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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | What a strange feeling... I'm barely even scared. I can see... everything around me... I feel like... any outcome would be acceptable. That's right... no one's at fault here... Nothing could have made a difference. Not in a world... that is this... cruel. | „ |
| ~ Bertolt moments before engaging the Survey Corps. |
Bertolt Hoover, also known as the Colossal Titan, is a major antagonist of the Attack on Titan franchise. He is a soldier of the Marleyan military and a member of the Army's Warrior Unit. Initially joining the military of Paradis Island's Walls with Reiner Braun and Annie Leonhart in 847, as survivors of the Fall of Wall Maria at the hands of the Titans, Bertolt is eventually revealed to be the Colossal Titan, who kickstarted the first two Titan invasions in 845 and 850. He's the arch-nemesis and foil of Armin Arlert.
He is voiced by Tomohisa Hashizume in Japanese.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- As a child, he fought in battles against enemy nations for his country's colonial pursuits, killing soldiers and civilians alike with his Colossal Titan.
- Infiltrated the Walls to seize the Founding Titan and destroy all the "Devils" of Paradis Island. The attacks on the Walls were done merely for Marley to provoke the royal family into action by sending the Founding Titan against the Warriors, and for the Warriors to sneak into the population as refugees.
- Destroyed Wall Maria alongside Reiner, with Annie luring a horde of Pure Titans for them, resulting in thousands of deaths by Titans as well as the Royal Government sending masses of survivors to "recapture" Wall Maria's lands one year later.
- Directly massacred numerous citizens of Shiganshina District when he destroyed the city's outer gate, crushing and injuring many, including Carla Yeager. Although Carla ended up getting devoured by a Titan, it is revealed in the end that the Titan was lured to the Yeagers' house by Carla's own son Eren Yeager from the future 9 years later, all to ensure the chain of the events in the future. The Titan who ate Carla, who was Grisha's first wife and an Eldian Restorationist from Marley, was in fact close to devouring Bertolt and inherit the Colossal Titan, if not for Eren using the Coordinate to make her uninterested in the Warrior and commanding her to head to Carla's house.
- Infiltrated the Military Training Corps along with Reiner and Annie in order to gain access to Wall Sina's Interior as members of the Military Police, all to discover the royal family's true identity and get a lead on the Founding Titan.
- During his infiltration mission and training years, he used a false background as a survivor refugee of the invasion caused by himself, Reiner and Annie, claiming the story of one of their victim survivors as his own to tell the other Trainees, after that survivor already killed himself.
- Despite befriending the Trainees and the people of Wall Rose for three years, he still kickstarted the Battle of Trost District by destroying its outer gate and allowed Titans to kill hundreds of people, his own friends from the Training Corps and Garrison soldiers alike. Some civilians might have been killed and/or injured by himself as well when he kicked the gate, though this was never shown. When Reiner decided to call the Wall Rose invasion off by not going for the inner gate, due to Eren exposing himself as the Attack Titan, Bertolt expressed some misgivings about letting the military recapture Trost by closing off the gate he breached.
- Before destroying Trost's gate, he blew his fellow Trainees Eren, Thomas, Sasha, Connie, Mina, and Samuel off the wall, almost causing the death of Samuel, if not for Sasha rescuing him.
- Assisted Reiner in killing Marco Bodt after the latter found out that he, Reiner and Annie are Intelligent Titan spies and are behind the attacks on Wall Maria and Wall Rose, although both he and Annie showed great remorse for the fact.
- Infiltrated Survey Corps to kidnap Eren Yeager and bring him back to Marley to have him eaten by another Warrior.
- Ate one Survey Corps soldier alive as the Colossal Titan in order to take his 3DMG equipment, and injured most of Hange's unit with his steam blast. This can be argued with the fact that he was acting on self-defense to avoid being killed, after Reiner exposed his identity as the enemy invader, although he was also aiding the capture of Eren.
- Kidnapped Ymir and helped Reiner to kidnap Eren by landing on them as the Colossal Titan when Eren was defeating Reiner.
- Killed around a hundred Survey Corps soldiers, including Moblit Berner, by blowing them up with his transformation during the Battle of Shiganshina District. The only survivor of that squad, Hange lost her eye in that attack, due to Bertolt's explosion.
- Endangered the lives of all the remaining survivors of the Survey Corps while burning Shiganshina, which could have given him one of the most brutal massacres in Attack on Titan.
- Burned Armin alive with his Titan steam and heat in an attempt to kill him, which left Armin's cooked body barely alive, but still savable with a Titan injection. Due to this action, he is indirectly responsible for the dispute between Eren and Levi over who to "bring back to life" with the injection between Armin and Erwin as both of them were on the brink of death.
