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In Attack on Titan, we know what happened to many people:

they became Titans.

But what happened to people with different skin colors, e.g. black?

Did they turn into Caucasian Titans? Or were they simply killed?

Gao
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Armin
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    Who says there were black people to begin with? – giraffesyo Feb 22 '16 at 00:06
  • @MichaelMcQuade there were Asian people. And attack on Titan probably takes place in Europe (many German or Germanic names and European architecture). So we know there were Asian and Caucasian people. So there is no reason to assume that there were no other skin colors... – Armin Feb 22 '16 at 00:09
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    since the humans never left the walls for years and that just about everyone has the same skin color, we could assume that almost everyone are of similar race inside the wall. as for what happened to the other race (or if there are any), the story is still not complete so we may see some info as the story progresses. – Bahamut Feb 23 '16 at 16:01

3 Answers3

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This question cannot be answered with canonical information, since it is about a work in progress and the origin story is still shrouded in mystery.

But there are several assumptions you are making:

  1. That the series takes place in Earth.
  2. That even if it is not Earth, there are earth-like ethnics.
  3. That what happened to several people happened to all the people, worldwide. Maybe the titan incident is just restricted to a small continent or a large island, and the rest of the world goes on their medieval life undaunted by the gross titans.
  4. That even if it is in the same Earth as ours, and the titans are worldwide, that It is set in a time where people from several ethnical groups have traveled worldwide, like way after the XIV - XV centuryies great navigations (Columbus, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Vasco da Gama, etc)

So, assuming there are a ethnical pallete in the world of Attack on Titan as broad as our Earth, several hypothesis can be raised:

  • Asians were included for identification purposes. The target audience of a Japanese manga are Japanese people, so by "placing" them inside the fictional world, it raises identification and acceptance of the work. That is why almost all the 80's and 90's cartoons had a "token kid".

The first king hand-picked the chosen ones for his walled kindom. He might have intentionally left out the undesirables, as is shown that there is a heavy ethnical bias in place.

  • The setting is not futuristic. If I had to explain to a layman, I would say "early steampunk". There are gas-powered gadgets, but they are cutting edge tech created on the pressure the survival drive puts on science. Definitely medieval. This was already subject of a Q&A in this site.

Just as Asians display special characteristics (as do other ethical groups) maybe Africans had some anti-titanification powers or were immune to the Directive.


But your guess is as good as mine. See the disclaimer on top.

Mindwin Remember Monica
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  • According to imdb : "It is Earth" [source](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2560140/) – Light Yagami Feb 23 '16 at 14:53
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    I wouldn't consider IMDB as a reliable source in this case. But maybe it is our Earth, although no canonic sources. Related: http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4615/when-and-where-does-attack-on-titan-take-place – Mindwin Remember Monica Feb 23 '16 at 20:04
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As it is known from on-going manga, starting from Ch. 86

Events prior to this chapter were unfolding on Paradise island. Most inhabitants of Paradise island are Eldians, and only Eldians may turn to titans.

So it is fairly logical, that we can't see people of other races, or "Caucasian titans". Which also means, that

Mikasa and Levi could not be turned into titans.

lentinant
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tl;dr:

Africans are in Europe and Europeans are in Africa because the world is flipped turned upside down, and the series takes place on Madagascar Island.

There is a black character introduced in Chapter 106 after it is revealed that:

The black character, Onyankopon's country was taken over by Marley and he was forcefully conscripted into the army, with the implication that his country was farther to the south in the tropics. Paradis Island is homogeneous to Madagascar and Marley is homogeneous to South Africa. He seems to be from Attack on Titan's version of Europe or North Africa. enter image description here

NobleUplift
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