Jack of Blades

"I have returned. After an eternity away from you all, Jack of Blades is back!"

— Jack of Blades

Jack of Blades is the main antagonist of The Birth of the Nyight. According to the Snowspire Oracle, Jack was already ancient by the time humans came into existence, and appeared in the unnamed world from the Void with the Court. He used his Mask to take over host bodies and thus live forever. Whilst in his humanoid form, he was never seen without the Mask, nor his original body ever shown. He is a master of Strength, Skill and Will.

History
It was revealed by the Tales of Albion that Jack of Blades came from a place called the Void. It is also revealed that he had come with the Queen of Blades and the Knight of Blades, who together were known as the Court. He and the others demanded that the people of Albion bow down before them. When the people refused, the Court "burned Albion until the earth turned black and the sky was thick with smoke". When the people refused a second time, they lifted the sea into the sky and flooded the world. The third time they demanded worship, they claimed that they would bring peace, but again the people refused, so the Court twisted their minds until they went insane. Finally, the inhabitants bowed to the Court.

Later, in the future, when William Black was consulting a tome, Jack transported William from Albion to the Void. Jack tried to enslave William with an ornate sword, however, William managed to fight back and escaped, and at the same time managed to steal the sword from Jack, which was later discovered to be the Sword of Aeons.

Their second meeting consisted of yet another battle. William managed to break Jack's body, destroying his form for a time. However, Jack's soul was believed to have escaped and possibly took refuge in his mask.

Appearance
In his human form, Jack of Blades is a tall, lean man with an average build. His attire consists of hooded robe, crimson in colour, which covers his shoulders and upper torso. It is fastened by a golden hexagonal brooch, encrusted with five red gems, the fifth larger than the others. The robe also covers both of his arms, except for hands covered with grey gauntlets. The rest of his body - chest, legs and feet - are protected by pewter-grey armour, adorned with small spiked protrusions. His most noticable features are his masks. On his face, Jack wears a white mask with red and gold decals.

Then, after the defeat of the Court, again, Jack is a colossal Dragon, with his entire body covered in darkish-brown scales. His back is covered in black scales, and features red and black fins along this aspect. Jack's eyes are now completely red whilst two, v-shaped horns protrude backwards, as well as two larger black horns that curve slightly upwards. Jack's mouth is full of razor-sharp teeth that remain visible even when his mouth is closed. His wings are vast and titanic, the insides are slightly tattered and are a dark crimson colour with stocky, grey, vein-like lines; the outside of the wings are covered in a striped red and black, shell-like armour with black spikes curving backwards, whilst the insides of the wings have some of the shell-like armour situated in it that extend out of the range of the torn-area of the wings. Jack also has four legs with the front legs being smaller than his back legs, and having prolonged grey toenails and his fingernails being shorter, but still extensive, white in colour and take a diamond-like shape but the top part is longer than the rest.

Trivia

 * In Chapter 24, which is his first appearance, Jack gives a shoutout to Hovernyan for his idiotic past and present sight. This causes Hovernyan to be thankful but inside, to cry.
 * Chapter 2 does not mention Jack cutting Theresa's eyes. This causes Hovernyan to worry that the bandits did it instead of Jack.
 * When taking a hood off, he sports grey hair.
 * Jack called the key, "a stupid simple smashing Symphony Scythe".