Yelena

"The day will soon come when we sit around the same dinner table once again."

- Yelena to Commander Pixis and the Eldians

Yelena (イェレナ) is one of the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers allying with the Survey Corps and working under Zeke Yeager. She is one of the Marleyan soldiers on board the first survey fleet to Paradis Island after Marley's failed attack operation.

Appearance
Yelena is a very tall woman with her blonde hair in a bowl cut. She has large, black eyes and somewhat androgynous features. She wears the standard Marleyan military uniform.

Like the other Anti-Marleyan Voluenteers, Yelena's casual clothing consist of a dark jacket over a dress shirt, and long pants.

Personality
She is a fervent follower of Zeke Yeager, holding great admiration and respect for him. She is usually calm and collected, her demeanor remaining unchanged even when Jean Kirstein yelled at her for failing to see her job through. Nonetheless, she is willing to take responsibility and apologizes should she fail in her task. Yelena appears to have a very relaxed demeanor, but appears to also have dry, humorous undertones to much of her actions.

History
Yelena saw her homeland being invaded and conquered by Marley and after that, she was forcibly drafted as a soldier to fight in the Marleyan military. She held a deep hatred for Marley and only thought of rebelling against that large nation. She met similar minded soldiers and they banded together to fight against Marley, but admits they had limited success.

Marley arc
During the early stages of the Marley-Mid East War, Yelena and her comrades were placed in a situation where they completely lost their will to rebel against Marley. However, Zeke Yeager saved them from death, rejuvenating their fighting spirit, and inspiring Yelena. She also becomes a devoted follower of Zeke, even considering him a God. She and her group joined with Zeke and begin planning a rebellion in earnest.

As she works with Zeke, she and the other members of the Volunteers are notified by Zeke of his half-brother Eren, who has possession of two Titan abilities. Expressing a desire to see him, Yelena volunteers to go in Zeke's place to Paradis Island as part of the crew serving on the survey ship. In 851, the survey ship arrives at Paradis and is promptly captured and beached by Eren's Titan form; soon, she and her fellow soldiers are confronted by Hange Zoë, offering to negotiate with them. When her commanding officer refuses to listen, Yelena promptly kills him and, along with Onyankopon, accepts Hange's offer to talk. As they prepare to disembark, Yelena gazes up at Eren's Titan, noting that she has been wanting to meet him for some time.

Meeting with Hange and Levi Ackerman, Yelena and Onyankopon allow the two to inspect their weapons, explaining that Marley has not yet launched a full assault on Paradis Island due to a war they are currently caught in. Hange guesses that Yelena and her comrades are sleeper agents who have infiltrated the Marleyan army, but Yelena explains to her that they are simply conscripted soldiers who have chosen to rally around Zeke Yeager in opposition of Marley as the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers. Forming an alliance with Paradis Island, Yelena and her comrades begin sharing their technology with the islanders, and preparing to fight back against Marley.

Around one year later, the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers arrange a meeting between Paradis and the Azumabito family to discuss an alliance. While waiting for the family to arrive, Yelena gets a chance to see Eren. She is ecstatic to finally meet him, and despite not being allowed to interact with him, declares that it will be a good day. As the Azumabito family arrives, Yelena calls Mikasa Ackerman's attention to their appearances, explaining that they resemble Mikasa's mother because they are related to her.

While attending a banquet to celebrate the opening of the rail system in Trost District, Yelena's personal guard is abruptly changed, being replaced by Floch Forster. This allows her to slip away unnoticed and meet with Eren in private. Both having grown impatient with the military's perceived lack of urgency, they easily come to an agreement that something needs to be done to stir up the military and push it to action.

In 854, after their forces receive word that Eren Yeager is planning on launching a full-scale attack on Marley, Yelena is among the forces Paradis Island dispatches to retrieve him. Using a fake beard to disguise her appearance, she pretends to be a Marleyan soldier from the Lakua military base in the west and arrives at the Warriors' seating area during Willy Tybur's production. Declaring that Magath called for them, she asks that Pieck, Galliard, and Zeke follow her. Soon after, she sends Zeke off in another direction while continuing to lead the other Warriors. They stop temporarily when Pieck suddenly hugs one of the Panzer Unit soldiers they meet on the way. She leads them into a room, where she traps the two in a hole.

At the end of the Battle of Liberio, she joins the rest of the Survey Corps on the blimp. Standing in a room along with Zeke, Eren Yeager, Armin Arlert, Levi, and Mikasa Ackerman, she takes her fake goatee off when Levi asks her to, commenting how people seemed to like it. They are soon joined by Jean Kirstein, who brought the recently captured Gabi Braun and Falco Grice. Jean yells at her for not carrying out her duty of locking up the Jaw and Cart Titan, causing more soldiers than necessary to die, for which she accepts responsibility.

After returning to Paradis, Yelena and her fellow Volunteers turn over a stock of Titan serums they managed to steal from Marley to the Garrison. After receiving the serums, Dot Pixis has his soldiers capture the Volunteers, revealing that Paradis is not yet willing to trust Zeke and his followers. Yelena is unconcerned with the betrayal, confidently declaring that the Volunteers and the Eldians will soon dine at the same table.

After some in confinement, Yelena receives a visit from Pixis. She notes that the view is nice, but sarcastically notes that it would be nicer without the bars on her windows. Pixis acknowledges that Eldia is in their debt for all the Volunteers have done for them, before noting the seemingly great lengths Yelena has gone to to appear trustworthy. Pixis produces and report and reveals that Eren started acting without authorization roughly ten months prior, around the same time that Yelena attended an event in Trost District near his residence. He also makes note of the fact that the guard for her that day had been Floch Forster, who was part of the group arrested for leaking Eren's confinement to the press. Yelena seems surprised at this as Pixis goes to the table in her room and sits down.

Yelena quickly admits to meeting with Eren, apologizing for keeping the meeting a secret. She claims that she only met with Eren to persuade him to do something that forces the military into action, but Pixis points out that she could have just talked to the military directly. He accuses her of trying to influence Eren to Zeke's will, but Yelena passionately argues that she did not, and that she only wanted to meet Eren due to his unique traits as the Founding Titan and as Zeke's brother. She claims that she only wants what is best for Eldia, but Pixis is unconvinced, telling her that she is a terrible liar.

People killed

 * A Marleyan captain

Trivia

 * Yelena is the Anglicized form of "Jelena" which is, in turn, a Slavic derivation of a Greek name "Helénē" (Ἑλένη).

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