What is The Rumbling in Attack on Titan?

Branded a fate worse than the apocalypse, all viewers knew was Titans would unleash hell upon the earth.

After 10 long years, Eren Yeager finally invoked the powers of the Founding Titan to deliver on the life-ending threat, but it was originally used as a plot to keep the peace between nations.

What is the Rumbling?

The Rumbling was threatened as the end of days to keep the people of Marley away from the Island of Paradis. Ymir Fritz is the godlike being who originated the role of The Founding Titan - able to telepathically communicate with her subjects and create Titans in her own vision and to her will.

During the Great Titan War, Karl Fritz used the power of the Founding Titan to build three walls named after their daughters, Maria, Rose, and Sheena, in an attempt to protect his people from bloodshed. These very walls encased the monsters of war known as the Colossal Titans and would be stored under sky-high walls of stone, hidden from the common eye.

The Founding Titan's ability to wipe a person's memory was used to wipe any recollection of how the walls were built which is why its modern-day citizens knew so little about their origins.

After collecting the remnants of the Eldian Empire behind the walls, Karl sent a threat of 'The Rumbling' to anyone that dare disturb his people's peace, stating he would unleash the wrath of the Titans. Warring nations knew of this power and the walls that were built but were unsure of the extent of destruction at their fingertips.

Ultimately, it was an empty threat to ensure that none of his successors would use the Founding Titan to threaten the world again. The scare tactic was an attempt to prevent outsider interference and to allow the people of Eldia to live in carefree paradise.

Fritz's plan worked for decades but the Marleyan nation remained aware of the power they controlled and wanted it for themselves. They knew a full-scale invasion was too risky which set in motion the overarching narrative of the Attack on Titan series - an infiltration mission to obtain the Founding Titan gone awry.

Over the course of generations, the Founding Titan's powers were passed down through the Fritz family line before they were stolen by Grisha Yeager, Eren's father. This shift in inheritance meant the host's primary objective was no longer peace, but revenge.

Why did Eren start The Rumbling?

Because Eren witnessed the crimes of Marley first-hand and soon discovered everything around him is a result of their violence, he vowed to use the Founding Titan's power to destroy the world.

The Rumbling was halted momentarily in some arcs but reaching the final season, Eren unleashed hell. Using the Founding Titan's powers, he woke the Colossal Titans slumbering in the walls and made for Marley. Tapping into the Founding Titan's original form, god-like abilities and army of monsters, The Rumbling made its way across the continent with no way of being stopped.

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