Why I don’t like Jackson:

It isn’t just about Haylijah. I wanted them together, and I didn’t like how Jackson was in the way of that, but it’s more than that. It’s Jackson as a character.

When he meets Hayley, he comes on way too strong, encourages her to fight for the wolves whilst actively being pregnant. When he tells her that they were arranged to be married, and she’s reasonably weirded out by it, he condescendingly says that she never had anyone to teach her their ways, and intentionally leaves out WHY that was. The “why” being that his grandfather murdered her parents, because they wanted peace with the vampires. Jackson guilt trips Hayley over and over again when it comes to the wolves’ suffering, and often takes advantage of her desperation for a family. He has this idealised notion of Hayley being his pack’s saviour, and makes her feel bad when she doesn’t live up to it.

Season 2 makes me dislike him even more. People say he was a great step-dad to Hope, and he loved Hayley, but he didn’t even try to see how she was holding up after hearing that she’d lost her child. He mentions it, but has no interest in how she actually is. Especially in comparison to Cami’s reaction, she cared so much for Klaus, that upon hearing that Hope didn’t survive, she goes to him immediately to offer her support and condolences.

He never viewed Hayley the same after she became a hybrid, and the pack never treated her the same either, they just used her for her abilities and her willingness to help them. Hayley wanted to be a part of the pack so badly, but they never accepted her because she was a hybrid, despite her being the only one fighting for them. As alpha, Jackson could have stepped in, but he didn’t, he just gave up.

Even after they got married, Jackson had this weird stance on her helping the Mikaelsons. She met them first, and they were her family first, and he could never accept that. Even when it came to Hope, and Hayley always put Hope first. On numerous occasions, he berates Hayley for choosing to help the Mikaelsons when they’re in danger, despite the said danger being potential danger for Hope. On top of all this, he would do the same thing for his pack, even the ones who betrayed him. We see him do this for Oliver. He emotionally manipulates Hayley all the time when it comes to the Mikaelsons, who he has every right to hate. But he berates her for not hating them forever, despite them being her and her daughter’s family. He guilts her for being loyal to her family, despite his pack’s misplaced loyalty being the ROOT of most of their problems.

The show tries so hard to paint him out as a good guy, but he was constantly abandoning the people they were trying to convince us he cared for, especially the ones who were depending on him. He was Hayley’s husband and Hope’s step-dad, and he left them by themselves and didn’t contact them for a full month, while the Strix were actively attacking anybody the Mikaelsons cared for, especially werewolves. Those are not the actions of a good husband or step-dad.

He even gets angry at Hayley for loving Elijah, something she cannot control, literally trying to make her feel guilty for something she never once lied to him about. He knew she loved Elijah before he agreed to marry her, and he knew that their marriage was strategic to help the werewolves. He made the assumption that she would, at some point, stop loving Elijah, and then held it against her when she didn’t, despite her never giving him the impression that she would do that. She stepped back from Elijah upon marrying Jackson, and never acted on her feelings for him, in an attempt to be a good wife. And Jackson gets angry with her for still having those feelings, and tries to make her feel guilty for having them, despite knowing that she had them the entire time. He throws standing by Hayley and Hope, protecting them and loving them in her face as if he didn’t choose to do that of his own free will. He acted as if he was perfect to them, and he wasn’t. He emotionally abused Hayley, and even abandoned her and Hope during a dangerous time at one point, because she chose to help the Mikaelson’s when they were facing danger that could potentially find her daughter.

On top of all of this, his relationship with Hayley felt forced, he was seemingly in love with the idea of her, rather than her as a person. He states that he was “destined” to marry her and often declares he loves her, without any interest in truly knowing or understanding her. Considering that for a while they had no proper connection beyond both being werewolves, it comes off as possessive, and unrealistic in terms of human emotion. He lacks character development, and his entire life revolves around finding Hayley, and then being with her, and saving the wolves, which he gives up on at some point, despite being their alpha.

Also, they only spent about 7-8 months actually knowing and communicating with one another. In the 18/19 months since they met, they are separated for 10-11 of them. And Jackson behaves like this in the time that they do spend together.

His death only bothered me because of the impact that it had on Hayley. Besides that, I didn’t really care.