Attack on Titan (AoT season 1)

Life Before the Disaster (Episode 1, Beginning)

We see Shiganshina, the southern district of Wall Maria. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin are living their normal lives:

· Eren dreams of seeing the world beyond the walls and joins the Survey Corps.
· Armin shows a book about the outside world (banned by the authorities).
· The Titans haven't broken through the walls for a long time, everyone is relaxed.

Colossal Titan Breakthrough (Middle)

· The Colossal Titan (60 meters) suddenly appears and knocks out the outer gate of Shiganshina with one kick.
· Crowds of titans burst into the city, panic begins.
· The Garrison soldiers are helpless - their guns cannot penetrate the titans.

The Armored Titan's Appearance (Episode 1, End)

· As the refugees gather at the inner gate of Shiganshina to escape beyond Wall Rose, the Armored Titan suddenly breaks through them.
· The Titans poured into the center of Wall Maria, and the fall of the outer ring became inevitable.

The Death of Carla Jaeger (Episode 1, Finale)

Eren and Mikasa run to the house, but it's destroyed. Carla is pinned under a beam and can't escape.
Hannes (a Garrison soldier and family friend) tries to save her, but he sees the titan and is too afraid to attack. He grabs the children and runs away.
· The Titans eat Carla before Eren's eyes. Enraged, he vows to destroy all Titans.

The Disappearance of Grisha Yeager (Episode 2, Beginning)
· After the disaster, Eren and Mikasa come to the house, but Grisha (Eren's father) has disappeared.
· On the table lies the key to the basement, which Grisha told Eren to keep.
· Eren doesn't remember what happened the day before (Grisha gave him an injection and turned him into a titan). Exodus from Shiganshina (Episode 2)

Thousands of refugees are trying to get past Wall Rose, but the gates of Trost are closed - the authorities are afraid that the titans will get inside.
· People are sent to the "no-man's land" between the walls, where there is a shortage of food and shelter.
· Eren, Mikasa and Armin decide to join the army to take revenge.

•The Battle of Trost marks Eren's first transformation
The most epic arc of the season (episodes 5-13). Eren dies (swallowed by a Titan), but then transforms into the Attack Titan and seals the breach in the wall with a giant boulder. This shocks everyone—the Titan is fighting for the people.

The Expedition Beyond the Wall is a Trap for the Female Titan
The Survey Corps goes beyond Wall Maria to lure out the enemy. But instead of victory, they are ambushed—the Female Titan kills almost the entire squad. Levi is seriously wounded for the first time, and Eren loses the fight and ends up captured by her.

• Eren's trial - the decision to execute or leave
After the battle, the military debates whether to kill Eren for being a Titan or use him as a weapon. The decision is made by old General Pixis, who says, "Leave him alone, maybe he'll save us." Eren is handed over to the Survey Corps.

•The Showdown at Stohess – Season Finale
The Female Titan captures Eren in the capital, but Levi and Mikasa fight him off. In the final scene, she freezes herself in crystal to protect her secrets, and everyone realizes: the enemy isn't just monsters, but people with their own agendas.

•The main secret of the first season is "the enemy within"
Until the very end, the viewer believes the titans are beasts. But the Female Titan cries, recognizes Armin, and says, "I'm sorry." This hints that there are people behind the monsters, and they know the protagonists personally.

Sina, Rosa, and Maria are three enormous concentric fortresses built 107 years ago by the Founder King. They are the only thing separating the remaining humanity from the gigantic devourers.
Height: All walls are about 50 meters high.
•Foundation depth: goes into the ground 10 meters.
•Base width: approximately 10 meters, allowing a whole squad of soldiers to walk along the top of the wall.
•Material: Externally, it is made of dense stone (in reality, it was quarried in the mountains). Cannons and signal fires are installed along the upper edge.
•Sina Wall (inner): diameter ~250 km. This is where the royal castle in Mithras, the government, the courts, and the wealthiest families are located. This is a "closed club" for the elite.
•Wall Rose (medium): diameter ~380 km. It contains developed cities and military bases, such as Stohess (where Eren's trial later takes place) and the Survey Corps headquarters.
•Wall Maria (outer): diameter ~480 km. This is the "village belt" - farms, sawmills, and small towns. The most famous is Shiganshina, where Eren and Mikasa grew up.
The distance between Maria and Rosa is about 100 km; between Rosa and Sina, 130 km. These are vast territories with fields, rivers, and villages where people live ordinary lives (by medieval standards).
Travel between zones is only possible through the main gates in each district. Entry into Walls Rose and Sina is strictly controlled—documents or permission are required, so refugees from the outer ring often get stuck in the deserted buffer zones.

