only love

Art by Suketchi

Posted with permission.

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Find yourself a man who will look at you the same way Jean looks at Marco

Reblog if you appreciate Marco's importance to the story and the impact he has on Jean, Eren, Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt

how historians will remember jeanmarco

Literally Jeanmarco

Never forget that Jean is the no 1 Marco Stan and those soft big brown eyes and kind smile live rent free in his head 24/7

Luminous beings are we

Not this crude matter

their bond and the way they uplift each other is just so special to me

A jeanmarco artist also did this meme in their own art style and it's the cutest thing ever, please check it out! -> Twitter: x

When all you know is darkness

You seek light

I think it's so special that Marco is the very first force ghost we've seen in the story. And not only is he the only one to appear on his own, but he's also the only ghost to appear thrice, including two appearences to the same character while that character was still alive.

When Erwin saw his former comrades, he saw himself atop that pile of corpses, symbolizing his own vanity. As for Hange, they all stood right behind them, just as Hange supported the cause they all fought and died for while never giving up on the values that defined a true Scout. And then they both met their demises in similar yet different ways: Erwin took with him enough young Scouts to build another pile of corpses, while Hange went down alone putting everything they had into making sure their allies will have a future and the chance to set things right.

But Marco appeard when Jean needed him the most, during what were the two most important decisions in his life: go forward with the Scouts, or step further away from the truth by falling in line with the MP; save the world, or turn your back and let millions die. Befitting his name, Marco "the bringer of war", those choices put Jean through hardships that no one should have to face, but he wasn't an angelic herald of death. Marco was, above all, a bringer of clarity. It was thanks to this clarity that Jean always made the right decisions and remained whole through and through. It was thanks to Marco that Jean had always been able to free himself from the same shackles that binded Eren and Reiner.

Marco's absence from the smoke could be interpreted in many ways, but I like the idea that he didn't show up because Jean had already accomplished everything that he was meant to accomplish. He no longer needed the support. But that doesn't mean Marco just vanished altogether. Their relationship is more complex than that. Marco's words "I'm alive because of you" are the key element. Jean could never forget him. Marco would live on in Jean's heart.

here's marco's version

Fellas, isn't it love when

you smile at the boy who inspires and encourages you to be a better version of yourself?

you stop in your tracks as if lightning struck your very soul because you just found the body of the person you would've never thought you'll never see again?

you decide to do everything in your power to protect humanity from pain and despair by joining a suicide squad because your worldview has been smashed to smithereens and the terror of losing someone else is eating you alive?

you kiss the hand in which you held your best friend's ashes ever so tightly right before facing a most certain death?

you know it's hopeless but still hit the crystal protecting the body of one of your potential culprits while desperately crying for answers?

you still think about those ashes years later and what they may think of you if you turned your back when you were needed the most?

your vision can only focus on the apparition of one freckled boy during humanity's most critical hours, out of all the ghosts of those you've lost along the way?

your rage makes you see red and you almost crush the skull of a murderer to a bloody mess, but then you show him mercy and kindness because you could never do to him what he did to your cherished friend?

you would fight your own people, you'd face the end of all things, and most difficult of all - you'd confront yourself, your own defects and weaknesses, and push yourself to do the right thing until the very end, just so you could keep your head high when the time may come to see your fallen comrade again?

What is it then, if not love?