Jack Joyce

Jack Joyce
Biographical information
Age	28 or 29
Born	June 2, 1987 or 1988
Status	Alive
Relatives	Anthony Joyce (father, deceased), Kathryn Joyce (mother, deceased), William Joyce (brother)
Resides	Bangkok, Thailand (formely) Atlanta, Georgia (formerly) Riverport, Massachusetts
Weapon(s) used	Varies
Physical description
Gender	Male
Nationality	American
Height	6'0"
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Blue
Game information
First Appearance	Riverport University Experiment
Actor	Gethin Anthony (formerly) Sean Durrie (formerly) Shawn Ashmore
Face Model	Gethin Anthony (formerly) Sean Durrie (formerly) Shawn Ashmore
Mocap Actor	Gethin Anthony (formerly) Sean Durrie (formerly) Shawn Ashmore

Jack Joyce is the younger brother of William Joyce and the childhood friend of Paul Serene. During the events of October 2016, Jack returned to his hometown in Riverport at the behest of his friend, Paul, on the notion that Paul needed help with a "life changing" project. When he learns that Paul and his brother had created a time machine, Jack helps Paul activate the machine and unknowingly creates a fracture in time. When time begins to break down, Jack becomes the enemy and target of Monarch Solutions, headed by a viably aged Paul Serene. When it appears his brother is killed by Paul, Jack attempts to avenge William before he is approached by Beth Wilder, a Monarch employee invested in preventing the End of Time caused by the fracture.

He serves as the main playable protagonist in Quantum Break.

Biography

Early Life

Jack Joyce is the younger brother of William Joyce. In December of 1999, his parents were killed in a car accident. He was left in the care of William, who believed himself ill-fit to raise his brother. After the death of their parents, Jack and William's relationship became strained and distant. In at least one instance, William blamed Jack for the death of their parents. In light of his brother's emotional absence, Jack decided to raise himself as he became more and more independent of his brother.

Jack maintained a close relationship with his friend, Paul Serene, with whom he was a proactive troublemaker. When the two were in their early teens they happened upon a suicide. When the man fell to his death, the two kept the incident to themselves.

Jack and Paul's trouble making ways persisted well into young adulthood. Jack was presumably involved in a number of protests, while he and Paul maintained "slightly illegal" activities. During a trip to Utah with Paul, Jack stole a ram statuette from a police station in Utah while he and Paul Serene were on a road trip. Jack was also arrested on numerous charges of grand theft auto, simple assault and theft attempts.

Departure from Riverport

In 2010, Jack decided to leave his hometown and lead a nomadic lifestyle. Jack remained in e-mail correspondence with Paul, but fell out of touch with William. During his time abroad, Jack received weapons training Laos and presumably settled in Bangkok, Thailand. He was arrested in 2015 for weapons-related charges, but the charges were dropped for undisclosed reasons.

Sometime in October of 2016, he was contacted by Paul, who reluctantly requested his help on a project he and William had been working on at Riverport University. Concerned for his friend, Jack obliged Paul's request and was flown first class back to Riverport.

Characteristics

Personality

After the death of his parents, Jack was forced into the role of caretaker and adult. Despite the legal guardianship of William, Jack was largely left to raise himself and took care of his brother in conjunction. As an adult, the deterioration of his relationship with William motivated to Jack leave his hometown and become a drifter. Jack had brushes with the law and would get into trouble on a regular basis with his best friend Paul. While Jack never considered himself a troublemaker, he was prone for getting into trouble as easily as he got out of it.

Despite the distance between himself and William, Jack remained loyal to both him and Paul. Jack's loyalty to his family and friends ran deep enough that he would drop everything to help them. He considered the bond between himself and the two men sacred. Jack is the opposite of Paul, taking jobs and doing whatever he needed to make ends meet. Quick on his feet and willing to take risks, Jack was never without work for long, legal or illegal. However, Jack knew the difference between right and wrong and would only go so far in certain circumstances.

Jack was prone to disobeying authority, feeling rules were more like suggestions for him. He openly admitted that he was never great at listening. When Paul suggested that Project Promenade was somewhat illegal, Jack doesn’t question helping him. However, when the time machine malfunctioned and created a fracture in time, Jack felt a personal responsibility to set things right.

