John Bismarck

> *"The way you talk about him -- he's going to be okay."*
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## Education

### Hobbies

Skiing, snowboarding, volunteering in community/charity/religious organizations, celebrating holidays and family traditions, cooking, entertaining, social sports

**John Bismarck**, better known as **Jack**,is a protagonist in *Titan's Run*. He is an astronomer, engineer, and pilot on Titan under Nehanda Pradeep.

Death: naked, burn scars on his back, an arrow in his left side. Left behind: Anna (mother); Tyler (uncle).

## Biography

Jack was born John Tyler Bismarck in Kelowna, BC, Canada, to Anna Nguyen and Anthony Bismarck. He was a single child who always wanted a sister. Jack was named after his maternal grandfather, John Nguyen, and his paternal uncle, Tyler Bismarck.

Jack never felt very close to his extended family. He has several aunts on his mother's side, thus many, many cousins he never got to know well.

### Childhood

Anna was an experienced ski patroller, allowing her to travel regularly throughout her, Anthony, and Jack's lives. They rarely stayed in one place for more than a few years, so Jack's childhood was spent in a multitude of homes.

Naturally, Jack was forced to hop between different schools. Luckily, he didn't have to try very hard to achieve good grades. He made friends easily but was unable to have a permanent relationship with any of them.

He loved the retro style of his parents' VHS tapes.

He and his parents went camping often, in lots of different places. They often took road trips to move, thus they've spent much of their time together on the road. As a result, Jack truly enjoys road trips and outdoor activities.

### Adolescence

Shortly before Jack began high school, the Bismarcks moved to Anthony's hometown. Jack met plenty of family and created a strong bond with his uncle Tyler.

Jack was a member of swim team and Science Olympiad.

Near the end of his freshman year, Jack lost his father. One night, he noticed he hadn't come home on time. Police arrived to break the news to him and his mother. Anna and Jack act as each other's rock. Jack grieves privately, feeling the impact of his father's absence very intensely. He spends more time alone, feeling like he needs to handle his emotions privately.

Though he was only a kid, he asked his mother and uncle if he could help with the planning of the funeral and other practical matters. He finds it comforting to place himself in a position of responsibility - it is a distraction from the pulse of his pain.

Tyler tried to fill the void in Jack left by Anthony's death by taking on a fatherly role to him. The pair of them often went camping together, as Tyler and Anthony did as children. Jack feels he is honoring his father while doing this.

### Adulthood

#### College

To support himself through college, he worked as a salesman at a Fred Meyer jeweler's and as an Uber driver. He was one of 3 salutatorians in his graduating class at university.

His post-graduate thesis has been lauded by professional researchers. For some time, he worked as a post-doctorate researcher and assistant professor at a small private university.

He continued to love outdoorsmanship into his adulthood. He often got along with anyone who shared his love of camping, hiking, kayaking, or rafting.

## *Titan's Run*

Born from the skies. Jack has had 2 former bodies, 1 of which was female.

### *Deepsky*

Jack shares one of his favorite books with Samira. They talk of their potential to do something great. Jack tells Samira that she has a warped sense of self, trying to convince her that she has all the skills she needs to do anything she wants to do.

Jack is always calm in an emergency; he refuses to let any panic get the better of him. However, this is not always the case: his aloof demeanor disappears when Samira is wounded.

### *Angry Orbit*

He has a knack for calming down the Captain.

Jack is attacked by something, which scratched him and left a talon in him. The pain causes him to fall unconscious. Samira takes care of changing his bandages.

### *Past Lives*

Following the loss of his mother, Jack spends a lot of his time in his research office, alone, crying.

### *Starfuneral*

Jack's final liftoff again brings back his memories of the roar of the ocean *and* the roar of the wind.

## Starfuneral

In short, he was launched forward by a war: a war within himself, and a war against time and circumstance, every factor outside of himself that was bigger than he could ever perceive.

## Appearance

A scar interrupts the contour of his left eyebrow. He bears a birth mark on his ankle near his Achilles tendon.

## Character

Jack is an INTJ, called the Architect and the Mastermind.

### Personality

Considered by his team members to be industrious, logical, deliberate, methodical, independent, and discreet.

Jack, a workaholic, always finds an excuse not to take a break. He takes pride in his sense of independence, level of intelligence, and personal achievements. As time goes on, he learns to value his family above even his own career. He has the capability of being vengeful.

In times of grief, Jack feels the impact very intensely. He prefers to deal with the grief alone; crying or showing that kind of vulnerability in front of others makes him uncomfortable. He moves on from grief by never acknowledging it head-on. Instead, he prefers to distract himself, especially by comforting others. He would rather help others confront their grief than confront his own.

### Philosophy

As a child, his most defining journey was learning that there is reward in facing one's fears.

As a teenager, the death of his father - and helping Sam through the death of her sister - forced Jack to confront the real meaning of faith and family, and the purpose of grief.

As an adult, his relationship with his crew reminds him that opening up to others doesn't have to be painful (a wound opened by the death of his father).

### Skills

He knows a fair amount of first aid.

Great at problem-solving, analyzing data, learning, self-improvement, producing high quality work, predicting future outcomes, and strategic reasoning.

Not great at handling others' emotions, focusing on details over the big picture, or letting others in, preferring a private life with a selective group of friends.

## Themes

### Jack Devon / A.S.

Lots of emphasis on his eyes:

1. In his dad's jacket, peering upwards at the night sky.
2. Gazing at me with twinkling curiosity in his eyes.
3. Closing his eyes to the roar of the atmosphere -- remembering the roar of the sea, his parents, and him being young.
4. Those EYES.
5. Beanie feels right.

### Faith

Jack's central theme is **faith**, examining what defines it and how it relates to *courage* - how it inspires people to do things they didn't think they could do. Jack finds something for which he would give his life - his work, and Sam - and he fights for it. "The guy oozes with quiet passion."

### Achilles

Jack carries within him the spirit of the *Trojan hero*. He is a natural leader and has a good relationship with his mother, who protected him well. Jack's unhindered passion parallels the formidable rage of Achilles. Also, he likes the water -- he loves the ocean and enjoys swimming in lakes. He loves a good history lesson, a subject that has always come naturally to him; he is interested in ancient civilizations, which inspire a lot of his thinking about his own work in engineering, particularly considering the idea of establishing new civilization on a separate planet. He also loves board games.

See his birth mark on the Achilles' tendon, and later wounds to his elbow and chest. The latter wound is caused in the understanding that his greatest vulnerability (Achilles' heel) is his family.

From a journal entry:

> *Spirit of the Divine Hero. Jesus Christ. I thought that thinking about Samira was emotional. My beautiful Jack. You oppose Samira's spirit as Achilles and Hector, nemeses, murderers. How on earth can that be right? Is this sibling rivalry gone amiss? You barely remember a time when you weren't called Jack. You've had a few surnames, sure, but you have always been Jack. Cordevon, Devon, even McAffee. Oh, god. That's embarrassing. You came from someone who made me laugh and made me want to fall head over heels for because he was just darn cute and a cool, enthusiastic dude who I'm still kind of salty about but ANYWAY.*
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> *Before all of that, you know who you were, you were AS, which I am very sorry about but also sorry not sorry. I'm a little too high to put it all into words, but you've always been the guy in my head that has meant the most to me. Always. My brother.*
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> *Left over - thank Carson; redeem himself in the eyes of Carson, Sam, Colwyn, Dom, Matthew, wow, literally just everyone - he has a dire, DIRE need to prove himself to these people.*
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