Eldia

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	Eldia was a great and ancient nation that destroyed Marley and came to rule our continent. That is when the Dark Ages began.
— Yeager teaching young Grisha Yeager^[1]

Eldia (エルディア Erudia^?) is a nation that is currently located on Paradis Island which is chiefly populated by the Subjects of Ymir, a race that used to be able turn into Titans if injected with a serum.

In ancient times, the Eldians used Titans to build their empire, slaughtering countless peoples and taking their land.^[2]^[3]^[4] Eventually, 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.^[5] Eldia lost most of its land as well as seven of the Nine Titans to a newly reborn Marley, and many Eldians retreated and confined to its remaining territory of Paradis Island off from the coast of the mainland.^[6] King Karl Fritz raised the Walls to protect Eldia from Marley and the other nations of the world, and erased the memories of Eldia from the Subjects of Ymir inside.^[7]

After discovering the truth from Grisha Yeager's basement, the Eldians on Paradis Island embrace their true identities. Although they are officially the "nation of Eldia,"^[8] the Yeagerists want to institute a New Eldian Empire (新生エルディア帝国 Shinsei Erudia Teikoku^?).^[9]

History

Eldia enslaving Ymir's village — Ancient Eldians enslaved and burned the village of Ymir

In ancient times, the people of Eldia existed as a primitive tribe. The Eldian tribe pillaged and raided opposing peoples, even cutting out the tongues of those they took for their slaves and gouging out the eyes of disobedient slaves.^[10]

Around 2,000 years ago, a slave girl named Ymir gained the power of the Titans. The ruler of the Eldian tribe used Ymir's newfound powers to war against enemy nations such as Marley, and he would later take Ymir to mother his children in the Fritz family.^[11] 13 years later, Ymir Fritz died in defense of her king, and her powers were inherited by her three daughters when they cannibalized her body.^[12] Her powers would spread until there were Nine Titans. With their Titan powers, the Subjects of Ymir established the Eldian Empire.^[2]^[13]

The Nine Titans building the Eldian Empire

The Eldians used the Titans as weapons of mass destruction to conquer other nations, wiping out countless cultures in the process.^[14]^[3]^[15] It is estimated that the number of people the Eldians have slaughtered is over three times world population of year 854.^[15] Allegedly, Marley was once again victim to Eldia's warmongering around 1,200 years ago, when Eldia assaulted Marleyan cities during the "Fall of Lago," the "Devastation of Monte," and the "Ravaging of Valle." Survivors from the Fall of Lago fled into the wastes, but were caught by Titans who had been awaiting their retreat.^[16] However, the historical validity of these Eldian attacks against Marley are a matter of debate.^[17]

Around the year 240, the Subjects of Ymir within the Eldian Empire were spared from widespread death from a worldwide epidemic through the actions of the King of Eldia. Using the power of the Founding Titan, the Subjects of Ymir were altered in their biology, rendering them immune to the disease.^[18]

At some point in later history, the Eldians made allies with Hizuru.^[19]

Eventually, the Eldians ran out of enemies and began fighting each other.^[15] The eight of the nine houses with the Nine Titans remained in a state of conflict, but the Fritz family maintained order with the Founding Titan.^[20]

After 1,700 years, the Founding Titan came into the possession of Karl Fritz, the 145th King. The King believed that Eldia's sins cannot be atoned for, and that Eldians and Titans should not have existed in the first place.^[21] He pitied the Marleyans and devised a plan alongside the Tybur family, the keepers of the War Hammer Titan, to end the Eldian rule.^[21] The King abandoned the internal conflicts, and without the Founding Titan to keep order, the Eldian Empire collapsed. The Eldians fought and weakened themselves during the Great Titan War, while the King and the Tybur family presented the legend of Helos, a Marleyan hero who joined with the Tybur family to defeat the King.^[21] The Tybur family fought to restore Marley in the war; other noble families would evidently follow suit.^[22] They succeeded and Marley gained seven of the Nine Titans as a result. The King moved the capital to Paradis Island, Eldia's last remaining territory, and gathered as many Eldians he could on the island.^[23]

