Annie Leonhart

"Why is it that in this world the people with the best ability to oppose the Titans get the privilege of staying far away from them? How d'you think it got to be such a farce?"

- Annie to Eren

Annie Leonhart (アニ・レオンハート), is a graduate of the 104th Training Corps and former member of the Military Police Brigade. Her exceptional skill with swords and unarmed combat earned her the 4th rank, but she is noted to be a lone wolf that struggles to work with others.

She possesses the ability to transform into a Titan known as the Female Titan. Trained from an early age by her father, she is selected as one of the Marley's warriors. In the year 845, she is sent on a mission to retrieve the Founding Titan, along with fellow warriors Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, and Marcel Galliard. As the Female Titan, she serves as a major antagonist prior to her defeat, in which she crystallizes herself and is left in a comatose state. She is currently being held deep underground under the custody of the Survey Corps.

Human Form
Annie is a young attractive girl of considerably short height with a small, yet 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 an oval-shaped face, blonde hair, blue eyes, a Roman 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 their 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 silver ring which has a small, folding blade on her right index finger; using it as her primary source of causing self-injury in order to transform into her Female Titan form at any time.

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 tissue, in which there is a noticeably limited amount of skin coverage across her body, and fingers made out of bone. 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, along with yellowish teeth. Compared to the majority of other Titans encountered, Annie's Titan form seems much more physically fit and stronger, bearing a lean build with visible muscle definition and a feminine form.

Personality
Annie is an isolated, exclusionary person; friendships do not come to her easily. She is rarely seen smiling and often has an emotionless expression. She is apathetic and somnolent, with little desire to put in any effort into meaningless disciplines or activities, and instead claims to focus exclusively on making it into the Military Police Brigade to obtain an easy life. While Annie tends to have a realistic outlook on all things, she holds a fascination and even feelings of respect towards people who have 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.

Annie's sense of humor tends to be mocking, sarcastic and popping up. It also sometimes expresses a partial truth and it happens mostly in tense situations. For example, when she was cornered by the Survey Corps in front of an underground passage, she claimed that she was a feeble maiden and mocked Eren as a suicidal blockhead. Despite Annie's usual cold and calm demeanor, she is capable of expressing her feelings in various ways. At the times she does lose her composure, she usually reacts with violence. She beats up Reiner for his cowardice after Marcel was eaten and for trying to manipulate her to continue a mission which had, in her view, already failed. Also, while exhausted by her spywork and constantly avoiding hand-to-hand combat training, Annie is clearly angered when he pushes her to take the training seriously, to the point she uses her fighting style on him, despite his protests and already having demonstrated it on Eren at Reiner's bidding. While outwardly callous, Annie has expressed levels of guilt and shock, most notably when apologizing to a certain corpse after the battle of Trost and when Reiner Braun emotionally manipulated her to help him kill Marco.

Annie is highly intelligent, able to think deeply about situations, and has shown considerable problem-solving ability and a quick wit. These personality traits, in conjunction with her calm attitude and analytical skills, make her a good tactician. While undercover as a refugee, and later as a trainee, she does most of the spywork for the Warriors. Annie also realizes the contradictions of the military training system within the Walls and is not fooled by the Marleyan propaganda. However, she is a bad liar, being called out on this by both Eren and Kenny, the former regarding her apathy towards her martial arts prowess, and the latter when she lies about being his daughter, even sarcastically insisting further. On the other hand, she is very good at spotting the lies of other people, seen when she realizes Armin Arlert's dishonesty far before they had even reached the underground tunnel, and Reiner's lie about befriending their fellow trainees as being nothing more than a pragmatic attempt to gain their trust.

She is extremely practical and self-aware, being honest about her strengths and weaknesses, and is rarely ever prone to self-deception or emotional mistakes. A notable example is when she recognizes her lack of skill in seduction and charm when thinking about possibly seducing a member of the Fritz family, causing her to readily dismiss the idea. Furthermore, she had a casual acceptance of her negative personality traits, freely admitting her faults even to almost-complete strangers such as Marlowe Freudenberg, calling herself worthless and evil with no hint of self-loathing. She is nevertheless capable of self-loathing. For example, she proposed to Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover to get close to one of the men in the Fritz family and marry into it for the sake of her mission. She also claimed to be as selfish as the Marleyan government.

