The History of Handsome Jack - Borderlands

having made his debut as the main antagonist in borderlands 2 handsome jack has become one of gaming's best villains from his charismatic personality in tandem with his cold-hearted and psychopathic tendencies to his overall general writing and story arc as a character jack since his introduction has been someone the franchise can't just leave behind and forget so it seems about time i give you the history of handsome jack handsome jack's real name is actually jon though his last name is still unknown for the sake of this video i'm just going to be referring to him as jack he was born on the planet of tantalus hardly anything is really known about his childhood his father died when he was very young and his mother wound up putting him in the care of her mother jack's grandma she was physically abusive towards him which would cause jack to form a deep-seated hatred towards her as time went on dad died pretty early mom pawned me off on her mom spent most of my time coding or getting smacked around had a cat grandma drowned it because it didn't make my bed the usual stuff it also seems that his interest in programming was just something that he always had and his time spent with his grandmother further pushed him to spend time focusing on that instead of dealing with her as jack grew up and became an adult he found himself a career within the hyperion corporation as a lowly programmer this wasn't too bad for him as despite not being in a high chain of command his personal life was actually going pretty well he at some point had met married and had a child with his wife though her face and identity are currently unknown their daughter's name was angel based on how things looked and sounded despite his childhood jack was a pretty loving and caring parent slash husband but things began to get complicated for him when angel started to grow up at some point during her childhood angel inherited the powers of one of the legendary sirens not understanding what was happening to her he had set for a doctor to come and diagnose what the marks on her arms were hey angel and who is this guy captain bear he eats crying oh he must be eating a lot with that big belly huh angel darling what was that on your arm did you do that blue i don't know where it came from do you think it's pretty yeah sweetheart it's it's real pretty hey honey can you get in here for a minute but after having an argument with a broken vending machine angel uses her powers to fix it which only further confuses him [Music] goddamn he's a crap [ __ ] what's the [ __ ] oh angel sweetheart i'm sorry i didn't see you standing there uh don't say any of those words that daddy said okay okay is the machine broken yeah looks like no candy for us hey why don't you go back into the waiting room with mommy darling huh the doctor's gonna be here any minute okay i think i can fix it what the hell did you just do angel somehow someway likely due to jack not knowing and not hiding angel her existence got spotted by a bandit who does know about sirens and their monetary value this resulted in him taking angel hostage in front of jack and her mother but after an uncontrolled outburst by angel she takes control of a turret killing the bandit but also accidentally killing her mother in the process mommy daddy help look you filthy bandit just give us back our daughter okay are you kidding she's a freaking siren i'm gonna be a trillionaire you and your wife get out of here before i stick my turrets on you i got the kid go make another one no i want to go home shut up hey what the i wanna go home get down no hey joel what did you do what did you do this event was really the first instance where jack's worst tendencies began to rear their ugly head and in reality he was almost frozen in time he formed an unwavering hatred for bandits and the like believing them all to be immoral money-seeking murderers the worst of the worst there are no redeeming qualities and they are only a menace to society because of that he sought a form of revenge to get closure for himself and to avenge his wife the only option in his mind was to kill them all he began to plan for ways that he could accomplish this goal one important piece would be angel despite the accident jack unfortunately placed the blame on her shoulders as well though with her it was more of a subconscious blame he rarely expressed it out loud but how he would begin to treat her would be the proof he engineered and designed a mechanism that could restrain and control angel's powers so another incident wouldn't happen again this is what would become control core angel i don't understand daddy say hello to your new home darling you're like a little princess and this is your throne i want mommy where's mommy she's not coming back angel no getting a freaking chair i don't want to talk it there we go in the chair daddy please let me out no can do my sweet little angel you're in that chair for your own good okay you're such an [ __ ] language look sweetheart i can't let you out because of what you did to your mother okay i just couldn't bear it if something else happened to you i didn't mean to shh i know darling that's why you need to stay in that chair but i got you something that chair is connected to the entire hyperion network now you can see through every satellite we own around every planet in the sky you've got the best view in the whole universe from that chair we're gonna work together you and me kiddo sound good yeah okay i love you angel i love you too dad it was also around this time period within the years where angel is still growing up where it can be presumed that jack got his second wife as well he did wind up getting married again to another woman identity also unknown she seems to have gotten pretty close to him as she was entrusted with the knowledge of angel's existence she saw the whole thing as immoral and pushed jack to shut down the angel project but he refused and she left him her overall presence in the universe is largely non-existent other than the fact that she was jack's second wife a lot of time would pass as angel grew up in between these years jack began to study all he could about sirens learning anything and everything he could about them and while not everything was discovered he did learn a surprising amount of details but the most he learned about was angel herself and her powers and capabilities he fully understood her power to communicate and control technology and began using her as his ultimate trump card which all plans surrounded he hooked her chamber up to the hyperion network which gave her access to all of its satellites and information he did this in secret and used her to bide his time within the company it wasn't until dahl withdrew from pandora where he saw his opportunity to strike john why have you dispatched one of our satellites to pandora what are you doing but sir uh the energy readings my uh instruments uh at home are getting from pandora are get out of there at once you hideous little code monkey and shut off that satellite yes sir i'm sorry mr tasseter it won't happen against her considering jack was obviously introduced in the second game and fit into the first game after the fact there are some slight inconsistencies so the way the story goes was that he had angel recruit four vault hunters and help him hunt the vault to get his hands on the destroyer which laid inside it's unknown why he not only knows of the vault that is on the planet despite it being an urban legend not even mega corporations could locate but also the monster that lied inside as well it is very possible that he was looking to get his hands on the weapons that were inside but then settled for the monster that they found instead anyway regardless jack wanted his hands on what was inside of the vault though the actions of this would be disguised angel would present herself to roland lilith mordecai and brick as an ally seeking to help the planet and the people on it she was frequently stuck to a script that jack himself was supervising and having her say okay any candidates today angel there are four treasure hunters who arrived on a shuttle several hours ago they are currently on a bus to firestone great say this to him don't be alarmed i need you to stay calm and don't let on that anyone is talking to you start making your way off the bus and of course this is where the events of borderlands 1 take place as for jack's importance in this he successfully has angel guide the characters to the vault and kill the destroyer for him once this is done she sends them away and jack swoops in to reap his rewards things didn't go exactly as planned as he wanted the monster not dead but he did manage to save one of its eyes fortunately as a coincidence hyperion was building the moon base of helios and jack was put in charge of supervising it while under construction this was perfect for him as he took the eye of the destroyer and created his own weapon using it dubbed the eye of helios basically a giant space laser he intended to use this super powerful laser to wipe out all of the bandits easily from the comfort of space pandora was his first target and once all of the bandits were dead it could become a much more civilized planet but before we get ahead of ourselves in between the events of borderlands 1 and the pre-sequel which is coming up jack did dip his toes back into the dating scene once more with mad moxie he charmed her quite well by the sounds of it but as their relationship advanced he became much more clingy exhibiting many of the worst qualities he'd go on to have later down the road but these two's relationship lasted a decent amount of time long enough for the two to share their future ambitions with each other like moxie's dream of opening a space casino but eventually moxie recognized the red flags and dumped him like many who have past experiences with her jack would still remain infatuated with moxie for the foreseeable future anyway going back to his main purpose installing the eye of helios and forming his plans to use it would take some time but while things began to start looking good for him the universe had other plans a group known as the lost legion were given visions of the future by the vault which resided on elpis and they saw what the future held more specifically the role jack would have in it and its destruction because of this they worked to take control of the helios base so jack couldn't use its weapon being just a programmer at the time he wasn't capable of fighting them off himself so he needed help he put out a job offering anyone who wanted and was capable of hunting vaults to help him and also get rid of the lost legion he called one of hyperion's best mercenaries wilhelm and paid him a lot of money he had an old but classic claptrap unit reprogrammed to make him a capable warrior also at some point in time jack had created his own doppelganger program this was still before he had any real power or pull within the company but yet he seems to have been able to fund something like this with no problems it's largely unexplained why this was made at this point in time despite this timothy lawrence was also personally recruited alongside them athena nisha and aurelia hammerlock all answered the call or tagged along later and this would be the group that he led during the events of the pre-sequel during this game he also enlists the assistance of moxie roland and lilith who were in the area as well during their attempts to take down the