In this moment, Levi is confronting the horrifying possibility that everything he's fought for—every life he's taken, every comrade he's lost, every ounce of pain he's endured—might have been built on a lie. For years, he's devoted himself to protecting humanity by killing Titans without hesitation, believing them to be mindless monsters threatening innocent lives. He's endured endless bloodshed, shouldered unbearable guilt, and made unthinkable sacrifices—all because he thought it was necessary for the survival of mankind. But now, with Hange's implication that Titans might actually be transformed humans, Levi is thrust into a devastating moral crisis. If the Titans were once people, then he hasn't been saving humanity—he's been unknowingly destroying it. The weight of that realization crushes him. He looks down, unable to meet Hange's eyes. It's not just guilt—it's the soul-crushing grief of a man who's starting to believe that his entire purpose might have been a monstrous mistake, and that he's too far gone to make it right.
And that's why this is one of my most favourite Levi scenes from manga. It shows how Levi actually is, he's not just a cold rude captain but a desperate human being who's just trying to live on by doing something meaningful for humanity. When I realised this... My respect from him grew to another level.
Some people dwell in the past, some people are always thinking of the future.. but not Levi. Levi is always focused on the moment, what he can do to help -to make a change- here and now. He keeps moving forward through pain and trauma, living life with no regrets, but he also never forgets about those around him who are in need.
↳ NOTE. back again with a levi ackerman ‘study’ hc lmao! here go some humorous thought blurbs and analytical bits, plus some classic midnight rambles to indulge.
↬ word count. 6k - bullet points
WARNINGS. nsfw, violence mentions, smut bits, d/s, restraints, mentions of unhealthy dynamics, insecure levi, sort of fem!oc but not very specified, virgin kink, mommy kink, aftercare stuff
- this dichotomy: levi might always be at the core of his time’s main stage (...because others want him to) but all of his personal interests are as alternative as can be — do the math.
- yes, he does this to stay alert. but refusing to take off your whole-body-harness unless you’re showering? says something about you. levi enjoys restriction as safety. he can handle the strain of being tied like that without even blinking. he wants it etched into him and cannot help it by all means. that thing probably does some things to you while sleeping. all the other squad members who want to be equally alert — and would even be slightly slower than levi to put it back on — all just don’t wear it to bed unless expeditions are concerned. and even there, he wears it the most religiously. oki doki mister ackerman. noted.
- new levi lore just in: may i remind you that the man instantly figured out how to suspend himself in the air with ropes and hooks? self-bondage 2.0... riggers press f to pay respects. he’d look pretty damn hot upside down from a ceiling in shibari. naked, just the cravat on (gotta stay neat).
- who doesn’t want to put the cat ears on levi. even the subs are curious how it’d look like. what a crime if that didn’t happen at least once in human history. the maid dress he’s basically almost wearing he’s halfway there my friends
- dude got the most insane arch.
- and now the following. he’d say “eh, what does that mean”, in fact you’d have to whip and fuck it into him until he moans it out loud (oh whew), but he sure as hell would get an ego boost from being called a pretty boy. owh yeah.
- because: a) levi is unsure about his looks all the way as we know. he might not seem like it, but he secretly wants a fuckton of reassurance. especially from the ladies. ”hey... i was popular enough...!”. he might not ask for it directly, but he sure prays it comes. you don’t even know how much he’s concerned with his appearance. despite shaking his head at compliments about his prettiness, he clings to that feedback all night.
- levi’s inferiority complex in terms of looks has piled up over the years and he never managed to really tame it. figures, he’s all surrounded by people who he perceives as fancy supermodels. who, without even doing anything, automatically make him look dull and neglectable... and we know what he feels about neglect. if anything, it’s levi’s #1 trigger. levi’s grudge against conventionally attractive people is so enormous because he believes that assures them closeness and impressiveness to loved ones.
- he doesn’t see any insecurity or losses on their part, he’s too preoccupied with his own demons and meticulously correcting his appearance. did you notice? he styles and grooms his body a whole lot for someone who’s seemingly so uncaring, and it’s not just to stay hygienic. he’s also too intimidating when battle-involved — which is 90% of the time — to be able to notice or even get other people’s positive reactions to him in a setting where his cute looks can be made a topic.
- plus the scenario of b) aka someone channeling lana del rey calling him their old man rich daddy which won’t go well. in fact, every syllable is bound to set him off. even if he earns rather decent survey corps loans, he’ll remain frugal all his life. bragging is a no-go, he saw the lowest end of the hierarchy and also the crimes of the highest. and even more importantly, levi reacts pissy at anything that even hints at his age, and his height anyway. he genuinely thinks himself an old wrinkly dwarf while in his worldview, the shining pretty boys are 6′1, lanky, and barely 19. it’s unreachable in levi’s mindset and frustrating because he still wishes he could be like that. news flash levi, you look the youngest. and you’re shining, too. have you seen those two swords twinkle underneath the moon... i’m getting carried away.
- so, c), anything that fights the exaggerations and misconceptions he finds in his mirror will flatter him. “am i a pretty boy? hange says i’m a grandpa. tch, who the hell fucking knows.” — even just wondering about it will be a massive improvement.
- levi only lightly suspects he has charm points. he’d probably only name a habit of his when asked what makes him attractive, not a body part. so letting him know that he looks good and pretty is very important for him not to feel neglected. levi’s curse of being left behind can be alleviated surprisingly fast with some pet names. people just don’t dare to call him that, for understandable reasons, he’s generally cranky at it and calls it nonsense.
- but, anyway. it’s not a bad idea to coo at levi. it only comes down how much he likes someone.
- people he loathes will be told off, if he’s into you he’ll be silent about it. there’s no ‘i wanna say i hate it but i’ll tolerate it and say nothing’ in his universe. if levi won’t utter a word, that’s an okay. if it’s not okay, he will dispel it as soon as possible. levi is so damn easy to see through it hurts.
- vice versa, levi will not once call you a petname. only the first name and nothing else, no remarks, not even cuss words, nothing. haven’t met a dom who hasn’t come up with at least one adorable pet name for their partner.
- “never thought i’d get bossed around like that. fair enough.” he’s that kind of guy.
- the more he’s pushed into conventions and aggression, the more terrible levi feels about it and secludes himself even further after his duty which he at least can manage well by virtue of his bloodline. but the stress? doesn’t excite him. especially when it’s not a tolerable means to an achievable end. he has no incentives and also doesn’t believe himself to be a role model for other guys — whereas male doms always bond and teach each other over said fact, just like dommes would. the guy who avoids all conversation and would rather pull other guy’s banter apart has quite another hidden opinion, does he. levi actually doesn’t like guys showing their loud and tough side just because. he finds it greatly disturbing and useless.
- levi knows something his environment doesn’t, but he knows them: because he’s a good listener. and don’t tell me a guy as ultra-explicit in tone couldn’t join an NSFW talk, or that he doesn’t want to belong to the group; he values friendship so tremendously. the real reason that levi behaves as an odd one out is that his sexual and romantic tastes are entirely different from the norm and he hates being upfront with it.
- listen. that guy would be the last person to be afraid of a dungeon. it just has to be impeccably scrubbed but he’s the one to do the sweeping and polishing anyway.
- levi the type... to kinkshame and not ironically develop said kink: cuz he already has it. fucking ackerman.
- he’s caught himself daydreaming about a tall dominant stepping on him. yes, levi’s fantasy kicks in sometimes. it tends to get drowned out because of the world he’s living in, and it’s filled with gruelling images all the time, but in some candlelight moments when his drive creeps up to him in his office... he does think a lot about sex. often wishing his mind wouldn’t, but the images just come to him. just like he thinks a dominant figure would emerge in his life and take off his responsibility, at least in the sheets where he’s the most anxious what to do.
- when it comes to situations where inflicting pain on someone is required, levi plunges into emotional chaos and redundancy in its measure as if something possesses him. believe me, to him it’s not that sexy. it’s not something he’d ever do for fun or trust himself to exert on a serious love interest he’s very closely involved with. levi couldn’t inflict any other type of touch after he’s been hugged and kissed and comforted. it’d be a dilemma to his muscle memory if they wanted him to top.
- and mind this. a dominant characterizes themselves by how controlled, enthusiastic, effective with few actions, and deliberate they are with applying pain. a good dom is also realistically strict rather than demanding the impossible, and has a 100% grip on their aggression, otherwise they’re just a mess. the unbendable rule for especially doms to abide by is called SSC, and one S is for sane.
- so if we’re realistic, levi in the majority of his moods would be of no use and even violate that golden code. he’s intense and unstable and his life is nothing but violence in excess which he guiltfully knows too damn well and wishes he wasn’t like that equally so. hence levi shies away from intimacy altogether assuming all people would ask him to top based on his unrelenting battlefield reputation. he has no idea what would happen in his already broken mind if he had sex with a lot of responsibility on him. that scares the living crap out of levi, who’s genetically wired to find a person in command, even more so. he might seem the most passionate and protective to a lover, but levi does not once believe he comes across like that.
- even when his submissive partner was assured that levi was in full control, levi himself would fear all things opposite to that, and be stricter than needed. he couldn’t demand a significant other to take someone as overpowering and rough around the edges as him. he doesn’t know what other methods to use than be too brutal. there, i said it. levi is a proper sub right at home on the receiving end partially because he’d make the most unhealthy dom. that’s the bitter pill. his only strength would be cleanliness (can’t beat him in that regard, though even there he goes overboard).
- when someone wouldn’t make for a sound dom, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a great sub. one doesn’t always imply the other. but wait... guess who perfectly qualifies. levi can handle all roughness and adrenaline, seeks guidance and emotionally doting figures, has the right balance of questioning authority and obeying, and he is a great little spoon if i may add among many other nice things.
