Elias is the reason why the Institute exists, but Jon makes sure the Institute has a reason to exist – when Jon is cut off from the Eye, nobody can collect statements, which means that there is no purpose to the Archives, no way to make sure the fear and the knowledge are pulled out of the victims properly. if Elias is the beating heart of the Institute, then Jon is its blood
this is not a feature inherent to Jon as far as I can tell; more like a feature of being the Archivist by itself. but I find it very, very interesting that the Institute relies on Jon so much. before, I sort of assumed that the reason why archival assistants can’t take statements in ep100 is because they are just assistants, not the Archivist. however, in ep29 (cheating death) it’s said that Fiona Law took that statement… which means they can, actually, take them, and the reason why it didn’t work is because Jon was hidden from the Eye by Nikola. the Implications…