Daniel Jacobi

**Daniel Kenneth Jacobi** is a Goddard Futuristics special intelligence agent, an administrative officer specializing in missiles and explosives. He works under Colonel Warren Kepler on the Hephaestus.

## Biography

### Pre-Goddard

Jacobi was born on November 12, 1982 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has said that his father was a US Air Force recruiter who often belittled him for his lack of interest in joining the military. Regardless, he joined the ROTC and out of spite, applied to the USAF. He was subsequently rejected for his poor eyesight.

Later on, he would graduate from MIT's "rapid product development program". He worked with the U.S. Air Force in orbital ballistics R&D until 2009, when a payload detonated early during a missile test. The incident killed two members of his team, and he was subsequently fired and blacklisted from further ballistics work "amidst some overdramatic squabbles over 'safety concerns' and 'gross violations of protocol'".

In 2011, after two years of unemployment, Warren Kepler approached Jacobi in Murphy's Saloon, in San Francisco. They talked briefly, and Kepler left a business card with 'Goddard Futuristics' on it.

### Goddard Futuristics

Jacobi has been with SI-5 for about six years and worked under Kepler for most of that time. He says that at the point of his recruitment he "wasn't in the best place" and that working for Goddard gave him direction.

During his first mission with Kepler, the two triggered a bomb he had never encountered before. Locking them into the room, Kepler ordered Jacobi to dismantle the bomb, which he did successfully.

One year after he was hired at Goddard, Jacobi assisted Kepler on a stakeout, acting moody and passive-aggressive for the duration. Kepler eventually provokes Jacobi into admitting that he was upset that Kepler seemed to have forgotten the one-year anniversary of the day he was recruited. Kepler then reveals that the stakeout was a prank, and that he had in fact prepared 50lbs of fireworks for Jacobi to set off in celebration.

Over the next five years, Jacobi would prove himself and earn Kepler's complete trust and confidence.

### Hephaestus mission

Jacobi is selected for the Hephaestus mission by Warren Kepler, along with Alana Maxwell. They intercept Doug Eiffel in his damaged shuttle on their way to the station and bring him back to the Hephaestus to reunite with his crew.

Jacobi backs up Kepler in the initial confrontation with the Hephaestus crew, confirming that they would be staying on the station for the foreseeable future, and that he is willing to use his expertise in ballistics to keep them in line.

While Kepler conducts a crew review, Jacobi sets explosives in order to neutralize the plant monster while Maxwell isolates sections of the station to ensure that Hera is not harmed. They detonate the sections of the Hephaestus containing the plant monster, killing it.

When Lovelace tries to break into Kepler's servers, she's found by Maxwell and Jacobi, who pretend to help her. They warn her not to attempt to break into the server again, patch up the vulnerabilities in the server, and report her activities to Kepler.

Jacobi is with Eiffel and Kepler when Eiffel receives a signal that could indicate alien contact. Kepler extends the shift another twelve hours, and has the rest of the crew on standby. Jacobi shares with Eiffel the story of his first mission with Kepler, and tells him to lighten up.

When transferring files from the Urania to Hera's servers, Jacobi is revealed to have a pathological fear of ducks. The crew also learns that he once lost $13,000 on an internet scam. When Minkowski discovers that Eiffel is a convicted felon, Jacobi taunts her with that information.

When Maxwell is knocked unconscious by an electrical charge, Jacobi uses his ballistics expertise to blow the hatch off and rescue her in a maneuver that could have ruptured an oxygen line or damaged an engine if it were not successful. Lovelace calls the detonation "impossibly precise".

In Overture, Jacobi builds and launches nine probes (all of which fail) in order to pick up more signals from the star. While the probes don't hit their predicted trajectories, one does pick up a signal and, in an extremely risky maneuver, they move the station almost to the red line in order to properly detect them.

Jacobi is one of three crew members present when Kepler's belongings are vented into space due to an electrical fault that caused a short-circuit. According to Minkowski, there was decompression and a fire. In "Limbo", he votes to replace Hera with a dummy program, but Kepler sends him away to discuss their options with Maxwell. Jacobi briefly helps in her recovery when Maxwell pulls in "local resources".

In "Time to Kill", Jacobi, Lovelace, Maxwell and Eiffel are sent on a module to gather data for 96 hours, a double of Jacobi appears outside the module claiming to be him. Maxwell quizzes both Jacobis with information only the two would know, and both pass. When it appears as though they would let the other Jacobi in, Jacobi threatens them all with his gun.

Lovelace eventually reveals that she had removed the door's sensors, making it inoperable, and they would be unable to save the other Jacobi anyway. Eiffel forces the crew members in the module to listen to the other Jacobi being incinerated in the stellar flares.

While installing psi-wave regulators, Maxwell confronts Jacobi and reminds him that they are supposed to have each other's backs. When Minkowski's leg is caught in the engine, he and Maxwell proceed to the engine room to jam it and help her return safely to the station interior.

### The contact event

When the mutiny begins, the Hephaestus crew sabotages the electrical grid that Jacobi was working on. After Kepler berates him for the failure, allowing the Hephaestus crew to believe that their plan is working, Jacobi ambushes Lovelace and Eiffel when they were about to incapacitate Maxwell. They capture Lovelace and Eiffel instead.

Maxwell is later captured by the Hephaestus crew, and held hostage by Minkowski.

As the mutiny proceeds, Jacobi reveals that he planted C4 in Hilbert and Lovelace's napalm room, and that he cut communications to Hilbert from the Hephaestus crew. Minkowski threatens to shoot Maxwell if Jacobi kills Hilbert, while Maxwell assures Jacobi that Minkowski would be unable to shoot. Not believing Minkowski, Jacobi kills Hilbert. Minkowski subsequently shoots Maxwell.

### After the mutiny

Eiffel holds a funeral for Lovelace, Hilbert and Maxwell, forcing Jacobi to attend. Jacobi gives a heartfelt eulogy for Maxwell. When Lovelace begins to revive, he's shocked and furious that Kepler kept information about her being an alien from him and Maxwell.

He argues with Kepler about it later, insisting that Kepler should have realized that he needed help. He comes to the realization that Kepler is "just the middle link in the food chain" when Kepler tells him he was following orders.

He and Kepler give more information on alien communication in "Shut Up and Listen".

When Hera powers down for a reboot, Jacobi takes over the station and attempts to force Minkowksi to shoot Kepler by threatening to blow up the Hephaestus if she does not comply. Minkowski convinces him  to call off the counter-coup, and he takes a friendly bet with her.

### The Cutter administration

When Cutter arrives, Kepler tells him that Jacobi "has shown exemplary skill and deduction" despite his counter-coup hours before, hoping to spare him from the consequences of their failed mission. Despite this, Jacobi is imprisoned with Lovelace, and put under mind control by Pryce.

Jacobi is present when Kepler receives his new hand from Pryce, but unaware of the situation as he is still under Pryce's control. Eiffel injects Jacobi with Lovelace's blood, and he is released from the mind control because of it shortly after. He is part of the plot to steal one of Pryce's eyes to access the Sol's servers, but the plot fails when Minkowski and Eiffel are discovered.

After Eiffel gets the module launched off the Sol, Jacobi and Lovelace work together to retrieve the pod. During the subsequent hostage exchange, Cutter shoots him in the leg when Pryce delays it. While he's being treated on the Sol, Rachel Young plants a listening device in his wound.

Jacobi rejects several expressions of concern from Kepler, blaming him for allowing Cutter and Pryce to place him under mind control. Ultimately, he asks him to defect and help the Hephaestus crew after they learn of Cutter's plans, not knowing that Kepler was already working against Cutter.

While Minkowski and Lovelace confront Cutter, Jacobi distracts Victor Riemann by acting as his punching bag before setting off C4 he planted underneath the floor. Jacobi survives the blast, and manages to get Minkowski, Lovelace, Eiffel and Hera onto the Urania.

## Personality

Jacobi's official profile describes him as "ever possessed of a laid-back, untroubled air," and "a man of simple pleasures: sarcastic quippery, war memorabilia, and, again, large things going boom."