lost legion this is where many of jack's worst tendencies really come to light he kills the maref who admittedly fires at him first he launches a group of scientists out in airlock out of fear that one of them may be trying to stab him in the back and he quote unquote kills felicity an ai who's helped him create the constructor and begs that he'd duplicate her memory so that she can live while also being installed but he ignores her pleas and just installs her which practically kills her in all of these cases jack feels justified in his murder but not to the people around him roland lilith and moxie all notice this and deem him a liability to continue assisting the three continued to pose as his ally to get closer to the eye of helios but when there they double-cross him and destroy the weapon this event really gets under jack's skin but he becomes more determined and tracks down the vault on elpis for its new power taking down the lost legion in their way jack's vault hunters take down the sentinel and jack goes on to claim his new weapon but is disappointed when he grabs it he too begins seeing visions of the future but before he can get too much more knowledge lilith teleports in and punches the relic into jack's face branding him with its symbol and this is where the true face of handsome jack was born jack gets a mask grafted onto his face to hide his scar and returns to hyperion and murders its president harold tasseter now mr tasseter blackmail such a dirty little word isn't it i actually don't want to come to think of it it's not a dirty word at all it's kind of awesome blackmail say it with me back oh go to hell john just because you got lucky with your pandora hunch doesn't mean because i was right is what you mean and call me jack idiot you may have been able to scare the other directors into giving up their shares but i know you i know that beneath that ridiculous mask you're still a hideous pathetic little nobody mr tasseter maybe you can settle up something for me do you know the difference between choking and strangulation mr tasseter mr tasseter are you there mr tasseter's been replaced sweet cheeks starting today you're working for me john is that you call me jack honey handsome jack with jack now claiming hyperion's role as president he's free to exact revenge on those who crossed him with the power and influence of a mega corporation one of his first actions as president was tracking down something known as the h-source it was a collection of hyperian technological secrets buried in the claptrap's mind he had been working with to make a long story short which doesn't really involve jack the journey is successful and the h-source is extracted being fed up with the claptrap line jack then remotely shuts down and destroys every claptrap unit running though he personally shot the frag trap after the events of the pre-sequel not everyone he worked with stuck around notably aurelia and athena stopped associating with him but the likes of wilhelm timothy and nisha still stood by his side claptrap obviously dead but not really because he survived jack and nisha in fact started dating as he found her complete sadistic nature very arousing he at one point took over the town of lynchwood and gifted it to her as a present there were a few other notable events in and of themselves one of which was the bankruptcy of atlas jack had come to form a grudge against the mega corporation and ran them out of business and purchased the company for himself just so he could laugh at their demise and while this event isn't quite as major jack also did steal moxie's idea for a space casino and made it for himself as the handsome jackpot it was a handsome jack-themed casino that was heavily rigged against its patrons to make them indebted to the casino itself he had also forced all of his doppelgangers to get the exact same face brand that he had to keep with their authenticity also while it doesn't happen until a bit into his reign as handsome jack he sends some bandits to murder his grandmother as well there was just not another time to cleanly mention this so i thought i'd put it in here and who can forget his bravado was also so strong that he purchased a diamond pony named butt stallion after becoming handsome jack his psycho and sociopathic tendencies really began to rear their ugly head the majority of his focus became the revenge and eradication of pandora and its bandit population the bandits were classified largely based on those who opposed him to do this he enacted complete corporate and military control over the planet to eradicate everyone he was going to use the warrior as he saw visions of while on elpis he also set up mining operations to dig up as much iridium as possible as the new element had broken its way through to the surface after the events of the first game he used and tested this element in all kinds of new ways human experimentation which would result in the creation of those like krieg a new element called slag as well as a new line of e-tec weaponry iridium also had quite the amplification on sirens as well jack had come to learn of this and devised a method to speed up the vault key's charging time via a siren battery of sorts firstly he needed the vault key so he tracked down patricia tannis who was in possession of it after the destroyer was killed and tortured her breaking her hands until she gave it up jack then began pumping angel full of the mind iridium to charge the key why isn't this working angel i don't i've pumped every freaking ounce of iridium i've got into you but this stupid key isn't working why i'm sorry i don't know you're a siren you're one of a kind now make it work i want that freaking warrior angel i want him awake okay i want him under my control now i want him