JC Denton

JC Denton

Personal Details
Name	JC Denton
Augmentations
Light InfoLink Identification of Friend and Foe (IFF) Kill switch
Personality
Myers-Briggs Type	ISTP

Deus Ex
Characters
Major JC Denton Paul Denton Walton Simons Tracer Tong
Minor Hong Kong Soldier Maggie Chow Max Chen
Organizations
Major UNATCO Majestic 12 VersaLife NSF Illuminati Minor Knights Templar Rooks FEMA Page Industries Silhouette X-51
Deus Ex mapping
UnrealEd
Scripting
UCC make Adding conversations

In Deus Ex, JC Denton was the second nano-augmented human following Paul Denton, his older brother from which JC Denton was cloned. He is dubbed, The Secondary Unit by Bob Page. Driven by dreams of heroism and overarching confidence, Denton would join the United Nations Anti-terrorist Coalition Organization determined to rid the world of terrorists. Like Paul Denton and Walton Simons, JC Denton's body was enhanced with nanotechnological augmentations such as enhanced vision, speed, strength and armor. He was voiced by Jay Anthony Franke in Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Naming

While the meaning of his initials were never revealed in the games, the games' creator Warren Spector suggested that they stood for "Jesus Christ" as fans had speculated since the game's release. Denton's full name was based on a friendly exclamation Spector often used, "Jesus Christ, Denton", referring to his friend, the writer Bradley Denton. The developers were planning to go further and make Denton a descendant of Jesus Christ, but this was never used in the game.

Reception

In 2012, GamesRadar ranked him as the 36th "most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in games, commenting: "like some sort of futuristic Sherlock Holmes", he’s intelligent, incredibly resourceful, and just enough of a loner to ensure that he won’t let anything get in the way of his objective. [...] While it’s ultimately up to you where JC’s loyalties reside, one thing’s for sure: This guy’s always up to the task, no matter how dangerous it might be." GameSpy's Mike Sharkey called JC Denton a noticeable omission from the 2011 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition top 50 video game characters.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alec Meer criticized JC Denton, calling him the "blankest of blank characters", but stated he was still better than later protagonist Adam Jensen due to the supporting characters surrounding him such as Paul Denton.

Background

JC Denton begun his career as a UNATCO agent in 2052 and would be the second nano-augmented agent to work for UNATCO, a vision that has been engineered by Majestic 12. As such an agent, JC Denton would coordinate routine missions with UNATCO, whose role included responding to the growing threat of terrorism fueled by a pyramid class structure created by evil visionary, Bob Page who leads a dangerous group of conspirators called Majestic 12. However, upon seeing his older brother, Paul Denton shortly after joining UNATCO, it becomes apparent that something seems rather wrong with Paul, who apparently messed up an assassination attempt in Hong Kong. Moreover, Paul Denton seems less willing to kill human terrorists earning him of reputation of being timid. JC Denton would soon learn that his brother was in fact a double agent working with the NSF. Eventually, JC Denton would become convinced that UNATCO was merely a conspiracy controlled by Majestic 12.

During the fifth mission in the game, JC Denton joined his brother in fight against UNATCO by transmitting a distress signal against the wishes of UNATCO. Walton Simons describes JC as "an expensive mistake..." and ordered UNATCO troops to kill him despite not legally having the authority to issue such order. JC Denton would be captured and imprisoned in a secret MJ12 facility beneath UNATCO headquarters. Walton Simons ordered for JC Denton's hidden augmentation: the kill-switch to be activated, a slow and gradual growing of the nanites inside Denton's body, which would kill him in twenty four hours even if he managed to evade capture or escape. JC Denton managed to escape from the MJ12 facility with the assistance of an unknown entity, calling itself Daedalus. At first, JC Denton speculated that this entity was UNATCO's communications engineer, Alex Jacobson, who befriended JC Denton. However, Alex Jacobson was not Daedalus as had been supposed because no hacker was capable of penetrating the security system used by the MJ12 facility.

Daedalus advises JC Denton to go to Hong Kong and locate Tracer Tong, who with the assistance of Paul Denton's bodily blueprints, was deemed capable of disabling JC and Paul's kill switches. The idea of disabling nanotech augmentations was not possible by design. There is no mention of the concern that JC Denton's kill switch could be deactivated. Simons who facilitated its activation seemed very confident that Denton would not being able to survive even if he managed to escape because the kill switch would eventually kill him making any escape futile.

