Handsome Jack: Despotic Ruler or Benevolent Space King?

If you want to talk about video game villains—all-star, major league villains—then you have to talk about Handsome Jack. The CEO of Hyperion and de facto dictator of Pandora, Handsome Jack has charisma to spare. Whenever Jack taunts you and your fellow Vault Hunters in Borderlands 2, you feel the need to laugh with him and throttle him, usually at the same time.

Despite his nefarious ways, however, there’s a small but vocal group of fans that support Jack, and see him as a misunderstood hero. With Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! out now, we figured there was no better time to revisit this issue. Handsome Jack: Despotic Ruler or Benevolent Space King? You decide.

We receive multiple hints that Angel, were she not under Jack’s control, would be a massive danger to herself or others. Jack blames Angel for the disappearance of her mother, and says so point blank: "I know you think I'm a monster. You think I enslaved Angel. But you didn't see what she did to her mother. I had to restrain Angel's power. You get that? I had to." When she dies at the hands of the Vault Hunters, Jack rescinds the bounty on their heads so that he can kill them himself.

Even if she killed her mother (and why should we take Jack’s word for it?), Angel is certainly abused by Jack in the aftermath. Jack never treats his Siren daughter with any fatherly protection. Instead, he chains her to a digital network and gets her addicted to Eridium. And although Jack ‘loves’ his daughter, it might be more accurate to say that he loves her for what she can do for him—nothing more. Angel herself is content to die; she insists that, “Jack ended my life long ago.” Yeesh. That certainly won’t win him any ‘Father of the Year’ awards.

For one of the side missions, you go to Jack’s Grandma’s house to check up on the old girl. Lying on her bed is a Buzz Axe, and if you get closer, you learn that it was a “disciplinary weapon used by Handsome Jack's grandmother. About as painful as it looks.” Yes, you read that correctly. Grandma disciplined Jack with a freaking Buzz Axe. This might explain why he has so much trouble relating to people—just a theory. Jack may be the villain of this game, but you can’t help but feel a little sorry for him. With family like that, he didn’t have much of a chance to begin with.

You also learn, on that very same side mission, that Jack sent bandits to kill his grandmother. When Jack realizes that she’s been reduced to a blood smear on the floor, he guffaws and sighs in relief. This feels a bit overboard, no? Yes, Jack: Grandma was a horrible, sadistic person. At some point, however, you have to take responsibility for your own actions, mass killings included.

Throughout the game, Jack talks about cleansing Pandora of its criminal elements. He’s referring, of course, to the bandits that infect every area of the planet, and believe us—we’re not fans of Bandits either. From Fleshrippers to Bloodshots to Slabs to Sawtooths, they’re all a massive pain in the behind. They rape, pillage, cannibalize, and kill—we don’t see a convincing point for their existence either.

Basically, Jack classifies anyone who opposes him as a bandit. He refers to the Vault Hunters as bandits, he considers the citizens of Sanctuary to be bandits, and he considers Roland, the leader of the Crimson Raiders (and arguably, one of the only ‘good guys’ in the game) to be a bandit.

But at least these people are actively taking up arms against him, and have somewhat earned that distinction. Jack also kills people for slight, insignificant reasons. Question his decisions? Dead. Mention his wife? Dead. Rush him with a spoon? Oh, you’ll get your eyes gouged out first. You may want a leader who deals swiftly with the people he hates, but it’s a real problem if your leader starts to hate everyone.

Back in the 1960’s, Walt Disney had the idea to build a utopian city that’s free of crime and poverty. It eventually became the EPCOT theme park (the one with the huge golf ball at its center). In subverted, Walt Disney-esque fashion, Jack builds the city of Opportunity—his sleek, futuristic vision for what a peaceful Pandora would look like. Jack even plans on paying the people to live in the first Hyperion-funded city. What a win-win scenario!

This starry-eyed plan would be perfect if it was equally accessible to everyone, regardless of class. But of course, this is not the case. It’s for the richest families only—the workers who built the city don’t have a chance in hell of getting to live there. But they will be executed if they don’t work hard enough, so there’s that. Even if you get a Golden Ticket into the place, would you want it? Littering is punishable by death, after all. The city of Opportunity means cleanliness—cleanliness as far as the eye can see. OR ELSE!

Let’s be real: If you had your pick of planets, Pandora would not the first, second, or third choice. The place is extremely dangerous. Bandits are always out for your blood, and if it’s not the humans, the animals are dangerous enough by themselves. Skags. Threshers. Spiderants. In light of all this, Handsome Jack’s promise—that he’ll wipe the slate clean and start new—sure sounds tempting. He may have to lead with force, and many people may die. But you know the old saying: To make an omelet, you might have to break a few eggs.

Who are we kidding? Let’s get this straight: Handsome Jack’s plan to reboot Pandora involves unleashing a massive, terrible monster? That doesn’t seem like a well thought-out course of action. Big angry monsters have a tendency to act like, well, big angry monsters. They’re hard to control, and once loose, they’re hard to stop. Innocent men, women, and children (read: poor people) can and will die. And even if the Warrior destroys the worst elements of Pandora’s criminal culture, who’s to say that Handsome Jack will handle it? Sure, he may have control of it when he frees it, but will he maintain that level of control? Would you be willing to bet your planet on that? Before unleashing an ancient, unquantifiable weapon of mass destruction, it might be good to exhaust every other option.

Your opinion of Handsome Jack boils down to the following question: What price are you willing to pay for peace? In our opinion, the price for peace becomes too high when you’re committing mass genocide in its name. Handsome Jack definitely falls into the category of Despotic Ruler—a man who commits horrible acts in the name of high morals, when in reality, he’s just doing it for himself. But he wasn’t always this way; it was a descent into decadence, and there was a gradual erosion of his high-minded principles. Go cop Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and learn the backstory of the man behind the mask.