- to give you an image. dominant levi is the shattered crystal, submissive levi the yet unpolished one.
- he’d be very happy to be taught your philosophy on all this. levi appreciates these types of people. he’s so closely working together with erwin and hange because, i paraphrase, they “look at something far up that i can’t see”.
- and man. at one point, you just gotta grow bored and pestered by people kissing your jiggling little heicho ass against your will. those people annoy the living underground out of him. if i were born levi ackerman, i’d look for doms, too. no wonder he’s irritated all day. people want him to be the one looking far up where they can’t see. he only knows how to do that with the ODM gear, and that lasts three seconds. if levi had a coin for each time someone wanted him to demolish their body in bed, he’d be richer than Wall Sina. which is exactly what he hates the very most, and he’d drown under these coins anyway. our boy can’t swim and is scared to learn it, remember.
- long story very short. even as the strongest person in the world, he still has it in him to look up to someone. too many unintended height puns in here, i gotta apologize to him.
- but hey, his subby mindset... his looks just add on to that. tortured uke meets raging catboy, he’s almost a full-on submissive tsundere stereotype (yea. dropping all the words in a row here). sure, guys who look that way can dom plus height is no indicator whatsoever. but it would be an absolute waste of cute and pretty and smol if we’re honest. levi looks great submitting. and he’d be secretly flustered by just that even if he’d comment a “tch!” about it.
- i mean. just imagine him talking back at you with that raspy voice. and then groaning and gritting because he’s cashing in on his punishments and gets his glossy hair pulled. well, well.
- he’s collected every bruise and blemish in the book from fights. the belts of his harness leave countless imprints on this skin during vertical maneuvering, too. hickeys, scratches, and marks are basically like sweet feather brushes to him. no big deal. except he’ll be emotionally attached to them since they are from you. he also likes getting marked because nobody will notice anyway even if he walked around topless. not that he’d flaunt it. he enjoys it in the privacy of his bathroom. oh shit, looking at your hickeys turns levi on. well... oi oi oi.
- calls every person on the planet a brat (even random passers-by lmao) and he’s suddenly the exception, huh? um. no way. especially since doing that makes him sound like a mega brat, the effect increasing with every time he does it.
- pretty tired of doing tough and brutish things at this point. levi just wants to be released from duty and have his tea peacefully instead of going nowhere with his efforts every time. strength burdens him a lot and rather backfires on him instead of being a useful tool he enjoys. of course he’s amazingly goal-oriented, but being domineering is the only valid manner of survival, not a cute option. between his bed posts, levi will choose differently exactly because of that.
- levi does consider his bed a different world. it’s sweet. but also quite a leap for him which is why he avoids it. he wishes a partner would to lead him back there, and take care of him, and make him feel good, so he would sleep in their arms, finally home.
- what strikes me a lot. he’s notorious for dismissing people who hail his ultra high rank and capacity for bloodbaths. levi didn’t fully decide to occupy this spot by free will. remember, levi was bribed into the survey corps and kenny brought him huge knives before even teaching him how to get food and connection due to the circumstances underground. the real levi was not meant to fly that dangerously high later on, lose so many, and be so machine-like at the same time, although it without a doubt made im a legend and irreplaceable. and yet, true levi that the universe meant would sit calmly in his tea shop, clean the counters, and have a reliable spouse. his tea is one of his only remaining fragments of that meant person. levi at his core is not strongly motivated towards power at all, nor an offensive guy, nor addicted to savagery, nor empty-hearted. and i think that’ll show during intimacy. especially since it’s something where he’s starting out on his own terms and wasn’t bribed into. it would be beautiful.
- let me tell you the ultimate doctrine and secret. little counterintuitive but hear me out. it’s better if the dom is a little weaker (albeit capable and firm) and the sub a little stronger (albeit sensitive and serving). not vice versa. because who has to take the whip strokes? shouldn’t be someone who caves or is afraid. spanking or choking or putting your fingers in your sub’s mouth needs more technical accuracy than muscle power. being the one receiving end... different story. not that domination ain’t hard for some practices, doms need to be proper, but you get the gist.
- unless gentle domination is concerned: weak subs defeat their purpose, believe it or not. and anyway: things get pretty dangerous the other way around if humanity’s strongest is involved as the overpowerful master torturer. granted, levi wouldn’t wanna hurt someone he loves. but the power imbalance is way, WAY too drastic to be any good. put him in the most submissive role you can think of and things are in much better equilibrium. strong but sensitive in a serving role is exactly him. he deserves that break to begin with.
- who said levi would find complete joy and relief in dominating? cuz that’s what you are very much supposed to feel if you found your zone. it’s easier to picture levi enjoying a forehead kiss in the remoteness of his office, and an order to get out his cleaning cloth because mommy’s boots got dirty and she wants him kneeling. that’s gonna make him melt so much and he’ll do it almost automatically anyway.
- inch resting... levi rejects worship immediately but doesn’t say anything with praise. do y’all see the difference? it’s the cutest thing, too.
