Summary
As the last of the Nine Titans to be formally introduced, the build up to the War Hammer Titan’s debut extended well into the Marley Arc ofAttack on Titanwhich took placeafter the series' four year timeskip. While it was only mentioned at first during conversations, the Titan exerted a foreboding presence in the backdrop, as the tension in the narrative build up to a crescendo.
This anticipation eventually paid off in the Raid on Liberio,when Eren’s murderous rampage as the Attack Titanforced Lara Tybur to give him a full demonstration of the War Hammer Titan’s power. Needless to say, it did not disappoint, as it was revealed that this Titan was capable of altering environments and creating powerful weapons. This singled it out as one of the more remarkable ones among the Nine Titans in the world ofAttack on Titan.
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Manifesting From The Ground Up
One of the unique features of the War Hammer Titan was the mechanism behind how a shifter controlled its body.Most Titan shifters resided within the napesof their Titans — just like in the case of Pure Titans — which made it a natural weak spot for opponents to target. By contrast, the user of the War Hammer Titan could opt not to control it from the nape, and instead encase themselves inside a hardened crystal of the same variety that Annie Leonhart’s Female Titan was able to manifest. Connected by a cord of flesh to the Titan’s foot, this crystal allowed for the option of remote operation.
Due to this, the War Hammer Titan’s transformation commenced from its feet instead of from the nape where the shifter’s body was traditionally located. For this reason, the user could manifest their Titan and its powers from the ground at different points, using the terrain as a means of offense to gain an advantage in combat. The only drawback here was that the user was vulnerable if their crystal was disconnected from the cord. However, thy could also reform the cord under the right circumstances. Besides this, the War Hammer Titan was one of the few among the Nine Titans capable of speech in its Titan form, along with the Cart Titan,Zeke’s Beast Titan, and Ymir’s Jaw Titan.
Creating Artifacts Of War
In terms of appearance, the 15-meter body ofLara Tybur’s War Hammer Titanhad no hair and was covered almost entirely in a white skin tight armor made of the same material that rendered its unique abilities. The only areas not covered by the armor were the eyes, parts of the neck and shoulders, as well as the lower part of the face. That being said, even these regions were shielded by thin strips of the same material as the armor, which formed a sort of grill above them. Underneath the armor, the Titan had skin toned with a red hue.
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Befitting its name, the War Hammer Titan potentially had the highest offensive ability of all Nine Titans. This was a consequence of its structural hardening powers which allowed it to create andmanipulate constructs from hardened Titan flesh. These constructs could be rigid, sharp, or flexible depending on the user’s desire. Generally, the constructs in question were weapons such as swords, spears, crossbows, a cat-o'-nine-tails whip, or the Titan’s namesake hammer — which resembled a mallet with an elongated handle.
With these constructs, the Titan was able to perform devastating attacks whichinitially overwhelmed even Eren’s Attack Titan. Furthermore, the War Hammer Titan could even extend its structural hardening abilities to its environment, to produce massive spikes from the ground to impale approaching enemies, or smaller ones to immobilize their feet. While this ability was extremely useful, it had to be used in moderation, as incessant use of structural hardening would tire a user out very quickly.
The Pride Of The Tybur Family
Unlike the other Nine Titans, the War Hammer Titan was the only one to remain in the hands of the Tybur family after the Great Titan War. As one of the Eldian noble houses which fought for control over the Nine Titans during this conflict, the Tybur family were the firstto ally with King Fritz and support his planto retreat to Paradis. Subsequently, they also aided in Marley’s eradication of the Eldian Empire, and went on to occupy the highest seat of power in the nation, despite their Eldian heritage.
In return, the Tybur family gave Marleyans their freedom to self-govern as a form of repentance for the sins of their ancestors. The War Hammer Titan was passed down within the Tybur family for generations after the Great Titan War, until it was inherited by Lara, the younger sister of Willy Tybur. In the year 854, Zeke Yeager, the Beast Titan and War Chief of the Marleyan Warrior Unit, tried to convince Willy to grant the War Hammer Titan’s support in a bid to launch a second operation toreclaim the Founding Titan from Paradis.
This plea would eventually go unheeded, as Eren’s Attack Titan massacred a gathering of global delegates in Liberio. After killing Willy, Eren proceeded to fight Lara in her Titan form and was nearly defeated,until Mikasa arrived in the nick of time to save him. He was then able to locate Lara’s crystal and used Porco Galliard’s Jaw Titan to crush it, allowing him to consume Lara’s remains and gain control of her Titan.
Following this, Eren used the War Hammer Titan to escape his imprisonment on Paradis, and even employed its structural hardening in battle against Reiner and Porco in the War for Paradis Arc ofAttack on Titan. In the end, the War Hammer effectively merged with the Founding Titan and Attack Titan, whenEren triggered the Rumbling after reachingthe world of the Paths with Zeke’s aid.
