Marlene

Blonde hair brushes Marlene's shoulders, framing bright eyes; the manga draws it inconsistently, sometimes parted down the center, sometimes with the bangs swept back. Neither tall nor short, she has an unremarkable build. Off duty she favors dark trousers, an overcoat, and a buttoned white shirt in place of Survey Corps gear.

The story shows only flashes of who Marlene was, but they suggest good humor. An apparent old acquaintance of Hange Zoë, she delighted in giving them a hard time, needling the section commander after an officers' meeting about a past infatuation with Keith Shadis.

Marlene appears among the Survey Corps officers gathered by Erwin Smith to weigh the revelations about Grisha Yeager, teasing Hange on the way out. On the day the operation to retake Wall Maria launches, she joins the senior scouts in a salute to the commanders of the other branches, then rides out.

At Shiganshina, once the Beast Titan arrives with its Titan army, Erwin orders her team to link up with Dirk's and Klaus' squads and protect the expedition's horses. The assignment proves fatal: the Beast Titan begins hurling crushed boulder fragments at the guards, and the shrapnel tears Marlene and her whole team apart. Her name blends Mary and Magdalene, a pairing of Hebrew roots meaning bitter or beloved and woman from Magdala.