- the animal you adore the most showcases the values and characteristics you seek. some psychologists go as far as asking their clients their favorite animal to know their ideal type. that’s why levi lovers are cat enthusiasts. in the meantime, i don’t have to tell you what horses stand for. cue google, pray tell:
- yeah. sounds exactly what levi wishes and searches for in a nutshell. psychoanalysis case closed.
- look at my horse, my horse is amazing... levi would totally espouse his dom with more pride than you’d usually see him exude. then again, have you seen how devotedly levi treats horses. like majesty indeed. he even gets his hands dirty for them and wants to cuddle, this stuff made me gasp.
- another thing to tie back to the weak/strong idea. submitting doesn’t force levi to compromise his innate strength. on the other hand: if he tops, he’ll have to curb it in all kinds of ways to tone it down to um human level. which he can’t gauge to begin with. he’s essentially a non-transforming titan as we know. imagine if he didn’t suppress himself entirely. in the worst case, his power could scathe his partner as it comes out vicious by default. levi’s physcial prowess is only adequate for absolutely gigantic creatures.
- so, at best, his partner gets sweet boy levi.
- oh, to make him tea for aftercare. he will ascend.
- and don’t be fooled by soft sub levi only. he got the freakiest side in him. mr. ackerman understands what masochism is all about on levels other people can’t even imagine. talks about it all the time as if he’s trying to prompt something. hmm.
- this guy’s philosophy in general screams bdsm not gonna lie.
- let’s remind ourselves how levi’s interests resort to cleaning and roaming the streets if he doesn’t follow some kind of directive by a higher-up. yes, he wants a certain degree of depending on someone, probably even too overtly for various reasons. obviously he’s not a helpless doormat to life (he may feel like it and get treated like it by circumstances, but he’s not) and still wouldn’t do this at the expense of giving himself up — complicated topic.
- but at the core of that rests a specific desire. besides needing a greater cause, he also needs that intimacy. most people would call levi independent by his battle initiative, but it is just that: combat smarts and good martial reflexes. in his emotional life, he’s still in a state of needing more guidance than most other people. skipped childhood, ackerman powers, you know the deal. he feels more hollow and even more universally deprived than most, which increases his drive to attach himself. in needy ways, almost.
- he sees using pain as a public lesson for someone who’s legitimately evil and a political threat rather than finding sadistic pleasure in treating someone he likes to it in private. he’d ask: “why the fuck do you want me to just slap you out of nowhere?”
- needless to say, he’s courageous enough for subbing. if you have as much as a foot in the door when it comes to bdsm practices, you’ll know subbing won’t be for the faint of heart. and i don’t mean courage in terms of pride or the frequent emotionless dom/whiny sub stereotype from doujins and fan arts that actually just depict vanilla dynamics. someone who believes subbing means being off the hook in terms of bravery either likes the softer sides of femdom or has no idea about d/s. then again, it’s common sense. and again, levi is the opposite of squeamish.
- just how much more flexible does he have to make himself to show you he’ll can be sexily bent to all your perverted likings. every dom can make use of someone this elastic. even monkey d. luffy is in awe of those twisty ackerman aerials.
- let’s talk principles. levi simply does not like to ruin beauty. ask his spotlessly-clean tea cup that didn’t have stains ever since he can think. almost every dom will tell you the opposite. we love inflicting messy stuff just because, corrupting pretty subs and ruining someone’s innocence in the most sexy way. what is making subs cry, cum all over themselves, and bring out their disgusting sloppy side but an act of degrading something gorgeous. when levi ruins something, he just wants to do away with it rather than revelling in the lustful destruction. the only dom wanting to preserve beauty is a caregiver. ask levi what childhood and uncle-associations he has with the word ‘daddy’... he’ll run for the hills.
- he’s the last one to baby and pamper someone in the first place. he can pat someone’s head and say thanks after some years — that’s all he can muster and that’s certainly not satisfactory for a needy little one.
- and as we said. levi is the needy partner at a second glance.
- it’ll take some time until he’s comparing himself less to other guys who vibe submissive, especially very handsome ones. he might even look at eren and wish he had more attributes like him (and strong girls pursuing him like that, why do you think they have such an odd rivalry). that eren makes a good and gorgeous sub but one lousy partner has to be pointed out to him even if he already knows. levi realizes that the lousiness truly radiates from the inside across all the good things, puts all else in shambles and it’s a shame. and so it stands, levi would rather have no clue at subbing than be a cataclysmic boyfriend so there’s that, priorities. and the no clue thing can be worked on very easily. levi is the fastest ever physical learner. so, no problem, luv.
- who doesn’t wanna pull that undercut hair. come on. it’s made for it.
- you’ll never know if his mind plays things much raunchier and wierder than... i mean what to use for comparison... say, hange’s strange titan science methods. levi’s vocabulary is 1000% NSFW after all, it’s not like his thoughts will sound like a sonnet. this guy’s fantasy must be a firework. i wonder about his romantic dreams as well if he has them.
- this guy’s just out there blatantly posing with his ass and legs, man. how many more invitations does it need.
- yes. dear ole human insecurity... it’s an esteem and safety thing to you. how much more of a confidence boost can you get knowing you can bring the strongest guy ever to knees. and it’s because levi wants to give you that confidence. you might not realize you’re giving it to him in return.
- let’s be entirely real. levi can handle getting a ride. the hardest you can think of. his body is so 1000% vibranium that wolverine is jelly, you think levi’s dick suddenly isn’t?
- he can easily take the strap, too. this guy has felt so much, anal is peanuts and he enjoys the heat (if everything is perfectly clean, mind you). if there’s one person not made of glass it’s him, he can take a pounding. but you can’t take a pounding by levi. don’t deceive yourself.
- you’ll snap in half before he even gets started and thinks he’s going at tolerable levels. pair your mortal physique with his spiralling OP skills and you get internal bleeding at level one intensity already. “he’ll be gentle” — levi has not once been taught what being gentle with a sexual partner means. and it’d be a lot to do if you were to teach him all that. it wouldn’t emerge naturally this way.
- he has a hard time figuring it out emotionally and physically and would rather entrust those things to you. he’d rather be able to trust you being gentle with him than unfuck his DNA.
- the pure reality being: he is the consequence of a lab experiment superhuman designed to annihilate 60-meter titans within split seconds. for eldia there’s been no use to genetically tweak an ackerman to have any throttle on their power once it gets going since they were created to deal with almost unsurmountable enemies.
- generation-long engineering lead him to be the most violent warrior in history and that’s been out of levi’s control. he hates everything about it — lotta people like his immense brutality but he not once said he did, guess why it’s not hot, it’s horrible. he possesses above average empathy which comes from kuchel and his endless list of losses, but has been notorious in not being able to translate it. instead, his body just resorts to more violence by muscle memory traded since ancient times. levi has no clue about moderation. there’s a reason why the harness stays on 24/7, it’s the only way he can feel contained and orderly with less chance of snapping.
- levi feels the most ever comfortable being completely bound and controlled and even secondary to someone. subdued to a command which he has to follow no matter what. rather than being put in a position where he could even just accidentally hurt his significant other, or is asked to, which he’s conflicted about.
- he’s too overwhelmingly furious and feely to be ordained a sadist who has to operate from logic at all times. he only fully functions as a subordinate since that’s drilled into his brain down to most of his cells, as inhumane as that sounds. well, because those experiments were just like that, against humanity. his biology won’t fade unless titans and his traumas all fade. which becomes especially apparent in bed when inhibitions are low anyway. if he’s honest, he’d avoid sex altogether. only the prospect that a simple order will put him in his place and make him never harm you could convince levi to be intimate.
- so i repeat my cause. you can’t rely on the test tube war machine part of him being unbearable on your body if you’d command him to hurt you sexually. levi would forbid it to you anyway, before you could even speak it out loud as long as he can resist the instruction. he has no interest in being awakened all over again. he wishes the titan power in him could just go to sleep.
- which is where submission comes in. yes, if he does it, he does it out of guilt and fear in the beginning. but then, for the purpose of guaranteeing that he will love you no matter in what state he’s in.
- if he’s locked and chained and cuffed, levi doesn’t have to anxiously preoccupy himself with figuring out which level of strength is the limit that he can exercise. and trying to read your reactions, which he is frequently clueless about, anyway. meanwhile. if he submits, levi’s own limit is too high for you to even reach in your whole lifetime so you might as well go ahead with whatever you fancy, obviously if he’s fine with it. knowing him, he’s fine either way unless it’s too hygienically... challenging.
- for the sake of the argument: even your hardest punch — if you employed it — can’t unsettle him much less than even remotely destruct him. flip it around? levi’s hardest hit tears you to pieces until you’re just ash and atoms propelled to the other end of the galaxy. and that’s just the punch and not even the kick.
- i think you get whose task it is to lead and ‘regulate’ your sexual interactions. in the exact sense of the word, setting rules. levi likes those.
- he believes himself to be a ticking bomb who’d have to stay away from someone. but levi also has his heart saying he needs somebody, and that his scientifically created abilities are not really him nor his fault so what the hell is he gonna do.
- surrendering himself is the only loving choice he can make, and levi is very loving when given the chance. on top of being the guy who says to pick the option with least possible regrets so the case is more than clear.
- there’s a reason ackermans were designed to follow authority within the walls. you cannot put someone as unleashed and artificially rage-guided as that in the leading position to just sit there and sign laws. and they are too powerful not to have someone give them a clue, too powerful not to have a loophole to channel their ability and mold it. if levi has to make use of this inherent feature to make love happen safely? he will let you use it. in fact, he begs you to, so he can stay normal and not go insane.
- he virtually has no motivation to just go and blow your back out until you’re screaming. he thinks that’s disgusting. most of his steam he’s blown off in the air. levi does not want power over a person, he has always wanted power over his living circumstances. huge difference. he will only punish people who he instinctively knows are evil, and never in sexual ways.