Annie is very concentrated on her mission as a warrior, to the point that she is willing to kill to reach her goal, although she is somewhat hesitant to kill former comrades and sheds tears when she fails to capture Eren. Though she is seemingly indifferent towards her capability as a hand-to-hand combat fighter, she remains proud of her skills and seems to enjoy the notion of fighting. The only time that she is seen genuinely smiling is when she expresses a curious interest in teaching Eren how to fight in her unique fighting style.

Nonetheless, what drives Annie more than anything is her desire for a normal life. Though she has no love for Marley itself, the only reason she is so concentrated on her mission is because it would allow her to go back home to her father, and she had urged Reiner multiple times before the Battle of Trost District to return to Marley with the information they had gathered thus far, even convincing herself of the false notion that it would be enough to avoid punishment, despite her otherwise apparently cynical and realist personality.

History
Annie Leonhart was born on the continent of Marley in 834. From a young age, Annie underwent rigorous combat training with her father, to increase her chances of becoming a warrior of Marley in the future. At some point in her childhood, Annie joined the Marley military as a warrior cadet, meeting comrades such as Bertolt Hoover, Reiner Braun, and Marcel Galliard. Annie was praised as impeccable for her fighting abilities, and was later chosen as one of seven promising cadets to inherit the Power of the Titans. She was later granted the power of the Female Titan in accordance with her stellar combat skills.

Alongside the rest of her warrior comrades, the six Titans in Marley's command used their powers to crush an entire nation, testing their abilities in the process. The six warriors proved themselves to be more effective weapons than their predecessors, largely alleviating Marley's concerns about entrusting the upcoming Paradis Island Operation to children.

Annie was selected as one of the four warriors to carry out this mission, along with the Jaw, Armored and Colossus Titans. The objective of the mission was attacking the Eldians living in the wall, and to lure out and steal the Coordinate. Before leaving Marley to begin the Paradis Island Operation, Annie was paraded in a horse-drawn carriage with Reiner, Bertolt and Marcel through the streets and celebrated as a warrior to save the world from the people of Paradis. Annie was bored and stared the floor while Reiner and Bertolt were happy to be celebrated. Around this time, Annie's father apologized to Annie, and seemed to regret his actions in making her become a warrior, and begged her to come home.

After arriving at the border of Paradis, Magath gave a final debriefing to the warriors, before the warriors departed for the Walls on horseback. Later into the night, whilst sitting and talking around a camp fire, a Pure Titan rose up from the ground, and devoured their leader Marcel. The following morning, Annie and Bertolt decided to return to Marley while Reiner wanted to continue the mission. Reiner tried then to manipulate Annie who then kicked his face. She then declared that she never bought into the Marley’s brainwashing propaganda. However Reiner managed to win the scuffle and forced Annie and Bertolt to continue the mission by saying to Bertolt that he was their new leader and that this was the only way they could go home.

Fall of Shiganshina arc
Upon transforming into the Female Titan, Annie transports Reiner and Bertolt towards Wall Maria while bringing a horde of Titans behind her. When they are in eyesight of the wall, Annie gets out of her Titan form and switch roles with the Armored Titan, as she was exhausted and at her limit. While unconscious, Bertolt and Reiner use their Titan powers to breach the wall, leading to the fall of Shiganshina District. After the attack, Reiner and Bertolt took advantage of the chaos and snuck inside Wall Rose while carrying Annie, where she woke up beside the two in a refugee camp.

During the two following years, Annie enters the royal capital multiple times to do research for the warriors. She discovers that King Fritz is a figurehead and that she, Reiner, and Bertolt still have to find the true royal family. Reiner decides that they will become soldiers and get close to the Interior Military Police.

