Remind me to talk about how every person Jon interacted with lead to him being marked.
OKAY. So. To start. Let’s point out that these marks are mostly caused by, ostensibly, people who could be considered his ‘friends’. A debatable word, but. Here we are.
Tim literally got him killed in his suicide, so: The End. I will blame him for this because he literally didn’t care that he was going to kill not only the Circus/Nikola and himself, but Jon and Basira and Daisy. But whatever. He’s dead. Moving on.
If Sasha hadn’t talked to the Distortion then Jon wouldn’t have been marked by The Spiral and in her death he was first touched by The Stranger. I suppose I can’t REALLY blame her for them, as who knows if the Distortion would’ve left the Archives alone and there was still the matter of the Unknowing later. But whatever. She’s dead. Moving on.
Martin also caused two marks! The Corruption cause he was trying to prove a point (yeah, I said it, it wasn’t cause of no 'due diligence’, bite me) and then The Lonely. Which. Duh. Similarly in this case, who knows if Jane Prentiss would’ve left the Archives alone. HOWEVER. As I’ve said before. Jon should’ve left his ass in the Lonely. But whatever. He’s dead. Moving on.
Basira lead him to The Dark! She was guided there by fucking Elias and we know that they didn’t have to fucking deal with it! Like! Even before knowing that no other ritual would’ve worked! Manuela said as much! And the People’s Church of the Divine Host were all but dead after that raid that killed Maxwell Rayner. But whatever.
Daisy and The Hunt and Melanie and The Slaughter don’t need much discussion. One did it cause she could and one did it cause of self-defense. One is dead and one is alive. One can be blamed and one cannot. I won’t debate this. But I am still going to point out that these are people he had no qualms against – in Daisy’s case cause he had barely met her before going on the lam, and in Melanie’s case there was some contention but nothing worse than clashing personalities. But whatever.
As I said, we can view Jude Perry’s marking him with The Desolation and Mike Crew’s marking him with The Vast as his 'fault’. He didn’t have to talk to Jude who had him talk to Mike. The only reason, though, that he did, was because he was being dangled a carrot that told him he could prevent untold tragedy. But it was still his choice, as it stands. But whatever. They’re dead. Moving on.
I suppose we could also 'blame’ him for Jared Hopsworth marking him for The Flesh and for going into The Buried, which are connected. He didn’t HAVE to get an anchor or go into the coffin to get Daisy. The only reason he did was because, at that point, everyone already hated him and bringing Daisy back might’ve made Basira hate him a little less. That and the possibility of suicide by cop. But whatever. They’re dead. Moving on.
Could you blame a child for being marked by The Web because he read a book? Could you blame an adult for being marked by The Eye for wanting answers about that experience? The show certainly does. But whatever. He’s dead. None of this matters.
What I’m saying, I suppose, is that there is only one* person Jon considered a friend who did not, in some way, contribute to his suffering. And that’s cause Gerry was already dead.
Moving on.