Kapitel 81: Spotlight#90: John from Unordinary: Victim or Villain?
Across my nearly four years of webtoon, I've experienced many different protagonists. And if you've already seen my favorite webtoon protagonists, then you'd probably expected me to talk about this guy eventually. John Doe from Unordinary has been a character that has a very divisive fanbase.
From troubled tyrant to kind-hearted cripple to reckless relapsed renegade to introspective individual, John has gone through more character derailment and development in these past five years than most protagonists do in double that time. And with his character being in an exciting crossroads now but his sins still very much fresh, I've seen both a lot of shit and a lot of praise on John's character.
So I've decided that I will shine a light on every nook and cranny of John's shattered open personas. From his spiral of being abused to becoming the abuser and so much more I'm going to personally decide if John truly deserves the moniker of victim or villain for all he's done.
Note
So before I begin it's pretty apparent this will contain a hell of a lot of spoilers so I highly recommend being caught up to at least issue number 241. Also this will pretty much be a massive recap on his various stages of character development mostly lifted from the Unordinary Wiki since I think they did a great job of separating these stages.
Finally this spotlight is not made to change your mind, if you think that John is a victim, villain, both or neither is a choice you're going to have to make. I'm just tired of having people completely ignore so much context and set up to only consider John, some simple psycho that has completely no leg to stand on. This is mainly an add-on to the conversation rather than an ultimatum. But before we get it all, that might as well show off another important aspect of John's character.
Design
First up, let's get the biggest elephant in the room out first. Out of all the characters in Unordinary, John's family is the only one with a full last name: John Doe. Which fits pretty well since a John Doe in real life is an unidentified body or a name that's intentionally kept hidden, which could mean two things.
One this could highlight how John himself is a bit of an enigma to most people at large in the first half of the story and made as a way subtlety to excite his mystery. Two, this also could mean that John Doe gets made to represent an average person in the crowd, which to us would be what the world of Unordinary would consider a cripple. Course, this is just my take.
Though upon further notice, I feel like not enough people give credit to Uru chan's fantastic character design for John. Throughout the series, most of the characters in Unordinary have displayed the common trait of different colored hair and word bubbles to represent the glowing aura that usually comes with their ability.
Uru Chan deliberately seems to use these kinds of rules to flip the script when it comes to John intentionally. John at the start of the series is featured with a rather gelled up hair style combined with white word bubbles. These get probably made again to highlight John's faux persona and adamant hatred of his ability as he tries to "reflect" any chance of him using his ability, much like how white also reflects all the colors of the light spectrum.
However, we know now that those white bubbles are really just an act as we see his more ruffled up regular hair and black word bubbles as his true self and color of his ability, which makes sense, given much like how John can copy any other ability he sees with his own signature ebony hue, which makes sense because if white is the color that reflects everything black directly absorbs the color spectrum.
Not only does this imply John's ability of manipulating his aura to copy multiple abilities at once pretty well but it fits with John's nature and motivation. Aura manipulation as an ability inherently prays on the overconfidence and over-reliance of abilities that this society has created, to the point where it's John's main strategy in combat, which fits John's personality well later down the line.
This ability fitsJohn's justifications since he literally is hitting people with the same punishment that he suffered at their hands, punishment that he feels like is owed to him, while still training and working for his power unlike so many other characters. I guess with that out of the way; we can get into his character proper.
Monster
To say John was a cripple technically isn't exactly an untrue statement. For most of his middle school life, John seems to have been just that. And unfortunately, in the world of Unordinary, absolute power corrupts absolutely no matter what side you get to be on.
For most of his entire life, John effectively was the world's punching bag as he got subjected to nameless bullies all throughout his first years in middle school. And while John's frustration over his own powerlessness was tempered by his early friends Claire and Adrion's complacency for a natural order that has always been there, it never truly vanished, and I can see why.
