The anime Attack on Titan is one of the best anime according to fans in this century. With a complex story and full of mystery, the creator Hajime Isayama also presents several political intrigues wrapped in fighting between humans and titans that can be found throughout the anime. What political intrigue is in this anime? Let's discuss it!

Absolute Rule

The war in the world of Attack on Titan is based on the feud between Eldian and their colonial nation 2000 years ago. Eldians have the extraordinary power of the Founding Titan which they got from Ymir Fritz, King Fritz's slave and concubine. To maintain this titan bloodline, King Fritz did not hesitate to order the Eldian citizens, including his daughters, to become cannibals by eating each other; and its resulting in the birth of Nine Titans with extraordinary power control. From here, we know that King Fritz was a dictator and tyrannical leader who wanted absolute power. With this power and greed, Fritz expanded his rule to Marleyan. Marleyan, who was unable to resist the power of the Titans owned by Eldian, lost, with the city being destroyed in less than a day.

Erasure of History

The Nine Titans each control the territory that Eldian colonized. Gradually, a civil war broke out and weakened Eldian's power. Seeing this weakness, Marleyan kidnapped many Eldians along with seven of the Nine Titans. The Eldians who were kidnapped by the Marleyans were considered nothing less than tools of war, where they were forced to become Titans and did not hesitate to kill to give their meat to animals.

Karl Fritz, the 145th Eldian king finally moved his people and two of the remaining Nine Titans to Paradis Island and built a wall that separated the Eldians from the outside world. Karl Fritz considered Eldian's crime irreparable, ultimately putting an end to the Eldian Empire and erasing its people's memory of the atrocities of their predecessors. This erasure of history aims to keep the people ignorant and blissful and also serves as a powerful control for them not leaving the wall or seeking the truth and maintaining the status quo. This goes on until the timeline where Eren Yeager was born and becomes an Survey Cops' army.

Coup D'etat

Erwin Smith, 13th Commander of Survey Cops who is the captain of the main character Eren Yeager, realizes that the Royal Family is not interested in protecting humanity. Feeling furious, Erwin then made Squad Levi to launch a coup d'etat and asked Dot Pixis for help to track down Rod Reiss, the true ruler of the wall. This coup d'etat action succeeded in dissolving the old royal family and revealed the history of the walls along with Eldian elders' crime to the public. Historia Reiss, who also known as her alias Krista Lens during her time in Survey Cops, was crowned and became the Queen of the Walls. The action of Erwin Smith and Squad Levi to launch this Coup d'etat shows Survey Cops' commitment to humanity and justice, that was previously blunt to the bottom.


These are some of the political intrigues that play a big role in the Attack on Titan storyline. In some cases, the political portrayal in this anime is considered similar to the Holocaust case in the real world, where they consider one race to be better than others and become a justification for erasing other races.

The Attack on Titan anime series ended in November last year with a total of 94 episodes. So, are you interested in watching it?