Jack was jarred by the sudden reappearance of an aged Paul Serene and his willingness to kill anyone who stood in his way. When Jack's brother or Riverport University's protesting students become victims of Paul's ideal of sacrificing for the greater good, Jack is motivated by revenge, unable to stand by and allow Paul's cold-blooded actions to continue without opposition. Though he attempts to avenge his brother by killing Paul himself, Beth Wilder convinces him to help her stop Monarch from allowing time to breakdown and steal back his brother's Countermeasure device. While people like Beth, Paul and Will were convinced that the events of the past cannot be changed, Jack remained steadfast in the belief that he could try.

Chronon Abilities

Jack is identified by Martin Hatch as a "Shifter", an individual affected by Chronon particles, which allows them to exist and move freely within Stutters in time. When Jack was exposed to the Chronon particles released by the malfunctioning time machine in Riverport University, he learned he could manipulate the Chronon field around him after a violent burst of energy prevented Monarch security from shooting his brother to death. Following this discovery, Jack' began to manipulate and control time itself at will. As a shifter, Jack's ability allows Jack to become a blur while dashing, presumably moving fast enough outside the a normal time flow that enemies will lose or cannot track him. Additionally, he can create shields to protect himself or freeze an isolated pocket of time to halt an enemy. He also possesses strong precognition powers, enabling him to predict the outcome in future events, as well as view echoes of the past in order to track and locate objects and people. For example, he was shown using his precognition powers when trying to locate his brother's car.

Jack's powers allow him to operate within stutters in time; he can pull objects or people also affected by Chronon particles stuck inside the Zero State into his sphere of influence. If the individual or object has not been affected by Chronon particles, he cannot free them from the stutter. Jack's Chronon abilities grow stronger and develop the more he uses them. However, like all shifters, he runs the risk of being negatively affected by the Chronon energy, and eventually will require treatment to maintain a single, solid form in and out of stutters.

Behind the Scenes

During early production of Quantum Break, Jack Joyce was portrayed by actor Sean Durrie in the 2012 announcement trailer, as well as the E3 2013 trailer and the 2014 Gamescom presentation of the game's mechanics.

According Remedy Entertainment, Durrie was merely a stand in for Shawn Ashmore and was always a supporting character in the game. Prior to the Gamescom Announcement, Ashmore had merely been seen during a motion capture session with Dominic Monaghan with no specifics to his role in the game.

Ashmore spent the better part of two years recording his dialog and working on performance capture. He was not officially announced as Jack Joyce until the 2015 Gamescom event.

Gallery

An image gallery is available for Jack Joyce

Known Inconsistencies

• According to the Jack's Monarch Dossier in the "Hardline/PR" Junction, Jack was born January 12, 1976. However, according to William's whiteboard in Act 4, Part 4, Jack was born June 2nd, but his birthdate is never stated.
• Quantum Break asserts throughout its story that William is the elder brother of Jack Joyce, born in 1978. Jack's birthdate on the Monarch dossier, 1976, is a likely oversight on the part of the developers. Mikko Rautalahti stated that Jack and Paul (the latter before time traveling) were both in their "mid-twenties" in 2016, but could not recount the exact ages.
• According to Jack and William's Dossiers, both brothers stand at 183cm (6'0"). However, Jack is visibly taller than William. Dominic Monaghan, only stands at 5'7" and Shawn Ashmore stands at 5'11".

Trivia

• According to Quantum Break: Zero State, Jack Joyce was born May 27, 1990 and is 26 during the events of the novel's events.
• During the first Junction point, the player can have Paul take the Statuette Jack stole from a police station in Utah. The statue can also be seen in "Monarch Solutions" (Episode 1) if the player chooses to take it.
• Jack is referenced twice in Beth's notebook; once as a "scruffy little boy" in August 2001, and later as Beth's main target.
• In the 2014 Gamescom Demo, Jack is wearing an orange Night Springs T-shirt under his jacket. This is a reference to the Alan Wake Twlight Zone spoof of the same name.
• Jack Joyce's name continues a rhyming pattern in Remedy Entertainment's protagonists and the theme of their games. The name "Joyce" rhymes with "choice", a reference to the idea that the choice actions in the game affect the television show. Remedy previously did this with Max "Payne" and Alan "Wake".