Jack Noir (JW)



Jack Noir and Homestuck are Property of Andrew Hussie, all rights reserved.

At some point in BZPB where Jade Harley was a player, her bizarre, freakishly powerful dog named "Bec" Prototyped itself into the game, knowing that it would become part of the Final Boss, and thus would give Jade the best chance for survival.

Unfortunately, this most loyal action inevitably doomed them, and ended up in creating the Jack Noir who has invaded the multiverse. He was first seen busting right through a manifestation of The Fourth Wall to enter Socah's house, before teleporting.

Supremely violent and sadistic, Jack Noir will kill anyone and anything that he sees. As if this were not enough of a problem, the powers he inherited from Bec were amplified by Jack's form, and resulted in a being who was able to traverse the unorthodox time-space laws outside conventional reality with no ill effects, and can effortlessly kill a being of User Zev's level.

Had it not been for said User hacking the new game so that he would able to use his own murder's circumstances to attain the level of God-Tier, Jack would have likely wrought incredible havoc in BZPower.

Appearance
Pitch-black hued, Jack Noir has a lean, muscular frame and is mostly featureless. His body does not appear to bear normal skin, or even fur, really; for the most part, he seems to be covered by a smooth, vaguely skin-like carapace of solid black coloration.

While he has a full right arm, his left arm is only a stump; he bears wide, feathered wings on his back; and a sword, varying in design from appearance to appearance (referred to as a sabre in the RPG and portrayed as a katana in profile image), pierced into the center of his chest and out his back. It has been seen that Jack is able to conjure at least two extra appendages, in long, winding tendrils from the sides of his mid-torso.

Meanwhile, his right arm is covered in blood up to the elbow, and bears a ring that crackles with such energy it can be seen through the grisly layers above. Additionally, he wears a yellow bandana around his neck - Tattered, bloodstained, and emblazoned with a black spade. Lastly, he's easily recognized by his face - That of a canine, with a stark white scar over one glowering eye of a similar, bone white hue.

As of killing User Zev a second time, Jack has stolen a leather armband with a silver spade, and tied it around his left armstump's bicep. The second trophy he's claimed in the RPG is the legendary swordsman Juracule Mihawk's plumed hat, upon defeating him. The widebrimmed black hat has had slots chewed into it for Jack's ears, while both the main hat and its large, pale green plume are now flecked with blood.

Personality
True to his original design as a Final Boss, Jack Noir is violent, cruel, and uncompromising in his quest to kill anything and everything in his path. An expert combatant and a heartless destroyer, his title of "Sovereign Slayer" is well-earned: Jack stands head and shoulders above near-all other villains thus far for his sheer cruelty and drive to wipe out living creatures.

Other than his brutal methods of handling opponents, Jack also seems to prefer efficiency in most cases. This is seen where he opted to, upon reaching BZPower, commence with killing citizens while MakutaYnot and Users still allied to the main group exhausted each other in battle. Yet when he meets a truly challenging opponent, like Juracule Mihawk, Jack puts his sense of honor before greater reason in order to enjoy the fight. If no challenge is found in the battle, however, Jack will waste no time in wiping the opposition out. He only seeks to kill and destroy all in his path, and is a cunning tactician, sans all detectable humanity and remorse.

However, there is one being whom Jack cannot and will not harm - Jade Harley. This was the original intention that her godly dog Bec had in Prototyping itself into the game and thus Jack's form - Creating the ideal circumstances for Jade to avoid harm. Indeed, he succeeded in protecting Jade from his wrath and various rampages - However, in doing so, he effectively brought about the utter ruin of Jade's Session, forcing her and her fellow players to flee.

Deep down, Jack is still tied to Bec's incomprehensible bonds of love and loyalty to Jade. He can't even bear the thought of harm coming to her, and has repeatedly come to her rescue when she was threatened by beings whose powers outstripped even her own as a God Tier-level player. It is fortunate, as well, that Jack is bound by Bec's inability to challenge firm commands from Jade - Should he even try, a good thwack or several from a rolled-up newspaper stymies such attempts.

History
In the previous Session of BZPB, Jack Noir was intended to be the Final Boss. True to form, the first few beings Prototyped to serve as guides in Sessions to follow ended up being incorporated into his body. It was meant for him to be a highly difficult, but still reasonable Boss to defeat.

However, when Jade Harley's dog of unreal power named Bec Prototyped itself into the game - Knowing that this would leave Jack with no capacity for even wishing Jade harm - This thoughtless devotion would end up dooming their Session. According to what the Witch of Space has said, Jack's resulting form was an "unbeatable boss," and his Red Miles killed their Session's Universe of focus.

