Why can’t they remain Titan Shifters forever?
Summary:
- Titan Shifters can only live for 13 years after inheriting the powers.
- Number 13 is a great choice for symbolism.
- Titan Shifters’ lifespan depends on the life of Founder Ymir.
Back in Season 3 of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) Eren scared his friends with a new revelation: Titan Shifters can only live for 13 years after inheriting their powers. But why is it so?
Just symbolism?
Symbolism plays a big role in Attack on Titan, and at first fans thought that the number 13 was some sort of a special number for the series. There were 13 rifles pointed at Eren in one of the scenes in Season 4, there were also 13 fingers pointed at Ymir Fritz when she was blamed for releasing the pigs.
On top of that, fans have noticed that there were 11 birds in the tree Eren woke up by at the beginning of the series. And then there were two birds in the same tree at the end of the series.
Moreover, the number 13 is considered a bad omen and is associated with bad luck in many cultures, and some airlines even remove the number from their seating charts, so that there’s no row 13. That’s why it seems like the perfect number for such a sinister series as Attack on Titan.
But with Attack on Titan it might be much simpler than that. And to understand that, let’s go back to the story of Ymir Fritz.
It’s because of Ymir
Ymir allowed a couple of pigs to escape, so the king ordered to torture and hunt her down. While trying to escape, she stumbled upon the tree, where she got her Titan Shifter powers.
She served King Fritz for the next thirteen years; until the day she prevented an assassination attempt on the king and saved his life, getting mortally wounded in the process. Although her Titan powers could have saved her, she had no will to live anymore.
Ymir had her powers for 13 years, and that’s why all the Titan Shifters that came after her were meant to die after 13 years as well.
The mysterious being that gave Ymir the powers based them on her needs and her existence. She needed to survive and stay protected in that cruel world. And the only way she could do that was to become a god-like creature.
The Titan Curse started with Ymir and it adjusted not only to her needs, but also to her life. That’s why Titans didn’t get any stronger with time, even though it was necessary for them due to how technologically advanced the world was becoming. The power remained true to Ymir’s needs.
And just like that, the power stayed true to Ymir’s lifespan after she received the power of Titans. Had she lived longer, we’re sure all Titan Shifters would have had the ability to do so. But she only had 13 years, so others would also die after 13 years.