Hange Zoë

Hange Zoë (ハンジ・ゾエ) is a high standing, veteran member of the Survey Corps and a squad leader (分隊長) in charge of the fourth squad. She is an interim commander and the successor to Erwin Smith if he is forced to abandon or become unable to continue in his position as commander of the Survey Corps. 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.

Appearance
Hange has long, dark, unkempt brown hair that is kept tied up in a high pony tail with bangs parted down the middle. She wears square, thick-rimmed glasses that have bands that go around her head to keep them from dislodging during combat, but when out of combat she wears typical thin oval shaped glasses. Hange also has wide, brown eyes with a slight golden tint to them. Hange is seen wearing the normal Survey Corps uniform with a yellow button up shirt underneath and when on mission she wears the traditional green Survey Corps cloak.

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 seen impatiently waiting to leave Trost District for the 49th expedition outside the walls, wanting to capture a Titan to study. She tries to convince Levi Ackerman and Mike Zacharius to help her capture one but they both dismiss her. After the expedition has begins, she attempts to convince the commander, Erwin Smith, to authorize a Titan capture operation, but he refuses. She then takes her frustration out on Oluo Bozado, telling him how important it is to study targets if they are going to win while choking him.

After this, Titans are sighted in the vicinity and as the corps prepare themselves, Hange runs ahead and attempts to lead a Titan to the walls. The Titan briefly chases her but suddenly changes course and runs to a spot in the woods. Hange follows it and tries to communicate with it, but the Titan does not pay attention. Taking advantage of the Titan's distraction, Oluo attempts a surprise attack, but stops when Hange asks him to, and is caught by the Titan. However, Levi kills it and saves Oluo, to Hange's disappointment.

Hange and the Special Operations Squad find an arm band left on the ground, belonging to a Survey Corps soldier named Ilse Langnar, who died a year ago during the 34th expedition. Levi also finds her notebook where she described her encounter with a Titan and how it spoke to her.

After reading the notebook, Hange returns Ilse's belongings to her parents and is able to convince Erwin to authorize capture operations. A short while after, with the help of the Special Operations Squad, Hange is able to successfully capture Titans with no casualties taken.

Battle of Trost District arc
Hange is seen leaving Trost District on another 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. 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. Hange states that she hoped to see a Deviant Type Titan this time and how wonderful it would be. Levi tells her that there is already an abnormal titan here and when Hange excitedly looks for it he grabs her head and states that the abnormal is her. After, the Survey Corps leave for their mission. Hange is seen excitedly flying through an abandoned town using her 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 she's not going to hurt it and when the titan swings for Hange she easily evades it and congratulates it on trying. Hange then happily states it is their turn and kills the titan then hopes off of it, landing on the ground. She turns to the titan's body and assure it that her 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 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.

Later, when Eren and the Special Operations Squad are at the former Survey Corps HQ, Hange explains that she is in charge of experimenting with captured Titans Sonny and Bean and 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 Langnar when it was discovered that Bean and Sonny were murdered. When taken to the scene of their corpse Hange has a melt down and cries at the loss of the Titans.

She later 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. When she excitedly runs to Eren and touches his Titan arm, she burns her hands on the exposed muscle. When Hange finds a teaspoon being clutched by Eren's Titan arm, she later discovers 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 is present during the capture of The Female Titan and mockingly tells her that the Special Target Capture Weapon is designed so that the more her wounds heal the more her joints will be immobilized. She then laughs and wonders what is taking Levi and Mike so long to draw out whoever is inside.

When Eld Jinn theorizes why they were not told of the plan to capture The Female Titan in The Forest of Giant Trees, he speculates that Erwin only told those who were in the corps before the fall of Wall Maria to be sure they weren't spies and Hange is among those mentioned.

During Annie Leonhart's rampage through Stohess District, Hange again uses the special target capture weapons to halt her. After capturing Annie, Hange goes to the ground and holds her sword to Annie's eye. She tells her she is too far in to get Titans to devour and free her this time. She then states that she will be the one to devour her and that she will get all the information she can from her. Annie then shakes free and Hange safely returns to a roof top stating that they didn't have enough traps and she then orders the soldiers to follow her. When Annie heads for an open area Hange tells the soldiers to split up and work their way around.

