its past and future holders, and is said to have fought for freedom throughout the course of numerous generations.
While all of the Nine Titans could receive memories of past inheritors, the Attack Titan could also receive memories of inheritors yet to come. Zeke Yeager described it as "the power to transcend time", speculating that Eren sent specific memories to Grisha to suit him. These memories led those with the Attack Titan to move forward, fighting for freedom. Eren Kruger received memories of Grisha Yeager telling his son to protect Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert, although he did not know whose memories they were. Grisha Yeager knew of the Founding Titan's bloodline restriction from the future memories of his son, Eren. Grisha also saw the Rumbling, and, horrified, begged Zeke to stop Eren.
The War Hammer Titan (戦鎚の巨人 Sentsui no Kyojin) could materialize various weapons and structures from its own hardened flesh. It could be controlled from afar through a cable of Titan flesh while the user remained hidden within a hardened crystal casing.
The War Hammer Titan could produce and manipulate structures that were made of hardened Titan flesh. Such structures could be weaponized. For example, it could form pikes large enough to impale and lift a 15m Titan, flood areas with protrusions such as spikes, and manifest the Titan's signature war hammer. This ability could also create serrated and bladed weapons, such as a sickle, battle axe or a broadsword; even more noteworthy was that the War Hammer Titan was capable of manifesting flexible weaponry components, such as the string of a crossbow or the whips of a cat-o'-nine-tails, making this a particularly unique brand of hardening. Much like the Female Titan, this hardening could also be used to encase the human operator of the War Hammer Titan inside a crystal casing.
The Founding Titan (始祖の巨人 Shiso no Kyojin?), by screaming, could turn Subjects of Ymir into Titans, control the minds of Titans, and alter the memories and bodies of Subjects of Ymir, but only if the inheritor had royal blood or was in contact with a Titan of royal blood. It was connected to all Subjects of Ymir and Titans via paths. Eren's form of the Founding Titan is called Doomsday Titan.
The Founding Titan had several abilities that were activated by screaming. The inheritor of the Founding Titan did not have to transform in order to use these abilities; human screams would suffice. Furthermore, the screams did not have to be loud, or even "screams" in the truest sense: Frieda Reiss used the memory-alteration ability by casually talking, although her target was only Historia, who was right in front of her.
The Jaw Titan (顎の巨人 Agito no Kyojin?) was the swiftest of the Nine Titans and had sharp, hardened teeth and claws capable of damaging or breaking almost anything. The Jaw Titan is an assault unit. Its small size makes it the swiftest of all. Its powerful claws and jaws can crush just about anything.
Those who held the power of the Jaw Titan demonstrated significant amounts of speed and agility in their Titan form. They could even move fast enough to catch most of the other Nine Titans off guard. Though the Jaw Titan was relatively small and weak, its mobility excelled in terrain such as Titan Forests. As its name implies, the Jaw Titan possessed incredible biting and crushing strength in its jaws and claws which could be used with devastating efficiency against both Titans and man-made structures.[6][7] Its claws were strong enough to cause severe damage to armored opponents such as turrets and even the crystal shell created by the War Hammer Titan.