Jack-O' Valentine is a character in the Guilty Gear series. She is one of the three servants of That Man, alongside Raven and I-No. Her past is shrouded in mystery, and her own memories are vague. Because her awakening remains incomplete, she cannot function without her mask and candy.
Design
Jack-O' Valentine is a slender young woman with fair skin, red eyes and long white hair with red highlights on the underside that goes past her hips. Her most prominent trait is the compass-like pale yellow halo hovering above her head.
Jack-O's main outfit consists of a white skin-tight one piece that loosens up and has slits at her forearms and calves. She wears a rosary-like necklace, a black belt with a gold skull buckle on her waist, and her arms are decorated with similar belts. She also wears black and red gloves and matching heels.
She also wears a Jack-o'-lantern-like removable mask and prison weight chained to her left ankle. Both are black in color and give off a light green lantern effect in their skull-themed eyes, nose and mouth.
Personality
Because of the fact that she was reactivated after a hasty memory core dump, she has fragmented memories of her original self. This has also resulted in her having a split personality: A child-like one that is playful and cheerful, and that of a mature young woman. Because she is in an unstable state, the tone of her voice changes rapidly.
She is shown to be extremely knowledgeable about both magic and technology. She is able to state precise information about a concept, object or person simply by examining them, such as how she knew the year and the speed of Johnny's ship, the power and the magical knowledge of Bedman, and even deeper subjects like I-No's origins.
Story
Background
Throughout the year 2073, Aria Hale underwent conversion into a Gear, named "Justice", and was given the ability to control all other Gears so that she would be able stop the Gears' deployment as weapons of war by the U.S. But, during her activation test in 2074, Justice's body and consciousness were compromised by the Universal Will.
The Universal Will replicated Justice's DNA and used it to create the Variable X Gears to assimilate Earth into the Backyard. To stop the entity from fully materalizing, That Man ordered a manual override that transferred command of Justice's control systems over to himself and had Justice unwillingly fire her Gamma Ray at Japan, the source of the Variable X phenomenon.
Because Justice's mind was warped by the Universal Will's influence, her memories and soul became altered. That Man managed to extract a partial replica of her memory core and used it as a base to create Jack-O'. As a genetic copy and a synthesis of Aria's fragmented memory, she is designed to overwrite Justice's individual information sectors, like a physical patch. As such, Jack-O' is "half-Aria", and the ultimate Valentine that will recreate Aria if she fuses with Justice.
Guilty Gear X
In Lightning the Argent, Jack-O' is seen alongside That Man, Raven and I-No after Raven completes his assignment in London.
In Guilty Gear X Plus, she is briefly shown as a hooded shadow in one of Sol Badguy's ending alongside with Raven, I-No and That Man, but then she is put to sleep until the time for Justice's revival.
Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-
Jack-O' is awakened by I-No, but in a childish outburst, Jack-O' escapes to the outside world to have some fun. Among her encounters, Bedman injures her left leg. Sol, Sin Kiske and Ramlethal Valentine end up apprehending Jack-O', and Sol demands that she show her face. She reveals her incredible resemblance to Aria, shocking Sol, and explains her role. Jack-O' then teleports away with Raven, awaiting for That Man to free himself.
In the meantime Jack-O' and Raven watch over Sol through a portal and talk with each other. Raven treats her wound, and Jack-O' wonders why he's being so nice; affected by Ramlethal's change, he wonders when was the last time any of them had a normal "human" conversation, and Jack-O' calls him a "softie". When That Man comes back, he and Jack-O' teleport to Illyria Castle to make an uneasy truce with Sol, Ky Kiske, Dr. Paradigm and Leo Whitefang, revealing to them the truth about Sol's conversion, Justice's purpose, the Universal Will's identity, and the Absolute World.
After they locate Ariels, Elphelt Valentine and Justice, Jack-O', Sol, Ky and Sin travel to their encounter in Johnny's Gullinkambi Dark. During the journey, Sin wonders if his mother may be related to Sol; Jack-O' says she is qualified to answer, but Sol nervously shuts the conversation down. Afterwards, Ky asks Jack-O' about her opinion on humanity's fate, to which she replies that people should have the freedom to choose.
While the others keep Ariels at bay, Jack-O' positions herself above Elphelt and prepares for the Saint Oratorio that will fuse her with Justice. After Raven and Ramlethal's intervention, Jack-O' receives the Saint Oratorio (that fatally weakens Ariels thanks to Sol), while Elphelt is released. However, the unconscious Justice/Aria denies becoming human, tormented by her rampage, and Jack-O' needs more energy to override her consciousness and force the merge. At that moment, Daryl's fleet appears with the intent of eradicating Justice while she is still incomplete. The ships fire at her and Sol, who stays behind to power up a Second Oratorio with his Junkyard Dog MK III. Thanks to Axl Low's time compression, Jack-O' receives the energy and fuses with Justice. Both Jack-O' and Sol are saved by a dying Ariels, who entrusts her daughters to Sol. Jack-O's halo disappears and her hair turns completely red, now transformed in a new Aria.
Abilities
As an incomplete synthesis of Aria's memories and being the Scales of Juno, Jack-O' has immense destructive power, which can be seen in her I Want Out, where she hits her opponent with enough force that the explosion can be seen from space. She is strong enough to repel Bedman, while Sol Badguy was taken aback by her strength.
Her weapon of choice is a iron pumpkin flail which allows her to trap the enemy, fly, and shoot green blasts of magic. She can also create "white pumpkin houses" that summon three kinds of minions: one with a spear that can perform combo attacks, another with a sword that can fly, and the last one with a staff that can perform anti-aerial attacks. The house's level can increase, becoming more resistant and deploying minions with upgraded weapons. Jack-O' can boost her minions' strength or even make them explode alongside their houses. She can also create an Aegis-like barrier to protect herself from projectile attacks and her own explosions.
Jack-O's gameplay has been described as "comical", which is very clearly shown in her many outright goofy animations such as her crouch and back-walk.
Musical themes
- Juno - Guilty Gear Xrd
Quotes
Allusions
- Her name as well as her mask, is a reference to the carved pumpkin Jack-O' Lantern, often associated to the holiday of Halloween and the German power metal band Helloween.
- In addition, her Instant Kill is named "I Want Out" after a Helloween song.
- The name "Gallow's Eve" on her pant leg is a reference to former Canadian metal band Gallow's Eve.
Trivia
- Like the first generation Valentine, Jack-O's blood is Type O, while Ramlethal and Elphelt's cannot be analyzed. This could be because they are technically less human and improved Valentines, and do not physically resemble Aria.
- Her playstyle is based on the real-time strategy gameplay of Guilty Gear 2: Overture.
- Jack-O' has made guest playable appearances in the following games: Seven Knights, Chain Chronicle, Last Period, Crusaders Quest, and Elemental Battle.
External links
- GGXRD-R2/Jack-O' at Dustloop Wiki