John/Relationships

## Family

### William H. Doe

William H. Doe is the author of *Unordinary,* and dedicated said book to his son, John. He is the man responsible for helping John get back on his feet and teaching his son both poker and self-defense. Like any good father, Mr. Doe is concerned for John's well-being and calls him every now and then to check on him or even flies over to visit. However, William does not approve of John's choice of living as a cripple and lying to his best friend, but ultimately leaves the choice up to his own son in hopes that he wouldn't ruin himself this time.

### Jane

Jane is the mother of John, although she wasn't present in his life. According to William, she is the one who granted him his ability. John doesn't know much about her since William rarely mentions her.

## Wellston Private High School

### Seraphina

John's friendship with Seraphina came about accidentally. Her unwillingness to intervene in the conflict between him and two bullies on his first day at Wellston Private High School left him quite disgruntled. When she later demanded he hand over the slice of cake he acquired, he let it fall on the floor in a petty display of payback. Tensions between them reached new heights when they were paired for a writing assignment. Despite clearly not understanding the material, John refused to submit to Seraphina's demand that she do all the work and ace the assignment for both of them. When his work ethic cost them an B+, Seraphina stormed off to make up for his ignorance. He only understood her frustration when he overheard other students maliciously gossiping about her falling behind academically. With her situation being something he could certainly sympathize with, he stood up for her and made every effort not to drag her down anymore. His considerate actions did not go unappreciated. Their renewed teamwork paid off, and John invited her to celebrate their passing grade with boba drinks.

John's opinion of her changed completely after that assignment. He became the second person after Leilah to call Seraphina "Sera", demonstrating their closeness towards each other. He liked that she, the strongest student in school, was unashamed of having a supposed cripple for a best friend. Even though it wasn't perfect at times, with her coy teasing and dragging him to go shopping against his will, John treasured the time they spent together. Fortuitously, Seraphina was a good listener, and did not silence him when he spoke about *Unordinary* and its ideals, even though she was skeptical about it at first. The only thing that truly frustrated John during these early days of friendship was the reckless attitude Seraphina adopted during a lifetime of being on top of the hierarchy. But he was unable to bring himself to warn her of such folly by sharing his own personal experiences of ruling his old school's student body. Seraphina was, for the most part, unaware of John's past and ability, and John preferred it that way. His biggest fear was to have his best friend learn the truth about him and call him "Monster," just as Claire did. She had come close to discovering his secret several times, but she trusted John to the point of never questioning the lies and half-truths he told to excuse any behavior of his that's strange for a cripple.

Quality time with Seraphina did wonders for John's hostility issues. Even during her suspension, he was able to weather the increased abuse he suffered with a call to her after school. After contact was cut off on both sides, John was on the verge of relapsing to his old ways. When trying to reach out to Arlo ended in disaster, returned home convinced that there was no worth in the world. Seraphina's unexpected return brought him out of this mindset, but he was far from level-headed to welcome her back properly. By the time he calmed down enough to remember to resume his cripple act, Seraphina had already taken notice of his despair and wanted an explanation. Thus began his efforts to hide the new violent developments that had begun at Wellston with cover stories. Now that his ability was discovered by other students, his fears of Seraphina breaking ties with him grew worse. Things only got more complicated when Seraphina lost her ability. John felt unease when Seraphina began using Unordinary as guideline, considering he gave up on the book himself prior to their reunion. He knew from experience that sticking your neck out for others was sure to attract trouble, especially when you couldn't adequately protect yourself. Sure enough, when her altruism led to her being attacked, her nervous reaction clued others in to her predicament. John aggressively pushed for her to not draw attention to herself while she was vulnerable, going so far as to admit that the cheery disposition she brought out of him did not make the bullying he suffered any less horrible. In response, Seraphina shot back that she was following the example he established. Additionally, she once more confronted him over secrets she knew he was keeping from her, namely how Arlo wound up in her call history during the attempted kidnapping. Though a looming reality put further strain on their friendship, John prioritized maintaining his secret, and told another half-truth to throw Seraphina off the scent of him overpowering Arlo. While this bought him time to continue playing cripple, Seraphina's ability-loss soon became public knowledge.

