Levi Ackerman is in his early 30s in the first season of Attack on Titan. Also, considering his age in the first season and the number of expeditions, Levi Ackerman joined the Survey Corps in his late 20s.
First, let’s start with what we know. Levi Ackerman was born when he was 0 years… Ok, let’s go over the not so obvious facts.
How old was Levi when Kenny found him?
Honestly, I can’t really accurately tell the exact age when Kenny first found Levi. This is because Levi is naturally small so he may look younger than he is. Second, he was malnourished when Kenny found him so he may look smaller. And lastly, apparently, Ackermans grow old slower due to their special blood lineage.
These 3 factors do not help at all in helping us pin down his age. Heck, even Kenny can’t believe Levi’s all grown up now.
I think the only right way is to compare his appearance to Mikasa’s. He’s about the same size when Eren and Mikasa killed the people who murdered Mikasa’s family.
Mikasa was about 9 at that time.
Therefore, Levi’s assumed age could be 8-11 years the time Kenny found him.
This age bracket is way before he joined the Survey Corps. Since we are trying to find his age when he joined the survey corps let’s call(8-11 years) the lower limit.
So naturally, the upper limit would be his age at the present or specifically, the first season of the series.
How old is Levi Ackerman in Season 1?
Levi Ackerman is in his early 30s in the first season of Attack on Titan. Isayama (the writer) confirmed this theory in an interview. He had previously stated that Levi was in his late 30s but later corrected this.
Now that we have the upper and the lower limit we can further narrow this down by looking into the number of expeditions.
Eren’s and his peers’ first expedition was the 57th one for the survey corps. Levi’s first expedition on the other hand was the 23rd expedition. So in total Levi has been present for 34 expeditions.
According to Wiki, survey corps go to expeditions monthly. Therefore, 34 expeditions= 34 months. This is about 3 years. However, this would mean Captain Levi joined the Survey corps only 3 years before Eren’s group.
This, however, does not seem right since when they were trying to capture the Female Titan in the late stages of Season 1, it is stated that Levi along with Hange and Erwin were present when Wall Maria was breached.
Levi Ackerman’s age when he joined the survey corps
Considering these facts Levi Ackerman joined the Survey Corps in his late 20s. This can be only true if we assume that the expedition frequency was a bit lower.
This is just my theory of course, and its accuracy depends on the number of assumptions I got right like, he was born when he was o ye…
All right, stay safe.