Who was King Fritz? Does he Belong to the Real Royal Family?

When we look back at what made Ymir suffer or why she turned out the way she is, it all points towards one person, “King Fritz.”

He was the person whom Ymir loved and for whom she sacrificed everything till the very end. The being who brought destruction for many decades.

King Fritz was the ruler of the Eldians, which was originally a small tribe. He ruled over Eldia around 2,000 years ago and was the one who found the power of Titan in Ymir. He is the royal from whom the descendants of Fritz came about.

He started the Titans through the Fritz family, though he was a mere human. While this guy may not be a Titan himself, he is still the biggest monster that the world of Attack on Titan has ever seen.

He was a brutal warlord who would get anything he wants by any means. He cared nothing for either his people or his family. To him, they were nothing but tools to affirm and extend his power and authority.

This person was partially responsible for the creation of the Titans and most of the disgraces that our dear protagonists had to face.

1. What was the Relation Between King Fritz and Ymir?

Ymir was the concubine of King Fritz with whom she had three children. It was a reward for Ymir who gained the power of the Titans. King Fritz also used her as a slave until her last breath.

After letting a pig escape, Ymir was hunted down by King Fritz’s followers. She found a tree to hide inside of. Upon entering it, she fell and connected to what would end up giving her the Titans’ powers.

At that moment, she became the first Titan. The Founder, if you will. She was huge, 240 meters tall from head to toe. Despite being massive and the most powerful thing alive, she still obeyed King Fritz.

Fritz took advantage of her by making her his wife who gave him three children (Maria, Rose, and Sheena) and used her to conquer more lands.

Eldia inevitably defeated their main rival, Marley. While surrendering, one Marleyan soldier (theorized to be the mythic Marleyan hero Helos) threw a spear at King Fritz in a last-ditch attempt to kill him. It was Ymir who sacrificed herself as a shield to protect the king.

Though she was on her last breath, the cruel king continue to tell her to get up and serve him.

2. Why did King Fritz feed Ymir’s body to her children?

King Fritz to maintain his claims and keep the power of the Titan alive, fed Ymir’s corpse to their children. Passing down the bloodline to a race of people that came to be known as the Subjects of Ymir.

Fearful that the power of the Titans might be gone forever, Fritz had Ymir’s corpse butchered and served to his daughters. It succeeded in passing down Ymir’s power.

Even upon his deathbed, Fritz told his daughters to reproduce before having their descendants cannibalize their spines upon death, so that Eldia and the Titans could rule for all eternity.

3. Who is the Real Royal Family in Attack on Titan?

The Reiss family is the true royal family, within the walls. When the walls were first built, their family name was Fritz but they decided to change it to Reiss and put a puppet king in place to prevent anyone from stealing the power of the Founding Titan from them.

After the deceased of Ymir and King Fritz, slowly the Eldian Empire grew unstable due to internal conflicts between the families with the power of the Titans and collapsed during the Great Titan War a century ago.

Eldia lost most of its land as well as seven of the Nine Titans to a newly reborn Marley, and many Eldians retreated and were confined to its remaining territory of Paradis Island off from the coast of the mainland.

The current king at that time was Karl Fritz who raised the Walls to protect Eldia from Marley and the other nations of the world. He then changed their surname to Reiss to protect the royal lineage.

The Reiss family ruled from the shadows to prevent any of them from getting killed. They wiped people’s memories with the Founding Titan and used the military police to prevent anyone from overthrowing the government.

4. How is King Fritz Related to the Real Royal Family?

King Fritz within the Walls was just a figurehead who had no real authority. The one ruling the kingdom behind the curtain is Reiss Family, the true royal. The only connection he had with the royal family is being the puppet.

He was given authority by the true royal family in exchange for loyalty and silence. This also clears up the mystery of why he hardly wears the crown (he being fake). As, he didn’t even have an ounce of royal blood in him.

5. Are Fritz and Reiss the Same Family?

The Fritz and Reiss are originally from the same family name, “Fritz.” To protect the Fritz bloodline and hide their identities inside the wall, they changed their surname to Reiss.

The Reiss family branched off from the original royal family after the Great Titan War, masqueraded as a minor noble family living inside northern Wall Sheena, and set up a false King and royal family to further draw attention away from themselves.

For around a century they possessed the Founding Titan and the lost memories of mankind within the Walls which they passed down from generation to generation. Historia Reiss, the illegitimate daughter of late Rod Reiss is the current Queen of the Walls.

6. About Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. Kodansha publishes it in the Bessatsu Shonen Magazine.

The manga began serialization on September 9th, 2009, and ended on April 9, 2021. It has been compiled into 34 volumes.

Attack on Titan follows humanity settled within three concentric walls to protect themselves from the terrifying titans that prey on them. Eren Yeager is a young boy that believes that a caged life is similar to that of cattle and aspires to go beyond the walls one day, just like his heroes, the Survey Corps. The emergence of a deadly Titan unleashes chaos.