As the final season of Attack on Titan draws to a close, one of the many plot twists was the shocking revelation that the Queen of the Walls and previous Survey Corps scout Historia Reiss was actually pregnant!
But nothing in Attack on Titan happens without a reason, so why is Historia suddenly pregnant?
We are going to be looking into the answer. Beware – we will be covering some manga spoilers so if you don’t want the last few reveals of the Season 4 finale spoiled for you, come back once the anime is over and if you’re still scratching your head as to what was the point in Historia getting pregnant.
Still here?
Then let’s look at the reasons why Historia fell pregnant in the last season of Attack on Titan!
The first thing to clear up is that Historia did not become pregnant by accident.
This was not a coincidental circumstance used by the manga writer Hajime Isayama to prolong the story, but was a choice actively made by the character to benefit their goals.
Historia was not in a relationship and happened to fall pregnant – she actively tried to conceive a baby and succeeded.
The reasons why she wanted to fall pregnant is also not due to her compassionate nature. Historia has been shown in the past to have a special way with children and is especially sympathetic to orphans after her own traumatic upbringing – but Historia did not want a child.
Her reasons for falling pregnant are totally strategic.
But why? Who is Historia helping by falling pregnant?
Royal Blood And Historia’s Importance
In the finale of Season 3, it was revealed that Eren is the current holder of the Founding Titan (the most powerful of the 9 Titan Shifters that is able to control other pure titans) but is only able to use that power if he comes into contact with someone who is also a titan and of royal blood.
This is how Eren was temporarily able to unlock his Founding Titan abilities in Season 2. After touching the titan version of Dina Fritz, a woman descended from the royal Eldian bloodline, Eren was able to control the nearby titans to attack both the Dina Fritz titan and the Armored Titan.
Eren realizes this during the meeting after the Survey Corps’ return from the Battle of Shiganshina – and also quickly realizes that for him to be able to use the Founding Titan to keep the people within the Walls safe from the rest of the world, Historia would have to become a titan.
Historia is currently the only living royal within the Walls. The rest of her relatives were murdered by Grisha Jaeger and her father, Rod Reiss, was killed by her own hand after he transformed himself into a giant mutilated pure titan.
Once Eren realized this, he quickly kept the information to himself. This was because he did not want the military to use Historia like a pawn.
At that moment, Historia became one of the most important characters in Attack on Titan, but this puts her at risk of being used by others for their own agenda.
Zeke’s Plan
Eren’s fears regarding Historia came true in Season 4. In episode 9, we saw Zeke’s request being read out in a military meeting in which he promised to save the Subjects of Ymir using his secret plan in return for two conditions – the Founding Titan, and a titan of royal blood.
Zeke revealed to the military of Paradis that these were the conditions needed for Eren to be able to use the Founding Titan’s power and activate the Rumbling.
However, we now know that Zeke planned on using Eren to instead make all Eldians infertile, so no new Subjects of Ymir could be born, and the race would eventually die out.
However, because the military does not trust Zeke, they did not like the plan and would rather have used Historia and Eren instead. And so, the gears were in motion to use Historia’s royal blood status and transform her into a titan. Nevertheless, they agreed to Zeke’s conditions to discover his so-called ‘plan’.
Zeke’s plan was put forward to the military of Paradis by the Hizuru representatives. It contained three steps, including a demonstrative mini-Rumbling that would destroy the Marleyan army in a display of strength without killing most of the world.
Then, Hizuru would militarize Paradis, so they could fight against other countries without using the Rumbling.
Their final step included feeding Zeke to Historia. Historia was to be turned into a pure titan, devour Zeke and inherit his Beast Titan. Then, Historia would use the next 13 years of life (her lifespan would be limited due to the Curse of Ymir) bearing as many children as she could so more royal blooded inheritors could be used to activate the Founding Titan.
It would reintroduce the cycle of royals eating one another and seal Historia’s fate – and the fate of her future children – to be eaten one after the other.
Although Historia agreed, Eren was very against this plan. His own beliefs meant that he did not want anyone to be used, bred and killed like livestock – so Eren came up with his own personal plan to help save Historia and the world.
Eren’s Plan
Eren began to search for a way to protect the people of Paradis without activating the Rumbling or using Historia like livestock. However, his options were limited, and he was running out of time.
So, Eren went to Historia to find a way to push back the planned date to feed Zeke to Historia.
This would give Eren more time to work out a way to protect Paradis without feeding Zeke to Historia and reintroducing the vicious cycle of using and feeding royal blooded children to maintain the Founding Titan’s power.
Eren suggested that Historia became pregnant early as she could not transform into a titan while pregnant because it would likely do damage to her body and kill her unborn baby.
They would have to wait until after she gave birth to feed Zeke to her, thus giving Eren an extra 9 months to prepare a plan.
Historia agreed – and sought out a farm boy from her youth to seduce and use as the father of her child.
Conclusion
So – Why Did Historia Agree To Become Pregnant?
Because the current plan in motion at the time would result in her and her children being used like livestock due to their royal blood.
They needed to become Titan Shifters to unlock the Founding Titan’s ability and threaten the rest of the world with the Rumbling to survive. They would be fed, bred, then eaten themselves in a cycle of misery.
Historia did not want this future for herself or her future children, so when Eren came to her with a way to delay this until he could find an alternative plan to save Historia and all the people on Paradis.
Historia agreed and purposefully fell pregnant before she could be used to take the Beast Titan from Zeke.
However, Eren only has until after the child is born to put his alternative plan in motion – and the clock is ticking, as Historia looks very close to giving birth.
