Jakob

* Human
* Danny Jannson
* Robot

"*I want to be me again.*"
"*I don't.*"
—Jakob and Danny Jannson in each other's bodies
**Jakob** is a character on the Prime Video series *Tales from the Loop*. He lives in Mercer, Ohio with his father George Willard, mother Loretta Willard and younger brother, Cole. His grandfather is Russ Willard, founder of the Mercer Center for Experimental Physics (a.k.a. "the Loop") and his grandmother is Klara. He is portrayed by Daniel Zolghadri in his own body, and by Tyler Barnhardt in the body of his friend, Danny Jannson. He was a talented sketch artist and hoped to make a living at drawing, but his parents wanted him to work at the Loop, like they did.

## History

### Body swap

He and his best friend, Danny Jannson, discovered a strange spherical object in the woods of Mercer. To their surprise and shock, after going inside they found that they had switched bodies. Jakob's consciousness was now inside the body of Danny, while Danny's was inside Jakob's. Though they were both rather freaked out by this at first, they decided it would be fun and agreed to live each other's lives, just for the day.

Jakob soon discovered that he did not much enjoy Danny's life. He spent much of the day painting a barn and had to listen to Danny's mother, Kate, believing him to be her son, tell him that she thought he should take a job at the local quarry. Despite this, he agreed when Danny suggested that they remain swapped for another day.

He was shocked when Danny initiated a romance with a girl named May in his body, but Danny told him to relax, saying that he had wanted him to do something for him. He said that if it was for him, they should switch back, saying that he wanted to be himself again. Danny, however, told him that he didn't, that he liked Jakob's life and wanted to remain in his body. At this, Jakob flew into a rage and shoved him. They began fighting and Jakob was tossed out of the house by his own father, George, who had no idea that his son was inside another's body.

Jakob then returned to the object in the woods, making a desperate move to try to get his own body back. This, however, only resulted in the original body of Danny ending up in a coma and Jakob's consciousness being transferred inside a robot body. Danny then continued to live Jakob's life, revealing the truth of the matter only to his sister, Beth.

### Life and death as a robot

Jakob continued to live in the body of the robot for some time, Danny living his life. During that time, his grandfather Russ Willard passed away. One day, Jakob's younger brother, Cole came to visit Danny in Jakob's body, missing the boy he thought was his brother after he moved away from home. Danny revealed to him the truth, that he was not his brother, and that his brother was actually now trapped inside the robot. He showed Cole a sketch of the robot that Jakob had made before they switched bodies and Cole recognized it, once having bullied it by throwing rocks at it. He went to the forest where the robot had taken up residence. He spoke to it and quickly realized that Danny was telling the truth and that the Jakob robot was actually his brother.

For a time, the Jakob robot played kickball with Cole. Cole told him that he would take him back to their parents and they would know what to do. Cole started to get tired, so he asked the Jakob robot if he was able to sleep. The Jakob robot made a motion to indicate that he could, so together the two of them slept in the forest for a while. When they awoke, the Jakob robot was attacked by another robot that had taken up residence in the forest. When it became clear that the attacking robot seemed inclined to go after Cole, the Jakob robot put a fierce fight, eventually triumphing over the other robot. Cole then tried to lead him out of the forest, only to realize that he wasn't following. The Jakob robot had lost a critical component during the fight and without it ended up coming apart. Cole then mourned the loss of his brother by surrounding him with pine cones, something he had always collected. Not long after this, Danny revealed the truth of what had happened to the Willard family, and took him to the forest, where they discovered the robot. The Willards were left to mourn the loss of their son, while Danny went back to live with his real family. The Willards then suffered a double loss, as Cole crossed a stream with unusual properties, which caused him to vanish from time for 20-30 years.

## Appearances

*Although the actor playing Jakob is credited as appearing in most episodes, this listing reflects the actual appearances of either Jakob or his robot form.*

## References

1. ↑ "Transpose"
2. ↑ "Home"