  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page Jack (BioShock) contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature articles are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | When Mum and Dad put me on that plane to visit my cousins in England, they told me, 'Son, you're special, you were born to do great things.' You know what? They were right. | „ |
| ~ Jack in the opening of the game. |
Jack (c. 1956) is the protagonist of the 2007 video game BioShock, whom the player controls throughout the game. Jack is mentioned in the 2010 sequel BioShock 2, with his actions making him somewhat a messiah, and he also appears in BioShock: Burial at Sea - Episode 2, with his role of the events of the first game coming into place.
He is a young Caucasian male who, prior to his unwilling arrival in Rapture, was a passenger on an airplane that crashed near a lighthouse that provided entry to the underwater city. During his journey through Rapture, he comes across a number of various gene-altering substances, known as Plasmids, that he uses to empower and protect himself. Working with a man named Atlas, Jack tries to survive Rapture while discovering terrible truths that he is connected with.
He is voiced by Nate Wells, and by Adam Sietz in various takes.
History[]
Birth[]
Jack was born around 1956 as the illegitimate son of Rapture's ruler Andrew Ryan and his mistress Jasmine Jolene. An audio diary by Jolene, and photos found on Ryan's desk, indicate that Jack was purchased by Brigid Tenenbaum on behalf of Frank Fontaine as an embryo. Seeing an opportunity for a back up plan, Fontaine had doctors create Jack as his "ace" in case he was forced into a corner during the civil war. He had Tenenbaum and the scientist Dr. Yi Suchong "raise" Jack by growing his development with Lot 111. Suchong also placed mind-control imprinting on Jack on Fontaine's request, but also had an antidote created in case the mind-control turned against him.
During the process of developing the child, Dr. Suchong was abusive in testing the mind control, forcing Jack to snap his puppy's neck with phrase "Would You Kindly". Due to his genetic structure being similar to Ryan, he could use the bathyspheres since only a child of the ruler could use them when they were on lockdown, sue Vita-Chambers, and have automated security not be as effective. Before faking his own death, Fontaine smuggled Jack to the surface as a sleeper agent, awaiting two years before activating him to return to Rapture.
On the surface, Jack was given false memories of living on a farm in Overlook, Kansas with his parents, whom kept a photo of in his wallet. It's unknown how Jack survived, but he would grow into adulthood by 1960, the time by which Rapture was in ruin and Fontaine saw his opportunity to claim it from Ryan.
BioShock[]
Upon Fontaine's command, using the trigger phrase "Would you kindly", Jack boarded a plane in 1960 that passed over Rapture's location in the North Atlantic, then hijacked it, forcing it to crash land at the coordinates of the lighthouse, the main entrance to Rapture. Only Jack survived the crash; he made it to the lighthouse and entered the bathysphere to Rapture. Making it to the bathysphere station, he witnesses a splicer kill one of Fontaine's men, but is saved by Atlas on the radio. Atlas guides Jack through Rapture, telling him that the place has become a nightmare, and tells him that he will help him stay alive, as long as he listens to his orders.
Atlas helps Jack get weapons and plasmids to defend himself against the splicers, and explains that he wants him to save his wife and son. While heading to Neptune's Bounty, Jack is stopped by Ryan, whom has become aware of man's presence and accuses him of being an American or Russian spy. Sending his splicers after him, Jack manages to escape to the medical pavilion, where he encounters Dr. J.S. Steinman, a renowned surgeon who fell into madness due to ADAM abuse. When being introduced to the Big Daddies and the Little Sisters, he is advised by Atlas to harvest the girls for their ADAM, but Tenenbaum arrives and implores him to instead save them from their predicament. The choice is left up to the player, who can harvest the sisters for ADAM, or free them after killing the Big Daddies.
Reaching Neptune's Bounty, Jack meets with Peach Wilkins, who reluctantly agrees to work with him but is suspicious of Jack being a spy for Fontaine. Jack is then tasked by the fisherman to take three pictures of splicers before he can enter Fontaine Fisheries, but betrays him due to his paranoia. He manages to survive the ambush and continues to the fisheries, where he witnesses Atlas family be killed in an explosion. Atlas becomes angered at losing his family, and orders Jack to instead kill Ryan to avenge their deaths. Entering Arcadia, Ryan releases a chemical to kill all plant life in the area, and Jack works with Dr. Julie Langford to stop the process. However, Langford is killed by Ryan, but she scrawls the combination to her safe, which contains the vector that can revive the plant life. Obtaining the vector, Jack manages to revive the plants in time to prevent Ryan from killing Langford's gardens.
