John Connor
 | This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. |
| John Connor | |
|---|---|
| File:JohnConnor.jpg John Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | |
| First appearance | Terminator 2: Judgment Day |
| Last appearance | Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles |
| Created by | James Cameron |
| Portrayed by | Edward Furlong Michael Edwards Nick Stahl Thomas Dekker |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Spouse | Kate Brewster |
John Connor (February 28 1985 – July 4 2032?) is a major fictional character in the science-fiction Terminator franchise.
In a possible post-apocalyptic future in which powerful, intelligent machines have dedicated themselves to the eradication of humanity, John Connor is the leader of the human rebel group Tech-Com that opposes them. Skynet, the supercomputer mainframe of the machines, decides that John Connor is the focal point of the rebellion and his termination would end the opposition. After repeated failures at terminating John during the war, Skynet decides to use a time dilation device to send android assassins called Terminators to various points in John Connor's past in an attempt to terminate him before the war begins.
Early years
John was born when his mother Sarah Connor was hiding off the grid after the events of The Terminator. Sarah had decided to leave comfortable living to keep John safe and to prepare him for his future role as the leader of the human rebellion during the machine war. John spent the early years of his life learning about weapons, computer technology and espionage.
When his mother was captured for trying to blow up a Cyberdyne research facility in the early 1990s, John was seized by social workers who told him that his mother's stories of the postapocalyptic future were delusions. Accordingly, Sarah was sent to a mental institution and John to foster parents Todd and Janelle Voight. John was unable to cope with suburban living and became a juvenile delinquent. In 1995 when he was only ten he was confronted with the T-1000 that was sent to terminate him, and upon realising that his mother's stories were true, he and his protector, a reprogrammed T-800, helped Sarah escape from the mental institution.
During their time together John bonded with the T-800 (referred to as "Uncle Bob" in the books: T2: Infiltrator, T2: Rising Storm, and T2: The Future War.), who became a friend and father figure to him. However, once the T-1000 was destroyed along with all of Cyberdyne's research, the T-800 asked that it be destroyed also so that its technology would not be discovered and used by others.
Adulthood
John continued to live off the grid after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, even as the original Judgment Day deadline of August 29th, 1997 came to pass without incident. His mother eventually developed leukemia and died, and John refused to attend her funeral.
In 2004, John crossed paths with Katherine Brewster, a former neighbor from when he was living with his foster parents. It is also at this time that he is attacked by the T-X and saved by another reprogrammed T-850, revealing that Judgment Day had not been avoided as he had initially thought. Although John and Katherine try to halt the launching of Skynet, they are led to an underground bunker where they are kept safe and out of the way when the first nuclear assault is launched on the United States as a result of Skynet's manipulations. It is via the working radios in this bunker that John starts his career as a military leader.
Continuity problem
Terminator 3 alters John Connor's age from that shown in the earlier films. Taking place in 2004, it states that John Connor's age is 22. This places Connor's birth in 1981, rather than the previously established 1985, which was confirmed visually in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This version of John Connor mentions seeing the Terminator previously when he was 13. In addition to this, in The Sarah Connor Chronicles John Connor is age 15 in late 1999. This places his date of birth in 1984.
Attempted assassinations
May 12, 1984
Before John Connor is born, a T-800 is sent back in time to 1:52 AM on May 12, 1984 to kill his mother, Sarah Connor. In response, the future John Connor sends a soldier, Kyle Reese to 2:01 AM on the same day, so that he can protect his mother before he can be conceived. When Reese meets Sarah Connor, they have a brief affair during which they conceive John. Because of this, in the future when they meet as soldiers, John is actually older than his father.
June 8, 1995
The second Terminator to be sent back in time is the more advanced T-1000, which Skynet sends to 4:58 AM on June 8, 1995 to terminate John Connor who is by then a young child, ten years old according to the police computer. In the future, elder John Connor retaliates by sending a re-programmed T-800 back to 3:14 AM on June 8, 1995 to protect his younger self.
July 24, 2004 (Judgment Day)
The final Terminator seen to be sent back in time is the T-X, which was sent to 1:14 AM on July 24th, 2004. Unlike its two predecessors, the T-X's objective was to terminate Connor's future officers as secondary targets. It is sent to terminate not only John Connor, but also Kate Brewster as its primary targets. The T-X crosses paths with John in a veterinarian's office where Kate works.
A protector T-850 is also sent back in time from the future to protect John, but unlike the previous protectors, it was not sent by elder John. The reprogrammed T-850 was actually sent by his future wife and second-in-command, Katherine Brewster (daughter of Skynet's creator General Robert Brewster), due to the fact that Connor himself had actually been killed by that very Terminator.
July 4, 2032
John Connor was supposedly assassinated on July 4, 2032 by a T-850 Model 101, the same T-850 that was later reprogrammed as his second protector and sent into the past. This model was selected because of the emotional attachment Connor would feel upon seeing its familiar physiognomy. However since John was told this, only future movies will tell if he really was killed, or if he survives and they send the machine back anyway saying it killed John.
Alternate future
In an omitted original ending of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, an adult John is shown as a U.S. Senator in a future of peace, and has a daughter of his own. This alternate future is presumably the result of the successful destruction of the Cyberdyne research lab by Sarah Connor, young John Connor, the re-programmed T-800 and Miles Dyson earlier in the movie. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines negates the presence of this alternate future with its claim that Judgment Day could not be avoided, only postponed.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles
In the pilot episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a third Terminator, known only by the name "Cromartie," is sent back to a time at some point following the events of Terminator 2. He poses as a substitute teacher in John's science class, attempting to shoot John with a gun he has hidden underneath his skin. John thwarts the assassination attempt with the help of Cameron Phillips, a girl from his class that is actually a machine sent back from 2029. The two meet up with Sarah Connor and are able to destroy the would-be assassin before time traveling to the year 2007.
External links
Template:The Sarah Connor Chronicles
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