#ik this post wasn't necessarily ship content but

[nkirschtein]

jean is to levi what armin is to erwin

everyone obviously sees how armin became "the new erwin" and took up his mantle after his death. hange stepped in as commander while armin was still growing up and getting used to his new abilities, but it would always be him as commander one day; whether hange died or they chose to step down. this doesn't really need saying if you paid any attention at all while watching the show.

what i want to focus on is how jean was next in line to "replace" levi if that ever became necessary. where erwin and armin were incredible strategists, levi and jean were incredible captains. they follow their commander as men of action and know how to read the situation and adapt to unforseen circumstances.

not only do jean and armin individually mirror levi and erwin, but both pairs of commander and captain work incredibly well together. we sadly don't get to see many instances of jean and armin working together in this way, but season 3 part 2 makes it so clear i'm surprised not more people talk about it.

erwin is MIA and armin is left in charge of his peers. the pressure gets too much and he can't plan a way out of it in the middle of the chaos, so he turns to none other than jean, jean who immediately get a grasp of the situation and starts giving out commands. you'd think they did this for a living how naturally it came to them !

was inspired to finally write all this out when i saw this art:

i don't remember if this is an actual panel that was just colored or entirely fanart, and i can't find who made/colored it but i'll add credits with a link when i do. if they don't want it reposted i'll remove it ! just wanted to include it as it's what set this entire rant in motion.