- the guy’s not dumb. he sees what happens when an ackerman plays the angry protector of someone all whiny. he just has to observe mikasa with eren for two minutes or less.
- levi fully gets how it shouldn’t be done for a fact. ask erwin if you can, levi also found out what happens when he’s supposed to be giving the decisive order. the problem is: levi hasn’t seen the full truth how it should be done, then. i think you are very capable of showing him. he’s a simple guy, it’s not a giant challenge for you.
- look. it’s easy. just taking him by the waist, and you asking if you can pull him in for a kiss when he’s pinned against a wall blushing... will trigger some stuff inside of him that will sustain your dynamic for as long as the two of you desire it to do so. after all, his power makes him know exactly what to do according to your wishes.
- did you know that lover skills are also part of that? his power concerns his body movements, after all. oh yum. they adapt to how he’s talked to.
- that’s why levi is so unreachable romantically for almost everybody. he has to know he’s in good hands. nobody discerns more.
- like seriously. if someone would seize his obedience completely and eradicate all other options for him, he could be pressured and violated at the snap of a finger. someone with as many opponents and obsessive suitors as him has already double the caution at play in his interactions. yes, he’s afraid of rape. the strongest man on earth. he’s seen too many of these people underground; he always envisions his obedience getting exploited for something one-sided in all kinds of scenarios.
- levi’s bloodline also has generational trauma from persecution and almost complete extermination. just how many criteria you have to fit for him to let you in is quite impressive. subs, and especially if they have that ackerman mechanism like him, are always even choosier than the most anxious doms could ever be. consider levi liking you and letting you take control a knighting and testament to your charater (and how much he needs and loves you, anyway).
- not making levi moan and sweat and squirm like crazy would also just be a waste of being able to witness the hottest, sweetest thing. levi, silent and raw in bed? eh, same old, and not romantic at all. if anything, it’s robotic. the atmosphere would be terrible. vocal levi is just so much more incredible.
- if levi’s docile, he feels sheltered. if he’s hostile, he’s threatened.
- yes, i gotta roast him on this even more. unless his personality suddenly changes from the ground up, levi would make for a strangely erratic dom who couldn’t easily hit any nuance or range. it is possible. but he’d have to try and practice and scold himself out of his hardwired patterns to get there.
- dominants are collected and kind and systematic, ready to teach and spoil someone endlessly. if a dom isn’t giving and able to fawn a little or a lot over cuteness, even the more serious tops, what’s the point? they’re also the types of people who want to dump softness and comfort on their subs during aftercare and come up with all kinds of ways to achieve that. i’ll be honest. levi would be awkward rather than a natural. i can’t picture him anywhere near ‘awh, you sweet little thing i love love love you cupcake boo’ (okay that’s a lot but anyway) or ‘come here, let me apply this, you did so well, you’re amazing’.
- even in the most hardcore categories of bdsm, every top needs a loud fanboy or fangirl mode for their sweet baby darling up their sleeve. at best, levi goes “---” and grits his teeth mumbling some roundabout consoling. more things are not in his vocabulary, he’s not made for it. he can devote himself, but not hold a speech of love. even in a great mood you get a standard thank you phrase and that’s it. for some spartan subs, maybe a short well done is enough. but excellent doms find lots of accurate words highlighting their sub’s greatness in all apparent regards (just like they could be constructive and careful).
- so. if you can’t do praise speak, and i’m not saying a whole essay but just a proper string of acknowledgements, quit the game. even less talkative and doting doms gotta be able to do both. smack talk and quality compliments that are decently elaborate.
- the best affirmation levi’s mind can come up with is ‘don’t die you shitty fool’ or something in that vein. of course the good intention is clear. and he can’t put it in any other way. and yet. doms just can’t relate. we almost excessively pride ourselves in becoming our sub’s greatest supporter and being able to express it at length. if ye don’t tell your subby sweetheart that they’re a beautiful gift and they’re so adorable frequently, what are you even doing? just going feral on them doesn’t count, it’s incomplete. brutalizing and then frowningly patching your sub together without a word ain’t it.
- before i rip him apart completely, let’s flip that scenario and put levi on the receiving end of aftercare. oh well, let me tell you how nice that would be. for you and him alike. levi gets his fill of affection in an intimate state where he can grow to accept it, and you can just take care of him and do the soothing things he really needs. also, what better thing is there for him to be cleaned by you personally. hallelujah.
- and, talk about cleaning. if levi doesn’t radiate malewife energy...
- he’s been surrounded by gals who would make the sexiest dommes ever since years. nothing new to him. hange has an excited sadistic streak, annie can kick any guy’s ass, ymir is the most butch top i’ve ever seen, historia is out there beating him up for fun (...and he was just smiling), and let’s not forget mikasa who’s all about protecting her beloved. levi would be more surprised by someone who vibes the opposite. his entire social enviroment is like... hello, we are the dommes.