104th Training Corps arc
Upon joining the 104th Training Corps, Annie is one of the few trainees not to undergo Keith Shadis' "rite of passage", as her face proves that she already has been through hell, according to another instructor. While undercover, Annie exhaustingly handled all the responsibility of their mission and learned that the Church of the Walls were monitoring Christa Lenz.

At some point, during their hand-to-hand combat training, Annie is caught sneaking away, with Reiner claiming to confront her about it and apparently hinting to their scuffle following Marcel's death. He asks Eren Yeager to confront Annie with an wooden dagger, much to her apparent anger. She effortlessly takes Eren down while Eren still keeps the wooden dagger. She then asks Reiner if she can go. However Reiner insists she follows through and take the dagger from him, despite the fact that Eren is currently in pain and immobilized. Then, despite his protests, she steps up her game, takes down Eren another time and takes the dagger from him. She then tosses it to Reiner and tells him it is his turn now. Reiner soon follows, ending up on the ground as well. Eren praises Annie for her technique and even though she reveals that it was her father who taught 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 Kirstein. She then expresses the will to teach Eren the proper way to perform it.

Nearly five years into their mission, Annie was investigating the Coordinate in one of cites at night, during which she trailed Kenny Ackerman in hopes he would lead her to the real king of the Walls. When Kenny discovered and confronted her about following him, Annie attempted to deceive him by telling him that she was his long lost daughter. Unsuccessful in fooling him, Annie attacks him and flees into the sewer.

Afterwards, Annie, Reiner and Bertolt had a night-meeting. Annie said to Reiner that Kenny might have seen her face and that if she joined the Interior MP and Kenny was there, then she could not do anymore. She then proposed to go back to Marley with the information they had gathered so far. However Reiner disagreed, saying that Marley would be disappointed by their five years of results, implying that Marley would kill them and their families. Reiner then decided to destroy Wall Rose to hasten their mission and came up with a plan to destroy it and smoke out the King in the capital while chaos would ensue in Trost District. Annie noticed his plan would kill a lot of his new friends from the 104th Training Corps but Reiner replied to her that they were not their friends and they were Eldian devils. Annie was disgusted with what Reiner said and Reiner finally said that she might be tired and he decided to end their meeting. Annie continues her training until she successfully graduates at the rank of four.

Battle of Trost District arc
Shortly after graduation, the Colossus 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. Annie is seen with Reiner and Bertolt behind Marco Bott. Later, just before dying, Marco guess that Reiner, Bertolt and Annie were waiting for all the Titans to gather.

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 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 Rogue 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 power after Eren emerges from the nape of the Rogue Titan's neck.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the soldiers, Eren ends up being questioned by Kitz Weilman, who then attempts to kill him. 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 Weilman. 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, Jean asks Annie and others 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 checked the vertical maneuvering equipment of the trainees. Reiner indeed decided that him and Annie would take care of the two captured Titans before the Survey Corps could learn more about them. 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 by telling him that it is 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 will do so. Annie thinks he is weak physically, but yet he is very strong at heart. Though Annie had offered Marco Bott's vertical equipment 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 and buy the other soldiers some time to regroup. Before they are able to attack her, she is able to outmaneuver them, at which point she manages to incapacitate Armin. Although Jean engages her in combat, her resilience and awareness of a Titan's weakness allowed 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 referring to Eren by the nickname of "suicidal bastard" while falsely claiming his death. This causes Annie to hesitate in 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' centre 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 Titan Forest, 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 the special target restraining weapon. 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 allowing Annie to escape from her Titan form undetected via the use of her vertical maneuvering equipment. Just as Erwin orders all personnel to retreat, Annie later dons a Survey Corps cloak as a form of disguise, signaling with 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 initially mistaken for Levi. Quickly it becomes apparent that it is not the captain as Gunther Schultz questions her identity. Annie makes quick work of Gunther, killing him using her blades by slicing out the back of his neck, like a Titan. 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 against 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 Jinn, Petra Ral and Oluo Bozado, 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 by decapitating it. 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 Levi, allowing him 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 Sheena. 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 Dreyse and Marlowe Freudenberg, but Boris Feulner tells them to leave her alone, believing that she has not 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 vertical maneuvering equipment. 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 while putting on a ring and escorting 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 vertical maneuvering equipment. 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 for having cornered her but declaring afterward 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 herself, thereby allowing her to transform into her Female Titan form; thus killing those restraining her in the process. Annie then stomps trough the underground, killing some soldiers in the process and blocking Eren, Armin and Mikasa's escape path. Eren then transforms into his Titan form and takes Annie on in her Female Titan form. During their battle they kill everyone inside the church except Minister Nick and two other priests. In the church Annie looks at the dead bodies and seems to be a bit moved by those deaths.