After all for better or worse those 2 had at least been born with an ability, they knew their limits and could see it drawn out clear as day, there was peace in knowing that. However, John's lack of one would simply mean that he would always be out of reach of something that could potentially give him all he desired, to get payback for the cruelty the world showed him because it seems here only those who are powerful are right. Unfortunately, this hidden desire was multiplied many times over when Claire's ability took hold.
Using her random precognitive abilities, John's hunger for his own grew until he eventually developed the iconic Aura Manipulation. And while at first this training led to the three friends gaining the strength to fight for themselves, the chance to gain we soon found out that this road to hell got first paved with many good intentions at the start.
Once John mastered his ability, he quickly became just as bad if not worse than his former bullies, exercising his might makes right mentality over people and often beating them to a bloody pulp. Claire always tried to stop him, but he would always try to laugh off the consequences or downplay his brutality to Claire.
It's here that we get what many would consider John's worst trait: his judgemental mindset. Whether it be through his aggression, victim complex, or paranoia, it is always the same. No matter what personality, or situation he falls into, John will almost always like clockwork, jump in haphazardly, and dig his heels no matter what anyone else says, rarely if ever listening until drastic measures take place.
That statement fits numerous parts in John's story as, despite his newfound strength, John still believes that he is the same victim that he's always been and that the world is against him. And by the time he changes all that, John had become a power-hungry tyrant that destroyed every relationship and goodwill he ever had in his old school, hurting the girl that had in a sense created him without showing a hint of remorse.
But instead of being able to redeem himself, instead of getting the proper counseling, he needed to try and better understand something that is a part of him always, the world of unordinary once again turned its back on him.
Cripple
Before getting into this for the literal two people who don't understand John's "readjustment," classes were not fucking therapy. Keon did not get John to accept his abilities or tell him the best way to control them. Instead, Keon only saw this obviously messed up kid as nothing more than a rabid dog that needed to be put down, like every other crooked nail in the system. The way this government handles its various superheroes is more than enough proof of that.
With John in particular Keon effectively forced him to relive his rampage for 3 months straight, forcing him to only see the worst in himself until he was too broken to fight back. So no, John didn't get fixed, more so mentally traumatized to the point where his hatred of others and inherent entitlement reversed in on itself into an ever-present cloud of bitter self-loathing.
He never even attempted to get the chance to be forgiven or even forgive himself, instead deciding to suppress the incident entirely with said self-loathing to let his Cripple persona take hold. And unfortunately, in both real life, you can't always run away from your problems. However, despite this faux persona, John's later friendship with the former queen Seraphina shows off in many ways that this persona had all of John's best traits pushed to the forefront.
John was still very much a stubborn and overly idealistic rebel who would happily fight back against anyone who fought him. However his restraint, understanding of people and overall humbleness were far more significant as even with his near-daily medical injuries he would never even think about using his ability.
Mainly because John's cripple personality trusts himself so little and hates himself so much that he would rather get beaten into the ground than ever use his ability; Because John's better of understanding of the world left him thinking that he was a monster in a society of people who desperately clung to find solace in power, just like him.
Nonetheless, this constant physical abuse did place a notable toll on him, with only the titular book Unordinary and friendship with Seraphina holding himself together. And through this seeming peace, John still managed to hold up a faint hope of the fantasy he's always had become a reality.
An ideal world where the various subjects of these are that superhumans decide to become a little more human with more altruistic high tiers looking out for low levels that refuse to back down. But as displayed through various flashbacks and painful memories, John believes that this is a world that he could never be a part of and one constantly out of reach. After all, if absolute power corrupts absolutely right, then it only stands to reason that he'll slip back in eventually, right?
Upon noticing his rather "unordinary" and rebellious mannerisms against the various high tiers, Arlo quickly butted heads with John. Mainly because unlike John Arlo has the belief that those in power should use them to hold up the order that comes from the current hierarchy even if that same flawed hierarchy is the very reason why John got created.
So like the ever-so-popular pendulum, Arlo spent an entire month pulling on John's strings. And with John constantly suffering the same maddening abuse of a low tier with the ever-present expectations and rules high tiers must follow, it was only a matter of time before John's small slip snowballing into a spinning spiral downward.
