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[]
Early history[]
Jack originated from an unknown planet before being whisked away by the Lufenians, and sent to the realm of Paradise, otherwise known as Station 19.[3] Jack would go on to become a veteran agent of a group known as the Strangers, under the oversight of the Lufenian Nil. He would be deployed to the world of Cornelia with the mission of assisting Lufenia establish their hold over Cornelia. Given a Dark Crystal that removed his memories so he would not give into emotion and be consumed in chaos, Jack 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. Jack 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.
Wanderer of the Rift[]
The Warriors of Chaos felt a disturbance in the Hall of the Dark Crystal, which housed the crystal they employed to loop time. Upon investigating, they ended up in the Rift Labyrinth, a maze of of dimensional distortions, where they encountered an individual in the likeness of Astos who clarified he was an organic reconnaissance unit tasked with assisting them, who only resembled Astos.
As they ventured through the Rift Labyrinth to investigate the origins of the distortions, they came across Gilgamesh, a dimension-traveling warrior who had been stranded in the Rift. As they fought each other a handful of times, Gilgamesh recognized Garland from another world, but surmised he might be a past version of said Garland, or an alternate version altogether. After repeated fights, Gilgamesh decided to join the group as he could not escape the Rift on his own.
While navigating the Rift, Jack came across several monsters who assisted and pledged their loyalty to the Warriors of Chaos as their new "bosses". The Warriors' progress in the Rift helped awaken dormant pre-installed memories in the unit, obtaining all of Astos's memories, effectively restoring the fallen Dark Elf back to his comrades.
The Warriors of Chaos reached the point where the disturbance was at its strongest, and stumbled upon the Death Machine, a weapon of Lufenian origin sent to destroy them. The mechanical monstrosity put a harsh fight, but was defeated, stabilizing the dimensions. Gilgamesh realized the machine used him as a means to infiltrate and cause the disturbance. Now that he was able to leave, Gilgamesh investigated the state of affairs, learning that the Lufenian Nil had turned against her fellows, bringing the civilization to ruin with her monsters and being responsible for the Death Machine in an attempt to cause a dimensional collapse to destroy Jack. Gilgamesh warned Jack of the danger of such an adversary that would resort to such extreme measures.
Different Future[]
The Warriors of Chaos were in the Cave of the Dragon King with Bahamut when a moogle appeared before them, leaving the party puzzled. The moogle was the one responsible for summoning Bahamut, who acknowledged the moogle's involvement, but inquired about its true identity. The moogle does not clarify further, instead asking for help, warning them that Nil had taken over Lufenia and sought to destroy Jack's world.
The moogle transported them to Central, the capital of Lufenia's governance, now lying in ruins as it was filled with manikin monsters. As they traversed the ruined metropolis, they stumbled upon a despot from another world, who inquired if Jack was "the one who will be Garland". The Emperor had pursued the moogle and inadvertently reached Central where the powers of the crystals and the chaos of discord intermix, believing it fascinating. Interested in taking over Central, he demanded the Warriors submit to him. Jack mocked his ambition and appearance, as the Emperor looked annoyed and fought them. The Warriors fended him off as he retreated through a portal, yet pleased this world had powers worth having. The Warriors were confused as to the identity of the assailant, but the moogle explained the Emperor was an evil man bent on conquest using demonic power.
The moogle guided Jack's party into the city's core where they found the Lufenian Nil, the one responsible for their tribulations. Jack recognized Nil as his former superior. Nil congratulated Jack in reaching this far and chastised him for causing innumerable setbacks on their utopic goals, taking it upon herself to rid the world from Chaos as she believed darkness existed to be extinguished by the light. Jack mocked her arrogance for thinking she was that light. Unfazed, Nil revealed her own matrix with which she could bind space, time, and matter, allowing her to summon phenomena from other worlds. Using its power, Nil summoned forth Omega, a god-slaying weapon, and set it upon the party.
The Warriors defeated Omega, which impressed Nil, who revealed another crystal, which she used to create manikins. She summoned three manikins of Omega, fusing herself with those, and transforming into a mechanical monster known as The Transcendent, declaring her intentions to use the crystals to destroy all of reality and recreate it in a bid to form the utopia the Lufenians envisioned.
Nil attacked the party with her array of technological weapons as she used her crystal powers to summon powers from other worlds. Although deadly, the Warriors of Chaos defeated her. Now weakened, Nil berated Jack, believing the worlds needed Lufenia for guidance, and refused to let Jack's "primitive power" take hold. Jack simply taunted that she would be dead soon as he grabbed her by her neck, praising her for sending them to Cornelia as a "good call" on her part. As she crystalized, Nil threatened Jack that her will would continue to live on to curse him so that he would never know safety. Jack cut her off by pulverizing her, terminating her once and for all, leaving only her crystal tool behind.
