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seldomselene · 3 days ago

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The importance of Hange's character in AoT and in Levi's story

This is a rant of mine that I've always wanted to express since I entered the AoT fandom, because the fact that an argument like this can be made where the fandom questions Hange's importance in the story, a character integral to the story and part of the most important side characters, has never sat well with me, especially for someone like me who has Hange Zoë as one of their all-time favourite characters not only from AoT, but from any media ever. The fact that Hange receives such claims from the fandom while other important characters, like Levi or Erwin for example, are not subjected to these sorts of claims, has always rubbed me the wrong way. I never really understood why these claims even exist in the first place and target Hange specifically, but perhaps sometimes there's no explanation to these things. I do want to specify that Hange has slowly gained in popularity especially after the release of season 4 as compared to previous years when Hange hate was definitely more prevalent in the fandom than nowadays.

But with that being said, this claim is unfortunately never truly gone from the fandom, and despite the fact things have improved, it's always relevant to remind the fandom why Hange is important to the story and cannot be so easily erased from it. Maybe for some people, this post won't make a lot of sense as to why it even exists since they already know Hange is an important part of AoT, but I still feel I need to enumerate in greater detail why Hange IS important to AoT's story AND to Levi's narrative as this fandom often times seems to overlook this fact as seen by this reply I've received to a comment I made stating both Hange and Erwin are equally important to Levi. (I might be annoying with this, but it’s something I cannot slide easily. In the end I decided to show the full reply just so you could see for yourselves the extent of some people’s delusions when one is too engrossed in their favourite relationship and fails to recognize the importance of others, which is why they had no problem saying Hange could be erased from the story.)

There are many incorrect facts in this reply and I won't go through all of them as some are very shippy-biased and many blogs out here have already discussed and debated these claims in full (like the Ackerbond which has been debunked by the manga countless times or again the infamous take that Levi chose Erwin over humanity), but I'll counter-argument the idea that "you can take away Hange from Levi's story and it doesn't change anything", going further to explain why it's impossible to erase Hange from the story and from Levi's narrative from the manga's perspective.

(Before I do that though, just want to share a newest reply I received after I called out someone still spewing the same old argument that Levi doesn’t like Hange because Hange is unhygienic and this is how they answer me:)

(To imply Levi and Hange are not even friends, or that Isayama showed that Hange means nothing to Levi, is mind-boggling to me. As you can see, the hate Hange receives from this fandom is unfortunately still relevant.)

Hange's importance to the AoT plot

The first reason why Hange is essential to the story is through the intellect they're showcasing which helps the entire cast to devise plans out of their discoveries or theories that happen to be correct. This intellect actually helps the plot moving forward. One of the best examples of such importance is shown in chapter 37, Southwestward. Hange is the one to prove the walls are made of hardened Titan skin like Annie produced and the idea to use Eren's Titan later to seal the wall in Shiganshina, which is the whole purpose of the second part of season 3 in the anime, comes from Hange. Although Armin also speculated on the fact the walls are made of hardened Titan skin (in chapter 34), Hange is the one to scientifically prove it. Without this important discovery, the whole mission to go to Shiganshina to seal the wall and the reason Eren needs to train his Titan to harden his body later in the story wouldn't have been possible. The rest of the story leading up to the expedition in Shiganshina is shaped around that single discovery made by Hange. Without their scientific approach and their deduction skills, the plot would've come to a halt. Here are panels from chapter 37 showing how that important discovery was made and how Hange (and Armin to a certain degree) exposed their findings to the rest of their teammates in the cart.

Hange is also essential to Erwin's strategic plans. Both Armin and Hange are, but I'll concentrate more in this post on how Hange's theories and ideas are what fuel Erwin's own plans. The example with the discovery of the hardened Titan skin is definitely one of them, as he then plans an entire expedition in order to let Eren use his Titan abilities to seal the hole in wall Maria which will also lead to his own death. Another example where we see how Erwin plans around Hange's theories is in chapter 28, Choices and Consequences. This is after Annie summons other Titans to eat her Titan form in the forest and Erwin orders Levi to replenish his gas and blades. Erwin reveals later to Hange since Hange asks him why he told Levi to do that as they're all in a hurry, and he says he was inspired by one of Hange's theories when they theorized for the Colossal Titan's disappearance someone with ODM gear could've escaped using steam as cover, even though Hange didn't believe in the theory anymore due to Eren's state when he emerged from his own Titan the first time. However, Erwin keeps that idea by theorizing Annie could have done it unlike Eren, which he happens to be right. By giving Levi that order, he knows Levi shouldn't meet with her since Annie goes straight for Eren and Levi's squad as we all know how the story goes. Therefore, without Hange, his strategies wouldn't be as efficient, which is why Hange is not only essential to him but to the plot as a whole. These are the panels showing how Erwin was inspired by Hange's idea to make this plan on the spot.