With Seraphina's loss of influence, both friends were targeted for attacks. Seraphina finally broke down, and John's assurances were decreasingly less comforting. Distraught with the fact that he couldn't help her in public without jeopardizing their friendship, John began disguising himself and hospitalizing students that dared to cross her. When Seraphina requested that he teach her how he fends off bullies without an ability, he agreed in the hopes it would lift her spirits again. But when this led to her being kidnapped and tortured by other students, John became very possessive of her. He felt that in order to get their old life back, he had to crush any and all threats. Throughout his time as Joker, his aggression lay just below the surface of his cripple persona. Things proceeded without any hitch until the day Seraphina had a look of concern about her. John began to panic when she asked him if he was Joker, and deflected the question by asking where she got the idea. When she explained that it was something Arlo told her, John told her to ignore the insinuation. Despite John's best efforts to hide his secret, Seraphina was able to instantly recognize Joker as John just by observing him in action during his big fight against the other Royals.

When Seraphina began ignoring him in the following weeks, John grew disturbed. He made his way to her dorm and put on his act, maintaining it even when she coldly refused his offer to hang out like they used to. He was so absorbed with reclaiming his former rapport with Seraphina that he couldn't be bothered with the Fake Jokers that arose with the advent of him remaining an anonymous King. That is, until Seraphina was targeted for attack. Even though he helped her take down the attacker, Seraphina had no interest in being friendly with him again. When she indirectly asked him if these attacks were the result he was hoping for, he continued to feign innocence. John didn't know that Seraphina had figured out his secret, but he did fear that the idea had remained in her head after her exchange with Arlo. He convinced himself that he could persuade her to take his word over anybody else's. This shocking disregard for Seraphina's intellect and common sense was born out of a desperation to bring things back to the way they were. Not only did his efforts fail to pay off, but he learned that Seraphina began spending even more time with Arlo. He feared that she was going to join his enemies to attack him, just as Claire did. Rather than admitting his actions was the cause of the new rift between them, he began to blame *her* for everything terrible going on at school.

Seraphina eventually reached out to John for a private discussion. His relief turned to dread when she urged him to admit to being Joker. He made a last-ditch effort to convince her that he was incapable of the atrocities Joker committed. When she revealed that she knew of his history at New Bostin, John furiously realized that the jig was up. As comforting as her companionship had been, keeping his past buried reamined his greatest priority. Seraphina wanting to discuss it further made her a traitorous enemy in John's eyes. He lobbed insults, accusations, and all manner of harsh rhetoric in order to burn all bridges between them. Following this exchange, John kept flip-flopping on whether he wanted her to get out of his sight or remain so he could yell at her more, but his refusal to call her "Sera" anymore remained consistent. He only got worse after she joined other high-tiers at the Safe House club. Once more he grew paranoid that she was part of a conspiracy against him. The powerless Seraphina boldly confronted him and his new lackey Zeke without acknowledging his paranoia, and berated him for never helping to fix the issues at school he spoke so fervently against. Though John refused to acknowledge her point, his hesitation to hit Seraphina indicated that she wasn't as dead to him as he insisted she was.

John later found himself facing Seraphina with her full strength restored. She wasn't so much interested in trying to crush him as she was getting some answers from him. He was still unwilling to talk, but he could no longer silence her inquiries with force. His attacks weren't fast enough to touch her, and her counterattacks made him stagger. Seraphina demanded to know why John continued to antagonize the Royals even after their attempts to change things for the better. With his guard down in the heat of battle, John claimed that nothing good they did would ever wash away the actions that made them monsters. Seraphina then asked whether this was how John really felt about himself. The question brought John's guilty conscience screaming to the surface. Unable to bear it, John tried cocooning himself from his own memories. But Seraphina didn't quit there, and she broke through his reinforced barrier to deliver a message. Looking him straight in the eye, she told him that his mistakes didn't make him a monster. She also refused to accept his claims that he was a fraud, instead believing that the bond they had formed was real. John found himself agreeing with her for the first time in a long while. When she fainted from exhaustion, John called out to her using her nickname. Before he left for his suspension, he visited her in the infirmary. Though she was unconscious and unable to hear him, he nonetheless thanked her for not giving up on him.

Throughout their many tribulations, Seraphina remained the only person in Wellston High that John genuinely cared about. That said, he doesn't quite agree with her belief that he isn't a monster just yet.

