Jack Noir

Jack Noir is an Archagent of Derse who appears in every session of Sburb. He oversees various affairs of the kingdom and does all of the most important and most tedious paperwork, and is the direct subordinate of the King and Queen. In the kids' session, he slew the Queen, and soon after, the King, declaring himself as the Sovereign Slayer and wreaking havoc on the Medium. In the trolls' session, he was able to enlist the help of Karkat Vantas and the Red Team to exile the Black Queen (who became ), and at some point was exiled himself, becoming Spades Slick and leading the Midnight Crew.

A "Jack" is a face card in a normal deck of cards that ranks below the king and queen, and "Noir" is a pun on the detective film genre Film noir, an allusion to Problem Sleuth, and Jack's alternate universe counterpart. "Noir" also means "black" in French, making his full name a pun on the card game Blackjack and a possible reference to the real-life Jack Noir. Furthermore, Jack Noir, like Spades Slick, is an incredibly cool name.

This article is about the instance of Jack Noir that appears in the Kids' session of Sburb, also known as the Sovereign Slayer or Jackspers Noirlecrow. For the instance of Jack Noir that appears in the Trolls' session, see Spades Slick.





Biography
When he was introduced, Jack appeared to be a normal-looking Dersite wearing a multi-colored jacket with a spade on the lower right. He particularly despised wearing his Jester's hat. Jack Noir was also seen without his outfit on after it appeared to be affected by Rose Lalonde's Prototyping involving the Eldritch Princess, giving it a pink frilly skirt and a hat similar to that of the princess.

Jack finally became so fed up with the ridiculous costumes that he utilized the object in Jade's box to kill the Black Queen, taking the ring for himself and ascending to the throne.

Being created from the same character template, he looks exactly like Spades Slick of the Midnight Crew, to the point that the player tries to name him Spades Slick. Jack Noir is the first major character, beyond than the four protagonists, who is named by the player. Spades Slick is Jack after he became an Exile in the Trolls' game, entirely seperate from the Jack in the Kids' game.

Derse
Jack's role in Derse is to make use of several window-shaped monitors—or Fenestrated Walls. He has three such walls; the fourth wall was stolen, apparently by Grandpa. All four walls together would form a 'Cubicle of Vigilance.' The fourth wall happens to look like the "odd device" in Jade's bedroom; it was also seen in Andrew Hussie's study.

Jack can watch events anywhere in the Incipisphere, namely the victories of John and his father over his minions. He seems to consider the monsters they face 'graveyard stuffers'—though, since they're the weakest known Underlings, he's probably right. His other duties involve keeping prisoners of Derse from escaping, though the guards were unable to stop Dad and his massive amount of Mangrit from reaching him. At that point, Jack is almost certainly unable to put up any kind of real fight against Dad, and after he burns, stomps, and then douses Jack's dreaded hat with shaving cream, he begrudgingly sets him free.

He later finds the Parcel Mistress attempting to retrieve the green package. Too lazy to process the paperwork, he neglects his duties and instead offers the package in exchange for the white crowns, and the deaths of those bearing them. He gives her a Regisword to complete the task.

His subordinate Agents are the Draconian Dignitary, the Courtyard Droll and the Hegemonic Brute. As the Sovereign Slayer, they still serve him, and he has made wearing costumes for them optional.

Regicide
While Jack idled away doodling bitter artwork of the Queen on a parking ticket, the Black Queen appeared on one of his monitors. The Queen appeared in the room and demanded he wear his new, frilly, humiliating outfit. When Jack refused, she tried out a number of equally humiliating costumes on him, until Jack snapped and ripped off his jester garb. The Queen threatened him with the blade in her chest until Jack grabbed Jade's green package. He reached inside of it, and used the Royal Deringer it contained to deprive the Queen of her ring before killing her. He then picked up her ring and donned it himself, taking a considerably more powerful prototyped form. He now refers to himself as the Sovereign Slayer and has made the wearing of the prototyped costumes optional for his Agents. From there, he encroached on the Skaian Battlefield, performing a second coup de grace and interrupting the Warweary Villein's uprising, bisecting the Black King's scepter and decapitating the second member of the Derse royalty. He dons the Black King's crown and faces off with WV.

Through his mutinous actions, Jack had become an unexpected variable in the game, and his seizure of power has disastrous consequences. It is hinted that this chain of events will lead to his position as a major antagonist for the remainder of the story. Jack's extreme variability (and more directly, his usurpation) has been confirmed by Karkat as what causes the Homestuck Kids' version of The Reckoning to occur earlier than expected, making the game impossible for the kids to win. Soon after Karkat confirms this, it begins.

Rampage
Jack Noir then proceeds to promptly FLIP THE FUCK OUT.

After killing the Black King, Jack begins a rampage on the Battlefield, indiscriminately slaughtering both members of the black and white army and devastating Skaia using the destructive power of the Black Ring. He leaves only the Warweary Villein standing for reasons that are unclear.

Afterward, the Courtyard Droll hands him the White King's scepter. He uses it to initiate the Reckoning, and heads to Prospit. After littering the streets with Prospitian corpses and destroying parts of the planet, he severs the chain that holds together Prospit and its moon, the latter of which then falls out of orbit and collides with the Battlefield, while the main planet drifts off, in shambles.

Later still, he engages in a sword fight with Bro on top of the Beat Mesa in the Land of Heat and Clockwork, for unknown reasons and at an unknown point in time. Surprisingly, his fighting skills are matched by Bro's, proving that guardians are significantly more capable than previously thought. After Dream Jade is killed by the impact of the moon and John reads her letter, Jack appears in front of him brandishing the sword in his midriff, seeking the White Queen's ring. However, before he can kill Dream John and retrieve his prize, he is stopped in his tracks by the same bunny that he had killed the Black Queen with, and recently relinquished to the Parcel Mistress upon the fulfillment of their deal. Daunted by the bunny's raw power, he flees.

He then finds Bro in the Land of Wind and Shade and returns his sword, presumably so that they may finish their battle.

Personality
Jack has no tolerance for things he doesn't want to do. His vicious demeanor, sarcastic nature and nasty attitude are readily apparent, and he exhibits a lack of concern for life that isn't his own. In addition, Jack seems to have little loyalty to his duties, frequently neglecting them, and even sending the Parcel Mistress on a half-assed assassination mission. Jack sarcastically refers to the Black Queen as a wise and just ruler, but stews in his own resentment.

He hated the Harlequin motif in which he was forced to dress, doing so only under the direct order of the Black Queen. He tried to draw the line at his stupid hat, but to no avail. When John's Dad went out of his way to destroy it, Jack released him out of thanks. Similarly, he gives up Jade's package to PM? upon the fulfillment of his bargain when he could have easily kept it and killed her. Despite his violent, sociopathic bent, he harbors genuine respect for some individuals and treats them accordingly. For what reasons are unknown; in the case of the Parcel Mistress, perhaps he simply respects her resolute nature, or on the same token he may simply have respect for doing business in proper. In the case of Bro, he shows him respect because so far, they've proven to be equally matched.

Trivia
Jack's name was suggested by Godbot.