#J&M also dont quite fit in with other Amity adults bc they still retain 'deep woods energy'

[redrobin-detective]

I’ve been thinking about Jack and Maddie Fenton and what caused them to be like that. People don’t become that obsessive out of nowhere. 

Jack mentioned in episode 1 that he was “born in a log cabin in the woods” which tells me that he grew up in an isolated, possibly poor environment. It explains some of his behavior, he would have done a lot of his social development without other people to bounce off of. His exuberance, high energy and lack of social awareness kind of play into a excitable, creative boy in the woods. For all we joke, Jack is a brilliant man and he’d have probably felt restrained by the lack of knowledge, stimulation in the middle of nowhere. Some fics I’ve seen have made the claim that Jack grew up on some kind of farm, he’s got the energy and the work ethic but not the discipline. Clearly the rural, peaceful lifestyle wasn’t suited for him. 

What I can see is a young Jack Fenton, shirking from his chores and responsibilities at home to grab a little .22 rifle and a borrowed neon orange hunting vest and explore the woods, hunting monsters. He is an explorer, a scientist hunting for answers, the hero of his own story. And maybe on one of those deep woods explorations, when he wanders too far from home, too late in the day and he sees something unnatural. Maybe he saw a ghost, maybe he didn’t but when a wildly intelligent and bored child comes up against something they can’t explain, the throw themselves into the answers. He studies the supernatural with a fervor and works harder than he ever has before to earn money to study at university so he can finally answer the questions burning in him.

In Prisoners of Love, we get a glimpse at Maddie’s life through her sister, Alecia. She herself lives completely alone in the middle of nowhere Arkansas. It’s stated that she purposefully moved there to get away from it all but it insinuates that, like Jack, Maddie grew up in a woodsy, rural area. It would explain her independence and confidence roughing it during Maternal Instincts. Like Jack, Maddie is brilliant and driven and a bit quirky as people who grow up kind of isolated end up being. Did she have her own encounter that she couldn’t explain? Was she captivated by the reports of unnatural phenomenon in her remote little town? Maybe she too, like Jack, wanted to explore and study and decided to invest in a field which no one else had proven existed before. Either way, she also packed her bags and set off for university to further her studies.

By coincidence, she meets a tall, broad man with a kind, goofy face who will tell anyone who will listen that ghosts are real. In return, Jack meets a beautiful, powerful woman in mind and body who is determined to prove the unproveable. It was love at first sight and from there on, no one could break up Jack and Madeline. From the moment they laid eyes on each other, there was a bond of understanding between them not only at their mutual interests but of being understood as the weird rural kid with strange ideas. Everyone could see that they were a perfect match except, of course, for Vlad. Vlad, an outsider with a lonely, bitter but relatively normal childhood, couldn’t relate. He played along with his roommates silly ideas because he was captivated by Maddie. His hormones and self-importance blinded him to the obvious chemistry between his two friends.

So they graduate, marry and move to a small midwest town. Amity Park is no New York City but it’s practically a metropolis compared to where Jack and Maddie grew up. Jack himself is eager to adjust to modern life, more than happy to forget being a child lonely, bored and restless in the quiet woods. Maddie though keeps that independent edge and ferocity that led her to the love of her life and research that never grows old. They have a daughter and son and raise them with simple luxuries they never had growing up. It causes a separation, parents and children simply unable to connect because of vastly different upbringings. The Fentons foster love, opportunities and an invitation to be themselves which they both missed as children. Jazz and Danny could do with a bit more normalcy. 

When the ghost portal is active and their theories stop being scribbles on paper and become real, those old habits come back. When scared, faced with the unknown, the put aside their interest in exploration and raised their weapons. For Jack and Maddie Fenton, science was a love they both learned but hunting and protecting their own was instinct.