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Information.
( CHARACTER ★ INFORMATION )
NAME & AGE: Jonathan "Jack" Benjamin, mid-twenties
CANON & CANON POINT: Kings, post-series
CANON INFORMATION:
His next to nothing wiki entry.
Jack Benjamin was born a prince, son of King Silas and Queen Rose of Gilboa, heir to the crown despite being four minutes younger than his twin sister, Michelle. As part of his preparations for being king, Jack also served in the military during a very active war between Gilboa and the neighboring country of Gath. During an ambush on his men (one in which King Silas orchestrated himself, not knowing that Jack was there), Jack is taken hostage and later rescued by one David Shepherd, our honest, unassuming hero of the story who becomes a major thorn in Jack's side.
Because the capital of Shiloh loves David. His sister loves David. His own father loves David and makes him Captain. Meanwhile, Jack is left to worry about being blamed for the deaths of his own men. All this leaves him feeling pretty bitter and insecure, and more than a little pissed off. During an argument with his father, Silas reveals that he knows Jack is gay, and warns him that he is unable to be who he is. "For a king, it's not possible".
Jack's uncle William, head of the Crossgen corporation that would greatly benefit from the war's continuation, starts whispering his plan to overthrow Silas and put Jack in his place into the prince's ear. Meanwhile, a fragile peace is finally had between the two countries. But it comes with a price tag - part of Gilboa's land given to Gath. Not only Port Prosperity, but also David's home, and Jack sees the ensuing protests at this as an opportunity. William gives Jack control over a large news station, which he in turn uses to show this criticism of the king, a rare thing in Gilboa. When Michelle intervenes and is taken hostage, Jack's network is the only one that refuses a blackout order. Silas responds by having Katrina Ghent, a wealthy young woman who wants to buy position and her reputation back, buy out the news network. Katrina is also given a ministry position in name only. Silas gives Jack the power, her the title.
Come Judgement Day, a day when the king personally hears and rules over a few lucky cases, Jack secretly pits David against Michelle. Both have reasons for wanting to be heard on Judgement Day, David on behalf of his brother who was involved in the chaos at Port Prosperity. Jack also tries to get David to denounce the king in exchange for a lighter sentence for his brother. When David doesn't and his ties with both Silas and Michelle are unbroken, Jack has the judge called in his anger, wanting David's brother to get the full penalty - a death sentence for treason. Fortunately, Silas ends up arranging a much lighter sentence.
Jack tries to earn his father's favor by volunteering to lead a secret mission into Gath. David, who continues to linger like a bad smell, gets sent along with him. During this mission David saves Jack's life for a second time, making him feel that he owes him a debt.
The king's birthday is a big deal in Shiloh, and Jack arrives with Lucinda Wolfson, a sweet girl from a prestigious family. But when the power mysteriously goes out, Jack takes some good advice from a stranger to be anyone he wants to be for the night. He returns to his lover, Joseph. But only while the lights are down, while no one can see.
Soon after, Joseph sends Jack a video, telling him that he loves him and encouraging him to stop hiding who he really is before committing suicide. He also sends a copy to Unity News Network. The queen gets hold of Jack's copy first, and he denies the relationship before finding out that Joseph is dead. Around the same time, Michelle asks him for help with her secret relationship with David. Jack refuses, though not for his usual spiteful reasons. He also goes to Joseph's funeral, but keeps his distance. His mother is angered by this, and Jack confesses that he loved Joseph, tha he cut him out of his heart because that's what his parents wanted. Jack realizes that Joseph was the only person who really saw him and still loved him.
Katrina Ghent, recently snubbed by the queen, gets the other copy of the video. She makes Rose choose between saving Jack or Michelle, after also getting her hands on the Princess's nude pictures, taken by and stolen from David. Rose chooses Jack. Jack tries to trade his video for Michelle's pictures, but Katrina offers him another deal - to marry her and make her royalty, the ultimate slap in Rose's face. But when his fiancee is killed in a tragic car accident, he arrives at his engagement party with Lucinda Wolfson on his arm once more. Silas really dangles the carrot in front of him, promising him that on the day of Jack's wedding day, he will declare him his heir and the future king in front of everyone. Jack tries to back out of the coup but finds that he is more of a pawn than a king.
And then Silas starts to pull at him from the other side. David has fallen out of favor for keeping his relationship with Michelle a secret from him, and against all odds returns from a mission where the king had hoped he'd die. But instead of a hero's welcome, Silas arranges charges of treason. He brings Jack in on his trial, to accuse David as a spy and back up his lies. "Turns out you have the right teeth for flesh", his father tells him. Even his uncle likes this plan, for the way it will turn the people against Silas. But as the trial and the accusations continue, Jack's conscience seems to be getting the better of him.
