Jax Teller

Jackson "Jax" Teller is a fictional character and the main protagonist on the FX television series Sons of Anarchy, played by Charlie Hunnam. He is the Vice-President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club's Redwood Original (SAMCRO) chapter based in Charming, California, despite only being in his early 30s. He is 6' 1" and has a number of tattoos, most notably his club's logo on his back and his son Abel's name on his chest. On his cut, he wears patches reading "V. President" and "Men of Mayhem". He is also something of a "Nike bikie" as he often wears stylish and fashionable clothing, such as sneakers and casual jeans. The motorcycle that he rides is a Harley-Davidson Dyna-Glide, specifically a Super Glide Sport.

Biography
Teller is the son of Gemma and John Teller and was born in 1978, and raised in Charming, California. His father died in 1993 and his mother re-married Clay Morrow, now the President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club. He has a genetic heart disorder which he inherited from his mother. His brother died of this condition when he was young. He is of partial Irish and Russian Jewish descent on his mother's side. He carries a KA-BAR USMC fighting knife on his waistband.

At the beginning of the series, Teller serves as the club's Vice-President, and works as a mechanic at the Teller-Morrow Auto Shop. He has served time in prison for smuggling and gun-running, his last arrest was in 2003. He married Wendy Case, but filed for divorce because of her drug habit. After Wendy got clean, they reconciled and conceived a son, Abel; Jax left her while she was pregnant because he wasn't ready to be a father. Wendy started using again and Abel was born a crank baby in the pilot episode. Jax also has romantic ties to his high-school sweetheart Tara Knowles.

Having recently discovered several of his father's old journals and an old manuscript titled The Life and Death of Sam Crow: How the Sons of Anarchy Lost Their Way, which collectively lay out the original manifesto for SAMCRO, he finds himself doubting the club's direction, causing friction between himself and his stepfather Clay, and spreading doubt amongst the other members. Another member of SAMCRO, Opie Winston, has been his friend since childhood.

Season One
Season One begin with the Sons of Anarchy finding their weapon storage warehouse being burned down. The SOA rush to the scene, where local police officers are already investigating. Jax and Clay talk to Sherriff Vic Trammel about the blaze, who claims that propane tanks inside the building blew up, and suspects arson due to the bootprints inside. Trammel then shows them the burned corpses of the people hidden beneath the building, who were illegal immigrants. It is later revealed that they were Mexican prostitutes "owned" by the club's Seargent-at-Arms, Tig Trager. When he returns home and begins looking through storage, he finds old photographs of his late father and a journal titled The Life and Death of Sam Crow: How the Sons of Anarchy Lost Their Way written by him, and for his sons Jackson and Thomas (who had already died at the time of writing). He is then called away to a group meeting ("Church") where all of the chapter's members meet. These are Clay Morrow (President), Bobby Munson (Treasurer), Tig Trager (Seargent-at-Arms), Chibs Telford (Medic), Piney Winston (Co-founder), Juice Ortiz (intelligence officer) and Happy. Clay announces that Juice has located the guns and that they were stolen by the Mayans, a rival motorcycle gang. They decide to go and get some payback the next day despite Jax suggesting the club looking into other ways of earning money instead of dealing weapons, especially with so many rival groups on their back.

