Spoilers for Attack on Titan ahead.
Levi Ackerman is undoubtedly the most powerful character in Attack on Titan, even among the array of superpowered, transforming bio-mechas that comprise the series’ namesake. And it’s for that very reason that the story’s use of him is so fascinating - not just for when he’s allowed to let loose, but when he’s pushed to the sidelines, unable to lend his strength to other characters in their time of need.
Captain Levi is first introduced in Episode 4 of the anime, heading out on an expedition with the Scouting Regiment, but he truly makes his entrance in Episode 9. While the main characters fight for their lives during the Battle of Trost, Levi cuts down Titans like they’re nothing, displaying a level of skill the audience hasn’t previously witnessed, with his cohorts not far behind. After seeing half of the supporting cast eaten and even the seeming death of the show’s protagonist, Levi’s strength is a catharsis and a sickeningly sweet relief that audiences easily latch onto. The recruits have a character who functions like a goalpost for the skills they’ll need to survive. However, he’s also a reminder of what is lost on the road toward that kind of power.
What To Do With The Strongest
Levi is so powerful, in fact, that relying on him too much could render the threats null, necessitating that he needs to be out of commission at times, a not-so-uncommon writing move. Countless dramas are predicated on plots that involve insuring that powerful individuals cannot interfere. And when the villains are sweating over a particular protagonist, that can say a lot about the scales of power.
In a similar example, Osamu Dazai in Bungo Stray Dogs is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent characters in the entire series, and his power makes him a huge threat. For this reason, almost every arc involves them being kidnapped or otherwise indisposed, and he seems to know this. He even walks into a trap full well knowing that he’ll take a bullet, just so he can find out what he needs to know.
But Dazai’s strength and the sidelining that it facilitates is to compensate for his lack of physical strength, which puts him significantly at odds with his foes, often powerful superhumans. Levi is different because, by every metric the show demonstrates, he is more powerful than anyone in the series. So with this in mind, how does the show handle him, and why is it so effective?
For starters, the first time Levi is put out of commission, it's for something as simple as an ankle injury during his fight against the Female Titan. He breaks it saving Mikasa from an attack, and the physicians within the walls must have been real sticklers because he spends the entirety of Season 2 out of combat to recover. For as slight an injury as it is, it also goes to show that not even Levi is invincible.
It also serves to give the rest of the cast time to catch up in a way, fighting on their own during the whirlwind of emotions that was the second season. Between the reveal of the Armored and Colossal Titan’s identities and the ensuing battle, it’s a moment for growth that might feel considerably less threatening if Levi was there. And when he is back at full strength, the enemy couldn’t be any more different.
The Enemy Within
Season 3 made up for every second that Levi wasn’t kicking ass in Season 2 with a vengeance, with Levi facing off against the closest thing to an equal he’s ever had, Kenny Ackerman. The man that trained him ends up being sent after him and all the main characters, equipped with the only thing that could have made the 3D Maneuver Gear more threatening: guns.
At first, Levi was - in a manner of speaking - the grown-up in the room, to show the protagonists what they should aspire to become in order to kill titans. By season 3, circumstances have forced him to forge them into his new team, facing not titans, but other humans, something none of them expected or wanted. Regardless, Levi is the only one who can get them ready for what’s to come.
After Season 3 and the subsequent time skip, he isn’t really needed as a teacher. The characters have all grown and become tougher, more capable individuals, leaving Levi with only his strength and the desire to continue fighting for Erwin’s dream. He’s there at the Battle of Marley, but then, he’s merely a jailor, watching over Zeke, while the machinations of the plot progress elsewhere.
For a while, Levi feels secondary to the plot, until once again it's made clear that he was put on the sideline for a very important reason: because he could have messed everything up. And the only reason he didn’t become a Titan was that he decided not to drink on the job. Because not everyone has Levi’s restraint. Not everyone can be like Levi. As it turns out, very few people should.
Levi, The Accursed
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned by Hades to push a boulder up a hill to watch it roll down the hill as it approached the top, all because he cheated death twice. Levi Ackerman has similarly cheated death, at first implicitly based on his survival in a profession with laughably rubbish odds, and then more explicitly during the Final Season when he survives an explosion.
Levi has watched everyone he calls a comrade die around him in the seemingly unending war for survival. Even Erwin, the person for whom Levi dedicated himself to mankind’s survival, isn’t around by the series’ end. Despite everything, he’s almost never wavered and - in fact - grows stronger every season, though no doubt his most recent injuries are the most grave.
People don’t search for Levi’s fight against the Beast Titan on YouTube because it’s a fair fight against two equals; they want to see total annihilation. Zeke can destroy armies handily at a distance, but he’s nothing compared to Levi up close. And yet, even after humiliating Zeke, carving him out of his Titan, Levi fails to capture Zeke. The resulting look of failure on his face hits twice - no, ten times as hard.
He is the most powerful character, but it never seems to work against the series. The events that have molded him are things that no one should experience, and his strength has never quite given him anything in return. He’s saved by a dream dreamt up by a man he admired, and he fights - perhaps in vain - so that it all will have meant something.
And this is why Levi Ackerman getting sidelined detracts nothing from his character; because he remains one of the most interesting in the series. He is overpowered, but considerable thought is put into what that should mean in this story. Attack on Titan understands the allure of power levels in anime but weighs them heavily against the far more important tenets of character and theme.