The Reality Of Levi Ackerman's Personality

The Reality of Levi Ackerman's Personality

If he were "personality-less" (a difficult thing to define, honestly) as some people say, it would be due to the sheer trauma he's been exposed to. Humans, when in traumatic situations, turn to the fight-or-flight response for help and turn on the Monkey Brain to survive. This is something of an emotional/personal growth stunt. This is why it is very difficult for people who went through trauma as children. They are not rediscovering themselves; they are discovering themselves. Levi, who has only just escaped the endless trauma of the war, is now crushed under the weight of grief for his mother, the things he saw at the underground brothels, his friends, his comrades, mental issues from all he's witnessed, a sudden loss of independence, and the reality that he's a cripple and will never be the way he used to be (which will only feed the hypervigilance he inevitably developed).

It's been some forty years. His personality is built out of the trauma he's endured, so of course, he isn't going to look/act like your normal guy.

As an old guy with nothing to do, he'll go out and discover himself. The food he likes (in the underground and in the scouts, you take what you get and don't complain), the hobbies he enjoys, posssibly new friends who he won't be so afraid to lose to death, etc. But he's going to spend a lot of his time trying to heal from forty years worth of trauma. He probably won't, not before his life ends, so in short, Levi has quite a few excuses to be the way he is.

Thank you sm for your response, and such a thoughtful response! Your understanding of Erwin is one of the more well-rounded takes I’ve heard; people claiming him to be either a badass or a monster, much like in the show itself. Personally I think I’ll always lean towards the latter due to his blasé attitude towards sacrifice, tho I do understand how he got there. He is a flawed and painfully human character whose heart is in the right place more times than it isn’t, even when it leads him to do some unsavoury things

That analysis post about why Levi likes tea so much reminded me, with this panel, of something I also don't think people fully understand. Which is why Levi was so angry at Erwin at first, and why he was so out for his blood.

It's because he threatens Furlan's and Isabel's lives here. He orders his men to hold their swords to their throats, simply because Levi had refused at first to give him his name. Levi's belligerence on that front is rooted, I think, in how Erwin and his men are treating him and his friends. Having them down on their knees, in the filth and mud, with their arms bound behind their backs, making demands of them all the while. It's made worse when Erwin orders Mike to push Levi's face into the sewage. And that's what it is. It's sewage, not simply mud. You can see it coming out of the drain pipes. Levi was deeply upset by this, and understandably so. Putting someone's face into a puddle of sewage is a ghastly thing to do, especially when one really considers what the consequences of something like that could be. There's all sorts of diseases one could contract from inhaling that kind of filthy water. But it's what happens next that I think really drove Levi to wanting to kill Erwin.

Isabel is certain that the scouts are going to kill them in the above panel, and in a show of defiance, tells them to just get it over with. Furlan's face is frozen in fear, sweat trickling down it, because he feels the threat is real too.

But look at Levi's face.

Where before he'd only been angry, here, he's horrified, shocked and frightened. He realizes, suddenly, that Erwin isn't just capable of humiliating them, but seemingly willing to take their lives if he doesn't comply. He's threatening the only two people Levi has in his life. The only two people he's ever been able to call friend, and really, are more like his family. The two people he's done all he can to protect in the dangerous world of the Underground City. Basically, the two people he lives for.

I think some people tend to think Levi wanted to kill Erwin over wounded pride. Even just calling what Erwin did, before ordering his men to hold their blades to Isabel's and Furlan's throats, a case of wounded pride is an understatement, I think. He thoroughly humiliated Levi and his friends, and treated them inhumanely, as if they had no rights or autonomy. But it really wasn't that which drove Levi toward wanting to kill Erwin. It was that Erwin presented himself as a threat to his family.

Beautiful Cruel World [Chapter 2] Only Human [Levi Ackerman]

A knock on the front door woke him from a short nap. Furlan groaned in irritation as he stood; exhaustion once again caught up and put him out at the dinner table instead of his bed. He hated when this happened. It meant that he was working too hard.

As he stumbled across the room, his ankles and back popped in sudden protest. He scratched his stomach and tore open the door but no one was there. The sun was barely up yet; the oil lamps were burned down and barely visible. Furlan thought it may have been his imagination – the kind exhaustion sometimes played on people – but just as he was about to turn and go back inside, his eyes caught sight of something.

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Love the beach, willing to remove limbs if someone gets between me and my food, people always tell me I’m too loud and my shit stinks - I’m a seagull through and through

Levi, in his head: I’m thinking of a hundred and one ways to kill your jolly ass but I like you for some reason so I’ll just chalk them up to preparedness

Quicksketch of Levi and Farlan inbetween commissions. Still need to figure out how to translate quick and sketchy into desired quality but practice is practice! Also pouty Levi and teasing Farlan are an aesthetic