Levi

Levi is born in the Underground, the impoverished subterranean settlement beneath the capital, to Kuchel Ackerman. Kuchel works in a brothel under the name Olympia and raises Levi alone under extremely poor conditions. The deprivation of his childhood leaves lasting marks on him, including his fixation on cleanliness and his refusal to waste food. Official and supplementary material places Levi in his early thirties during the year 850, while his exact birth year is not stated.

Kuchel dies while Levi is still a child, leaving him starving beside her body until her older brother Kenny Ackerman arrives. Kenny does not immediately identify himself as Levi's uncle, but takes the boy under his protection and teaches him how to survive in the Underground. Kenny Ackerman instructs Levi in knife fighting, violence, reading people's intentions and the ruthless practical skills necessary to stay alive in an environment with almost no formal protection.

Kenny eventually leaves once he judges Levi capable of surviving independently. Levi grows into a highly capable Underground criminal and forms a close partnership with Furlan Church and Isabel Magnolia. The three use stolen vertical maneuvering equipment and their extraordinary mobility to build a reputation beneath the capital.

Their story is expanded in Attack on Titan: No Regrets, where Levi, Furlan and Isabel become entangled in a scheme that ultimately brings them into contact with Erwin Smith and the Survey Corps. Levi initially enters the regiment with motives very different from those of an ordinary recruit. His exceptional fighting ability is already evident before he receives formal Survey Corps experience.

Furlan and Isabel are killed during Levi's first expedition beyond the Walls. Levi initially directs his fury toward Erwin but ultimately chooses to remain with the Survey Corps. The decision begins his long relationship with Erwin and transforms Levi from an Underground survivor fighting primarily for himself and a few companions into a soldier responsible for carrying the choices and deaths of many others.

Levi is blunt, severe and emotionally restrained. He rarely softens criticism and has little patience for empty ceremony, incompetence or self-important authority. His expression remains controlled even in dangerous situations, making his anger most visible through clipped speech and increasingly direct threats rather than dramatic outbursts.

His reputation for coldness is misleading when separated from his conduct. Levi cares deeply about the lives of the soldiers under him and is profoundly affected when they die, but he refuses to indulge grief at moments when other people still depend on his judgment. His usual response is to continue acting while ensuring that the dead are remembered rather than pretending their deaths were insignificant.

Cleanliness is one of his most recognizable habits. Levi demands that living quarters be cleaned thoroughly, personally checks work and can become irritated by dirt even under military conditions. His childhood in the filthy Underground is strongly associated with this behavior; supplementary material notes his longing for a clean home after growing up in unsanitary conditions.

Levi also has an unusual relationship with choice. He understands better than most that even a carefully reasoned decision can end disastrously. Rather than promising that one option will certainly succeed, he tells others to choose the course they believe they will regret least. This outlook reflects a career in which talented soldiers regularly die despite doing everything correctly.

His compassion is usually practical rather than sentimental. Levi gives dying soldiers reassurance, preserves the dignity of comrades when circumstances allow and places himself in danger to reduce casualties. At the same time, he can torture, threaten or kill human opponents when he concludes that doing so is necessary. His morality is therefore severe but not indifferent.

Levi is 160 cm tall and weighs 65 kg, making him noticeably shorter than most adult soldiers around him. Despite his height, he has a compact, muscular build developed through extensive vertical maneuvering and close-quarters combat. His official profile lists December 25 as his birthday.

He has straight black hair worn in an undercut, with the sides and back closely cropped while the longer top falls around his forehead. His narrow gray eyes and habitual frown give him a tired or irritated appearance even when he is relatively calm.

Levi normally wears the standard Survey Corps uniform with a white shirt, harness system, knee-high boots and the regiment's cropped military jacket. During expeditions he also wears the green hooded cloak carrying the Wings of Freedom emblem. His neckwear is typically a white cravat rather than the simple collar arrangement worn by most soldiers.

His manner of holding blades differs from the standard Survey Corps style. Levi frequently uses a reverse grip in one hand, allowing him to perform spinning movements and rapid changes of direction while attacking Titans. This unusual grip becomes one of the most recognizable parts of his combat silhouette.

