Hange Zoë

Hange Zoë (ハンジ・ゾエ) is a  high standing, veteran member of the Survey Corps, a squad leader (分隊長) in charge of the fourth squad, and interim commander who would take the lead should Erwin Smith be forced to abandon this position. Hange conducts research on Titans to the point of being obsessed with them and as such, is deeply interested in Eren Yeager, who has the ability to shift into a Titan.

Personality
Hange is very passionate and driven in pursuit of new knowledge. She can be seen as very hyperactive, often diving into projects without thought for personal safety (and frightening many of her subordinates in the process), instead preoccupied with observing and documenting their subjects. Some misinterpret these acts of hers as eccentric and having more than a few screws loose in her head. She also enjoys discussing this research, but as the lectures can be very long and detail-oriented, not many fellow soldiers find them interesting.

Hange is often excited by Titans and is always eager to experiment with them, coming off as extremely emotional regarding Titans. For example, she cried at the amount of pain being caused to a Titan during experimentation.

She explained this sympathetic reaction to Eren as a result of the drive to see Titans from a different perspective and learn new insights that would normally be overlooked from the traditional view of rage.

However, she still cares deeply for humanity, and takes threats to comrades very seriously, as seen when Pastor Nick is confronted for his cover up of the Wall. When he refused to talk, Hange grabbed him and held him over the side of Wall Sina, explaining that lives were lost because of him and his religious faction and stating an utter contempt for the priest.

