Jack Garland

Feels a strong sense of duty to defeat Chaos. With no hesitation to kill monsters that stand in his way, he pulverizes them with no mercy.

Official website

Jack Garland is the main protagonist of Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin. He is an otherworldly stranger, that knows little of his past beyond an overwhelming urge to find and kill Chaos.^[2]

History[]

Jack Garland is the Garland from the original Final Fantasy. Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin depicts one interpretation of his backstory and how he became an antagonist.

Early history[]

Jack originated from the Lufenian realm of Paradise, a veteran agent of a group known as Strangers who were deployed to Cornelia in a cycle of continuing the Lufenians' hold on this world via the chaos. Given a Dark Crystal that removed his memories so he would not give into emotion and be consumed in chaos, Garland gradually learned the truth during a previous mission and gave his crystal to Princess Sarah before forming a plan with his comrades and Astos to wrest control of Cornelia from the Lufenians. Garland lost his memories upon returning to Paradise and was sent back to Cornelia with his memories erased, having only a burning desire to kill Chaos.

Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origins[]

Jack arrived in Cornelia at the same time as Jed and Ash, the three meeting due to the resonances of their Dark Crystals. They went off to exterminate monsters under orders of the King of Cornelia to gain his trust and breach the Chaos Shrine.

After the three returned from their quest, Minister Lagone entrusted the key to the Chaos Shrine to them and Sarah asked Jack to look for a knight named Garland who was last rumored to have entered the shrine and never returned. As they cut their way through a horde of monsters, the three reached the uppermost room with an intimidating throne and a figure clad in heavy armor that Jed assumed to be Garland. The unknown person claimed they were to become Chaos and engaged them in battle. The warriors defeated the armored knight and discovered it was a young woman who also had a Dark Crystal. She introduced herself as Neon, the last survivor of a group of warriors who realized Chaos was a myth and wished to become it to be slain by a hero and bring an end to the empty dream. Jack refuted her claims and walked away, with others following him.

Outside, Neon joined the others, citing the prophecy of the Warriors of Light. She was accepted into the group and they returned to Castle Cornelia. The King was interested to see the fourth warrior and claimed the prophecy was being fulfilled. He offered them to restore light to the four Elemental Crystals that had been corrupted by the darkness and claimed they had slain Chaos, whom he did not believe to be real either. Since Sonne, the mayor of Pravoka, was the only one who knew the location of the crystals, Lagone sent them to him. Upon reaching the place, the travelers learned that Sonne had died before their arrival and pirates had been protecting the town.

The group arrived to the grotto where the pirate ship was anchored and defeated the pirate captain, Bikke, who told them to look for a dark elf named Astos in the Western Keep. The four faced off against a suit of animated armors controlled by Astos and made him reveal the crystals' locations. Astos implored them to set out for the Wind Crystal first, using a mirage tower to get to the Flying Fortress, a Lufenian space station.

Jack and his allies, after some tribulations, arrived to the Flying Fortress where they defeated the Fiend of Wind, Tiamat. They discovered a woman named Sophia in the Fiend's place who also possessed a Dark Crystal and wanted to destroy Chaos. Astos arrived to the Fortress and applauded the warriors' efforts, giving them the locations of two more crystals.

Departing for the Earth Crystal, the five were sent to the Hallowed Massif, beneath which lies the Cavern of Earth where the Fiend of Earth, Lich, had made its lair. The warriors defeated the Fiend, and Ash absorbed its darkness into his crystal, recovering some of his memories.

Jack and his friends were sent to Mount Gulg) where the Fire Crystal was being leeched off by the Fiend of Fire, Marilith. The creature was slain, and Neon recovered her memories through her Dark Crystal.

Astos commended the warriors for their efforts and dispatched them to the Sunken Shrine where the Water Crystal was kept. The rest of the warriors started questioning Jack's goals, but he brushed them off and pushed forward. They defeated the Fiend of Water, Kraken, and Jed regained his memories, leaving Jack as the only one without.

As the four returned to Cornelia, the King told them the newly restored crystals were behaving erratically, seemingly tainted by the darkness. A messenger arrived with news that the castle was under attack by Bikke's pirates who were consumed by the darkness. Jack defeated Bikke and learned that Astos was waiting for him to tell the truth.

The party defeated Astos who revealed the Lufenians, members of an otherworldly-advanced civilization, were the true enemies of Cornelia and had planted memories into Jack and his companions to goad them into killing "Chaos", a form of darkness that stemmed from human emotions. Jack and his companions, save for Neon, were part of the "Strangers" program, a project spearheaded by the Lufenians to eradicate the darkness and create a utopia while using Cornelia as their experimental dumping ground for excess darkness. As Astos died, Jack absorbed his darkness and remembered his last name, "Garland", and how he had given his previous Dark Crystal to Sarah to not lose all of his memories.

