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Past[]
Zeke was born in the internment zone within the city of Liberio in the year 825, to Grisha Yeager and Dina Fritz. The couple were among the many members of the Restorationist movement, when the Marley government announced the Warrior program, asking for Eldian children between the ages of five to seven to serve as potential Warriors, with the promise that their families would be given the title of Honorary Marleyans and be ensured freedom within the country. After being informed by his leader, the Owl, about Marley's next planned campaign to reclaim the Founding Titan, Grisha then decided to enlist Zeke into the military and its Warrior program to play the role of a spy for the Restorationist cause.
At home, Zeke was routinely sent to his grandparents while both Dina and Grisha attended Eldian Restorationist meetings, with most of his visits being spent listening to his grandfather recounting stories of the Eldian Empire's crimes against the world. Over time, his parents' preoccupation with the Eldian Restorationists led them growing continuously distant with Zeke, with Grisha in particular showing very little investment in his son's life outside of his studies and performance as a Warrior candidate.
Initially, Zeke did not perform impressively as a Warrior candidate, and his trouble keeping pace with his fellow candidates caused him to be ostracized by his peers and his chief overseer Theo Magath, the latter demanding for him to quit his training. However, he did manage to make one friend during his training: Tom Ksaver, who was a Warrior, a scientist of TBRS, and the holder of the Beast Titan, the power Zeke and his batch were competing to inherit. After a day of routine training, Zeke happened to meet Ksaver on the streets of the Liberio internment zone, while the man was in the middle of playing catch by himself. After some prodding from Ksaver, Zeke joined him in the game, and was thrilled to hear Ksaver complimenting him on his pitching skill. After returning home, Zeke tried to tell his parents about the experience, but found them in the middle of a meeting with Grice, a fellow Restorationist. Zeke tried eavesdropping on the conversation, and listening in as his parents reassured Grice that he had the ability to save Eldia, despite being informed that the Owl could not influence the military's choosing of the next Beast Titan without Zeke having good scores and grades.
During another public training event, Zeke was once again outperformed by all of the other candidates. To his distress, Zeke observed that both his parents had come to watch, and was dismayed to see his father storm away from the field in frustration, whilst Magath shouted at him to keep running. That night, he cried in his room while listening to his parents argue over what to do about his poor performance.
After the training event, Ksaver tried to cheer him up during one of their sessions of catch, before joking that Zeke becoming a Warrior and fight in Marley's wars would be a dumb idea. Surprised to hear a Warrior slandering the Warrior Program, Zeke asked to know why Ksaver had chosen to become one. Ksaver's explanation, that he had wanted the opportunity to study the Titans scientifically, surprised Zeke but he agreed with Ksaver's assertion that neither of them were meant to be soldiers.
While cleaning the corridors of Liberio's military headquarters, Zeke overheard a group of officers of the Public Security Authorities of Marley, learning they were close to discovering the identities and locations of the Eldian Restorationists. Knowing that this would sentence his entire family and himself to be deported to the border of Paradis Island to be converted into Pure Titans, Zeke went to his parents and begged them to stop, but was met only with their insistence that what they were doing needed to be done for the good of all Eldians. In a desperate attempt to appeal to his father, Zeke reminded him of Faye and asked if he would be okay with his own son meeting the same fate: this only managed to enrage Grisha. Terrified, Zeke tried to remind his parents that their whole family would be sent to Paradis if they were discovered, but Grisha only reiterated his previous statement that they needed to win back the rights that Marley had taken, in order to make sure that no one else met the same fate as Faye. Emotionally drained from the argument, Zeke pointed out that Faye only died because Grisha took her outside of the Liberio internment zone without permission.
With no one else to turn to, Zeke revealed everything to Ksaver. Although Zeke had resigned himself to being sent to Paradis and spend an eternity as a Titan, Ksaver suggested that he turn his parents in so that only they would be punished; this would allow Zeke and his grandparents to prove their innocence and go free. Zeke initially protested the idea, but Ksaver insisted that there was no other way, reminding Zeke of all of the turmoil and strife he had experienced on account of his parents forcing their ideals on him without thought for his own feelings. After some thought, Zeke agreed and turned in his parents to secure his status in Marley's eyes as a loyalist of the country. Not too long after, Grisha, Dina, and almost all the other Restorationists except the Owl were deported to Paradis Island to be transformed into Pure Titans. Still not knowing the truth of Zeke's heritage, Marley sent him to be raised by his grandparents.