David warns Jack of the plot against the king, not knowing that he's in on the coup. Jack finally breaks when David pleads guilty, after being manipulated by Silas into believing that it's the best thing for the country. Jack is arrested, but rescued by William and goes into hiding. At Rose's urging, he's pardoned, but it comes with a heavy dose of humiliation. Jack is forced to kneel and kiss the ground that Silas walks on. During the ceremony to hand over Port Prosperity, Jack jumps in front of an assassination attempt. He's hit in the arm, but Silas is hit many more times. At this same time, David is also rescued from the firing squad. Gath military blamed, handover cancelled.
Jack soon finds that he's essentially been used, that what he wants to do as king doesn't matter as long as his uncle controls the media and the military. But Silas isn't as dead as everyone thinks, and David brings him back, knowing that he's the country's only chance to end the war. Jack becomes more brutal as his father nears. Everything is unraveling for him; the crown goes missing, replaced by a false crown that never touches his head. Silas returns with Gath tanks and the promise of peace once more at his back. Rose returns the crown to Silas. William flees, but Jack refuses to run, even if he expects Silas to kill him. But Silas decides to give him a worse fate: a living death, imprisoned with Lucinda until he produces an heir for Silas to raise as his own.
PERSONALITY:
Jack would be the first person to tell that you that the idea of Prince Charming is a lie, a fairy tale that was, in fact, probably created by his mother. That is, when he's not trying to play the role himself, because Jack is more than capable of slipping on a mask and delivering an Oscar-worthy performance. He plays the role of a womanizer for all to see, when he's actually gay. More than once, he pretends to be David's friend, but Jack is always looking out for Jack first and foremost. When he takes the young fresh-faced Captain and his friends out on the town under the guise of friendship, it's really a plot to distract him from his sister and tarnish his sterling reputation.
There are moments when he genuinely tries, when he's able to recognize his own awfulness when it's held up to someone else's decency. Unfortunately he's also filled to the brim with insecurities and a need to prove himself to his father, and these are the things that makes him act in less than noble ways. He has been raised by a mother who excels in ruthlessness herself, by a father who sees power as everything, all while around people who treat him as something more than human because he's a prince. None of these things have helped.
Jack is spoiled the way only princes can be, the kind where his credit card only gets declined when the national treasury is bankrupt. When his sister comments that they used to tell each other everything, Jack retorts with "I used to take all your stuff". But it's not material things that he really wants. Jack is ambitious, and he wants the respect and power that he believes are his due. He sees the promise of both things tied to his father's crown. And at the same time, Jack is denied so much for the very reason that he is a prince. Because he is his only son, because he wants to be king, Silas tells him to deny so many things - what he wants, who he is, who he loves. The things that matter most, but power is given importance over them. And so Jack denies himself, and expects a certain amount of recognition for his sacrifice.
-Jack to Silas (Episode 1-2 Goliath)
-Jack to Michelle re: David (Episode 6 Judgement Day)
He doesn't always get it. Jack becomes increasingly desperate after David Shepherd enters his life, and that makes him increasingly ruthless. Jack is willing to do whatever it takes to get himself where he wants to be, whether it's tarnishing another man's reputation or sending that man's brother to his death. In truth, it's more than just the promise of a shiny crown. Jack feels like his very existence is threatened by David. His fears make him seem a bit paranoid at times, because neither Michelle nor David have their eyes on Jack's crown. But Jack believes in such innocence and good intentions about as much as he believes in unicorns and mermaids. He can see the threat that such a shining union poses to him, and how it could leave him with truly nothing.
-Silas confronting Jack about his sexuality (Episode 1-2 Goliath)
Much of Jack's insecurity stems from a great deal of internalized homophobia. He can't be who he is, especially not if he hopes to be king. He knows that he's an abomination in his father's eyes, a father who would've preferred a son who was a womanizer a thousand times over a gay one. It's something that's such a source of shame to Jack, and it's used to shame him. "Your mouth's been in dirtier places", Silas coldly comments after ordering Jack to kiss the ground that he walks on. His mother isn't much better, and refuses to accept that aspect of him for fear of their legacy. As a result, Jack's lived his life trying to push it down, all the while throwing himself into displays that his heart isn't into. But the depth of his regression has left Jack self-loathing and frustrated, and he often takes that out on others. It ultimately leads to the death of the one person who saw him and loved him anyway, leaving Jack with only the guilt and regret, which he shares with Michelle: "Whatever it is you don't want him to see or hear or know, you can bury it. You can bury it so deep, you won't find it yourself anymore...but you'll wish you hadn't."