### Arlo

John had no interest in having anything to do with Arlo at first. He was prone to accidentally bumping into the King due to not watching where he was going. He apologized for his clumsiness, and Arlo appeared not to hold any grudge over it despite the shocked remarks of onlookers. John had no real fear of the King, and even went to eat lunch on the roof alongside him, despite Arlo reminding him that the area was for Royals only. When John started to get bullied more frequently due to Seraphina's suspension, Arlo once intervened and brought him to the infirmary, not understanding why John refused to fight back. Though initially wary that Arlo was up to something, John began to believe that he could befriend the King just as he befriended Seraphina. Arlo's resistance to John's attempts only seemed to encourage him. Eventually, John would learn that his initial assessment of Arlo's character was right after all. After Arlo had John ambushed and revealed that he masterminded his and Seraphina's separation in order to "put John in his place", reminding John of Claire's betrayal and breakdown, making him snap with immense rage at the King. He unleashes his ability at full strength for the first time in two years to brutally beat Arlo for his cold machinations and put him in his place as a punishment for pushing him beyond the breaking point. Ever since then, John has had nothing except utter contempt towards Arlo for enforcing the school's hierarchy, and goes so far as to believe that Arlo ruined his time at Wellston, which ironically turns out to be the truth. As far as John's concerned, Arlo's loss should have made him subservient to John, despite allowing the King to retain his throne in public.

Arlo's motivation for attempting to force John into the hierarchy was due to him considering John to be a nuisance due to "corrupting" Seraphina with his foolish lifestyle, alongside Arlo's one-sided belief that everyone should follow the hierarchy. Though he learned firsthand that John was too powerful to control, Arlo refused to obey his orders due to the former's childish attitude in handling situations. Eventually, John decided that Arlo should have a taste of his own medicine, and set about destroying everything Arlo had built up at Wellston out of spite for him and the system, mostly because of what it was doing and done so far to make Seraphina suffer. Arlo initially believed that John lacked the conviction to go through with it, until information about John's history at New Bostin convinced him that John wasn't making empty threats, and actually meant every word. Arlo, upon realizing why John had ejected himself out of the hierarchy and the troubles he had brought upon Wellston by forcing him back into it, attempted to apologize and make up to him for everything he had done in exchange for him to stop his actions as Joker. But unfortunately for Arlo, John didn't believe him due to his previous deceptions and points out that he was just saying all of that to protect the hierarchy, and that he doesn't really meant any of those words of apology. Eventually, John publicly dethroned Arlo effortlessly after handling Remi a brutal beating.

Since he dethroned Arlo, John was trying to go back into blending into society as a cripple, but eventually, that took a turn after John was exposed as Joker in the school newspaper, and he learned that Seraphina learned about John's true identity. After brutalizing Zeke, Mardin, and Julien in a 3 vs 1 effortlessly and publicly dethroning Arlo. Since John became King, he refuses to accept Arlo's advice or whatsoever due to his grudge against Arlo.

### Dylan

Dylan is one of the few students who doesn't hold a grudge against John. They first meet when he saves them from bullies. Dylan is thankful for this and later asks John to play Poker with him, though he is understandably uncomfortable around him at first. Despite having a better hand, John lets him win, knowing it's what everybody else wants. The unnamed boy then wishes to keep playing with him. He does not care when everybody else is uncomfortable with the idea of John going to Rowden with the Safe House and wishes for him to come.

### Cecile

Cecile was initially dismissive of John, believing him to be a cripple and considering him a "goof." However, an interrogation of Isen revealed to her both John's past as well as his incredible power. Because she is aware that John defeated Arlo, Cecile is obsessed with crowning John as the King of Wellston and has extended an alliance towards him, believing that it will benefit her in the end.

John has heard from Seraphina that Cecile was not a person who could be trusted, but did not recall this description when Cecile introduced herself to him. John even formed an alliance with Cecile, certain that she would not dare to cross him in any way. Cecile has had students use their abilities to help John amass an arsenal for his attacks. Unfortunately for Cecile, part of John's master plan involved brutally defeating her as well. Near the end of their fight, she begins to consider that John is crazy. For his part, John claims that he has nothing personal against Cecile herself. However, just like with Seraphina, John tends to withhold information about his future plans from Cecile.

After realizing she's basically John's puppet, she has second thoughts and ends her alliance with John. John doesn't take to this kindly, however, and presumably badly beats up Cecile off-screen.  Ultimately, John's ill-treatment of Cecile possibly motivated the latter to give up her interest in a royal post, as she refused the title of Jack when she was offered it by Blyke and Remi.

### Remi

Unlike almost every other student at Wellston, Remi was more than willing to help John pick up his papers. Unfortunately, despite her good intentions, John slapped Remi's hand away in anger along with some offensive language, having been overcome with flashbacks of Claire. John seemed to have a brief moment of guilt and regret over his impulse. But Blyke's own impulse to attack John for hitting Remi made him forget all about this. Despite the hostility, Remi told an angry Blyke to leave it be after John apologized. They have bumped into each other without incident after this, but have otherwise not directly interacted with one another. That was, until after Remi learned John's identity as the Joker.

