User blog comment:Battlefan237/Halloween Part II - Human Horror:Alex Delarge vs. Jack Torrance/@comment-3189283-20191105103217

Let’s see shall we

Main Weapon

The Fire Axe quite clearly has the greater killing potential because of it’s bladed head. The Cane is not meant to be used for killing and Alex doesn’t use it to kill people, rather he just beats them up with it. He does have a knife in the handle but he won’t be bringing that out right away although if and when he does it’s short size makes it easy for him to get too close for Jack to be able to use the axe properly. Nevertheless, the Axe is probably still the better choice here.

Edge: Jack Torrance

Backup

Nothing Alex has as his “backup” is really all that impressive. A razor blade won’t do shit against Jack, his crotch armour won’t stop an axe to the groin and using the environment is hardly any great skill in improvisation rather it’s just him picking up stuff and hitting people with it. The ghosts of the Overlook Hotel meanwhile are basically the sole reason Jack is as much of a threat as he is. As a direct influence they are able to give Jack advice as well as perform simple tasks such as opening and closing doors and moving the environment, nothing too ground breaking but enough to give him a slight advantage. More importantly though is the psychological threat the Ghosts bring with their bizarre appearance and spooky mannerisms. Alex, for all his bravado, is still just a teenager with a questionable mental state and the Ghosts will have an effect on his psyche.

Edge: Jack Torrance Final Verdict

This is very interesting battle because on paper you’d give this easily to Torrance. He has the more effective weapon and a whole entourage of Ghosts to back him up. However, the truth is that he needs both of these things just to be able to compete. Alex is clearly the more physically capable of the pair, sure Torrance is pretty strong and durable but Alex has some pretty impressive feats of strength himself not to mention he moves much quicker and more nimbly than Jack, who just barrels forward like a steam train. Alex is also a much better fighter owing to his various fights against rival gangs and normal citizens he decides to terrorise whereas Jack’s sole fighting strategy is to swing his axe around in heavily telegraphed and easy to dodge manner. If this battle took place on neutral ground then Alex would win this handily.

However, this battle doesn’t take place on neutral ground and with the Overlook Ghosts to back him up Jack will win this. On a meta note the reason Jack had such a poor record was because he tended to be put up against big dumb brutes who are too zoned out to be really effected by the ghosts shenanigans. Alex meanwhile is just a normal person (relatively speaking when compared to Jason or Michael) and the eeriy atmosphere and horrific appearance of some of the ghosts will really fuck with his mind. The longer the battle drags on the more and more his mental state will deteriorate and with it his advantages in fighting skill and Jack’s harder hitting weapon has a better chance of connecting.

Jack also has an advantage in that he’s going to be going for the kill right from the get-go whereas Alex will probably be happy just beating Jack up. By the time Alex realises that he’s going to actually use lethal force he’ll already be mentally drained from the Ghosts harassing him and tired from his exertions, giving Jack an easy opportunity to bury his axe into his head.

Jack Torrance: 4,000

Alex DeLarge: 1,000