Thomas Wagner

Blond hair and heavy sideburns give Thomas his most recognizable features. He generally appears in the standard trainee uniform, trading it for simple everyday clothes when off duty.

Pessimism colors his early days as a soldier; Thomas openly doubts humanity can ever overcome the Titans, until an impassioned speech from Eren turns his thinking around. He owns up to a lingering streak of cowardice, freezing rather than acting the first time the Colossus Titan looms over him. Even so, a leader lives somewhere in him: heading into his first real battle, he rallies his squadmates by proposing they treat the fight as a competition to see who can bring down the most Titans.

On his first night with the 104th Training Corps, Thomas joins the crowd of trainees peppering Eren Yeager with questions after learning he survived Shiganshina's fall. He later operates the training rig when Eren retakes his aptitude test on the vertical maneuvering equipment; Instructor Shadis has the two swap harnesses, exposing the defective buckle behind Eren's failures.

The morning after graduation, his squad draws cannon-cleaning duty atop Wall Rose. Thomas tells Eren that the previous night's words pushed many trainees toward considering the Survey Corps, and the group shares meat Sasha Blouse has lifted from the officers' stores, toasting the coming reclamation of Wall Maria. The celebration dies when the Colossus Titan materializes outside Trost and a blast of steam hurls the squad from the Wall. Eren shouts for an attack, but shock roots Thomas and the others in place until the giant vanishes; afterward, Thomas can only commend Eren for trying.

Assigned to the middle guard beside Eren, Armin Arlert, Mina Carolina, Nac Tias, and Mylius Zeramuski, Thomas floats his kill-count contest just before the squad advances into streets thick with Titans. An abnormal lunges without warning, catches him in its mouth, and swallows him whole while his friends look on, powerless. Armin later reports the death to the remaining trainees, telling them Thomas met a brave end while carrying out his duty. Years on, Eren counts Thomas among the victims created when he and his father stole the Founding Titan, and remembers him once more at the feast held before the battle to retake Shiganshina.