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I haven’t seen that many people talk about Jean’s reaction to Floch’s death so here’s a thread about them!
I haven’t seen that many people talk about Jean’s reaction to Floch’s death so here’s a thread about them!
We first meet Floch when he and many other soldiers decide to join the Survey Corps before the operation to retake Wall Maria.
Floch butting in to try and add his two cents reminds me a lot of how Jean would interrupt Eren during their training days. Jean and Floch are both honest to a fault and find no issue letting their opinion be heard. This is shown again when Floch brings up Levi choosing Armin.
The Liberio raid is when we start seeing some differences between them, namely their morality. Jean tries his hardest to not harm the innocent while Floch justifies it as payback.
After the raid, Jean asks about the causalities and wonders how many more enemies they have to kill, while Floch celebrates the victory.
After Gabi shoots Sasha, Floch suggests tossing her and Falco out of the airship but Jean disagrees. He still sees them as just kids.
After Gabi shoots Sasha, Floch suggests tossing her and Falco out of the airship but Jean disagrees. He still sees them as just kids.
Back on Paradis is when we start to see Yeagerist Floch. Jean tries to reason with him multiple times after the Yeagerists take control but to no avail. He never disagrees with what he says but rather his actions. He also questions his authority.
After informing everyone about Eren’s plan, Floch tries to get Jean on his side. Jean pretends to play along in order to save Yelena and Onyankopon for the alliance.
Everything so far was just a summary of their interactions. I want to focus the rest of this thread on their similarities, how Jean sees himself in Floch, and why he was sad about his death.
In addition to their honesty, they’re both good leaders. Floch managed to turn many soldiers into Yeagerists. He even lead them when Marley attacked Shiganshina. Jean was a commanding officer during the Liberio raid and he lead everyone to fight the titans after the walls fell.
Jean has defended Eren multiple times after finding out about the rumbling, and he previously denounced the euthanasia plan. He sounds a lot like Floch, minus the nationalism.
When it finally comes down to it, Jean decides to go with the alliance to stop Eren. Floch is dedicated to Paradis and will stop at nothing to save it over humanity. Jean on the other hand has experienced what life is like outside the island and can’t stand by while it perishes.
When Floch was shot by Gabi, Jean didn’t really react which was surprising to me, but I suppose he did have his hands full. I remember hoping Floch wasn’t actually dead so we could see them interacting again.
When Floch finally shows up in 132, we see everyone including Jean running towards him. Jean doesn’t have a weapon in his hand nor did he reach for the ODM gear like Mikasa did. Maybe he would’ve just tried to detain him and take away his gun.
I know some people were predicting that he would be the one to kill Floch, but I aways assumed he would spare him, especially in the kind of state that Floch was in when he finally showed up.
It’s true that Jean killed Yeagerists earlier and if he had to he would have killed Floch too, but seeing as how Floch only had a gun on him and was practically crawling I highly doubt Jean would’ve killed him.
It was only after he was hurt that they actually realized it was Floch. While Hange is surprised he managed to make the trip, Jean just holds him. I’m not really sure but I think he was trying to feel for a heartbeat.
Jean’s reaction to Floch’s final words is heartbreaking. Jean understands Floch because he knows what Floch’s saying is true. Jean’s even said it himself before.
All Jean manages to respond with is “Floch...” but he was already gone.
All Jean manages to respond with is “Floch...” but he was already gone.
Jean knows that staying behind on Paradis would ensure his own safety and future, but he had already experienced the outside world and its people. If it weren’t for that maybe HE would’ve been the one trying to stop the alliance.
Jean saw a lot of himself in Floch (honesty, leadership, being realistic) and if the circumstances were different maybe he would’ve even joined him.
At this point I don’t see Jean betraying the alliance or calling it quits. He’s already made up his mind. But I appreciated him being there for Floch’s final moments, especially since Jean is one of the characters Floch has interacted with the most.
End of thread. Thanks for reading!