The King erases humanity's memory — King Fritz used the Founding Titan to erase the memories of Eldia

On Paradis Island, the King used the Founding Titan to turn his subjects into Colossus Titans to form three concentric Walls around their territory: Maria, Rose, and Sheena.^[24] Afterward, Karl Fritz, now known as the First Reiss King, used the Founding Titan once more to erase the Subjects of Ymir's memory of the Great Titan War and all of history before the raising of the Walls.^[25] For the next century, the Subjects of Ymir in Paradis Island lived on in peace, unaware of their past conflicts, their history as the Eldians, and the world outside the Walls.

On the mainland, the Eldians who did not flee to Paradis Island were conquered by Marley. Marley spared these Eldians, who became second-class citizens. They were forced to reside within internment zones, such as Liberio's, separate from the Marleyan population.^[26] Marley used their new influence to spread slander of the Eldian Empire, claiming they had resorted to eugenics against the other races of the world for 1,700 years and that Ymir Fritz had gained her power from the "Devil of All Earth."^[27] Any Eldians accused of committing wrongdoing against the Marleyans were sent to "Heaven" and turned into Pure Titans, doomed to wander for eternity.^[28]

However, some Eldians attempted to resist and restore Eldia. The remaining members of the Fritz family still on the mainland led a revolutionary army against Marley, but the army was crushed and its members were executed, including Eren Kruger’s family. Others, such as Grisha Yeager, met together in secret, plotting to venture to Paradis Island and retrieve the Founding Titan in order to bring back the Eldian nation.^[29] Few Eldians were allowed to keep their status after Marleyans conquered them. One notable example is the Tybur family, who retained their status and wealth because they fought for the Marleyans in the Great Titan War.

Society

Ancient Eldia

Tribal era

Before Ymir acquired the powers of the Titans, Eldia was a small warlike tribe lead by Fritz, that regularly indulged in attack neighboring villages and tribes, plundering their homes and taking portions of them as slaves. Mistreatment of those slaves were very frequent, such as cutting their tongues out as soon as they were conquered, likely in order for them to be unable to organize potential escapes or rebellions from their captors. At that time, the Eldians lived in villages made of rough wooden homes.^[10]

After Ymir was granted the power of the Titans, her abilities were used by Fritz in order to cultivate the roads, build bridges, and cultivate the wastelands. This, on top of the expansion of the Eldian tribe as her powers were also used to wage war against the powerful nation of Marley, gave the Eldians a sudden prosperity which made the whole tribe grow in numbers, territory, and power. In only 13 years, the tribe of Eldia completely metamorphosed as a society, becoming a more civilized kingdom, with entire new cities being built as proof of the tribe's newfound grandeur.

Eldian Empire

In the 13th year after her awakening of the Titan powers, Ymir Fritz was killed in a failed assassination meant for Fritz by a surrendering Marleyan soldier. Fritz at the time ordered her body to be consumed by their three daughters Maria, Rose, and Sheena, in order for her powers to not be lost. These three became the first Subjects of Ymir in history, and their descendants established the Eldian Empire.

With this new status, the Eldians continued to use the Titan powers in order to conquer the entire world. This eventual global domination led to the Eldians, eventually the Subjects of Ymir who eventually managed to outnumber the original non-Subjects of Ymir Eldians spread throughout the entire world. During the golden age of the Eldian Empire, simply being born as a Subject of Ymir assured one's position into nobility in non-Eldian countries around the globe. This most likely resulted from or resulted in the belief that Subjects of Ymir were a superior race above all others, being the ones having contributed to Eldia going from a small primitive tribe to an unbreakable empire dominating the whole world.

Ancient incarnation of the Nine Titans — Marleyans attacked by the Eldian Empire's Titans

Over the centuries, many civilizations, nations, tribes, and peoples would be conquered and subjugated by the Eldians or outright exterminated, due to them being completely powerless against the Titans at such times in terms of technological development. Many nations and peoples suffered under Eldian rule, which caused resentment amongst the subjugated peoples. It is said that the Marleyans were the ones that have suffered the most and the longest under the Eldian Empire, having been the first nation in history to have suffered at the hands of the Titan powers. Though the Eldians didn't solely oppress other nations, as seen with Hizuru, the eastern nation that they allied with until as recently as a couple years before the Great Titan War.