Titans: Gigantic humanoid creatures that lack intelligence and devour humans for pleasure rather than food.

The UPM (Spatial Maneuvering Device) is the soldiers' most important weapon.
This "belt" has two metal hooks that anchor into walls and trees, and a gas cylinder for dashes. It allows you to fly like Spider-Man.
Hooks are single-use and need to be recharged. Gas is a finite resource (in Season 1, Eren runs out of gas during the Battle of Trost, which becomes critical).
· The mechanism requires incredible coordination (it took years to learn).
• Blades (edges) - do not use ordinary swords, but replaceable ultra-hard blades.
They are disposable and very fragile. They often break when struck against a titanium neck, so soldiers carry 4-6 spare blades in compartments on their belts.
· The blades are sharp enough to cut through the flesh of titans, but are useless against armor (like the Armored One).

"Callsigns" are the names of soldiers in combat. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin use their callsigns when reporting to their commanders.
Emergency evacuation—if the Vortex falls, the army must withdraw its people to the next wall. Primary order: "Open the inner gate, bring in the people, close it, and keep the Titans out."
"Circle View" is a formation where soldiers form a circle with their backs to each other to see titans from all sides. Used in Trost.

•Numbers on the UPM hoods – each soldier has a number. This makes it easy to identify a body in combat.
· Provisions (rations) – soldiers take small packets of dried meat and water with them on expeditions. Sasha Blouse steals food from the mess hall in the first season, demonstrating the problem of hunger after Maria's fall.

Garrison: Regular soldiers who guard the walls and cities. This is the largest army.

· Tasks: Stand on the walls, watch for titans, repair gates, operate cannons, and catch thieves and bandits inside. They never leave the walls.
Attitude towards Titans: They are terrified of them. Their motto is "We won't let the Titans pass." They fight only defensively, firing their cannons at the Titans' heads from above.

Uniform: Regular military uniform in beige and brown.

Rzvedkorps: Elite madmen who venture beyond the walls to conduct reconnaissance. Their goal is to discover the truth about the world and find a way to defeat the Titans.

· Missions: Conduct expeditions beyond the walls, map the terrain, study the behavior of the titans, and identify their weaknesses. This is the only branch of the military that wages offensive warfare.
· Attitude toward Titans: Cold calculation and hatred. They have the highest mortality rate (new recruits die on their first mission), but they are humanity's hope.

The armbands worn by Survey Corps soldiers bearing the "Wings of Freedom" emblem are more than just a symbol. They symbolize the desire to break free from the walls.

Uniform: A green cape with the "Wings of Freedom" crest is worn over regular clothing. The cape flutters behind, symbolizing speed and freedom.

Military Police: The elite of the elite. Soldiers who guard the king and reside within the inner Wall of Sina. Only the best of the best graduates of the academy (the top 10) are admitted here.

· Tasks: Fight crime within the capital, protect the government, and suppress riots. Titans are never seen in person—they stay warm and safe.
· Attitude towards the Titans: They don't care. They live in luxury, drink wine, and take bribes. Most of them consider the Survey Corps to be suicidal idiots.
(Note: In Season 1, they are the ones who want to execute Eren for becoming a Titan because they fear it will threaten the king's power.)

Uniform: White and elegant uniform, emphasizing their high status.

The 104th Corps's cadet instructor. He's a tall, stern man with long blond hair and a perpetually tired face, wearing an old cadet uniform, never taking it off even when not on duty. He's the main mentor for all the characters in the first season, the same man who yells at the recruits, crushes their dreams, and calls them "wood for the meat grinder."

His character is a mixture of disappointment and hidden concern. He once dreamed of glory in the Survey Corps, even serving as a commander (and it was he who recruited Grisha Yeager into the army), but after one expedition, where he survived while his comrades perished, he broke down and became a teacher. That's why he scolds the cadets so harshly: he sees his own youthful folly in them and tries to shatter their illusions beforehand, lest they repeat his mistake. In truth, he cares for each of them and wants them to survive, even if it means humiliating them.

