Reiner Braun

Reiner Braun is the secondary antagonist of the Attack on Titan franchise. He is a Warrior of Marley and the holder of the Armored Titan. 
He is a mixed Marleyan-Eldian boy who grew up in the Liberio internment zone. He is also a graduate of the 104th Training Corps and a former member of the Survey Corps. Ranking second in the class, Reiner was regarded by others as a charismatic and a reliable big brother-like figure. 
He is rarely seen without Bertolt Hoover, his close childhood friend and a fellow resident from Liberio. Along with Bertolt and Annie Leonhart, Reiner infiltrated the Walls in Paradis Island. In the year 845, he went on a mission with Marcel Galliard, Bertolt and Annie to breach Wall Maria and infiltrate the Paradis military in search of the mysterious power known as the "Coordinate". After his true identity is revealed, Reiner serves as Eren Yeager's archenemy, and is the second antagonist from the latter's perspective.
In the Marley arc, it is revealed that Reiner is the Warrior Vice Captain under War Chief Zeke Yeager before the latter's defection. Finally, he joins up with his old friends to form an alliance and stop The Rumbling.
He is voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya in the Japanese version and Robert McCollum in the English version.
==Personality==
Reiner is a passionate, brave, and honest person, with a strong sense of duty. Unlike Bertolt, he trusts others more easily. As a child, he used to be very weak and lacked any particular talent, in contrast with the other fellow Marley Warriors. However, he had shown devotion and loyalty greater than anybody else. This is how he was chosen to be the holder of the Armored Titan over Porco Galliard. During his infiltration within the Walls of Paradis, Reiner took his role as a soldier very seriously and encouraged others to do the same. However, he was also noted to have a kind heart and a tendency to always think of others before himself, taking on extra burdens for the sake of his comrades. He was stated to be the "big brother" of the other trainees. Eren looked up to Reiner, expressing that he wanted to become strong like him one day. His protective and brotherly behavior remained with him as the years passed and he became vice-commander. He has rather complicated feelings about his younger cousin Gabi's high motivation and loyalty to Marley. The clueless Gabi seems to enjoy battles and killing soldiers. On the other hand, Reiner tried to hand in Armored Titan he is currently holding to someone else in order to save Gabi from a tragic fate she would never imagine.
However, Reiner is also possesses serious emotional and mental problems as a result of his actions, displaying symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. While still loyal to his true cause as a warrior of Marley, he was unable to cope with the guilt and has begun to suppress his true memories in an effort to escape. At some point, he was no longer able to tell which identity was real. During these episodes, he forgot his true identity, believing himself to be a human soldier of Paradis. There appears to be a few differences between his "soldier" persona and his true self, though his true "warrior" self is more ruthless and calculated out of necessity. He harbors a negative attitude towards himself, referring to himself as a "villain" and a "short-lived killer" that only Bertolt and Annie can understand. Even so, he continually places himself at risk in an effort to reach out to Eren and Ymir, trusting them more than it is wise. Reiner later realizes that during his days in the 104th Training Corps, he had based his "soldier" persona off of his fellow warrior Marcel Galliard's personality. Reiner slightly responsible for Marcel's death and it motivated him to complete his mission. It has been hinted that Reiner may have had feelings for Historia Reiss, though it is unclear whether this was a former simple crush or something stronger. It is also unclear whether these feelings were part of his delusions, or they were genuine. Still, it seems that Reiner and Ymir recognized quite a bit about each other's motivations and shared a desire to keep Historia safe from harm. He used these feelings to manipulate Ymir into becoming their ally, but he also expressed more trust in her than Bertolt initially would agree with.
Reiner is also very protective to his loved ones. Bertolt was his best friend since his training days at Marley, while they were locked in Liberio's internment zone. Unlike Reiner, Bertolt excelled at everything he did despite his passive behavior. Reiner had a sort of rivarly with Porco Galliard and Bertolt saved him from Galliard's bullying. Reiner's psychological issues had caused friction between him and Bertolt, who was visibly bothered by the situayion, though it is revealed that Bertolt was vital in helping him maintain his grasp on reality. Reiner did not have a great relationship with Annie: his behavior similar to Marcel angered her, and he had doubts regarding her loyalty that he forced her to do what he wanted to support the mission. Regardless, Reiner felt the urge to save Annie when he thought she was being tortured, going as far as fighting against his commander Zeke Yeager. Reiner does not lack mercy, in fact he knew that Eren had the potential of being the host of the Coordinate and Reiner could have obtained a less dangerous host for the Coordinate all along by feeding Eren to a random Titan, then simply kidnap the clueless freed person from it. However, since it required Eren's death, he avoided such extreme measures until pushed too far, when he learned that Eren had the Foudning Titan's power. He reacted with great concern and noted that Eren is the worst possible person to possess it, given his personality. Reiner tried to kill Eren by throwing Titans towards his direction so that the Coordinate could pass to a "less destructive" individual. Reiner's previous hesitation suggested a lingering affection towards Eren, even after they become enemies. During the planned fall of Wall Rose, Reiner was shown to be more hesitant in destroying the inner gate and his suggestion to stop the advance of the Titans greatly bothered Bertolt, who was more prone to carry on and not letting feelings get in the way of their mission.
==Appearance==
===Human Form===
In human form, Reiner has short blond hair, gold eyes and a face with sharp features. His large height, broad shoulders and serious expression give him an intimidating presence.
Reiner sports the typical soldier uniform of the Scout Regiment. Later on, he wears civilian clothes, including a gray shirt and black pants.
After the timeskip, he dons the Marleyan uniform in public and a parachute jumpsuit whenever he is in battle.
===Titan Form===
While Reiner is in his Armored Titan form, he is 15 meters tall. He has hardened yellow-golden plates covering the entirety of his skin, except for muscles in his cheeks that become exposed when he opens his lipless jaw, as well as the muscle tissue behind his knees, elbows and feet. His eyes are golden and have no pupil, and he has short grey-white hair. While fighting Eren, it has been noted that despite his seemingly heavy weight, he has high agility and is capable of moving at a fast momentum despite being low on stamina.
==History==
Reiner was born in the the year 833 in Liberio to a Marleyan father and Eldian mother. As a youth he wished to become a Warrior in order to reunite his family and become a hero of the world. Despite his weak skills unlike the other warrior candidates, his loyalty to Marley allowed him to inherit the Armored Titan. 
He, Annie, Bertholdt and Marcel are sent alone to the island for their main objective: to steal the Founding Titan from the King of the Walls. However, just before the mission began, Reiner met his father with the intention to reunite, only to find out that his father rejected him out of fear for punishment for him and his Marleyan family. Once the mission began, his self-esteem was made even worse when Marcel confessed to the group that he had purposefully exaggerated Reiner's abilities in training while sabotaging his own brother, Porco, to protect him, revealing that Reiner's inheritance of the Armored Titan was not granted to him by his own merits.
Marcel's confession left Reiner dazed, confused, and shocked, briefly distracting him from the Titan behind attacking him, Marcel sacrifices himself to protect Reiner who later ran away from the scene. Although Annie wanted to return back to Liberio, Reiner insist to continue the mission to avoid punishment from their Marleyan superiors. This angers Annie who she beat Reiner up for his cowardness, Reiner later grab Annie and say he will be Marcel, starting his split personality disorder.
=== The Fall of Shiganshina ===
He first appeared in the year 845 as the Armored Titan, participating in the attack on Shiganshina. During the chaos of the initial breach, he entered the city in his Titan form and made his way across it to the interior gate. Once there, he charged towards the gate and smashed through it, allowing Titans to invade Wall Maria. At some point during the abandonment of Wall Maria, he passed himself off as a refugee and infiltrated human territory. He was seen with Bertolt as the campaign to retake Wall Maria was announced, wearing a shocked expression.
=== Joining The Military ===
Two years later after the destruction of Wall Maria he enlisted in the military and becomes a member of the 104th Trainees Squad. When Eren struggled with the Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear and began to look for advice from the other trainees, Marco Bott advised him to approach Reiner and Bertolt for help. Though initially unfriendly towards Eren and Armin, he quickly warmed up to them after learning of their being from Shiganshina District and still willing to enlist in the Survey Corps. He shared with them his desire to return to his lost homeland and would become a surrogate big brother to both.
During hand-to-hand combat training, he advised Eren to take his duty as a soldier seriously. Noticing Annie attempting to sneak away from training, he intercepted her and goaded her into sparring with Eren. After seeing her easily dispatch Eren, he hesitated to take her on himself, but was goaded into it by Eren and quickly defeated. This introduction would lead to Eren and Annie becoming close, with her tutoring him in unarmed combat (though that mostly included him learning after being beaten down for her amusement).
