In the split second after her hands were blown apart, Levi would've been fast enough to cut Annie out of the nape. IF Levi hadn't started mocking her and was in better control of his emotions, the Scouts would likely have had time to sever her hands as Erwin instructed. Because, all three Ackermans are extremely flawed, and extremely human, as we see them make so many wrong judgement calls all the time even without the Shifters involved - so why not make use of this? Humanity's strongest as also among the most emotionally vulnerable.įailing to capture Annie in the forest: The reason Erwin's trap didn't end up working was because of Annie's scream calling the Titans.
From a storytelling perspective, my subjective preference is for this internal method to prevent them from being totally OP, rather than an artificial leash or restraint through PATHS. With literally every other soldier, it's the exact inverse - it's their physical capabilities that prevent them from matching the Shifters in a fight, not their character qualities (which other Scout would hesitate to kill any Titan? this hesitation is reserved for the most powerful who are actually capable of killing almost all the Titans). They have perfect control of their bodies, but not their emotions. So I think the purpose of the Ackermans' inability to kill Shifters may be more a case of situational irony rather than something predetermined by Paths - The individuals who are physically the most capable of killing the Shifters are the ones most limited by their character flaws / weaknesses / personal limitations to do so. In order to prevent them from being individuals with perfect judgement and perfect fighting abilities, they naturally have deep personal flaws that make them interesting and human, that also account for having failed to kill any Shifters. I'd argue that if they were in better control of themselves, they would physically have been able to kill the Shifters with relative ease. I too don't believe either Levi or Mikasa hesitated in killing him), the Ackermans' failure to kill the Shifters were due to their emotional or character weaknesses, that counterbalance their superhuman strength. This makes so much sense! I'm new to the manga side of this subreddit so I didn't get to see the earlier theories about this, so thanks for bringing this up.īut, I think a slightly different interpretation of all this is also possible: That is, in most/many cases (with the exception of Reiner whose constant survival is purely plot armour.