Ethan Ackermann

845

**Ethan Ackermann** (イーサン・アッカーマン *Īsan Akkāman*?) is the deuteragonist of *Attack on Titan: New Age* and the best friend of Ellen Hasheki. A very determined and sophisticated boy, Ethan lost both of his parents and his home during the Fall of Wall Maria, becoming a refugee of Karanes District. Afraid of being too weak to change the world, Ethan has decided to follow the footsteps of his father and dedicate himself to the Military - specifically the Survey Corps. Using the strength he hopes to gather, Ethan wishes to protect everything he has left, most importantly his best friend Ellen.

## Appearance

As a young boy, Ethan is slightly below average height for his age and just about average weight. He has short, black hair which reaches his ears and sits on top of his head in the traditional "boy-ish" style. He has a long face, and an especially long nose. He has small, thin, and expressive grey eyes and small eyebrows to match. His teeth are rather unique - with his canines not quite fitting into their proper place and thus giving off the distinct impression of "fangs", which becomes especially obvious whenever he smiles. Before the Fall of Wall Maria, Ethan preferred to wear button-up and formal-looking clothes, and had a fondness for the colors of black and grey. He was typically seen wearing sweatpants or formal slacks, and simple brown shoes with white socks.

After the Fall of Wall Maria, Ethan has become much skinnier due to a much lower intake of food and, as a result, has lost a few pounds. Despite this, he has grown about an inch and his hair has gotten slightly longer due to him being unable to cut it. However, his hair is much more matted and thin. In terms of clothes, he has downgraded to rather simple attire. He wears a black t-shirt and cargo shorts, with shoes that are too small for him and black socks.

## Personality

Ethan is initially shown to be a jovial and rather happy boy. He has a very upbeat and lively attitude, especially whenever he is hanging out with his friend Ellen. However, this lively attitude directly translates to a love for playing pranks on other people - typically other people who aren't very good at taking jokes. Ethan often drags Ellen into pranks which put them into a bad situation, forcing Ellen to use his calm demeanor to smooth-talk them out of many situations where they would have otherwise most certainly gotten into trouble. This behavior became so well known that Ethan and Ellen became known pranksters in the town of Shiganshina.

Despite not showing it, Ethan has a high level of respect and care for his family and friends - and greatly looked up to his father Lucas, whom to Ethan set the perfect role model for the ideal soldier. His love for his mother, in particular, was so great that seeing her corpse during the Fall of Wall Maria was enough to make the boy pass out from the overwhelming shock and sadness alone. Ethan has a terrible fear deep down of judgement by other people, and is horrified whenever people judge him based on his actions, thoughts, and mistakes. He was often bullied for his appearance as a child, and is especially sensitive to remarks about his appearance as well, although he keeps all of these negative traits hidden from his friends so they don't think of him as weak - yet another judgement he is terrified of. He also believes that his weakness is the direct cause of his family's death - something that sticks with Ethan and defines his every decision.

Ethan possesses a great determination deep within himself, which resurfaces commonly in response to trauma. After the death of his mother and father and outright failure of the Refugee Expedition, Ethan is only inspired even more to survive so that he may later achieve his goal of becoming a Survey Corps soldier so that he is no longer weak. Ethan strives to be better than and constantly surpass himself, and use his future strength to help protect the things he loves so he no longer loses anything so close to him ever again. It is this passionate goal for strength and self-betterment that drives Ethan to achieve his goals, but also his respect and admiration for his friend Ellen, whom Ethan greatly pities and cherishes deeply. Ethan also strives to be more like his father would want him to be, thus making his passions for his goals even deeper still.

## History

Ethan was born in Shiganshina District on January 17th, Year 835 to Lucas Ackermann and Zoe Ackermann, almost a year before his best friend Ellen. Not very much is known about Ethan's childhood - except that as he got older, he gained an affinity for playing pranks on the local population and would use that in order to cause lots of mischief. He also had frequent run-ins with town bullies who ridiculed him based on his appearance and called him weak. Over time, Ethan became more and more blind to their words - but this caused a fear of judgement that would stick with him his entire life. Him and Ellen would spend tons of time with each other, and Ethan would become interested in the boy's weird antics - such as a hobby for drawing and a fascination for birds. They also established a meeting spot - a small meadow outside of town which Ethan nicknamed the "Amazing Meadow of Awesomeness".