Despite believing he sent his father and mother to their deaths, Zeke sympathized with their goal to free the Eldian race, the Subjects of Ymir. Thus, Zeke continued his parents' cause by operating from the shadows to secure the Eldians' freedom from the world in his own way. Zeke continued playing catch with Ksaver regularly during his time in the Warrior program, often using the games as a time to have long discussions with him. During one such session, Ksaver revealed that the Founding Titan had the power not only to affect the memories of Subjects of Ymir, but also to change the composition of their bodies. Inspired by this, Zeke theorized that a holder of the Founding Titan might be able to use it to render all Subjects of Ymir sterile, so that they would die out within 100 years without a need for mass genocide, and finally ending the suffering of all Eldians. Noticing Ksaver not immediately tossing back the baseball, Zeke heard Ksaver reveal that he once had a family with a Marleyan woman who had killed herself and their son after learning he was an Eldian. Listening to his mentor lament his own birth, Zeke vowed to Ksaver that he would take back the Founding Titan from the King of the Walls of Paradis, and keep it out of Marley's hands to ensure that it could not be used to hurt anyone again. Soon after, Zeke was told the key in the planned euthanasia of the Eldians, the Founding Titan, must be in possession of someone who will agree to the plan and be in physical contact with a Titan descended from the royal family. Ksaver asked Zeke to find someone who is willing to go through with the plan.
At the age of 17, or 16 turning 17 at best, Zeke became the eldest of the Warrior candidates to be selected to receive the power of the Titans. During 842, Zeke spoke to his fellow Warrior candidates about how the Marley government were preparing to begin the Paradis Island Operation in the next few years, as soon as the war in the south would end.
Zeke inherited the Beast Titan from Ksaver in the year 842. Zeke kept Ksaver's glasses after inheriting his Titan, as a memento of his former friend, and viewed him as his real father. It was subsequently discovered that through the administration of Zeke's spinal fluid into Subjects of Ymir, he would be able to trigger their transformation with a scream, and control their Titan forms afterwards, even when the moon was out. These abilities could not be explained by the Titan Biology Research Society, who were still unaware of Zeke's royal heritage.
One year after inheriting the Beast Titan, Zeke and his fellow Warriors used their respective Titan forms to crush an entire nation during one of Marley's wars. Zeke used his Beast Titan form to bombard enemies, in the midst of retreat, with explosive ammunition. With the battle being a large success, the Marleyan army regarded the new Warriors as more effective than their predecessors. One year later, in 844, Zeke's spinal fluid and screaming ability were used to turn numerous prisoners into Pure Titans and destroy an enemy nation's capital during the ending conflicts in the south of the continent. It was decided that Zeke be kept in Marley alongside Pieck as a deterrent against enemy nations, while the other Warriors (Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, Annie Leonhart, and Marcel Galliard) were entrusted to take part in the journey to Paradis Island.
Clash of the Titans arc[]
The Beast Titan makes his first appearance when Titans are mysteriously appearing within Wall Rose even though the Wall remains intact. He is encountered by Mike Zacharius, who instantly notes the strangeness of his characteristics, mistaking the Titan with a regular Deviant-type. The Titan displays an unexpected behavior when he grabs Mike's horse and launches it at him, preventing his escape and throwing him from the roof he was on.
After Mike falls to the mouth of another Titan, the Beast Titan displays the ability to speak, ordering the other Titans to not eat him so that he can question Mike about the Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear. However, the Titan disobeys him and the Beast Titan crushes its head to release Mike.
Beast Titans leads an army of Titans.
The Beast Titan then proceeds to interrogate Mike, but as he neglects to respond out of shock, he theorizes that Mike does not speak due to them not speaking the same language, or Mike being too afraid. After inspecting the gear, he allows the surrounding Titans to devour Mike. As Mike screams in horror, the Beast Titan is amused to see that they did actually speak the same language after all. He finally leaves the scene contemplating the 3D Maneuver Gear.