Later, Hange stops Keiji from continuing to try and break open the crystal Annie presumably put around herself to avoid capture. She orders the crystal containing Annie be removed to safety and worries for the future of the Survey Corps after this failure of a mission. She then notices Mikasa is still on the wall, and is surprised to see that she has found a Titan within the hole. This makes Hange speculate if there are Titans all throw the walls. She is then approached by Pastor Nick who begs the soldiers to stop sunlight from hitting the Titan's face to prevent it from awakening.

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 Nick and holds him over the side of the wall as a threat, demanding that Nick explain why there are Titans inside the Wall.

Hange comes to the conclusion that his religion has been so opposed to Wall modifications because of what they know is inside the Wall. She claims that the people of the Survey Corps sacrifice their lives hoping that one day it will mean something, and because of this they have the right to know what they saw inside the wall and why it's there.

However, Pastor Nick refuses to reveal anything and clearly shows that he would rather die than tell his secrets, but Hange decides to let him live and throws him back onto the wall.

Clash of the Titans arc
Twenty hours after Titans are sighted in Wall Rose, Hange is seen on a carriage with Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Levi, and Pastor Nick. When Armin questions the reasoning for Nick being there Hange explains that Nick and the Wall Cult are keeping secrets about the Titans within the wall. When Eren lashes out at him Hange explains that Nick is now considering talking, so he is going to see what the effects of the current situation are doing to the people and she explains that he is probably keeping quiet because there is a motive greater than saving humanity. It is revealed that Levi is holding Nick at gunpoint and he states that he will easily keep an eye on Nick.

Levi then asks why Hange is fiddling with a rock in her hands and she explain that it is a piece of hardened flesh that fell off Annie when she was trapped in Stohess and that it hasn't evaporated. When she says this Armin is shocked and questions it as Hange states that when compared to the wall material it is the same. they then theorize that the entire wall is made up of hardened Titan flesh. Armin suggests that if an operation were to be carried out at night, they may be able to make it to Wall Maria and have Eren plug the hole with his Titan body if he could harden it.

Pastor Nick, after seeing the state of the citizens due to the Wall Rose breach, finally tells her and the other members of the Survey Corps about Historia and that she knows more about the walls having Titans in them. She went under an assumed name after she was caught in the middle of her relative's dispute, and will tell the corps more about it if she chooses to. When Eren, Mikasa, and Armin hear that Krista Lenz is a fake name, they are shocked and run off to find her. Hange states she doesn't know all the new recruits from the 104th Trainees Squad and Mikasa describes her as the girl always with Ymir. This greatly shocks Hange and Levi as the Titan that spoke with Ilse Langnar spoke about someone named Ymir.

After Castle Utgard falls, Hange and her squad come to save and evacuate the reaming soldiers. She is shocked when she realizes that Ymir is a Titan Shifter and is worried for the wounds she sustained after fighting off the Titans.

The surviving soldiers are brought on top of the walls and Hange overviews the situation on Ymirs wounds and speaks of her value to humanity to Historia Reiss after learning her name is not Krista Lenz. When Hannes arrives with the Garrison vanguard, Hange gives orders to stand by in Trost as there is no breach. When Reiner Braun reveals to Eren that he and Bertolt Hoover are the Colossal and Armored Titans, Eren has a flash back to Hange briefing them on two suspects of Colossal and Armored Titan identities. Hange explains that Reiner and Bertolt came from the same area as Annie and that they were on the right flank of the expedition where Annie appeared as The Female Titan. When everyone dismisses them being affiliated with her, Armin recalls that Reiner drew out Eren's location from him and probably wrote it on Annie's hand when she captured him. Hange then states that they re not to know that they are suspected.

After the transformation of The Colossal and Armored Titans, Hange directs soldiers fighting the Colossal atop the wall while Eren, transformed, fights the Armored on the ground. After dodging a swing by it, Hange attempt to launch and attack on the half transformed Colossal but it admits a huge burst of constant hot steam and Hange then tells her soldiers to stand by until it stops. Hange then takes the first squad with her down the wall and directs their attack at the Armored Titan.