After the thunder-spear explosion involving Zeke, Levi sustains severe injuries that permanently alter his appearance. He loses two fingers on his right hand, receives facial scars and loses the use of his right eye. He nevertheless continues participating in the final battle despite those injuries.

Levi is considered humanity's strongest soldier, a title supported by his combat record rather than a formal military rank. His physical ability vastly exceeds that of ordinary Survey Corps members, allowing him to kill multiple Titans in rapid succession and confront intelligent Titan shifters independently.

His primary combat specialty is vertical maneuvering equipment. Levi uses gas propulsion, grappling lines and momentum with exceptional precision, accelerating through confined spaces and rapidly changing directions without losing control. His compact physique allows him to rotate at extreme speed, turning his blades into continuous cutting arcs.

Levi's reflexes are equally important. He responds to sudden attacks before most soldiers can understand what has happened and can adjust his trajectory while moving at high speed. Against Titans, this makes him capable of attacking eyes, limbs and the nape in a carefully chosen sequence rather than committing immediately to a single strike.

His swordsmanship is adapted specifically to three-dimensional combat. Levi often holds one blade in a reverse grip, which supports his characteristic spinning attacks and allows him to slash repeatedly while moving past a target. He replaces broken or dulled blades without interrupting his momentum and is capable of using damaged equipment effectively when necessary.

Levi's extraordinary physical potential derives from the Ackerman bloodline. The Ackermans were created through Titan-related experimentation and can awaken access to combat ability far beyond ordinary human limits without transforming into Titans. Their abilities also make them resistant to the Founding Titan's memory manipulation.

He is also highly skilled against human opponents. Levi can fight with knives, firearms and anti-personnel maneuvering equipment and adapts quickly when enemies use weapons designed specifically to counter Survey Corps tactics. His upbringing under Kenny contributes heavily to this proficiency, since he learned to fight people long before joining a regiment focused on Titans.

Levi's greatest physical weakness is ultimately accumulated injury rather than lack of skill. The explosion caused by Zeke leaves him permanently maimed, reducing his eyesight and damaging one hand. Even in this state, however, he remains capable of using vertical maneuvering equipment during the final battle and fulfilling his promise concerning Zeke.

Levi does not use a formal catalogue of named attacks. His fighting style is recognized through recurring applications of vertical maneuvering equipment and Ackerman physical ability rather than announced techniques.

Reverse-Grip Blade Combat is Levi's characteristic sword style. He frequently holds his right-hand blade backward, giving him greater flexibility when rotating and allowing him to maintain cutting pressure while changing direction around a Titan.

Spinning Slash describes his repeated use of rapid full-body rotation to generate a sequence of cuts while moving around a target. The technique is particularly effective against Titan limbs and allows Levi to dismantle an opponent before attacking the nape.

High-Speed Target Disabling is Levi's common method against intelligent Titans. Rather than immediately attempting a killing blow, he rapidly attacks the eyes, ankles, fingers or other functional points to prevent retaliation and regeneration from keeping pace.

Vertical Maneuver Pursuit takes advantage of Levi's exceptional control of grappling lines and gas propulsion. He can follow fast-moving Titan shifters through forests or urban environments while preserving enough speed to strike repeatedly.

His combat against the Beast Titan provides one of the clearest demonstrations of these techniques working together: Levi uses surrounding Titans as anchor points, approaches from an unexpected angle, destroys the Beast Titan's limbs and eyesight in rapid succession and reaches its nape before regeneration can meaningfully respond.

Erwin Smith becomes one of the defining figures in Levi's adult life. Their relationship begins under hostile circumstances when Erwin Smith brings Levi and his Underground companions into the Survey Corps, but Levi eventually develops deep trust in his judgment. He frequently challenges Erwin's decisions while still carrying them out once a choice has been made. After Erwin is mortally wounded at Shiganshina, Levi initially intends to revive him with the Titan serum but ultimately chooses Armin instead, deciding that Erwin should finally be allowed to rest rather than return to the burden of command.