Jack set out for Cornelia to take the crystal, but found the city overrun by monsters. With the King and Queen killed, the Warriors of Light attempted to rally the people, but were rebuked by the citizens who blamed them for all the disasters. Sarah managed to convince them to follow Jack, but as they reached the gates, she was fatally wounded and died in Jack's arms.

Devastated by the loss, Jack felt darkness gathering in himself. His allies attacked him and goaded him into killing them. By absorbing all of their darkness, Jack remembered the entire plan and set out for the Chaos Shrine, now fully embracing Chaos. He breached into Lufenia and destroyed the Dimensional Crystal Matrix, a crystal used to allow Lufenians to travel across dimensions, against the pleas of his Lufenian superior. As the Chaos energy leaked out, it took the from of a gigantic creature, Darkness Manifest, and attacked Jack. The Stranger defeated it and absorbed all the darkness. The Lufenian chastises Garland for his actions in trying to become Chaos, taunting him that the Warriors of Light will come to destroy him. Jack retorted the Warriors of Light were only a fantasy, but the conversation gave him an epiphany. With a new plan in mind, Jack set out with the Matrix, cutting Cornelia off the network and resetting the time loop.

Heading back to the Chaos Shrine, he sat on the throne, where his allies, now turned into the Fiends, congratulated him on accomplishing the plan. Jack remained wary and believed the darkness should be balanced by the light. Jack shared his next idea: they were to become the darkness of the world so that four Warriors of Light will defeat them and restore light and hope. The party was on board with the proposal, but would have to wait 2,000 years for Princess Sarah's generation. Setting the plan in motion, he embraced the identity of Garland and kidnapped Princess Sarah, taking her to the shrine and waiting for four Warriors of Light to come and fight him. After slaying several Cornelian knights, he traveled away from the area with Sarah in tow, stopping only to observe the lightbreak heralding the arrival of the true Warriors of Light.

Trials of the Dragon King[]

Four Warriors of Light appeared before and challenge Jack who was now embracing his Garland identity. Jack taunted them as he exuded his dark power, knocking out all, but one armored warrior who held his ground. Jack believed this warrior could defeat him and the two engaged in combat. The Warrior was not strong enough, and Jack was displeased that the "light is too faint".

Jack and his party eventually sensed an unknown but powerful presence arriving in the world. Suspicious of what it could be, or whether it was a Lufenian scheme, the group rejoined to investigate, venturing inside a cave where they found a majestic dragon who called himself Bahamut. He introduced himself as a fallen God who, humanity had cast aside. Bahamut was intrigued by the party's embracing of chaos and decides to put them to test, promising to bestow them great power if they did so. Jack took on his offer, believing Bahamut could be the piece they were missing.

The Warriors of Chaos overcame Bahamut's trial and obtained a Rat Tail, which confused them. Bahamut clarified the item was correct as it took many shapes depending on circumstance, but that it manifested to those who were virtuous and courageous, and so they had proven themselves worthy to Bahamut. The party asked Bahamut to empower the Warriors of Light who were to defeat them instead, as the group elaborated on their plans for the world, which piqued Bahamut's interest.

The two groups conversed on humanity's potential, the party's own past and current purpose, the Lufenians and the roles of gods like Bahamut and the Warriors of Chaos. Bahamut agreed to help the party with their plan. As a final test, Bahamut challenged the party. The Dragon King proved a formidable adversary, but the Warriors of Chaos triumphed. Bahamut put his power at their disposal, allowing himself to be summoned.

In another time loop, the same Warriors of Light who had challenged Jack before stood against him again. Once more, only one—the armored warrior—was able to fight Jack. As the Warrior was pressured he unleashed the power Bahamut had bestowed upon him, making him a fitting match for Jack, who was pleased Bahamut had kept his word. As the Warrior gained the upper hand, he lunged at Jack who immobilized him with his dark power, before stabbing him with a spear made of darkness, crystallizing him in the spot and killing him.

Pleased with the results, Jack looked forward to their next encounter in 2,000 years.

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Jack is a tall muscular man with light skin and dirty blond hair kept in a short crop. He has a prominent horizontal scar across the bridge of his nose and short stubble around his mouth and on his chin. His initial attire, dubbed "Stranger's" clothes in-game, consist of a dark-colored, asymmetric, button-up short-sleeved t-shirt, black pants, black lace-up boots, and black, worn, fingerless gloves with white wraps underneath. This outfit is decidedly "modern" compared to the clothes of other characters, and is Lufenian in origin.

Before the events of the game, Jack wore lightly armored white garments with a capelette featuring blue highlights and gold trimming, and a dark undershirt, dark fingerless gloves with golden-colored forearm guards, black pants, and white and gold boots.

As the knight Garland, Jack wears a dark suit of armor and a horned helmet that is described as "terrifying to behold".

Personality[]

All I care about is seeing Chaos dead. I need to. It's not a hope or a dream. It's like a hunger. A thirst.

