Samuel

Samuel is a dark-haired young man of unremarkable height and build. He parts his hair down the middle, letting bangs hang forward, and thin sideburns trace his jaw. As a trainee he wears the 104th's standard gear.

By 854 little about him has changed apart from his clothing; serving with the Yeagerists, he appears only in the redesigned Survey Corps uniform.

Early on Samuel reads as an ordinary, good-natured recruit, attentive to his friends' welfare and quick to join a celebration. The Yeagerist years harden him into a pragmatist. On learning his old comrades have turned against Paradis, he immediately tells Daz to destroy the island's airship, accepting the loss of its technology, and he brings himself to fire on people he once trained beside, even as his reluctance to believe they sided with Marley shows through.

The day after the 104th's graduation ceremony, Samuel's team draws cannon-cleaning duty atop Wall Rose in Trost. Sasha produces meat stolen from the officers' stores, and after some nervousness about punishment the group agrees to share it. Then the Colossus Titan materializes below them, and the shock hurls the trainees from the Wall; flying debris knocks Samuel out cold, and only Sasha's quick reaction, a maneuvering-gear hook fired into his lower calf, keeps him from falling to his death.

In 854 Samuel stands watch at Paradis Island's harbor with Daz, tasked with keeping anyone from using the island's airship. The pair intercept Armin Arlert and Connie Springer, suspected of collaborating with Marley against Eren Yeager's plan to flatten the world beyond the island, but the two convince them the ship is needed to chase the fleeing Marleyan soldiers, and the guards agree to strip the explosives rigged to it. Floch Forster then declares Armin, Connie, and Mikasa Ackerman traitors to Paradis, and the truce shatters: Samuel shoots Armin to keep him back while Daz rearms the charges, then trains his gun on Connie, bitterly recalling their old talk of claiming more land and sharing meat together. The transformations of the Armored and Female Titans pull his eyes away for an instant, Connie tackles him, and despite Samuel's pleading, his friend takes the gun and kills both him and Daz.

Connie carries the weight of that moment afterward, mourning the two men aboard the flying boat and reflecting that they had been trying to save the island. Samuel's survival at Trost had long been unclear; a character encyclopedia even listed him as dead until his reappearance at the harbor proved otherwise.