He next appears walking past Castle Utgard, seemingly ignoring those taking refuge within. Instead, he uses his incredible strength to scale Wall Rose and then disappears.
As the soldiers manage to fend off an attack, he suddenly turns his attention towards them. He begins to break off chunks of the Wall, hurling them long distances at the members of the Survey Corps trapped in Castle Utgard. The first shot kills their horses, and the second kills Lynne and Henning. He then howls, summoning more Titans to continue the assault on the castle. Nanaba angrily notes that he seems to be intentionally toying with them. Afterwards, he climbs over the Wall and disappears into the lost territory of Wall Maria.
When Ymir and Eren Yeager are kidnapped by Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover, Ymir states that the Beast Titan is directly responsible for the appearance of Titans within Wall Rose; possibly in order to "test" humanity's strength. She also notes that the reaction of Reiner and Bertolt to his appearance resembled gawking, excited children. She theorizes that locating him must be one of their primary goals and that it is key for them to return to their village.
The Uprising arc[]
The Beast Titan defeats The Armored Titan.
In the aftermath of Eren's failed kidnapping, an investigation is performed at the village of Ragako. The investigation confirms the suspicion that the villagers had been transformed into Titans, though the methods employed by the Beast Titan remains undisclosed.
Two months after Historia Reiss is crowned queen, the Beast Titan is shown in Shiganshina District defeating the Armored Titan in battle. While Bertolt takes out Reiner's body from his Titan form, Zeke emerges from his Beast Titan body, telling Bertolt and Reiner to worry about Annie's rescue later. He then reveals his plan to ambush the Survey Corps in Shiganshina with their help in order to capture Eren and steal the Coordinate, their top priority.
Return to Shiganshina arc[]
Beast Titan begins the operation to steal the Coordinate.
After some time, the Survey Corps initiate the operation to retake Wall Maria. After Eren manages to seal the outer gate of Shiganshina, Zeke, Reiner and Bertolt launch their operation. After Reiner's failed attack and its momentary downfall, Zeke transforms into his Beast Titan form along with a numerous horde of Titans outside the Wall. After that, he picks up a giant boulder and launches it at the inner gate, so that horses could not get over the hole, keeping the soldier from running away. The Beast Titan then roars, ordering small Titans to attack Survey Corps horses, while larger type of Titans form a circle around the entrance of Shiganshina district in order to prevent anyone from escaping the district.
Zeke with Bertolt and Reiner.
When Reiner gets incapacitated, Zeke is shown talking to Reiner and Bertolt the night before the Survey Corps' arrival. He tells them not to worry about Annie and questions their resolve when they doubt his words. He goes as far as to threaten Reiner with a rematch if they still doubt his decision. He then talks how they need to regain the Coordinate in order to put an end to something he calls the "cursed history." They are shortly after interrupted by a scout Titan who informs them of the Survey Corps' arrival. Back in present time, incapacitated Reiner roars in his titan form, signaling the Beast Titan to throw a barrel containing Bertolt towards Reiner's location. After Bertolt's delayed transformation annihilates a majority of Scouts on the other side of the Wall, the Beast Titan continues to stay on the sidelines, watching the battle unfold. Erwin asks whether or not everything goes according to Zeke's plan.
As a majority of Scouts swarm the front of the town to fend off the assaulting Titans, the Beast Titan bombards them with a barrage of stones, shredding humans and Titans alike while crushing all of the village buildings in their way. Erwin realizes that his plan was to round all of the Scouts in one location to wipe them out without getting too close. Out of options, he decides to perform a suicide charge against Zeke in order to distract him long enough for Levi to reach and attack him. As he is suicide charged by the Survey Corps, Zeke drops his guard, commenting on how their final move didn't live up to his expectations. He goes on to say that their loss of the world's memories is a tragedy that makes them do the same mistakes over and over again. As they shoot signal flares at him, he thinks of it as pointless, desperate struggling and continues his inner monologue, while shredding them all with more barrages of stones.
After Zeke kills almost all of the Scouts charging him from the front, he revels in his victory; however, he notices too late that all of his Titans on his right side were killed. The Beast Titan then watches an anchor emerge from a screen of smoke hooking into his shoulder, followed by an enraged Levi ambushing him. Though initially stunned, the Beast Titan quickly recovers and swings his paw at Levi. He recalls having been warned by Reiner to be cautious about one particular soldier called Levi, as Levi cuts his paw to pieces along with the rest of his arm, quickly realizing who is attacking him.