At an unknown point, Ethan stopped calling his friend by his real name Jonathan and began to call him "Ellen" instead for unknown reasons.

## Story

### Introduction arc

On November 16, Year 845, as Ellen is lost in thought and laying under the tree in the Amazing Meadow of Awesomeness, Ethan excitedly runs to tell Ellen of his newest prank idea; tripping and falling over as he does so. He eventually reaches his friend, high-fives him and informs him of the priest in town which Ethan intends to throw a tomato at due to the priest bothering the citizens of the area. Ellen tells Ethan that his prank is pretty rude, and brings up the potential idea of tricking the priest instead, which Ethan agrees to. Mind racing, Ethan eventually decides on leading the priest into an outhouse and locking him inside - much to Ellen's disapproval and chagrin. Ethan takes a coin worth 20 Zor from Ellen, and places it in the outside in Old Man Sye's back yard. They meet back in town and discuss their plan - with Ethan proposing they wear disguises which are just potato sacks that Ethan found nearby in a box. The idea of disguises is quickly dropped as the young boys approach the priest. They introduce themselves and Ethan informs the pastor that his father wishes to donate. The pastor recognizes Ethan and calls him out on his lie, questioning why the Captain of the Garrison in Shiganshina would bother donating to the Church of the Walls at all. Ethan quickly changes the story so that his cousin Dillan was the one who wanted to donate; the pastor finding this rather suspicious but begrudgingly accepting it. They lead the pastor into Sye's backyard. Right as the pastor spots the coin, Sye emerges from his house and reveals that he saw the boys placing the coin in the outhouse earlier that day. As the situation escalates and Nick realizes the boys lied and tricked him, the commotion attracts the attention of Hannes and Fugo, local Garrison soldiers who just so happened to be nearby. Despite being well aware of Ethan and Ellen's reputation in town, they refuse to believe the situation itself due to the sheer comedic nature of it all. A few minutes later, Lucas arrives and scolds Hannes and Fugo for drinking on the job, as well as the two young boys for playing yet another prank on an innocent person, which Ethan apologizes and is embarrassed for. As Lucas begins to walk the two boys home, they are suddenly distracted by the bells ringing which signals the return of the Survey Corps from another expedition.

Intrigued and interested in seeing the soldiers, Ethan runs off toward the town square and is followed by Ellen and his father. As they all arrive, Lucas is initially hesitant to let them see but eventually relents and hoists the children onto his shoulders. From there, they see a grisly and horrifying sight as the broken, bloody, and beaten soldiers march through town. They three of them are forced to watch as an an old woman frantically asks around about her son, and is handed his disembodied arm in response. The Commander of the Survey Corps then breaks down and admits to the lady, as well as the crowd, that her son's sacrifice did not matter as they once again did not achieve any goal or learn anything about the Titans. The soldiers are harshly judged by the crowd and shortly afterward, depart town. Ethan is confused by this, but his father is unable to answer many questions due to his own lack of understanding. Afterward, Ethan and Ellen depart and go their separate ways, returning home. After a couple of hours, Ethan sneaks out of his house and meets up with Ellen, waking up the boy from a nap. Together, they head back down to the meadow to spend the rest of the day relaxing together. They talk about their day - as well as the Titans and general order of things - before Ethan picks a four-leaf clover, remarking that it is the first time in his whole life that he has truly felt lucky. Just then, they are interrupted by a quick flash of yellow lightning and a violent shaking of the ground. Initially passing it off as an earthquake, Ethan becomes convinced that the situation is dangerous after spotting an incredible amount of smoke directly outside of the Wall. Him and Ellen return to the town, where they are met with a horrifying sight - a skinless Titan larger than the wall and mostly clouded by smoke. Frozen in fear, they are showered by debris as the Colossal Titan kicks a hole into the gate of Shiganshina District.

