Levi Ackerman, typically formally known as Captain Levi, is the squad captain (lit. “chief of the troopers”) of the Particular Operations Squad within the Survey Corps and is broadly known as humanity’s strongest soldier.

Levi Ackerman Look

Levi has short, straight black hair styled in an undercut, in addition to slender, intimidating dull grey eyes with dark circles underneath them and a deceptively youthful face. He’s quite short, but his body is well-developed in musculature from extensive vertical maneuvering equipment utilization.

He’s normally either frowning or expressionless; that, plus his extremely calm demeanor, often makes it difficult for others to guess what he’s thinking.
He’s most frequently seen in his Survey Corps uniform, with a light grey button-up shirt beneath, along with his trademark white ascot.

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When embarking on expeditions outside the Walls, he also wears the Survey Corps’ green hooded cloak. Once, when forced to take leave from his duties due to injury, Levi was seen in a black suit, plain white shirt, ascot, and dress shoes. However, since the beginning of the coup d’état, he has left the ascot off.

For most of the time during which the Survey Corps was on the run from the military and monarchy, he simply wore his vertical maneuvering equipment harness over informal clothes.
After a close-encounter explosion from a Thunder Spear set off by Zeke Yeager, Levi now has several scars across his face including one across his right eye and is missing both the index and middle fingers on his right hand.

Levi Ackerman PERSONALITY

On account of his early childhood years, Levi is described as a “clean freak” by those who know him personally as he prefers his environment and himself to be spotlessly clean. He’s averse to having either himself or his equipment dirty, and has been known to wipe down his blood-smeared blades while still on the battlefield. Nonetheless, he will not hesitate to touch filth if he deems it necessary.

Despite his preoccupation with cleanliness, Levi is not very approachable. He rarely shows emotion, giving a cold impression to others. His manner of speaking tends to be very blunt, even insulting, and his comments are often coarse or inappropriate. He’s not above scaring or belittling those who oppose or irritate him. His humor tends towards the vulgar, insulting, and dark. All of this makes him unsettling to a large number of people.

In his pre-Survey Corps prison life, when he lived in the Underground City, Levi refused to take orders from anyone (as Petra Ral tells Eren), although he placed great trust in his comrades, something he would later do with his subordinates. However, after he joined the Survey Corps, he came to greatly respect Commander Erwin Smith, whose orders he follows willingly because he trusts in Erwin’s vision for the Corps.

Levi’s obedience is strictly limited to individuals he respects, and he has no problem showing open disdain for authority from anyone outside of this circle. At Eren’s tribunal, he insulted the merchants by calling them “pigs” and told the Military Police that they weren’t competent enough to deal with Eren, mocking several MPs by observing that they have never battled or even seen a single Titan. He even sardonically suggests that they join the Survey Corps, which prompted them to back off. He openly resents most of the MPs for their continuous attempts to undermine the Survey Corps, and also presumably because of the prison life he led before he joined the Corps.

Though he rarely shows it, Levi has a strong sense of morality and empathy. One of his most defining traits is the great value he places on preserving human life; this is especially shown when it was revealed that all Titans might have once been human themselves. The thought that he had unknowingly been killing humans all this time disturbs him tremendously.

Although Levi bore no malice toward Eren, he was willing to resort to violence in order to save his life at his tribunal, eventually asking Eren whether he resented him for the beating. Levi himself has acknowledged that he hates unnecessary casualties, and he tells his subordinates to use their judgment so that they can avoid blunders that could cost them their lives.

Due to their hazardous occupation and his personal values, he cares tremendously for his subordinates’ welfare. This is seen several times: when ordered to retreat early to Wall Rose at the end of the disastrous 57th Expedition, Levi was visibly distressed that so many of his troopers had died on a fruitless mission. Later, he risked his life against the Female Titan in order to retrieve Eren from her mouth and also to protect Mikasa, who had gone after her recklessly in search of vengeance.

As they re-entered the gate, Petra’s father approached him, cheerfully talking about his daughter and her unwavering devotion to the Survey Corps. Unbeknownst to him, his daughter had just been killed; Levi remained silent, he was too overcome with grief to respond. Levi was visibly affected by the loss of his entire original Special Operations Squad by the hands of the Female Titan, stating that he carries the will of his fallen comrades, and that their collective grudge against the Titans further strengthens his resolve to continue to fight.

Despite his obedience to Erwin, Levi operates quite independently. Many of his Titan kills are solo, achieved with little direct cooperation from other troopers (due to him normally assigning them to hunt other Titans in the neighborhood). Although he is looked up to by many, and he doesn’t hesitate to give orders when necessary, Levi doesn’t see himself as a leader in the same manner Erwin is. He doesn’t seem to have much use for hierarchy in general, and he leaves decisions up to his subordinates as often as he can.

Although Levi is aware that his battle skill is in a different league from that of almost any other human soldier alive, he’s not arrogant about it, as he knows from experience that no human soldier is invulnerable. Few will argue with his claims that only he can handle certain difficult tasks, because he has proven his ability to accomplish them.
While Levi shows loyalty and empathy for his comrades, he shows no mercy toward the Titans, slaughtering them indiscriminately with apparent indifference.

However, when the Titans are former friends and subordinates, Levi can briefly hesitate and wonder if they are still aware of their actions while trapped within their Titan forms; regardless, Levi has displayed no problem in killing them. When dealing with humans he perceives to be enemies to mankind, Levi is capable of behaving sadistically, even vindictively.

