Annie Leonhart

Annie Leonhart (アニ・レオンハート), formerly a member of the 104th Trainees Squad who later enrolled in the Military Police Brigade after their graduation, is a Titan Shifter and a member of a mysterious organization keen on destroying the Walls for unknown reasons.

Human Form
Annie is a girl of considerably short height with a small yet a very muscular build and physique. She has moderately short hair that is often tied at the back, with her right fringe mainly draping over the right side of her face (though she tends to push it to the side on occasion, possibly for better visibility). She has blonde hair, blue eyes, a pronounced nose, and pale complexion. Her hair color is noticeably paler than most other blonde-haired characters and when untied, her hair reaches down the nape of her neck. Her eyes, although of considerable size and proportion, often have a sullen vibe to its appearance. Annie's casual attire mainly consists of a hooded sweatshirt underneath a jacket accompanied by dark gray pants. She is often seen in the Training Corps uniform and then the Military Police Brigade uniform after graduation. Though Annie often wears hooded sweatshirts as part of her standard attire, she wears her signature white hooded sweatshirt as part of her standard military attire. During her missions as the Female Titan, it is implied that she always wears her ring that has a small fold-able blade on her right index finger; using it as her primary source to cause self-injury in order to transform into her Female Titan form.

Titan Form
Annie's appearance as a Titan changes quite drastically, though her overall physique and facial features remain mostly the same. Her body consists mainly of exposed muscle, in which there is a noticeable limited amount of skin coverage across her body. Along with a massive increase in height, her face is laden with muscle lining, notably underneath her cheeks, giving her the capability to stretch her mouth far more than it seems. Compared to the majority of other Titans, Annie's Titan form seems much more physically fit and stronger, bearing a lean build with visible muscle definition.

Personality
Annie is considered to be isolated, exclusionary type and friendships don't come to her easily. She is apathetic and somnolent with little desire to put in any effort into meaningless disciplines or activities, and instead focuses exclusively on making it into the Military Police Brigade to obtain an easy life. Yet, somehow she does seem to hold some strange fascination and even feelings of respect towards people that hold a deep sense of duty and righteousness - in those people who do care and who can devote their lives and even die for causes they believe in.

Despite Annie's usual cold and calm demeanor, she has been shown to emote her feelings in various ways. She was clearly angered when Reiner teased her about her constant avoidance in hand-to-hand combat training. Despite her seeming callousness, she has expressed a level of guilt and shock, most notably when apologizing to a certain corpse after the battle of Trost. Annie is also known to be very dedicated in her mission as a Titan Shifter, to the point that she shed tears when she failed to capture Eren. Though she is seemingly indifferent towards her capability as a competent hand-to-hand combat fighter, she remains proud of her skills and even seems to enjoy the very notion of fighting as deduced by Eren. The only time that she is seen as genuinely smiling in a caring manner is when she expressed a curious interest in teaching Eren how to fight in her unique fighting style.

History
Originally from the same village as Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover, Annie had rigorously trained with her father ever since she was young. At unknown point, her father pleads her to forgive him, for yet unknown reasons. Thinking it may be too late, he tells Annie to treat everyone as her enemy and asks her to promise him that she will come back home.

The Fall of Shiganshina arc
After the destruction of Shiganshina District and subsequent Wall Maria's fall, young Annie is among the refugees to receive her food rations.

104th Trainees Squad arc
Annie later appears as an upcoming member of the 104th Trainees Squad, watching other trainees to be undergoing Keith Shadis' "rite of passage". However, the instructor doesn't speak a word to Annie and many others as their faces prove that they've already been through hell on Earth, according to another instructor.

Two years after that, during the trainees' training of hand-to-hand combat, Annie is seen sneaking away, with Reiner confronting her for that. He has Eren to face Annie, much to her apparent anger. However, the latter effortlessly takes the former down and Reiner soon follows him, ending up on the ground as well. Eren praises Annie for her technique and even though she reveals it was her father to teach her the move, as Eren shows interest, she dismisses the thought and claims such training to be useless and continues mocking the entire military system and even her father's ideals. Annie later watches as Eren uses her move to pacify Jean. She then expresses the will to teach Eren the proper way to perform it. Annie continues her training until she successfully graduates at the rank of four.

