Djel Sannes

"I believe in the security of the walls...and the king...Our actions weren't misguided...or so I thought...but...So this is how much it hurts...Just torture me to death...It's all...I ever did with my blood-stained life."

- Djel reflecting upon his life

Djel Sanes (ジェル・サネス) is a member of the Military Police Brigade and part of the First Interior Squad.

Appearance
Djel has a short crop of dark-coloured hair and bright eyes. He is usually seen wearing the Military Police uniform but is also seen wearing a white button up shirt, black pants, and white shoes when he is tortured by Hange and Levi.

Personality
Djel is an individual who holds a strong sense of loyalty to the king and keeping the security of the walls, to the point of adhering to the murder and torture of others regardless of who they are to maintain peace. Like most Military Police, he looks down upon those from the Survey Corps, regarding them as lackeys that only waste taxes used to fund them, unlike useful soldiers such as himself. However, he has shown a degree of carelessness and did not take much caution when disposing of people viewed as threats, as seen when he revealed how he was aware of Nick's status in the Wall Cult and how his valuables would be a motive for murder robbery when the Minister's identity was concealed as a chair craftsman without a single piece of luggage, Djel also left signs of torture on Nick's body and evidence of torn skin on his own knuckles.

In spite of that, even when held captive and tortured, he refused to tell his abductors his knowledge about the Reiss Family, believing that even if he were to die that his comrades would carry on their task of protecting their great king and bring down the Survey Corp's coup d'état without him. He believes that humanity was able to come this far in peace and without war was due to the efforts and sacrifices of the first squad Military Police, who would quickly murder these threats, and how people should be grateful towards their actions. Djel has shown a degree of cruelty, admitting that he enjoyed inflicting pain upon the helpless, feeling justified of his actions since he was doing it for the greater good and thought of what he was doing as just and moral. But it is later revealed that Djel has feelings of guilt and regret for his own actions of the past as Levi and Hange continue to torture him, crying to them that they should have fun and continue to hurt him without holding back, finally coming to realize just how much pain he inflicted on others during his life, asking to be tortured to death as compensation.

The Uprising arc
Djel Sanes is a member of the Military Police who along with and his partner, Ralph, are investigating the murder of Minister Nick. They refuse Hange Zoë entrance into the room, claiming that they'll interfere with the crime scene and guard the Minister's door. Djel states that all the belongings within his room were stolen and that the murder was most likely a robbery and how incidents like those have been happening frequently. Hange notices signs of torture on the Minister's body, so they decide to interrogate the military guards.

Djel grabs the front of Hange's jacket forcefully to inspect what squad they came from only to be held back by her assistant, Moblit Berner, who tells him their statuses and what squads they are from. Realizing that both soldiers are from the Survey Corps, Djel turns hostile and asks them about their own duties, and how they should try living outside the walls to help reduce their taxes. As he continues to talk down to Hange and Moblit, he says that he and his partner have been doing their job for decades and that the victim wasn't murdered by a Titan, that a person had killed another, and that if they don't have experiences in capturing a culprit they should go away and count Titans. However Hange and Moblit don't respond to his insults, instead they are shocked to find a soldier from the First Interior Squad out in the southern Trost as they inspect Djel's badge, where the Military Police had no jurisdiction. Djel explains to them that this area was very important and he was stationed there because there weren't enough soldiers around.

Hange grabs Djel's hands and holds them between hers, slightly to his disdain, and praises him for his hard work. Hange shares with him how scared Nick must have been and how he hardly had anything worth to be stolen. Djel tells her considering the victim's status, it's not strange how high priced the iron is that is used in rituals of wall religion. Hange asks Djel how could he have known that since the documents filed on Nick states that he is just a chair craftsman, how he escaped without any luggage or ritual clothing related to the wall church, and how he was too afraid to leave his room in fear of the Titans, revealing that no one should have known everything about him. Djel tells Hange to let go of him, and the latter apologizes for shaking his hands too hard. Hange entrusts the investigation to the Military Police and asks Djel and Ralph to relay a message to the culprits, that even if they believe what they had done was right or were just blatantly following orders, Hange promises to personally make them feel even more pain than Nick had suffered. Noticing the torn skin on Djel's knuckles, Hange concludes that Djel Sanes along with his partner had tortured Nick.

Djel Sanes and Ralph are later seen being led, on a horse carriage, to the location where Eren and Historia are being held by Dimo Reeves unaware that he had been falsely mislead information and was betrayed. According to the plan, the horse slips and the carriage along with Djel Sanes and his partner fall into a deep trench. It is shown that Hange and Levi caught Djel and Ralph before they fell to their deaths, and brought their unconscious bodies back to their hideout. He wakes up tied to a chair in a room with Hange and Levi, with a tray of surgical equipment in front of him.

As promised earlier, Hange begins to torture Djel, pulling off all his fingernails in retaliation to what he had done to Nick, with Djel protesting in pain asking "what torturer peels off a nail without asking any questions?" He is told that the real torture wouldn't start until after all his nails were pulled off, with her breaking a finger in the process. Levi begins to start punching Djel in the face until he deems that they had done everything he had done to Nick, breaking his nose and causing his right eye to swell shut. Hange then shows the captive all the nails they had pulled off from him on a plate and expressed how difficult it was at first but they got the hang of it halfway through, apologizing for not being as good at peeling them off as he was and asks him how many he had to pull off to get that good. Djel responds by saying too many to count since people have a lot of nails, admitting that he's ripped a lot of skin as well. He did it to maintain peace.

