Hange Zoë

Hanji Zoe (ハンジ・ゾエ) is a Squad Leader from the Scouting Legion. Hanji conducts research on Titans and, as such, is deeply interested in Eren Jaeger, who can turn into a Titan.

Personality
Hanji is very passionate about their work. Hanji can be seen as very hyper and very active, often diving into projects without thought for personal safety, instead preoccupied with observing and documenting their subjects. Hanji enjoys discussing their work, but as their lectures can be very long and detail-oriented, not many fellow soldiers find them very interesting.



Hanji is often excited by Titans and is always eager to experiment with them, coming off as extremely emotional regarding titans. For example, Hanji cried at the amount of pain they were causing a titan during one of their experiments.

Hanji explained their sympathetic reaction to Eren as from their drive to see titans from a different perspective and learn new insights that would normally be overlooked from the traditional view of rage.

However, Hanji still cares deeply for humanity and their comrades as seen when they confronted Pastor Nick for his coverup of the Wall. When he refused to talk, Hanji grabbed him and held him over the side of Wall Sina, explaining that lives were lost because of him and his religious faction and they held him in utter contempt.

Current Plot
Hanji Zoe is introduced when they take Eren to his military hearing in front of the leaders of the military. Hanji is present with the rest of the Scouting Legion as Rivaille beats up Eren and checks on his condition after the tribunal is over, noting that the gap where Eren lost his tooth earlier is disappearing quickly.

All of their experiments with captured Titans "Sonny" and "Bean" turned up no vital evidence which is why Hanji is so excited to work with Eren.

Later, when Eren and the Special Operations Squad are at the former Scouting Legion HQ, Hanji begins to prep Eren on their experiments, but ends up talking until morning when THEY are interrupted. Hanji was about to talk about the curious precedent involving Ilse Langner when it was discovered that Bean and Sonny were murdered.



Although devastated by the loss of the test subjects, Hanji moves forward with their experiments on Eren. When it turns out Eren cannot turn into a titan at will, they are a little disheartened. However, seeing Eren's titan hand later on got them very excited, unexpectedly breaking the tension between Eren and the Special Operations Squad.

Hanji discovered that Eren's titan powers are only awakened when he has a clear objective in mind, such as defending against the cannonball. Hanji also theorized that this switch must have a good reason as well as being connected to the titan's nature.

Hanji stops Keiji from continuing to try and open the crystal Annie Leonhardt put around themself to avoid capture. Hanji ordered the crystal containing Annie to be removed to safety when they notice the titan within Wall Shina.

Before Hanji can react, Pastor Nick hurries to them and tells them to stop sunlight from hitting the titan's face. After this, Hanji tries to question the Pastor about what they had just seen, but he roughly tells them that they do not need to know anything about it and even threatens to demand compensation for damages done to his church.

Furious at his attitude, Hanji grabs hold of Nick and dangles him over the side of the wall in a threat, demanding that Nick explain why there are titans inside the Wall. Hanji comes to the conclusion that his religion has been so opposed to Wall modifications because of what they know is inside the Wall. Hanji explains that the people of the Scouting Legion sacrifice their lives hoping that one day it will mean something, and that because of this they have the right to know what they saw inside the wall and why it's there.

Pastor Nick would rather die in order to maintain his secrets, but Hanji decides to let him live. He finally tells Hanji and the other members of the Scouting Legion about Historia knowing more about the walls having titans in them. She went under an assumed name after she was caught in the middle of her relatives' dispute, and will tell them more about it, if she chooses to.

After Hanji's squad rescue the Scouts trapped at Castle Utgard, Hanji tells everyone that it's time to go. The Scouts begin to leave. After seeing Mikasa try and kill Reiner and Berthold, Hanji proceeds to attack the colossal titan and held up well until the titan began to emanate burning gas.

Trivia



 * The question of Hanji's gender has recently become a popular fandom discussion. This resulted from an exchange between Isayama and a fan, in which the fan stated that they thought Hanji was female but the inconsistent art sometimes made them look "manly". When asked to clarify, Isayama stated "After receiving this question I think it’s better if I don’t say either way."