Jacob Starr

From Survival Of The Fittest

Current revision as of 15:17, 24 July 2006

A sketch of Boy #14, Jacob Starr

Name: Starr, Jacob
Gender: Male
Age: Turned 16 on the day of the trip
Grade: 10th grade.
Extra Curricular Activity: N/A
School: Barry Coleson High (what state is BC high in anyway?)
Appearance: Very plain face, slick black hair, blue eyes, tall for his age, about 6'1. Muscular, but not to the point where he can't move because of his muscles. He's also rather light, only weighing 187 pounds. His eyes are naturally tilted (mostly due to his eyebrows) to the point where he appears to always be glaring at someone or something.
Biography: Jacob was born to a middle-class family, and into a comfortable life without the corruptions of the rich. His father was a police officer that applied for the Federal Beaurau of Investigation, but was injured during training and could not continue. From an early age, his father trained him in some martial arts styles, boxing, grappling (refusing to use the term "wrestling"), and delved slightly into firearms. When in school, his cold, detached manner at first attracted bullies who assumed he was mentally deficient. They were badly mistaken, and withdrew as soon as Jacob threatened them. Of course, having a strong sense of justice rendered him into somewhat of a loose cannon as well. This feeling about him heightened when he once saw a weaker student being bullied by two stronger ones. His reaction was violent to say the least, both bullies where hospitalized. He somewhat escaped punishment by the fact that he reacted in self defense (he only asked them to stop, the two students attacked first in terms of physical attack). The ones that do not fear him from witnessing his attack on those two either hate him, respect him, or leave him alone entirely. On the plane, he had fallen asleep shortly after takeoff. Safe to say he was in for a rude awakening...
Other: Smarter than many would assume, he is far from all brawn and no brains. He rarely speaks, and only does so when he feels it is of the utmost importance, or he's irritated into speaking. Even though he is confident in his skill (maybe because of it), he usually dismisses combat, and those who try to start fights with him. He feels that those who would kill without reason are, to quote him, "Idiotic beings who have no point existing on this world." and believes that, as wastes of humanity, they should be exterminated.
Number: Boy #14"

Jacob's profile, as written by Slayer and unedited. The original version can be viewed here.

==

Designated Weapon: Combat Knife
Conclusions: The strong and silent type, for sure. B14 seems as if he wouldn't have too much problem killing a fellow student. The fact that he's so quiet, will probably scare a lot of the competition away from even getting close to him, meaning he probably won't even get a chance to use his knife to really slay the competition."
Weapon assignment and conclusion from Danya as written by Kaishi.

Game Evaluation

Kills: Seven (eight? Hawley did die from the infected burn and other wounds)

Killed: Morgana "Anya" Vendvmagli: stabbed several times and shot in the forehead (river), Alan Shinwrath: Shot in the face (bamboo coppace), Edward Rommel: died from bullet wounds (woods), Uriel Hunter: accidentally shot in the head and decapitated when a flashbang blinded Jacob (school), Rais Sekth: stabbed in the back (river), Garrett Langston: stabbed in the heart after a long fight ( small house) & David Jackson: shot several times before being finished off with three point blank shots to the face (woods).

Death: Throat slit with his own knife by Adam Dodd after a fight.

Collected Weapons: Combat knife (kabar), Molotov Cocktails, Manurhin MR73 revolver (out of ammo) & Browning BDM pistol (discarded before fight with Adam, now in Dodd's possession).

Allies: Formerly Dorian Greywood, formerly Peri and Stevan before gunfight at hospital.

Enemies: Most people on the island, especially Peri Barclay, Garrett Langston and Adam Dodd(his killer)

Mid-game evaluation: Cold, quiet, and has a ruthless streak, Jacob has a lot of potential for the game. We know he won't hesitate to kill, but it obviously clashes with his past and police family. Quite a predicament: kill to survive, or abide by the law and die? Seems Jacob's made his choice. When he first woke up, the viewers of SOTF were given a rare bit of humor as the bag he was given was thrown off the helicopter and landed right on his head. Not wasting any time, Jacob immediately searched through his bag for his weapon: a Kabar combat knife (the same type used by the U.S. Marines). Impressed, he made up his mind to play the game and headed off, not wishing to encounter anyone in such a vacant area. After wandering around, he eventually ended up at the River, where he encountered a student for the first time, Uriel Hunter. Though he despised Uriel, and they were in close proximity, they ignored each other as Jacob refilled his water bottles and walked off again, this time headed towards the lighthouse. Upon reaching the lighthouse, he encountered Uriel again, this time agreeing to make an alliance with him. Shortly after, Garrett Langston appeared, aiming a crossbow at them and telling them to leave. Provoked, Jacob attacked him and stabbed him several times, himself taking a crossbow bolt to the shoulder. Despite his efforts, Garrett managed to flee and escape through a window, with Jacob and Uriel deciding not to give chase. Shortly after, the trio of Alan Shinwrath, Hawley Faust, and Adam Dodd appeared. Telling Uriel to use the lighthouse fuel to make Molotov Cocktails, Jacob watched for the group's intentions and slashed Alan in the face when he got close enough. When the other two boys noticed, Jacob fled upstairs and took the Molotovs from Uriel, going to a nearby window to throw them down at the three. After throwing two at Hawley, he managed to burn the redheaded and bespectacled boy in the arm before a third molotov was shot in his hand, causing a burn to his own arm. Knowing they couldn't win, Jacob and Uriel fled to the river.

Uriel and Jacob had split up on the way to the river, and Jacob encountered a gun weilding girl named Morgana Vendvmagli and attacked her despite her claims that she didn't want to play. After a quick struggle, Jacob shot her in the head and took the gun, along with whatever ammo she had. After that, he met Uriel again, who alerted him that the boy from the lighthouse was at the river with another boy. Moving upstream, Jacob and Uriel attacked them (Edward Rommel and Garrett Langston) with both the gun and a molotov cocktail. They both escaped, but Jacob had (unknown to both him and Edward at the time) fatally wounded Edward. Chasing them, Uriel and Jacob ended up at the Bamboo Coppace and got into a gun battle which resulted in the deaths of Venka Rapler (a stray bullet hit Hawley and he accidentally shot her) and Alan Shinwrath (shot in the head by Jacob). The coppace was burned down by a Molotov thrown at the beginning of the battle. After Alan died, all three groups (Edward and Garrett, Hawley and Adam, and Jacob and Uriel) fled, going off in their own directions. Uriel and Jacob tried to chase Edward and Garrett, but got lost and ended up at the school, where during a patrol Jacob ran into Adam and Hawley and another gunfight began, with Jacob taking cover behind part of the school's wall while Adam and Hawley hid in some nearby bushes. Eventually Uriel arrived and started throwing the last Molotovs at the group, the first one hitting a tree and the second one being blasted out of the air and creating a literal firewall between the two groups. Adam and Hawley took the opportunity to escape, and Jacob and Uriel ran through the firewall before deciding not to give chase and moved on, looking for more powerful weapons.

Reaching the Hillside Cliff, Jacob and Uriel encountered Blaine Eno, who Jacob chased off by shooting repeatedly at him. After a quick discussion, they agreed to head back to the school. The school was where the alliance ended, as a girl named Heather Pendergast ambushed them, using a flashbang to blind them. Jacob was shot several times during the attack, and Uriel had his lower jaw blasted off by another flashbang after engaging the girl in hand to hand combat. Jacob, thinking he knew where Heather was, fired his gun but accidentally shot Uriel's head off instead.

Leaving the school, Jacob again found himself at the river, where he got the drop on a classmate named Rais Sekth and killed him with a stab to the back (Rais' last word, funnily enough, was "damn".). Since his other gun had run out of ammo, and his suit jacket was tattered, Jacob took Rais' gun (a Browning BDM, the gun he'd use for the remainder of the game) and his trenchcoat before moving off again. Arriving at the small house, he encountered Katherine Marks and attacked her, wounding her several times. Before he could finish her off, Cillian Crowe distracted him by throwing a rock at him and Katherine escaped. Cillian had also scurried off, so when Jacob searched around the house for him, he found nothing and decided to go to sleep (having not slept since the game started, he needed the rest). When he woke up, he found the boy Stevan Hyde near him and held him at gunpoint. After a quick discussion with him and Peri Barclay, he agreed to a (very temporary) alliance. Unfortunately for him and the alliance, he had an epiphany of sorts and decided not to play the game any longer, convincing Peri (not Stevan though, as he left before Jacob and Peri) to only fight in self defense (though that lasted about as long as the alliance).

Going after Stevan, Peri and Jacob found themselves at the hospital, where Jacob also encountered David Jackson, and all hell broke loose. Almost instantly, Peri, David, and Jacob were in a Mexican Standoff, each pointing a gun at one another. The tension broke when Jacob's finger slipped and he accidentally fired his gun, causing another large gunfight (surprisingly, except for a few grazes, Jacob was the only one to get hurt, taking a bit of buckshot to the right foot) which ended when Jacob and David helped Amanda, Madelaine, Hawley and Marcus escape to the river, though they left Elise Aversano to die.

When he again reached the river, he faced nigh immediate hostility, even when he disarmed himself his gun was taken by Amanda Jones and pressed to his own head. After a tense negotiation, he agreed to leave and did so after taking back his weapons. Shortly after leaving, he met Dorian Greywood, a student with plans to escape. Jacob played along with this idea, and had yet another alliance after agreeing to help.

The first stop for Dorian and Jacob was the small house, where Jacob again met Garrett Langston, who was determined to kill him. Defending himself, Jacob killed Garrett with a stab to the heart after a tough fight. After having Dorian clean his jammed gun and tending to the injuries Garrett gave him, the two decided to go to the warehouse, unknowingly being followed by Angharad Davies. When they reached the warehouse, they encountered both Angharad and Cody. Shortly after the encounter, Angharad fired at Cody and ran off before Jacob could shoot her.

Almost immediately afterwards, Amanda literally dropped in on them, followed not long after by Madelaine. Agreeing that leaving would be the best choice for him (he didn't want any trouble with Adam), he left the warehouse. While in the woods, he decided that playing the game was the only way out and turned back, kicking the door shut and locking it before shooting the lock to seal the door. This attracted the attention of Adam and David, who both hurried to the warehouse. Slipping behind a tree, he watched as Adam tried to open the door and came out to try and shoot him, but David arrived and fired at him. Not wishing to take on both at once, Jacob ran into the woods, leading David farther and farther away from help. Eventually, Jacob ambushed David and killed him after a quick gunfight. After killing David, Jacob rested at the Gazebo only to come face to face with Adam. After a short conversation which revealed Jacob's rationale for playing (sheer will to survive), the two boys came to blows. At first, Jacob was winning the fight, but when he tried to finish Adam off, the other boy turned the tables on him and slashed his throat with his own knife. Jacob tried to detonate his collar, but he bled to death before he could apply adequate pressure.

End-game evaluation: Got too cocky and ended up dead. Too bad, he was quite a contender. Bet a lot of people lost money when he bit it.
Memorable Quote(s):

• "No matter why you fight, or how hard you try, I will defeat you!" said to Garrett during fight
• "I chose the path of the killer, and now I'm damned to walk that path to the day I die." thought while leaving the scene of his fight against David.
• "Cody didn't kill David, I did, so if you want revenge you should start with me.", said to Adam before the fight that killed him.
• "I hope you realize you are making a very big mistake doing that. Now, either put the gun down, or you'll be kill number six. Here I am, trying to relax for a few minutes before going back into the hunt, and you're threatening me. Do you know how angry that makes me?" said to Shinya Motomura

Other/Trivia

• Jacob is one of the only characters who has run completely out of ammo for a projectile weapon during the game.

• He is named after a character in a novel Slayer wrote.

• Was originally going to be the son of a complete FBI agent, but Slayer changed his mind, thinking it made Jacob a bit too much like a Gary Stu (male Mary Sue).

• Slayer intentionally designed him to slightly resemble Manga Kiriyama.

• In the SOTF universe, Jacob/Uriel is a popular slash fanfiction pairing, despite the fact that Jacob killed Uriel. The fanfiction accidentally broadcast during The Fourth Announcement was a particularly badly written (and OOC, as pointed out by one of the terrorists who was reading it) Jacob/Uriel fic. It is unknown whether Uriel's death (and Jacob's, later in the game) affected the writing of such fanfictions or not.

• Slayer never intended Jacob to win the game, though most of his plans for Jacob's demise (after all, in Slayer's words, "The villains always die at the end, otherwise it would be kinda depressing, no?") placed the event near endgame, and almost always by Adam's hand.