Joker
After his climactic fight with Arlo and Seraphina's subsequent loss of his ability, John's cripple persona started to slip more by the second, shedding his gelled up hair completely and giving into his black word bubbles for pretty much the rest of the story. This is also where we start to see the cracks in his persona start to show amid constant setbacks and frustrations.
John now not only needs to double down and control his cripple persona even more, but he also makes sure that the then powerless Seraphina stays protected against an entire school that's gunning for her head in an attempt to gain notoriety over their own frustration with the system.
Because of the stress of these 2 objectives combined with his further frustrations of even being put in the current situation John takes his first steps into what will later become a grand relapse, taking Arlo's philosophy to heart John decides to have his cake and eat to, merging his 2 previous personalities into what would later be the persona named Joker to once again retreat from his problems.
This is once again an aptly named persona that takes advantage of Unordinary's previously pre-established material. In most schools, the Royals served as pinnacle enforcers of the hierarchy while usually having the power to back it up. Arlo, in particular, ruled Wellston much like a faulty king.
However, much like a suit of cards, the Joker is usually portrayed as the most unpredictable and most powerful in the deck. With John's power eclipsing Arlo's and his mental state further deteriorating by the chapter. John quickly became the wild card that would put Wellston's social into disarray.
Through his nameless mask, John exacted his own self-righteous justice, falling back into the same cycle of brutal violence that the Monster had. However, this once again got controlled primarily through his care and cherishing of Seraphina, who at this point is pretty much the only thing holding himself together as he's reminded of the very reason he became the monster in the first place through every attack. His earlier paranoia and victim mentality combined with his self-hatred effectively leaving him an emotional volcano.
This twisted sense of codependency and frustration eventually leads John to turn his anger on social hierarchy and, by extension, this superhuman society that created him. But with the cripple's self loathing and monster's rage, John's only solution to the problem is pretty much the only solution that any one ever seems to come up with in this world: with his fists instead of his head.
So with that in mind, John continued to fight heavily with the Royals, adamant about completely breaking down every facet of their system. Due to being a ruler without a name John Joker's persona was also carried by many people who shared John's similar frustrations with the system as they used his likeness to get revenge against their higher tier oppressors. Thus to maintain order, the Royals have to double their efforts and accept their shortcomings.
Because despite the royals not inherently being bad people, you can make arguments against the way they run things. Despite all their power and prestige, the Royals still very much allow Wellston's rampant bullying of low tiers, with even Arlo acting as though innate cruelty of the system as something inherent. They haven't done much to make their community better.
And while John's presence as Joker is causing even more violence within Wellston it can be argued that he is simply ramping up something that's always been there. In a weird chain reaction, John's absolute power has, in a sense, become the ultimate equalizer as now everyone in Wellston is equally afraid as The Royals now must deal with a situation they can't fully punch out of.
However, as noted by literally everyone, while John is bringing very valid points about the flawed system that comes with abilities, he's also a massive hypocrite. He does nothing but add into everything he preaches against while leaving his former low tiers in the dust. This all eats away at John's psyche, reaching a fever pitch when Seraphina confronts John directly. John fully gave up the Joker persona in favor of a new, even more unstable Monster.
King
Seraphina and John's talk is arguably the tensest and heartbreaking discussion in the series. For over 100 chapters John tried to keep his identity secret from in his eyes the only person in the world he cares about hoping to "protect" her from both the school and herself. However, as noted by Seraphina and many other characters, this is a protection that wasn't asked for. Protection that has led to chaos and destruction.
At this point, John's mental state is about as fragile as glass, constantly shifting through fear over Seraphina's potential hatred of him, numb to the mess of a school that he has made and most importantly angry that Seraphina doesn't take his side blindly. So with his paranoia reaching a fever pitch and feeling like everyone "abandoned" him, John decides to stop hiding.
So in probably one of the most chilling moments in the series John stops any attempts of restraint, openly beating up Zeke while the school watches in abject terror without a care. And why should he care? After all, unlike every other character in the series, John knows the struggle of being both weak and strong, with both avenues being downright disastrous.
