JeanMarco

"You know, I wished I could stay cooped up in my room, ears shut… but… If I did that… those burned bones would never forgive me."

- Jean about Marco in Episode 83, Pride

JeanMarco is the slash ship between Jean Kirstein and Marco Bott from the Attack on Titan fandom.

Canon
Jean Kirstein and Marco Bott were No. 6 and No.7 respectively in the Top 10 of the 104th Training Corps Cadets. During training, they became fast friends and respected comrades in the ever changing world around them. Both are shown to be very driven towards joining the Military Police. They are rarely seen apart from one another, aside from following the commands of battle. Marco is the voice of reason that aids in healing Jean's rampant sense of self importance in the early years, as well as dimming his selfish and prideful attitude.

Marco is often seen as someone with opposing personality traits to Jean. He is an idealistic, dedicated character who focuses on his goals and a strict adherence to the rules that will bring him traditional success, while Jean is more interested in cherry-picking which activities will be the most useful towards his own wellbeing. Marco is seen wishing to serve the king, interested in conveying loyalty and a greater purpose towards the percieved greatness of his Kingdom. Jean, on the other hand, has lived a rather privleged life in the city of Trost (which was once considered the interior), and continues on his push towards individuality and safety. While Marco and Jean could be defined as polar opposites, they are similar enough in their strive for goals that they are able to see each other's weaknesses and strategically fill in those gaps.

Marco is the first person to see the leadership potential in Jean's quick decision making. His wits on the battlefield makes for good offensive and defensive strikes that lower risks to the lives of his comrades. Marco's perceptiveness gives him the ability to look past Jean's outermost portrayal of himself to see the every developing asset to their cause,and had no qualms putting that bluntly to his trusted friend. These words resonated with Jean, further complimenting Jean's character development. Marco is one of the few who instilled their trust in Jean's skill as a leader at the time, seen primarily during the Struggle for Trost.

Through Jean's wavering acceptance of what a leadership position would truly mean, Marco was the one to comfort him when insecurity over his decisions in battle cost the lives of many comrades. When Jean's emotional turmoil and anger towards the cowardice of the Garrison's men who had hidden when faced with death resorted to violence, Marco was the one to restrain Jean to halt his incoming attack.

Further expressing Marco's trust in Jean, and the value he added to his leadership, Marco was quick to use himself as a deflection to lead incoming titans away from Jean. Marco is commonly seen to value other lives over his own, and putting himself in places that would more benefit his teammates than himself. He sees a worth in Jean that others didn't at the time.

104th Training Corps Arc
During their early training days, Marco and Jean became fast friends. They are commonly seen eating lunch together and meandering around in their off time. Often, Marco attempts to de-escalate Jean's rowdy behavior, however unsuccessful that may be.

OVA Episode 2, Distress
During their training days in the 104th Cadet Corps, Marco is tasked with leading a mission out in the wilderness to retrieve a package and bring it back safely to a designated spot. Jean seems to want nothing to do with the mission, saying that it won’t aid him in getting closer to becoming an MP. Jean doesn’t plan on taking most of the mission seriously, finding ways to slack off or argue with anyone who got in his way. Marco scolds Jean a few times and tries to get him to focus on their duties so that they could receive high merits.

When the group settles down for the night, a band of thieves ambushes the group. They take all of their weapons and kidnap Krista (Historia Reiss), abandoning them in the forest. Eren suggests pursuing them. Marco, acting as their leader, is unsure whether to go back to base for help or handle the situation themselves.

Eren fears that if they don’t act quickly, it could be too late for Krista, and that he would go alone to save her if need be. Jean ultimately decides to go after Eren, insisting that he come along since his pride won’t let him run away humiliated. With that, the rest of the group follows Jean and Eren’s lead as they devise a plan to get Krista (Historia Reiss) back. Their attempts were successful, and the cadets were able to retrieve Krista (Historia Reiss), alongside all of their weapons, and turn the thieves in to the Military Police.

Once arriving back to base, Marco and Eren can be seen having a brief conversation. Marco confides in Eren that he should have never been made the leader, and that he would never be suited for a leadership role. He cites Jean as being a much better commander, to which Eren is skeptical. Marco explains that someday, Eren will see what he means.

Struggle for Trost Arc
Marco met his demise in Primal Desire; The Struggle for Trost. Jean was the cadet who discovered his body post mortem, leaving him in a state of catatonic shock. His overwhelming state of grief did not allow him to grasp the reality of the job he was responsible to perform, being the identification and disposal of bodies to stop the spread of infection and disease. The woman leading these cadets pulls him from this state with a reminder of his duty, and he inevitably discloses his name and rank. The truth of his death and the confusion around it remained inconclusive at this time.