Hange leads an effort to back up Eren in his battle against the Armored Titan. She strategizes with Eren when she jumps on his shoulder and tells him to break Reiner's legs. Hange then remembers history concerning armor and how knights needed to be able to move. She 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 after he lets out a loud scream, such as Annie's scream to attract Titans in the forest, the Colossal Titan drops from the Wall on top of Eren and the soldiers.

It is revealed that the Colossal Titan disappeared when it fell off the wall and that Reiner and Bertolt kidnapped Ymir and Eren. Those who were on the lower part of the wall were hit with a heat wave and wind pressure from his fall. Hange is heavily injured and unable to move at this time and it has been five hours since Eren was taken. Erwin arrives with reinforcements and some of the Military Police Brigade. Hange then crawls over to a soldier and grabs their ankle, weakly telling them to give her a map. Still laying on her stomach, Hange explains that they probably went to a nearby Forest of Giant Trees. Though it was small she says, they are probably exhausted from fighting and need to be shielded from other Titans. Hange states that they have until nightfall to reach them.

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 were 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 is present in a meeting with Squad Levi discussing the idea of using Eren's Titan hardening abilities to seal the hole in Wall Maria, and expresses her desire to perform some experiments about it. She then sadly informs them that Pastor Nick had been founded murdered in his room. Immediately suspicious, Hange went to the crime scene and interrogated the two members of the Military Police guarding the site, Djel Sanes and Ralph, while pretending to simply be an old friend of the victim.

Upon observing Nick's corpse, Hange was able to note tell-tale signs of torture on him and wounds on Sanes' hands that suggested he had taken part in the beating. Though pretending to believe the official story that Nick was killed in a robbery, Hange told Sanes that once she finds the culprits, she will inflict them even more pain than what they caused to Nick.

Hange is later seen performing the experiments to Eren's Titan form, which looks heavily deformed and lies unconscious on the ground. Hange screams desperately asking him for answers, but having received none, she and Mikasa intervene and try to free him from the Titan, whose flesh is strongly attached to his face. Seeing this, Hange asks Moblit Berner to make a sketch of it. Mikasa cuts the Titan's flesh with her blade and Hange declares the experiment to be over.

After Eren regains consciousness with no memory of what happened, Hange explains to him the details of the experiment, which during the first hour went good, with Eren showing control of his Titan and response to commands; though being unable to harden and speak.

However, at some point and for no apparent reason, Eren looked in pain and wrote on the ground "my father... to me", which intrigues Hange. After that, Eren left his Titan form and transformed two more times, though in each occasion looking more tired and his Titan being smaller and more deformed, culminating with her and Mikasa having to release him.

Despite these failures, Hange expresses optimism that they were able to get useful information about Eren's versatility and limitations. She states that the Wall Cult should have information about the process of hardening, since they are aware that the Walls are made of hardened Titans, and trusts that Erwin, who is in his way to the capital, can find out something.

After squad Levi kidnaps Djel Sanes, she is seen alongside Levi preparing to fulfill her promise about torturing him.

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 crueller 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 first 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.

At the Berg newspaper headquarters in Stohess District, writer Roy and new writer Beaure discuss why the newspaper lies and makes the Military Police sound like heroes and slanders the Survey Corps, saying they killed MPs who were defending civilians. Roy states that he used to be full of passion for this job but he gained friends, family, and things he wanted to protect and care about more than his own problems. He then notice Beaure looking startled and sees Hange sitting on a desk between them. She introduces herself as a squad leader from the Survey Corps and states she now knows the newspaper is fiction controlled by the government as Moblit enters through the door. Hange claims she was going to break their hands so they could no longer write but she sees they are in a position of fear, trying to protect their families. Beaure begins taking notes as Molbit twists his hand and Hange tells him to stop over reacting. She then picks up the pen and asks the men to run a report on them for just one day.

