Jack is the protagonist of the novel. When the story begins, Jack is 12 years old, lonely, and in despair over his mother’s declining health. The somber tone of his life is evident in his early observation that, “There was too much death, the world was half-made of death” (4). He has not always been so dour, however. Jack is a lover of fantasy and adventure stories. He has always experienced a phenomenon he calls “Daydreams,” in which he goes to another reality. Sometimes the Daydreams are exhilarating, but sometimes they terrify him. When Jack meets Speedy Parker, he learns that the Daydreams are from a real place—the Territories—and that he is about to undergo a quest of his own: a journey to save his mother.

Jack is brave but unsure of himself. He is willing to undergo any trials to save his mother but has no idea—beyond Speedy’s vague directions to find the Talisman—of how to do so. As the novel progresses, he grows more suspicious of others. He relies on people to give him rides, shelter, and work when necessary but loses his innocent faith in the kindness of strangers quickly as people take advantage of him.