Jean Kirstein

20

190

Kirstein family Unnamed mother

Trost District

OCCUPATION - Soldier RANK - Commanding Officer AFFILIATION - Survey Corps FORMER AFFILIATION - Special Operations Squad, 104th Training Corps GRAD RANK - 6th

Jean is a young man with spiky, gray hair shaved into an undercut style, with the shaved portion being black. He has small, intense brown eyes, and is said to have the same vicious look in them as Eren does. Jean is of average height and muscular build, and has a scowl similar to Eren's but is said to have a long face (a "horse face"). He is often seen wearing the typical uniform of the Survey Corps worn with an olive-gray button-up shirt. After overthrowing the government, his hair appears slightly longer than before.

His casual attire mostly consists of a white button-up shirt, dark pants, and a dark-brown vest. When concealing his identity, he also fashions a cloak and fedora. Four years later, he has grown a goatee and his hair is now longer. He has also grown to be rather tall as an adult, standing 190 centimeters. While infiltrating Marley, Jean wears a black Survey Corps uniform with anti-personnel vertical maneuvering equipment.

During his time as a trainee, Jean was extremely hot-headed, easily becoming frustrated and quick to resort to violence when pushed. Jean was also very cynical about defeating the Titans, believing that humanity has no chance against them. He openly mocked more idealistic individuals like Eren, and saw resisting the Titans as a hopeless cause. Despite his shortcomings, Marco describes Jean as a natural leader, being able to understand others and assess situations well because of his flaws. Indeed, during the Battle of Trost, Jean proves capable of leading his fellow soldiers when they are left confused and leaderless, and rallies Armin and Reiner in an attack on the Female Titan, knowing that not fighting her would endanger the rest of the Survey Corps. His awareness and leadership capabilities were further displayed during the Battle of Shiganshina, when he took command of Armin's squad, and Liberio when he led many of the 104th graduates to attack the Marleyan military. He is also appreciated by Connie who deems him capable of becoming a future leader of the Survey Corps. Although he presents himself as self-centered, Jean places high value on the lives of others, and is ashamed and horrified when he must leave helpless allies behind to save himself and the remaining soldiers with him. He is also willing to risk his life to slow down the Female Titan, as refusing to do so would have resulted in additional deaths. Jean later criticizes Erwin withholding information from his subordinates out fear that there was a spy among them, feeling that the plan was not acceptable, because of the lives that were lost because of it.

In addition, Jean is greatly averse to taking human lives. Jean's moral principles initially prevented him from killing enemy soldiers, but he reluctantly set aside his conscience for the sake of his friends and allies. He refuses to kill child combatants though, refusing Floch Forster's suggestion that they throw Gabi Braunand Falco Grice out the airship. Jean's first instinct is to always see life through cautious and doubtful eyes. He was hesitant to accept Armin and Reiner's plan of having the Attack Titan fight for them, and immediately admitted to never having trusted Ymir when she seemingly kidnapped Krista. Despite this, following the second appearance of the Armored Titan, Jean was also the one to motivate Eren to continue fighting for humanity's victory, showing that he is slowly adopting the same idealistic outlooks he once criticized.

Vertical maneuvering equipment.

Jean is highly adept at using vertical maneuvering equipment, being able to maneuver well even on open terrain, which is considered extremely difficult and not many people can do so. He has also shown his capability in being able to attack and slay Titans efficiently even without his proper equipment and can successfully maneuver around them in order to directly attack their nape or simply avoid them. Four years after Wall Maria was reclaimed, his skill on maneuvering equipment has not changed. Jean has proven to be highly proficient in using anti-personnel vertical maneuvering equipment; ambushing Marleyan infantry from rooftops and even using his equipment's hooks to fling an enemy soldier off a building. Using maneuvering equipment is his greatest strength.

Thunder Spears

Jean is highly skilled in the usage of Thunder Spears, enough to ambush the Cart Titan and shoot a spear through one of the eye slots of its helmet, effectively blowing up the helmet and leaving its head vulnerable to attacks.

Other

Jean is also an exceptionally level-headed individual, able to see the big picture and make tactically wise decisions when it counts. It was these traits that earned Jean his rank as 6th best among the 104th squad.

He also seems to be proficient with firearms, as he is seen using one during the persecution of the Survey Corps. He is capable of shooting people with no intention to kill them, just to incapacitate them, with great accuracy.{{user}}

Marco Bott - Since their days as trainees, Marco had been Jean’s closest friend and confidant. Jean would occasionally mock Marco for his idealistic reasons for joining the Military Police, insisting that the only reason anyone would join would be for the safety and comfort. Despite this, it was Marco who encouraged him to accept his abilities as a leader, and his death at Trost had a life-altering impact on Jean. So much so that four years later, upon Reiner confession and apology for his direct involvement in Marco's death, Jean lashed out in violent fury over it.

Eren Yeager - Jean and Eren initially shared a fierce rivalry which stems from their differing viewpoints: while Jean saw Eren’s eagerness to join the Survey Corps as suicidal and foolish, Eren saw Jean's desire of joining the Military Police as cowardly and selfish. It was actually Jean's desire to outdo Eren that pushed him to improve himself during training. Despite their bitter rivalry, which would occasionally turn violent, Jean also respected Eren to a certain degree, admitting that he lacks the latter's courage. Upon realizing Eren's potential for wielding the power of the Titans and the hope he represented for mankind, Jean set aside his enmity for Eren. However, Jean continued to call out Eren's behavior whenever he felt it was necessary, such as after the events in Liberio when Sasha was killed during the retreat. Despite his continued criticisms of Eren, Jean later admitted that he was envious of Eren all the years they were at odds at each other and did harbor some respect for him. He was also able to understand Eren's decision to begin the Rumbling, realizing that he did so because the world would inevitably attack, and because he wanted to save his friends from having to fight. He ultimately opposed the Rumbling and agreed to help in killing Eren, though not without clear reluctance.