Annie then takes flight towards Wall Sheena. She is pursued by Eren, Mikasa and several Survey Corps squads. The chase continues until Annie reaches a flat land with no buildings. Having nowhere to hook their vertical maneuvering equipment 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, allowing her to incapacitate him but she fails to catch him again because of the Survey Corps' intervention. After that, she continues to try and escape by scaling the Wall Sheena. Not hesitating in the slightest, Mikasa 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 by her head. Annie then recalls her father apologizing to her for all the rigorous training she was forced to do. He then tells her to come home. 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 what appears to be an 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, saying that they do not have the time to do it, and tells both the Military Police Brigade and the rest of the Survey Corps to make a wire net and to tie her up. Since they did not know when Annie was going to wake up, Hange said that they have 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 recalls that Annie froze up after being wounded by Reiner because she had been reading the information Reiner cut into her palm.

Clash of the Titans arc
When Eren decides that he will plug the hole in Wall Maria by leaving behind his hardened Titan's body, he briefly thinks about Annie's hardening ability. Eren thinks that since she could use this ability, there is no reason he cannot use it too.

Later, when Eren in Titan form is forced to engage the Armored Titan, he is beaten up by Reiner's brute force. Eren then remembers in a flashback of a special technique that Annie taught him. Since, as Annie said, her techniques are used by someone to defend against an opponent who is stronger than them, Eren thinks it could work against an adversary as Reiner. He then uses it and finally manages to beat Reiner. However the Colossus Titan intervenes and Eren is beaten.

There was later a brief mention of Annie during Bertolt and Reiner's discussion after Eren's capture. Reiner mentions during their trainee days that Annie had tailed some Church of the Walls members who hung around their training grounds and figured out that "Krista" was from one of the Church of the Walls families. Reiner also says to Bertolt to tell Annie how he feels for her once they get her and go back home together. Her capture is eventually revealed to her comrades, when Armin bluffs and claims she is being tortured for information, which drives Bertolt mad distracting him long enough for Erwin to cut Eren from his bonds that tied him to Bertolt's back.

The Uprising arc
After the Survey Corps get back Eren on Wall Rose, Armin recalls the Female Titan's ability to get the Titans to attack her by screaming, deducing that Eren must have used a similar ability to command Titans to attack the Armored Titan and the Smiling Titan.

Later, Erwin mentions the Female Titan's ability to control Titans to support his father's theory that 107 years ago the people who escaped to the walls had their memories altered.

Marlowe and Hitch are searching for Survey Corps members in the forest, Hitch then says that Annie was her roommate and that she disappeared and that she still does not know what happened to her. They are later taken prisoners by Survey Corps members commanded by Levi. Hitch then asks if someone knew Annie and she express outrage at them for Annie's disappearance, thinking that she died as a collateral damage during the battle of Stohess district. When she is told that Annie was the Female Titan, she shows shock and disbelief on her face. Later, when Jean says Marlowe reminded him of Eren, Marlowe remembers what Annie said to him about Eren.

After a painful battle between Reiner and the Beast Titan inside Shiganshina District, Reiner is seen defeated on the ground with his Titan's armored face plates shattered. The Beast Titan proclaims its victory and states that because of its winning, they will save Annie at a later time. It then states that stealing the Coordinate from Eren should be prioritized, even though his comrades believe, because of Armin's lie, that she has been undergoing torture from Survey Corps for months.