As Levi moves to his head, he quickly covers his nape, but is instead blinded by Levi, who moves too fast for him to react. Levi then cuts the Beast Titan's legs, making him fall before cutting his remaining paw to shreds before the nape is cut open and Zeke is dragged out of his Titan. Injured and helpless, he is at Levi's mercy, but Levi doesn't kill him because he wants to take his power. This does not come to pass as Levi is attacked by Pieck, in her Cart Titan form, who saves Zeke. As he is carried away in the Cart Titan's mouth, Zeke angrily orders his left side Titans to kill Levi, as the Cart Titan escapes.
He soon exits his Titan Form and using the Cart Titan as transportation, he goes to save Bertolt after finding and procuring Reiner. Zeke finds Bertolt with Eren, he is shocked to finally meet his half-brother who threatens to kill Bertolt. Zeke remarks that Eren doesn't resemble his father as the latter is confused before noticing that Zeke looks like his father while Zeke says they are both victims of the latter. Before he can elaborate or reveal their relationship, Zeke is met with surprise as Levi is revealed to have survived the Titan attack and caught up with him. Zeke realizes his situation and tells Eren that he'll come back for him before telling Bertolt his journey ends now as he falls back with Reiner. With both of them having survived - despite having lost Bertolt - Zeke comments to Reiner that he was truly lucky.
Returning to Marley[]
Back in Marley, Zeke remains an asset of the Marleyan military. After his return, he starts building up a network of agents from territories conquered by Marley and uses them as envoys to Paradis. Additionally, he makes contact with Kiyomi Azumabito of Hizuru, convincing her that it would prove fruitful for Hizuru and her clan to make connections to Paradis. After his envoys, led by Yelena and named Anti-Marleyan Volunteers, arrive on Paradis, they are arrested by the military but gradually gain their trust and assist them in upgrading Paradis' military and technology as to be able to hold up against the other nations, who are far more advanced than Paradis.
In his service to Marley, Zeke is soon drafted into another war - this time against the Mid-East Union. After four years of war, the Marleyan forces attack the last stronghold of the Mid-East Union, Fort Slava. While footsoldiers - mostly conscripted Eldians and volunteers of Marley's warriors program - attack the Fort on the ground, Zeke and Reiner are flown into the area by airship. There are also several Eldian prisoners onboard who have been injected with Zeke's spinal fluid and once the airship is directly above Fort Slava, they are all thrown out of the ship. While the prisoners are still mid-air, Zeke lets out a loud scream that transforms all of them into Titans.
The titan bombardment hits the fort - destroying some of the Fort and allowing the Titans to kill the soldiers within. Furthermore, Zeke and Reiner are deployed into the Fort and transform into the Beast Titan and Armored Titan, respectively. While Reiner destroys the artillery on the walls of the Fort, Zeke picks up a fistful of artillery ammunition and hurls it into the Mid-Eastern armada stationed on the coast of Fort Slava. While he manages to sink the entire fleet, several ships are able to return fire with Anti-Titan-Ammunition. Before the shots can hit and kill Zeke, Reiner jumps in front of him and takes the full blow. Reiner survives and Fort Slava is conquered, allowing Marley to claim victory and force the enemy into signing a peace contract. Before the entire Marleyan military heads back home, some of the military's heads gather in a small meeting presided by General Calvi, and attended by Zeke - as well as his intended inheritor Colt Grice and his superior and leader of Marley's Warrior program, Commander Theo Magath. Zeke convinces Calvi to resume their hostile campaign against the Eldians within the Walls of Paradis sooner than intended, instead of leaving the next mission to the future generation of Warriors as planned. Afterwards, Zeke discusses the recent events in Paradis Island and plans for the next invasion with Magath and Colt.