Battle of Trost District arc
Shortly after the graduation, the Colossal Titan appears in Trost District and breaks through the outer gate, letting Titans into the town. In spite of the evacuation being finished, the trainees are unable to return due to insufficient gas, much to everyone's despair. In this situation, Annie is suddenly approached by Mikasa, looking for Eren. She is then surprised to hear that he, along with most of his squad, were supposedly killed in a battle. Trying to keep her cool, Mikasa attempts to shock everyone into action, with Annie and others rushing after her to reach the HQ and replenish their gas. They eventually manage to get there, albeit with casualties.

With the mysterious Rogue Titan fending off most of the Titans attacking the HQ, Annie and others attempt to get rid of the small Titans inside. After the plan's success, the group witnesses the Rouge Titan being eaten by other Titans. Annie overhears Jean and Reiner arguing about whether to take an action or not and proclaims that the Rogue Titan should be kept alive as it might serve as a powerful ally. At this point, she learns about Eren's Titan Shifting ability after Eren emerges from the nape of the Rogue Titan's neck.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the soldiers, Eren ends up being questioned and eventually attempted to be killed by Kitts Verman due to his Titan ability. Annie and the rest overhear the lightning strike that is caused by Eren's second, albeit half-formed, transformation into his Rogue Titan form to defend Mikasa and Armin from cannon fire. This alarms Reiner enough for him to rush near the vicinity of the lightning strike with Jean, Annie and Bertolt quickly following suit, at which point they witness the scene of Eren's Titan form surrounded by soldiers of the Stationary Guard. They watch as Armin attempts to persuade the soldiers that Eren is strategically important for mankind until Dot Pixis arrives and stops Verman. In the aftermath of the Battle of Trost, Annie is seen apologizing to an unknown corpse as she, Reiner, and Bertolt assist in cleaning up the remaining corpses of other soldiers. Later, as they watch the burning corpses, Annie and others are asked by Jean about their choice of the military branch they want to join as he exclaims that he will enlist into the Survey Corps.

The Female Titan arc
Soon after Eren's enlistment into the Survey Corps, the two Titans captured for research, Sonny and Bean, are killed and the Military Police Brigade check the Three Dimensional Maneuver Gears of the trainees. During this time, Armin, Annie and Connie Springer discuss which military branch they want to join. When Annie reveals that she will go to the Military Police Brigade, Connie considers joining them too and asks for her opinion. Annie responds telling him that it's his decision to make, not hers. When she learns Armin plans to join the Survey Corps, she asks him what he would do if he was ordered to die. He tells her if the reasons are good, then he'll do so. Annie thinks he's weak physically, but yet he's very strong at heart. Though Annie had offered Marco Bott's 3DMG for inspection as her own, unbeknownst to her this prompts Armin to become suspicious of her. Ultimately during the Survey Corps draft, Annie leaves to join the Military Police.

During the 57th Expedition of the Survey Corps, Annie makes her first appearance in her Female Titan form as she leads a group of Titans to capture Eren, wiping out the majority of the scouts on the right side of the Survey Corps' formation. Advancing further inside the formation, Annie encounters Armin. Although she corners Armin, recognizing his face under the hood she decides to spare his life and continues her search for Eren. Armin, Jean and Reiner join together and deduce that she aims to capture Eren, realizing that Annie may have acted upon false information as part of Erwin's plan. The three are able to deduce that it is more likely for Eren to be within the center column; the safest location in the formation.

