- “Everything that you thought had meaning: every hope, dream, or moment of happiness. None of it matters as you lie bleeding out on the battlefield. None of it changes what a speeding rock does to a body, we all die. But does that mean our lives are meaningless? Does that mean that there was no point in our being born? Would you say that of our slain comrades? What about their lives? Were they meaningless?... They were not! Their memory serves as an example to us all! The courageous fallen! The anguished fallen! Their lives have meaning because we the living refuse to forget them! And as we ride to certain death, we trust our successors to do the same for us! Because my soldiers do not buckle or yield when faced with the cruelty of this world! My soldiers push forward! My soldiers scream out! My soldiers RAAAAAGE!”
- ―Erwin's speech as he leads the Survey Corps on a suicide charge.
Erwin Smith (エルヴィン・スミス Eruvin Sumisu) is a major supporting character of the manga and anime series Attack on Titan. He is the 13th commander of the Survey Corps. He was noted for his brilliant and resourceful mind, having created new tactics that greatly reduced losses during operations. However, he had the capacity to be exceptionally ruthless in pursuit of the goal to protect humanity.