Handsome Jack
Handsome Jack is a male video game character who features in Borderlands.
Contents |
Biography
Jack
It was said that his father died when he was young and his mother left him in the 'care' of her mother, Jack's grandmother, who was (at a minimum) physically abusive towards her grandson. The emotional trauma from these events was strong enough that as an adult, Jack had his grandmother murdered, and no doubt contributed towards his mental decline.
Later in life Jack married and had a daughter, Angel, one of the universe's rare Sirens. During Angel's childhood, Jack was surprised to learn Angel had the power to control technology, which ultimately made her a target for bandits and other kidnappers; a fate that would ultimately come to pass in a standoff between a kidnapper and Jack. Jack tried to plead for Angel's return to safety from said man who adamantly refused, and was caught off guard when Angel, in a fit of rage, took over a turret and killed both the kidnapper and her mother by accident, which Jack immediately reacted to with sorrow and blame. During Angel's youth, he trapped her in Control Core Angel to use her to control Pandora's ECHOnet and to open the vault of The Warrior. In the Borderlands 2 story mission Data Mining, Handsome Jack says that "I know you think I'm a monster. You think I enslaved Angel. But you didn't see what she did to her mother. I had to restrain Angel's power. You get that? I had to." The seeming implication is that Angel caused her mother's disappearance. However, this interpretation contradicts the journals in Get to Know Jack. While it is true that the third journal says that Jack's wife disappeared, it also says that Jack's wife suggested that "the Angel" be shut down. For there to be something to shut down, Control Core Angel must have already been active at that time, and therefore Jack's wife's disappearance could not have been the reason for the creation of Control Core Angel. Nor could whatever Angel "did to her mother"--if indeed anything happened at all--have been serious enough for her mother to agree with restraining Angel. A conversation in Tales from the Borderlands explains this discrepancy by clarifying that Jack remarried at some point after the death of Angel's mother and that it was his second wife who wanted the "Angel Project" shut down and who left him over it. One of the ECHO recorders shows an employee advising Jack to restrain Angel's power because of what she did to her mother, after which Jack proceeds to kill the employee through strangulation for mentioning his wife.
Jack's initial plan was to manipulate the Vault Hunters into opening The Vault to release The Destroyer so he could obtain it for himself. After The Destroyer's defeat, he used its eye as the generator for a superweapon dubbed "The Eye of Helios", capable of destroying entire settlements. Jack planned to use the weapon to eliminate entire bandit camps and other undesirables en masse on Pandora to eventually civilize the planet. Unfortunately, the Eye was captured by Colonel Zarpedon, who promptly turned it on Pandora's moon Elpis in an effort to prevent its Vault from being found by Hyperion, nearly leading to the moon's destruction. Jack managed to retake the Eye from Zarpedon with the aid of a group of Vault Hunters he had hired, along with assistance from Lilith, Roland, and Moxxi, who then betrayed Jack by destroying the Eye, not wanting him to have that much power. Once the Eye was destroyed, Jack required a new weapon of power. He managed to open the Vault on Elpis, which housed an object shaped like the eponymous Vault symbol that contained the knowledge of the Eridians. As Jack grabbed the object, he began seeing visions of The Warrior, the Vault it was sealed in, and the Eridium buried through the planet. Lilith then appeared and destroyed the object, causing a blast of energy that destroyed Jack's left eye and branded his face with the Vault symbol.
After having his trademark mask grafted to his face, Jack proceeded to murder the President of the Hyperion Corporation, Harold Tassiter, and declare himself the new President. From this point forward, he began calling himself 'Handsome Jack'. Shortly after killing Tassiter, Jack discovered evidence of the H-Source, a collection of Hyperion technological secrets, buried in the experimental "Fragtrap" Claptrap's system. After the Vault Hunters extracted the H-Source, Jack used one of the modules to remotely shut down all robots of the Claptrap line, and he personally shot the Fragtrap prototype. Jack then began focusing all his efforts on obtaining the Warrior and exacting his revenge on Pandora and the Vault Hunters. He used his daughter Angel to gain full surveillance of Pandora and control of the ECHOnet system. He then established mining operations to dig up all the Eridium on the planet, which would be used to create Hyperion's proprietary E-Tech line of weapons. Jack also ordered Hyperion to enact corporate and military control over Pandora. With help from an informant, Jack located New Haven and destroyed the settlement with his cyborg subordinate Wilhelm. When New Haven's administer Helena Pierce tried to escape with survivors, Jack captured Pierce and personally executed her before having Wilhelm kill everybody else. He later tracked down the Vault Key and its owner Dr. Patricia Tannis, who was tortured into giving up the object. Jack then had Angel artificially charge the Vault Key by pumping her body with a constant supply of Eridium.
Overview
Personality and attributes
Handsome Jack is a ruthless and cruel leader and a self-proclaimed "Hero". He also stole the credit for defeating The Destroyer, despite manipulating the Borderlands Vault Hunters into doing so. He wants to find and activate the Warrior, so he can get rid of all "criminals" on Pandora and rule the land for himself. Yet he does show a humorous side by cracking jokes and seemingly not taking anything seriously.
His traumatic childhood may have contributed to his later vindictive and violent nature, as he was raised by his grandmother, who was emotionally and physically abusive to him. Jack seemed to repress this trauma, but upon his adulthood struggles and pursuit of power, it erupted to reinforce his ruthless and pitiless methodology.
Powers and abilities
Handsome Jack wass the CEO of the Hyperion corporation.
Notes
- Handsome Jack was created by Gearbox Software where he featured in the setting of the Borderlands universe.
Appearances
- Borderlands 2:
External Links
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