now not later now one of the biggest forces standing against him were the crimson raiders who were now being led by roland and lilith fortunately for jack in his battle against the raiders his intimidation tactics worked as he got an informant within the town of new haven to sell everyone out jack then sent wilhelm to ambush everyone which almost worked rowland lilith mordecai and brick were barely capable of holding wilhelm off while everyone else evacuated though brick was captured as for the refugees they were all then forced to make their way to sanctuary not all of them would make it however helene appears who appeared in the first game as the administrator of the town as well as many civilians were ambushed by jack and wilhelm where they were all subsequently murdered to keep other vault hunters from coming to the planet he also ironically had to lure them to the planet he sent out messages appealing to their dreams of riches and power and lured them onto a rigged train full of explosives he would then subsequently ambush them kill them and dump their remains in a cold wasteland and this brings us to borderlands 2 angel yet again scouts 4 vault hunters to be lured and jack tries his old tricks however things do not go quite as expected maya axton salvador and zero along with the unexpected help of gage and krieg fend off his assault and survive his trap they wake up in windshear waste where they are saved by claptrap and later go on to join the crimson raiders this history video isn't about the vault hunters obviously but due to the joining of the crimson raiders they would frequently stand in the way of jack's plans one of the earliest successes he has is an attack on sanctuary he poisons his longtime comrade wilhelm and sends him off with a power core putting out a rumor that he might have the vault key on him the vault hunters as predicted attack him kill him and steal his power core they use this as the new shield to defend sanctuary but considering it was jax only gives him control to disarm the shield and launch his own orbital attack the city is only saved thanks to lilith teleporting it away throughout the game jack largely jokes around and taunts the player but things get serious when they find angel angel has since grown tired of her father's treatment of her and had joined the vault hunters in trying to take him down part of taking him down is killing her due to just how large of a role she plays for him per her wishes the vault hunters kill her which sends jack on a true warpath of revenge his first main action is killing roland in a surprise attack and kidnapping lilith as he is in need of a new siren his journey for revenge gets quite twisted he no longer wanted anyone to kill the vault hunters as he wanted to do it himself he takes lilith to the warriors vault which he's since uncovered and began using her as the catalyst for charging the vault key due to the iridium pumping through her veins jack was able to stab and slice lilith over and over again without her dying the next time we see him is during the final confrontation between him and the vault hunters after getting into a fight personally but losing he summons the warrior to take care of everyone however the warrior is also defeated jack is left there alone and bloodied with his entire dreams being crushed he chastises the vault hunters and lilleth for stopping him and allowing the lawless pandora to continue on no no no i can't highlight this not when i'm so close and not at the hands of a filthy bandit yeah i could have saved this planet let's see i i could have actually restored order and i wasn't supposed to die by the hands of a child killing psychopath you're a savage you're a maniac you are a bandit and i am the goddamn hero the warrior was practically a god how how in the hell have you killed my warrior you idiots the warrior could have brought beast to this planet no more dangerous creatures no more bandits pandora it could have been paradise in the end he still views himself as a hero attempting to stop the needless murder brought upon by bandits and criminals he is then either killed by the vault hunter or lilith depending on the player now the thing is jack's story does end here but there's a bit of an asterisk next to that because he did get his brain cloned by professor nakayama in the form of an ai so another version of jack does exist and serves a pretty big role in tales from the borderlands but i'm not going to include that version of him in this video it is technically jack but i still think of him as a bit of a different character if his story picked up where it left off after borderlands 2 then i probably would consider it a continuation but it was more of a saved file from when it got cloned it has all the memories tendencies and personality of jack but it's still a clone but for now that does it for the history of handsome jack he didn't start out as a villain but even when he descended he always viewed himself as the hero everything he said he believed even when he was lying to himself he's one of the greatest video game villains of all time and he will never be forgotten but in the meantime if there are any other borderlands characters you'd like to see me do a history of video then be sure to let me know in the comments below and until next time i'll see you in the next video [Music] so you

Channel: EruptionFang

Views: 43,675

Rating: 4.9685559 out of 5

Keywords: eruptionfang, anime, theory, animated, borderlands, handsome jack, history of handsome jack, bl, gearbox, 2k, history of borderlands, story of handsome jack, angel, jack daughter, jack wife, borderlands history, presequel, borderlands 2

Id: fR45ymbi6YM

Length: 25min 44sec (1544 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 21 2021