Armin, Jean and Reiner coordinate a plan together in an attempt to distract Annie to buy the other soldiers some time to regroup, but before they are able to attack her, she is able to outmaneuver them in which she manages to incapacitate Armin. Although Jean engages her in combat, her resilience and awareness of a Titan's weakness allows her to gain the advantage as she is constantly covering the nape of her Titan form's neck. Before Annie is able to kill Jean, a bloodied Armin attempts to distract her by refering to Eren by the nickname of "suicidal bastard" while falsely claiming his death. This causes Annie to halt her movements in state of hesitation and confusion, allowing Jean the time to escape just as Reiner attempts to attack her. Annie manages to catch Reiner in mid-air, briefly toying with him before seemingly crushing him. Much to Jean and Armin's surprise, Reiner breaks free by slicing off her fingers, and manages to come to Armin's aid leaving Annie as she sits motionless. Just as the trio attempts to flee, Annie begins to head in the direction of the Survey Corps' center column formation, in which Armin deduced that Annie may have learned of Eren's position in the formation.

Annie continues to head in the direction of Eren's location, coming across various soldiers of the Survey Corps, killing them in various brutal ways. Though the formation heads into the Forest of Giant Trees, Annie follows suit and eventually catches up to Eren and the Special Operations Squad as they are attempting to flee on horseback. Annie is eventually lured into a trap in which her movements are halted by artillery fire armed with harpoons. This causes Annie to temporarily halt her pursuit as Erwin and members of the Survey Corps attempt to damage her hands in various ways with the intention of pulling her out of her Titan form. Constant provocations by Levi causes her to let out a roar which causes multiple Titans to converge on her position. Much to Erwin's surprise, the roar was intended to provoke the Titans to devour her Female Titan form, thus causing Annie to escape from her Titan form undetected via use of her 3D Maneuver Gear. Just as Erwin orders all personnel to retreat, Annie later dons a Survey Corps cloak as a form of disguise, signaling a green flare so as to lure Eren and the Special Operations Squad towards her direction.

As Annie meets up with the group, she is mistaken for Levi though not for long, as Gunther questions her identity. Annie makes quick work of Gunther, killing him using her blades. As Eren and the Special Operations Squad continue to flee, Annie transforms into the Female Titan for a second time, thus continuing her pursuit to capture Eren. Although Eren initially wishes to engage her in his Rogue Titan form, the Special Operations Squad manage to convince him to put his faith in them as they begin to engage Annie in combat. Although seemingly gaining the advantage to the point of injuring her and cornering her onto a tree, the Special Operations Squad are suddenly outsmarted by Annie as she displays her ability of selective regeneration and her ability to generate a crystalline substance to protect her nape.

Annie systematically kills Eld, Petra and Oluo, causing Eren to turn back and finally engage her in his Rogue Titan form. The two engage in a brutal fight using hand-to-hand combat techniques, in which Annie succeeds in incapacitating Eren's Rogue Titan form with her signature kick. Tired and exhausted from the battle, Eren is captured by Annie by keeping him inside the mouth of her Female Titan form. Although Annie begins to flee, Mikasa gives chase while continuously attacking her in a fit of rage after having witnessed Eren's capture by Annie's Female Titan form. Mikasa is then joined by Levi, with the two working together to wound Annie as she continues to flee. Although Annie attempts to fight back, she begins to get overwhelmed by the barrage of attacks inflicted by the two, allowing Levi to incapacitate her while gaining the chance to slice her Titan form's mouth and rescue Eren from within. As Mikasa and Levi decide to retreat with the unconscious Eren, Levi witnesses Annie's Female Titan form as it sits motionless while crying.

Some time later, Annie awakens in her room in the Stohess District of Wall Shina. Her hair is depicted as having the same appearance as the Female Titan's when not tied up in a bun. Upon arrival with other rookie members of the Military Police Brigade, Annie is teased by Hitch and Marlowe Freudenberg, but Boris Feulner tells them to leave her alone believing that she hasn't recovered from battle and is the only one who has real combat experience. The group is then given an assignment in which they are to guard a Survey Corps convoy with permission to use their 3D Maneuver Gear. Soon after departing for her assignment, Armin approaches her and asks for help in hiding Eren until they can convince the king to better protect the walls. Annie reluctantly agrees whilst putting on a ring and escorts them to a place where they can hide.

