Daz (Anime)

"My friends got killed, yet I didn't feel any sadness or hate at all! Deep down, I just felt glad it wasn't me!"

- Daz admits his cowardice

Daz (ダズ) is a cadet (訓練兵) of the 104th Cadet Corps and participated in the battle of Trost District.

Appearance
Daz has a short crop of spiky gray-colored hair and light brown eyes. He wears the normal uniform of the 104th Cadet Corps with a black shirt underneath.

Personality
Daz is constantly terrified, regardless of the situation he has an ever present fear of something bad soon to happen, and when it does happen he loses complete control and often complies with dying by sword over facing Titans again.

History
Some years ago, the cadets of the 104th Cadet Corps completed a snowstorm training exercise, arriving at a base at the foot of a mountain. After some brief discussion among the cadets, Reiner announced that Christa was missing. Mikasa said that Christa had chosen to stick with Daz, who was performing poorly, but Reiner said that Daz as well as Ymir had not returned. Marco suggested that she may be with Thomas' squad, but Reiner pointed out that his squad just completed their course with Ymir, Daz, and Christa nowhere in sight. Worrying for their safety, Eren proposed organizing a search for them, and their training instructor said that a search will begin the next morning. Eren insisted that it would be too late if they held off on the search, but the instructor said that more cadet lives could not be risked in the snowstorm.

Elsewhere in the storm, Christa and Ymir made their way through a forest with Daz unconscious in a cot pulled by Christa. Ymir said that they would only survive if they abandoned Daz and headed for base together, but Christa insisted that they could all survive if Ymir went ahead alone while Christa took Daz. Ymir noticed that Christa had not asked for help during their entire course, and she realized that Christa had no intention of saving Daz nor herself. She said that it would be very against Christa's character to bring about Daz's death while searching for her own heroic end, but Christa insisted that such was not the case. Ymir led Christa to a cliff overlooking the base at the foot of the mountain and proposed tossing Daz over the edge so that she and Christa could make it to base alive while Daz could be searched for later. When Christa objected, Ymir took matters into her own hands and threw her aside into a snowbank. Ymir wandered off while Christa was submerged, and there was a flash of light in the distance. When Christa escaped from the snow and returned to the cliff, Ymir and Daz were nowhere to be found. Back at base, Eren prepared to head outside in search for the others, and Mikasa and Armin decided to help. Reiner and Bertholdt also decided to join, bringing more equipment for the trip. Conny, Marco, and Sasha agreed to come along as well. Suddenly, a loud crash like thunder was heard outside, and the cadets headed outdoors to investigate. In the distance, Sasha spotted Ymir dragging Daz through the snow. Some time later, Christa arrived and spotted Ymir outside the base. She asked about Daz, and Ymir showed her that Daz was safe indoors. Upon looking at the cliff from the ground, Christa saw that such a descent would be impossible without rope. Ymir decided to reveal to Christa how she saved Daz, but only if she promised to live by her true name when her secret eventually became known to everyone.

Humanity's Comeback arc
Daz is first seen after Eren Jaeger reveals that he is from Shiganshina District, he is among the group of cadets that gathers and listens to Eren's description of the Colossal Titan.

Distress
In the year 848, Reiner is placed in a group of cadets led by Thomas Wagner to go on a wilderness hunt that will teach the cadets to sustain themselves in times of peace. Daz is the first in his group to notice when their ODM gear goes missing. Determining that their gear must have been stolen, the group decides to speed up their mission to warn the other group of cadets on the mission about the thieves.

The next day, Daz and his group come upon Marco's group, who have been engaging the kidnappers, and help them disarm the remaining men.

The Struggle for Trost arc
After the Colossal Titan breaches Trost District's outer gate, Daz is seen among the cadets getting instructions from the Garrison captain, and is assigned to the middle guard. Inside the Walls, Daz is one of soldiers put on stand by. He tells Marco that he is unable to fight anymore, as his comrades were devoured right in front of him while he was just happy not to end up like them. However, knowing that he might be the next one to die, he takes out his sword in an attempt to end everything, but Marco stops him. In an attempt to calm him down, he points out Sasha and her struggles, but she screams in agony, complaining of a stomach ache, and asking to go to the infirmary. When Dot Pyxis announces the plan to reconquer Trost District, Daz, having barely survived the Trost evacuation support operation prior, begins to panic and starts screaming that he does not want to die. Though Marco Bodt tries to quiet him, a commanding officer overhears and threatens to execute him. Daz replies that execution would be better than being eaten by a Titan. However, Dot Pyxis then announces that all deserters will be pardoned, but have to live with the awareness that they abandoned their families to the Titans. Daz, for all his psychological trauma, is unable to leave his family to that fate, and returns to participate in the operation to plug the breach. It is unknown what becomes of Daz afterwards during the remainder of the battle.

Abilities
He is an unexceptional member of the 104th, but skilled (or lucky) enough to have survived multiple encounters with Titans.