Attack on Titan: Why is Annie Evil

Updated:

16 Feb 2023

Annie Leonhart is a graduate of the 104th Training Corps and a former member of the Military Police Brigade in the anime series; Attack on Titan.

She was one of the first antagonists to appear on the show. She could transform into one of the Titan Shifters and was the Female Titan. The Female Titan- around 14 meters height-wise, was known for its unique feminine body type amongst all the other Titan Shifters. It possessed intelligence and excessive knowledge about hand-to-hand combat and had the ability to regenerate or harden certain parts of its body during battles.

She served as one of the supporting protagonists in the early arcs; however, she secretly operated as an antagonist off-screen as well.

Later in the series, she serves as the main antagonist in the Female Titan arc, where she is mainly hidden in her Titan’s appearance. However, this article will cover why Annie was considered evil and what events marked her as the best villain of the series by some fans.

Was Annie Evil?

Claiming that Annie is a villain, one of the significant threats for Paradis at the beginning of the exciting series, is relatively easy to assume and, honestly speaking, valid to a major extent.

Nonetheless, before discussing the events where she displayed pure evil, it is imperative to understand why she did Annie do such terrible things. Why did she choose to be evil? We must look into her background.

From a tender age, Annie was trained by her adoptive father after being abandoned by her birth parents. Her adoptive father, Leonhart, took her in, intending to teach her to become a Warrior so that he could live a privileged life.

Thus, she was put under rigorous combat training along with her father. Eventually, as time passed, she became as strong as he wanted her to, leaving her with a lot of frustrated feelings. In retaliation for all that she had to endure, she attacked her father and left him crippled.

At some point in her life, she joined the Marley forces as a Warrior candidate. There she met her comrades such as Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, and Marcel Galliard. Annie was selected as one of the Warriors for the mission of Paradis Island and inherited the Female Titan. She was a lone wolf who barely socialized or got along well with people.

However, before she departed for her mission- her father regretted his actions, apologized, and begged her to promise that she would safely return to him. With that in mind, Annie was determined to finish her mission as soon as possible and return to her father- even if that meant killing people and being wrong.

Now that we understand why Annie was labeled as evil let’s look at some of the events where she portrayed her villain-like characteristics.

Annie was Amongst the People Responsible for Bringing Down Wall Maria

When the Warriors attacked the people of Paradis again, the Eldians saw how effortlessly the Colossal Titan blew a strategic hole in Wall Maria.

The Eldians saw the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan that charged in, scaring people. However, what they failed to notice was the Female Titan. The Female Titan was responsible for bringing the normal and abnormal Titans as soon as Bertolt was done, creating a path for them to infiltrate.

Through her horrifying scream, Annie’s Titan could attract (not control) and call all the Pure Titans to wherever she was. Since all the Titans were usually scattered, she used her powers to call them Shiganshina and had almost all the civilians killed mercilessly at the hands of mindless, terrifying, and hungry titans.

However, she was not spotted during the battle due to being extremely tired, and she transformed back into her human form. After the attack, she regained consciousness inside Wall Rose, in a refugee camp, along with her other companions.

She was Dedicated to her Mission Despite Knowing that the Eldians were Innocent

After the fall of Wall Maria, Annie continued her search to find the royal family, as they were thought to have the Founding Titan. Unfortunately, Annie and the other Warriors realized King Fritz was just a name and still had to look for the true royal family inside the walls.

While Annie was being trained in Marley, she was brainwashed into believing that all the Eldians residing on Paradis Island were corrupt and wicked. However, as she spent more time with the Eldians, her comrades, and civilians- she realized that the Marleyans were lying all along.

Annie soon understood that the Eldians were average, ordinary people who had no idea why they were hated by the outside world. Despite knowing the truth, she still insisted on fighting against her comrades in the 104th Training Corps and other civilians.

She caused major casualties as a human and as the Female Titan, too, so that she could be done and over with the assigned mission and go back home to her father.