Although his approach to problem-solving is direct (usually involving explosives), his communication can be roundabout and passive-aggressive. That contradiction is present in many facets of his character. In a post from a now-deleted Tumblr account, Gabriel Urbina said, "[Jacobi] can be the kindest, most genuinely human person. He can be the cruelest, most unconcerned person on board the ship. Usually he's both at the same time."

Jacobi displays a high level of confidence, claiming to be "that good" at ballistics, and assuring Maxwell that her membership in the SI-5 makes her (and himself by extension) "one of the best". He is sarcastic and abrasive, doing his best to distance himself from his personhood as Kepler has. Because of that compartmentalization, he often has trouble processing his own emotional state.

He has also shown difficulty in being accountable for catastrophic events, saying that "everyone was doing their jobs right" while his profile states that he was fired for "gross violations of protocol" during the incident in Ohio. He also blames Kepler and Minkowski for Maxwell's death, refusing to acknowledge his own decisions that led to it. It is not until "Dirty Work" that he begins to accept culpability.

## Relationships

### Alana Maxwell

Kepler introduces Maxwell and Jacobi to each other when she's newly recruited, at which point Jacobi assures her that if she's a member of the SI-5, it's because she's one of the best. He also says that he always has her back.

Having spent several years working together, Maxwell and Jacobi are portrayed as being close friends who often banter with each other. They are some of the few characters who regularly refer to each other by their first names. Lovelace notes that they have a "breezy, professional friendship", although interactions between them seem to show that it runs deeper than that. Hera imagines Maxwell stating in "Boléro" that she considers Jacobi to be "family."

When Jacobi was emotionally compromised after the events of "Time to Kill," Maxwell confronted him, reminding him that they are supposed to have each others' backs and chiding him for being distracted.

Jacobi was badly affected by Maxwell's death, but was ordered to stand down before he could retaliate. He has an immense amount of respect for her intelligence and compassion, saying at her funeral that she was "more patient and understanding than any of us deserved."

### Warren Kepler

Jacobi and Kepler are on good terms for the first season they appear, both of them backing the other up and displaying a high degree of trust in each other. Jacobi states that he trusts Kepler with his life, and would blow up the Hephaestus crew if ordered to do so. Sarah Shachat has said that Jacobi "did his best to emulate his boss".

Jacobi considers them to be friends, and is unhappy when he believes that Kepler forgot the anniversary of his recruitment. In reality, Kepler had prepared 50 pounds of fireworks for him to set off, showing he recognized that it was important to Jacobi.

After the mutiny, Jacobi holds Kepler responsible for Maxwell's death, expressing his feelings of betrayal that Kepler kept information from him and Maxwell, as if they were "one of [the Hephaestus crew]". When Hera powers down for a reboot, Jacobi takes control of the station and attempts to coerce Minkowski to kill Kepler. Minkowski manages to diffuse the situation.

When the Hephaestus crew decides to confront Cutter, Jacobi tries to convince Kepler to defect and join them, not knowing that Kepler had already begun to work against Cutter.

### Renee Minkowski

Jacobi is disdainful of Minkowski, imagining her in "All Things Considered" with a valley-girl accent. He calls her her "broadway baby" in "Need to Know" when he learns of her rejection from Tisch, and taunts her with information she learned about Eiffel.
After the mutiny, Jacobi holds Minkowski responsible for Maxwell's death, and hopes to punish her in his counter-coup by forcing her to kill Kepler. She gains his respect by pointing out that they are both responsible for the deaths of Hilbert and Maxwell, and they take a friendly bet on who can figure out what will ease their guilt.
By the end of the series, Jacobi has confidence in Minkowski's leadership, and fights on her side against Cutter.

In the final scene, Minkowski asks what happened to Kepler, showing concern for him.