Reiner was noted by Keith Shadis to have exceptional mental and physical fortitude, as well as great ability to gain the confidence of his comrades. He would eventually graduate 2nd in the class, finishing just behind Mikasa Ackerman.
=== The Battle of Trost District ===
As part of the defensive effort of the military after the second attack of the Colossal Titan, he eventually found himself with the front guard. However, with the supply team stuck in the headquarters, he was essentially immobilized with many of his teammates on a rooftop. Joining Jean's group in the rush to the HQ, he was among the survivors. With the subsequent arrival of Armin and Mikasa, by way of the Rogue Titan, he helped to clear and secure the supply room.
Initially skeptical, Reiner suggested they help the Rogue Titan when it was being overwhelmed by a group. Jean was hesitant and disagreed with his suggestion, stating they barely made it with their own lives and could use the opportunity to escape. However, it turned out not to be necessary when it broke free at the sight of the Titan that killed Thomas Wagner. He was among the first people to know about Eren's Titan form, when he emerged from the giant's body. Later this same day, after seeing what appeared to be Titan vapor from inside the city, he and a small group scaled the wall to see what was happening. Over the wall they found Eren protecting Mikasa and Armin from cannon fire, with a shield made from the torso of his Titan form.
=== Marley Arc ===
With the failure of Paradis Island Operation, Reiner and his remaining fellow Warriors fight in the Marley-Mid East War, alongside their other comrades of the Marleyan military's various branches and divisions. They spend four years in the war, until the Battle of Fort Slava after the destruction of the majority of the Mid-East Navy, with Zeke finally destroying the enemy fleet's remnant after Marley takes the fort. Reiner is shown to be suffering from a form of PTSD, as he suffers recurring nightmares of the fight in Shingashina, while also briefly confuses the Warrior candidates for his fellow Warriors. He asks the Armored Titan candidate Falco Grice to save his cousin Gabi from the suffering of being a Warrior, before reuniting with his family in the Liberio internment zone and sharing his experiences back in the island. Later, Reiner looks back at his actions back at Paradis, and, feeling immense guilt over his past failures, unkept promises, survivor guilt as the sole member of the mission who returned, betrayals, and believing he has no other purpose to live, he attempts to commit suicide, but seeing Falco, reminding Reiner of his duty to take care the Warrior candidates, keeps him from pulling the trigger.
A month later, during the festival in Liberio, Falco leads Reiner to meet Eren in a basement of a housing building, and is shocked by the situation, fearful that Eren has made good on his promise back in the forest to kill Reiner. While listening to Willy Tybur's speech, Eren tells Reiner that Willy is right in what he is saying; that he (Eren) is now the "bad guy" and that he is likely to destroy the world, if not stopped now. He reveals to Reiner and Falco that the Survey Corps might also be there in Liberio at the moment, as he made Falco send a few letters informing them about Eren's intentions. As Willy Tybur keeps making his war speech and warning the world about the apocalyptic global-level threat of the Rumbling, Reiner and Eren discuss the invasion of Wall Maria's lands and destruction of Shiganshina District nine years ago, and Eren forgives Reiner for the Fall of Wall Maria, believing he was simply a product of his own environment and could never had done anything against the entire human system and history.
However, Reiner refuses the excuse that Eren provides for him, and tearfully confesses his own fault in the incident and his own suicidal thoughts, claiming that the way he handled the Paradis Island Operation was all his own selfish initiative and ambition to make himself the world's hero. Eren stays silent on his chair for a moment, to listen to Willy calling for a global alliance to exterminate Paradis Island's population, then extends a hand to Reiner, declaring how the two are the same, and as Eren proclaims his will to keep moving forward until his enemies are destroyed, he transforms, forcing Reiner to quickly transform and shield Falco, as the middle of the building is destroyed and its inhabitants suddenly killed.
While Falco was saved, Reiner's body was put in a comatose state and not fully regenerating due to his self loathing and depression, thinking it would be better if he died. Falco leaves him there to reunite with his comrades and seek for help, and throughout the battle, Reiner stays in his small Titan hardened shell. After Lara Tybur and Porco Galliard's defeats, Gabi repeatedly shrieks for Reiner to wake up and help, begging for him to get up and stop Eren from killing Porco. As he listens to his cousin's screams, Falco also joins Gabi in screaming calls for Reiner's help, to which Reiner tries to ignore but eventually regenerates and turns into a weakened Armored Titan, lunging at Eren to grab Porco's Jaw Titan by the hair when he wasn't looking. Eren easily pushes Reiner back in one punch, but notices too late that he already grabbed Porco, preventing Eren from eating him. As Reiner keeps staring at him and pretends to have enough strength to keep fighting, Eren decides to flee, as he has exhausted his own Titan strength and anyway accomplished most of his objectives in Marley, but not before glancing at the weakened Reiner, casting a sorrowful look and telling him that he will see him later. As soon as he sees Mikasa taking Eren to their stolen Marleyan zeppelin for retreat, Reiner sees he does no longer have to force himself to stay strong and allow himself to collapse from fatigue.
== War For Paradis Arc ==
As Reiner awakens he is met by the recovering Porco and Pieck, along with other soldiers. As Porco offers him a bottle of alcoholic beverage, Reiner questions what happened after he was knocked out by Eren, only to discover Falco and Gabi boarded an airship retreating to Paradis Island. Soon after, he, Pieck, Porco, and Colt are summoned by their superior and new General Theo Magath, who has discovered that Zeke is a traitor, is the one who planned the Raid on Liberio, has been delivering other traitor Marleyan soldiers to Eldia for the past three years, gave the Eldians better technology and the stolen airship, and is working with Eren to activate the power the Founding Titan. As the Global Alliance's planned full invasion and destruction of Eldia within the Walls is scheduled to take place in six months, Reiner, who wishes to retrieve Gabi and Falco, urges Magath that Marley needs to launch an immediate counter attack on Paradis Island, in order to prevent Eren from using the Founder, fearful that Zeke is anticipating the Global Alliance's moves and of the Rumbling activating, if they wait half a year before attacking.
A month later, Marleyan forces aboard seven zeppelins led by General Magath make their way to Paradis Island, leaving two airships as rearguard for reinforcements and retreat. The mission's objective is to kill Eren and gain custody of the Founding Titan to erase the threat of the Rumbling against the world, then immediately retreat back to Marley and return to the island for the real invasion of Eldia months later, as part of the Global Alliance's military forces. At Shiganshina District, Pieck and Porco manage to launch a surprise attack on Eren, which is a signal for the five Marleyan airships to attack the city. Reiner is inside the same airship as Magath, Colt, and Koslow, and along with roughly 500 soldiers they all parachute to attack. As he makes his descent, Reiner turns himself into the Armored Titan, much to Eren's annoyance. The two engage in combat as Porco helps him in wearing down Eren's Titan, who is repeatedly shot by Magath, as he is using massive anti-Titan artillery aboard Pieck's Cart Titan. Meanwhile, their comrade soldiers of the Marley Army and the Air Force deal with the Yeagerists trying to help Eren, resulting in a one-sided massacre in Marley's favor.
After spending some time fighting, with Marley having the upper hand, Reiner, Porco, Magath, Pieck, Koslow, and all their comrades are ambushed by Zeke, who just arrived at Shiganshina to save Eren, and activate what he planned to be a small-scale Rumbling meant to fight only the Global Alliance's naval fleet. Numerous Eldian soldiers of the old military also join the battle, but they can only fight against the non-Titan Marleyan soldiers. After destroying all the five invading airships, Zeke constantly harasses Reiner and Porco with his throwing attack to keep them at bay, until he lowers his guard after being deceived by Pieck playing dead, which allows Magath to shoot him with the anti-Titan heavy artillery. As Eren still attempts to make contact with Zeke, Porco attacks him once more, but Eren beats him with a hardened fist and injures him, much to Reiner's horror. Porco is saved by Magath shooting both Eren's hardened arm and head at the same time, although harassment from the Yeagerists prevent him and his comrades from assisting further. Reiner manages to hold Eren again, but requires Porco to kill and eat him, and Porco is too injured to move. As Reiner tries to give him strength, Porco receives his brother Marcel's memory when he revealed to Reiner the real reason Porco was not chosen as a Warrior.
With his remaining strength, Zeke decides to use his Titan abilities to transform every Eldian that has ingested his spinal fluid into Pure Titans. However, he is interrupted by Colt and Falco's sudden arrival at the outer gate, and Reiner, Eren, and Porco listen to Colt informing Zeke that his little brother ingested the spinal fluid, much to Reiner's horror. As Gabi joins them with a stolen horse, Reiner watches as Zeke apologetically denies Colt's plea and screams anyway, transforming all the wine-marked soldiers, plus Falco, in the district into Pure Titans, and burning Colt to death, as he refused to leave Falco's side and resigned to die with him.