Story
Hange is first seen leaving Trost District for the Survey Corps' 49th expedition outside the Walls. Excited for the mission, Hange calls to Levi Ackerman only to be interrupted when he denies her, stating she will ask him to waste his time trying to capture a Titan. Hange then turns to Mike Zacharius to ask him but is then denied. Hange sighs and states that it’s the same boring answers from the same boring men. Once the gate opens, Erwin Smith states that the 49th expedition will now begin and orders the Survey Corps to rush forward. Hange delightfully runs ahead of Erwin and after her tries to yell out their name and return them, Hange states that they're coming to see the titans. A few hours into the mission Hange petitions with Erwin, trying to get him to authorize a capture operation. Hange angrily tells Erwin that though setting up supply bases takes priority, the Survey Corps’ main objective is to learn about the titans and their origin and that he must be aware of that. Hange’s assistant Moblit Berner tries to tell Hange that maybe they shouldn't be speaking to the commander in such a harsh tone but are interrupted when Hange yells at him to shut up. Hange then turns back to Erwin and states that they must capture a Titan alive above anything else. Hange then mentions that they know it seems impossible, the last time they were able to capture one alive was fifteen years ago, and more than twenty people died to achieve it. Hange then says that they will never gather information if they are afraid to make sacrifices. Erwin, who had been discussing other matters with other soldiers while Hange was arguing, asks how many times he will have to tell Hange that they don’t have the manpower to spare for a capture mission and that getting as far as they did today had already cost them more than ten men. Hange tries to continue their argument but is interrupted by Erwin as he tells her he will not allow it and then walks away. Hange and Moblit follow him outside the tent as Hange tries to get his attention again. When he walks away, Oluo Bozado, who had been standing outside with Petra Ral while she refilled a gas tank, tells Hange that arguing is of no use and that they put their lives on the line just to kill titans. As he says that there is no way to take one alive, Hange interrupts him by grabbing his shirt collar and lifting him off the ground. Hange asks Oluo to think about something. Hange asks if Levi was trying to kill him, what he would do and if he could he win. When Oluo denies being able to win and tries to say he can’t breathe, Hange asks if he wants them to tell him how to win. They state that he must study him, from the food he hates, to his taste in women, to how many times he goes to the bathroom. Hange says that he must find out everything he can about him and once he does, he can find his weak spot and exploit it and if he doesn't do that before a fight, he will die for sure. Petra then yells Hange’s name and Moblit tells them that they’re doing too much. Hange gives an aggravated look with a slight sigh and then drops Oluo and apologizes, stating that wining was pretty much something like what they explained as they walk away while Moblit follows. A few moments later when Mike smells titans coming from the forest, Erwin orders all soldiers to prepare for combat. Moblit then shouts out that it is too dangerous as Hange gets on horseback and tells Erwin they’re going ahead despite him telling them to wait. Hange gallops through the forest until finding a seven meter class titan. They run by and greet it, asking how the weather is and it beings to chase Hange. Hange laughs and asks if the titan would like to take a walk inside the walls with them. The titan swings at Hange’s horse but they dodge it and laugh again saying that it was close. The titan smashes into a tree and Hange asks if it is okay but it continues to run. They run out of the forest with the titan chasing behind. Hange continues to lead it until Levi and the Special Operations Squad (Team) try to get its attention with a Signal Flare. Hange protests and tells them to leave but is happy to see the titan continue to follow. After a few more feet the titan slows down and stops. Confused, Hange turns around to see what it’s doing. The titan looks around and then runs back to the forest. Hange chases after it and asks it where it is going. They run into the forest and Hange wonders if it is heading somewhere specific and that even if it’s a Deviant Type Titan if it could even could do that. They both run into a flower field surrounded by trees with a single tree in the middle. The titan stops at the centre tree while Hange stops a bit behind. The titan begins smashing its head off the tree and Hange gets off their horse and walks towards it, asking what it is doing and if this is where they wanted to come. The titan swings for Hange but the easily dodge it and escape to a tree branch laughing. The titan is visibly angry, shaking with rage. Hange comes back to the ground and asks it what is wrong, and that they’re listening. Oluo appears suddenly and is ready to kill the titan until Hange tells him to wait. Distracted, Oluo looks at Hange only to be grabbed by the titan. As it is about to bite his head off, Levi quickly cuts its arm off and then kill it. Levi asks Oluo is he is okay and Oluo states that he will stay with Levi forever. Disappointed, Hange states that the titan could have been a precious testing subject and falls to their knees. Hange says that if it had been captured humanity could have taken a step forward. Levi walks over and grabs Hange’s shirt telling them to shut up and calling them shit glasses. He says that he won’t stop them if Hange wants to end up as titan feces, but to never endanger other men. Hange smiles and says that Titans don’t defecate because they don’t have a digest system. Levi pauses and then throws Hange to the ground. Petra looks around and notices and irregularity and asks Levi if it is a titans doing but then states that that would be impossible. When Levi asks what she is going on about, Petra point to a whole in the centre tree where a headless body is sitting. Everyone gathers around the tree and Hange goes to the whole and reads the soldiers armband which is from the 34th expedition. Hange says that it is a soldier who died a year ago named Ilse Langnar. Hange states they can’t believe a titan would do something like this and then notices Levi flipping through a notebook. Hange asks what it is and Levi states that it is what Ilse Langnar achieved. After the expedition Hange reads the contents of the note book and carefully thinks them over. After a moment Hange being writing a proposal letter to Erwin. In the letter Hange writes that they again are proposing to resume capture operations in the Survey Corps and that if Erwin reads the enclosed notebook he will make it clear that they are still ignorant on the subject of the titans. That the titan that Ilse Langnar encountered spoke words with meaning and showed a position of respect and instead of eating her it stored her body in a tree. Hange writes that this is obviously a first in the history of mankind and that they have the responsibility to make use of the information Ilse died to obtain. Hange writes that they must not let the effort Ilse put in to finding the truth behind titans go to waste and that they must continue it, no matter how little information they gather on missions it will not be in vain. Hange writes that they believe that it will play an important role in the fight against the titans and then signs it, Fourth Squad Leader Hange Zoë. After giving the letter to Erwin, Hange passes by Petra and Oluo while bringing Ilse’s cloak and notebook to her parents. After giving the grieving couple their daughter’s remains Hange leaves and meets up with Levi, Oluo, and Petra. When Oluo addresses them Hange says that they must have weird habits if they’re following them around. Oluo apologizes for letting the titan die, and that if they could have captured it, it may have helped mankind. He then states that his life is therefore a cheap thing and is interrupted when Hange grabs his shirt and calmly denies him saying that they should be the one apologizing for almost getting him killed. Hange apologizes and says that he should never again say that his life is a cheap thing. When Hange looks up to ask if he understands they notices he’s chocking and panics, letting him go and asks if he’s okay. Petra then frantically asks what he is doing. Later, Hange is seen walking with Levi, Petra, and Oluo. Levi tells Hange that Erwin has given the okay for capture operations and Hange looks down for a moment then smiles and jumps up screaming yahoo. Then happily walk away and eight days later, with the help of Levi’s special operations squad and a new capture method proposed by Hange they were able to capture the first titan since the fall of Wall Maria without taking a single casualty.

Battle of Trost District arc
Hange is later seen leaving Trost District for an expedition. As Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, Hannah Diamant, and Franz Kefka watch the Survey Corps leave, they and many others in the crowd admire Levi Ackerman. Hange teases Levi, saying that his admirers would be disappointed if they knew what a clean freak he was. Hange gleefully awaits the mission departure by the gate, just behind Erwin Smith. Hange states that they hoped to see a Deviant Type Titan this time and how wonderful it would be. Levi tells them that there is already an abnormal titan here and when Hange excited looks for it he grabs their head and states that the abnormal is Hange. Shortly after, the Survey Corps leave for their mission. Hange is seen excitedly flying through an abandoned town using their Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear. Hange glides by a Titan, grabbing its attention and then lands on a roof. Hange states that it is okay and they're not going to hurt it. When the titan swings for Hange they easily evade it and congratulate it on trying. Hange then happily states it is their turn and kills the titan then hopes off of it, landing on the ground. They turn to the titan's body, as the blood steams off their Survey Corps cloak and assure them that their attack didn't hurt before it falls to the ground.

The Female Titan arc
is introduced as part of the group assigned to take Eren Yeager to his military hearing in front of the leaders of the military. She is present with the rest of the Survey Corps as Levi beats up Eren and checks on his condition after the tribunal is over, noting that Eren's lost tooth grew back.

Though in charge of experimenting with captured Titans Sonny and Bean, no conclusive evidence was obtained. As such, she's excited by the prospect of working with Eren.

Later, when Eren and the Special Operations Squad are at the former Survey Corps HQ, Hange begins to prep Eren on previous experiments, but ends up talking until morning when the conversation is interrupted. She 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, she moves forward with the experiments on Eren. When it turns out Eren cannot turn into a Titan at will, Hange is a little disheartened. However, seeing Eren's Titan hand later on earned an overly-excited response, breaking the tension between Eren and the Special Operations Squad.

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

Hange participates in the capture of Annie Leonhart in the Stohess District, along with Eren, Armin Arlert and Mikasa Ackerman. Hange stops Keiji from continuing to try and open the crystal Annie presumably put around herself to avoid capture. She ordered the crystal containing Annie to be removed to safety when they notice the Titan within Wall Sina.

Before Hange can react, Pastor Nick hurries over and begs the soldiers to stop sunlight from hitting the Titan's face. After this, Hange tries to question the Pastor about what they had just seen, but he roughly states 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, she 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. She comes to the conclusion that his religion has been so opposed to Wall modifications because of what they know is inside the Wall. She explains that the people of the Survey Corps 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 Hange decides to let him live.

Clash of the Titans arc
He finally tells her and the other members of the Survey Corps 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 Hange's squad rescue the Scouts trapped at Castle Utgard, she tells everyone that it's time to go. The Scouts begin to leave. After seeing Mikasa try and kill Reiner and Bertolt, Hange proceeds to attack the Colossal Titan and held up well until the Titan began to emanate burning gas.

Unable to continue the attack, she instead leads an effort to back up Eren in his battle against the Armored Titan. Remembering ancient history concerning armor, Hange is able to accurately deduct that the seemingly-invulnerable Armored Titan has unprotected areas at the joints to allow freedom of movement. This allows Eren and Mikasa to bring him down, but the Colossal Titan drops from the Wall and knocks almost unconscious in the resulting explosion.

Hange is later shown to be among the wounded, and has to be left behind when the main forces begin their pursuit. However, she is able to correctly predict that the enemy will require a place to rest until sunset, and advises them to head for the Forest of Giant Trees.

The Uprising arc
In the following two weeks, Hange would recover completely and supervise the investigation of Ragako. Aided by Connie Springer, Hange uncovers the horrifying truth that Titans are humans, transformed by some unknown means into mindless beings. Though shaken by this revelation, she is able to complete the investigation and present her findings to Erwin and Dot Pixis. It is noted that previous experiments had never uncovered anything unusual about the napes of a Titan's neck, suggesting the Titan form absorbs the human pilot completely. All that remains is a fused nervous system, leading Hange to theorize that the true means to slay a Titan is decapitation of what remains of the human.

