Attack on Titan for beginners

titans

(this one maybe a little gross and uncomfortable)

the titans are known as subjects of ymir, and were once humans. Titans greatly resemble nude humans. They are typically bipedal with the limbs and features one would expect in humans; however, they are all deformed to some extent in body proportions (enlarged head, small limbs, etc.). Many Titans have exceptionally wide mouths with an array of square teeth. The vast majority of Titans have a masculine body shape, although all of them lack reproductive organs.

Unlike other species, Titans do not mate, nor interact with organisms other than humans; their sole purpose in life is to seek out and devour humans. They do not derive any real sustenance from humans either, as many of them did not taste human flesh for a century after the Walls were raised. but it did not affect their activity nor decrease their numbers. One explanation for this is that they seek a human who possesses the power of titans, for if a Titan consumes a human with it, the Titan will become human again. Some Titans do not react to pain and all will move as long as there is sunlight. 

Most Titans show no signs of intelligence and act like mindless beasts; easy to trick, distract, and deceive, so they are basically a mix of a giant person with downsyndrom and mental retardation. The body of Titans appears to violate several known laws of science, spontaneously generating both energy and mass. Their bodies are incredibly light, allowing them to stand and walk despite their size. Their extremely high level of activity and body temperature indicates the need for a massive intake of energy to fuel them, yet they apparently never need to eat at all, though most Titans kill their victims by appearing to do so. They possess and use vocal organs, but they do not need to breathe for survival. Titans draw their primary source of energy from the sun, as they become inactive when deprived of sunlight. The absence of sunlight affects individual Titans differently: During experimentation, the captured Titan "Sonny" became docile and nearly comatose after only an hour's deprivation, while fellow captive "Bean" maintained a high level of activity three hours after last seeing sunlight. However, this only applies for the Pure Titans; the Nine Titans do not need sunlight to move, and neither do Titans controlled by Zeke Jaeger's Beast Titan, or the founding Titan. Titans possess incredible regenerative abilities. Although it varies from Titan to Titan, they can regenerate lost body parts from seconds to minutes, even severed heads (unless the nape is severed with the head). The only known sure-fire way to kill them is by slicing an area one meter long and 10 centimeters wide on their nape. This is the location of the central nervous system of the Titan; in Pure Titans, it is only a spine of the human that got absorbed, but in the Nine Titans, it is an entire human body without a functioning nervous system to control it, the Titan dies. After death, Titan corpses rapidly evaporate to skeletal remains, then to nothing at all.

there are nine types of titans, 

the founding titan- is able to turn subjects of ymir into titans , manipulate the actions of Titans, and erase the memories of the Subjects of Ymir with its screams, but only while in contact with the royal family. It is connected to all the Subjects of Ymir via "paths."

the Attack Titan- is said to always move ahead seeking and fighting for freedom. 

the Female Titan- is able in every field and can attract nearby Pure Titans by screaming.

the Colossal Titan- is enormous and can evaporate its body to release immense amounts of steam 

the Armored Titan- is particularly good at hardening and is covered by hardened armor-like skin, except in key areas necessary for movement

the Beast Titan- has incredible throwing capabilities and stands a little taller than the others (aside from the Colossus Titan)

the Jaw Titan- is small but is the swiftest of all the Nine Titans; it also has sharp teeth and claws capable of breaking almost anything

the Cart Titan- is quadrupedal, has great endurance, and can stay transformed for long periods of time, its speed is the same as the Jaw Titans 

and the War Hammer Titan- can harden its flesh and shape it into various weapons.  It can also be controlled by its operator from afar via a cable of Titan flesh

the height range of titans is from the lowest, 4 meters and to the highest 60 meters. but many of them range around 15 meters. and age does NOT affect the titans. such as ymir, she was a titan since she was 15 or 16, maybe a little older, and then she was a titan for 60 years and then changed back to human form, she retained little awareness or memory, but described it as having been an "endless nightmare." ikr? DAMN. she was still the same age when she transformed back. no one knew this until she transformed into a titan to save Krista Lenz.                                         this is the reason all this happened, the wall names, the "ymir's children" and stuff: Many decades ago, a nameless, homeless, Eldian girl lived in the streets of Marley as a beggar. Eventually, she was found by a man who gave her the name "Ymir," after the ancient "Ymir Fritz" , and brought her into a cult dedicated to the worship of Ymir. She was worshiped by many Eldians in the cult, and Ymir chose to abide by her new role in order to bring happiness to those around her. However, a time came when the cult was discovered by the public security authorities , and the man who named her claimed she had deceived him. Ymir chose to abide by her given name, and she was arrested with the other cultists. After being paraded around Marley and stoned by angry citizens, the cultists were taken to the borderline of Paradis island and forcibly turned into mindless Titan. in 845, ymir encountered Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and their friend Marcel on their way to the wall to infiltrate it. she attacked Reiner but ended up eating Marcel to save his friend (he shoved Reiner out of the way.)

Soon after this event, she regained her consciousness and human form. She spent the next two years living within Wall Sheena, sneaking about and spying on their society, surviving as a skilled thief. It was during this time that she overheard a conversation between members of the Church of the Walls, and learned about "Krista Lenz,"(a.k.a, Historia Reiss) an illegitimate child who had been given a new name. Her interest in Krista led her to enlist in the military.

Ilse (ilse, just to make it easier cause its kind of confusing) Langnar, a member of the survey corps that resembles Ymir, encountered a tian that spoke to her as the "subject of ymir." This Titan mistook Ilse for Ymir, and bowed before her while referring to her as "Lady Ymir." Ilse's notes of the encounter were later discovered by hange zoe, they were the first hints of ymir true nature.

there are surprisingly more titan shifters you all still don't know about:

Zeke Jaeger

Pieck

Armin Arlert

and Porco Galliard

but the others you should know, Eren, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Ymir. Around 2,000 years ago, Ymir Fritz obtained the power of the Titans and became the first titan, the Founding titan. 13 years later she died (we don't know why or how) and her soul was split into the Nine Titans.

this is all a little confusing, but after watching, reading, and studying the series, its gets pretty easy. that's basically all we know about titans rn, a lot of this is from the manga and the AOT website guide I used to help me (slightly, cause I remembered at lot of this.)