Return to Shiganshina arc
While waiting in Shiganshina for the arrival of the Survey Corps, Bertolt recalls the Battle of Trost District. After Marco Bott had discovered that Reiner and Bertolt were in league with the Titans, Reiner demanded that Annie prove her loyalty to the warriors by taking away Marco's vertical maneuvering equipment. With much hesitation, she agrees and disposes of his equipment. She cried as Marco was caught and bitten in half by a Titan.

Zeke later explains his apathy towards Annie's situation, believing that she had not been captured or tortured. Having hesitated a moment to save Annie, Bertolt resigns to forget about Annie for now and to obey Zeke's orders and then Reiner also resigns himself not to save Annie. Before the arrival of the Survey Corps at Shangashina, Reiner encourages Bertolt to fight by hinting that he would later have a loving reunion with Annie because she would be liable to mistake him for her prince for saving her life. After the Survey Corps arrive in Shiganshina, Eren and Reiner square off again and Eren inwardly claims that Annie was way tougher than Reiner. Bertolt then arrives in the district but aborts his plan to transform after seeing Reiner in danger, Armin seizes this opportunity and attempts to convince Bertolt, in a last ditch effort to negotiate, that Annie is being tortured beyond his help. However, Bertolt rejects Armin's bluff this time around, claiming to not care about Annie's situation.

Marley arc
After the failure of the Paradis Island Operation, the Mid-East Allied Forces declared a war of independence on Marley due to the warriors' defeat and Annie's capture weakening Marley's military strength. The war took priority over returning with larger forces or rescuing Annie and lasted four years finally culminating in Marley's victory in the Battle of Fort Slava. After a post-war meeting with senior Marleyan officials, Zeke tells Commander Magath and Colt Grice that there are four Titans on the island including the Female Titan, Colossus Titan, Attack Titan and Founding Titan. Speculating if Annie and Bertolt had died, then babies with their Titan powers should have been born. However, no such children have been discovered on the continent, indicating that they are either still alive, or their powers were stolen by the Islanders even though Reiner's operational report suggests that they do not have the necessary knowledge to pass down Titan powers.

After recovering from his injuries, Reiner has hallucinations of his childhood fellow warriors cadets, seeing physical similarities between the new warrior cadet Zofia and Annie. Upon returning home, he vaguely discusses his time infiltrating the military on Paradis remembering that he, Annie and Bertolt lived among "different people". After learning of the Tybur family festival, Reiner recalls his childhood with Annie as a fellow warrior cadet and their time spent in the walls as warriors. These painful memories and his immense guilt, including his plan for him and Annie to execute the captured Titans, which ultimately led to Annie's discovery as the Female Titan and her capture, lead Reiner to the brink of suicide.

Abilities
Out of the 104th Training Corps 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. Although she is ranked 4th, she is usually portrayed as being as good as Mikasa, but her being placed lower was most likely due to her slacking off, not taking things seriously and her being exhausted by her nightly spywork for her mission.


 * Vertical maneuvering equipment: As her graduation rank implies, Annie possesses a great amount of skill at controlling the vertical maneuvering equipment. With the use of the equipment'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 utilize the equipment to kill Gunther Schultz even after being considerably exhausted after using her Titan 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. Annie retains the same fighting style in her Titan form, as Eren noticed in his first battle against the Female Titan.

Power of the Titans
Like Eren, Annie displays an ability to transform into a Titan, referred to as the Female Titan (女型の巨人). Her Titan form is 14 meters, the third shortest, being rivaled by the Cart Titan who is 4 meters and the Jaw Titan who is 5 meters. As the Female Titan, Annie is able to easily overpower veteran Survey Corps members, and wipe out several squads in Erwin's specialized scouting formations. Annie acquired her Titan powers while she was warrior cadet in Marley and she was trained with using them by the military of Marley and by her father. During the 57th Expedition Outside the Walls of the Survey Corps, she was 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 of the nine Titans, sporting a variety of presumably learned powers and special abilities not exhibited by any others with Titan power.