When Eren and Armin attempt to convince her to join them in an underground passageway, she refuses for supposedly feeling frightened, all while expressing her suspicion towards their plan. As Eren and Armin continue to plea for Annie to join them and prove herself innocent, Mikasa, growing tired of their discussion, takes off her hood and draws out her blades while revealing her 3D Maneuver Gear. She openly refers to Annie as the Female Titan, taunting her to fight just as two had fought before. Their suspicion is confirmed when Annie noticeably smiles in relief and acceptance of their discovery of her identity as the Female Titan; further proven by her refusal to enter the passage, where she cannot transform. Annie praises Armin's efforts for betting on his plan, declaring afterwards that her gamble has only just begun. After Armin fires a signal, disguised Survey Corps members come out of their hiding places, and restrain Annie. Seemingly captured and immobile, she still manages to flick her thumb to open a small blade hidden in her ring and wound her self, thereby allowing her to transform into her Female Titan form; thus killing those restraining her in the process. Now, resuming her attempts to capture Eren, Armin and Mikasa realize how desperate she is, and try to get him to fight her. Overcoming his initial hesitation, Eren transforms into his Rogue Titan form and takes Annie on in her Female Titan form.

Annie takes flight towards the wall soon after Eren transforms. She is pursued by him, Mikasa and several Survey Corps squads. The chase continues until Annie reaches a flat land with no buildings. Having nowhere to hook their 3D Maneuver Gear anchors, the Survey Corps squads and Mikasa are forced to take a long detour, while Eren gives chase alone. Annie uses this opportunity for one last ditch attempt at capturing Eren, a brief struggle between the two of them ensues, but she fails again. After that, she continues to try and escape by scaling the wall. Armin, upon realizing that catching up with her by using 3D Maneuver Gear would be impossible, instructs Titan Eren to throw Mikasa upward, towards Annie. His plan works and Mikasa reaches Annie moments before she is about to reach the top of the wall. Not hesitating in the slightest, she cuts off all of the fingers of Annie's Female Titan form, leaving her struggling to hold on. Mikasa then tells her to fall down and pushes her off via the head. Eren, in his Titan form, holds down the body as both the soldiers, cut into the flesh and try to extract Annie. Upon extracting Annie from the Titan body, they find out Annie is completely enclosed inside a presumably indestructible crystal.

While Annie is trapped inside the crystal, one of the Survey Corps members, Keiji, tries to break the crystal to extract her, but Hange stops him, thinking that if the crystal is destroyed, it would kill Annie, and tells both the Military Police Brigade and the rest of the Survey Crops to take her underground and detain her. In the aftermath, Hange orders a background check run on her. This leads to the discovery that she shares history with Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover, who fall under suspicion as her accomplices. Armin also comes to realize that Reiner's near-fatal encounter with the Female Titan was a plot, and that he had been Annie's source for inside information. He theorizes that Annie froze up after being wounded by Reiner, because she had been reading the information Reiner cut into her palm. Her capture is eventually revealed to her comrades, when Armin bluffs and claims she is being tortured for information.

Abilities
Out of the 104th Trainees Squad members, Annie is one of the strongest fighters alongside Mikasa and Eren. She was ranked as one of the top 5 trainees at 4th position, meaning a degree of skill in several military combat forms.


 * 3D Maneuver Gear: As her graduation rank implies, Annie possesses a great amount of skill at controlling the 3D Maneuver Gear. With the use of the gear's blades only, she was shown to effortlessly kill a Titan inside the Military HQ at Trost District in order to help the soldiers to refill their gas and then proceeded to slay another Titan that Connie failed to dispose of. Later, Annie was also able to utilite the gear to kill Gunther Schultz even after being considerably exhausted after using her Titan Shifting abilities.


 * Martial Arts: Annie is noteworthy for her unique fighting style, with a strong focus on minimizing the advantages of larger, stronger opponents through kicks, throws, and holds. She notes that her father taught her this style, and during their time in training together, she teaches it to Eren Yeager.