Betraying Marley[]
After their victory, the surviving members of Marley's military return home. Zeke, the warriors and the surviving Eldians head back home to Liberio, where their relatives eagerly await them at the gates of the internment zone. Zeke is welcomed by his grandparents, who are extremely proud that he helped Marley secure another victory. As the war is now won, Marley's military officials once more turn their eyes to Paradis Island and - primarily through Zeke's insistence and pressure - decide that another attack is warranted in order to secure the Founding Titan. In order to get other nations - united only in their hate against Eldians - to come together as one global army and destroy Paradis Island once and for all. Zeke proposes that the influential Tybur family, which is respected in many nations, proposes this idea to the world and indeed, a festival is planned in which officials, diplomats and journalist from all over the world are invited to Rebellio in order to listen to Willy Tybur's proposal.
In the weeks leading up to the festival, Zeke regularly comes together with the Marleyan military as well as the Warriors and the warrior cadets. However - due to the scheming of Yelena and his Anti-Marley-Volunteers - he is also able to meet with his half-brother Eren Yeager who has infiltrated Marley on Yelena's insistence. In their conversation, Zeke reveals some groundbreaking information to Eren which causes a drastic change in him. Zeke also reveals to him that the Ackerman family was basically designed as Titans in human form and were intended to loyally guard whoever they imprinted on. What exactly was discussed between Zeke and Eren and if Zeke told Eren the truth or just lies is currently unknown. However, Zeke and Eren make plans for Eren to attack the festival and for Zeke to defect in order to be brought to Paradis Island during the chaos. These terms were also brought to Paradis by Yelena (although leaving out the plans for the attack on Rebellio).
During the day of the festival, Zeke, Pieck and Galliard are called to a meeting with General Magath by a mysterious soldier (in reality Yelena in disguise) just minutes before Willy Tybur's speech starts. They leave the plaza and after Yelena sends Zeke off under some pretext, she lures Pieck and Galliard into a trap so that they won't be able to interfere with the upcoming attack. At the same time, an unsuspecting Falco Grace - having previously received Zeke's blessing - leads an equally unsuspecting Reiner Braun to a meeting with Eren Yeager. Meanwhile, Zeke heads away from the festival and stays away when Eren transforms, killing Willy Tybur and slaughtering military officials and civilians alike. Shortly after, the Survey Corps arrives, having had no idea of Erens plans and having come to retrieve Eren at all costs. Eventually, Zeke transforms into the Beast Titan and returns to the plaza where he seemingly teams up with Pieck and Galliard, who managed to free themselves and who transformed as well.
Using debris from the buildings that have been destroyed so far, Zeke hurls projectiles at members of the Survey Corps to keep them at bay. However, he is attacked by Levi Ackermann and cut down almost immediately. As the Beast Titan falls, Levi cuts open its nape and - while Magath, Gabi Braun and Falco are watching in horror - tosses a grenade inside the nape, seemingly killing Zeke. However, in the guise of the explosion, Levi is able to retrieve Zeke and after cutting off his legs, carries him to the airship which the Survey Corps uses to escape. Zeke is delivered to Paradis Island but instead of being allowed to meet Eren - which was one of his demands for cooperation - he is led away while Eren is imprisoned for his genocidal attack on Marley. Zeke, on the other hand, is put into Levi's custody.
Imprisonment and battle with Levi[]
As Paradis is conflicted and on the brink of civil war - with a loud majority of people declaring for Eren Yeager - Zeke is brought to the Titan Forest since it is deemed that the terrain is ideal to prevent him from transforming and escaping. Levi is assisted by thirty loyal Survey Corps soldiers and while chaos and conflict erupts on Paradis after Premier Zackly is murdered by Eren's faction, Zeke and the soldiers in the forest are completely secluded from the outside world. For one month, Zeke remains completely docile and even answers Levi's questions on how he transformed the people of Ragako into Titans. He explains how his spinal fluid allows him to transform people but adds the lie that people who are injected with his spinal fluid become completely catatonic. By adding this lie, Zeke makes sure that Levi and the soldiers believe that there is a definite way to spot if someone has been injected with the fluid.
