- The Harsh Mistress of the City
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Rita Iglehaut (リタ・イグレハト Rita Igurehato?) is one of the two protagonists of Attack on Titan: The Harsh Mistress of the City, Part 1 and Attack on Titan: The Harsh Mistress of the City, Part 2, along with Mathias Kramer. She is a former member of the Garrison in Quinta District.[2]
Appearance
Rita is a young woman with blonde hair cut short with a messy fringe. Some strands of hair are tied together with string and beads. With her shortened hair, she is said to have a boyish appearance.[3] She has big blue eyes along with a small nose and mouth. Underneath her military uniform, she typically wears a white turtleneck and a small pendant.
Personality
During the fall of Wall Maria, Rita cares greatly for the well-being of the people of Quinta District, taking full responsibility for running the city in the absence of higher authority. In desperate instances, she resorts to displays of skill and force in order to establish her authority over the civilians of Quinta.
After repeated instances of anarchy affect Quinta despite her efforts of maintaining order, Rita develops a cruel and merciless ideology, going to lengths of torture and public execution in order to maintain peace in the isolated district.
History
Rita's mother was a soldier in the Survey Corps who died beyond the Walls. Her father could not cope with the loss, and went to Henning Iglehaut for a drug that he used to commit suicide. Rita was later adopted by the Iglehaut family and became a member of the Garrison.
Story
In the year 845, during the fall of Wall Maria, Rita is among the Garrison soldiers defending the civilians of Quinta District as they fled to Wall Rose. When Titans begin to overwhelm the convoy, Rita rides back to Quinta and orders the civilians to remain inside the district for their own safety. With all of the government officials and high ranking officers of the Garrison either dead or away at Wall Rose, Rita is declared to be the temporary authority over Quinta District.
Rita as the interim Commander of the Quinta Garrison
With the help of her Garrison comrade, Amanda, Rita takes it upon herself to settle local disputes and enforce a makeshift police system in Quinta from the young trainees and Garrison recruits that remain in the district. A short time into her rule over Quinta, her will is broken when she witnesses her old friend, Mathias Kramer, accidentally murder a young trainee. Afterward, when her mother is attacked by a thief who nearly takes her life, Rita decides to resort to merciless methods of maintaining order.
Six months after the fall of Wall Maria, Rita had declared Quinta to be a sovereign territory free from the jurisdiction of the Royal Government. Using a Titan captured by the Quinta Garrison, Rita begins publicly executing citizens who break the laws she sets forth, including her own father, Henning Iglehaut. When it is discovered that Mathias has started a resistance against Rita's dictatorship, Rita conspires with Gabriele, an emissary from the Royal Government in Wall Rose, to capture the members of Mathias's resistance. Her efforts succeed, and she sends Mathias to be executed.
Before any executions can commence, Titans that had climbed atop Wall Maria from Shiganshina District and other areas of the Wall begin to fall into Quinta. She pardons the members of the resistance and orders a complete evacuation of the city under the cover of night, leading members of the Garrison to battle the Titans while the civilians head to the inner gate.
Over the course of two days, Rita leads the citizens of Quinta to Wall Rose, using a Titan Forest to evade the Titans during the day. Rita reconciles with Mathias during the journey, and she agrees to submit to arrest by the Royal Government upon her arrival at Wall Rose. It is unknown what penalty she faces for her actions in Quinta.