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John Daniel Edward "Jack" Torrance is a fictional character and the main
antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
's horror novel '' The Shining'' (1977). He was portrayed by
Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-de ...
in the novel's 1980
film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...
, by Steven Weber in the 1997
miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...
, by Brian Mulligan in the 2016 opera and by Henry Thomas in the 2019 film adaptation of ''Doctor Sleep''. The
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
rated the character (as played by Nicholson) the 25th-greatest film villain of all time. In 2008, Jack Torrance was selected by ''
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'' magazine as one of the 100 greatest movie characters. ''
Premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...
'' magazine also ranked Torrance on their list of their 100 greatest movie characters of all time.


Fictional biography

Jack grew up in Berlin, New Hampshire, where his father, Mark Torrance, worked in the Regional Community Hospital. He also has three older siblings: Brett, Becky, and Mike. He is a writer, former teacher, and debate team coach whose
alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
and volatile temper costs him his teaching position at Stovington Preparatory School, when he assaults George Hatfield, a student and former member of the debate team, whom he catches vandalizing his car. Later, Jack's drinking nearly ends his marriage to his wife,
Wendy Wendy is a given name generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s, a male Captain Wendy Oxford was identified by the Leveller John Lilburne as a spy reporting on his activit ...
, after he breaks his son Danny's arm in a blind rage. He finally decides to quit drinking after a drunk driving crash in which he and a friend run over an abandoned bicycle in the road and realize they could have killed a child. Jack accepts a position maintaining the isolated Overlook Hotel in
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
for the winter, hoping this will salvage his family, re-establish his career, and give him the time and privacy to finish a promising play. He moves to the hotel with Wendy and Danny, who is
telepathic Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
and sensitive to
supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
forces. Danny receives guidance from an imaginary friend he calls "Tony." Danny is also comforted by meeting the hotel's kindly cook, Dick Hallorann, who shares Danny's telepathic abilities. It is later revealed that Jack's father, also an alcoholic, was abusive towards his family. A flashback scene in the novel shows his drunk father brutally bashing Jack's mother with a cane. The Hotel is haunted by the ghosts of those who died violently within it and is itself host to a being of unknown origin, who wishes to coerce Jack into killing Danny. Apparently, the Hotel believes if it can harness the boy's "shining", then it can gather enough power to "break free" of the building in which it has somehow become trapped. Jack has encounters with ghosts of previous staff of the hotel, who insist he has always been working there and he must kill his family. Jack eventually succumbs to these supernatural forces, starts drinking again, and grows to hate his own wife and child. Jack cuts off all radio communications and sabotages the hotel snowmobile, their only means of transportation. He then tries to kill Wendy, who knocks him out and locks him in a food storage room. Jack is later helped out of the storage room by the ghost of the previous caretaker, who murdered his own family before committing suicide. Jack then brutally attacks Wendy with a roque mallet he found, although she escapes. He is interrupted by the arrival of Hallorann, whom he almost beats to death. Jack finds and confronts Danny, and is about to kill him when his son reaches through the hotel's power and brings out his father's true self. Jack tells Danny to run and remember how much he loves him, before the hotel's power takes over again and forces Jack to bash in his own face with the mallet. Jack had forgotten to dump the boiler, which grows too hot and causes the hotel to explode. Jack is killed, but Danny, Wendy and Hallorann get out just in time. In the sequel novel '' Doctor Sleep'' (2013), Danny (now going by Dan) learns that Jack is also the biological father of Lucy Stone, a woman whose daughter Abra has manifested “shining” abilities even stronger than Dan's. Shortly before he was fired from his teaching position, and unbeknownst to Wendy, Jack had a brief sexual encounter with a student teacher Sandy Reynolds at a party that led to Lucy's conception. Dan is thus Lucy's half-brother and Abra's half-uncle. This book gives Jack's middle name as Edward rather than Daniel. In the climax of the novel, Jack's ghost intervenes to help Dan's friend Billy Freeman, and Lucy and Abra Stone defeat the main antagonists, Rose the Hat and the True Knot, at the site where the Overlook once stood. After the battle, Jack and Dan make peace with each other before he, Billy, and Abra leave the location.


In other media


In film

Jack Torrance (played by
Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-de ...
) is portrayed in a less sympathetic manner in the 1980 film. The film's first major deviation from the source material occurs when Jack attacks Hallorann. Instead of merely injuring him with the mallet, Jack kills Hallorann by planting an axe in his chest. Jack hears Danny scream as he kills Hallorann, and chases his son to a hedge maze outside the hotel, while in the novel, topiary animals come to life and threaten Danny. In the film, Danny walks backwards in his own footprints to mislead Jack, then jumps to a side path and slips out of the maze. Wendy and Danny escape the hotel in Hallorann's Snowcat, while Jack gets lost trying to pick up Danny's tracks, sits down to rest, and freezes to death. The film ends featuring an old photograph of a ball at the hotel from July 4, 1921, that shows a man who strongly resembled Jack at the event. In the 2019 film adaptation of ''Doctor Sleep'', Torrance's likeness ( Henry Thomas) is taken by The Bartender at the Overlook for an interaction with the adult Danny ( Ewan McGregor), which is expanded in the director's cut to include a following scene in the bathroom, where Torrance's likeness is also taken by the Hotel Caretaker. Thomas also portrays Torrance in flashback sequences.


In miniseries

Author Stephen King was unhappy with director
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
's 1980 film adaptation of the novel, particularly Nicholson's portrayal of Jack Torrance: King then decided to create a
miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...
based on his vision of the novel, with Jack Torrance as a more sympathetic character. Torrance in the miniseries is similar to the character in the novel, but the ending is changed. In the miniseries, Jack redeems himself, and the boiler explodes due to the hotel's negligence. In the book, Jack sacrifices himself by causing the boiler to explode in order to destroy the hotel. The miniseries ends with a scene not in the book: Danny graduates from high school, while his spectral father looks on.


In opera

An opera based on Stephen King's 1977 novel originated with Eric Simonson, who directed the premiere production of the opera, and Minnesota Opera Artistic Director Dale Johnson. Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell planned to design their opera to adhere to King's novel, unlike the 1980 film adaptation. Jack and the other characters were portrayed similarly like in the novel, and it was approved of by King.


In play

A new play directed by Ivo van Hove and written by Simon Stephens, based on the 1977 book, was coming to the West End in 2023, and Ben Stiller was reportedly in talks to play Jack Torrance in a stage adaptation.Ben Stiller to Play Jack Torrance in a Stage Adaptation of Stephen King’s THE SHINING
– GeekTyrant


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torrance, Jack Characters in American novels of the 20th century Fictional alcohol abusers Fictional characters from New Hampshire Fictional characters from Vermont Fictional child abusers Fictional domestic abusers Fictional ghosts Fictional groundskeepers Fictional murderers Fictional victims of child abuse Fictional writers Literary characters introduced in 1977 Film characters introduced in 1980 Male horror film villains Male literary villains The Shining (franchise) Stephen King characters Fictional schoolteachers