John made plans to defeat Remi as another step to his goal of destroying Wellston's hierarchy. On a personal level, John also did not view Remi in a positive light at all, seeing her as just another useless high-tier. Remi confronting him after discovering his identity did nothing to change this, as he now saw her as "blind" and "naive" for never having noticed the excessive bullying taking place at Wellston and do something about it. Ultimately, Remi failed to change John's mind due to a difference in approach; whereas Remi wanted to reform the system to everyone's benefit, John believed it was fundamentally broken and had to be destroyed. John's resentment of Remi increased even further when she "cheated" during their fight by having Blyke and Isen support her.

His anger against her also rises when she creates the Safe House, feeling resentment that only now she makes such a thing when he never had a place to go to before. Due to Zeke's wording and lies, he also comes to believe that Remi made the Safe House to be against him personally despite her words saying even he would be allowed.

### Blyke

Blyke was never aware of John's presence until John's confrontation with Remi. After said confrontation, both John and Blyke appear to detest each other, and their relationship is further strained once they were forced to be roommates. However, after visiting Branish, Blyke begins to see firsthand what the lower-tiers go though and attempts to treat John with human decency. It is all in vain, however, as John refuses to trust another Royal after what Arlo did to him, even after Seraphina herself vouched for his character. After discovering that John is the Joker, however, Blyke begins to fear that his roommate is a maniac and stops coming to his room to sleep out of fear of being attacked by John in his sleep, begins to sleep at Isen's room. Following the defeat of the Royals, the collapse of the Hierarchy and the news that fake Jokers are starting to pop up, Blyke blames everything that has happened so far around Wellston on John. Blyke is now currently researching for potential targets outside of Wellston to battle in order to help in increasing his Ability Level, in hopes of becoming strong enough to defeat him.

John, on the other hand, claims to be angry about their first encounter and holds some level of animosity against Blyke. As the Joker, John targeted Blyke and gave him the same beat down he gave to all his other victims, and it is heavily implied that John still despises Blyke for trying to shoot him and later threatened to beat him up. Following the defeat of the Royals, John stopped caring about Blyke anymore as he never batted an eye when the latter came to his room to pick up his things. However, this would all change when Blyke founded the safe-house, and got into multiple brawls with John, getting in his way on many occasions. Thus, John and Blyke vehemently hate each other.

### Isen

Isen is one of John's classmates and was assigned by Arlo to investigate the supposed cripple. For the most part, save for one interview, Isen did not interact with John much at all. During the interview, Isen craftily began to ask personal questions when his guard was lower. John became defensive about his private life being probed, and grabbed Isen by the collar. Isen crushed John's wrist while smiling, leaving a bad first impression on John, clearly enjoying it. Upon learning about John's history and his ability, Isen began to fear John, not only for himself but for the whole school, and tried to keep John calm at any costs until Seraphina returned from her suspension. However, Isen's bad first impression worked too well against him, and Isen would find himself on John's bad side at all times.

John was initially unaware that Isen knew his secret, and was suspicious of his fishy attempts to help him out. It wasn't until after John attacked Isen that he figured out that the reporter knew the truth about him, based on his words before being knocked out and his timid behavior thereafter. John bitterly remembers the interview, and thus was not flattered by Isen's newfound fear of him. John, when confronted by Arlo about beating up Isen, justified his beat down of the journalist, coldly saying, *"He deserved **every bit** of that beating."* After Isen still went against him and was caught spying on him, John proceeded to beat him and only let go to deliver a message to Remi, adding that next time he will *"break [his] legs."*. Again later, when Isen and Blyke interfered in his fight with Remi, John once again knocked him out, telling him he *"should've **stayed in line**."*

In season 2 of unOrdinary, after Isen exposed John's true identity as Joker into the public through the school newspaper, John became deeply angry, wanting to pick a bone on Isen for his reckless stunt. Isen has eventually become scared of John.

### Zeke

After John transferred into the school dorms, Zeke attempted to assert dominance over him and demanded he refer to him as "king". However, when John jokingly did so to get away, he proceeded to beat him up. This caused John to snap at Zeke, who then knocked him unconscious, now considering him crazy. Zeke's "godslayer stunt" as well as his general mistreatment towards John caused two separate beatdowns. After the second, during which John publicly revealed that he was Joker, Zeke would show extreme sycophancy towards John. While John initially treated Zeke with contempt, he later used him as a henchman, a role which Zeke reveled in. However, after Seraphina convinced John to forgive himself, he once again started treating Zeke with contempt, refusing his help when he offered to take Seraphina to the infirmary.