In doing so, Zeke prevents the soldiers from realizing that the wine they have been drinking for a month has been spiked with his spinal fluid as well. Eventually - after having read the sole book he has been given for entertainment seven times - Zeke decides that the time to strike has come. He suddenly jumps up and runs to the edge of the clearing. While the perplexed Levi prepares to retrieve Zeke, Zeke suddenly screams and transforms all of Levi's subordinates into mindless Titans. In contrast to other Titans, Zeke's titans are extremely fast and even able to climb. While the Titans attack Levi, Zeke has one of the Titans pick him up and uses him as a mule. He has the Titan carry him to the edge of the forest and plans to meet Eren as soon as possible. He believes Levi to be dead but when he turns around to take a look, he sees the furious Levi charging at him. Panicking, he transforms into the Beast Titan, rips apart the Titan that carried him and squishes his head. He uses the meat chunks as projectiles to hurl at Levi, but Levi uses the terrain to his advantage, swoops down at Zeke and blasts four thunder spears into Zeke's hardened nape.
The detonation blasts the severely crippled and wounded Zeke out of the Beast Titan's carcass and Levi grabs him by the hair and drags him to a cart. Before Zeke's wounds heal, Levi rams another thunder spear into his stomach which is implanted deep into Zeke's body as it regenerates. The trigger for the thunder spear is tied around Zeke's head so that the thunder spear will detonate if he makes a sudden move. In order to prevent Zeke from transforming into the Beast TItan once more, Levi cuts off his feet. After Zeke regains consciousness, the wagon has already moved and Zeke howls and pukes in pain when he sees the Thunder Spear coming out of his torso. Delirious from the pain, Zeke remembers his past with Tom Xaver and is shocked to see that he lost Xaver's glasses. After a few hours, Zeke's body has recovered relatively well and Levi jumps back into the wagon to cut of Zeke's feet once more. However, Zeke - who was deep in thought on his past with Xaver up onto this point - suddenly lets out a suicidal scream and yanks his head, causing the thunder spear to detonate. While Zeke's body is ripped apart by the blast, Levi is hit by the explosion as well and is blasted out of the now destroyed cart in a cloud of blood.
After the explosion, Zeke slowly bleeds out. As he comes closer to death, he remembers the moment he learned of the existence of his half-brother Eren and that he decided to approach Eren to bring him into his plan of Eldia's sterilization. Zeke's consciousness then fades, but as he dies, he suddenly has a vision of a young girl who molds his destroyed body anew with sand. While Zeke, who has reached a different sphere of existence he believes to be the manifestation of "Paths", is remolded by the nameless girl, a mindless Titan suddenly robs towards Zeke but instead of devouring him, the Titan rips open its own stomach, grabs Zeke and stuffs him into his intestines. Afterwards, the Titan slumps over. Moments later, Zeke reemerges from the stomach of the titan completely reborn. In the meantime, the Yeagerists have arrived in order to save Zeke and bring him to Eren. When Floch asks Zeke what happened to him, Zeke replies that he is not too sure himself but explains what he saw and what he believed it to mean. He reveals to Floch that everybody who stood in their way has been eliminated and that the time to advance has come.
Marley's Invasion in Shiganshina[]
After having been freed, Zeke immediately heads to Shiganshina where, in the meantime, Marley has started a small-scale invasion and has dropped a unit of soldiers with parachutes. Eren, having turned into the Attack Titan, is being attacked by both the Armored Titan and the Jaw Titan and Zeke arrives just in time to prevent Eren from being eaten by Reiner. After climbing on top of Wall Maria, Zeke pries out a part of the wall and precisely hurls it into the city so that it hits Reiner in the face. Zeke then cockily announces his arrival, claiming that he arrived at the destined meeting point a little late while also congratulating Eren for holding off the enemy for so long, claiming that he should leave the rest to his big brother now. Zeke keeps hurling rocks - taking down all of Marley's airships and fending off both Reiner and Galliard - until he is taken by surprise by a shot from Pieck's anti-titan-artillery turret, is hit near his nape and tumbles off the wall. He falls into the district where he remains motionless. Despite the lower half of his body being severely damaged Zeke survives and is able to maintain the functions of his titan form. Seeing that they're at a disadvantage Zeke decides to use his scream to transform everybody nearby that has ingested his spinal fluid. However right as he is about to scream Colt arrives on the scene and pleads with Zeke not to use his scream because his brother Falco, an innocent Warrior candidate had accidentally ingested some of the wine tainted with Zeke's spinal fluid. Despite feeling sympathy for Colt's brotherly care for Falco, Zeke screams anyway and turns everybody in the nearby proximity that drank his spinal fluid into Pure Titans. Afterwards Zeke orders Falco's pure titan to attack Reiner before another shot is fired through Zeke's nape seemingly killing him. However Zeke actually manages to survive albeit more mangled and hides underneath the steam and skeleton of his decomposing titan form. Eren notices this and hardens his titan body after an enraged Reiner punch his fist right through Eren's mouth upon Porco Galliard sacrifices himself to allow Falco to regain his human form. After breaking out of his nape Eren runs to make contact with Zeke and activate the Founding Titan but a vengeful Gabi shoots Eren's head off with an anti-titan rifle causing Zeke to become horrified as his younger brother's severed head begins falling towards him.