After Jack traversed the expanses beyond regular space-time and broke through The Fourth Wall to enter the present Session's BZPB Universe, he arrived in Socah's house and teleported from there. Appearing in the skies above BZPower, he was on the verge of slaughtering every citizen in the area when User Zev stopped him short.

It seemed that the User had gotten a quick edge via the element of surprise, but it was not to be: Jack effortlessly and ruthlessly dispatched User Zev, and was just about to do the same to MakutaYnot in a divebomb, when he realized that his previous opponent had used this sacrifice and a secret hacking of the game's mechanics to arise as a God-Tier User.

Following a short skirmish in which it was made clear that even a User at God-Tier could not easily defeat Jack, User Zev made good use of his powers as the "Heir of Heart" to change the game. He proceeded to use the opening and the fact that no one was aware of his new abilities to briefly wrest control of Jack's own powers, causing him to warp them both away from BZPower before any lives could be taken at his hand. After this, they ended up at a massive, barren, lifeless planet where Jack would kill User Zev a second time and warp away, prior to another rebirth due to said User's God-Tier qualities.

After arriving at a large planet - Which he utterly decimated off-screen - He was soon approached and attacked by Juracule Mihawk, the "Greatest Swordsman in the Universe." Jack then returned the "Strongest Sword in the Universe," the Black Blade Kokutou Yoru, after sending it flying with a parry, to battle Mihawk in an honorable duel. While the onset of their battle was shown, after the next scene transition back, it was abruptly shown that Jack has critically injured Mihawk and stolen his hat as a trophy.

Yet while he glared at the destruction in boredom, Mihawk's fellow Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma used some kind of blasts to distract Jack long enough to escape with the swordsman in tow. In a rage, Jack wrought even greater destruction, and teleported.

When LORD ENGLISH attempted to kill Jade Harley and User Sarge, Jack Noir came to Jade's defense and slowed the demon down long enough for Jade's warp to activate unimpeded so that she and Sarge could escape. After teleporting once again, Jack arrived near the Toa Idiotas Sreda, Kami and Kaze, whereupon he approached to attack. However, interference by Sollux Captor managed to hold him at bay for a time.

Once Jack was successfully distracted and mollified by Snausages, he teleported away and ended up flying through the regions outside conventional space-time once again; towards a huge mass of light out in the void that seemed to evoke great rage from him. This became his next target for destruction, and Jack was preparing to eradicate the mysterious lightshow when he was quite rudely interrupted.

None other than Aradia Megido was there to meet him, and she proceeded to freeze Jack in time as he attempted to strike her down with a divebomb from high above. He was being held captive by the Maid of Time's abilities; though as Aradia could not hold him there indefinitely, she waited until his target had drifted far out of reach, stunned him with a huge telekinetic blast upon freeing him, and then teleported away to let him settle his rage by himself. Jack proceeded to teleport to an unknown location.

Meanwhile, on Datrio, Feferi Peixes explained to Master Big Star what she knew of Jack: namely, that an alternate version of him had existed in her group's Session of BZPB, as well. However, he had only been an option to make completing the game easier - By completing his arduous questline, Jack could be made an accomplice, assassinating the "Black Queen" so that only the "Black King" was left to fight. He was never intended to be a Boss at all in her Session, plain and simple.

Yet in the last Session, Jade Harley's disastrous Prototyping resulted in a being so powerful that, once he found a way to travel through the more complicated portions of the timestream, he wrecked Feferi's Session and killed most of their dreamselves. It was this event that Aradia Megido described as allowing her to reach God-Tier, while Sollux Captor somehow managed to save Vriska Serket's dreamself as extra firepower in case she would be capable of reaching God Tier as well.

Later, after a time without any major appearances, Jack emerged during the battle between Jade Harley, User Sarge, Galestorm, and the Shadow. He proceeded to cleave straight through a dome the Shadow had created - Doing so in order to protect Jade, but inevitably saving USarge's life in the process. Ignoring the trio as Jade teleported them away, Jack then engaged the Shadow in combat.

Through a combination of his usual combat tactics, the Red Miles, and Sepulchritude, Jack was able to critically injure the Shadow. Had Jade not stepped in to chastise him with her rolled up newspaper, Jack would have likely killed the Shadow before User Sarge could make an unlikely ally of the otherworldy creature by use of ingenious loophole manipulation; Jack would most likely have killed USarge too.

When it became apparent that Jade would not allow any stabbings, flayings, torchings, or general murder, Jack decided to teleport away. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Weapon
An unnamed blade that seems to randomly change its build, thus far in the canon RPG, it has maintained the form of a midnight black, blood-slicked sabre "sheathed" in Jack's own chest, the end piercing out of his back. Though its exact qualities are unknown, it was able to survive its wielder's own caustic energy blasts enough to direct a slicing wave, and can be instantly teleported to Jack's hand from a distance away at any time. As of now, it has shifted to a katana that matches the blade shown in this page's main image.