- Despite Attack on Titan's heinous standards, Bertolt stands out through how personal he is to a majority of the main characters, the brutality of a majority of his kills (and attempted kills), and having lower resources than those who go further in scale than him like Eren and King Fritz.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He joined the Marleyan military as a Warrior to provide financial support for his father, who had cancer, and to improve his family's lifestyle in the Liberio internment zone, and was indoctrinated alongside the other Warriors that killing people, both soldiers and civilians alike, outside their territory is perfectly acceptable, even more if the enemies are Eldians of Paradis, as history taught them they are Devils who needed to be exterminated.
- Was a genuinely kind person in general, who befriended Reiner by being sympathetic to him for his struggles in training, and having expressed genuine concern and gratitude for Ymir, also acknowledging it wasn't her fault that she killed Marcel, as she was a mindless Pure Titan when she did it. He cared deeply for his fellow Warriors and was in love with Annie, although was unable to express his feelings. His care for Reiner also made him stop his attack at Shiganshina when he saw him in danger and goes out of his way to make sure Reiner is protected from his own Colossal Titan's explosive transformation.
- Views his acts of murdering Paradisians as mercy, and doesn't really hate them. As far as he knows, the Eldians of the Walls are fated to die regardless if he wins or loses, and their destruction by either Marley or some other nation is inevitable sooner or later, so he might as well do it himself, who is already a mass murderer with a short lifespan. He concluded that nobody is in the wrong in the long conflict between Eldia and the world, and that there was nothing he or his fellow Warriors could have done to change this.
- Was genuinely affable towards his former allies in the Survey Corps and Training Corps, seeing them as victims of being the descendants of the Devils. He commented how most of the world hates and despises all the Subjects of Ymir in the world, both in the island and in every country's internment zones.
- Feels remorse for the crimes he commits and admits that he deserves to die for what he has done to his former comrades.
- His death is played for sympathy as he begs for help and calls out Annie and Reiner's names while sad music plays in the background and his former comrades watch with sad glances as he dies before being eaten alive by Armin's Pure Titan. Armin is mortified to learn he ate Bertolt and his friends have slight guilt in their faces.
- He is always posthumously played sympathetically in the final arcs, with his fellow Warriors lamenting his tragic death and Reiner especially blaming himself over it and apologizing to Annie for forcing her and Bertolt to remain in Paradis for years. The Survey Corps come to relate to Bertolt, as they end up having to play a similar role as the Warriors did.
- Armin most notably, who was always trying to be sympathetic to his enemies even before, and after inheriting Bertolt's memories feels more connected to the Warriors and wanting to make peace with the world. Armin often compares his and his comrades heinous actions to those of Bertolt's and his comrades, especially when he uses the Colossal Titan to destroy Liberio's military ports, thinking how he ended up doing the same things Bertolt used to do. He also never shares Bertolt's personal memories with anyone.
- During the confrontation with the Yeagerists at Paradis' harbor, the Survey Corps end up betraying their own former comrades and friends and brutally killing them, just like Bertolt (and Reiner and Annie) did, and as he watches Connie killing Daz and Samuel after being called a traitor, Armin remembers Bertolt's regretful words when he was confronted for his betrayal four years ago. Finally, the Survey Corps admit to be the same as the Warriors and that they have no right to judge them, especially due to their involvement in the Raid on Liberio, the mass slaughter of the Yeagerists, and their indirect involuntary support of the Rumbling by previously helping Eren. Connie is sympathetic to Bertolt and his friends, understanding how they felt and specifically mentioning how it must have been hard for them to carry on their mission.
- Four years after his death, his spirit being trapped in the Paths, with his Colossal Titan being summoned back by Ymir to support the Rumbling, is portrayed as a victim in need to be freed, with Annie being outraged at how Ymir and Eren's Founding Titan are using Bertolt as a puppet.
- After being released and summoned back by Zeke to the physical world of the living outside the Paths, Bertolt chooses to help the Marley-Survey Corps alliance to save humanity against the Rumbling. Despite the fact it was the world who despised him so much and caused his own death, Bertolt still chose to oppose Eren's genocidal actions and to stop the Rumbling at Fort Salta, fighting alongside the alliance and his fellow deceased Titan comrades from Marley summoned back with him, and saving all the Marleyan citizens and soldiers present there, including the escaped people of Liberio. Saving humanity finally redeemed Bertolt, who in the end resumes his rest and everything related to the Coordinate and the Titans vanishes from the world.
External Links[]
- Bertolt Hoover on the Villains Wiki
- Bertolt Hoover on the Attack on Titan Wiki
[]
 Inconsistently Heinous
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Canon Marley Eldian Empire Eldian Restorationists | ||