During the funeral rites for soldiers fallen during the Struggle for Trost District, Jean can be seen in visible distress, not only from bearing first hand witness to the horrors, but also from the harrowing reclamation of Marco's incomplete corpse. Jean reached down into the charred remains at the foot of the pyre and comments on his inability to distinguish Marco's bones from the others. This act is pivotal regarding Jean's development as a character, making him more reserved and analytic. His decision to abandon his selfish ambitions of joining the Military Police and instead enlist in the Survey Corps was heavily inspired by Marco's death.

Jean can later be seen raising his right hand to kiss the handle of his sword in preperation to fight the Female Titan to remind himself of the lives he was fighting for. That same hand was the one that held Marco's remains during their funeral rites.

Assault on Stohess Arc
In a scene that is only featured in the anime in Mercy - The Raid on Stohess District (2), while Eren is struggling to father the strength and will power to fight Annie, Jean attempts to get Eren to be someone he is willing to entrust his life to. As he reminds Eren that he is meant to be humanity's hope, Jean breaks down and tearfully reminds him of Marco's death, asking what it was he died for.

Night of the End
When Hange reveals that they intend to join forces with Marley to stop the Rumbling, Jean tries to convince Hange to agree to Eren's plan. Although Jean tries to argue that there is no other option, he is silenced by Hange's frantic insistence that there is no justification for genocide. Hange asked Jean if he believes that their fallen comrades would have been happy with sacrificing all of humanity to save one island and Jean, convinced by his memories of Marco, agrees to join her in opposing Eren.

Jean pretends to take Floch's previous offer to serve as a high-ranking member of the Jaegerists. When Floch decides to publicly execute Yelena and Onyankopon, Jean is selected to be the one to kill them. After Floch announces the crimes the two are being killed for, Jean fires four shots from his gun into the ground to signal Pieck to come and retrieve them. Once Pieck lets them go, Jean explains to Onyankopon that he chose to help Marley because he felt that his fallen comrades would never forgive him if he sat by and let the world be destroyed.

When the Marleyan Warriors and the Survey Corps share their trauma with one another around the campfire, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie's involvement in Marco's death surfaces after an off-color comment from Yelena. It is learned that shortly after the Struggle for Trost District, Marco accidentally overheard a conversation between Reiner and Bertholdt, and as a result of that Reiner ordered Annie to remove Marco's gear, effectively strandling him on a rooftop. Upon hearing Marco's last words were desperate pleas to talk things out, Jean rambled on in recognition that Marco's pleas for communication meant more.

Reiner continues to explain that he asked himself why Marco was being eaten, going as far as to kill the titan who ate him. Jean tells him to stop his expression of guilt, and when Reiner continues on to apologize with no expectation for forgiveness, Jean violently attacks him. He is semi-successfully disengaged by Armin and Connie, however Jean does not stop his rampage until Gabi gets kicked in his crossfire. Attempts to calm Jean down are futile as he walked into the woods with his hands covering his ears against the cruel world around him.

The next morning he expressed his apologies to Gabi and wakes Reiner up with a quip about his rapid healing. Jean isn't able to forgive him, but he is able to move on.

Junior High Manga
Attack on Titan Junior High, Volume 4, Pages 81 to 96 Jean rejects Eren, Mikasa, Sasha and Connie's offer to walk home in favor of stopping by Marco's store, stating that David Brooks has a new book. The group briefly wonders what Marco sees in Jean and thinks it's odd that they get along so well, while Jean sees an equal sophistication in his friend. Jean says that Marco is not a fool who gets blinded by rage or passion, however when they meet up to walk home together Marco is furious for no apparent reason. Marco exclaims that he is going home alone and storms away.

Jean agonizes over what could have made Marco so angry, deducing that it must be because he never returned Marco's brushed aluminum kickstarted pen that he borrowed before summer vacation. Jean plans to return the pencil and apologize, but his pride won't allow him to. Jean states that even though he's never 'dont anything moderately uncouth', that Marco is different and he knows he has to apologize. As he is about to, his peers walk into class and render him unable to publicly apologize. Later on, Jean plans on catching him alone after a student council meeting.

There is a brief comical interlude that parallels Marco's speech about Jeans strength in canon, equating Marco's ability to trust Jean with the borrowing of his pencil.

Jean eventually confronts Marco and begs him for forgiveness on his hands and knees, leaving Marco perplexed as he forgot he'd even lent him a pencil in the first place. Instead, he was sorry just the same for not returning Jean's eraser. Jean realizes his worries were unfounded and offers to help Marco finish up his work so they can go out for ramen. Marco is said to be the first person Jean ever apologized to, since he was too proud to admit those faults/shortcomings to anyone else.

Junior High Anime
Episode 6, Love Letter: Jean and Marco are walking home together when a titan comes running up from behind them. Jean 'saves' Marco when he trips, throwing his lunch to distract it while they run away.

