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In episode 29 (episode 4 in season 2) of Attack on Titan, why didn't

Reiner transform into his titan mode when he is injured from the bite of the small titan in that castle?

As I understand, titan shifters are able to transform by injuring themselves or by others. Can someone explain or did I miss some details?

Arcane
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DeanWinchester07
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  • It would be more useful to list the episode number here than describe as 'recent' as recent one week later could mean a different episode already. – Tyhja May 03 '17 at 03:54
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    SPOILERS! I don't know about you, but you should ALWAYS use Spoiler tags and spoiler warnings when asking about potentially spoiler content. In this case its asking not just about a recently aired episode (which some people may have seen) but also about future not yet aired twists! – Arcane May 03 '17 at 05:25
  • This question is heavy spoiler – Ichigo Kurosaki May 03 '17 at 06:00
  • @IchigoKurosaki Check the revision history and the question was much worse at spoiling. No warning at all, and spoiler was in the question itself. :p – Arcane May 03 '17 at 06:15

1 Answers1

8

Because he didn't want to.

Titan shifting must have three things to align, to transform completely and successfully.

  • They must be injured enough to draw blood. (Self harm works) Examples - Anne's Ring or Eren biting his Thumb
  • They must want to transform. A random injury doesn't always trigger a transformation. This would also be counter intuitive from a plot point of view. At some level a need for transformation must be there. (Example: Eren not wanting to die in the Titan's stomach inadvertently triggered his first transformation)
  • A Clear purpose and Goal for the transformation. Eren's first transformation was triggered by his goal to kill all the titans. Meanwhile he failed to transform initially because he didn't want to fight Annie.

Only when these all combine is a Shifter able to transform.

Sources: Anime. I've kept all examples to the first Season of Anime. There are a lot more Manga sources as well.

Arcane
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    A good example would be Eren's arm transforming when reaching for the spoon. I think this is when Hange realizes that he needs to have a goal in mind in order to transform. – Gravinco May 03 '17 at 11:57
  • Also, while Eren was under tribunal after his several first transformations, he was beaten by Levi to blood, but didn't transformed. – lentinant May 03 '17 at 12:28
  • @Arcane For #3, another thing is that they could lose control if they are not completely focused on a goal (if any). I.E. Eren lost control of his titan when attempting to block the hole due his lack of confidence and wasn't focused on the goal. It would be a quick ending if the colossal went rampant – Wondercricket May 03 '17 at 17:37
  • @Wonderceicket Yes, they can llse control, but that is once they've transformed. They need to keep up the focus after transformation as well – Arcane May 03 '17 at 18:34