Attack On Titan is one of the biggest names in recent anime history, thanks to its winning combination of jaw-dropping animation, a fascinating gaslamp fantasy setting, exciting action sequences and, of course, a dark but compelling plot that keeps viewers guessing. Attack On Titan has hopeful moments, but overall, it's one of the darkest shonen titles out there.
The anime's darkest themes and plot points are often explored on a more personal level, with a handful of the darkest Attack On Titan characters having heartbreaking or traumatic backstories that haunt them to this very day. Or, they have brutal, dark and frightening goals or worldviews that make them dark characters, even if they don't have a dark backstory to match.
10 Yelena Wants To Tear It All Down
The tall blonde woman named Yelena presented herself as a victim of war, claiming that the Marley Empire had destroyed her homeland, inspiring her thirst for revenge. But that was just a cover story that she told the people of Paradis Island. Her real goals are even grimmer than that.
Yelena was born into the Marley Empire, but she grew disillusioned with it and wants to see it destroyed, despite that Empire being her home. She is also a follower of Zeke Yeager and supports his Eldian euthanasia plan. It seems nothing is sacred to the moody, dark Yelena.
9 Mikasa Ackerman Had A Dark Childhood
The action heroine Mikasa Ackerman is much kinder than Yelena and strives to support her beloved friends however she can. But even so, Mikasa's life is tainted by darkness, mostly that fateful day in her childhood when armed men broke into her and her parent's house.
Mikasa's parents were killed and Mikasa almost met the same fate, but then Eren Yeager empowered her to fight back. Mikasa is a ruthless, merciless, and aggressive fighter who will fly into a rage and destroy anyone who threatens what she holds most dear.
8 Floch Forster Went To The Dark Side
At first, the Paradis Island soldier Floch Forster was a total background character, and he was defined by his cowardice and admiration for commander Erwin Smith. Later, though, he went to the dark side as a zealous Yeagerist and Eldian restorationist.
Floch had become brutal and merciless by then, willing to threaten, shoot, or destroy anyone or anything that got in the way of his goals. For example, he almost shot Yelena and Onyankopon, and Mikasa and Armin saw him as a borderline terrorist.
7 Ymir Had A Rough Experience
The Paradis soldier known only as Ymir was hiding all kinds of secrets, such as her origins from beyond the three Walls and her status as the Jaw Titan, one of the nine Titan Shifters. She was once a nameless beggar in Marley, then was adopted into a cult and propped up as a descendent of King Ymir, which she actually wasn't.
Marleyan authorities captured Ymir and the cultists, and Ymir was set loose on Paradis Island as a pure Titan for decades, a miserable existence indeed. Then she became the Jaw Titan, befriended Historia Reiss, then ultimately passed on her Jaw Titan powers to Porco Galliard.
6 Eren Yeager Became A Supervillain
Eren Yeager is infamous for being a shonen hero turned supervillain. At first, this hotheaded boy was determined to slay all Titans and avenge his mother, but all that changed when he learned the truth. He became an Eldian restorationist and nationalist, bent on avenging his countrymen worldwide.
Eren went to the dark side and gathered all kinds of power to make his revenge on the world a reality, and this even alienated Mikasa and Armin. But it didn't matter. Eren wanted to destroy the entire non-Eldian world, which is a truly dark and horrific goal.
5 Grisha Yeager Is Far From Innocent
Eren's father, Grisha, was introduced as a friendly doctor in Shiganshina, but that was little more than a facade. Grisha Yeager was an Eldian restoriationist who was motivated by the brutal, unfair murder of his beloved younger sister, Fae, an event that filled him with grief, guilt, and rage.
Grisha did anything and everything necessary to get his revenge on Marley, and those plans included using his sons, Zeke and Eren, as living weapons to exact his vengeance. He even took on the Reiss royal family on Paradis and slaughtered them all to protect his plans.
4 Zeke Yeager Wanted To End The Eldian People Forever
Eren's half-brother, Zeke Yeager, was introduced as the massive Beast Titan wielder, but there's more to him than his gorilla-like Titan form. Most importantly, Zeke inherited royal blood from his mother, Dina Fritz, and he hopes to use that royal DNA and the Founding Titan to end the Eldian people for all time.
Zeke is convinced that the world will always be miserable so long as the Eldians are around, so in his eyes, the only solution is to take the Eldians out of the equation with his euthanasia plan. Whether he's right or wrong, Zeke became a pretty dark character with that plan of his.
3 Annie Leonhart Cares For No One
The blonde Annie Leonhart was one of three Marleyan Warriors who joined the Paradis Island military as double agents. She quickly earned a reputation for being highly competent, but also cold and aloof. Annie's ice-cold blue eyes kept everyone at bay, and so did her words.
Annie is the Female Titan and a native of the Eldian internment zone, all of which makes her rather bitter. To Annie, fighting as the Female Titan is simply a way to repay her foster father for training her, and no one else's lives matter at all. She is cold, dark, and even nihilistic at times.
2 Reiner Braun's Life Is Constant Torment
Like Annie, Reiner is a Marleyan Warrior on a mission, and he is not who Eren, Sasha, and the others thought he was. Unlike Annie, Reiner cares greatly for his family back home in the Liberio internment zone, though he isn't always sure exactly how he should protect them.
Reiner is often conflicted and lost in Attack On Titan, which is miserable and stressful for him. It seems he can never find the right path to success or happiness, but at least he'll keep trying. At times, though, he'll get rather low; he even tried to end his own life at one point before changing his mind.
1 Levi Ackerman Never Knew Happiness
Captain Levi Ackerman is one of Attack On Titan's most popular and darkest characters. He grew up in the miserable undercity, a place of poverty and darkness, and his own mother died when he was a boy. So, Levi was raised by his Uncle Kenny, learning how to survive and fight.
Levi and his uncle had a falling out, though, and now Levi is his own man, for better or worse. He is often bitter, sarcastic, and condescending toward those around him, and often beats people like Eren and Zeke half to death to make a point. That makes for a pretty dark character overall.