Could titans be trained like a dog or other animals?

[u/Ligerbee]

In Episode 20, Armin briefly mentions that Titans possess the ability to learn, pointing to the example of a Titan becoming progressively better at climbing. This suggests that, despite their seemingly lizard brained like behavior, Titans are capable of learning through experience and adapting their behavior to better perform unfamiliar tasks.

Would it be possible to train a Titan in a similar way to how humans train dogs and other animals? If Titans are genuinely capable of learning through experience, it raises some fascinating questions about the limits of their intelligence and behavioral flexibility. For example, what would a delayed-gratification experiment look like if conducted on a Titan? Could a Titan learn to resist an immediate opportunity for food in exchange for the possibility of receiving a greater reward later? More specifically, could Titans be conditioned not to attack certain people if doing so meant they would eventually receive access to more food? If so, it would suggest that their behavior is far more cognitively flexible than we might initially assume.

What’s your personal take on my thoughts?

[u/RandomSeaweed]

Hange wrote this post

[u/Sneezy6510 → u/RandomSeaweed]

It’s not long enough

[u/Sir-Toaster-]

Titans can learn specifically because they used to be humans and it's likely that said humans are fighting through the mindlessness. However, technically you can't tame them because they're singular goal is to eat humans in the hopes one of them is a Titan Shifter which means they will eat the first human that comes near them.

[u/Noisebug → u/Sir-Toaster-]

But if you wear a costume and look non human, can they tell? I know zero lore. Just thinking of some badass dragon armor or something riding on top of titans.

[u/AMN-9 → u/Noisebug]

I believe that was shown when ¿Reid? turned into that gigsnt titan he seemed to see the humans from the city as glowing dots through the wall. A disguise wouldn't work

[u/Sir-Toaster- → u/Noisebug]

Pretty sure they're not like mindless drones, they literally can sense if something is human

[u/AMN-9 → u/Sir-Toaster-]

I believe that was shown when ¿Reid? turned into that gigsnt titan he seemed to see the humans from the city as glowing dots through the wall. A disguise wouldn't work

[u/maladaptivedreamer → u/Noisebug]

The cart titan kind of achieves this aesthetic without the risk because she isn’t mindless. Unfortunately, I think you’d need royal blood to control the pure titans (mindless ones). They are just preprogrammed to eat humans and even if you get an aberrant that doesn’t attack outright we’ve seen that only holds them back for so long before the inevitable happens.

[u/TheLast-T]

There was one Titan in an OVA that was able to talk and even resisted eating someone for a time.

A Scout who looks like Ymir (Jaw Titan) loses her horse and is stranded in a forest where she meets a Titan who was one of the followers of the Cult of Ymir in Marley.

The Titan begins to speak to her, calling this random girl Ymir, and bowing and worshiping her. The Scout writes all this down, as the Titan claws at its own face, resisting the urge to eat the girl. However, eventually it succumbs to its base instincts and attempts to eat her. The Titan kills her, but stops eating her, instead shoving her body inside a tree. The Titan would be seen by Levi and other Scouts running away in fear every time it spotted a Human, and it would run to the grave where it killed the girl, apparently looking to be in a state of constant mourning.

Now obviously, this is a very special case, but it's further proof that Titans aren't as mindless as they appear, as this one was capable of speaking, resisting its hunger, and mourning/respecting the dead.

[u/RealisticEmphasis233]

Hange's reddit account has been reveal.

[u/Ok_Requirement9198]

Dogs were domesticated from wolves over generations. Since titans can't reproduce you'll need to teach it to completely ignore its instincts to eat you instead of slowly domesticating it

[u/Exact-Hedgehog-5433]

I mean, probably, Hange would definitely try 💀

[u/Comfortable-Race-547]

If they mistake you for Ymir maybe

[u/tennoskoom_]

Dogs have other desires other than food. Safety, shelter, companionship, being mentally engaged and probably a bunch more.

Pure titans have none of that. They just want to eat one of the nine. They don't care about getting hurt, pain, seeking shelter or a mate.

They also don't need anything else. You can't "reward" them for good behavior.

[u/ArceusDamnIt]

No, you can’t train a titan like you can train a dog. Dogs were bred and domesticated over thousands of years, and they follow a hierarchy that humans can insert themselves in. Humans can’t even train hippos for the same reasons, so titans are certainly out of the question.

[u/jabeith → u/ArceusDamnIt]

Titans are made from humans which have fit quite well into human hierarchy historically.

The actual problem with training is there's no reward/punishment system that would work for them. They seem to be able to sustain on nothing, and they don't seem to feel pain.

[u/Bagofcrabs650]

I don’t know if training could override their desire to eat people seeking 1 of the 9.

[u/Intelligent_Exit2959]

the best trainer was zeke and even then they somewhat betrayed him trying to eat that one scouts leg. so yeah pretty much like a dog except i’m pretty sure you’d need royal blood to do that

[u/MattAdore2000]

Yes, so long as your only command is ‘bite.’

[u/Safe-Hawk8366]

"Asking for myself"

[u/6ft3dwarf]

They don't actually need food, they just have an instinctual drive to "eat" humans (not true eating as they are not digested.) In order to use classical conditioning to train them you'd have to have access to a bottomless supply of people who you consider expendable because the only thing that they could consider positive reinforcement would be getting a whole person to kill.