#you know id love it if he and tommy both had an animal crossing arc together

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Some thoughts on Jack and Tommy’s character’s relationship.

Hey guys, some thoughts on Jack and Tommy’s character’s relationship.

They’re just so tragic, you know? They could be such good friends - and they have been in the past. But instead one wants to kill the other and they can’t seem to really see each other. And I think it’s because they’re so similar. They really are.

They have so much in common. They love to hang out with others and both enjoy cause a certain level of chaos for fun. They have a similar sense of humour. They were both part of L’Manburg and miss being a part of it. Neither are able to live a peaceful life despite wanting closure. They’ve both experienced hurt/betrayal from the people they trusted. They’ve both lost everything many times.  They’ve both died and come back. They’re both currently plotting to kill their enemy in order to finally experience peace. 

And yet the biggest difference is perhaps how Tommy gets way too much attention while Jack doesn’t get enough. Jack feels overlooked and his plot over Season 2 was him trying to do things but each time his scheme would get foiled before it even went anywhere and no one even noticed. He got so tired of never being noticed and that fed into his anger. Tommy meanwhile was being targeted throughout season 2, Dream was actively trying to destroy his life and  every single action he took was being harshly judged. He wanted nothing more than to just chill and have a nice time but he kept being forced to take a stand and choose between his friends and get challenged on everything he did. If Jack’s character is fed up with being seen as a side character than Tommy’s character is equally tired of being seen as a main character.

This issue was so apparent in their fight at the hotel. Jack was furious as Tommy was overlooking him yet again while Tommy did not want to deal with anything, just wanting to feel normal again after his ordeal. 

These two just can’t seem to see each other! Tommy doesn’t know that Jacks still caught up on that time he killed him - he’s unaware that it was a canon death and that he hadn’t resolved it after his apology afterwards and letting Jack steal Hotter Girl. He’s unaware that Jack felt abandoned in Schlatt’s Manburg. Unaware that Jack died in the Doomsday war fighting in defence of Tommy’s L’Manburg and then came back from the dead. When Jack shouts at him, he can’t see that Jack’s been suffering as well and needs him to actually listen and pay attention to him. Tommy looks at Jack and says, ‘nothing ever happens to you. You’re Jack Manifold.’

Meanwhile Jack is seeing Tommy as a monster, the shadow of his once friend who died a long time ago. He thinks Tommy is the source of all conflict on the server and can only create problems and that’s not really who Tommy is. Like Tommy was in no way responsible for Doomsday - it was Tubbo and Quackity for the Butcher’s army, and Techno and Dream for the actual attack. Tommy griefing George lead to Dream building those walls and attacking Manifoldland yes, but Dream was targeting Tommy anyway and likely would have found some other reason to have him exiled if he hadn’t done that (rather minor) grief. (Not that he hasn’t done anything wrong, just nothing that really means the server would have actually been better without him.) Tommy is instead another victim trying his best to recover and be more peaceful. He was trying to move on when they argued in that hotel, not because he didn’t care about Jack at all, but because he was overwhelmed and couldn’t deal with discussing how he’d died or Jack’s feelings about it. 

Both characters are rather lonely right now. When Tommy died, Jack admitted he didn’t feel like he had anyone and that Tommy had been giving him a purpose. He missed belonging to something, missed the good days of L’Manburg when he had real friends. The first time he felt betrayed was being left behind in Manburg. Meanwhile, while Tommy was in prison, he expressed how there being trapped alone in isolation was a fate worse than death to him, and much of his exile had been marked by his great feelings of loneliness. Getting out had him seeing some of his friends seeming to be moving on and it hurt him to feel so left out and unwanted once more.

Both of them want Dream gone. They both recognised him as the biggest threat, even as Jack sees Tommy on the same level while thinking Dream is taken care of and Tommy is afraid that Dream will escape and bring more terror to the server. Jack wants to become Prison Warden while Tommy wants the prison to be reformed and Sam to be removed from his position. These two both want the hotel to thrive, they both consider it theirs. 

Their goals align so much, they have so much to offer each other, they are such natural friends and yet they are at odds. I want them to resolve their issues. They’ll have to both learn to see each other properly and both learn to listen to each other. They’ve both had development - after his reaction to Tommy death, I don’t think Jack will be able to go through with killing him. He’s not a cruel person, just an angry one. And Tommy has been trying to be less self-centred and he’s been expressing his issues better lately. I feel like he should be able to actually listen and try and mend things when he’s ready. He does have the capacity to apologise and admit fault once he’s realised.

All in all, it is my hope that they could be friends again and become close. The potential is there!

--Thanks for reading. I don’t know Jack’s character quite as well as Tommy’s - though I do watch and love them both - so please, please tell me if I got anything wrong about him or you’d like to offer any extra insight that I may have overlooked. I adore their dynamic and really enjoy discussing it, tragic though it is. Hopefully I haven’t seemed too harsh on either character, they both have flaws and reasons for them and they’re both sympathetic!