Not only Erwin respects Hange's theories, but Levi can also be seen respecting Hange's theories multiple times throughout the story, and not only respecting but actually acting on them and basing his own plans around them. One example of this is in chapter 62, Sin, where Hange explains why they find Rod Reiss' testimony suspicious about the destruction of the chapel in which his entire family was killed (we find later by Grisha). That pushes Levi to accept investigating the chapel since he remains the head of the 104th even if Hange joined their group, swayed by Hange's arguments, and this is how the group later finds Eren and Historia. Here is the panel clearly showing Levi following Hange's lead.

Another example where we see Levi clearly be inspired by Hange's theories to act is in chapter 133, Sinners. After the Alliance processes Hange's sacrifice and pitches ideas for how to stop Eren, Levi proposes killing Zeke as one of the ways to stop the Rumbling, inspired by Hange's hypothesis. This then adds a new reason as to why Levi wants to kill Zeke (and not only for Erwin as some people might want to believe), but also to save humanity, guided by Hange's reasoning. And we see later that killing Zeke does stop the Rumbling, at least temporarily, but enough for the Alliance to think of another plan. Hange is then essential to the Alliance even after their death through Levi remembering their sharp intellect.

Related to how Levi acts on Hange's theories, he also praises Hange's leadership skills, like we can see in chapter 52, Krista Lenz, where the Survey Corps are into hiding to help Eren improve his Titan hardening skills. There's a moment when Hange hesitates on the next course of action, but Levi brings the determination Hange needed to fight back by laying out what options they have left. When Levi then compares Hange's answer to something Erwin might have said, he is recognizing the same leadership skills needed to be a commander that Erwin possesses in Hange, which not only is a sort of foreshadowing for what's to come in Hange's storyline, but it shows how both Levi and Erwin see Hange fit to be the next Commander (Erwin naming them as his successor later in the story is proof of Erwin's own trust in Hange's skills). Therefore, this means that the Survey Corps are in good hands regardless of what might happen to Erwin in the future, and we can see later how both were right (despite some people in the fandom criticizing Hange's commanding skills or actions later in season 4, how it's "their actions that led to Eren activating the Rumbling" as that framing is flawed but I'm overlooking that for now).

Hange is also essential for being the mastermind behind the thunder spears, helped by the engineers, weapons that can fight against the Armoured Titan and that will later be the weapons of choice for the Scouts (except Levi because he is a boomer until he does use them and yeah, that doesn't go well for him. Poor Levi :( ) So without Hange, no thunder spears, which wouldn't have gotten the Survey Corps as far as they've come. Here is the panel where we see Hange present the weapon to the rest of the Survey Corps from chapter 76, The Thunder Spears.

It’s thanks to Hange’s sacrifice the Alliance can keep going and the plane can take off with the rest of the Alliance. Despite this still being debated in the fandom, whether Hange's sacrifice was truly needed and whether they killed enough Titans to allow the Alliance to take off, the narrative is definitely framing it as necessary, and that without Hange's intervention in chapter 132, the plane could not have taken off. So Hange is essential for the survival of the rest of the Alliance.

Hange is the one who created the Alliance that can retaliate against Eren. They're the one to bring everyone together, from the Paradis side to the Marley side, which is no easy feat considering the historical tensions and divides between the two nations. But Hange is the main instigator, which makes them incredibly important for the existence of the Alliance in the first place. This panel from chapter 126, Pride, perfectly shows how Hange is the one to approach Pieck and Magath to create an alliance with them and Levi, followed later on by the 104th, Gabi, Falco, Annie, Reiner, Onyankopon and Yelena.

This is another reason why Hange is essential to the story, maybe overlooked but incredibly important, and maybe more so in our current times. Hange is the only character who says overtly “genocide is wrong”, and despite the Alliance definitely agreeing with them as well on that, I think it's important to be said explicitly since people still misunderstand this sentence even when stated explicitly. I've seen some people in the fandom say that what Hange said isn't nuanced or is too "simplistic", but the truth is that genocide is among one of the very few things in life that are actually very black and white. There's no grey area when it comes to genocide, no nuance, no "good reason" that can justify it, no historical trauma that can justify mass exterminations like Eren's or the ones we see nowadays in certain corners of the world. It IS wrong. Case closed. Therefore, Hange's statement is crucial, but more so, they're not afraid to call out their own people (in this case Eren) committing war crimes, even if it's painful or uncomfortable, something that for some reason is still incredibly hard to do even in real life. And Eren isn't just "another Paradis Eldian" to Hange or the Paradis side of the Alliance: Hange and Levi see in Eren something deeper than a mere subordinate (and I know the fandom likes to joke about how Levi and Hange are like the parents of the 104th, but pretty much) while the rest of the 104th with Mikasa and Armin mostly see him as their closest friend, making the heartbreak at having to fight him even more tragic. So that Hange is able to hold Eren accountable after everything he represents to them because genocide is just that wrong and horrific is incredibly strong and courageous, and absolutely necessary. We should definitely take example from Hange's moral clarity as well. Here are the panels in chapter 127, Night of The End, where Hange clearly expresses that genocide is wrong to Jean and Mikasa and then later during the stew scene in the forest where they tell Magath that no one wants a genocide.