Jack can be incredibly spiteful, and has a gift for cruelty. A "tarred soul", Katrina calls it, to which Jack responds that it's been "starved". When David refuses to denounce Silas, Jack pushes to have his brother executed. But once again, he sees ruining David as a way to save himself. When he agrees to marry Katrina Ghent, that's to spite his mother, still upset by the confrontation over Joseph's death and knowing how much Rose hates the woman. His aggression can easily turn to violence too, especially when faced with emotions that have no other outlet. When his lover approached him at a club and uttered those three little words, Jack put him out and immediately sought a fight. He also lashes out against David while they're on a mission together. So much self-denial has left Jack with mountains of resentment and pent-up frustration.
But Jack is not always terrible, even when he's not always successful at trying to be anything else. When his sister comes to him and asks him for help, there is a sort of tough love in his refusal: "You want help with things you'll regret? Go to your uncle. I won't do it." Jack is fresh from Joseph's funeral at that moment, and he knows the pain and loss that his own lies and secrets have brought about. "The truth doesn't get any easier to tell. It only gets harder. Until it's gone forever." Later he attempts to sacrifice himself for her, offering to ruin himself by exchanging Joseph's video for her nude pictures.
-The story of Jack and David (Episode 7 Brotherhood)
In the beginning, Jack only pretends to be David's friend, always looking for an opportunity to ruin him. He's threatened by David, the way he earns favor so naturally when Jack has given up so much. But after David saves his life, and during his trial, Jack sees once again that David is a better man, and is finally moved by it. After he speaks up at David's trial and reveals himself and his father to be the ones truly in the wrong, he tells his uncle that he did it because he couldn't watch his father do that to David, embraces him after he's rescued from the firing squad. He wants to get out of the coup to save blood from being spilled, and after the coup he wants to do right by David's example and bring an end to the war. He believes that he can make good of his own mistakes and those of others. But he soon finds that his hands are tied by his uncle. Used by him, afraid of his father's return, and receiving no signs from God, some of the old bitterness returns. He goes so far as to have a man murdered in front of everyone for suggesting that Silas is still the king.
-Jack to David during the Gath mission (Episode 7 Brotherhood)
-Jack to Silas after the coup (Episode 13 The New King Part 2)
Jack certainly could've been better, but the darker aspects of his personality, paired with the circumstances that he helped put himself in make it impossible. And the fact is, if Jack can't achieve his goals, if he can't be king, he doesn't see much left in life for him.
COURT ALLIANCE & REASONING:
Unseelie: Jack embraces a good many of the same things that the Unseelie Court does. He wanted change - okay, he wanted to be the change, by becoming king in his father's place, and he was willing to do whatever it took to put himself on that path. And he believed that he should be king, just as the Unseelie believe that they should be masters instead of servants. Honor is also something that's difficult, if not impossible for him to believe in. There's only a few who can be that good, and even then not all of the time. Jack's never followed any rules to the letter, and he's had more than his fill of things like censorship and the butterfly crown story that his father used to tell. Given all that happened to Jack and the canon point that it led him to, he'll also be more than ready to let his head be led by a little more passion.
ABILITIES:
*Jack has no supernatural abilities. He was a soldier and eventually a Major in the Gilboan army, with both leadership and combat experience. But it was more tanks and guns than swords and sorcery. He is shown via a club brawl that he can fight with the best of 'em.
*Jack also has all the courtly graces of a prince. He can seem charming even though he's actually a brat.
*Acting skills: see above.
INVENTORY:
The clothes on his back, which is still a pretty nice suit.
( WRITING ★ SAMPLES )
NETWORK SAMPLE:
[The welcome feast is over, but Jack's eyes are still bright and sharp from the fairy wine. He looks a little amused, but the edge to his voice when he speaks hints at some bitterness.
But that didn't exactly start here.]
Am I supposed to believe that this is my 'get out of jail free' card. [There's a soft snort at that, Jack's hand coming up to cover the little smirk on his lips.] Nothing's ever truly for free. Maybe the imps aren't smart enough to realize that, but I'm sure there are those of you who are.
So it's about war. Well, that's something I also know about. [He tuts gently, pouring himself another glass. But he seems more interested in just sloshing it around, staring down into his cup like he's scrying the future - or maybe the past.] You're going about it all wrong. See, you don't achieve peace by fighting. My country fought for years, it got them nowhere. What you need is to find some idiot with a blood-soaked flag who's willing to offer himself up like a sacrificial lamb to the other side.
[He looks back up at the locket, the corners of his lips pulling into a Cheshire cat's smile.]
So. Any takers?
LOG SAMPLE:
Test Drive link.