Legacy, and why I think he acts the way he does.
Legacy Jack is both an interesting and equally complex character to me, and I’ve been meaning to dive into him recently, so;
In my opinion, one of the most common misconceptions (that I’ve fallen victim to myself at some point), is that Legacy Jack is somehow emotionless and/or pure evil. Henry himself implies it too: “You have no conscience. No soul pushing you back.” As I mentioned before in my davesport codependency post: Jack’s emotional palate was undoubtedly altered because of Blackjack and his soul harbouring his strong emotions, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of feeling at all. He shows regret when Dee passed and when redeeming himself as Legacy towards Blackjack, and his “It shouldn’t at all be hard to say goodbye to you, and yet, it is” speech towards Dave in dsaf 3’s good route signifies an attachment and fondness which makes it so hard to say goodbye. But then, why does Legacy take after the man who destroyed his entire family to begin with?
Another angle I sometimes see is that he is under Henry’s control, manipulated similarly to Dave; I don’t believe this. Henry, in dsaf 3’s good route, says that part of him was able to escape the void because it’d grown strong enough, which implies that this had to be slowly grown throughout his time in the void instead of suddenly achieved. The first we see of Legacy is near the end of dsaf 2, over thirty years before Henry made that statement. If Henry had managed to get into Jack’s head at all then, it was likely minimal, and not enough to persuade him into the evil Legacy displays.
The way I picture it; Jack hit rock bottom. His body is decomposing and hardly considered human, his life is dedicated to a promise to fix another’s evil, and even if he puts everyone back together: he’ll never get to pass and have a happiest day himself. Once you’ve hit rock bottom the only way is up, and an easy way out of the slump of his life - which ultimately has a purpose to anyone but himself - is Dave’s offer to kill with him. Initially it’s a distraction, a change, but eventually; it’s a way to regain anatomy over himself. Jack, towards the end of dsaf 2’s ending, realises the murders are a way to leave a legacy of his own, instead of abiding by the promise forced upon him. This is also why Dave is scared of him, becauce while Dave kills with the intent to shut down Freddy’s, Jack seemingly kills just because he can, because - to an extent - he wants to.
Since dsaf 2 has no canon ending, there’s still the possibility for Legacy to change between dsaf 2 & 3: I assume his reason to change back to the good route would be that he understands he can’t just live his immortal life killing kids until the end of time, similarly to how Davetrap realises this in the bad ending. Assuming he doesn’t divert from the Legacy route though: I imagine it was especially blissful at first, a newfound freedom to shape his own destiny and with it; his legacy. He's still capable of feeling regret, his choices don't erase that, but I imagine he pushes a lot of it away with the idea that what’s done is done. He can't change the past; he can't bring Dee back, and by the time he faces her in the flipside he's so desensitized from years of living with this mindset that he doesn't consider her death nor happiest day of as much worth as he used to anymore. We also see this in the way he uses it as an accusation towards Davetrap; “You two have killed everyone that I’ve ever cared about… My sister… My brother, Peter. Even myself- ” while simultaneously siding with Henry (albeit in a different form), who is at the root of all those aforementioned things. Despite what he makes Davetrap believe, he doesn’t care for those things, not anymore.
This is also why Henry holds a fondness towards Legacy: Jack understands the consequences of his actions and how they relate to him and his past, yet he kills without remorse, much like Henry in his research. Henry sticks with Jack because he sees him as an equal, rather than a lackey and test-subject the way he did with Dave; Jack didn't have to be manipulated or coddled to reach this point. On the topic of manipulation; I do think that Henry's presence (the way we see it in dsaf 3 evil route) has an influence on Jack, but it's more so encouragement than manipulation. Jack has nothing to lose, which is also what allows him to withstand Henry's attack in the good route, and therefore isn't as prone to Henry's manipulation. Jack also understands that Henry isn’t as powerful because of how he relies on possessing Jack for a vessel, outright stating: “Henry has been dealt with. He isn’t coming back.” If anything, Henry is a companion to validate him, a tool for Jack to further his Legacy; to leave a mark that displays his autonomy and directly oppose Fredbear. In a way, it’s a big ‘fuck you’ to God himself, similarly to how Legacy says “I am God” while fighting Fredbear in dsaf 2. Between this and Henry saying he will “abolish death” in the Joy_1 tape, they are essentially playing God; especially with Jack immortalised through flesh merged with steel.
Unfortunately, Legacy isn't a character I've done a lot with, but I think writing this all down has given me a more cohesive understanding of how I view him. This interpretation might change overtime, but until then I'm posting this for the people who're interested! If anyone has fanfiction/oneshot ideas with Legacy please I'm clawing and begging at your door to give me them PLEASE (said the guy who's currently writing character posts instead of actual fanfiction… lel)
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