Jean Kirstein

Jean Kirstein (ジャン・キルシュタイン) is a graduate of the 104th Trainees Squad and graduated in the top ten of his class. Being Eren Yeager's rival and often at odds with him, he serves as the series' foil character.

Appearance
Jean has short light ash-brown hair with the sides and back a darker brown and cut shorter than the top. He has small, intense light brown eyes and is said to have the same vicious look in them as Eren does. He is of average height and build and has a scowl similar to Eren's but is said to have a long face (a "horseface"). He is often seen wearing the typical uniform of the Scouting Legion worn with an olive grey button-up shirt. His casual attire mostly consists of a white button-up shirt, dark pants, and a dark brown vest.

Personality
Jean's most notable trait is that he speaks whatever is on his mind, even when he knows it would not be wise to do so or that it would cause conflict. This, along with their differing viewpoints, is the cause of his conflicts and rivalry with Eren. Nonetheless, he is an honest individual. Marco noted that Jean had an understanding of weakness, which he claimed allowed Jean to accurately judge situations in the heat of the moment. Marco believed that this understanding makes Jean a good leader.

104th Trainees Squad arc
As part of the 104th, he ranked in the top ten of its graduates, placing just under Eren Yeager and coming in at sixth. After the graduation ceremony, he got into an altercation with Eren, who he seems to be very competitive with. As a self-described realist, his ideas and outlook initially conflict with Eren's more idealistic views.

It is revealed that during another altercation, Eren, upon learning that Jean's behavior was similar to his own at one point, learns to control his emotions as a soldier. After learning one of Annie's techniques in hand-to-hand combat, he uses it on Jean after confronting him for his beliefs. He states that he became part of the top ten so that he could join the Military Police Brigade and live within the Inner Wall in relative safety and comfort.

Battle of Trost District arc
After the second attack of the Colossal Titan, he, like many others, is eventually sent to the front to deal with the Titans that had entered the city. However, due to the supply shortage, he is unable to fight at first. With the arrival of Mikasa, he and the rest of the group rush towards the HQ to resupply. When Mikasa runs out of gas, he takes the lead. When another soldier runs out of fuel, he takes advantage of the distracted Titans and orders the remainder to finish the remainder of the trip. He second guesses this decision once he realizes that he and the group only made it because he took advantage of the deaths of his teammates.

He sees the resupply team and strikes one in anger, telling them they are responsible for the soldiers being killed. Soon after, Mikasa, Armin and Connie arrived with the help of the Rogue Titan. Still having to deal with the Titans in the headquarters, he is in the second group in Armin's plan to clear the supply room.

After resupplying, he stays back with Reiner and Annie. After Reiner suggests helping the Rogue Titan out, Jean is very hesitant, as they had just barely escaped with their lives and he is unwilling to risk it again for a Titan. Fortunately, they do not have to because the Titan broke itself free in order to attack another Titan, collapsing soon after. He ends up being one of the first people to know about Eren's Titan transformation, because he witnessed him emerging from the fallen Rogue Titan.

In the aftermath of the battle of Trost, Jean finds the body of his friend, Marco, in which Jean is clearly disturbed by the sight. Later he and the rest of the 104th trainees burn the corpses of their fellow comrades in a bonfire. During this moment, Jean remembers Eren's speech, and Marco's compliment about his mental strength. Mourning over Marco's death and internalizing his words of encouragement, he asks the other trainees which branch of the military they're planning to join, at which point he clenched his fist and, against his own wishes and fears, Jean declares that he will join the Survey Corps. During graduation, despite fearing what might happen to him in the future as he would inevitably encounter more Titans, he joins the Survey Corps instead of the Military Police Brigade.

The Female Titan arc
After joining the Survey Corps, Jean confronts Eren regarding his role as humanity's saviour, declaring that he's putting his trust in him as he does not wish to die while not knowing what he's fighting for. He participates in the 57th Expedition of the Survey Corps. He is later chosen to pose as Eren because both have similar bad attitudes and eyes.

At Eren's bedside, Jean finally learns about Annie being the Female Titan from Armin and how she is encased in a crystal to avoid interrogation. He also finds out about the Titans similar to the Colossal Titan inside the Walls being used due to their hardening abilities. Jean and Armin head down to the meeting between Commander Erwin Smith and the head of the Military Police Brigade, Nile Dok.

