“Vault hunters look for the new vault, the vault hunter gets killed. “Fear of the monster is more of a desire” (Cohen 1996) During Borderlands 2 we see Jack truly shine as a villain and his complete transition into a monster. Jack shows off how rich and powerful he is even going so far as to finally name himself Handsome Jack. Jack covered up his scared face with his handsome mask to disguise the damage done and also to hide his symbol of knowledge. “I Just Bought A Pony Made Of Diamonds Because I’m Rich.” – Handsome Jack borderlands 2 Now in borderlands 2 Jack has ascended to the top of the cooperation through murder and extortion. “The monster prevents mobility ”- (Monster theory 1996). It is here Jack gains the theory of the monster polices the border of possibility. Towards the end of the Pre-Sequel Jack’s face gets burned and scarred with a vault treasure that would give him the ultimate amount of knowledge as well as being able to see briefly into the future. His sanity is slowly tested as we see him shift from the hero to the villian. During this journey Jack is betrayed multiple times by vault hunters and his friends.
Colonel Zarpadon representing the mining operation on the moon of Pandora threatens Jack and the Hyperion corporation for stepping foot in their area. Jack views himself as the hero of the story by being the lone force to stand up to the dahl corporation. The hyperion corporation is in charge of scouting out planets for resources and colonizations. Beginning his story he is a well intentioned man with the hopes of bringing peace to Pandora, an alien planet where humans are not the origin species. We are first introduced to Jack’s story in the game Borderlands the Pre-Sequel. The theories, The monster’s body is a cultural body, The monster stands on the threshold of… Becoming the Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire, The Monster always escapes, and the monster polices the borders of the possible are going to be the theories that define Jack as a monster. To the monster who pretended to have grown past his errors only to return back to his monstrous ways in the Pre-Sequel. We then are introduced to the absolute monster that is Jack in Borderlands 2, a monster that will murder anything and anyone to obtain his goal of opening the vault on pandora. His story in the Pre-Sequel is that of a hero who saved the moons of pandora from being obliterated and thus indirectly saving the planet of pandora, while on this journey Jack encounters betrayal and events that would then send him spiralling down the path of a monster.
Handsome Jack is the “hero” of his story in the game Borderlands the Pre-Sequel, the main villain in Borderlands 2, and a returning character in the game series Tales From the Borderlands. The story of the Handsome Jack is that of a hero turned into a monster, however Jack thought that he was the hero of his story. “Everyone thinks they’re the hero of their own story” – Handsome Jack 2015.