After leaving Arcadia and the farmer's market, Jack reaches Fort Frolic, where he encounters the artist Sander Cohen, whom cuts off his connection to Atlas and Ryan. Cohen demands the "little mouth" to kill his former disciples and take their pictures with his camera to finish his masterpiece, but the artist briefly sends splicers after Jack when he believes that the latter doesn't like his art. Upon completing his masterpiece, Cohen allows Jack to leave with awards, but the player can kill Sander at the fort, or attack him later on. Reaching Hephaestus, Jack manages to get through Ryan's security an confronts him, but is stopped in his tracks when the ruler exclaims "Would You Kindly". Ryan then explains his philosophy on what separates a man and a slave, and reveals that Atlas' phrase has acted as a trigger to follow his commands.
Upon the revelation, Ryan orders Jack to kill him with his golf club, which the latter does due to the command phrase. After obtaining the genetic key, Jack enters it into the mechanism to stop the self-destruct sequence, where Atlas reveals his identity as Fontaine. Congratulating him for helping him claim Rapture, Fontaine sends security to eliminate Jack, but he manages to escape with the assistance of Tenenbaum's Little Sisters. Awaking at the doctor's sanctuary, Tenenbaum has removed most of Suchong's mental conditioning, which has freed Jack from the trigger phrase. However, Fontaine starts to use the code phrase "Code Yellow" to have Jack's heart stop, but he was able to find the antidote before he dies from phrase. Tenenbaum then tells Jack to get his revenge against Fontaine, and so he heads to Point Prometheus to confront him.
While heading to the point, Jack has to become a Big Daddy to trick the Little Sisters into thinking he is one of their protectors. He is then battles Fontaine, who has spliced himself with immeasurable amount of ADAM to have the advantage. Despite this, Jack succeeds in defeating Fontaine by removing his ADAM with a Little Sisters syringe, and the Little Sisters proceed to finish him off.
Endings[]
Depending on the player's choice to either save the Little Sisters or harvest them, Jack becomes the sisters' adoptive father and dies of old age, or becomes Rapture's new ruler. Due to the events of Burial at Sea - Episode 2, the good ending is considered canon.
BioShock 2[]
Jack is absent in the sequel game, although his reputation has become a thing of legend in Rapture eight years following the events of the first game. Murals are seen by the Rapture Family depicting his arrival through the crashed airplane and injecting his first plasmid. He is also viewed as a god by several members, mainly due to him killing their enemy Andrew Ryan. Member Father Wales constructs a chapel in Jack's honour, and hopes that he will return one day. An audio diary (and even another one that was cut from the game) refers to him as "A Silent God", describing his mute nature.
The fate of Jack is often debated by the splicers, and a conversation overheard by Subject Delta has them mentioning that they think he is raising the little sisters on the surface and having a happy ending, whereas another splicer believes that Jack is holding a city hostage in possession of a bomb. This is a reference to both the good and evil endings of the first game, in order not to make either one canon.
Burial at Sea: Episode 2[]
Atlas is looking for information regarding an "Ace in the Hole", which was really info on how to mind-control Jack with the "Would you kindly?" phrase. Atlas forces Elizabeth to collect this information, which she does. Once Elizabeth translates the aforementioned trigger phrase from a found document, Atlas bludgeons her with a wrench.
Before dying, Elizabeth has one final set of visions: the death of Andrew Ryan, the death of Atlas/Frank Fontaine, seeing Jack standing quietly before her, and Jack rescuing the Little Sisters (including Sally), as well as escaping the underwater city with them and starting a family. As Elizabeth dies with Sally by her side, she dies peacefully and happily, knowing that Jack will right many of the wrongs in the fallen Rapture. This also proves that the good ending of the first game is canon.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- His surname "Wynand" is taken from the game files, which is seen on his passport.
- His surname is possibly a reference to the character Gail Wynand from the Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead.
- Burial at Sea is only the instance in the entire series that Jack is given a 3D model and seen in third-person view.
- In the original game, the player could mutate Jack more and more with Plasmid use, and they could have decided if they wanted to splice to the point of inhumanity.
- Presumably during development and the first development demo, the character was named "Joe".
- Jack is implied to have successfully raised his adopted daughters with equal love and care, which was ultimately reciprocated; since all five of them are at his deathbed.
- He is implied to have at least three son-in-laws, since three of his daughters wear rings on their ring fingers.