Djel begins to question Levi and Hange about if they knew why there has never been a war within the walls and if they were aware of who built this peace they both enjoy and take for granted. He tells them it was because of him and his squad, who protected everyone with their filthy hands, by taking out those who could potentially disturb the peace from a teacher too smart for his own good, an old man who made guns that threatened the king, a couple who attempted to fly in an air balloon, a whore from a backwoods farm, and many others. By saying this he reveals that he was present at the murder of Historia's mother, Captain Erwin's father, and Armin's parents. He yells at them to be grateful to the MP's First Interior Squad and that humanity wouldn't have been able to come so far without them, only to receive a dull and sarcastic respond from Hange. Djel expresses how he wished that the Survey Corps had been eliminated when it was still young and how they were the biggest pests threatening their peace. Levi dryly tells him that he gets that he worked hard to do his job and began to break his nose even further, Levi tells him that they are starting their torture now and questioned him about the Reiss Family.

Djel informs them that officially their connection to the royal family is weak, before Levi asks him about why a family line such as that would have the authority to proclaim the fact that Titans live inside the walls and if it was of their doing that they are using wall religion to keep everyone away from the walls. Taking too long to answer, Hange pulls out one of Djel's teeth as punishment. With tears in his eyes, Djel tells them that he's never seen people who take so much pleasure in inflicting pain on others before screaming at them to have as much fun torturing him as they want if they love violence so much. He claims that he does as well, telling them to keep having fun at his expense and that they had no need to hold back since what they were doing was just before asking Hange if they feel incredible since they can think of themselves doing something great. Djel tells Hange and Levi that they are monsters, that Titans look more adorable compared to them, but they don't scare him. He has the king that he's protected all these years with his companions and talks about how he believes in them, before breaking down in tears asking them to just torture him to death as he begins to doubt if his actions of the past were really for the greater good.

Hange and Levi leave the room to take a break and Djel lets go of his bladder. He realizes that this is the end for him but trusts that his comrades would find a way to deal with the Survey Corps, hoping that they could protect the walls and king from war. He hears the voice of his companion Ralph from outside the door, fearing that Hange and Levi were going to torture him as well, only to figure out that they had finished interrogating him and that by ripping off only one fingernail, Ralph had told them everything. As Levi tells him how pitiful he was that Djel had already lost all his fingernails and still refused to talk, Ralph claims that he doesn't care and it's his own decision and Djel is seen visually upset by his friend's remark. Ralph begins to insult his own companion for being a pain to everyone, asking Hange and Levi to just kill him, to which they respond to him that after they confirm the information they received from him with Djel's they'll allow them to room together, never realizing that Ralph was forced to read from a script that Hange and Levi had made, words that were not his own. After finishing with Ralph, Hange and Levi later enter the room again, with Hange expressing how they'll try to be the best torturers they can be, holding up surgical equipment, telling him that they'd torture him to death just as he wished, asking him which testes he wouldn't need, his left or right. He eventually cracks and he reveals that the Reiss family is actually the real royal family. He is later put in the same cell as Ralph where he tries to strangle him for betraying the King without hesitation, but is stopped by Hange who tells him that Ralph hasn't revealed any information, but was instead used as a means to have Djel reveal everything. This causes Djel to call Hange and the others demons, with Hange replying that Nick surely thought the same of his murderers and proceeds yelling at Djel, telling him to blame himself for his current state. A crying Djel wishes Hange good luck, but also states that one day, there will be someone to take on their role again.

After Rod Reiss is finally defeated and Historia is crowned as the queen, Djel is seen inside a prison. His wounds have healed and he has a relaxed look on his face.

Relationships

 * Ralph - Djel's companion and friend, the pair was almost always seen together and appeared to be close. When Djel was captured he trusted that Ralph and his companions would continue on with their tasks and bring down the Survey Corps after his death, showing concern and fear for his friend when he found it he had been captured as well. Djel was very upset to hear his companion, blatantly insulting him about being a pain, not caring about his injured condition and asking for him to be killed, never fully realizing that was possibly never Ralph's true feelings, as he was being forced to read from a script. Upon meeting him again, Djel attempts to choke Ralph, however, he soon learns that Ralph was forced to read from a script and it was only Djel who revealed all the secrets to the Survey Corps.
 * Kenny Ackerman - Despite the fact that they were very close to the king, the only seen interaction between them was during their fist encounter, during a speech given by Uri to the Wall Cult. Kenny sarcastically apologized to Sanes for the members of the Military Police he murdered in the past, though Sanes did not seem to hold a grudge against him; and even admired the fact that Uri made him his bodyguard despite that. Kenny noticed Sanes' infatuation with the king, and Sanes also observed that Kenny was very attached to him too. Kenny remembered Sanes during his last moments, when he thought of him and his devotion for the king as one of the reasons people live for.

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