Final Downfall[]
After Eren's severed yet still technically alive head falls into Zeke's hand, the power of the Founding Titan activates and sends the two brothers into the Coordinate of the timeless realm of the Paths where Zeke is seen in chains that apparently represent the "First King's will and the Vow Renouncing War". When the nameless girl that healed Zeke appears he reveals that she is in fact the soul of Ymir Fritz, who had been transported to the Coordinate upon her death to become a conduit for using the Founding Titan's power by obeying its inheritors. When Zeke tells Eren to command Ymir to sterilize the entire Eldian race in the world as they "agreed upon", Eren reveals that he has no intention of sterilizing the Subjects of Ymir and was only playing along with Zeke's plan in order to use the Founder's powers. Zeke is saddened by this, before revealing that he wasn't sure of Eren's true allegiances so he deceived Eren as well and was in control of Ymir and the Founder's power due to his royal status and that he had successfully nullified the Vow Renouncing War while breaking his chains and having Ymir (who is bound in servitude to her royal-blooded descendants) chain Eren up.
Still believing that Eren is being controlled by their father's will and memories, Zeke has them go into numerous of Grisha's memories to "show" how Grisha imposed his "nationalist mindset" onto Eren. However Zeke learns that Grisha had in fact been remorseful of how he treated Zeke and because of it he gave Eren more personal freedom as a child and even postponed his Restorationist mission to take the Founding Titan from the Reiss family to spend his remaining years with his family without jeopardizing their lives. Zeke then notices how Grisha is actually able to see him from the past. Zeke is surprised by this and Eren tells him that they need to go on to the next memory. After seeing the memory of Eren's brutal rescue of Mikasa, Zeke finally accepts that their father never forced his ideology upon Eren, yet Zeke is still bewildered that Eren betrayed his trust. Eren reveals that he would never go along with the euthanasia plan because he was "born into this world, and if anybody tries to take his freedom, he won't hesitate to take theirs" rather than letting them do it.
After Grisha notices Eren while taking to his child-self, Grisha departs from his house and heads to the Reiss Chapel in the lands of northern Wall Rose, to finally follow through with his mission as he is on the final year of his limited lifespan due to the Curse of Ymir. Zeke witnesses the memory of his father confronting Frieda Reiss (the mentally enslaved then-inheritor of the Founding Titan) and pleading with her to use the Founding Titan's powers to kill all the Titans, who have attacked Wall Maria in that very moment, before his family become victims themselves. Frieda wishes to help before Karl Fritz's will prevents her from doing so. She says that the Subjects of Ymir are irredeemable for the sins of the past Eldian Empire, and their only repentance is to accept their fate, even if the people of the Walls don't know about the true history of the world. Zeke believes Frieda and himself to be like-minded and goes on to ask Eren if his previous statement on the killing of the Reiss family was another deception. Zeke then notices Eren's intensive glare towards Frieda in disgust towards her ancestor's ideology.