She Killed Marco, Sonny and Bean, and Members of the Survey Corps

Image

Although Annie had no intentions of killing Marco, she still took his life away.

During an attack by the man-eating, mindless Titans, Annie risked her life to save Connie. This led Reiner to believe that maybe Annie had started to feel guilt and remorse for the Eldians. Reiner ordered Annie to take off Marco's ODM gear to prove her loyalty to Marley and that she still was faithful as a Warrior.

Poor Marco had overheard a conversation between Reiner and Bertolt that they were the Armored and Colossal Titans, respectively. Though he screamed at them for mercy and that they should take the chance to discuss this over, Annie took off his ODM gear in the heat of the moment- resulting in Marco’s cruel death.

Moreover, Annie was also responsible for killing the two experimental Titans named Sonny and Bean. To stop the Eldians from learning and understanding about the Titans, she used her ODM gear to kill them and stole Marco’s ODM gear.

When the military personnel asked for her ODM gear in hopes of finding the culprit, she presented Marco’s- which luckily was identified by Armin as he was aware of what Marco’s gear looked like. Thus, this helped him conclude later on that she, indeed, was the Female Titan.

In the Female Titan’s arcs, she took many lives of the Survey Corps members as she didn’t spare anyone who tried to come in her way and stop her. All she was concerned with was capturing the Founding Titan, returning to her father, and living the rest of her life privileged and in glory.

Annie Captured Eren

When the Survey Corps headed for the 57th Expedition outside the walls under the leadership of Commander Erwin Smith, they were encountered by the Female Titan.

Annie, aka the Female Titan, was after Eren as she, along with the Warriors, had realized that he was some Titan Shifter. They later knew he had the Attack Titan that had escaped the hands of the Marley forces when the Great Titan War broke out.

Annie attacked the soldiers and ran after Eren in an attempt to capture him. In the process, she killed many of the Survey Corps members without thinking twice. She even brutally shoved and got rid of Levi’s Squad (that was protecting Eren) so that she could take Eren with her back to Marley.

Nevertheless, she captured Eren and was about to run for it, but Levi and Mikasa leveled just in time and saved him. At that moment, she shed tears in her Titan form because Annie realized that the easiest option for her to return to her father in Liberio had blown up in smoke.

Even though what Annie did, was unforgiving- but knowing the back story, we now can understand how frustrating and heartbreaking it must have been for her to have blood on her hands, to kill people she worked saving humanity with, and betray the people she spent a piece of her life with so that she could satisfy the evil Marley forces and live with her father in peace.

She Fought Eren and Mikasa

After the 57th Expedition, Armin was able to connect the dots and arrive at the conclusion that Annie was indeed the Female Titan they encountered in the forest.

They convince her to go underground to confirm their suspicions that she can’t transform into a Titan Shifter. However, they underestimate Annie as she slices her finger and transforms into the Female Titan.

This puts Eren in a total state of shock, and he can’t transform as he still thinks of Annie as a comrade. However, he regains his senses, transforms into the Attack Titan, and fights against her. Through the bloody battle, Eren and Annie almost destroy the city of Stohess. Soon Annie understands that she can’t fight Eren anymore and tries to flee- climbing atop the wall towards Marley.

As she is about to climb the wall and retreat, Mikasa slices her fingers, making her fall right into Eren’s clutches. Realizing she has lost the battle, she encases herself in a crystal, preserving her body. The crystal isn’t destroyed until years later when Eren activates the Rumbling.

Conclusion

Annie Leonhart did indeed kill a lot of people and gave humanity some severe blows. However, she, too, was being manipulated by the Marleyans. All she wanted was to be with her father. It’s sad to see how these kids were instilled with hate from a young age.

With that being stated, this is the wrap for this article. It gave you a profound insight into why Annie is evil and her reasons for being so.

We would love to hear your thoughts about Annie down below. Do you think Annie is evil? Is she the series’ best villain? Kindly leave your answers for us to know.