Hange’s clear statement about genocide also completely invalidates the criticism AoT sometimes receives for “endorsing genocide or fascism”. The narrative is not neutral: it clearly supports the Alliance and sees them as the right side, so Isayama was not subtle about the message that the Rumbling is wrong. But again, who truly remembers Hange saying that? This is why Hange is essential to the plot and their statements should be remembered more often by the fandom or else people risk misinterpreting the core message of the story.

Also, can we appreciate how insane Hange is for saying that (still from chapter 127):

I think a lot more people should remember Hange's words here instead of using ancient history to justify war crimes. Their moral clarity is spot on (and hats off to Isayama for writing that).

Hange's importance to Levi's narrative

Alright, so you’ve probably all seen me come with this, which is the most straightforward and simple reason to explain why Hange can't be erased from Levi's story, and it's that they save his life after Zeke exploded the cart in which he was too with the thunder spear. Pretty self explanatory, and here is the panel from chapter 115, Support, that clearly shows how Hange is trying to save Levi by lying to Floch so the Yeagerists wouldn't shoot him on the spot.

I'm going on a little tangent here because there's something I want to discuss about what Hange saving Levi means in terms of queer theory. This is obviously an interpretation I have of the scene, so I'm not stating Isayama necessarily intended to add a deeper meaning to this scene except only to show the culmination of Levi and Hange's own theme of mutual care, but I've noticed something about this scene that I find interesting. So, Hange's character as a concept is inherently queer due to their gender ambiguity. I'm not here saying Hange as a person is necessarily queer or that Isayama wanted necessarily to make Hange queer, but that ambiguity makes the concept of their character pretty queer. So it's interesting to see a character like them representing queer concepts about gender save a masculine character that on the other hand represents healthy masculinity: Levi emulates that masculinity through his compassion and empathy and desire to protect others, which is what masculinity actually should be about. To see a masculine character who usually is the one doing all the saving be now saved by a character without a conventional gender subverts the traditional trope of the male character saving others. Not only is he shown in an extremely vulnerable position, but someone else, neither really male or female, ambiguous really, protects him now, which is in my opinion a very interesting interpretation of this scene since it plays with gender roles. What is expected of Levi as the male character is now pushed onto Hange who doesn't have a clear gender, which makes the scene even more compelling from that perspective.

But Hange saving Levi's life is not the only reason why Hange is important to Levi. This reason is too obvious and easy to find and I want to go deeper than that as the person from the start of this post believing Hange could be erased from the story was not considering this reason as very important as seen by the reply below.

So why Hange IS emotionally important to Levi since apparently for some people, saving one's life is regarded as unimportant to someone's narrative? I will show how Hange is important to Levi beyond the trifling matter of saving his life (let me be sarcastic for a moment here lolol) and how this fandom time and time again struggles to truly understand the relationship between Levi and Hange, which is actually quite interesting, because I think Levi and Hange have one of the most straightforward relationships to follow in the story, and yet, some people still manage to misunderstand it.

Hange is emotionally important to Levi since Levi would've been a lot more depressed in the Survey Corps had Hange not been around. He would've been a lot more misunderstood by the people around him without no one to make poop jokes with or to give into his snarky comments, and Erwin cannot replace Hange here as he would've been more distant as the Commander and also in relation to his own dream and struggles around it. Levi needs someone like Hange to act as his "partner in crime" or the Survey Corps' experience for Levi wouldn't have been the same, and that is as important as any story narrative since it would've shaped Levi differently if Hange wasn't around him. I'll link my previous metas about Levi and Hange's communication skills and how Hange treated Levi when he first entered the Survey Corps for more explanation on why Hange is so important to Levi as I've gone into more details in those specific posts. But if I can resume rather quickly, it's because Hange cares for Levi exactly like he cares for them back and for the rest of the AoT cast for that matter, and Hange is among the very few who can perfectly understand his world view. Therefore, Hange cannot be erased from Levi's narrative due to this strong closeness they share together, no matter how hard some people in this fandom wish they could.

There are probably a lot more reasons why Hange is important to the story, but these are the ones I could think of. This post also doesn't cover fully how Hange is important to Erwin even if I showed it a bit, or to Moblit, or to the 104th, or to their own squad, but I wanted mostly to answer the claim of how Hange is meaningless to Levi since that was the topic discussed with that other fan, and this post would've been a lot longer than it already is. I wanted to make a post like that to counter-attack this claim that can't be more wrong and disrespectful to Hange's character and what they represent and to their fans, with the hope that perhaps I won't have to see it anymore circulate among the fandom. I know this is naive as claims like these always persist, and people who strongly believe Hange is not important to the story will continue to cling to that belief, but I'll try to end this already very long post on a more optimistic and positive note: this claim is slowly declining in the fandom like I've stated at the start of this post, especially after the release of season 4, which can only be celebrated. I also hope that with this post, the fandom can cherish Hange a little bit more and remember why they're such an incredible and amazing character to the story, to Levi and to other AoT characters, and to stop spreading this claim that they can be erased once and for all. If Isayama made Hange, it's because they serve a purpose in his story, and to state otherwise is to misunderstand that purpose in the first place.

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