The Darkness

The Darkness is a demon that makes itself known to a every male member of the Estecado family on their 21st birthday. The most recent incarnation of the Darkness is through Jackie Estecado, a mob member living in New York City. The Darkness grants the user superpowers that are powered by darkness, and also the ability to evade death for as long as the Darkness sees fit. The Darkness lives in Hell, a realm known as the Otherworld, where the last carrier of the Darkness, Anthony Estecado, is forced to relive his experiences in World War I, and where Jackie is sent everytime he dies while the Darkness recreates his body. When Jackie rebels against the Darkness in his own realm, the only place where the Darkness is vulnerable, he allows himself to be fully taken in by the demon, and thus gains all of the Darkness' strength. Jackie goes on a bloodthirsty rampage throughout his Uncle Paulie's estate and eventually completely gives in to the demon once Paulie is killed. Centuries Later 13 Years after the events of Death Rivera The Darkness later wielded from inside Human Highland Rivera making him impossible to bring back and most importantly to kill.
== Jackie Estacado ==
Jackie Estacado is a mobster and skilled hitman working for his Uncle Paulie (not a real relative). Jackie was raised in an orphanage after he lost his parents. Jackie had a hard time growing up in the orphanage, though it is where he meets his childhood friend and future girlfriend Jenny.
Jackie Estacado is the current wielder of The Darkness, and hitman for the Franchetti Family mob. He is a very violent and sexual man who, until gaining the powers of The Darkness, lived life in the fast lane. Of course, because of the possibility of impregnating a woman causing his own death through The Darkness, Jackie tries to refrain from sex, to his great frustration. Though Jackie lives life on the wrong side of the law and can kill without remorse, he has a set of morals he follows, and always tries to protect those he cares about.
Jackie joined the Mafia at a very early age, after being recruited by a mafia don named Frankie "Kill-the-children-too" Franchetti. He was picked up at the orphanage after Frankie was prompted by a mysterious stranger named Sonatine, who told Frankie that having Jackie around would bring him tremendous power. Jackie came to the mafia life easily, losing his virginity to a female officer, during interrogation, at age 14. He grew up, or more accurately matured, very quickly, and soon enjoyed the life of sex and violence. However, when he turned 21, his dark powers awakened and he learned of his evil inheritance. At first, this power was a blessing, allowing his job as a professional hitman to run more smoothly and work in more novel ways. However, with this power came many enemies.
Early on, Jackie spent much of his time escaping from or fighting the Angelus (who wants to kill him), and Sonatine and his Brotherhood of The Darkness (who wish to capture him and steal his powers). Eventually, Jackie chose to quit the mob, but found it easier said than done. Jackie had turned on his adoptive father, Don Frankie Franchetti, to get a clean slate and exit from his life of crime after a meeting with Batman. (Batman/Darkness crossover) However, after Jackie's "uncle" Frankie kidnapped Jenny, a childhood friend of Jackie's, Frankie killed her and sent a videotape to Jackie in revenge. Jackie could not take this and called out Frenchetti's mob, leading them to an abandoned warehouse covered in gasoline. When the crew arrived to kill Estacado, Jackie threw down his lighter and blew the place, and all its occupants, to bits. (Darkness vol. 1 #40) Over the course of this series, Jackie makes uneasy alliances with Sara Pezzini, the most recent user of The Witchblade.
Jackie spent two days (or what seemed to him like 'a million years') afterward wandering around Hell, searching for Jenny, until Tom Judge came and gave him hope, a gift that allows men to exit Hell. (Universe #3) Jackie's body was then reconstructed by The Darkness. (Darkness vol. 2 #1)
Jackie returned to find the Franchetti mob taken over by Frankie's cousin, Paulie. Paulie was able to discover Jackie's secret as well as a long-lost sister of Jenny's. Using this information, Paulie blackmailed Jackie into doing hits for him. Along the way, Jackie learned how to construct a gun out of The Darkness. Later, Jackie discovered the identity of the hitman following Jenny's sister, killed him, and took his revenge on Paulie as well. This led to Jackie taking control of the Franchetti family. Since taking control of the Franchetti family, Jackie has vastly expanded his mafia, taken on the Triads, and fought the Russian Mafia in Atlantic City.
Being the Don of the Italian Mafia in New York did not last long however. In search for the revenge the new Angelus once again confronts Jackie (Witchblade First Born #1 - 3) and with the help of Patience the Magdalena and Witchblade wielder Danielle, Estacado manages to crush her, losing everything he had gained. He flees to Sierra Muñoz in hope of establishing a new empire there. (Darkness Vol.3 #1)
Jackie Estacado is also the biological father of Hope Pezzini, Sara Pezzini's mystical child. He himself could not explain it properly apart from saying that it had to with 'Darkness wanting to tip the balance'. The Darkness entity itself confirms this to Patience (Witchblade #110) by saying that it used Jackie as raw material to settle the matter with Angelus once and for all. Recently, (Darkness Vol. 3 # 1-2) Jackie has established a drug cartel in Sierra Muñoz with a narcotic made from his own bodily fluids thanks to the help of a demented, but brilliant scientist named Professor Kirchner. With the Darkness, Jackie is able to take control of the small tropical republic, build himself an impenetrable fortress, an army and eventually, even a lover he calls 'Elle'.
Most of these come at a price since the residents of Sierra Muñoz don't take very kindly to him. To express their distaste, they perform various acts of guerrilla warfare and in their struggle for liberation, they have found themselves a sponsor in their struggle- The United States. Jackie went to fight the army head on and using the Darkness he was able to take out the entire fleet. Returning his fortress he is betrayed by Kirchner and loses control of his power with his darklings turning on him. Jackie was left for dead after being shot in the neck and thrown down a waterfall. Upon his capture he made a deal with the local rebels agreeing to rid the island of the drug. In doing so he crossed paths with Elle and she showed Jackie that she is pregnant with his baby.