### Elaine

Elaine was the first person to greet John on his first day at Wellston. Sadly, she was also the first to shun John once he revealed that he had no ability and made John realize that Wellston was like the rest of the world. After learning that he defeated Arlo, Ventus, and Meili, Elaine began to fear John. John, knowing Elaine knows about his ability, is very hostile and threatening to her to the point of having no patience with her of being accused of harming Seraphina when she went to his house for the second time, at Arlo's request.

### Darren

As the school doctor, Darren constantly has to heal John due to him being a popular target among bullies. John's constant visits to the infirmary frustrate Darren to no end. However, he does care for John's well-being and is one of the few staff members that knows of John's ability. John is grateful for Doctor Darren's aid whenever he comes into the infirmary with injuries. Even when his cripple façade slips, John has a begrudging respect for Darren and his advice, and trusts him with Seraphina's well-being over hospitals and the authorities. Darren was among the first to notice John's increasingly irritable personality. Unfortunately for Darren, even after John became King, his workload did not fall, as John began sending other students to the infirmary.

### Terrence

Terrence's first interaction with John was in Chapter 2, when he saved him from Gavin. Despite this, though, John is not particularly fond of him, considering him yet another cowardly weakling unwilling to stand up for himself.

Likewise, Terrence does not appear to hold any gratitude towards John. However, Terrence took an interest in John after learning he defeated Arlo, and passed the intel on to Cecile in a news article titled: "*Shadow King*." Though he knows John defeated Arlo, he was unaware of him being Joker until John's public reveal after the defeat of Zeke.

## New Bostin High School

### Claire

Claire and John became friends at New Bostin Middle School, which continued into their early years of high school. Claire's prophetic ability was the catalyst for John discovering and developing his ability. Claire was also the first person to notice John's behavior take a turn for the worse, and feel powerless as both her friend and friendship deteriorated. Despite their strained relationship, Claire would try to confront John about his tyrannical behavior and tried desperately and unsuccessfully for two years to get through to him. These attempts would only stir up John's ire and culminated in a confrontation that would have devastating consequences for them both.

The aftermath led Claire to finally give up on John, deeming him a lost cause and calling him **"monster"** before being hospitalized at John's hand. On the other side, a grave misunderstanding about Claire's intentions (caused by Adrion overhearing Claire lying to a New Bostin student) would leave John paranoid and believing that Claire had only been out for power (although this effect was likely worsened by his rehabilitation courses under Keon).

This strained relationship would be tested once more when John returns to New Bostin in order to uncover the truth of Claire's past intentions. Ultimately, John would realize that Claire was not the power-hungry manipulator he once thought her to be, and though he would try to make amends, Claire has no intentions of salvaging their friendship. Despite her intentions to keep John out of her life, she does legitimately wish him the best at bettering himself, concluding a turbulent relationship between the two.

### Adrion

Adrion was John's classmate in New Bostin High School. Before John's strength grew exponentially, he was the strongest among his group of three friends, always protecting John and Claire from bullies to the best of his abilities. He always helped John in his training. However, he warned John about Claire's betrayal, even though the former lashed out at him. Later, as John beat up Claire, Zirian and the other students, he rang up the authorities just before getting knocked unconscious by the New King.

While it is clear that Adrion is still afraid of, or at least intimidated by John, he does not hold a grudge. He is able to forgive John upon an apology, stating he is just happy that John is doing better. John likewise forgives Adrion for what happened, acknowledging Adrion as a true friend.

## Authorities

### Keon

John has an extremely negative relationship with his re-adjustment instructor. Keon's harsh methods scarred John's mind, and John dreads Keon's presence well after he joined Wellston. Keon is one of the main reasons for John's paranoia and inability to trust people, as Keon replaying his worst memories over and over eventually repressed his good ones, making John link his ability to the destruction he caused. This led to John developing extreme hatred towards the hierarchy and his own ability, causing him to enroll in Wellston under the facade of a cripple. In spite of the amicable facade that he put up after meeting Keon again in Wellston, John was reliving the painful trauma of Keon's re-education.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 221
2. ↑ Chapter 33
3. ↑ Chapter 92
4. ↑ Chapter 26
5. ↑ Chapter 132
6. ↑ Chapter 225