Attack on Titan | The History of Eldia and Marley

By: Simon Shoklevski

Marley and Eldia, the two major nations in Attack on Titan, are the focal point around which the plot revolves. These nations are in a never-ending, two-thousand-year-long feud that’s full of wars, bloodshed, and enormous hunger for power.

To understand the quarrel between the Eldia and Marley, we need to dive deep into these nations’ history and learn about the events and motives that caused this eternal hatred. So, for these explanations to be simple and easy to follow, it’s best to start From Ymir, 2000 years ago, and talk about the most important events up To Eren, in 2000 years.

The Birth of the Eldians

The Eldians were one of the biggest nations in the world, a kingdom ruled by Karl Fritz.

Long ago, two thousand years before the events of Attack on Titan, a sad and miserable chain of events led to the true beginning of the story. There, an Eldian slave named Ymir came in contact with a mysterious creature that turned her into the first Titan in the whole world.

To take advantage of her powers, Eldia's ruler Karl Fritz married this poor girl and began the creation of an empire. To ensure his success, he and Ymir had three daughters (Rose, Maria, and Sina) who, after Ymir died, ate her body to preserve the power of the Titans. Later, this practice followed and the Nine Titans were created and split between the noble families with the Founding Titan saying in the King’s possession.

After obtaining these powers, Eldians wiped out anything that stood in their path and became the most feared nation in the world. A conquest that continued for years to come and lasted for hundreds of years until an inner war started, a conflict caused by the ambitious families who wanted all the power for themselves. And so, the Great Titan War started, giving us a great opportunity to introduce the Marleyans.

Marley's Rise to Power and World Domination

In the time of this war, Eldia was weakened, and another country called Marley used this opportunity to reclaim its days of glory. After being oppressed for years, the Marleyans, with the help of the Tybur family, started a revolution that would eventually end Eldia’s domination.

How a great and powerful empire like Eldia was defeated, you may ask? As crazy as it sounds, it was King Fritz himself who “grew tired” of all the conflict and along with the Tybur family, plotted the end of Eldia’s tyranny. This way, Marley rose from the ashes and claimed seven of the nine Titans, forcing the Eldians to retreat.

To end this conflict and free the Marleyans (and the whole world), King Fritz moved to Paradis Island taking as many Eldians as he could and later brainwashed them using the Founding Titan's powers. After settling on this island, the King used his powers to build the walls. Having a place where his people may live in peace, the King (who possessed the powers of the Founding Titan and the army of Colossal Titans within the walls) made a promise to flatten the whole world if the Marleyans ever attacked. And so, the war ended. At least for the time being.

After this, Marley developed into a rich country with a strong military (and Titan) power. However, there still wasn’t true peace in the country as the Eldians who stayed were labeled as second-class citizens and wore armbands in order to be distinguished from the others. If an Eldian wanted to live a better life there was the option of becoming an Honorary Marleyan or becoming a Warrior.

A huge part of the Marleyans’ education was learning a kind of twisted version of history with the goal of making the Eldians appear as the worst people that ever existed. Basically, to them, the people on Paradis Island are known as devils, and the people from Marley want nothing but to wipe them. Something that will haunt them in the future.

Relighting the Flames of War

The way the Eldians were treated and forced to live in the country of Marley was not something that could be neglected by all. And so, a secret society called “Eldian Restorationists” was formed. With Grisha Yeager (Eren’s father) being one of the most important members, this group started a revolution to bring back Eldia’s honor.

This is where the plot thickens and the events from the show start to take place. To understand this revolution, we must first talk about how Marley treated every Eldian who would oppose them. To enact retribution upon the Eldians, each individual who violated the law faced exile to Paradis, where they underwent a compulsory injection, transforming them into a mindless Titan.

Marley used this way to stop the revolution in their country while also simultaneously attacking their enemy - a clever move from their point of view. Now, let’s get back to Eldia’s perspective and see Grisha's role that shaped the story as we know it.

Grisha’s actions came to light and, as the law suggests, he was sent to Paradis. However, thanks to the assistance of a secret ally named Eren Kruger, he successfully evaded the fate of being transformed into a mindless Titan. Subsequently, Eren Kruger bestowed upon Grisha his powers of the Attack Titan.

With the Attack Titan now in his possession, Grisha embarked on his plan to liberate Eldia by going on a rampage and seizing the Founding Titan - the sole Titan capable of initiating the cataclysmic event known as the Rumbling.

Eldia vs Marley: The Final Battle

After successfully going through his initial plan of obtaining the power of the Attack Titan and the Founding Titan, Grisha started a family. He did this to settle down but also set the stage for the next part of the plan - the inheritance of his powers.

In the time of the Fall of Shiganshina, Grisha managed to transfer his powers to his son, Eren Yeager, the boy who would seek freedom by any means necessary.

Eren’s hatred for the Titans would grow and grow, reaching its pinnacle with him learning about Marley’s connection to the Titans. This, alongside the memories of the Attack Titan, and a bunch of other events made Eren grow completely mad, bringing King Fritz’s promise of destruction closer and closer to becoming a reality.

In the fourth season of the series, the Tybur family declares war on Eldia. With this declaration of war being the drop that spilled the glass, the Tybur family’s decisions take a full circle. They were once a reason the war stopped, and are now the reason another one would begin.

Will the end of the war finally come? How will the story of the Eldia, Marley, and the Titans end? We are as excited as you and are impatiently waiting for Attack on Titan Final Season Part 4, releasing this fall!