Who Is Reiner Braun?

Reiner Braun is a major character, central antagonist, and later tragic anti-hero in the anime and manga series Attack on Titan created by Hajime Isayama. He is initially introduced as a reliable, big-brother figure to the recruits of the 104th Training Corps. However, he is eventually revealed to be the Armored Titan, making him one of the primary culprits behind the destruction of Wall Maria that sparked the entire story.

Appearance

During his time as a member of the 104th Cadet Corps and Scout Regiment, Reiner has the look of a classic, rugged soldier. He is exceptionally tall at 185 cm and weighs 95 kg, built with broad shoulders, a large frame, and heavily defined muscles. He has a highly structured, square jawline, a serious expression, and short, spiky blond hair.

Reiner’s eyes are small and hazel (often appearing light brown or gold in the anime). He is most frequently seen in the standard military uniform, including the brown Cadet jacket or the green hooded cape of the Scout Regiment, layered over a light-colored shirt and dark trousers. 

Following the four-year timeskip and his return to Marley, Reiner’s physical appearance reflects his severe psychological trauma, depression, and aging. He grows slightly taller to 188 cm, but his weight drops significantly to 83 kg. This dramatic weight loss gives him a much leaner, haggard physique with heavily sunken cheekbones.

Reiner’s blond hair is slightly longer and parted, and he grows a short, trim goatee. He frequently carries a tired, gaunt, and melancholic expression. He wears the standard grey Marleyan warrior military uniform, complete with a dark double-breasted jacket, trousers, and the Eldian armband on his left arm. 

When transforming into his Titan state, Reiner turns into a 15-metre-tall powerhouse known as the Armored Titan. His entire body is covered in segments of thick, hardened, bone-like organic plates that mimic a suit of plate armor. The only areas left unarmored are his joint sections (behind his knees, elbows, and feet) to allow for movement, and his cheeks, which expose muscle tissue when his jaw opens. His Titan form features short, silver-white hair, a lipless, mechanical-looking jaw, and glowing white, organic lenses covering his eyes.

Personality

Reiner Braun from Attack on Titan has one of the most complex, tragic, and psychologically fractured personalities in anime history. Initially introduced as a charismatic and reliable "big brother" figure, his true identity is a deeply traumatized child soldier torn apart by immense guilt, conflicting loyalties, and a severe psychological split. His personality can be broken down into distinct layers and chronological shifts: 

1. Childhood: The Desperate Achiever

As a child growing up in Liberio, Reiner was meek, awkward, and lacked natural talent compared to his peers. However, he possessed a fiercely loyal and driven nature. He completely internalized Marleyan indoctrination, genuinely believing the Eldians on Paradis Island were "devils". His primary desire was to become a Warrior so his mother and absent Marleyan father could be reunited as honorary Marleyans. This made him easily manipulated by adults. 

2. The Fragmented Mind: Soldier vs. Warrior

After infiltrating Paradis Island, the horrific reality of his mission, combined with the death of his teammate Marcel, crushed Reiner's psyche. To survive, his mind fractured into two distinct personas, a condition mirroring Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Reiner frequently switched between these two states under high stress, occasionally forgetting his true mission entirely and expressing genuine horror at the actions he himself committed.

• The "Soldier" Persona: To cope with the guilt of killing innocents, Reiner suppressed his true memories. He adopted Marcel’s assertive, brave traits and became the ultimate "big brother" to the 104th Cadet Corps. In this state, he was genuinely kind, self-sacrificing, and deeply protective of Eren, Armin, and the others.

• The "Warrior" Persona: This was his true, ruthlessly pragmatic undercover identity. As a Marleyan Warrior, he was cold, fatalistic, and fiercely headstrong about completing his mission, even when it meant committing atrocities like orchestrating Marco’s death.