Episode 10, Reccomendation: Marco is Jean's right hand man running his Student Council President campaign. Though he is supportive and endorses Jean, Marco is the one who ultimately ends up favoring in the polls and being elected.

Episode 11, Clear and Sunny: Jean is producing a play while the rest of the cast is working on their cheeseburger stand for a school festival. Though the students are supposed to be switching out to help both the stand and the play, Marco is the only one who stays behind to support Jean. In the end, while going to get help Marco got stuck holding the sign for the cheeseburger stand line when Connie pawned it off on him.

Spoof on Titan
No. 23 - Lets Go To The Circus: Jean and Marco are seen together at the circus watching a lion perform.

No. 34 - Fright Night: Jean and Marco have a conversation about ghosts where he asks if ghosts are really that much scarier than titans. Marco thinks about it, and replies with “Titans are scary like when your dad gets mad at you for doing something wrong. Ghosts are scary like when your mom gets mad at you for no reason at all.”. Jean is confused by this comparison.

No. 47 - Fishing Paradise: Marco and Jean are seen sitting together fishing one morning at the side of a river. Jean turns to Marco and asks him to pretend to be a fish and take his bait to remind him what it feels like to catch a fish. Marco replied in annoyance that he would consider it if it made Jean stop complaining. Jean tries to get Marco to make a bet on who would catch the most fish, and Marco refuses, only to catch the first fish moments later. He holds it up for Jean to see, praising himself on how big it is and Jean starts to pout and tells him how lucky he is. Jean immediately changes the subject by asking Marco what girls in the 104th are his type. Marco gets flustered, blushes a lot, and doesn’t give Jean a straight answer, telling him that if he guesses it correctly on the first try, he’ll tell him which person he's interested in. Jean doesn’t end up guessing who it is because he catches a fish that was bigger than Marco’s and starts boasting about that instead.

Video Games
Attack on Titan, Wings of Freedom: Jean remembers Marco in a cut scene showing the their fated leadership conversation. In a brief conversation with Erwin afterwards, Jean admits he doesn't want to lose faith in the face of his fallen comrades. Erwin commends this noble answer.

Attack on Titan 2: Jean expresses that he could happily follow Marco's orders, and believes he is going to be a great leader one day. Marco deflects this compliment by reiterating that Jean would be the better leader between the two of them. Attack on Titan 2: Jean and Marco help a little girl who forgot her grocery list at home. Jean prides Marco for being so patient with her, since he would have just sent her straight back home to get it, but Marco retorts with the firm belief that Jean would have taken good care of her.

Attack on Titan, Tactics Mobile Game: For Marco’s birthday, Jean gave Marco a notebook since he didn’t have time to put much thought into a gift. Marco appreciated it regardless, saying he had just filled his own, and commended Jean for noticing little things like that.

Attack on Titan, Tactics Mobile Game: While on cleaning duty, Marco reprimands Jean for his poor attitude towards cleaning the barracks. Marco talks about ‘Jean Logic’, where Jean only shows up just to keep the commandant off his back instead of treating it as a necessary duty. Marco is in charge, so he sends Jean off to clean the toilets. Jean complains, trying to pawn off the toilets on the other cadets. Marco stays firm on this, stating that cleaning the toilets is ‘more Jean’s type of thing’, to which Jean is clearly not pleased. Marco backs up his statement with the reasoning that Jean notices little things and cannot leave them alone, which is perfect for the bathroom since nowhere else needs to be cleaner. Marco’s confidence in Jean’s abilities only brings him joy when it comes to compliments, not cleaning toilets.

Attack on Titan, Tactics Mobile Game: During a conversation after a team's successful expedition, Marco tells Jean he would be a good survey corpsman.

Attack on Titan, Tactics Mobile Game: A New Years Thank-You present, the app shows you a conversation where Jean gives Marco materials. Marco accepts his gift and tells Jean he really is a nice guy, after all.

Short Stories
Marco Bott, Short Stories: Marco dreams about joining the Military Police with Jean, though he is uncertain when he wakes up that it is the right thing to do.

Jean Kirstein, Short Stories: Jean dreams of a living Marco having a restless night. In the dream, Marco prides Jean’s efforts in the Battle of Trost, citing that he saved Mikasa’s life. Jean explains that it could have easily been anyone, but Marco reiterates that it wasn’t just anyone. Marco tells Jean he could make a good Survey Corpsman, and through his confusion Jean realizes this is a dream and not a memory. Jean understands that a full grasp on this fact would end their warm conversation. He tries his best not to wake up, begging Marco not to go. Marco tells Jean he wishes they could keep talking before Jean wakes from his dream. This solidifies Jean’s decision to join the Survey Corps, and the afterglow of that warmth pushes him onward.

Marco's Diary, Short Stories 3: Jean reminisces on Marco’s entries in his diary. Marco likes to write down things he doesn’t want to forget. Jean teased Marco about having written in the diary for three straight years, everything from cleaning equipment to food distribution practices. After Marco’s death Jean finds the notebook of an unnamed Garrison soldier, and calls back to Marco’s Diary for records. Reiner tells Jean “You can dig through all the records you want, but it won’t bring him back.”, and Jean realizes the past he didn’t want to be bound by still holds the memories of all his friends.

Jean’s Textbooks, Short Stories 3: Jean finds a number of textbooks left behind once he joins the Survey Corps; One of which still contains Marco’s handwriting from a group study session with his ‘close and now departed’ friend.

The Old Chapel, Eren & Jean, Shelter from the Rain - Special Edition: Jean and Eren have a conversation in an old chapel about heaven and hell. They speak about how they believe that Marco is in heaven, a bountiful vast land spanned by a bright sky. Jean says he isn’t eager to join Marco there until he does work that won’t leave Marco disappointed in him.

Other

 * Imaginary Interviews 2.jpg In Imaginary Interviews 2, the fourth entry features a brief fictional interview with Jean and Marco. They discuss how Jean has changed since Marco’s passing, and Marco’s desires for him to keep growing. Jean promises not to let him down.


 * In Things We Mostly Knew - Jean Close Up Interview, Jean is asked what type of friendship/relationship him and Marco had. He explains that whatever it was, they hung out often, and since their grades were close they were frequently together during training.

Fanon
In the fandom’s general opinion, Jean is often portrayed as a loner with self loathing tendencies. He is seen as someone who puts up walls between him and everyone he interacts with in order to protect his true self. Jean’s actions rarely ever follow his true intentions, nor does he allow himself to get comfortable so easily. Marco is the type of kind, endlessly trustworthy person that allows Jean’s true self to shine through without the fear of being judged.

Alternatively, since Marco’s personality is so widely interpreted by fans due to his small amount of screentime, there are many different depictions of him throughout all media. Personality traits range from soft and sweet to quiet and cranky, but almost always he is treated as Jean’s voice of reason.

Since Marco’s demise, nearly all fan content takes place in a variety of alternative universes; Modern AU’s and Canon Divergence being the two most popular. Notable AU’s over the years have centered around Marco having survived the Struggle for Trost, be it with major injuries to his right side or in the form of Marleyan betrayal of the Survey Corps. It was speculated in earlier years by fans in denial of his death that he was a titan shifter, and this sentiment has carried on well into present day.

On AO3, JeanMarco is the most written for Jean ship totalling at 7075 works, as well as the third most written about ship in Shingeki No Kyojin | Attack on Titan fandom tag, under Eruri (Erwin and Levi) and Ereri (Eren and Levi).

Quotes
"You gave the right orders. That’s why I could jump, and that’s why I’m alive."

- Marco to Jean in Episode 8, Hearing the Heartbeat

"It’s only natural for he and I to get along. Perhaps we aren’t so gauche as to discuss our feelings out loud… but I’m sure he feels the same way!"

- Jean about Marco in Attack on Titan Junior High Volume 4, Page 82

"Marco, we lose you… and everyone is so quick to forget how great you were."

- Jean about Marco in the Attack on Titan Wings of Freedom Game

"You need to keep growing! No matter who you become, I’ll always be your friend."

- Marco to Jean in Imaginary Interviews 2, Interview 4

"He was a good guy to begin with. Way too good. Even though he could always see through everything, he was trying to avoid conflict. He possessed a kind heart, and he was considerate to his friends… He was that kind of person."

- Jean about Marco in Things We Mostly Knew - Jean Close Up Interview

Fandom
FANFICTION 
 * Jean/Marco on FanFiction.Net
 * Jean/Marco on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

PIXIV

Trivia

 * Throughout all forms of official Attack on Titan media, the same leadership speech Marco gives Jean is present in some shape or form. This ranges from verbatim text to comical parody.
 * Marco’s continued presence in Jean’s memories are a constant reminder of Jean’s desire to do the right thing by his fallen comrades. His death had such a profound impact and is often mentioned in Jean’s moments of doubt and distress.
 * Jean and Marco are commonly seen together across all official Attack on Titan media.
 * In the Attack on Titan Junior High Anime, there is a board on the wall of the classroom labeled ‘Draw Your Best Friend’, where Marco and Jean drew each other. Marco’s rendition of Jean is comically charming, and Jean’s rendition of Marco only shows his left side.
 * For a brief period from 2013 to approximately 2017, Marco was commonly referred to as Freckled Jesus, due to his angelic appearance in Jean’s grief stricken memory during the funeral pyre scene in Episode 16, What Should Be Done.
 * In the fandoms' earlier years, Marco was mostly seen as the dominant counterpart in their relationship. As time has passed, public preference has moved towards Jean holding the more dominant role.