Be weak and forever become a victim of abuse and bullying, become strong, and watch bit by bit as society pressures you into whatever world they want with challengers around every corner. So if John is an anomaly, a monster no matter what mask he wears, and if the people around him are no better. Then why not give in to what was inevitable?
With that, John's once again became a monster with a blood-stained crown, fully intent on trying everything in his power to make sure Wellston can't move on. After all, if even he thinks he can't redeem himself, then what's the point of giving anyone else a chance to? Thus for dozens of chapters, we effectively see an unstable John in an echo chamber of self-hatred and paranoia with any real point he had long gone as he pushes away everyone.
It's genuinely depressing to watch as we see the Royals that once acted like jerks become more mature by day while John's attitude continues to destroy himself and everyone around him. Especially since his actions had ironically brought the school together in the form of the SafeHouse, showing that he's the only one stuck in the past.
This all goes to a fever pitch once again when John, at his peak of paranoia, attacks Arlo, Remi, and later Seraphina. While the battle on a pure spectacle is not the best, Webtoon has to offer, the emotional metaphor and build behind it easily catapult it into one of the greats for me.
At a time where everyone has moved on from John and gave up on him, it is Seraphina, the one that was arguably most hurt by John's revelation, that sticks with him the closest. Because even when John felt like he was at his absolute worst, it was Seraphina that still managed to see and carry on his best traits.
As the fight rolls by, we see John's hatred once again turn itself on to the point where we see it lace his dialogue, trap him in a barrier of self-hatred and turn his most violent attacks on himself. And just when he's about to go on the deep end, Seraphina is the one that breaks through the barrier to tell him the words that he should have gotten years ago.
"He's not a monster; he's a human, and like all humans we make mistakes."
With that the king got dethroned leaving us with.
John
The aftermath of this emotional rollercoaster is definitely a much needed breather. Through coming back home John is finally put in the position he never got: to make amends. Before he could even attempt to bury himself in self hatred John's dad gives him another path of advice: to accept what he did and move on.
While yes he has made terrible mistakes he also shouldn't be the one to decide if people will forgive him. And while his ability can be dangerous, John's aggressive need to go to one extreme from the other has only made it a tool for destruction. While he has a long path of self reflection and improvement to make, while he can't take back everything he did, he;s at least going to try regardless, because he finally has found the people who don't want to give up on him.
So armed with a new hairstyle that serves as a mix of both his gelled up and wild hair, his black bubbles still blazing, John returns to Wellston not as a monster,cripple, Joker or King but as man.
Verdict
So with all that said, what's my personal verdict? And if you've actually read all of htis then you can probably guess that I think in a sense John was both victim and villain. In my full on spotlight of Unordinary I compared this webtoon to My Hero Academia. And if we are keeping that same comparison in many ways I find John similar to Tomura Shigaraki.
While of course the 2 characters are very fundamentally different, how they act in the greater narrative of their stories I believe isn't. Both were effectively innocent children who are the biggest victims of their respective societies, slowly but surely falling into madness as everyone abandoned them except for the hands of their future abusers.
Through that madness they fundamentally develop more and more, wielding wildly destructive powers that instinctively serve as anomalies in their respective society. Though their horrid actions they are able to peel back the flaws that made them, forcing individuals to recontextualize themselves with one person trying to offer up an outstretched hand.
At the end of the day even if John wasn't the main character this world was always going to create an anomaly like him, someone who can't fit on any side of the power scale. But that of course should never excuse the horrid actions that scarred so many innocents. And yet I can't hate him. Because there are times where I've been John.
Times where I've lashed out at others, times where I regret simple mistakes, times where I have hated myself. Hell there are many days where I feel like I still struggle with that and I think on some level if someone as broken as John can forgive himself, it gives a lot of hope for me. Either way I think that John is one of webtoon's most masterful characters and I can't wait to see what's next for him. But with this long spotlight finally over, let's shine the light on someone else shall we?
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein