Hitch Dreyse

Slim and fair-skinned, Hitch is a young woman of unremarkable height. A clump of bangs hangs near her almond-shaped, hazel-colored eyes, which sit in an oval face alongside thin eyebrows, notably long lashes, and a small button nose. She wears her wavy brown hair tousled and trimmed at the chin. Her working attire is the Military Police Brigade standard: a short jacket in light brown carrying the unicorn emblem on the shoulders, chest pocket, and back, a pale shirt, a dark sash wrapping the hips, white trousers, and tall black leather boots.

By the year 854 the bangs are gone. She keeps her hair straight, combed, and parted cleanly toward each side, and her uniform now includes a white blouse, the brigade-issued trench coat, and a bolo tie worn underneath.

Sarcasm and mischief define the young Hitch. She needles her fellow officers for fun, admits she picked the Military Police so she could profit from its famously corrupt senior staff, and complains loudly once those veterans dump their entire workload on the recruits. Marlowe's earnest speeches about reforming the brigade send her into open laughter. Boris implies she reached the brigade through dishonorable channels, though her own grumbling suggests she earned the posting fairly and simply regrets the choice.

The lazy front hides sharp instincts. She detects Armin gathering water by ear alone and levels her rifle without a flicker of hesitation, and when captured she boldly berates Captain Levi over the civilians who died in Stohess, showing that she genuinely cares about the people around her. She even returns to danger in an attempt to bail out Marlowe.

Four years mellow her considerably. As a senior officer she treats the work seriously despite the occasional complaint, pulls survivors from rubble after the Walls collapse, and chooses cooperation over gambling her subordinates' lives when the escaped Annie threatens her. Throughout Annie's imprisonment in the crystal, Hitch keeps visiting and talking to her friend, year after year.

Hitch serves in the same Stohess unit as Annie Leonhart and Marlowe Freudenberg, teasing Annie for oversleeping on the morning their squad is assigned to guard the convoy moving Eren Yeager through the district. After the catastrophic Titan battle that follows, she gripes about Annie skipping her duties, never suspecting that her roommate was the Female Titan and now sits in custody.

During the hunt for the fugitive Survey Corps, she and Marlowe are ambushed by Mikasa and Levi while investigating a riverbank where Armin is drawing water. Furious, Hitch blames Levi for the dead of Stohess and for the death she believes Annie suffered, only to learn the truth of the Female Titan's identity. Jean later marches the two prisoners off and stages an execution attempt to test their sincerity; Hitch runs, returns with a branch, and clubs him over the head before Marlowe stops her. Convinced of their loyalty, the squad brings them in, and the pair guide Levi's squad to the Interior Brigade compound, deliver the news that the government has fallen, and stand watch outside the Reiss chapel during the rescue of Eren and Historia. When Marlowe volunteers for the Survey Corps afterward, Hitch tries and fails to dissuade him, fearing for his life. Her fear proves justified, and hearing Floch describe Marlowe's final moments at the honors ceremony leaves her visibly shaken.

Years later she guards Annie's crystal, joking with Armin about its popularity, and is at headquarters when an explosion kills Commander-in-Chief Zackly before a mob demanding Eren's release. Once the Rumbling begins she digs injured civilians out of collapsed masonry until she notices a liquid trail leading up from a basement: Annie, freed from her crystal and utterly exhausted. Hitch disarms her with ease but agrees to smuggle her out of Stohess, and on the road she finally asks whether Marley's grand plan justified all the corpses she has spent her career clearing away. Annie's honesty about her past earns Hitch's quiet gratitude. In Shiganshina, Annie slips away with Armin and Connie, leaving only a farewell note thanking Hitch for four years of company. Three years past Eren's death, Hitch stands, yawning, among the Yeagerists as they celebrate the new army raised on Paradis.