Yes. Another Willy Tybur article. It might seem like a lot, but this man and his family are steeped in mystery and intrigue. At Animehunch, we don’t rest until every theory is explored and every intention is revealed. Willy contradicted himself in his speech quite a lot and there is a sense of ‘duty’ to what he said. He talked about his turn at the wheel and Laura Tybur talked about his duty as a Tybur.

What does that mean? What is the responsibility of the wheel? Time to take a look at the Tyburs. More specifically, let’s take a look at the ‘duty’ of the Tybur family here.

This article has major spoilers from the Attack on Titan manga. Please read ahead at your own discretion!

To start things off, Willy Tybur had a serious conversation with Magath talking about the weight of the wheel that he had taken. There he said, “Now that I have taken the wheel… I can see why no one has ever tried to turn it before. It’s too heavy. Today, I have no choice but to grip it tightly“. Undoubtedly, there are a few things Willy Tybur does and says that makes no sense on the first read. That doesn’t stop us from theorizing though!

What exactly are the meanings of the wheel and the weight behind it? Let’s take a look at a few points in detail that explains a lot.

Memories, Warhammer Titan & The Attack Titan

It has already been mentioned that the Tybur family passes down memories of the War Hammer Titan. What if, among these memories, was a memory from an incident in the future (read rumbling). This assumption is a crucial part of our theory.

But the question is, how would the Warhammer Titan know about the future? Maybe there was an Attack Titan in the past, who got glimpses of the future and decided to pass it on to the Tybur Family.

For all we know, the Attack Titan never made its way into the hands of Marley after the Great Titan War. It was a rebellious entity that marched towards freedom. This alone set the it apart from the Founding Titan and its goals.

It is quite possible that the Attack Titan of the past got a whiff of the rumbling from Future memories. The AT might have consulted with the old War Hammer Titan; thereby passing this memory down in the Tybur family.

Willy Tybur and the fulfillment of the ‘duty’ of a Tybur

When Lara Tybur said that Willy had fulfilled his duty, her words were vague, to say the least. Clearly, dying to Eren can’t be considered a ‘duty’. So what was it exactly?

If future memories indeed got passed down, it means Willy Tybur would have known what was going to happen. Looking at the situation, this seems plausible and in line with some of his conspicuous actions. What if the duty Willy Tybur had was to incite Eren and set off the chain of reactions that leads to The Rumbling.

Additionally, this could also be the reason Willy Tybur allowed the four Warriors of Marley to infiltrate Paradis. Maybe, Willy and Lara Tybur knew that allowing the Warriors to meet Eren would be what sets the plan in motion, right at the start. Assuming this is true, it would explain why the Tybur family was okay with the Warriors causing death in the place they seemingly want to protect.

Maybe the Warhammer Titan and the Attack Titan felt that the Rumbling was an incident that was necessary for the survival of the Eldians. We should not forget that the Eldians who stayed back on Marley, opposed King Fritz’s ideology. They did not share his notion of wanting to wait peacefully for death to come to them.

If the War Hammer Titan and the Attack Titan were against the very ideology of King Fritz, it would make sense that they plotted genocide while deciding to keep their race alive.

The burden of turning the wheel

Willy Tybur knew exactly what to do. He had to incite Eren and he had to give himself up and let Eren kill his family. That was the way The Rumbling would start. It was all written ahead of time. He couldn’t change it.

Maybe the reason no one else tried turning the wheel from the Tybur family is that they knew the time wasn’t right. There was no Eren. There was no Founding Titan that would ignore the will of the King. That might be exactly why Willy Tybur was terrified of his turn at the wheel.

He knew he had to turn it and he knew he was going to die and let millions die in the wake of what he did.

Lara Tybur’s duty:

Interestingly, Lara Tybur also fulfilled her duty as a Tybur by getting eaten by Eren. It is strange that the War Hammer Titan went against the plan of Marley to capture, and not kill, the Founding Titan. Lara Tybur seemed to go at Eren with the intention to kill.

On one hand, it makes sense. He had killed her family. On the other hand, Willy Tybur died trying to warn the world about Eren Yeager. It would’ve made more sense to eat him and ensure that Marley won’t be destroyed by The Rumbling.

Now, consider that Eren housed three titans at one time; the Attack Titan, Founding Titan, and the War Hammer Titan. It is quite possible that Eren could his powers while in control of the Founding Titan, to send memories back to the previous hosts of the War Hammer Titan thereby setting things into motion. Grisha does mention briefly that Eren DID NOT SHOW him everything. Is that something we should take literally?

One can come to the conclusion that Lara Tyber pushed Eren to defeat and kill her, thereby making sure Eren gets the War Hammer Titan and gives the Tybur family access to future memories.

We might not know when or how the Tybur family got to know these details or what exactly prompted them to handle it the way they did. We can’t even say for sure that they knew Eren was the one who would make them fulfill their duty.

All we can say that the Tybur family has cryptic dialogue that makes you wonder if there is more to the story than what they say, especially when it comes to the fulfillment of duty.

What do you think? Did the Tyburs have a duty to fulfill by letting Eren kill them and start The Rumbling? Or was it an entirely different meaning behind it? Let us know in the comments below!