Titan Shifting
Like Eren, Annie displays an ability to transform into a 14 meter Titan, referred to as the Female Titan (女型の巨人). She uses this form to wipe out military formations the Survey Corps uses during their attempt to retake Wall Maria. It is unknown how Annie acquired her Titan powers and how she became so proficient with using them. She is far more experienced in using her Titan form compared to Eren, who had only discovered his Titan powers recently. She is one of the more skilled Titan Shifters, sporting a variety of presumably learned powers not exhibited by any other Titan Shifters. Unlike most Titan Shifters who tire to the point of collapsing, she is able to preserve stamina and is fit enough to utilize the 3D Maneuver Gear to kill experienced soldiers before transforming for the second time - something never seen done by any known Titan Shifters thus far.


 * Regeneration: In her Titan form, Annie is capable of healing any injuries and even regenerating any parts of her body that were possibly lost in a battle. However, she takes this ability to a new level, being able to focus this ability on certain parts of her body, healing the chosen injuries at a much faster pace as opposed to the automatic, simultaneous regeneration of all the damaged parts. This has been proved to be useful in battle as shown when Annie chose to regenerate only one eye to see the approaching Special Operations Squad and to defeat them, using the moment of surprise.


 * Crystallization: Annie has shown the ability to harden parts of her skin at choice, something that is similar to the ability of the Armored Titan, as stated by Erwin. Annie employs this ability in various situations for various effects. The armor is hard enough for the soldiers' blades to be unable to cut through it and thus Annie can effectively defend herself against any attacks, even those coming from Eren in his Titan form. She also uses this ability for destructive attacks, being able to heavily damage Eren's Titan body, by hardening her fists or legs. This way she also avoids hurting herself as opposed to Eren, who easily loses even entire limbs after performing attacks in his Titan form. Upon capture and extraction, Annie used this ability to generate a cocoon of incredibly hard and durable crystal, something that no known technology can yet break into, to trap herself in so as to avoid being interrogated.


 * Titan Control: Although the extents and limitations of this power are unknown, Annie was able to lead an army of Titans to destroy the Survey Corps formation in order to capture Eren. It was also assumed by Armin that Annie was the one to lead Titans into the human towns once the Colossal and Armored Titans broke through the walls. She has also shown an ability to attract Titans, as upon hearing her shouts, all nearby Titans ignored any other humans and rushed to her location, devouring her Titan form. This allowed Annie to effectively escape the Survey Corps' trap in her human form.

Relationships

 * Eren Yeager - During their time in training, Annie and Eren developed a mutual respect and fascination with each other. She trains him in her unique fighting style, and he is one of the few people to have managed to make her genuinely smile. When her mission required it, she ruthlessly pursued him and fought him twice. Her betrayal deeply shakes Eren.
 * Armin Arlert - She has a deep respect for Armin, recognizing his strong will and treating him well. This results in her sparing his life during her rampage, which later allows him to discover her true identity. She admits to not being sure why she didn't kill him, and is seemingly bothered by his willingness to manipulate her into a trap.
 * Mikasa Ackerman - Their interactions suggest some level of rivalry, with Annie once describing Mikasa as a "beast". This only worsens when Annie's true identity is revealed, with Mikasa aggressively confronting her and later aiding in Annie's defeat.
 * Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover - Though they are accomplices, little is known about her actual relationship with them. Annie acts as a lone wolf, and her few interactions with Reiner have resulted in her acting coldly towards him. It is hinted that Bertolt may have feelings for her. Both react with shock and anger upon learning of her capture.

Trivia

 * In Episode 23 of the anime, the scene in which Annie's identity as the Female Titan is exposed has been slightly altered. Instead of smiling while slowly forming a grin, she is depicted as laughing out loud as Eren, Mikasa and Armin tensely watch in silence. This change was pushed by Hajime Isayama with the intention of depicting Annie as more of an "average person" as opposed to simply being a "bad guy". The laughter is meant to convey a sense of relief on Annie's part, depicting her feelings of “sadness,” “shyness,” “openness,” mixed with “guilt,” “lonesomeness,” and “fear”.

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Annie Leonhart