In Season 1, he appears primarily in training arcs, but his role is more than just an evil teacher. He's a mirror for Eren: he knows the truth about Grisha, has seen his secrets, but remains silent. His line, "You're not heroes, you're just death row," isn't mockery, but the bitter experience of a man who has seen his friends die.

He's the captain of the Garrison and an old friend of the Yeager family, a simple and kind man who enjoys drinking and has no aspirations to be a hero. However, it's his cowardice in the first episode that becomes a tragic turning point: he hesitates to attack a Titan, leaving Eren's mother to die, and he suffers from this guilt his entire life. In the first season, he tries to atone for his actions by actively helping evacuate people during the Battle of Trost and becoming a support system for Eren and Mikasa, though he never becomes a great warrior—he's simply an ordinary man, afraid but trying to be useful despite his weaknesses.

He lives by emotions: anger, hatred, pain. In the first season, he barely knows how to think, only react. His character is a constant rebellion against injustice. He's not a genius, not a strongman (he loses to Mikasa in everything), but he does have one quality: he never gives up. His problem: his emotions often cause him to let his friends down.

Physically weak, but mentally the strongest of the trio. His character is one of insecurity that grows into responsibility. He constantly doubts himself, but his ideas save everyone. He sees the world not through hatred (like Eren), but through questions: "Why? How? Who is behind this?" He is the voice of humanity in hell.

Cold on the outside, a hurricane on the inside. Her character is built around a single axis: "As long as Eren is safe, I don't care about the world." This makes her a bit distant from the others. She hardly cries, hardly laughs, but her devotion is absolute. In battle, she's a machine, because she fears not for herself, but for the possibility of losing her family again.

His character is a struggle between fear and duty. At the beginning of the season, he's openly selfish: he wants a quiet life behind the lines. But gradually, he realizes he can't watch others die. He's smart, cunning, and often sees what fanatics (like Eren) miss. His greatest quality is his ability to admit his mistakes.

She lives in the present moment: if she's hungry, she eats; if she's in danger, she runs; if she smells titanium, she warns. Her character is one of almost animal-like naivety, which actually makes her the most animated of the cadets. She doesn't philosophize, but her reaction to danger is faster than the others.

He laughs when he's scared and asks stupid questions because he genuinely doesn't understand what's going on. His character is the pure common sense of the average person. He's not a hero, not a genius, but he's honest and loyal to his friends. His reaction to horror is the most human.

He's the "perfect buddy" for new recruits. He's always encouraging, coaching the weak, and taking responsibility.
· He loves giving advice and appearing experienced. For example, he teaches Eren how to hold blades properly and explains how to survive in combat.
· He is sociable and open - unlike Bertolt, he easily finds a common language with everyone.

Cold, withdrawn, almost emotionless. She doesn't let people get close to her because she knows she'll have to kill them sooner or later. But in the first season, there are moments where she almost warms up (training with Eren, conversations with Armin). Her character is a conflict between orders and conscience.

He's the complete opposite of Rainer. Quiet, shy, almost unnoticeable. He speaks little and always pauses.
He's constantly anxious: his eyes dart around, his hands shake. He looks like he's sick of his own thoughts.
He is Reiner's passive subordinate. Almost all of his lines throughout the season are responses to Reiner's words.

Covered in thick armor that even cannons can't penetrate, its purpose is to accelerate and breach the inner gates, allowing the Titans to pour into the city. Behind it stands the loud and confident Reiner, who sincerely believes he is both a soldier and a warrior, and this duality is tearing him apart from within.

Why doesn't he attack the soldiers, but only the gates?
· How did he know that there was an inner gate in Shiganshina that needed to be broken? (He acts purposefully.)
· Is his armor a natural ability or does he control it somehow?

The female Titan is a 14-meter-tall Titan with white hair and blue eyes who appears in the second half of the season. She is fast, flexible, uses hand-to-hand combat techniques, and can crystallize her skin and summon other Titans with a scream. Behind her lies Cadet Annie Leonhart, a cold and withdrawn girl who was an enemy from the start, yet cried while killing soldiers. In the finale, when cornered, she freezes herself in crystal to keep her secrets hidden. Her appearance proves that Titans are not monsters, but people with feelings and a purpose.

A 60-meter-tall giant who appears out of nowhere, smashes through the gates, and vanishes in a cloud of steam. He doesn't fight people, but acts as a living battering ram, sowing panic and chaos. Behind his appearance lies the quiet and anxious Bertolt, tormented by the destruction he is forced to cause.