As the Marleyan soldiers are getting attacked and devoured by the Titans controlled by Zeke, Falco's Titan is set against Reiner, causing him to struggle between holding both Eren and Falco, as Porco is still unable to help. As Reiner and Eren keep struggling, the two are interrupted and watch in surprise as the nape of Zeke's Titan is shot again by Magath atop the Wall, giving them the impression Zeke is dead. Before Magath can shoot Eren again, he and his unit are attacked again by Armin and Mikasa atop the Wall, this time destroying their anti-Titan artillery. Realizing Marley has won and their mission to prevent the Rumbling has been accomplished, Reiner decides to undo the hardening of his Armored Titan to let Falco consume him, in order for him to return human. As Reiner is ready for his fate, he thinks how he can at least give Falco back to his cousin Gabi. However, Porco emerges from the Jaw Titan body and tells Reiner that he saw one of Marcel's last memories, learning that Reiner only became a Warrior because Marcel talked the military into it, to protect his brother. Porco sacrifices himself by allowing Falco's Pure Titan to eat him, in order to to revert Falco to a human and also save Reiner in the process.
After realizing Zeke was playing dead like Pieck, Reiner attempts to stop Eren from making contact with Zeke. Despite Eren's attempt to slow him down with the hardening, Reiner still free himself and almost grabs Eren's fleeing human body, only to be thwarted by Jean and Connie's Thunder Spears. However, Gabi intercepts Eren and shoots him with Colt's anti-Titan rifle. Gabi's shot is lethal, but Zeke ends up catching Eren's severed head while it is still conscious, before he passes away.
An instant later, a new Titan body is formed from Eren's damaged body, and he obtains the full power of the Founding Titan, temporarily stripping Reiner of his armor when he undoes all the hardening within the Walls, including Annie Leonhart's crystalized hardening. As the Walls crumble, Reiner panics at Gabi, who is too close to the falling debris, and successfully rushes to shield her with his Titan, just as his armor is also being shattered. In the Paths, Reiner listens to Eren declaring he will destroy all surface-dwelling life (specifically targeting humanity) outside Paradis Island.
While the Wall Titans begin their march to leave the island, Reiner and Gabi retreat and are unable to find any surviving comrades, as they are getting devoured by Zeke's Pure Titans. As Gabi calls out for Falco, who also disappeared, Reiner reminds her that a person who just gained one of the Nine Titans would be far too weakened too move quickly, even if Falco might not have been unconscious. Reiner assumes Falco has been taken hostage, guessing it was Jean and Connie, who saw the boy eating Porco. Reiner collapses from fatigue, injured, tired, and overcome with despair at the thought that the world will soon be destroyed. Gabi helps Reiner, as the two hide from the Pure Titans and the Eldians in the ruined city, finding shelter into an abandoned building.
Reiner then tells Gabi to retreat to the south and evacuate Paradis with the remaining Marleyan invading forces inside the two other airships, assuming that Pieck is also running back to them. Reiner urges Gabi that she and all the other soldiers from the airships must warn Marley and the rest of the world of the incoming global threat, although both he and Gabi admit that surely the military powers of the world lack the strength to eliminate so many advancing Titans at once, meaning all their families and friends in Liberio are doomed. Gabi understands that the Rumbling will stop, however, if Eren is killed, and wants to keep fighting and kill Eren. Reiner argues that fighting is pointless, because Eren can use the Founder to control all Subjects of Ymir, including the Nine Titans. Reiner can only tell Gabi to run and announces in defeat that hiding is all they can do now, then passes out. Gabi, however, grows angry and refuses to give up and not oppose the Rumbling, leaving Reiner to rest as she heads out to retrieve and rescue Falco.
A few days later, Reiner, Gabi, Annie, Magath, Falco, and Pieck decide to team up with Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Hange, Connie, and Levi to stop Eren from destroying the world but not without tensions brewing. They also brought along with them the two defeated Anti-Marleyan Volunteers, Yelena and Onyankopon. The former on Magath's specific order, and she's now Marley's captive, while the latter to pilot Hizuru's flying boat at the island's port (and also to save him from execution). At a campfire Reiner confesses being the one responsible for killing Marco taking full responsibility for the crime, Jean at first gives a Reiner a chance to drop the subject after confession but launches into a rage as he continues apologizing causing him to beat him unconscious and kick Gabi by accident when she pushes herself between the two and reminds him the perspective and situation of the Eldians of the internment zones, that now Eren is trying to wipe out.