For example, when the Female Titan was captured, Levi relayed his enjoyment at watching her suffer and described in chilling detail how he intended to mutilate her human body. He has also tortured Djel Sannes with Hange Zoë, punching him and twisting his already broken nose. After defeating Zeke Yeager a second time, he sadistically made it clear that he was going to torture Zeke for his crimes against Paradis and the Survey Corps, impaling him with a Thunder Spear.

Levi displays no emotion during these times other than bloodlust, shown by his methodically slicing apart Zeke’s legs. Levi is often known to lose his calm demeanor and to use threats or violence to get others to listen to him, even when they are fellow members of the corps.

An example of such conduct was shown when he instantly ordered Historia Reiss to take on the role of queen when the question was presented to her. When she shakily says she is unfit, he grabs her and lifts her off the ground, choking her and telling her to fight back if she doesn’t like it. He then drops her and yells at her to make her decision, but is nevertheless calm once again when she complies with his demands.

Levi Ackerman History

Levi is the son of Kuchel Ackerman, a prostitute who worked in the Underground and was made pregnant by one of her clients. One day, Kenny Ackerman, Kuchel’s older brother, came to the city to see her only to find that she was dead. There, he found a young and squalid Levi sitting in front of his mother’s bed.

In a rare display of compassion, Kenny decided to care for him. He raised Levi as well as he could: teaching him knife skills, how to get along with people, and violent conduct. Levi also learned to use his own inner strength that he possessed as a member of the Ackerman clan.

Time passed and eventually, Kenny taught Levi everything he knew. However, he didn’t consider himself a father figure. One day, in the subterranean city, Levi started a fight which he won easily. At that moment, Kenny decided to leave him behind, satisfied that he had taught Levi the skills he needed to survive.

Later, he turned into a notorious thug in the underground but eventually left the place to join the Survey Corps. Although he was at odds with Erwin, he ended up becoming one of his most trusted men.

Abilities

Vertical Maneuvering Gear

Levi is unbelievably adept at using the vertical maneuvering equipment, to a point that everyone says he’s the best at it; even after losing several of his fingers, Levi was still able to utilize the equipment almost as easily as before. He’s also said to be as useful as a whole brigade, far outweighing all the other troopers. Moreover, he was considered extremely strong even before joining the Survey Corps.

He has shown the potential of incapacitating the Female Titan by moving too fast for her to defend, something which entire squads and even Eren in his Titan form couldn’t accomplish. He even defeated Zeke Yeager in his Beast Titan form, who is considered one of Marley military’s strongest Warriors and an extremely skillful Titan. Neither of these attacks are without a point of prior planning and situational advantage, as the Female Titan was drained out from several conflicts in the span of some hours, and Levi had engaged Zeke without warning, getting too close to defend against before Zeke noticed.

That said, Levi’s full abilities with his blades are still immense, able to carve the Beast Titan’s arm into several clean pieces so fast they fell in unison. However, Levi has proven himself capable of taking on powerful possessors of the power of the Titans in a one-on-one scenario where his vertical maneuvering equipment can be utilized to its utmost. For example, as seen when Levi bested Zeke again in a forest terrain where his vertical equipment could be properly employed.

Strength

Levi has formidable physical strength, which is no doubt evident by his mastery of the vertical maneuvering equipment. Despite his small stature, his body is well built with heavy muscle, making him very strong, and easily able to defeat his opponents. At one point, Levi intercepts one of the Female Titan’s attacks, by using her hand to launch himself toward her mouth before she could hit Mikasa. This does not stop him from injuring himself though.

Intelligence

Other than his extraordinary battle skill, Levi Ackerman has shown a profound ability to quickly analyze situations, and make calculated decisions in the heat of battle. This has given him the ability to save himself and his comrades on many occasions such as when he realizes the Female Titan cannot be killed easily because of her skin hardening and regenerative abilities, and subsequently saves Mikasa when she tries to slay the Female Titan herself, or the time when he fights Kenny Ackerman inside a bar, using chairs, a double-barreled shotgun and even corpses to stop his adversaries. However, Levi admits that he doesn’t believe a person can be right all the time, and some situations are beyond a person’s control.

Levi Ackerman’s statistics as of year 850
Combat 11/10
Initiative 10/10
Wits 8/10
Teamwork 2/10
Cleanliness 10/10

Awakened power

Being a member of the Ackermans, Levi has “awakened” a dormant power within himself earlier in his life that he describes as “realizing precisely what must be done.”This also prevents him from having his memory wiped.

Sword-Wielding Method

Levi Ackerman has an unusual fighting stance that involves holding his right sword backhanded with the blade facing out and being behind him instead of in front of him. By doing this, the blades cut in a “circle” around him, and give him the ability to utilize spinning and other rotating attacks, allowing him to maintain unimaginable speed and agility while fighting. At the same time, this helps him conserve his energy without wasting stamina and power needlessly, enabling him to fight for longer periods of time and take multiple targets out simultaneously. This reverse-grip method might have been inspired by Kenny Ackerman’s lessons on knife-wielding, during which Levi learned at a young age how to hold a blade in a reverse grip.

Thunder Spears

Levi Ackerman doesn’t appear to favor using Thunder Spears, since he doesn’t carry them during the raid on Liberio, contrary to the other members of the Survey Corps’ ground forces. However, he is competent enough with them to blow Zeke out of his Beast Titan’s nape when Zeke tries to escape after turning Levi’s troopers into Titans.