As Grisha continues to plead with Frieda, the Queen rejects his requests and states that even if Grisha were to take the Founding Titan he wouldn't be able to use it. However Grisha reveals that he is already aware of that, to a surprised Frieda. Grisha reveals that like all of the Nine Titans, the Attack Titan has its own unique abilities. It is able to glimpse into the memories of its future inheritors, and through them, it can know events from the future, while also granting users immunity against the Founder's memory manipulation. Frieda is not aware of this because the vow to renounce war prevents her from using the full power of the Founder. Zeke is astonished that the Attack Titan had those kind of capabilities and it's revealed that it was because of this reason Grisha was able to see both Zeke and Eren due to the Founder's power amplifying the future memory inheritance ability, which Eren used to discreetly relay his future memories of Wall Maria falling and Grisha's slaughter of the Reiss family (sans Rod). However as Grisha hesitates Eren directly speaks to him, having used Zeke to ensure history plays out as it already has been. Zeke can only stand in shock as Eren coldly reminds Grisha of all the people who died due to the persecution of Eldians: his sister Faye, his comrades from the Restorationists, his first wife Dina, and his predecessor Eren Kruger. This convinces Grisha to follow through with his mission.
After successfully killing Frieda and her entire family (with the exception of Rod, so that he can show Eren the memory of the massacre for the first time and pass it along Grisha in the first place), and stealing an injection of Titan serum, Grisha exits his Titan form in anguish and remorse over killing children. After Grisha realizes he can talk to Zeke he tells him that the future will go in Eren's favor and not his. When Grisha expresses horror at the future memory of Eren's endgame he can finally see Zeke and expresses remorse for his mistreatment of Zeke as a child and embraces him saying that he loves him. As he tells him to stop Eren, Eren's past self from the year 850 (during the award ceremony following the Battle of Shiganshina District) receives Grisha's memories of that night with better clarity than before, allowing him to see into his own future memories.
Zeke in an attempt to stop Eren, orders Ymir to sterilize all Eldians while Eren is still chained. However, as Zeke grew too confident and stands firm, Eren manages to break out his chains and rushes to Ymir pleading with her that she isn't a slave and doesn't need to follow anyone's orders. Zeke desperately tries to stop the two, but he is too late as Ymir breaks down crying and decides to ally with Eren in his goal to destroy the rest of humanity outside of Paradis island, because the "future had already been decided" around 2,000 years ago. Back to the physical world, just an instant before the Walls collapse, Zeke and Gabi have only time to watch a huge parasitic life form, "the source of all living matter", emerging from Eren's headless human body. Then the Founder Ymir absorbs Zeke's body laying beneath his Titan's skeleton, to give Eren full control of the Founding Titan, and traps him within Paths.
When the Rumbling reaches Liberio in Marley a few days later, the Wall Titans end up killing Zeke and Eren's paternal grandparents as they were both imprisoned by the Marleyan authorities, after Zeke's betrayal was discovered by General Magath. Two days later, Armin is also trapped within Paths by the Founder Ymir and encounters Zeke, who at this point has seemingly given up on stopping Eren and takes the time to explain the story of Ymir and the power of the Titans. Zeke questions why Armin still hasn't given up and has the will to fight thinking it would be better for their suffering to end, Armin then discloses some minor moments he, Mikasa, and Eren shared when they were younger, simple moments that were fleeting and didn't mean much in the long run but are precious to him nonetheless. This starts to remind Zeke of Tom Ksaver and how the precious moments he had playing catch with him despite his painful life still meant something to him. As this happens the souls of Ksaver, Eren Kruger, Grisha, Ymir (freckled one), Marcel, Porco, and Bertolt Hoover awaken in the Paths to Zeke and Armin's surprise. While Armin conversates with Bertolt, Zeke takes the time to thank Ksaver and forgive his father, then he and Armin realize this is their only chance to stop the Rumbling, so they ask the souls to help them by taking control of their former Titans.
While the souls of Grisha, Ksaver, Bertolt, the Galliards, Ymir, and Kruger help protect Armin, Annie, Reiner, and their other comrades from the other previous deceased Titans, Zeke escapes the Paths, although his body remains molded with that of the Founding Titan. Deciding to willingly sacrifice himself to stop the army of Wall titans from killing any more people (as the Wall Titans can only be controlled through his royal blood), Zeke calls out to Levi, goading him to kill him. Both shocked and wordless, Levi and Gabi hear him and notice him while they are both riding Falco's flying Jaw Titan form. Before Levi reaches him with the intent to kill him, Zeke peacefully comments on what a beautiful day it is and that he wishes he could've seen it sooner, but due to all the killing he has done throughout his life accepts his fate as Levi slices his head off.