Jackie Welles

Jackie Welles

Type	Main Character
Affiliation	Afterlife

Jackie Welles is a merc from Heywood and V's partner through the first act of the story. He is a proud son of Heywood and an even prouder son of Mama Welles. He dreams of becoming a legend at the Afterlife and of giving his family a better life. Friendship, loyalty and family matter more to him than anything else. His story ends with the heist on Konpeki Plaza, and his loss shapes everything that comes after.

Biography

Early Life

Jackie grew up in Heywood with his mother, Mama Welles, and a father who drank and beat them both. When Jackie was old and strong enough, he fought back and put his father in hospital. He warned the man never to come home again, and his father was never seen after that. Jackie kept his father's belt, ready to use it if he ever returned.

Jackie grew up in the same neighbourhood as Misty Olszewski, though the two only became a couple years later. He got his first motorbike as a teenager and from then on tinkered with every bike he could find. He joined the Valentinos as a young man and became close friends with Gustavo Orta. A gunshot wound in a fight with Maelstrom nearly killed him, and he left the gang for his mother's sake. He stayed on good terms with the Valentinos and with Padre, and spent the following years hustling as a merc, because a seat at the big table takes street cred as well as nerve.

Meeting V

Jackie meets V in the prologue, and the way they meet depends on the life path. A Nomad V smuggles a crate across the border for him, and they escape an Arasaka convoy together. A Streetkid V runs into him while both are trying to steal the same car, and they end up beaten and dumped in an alley together. A Corpo V is saved by him when Arasaka throws V out and tries to have V killed. In every version, Jackie becomes V's friend and offers a place to stay with his mother.

The Road to Konpeki

Six months later Jackie and V are trusted mercs. With the netrunner T-Bug they rescue Sandra Dorsett from a Scavenger den in The Rescue. T-Bug then brings them to Dexter DeShawn, who hires the crew to steal the Relic, a prototype biochip, from Yorinobu Arasaka. Jackie goes with V to the All Foods plant to get a Militech Flathead bot from Maelstrom. Afterwards he is finally let into the Afterlife, and he tells the bartender Claire that he wants a drink named after him once he becomes a legend.

The heist at Konpeki Plaza goes wrong when Yorinobu kills his own father, Saburo Arasaka, in the next room. Jackie is badly hurt during the escape. He dies in the back of a Delamain cab on the way to meet Dex, and he hands the Relic to V before he goes. V later decides where his body is taken.

After His Death

If his body goes to his family, Mama Welles holds a traditional ofrenda for him at El Coyote Cojo. Viktor Vektor, Padre and members of the Valentinos come to mourn, and Misty can come too if V insists. Mama Welles then gives V the keys to his motorbike, and his resting place can later be visited in the North Oak Columbarium. If his body goes to Viktor instead, Arasaka takes it from the clinic, and Goro Takemura later reveals that they scanned his mind to learn about the heist.

Jackie's mind appears once more near the end of the story. In Mikoshi, V meets a copy of him built from data, standing on a rooftop that looks like Misty's shop. V soon understands that it is only a program wearing his face and says goodbye.

Jackie Welles Map

The map shows the places of the story of Jackie Welles: Konpeki Plaza, Afterlife and El Coyote Cojo.

Jackie Welles map location:

Map credit by Map Genie.

Personality

Jackie is loud, warm and quick to laugh, and he mixes Spanish into almost every sentence. He is stubborn, and when he wants something he will not stop talking about it until he gets it. He wants a great deal out of life, maybe too much. That hunger to reach the top of Night City fast is what leads him into the Konpeki job.

He is also deeply loyal. He takes V into his home without a second thought and treats his friends as family. He loves his mother, his girlfriend and his motorbike, and he tries to share Misty's spiritual interests even though he does not really understand them.

Relationships

Mama Welles raised him and owns El Coyote Cojo, and she does not approve of Misty. Misty Olszewski is his girlfriend, and she grieves him deeply after the heist. Viktor Vektor is the ripperdoc who patches up Jackie and V after their jobs. Padre and Gustavo Orta remember him from his days with the Valentinos. T-Bug, Dex and Evelyn Parker are part of the crew that plans the Konpeki heist.

Jobs

Jackie is at V's side in every job of the prologue and the first act. In The Nomad, The Streetkid and The Corpo-Rat he meets V, and in The Rescue they save Sandra Dorsett. The Ripperdoc, The Ride and The Pickup prepare the Konpeki job, and The Heist is where his story ends. In Heroes, the side job that follows his death, his friends and family gather to remember him.

Name	Type
The Streetkid	Main Job
The Corpo-Rat	Main Job
The Nomad	Main Job
The Rescue	Main Job
The Ripperdoc	Main Job
The Ride	Main Job
The Pickup	Main Job
The Heist	Main Job
Heroes	Side Job

Notes

Jackie's ARCH motorbike comes to V in Heroes. His gold pistols, La Chingona Dorada, can be taken from the ofrenda.

After the heist, V can tell Claire at the Afterlife that Jackie is dead and ask her to name a drink after him.

Jackie writes the job descriptions in V's journal during the prologue and the first act.

All Main Characters