During the Eldian domination of the world, Ymir Fritz was hailed as a God, and praised for having utilized her powers for the betterment of Eldia. Entire books were written about her, praising the merits of her exploits for having given wealth and prosperity for the people of the continent, a narrative that Marley would discredit fanatically and many Eldians would hold on to countless generations later.

In the 1,700 years between Ymir Fritz's death and the Great Titan War, the Eldian Empire divided into various houses, each possessing one or more inheritors of the Nine Titans which split from Ymir's "soul." These houses warred against each other within the Eldian Empire, though conflicts in the Empire were nonetheless maintained with the power of the Founding Titan held by the Fritz family, the royal house.^[20]

Marley

Chapter 86 Cover — The Liberio Internment Zone

After having lost the Great Titan War, the Eldians descended from those who remained on the continental mainland are regarded as low-class citizens by the nation of Marley, considered "filthy-blooded" and inhuman.^[30]^[31] Eldians are segregated from the main population into the designated areas such as the internment zone in Liberio, with Subjects of Ymir as a potential selection of Titan weapons. Eldians in these internment zones evidently possess no system of currency.^[32] However, many who are aware of this contingency oppose it, believing that it would be better to exterminate the Eldians in order to rid the world of the Titans altogether.^[33]

On occasion, Eldians can be given permission to exit the internment zone with special permits distributed by the Public Security Authorities. Furthermore, all Eldians both within the internment zone and beyond in Marley territory are required to wear armbands denoting them as Eldian when appearing in public.^[34]^[35]Even the Warrior Unit are required by law to wear their armbands at all times, though those who receive the power of the Titans are granted special red armbands to denote their status, as honorary Marleyans.^[36] Families of these Warriors also receive red bands.^[37] The Tybur family, with their honorary status as Marleyan nobility, are not required to wear any armbands despite their Eldian heritage. In comparison to the Warrior Unit who wear red armbands, Eldian civillians and Warrior Candidates wear white and yellow armbands respectively. Most Eldians seem content with this existence due to brainwashing and fear-induced acceptance and self loathing, though on numerous occasions resistance forces had been organized in order to restore the Eldian Empire, though all known attempts have failed.

The Titan bows — A Subject of Ymir's devotion towards Ymir shows even in Titan form

Besides resistance movements, other secret Eldian organizations included a cult dedicated to the worship of Ymir Fritz decades after the fall of the Empire, the first Titan and a goddess in the eyes of several of her subjects. The followers of this cult were fanatic in nature to the point of resorting to worshiping a homeless girl by the name of "Ymir," though the leader of said cult seemed to lead the group only for profit. Eventually, the cult was discovered and captured by the Public Security Authorities, in which the cult's leader turned against Ymir without hesitation, and all were exiled to the borderline of Paradis Island as Pure Titans.^[38] However, their devotion to their goddess was strong enough to cause one follower to display great reverence even in Titan form to a soldier who resembled Ymir.^[39]

Because they are treated as second-class citizens, many young Eldians strive to join the Warrior program in order become honorary Marleyans. These Eldians also serve as potential candidates to inherit the power of the Titans under Marley's control.^[40]

There are organizations that want to protect the rights of Eldians but they are considered to be freaks no one will take seriously.^[41] One of their spokesman believes that only the Subjects of Ymir outside of Paradis Island deserve compassion since they are the victims of the Eldian Empire's contrived breeding.^[42]

Paradis Island

The King's Lie

CPAI4 — The Eldian Empire within the Walls

When the Eldian Empire was isolated to the Walls on Paradis Island off the east coast of the continental mainland, Karl Fritz made use of the Founding Titan to force his subjects to believe they were the last remnants of the human race in a world overrun by Titans. The Fritz monarchy remained as the royal family over Eldia, however they went into hiding as the Reiss family while a pretender bloodline was placed upon the throne under the Fritz name.^[43]^[44]