When JC Denton arrives at Tracer Tong's underground laboratory in Hong Kong, he claims that despite the kill switch being active for over sixteen hours, he does not feel anything. At this point, Tracer Tong teaches Denton an important lesson, "... the more power you think you have, the more quickly it slips from your hands".

Personality

JC Denton prides himself on the fact that is a bit of loner, who is used to being on his own. He seems unafraid of limited social interaction, but outwardly, seems very confident to the point of using logic and one-liners to confuse his enemies. JC Denton may also appear monotone and cold due to his natural detachment and seemingly disregard for the emotions of others. On the contrary, his brother, Paul Denton seems more outgoing, friendly, chilled and excited.

ISTP

JC Denton's Jungian type preferences are consistent with an ISTP Myers Briggs personality type. For example, JC Denton is dedicated, focused, determined, outwardly confident and a bit of a loner, indicating heavy use of introverted thinking (Ti) and supplementary extraverted sensation (Se). Denton is also the kind of guy who believes that action and violence solves short-term problems, a natural preference, esteeming from his need for Sensing. His lack of interest in books, especially fictional ones, suggests that he is heavily practically-minded. JC Denton seems resourceful, efficient and strong willed in his approach to practical problems. Early his UNATCO career, he remarks, "Give me a chopper and a pilot and I'll handle it!" He seems very keen to jump into the action, but since he seems focused on solving a problem (by applying logic through action), the Se function likely resides in the auxiliary, rather than, dominant position. Unlike an ESTP, however, Denton tends to not use charm to encourage people to like him. It is either you do what he wants or you are an idiot. In many cases, Denton makes simple binary judgements, for example, he once says, "Either you're life is worth more than a LAM, or its not worth living". On the other hand, an ESTP might be inclined to smooth talk their way into or out of a situation. Denton never refuses to admit responsibility. With dominant Ti, the rules of the land do not apply to him. Frequently, he is cited for violating UNATCO procedures for the sake of the mission, had to be reminded by the then UNATCO Director, Joseph Manderley to follow rules and procedures and would defer judgement until he has looked at the situation for himself.

Naturally, JC Denton faces extreme challenges that forces him to mature and rely on less preferred cognitive functions. For example, due to gradual maturing of tertiary introverted intuition, Denton feels lead by rumours that UNATCO is part of a larger conspiracy and, although, naturally skeptical due to a lower preference for Ni, feels compelled to fulfill its desires. One example of this is when JC Denton instinctively feels that something is off about Everett's mechanic. As Denton faces the realization of death (due to activation of his hidden nanite-growth kill-switch augmentation), he becomes uncharacteristically defensive of his home country, the United States, believing that the US way of governing is superior due to inferior extraverted feeling (Fe). His lack of need for harmony is also noted. For example, when one in Paris is distressed by JC's lack of willingness to pay money for a book he is not interested, the woman tries to use victim-playing to guilt trap JC, but he simply says, "Why don't you try getting a job", resisting or ignoring any hint at employing empathy due to Fe's inferior position.

ISTJ

Some typology discussion forums and blogs alternatively suggest that JC Denton might be an ISTJ Myers-Briggs type. For example, they note that his discussion with a Chinese bartender, Isaac, implies that Denton is using dominant introverted sensing (Si) due to failing to question the values he has been instilled by the United States government. Although, Denton is probably an ISTP, he may behave like an ISTJ for two major reasons. First, being brought up under surveillance of Majestic 12, JC Denton was effectively brainwashed into following rules and procedures, causing him to behave like an ISTJ by interjecting the values of American democracy. Second, ISTPs can superficially appear like ISTJs under dire stress due to function imbalances caused by immaturity. Ti paired with Ni is very closed minded, perhaps more so than an anxious ISTJ because tertiary Ni convinces the user that the truth is already known and that any questioning or further investigation is otherwise redundant. As long as the internal logic holds, Ti is happy enough that faulty assumptions are unlikely questioned. However, Denton's willingness and lack of stress in betraying UNATCO when presented with the facts, suggests limited Si use because Denton does not suffer stress or feel chaos by the sudden loss of safety, security or social status. Furthermore, he rarely follows procedures because its the right thing to do (as he had to frequently reminded by Manderley to comply).

References

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