Hange Zoë is one of Levi's longest-serving comrades among the Survey Corps leadership. Hange Zoë's enthusiastic approach to Titan research frequently clashes with Levi's restrained personality, yet the two understand one another exceptionally well in the field. Levi criticizes Hange constantly but trusts their intelligence and leadership. After Hange sacrifices themself to delay the Rumbling, Levi gives a final salute and later imagines Hange among the fallen comrades whose sacrifices he continues carrying.

Eren Yeager enters Levi's direct responsibility after the military decides that the Survey Corps will supervise him. Levi publicly beats Eren Yeager during the military tribunal to demonstrate that the corps can control him, then makes him part of the Special Operations Squad. Levi repeatedly tells Eren that no one can guarantee which choice will prove correct. Their relationship becomes adversarial after Eren separates himself from the Survey Corps and begins the Rumbling, forcing Levi to participate in the effort to stop someone he once spent years protecting.

Mikasa Ackerman initially dislikes Levi because of his treatment of Eren at the tribunal. Mikasa Ackerman nevertheless comes to recognize his judgment and ability, and the two fight extremely effectively together. They are eventually revealed to belong to the same Ackerman bloodline, although they are not close relatives in the ordinary familial sense and do not grow up knowing of any connection.

Kenny Ackerman is Levi's maternal uncle and childhood guardian. Kenny Ackerman finds Levi after Kuchel's death and teaches him the skills required to survive in the Underground, including knife fighting and reading dangerous situations. Kenny eventually abandons him once Levi can survive independently. During Kenny's final moments, Levi learns explicitly that Kuchel was Kenny's sister and that Kenny was therefore his uncle.

Kuchel Ackerman is Levi's mother. Kuchel Ackerman chooses to raise Levi despite the extreme poverty of the Underground and refuses Kenny's suggestion that she abandon him. Her death from illness or deprivation leaves Levi starving and alone until Kenny finds him.

Furlan Church is Levi's closest male companion during his Underground years. Furlan Church is intelligent and ambitious, helping organize the jobs that keep their group alive. His relationship with Levi is closer to partnership than subordination. Furlan's death during the Survey Corps expedition profoundly affects Levi and contributes to his decision to remain above ground.

Isabel Magnolia becomes another member of Levi's Underground household. Isabel Magnolia looks up to him as an older-brother figure, while Levi trains and protects her. Her death alongside Furlan during their first expedition is one of the formative losses behind Levi's later attitude toward responsibility and regret.

Petra Ral, Eld Jinn, Oluo Bozado and Gunther Schultz form Levi's original Special Operations Squad. Levi personally selects them for their skill and experience. All four are killed by the Female Titan during the 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, leaving Levi to recover Eren alone and later confront the families of soldiers whose deaths he cannot explain fully.

Zeke Yeager becomes one of Levi's most persistent enemies. Levi first confronts Zeke Yeager as the Beast Titan during the operation to retake Shiganshina, where Erwin's suicide charge creates the opportunity for Levi to reach him. Zeke escapes before Levi can finish him. Levi later promises Erwin and the dead Scouts that he will kill Zeke, a commitment that survives multiple encounters, Zeke's betrayal in the forest and the explosion that nearly kills Levi. During the final battle, Levi decapitates Zeke and fulfills that promise.

Armin Arlert is initially one of Eren's young comrades under Levi's broader responsibility. Levi comes to respect Armin Arlert's intelligence and willingness to sacrifice himself. After Shiganshina, Levi chooses to inject Armin rather than Erwin with the only available Titan serum. Years later, after Hange's death, Armin becomes commander of the Survey Corps while Levi continues fighting under the alliance.

Jean Kirstein, Connie Springer and Sasha Blouse serve under Levi as members of the reorganized Survey Corps. Levi rarely displays overt affection toward them, but they become part of the shrinking group of soldiers whose survival he repeatedly prioritizes.

Levi first becomes central after Eren's Titan ability creates a political and military crisis. The Survey Corps argues that Eren should be placed under its control, and Levi demonstrates at the tribunal that he is capable of physically restraining him if necessary. Eren is subsequently assigned to the Special Operations Squad under Levi's command.

