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[oldmanstriker]

OOC Information

Handle: Leon
Over 18?: Yes
Preferred means of contact: youngflamelion / AIM: Blaze0010

Character Information

Character Name: Hercules Hansen
Character Age & Birthdate: 10th November, 1980. Age: 40
Character Canon: Pacific Rim

Character AU History: Hercules Hansen was born on the 10th November, 1980 to Donovan and Tess Hansen, in Sydney, Australia. Between him and Scott, his younger brother, Herc was always the more serious one.

Not much is known about Herc's past other than he was a pilot in the Australian Defence Force, and married a woman named Angela. On the 10th of November 2003, they give birth to their son, Charles.

Ten years later, the Breach opens and the Kaiju, Trespasser attacks San Francisco. The second Kaiju, Hundun attacks Manilla. With the establishment of the Kaiju Emergency Alert System, and the Pan-Pacific Defence Corps, the ADF is put on full alert, including Herc's Squadron.

A year later, during the attack on Sydney, Herc is deployed to stop the Kaiju Scissure. He abandons his post, piloting a Bell-Kiowa helicopter into the city, saving his son, Chuck, from the nuclear blast, but sacrificing his wife.

The following year, Herc joins the Jaeger academy, along with his younger brother Scott, and Stacker Pentecost. He was one of the first Rangers to pass the academy on Kodiak Island and was assigned to the Jaeger Lucky Seven, with his brother Scott.

On the 30th March, 2016 Lucky Seven and Tacit Ronin take down the Kaiju Reckoner in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. A few years after, on the 16th December 2019, Lucky Seven, Gipsy Danger, and Horizon Brave kill the Kaiju Casper in Manilla.

On December 31st, 2019, Hercules Hansen is re-assigned from Lucky Seven to the new Mark-V Jaeger Striker Eureka with his son, Charles.

Relocated to Valparaíso, Chile on the 15th Feburary, 2020

Character Personality: There's not a lot to Hercules Hansen on the outside. He projects the air of an experienced soldier, the cool, calm attitude of a seasoned military man.

On the inside is where you have to look.

Herc has a lot of guilt, self-doubt and self-loathing. Most of this is brought on by the events after the death of his wife during the attack of the fourth Kaiju, Scissure, on the city of Sydney, Australia. It’s during this where Herc had to make a decision; to save his only child, Chuck, or to save his wife. This is something that has haunted the man since that day.

He seems to doubt his abilities, possibly believing that he could have saved both of them if he were better, faster. This was probably the driving force for him to join the Pan-Pacific Defence Corps Jaeger program a year later, with his brother, Scott.

Deployed in Lucky Seven, Herc and Scott completed many successful missions, but Herc’s loyalties would eventually be called into question when, during a mission, he glimpsed his brother doing something that breached PPDC protocol. It was so shocking that Herc nearly lost control, causing Lucky Seven to be badly damaged and nearly destroyed.

Herc reported Scott to his PPDC superiors, this, no doubt, causing more guilt, and possibly a fair bit of the self-loathing. Scott was more than just his brother at this point, he had shared minds with him. However, Herc has shown an aptitude to burying those feeling deep inside. He seems to have a tight control over his memories and his emotions, preferring not to show them too often. Maybe this was a lesson learned from that mission in Lucky Seven, where Herc nearly died from straying onto a memory by chance.

He wasn’t going to let his next pilot suffer the same.

Which just so happened to be his son. Chuck and Herc Hansen were found to be "Drift Compatible," meaning they were capable of the mental link required to pilot Jaegers. They were assigned to the first, and last, Mark V Jaeger Striker Eureka. As a result, the father and son got to look in each other's heads.

From the movie, it’s shown that Chuck has contempt for his father, possibly due to the fact that, being an ADF pilot, he wasn’t around much for Chuck’s childhood, and possibly from the feelings of self-doubt Herc has about the day he saved his life. It would be easy to misconstrue the feelings of inadequacy Herc has to be about Chuck. The Drift is not perfect, alas.

