Military

This professional standing force originally existed to handle the Titans on both sides of the Walls. Three divisions shared the burden, each under its own leader and all answering to a Commander-in-Chief. The Survey Corps ventured into hostile territory seeking expansion; the Garrison watched and repaired the Walls, forming the first line if a gate broke; and the Military Police Brigade guarded the monarch and policed the interior as the top-ranked soldiers. A fourth body, the Training Corps, schooled recruits until graduation, when each trainee picked a branch, and trainees could later transfer between branches, as Floch Forster, Samuel, Daz, and Marlowe Freudenberg all did in joining the Survey Corps.

Corruption ran deep despite a century of service. The Military Police, insulated from Titans, were considered the rot's center, blocking technological progress and dodging combat, while the Garrison's early laziness earned it little more respect until the Shiganshina breach forced a dramatic improvement. Only the Survey Corps, fighting purely for humanity's sake, stayed largely clean. Badmouthing the various units is, per Hajime Isayama, something of a pastime inside the Walls.

After the truth behind the Titans reached the public, the entire institution reoriented toward repelling Marley and any other hostile nation, alongside Titan research. The Yeagerists, a rebel faction convinced Eren Yeager should rule, joined forces with the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers and brought down the old command; soldiers from every division filled their ranks, with Eren as symbolic head and Floch Forster leading in practice until both died. Under Yeagerist control the branches merged into a single division with new insignia, uniforms, and a mandate to build strength against foreign revenge. Three years past the Battle of Heaven and Earth, its soldiers wear black uniforms with armored chest plates and light helmets bearing the new emblem, a pair of wings crossed by two guns.

Standard dress across the old branches was a short light brown jacket carrying the unit badge, a light shirt, dark sash, white trousers, and knee-high boots, with long coats for official business and green hooded cloaks bearing the Wings of Freedom for Survey Corps field work; the Liberio raid introduced black nighttime gear with the insignia moved over the heart. The signature weapon is the vertical maneuvering equipment paired with snap-off blades, though the Military Police lean on firearms for police work, and later anti-personnel variants of the gear mount shotguns, pistols, and Thunder Spears.

Darius Zackly held supreme command as Commander-in-Chief. Erwin Smith, then Hange Zoë, then Armin Arlert led the Survey Corps, Armin serving until he departed to represent the Allied Nations as ambassador; the branch's blue and white winged emblem carried the name wings of freedom. Nile Dok commanded the Military Police, whose sigil was a green unicorn, until his death, and Dot Pixis, top officer across the southern territories, headed the rose-emblemed Garrison until his. Keith Shadis ran the Training Corps' Southern Division under the crossed swords emblem, and Eren Yeager remains its most consequential soldier. Recruits are even taught cooking during training, according to Isayama.