Nobody knows why he appears and disappears.
· Why doesn't he attack people directly, but only break down walls?
· Is his steam a weapon or a defense?

He is a diplomat and peacemaker. He is the one who tries to reconcile Eren and Jean when they clash over ideas.
He believes in people and the system. His phrase, "We are all soldiers, we must work together," is his essence.
He is honest and open, incapable of meanness. Everyone in the corps respects him for this.
(He is a catalyst for Jean. It is Marco's death that transforms Jean from an egotist into a responsible leader. Jean takes command of the squad because he remembers Marco's words: "You can become a good commander.")

On the outside, she's sweet, kind, and willing to help everyone. Inside, she's a broken girl who hates herself for her origins. She tries to be perfect, to atone for something, but her smile is a defensive reaction. In the first season, she's more of a victim than a heroine.

She knows more than she says, and that makes her prickly. Her character is a rude exterior that conceals her devotion to Krista. She laughs at others, but is the first to throw herself into fire for those she cares about. She lives by the motto: "The one who doesn't believe in fairy tales survives."

"A cunning strategist." He views everyone as chess pieces. His character is one of ambition and self-sacrifice. He's willing to lose hundreds to discover the truth. But he's no villain—he believes that only knowledge will save humanity.

"The ideal soldier." Short, mean, and meticulous. His character is one of cold discipline that conceals a profound respect for the lives of his soldiers. He doesn't shout or panic, but his silence is more frightening than any threats. The most important thing about him is that he never promises what he can't deliver.

"Mad scientist." She's obsessed with titans to the point of trembling. Her character is one of curiosity that transcends morality. She can forget to eat, go without sleep for days, but if she catches a titan, she's happy. In the first season, she's a source of knowledge about the enemy.

Old, bald, and a drinker. His personality is one of weariness, not despair. He believes that sometimes you have to do stupid things to change things. He's one of the few who sees Eren not as a monster, but as a weapon.

•Erd Jin - "Strict Deputy".
The most serious and responsible member of the squad. He always follows Levi's orders without question and ensures that the others don't get distracted. His character is characterized by iron restraint and dedication. He doesn't joke or smile, but he is the one who maintains order in the group.

• Oruo Bozard - "Wannabe with a Complex".
Boastful and self-assured, he constantly tries to imitate Levi's fighting style (he even sticks out his tongue like the captain). In reality, he's insecure and wants to prove himself worthy of being among the elite. His personality is a mixture of bravado and an underlying fear of failing in front of Levi.

•Petra Rall - "Warm and Caring"
The only girl in the first squad. She's kinder than the others, smiles often, and tries to comfort Eren when he's nervous. She's more than just a soldier—she sees her comrades as people, not tools. Her gentle nature doesn't prevent her from being a deadly fighter.

•Günther Schulz - "The Reliable Silent One"
A seasoned veteran who never rushes into trouble. He's calm, calculating, and always follows orders without further ado. His character is one of quiet confidence and a cool mind. He doesn't attract attention, but his death in the forest shows that even the best don't always react in time.

They are all elite, not because they are brilliant, but because they trust Levi implicitly. They know they are heading to their deaths, but they don't complain. Each of them is a small tragedy, as they die almost simultaneously in the forest, leaving Levi alone. Their deaths demonstrate that in this world, even the best are merely expendable in a greater game.

Flares - Used by the Survey Corps during expeditions beyond the walls.
· Green = "everything is clear, you can move."
· Red = "Titan detected, squad in danger."
· Yellow/Gold = "commander down, squad disbanded" (in later seasons).
· They help squads not to lose each other in open fields where there are no tall buildings.

Horns and whistles - inside cities or forests, when rockets are not visible.
· Short whistle = attention.
· Long repeating = "gather all soldiers".

Signal fires (smoke columns) are the main warning network along the walls.
· Red smoke = alarm! The gates are breached, the titans are inside.
· Black smoke = danger outside, but walls are intact.
Fires are lit on towers along the wall, and they transmit news from one Sinkhole to another in minutes. In Episode 1, it is the red smoke from Shiganshina that alerts the rest of the world to the fall of Wall Maria.

Craters are a symbol of a trap: they are supposed to protect people, but at a critical moment they become an arena for the mass death of soldiers and civilians.