During the 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, Levi operates within Erwin's attempt to capture the Female Titan. The mission demonstrates both his extraordinary combat ability and his approach to command. He repeatedly tells Eren that neither trusting oneself nor trusting comrades guarantees success; all anyone can do is make a choice and live with the result.

The uprising against the royal government places Levi against human opponents rather than Titans. His past becomes directly relevant when Kenny and the Anti-Personnel Control Squad attack the Survey Corps. Levi's familiarity with criminal tactics and close-range gunfights becomes critical as the regiment shifts temporarily from Titan extermination to political survival.

The operation to reclaim Shiganshina gives Levi one of the most consequential responsibilities in the series. Erwin leads a suicidal charge against the Beast Titan specifically to create a path for Levi. Levi nearly kills Zeke but loses the opportunity when the Cart Titan intervenes. After both Erwin and Armin are left near death, Levi must choose which one receives the single Titan injection. He ultimately revives Armin.

During the conflict with Marley, Levi remains responsible for restraining Zeke and protecting Paradis from his plans. Zeke transforms Levi's subordinates into Titans using spinal-fluid-contaminated wine, forcing Levi to kill the soldiers he had been commanding. Levi captures Zeke again, only for Zeke to detonate a thunder spear at close range and nearly kill them both.

Despite his injuries, Levi joins the alliance formed to stop Eren's Rumbling. He cannot fight at his previous level, but remains one of its most experienced soldiers. During the final battle, he kills Zeke, helping stop the movement of the Wall Titans, and continues fighting until Mikasa reaches Eren.

Levi enters the wider story as someone already shaped by repeated loss. Unlike younger Survey Corps members, he does not begin with idealistic expectations that courage guarantees survival. His experience in the Underground and early expedition with Erwin has already taught him that talented, decent people can die because of a single bad moment.

His command style reflects that understanding. Levi expects discipline and competence because mistakes can kill entire squads, yet he does not pretend commanders can foresee every consequence. His advice to Eren about choosing the decision he will regret least emerges from his own inability to know whether following Erwin instead of acting independently could have saved Furlan and Isabel.

The destruction of his first Special Operations Squad repeats that lesson. Levi has chosen Petra, Eld, Oluo and Gunther because they are experienced soldiers capable of protecting Eren. Their competence does not save them. Rather than abandoning trust as a result, Levi continues relying on other people while accepting that leadership gives him no power to guarantee their survival.

His relationship with Erwin becomes the clearest expression of this burden. Levi trusts Erwin enough to accept plans that knowingly sacrifice soldiers, but he also understands the personal obsession driving the commander. When given the chance to revive Erwin, Levi decides not to force him back into what he sees as a living hell of endless responsibility. The choice marks a rare moment when Levi prioritizes mercy over strategic utility.

The final arcs reduce Levi physically while expanding the symbolic weight he carries. Injured, partially blinded and missing fingers, he can no longer dominate every battlefield through skill alone. His remaining objective becomes fulfilling the promises made to the dead, especially Erwin and the Scouts lost at Shiganshina.

After the final battle, Levi sees or imagines the fallen Survey Corps soldiers before giving them a salute. The moment resolves his repeated insistence that the living must give meaning to those who died: he survives long enough to witness the end of Titan power and acknowledge that their sacrifices led somewhere.

The given name Levi has Hebrew origins and is traditionally associated with the meaning "joined," "attached" or "connected." Character reference material notes the Hebrew origin of the name.

Hajime Isayama has said the character's name was inspired by a person named Levi appearing in the American documentary Jesus Camp. The name was selected before many of the details of Levi's final characterization had been established.

The surname Ackerman derives from the German surname Ackermann, historically an occupational term for someone who works or ploughs a field. Within the series, the name eventually becomes much more important because it identifies a family persecuted by the royal government.

The Ackerman name connects Levi to Kenny, Kuchel and Mikasa and to a bloodline created through Titan-related experimentation. The family possesses exceptional combat potential while remaining human and cannot be subjected to the Founding Titan's memory alteration in the same manner as ordinary Subjects of Ymir.

