Who Is the Colossal Titan in Attack on Titan?
Attack on Titan is a very specific anime. Sure, you have the human characters who you cheer for, but you also have these epic monsters, sometimes cool, sometimes outright bizarre, called Titans which take up a large chunk of the plot. The Titans themselves are very interesting, and one of the most interesting of them is the Colossal Titan.
The Colossal Titan is one of the Nine Titans. It is mainly characterized by its extreme size. It is currently in the possession of Armin Arlert, who took over the Titan from Berthold Fubar. The Colossal Titan is by most standards one of the strongest and most feared Titans in the whole franchise, which makes him incredibly dangerous.
The rest of this article is going to provide you with more details on the Colossal Titan, its history, and its possessor. You’re going to find out everything you need to know about the Colossal Titan and its role in the story, as well as its fate after the events of the manga and the anime. We have gathered all the necessary information for you in one place.
Who Is the Colossal Titan?
Armin Arlert is the fifteenth commander of the Scout Regiment. He is a childhood friend of Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackermann and one of the two deuteragonists in the series. Although he appears to be among the most physically weak of the 104th Cadet Corps, his intelligence and strategic genius make him an invaluable member.
After the Battle of Shiganshina District, he took over the power of the Titans from Berthold Hoover and became the Colossal Titan. When Eren revealed his plans to destroy the entire outside world, Armin was one of those who spoke out against this plan and took active measures to thwart it.
Armin’s role in the story is truly enormous but since we’re going to explain how he got the Colossal Titan in the next section, we think that here, it would be better to explain his role in the final arc of the storyline, where he stood up against his childhood friend, Eren, who became the main villain of the series at one point.
Late into the story, during the battle against Eren, Armin tries to grab him and declares that he will fight him “to the end.” Although he lands a hit to Eren’s head, he is quickly put at a disadvantage when Eren lands a devastating blow to his own head, denting Armin’s titanic face. Despite the melee, he hears Mikasa’s vow to finish Eren off and helps him by holding Eren’s head so Levi can fire a thunder spear at him.
After another devastating blow from Eren that indents the left side of his titan’s head, Armin’s help pays off as Mikasa is able to enter Eren’s titan’s mouth and quickly sever his head. Armin wakes up on the floor in front of his disintegrating titan and can remember the last conversation between him and Eren.
When he regains consciousness, Mikasa approaches him and Armin is heartbroken when he sees that she is carrying Eren’s decapitated head. As Armin weeps for his friend, Mikasa asks him if he remembers Eren visiting him now, and Armin confirms that he does remember: Mikasa’s decision to kill Eren destroyed the Titans’ power.
After Armin mourns his friend, Mikasa informs him that she is leaving to give Eren a proper burial. The two agree that the best place would be under the tree where he used to nap as a child, and Mikasa leaves. Armin returns to the rest of the Eldians to find that they are being held at gunpoint by Secretary Muller and his troops.
Muller demands that the Eldians prove that they can no longer turn into Titans or they will face immediate execution, and Armin steps forward to defend his people. He points out to the Marleyans that if they still had the ability to turn into Titans, they would use that very ability to defend themselves.
The fact that they are at the mercy of the Marleyans must logically mean that they no longer possess the power of the Titans. Muller orders his men to lower their weapons and asks for Armin’s name. Armin introduces himself as the man who killed Eren Yeager. In the three years following the “Battle of Heaven and Earth” at Fort Salta, Armin and the other survivors are used as diplomats to facilitate peace talks between the outside world and Paradis.
As they sail to Paradis to begin the talks, the group reads a letter from Historia explaining the current state of Paradis’ government. The ambassadors are skeptical of their mission, but Armin is convinced that the people of Paradis will be willing to listen to reason when they see the Warriors and the Survey Corps, former enemies, working together for a common cause.
Who was the Colossal Titan before Armin?
Berthold Hover was a graduate of the 104th Cadet Corps and a member of the Warriors. He was a former member of the Scout Regiment and took 3rd place in his class. Berthold has been described by others as a calm person. He has seldom been seen without Reiner Braun, his close childhood friend, both of whom are from Marley, what he calls his homeland.
As the Colossal Titan, he was one of the greatest threats to mankind. Together with Reiner and Annie, he was sent to Paradis as part of the Marley warriors to conquer the Founding Titan. During the Return to Shiganshina Arc, Bertold ends up fighting Armin and Eren. He wonders why he can’t throw Armin away, as hooks on the 3D maneuvering equipment usually detach from his flesh when it turns to steam.
