➛ levi's fate: a comprehensive thread dedicated to theorizing about levi's role and arc for the remainder of the manga

levi has well established that his goal is to kill zeke. though he hasn't spoken much, i think there are a lot of hints as to HOW levi's character will end up.

to understand how levi's character arc will end, it is incredibly important to examine his beginnings, as isayama is creating a juxtaposition by bringing a character who is regarded as a perfect and untouchable standard to the level of everyone else (a reverse development).

when we first meet levi, he is recognized as "humanity's strongest soldier." he is painted as someone who is compassionate, strong, and exists on a different plane compared to the rest of the soldiers and people around him.

throughout the course of the manga, we get to gain an understanding of levi's thought process. uprising arc in particular highlights levi's shortcomings and his priorities, hinting that he isn't exactly the perfect and compassionate hero he is often made out to be.

levi's character truly only starts 'unraveling' in development after the battle of shiganshina, which can be rooted to one cause: erwin's death, and the promise he made to him. it was at this moment he committed himself to giving meaning to the lives lost by killing zeke.

erwin's death is an incredibly important turning point for levi, not just because it gives levi a new objective while leaving him void of his previous purpose (following/protecting erwin), it starts to highlights levi's hypocrisy, starting with his personal feelings.

marley arc and final arc take levi's hypocrisy to another level; one of the biggest ongoing questions about levi is his stance on eren's actions. he dislikes meaningless deaths, but is completely absent from discussions in the alliance when it comes to stopping eren.

that being said, i do believe that levi is opposed to eren's actions (see snk 105); it's just that eren's actions are not levi's current concern. the timeskip has just given levi a chance to reevaluate his goals and priorities, and what's most important to him (the promise).

so what does this mean? it means levi *will* pursue zeke in some form. whether or not he is doing it with the alliance is currently up in the air, as his location has not been confirmed. but it does not change that levi has a strong resolve to avenge erwin and the soldiers lost.

however, what is truly up in the air is levi's fate attempting to pull this promise. isayama has a heavy track record of "wanting to make the readers suffer" meaning there are many ways in which levi can go out. one of which is turning levi's "no regrets" philosophy against him.

as is, levi is a tragic character, being deprived of a normal and happy life ever since the beginning. levi's life can be described as a snowball; constantly going downhill. as such, it's fair to believe that a tragic and despairful end would be fitting for levi.

i speculate that the outcome of levi's life can be one or the combination of the following things:

- go rogue on the alliance
- attempt to kill zeke, die trying, possibly rendering his life as well as his other comrades meaningless
- attempt to kill zeke, and be successful

in general, i feel that at this point of the manga, levi has lost his patience and compassion as he realized that his priorities are in relation to his vow to erwin. i predict he may behave similarly to how mikasa used to be (stopping anyone who gets in her way).

levi acting like this would create a huge irony out of the sheer fact that "humanity's strongest" is now acting as an enemy of humanity by not prioritizing the current crisis and possibly getting in the way of people who are (the alliance). i can see levi snap like mikasa did.

to add to the irony, should levi die, it has the potential to be exceptionally ironic if levi dies useless, without purpose, because he made the wrong choice. i feel this panel of the soldier levi consoled from 9.5 could potentially hint at him having a similar fate.

levi has made bad choices *several times* in the past that has led to his comrade's deaths despite having the "no regrets" philosophy, so it wouldn't be a surprise to me if he makes the wrong choice *again,* except this time, his choice and carelessness would lead to his demise.

at the end of it all, all of levi's motivations post-timeskip can all be brought back to one thing: his vow to erwin. at this point, he has lost patience for prioritizing humanity, deviating from being the "perfect hero" he was known as, possibly becoming an enemy to humanity.

levi's promise is the last thing he has left to accomplish and i believe he will do anything to achieve that, even if it means death or continually veering off the path of humanity.