The next morning, Jean wakes up Reiner and Gabi, and on their way to the island's harbor he apologizes to Gabi for kicking her, and says to Reiner he still can't forgive him, to which Reiner accepts. While discussing whether to kill the Yeagerists or not, Reiner realizes how he and Eren are similar and how selfish their respective atrocities are. He offers for the Survey Corps not to join the fight and remain hidden with Falco, Gabi, Levi, Onyankopon, and Yelena, so they won't have to carry the guilt of killing their own former comrades, while Reiner himself and his fellow Marleyan comrades will be the only ones to fight. Hange turns Reiner's offer down, stating she has already made up her mind and that she will fight alongside him, because she has no intention to let Eren destroy humanity, and also points out she already killed four Yeagerists in self-defense, so she just got past the struggle over it. Reiner and the other Warriors are horrified when Hange tells them that she and Magath confirmed that the Rumbling has already reached Marley's northeastern territory, and the cities in that part of the continent are possibly already destroyed.
Reiner and all the others watch the furious Magath assaulting his prisoner and fellow Marleyan Yelena, who only cares for herself and does not show any concern for the situation of her people or humanity in general. Magath tortures her to tell the group where Eren is going in the Marleyan continent, demanding so because Yelena taught Eren about the continent's geography and locations, and the allied group cannot waste time and fuel to fly around the lands in search for the Founder and its destination, in the middle of scattered Wall Titans. After being convinced by Hange and Onyankopon to calm down and stop for now, Magath tells the Survey Corps and the Warriors that neither of them are guilty for the cruelty of the Eldian Empire, telling Reiner, Pieck, and Annie, who served Marley for years, that they don't have to carry Eldia's sins on their shoulders and should not bear such burden nor the world's hatred. Reiner and his comrades, especially Gabi, are taken by surprise, as they never saw their proud, stern superior and leader behaving like that, who now represents Marley as its General. Magath supports Reiner's previous suggestion, and again offers for Armin, Mikasa, Jean, and Connie to stay behind out of action, while he, his three older Warriors, and Hange attack the Yeagerists. Armin refuses to sit and watch, however, and decides to fight with them, encouraging everyone else to do the same.
During a battle with the Yeagerists Reiner and Annie assist Magath to protect and escort Kiyomi Azumabito and five mechanics from Hizuru to their ship, which carries the flying boat. Throughout the fight, they take heavy damage in their Titan forms and are almost killed, but they are protected by the Survey Corps, then assisted by Pieck, and finally rescued by the intervention of Falco, who transforms into the Jaw Titan and causes the Yeagerists to break their lines. After Magath sacrifices his life and kills the remaining Yeagerists attempting to chase the allies with a Marleyan cruiser, Reiner and his fellow Warriors hear Hange and Kiyomi having to inform them that they established along with Magath that there is no way to save Liberio, causing Annie to decide to no longer fight. Reiner, Pieck, and Gabi are instead encouraged by Hange to carry on Magath's final order, that they must stop the Rumbling at any costs, regardless if Marley is completely destroyed or not, and even if only a single person is saved in the end.
Once arrived at Odiha in Marley, Reiner and Pieck entrust Falco and Gabi's custody to Kiyomi, to bring them as far away from the Rumbling as possible with her ship. While the engineers and Onyankopon service the flying boat, Reiner trains with the new 3DM gear design in preparation for the fight. Speaking with Reiner and Pieck, Annie confirms again her choice not to continue the group's pursuit for Eren, and instead will stay on the ship with Kiyomi, Gabi, Falco, the five mechanics, and Yelena. Reiner makes her Gabi and Falco's guardian and apologizes to both her and the late Bertolt Hoover for forcing them to continue their previous mission, which prevented both Annie and Bertolt from returning home in Liberio. Annie and Reiner share a hug and the former promises to watch over Falco and Gabi.
Reiner watches Floch Forster making one final attempt to destroy the flying boat, before being killed by Mikasa. As the mechanics fix the damage on the boat, the Rumbling reaches Odiha, and Reiner volunteers to stay behind to slow them down, but he is turned down by Hange, who reminds him and Armin that they must conserve their Titan powers to face Eren. As a result, Reiner, Armin, Mikasa, Pieck, Jean, Onyankopon, Connie, and Levi flee to the flying boat, while the five mechanics retreat to their ship, and Hange ends up sacrificing her own life to slow the Rumbling down.