Later, Flegel Reeves is seen cornered by three MPs and one of them points a shot gun at him. Flegel asks to know why they killed his father before he dies and the soldier tells him that he betrayed them for the Survey Corps. Flegel wonders if he had been asks to kidnap someone from the corps and when the MP agrees he asks the what the consequence for saying no would be. The MP soldier states he would have been killed and that he could have been safe if he didn't care about the people of Trost District so much. Flegel states that they need and points upward as Hange and Moblit crash down on two of them.

The first MP fires at Hange but she dodges the bullet and punches the soldier out, scream that her hand hurt. Hange states that they did it an the MP sees many Trost citizens emerge from the 'abandoned' buildings. The MP soldier shouts out that their witnesses to the truth don't matter and that they'll suffer until Flegel sits on his head and claims he will take over the Reeves company. Hange congratulates him and walks over to Roy and Beaure. Beaure says they should clear the Survey Corps name but Roy denies him and says he can't for the sake of their co-workers and families safety. He says that anyone who disobeys will disappear, just like the miner who tried to dig under the wall. He asks Hange is she really has the right to make him kill everyone with this article and she stares at is weary eyes in contemplation.

Hange, along side Marlo Freudenberg and Hitch Dreyse, later finds Levi and his squad after they attacked the Military Police headquarters and Levi attempted to beat information out of a captured MP. She tells them that the false charges against the Survey Corps have been dropped and that their actions were seen as legitimate self-defense. She goes on to tell them that the royal capital and the administrative district are now under Commander-in-Chief Darius Zacly's control and finally that there has been no counter rebellion so far. As the squad rejoices in their regained freedom, Hange remembers Bearue convincing Roy to make him print the proper article, and how Flegel, Dimo Reeves, Pixis, and Erwin's action made this possible. Levi then admits to Hange that the three soldiers from her squad that were with him had died and that he did not know where Eren and Historia were. Hange then presents them with a tip and tells them she has an idea of where they are and claims they will end the battle there.

After getting Berg newspapers to distribute the truth about the Military Police and the Survey Corps, Hange and Moblit went to a stable and met with Marlo and Hitch. She introduced them as friends of the 'short guy' and asked if they would take them to him. On the way they were met with a crowd of villagers who gave them information on the Reiss family. After learning this Hange sent Moblit to deliver the news to Erwin and then met up with Levi and his squad. After explaining that Eren may be eaten in order to have his Titan shifting powers taken, she explains a report commissioned by Erwin of a survey on the Reiss family grounds. She explains that if they're with them, Eren and Historia are likely on their grounds and that some Survey Corps soldiers disguised as farmers were able to gather intel on the family and most of what they got led back to and incident five years ago where Rod Reiss, who already had five children, had an illegitimate child with a servant.

Hange retells that the night Wall Maria fell their chapel was robbed by bandits and then burned by the ground, all of the family was massacred except for Rod who immediately rebuilt the chapel which Hange found suspicious. She also speculated that normal thieves wouldn't destroy a stone chapel with fire, they would just take what they wanted and leave. Hange then says that a few days later, Historia's mother, Alma, was killed by Kenny Ackerman and Rod began trying to make plans to meet with her, Hange states that this may be why the Reiss family wanted her. Hange states that it would be strange if Titans weren't involved in this and that it is definitely worth checking out for Eren could soon be eaten.

While Marlo and Hitch ask a local for information, Hange, Levi, and his squad sit outside on the horse wagon. Levi explains that Kenny will be their biggest threat and describes him as Levi himself if he were on the enemy side. Hange states that though me may be well trained, if the previous day was his first time using the Anti-Personnel Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear in battle, there may be a significant opening. Hange then asks Levi why he has so little information regarding Kenny as they previously lived together but Levi says that he didn't even know his last name was Ackerman until yesterday. He then questions Mikasa's possible relation to him and asks her if she ever had a moment where she felt a power suddenly awoke inside her. Remembering her adrenaline rush when she killed the bandit threatening Eren's life, she agrees and Levi states that he too had a moment like that.

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 and when 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 translation. 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 and the live-action movie on the other hand, have consistently depicted Hange as female.

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