User blog comment:Silva-zoldyck/what if... they caught annie before transforming?/@comment-13234254-20130926135106/@comment-67.177.177.130-20131017064029

I'm gonna call BS on two things: the author didn't give Levi's age and said Levi was "surprisingly old" not that he was "very old". By the standards of the main characters who are roughly around 15 to 16 years of age, this could put Levi anywhere in the range of 25 to 34 years of age. Give or take a year or two to those limits.

Levi came from a life of crime, as is rumored. According to the prequel comics coming out detailing Levi's backstory, he had his current talent back then even as he has it now, if not even stronger than he was then. It is the potential that Erwin saw in him. And that, most likely is back to when he was roughly about Eren's age thus meaning he was just as strong- if not stronger than Mikasa is now. Assuming that Levi grew up in a difficult environment that led to a life of crime, it is no doubt that he learned how to fight and survive at a very young age just as Mikasa did. The only thing placing the ball in Mikasa's court is her blood. That's right. When we get a glimpse into Mikasa's past, we see that she is a descendent of a nearly dead family line. A line that would end with her, should she die. Now, let's go a little Naruto on this for a minute by suggesting that this rare bloodline gives Mikasa extra strength and reflex speed than a normal human being. This would mean she has an advantage over Levi because of this heritage. A family trait of fighters, which makes her adept at fighting anyone- including Titans.

And yes, Eren is a good soldier. But we are told early on that the greatest attribute Eren has is the power of his will. His will to succeed. His will to fight. His will to survive. However, as Armin once said "will alone does not win a battle". Compared to Mikasa and Levi, he is really nothing special. We see this when he gets his leg bitten off mere minutes after flying into battle when the wall was broken a second time. What sets him apart from the others is his Titan shapeshifting ability and his ability to fight in it. It's like a fleshy Gundam.