One of the biggest things I’ve noticed in most shows is this idea or ideology of” The Strongest,” a character far superior and above all of the rest, not usually the main character of the story, but mostly guiding it heavily. This is seen in a lot of media, like in “One Piece” there is Shanks, Monkey D Luffy’s guardian figure from the beginning of his life, in “Jujutsu Kaisen” there’s Gojo, who is seen from the start as an extremely powerful individual, and in “Attack On Titan” there is Levi Ackerman, dubbed as Humanity’s Strongest Solider.
The main thing to focus on in each of these characters aren’t their powers or what makes them so strong. What makes them all different are their morals, their beliefs, and their ideas about the world and what they would like to do in it. Most of the time there are the people that look up to them, and the people that outright hate them, and over time that takes a toll on a person more than most people might assume at first glance.
Take Gojo, for example, always seen as the strongest, but is he really? He lost his best friend, had to fight his best friend, almost died countless times, watched his students suffer countless times, he’s been through a lot, and yet a lot of people still pin him as an amazing guy with no flaws in his life, which gets harder and harder to buy into the more he tries to live that special life people think he has.
It was stated by ERHS freshman Lucas Chang that, “Gojo, in my opinion, was actually an overall well written character, I felt like at times he was a little broken in terms of dealing with major threats and plot points, but at the same time the factor of his memories and earlier life playing a roll in the story is definitely something that makes him more than just a one dimensional murder hobo.”
A common theme among these characters, believe it or not, is depression, or some sort of other deep sadness that resonates within them triggered by memories, responsibilities, or supposed dependability. But not all characters who are strong even actually lean into their role as much as the story describes them as, and still lets them seem normal, and human like everyone else.
Take Levi for example, he’s cold, blunt, but at the same time, doesn’t exactly seem sad, at least at the start of the series. He usually just comes off as someone who didn’t even really care to begin with for the position he was granted; seeming almost like a normal scout, sure people still stare, or talk about him, but he never thinks much of it himself. He still uses it to his advantage, and is an extremely strong individual who people look up to, but that makes it harder later in the series, when he looses certain people he cares about, when he gets pushed to the brink of death, nobody expects him to crack, nobody expects him to flinch, it’s never directly stated, but after all of that he has to feel some form of extreme pressure or weight from that responsibility, the factor of him having to stay strong, for himself, and for the people he cares about that are still left.
ERHS freshmen and ESTEM student Jeremiah Ward stated that, “It’s not always the easiest thing to be happy for everyone, I mean I understand the whole concept of being happy to do things and get nothing in return, but I still feel like it should be a human decency for people to treat you with some respect if you do things for them or help them, and most people just, don’t.”
One of the biggest things I saw that made Levi catch my attention was his looks. He had no cool design, no above average looks, brown hair, brown eyes, he’s even shorter than most people are, and that’s what really stood out to me, he didn’t outright look like a character you’d see and assume is strong, he looked similar to everyone else, the only way he really stood out was in battle, his vastly superior ability to kill titans, alone nonetheless, is what makes him who he is.
Which is another way to show you don’t need to look cool, or be a certain height, or have a certain hair color to be the strongest, or to be strong at all. Dedication and willpower are what make a strong character. And yes, in most media strength is determined specifically by powers you gain, or are born with, you should never let that define your worth for who you are as a person, deep down, you’re still you, worth as much to anyone as anyone else should be. The only person you should ever even feel like you have to be strong for is yourself, nobody else should be your specific responsibility.
In the case of Levi it is a little different, since it’s technically his job to make sure people are protected and safe on a daily basis, but applications of that mostly apply and are specific to his morals as a person, he cares deeply about his comrades, which is an extremely good thing, but there’s a fine line between caring too little, caring enough, and caring too much, and if you want life to treat you completely fairly, you must find that line.