Jack

Jack is rude and single-minded, focused solely on his quest to kill Chaos, often interrupting others or dismissing them outright when they present information he deems irrelevant to this goal. Even with allies he is blunt and taciturn, preferring to not mince his words or embellish the truth. Jack is often brutal in combat, even deriving pleasure from defeating and destroying a strong opponent. Occasionally he uses crass language to address his enemies. Despite his demeanor, Jack has a caring side and holds deep attachments to his allies and comrades, and is respected as their leader.

As Jack's memories return, he begins to act confused, not understanding what to do with this new information, whether he should dismiss it altogether or seek the truth. The party's own worries about their past memories weigh on his mind and he cannot fully dismiss it. As their attempt to purify the crystals did not restore the world to normalcy, as the darkness only grew, Jack feels out of place and without purpose, further reinforced by the disdain shown by Cornelia's populace. He is angered by the people's hypocritical pleas for help despite their previous blaming him for their woes, although this does not stop Jack from helping them. Having lost his original goal, Jack is unstable as he struggles processing it internally, and wants someone to give him any target he can go and kill, as he feels he is a warrior and destroying his foes is all he knows to do. When asked further about this mindset, Jack insists it is a matter of principle.

In a previous cycle, Jack was more caring and friendly with some sense of humor, amicable with Princess Sarah, even entrusting his Dark Crystal to her. He showed a great sense of camaraderie with Astos and disgust with the actions of fellow Lufenians, deciding to rebel against them to eliminate their influence from Cornelia.

As darkness consumes Jack, the anguish makes him ferocious with a deep-rooted hatred for the Lufenians as a whole, believing they deserve no future for their inhuman experiments, using his rage to empower him into realizing their party's goal.

Abilities[]

Jack is an immensely powerful warrior whose strength stands above the rest of his party. Brutal in combat, Jack uses extreme force and violence to often maim his opponents, even using his foes' body parts and armament against them, or his sheer strength to brutalize them into a pile of red crystals. Jack is almost feral in combat, lunging himself at his adversaries relentlessly to destroy them, to such an extent that even his party believes only Jack could fight in such a manner.

Seemingly without specific weapon preference, Jack is often seen engaging his enemies in unarmed combat, pummeling them viciously or ripping them apart. After he adopts his Garland persona, he wields his iconic Cyclic Greatsword, which he can easily brandish in a single arm, and can tear apart scores of Cornelian Knights with minimal effort.

Jack becomes vastly more powerful as the darkness consumes him, with his rage and anguish fueling him, being strong enough to breach the Lufenian Dimension on his own. He overpowers the monstrous manifestation of darkness from Lufenia's experiments, absorbing it and gaining nearly godlike power, with which he takes control of the Dimensional Crystal Matrix, allowing him to sever the connection between Lufenia and Cornelia and granting him the means to loop time.

Using the power to loop time he travels to the past, restores his friends, and turns them into the Four Fiends, becoming the Warriors of Chaos, their collective existence being responsible for spreading the world's darkness.

Behind the scenes[]

Jack Garland acted as the main protagonist of Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, acting as the original identity of Garland from the first Final Fantasy game.

In the ending of "Different Future", Jack Garland acts as a boss fight. His lines in the beginning are a reenactment of what he says to the Warriors before the final battle. Despite this, however, unlike in Final Fantasy, he never actually transforms into Chaos.

Gallery[]

Promotional art featuring Jack's party and his "Garland" armor looming in the background.

Jack abducting Princess Sarah.

Jack facing the Warrior of Light. Drawn by Tetsuya Nomura.

Etymology and allusion[]

Jack is named after the antagonist "Garland" from the original Final Fantasy.

[view · edit · purge]Jack is a male given name and sometimes as a surname. In English it is traditionally used as the diminutive form of the name John, though it is also often given as a proper name in its own right.

The name Jack is unique in the English language for the frequency of its use as a verb and a noun for many common objects and actions; and also its use in many compound words and phrases: jack-of-all-trades, jackknife, jackpot, jack tar, hijack, union jack, jack straw (scarecrow), apple jack, lumberjack, jackhammer, jackdaw, jack o'lantern, jack-off, jack-in-the-box, jack of clubs (playing cards), etc. The varied uses are traceable to the common use of the word as a by-name of a man.

[view · edit · purge]A garland is a wreath of flowers worn on the head, usually given to great military heroes in ancient Greece and Rome, not unlike the medals of today are. They were also sometimes left on the graves of fallen soldiers. In reference to Garland, the name may be symbolic, as he was a great hero who had "fallen" (corrupted by evil), possible a reference to the original Garland being killed in the first dungeon the player completes in Final Fantasy. The name may also stem from a garland being something that forms a loop, alluding to the time loop in which the first Garland in Final Fantasy becomes involved.

Citations[]