Later during the journey to Fort Salta in southern Marley (as Yelena suggested), Reiner and Connie discuss about their guilt about killing former friends and comrades, mentioning how Annie and Bertolt must have felt as well. Reiner still believes he cannot forgive himself for his sins, but nonetheless he tells Connie that they will save what is left of humanity. Jean apologizes to Reiner about his former hypocrisy, now that he has killed former friends that became Yeagerists, and aided the raid on Liberio, and Reiner appreciates it.
During the Battle of Heaven and Earth at Fort Salta, with Eren's Founding Titan and various deceased forms of the Nine Titans summoned by the soul of Ymir Fritz, Reiner helps in fighting off the Titans, first detaching Zeke's empty Beast Titan from the Founder's body. Throughout the fight, Reiner panics when Pieck, in an attempt to kill Eren with explosives, almost gets killed by Lara Tybur's War Hammer Titan, and has to be convinced by the rest of the group not to rescue Pieck and leave her to handle the situation by herself. As numerous phantom Titans join the fight, Reiner almost gets eaten alive by Bertolt's Colossal Titan, while his mother Karina and Gabi's parents watch from the fort with the Marleyan soldiers. Their battle is eased by the arrival of Falco's flying Jaw Titan, also carrying Gabi and Annie with him. Reiner is angry at Annie and Falco for bringing Gabi back into the danger, and has a brief argument with Gabi, who accuses him of having left her and Falco like that and insists she can fight. She informs her group that Kiyomi's ship sank to Falco's transformation (all the ship's occupants safely evacuated on lifeboats), and tells Reiner they need to stop the Rumbling for Kiyomi's trust and kindness. Still upset about his cousin being there, Reiner reminds Falco about the promise he had made in the train. Once Eren's friends make up their mind and decide to kill him, Gabi warns them that when she decapitated Eren, a huge parasite that she calls "shiny centipede" (the "source of all living matter", which is based on the real life animal hallucigenia) emerged from Eren's headless body. She tells everyone that they will face that parasite again.
After Zeke and Armin return from the Paths, the souls of Bertolt, Marcel, Porco, Ymir, Tom Ksaver, Grisha Yeager, and Eren Kruger join the Marley-Survey Corps alliance and fight the other controlled "ghost" Titans. A shocked Reiner watches Marcel and Ymir saving him and fighting by his side as their respective Jaw Titan forms, while Bertolt helps Annie, and Porco assits Pieck. After the Rumbling is stopped with Zeke's death, Reiner helps Armin's Colossal Titan to blow up the Founding Titan, in the attempt to kill Eren for good. As expected, Eren persists and transforms again into a 60 meters Titan, the "Doosmday Titan". Like Gabi said, the parasite "source of all living matter" appears and it is gigantic, prompting Reiner to attack the animal to stop it from reaching Eren, both him and Armin afraid the Rumbling might even resume.
As Reiner struggles with the parasite, the latter releases a natural gas that affects all the Subjects of Ymir present at Fort Salta, except for Levi and Mikasa, and those with the Nine Titan powers. As a result, a horrified Reiner watches Gabi, his mother Karina, the rest of his family, Jean, Connie, and all the Eldians of Marley present at the fort becoming Pure Titans, while Falco's Jaw Titan releases a scream of grief. All the Titans ignore all the Marleyans and Onyankopon at the fort, as the parasite summons towards itself for protection. The Titans gang up on Reiner and Armin, who are attacked by their own friends, and in Reiner's case even his own family and people. Although protected by his hardened armor, keeping safe from being eaten, Reiner struggles to move while surrounded, thus unable to hold the giant parasite, and is assaulted by Jean. Armin, however, manages to distract Eren long enough for Mikasa to personally kill him.
After Eren is killed, the Curse of Ymir and the power of the Titans vanish from the world. Reiner learns that in the Paths Eren revealed to him and the rest of the allied Marleyans and Eldians of the group his true intentions of wanting to be stopped from destroying the world, telling him along with the others to live long lives. At Fort Salta, Reiner finds himself surrounded by the Eldians of Marley, plus Connie and Jean, in their human forms again. As he watches Gabi reuniting with Falco, his mother Karina embraces and apologizes to him for everything causing him to cry. When Reiner tells her he is no longer the Armored Titan and he now can live to old age, his mother expresses happiness for it. Their reunion is cut short by the arrival of the Marleyan troops, led by Secretary Muller, who demand that all the Eldians present must prove they are no longer Subjects of Ymir, or else the Marleyans will shoot them all on the spot. Reiner and everyone else watch as Armin convinces the Marleyans that they are no longer a threat and that they are ordinary humans now, also confirming that Eren has been killed, much to Muller's satisfaction.