Mikasa and Levi on the Roof — Members of the Ackerman clan inside the Walls

Other Eldian races unrelated to the Subjects of Ymir also lived within their new territory, such as the Asian clan. Due to the nature of the Founding Titan, these bloodlines interfered with King Fritz's plan for a perfect peace. Most of these bloodlines complied with King Fritz's orders keeping silent concerning the history of the world beyond the Walls, becoming the nobility within the interior of Eldia's new territory, however the Asian clan along with the Ackerman clan objected to the King's ideology and rebelled. Both bloodlines were subjected to extermination, and those who survived fled into hiding in places such as the underground beneath Eldia's capital of Mitras or in the isolated wildernesses beyond the towns.^[45]

As an additional measure to ensure the Eldians within the Walls would never be able to venture beyond them without authorization, the Royal Government placed firm restrictions on the technological progress that could be achieved by the craftsmen and engineers of Eldia. Those who broke this regulation would be secretly targeted by the First Interior Squad, the elite force within Eldia's Military Police Brigade, who received orders directly from the monarch of Eldia.^[46] Due to this restriction of progress, Eldian technologically would fall behind the rest of the world as the decades passed.^[47]

A majority of the Eldians within the Walls are content with their isolated existence under the King's rule. Those who desired to see humanity's territory reclaimed would join the Survey Corps, the military branch authorized to exit the Walls periodically, though many civilians considered the act of leaving the Walls to be a foolish and wasteful gesture.^[48]

Sasha with meat — A trainee revealing a precious sample of rare meat

Cuisine within the Walls appears to consist of basic meals such as bread, smoked meats, grilled fish, alcohol, soups, stews, and apparently canned food,^[49] though meats have been designated as a rarity after the fall of Wall Maria.^[50]

Information is spread throughout the territory within the Walls through various newspapers such as the Berg Newspapers. However, until the coup d'état which overthrew the old system of government, the newspaper industry was heavily influenced by government interference, disallowing the publication of any information which conflicted with the motives of the government.^[51] Information is at times also spread through the merchants' association, which as its name implies gathers information solely from civilian merchant groups such as the Reeves Company. Before the overthrowing of the government, it was at a civilian's discretion whether to trust the official word of the government or the hear-say of the merchants.^[52]

The True History

After the Battle of Shiganshina District in which the Eldians on Paradis Island managed to discover their true identities and ancestral history thanks to Grisha Yeager's basement in the city, the entire society inside the Walls quickly adapted to these new revelations. The population rapidly accepted their nationality as Eldians and their racial identity as Subjects of Ymir, while also realizing that their true enemies weren't the Titans, but the vast majority of humanity living beyond Paradis Island, which universally agrees on Eldians being a "race of devils" deserving of being wiped out from the face of the Earth.

This, coupled with Grisha's biography in one of his confidential books being revealed to public in which he went into detail about the suffering of fellow Eldians in the outside world, led to many Eldians on Paradis Island adopting a revanchist mindset, with the most extreme ones outright stating their desire to build a "New Eldian Empire", and to slaughter the Marleyan people in revenge for their numerous acts of aggression on Paradis.

Eren Yeager has become the idol of the Eldian people, a symbol of the struggle against Marley and other enemy nations. The vast majority of the population believed him to be only one able to save Eldia from annihilation when he was alive, and supported his radical methods in fighting back against the encroaching Marleyan aggressors. After his death during the Rumbling, his legacy has been cemented amongst the Eldians of Paradis Island, who consider him to be a martyr and formed a militaristic society in order to fight off against the remnants of humanity who survived the onslaught. Fear of genocide and extermination drives the Eldians of Paradis Island into fervent nationalistic paranoia, which explains the birth of the Yeagerists and how their regime holds unchecked power over Eldian society.

