Is Attack On Titan's Wall Rumbling Made Of Colossal Titans?

Eren Jaeger has unleashed the Wall Titans of Paradis Island in Attack on Titan season 4, but are these giant monsters the same as the Colossal Titan?

What's the difference between Attack on Titan's Wall Titans and the Colossal Titan - are they the same thing? Titans are a problem at any size, but since episode 1, Attack on Titan has been clear about how tall its titular monsters should be. Pure Titans - the ones who surrounded Wall Maria for over 100 years - mostly range between 3-15 meters, while Titan-shifters like Eren, Reiner, Annie and Zeke edge a little over that. The only exception (other than the Founding Titan, which doesn't follow any rules whatsoever) is the Colossal Titan, first held by Bertholdt, then inherited by Armin. As its name indicates, the Colossal Titan is significantly bigger than its fellow shifters, standing at over 50m.

Now there's another super-sized Titan on the block. The final moments of Attack on Titan season 1 shockingly revealed all three walls of Paradis Island were jam-packed with Titans. Three seasons later, Eren Jaeger has released every single one of them to trample the Earth - an act of genocide known as "the Rumbling." Standing well over 15 meters, these Wall monsters dwarf Pure Titans and Titan-shifters alike, but are they just copy-and-paste Colossal Titans, or an entirely new offshoot we've never seen before?

The short answer is that Wall Titans are not Colossal Titans; the longer answer, however, is a little more complicated. For starters, Wall Titans share more in common with the Colossal than size alone. These long-hidden giants mimic the Colossal Titan's skinless appearance, with their fleshy red bodies and sinewy muscles all exposed, echoing the iconic face that peered over Wall Maria back in Attack on Titan's very first episode. Wall Titans also give off burning steam, which is an ability commonly attributed to the Colossal. We now know that all Titans come from Ymir in the Paths, so the young Fritz slave could've feasibly constructed numerous Colossal Titan bodies, were she so inclined.

Despite their similarities, the Wall Titans and Colossal Titan are separated by three distinguishing features. Firstly, the Wall Titans are slightly shorter. The Colossal must stand around 60m tall in order to loom over Wall Maria, whereas the Wall Titans can only be as tall as the walls themselves, which stood at 50m. Despite Eren's Rumbling army towering above every other Titan, Armin would still have a height advantage (if he actually Titanized now and again). Secondly, the Wall Titans possess the same hardening ability as Eren and Annie, since they were crystallized inside the three walls. Hardening isn't a trick we've seen the Colossal Titan perform before - either as Armin or Bertholdt. The most important distinction, however, is Armin and Bertholdt themselves. The Colossal Titan is a conscious shifter with a human pilot. The Wall Titans are mindless, controllable lumps like the Pure Titans. Ymir can craft a monster as tall as she likes, give it certain abilities and make the thing skinless, but without an actual human driving that massive bus, they can't be considered Colossal Titans.

Perhaps when King Fritz demanded Ymir produce thousands upon thousands of massive Titans, she took a sprinkling of inspiration from the Colossal. You can't steal your own work, after all. Attack on Titan's Wall Titans are custom-built for a specific purpose. They needed to be tall, to harden, and to emit boiling steam, and Ymir fulfilled that brief perfectly. The Founding Titan's power has gone unused for almost a century in Attack on Titan 's timeline, but had more kings made requests like Fritz, it'd be fascinating to see which other abnormal Titan creations Ymir was capable of producing on request. If Wall Titans are possible, why not an arrow-shaped missile Titan based on the War Hammer, or an aquatic, swimming Titan based on the Beast? The possibilities are limited only by the royal family's dull imaginations.

More: Attack On Titan Episode 82: Whose Side Is Annie Actually On?

Attack on Titan streams Sundays on Funimation, Crunchyroll, and Hulu.