3. Post-Timeskip: The Guilt-Ridden Shell

When Reiner finally returned to Marley, the false "soldier" wall collapsed, leaving him entirely consumed by severe depression, post-traumatic stress, and immense self-hatred. Realizing that the "devils" he was sent to slaughter were just normal, innocent people, he became hollow and deeply suicidal. He viewed himself entirely as a villain. The only trait keeping him anchored to reality was his protective nature over the next generation of Warrior candidates, specifically Falco and his cousin Gabi. 

4. The Final Arc: Reintegration and Redemption

During the final arcs, Reiner's fractured personas merged. He stopped hiding behind propaganda or split identities, accepting the full, heavy weight of his past actions. He transformed into a weary but genuinely heroic figure, fighting alongside his former Paradis comrades to stop the Rumbling, finally achieving a sense of true atonement and peace.

Background

The backstory of Reiner Braun, the tragic antagonist and eventual anti-hero of Attack on Titan, centers around intense Marleyan military indoctrination, severe identity crises, and a desperate desire to protect his family. His childhood and actions during the Paradis Island infiltration completely broke his psyche, shaping him into one of the series' most complex figures. 

Reiner was born in the Liberio Internment Zone as the illegitimate child of an Eldian mother, Karina Braun, and a pure-blooded Marleyan father. Because relationships between Marleyans and Eldians were strictly illegal under Marleyan law, his father abandoned the family to protect himself.

Fed Eldian propaganda by his mother, Reiner grew up believing the Eldians on Paradis Island were "devils". He came to believe that if he joined the Marleyan military and became a Warrior candidate, his family would be named "Honorary Marleyans". He believed this status would allow his father to return to them. However, after finally earning a Titan power, Reiner tracked down his father, who only rejected and cursed him out of fear for his own life. 

Reiner was physically and skillfully the weakest among his fellow Warrior candidates, lagging behind Annie Leonhart, Bertholdt Hoover, and Marcel Galliard. He was not originally chosen to inherit a Titan. However, Marcel Galliard sabotaged his own brother, Porco, by praising Reiner to the Marleyan military to save Porco from a short lifespan. Because of this manipulation, Reiner was chosen to inherit the power of the Armored Titan at the age of ten. 

In the year 845, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Marcel were sent on a mission to infiltrate Paradis Island and reclaim the Founding Titan. Right after arriving on the island, a mindless Titan (Ymir) ambushed the group. Marcel pushed Reiner out of the way and was eaten alive. 

Terrified of returning to Marley as failures, which would mean execution and the destruction of their families, Reiner fiercely manipulated Annie and Bertholdt into continuing the mission. Reiner took charge, adopting Marcel's confident leadership style. He used his Armored Titan form to violently smash through the inner gate of Shiganshina, leading to the slaughter of countless innocent civilians. 

To blend in, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie joined the 104th Cadet Corps as refugees. Reiner coped with his crushing guilt by fully embodying the persona of a reliable, protective "big brother" figure to Eren Jaeger and the other recruits. 

The mental strain of loving the people he was ordered to exterminate caused Reiner's psyche to split into two distinct personalities: The Soldier who was a loyal, protective member of the Scout Regiment who genuinely cared for his comrades, and The Warrior, A ruthless Marleyan operative cold-heartedly focused on completing his mission at all costs.

This mental fracture culminated on top of Wall Rose, where a confused and desperate Reiner casually revealed his and Bertholdt's true identities to Eren, sparking the devastating conflict that defined the rest of his tragic life.

Powers and Abilities

Reiner Braun possesses a distinct combination of defensive Titan shifting powers and highly rated military combat skills. As the inheritor of the Armored Titan, his abilities lean heavily into extreme physical durability and structural destruction. As a human soldier, he is one of the most physically capable and tactically resilient fighters in the Attack on Titan universe.

Combat Abilities and Analytical Skills

• Elite Hand-to-Hand Combat: Reiner graduated 2nd out of the entire 104th Cadet Corps, second only to Mikasa Ackerman. He is an exceptional brawler with high physical strength and grappling proficiency.

• Controlled Regeneration Withdrawal: Reiner has enough mastery over his Eldian physiology to consciously halt his human healing factor. He uses this to keep severe wounds unhealed for long periods to protect his cover identity as a normal human spy.

• Mastery of Omni-Directional Mobility (ODM) Gear: He possesses peak human speed, agility, and spatial awareness while operating ODM gear. He easily matches veteran Scout Regiment soldiers in mid-air traversal and combat.

• Tactical Leadership and High Fortitude: Reiner features high mental endurance and natural leadership qualities. He acts as a "big brother" figure, orchestrating multi-step infiltration strategies and predicting long-term strategic threats under pressure.

Titan Abilities

Titan powers or abilities are inherited by "Subjects of Ymir" through the Nine Titans, which grant them the ability to transform into intelligent Titans with specific powers, including self-regeneration, enhanced physical abilities, and the potential for memory inheritance and hardening. Reiner's primary power is his ability to transform into a 15-meter Titan covered in thick segments of hardened skin, called the Armored Titan.

• Hardened Armor Plates: His body is naturally shielded by white, organic armor plates. This armor easily blocks normal cannon fire, blades, and physical strikes. He sacrifices armor around his joints when he needs to maximize his speed.

• Consciousness/Brain Function Transfer: Reiner has a rare, last-resort ability to transfer his cognitive brain functions directly into his Titan's nervous system or throughout his human body. This allows him to survive otherwise fatal blows, such as having his human head completely destroyed.

• Claw Generation and Wall Climbing: He can refine the armor on his fingertips and toes into sharp, hardened claws. He utilizes this trait to scale massive vertical surfaces like the stone Walls of Paradis.

• Pressurized Steam/Fire Breath: When his Titan form overheats from exertion, he can vent pressurized jets of burning steam and hot air directly from his jaws.

• Regenerative Healing: Like all shifters, he can rapidly regenerate missing tissue, limbs, and organs while inside his Titan form.

Goals and Reputation

Reiner's motivations change dramatically as he fractures under the weight of propaganda, war, and immense psychological trauma. Growing up in the Liberio internment zone, Reiner was indoctrinated to believe Eldians were "devils". His primary goal was to inherit a Titan power to grant his family honorary Marleyan status, earning his mother's pride and reuniting her with his Marleyan father.

After his father rejected him, Reiner refocused his goals on the Marleyan military mission. He aimed to breach the Walls, slaughter the "island devils," retrieve the Coordinate (Founding Titan), and become a celebrated global hero. After failing his mission and returning to Marley, Reiner was crushed by intense guilt over betraying his comrades and causing mass casualties. His internal goals shifted to suicidal ideation, desiring an escape from his mental agony, balanced only by his drive to protect his young cousins, Gabi and Falco, from inheriting his tragic fate.

During the Rumbling, Reiner casts aside all nationalist propaganda. His ultimate goal becomes stopping Eren Yeager alongside the global alliance to save what remains of humanity, seeking no glory or forgiveness. 

Reiner's reputation is entirely dependent on the perspective of the characters around him and the stage of his life, making him one of the most multi-layered characters in the series. During his training on Paradis, Reiner crafted a stellar reputation for being incredibly dependable, charismatic, and physically dominant. He consistently risked himself to help weaker comrades like Armin and Connie.

Following the reveal that he was the Armored Titan responsible for breaching Wall Maria, his reputation among the Paradis military plummeted into absolute hatred. He was viewed as a cold, calculating monster who callously murdered his friends. In the Marleyan Empire, Reiner is respected as the Vice-Captain of the Warrior Unit. His incredible battlefield durability and fierce protectiveness over his fellow Warriors earned him high military honors. 

Among the Attack on Titan community, Reiner is highly regarded on platforms like the Attack on Titan Wiki as one of the best-written characters in modern anime. While some viewers view him as irredeemable due to the scale of his war crimes, the vast majority of fans view him with profound sympathy. He stands as a tragic deconstruction of the "chosen hero" trope, heavily defined by his dissociative identity disorder, deep-seated depression, and eventual selfless redemption.