Thread:True infinity35/@comment-5903643-20180731130230/@comment-34240967-20180826231328

Character analysis (Zero the jackal):

Zero the jackal is the main protagonist of the story. Who later becomes the main antagonist to sonic forces. Growing up, zero had a very difficult life. With his mother dying from giving birth to him, and his father, Axel, started hating him because of it. When zero was a child, axel treated zero very poorly. By being emotional and verbally abusive towards him. Axel gives him the name zero, because axel thinks of him as a worthless child. And he believes that zero will grow up to be a complete failure as a man to everyone in the world. Zero tries to make axel love him, by becoming a thief and steal items from grey city and bring it back to axel. Proving to him that he wants to follow in axel's footsteps of becoming a bandit like he was. However, zero's efforts didn't get him anywhere, and axel still hated him. His actions also led him to spend three years behind bars. And he was being Bullied and mistreated by the other inmates in jail. Calling him weak, pathetic, and worthless. Zero hopes that axel will find out where he is, and come get him out of jail. But during his sentence, he never heard from axel, meaning that axel never came to get him out. After his sentence was over, zero returns to axel to confront him. Axel finally tells zero why he hates him and what he believes what zero will become in the future. Axel's words caused zero to leave him and he hopes that he will forget about him someday if he survives. Ever since his harsh upbringing, zero has been taking the words weak, pathetic, and worthless very seriously. Which makes him break down into tears when he was called those names by axel and many other inmates.

Later on, zero was rescued by a couple of mercenaries name ace and scar, who are proud members of a band of thieves called the jackal squad. Ace asks zero what his name was, but zero lies to him saying that he doesn't have a name. Because zero started disliking his name due to symbolizing him as a worthless being. And it made him very insecure of himself. Ace asks zero what should he call him by, zero tells him he doesn't care what they call him. The two jackals bring him into their headquarters, where he meets the rest of the jackal squad. Claire, radar, brawn, and the leader of the squad, stryker the jackal. The members claim stryker to be the strongest member of the team and calls him the ultimate mercenary. Stryker intrigued zero more than the other members. Because he seems to be a strong and a noble man in zero's eyes. Stryker asks zero what is his name, but zero tries to lie to him like he did with ace and scar. But stryker easily see's through his lie and force him to say his actual name. Zero expected the squad to start making fun of him, but they all complimented his name. The compliments make zero start to appreciate himself more. Stryker asks zero why he should let him become a new member of the jackal squad. Which zero comes up with a fake backstory, so zero wouldn't have to mention axel or his experience with him again. zero believes that telling stryker his actual sob story would make zero look even more pathetic. Stryker starts to take a liking towards zero, but he wasn't fully convinced to let him join the squad. So stryker sets zero up for an initiation trail that he has to complete in order to join the squad. Zero accepts the trial, and stryker lets him stay for the night. Zero decided to make a new goal, and that is to become the new ultimate mercenary. A successor to stryker. Ever since he first met stryker, he has been the very fist man to effect zero in a positive manner. zero wanted to be like stryker, he wanted to be appreciated and loved by other people. Rather than be hated, shunned, and mistreated by them. He is desperate to have a better purpose in life than have one where he is destined to be nothing more than a failure in life. And he will do anything to be what he wants to be.

The next day, zero has passed the trial. And he was accepted as the new member of the squad. Stryker trained zero and he made him get to know the others as well. Zero bonded with the squad, learned about their history and why they choose to join stryker. Zero views the jackal squad as more than just teammates, he sees them as a family he never had before. Zero turned from an insecure, depressed, and a troubled boy who just wanted to be loved. Into a confident, trustworthy, and a very reliable young man. Zero was starting to get over his childhood life, especially axel. And started with his new life as a great bounty hunter. Striving for a successful future to become the ultimate mercenary. And be remembered as a legendary man in the eyes of his future comrades.

Unfortunately, the jackal squad suffered a death in the family, and that was stryker. After the battle with a criminal organization, stryker died after defeating his rival in battle. Stryker's death effected zero along with the others. But zero still was willing to move forward and continues to be strong. He didn't want to become the ultimate mercenary after stryker died. He wants to earn the title, because to him being the ultimate mercenary is more than just a name. It describes a person who deserves to be legendary. After many years has gone by, zero finally became the new leader of the jackal squad. And he earned the title of being the ultimate mercenary.

Sadly, all of zero's accomplishment has came to an end. When he and the jackal squad raided eggman's base. And he made a deal with the evil scientist after taking interest in the phantom ruby. The squad opposed the idea of joining eggman, and zero understand why. But he manages to convinced them to follow along with the deal. When he tells them about the phantom ruby. With the power of the ruby, the jackal squad can reach their goal to have their own military empire a lot faster, they could have all the money in the world, and they could become the strongest squad in the entire world. Zero thought that joining eggman would be the best decision to strive and his squad closer to their goals. But in reality, it was the biggest mistake he has ever made. In eggman’s facility in mystic jungle, shadow infiltrated the facility to stop whatever plan eggman was coming up with. The jackal squad tried their best to stop shadow, but he was too strong for them. And he wiped them all out. Zero tries to kill shadow so he can avenge his squad, but shadow easily defeats him. Before leaving, shadow calls zero “worthless” and he tells him “Don’t show your pathetic face around me ever again”. Zero had a big meltdown over what shadow said. Because not only did shadow call him weak, but he also prove to zero that he is weak. Zero tries telling himself that he is not weak, but it didn’t work. Because zero knew that the downfall of the jackal squad and all of his achievements was somewhat his fault. If he had think it through and refused eggman’s offer or listen to his team when they told him that joining eggman was a bad idea. All of it could have been avoided. Zero stops telling himself that he is not weak, and accepted that he is weak. Zero feels guilty about his squad/families demise. But he still hated shadow for taking everything from him. His family, his strenght, his pride, and his title of being the ultimate mercenary. Back in the lab, eggman still found zero interesting despite his failure to destroy shadow. So eggman offers zero the chance to become even more powerful than shadow could ever be. By fusing zero’s body with the finalized phantom ruby prototype, but there is a catch. Eggman explains what will happen if zero obtain the phantom ruby’s power. Once he let the phantom ruby be attached to his body, he will form a new personality of himself. Meaning that he won’t be the same after he gains control of the ruby’s power. Zero at first was hesitant to use the phantom ruby to surpass shadow, because he thinks using power from something else rather than hard work to earn it. Is another sign of weakness. But then he thought to himself that if he turns down the offer eggman will no longer find any use for him anymore. Leading eggman to kick him out of the deal, once eggman does it, zero would have nothing to gain from his actions. All of his squad is dead so he would become a lonely individual. He could train hard to get revenge on shadow but he has no idea how to counter shadow's chaos control. So no matter how hard zero trains, shadow will still defeat him again and this time shadow will not spare him. So this was an offer that zero could not refuse so he accepts. Zero asks eggman to create him a mask so he can hide his face, and so he can create a new identity for himself. Eggman did what zero requested, and creates him a mask. Zero puts it on and that is how infinite was born.