Abilities/Skills
For sheer power, few can match Jack Noir. He's nigh impossible to harm by anyone short of "God-Tier" level, and this is only made more acutely deadly by his expert skill in combat and general murder; his swordsmanship is honed, instinctual, and lethally efficient. User Zev stood no chance prior to his rebirth into God-Tier, and even after this power boost, could only keep Jack and his devastating onslaught at bay for a very brief period of time before taking the battle far away from BZPower.

Other than his skill with the blade and raw level of power, Jack is at the peak of physical ability. His strength is simply monstrous, able to rend a God-Tier User's likely protected flesh and bone with no effort, and he possesses remarkable endurance; not even a volley of psionic blasts from User Zev prior to ascending to God-Tier, nor a massive psionic blast after reaching God-Tier, could do anything more than cause Jack to give pause for a few brief moments. Additionally, he possesses speed which approaches or possibly even surpasses that of Shunpo as used by Yoruichi Shihouin, the fastest Shinigami in recorded history.

As well, Jack immediately knew that attacking BZPower itself would cripple the game depending to some extent on its Users to maintain order, and supposedly deduced that he could more easily wipe out the city by targeting its non-combatant citizens first and letting the still-allied Users battle the likes of MakutaYnot for a time. This would suggest that Jack is also a keen wartime strategist insomuch as unorthodox siege warfare, and though it hardly needs to be reiterated, is coldly pragmatic in handling foes. What some in the know would call "Dangerously Genre Savvy" (in most instances), Jack usually bothers none with trifling issues like honor.

Most notable, however, are the abilities that Jack gained when Bec, Jade Harley's bizarre dog, Prototyped itself into the Final Boss to protect its master. As a result, Jack is able to warp reality in order to teleport across huge distances with ease; interact with connections to the Fourth Wall so that he can break through from a zone outside normal existence; and can channel fiery green energy into catastrophic blasts.

Another ability of Jack's, though not actually related to Bec, is to summon a pair of tendrils that extend from his sides; surpassing his regular arms in length and originating just below his ribs. These limbs are not only surprisingly dextrous - Capable of retrieving small objects from the pockets of a prone figure - but are also sturdy enough to block energy attacks from the likes of the Shadow.

It has been stated that Jack's primary finishing move is known as the Red Miles; the very same as those which brought about the undoing of Jade Harley's Session. When used on a proper combat scale, they not only dole out incredible damage, but can also force enemies to show a health bar where it would normally not be applicable. While this would normally be completely and utterly useless, Jack has showed that he can access an abstruse, supremely deadly kind of ability known as Sepulchritude that makes a perfect match to such an act.

Normally, Sepulchritude - "The Final Comb Rave" and "The Strongest Attack", as Jade has called it - Requires the use of an unknown number of specific items to be accessible. However, Jack was able to use his own massive energy derived from Bec's Prototyping to bypass this rule for an unknown span of time. While activated, one of Sepulchritude's most deadly qualities is the capacity to treat an enemy's health bar as a firmly tangible target rather than as an abstract concept represented by an image. This enabled him to critically wound the Shadow, a nigh omnipotent being, in one hit. Potentially, this could allow Jack to easily defeat a slew of enemies; however, knowing how these things work, it's guaranteed that such a powerful attack has a significant price to pay.

Yet what makes Jack one of the most dangerous villains in BZPB history is also his greatest Achilles heel: Just as he inherited Bec's surreal level of power, he also inherited his unwavering devotion and love for Jade Harley. To him, she still is and always will be his one and only master - Nothing in all of creation could bring him to harm a single hair on her head. Additionally, it seems that such influences can hinder Jack in battle; such as being compelled to "play fetch" wiith spherical objects.

Trivia

 * As posted in a thread on the Forums, Jack Noir's themesong is Black by Toby "Radiation" Fox. (YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NACWZBDtN8&amp;feature=related )
 * Canonically, the themesong for Jack Noir in his Bec Noir form would be "Bec Noir" by Will Kommor, from the Homestuck OST album "coloUrs and mayhem: Universe B".
 * Jack delivered possibly the most brutal defeat to a User thus far - Burning one of the foe's arms out of existence up to the shoulder, before stabbing User Zev thrice, in the chest and out the back each time, then launching him clear out of BZPower's city limits with a concentrated shockwave.
 * While Jack is using his wings to travel beyond reality's normal borders, they increase in size and blaze with the same green-white radiance as Jack's energy attacks.
 * Thus far, Jack has not said a single word of actual dialogue - Only bestial growls, roars, etc., etc.