### Fall of Shiganshina arc

Ethan manages to awaken in the debris and is dragged out by Hannes. As Hannes attempts to convince Ethan to run, Ethan refuses until Hannes gets Ellen out of the debris as well. After a few tense moments, he manages to grab the other boy and Ethan and Ellen hug each other in relief. They take a moment to examine the Wall - and are terrified to see a large amount of Titans pouring into the fresh hole in the wall. Fugo and Vars arrive, and are tasked with escorting the children out of the city. They grab the boys and use their ODM gear to get the boys out of the city safely. On the way, Ethan and Ellen notice that a large amount of debris has flattened some of the city and half of the city is now on fire. Ethan is mortified to see his own house crushed by debris, and wiggles out of Vars's grip. He runs into his house, coming face to face with the flattened corpse of his mother under a chunk of debris. Ethan is unable to do anything but cry as he passes out from the sight, carried out of the house by Vars. While they were inside, a Titan had managed to sneak close to the group and is unsuccessfully attacked by Fugo. The Titan retaliates, killing Fugo and destroying a nearby house, which sends Ethan flying and throws a large piece of wood into the chest of Vars. Vars instructs Ellen to grab Ethan and run while he distracts the Titan. Ellen manages to get somewhat far before collapsing due to exhaustion. Lucas arrives soon afterward, dispatching the Titan and euthanizing Vars. He rushes to Ethan's aid, as Ellen slips away into the town. Lucas then carries Ethan outside of town and places him on a boat. Later, Ellen arrives and meets with Ethan and his own father Allen. They are forced to bare witness as the Armored Titan smashes through the outer gate of Shiganshina, dooming the entirety of Wall Maria. Shortly afterward, Lucas is caught and killed brutally by the Armored Titan, with Ethan watching. Despite this, he has no reaction, blankly staring at the bloody, mangled mess of flesh on the ground as the boats depart the city toward Wall Rose.

### Humanity's Comeback arc

Arriving in Trost District the next morning, the group is loaded off of the boat and given blankets and hot cocoa by a young Garrison soldier named Layla. Ethan attempts to speak with Ellen about his father, but can't bring himself to say anything and stops speaking shortly afterward. Layla attempts to ask them questions about the breach of Shiganshina, but they are unable to answer much minus revealing a little bit of information about the appearance of the Colossal Titan. The next month, they attend a special military funeral for those who died in the line of duty during the breach, including Lucas. Ethan cries a lot at the funeral for the first time since the breach, supposedly crying so hard that he ran his throat raw. Shortly afterward, the refugees are all split up into different districts of Wall Rose - Ethan going with Ellen and Allen to Karanes District. Once there, they become part of the refugee camp outside of town. Shunned by the local population of Karanes due to food shortages, Ethan has to rely mainly on trades made by Ellen's father to supply him with food. Now a little bit hardened by the experience of it all, Ethan and Ellen prepare for the upcoming Refugee Expedition organized by the Royal Government. Packing some clothes, food, and weapons, they set out one night on the expedition with the rest of the Karanes refugees. After about half an hour of walking, they are attacked by a stray Titan and the large group is split up. Ethan sticks close to Ellen, but loses him quickly as Ellen is pushed into the woods by his father. Shortly afterward, Ethan is struck in the shoulder by a stray bullet and follows Ellen into the woods, staying far behind as they are being pursued by a Titan. After waiting a bit, he finally arrives at the cabin where Ellen and Allen are hiding, cautiously being let inside. After showing them his wounds and explaining some things, they are alerted to the presence of a kitten nearby which Allen names as Cinnamon. Everybody goes to sleep soon afterward, cautiously listening. The next morning, Ethan's wound is being cleaned by Ellen, and they discuss recent events. Ellen reveals that he suspects the Royal Government set this whole thing up, but Ethan doesn't care either way. Ethan tells Ellen he has his mind set on surviving so he can dedicate his heart and become a member of the Survey Corps. Ellen is taken aback by this, and finally tells Ethan the final message his father left him. Ethan is silent, and Ellen's father emerges from the house, revealing the village where they are staying as the place where him and Amelia Hasheki got married. Suddenly, Allen commits suicide in a grisly manner, using the final bullet and spraying blood all over the young children.

## Abilities

Ethan is not known to have many special abilities, likely due to the fact that he is still a child and is still rather incapable of most things. Despite this, he does contain high hopes for the future and a well-rounded goal which he constantly strives for that helps him better himself and stay focused and on track.