As Attack on Titan’s finale is fast approaching with the Rumbling right around the corner, fans can’t help reminiscing the truckload of extraordinary characters we’ve had along the way.
While their numbers are dwindling and their brilliance outshined by the Yeager brothers, there’s one character that has been on everyone’s mind for nearly a decade – Annie Leonhart.
Following her crystallization after Season 1’s tussle with the rare Berserk Attack Titan, Annie has yet to make a full comeback.
Although she was given brief screen time in Episode 9 of the final season, AOT fans have been wondering if we will ever get to see her rocking the Female Titan again.
Chapter 124 confirms that she does make it out of her crystal, although weakened, limp, and starved, as she’s seen lying among the fragments of hardening while coughing up fluid.
How Was Annie Freed Of The Crystal?
Annie was freed from her crystal prison after Eren activated the Rumbling, which had the aftereffect of undoing all Titan hardening – the Walls, Reiner’s armor, and her crystal encasing.
Since she was comatose for years, she was severely malnourished and limp after the hardening melted away. However, she had enough strength in her to walk out of the basement and lie in wait for Hitch.
1. Was She Conscious The Whole Time?
Annie’s chat with Hitch and Armin in Chapters 125 and 131 confirms that she was semi-conscious as she could not only hear everything they were saying but even Eren’s declaration of genocide through the Paths.
However, her years of isolation almost cost her sanity if it were not for Armin and Hitch visiting her.
Besides the effects the crystallization had on her mind, she was also visibly starved as she chowed down on a whole pie when she made it out of Stohess. But despite the toll it took on her, she was stable enough to move around.
2. Why Didn’t She Free Herself?
Annie couldn’t escape since she had no control over her newfound power. Even though the Female Titan can extract abilities from other Titan Shifters, she needs time to master it.
So, when she absorbed the Attack Titan’s innate hardening ability, she wasn’t aware of making a penetrable encasing as Eren does for his Titan’s nape.
Plus, she was emotionally stressed at that point. Realizing that there was no way home since she blew her cover and jeopardized the mission of capturing Eren, she wasn’t in the right mind to properly regulate her powers or even plan for an escape.
Whose Side Is Annie On?
Episode 3 of Season 4 sees Annie brutalize Reiner with her kicks as she angrily exclaims that she serves neither Eldia nor Marley as her only motivation for fulfilling the mission was to see her father again.
As Annie and Hitch chat in Chapter 125, we find out that Mr. Leonhart adopted her after she was sent to the Internment Zone as a baby, following the discovery that she was an Eldian.
While she believed for the longest time that her adoptive father’s training was to reap the benefits of her becoming a Marleyan Warrior, she was overwhelmed when she finally realized he thought of her as his daughter.
Even though she acknowledged that she had committed grave sins, she would do it all again if it meant seeing her father as he was the only one who refused to abandon her in a world everyone shunned her.
1. Will The Female Titan Fight Again?
At long last, we see the Female Titan in action during the raid on Paradis harbor and atop Eren’s massive Founding Titan from Chapter 129 onwards.
Annie initially fought alongside the remainder of the Scouts and the Marleyan warriors against the Jaegerists in Paradis harbor in an attempt to flee the island and rescue the Azumabitos.
While they were successful, it came at the cost of severe injuries inflicted by volleys of Thunder Spears that were hurled at them.
But once she found out that saving Liberio wasn’t part of the plan, she immediately backed out, as returning to her father was her only goal. However, at the pleas of Falco, Gabi, and Lady Kiyomi, Annie rejoined the fight against Eren.
In the nick of time, she came flying in on Falco’s Jaw Titan and prevented everyone from being eaten by Titan Shifter husks. She then battled the husks alongside Reiner until Armin’s Colossal Titan’s explosion threw everyone off.
Following Eren’s death and disappearance of the Power of the Titans, she was finally reunited with her father.
2. Is There Bad Blood Between Her And Reiner?
Annie loathes Reiner as we see her pummel him to the ground more than once now. But why does she have this animosity towards him? And will she ever forgive him?
It all started with their mission of retaking the Founder going bust after Ymir devoured marcel.
Infuriated by Reiner’s cowardice to prevent the Jaw from being stolen and his desperate threats to join their shoddy plan, Annie blamed him for needlessly prolonging her from returning home.
But it soon went downhill from there, as Reiner constantly endangered her by tasking her with locating the Founder despite her pleas of being nearly caught by Kenny Ackerman.
Tensions then escalated when his split personality decided to pop in—playing as both the warrior and the soldier did more than get on her nerves since she was forced to clean up after him, like when she had to aid in Marco’s killing because of his slip up.
Enraged by his blunders and heroic antics, Annie admitted in Chapter 132 that she was a hair’s breadth away from killing him.
However, when Reiner protected her for the first time against the Jaegerists and apologized for his mistakes, she forgave him as they embraced in a hug before they temporarily went their separate ways.
Does She Love Armin?
While Chapters 131 and 132 confirm there’s chemistry between the two, Annie still refuses to admit it even after Armin’s confession.
During their heart-to-heart in Chapter 131, she thanks Armin for keeping her company while she was crystallized. However, she couldn’t fathom why he would go through the trouble of having a one-sided conversation with her.
She was dazed and flustered when Armin subtly explained it was his love for her since she always believed no one but her father was capable of showing her such affection.
While she tried to pin his feelings on his kindness, Armin ascertains that he’s no saint and that he didn’t fall in love with her out of the goodness of his heart or attempts to make peace with a ‘monster.’
Even when she decided to jump ship and hitch a ride with the Azumabitos in the next chapter, she was caught blushing and staring at Armin longingly after Mikasa mentioned that he’d be joining them to stop Eren.
She ultimately joins the battle against Eren, but her relationship with Armin isn’t pursued further in the manga.
But there may be a chance for the AruAni ship as they were seen traveling to the remainder of the world as ambassadors of Paradis.
About Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. Kodansha publishes it in the Bessatsu Shonen Magazine.
The manga began serialization on September 9th, 2009, and ended on April 9, 2021. It has been compiled into 34 volumes.
Attack on Titan follows humanity settled within three concentric walls to protect themselves from the terrifying titans that prey on them. Eren Yeager is a young boy that believes that a caged life is similar to that of cattle and aspires to go beyond the walls one day, just like his heroes, the Survey Corps. The emergence of a deadly Titan unleashes chaos.
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