Armin, however, foresaw this and therefore shot his hook into the teeth of the colossal titan. In order to get rid of Armin anyway, Berthold lets his steam become even more intense and hot and asks astonished whether these should really be Armin’s last moments and whether he just wants to continue toasting.
He wonders briefly whether Armin is just trying to distract him, but sees that Eren’s Titan is still at his feet and that Mikasa’s group is still involved in the fight with Reiner. Disappointed, he realizes that his resistance is the only thing Armin has left and therefore decides to redeem his old comrade. He emits even hotter steam, which slowly melts Armin’s skin.
After all, Armin, who was burned beyond recognition, can no longer hold himself out and rushes down into the district. Berthold now turns to finally take care of Eren, only to realize that Eren’s titanium is no longer Eren’s titanium but just a hardened shell. At the same moment, Eren swings up behind Berthold in human form and rushes down at him.
The surprise attack succeeds and Eren cuts Berthold from the neck of the colossal titan and tears him out. Berthold is shocked to see that Armin’s victim only served as a distraction for him before he loses consciousness. While the colossal Titan collapses and slowly dissolves in steam, the unconscious Berthold is dragged by Eren onto the roof in Shiganshina, on which Armin also landed.
Shortly thereafter, a conflict breaks out there as to whether Erwin or Armin – both fatally wounded – should receive the only titanium serum injection and then devour Berthold. Shortly afterwards, Berthold comes to on the roof of the house and is faced with Armin’s titan figure, who struggles through the house to reach Berthold. Without arms and legs, Berthold cannot do anything and is grabbed by Armin.
When he tries to wriggle out of its grip, he sees his former comrades on the neighboring roof, draws hope for a moment, and begs for help. However, nobody does anything to rush to Berthold’s help and he is therefore eaten and killed by Armin with panicked screams after a last cry for help to Annie and Reiner. This is how Armin took control of the Colossal Titan.
Is the Colossal Titan a Bad Guy?
As we know, the Titans aren’t good or bad per se. They just are. Whether they are good or bad depends on the person in whose possession they are at one moment. Sure, they’re basically weapons of mass destruction but they don’t have to be used for killing. It all depends on the character in whose possession they are, in the end. So, if a good guy is in possession of a Titan, the Titan will be good, and if a bad guy is in possession of a Titan, it will be bad.
So, what about the Colossal Titan? Well, the Colossal Titan was initially in the possession of Bertholdt Hoover, who was, as we know, a villain in the series (although an atypical one). While in Hoover’s possession, the Colossal Titan was definitely an antagonist, although Hoover never actually killed with malice or bloodlust.
When Armin Arlert took over the Colossal Titan from Hoover, the Colossal Titan became – like Armin – one of the good guys. It retained its destructive capabilities, but they were used for good and for the protection of humanity.
Is the Colossal Titan the Strongest Titan?
As we have already established in an older text, the Colossal Titan is not the strongest among the Titans, but he does come pretty darn close to being the strongest. As you can see from our earlier article, the Colossal Titan is weaker than just two of the Titans. One of them is the “Combination Titan”, who is not actually a real Titan at all, but a form of the Attack Titan, while the other is the Founding Titan, which makes complete sense.
All the other Titans in the franchise are weaker than the Colossal Titan, some of them even significantly.
What Happened to the Colossal Titan?
The Marley Arc is the last we’ve seen of the Colossal Titan. Over the years 851-854, the nation of Marley sent a total of 32 naval vessels, including destroyers, to Paradis Island, all of which went missing. While the details regarding their disappearance are currently unknown, Zeke Jaeger theorizes that Eren Jaeger, as well as another Titan under Paradis control, likely Armin Arlert’s Colossal Titan, were responsible for the ships’ disappearance.
At the time of the reconnaissance force’s attack on Rebellio, Armin was sitting in a nearby fishing boat as the Marley Army neared the town’s harbor. When Marines call him, Armin stares at them before unleashing an explosive burst of energy and transforming into the Colossal Titan.
This explosion destroys the battleships that came to reinforce Rebellio. After Armin has destroyed the harbor, he emerges from the Titan’s neck and flies to a nearby airship belonging to the reconnaissance force. Armin later refused to use the Colossal Titan due to its immensely destructive power.
