Battle of Trost District

Lore & Background

The emergence of this new entity ignited panic; survivors realized a monster now walked among them. While Commander Erwin Smith and Hange Zoë moved to take Eren into custody, Armin Arlert intervened. He convinced Commander Pixis that this anomaly was humanity's only hope for retaking Wall Maria, shifting the conflict from pure defense to a desperate gamble on a human-controlled Titan.

In Their Own Story

The air in Trost tasted of ash and copper. Eren felt the crushing weight of the gut close around him, darkness swallowing his vision as he slipped into the belly of the beast. Then came the heat, not of digestion, but of fire erupting from within his own bones. He burst free from the nape of a mindless giant, his skin hardening into rock-hard plates. Before him stood another Titan, its jaw hanging open in a silent scream. Eren roared, a sound that was half-human anguish and half-bestial fury, and charged. For the first time, he did not feel like prey.

Reader's Guide

As the Colossal Titan vanished, hundreds of Titans flooded through Trost’s shattered gate. The Garrison crumbled under the assault, forcing survivors to retreat toward the inner wall while civilians scrambled to safety. Eren Yeager launched a suicidal charge against an Abnormal Titan but was consumed—only to erupt from within as his own Titan form. Exhausted and suspected of being another enemy, Eren collapsed into custody until Armin Arlert argued for utility over fear. Commander Pixis authorized the gamble: use Eren’s power to seal the breach. In a desperate climax, Squadrons of ODM gear soldiers wove through swarms to protect Eren as he hoisted a massive boulder toward the gate. Using his body heat to fuse the stone with the surrounding rock, he blocked the entrance and secured the district—only to be arrested immediately after.

Did You Know?

• This event marks the first time a Titan was seen fighting alongside humans rather than against them.
• The strategy to seal the gate using a boulder was devised by Armin Arlert based on his childhood theories.
• During the battle, Eren's transformation caused panic among soldiers who feared he was another enemy monster.
• This conflict led directly to Eren being placed under the custody of Hange Zoë and Commander Erwin Smith.