Jack Wright

Jack Wright is a young American Namesake attached to Calliope. He is known as Jack the Giant-Killer on his Namesake World. Jack's rooms at Calliope are crammed with plants, and some New Age-ish crystals.

Appearance:

The giant Thunderdell described him as 'a handsome world-traveler', 'pale like a bag of flour and speckled with red'--a combination that has mythic connotations in Irish folklore. His eyes appear to be green or gray-brown, and his hair is a fiery red, kept longish and loose. He is tall and lean.

Namesake Powers and Abilities:
Jack's Namesake world passed on his tools of trade: boots. a sword, and shield. He reveals later that he has a 'bag of holding', a sack capable of carrying anything you put inside it. We have yet to see if the boots are the 7-league boots of fairy tales.

Jack can track down any giant he is supposed to kill because he can hear their heartbeat, thus disclosing their secret location. Like other Namesakes, he can 'feel' magic and tell a little bit about it. After reluctantly forced to murder a giantess the splashed blood permanently bonded to his hand and gave him the giant's telekinesis This makes him a formidable fighter...when the powers are working."'This stupid hand grants me an intermittent capacity to make things float. Makes sense. Giants used to be cloud people.' (Jack Wright)"

Personality:
Jack grew up as a troubled youth, 'a wuss from Harrisburg ' with a rap sheet in Pennsylvania in the U.S. The family was poor and his mother and grandfather often fought. Being shot triggered the portal to his Namesake World. He returned under the eye of Calliope, who gave the whole family a 'fresh start' with his grandfather going with him to England as his guardian, and his mother staying behind and starting a new family. His grandfather speaks Irish and Jack mentions Christmas opłatek so he may be Polish too--redheads are very rare among the Polish, though!.

Team Bulldozer
Jack, Alice Purcell, and Wendy Shepard are often assigned newly-discovered worlds to visit. As Namesakes they are immune to disease and understand any language--but their very presence can 'trigger events' on these worlds. Jason calls them 'Team Bulldozer', and Wendy admits it started after they 'incited a few riots'. When Alice asked if they remembered their accidentally toppling a government in Orkon, Jack snaps back with unusual heat: 'That was accidental? Women didn't have the right to vote or any power. Coulda swore we did that on purpose." Despite their nearly-constant clashing and sibling-like bickering of personality, approach, policy, and...everything else, the three are solid friends and devoted members of the team, loyal to Calliope...but not blindly so.

Time flows irregularly between Namesake worlds; Jack returned from his second journey years older and more mature. He is normally cheerful and outgoing and his core is street-smart and intelligent; he pays close attention to those around him. This leads to frequent comments such as 'these eyes don't miss much' or using his superhuman power of 'having eyeballs.' Under the lighthearted banter is a serious drive to nurture his friends and family--and push them into living their best lives even if Wendy Shepard calls him a 'meddlesome Yank'. He is confident enough in himself to joke about wearing frilly work aprons at his grandfather's candy shop, or a unicorn T-shirt. He has a reputation for jumping to rescue damsels in distress. Jack is fundamentally kind and loyal.

He forgave his mother's abandonment of him as a child. When she re-married he was proud of his resultant stepsisters Allison and Connie. When he was tragically separated from his wife Penta he chose to spend the rest of his life in the 'Lonely Hearts Club' because she was the only one for him. He still wears their wedding ring in a chain around his neck and reminds others to not be like him, and seek love. His hard-won wisdom reaches Warrick Chopper when the young warlock is conflicted about his place between the worlds of Earth and Oz. "Inter-world relationships are rough. So no matter what world you decide to call home...it'll be difficult either way. I've got your back, whichever way you choose. There's no shame in bailing. There's no selfishness in staying." Despite the fact that Penta is mostly likely dead and would never willingly leave her world, her people, and her beloved siblings, Jack never, ever stops looking for her. "Every new world, I try to look."

The Giants
The First Giant: Tyne

Jack came to his Namesake world confused and gravely wounded. After he recovered he learned about their world and was horrified that his entire purpose was to kill a giant--a member of the same race that was kindly hosting him. Tyne was a giantess of 'storm and water' and rampaging through human villages, even killing Penta's father. She was unusually large, possibly a river giant (Tyne is a river in England, and her heart was secreted away in a stream). Jack struggled to track down her heart but initially failed. A strange being named Thunderdell, who claimed to be a friend of Tyne, led him to Tyne's heart. It had been corrupted with many needles. If we are to believe Thunderdell, Tyne had followed his orders and rampaged to expediate his plans to seize Penta for himself. Jack refused to murder Tyne, but Thunderdell forced him to stab her heart through. Tyne's blood spilled on his hand and the trauma sent him back to Earth where he found his grandfather and Alice. Jack admitted that he still has nightmares about nearly dying in the watery trap that contained Tyne's heart.

The Second Giant: Thunderdell

Jack's second trip to Penta's world was just as unexpected. He found himself falling through the atmosphere and managed to clutch on to the Giant Beanstalk that connected the world's earth and air realms. Climbing up he found Thunderdell's sinister castle. In it, Penta and many other kidnapped princesses were held prisoner, forced to entertain Thunderdell as he played gracious host. The princesses disguised Jack and kept Thunderdell distracted as he searched for Thunderdell's heart. Unlike Tyne, Thunderdell's heart was carefully split and contained in many small jars. Only when Jack destroyed the very last sliver did Thunderdell 'die' though his personality survived as a corrupted Shadow Bug after Penta's world vanished.

Thunderdell is not readily recognizable as a giant in his day to day form--he is a shape-shifter. We see him in his 'charming' personality as a dark-skinned, elfin-like being with long, dark hair. His other aspect, a multiheaded storm of wind and fury, is much more terrifying. In folklore, Thunderdel or Thunderdale is a giant pitting himself against Jack...and ultimately losing.

The Shadow Thunderdell

Jack gave a rib to the Bone Door to return to Penta's World. To his horror there was nothing but a black void and he was trapped within it. For an unknown time he existed in this void until he he finally called out in despair...and Thunderdell answered him as a fragmented, bonkers-insane personality that knew only hunger. Jack's 'luck of the Jack' came through one last time, and Calliope yanked him back to safety before he could be corrupted and/or eaten.

Thunderdell's return remains a possibility, as a) things appear to be coming to a head with Calliope and the Shadows, and b) Jack's function as a Namesake may not technically be over until Thunderdell is completely destroyed. Either way, the Djinn Parbenau has restored Jack's stagnate telekinesis in return for stories so his fighting abilities are back in the game--he may very well need them.