### Isabel Lovelace

Jacobi seems to like Lovelace, able to work well with her and under her. They have a friendly exchange in "Don't Poke the Bear", though that turned out to be a ruse on Jacobi's part. Lovelace is willing to discipline Jacobi as master-at-arms, and is thoughtful of his emotional and mental state when Maxwell was in danger.
Her leadership in "Time to Kill", where Lovelace acted in a way that prevented the outside Jacobi from being able to enter the module, seems to have endeared her to him.
During the Cutter administration, they are briefly imprisoned together. When given the option to escape using Minkowski and Eiffel as a distraction, Jacobi goes to find Lovelace, and she talks him out of leaving them behind. They work together to retrieve the ejected module in "Crash and Burn", and Jacobi says that he made his final decision to rescue them by asking himself what Lovelace would do.

### Doug Eiffel

Jacobi shows a lack of interest in Eiffel, and is condescending toward him for the majority of the series. He likens Eiffel to a lost dog when they bring him back to the Hephaestus, saying "the tag on his collar had this address on it." In "Matter of Perspective", he tells Eiffel that Kepler's primary objective isn't to harm the crew, and that Kepler is interested in their potential.
In "Out of the Loop", when Lovelace prompts the crews to air out their issues with each other, he and Eiffel say simply that they "don't like each other".
In "Shut Up and Listen", he calls Eiffel an "annoying idiot". After the events of the finale, Jacobi is irritated that Minkowski assumed that Eiffel saved them, saying "What's a guy gotta do to get some credit around here?"

### Hera

Unlike Maxwell, who Hera took an immediate shine to, she dislikes Jacobi immensely. He is dismissive of Hera, and agreed with HIlbert that she should be replaced with a dummy program in "Limbo". Hera says that he is "despicable", and that she has never met someone who "worked so hard at being inhuman".

In turn, Jacobi blames her for being unable to stop Minkowski's second attempt on Maxwell's life, despite Hera's lack of physical body and her clear desire to spare her. Later on, Hera points out to Jacobi that Pryce turning the Hermes crew into moving corpses is what he wanted to do to her with a dummy program, to which Jacobi doesn't respond.

Despite their antagonistic relationship, they share a respect for Maxwell, discussing her fondly even after she betrayed Hera. In the finale, Jacobi is the one who transfers Hera onto the Urania while Lovelace and Minkowski were incapacitated.

### Officer Klein

Jacobi recognized Klein among the Hermes crew and according to Jacobi, "[They] were friends, and then [they] kinda...weren't anymore." Jacobi hints that it was his fault for being "not great", and he says that Klein deserved better.

## Trivia

* Has an "inexplicable, nearly pathological, fear of ducks."
* Jacobi once lost $13,000 on an internet scam.
* Is passionate about cheeses.
* Likes "the menfolk".
* His surname is most likely a reference to Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, a prominent 19th century mathematician.

## Image Gallery

* Jacobi's character sheet from the Wolf 359 website.
1/1
## External links

* Character biography from wolf359.fm
* Jacobi - Things That Break Other Things, character playlist by wolf359radio

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Wolf 359* mini-episode 10: "Things That Break Other Things."
2. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 52: "Constructive Criticism."
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Wolf 359* episode 34: "A Matter of Perspective."
4. ↑ *Wolf 359* Mission Mishaps episode 7: "No Complaints."
5. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 30: "Mayday."
6. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 31: "Sécurité."
7. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 32: "Controlled Demolition."
8. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 33: "Don't Poke the Bear."
9. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 35: "Need to Know."
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 *Wolf 359* episode 36: "Fire and Brimstone."
11. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 37: "Overture."
12. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 39: "All Things Considered."
13. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 41: "Memoria."
14. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 43: "Persuasion."
15. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 44: "Desperate Times."
16. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 45: "Desperate Measures."
17. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 46: "Boléro."
18. ↑ *Wolf 359* mini-episode 14: "One of Them."
19. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 53: "Dirty Work."
20. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 55: "A Place for Everything."
21. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 56: "Idle Hands."
22. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 57: "The Devil's Plaything."
23. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 58: "Quiet, Please."
24. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 59: "Crash and Burn."
25. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 60: "Terms and Conditions."
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 *Wolf 359* episode 61: "Brave New World."
27. ↑ Tumblr post by Zach Valenti
28. ↑ Tweet by Sarah Shachat
29. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 47: "Into the Depths."