" Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence... I said I'm not gonna hurt ya... I'm just going to bash your brains in."- Jack Torrance to Wendy Torrance
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John Daniel Edward "Jack" Torrance is the main protagonist/antagonist in the novel The Shining, the 1980 Film Adaptation by Stanley Kubrick, and the 1997 Miniseries by Mick Garris.
Biography
Jack was the husband of Wendy Torrance, the father of Danny Torrance and Lucy Stone, uncle of Jackie Torrance, and the grandfather of Abra Stone. Jack was an author and a former teacher who accepted a position as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado, and had an opportunity to write a play.
The evil spirits that inhabited the Overlook Hotel drove Jack insane and convinced him to attempt to murder his family with a roque mallet. However, his son Danny also had some psychic abilities, which he used to try to protect Jack. Wendy, Danny, and Dick Hallorann escaped, but unfortunately, Jack regained his sanity too late and the hotel boiler exploded, which killed him as well as destroyed the hotel. In the 1980 film, Jack (Jack Nicholson) froze to death after he chased Danny into a hedge maze and became trapped. In the 1997 miniseries, Jack was played by Steven Weber. Jack's final fate in the 1997 film was more true to the novel. Unlike the 1980 film, Jack's redemption was "rewarded" of sorts when a full grown Danny is seen graduating from a school. Jack's ghost momentarily appears to congratulate his son on completing his studies.
Jack appeared in the novel Doctor Sleep, in which Danny (as an adult, went by "Dan") discovered that he had a half-sister named Lucy, and a niece named Abra who had similar abilities to him — only more powerful. Dan saw a vision of his father at what used to be the Overlook Hotel near the end of the novel.