The moogle asked if Jack wanted to take the crystal, but he rejected it as "Lufenian junk", and asked the moogle to return them to Cornelia as they had work to do. The moogle wondered if this meant dying against the Warriors of Light. Jack responded they were putting fate back in control of people, even if it cost them their lives. The moogle wondered if it meant they would no longer have a place to belong. Jack did not care, as neither the Strangers nor Chaos belonged there in the first place, so no one would miss them.
The moogle elaborated that in a different future with different rules, he could have lived on in legend, and had he taken Lufenia's crystal, he could have reached that tomorrow, but he chose instead to carve his own path, a future in which he will only live on in fantasy tales with no one to remember his struggles or how he willingly turned into the dark so the light could burn on. Jack was happy with this outcome with his party solidly behind him. The moogle teleported them back, and the Warriors of Chaos continued with their plot.
In another cycle, the four Warriors of Light traveled to the past to challenge Garland once more to end his time loops. Like in past cycles, only the sole armored Warrior of Light stood up to Garland, and the fight between light and darkness began. After an innumerable amount of cycles, the Warrior of Light had attained the Light of Order and surpassed his previous attempts. With his newfound power, the valiant warrior overcomes Garland and defeats the dark warrior once and for all, severing the chains of fate, and ends the struggle of 2,000 years with peace restored at last. With the Chaos Warriors' efforts all was turned into its proper direction, the world's forces flowing as they were meant to, and traveling through time to return to home, taking the forces that filled the world with darkness to bathe the world in light. However, breaking the chains of fate means the events never occurred, so no one will remember their struggle, the memory of their deeds living on in the fantasies that people tell.
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.
After obtaining his Chaos powers, Jack is able to wield the four elements: Wind, Fire, Earth, Water and use devastatingly powerful spells such as Whirlwind, Fire Spout, Earthquake and Tsunami, all of which have a large area of effect and inflict enormous damage. Jack can also utilize his Dark elemental powers more freely, allowing him to conjure a black mist to immobilize his targets and conjure weapons made of darkness, such as a blade or a spear.
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.
Gameplay[]
Jack is the sole character that is controlled by the player, and has a handful of benefits over other party members. Jack is the only one who can access and change to all Jobs, and equip two Jobs to alternate between them in battle. Jack can equip a considerably more vast amount of equipment than any of his comrades, even when they are on the same Job.
Jack is thus a highly customizable unit, who can be a physical or magical attack, a tank or a supporter depending on the Jobs and build. Jack is the only unit who can use Command Abilities. Jack's stats are also generally higher than the rest of the party, which is particularly true in the DLC episodes where the Job level limit can be increased and bestow the Master Points, allowing the player to further customize and boost several traits like base stats or other effects. In these settings the player can choose between an Ultima or Evocation route for their jobs, both of which modify the job's Action Ability with a different effect.
Battle[]
Jack is fought as the true final boss of the game at the end of the Different Future episode. Donning his Garland person, he fights aggressively using many skills from the Greatsword arsenal and utilize some from other equips like the Katana. Jack complements this with the use of Command Abilities like Bravery to increase damage dealt, Blood Weapon to restore HP through damage inflicted, Chaosbringer to increase his power, or Overpower which uses a powerful attack that can easily deplete the break gauge. He further complements this with his arsenal related to his chaos powers, using the elemental spells from his Cyclic Warrior job, and unique attacks like Blade of Chaos, which swings his blade in a gigantic area, and Dark Crystal, and unblockable attack similar to Chaos Advent's Fiery Hold.
During this fight, Jack's equipment and Jobs before the fight become those used by the Warrior of Light who acts as the stand in player character in this battle.
Behind the scenes[]
During the game's marketing cycle, Jack's story in Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin was advertised as the origin story for Garland from the first Final Fantasy game.[4]. However, in-game dialogue and reports from the "Different Future" DLC chapter provide conflicting information on whether Jack and Garland from Final Fantasy I are truly the same people, with the exact nature of their relationship never clarified.[5]
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[]
Etymology and allusion[]
Jack is named after the antagonist "Garland" from the original Final Fantasy.
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.
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[]
- ↑ Official Stranger of Paradise script book included with the Collector's Edition
- ↑ se (n.d.) . STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN ANNOUNCED FOR 2022 RELEASE ON PLAYSTATION®5, PLAYSTATION®4, XBOX SERIES X. Accessed June 13, 2021. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021.
- ↑ https://sopffo.blogspot.com/2022/04/lufenian-report-analysis.html
- ↑ https://www.inverse.com/gaming/final-fantasy-origin-garland-tetsuya-nomura-interview-exclusive
- ↑ https://sopffo.blogspot.com/2023/01/s-missives-complete-text.html