The child however killed Elle upon birth, grew to full maturity and killed Professor Kirchner. A fight between father and son ended when Jackie left the creature in the upper atmosphere just as dawn was breaking. The creature was then destroyed by the suns rays as it was completely a construct of the Darkness.
After crashing to Earth following this battle, Jackie was 'broken'. He was only able to draw just enough strength to keep himself alive through a number of fights while trying to stay alive. During one such fight, he was knocked out and taken to a being known as The Souvereign, who was a being capable of inhabiting any statue bearing his likeness, who told Jackie he died for an instant after fighting his child. This separated his soul from his body, leaving him in his broken state. In return for a number of assassinations, the Souvereign would reunite Jackie with his soul.
The assassinations Jackie was sent on were meant to return to hell evil souls, who had previously made a deal with The Sovereign to take over human bodies. After one such mission in Africa, Jackie was enticed by a beautiful woman with a red scarf, who motioned for him to follow. As he was about to follow her into a house, he was stopped by a man who claimed to have once wielded the Darkness, but had completely discarded the power without killing him. He warned Jackie of the trap laid hundreds of years earlier, which Jackie ignored.
Inside the building the woman waited, along with a Djinn which was created to kill Darkness wielders. Eventually, Jackie understood that both the woman and the Djinn were cursed themselves, to live only to kill users of the evil power. By strangling the woman, both were released. Outside, Jackie was once more confronted by the old Darkness user, who explained the power was still completely within him, only held back by his own wish to be without the Darkness. Through a series of insults and physical attacks, Jackie once more drew on the full power of the Darkness, claiming to be sick of people who tried to mess with him. Together with the always talkative Darklings, he stated his desire to return home.
Attacking the building where the Sovereign held his base, Jackie found himself caught in a room flooded with artificial sunlight and a score of bodies controlled by the Sovereign. With the help of the Darklings biting the power lines outside, Jackie destroyed all the bodies, leaving only one man behind. Jackie, impressed with the ability of this man to stay calm where all the other mercenaries had panicked, offered him a job.
Jackie quickly brought together a group of people with distinct skills for a single purpose: to destroy each and every statue that might be used by the Sovereign, effectively removing his presence from Earth. During this time, Jackie was called by Sara who suspected him of robbing a number of New York banks. During a meeting in broad daylight Sara warned Jackie to stay away from the city, not wanting to tell her daughter Hope that mommy had killed daddy. Jackie agreed and instructed his new employees that under no circumstance were they to enter the city of New York.Jackie and histeamthen go on a world tour finding and destroying stone bodies that The Sovereign could use as hosts. One of these trips takes him to Fort Knox where a host statue is held.During the raid Jackie discovers that The Soverign has already taken over the statue as it is radiating light.Jackie is forced to take the Soverign-possessed statue with them he orders his team to detonate the explosives they had set earlier. Unfortunately for Jackie, he falls from the van and is left helpless as tanks and marines surround him on orders by Major White,who somehow survived the explosion back in Sierra Munoz.
Jackie was taken in by Paulie and taught the ways of the mob. Uncle Paulie merely needed another Hitman, which is why he decided to take Jackie out of the orphanage and raise him as a mobster. Jackie was an intelligent boy and learned the Mafia's tricks quickly and soon became one of the best mobsters ruling the streets of New York.
He committed various crimes from murdering and drug trafficking to planting bombs. Things continue to go well on Uncle Paulie's side, but the other side of the Chicago family becomes interested in hiring Jackie Estacado and using him as a spy. Eventually Uncle Paulie was informed via Chief Shrote's agent and Paulie decides to eliminate Jackie himself in an attempt to stop the Chicago family from reaching him. On Jackie's 21st birthday he was sent on a fake mission that ended up with Jackie being in a bomb explosion. Luckily it is his 21st birthday, and Jackie survives that accident and joins his previous ancestors in becoming the host to a terrible being, the Darkness. After surviving the attempt on his life Jackie makes Uncle Paulie even more desperate by attacking his drug sources and findng his money hole; as a result his girlfriend Jenny is killed by a crooked cop and partner to Paulie, Chief Shrote. In response, Jackie commits suicide, only to find himself resurrected against his will later on. Later Jackie comes to terms with the fact that he is immortal and can not be killed by normal means . 
In Jackie's quest for revenge he travels to hell and back using the powers of the Darkness. This includes demonic minions that Jackie can summon called "darklings", or using the "creeping dark", "dark tentacles", and black holes, all the while finding out about the past of the darkness and trying to maintain his conscious thought and will separate from the Darkness. 
 
Jackie has long dark hair, which almost seems like a part of the dark leather trenchcoat he wears. Contrary to the comics he is shy and doesnt have a sense of humor. In the beginning of the game he is given twin M1911 pistols by his dying friend. He always carries these nickel plated engraved pistols, and these are the only weapons he doesnt throw away. 
 
In the comic books when Jackie uses The Darkness he usually transforms physically, he calls it his armor, and his body, including his face gets covered up in Darkness. This feature is not available in the game, as Starbreeze chose to make things look more realistic in the game, and the armor looked too unrealistic, however, when The Darkness is activated, Jackie's eyes glow, and you can see through mirrors that there is a black hole behind him from which The Darkness spreads.
== Human Highaland Rivera ==
== 17 Years after Death Rivera. ==
== 3 Lovers Of The Lunra Light ==
== Control ==