Spring-heeled Jack

They call me many things: Murderer. Cutthroat. Thief. But you may call me Spring-heeled Jack. This article is about a subject that lacks an official name and is known only by its nickname, title, or alias.

"It was horrible: glowing eyes, huge claws... And his laugh! Luckily he was frightened away by some passerby. Somebody has to do something before he attacks another!"

―One of Spring-heeled Jack's victims, 1868.

Spring-heeled Jack in combat

Spring-heeled Jack is a folkloric being whose identity was assumed by a cult leader in Victorian era London. There was, however, at least one variant of the being who seemingly possessed supernatural abilities.

History

Spring-heeled Jack cult

To unravel the phenomena of "Spring-heeled Jack", Charles Dickens commissioned Assassins Evie and Jacob Frye to divulge the identity of the entity, as their first case as members of the Ghost Club. One night in the Lambeth district, a number of victims were assailed by an attacker said to have been Spring-heeled Jack. After defending a potential victim against Jack, one of the Frye twins followed his tracks to a warehouse safeguarded by cultists.

After infiltrating the building and finding Jack's lair in the sewers below, the twin found several racked costumes of Spring-heeled Jack, used by the cult's leader during the assaults. The Frye eliminated the leader and followers, thus bringing an end to their activities.

Supernatural occurrence

Sometime after the defeat of the cult, another version of Spring-heeled Jack appeared, similar in seeming and habit to that of the cult leader.

Dickens asked for the aid of the Frye twins in defeating the menace again. One night, one of the twins intercepted an attack on a civilian by Jack. Alerted, Jack attempted to flee from the twin. Pursued, he tried to lose the Frye twin by shooting at them and leading them on a chase across London rooftops. Ultimately, the twin tacked Jack on a rooftop, and Jack engaged in combat with them, appearing to be joined by multiple illusions of himself. Just before the twin could deal the killing blow, Jack vanished in smoke, only to appear on a rooftop nearby. After proclaiming that "Spring Heeled Jack will never die!", Jack leapt off the building and vanished for good.

Personality and traits

"I am a ghost, a fiend, a terror in the night!"

―Spring-heeled Jack.

The cult leader costumed as Spring-heeled Jack had a strong disliking to the Londonders of his era. As people he thought of as scum, he treated civilians accordingly, taking joy in preying on them at night.

The more supernatural variant expressed a strong sense of self-confidence, deeming himself the "terror of London" and claiming he would never die. This Jack, like the cult leader, also revelled in frightening the London populace.

Skills and equipment

Both variants encountered by the Frye twins were exceptional in armed and unarmed combat and demonstrated a high tolerance to damage. The cult leader made use of claws to quickly scale walls while freerunning.

The more supernatural Jack demonstrated abilities more in-line with the myth of his existence. He too was proficient in combat and possessed a high pain tolerance; not even the Frye could defeat him in battle. This Jack was capable of teleportation and traversed London's rooftops and platforms with ease and haste; coupled with his freerunning prowess, this made him impossible to catch. He would also use his teleportation to vanish mid-combat and flee from his pursuers. Another ability he possessed was that of apparently creating doubles of himself, which he used to further disrupt the focus of his opponents.

The supernatural Spring-heeled Jack also appeared to be immortal, as even after receiving catastrophic injuries during his battle with the Frye twin, once he teleported to a safe distance, he was completely healed. The supernatural Spring-heeled Jack was also capable of performing the Leap of Faith.

Behind the scenes

• Unlike Jack the Ripper, another popular figure of Victorian era legend, Spring-heeled Jack, both in reality and the Assassin's Creed series, never killed anyone.
• The true nature of Spring-heeled Jack encountered by the Frye twins, whether he is a real phantom or just a man with exceptional skills and magic tricks, is never confirmed.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate