Hange’s Decision
So I’m on the Levihan train today, and something just occurred to me about the whole ‘did Levi reject Hange’s wish to live together in 139?’ Discourse.
The argument against this being a Levihan moment is that ‘yes, Hange confessed love through her desire to runaway with Levi, and he rejected her.’
I think we’ve been looking at it all wrong.
I think Hange rejected her own wish; Levi merely points out why she did and basically tells her it’s okay. He understands.
Let me explain:
Here we have the original question from Hange - “maybe we should just live here together - right … Levi?”
Whether this is meant romantically or platonically doesn’t matter right now. That’s not what I’m getting at (although, as much as I may have different ships which are my favourite, I believe that Levihan is the most heavily inferred ship out of all the Levi or Hange centric ships in canon).
Anyway. She asks the question because she thinks Levi is unconscious or asleep. It’s a moment of weakness that she probably wouldn’t have indulged had Levi been awake.
But Levi heard. He just doesn’t respond. He’s not really a particularly rash person; he’s a brooder, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t respond right away even if he was feeling in any fit state to - he was likely mulling over her words. Perhaps they initially caught him off guard. Or perhaps he was still just too weak to entertain a conversation.
We have the white bar that signifies some time has passed - we don’t know how much, though. What we do know is that, by the next panel, Hange has set to work building a cart. To pull Levi.
Now. Here’s the thing. If Hange herself was really in no rush to leave the forest - if she truly thought she could remain there with Levi, hiding away from the world, why does she need a cart right now? Answer: she doesn’t.
She’s building it because she has already answered her own question on behalf of both of them - they cannot realistically stay there because they’re both too duty-bound. Levi was never supposed to hear her question; it was an expression aloud of her inner desires rather than her really being torn about what to do.
Levi was never supposed to answer. By the time Eren speaks to them and Levi addresses her, she’s already moved on in her own head.
We see later that it’s Levi who brings the question back up!
On to the next page -
People forget that Levi heard Hange in the previous panels, and argue that ‘his first priority on waking up is his vow to Erwin, because he asks where Zeke is!’
Well, perhaps not. Levi was already awake, or perhaps dozing, because we know he heard Hange earlier. If he was so concerned about Zeke from the outset, why didn’t he try and croak out the question to Hange as soon as he gained consciousness the first time?
His concern is suddenly apparent now because - nothing to do with his vow - Eren has just spoken to them all through paths. Eren has gained the full power of the founder. We know there’s only one way that can be done - and Levi knows too. He failed to keep Eren and Zeke apart. Eren’s paths speech is confirmation of this fact.
That’s where his concern stems from. The one thing they were trying to avoid until they had more info blew up in their faces. Zeke and Eren touched.
Levi knows, but he doesn’t want to believe it. His question to Hange is a final plea for someone to tell him his assumptions are wrong.
Levi admits his failure to her. Hange can see how cut up he is about it (literally and emotionally 😅) so she tries to reassure him.
People here again assume that ‘but for now …’ is leading on to Hange again asking Levi to stay in the forest with her. But on the next page, she’s blushing and surprised at the idea of Levi having heard her before. He wasn’t supposed to hear her selfish wish. So why would she voluntarily ask him to his face here?
I think it’s more likely that Hange is simply trying to figure out a way to tell Levi that he’s in no fit state to personally take revenge on Zeke. He can’t even walk. ‘I’m sure you want revenge, but for now … maybe you should focus on resting and healing.’ This has nothing to do with them running away together.
As I said before, it’s Levi that circles back to her question - Levi that puts her on the spot, pushes her for more. Maybe his question isn’t rhetorical at all. Hange certainly doesn’t take it as such.
His question goes,
このまま - as it is,
逃げ隠れて - (if we) run and hide
なにがのこる - what’s left?
He asks her because he knows that she posed that as an option - ‘we should just live here together.’ So he’s asking her, what is there for us here Hange? He wants to see if she will expand on what she said earlier. Why does she want to live here with him?
Hange recognises what he’s getting at immediately-
‘You heard me talking’.
Her expression quite clearly shows embarrassment - the blush, the sweatdrop - Levi knows he wasn’t supposed to hear. Levi is notoriously not the best in terms of social interactions - he can be a little awkward at expressing himself. It doesn’t feel out of character here that he doesn’t respond to Hange’s statement head on.
He is an exceptionally good judge of character though, as we’ve seen in the past. Poor at expressing himself, but good at reading others. And he reads Hange’s embarrassment right here, because he knows her so well. He knows she realised it was a selfish wish to begin with, and is a little embarrassed that he heard her. She’s supposed to be the commander, after all. Duty first.
And so, instead of picking at the sensitive topic more, Levi himself, true to form, also returns to duty. He points out the cart. The one that Hange really wouldn’t have needed to make if she truly intended to ‘hide’ in the forest with Levi. If they were going to live there together.
‘I know you. You’re not able to stay out of the action.’
When he says this line, he’s turned his gaze back to her, and she’s looking at him, too. Her eyes to me look like they’re filling up. Her brows are pinched up. She looks emotional. That shared eye contact as they speak feels very poignant.
It’s like he’s excusing her before she even needs to explain herself. I know you didn’t really mean it, don’t worry. It was just a wish. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. You have a job to do. (Regardless of how I might feel about what you wanted.)
No further mention of Levi’s role in this moment, or Levi needing to do anything. He’s completely focused on Hange, and what she wants to do. She started building that cart before he ever addressed her wish, because she has a deep sense of duty that no matter how much she wants to, Hange cannot run from. And Levi understands that, and goes so far as to tell her so - to reassure her that it’s okay that she would never really have pursued that selfish little wish for them both.
What we are not shed any light on here, is how Levi would have answered her question. But I do believe we get an answer for that in 132, when he literally dedicates his heart to her.
To claim that Levi rejects Hange’s ‘love confession’ or ‘selfish wish’ here does a huge disservice to both of their characters. It takes the focus away from Hange’s own selfless rejection of that wish, and Levi’s acknowledgement of her inability to let go of her duty as commander of the Survey Corps.
tears everywhere
I haven't thought about this scene in this way before. I usually end up focusing on their goodbye - "dedicate your heart", but it makes sense that their duty absolutely comes first in this situation, even if there's some idle thoughts of what if.