• Levi is officially 160 cm tall and weighs 65 kg. His birthday is December 25.

• Hajime Isayama never gave Levi an exact canonical numerical age during the main story. He described him as surprisingly old and confirmed that he was older than 30; guide information places him in his early thirties around the year 850.

• His short height was influenced partly by Mighty Atom from Astro Boy and Kyuzo from Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, according to material collecting Isayama's comments.

• Levi's obsession with cleanliness is associated with his childhood in the unsanitary Underground, where he longed for a clean home.

• He won the first official Attack on Titan character popularity poll with 3,952 votes, ahead of Eren and Mikasa.

• Levi also won the second official character poll with 10,420 votes, ahead of Erwin Smith and Eren Yeager.

• He placed second to Erwin in the third official poll, then returned to first place in the fourth poll with 3,130 votes.

• An independent Crunchyroll reader poll conducted during the anime's first season also ranked Levi first, with 7,308 of 62,375 votes.

Levi is a major character throughout the television anime adaptation of Attack on Titan. Hiroshi Kamiya voices him in Japanese, while Matthew Mercer voices him in the principal English dub. His animation emphasizes the extreme speed and rotational movement of his fighting style, particularly in encounters where conventional soldiers are unable to follow his actions.

His early life receives a dedicated adaptation in Attack on Titan: No Regrets, originally developed as a visual novel scenario and later expanded into a manga by Gun Snark and Hikaru Suruga. The story follows Levi's life with Furlan Church and Isabel Magnolia in the Underground and his first encounter with Erwin Smith. Kodansha published the manga in English as a two-volume prequel to the main series.

No Regrets was also adapted into two original animation DVD episodes included with limited editions of the Japanese manga. Hiroshi Kamiya reprises Levi, making the adaptation the principal animated account of his life before the Survey Corps.

Levi appears as a playable character in Koei Tecmo and Omega Force's Attack on Titan games. His source-material reputation translates into exceptionally strong combat statistics and high-speed blade attacks, particularly in Attack on Titan and Attack on Titan 2.

He is also part of the cast of Attack on Titan: Junior High, which reimagines the characters in a comedy school setting. The spin-off exaggerates his obsession with cleaning and intimidating authority while retaining his small stature and exceptional competence.

Levi does not have a direct equivalent in the 2015 Japanese live-action films, which restructure the original cast substantially. Characters and narrative functions from the manga are redistributed rather than reproducing his Survey Corps role exactly.

Levi has consistently been one of the highest-ranking characters in official Attack on Titan popularity polling. He won the first poll with 3,952 votes and the second with 10,420, then placed second behind Erwin in the third poll before winning the fourth with 3,130 votes.

His popularity extended beyond the manga's official Japanese surveys. A 2013 Crunchyroll poll involving 62,375 votes placed Levi first with 7,308 votes, ahead of Jean, Eren and Armin. Later international audience rankings similarly continued to place him near or at the top of the franchise's cast.

The character's popularity is notable because he enters the main narrative as a supporting adult soldier rather than one of its young protagonists. His combination of limited dialogue, exceptional combat ability and long-term connection with Erwin gave him a role distinct from Eren, Mikasa and Armin while still allowing him to participate in almost every major military phase of the story.

His battle sequences became some of the anime adaptation's most prominent showcases for vertical maneuvering animation. Encounters with the Female Titan, Beast Titan and Kenny's squad all place Levi's speed at the center of the choreography, turning his reverse-grip blades and spinning movement into immediately recognizable elements of the franchise's action language.

Hiroshi Kamiya's performance also became strongly associated with the character in Japan, while Matthew Mercer's English portrayal helped establish Levi among international audiences. The role's relative emotional restraint requires many of Levi's reactions to be conveyed through small changes in tone rather than overt speeches.

Levi's cultural visibility has continued after the conclusion of the manga and television anime through figures, apparel, collaborations, exhibitions and character goods. His persistent success in popularity polls—including first-place finishes separated by many years—reflects a level of audience recognition extending across the franchise's full publication and adaptation history.