Jack Walters

Jack Walters is the main protagonist of Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of The Earth.

Origins
Jack Walters was born in 1890, the youngest of three children. He grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, where he underwent a disruptive upbringing due to the excessive alcohol and gambling habits of his father. Young Jack was often beaten by his increasingly violent father, who eventually killed himself. His mother was forced to work long hours to support the family financially, and eventually died prematurely in 1901. Jack was eventually taken into foster care, joining the police force a few years later after falsifying his age on his application form.

How it all began
Jack Walters became a private detective and could (somehow) solve cases even when there wasn't any evidence. On September 6, 1915, he was called by the police to investigate an old decrepit manor where gunshots were heard. A group of an unknown cult lived there and it's leader, Victor Holt, demanded the police only send Jack in exchange for their cooperation. Strangely, Jack had never met or heard of Victor Holt before. As Jack entered the manor's compound, all hell broke loose and both the police and the cultists started shooting at one another. Jack entered the building and discovered that this group, who worshiped these mythical beings called the Yithians, were spying on him as he saw numerous pictures of himself on the walls. Again, Jack had never met this strange cultists before and was puzzled as to why they have any interest with him. As he investigated further, he found an underground passage which led to a secret laboratory. He then found a strange looking portal arc structure leading to nowhere. Jack pushed a button, which activated the portal and the whole room went bright. He saw two alien-like shadows slowly crawling toward him and due to the fright, Jack fainted.

The Missing Years
After searching for hours, the police found Jack collapsed on the floor. He was alive but something about him wasn't right. When Jack spoke, the police recoiled in fear as there was something unnatural about his words and blank gaze.


 * "We eventually found him by following the sound of his screams -- I'd never heard anything like that before, and I hope I never hear anything like it again. When I first saw him lying there, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I've never seen a human being so drained of life, yet still breathing...he just kept chanting some strange words over and over again. It took three of us just to subdue him enough to carry him outside."
 * -- Robert Armstrong, oral history, 1939.

The police had no choice but to send Jack to Arkham Asylum for psychotic treatments. Little did they know that they were talking to a soulless Jack Walters, for his body was intact but his spirit was elsewhere. It turned out that the shadowy figures Jack saw previously were the Yithian beings that the cultists worshiped. Apparently, these "intellectual" beings had selected Jack as a host of one of their Great Race. The Yithians had existed more than fifty million years ago, but they were able to project their minds to invade the bodies of people in modern times. Jack was one of them, and for six years, his body was controlled by a Yithian while his mind was occupying a Yithian's body. Yithians were kindhearted beings and took care with those they hijacked, teaching them the destruction of their Yithian race and civilization. These events all happened a million years ago in the past. As soon as the Yithians were done with their hosts, they would send their minds back to their original bodies, but would also erase their memories so they would remember nothing of their experiences with the Yithians. However, for Jack, his amnesia was imperfect and could recall some bits and pieces of those events. Jack also gained the ability to see through other people's eyes, but he never shared this information with anyone else.

Six Years Later
Jack, who had no clue as to how he ended up in the asylum in the first place, was released from the asylum's care after regaining his consciousness. To him, it seemed like it was only yesterday when he went to that strange house which took place six years ago. He returned to his PD office and resumed his private detective work. Meanwhile, he tried his best trying to understand what exactly happened six years ago and why he couldn't remember anything. As he was writing his diary entry, he received a phone call from an Arthur Anderson, who wanted to hire him to look for a missing person. Jack rejected the offer but later changed his mind.

Innsmouth Case
Jack went to investigate Innsmouth, a small, rural and underpopulated fishing town with very little communication with the outside world. His task was to find the missing person named Brian Burnham, who reportedly went missing from the National Store. In his investigation, he discovered that majority of the Innsmouth locals were members of the Esotoric Order of Dagon, a religious organisation who worshipped three mythical creatures: Dagon, Hydra and Cthulhu. He also learned that it was the Order who kidnapped Burnham, because they abhor outsiders and would do anything to keep them away from discovering the Order's true agenda. Jack sprang Burnham out of prison, along with Ruth Billingham, Brian's girlfriend. As they were escaping, the Order shot the getaway car, caused them to crash, the impact killing both Burnham and Billingham. Jack barely made it, and was rescued by FBI agents.

Marsh Refinery
In February 8, 1922, the FBI agents raided the Marsh Refinery along with Jack (by force). The raid was supervised by Edgar J. Hoover and his orders were to capture Marsh alive and destroy the refinery. They succeeded, but were unable to find out where the odd, white coloured gold from the Marsh Refinery came from.

Esoteric Order of Dagon
With enough evidence, the FBI managed to convince the government to have a full-scale assault at the Order. Jack aided the raid and was able to infiltrate the Order's mansion, which was heavily guarded by a special force field. Jack later found another member of the Marsh family, but as he was chasing him, Jack fell into a hole leading to the ocean, and short after was rescued by the coast guard. The ship Jack went aboard was part of the raid, and their mission was to attack Devil's Reef, a strange island presumed to be the source of the Order. The ship was later attacked by aquatic beings known as the Deep Ones, killing everyone on deck. Jack survived the attack and was confronted with the father of the Deep Ones: Father Dagon. After defeating the large beast, the ship sank.

Devil's Reef
Jack woke up only to find himself on the shores of Devil's Reef, being the only one who survived the shipwreck. He infiltrated the cave, killed Robert Marsh (who just recently killed his brother Sebastian) and defeated the final boss in the game: Mother Hydra. The island then began to tremble as the US submarines were shooting torpedoes at the island to destroy Devil's Reef once and for all. Jack ran for safety as the caves were crumbling down, and found an arc-way. After reading a certain incantation, it opened a portal. He went in and found himself back at the Order's mansion, soon thereafter collapsing in shock.

Suicide
After the event at Devil's Reef, nobody believed his story and he was sent back to Arkham Asylum, labeled by the authorities as an insane lunatic. Jack was no longer himself and had completely lost his sanity. Unable to grasp reality any longer, Walters committed suicide in his cell room on February 16, 1922.


 * "Now...at my end...I can fully see.'My last case opened in me a new fear...a real fear...a fear of myself, of what I am...and of what I have always been.'All that I was, is now lost. Hope? Purpose? Pleasure? All meaningless.'I now walk in the shadows between worlds...and it is there I have finally glimpsed upon what lives in the dark corners of the Earth..."
 * - Jack Walters, last diary entry, 1922.