- kenny would get confused af if levi didn’t come along with a tough lady at the gates of heaven, so.
- talk about being drunk on something, levi is such a boobs guy, i mean just smother him for tea time and he’s a happy man.
- i mean. someone who doesn’t give a shit and holds his blades in reverse is open to experimenting.
- levi can feed a dom’s virgin kink to literally no end. jesus christ. i know it’s been making the rounds.
- since he’s older in particular, that makes corrupting him and making him messy in a playful way even more orgasmic. just-turned-18-year-old virgin sub giving a dom their first time? come on. boring and creepy. and even if the dom is the same age, how skillful and sophisticated and perfected in their practice can they even be to make it amazing at its fullest? meanwhile: levi, he’s seen it all. he’s experienced in life, he’s been so strong. him, gifting his vulnerability and the only remaining unexperienced thing about him to you? the utmost honor.
- that levi’s received hype at the ends of the earth in the most niche communities and all the tops like him. we’ve come full circle, do the math here as well.
- not a logical reason but... how to say it.... he’s so endearing.
- and that’s all folks now you heard about why levi is so subby
more levi writings: mlist
final note. i want to go on debating about horses 😂
& some small analysis of my thoughts on Levi facts by Yams
No one, I repeat no one asked for this but I guess here we go I need to get those of my chest
Here are some very specific Levi headcanons that live in my head rent free. I shared those with @ladyofpandemonium yesterday and I had to post them
Topic: Levi and Marriage if you squint you can see some general Levi in a relationship thoughts
Next one is Levi and his love for apples, don't even question why
Listen, a fresh out of the underground Levi thinks that marriage doesn't really have to happen to bind two people together. He stands by it at all costs, because he believes in the dynamics of human relationships and doesn't give a shit about things that are set up by religion or law.
But supposing he has an s/o, a person he wants to spend the rest of his life with, a person that knows him like the back of their hand, its not bound that that his s/o won't bring up marriage, they probably will at some point
But it won't be them expressing that they want to get married, it's probably among the lines of conversing about another couple, or after Erwin shares that he liked Marie, who eventually married Nile and Levi dismisses the topic many times, saying that for him marriage is pointless and that he doesn't like the fact that people act like it's the only thing that binds couples together.
I'm pretty sure though that the thought of marriage will come randomly to him, maybe while reading a book and there's a marriage scene in it. His imagination is going wild, he loves to imagine an altar bathed in the yellow light of the sunset, some of it peaking through the colored glass that decorates some windows and the way it reflects on parts of the room. He doesn't want guests, so he never daydreams about anyone else other than himself and his s/o in this certain situation.
I think he'd like to see himself in that setting and by making these scenarios in his head he'd feel like he wants to experience them. At one point, maybe while cleaning, it would all come to him again and he'd find himself imagining he's there, waiting for his s/o to walk towards him.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that he's the most romantic person ever. He doesn't know how to be romantic, he can't find himself in a position to be romantic either. He's not bound to make anyone swoon with his words like Erwin could and he's not cheerful and cute, he's not a person you could fall for easily, given his past and upbringing, but this doesn't mean that he can't and won't dream about things he reads in books.
I think that, also, he'd long to be officially claimed by someone just as much as he'd love to claim someone his officially as well. Jump on me all you want about this, but it feels like he would love to find a home in a person, marriage aside, he wants to be held, he want to be someone's Levi. Not just Levi.
He's spent most of his life uncertain of his own last name. Again he was just Levi for most of his life so when he'd give it a second thought he'd like to feel that joy. That he can hold a hand and lean on a shoulder and that he could be with a person who he could be open with without having to talk much. Levi wants someone to want him as he wants them and he'd give his whole heart in his s/o.
Plus, Levi seems, to me at least, like he is one who won't stubbornly stick to his ideas if his s/o expresses they want something.
Say for example you want to sleep with him, you want to cuddle him, you want to shower him in kisses, you want to give him a long, hot bath. At first, he'd say no. It's a new territory for him, he doesn't know how to provide all that affection, he can't bring himself to believe he'd enjoy them. But on second thought?
On second thought he sleeps with his s/o between his legs in the loveseat in his office, on second thought he kisses his s/o chastely on the cheek randomly, on second thought he lets himself loose in his s/o's embrace. And eventually he'd find himself wanting to rest his head on his s/o's chest, he'd want to put his head on their thigh's and have a much needed nap, he'd be willing to make some time to step in a hot bath after having a shower to get rid off the dirt. (Of course he wouldn't like to float in his own filth)
It's not that he feels like he has to change who he is to fit into someone else's standards. He's just open to new things after giving them much thought, he wants to keep moving forward and get better.
And since he likes to adapt his traits to other people's (something I do as well) you'll find your Levi to be open to become a better partner. I'm not talking about him changing, not at all, if you want to be with him you have to accept what comes with him but when it comes to his partner he's soft and loving and needy. It's much more deviant to what he paints himself to be in front of everyone.
