A complete guide to the Attack on Titan timeline

Few anime series dare to weave a story as dense, tragic, and ambitious as Attack on Titan. What starts as a mystery about giant humanoid creatures terrorizing walled-off cities evolves into a thousand-year conflict of ideology, betrayal, and power that spans generations.

For new fans and veterans alike, the timeline of Attack on Titan can be overwhelming, so here is a comprehensive guide to help you understand the full chronology, from the creation of Titans to the final chapter.

---

A guide to a complete timeline of Attack on Titan

1. The beginning of all life: The hallucigenia and the birth of Ymir Fritz

The story in Attack on Titan begins not with humanity, but with a mysterious creature known as the Hallucigenia, dubbed "the source of all living matter." This parasite-like lifeform is the root of Titan powers. Millennia later, during the early rise of the Eldian Empire, a slave girl named Ymir Fritz becomes the first Titan after fusing with this creature inside a hollow tree.

Granted immense power, Ymir uses her Titan form to serve King Fritz, conquering nations and bearing three daughters: Maria, Rose, and Sina. Upon her death, refusing to heal after being mortally wounded, her corpse is cannibalized by her daughters, thus beginning the Titan inheritance cycle. This event also gives rise to the Curse of Ymir: No Titan shifter can live beyond 13 years after acquiring their powers.

---

2. The rise of Eldia and the Great Titan War

In Attack on Titan, Eldia becomes a dominant empire by weaponizing the Nine Titans, powers split from Ymir’s original form. Over the centuries, these powers have been divided among noble families. One of them, the Fritz family, holds the Founding Titan.

Eventually, King Karl Fritz, ashamed of Eldia’s atrocities, moves his people to Paradise Island, abandoning the mainland. There, he builds walls for Maria, Rose, and Sina using millions of Colossal Titans and instills a pacifist ideology through the Founding Titan. To hide the royal bloodline, the king in Attack on Titan adopts the name Reiss, while a false Fritz family rules publicly.

Meanwhile, the mainland’s fallen enemy, Marley, rises in power and seeks to claim the Titans for itself, sparking the Great Titan War.

---

3. Grisha Yeager’s past and the fall of Wall Maria in Attack on Titan

Centuries later, in Attack on Titan, Grisha Yeager is born in the Marley-controlled Eldian internment zone. After his sister’s tragic death by being fed to dogs by a Marleyan officer, he joins the Eldian Restorationists, a rebel group aiming to retake Eldian glory. He marries Dina Fritz, a royal descendant, and they have a son, Zeke.

But Zeke, brainwashed by Marleyan ideology and coaxed by Beast Titan holder Tom Xaver, betrays his parents. As a punishment, Grisha and Dina are exiled to Paradis and turned into Titans, except Grisha, who is saved by Eren Kruger, the current Attack Titan holder. Kruger passes on the Titan to Grisha, tasking him with stealing the Founding Titan on Paradis.

Grisha starts a new life on the island, becomes a respected doctor, marries Carla, and fathers Eren Yeager. Meanwhile, Marley prepares its Warrior Candidates to infiltrate Paradis. These include Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Marcel.

---

4. The fall of the walls and the rise of the scouts

In the year 845, Reiner and Bertholdt breach Wall Maria, triggering the beginning of humanity’s struggle against the Titans. Carla Yeager is killed, and Eren swears vengeance. Grisha gives Eren the Attack and Founding Titans, entrusting him with the truth locked inside the basement.

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin join the military and later the Survey Corps. During a mission, Eren discovers his Titan-shifting ability. The Scouts gradually uncover the existence of human-controlled Titans, like the Female Titan (Annie), Colossal Titan, and Armored Titan. They also learn that Titans are transformed humans and that the government is hiding major truths about their world.

A political coup leads to Historia Reiss, the true royal heir, taking the throne. Meanwhile, Levi in Attack on Titan inherits a Titan serum from dying Kenny Ackerman, revealing more secrets about the Titan transformation.

---

5. Retaking the wall, Maria and the basement truth

In an epic battle to retake Wall Maria, the Scouts face off against the Armored, Colossal, and Beast Titans. Armin sacrifices himself and is later revived using the Titan serum, inheriting Bertholdt’s Colossal Titan. Erwin Smith dies in this mission, and Levi makes the heart-wrenching choice to save Armin instead.

In Grisha’s basement, the truth is finally revealed: Humanity exists outside the walls. Paradis Island has been isolated by Marley’s propaganda. Eldians are viewed as devils by the world, and Marley seeks the Founding Titan’s power to maintain global dominance.

---

6. Marleyan war and Eren’s radical shift

Four years later, Marley loses two Titans and enters a war with the Mid-East Alliance. Meanwhile, Paradis makes contact with Marleyan defectors Yelena and Onyankopon, who follow Zeke’s plan to save Eldia. The Scouts travel to Marley, hoping for peace but find only hate.

Eren in Attack on Titan grows disillusioned. During a Marleyan festival, he attacks, killing many civilians and declaring war. He defeats the War Hammer Titan and absorbs its power. Levi captures Zeke, but the seeds of rebellion on Paradis begin to grow, led by Floch and the Yeagerists.

---

7. The Rumbling begins

Zeke and Eren eventually make contact, transporting themselves to the Paths realm. Zeke tries to enforce his Euthanization Plan, aiming to sterilize all Eldians. But Eren tricks him. Using the Founding Titan’s true power, Eren in Attack on Titan begins The Rumbling, unleashing millions of Colossal Titans from the walls to destroy the world.

The alliance of former enemies: Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Connie, Reiner, Annie, Pieck, Levi, and others forms a desperate resistance. They lose Hange in the process, who sacrifices herself to give the team time to fly after Eren.

---

8. The final battle and the death of Eren Yeager

The alliance catches up to Eren. Confronting him through the Paths, they beg him to stop. But Eren refuses, saying freedom means choosing destruction. Former Titan shifters like Porco, Bertholdt, and Lara Tybur appear to defend Eren in Titan-hardening form.

Armin, captured in Paths, speaks with Zeke and rekindles his hope. Zeke helps Armin return, where Levi finally kills him, fulfilling his promise to Erwin. Armin transforms into the Colossal Titan and explodes Eren’s Founding Titan body. But Eren lives.

In a final moment, Mikasa in Attack on Titan finds him and decapitates him, ending the cycle of hatred and breaking the curse of Titans forever.

---

9. The Aftermath: Peace, Progress, and Rebirth

With Eren’s death, all Titans revert to human form. The Titan curse is lifted. Mikasa buries Eren beneath the tree where his story began.

Paradis is hailed as the savior of humanity, but global peace is short-lived. Decades pass. Mikasa in Attack on Titan supposedly dies of old age, and Paradis becomes a warzone once again. Centuries later, a boy and his dog discover the same tree, now resembling the source of Ymir’s power.

A new cycle looms.