In reality, Herc wishes that he had been around for his son more, wishes he could have taught him better, been a better example, and made him a better person. Chuck’s personality is extremely stand-offish, a clear want to exceed all expectations, whilst sacrificing social connections. Obviously, this isn’t how Herc wanted it to happen, and he blames himself for how Chuck turned out.

Chuck and Herc rarely saw eye to eye. The Drift didn't help matters, however. Whilst the two trusted each other enough to allow a neural handshake, PPDC medical staff were worried that their relationship outside the Conn-pod of Striker Eureka would cause too much friction to let them keep piloting. Herc tried to be a better father to his son, tried to raise him the right way, but, instead, saw him grow to be a cocky, headstrong young man with contempt for anyone he thinks beneath him. He always thought he was too late.

That would always be something Herc would always regret.
When it came for the final mission, the mission to stop the Kaiju coming into our world, Chuck was selected for the, almost certain, suicide mission in Striker Eureka with Marshall Stacker Pentecost. It's here, where Herc thought that his son was going to die, that he would never see him again, that he decided to confront Chuck.

The upshot of drifting with someone, however, is that Chuck already knew what his dad was going to say. He knew what his dad was trying to do, how he was trying to do it, how he felt. In that moment, all of the regretful feelings Chuck had felt over the Drift had made sense. They seemed to reconcile in that moment, but Herc would still regret all the things he never said.

Outside of his family life, however, Hercules Hansen is a respected Ranger, being one of the longest serving, next to Marshall Stacker Pentecost. He's piloted every mark of Jaeger produced by the PPDC and, despite his age, still meets the mark. He's respectful of his other pilots, showing sympathy for their losses when necessary, but not losing sight of the objective. He doesn't show any patience for slacking, helping Pentecost keep Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottleib under control. He's clearly seen as Pentecost's second-in-command, and proven by the way he assumes control of the Hong Kong Shatterdome after Pentecost's passing.

He has a tight control over his emotions and his feelings, not letting them interfere. This would be due to the incident with Lucky Seven, and the knowledge that he was now fighting with and for his son. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again, he wouldn’t risk his son’s life and the life of the people he was tasked to protect.

The above is most evident in the fight against Leatherback and Otachi, two Category 4 Kaiju, he and his son fend off Leatherback with flare guns. Most notable was the way he introduced the plan: "There's only us between that ugly bastard and a city of ten million people. Now, we've got a choice here, we can sit and wait, or we can take these flare guns and do something really stupid."

His dedication to defending that city, even when his arm was broken from disconnecting from his Conn-Pod harness and Striker being knocked by the Kaiju, even when Striker Eureka was rendered inoperable, and even knowing that they might die, and just serve as a distraction to prevent the Kaiju from running rampant on Hong Kong like it's partner, is a perfect representation of the type of man he is.

There is one instance, however, where Herc loses his composure. This is likely due to the fact that he just broke his arm, their Jaeger was rendered inoperable, and they had a giant monster outside, but when Chuck says “C’mon, on your feet, old man,” Herc explodes with “Don’t call me that!” This is likely due to the ongoing medical concerns made by PPDC Medical that Herc is getting too old to pilot. He doesn’t want to be shown as weak, not when he feels he can keep fighting.

In summary, Herc Hansen is not a man you want to get on the bad side of. He's fully able to hold his own, and doesn't stand for anything against his principles. On the flip-side, he could be a valuable ally for the same reasons. Despite the turbulence in his family life, he won't let that distract him, and always gets the job done, even if it means putting his own feelings aside.
Why is your character joining the Jaeger Academy?: Herc will have been re-assigned to the Academy to help coach, and to have an experienced hand should they need to be deployed before they're ready. Given that his own son is a recent graduate, and that Striker Eureka is a brand-new Jaeger, as well as Herc's experience as a pilot and as a fighter, it makes sense to station him there for a while.
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