What exactly happens to a Titan's body after it is killed?


_I just started watching the anime and I haven't read much of the manga so I
don't know if it is explained further on._

We all know a Titan's body gives off extreme heat, from an encounter Eren had
with the Colossal Titan and an episode where they learned this in class.

In episode 6, when Mikasa killed a Titan, we saw the body still giving off
heat..

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/t3ooM.jpg)

..and a few minutes later it was pretty badly burnt, unrecognizable in fact.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/louW9.jpg)

Later in episode 7 when Eren in his Titan form attacks another and beats it to
a pulp, we see that the process has somewhat accelerated? At first I thought
the body eventually burned away but this one was different than the first. All
of the Titan's flesh was gone.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XSXwR.jpg)

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iP3Ou.jpg)

So, what _exactly_ happens to a Titan's body structure after it is killed?
Does the heat burn it up now that it cannot regenerate or what?




In episode 15, "Special Operations Squad: Prelude to the Counterattack, Part
2" where Zoe Hange has those 2 captured titans (which she named "Sawney" and
"Bean"), she mentions that the Titans seem unusually light for how large they
are, and that a severed arm of one of the titans weighed nothing, which allows
such large bodies to move so quickly with great agility.

Though, at least so far in the anime and manga, there's no explanation to
their physiology or what exactly happens after they die, it's probably the
case that their solid state is being maintained by their mysterious "power
source" and that once the source of power is gone (and thus cannot
regenerate), their physical bodies (sans skeleton) return to the form of some
type of gas.

So, to summarize this completely unsubstantiated speculation:

  1. Titan's bodies are actually made up of some type of gaseous substance that weighs nothing
  2. While alive, with its "power source", the gaseous substance takes on the form of solid flesh-like material, but still incredibly light
  3. Without this "power source", the flesh returns to the gaseous state and evaporates.
  4. This may or may not have to do with the extremely high body temperature that the titans have.




In episode 15, "Special Operations Squad: Prelude to the Counterattack, Part
2" where Zoe Hange has those 2 captured titans (which she named "Sawney" and
"Bean"), she mentions that the Titans seem unusually light for how large they
are, and that a severed arm of one of the titans weighed nothing, which allows
such large bodies to move so quickly with great agility.

Though, at least so far in the anime and manga, there's no explanation to
their physiology or what exactly happens after they die, it's probably the
case that their solid state is being maintained by their mysterious "power
source" and that once the source of power is gone (and thus cannot
regenerate), their physical bodies (sans skeleton) return to the form of some
type of gas.

So, to summarize this completely unsubstantiated speculation:

  1. Titan's bodies are actually made up of some type of gaseous substance that weighs nothing
  2. While alive, with its "power source", the gaseous substance takes on the form of solid flesh-like material, but still incredibly light
  3. Without this "power source", the flesh returns to the gaseous state and evaporates.
  4. This may or may not have to do with the extremely high body temperature that the titans have.

