Darius Baer-Varbrun

Slicked-back black hair, kept short and somewhat untidy, frames Darius's weathered features. He is an older soldier with tanned skin, neither tall nor heavy for his years, and he dresses in the regular gear issued to the Survey Corps.

Darius shows a knack for improvisation under pressure. Facing an enemy that ordinary tactics cannot touch, he turns a signal flare into a weapon, firing it into the Female Titan's face as a blinding strike meant to let three squadmates move in for the kill.

Darius stands nearby when Erwin Smith pitches the Survey Corps to fresh graduates, cautioning his commander that dwelling on the unit's mortality rate might scare off every last recruit.

On the 57th expedition his squad springs an ambush on the Female Titan inside an abandoned village. The trap collapses as his soldiers die one after another, so Darius bolts for open ground, hoping to warn the rest of the formation about how powerful and erratic the mysterious Titan is. His horse cannot outrun her. A single kick sends rider and mount flying, killing them both instantly.

Years later, during the battle for Shiganshina, his face surfaces in Erwin's conscience among the legions of fallen comrades silently asking whether their deaths held any meaning.