 * 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 proven 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 the ability to harden parts of her skin at will, something that is similar to the ability of the Armored Titan, as stated by Erwin. However, unlike the Armored Titan, Annie's hardened skin cannot be maintained for prolonged periods, as it will chip if struck. 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: Annie is able to summon pure Titans, though her range is limited. Annie was the one who lead Titans near Shiganshina District before the Colossus and Armored Titans broke Wall Maria. During the 57th expedition, she was able to lead an army of Titans to destroy a part of the Survey Corps formation in order to capture Eren. Later, after being trapped by the Survey Corps, she also used her ability in a smart way 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 without being detected. This ability is similar to the Coordinate, as stated by Armin and Erwin.


 * High mobility and endurance: In her Titan form, Annie has high mobility and endurance, unlike most human-controlled Titans, who are less fast than her and who tire to the point of collapsing. During the 57th expedition, she was able to run on long distances while fighting against many soldiers and the Attack Titan. Also, after escaping the Survey Corps' trap, she was able to transform for a second time without an extended recovery period.

Relationships

 * Eren Yeager - Eren was one of the only people Annie had a somewhat friendly relationship.During their time in training, Annie and Eren developed a mutual respect and interest for each other. She was his mentor and she explained him the contradictions of the military training system inside the walls, where the people with the best ability to oppose the Titans get the priviledge of staying far away from them. 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 and he is initially unable to transform in order to fight her.
 * Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover - When they trained to become Warriors, Annie seemed indifferent to Galliard harassing Reiner and remained aloof when Bertolt attempted to involve her in their conversation. After Marcel's death, Reiner became her leader. After the fall of Wall Maria, it seems that she usually acted as a lone wolf during their mission, and her few interactions with Reiner during this time often resulted in tensions.The trio struggled during two years after the fall of the Wall to find the Coordinate, and then realized that King Fritz was fake. Annie then suggested trying to marry one of the men of the Fritz family, causing Bertolt distress, but quickly decided she could not because the Fritz would never do anything that would risk infecting their family tree with filthy blood and plus she did not possess the charm to do so. Bertolt expressed his disagreement, causing Annie to be confused about the compliment then thanked him, having a lighter expression there after. It was hinted by Reiner that Bertolt had feelings for her, though it is unknown if she was aware of this. Both reacted with shock and anger upon learning of her capture and Reiner was willing to duel with Zeke for the right to rescue her, prioritizing Annie's rescue over capturing the Coordinate. After returning home alone, Reiner remembers Annie as one of his fellow warriors and feels immense guilt and responsibility over her fate driving him to the brink of suicide.
 * Zeke Yeager - Zeke trained her when she was a warrior cadet and it seemed that she was aloof from him. It is apparent that Zeke is very familiar with Annie and her abilities, particularly her expertise in kicks. When he heard that Armin claimed that the Survey Corps had captured her, he did not prioritize the need to rescue her from the possibility of capture or torture, believing that her abilities as one with the Power of the Titans and a skilled warrior are enough to save her from such situations.
 * Hitch Dreyse - Assigned to the same squad in Stohess District, the two women were also given the same room assignment. As roommates, the two were not particularly close with Hitch teasing Annie in an effort to provoke a reaction. They were in many way opposites, Annie being serious and withdrawn while Hitch was out-going and enjoyed the easy life. When Annie vanished during the battle at Stohess, Hitch did not show much concern over her well-being. However, when she was captured by Survey Corps, she expressed outrage at them for Annie's disappearance. When she is told that Annie was the Female Titan, she showed shock and disbelief on her face.
 * Connie Springer - While they did not seem to be particularly close, Annie risked her life and the future of her mission to save Connie from a Titan. Later, when Annie reveals that she will go to the Military Police Brigade, Connie considers joining them too and asks for her opinion. She then answers by seemingly trying to convince him not to join the Survey Corps by frightening him about a possible death as a Survey Corps member. She probably did not want to have to kill him later during her attack on the 57th expedition. Connie seems then to be afraid, however he later decided to join the Survey Corps after much hesitation.
 * Marlowe Freudenberg - Assigned to the same squad in Stohess District, Annie and Marlowe did not seem to be particularly close. They were in a way opposites, Annie fighting for her father’s and her own personal interests over everything else while Marlow wanted to defend the general interest of the public and was not passive in the face of evil. When Marlowe declared that he wanted to clean up the military police brigade from corruption, she compared Marlowe to Eren and she admired him for his willingness to go against the flow. When Annie vanished during the battle at Stohess, Marlowe showed concern over her well-being. However, when he was captured by Survey Corps, he did not show much concern over her well-being.
 * Mikasa Ackerman - Their interactions suggest some level of rivalry, with Annie once describing Mikasa as a "beast". However, Annie may have heard and hinted about the legend of the Ackerman clan, thus her description of Mikasa as a beast could be interpreted as a fact and not as an insult. This only worsens when Annie's true identity is revealed, with Mikasa aggressively confronting her and later aiding in Annie's defeat.
 * Armin Arlert - She respects Armin, recognizing his strong will and treating him well. This results in her trying to convince him not to join the Survey Corps and later sparing his life during her attack on the 57th expedition of the Survey Corps, which later allows him to discover her true identity. She admits to not being sure why she did not kill him and is seemingly bothered by his willingness to maneuver her into a trap.