Three years later, Reiner, along with Annie, Pieck, Jean, Armin, and Connie have become ambassadors of the Global Alliance, and are sent to Paradis Island to initiate peace negotiations between the Eldians and the rest of humanity. Jean reprimands Reiner for behaving like a pervert while reading Historia's letter about the situation on the island, reminding him, for the upteenth time apparently, that Historia is a married woman. Reiner taunts Jean for wanting to look good, as the two discuss how they are famous and hailed as heroes by humanity outside Paradis. As most express skepticism about ever achieving peace between the Eldian island and the rest of the world, especially after the Rumbling, Armin still wishes to hope for a chance.
==Trivia==
*In interviews from 2017 to late 2019 (when the Marley and War for Paradis arcs were being published), the series's author and illustrator Hajime Isayama stated that Reiner was his favorite character in the series. In November 2022, following the series' conclusion, Isayama stated that Jean is his overall favorite character, which he he had originally stated in mid-2012 (during the Female Titan arc).
*Isayama stated that his biggest regret with his series was not writing enough interaction between Eren, Reiner and Bertholdt, to show the friendship bond Eren had with the two. Reiner in particular was the one Eren admired more than any other, even Levi. Isayama has stated that Eren considered Reiner to be always better than him and Eren himself looked up to him.
*In a post on his blog, author Hajime Isayama stated that the Armored Titan's physique was based on that of professional wrestler and mixed martial artist Brock Lesnar.
*He shares some similarities with Historia Reiss:
**Both Reiner and Historia are born from forbidden (legally for Reiner and only socially for Historia) and shameful relationships and never met their fathers during their childhoods. In Reiner's case, due to having a Marleyan father and an Eldian mother, as a relationship between Marlyean and Eldian is strictly forbidden, thus he was never allowed to see him. While Historia because of her mother, Alma, being fired and forced to abandon the Reiss household after Rod Reiss's wife learnt she was pregnant with Rod's child. In similar ways, both Alma and Reiner's father were terrified to suffer the consequences of the birth of their children: Alma to be killed because of the real position of the Reiss family (royals and Titan Shifters who erase memories from their subjects) and Reiner's father to be killed, along with his entire family, for having a relationship and a child with an Eldian. Both Reiner and Historia tried to approach their parents only to end up rejected out of fear and despised them for existing.
**According to Isayama's extra information, Reiner was the most popular boy in the cadet training, while Christa was the most popular girl. Their parody Junior High counterparts also nicknamed Reiner's "social grade" as "The Jock" and Christa's "The Queen Bee". In the story their positions might be what made Reiner attracted to Historia, as they both acted as examples of perfect people.
***Ironically, both of their personalities in the training days were nothing but fake roles to hide their true identities: Soldier Reiner, a carbon copy of Marcel Galliard that ended up with Reiner often genuinely believing his role was reality, and Krista Lenz, a forced name with a forced personality that had Historia lying to herself in her delusions that she had to help everyone and become a good heroic person, just like she promised to her half-sister Frieda Reiss.
** Both had sidekicks who understood their true nature and genuinely cared about them, Ymir and Bertolt Hoover. Both Historia and Reiner lost them during the war against their respective enemy factions (both Ymir and Bertolt have been used as power tools and fed to Titans).
*Out of the four Warriors who were sent to reclaim the Founder, Reiner is the only one who ever made it back to the hometown Liberio, in their internment zone. Marcel, Bertholdt, and Annie never returned to their families. However, Annie eventually managed to reunite with her father in Marley, at Fort Salta, during the Rumbling.
*Reiner almost died over 20 times throughout the story, which makes him the character who survived the most in the entire series, even making it to the end of the series. This is also ironic, as since the timeskip after the Return to Shinganshina arc, he developed suicidal tendencies and had a desire to die, with Gabi, Falco, Udo, and Zofia being the sole motivator for him to keep living.
**Due to this, some fans commonly refer him as "the Plot-Armored Titan."
**Even more ironic, since his Titan is said to be the strongest in terms of defense due to his armor, as his armor is broken and destroyed repeatedly by other characters, namely Eren, Zeke and soldiers with anti-Titan weapons.
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