• Jacob was originally planned to kill himself at the Gazebo by committing seppukuby slicing his gut open with his knife) in repentance for killing so many people, but Slayer decided that since Jacob had fought so hard to survive, he should "go out swinging" so he instead got killed by Adam.

• The fight between him and David was planned since David entered the game, at first as an "Old West" style gunfight where David won, beating Jacob "to the draw" and shooting him, as a climactic fistfight on top of the Lookout Point that David won by throwing Jacob off the cliff into the ocean (when Slayer wrote this draft, some of Jacob's blood fell into the ocean, so when David threw him down into it he was torn apart by sharks while David watched, having a flashback of his own encounter with one, but at the time he was less used to gore and decided it was "a bit too much" and scrapped it), a gunfight at endgame where David was shot in the back and killed when a stray shot hit Jacob's collar and knocked him down, making David think he was dead. Jacob was supposed to get up "horror movie style" and gun him down the instant he turned his back as a way of saying "never let your guard down", and finally the version he kept.

• David and Jacob were not originally friends (in fact, their time on the island was supposed to be the first time they ever met in person), but Slayer needed something to develop David's character and threw it in, using it as a leadup to the final fight between them.

• The fight between him and Garrett was supposed to end with both of them dead, that's why he got so badly beaten up before killing Garrett.

Almost every one of Adam's attacks hit Jacob during their final fight.

• He was originally going to be Boy #6, but Uriel Hunter was already.

• Jacob was the fifth-last first-generation character to die.

• Though it's never brought up in their encounter, Jacob and Rais Sekth did have some hostility prior to the game. They are shown fighting in a flashback (with Jacob dispatching Rais in one blow).

• Jacob's fight with David Jackson (current draft) was much longer when Slayer was first writing it, including a hand to hand portion. Slayer changed his mind after computer problems, and the extended fight sequence is now a "deleted scene" of sorts.

• He is actually one of the youngest members of the class, seeing as the day of the trip was his 16th birthday.

• Though it seemed to have been interpreted as fully intentional, Slayer tried to imply Jacob's shooting of Anya Vendvmagli was an accident, with one of them pulling the trigger by mistake while they wrestled over control of the gun. Jacob was intending to kill her, but with the knife, not the gun.

• With the exception of Garrett Albert Langston, all of Jacob's victims were other Barry Coleson students.

• Even though Slayer did imply Jacob had seriously decided to stop playing the game, it was revealed he really was lying during his encounter with Shinya Motomura

• He apparently shared Art class with Katherine Marks (though he only recognised her in passing), and Literature class with Shinya Motomura (originally, Jacob did not recognise him at all, Slayer has edited that).

Threads

Below is a list of threads containing Jacob, in chronological order.

Start For B14
Starting Point For B06
Selene Arrives
Lighthouse Ambush
Starting Point For Girl 07
Down By The River
Resting & Suffering
On The Run
Starting Place For B29
The Smell Of Blood
Attack At The River
The Home Away From Home
Travelling Circus
G19 - Stings Like A Bitch
"Though We May Not Survive It..."
Walking Into The House Of Blood...
On The Run
A Moment's Pause
Starting Point For Boy #54
Showdown At The Woods
Mortal Combat At The Gazebo

Your Thoughts

Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Jacob Starr. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!

A hollow character, seemingly only in the game to kill people. He once offed one of his own characters in a paragraph post (which was only the Third post of that character, btw) just to get his gun. Everyone was glad when he died. - Anonymous

I can't say I hated him, but there where a good couple of things that bothered me about him. Being of course the infamous Jacob Treatment, being a medical student, after a while I was just thinking; "This guy shouldn't be alive." and that was one of the big things that kind of turned me away from this character. In the start personally I didn't like him, but with time, and as Slayer skill as a roleplayer got better so did Jacob and by the time he died he had made quite the impact on the island as one it best-known players right from the start. He started out shaky, but was a great character in the end. - Riserugu

While I'll agree that the duly named "Jacob Treatment" was just a bit of a turn-off toward the character, Slayer grew and developed a lot as a roleplayer through Jacob, and in turn, Jacob grew and was better established as a character. I honestly thought he was a good villain, especially in the earliest portions of the game. He is one of the few who will be remembered after Version 1 is long over. - Megami