Clash of the Titans arc
Jean reappears as a member of the squad with Erwin, who have come to assist with the breach of Wall Rose. He is present when a Garrison member informs Dot Pixis that there is no breach and that three more Titan Shifters have been identified. He is incredibly shocked and demands to know who they are, before Erwin calms him down and the Garrison member tells the rest of the story. He is outraged at Reiner's and Bertolt's betrayal and their secret correspondence with Annie. He also learns about Ymir being a Titan shifter and that both she and Eren are taken hostage. He becomes determined to stop his traitorous teammates, so he readily takes his stance with the Survey Corps, Military Police Brigade and Garrison.

He later observes another soldier being devoured by a Titan, noting that it is once again a member of the Military Police Brigade. The troops enter the forest in pursuit of the traitors, and he is among the group that encounters Ymir in her Titan form. When she suddenly attacks and kidnaps Historia Reiss by swallowing her, Jean is the one to rally the other soldiers and order them to pursue Ymir into the forest.

Jean watches as Ymir, Bertolt, Eren, and Historia run away on the Armored Titan's back. He joins Hannes in following them and assists Mikasa in the assault on the Armored Titan. After realizing that he cannot use force to save Eren, he talks to Bertolt and Reiner about their time during training camp, and wonders if everything they shared was a lie. When Bertolt tells him it was not, Jean appears shocked.

Jean jumps off the Armored Titan once Hannes warns him about the oncoming Titan hoard. After joining Erwin in the charge, he saves Mikasa by stabbing it in the eye after it had grabbed her. He is later knocked off his horse by one of the Titans thrown by the Armored Titan and is defended by Armin, but ultimately saved when Eren uses his powers to order all Titans in the area to attack the Armored Titan.

The Uprising arc
He survives the retreat back to wall Rose and assumes that 60% of the soldiers who went to retrieve Eren died, and another 20% are critically wounded. He notes that what Eren does will decide if the sacrifices were worth it. This revelation convinces Eren to not hold back and do anything he can to retake Wall Maria. Jean later appears as a member of Squad Levi, carrying supplies with Sasha and Armin.

Jean sits in silence as Levi, Armin, and Hange reveal their plan to use Eren to seal Wall Maria by hardening his skin like The Female Titan. He is also present when Historia reveals the truth about her past. Jean later poses as Eren in accordance with Erwin's orders, although he is not happy about being Eren's double. He assists in taking down his captors who turn out to be members of the Reeves corporation, led by the President himself.

At their new base, Jean expresses worry over who their enemies really are, and theorizes that they will be hung if their revolution to replace the king with Historia fails. He hears Erwin's plan from Nifa to hand over Eren and Historia to the Military Police so that they can find Lod Reiss. He is shocked when Levi starts attacking Historia and tells him that such action is unnecessary.

Relationships

 * Marco Bott - Marco was Jean's closest friend and confidant. It was Marco who encouraged him accept his abilities as a leader, and his death at Trost had a life-altering impact on Jean. Marco was always there for Jean in times of need, whatever the case may be.
 * Eren Yeager - Eren and Jean share a very pronounced rivalry. Eren finds Jean's initial goal of living a safe, privileged life in the police force to be cowardly and disgusting. Jean on the other hand, finds Eren's eagerness to join the "suicidal" Survey Corps to be idiotic. Though the two often engage in fist fights, they could also be considered friends of sorts. It is hinted that Eren's closeness to Mikasa and Jean's subsequent jealousy partially fuels the two's rivalry. When he realized that Eren's potential as a Titan Shifter and the hope he represents to mankind, Jean put aside his enmity toward Eren.
 * Mikasa Ackerman – Jean seems to have a crush on Mikasa. The moment he met her, Jean became nervous and commented how her "black hair is beautiful." Jean is somewhat resentful of Eren because of the attachment Mikasa has with him.
 * Bertolt Hoover - Jean and Bertolt became friends in training camp, with Jean teasing him about how they used his sleeping positions to predict weather. However, when Bertolt revealed himself as the Colossal Titan, Jean became deeply hurt and asked if their friendship was all a lie.
 * Sasha Blouse - Sasha and Jean have a tense relationship, due to Jean's arrogance and Sasha's simplicity. In Sudden Visitors, Jean insulted her by calling it "Potato Girl" and Sasha got offended very deep by this name, this guided them to a food contest created by Dot Pixis. Eventually Sasha lost against Jean, however in the end Jean fixed his differences with her and both apologized to each other.

Trivia

 * Jean-Chara_Design.pnge Isayama has said his favorite character is Jean.
 * "Jean" is the French variant of "John", meaning "Blessed by God".

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