Paradis Island Technology

Rifle — A Military Police Brigade buckshot rifle

The firearms used by the military of Paradis Island are based on the flintlock mechanism, where a piece of flint ignites the gunpowder and fires the gun, which must be reloaded after every shot. These come in the form of muskets, pistols, buckshot rifles, hand cannons, and flintlock sniper rifles. The firearm technology has not progressed much as guns were proved ineffective against the Titans.^[53] Part of the reason was due to the Military Police First Interior Squad stopping firearm advancements in technology to maintain order within the Walls, with two of the advancements that were suppressed being the development of revolvers and metallic bullet cartridges.^[54] The Survey Corps and the Garrison also use flare guns to communicate over long distances. Furthermore, cannons line the top of the Walls. While each one originally had its own track so it could be pushed to the outer edge or the inner edge, tracks were later laid along the entire Wall to connect them all and enabled them to be pushed to different positions. Four years later, the Survey Corps were able to incorporate semiautomatic and bolt action firearms into their arsenal with the covert aid of the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers, while Thunder Spears became standard issue equipment for anti-Titan and anti-fortification warfare.^[55]

One of the most sophisticated pieces of technology the Eldians of Paradis use is the vertical maneuvering equipment. The advances needed for the system to work include steel wire, compressing gas under pressure derived from iceburst stone, and blades made of ultrahard steel, a substance which can only be manufactured in the blast furnaces of the factory city.^[56]

Berg printing press — A printing press within the Walls

Transportation within the Walls is derived primarily from horses. Furthermore, sailless boats guided by pulleys and rails connect some districts by river, such as the boats providing transport between Shiganshina District and Trost District.^[57] In the year 851, a port along the coastline begins development, allowing Paradis to use captured Marleyan ships.^[58] At the same time, the Eldians are introduced to locomotives^[59] and obtain access to an airship, later used by the Survey Corps for their mission in Liberio.^[60]

Other forms of basic technology have been shown to exist within the Walls, such as pocket watches, pulley-based lifts,^[61] metallic water pumps,^[62] and the printing press.^[63] Photography is not something that the people inside the Walls initially know about, as Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Hange Zoë and Levi Ackerman are not able to identify what a photograph is without Grisha's note written on the backside.^[64]

Language

Eldian is the country's national language which is also used in Marley and other nations across the world due to the Eldian Empire's imperialism in the past.^[65] However, other nationalities such as the Marleyans use a different alphabet unrecognizable by the people of Paradis.^[66] Various accents also existed in Eldia and still exist inside the Walls. For example, the inhabitants of the isolated village of Dauper speak with an accent which is also found in present day Southern Marley.^[67]

Geography

Prime

The tribe of Eldia originated in the continental mainland of Marley more than 2,000 years ago. After Ymir awakened her powers and used it for the benefit of the tribe, the Eldians conquered vast swathes of land for multiple centuries continuously and integrated them into the Eldian Empire. It was said by Willy Tybur that at one point, the Eldians conquered so much of the world that they ran out of enemies and turned towards infighting.^[68]

The existence of Subjects of Ymir all around the world is the proof of Eldia's expansion reaching many continents and lands beyond just the continental mainland of origin. The capital city of the Eldian Empire was said to have been in the continental mainland before being relocated to the remote island of Paradis during the 145th King Karl Fritz's rule.^[20]

Post Great Titan War

After Eldia's complete defeat in the war, all of the territories that the Eldians used to control were taken back by the different nations that arised afterwards. With Subjects of Ymir being chased away from their respective native homelands out of revenge, they effectively lost all political power. Eldia was thus reduced to the single minuscule territory deep inside the island of Paradis for the next century.

After defeating Marley's Warrior Unit in Shiganshina in 850, the Eldians of Paradis resumed control over the entirety of the island, effectively expanding their territory.^[69]

Original Eldians

Fritz gathers the slaves — Fritz and his tribe

The tribe of Eldia predated the existence of Ymir, who was originally a slave from a neighboring tribe that was not Eldian. Those original Eldians thus predated the Subjects of Ymir, and held complete control over the tribe and during the very early stages of the Eldian Empire. Their numbers at that time are unknown, but they were small in size before the use of the power of the Titans, and eventually grew in terms of population thanks to the use of Ymir's powers to increase the tribe's scope, development, and influence in the continental mainland. These Eldians would eventually reproduce with the Subjects of Ymir as the first King Fritz wanted.^[70]