Thus if his s/o even so as lingers on the subject of marriage he keeps thinking about it and he likes that it could be a scenario made into reality. And I think that he would probably and randomly announce to his s/o that they should get married if they both think it can happen.
With Levi such things come out randomly, he can't never find the right place or time to set the ground to try new things, he just thinks that blurting them out is the way to go, it saves him from being embarrassed, remember -he gets all stuttery around someone he likes-
And another reason why I think he would get married is that maybe if him and his s/o planned to have children he'd never want anyone to doubt them.
He knows in their setting that children born outside of marriage aren't really considered legit he'd hate for anyone to look down on his children as if they were him.
He wants his children to have a full name, to know that they have a family they belong into. He would never, ever let his children become that heartbreaking 'just Levi' human beings.
This could be a time for me to write Levi as a father and my opinion on it, but I'll save that for another time
"Take a whiff. Inside these walls, the air's always stunk like trash."
This scene is so underrated.
It's not action-packed. No blades. No Titans. Just Levi, Mikasa, Hange, and Eren — sitting in a quiet room and reflecting. But what Levi says here? It hits different.
Everyone's worried because Eren could not harden his body, Hange tries to keep it light and Levi just cuts in with:
"Hold on. I'm just being an asshole. I'm not blaming him."
He knows he's harsh. He knows he sounds cold. But that line? That's Levi taking responsibility for his bitterness. He's not lashing out at Eren — he's lashing out at a system that's failed them all, one he was born into.
Then he drops this:
It's been that way for over a hundred years. We've always lived in shit."
"I saw it as normal… After all, I've sucked in this stink since the day I was born."
LIKE—
Levi's not just talking about the literal stink of the Underground.
He's talking about systemic oppression. Desperation. Generational trauma.
He grew up so deep in the dirt of the world that he forgot clean air even existed.
"I didn't notice it until just a few years ago… Out there, I finally saw what I'd been missing."
That moment.....
Levi realizing the outside world — even if it's violent, terrifying, chaotic — holds something real:
"It's got something the walls don't. Freedom."
Freedom.
Not comfort. Not safety.
Just freedom.
And then Hange, queen of grounding every heavy moment with dry wit (I love her), chimes in like:
"In other words, what Levi's trying to say is… we learned that you can't harden your Titan body. And that's a success."
The whiplash..... But it works. That's how this team survives: they joke, they rant, they feel, and they keep moving.
I’m sure this is a fact that everyone is well aware of.
What really strikes me, though, is just how different he’s portrayed from most anime characters.
More often than not, characters depicted as the ‘strongest’ or the ‘greatest’ are normally gigantic, towering over others. This holds true in most media: anime, cartoons, and live action. It almost feels as though in order for a character to be ‘the best’ or terrifyingly strong, they need to be six-foot-something.
In the same vein, most smaller characters are shown as weak and frail. Tiny damsels in distress waiting to be saved by the bigger, stronger character. Or the comedy relief, only there for an occasional short joke.
Not Levi, though. A tiny man, and well aware of it, the fact is rarely ever played for laughs. Many others tower over him, looming by often an actual foot. Looking down on him literally, but never really figuratively. His height is rarely ever commented on in the series, especially by him, but those who do usually only mention it on their first meeting.
Humanity’s Strongest is tiny, but he slays literal giants -better than anyone ever before- without blinking an eye. He takes down men twice his size with ease, not even hesitating despite the difference in height and weight. Despite being 5’3, Levi is a figure of strength and dexterity un-matched.
In fact, I’d argue that it’s because of his tiny stature that Levi is so good at what he does. It allows him to fly faster, turn quicker and kill easier. He can even easily tuck himself into a little ball, before fidget-spinning Titans to their demise.
As a vertically-challenged person myself, it means a lot to me that such a strong, determined character is so small. That he’s taken so seriously in cannon, by both himself and others. He’s certainly well aware that he’s unusually small for a man, but he doesn’t let that stop him one bit. No one dare even comment on his height, lest they suffer his wrath.
I feel like a small part of him does care that he’s so tiny, especially since he’s often surrounded by people much taller than himself. At some point in his teens he likely just stopped growing while everyone else continued to sprout up like trees, a fact that he most likely wished he could change. Stuck somewhat child-size, cursed by either genetics from his unknown father or the result of malnutrition and lack of sunlight.
As an adult, though, he could care less about being short -or he tries to at least. He is who he is, there’s no changing it at this point. He can fly over others, it only ever matters when he’s on the ground anyways.
Levi tries not to dwell on it, if it bothers him then the rare comments by others will only sting worse. So he adopts the demeanor of: fuck anyone who judges him for his height.
That sort of energy, that unyielding confidence, is something I envy. It’s one of the many many reasons I love the man, a trait that I desperately try to embody in real life.
Tiny, packed with muscle, and briming with nothing but self-assurance and spite. Smol but deadly. He’s perfect, all 5’3 of him.
