If you watched Attack on Titan Episode 85 (aka Season 4 Episode 26), then you might have been wondering who Samuel and Daz were, the men that Armin and Conny were talking to in the episode. They both actually had a pretty big role in past episodes, which we’ll explain in the story below. But you can’t be blamed for not recognizing them at first, since they look a little different illustrated by MAPPA.
This has spoilers for the newest episode, but the article is manga-spoiler-free. For more anime-only discussions, join us on Discord or in our AoT Facebook page.
Daz Was the Man Historia Saved from the Blizzard
Daz has been involved with the Attack on Titan storyline longer than you might have realized.
He’s the man that Historia (then known as Christa) and Ymir tried to save during the blizzard in season 2, according to Attack on Titan’s wiki. He lost consciousness from over exerting himself, and Christa was determined to save him. Ymir ended up using her Titan powers — which were then a secret — to get him safely down the mountain and back to the base, where he made a full recovery.
But we actually saw him once before this. He is one of the people listening to Eren talk about watching Wall Maria fall when the Colossal Titan first appeared.
He was also the first person to notice that the ODM gear was missing when Reiner and the group were on a wilderness hunt where they ended up having to deal with a group of kidnappers and disarm them.
He was later assigned to the middle guard after the Colossal breached Trost’s outer gate, and joined in tryign to help attack the headquarters when Mikasa took charge. Marco actually stopped him later from committing suicide when he was scared he was going to die next after seeing his comrades get eaten by Titans.
He later panicked when Pyxis described their attempt to retake Trost, and Marco had to calm him down. He actually abandoned his post for a moment when Pyxis said deserters wouldn’t be punished, but went back when he was reminded that they’d be abandoning their families to Titans.
In Season 4, he took part in the attack on Liberio.
Samuel Has History with Sasha
Samuel’s full name was Samuel Linke-Jackson (Samuel L. Jackson), interestingly enough, according to Attack on Titan’s wiki. In fact, the first time we see him, Shaddis is making fun of his name.
In Season 8 Episode 26 (the newest episode), when he’s upset at Conny, he says: “You betrayed us Conny! Even though you said we’d expand our lands and eat meat together!” He says these words while crying, and it’s so heartbreaking.
This hearkens back to the fact that Samuel was one of the people present when Sasha said she had stolen extra meat from the officers’ rations, and they all eventually ate the food together.
He was knocked unconscious when the Colossal Titan appeared at the Wall, and Sasha saved him.
He (and Daz) refused to join the Scout Regiment, fearing the high mortality rates.
He was also part of the attack on Liberia in Season 4.
No doubt, Sasha’s connection to Samuel made what Conny did even tougher on him. She had saved his life, after all, and now Conny killed him. This also paints a stark contrast to how Gabi saved Kaya, after Sasha had saved Kaya years earlier.
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