Subjects of Ymir

Main article: Subjects of Ymir

The King and child — Karl holding a newborn Subject of Ymir

The Subjects of Ymir are the Eldians who can transform into Titans. They came to exist after Ymir's powers were passed on to her daughters Rose, Sheena, and Maria after her death. When her daughters married and eventually had children of their own, these same children also inherited the capability of being able to transform into Titans as the powers would eventually split across nine individual titans. The first King Fritz wish was for the Subjects of Ymir to multiply in numbers for eternity so that Eldia would rule the world forever. They eventually grew in power and influence over Eldia as they gradually controlled the country and the whole world thanks to their Titan powers, with the Fritz family being comprised of Subjects of Ymir with special royal blood which granted them incredible privileges.^[71]^[72] The Subjects of Ymir eventually became so populous that they were interchangeably called Eldians, due to representing the vast majority of the Eldian population in the modern age so much that the two terms seemed synonymous.^[73] At some point, the Eldian Empire conducted experiments with Subjects of Ymir that accidentally resulted in some gaining the power to manifest Titan strength in human form ;resulting in the creation of the Ackerman clan.^[74]

Ethnic minorities

As Eldia has had a long history of imperialism and conquest, countless nations and peoples have been subjugated. As early as during its tribal age, the Eldians held considerable populations of slaves, made of members of neighboring tribes that have been conquered and whose villages were destroyed.^[75]

The racial and ethnic dynamics during the Eldian Empire are mostly unknown, but at the time of Karl Fritz's exodus to Paradis Island, a considerable amount of people considering themselves as Eldians but were not Subjects of Ymir fled with him, and were given positions of nobility in the new society he created behind the Walls in order to keep the truth about their history and the outside world hidden from the rest of the population.^[76] Some of these Eldians descended from these non-Subjects of Ymir would continue to exist and hold considerable political power over Eldian society thanks to their family heritage as late as the year 850 before the Coup d'état enacted by the Survey Corps.^[77]

Racial and ethnic dynamics

The country has had a complex demographic makeover, both in terms of number and ethnic diversity over the ages due to its long history. Part of these dynamics is the distinction between "Subjects of Ymir" and "Eldians," two terms often used interchangeably, though they carry different nuances. Because almost all Eldians are Subjects of Ymir, the two groups are typically conflated. However, it is important to note that technically, "Eldian" historically referred to the people belonging to or originating from the Eldian Empire. Consequently, while Eldians and Subjects of Ymir overlap almost entirely, they represent two distinct concepts: one based on racial heritage and Titan lineage, and one based on national identity.^[78]

Subjects of Ymir refugee representative character image — A speaker of the Subjects of Ymir Protection Group expressing his ideals in an international forum in the year 854

"Eldian" has become a label almost exclusively used as a derogatory term, conflating racial heritage with historical guilt. Marley and other anti-Eldian nations enforced this identity as a means of control, and the term itself serves as a reminder of the Subjects of Ymir's unique, often feared powers. Regardless of whether or not they were born within the borders of what was once Eldia, Subjects of Ymir were treated as a collective threat and are denied full citizenship or equal rights in places like Marley. The legacy of the Great Titan War, therefore, not only stripped Eldians and Subjects of Ymir of their political power but transformed their ethnic and racial identity into one of widespread marginalization and scapegoating. Some people countered these views by holding the opinion that the Subjects of Ymir of the outside world had never been Eldians, and were only victims of the empire's forced race mixing policies, holding that as proof that they deserved compassion from the different nations of the world, with the only ones deserving of hatred being the only Subjects of Ymir who were actual Eldians, the ones inhabiting Paradis Island.^[42]

On the other hand, due to these generalizing narratives and the negative connotations associated to these two identities, many self-loathing Subjects of Ymir in Marley who adopted the discriminatory narratives developed around the world regarding their race strived not to be considered Eldians anymore, such as sending their children to fight as Warriors for Marley in order to one day obtain the privilege to be considered honorary Marleyans.^[79]