Shortly afterwards, Hange discovered that Pastor Nick had been founded murdered in his room. Immediately suspicious, Hange confronts Djel Sanes about the scene while pretending to simply be an old friend of the victim. Alternately acting aggressive and overcome with grief, Hange was able to observe telltale signs of torture on the priest's body and wounds on Sanes' hands that suggest he had taken part in the beating. Though pretending to believe the official story that Nick was killed in a robbery, Hange swears vengeance against his murderers. She later relates this disturbing news to Levi and the remaining members of the 104th, and grieves over his death.

Based on this new information, the Survey Corps begins to conspire to rebel against the monarchy and discover the secrets they are willing to kill for. When Sanes is captured by the Survey Corps, Levi aids her in interrogating him as well as gaining revenge for Nick's murder. Hange reveals a much crueler side during the interrogation, expressing eagerness to learn how to torture humans and asking Sanes' advice while removing his fingernails. This sadistic behavior horrifies the corrupt officer, who begs them to ask questions before torturing him. Instead, they take turns torturing the prisoner with Levi beating him while Hange removes nails and even a tooth. Afterwards, they leave him alone while fetching his comrade, Ralph. They force him at knife-point to read a script outside Sanes' door, making him believe he has been betrayed and is considered a lunatic by his comrades. This causes the man to break, revealing to Hange the secret of the Reiss family -- the true rulers of mankind.

Once they have finished extracting information from him, Sanes is escorted to the same cell as his comrade. Hange becomes angry and mocks him at length, revealing the truth about Ralph's apparent betrayal. Sanes is deeply shaken, but he warns her that someone else will take his place and wishes her luck. Visibly shaken, Hange leaves the dungeon and enters a room, violently kicking over a table. When Eren enters the room, she insists that her actions were based of a cockroach. He shares with her the recollection of Bertolt and Ymir's conversation, which shocks Hange enough that she rushes off to speak to Erwin.

Out of breath upon arriving at headquarters, Hange collapses on the ground before Erwin and warns him their plans may be ruined. Eren's notes lead her to theorize that Titans can absorb the powers of their victims, which allowed Ymir to go from an ordinary Titan to a Titan Shifter after devouring one. She states that Reiner most likely threw Titans at the soldiers in hopes of Eren being devoured, creating a new Shifter in possession of the Coordinate. In the same fashion, Hange believes that the Reiss family are going to feed Eren to a Titan in order to pass the Coordinate on to someone they can control.

Their meeting is interrupted by the arrival of the 1st Brigade, who accuse the Survey Corps of murdering Dimo Reeves. Preparing to meet them and face their charges, Erwin names Hange as his successor and entrusts the Survey Corps to her. Afterwards, she discovers Flegel hiding in an alleyway and carries him onto a roof top. There, she learns what really happened to his father and attempts to persuade him to continue fighting in his father's stead. When he states they have already lost, Hange reminds him with a smile that the Survey Corps has always had a losing record.

Relationships

 * Levi Ackerman - They work well together as senior members of the Survey Corps, and Hange appears to enjoy teasing him on occasion. Levi often uses insulting terms to refer to her and seems annoyed by her eccentric behavior.
 * Eren Yeager - Hange is one of the first to welcome him into the Survey Corps, and is put in charge of studying him. She takes to this with great enthusiasm and becomes one of his most ardent supporters.
 * Ilse Langnar - While a close relationship was not shown, Hange recognized Ilse's Armband knowing she had died where she did. Hange was also said to have inherited Ilse's will as it was from Ilse's notes that she took up trying to communicate with Titans. It was later shown as well that it was from her notes that Hange recognized the name of Ymir.

Trivia

 * The author, Hajime Isayama, has left Hange's gender open to interpretation as he told his editor that 'either one is fine' and instructed Kodansha USA not to confirm any gender in their Hange_Zoe.jpglation. Since then, Kodansha has removed gendered pronouns for Hange in their translation, and clarified that indeed, Hange's gender is up to the reader's interpretation. The anime on the other hand, has consistently depicted Hange as female.

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