Discussion The serum

[Hectorpops]

What if the serum Grisham gave to eren was nothing about turning into a titan. What if it was giving the ability to regenerate much faster.
Think about it, if you become a titan because of the serum, you reclaim limbs you lost, but you lose your humanity in the process

 

[kkck]

As far as regeneration goes eren has not shown more than any of the other shiters though. And eren loosing control was already implied to be normal the first time you transform. As far as the serum goes it did one out of 3 things: It made eren into a titan, it made eren into a coordinate or it did both things.

 

[Hectorpops]

When Grisha said " Their memories will teach you how to use it" you have any idea who "their" is? I think it means RBA and or Ymir because they have good knowledge of titan form control

 

[Core D. Roy]

As far as regeneration goes eren has not shown more than any of the other shiters though. And eren loosing control was already implied to be normal the first time you transform. As far as the serum goes it did one out of 3 things: It made eren into a titan, it made eren into a coordinate or it did both things.

Or neither, and it just gave him the capacity to use something he already had. Grisha said 'their memories will help you use it' or some such weirdness just before injecting Eren, and conveniently Eren's memories seem tampered with around that time. That, and the Ape seems to screw with peoples' memories.

My guess? Titans are mindless because they are essentially mind-swiped to the point of mentally being babies. Except instead of picking up and gleefully munching on EVERY single thing on the floor, they're programmed only to attack humans... maybe by something else with a command ability like the Ape.

 

[exotica]

I think the serum might be for causing Eren temporary amnesia. Grisha might have wanted Eren to know about his powers at the right time. But I am likely to believe that it made Eren into a coordinate, since Grisha implies to 'use it and control it'

 

[kannazuki]

Grisha specifically states in that scene (chapter 10 I believe) that "this power" will help Eren protect Mikasa and Armin. He specifically references giving Eren some kind of "power." He also specifies that the injection itself will cause memory loss. (If I can find the post where I translated the passage from Japanese, I'll link it from here...) So I agree with what kkck said above. Either titan powers, coordinate, or both. Maybe it's none of the above, but that's what I'm going with for now.

 

[MajiinX]

This actually falls in line with a theory I have on titan types that I posted in a thread

http://mangahelpers.com/forum/showthread.php/2993851-Those-Teeth!-Those-Ears!

I believe the feral/monster looking titans are Commander Titans that are able to give command to the mindless titans. Ymir said she stole her power from the "warriors" and I believe her power was the prototype for the commander titan which could explain why that titan was calling that one chick" Ymir-Sama". I believe Grisha had somehow acquired that same serum and enhanced or perfected it which is what he injected Eren. I believe Grisha knew all this and that all his research and how to master the power are all in the basement which I think should now become humanities top priority since it also goes hand in hand with recovering lost territory.

 

[220kz]

Didn't want to start a new thread i hope it fits here.

What i noticed about becoming a titan in the last few chapters...

We know from Ymir and Hanji's speculation from Eren's memories
that a mindless titan can become a shifter by absorbing a shifter /
eating them so the idea here is that if one knows enough about
the physiology of the mindless titans it might be possible to extract
a shifters power and create a serum a way to create shifters
without having the recipient become a mindless titan.

I also noticed how odd Berthold and Reiners surprise was when Ymir
revealed to be a shifter at the end of chapter 40 - if they new that
a mindless titan eating a shifter would result in them becoming one
wouldn't the have gotten the idea long ago?
(Ymirs run of the mill titan and her shifter form are rather similar
let that think in too)
And considering that the didn't try to eat Eren in order to get control
of his ability makes me wonder if they even knew about that way
of becoming a shifter.

Another thing i found very odd about the Ymir incident was that
three shifters ran into a titan in the open and we know nothing
more about it: how the got away, why they didn't shift or
why the village didn't try to hunt down Ymir to reclaim a valuable?
shifter-ability / try to snap her out of her dream like Armin did with Eren.

 

[kkck]

I am not sure if the bit about eating a shifter is entirely accurate. There might be something to it however the scenario is still weird. We know there are classifications to titans and generally titans of a certain height have a certain look. Then we have shifters are normal titans. Normal titans are generally to some degree deformed and have, well, stupid or creepy looking faces. In turn shifters pretty much seem to stick to the type corresponding to their height however there is more to it. They do not have the same stupid looking faces and rather than being deformed or apparently overweight they seem fit, slick, even muscular. Ymir is no exception, she is agile, strong, muscular and her face different from other titans of her type. We saw a small flashback of when she ate that kid, she was not like the other shifters. She was probably like a rampant transformed eren except that her rampancy lasted for 60 years.
http://www.mangareader.net/shingeki-no-kyojin/40/44

Also, maybe I am mistake but didn't ymir say she stole her titan powers? If she stole them then she was not quite like regular titans to begin with. Maybe eating their friend had something to do with ymir awakening but it is not necessarily the source of her being a shifter. Maybe eating someone was simply enough of a shock to wake her.