People Killed

 * Previous holder of the Female Titan (as a mindless Titan)
 * Luke Siss
 * Dieter Ness
 * Darius Baer Walbrunn
 * Gunther Schultz
 * Eld Jinn
 * Petra Ral
 * Oluo Bozado
 * Female Wall cultist
 * Several unidentified Survey Corps soldiers

Indirectly

 * Carla Yeager
 * Marco Bott
 * Numerous counts of Shiganshina District citizens
 * Numerous counts of Stohess District citizens

Failed attempts

 * Jean Kirstein
 * Mikasa Ackerman
 * Levi Ackerman

Trivia

 * Annie ranked 6 in the Characters Popularity Poll.
 * Her fighting style resembles Muay Thai.
 * Isayama has stated that the Female Titan's three sizes are -  - . If the zeroes are removed, this seems to provide Annie's three sizes as well.
 * In the visual novel Wall Sina, Goodbye, the name of the corpse Annie apologized to was stated to be Ruth D. Kline, a classmate Annie was not close to. However, this is a non-canon story.
 * Isayama revealed in the March issue of Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine that Annie has the habit of sleep talking, sometimes murmuring "whoosh" when she dreams of practicing kicks on trees.
 * Annie wears a hoodie so that she can cover her head with its hood and feel alone when she wants to be alone in public.
 * Annie's surname Leonhart is derived from the Spanish word león and the Dutch word hart. These words combined literally translate to Lionheart.
 * Lionheart is a nickname that is given to someone who is a great warrior, which is something that Annie strives to be.
 * She is called "Miss Towering Teenage Queen of Beauty" by Iron Man in Attack on Avengers.

Quotes
"Why is it that in this world the people with the best ability to oppose the Titans get the privilege of staying far away from them? How d'you think it got to be such a farce?"

- Annie to Eren

"...If you like it that much...I wouldn't mind teaching it to you."

- Annie to Eren

"...No...I just...want to save myself."

- Annie to Armin

"So even if I'm the kind of weak person who gets swept along with the flow, I just want you to think of me as human. That's all."

- Annie to Marlowe

"I couldn't become a soldier."

- Annie

"It looks like your gamble paid off for now, but this is where mine begins."

- Annie to Armin

"Give up? Don't give up, learn. How to use your strength...And how to talk to girls."

- Annie to Eren

"What the hell is your problem?! You piece of shit!"

- Annie to Reiner

"Honorary Marleyan?! Chosen warrior?! Who gives a damn?! Marley, Eldia, they can all go to hell! They are all liars, every one of them!! They only ever think about themselves!!"

- Annie to Reiner

"We only have ten years left. You're saying you want us to spend those ten years playing soldier?"

- Annie to Reiner

"I can't believe you, daddy..."

- Annie to Kenny

"I'm going to puke. Could you...please...not put your face so close to mine?"

- Annie to Reiner

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