Meanwhile, Gemma finds Jax's pregnant ex-wife Wendy Case collapsed in her home, and he rushes to the hospital. Dr. Tara Knowles tells him that trackmarks were found on Wendy's hands and feet, and that they had to perform an emergency C-section on her, leaving the baby ten weeks premature. Because of this, the baby has a heart defect and a tear in his abdomen. The latter is from Wendy's drug abuse, but the former problem is likely a genetic defect. Together, both defects are near-fatal. The baby has just a 20% chance of survival. Jax and Tara were high school sweethearts, and she personally requested to help on his case. Jax decides not to visit his baby boy, named Abel, and instead flees the hospital. He then goes to a local bar with Bobby and beats Wendy's dealer, who is a member of the Nordics gang, repeatedly with a pool cue. Later on, he goes and visits Opie Winston, a former member of the gang who was recently released from prison and promised his wife and children that he would never return. Jax convinces him to ride along with the next day, however. Jax later goes back to visit Wendy in hospital, who promises that she'll get clean. She also says that the doctors told her Abel is getting stronger, but she herself is facing a charge of fetal abuse as she has a stash drawer at home. She asks him to get rid of the stash before she faces time in jail. Jax turns up at Wendy's house, which he finds his mother feverishly cleaning. Jax tells her that Abel's gonna die, which angers Gemma, who slaps him and tells him that he's the only one his son has got. Jax asks her about his father's original vision of the club and she responds that it was to create a brotherhood and a family. Jax tells her about the writings he found, how his father wanted a social rebellion, not an outlaw club. When she leaves, Jax flushes Wendy's stash down the toilet and takes her gun. Clay and Gemma begin to worry that Jax is abandoning the club and what it stands for. The next day, Clay, Jax and Bobby meet Ernest Darby, the Nordics' leader, and tell him never to bring methamphetamine or any other drug into Charming again. That night, as they prepare to go and get their guns back from San Leandro, Jax tells Opie not to come because of the situation with his family and Bobby is occupied performing his Elvis act at a club in Lake Tahoe. When they arrive at the industrial storage warehouse and find the guns, three Mayans turn up in a car outside. Clay and Chibs then shoot and kill the Mayans and another man, who has a number of Nazi and White supremacist tattoos. He was a member of the Nordics, a local skinhead gang who are allied with the Mayans, and it later emerges that his name was Whistler. Jax was also armed but hit a mental barrier before he could fire a shot. They then escape with the weapons and destroy the building using explosives.

Wayne Unser, the Chief of the Charming Police Department, has always got on well with the Sons of Anarchy during his time in charge, and even employed them as muscle at times. However, he is dying from cancer and will retire at the end of the month, handing power over to his Deputy, David Hale, who is overtly suspicious of the SOA and will almost definitely begin an investigation into the club. Hale talks to Jax, telling him that when he becomes Chief he won't look the other way with the Sons of Anarchy like his predecessor did. To distract the police from their activities, the burnt down warehouse in particular, Jax, Chibs, and Half-Sack Epps (a Prospect in the club) acquire two dead bodies from the local morgue and set them up in a fake shoot-out. The set-up shooting is made to look like a racist murder involving the Nordics. On his way back to town, he was cut off on the road by a man driving a red muscle car. He later caught up with this man at a petrol station and beat him up. The driver then pulled out a pistol and attempted to shoot Jax, but was wrestled to the ground and then killed by the Pakistani shop keeper who hit him with a fire axe. The trio then stole the CCTV tapes and fled the scene. Later, Jax visits baby Abel, and Tara tells him that he will make a full recovery. She also says that Wendy is being put through sedated detox, and she will be out for a couple of days.

Local businessman Elliot Oswald goes to Clay after his 13-year-old daughter was raped at a carnival and asks the Sons of Anarchy to hunt the rapist down and kill him, in exchange for money. Clay refuses the money but insists that if they catch him, he must carry out the punishment himself. Juice and Gemma find out that the rapist is one of the carnies and the gang capture him and bring him to Oswald, who tries to castrate him but can't bring himself to do it. Clay then carries the punishment out, but wears gloves whilst doing it. He then blackmails Oswald for the crime, as only his fingerprints are on the knife, because he was about to sell off much of the land around Charming to big business and housing, which would challenge the SOA's reign over the town. Jax is unhappy that Clay did not tell him of the plan, however, and tells him to always inform him on his future motives.

When an ATF agent arrived in Charming and began investigating the club, they decided that they should move their weapons to Indian Hills, Nevada, where their brother club, the Devil's Tribe, are based. Clay sent Bobby and Jax to inform the Devil's Tribe that the Sons of Anarchy would be patching over them and storing guns on their property. On the way there, they came across a group of Mayans on the road and were involved in a shoot-out, although no one was killed. Later on, the pair ran into a couple as they left a petrol station. The man was extremely disrespectful to the woman, named Suzi, and they beat him up. Jax then picked Suzi up for sex and carried on with his journey. When they arrived at the Devil's Tribe clubhouse and informed them of the news, their President, Jury, was not pleased but eventually accepted that it was the best decision for both clubs. After the patch-over party, Jax went for a ride and attracted the attention of a group of Mayans. He then drew them back to the clubhouse where the Sons of Anarchy were waiting for them. A large shoot-out then ensued, during which Jury was shot and injured. After having sex with Jax, Suzi left and went back to her old boyfriend. The ATF agent had been following Jax the whole time, taking photographs. He sent a picture of Jax and Suzi having sex to Tara, his former lover.

Otto Delaney and a number of other imprisoned SAMCRO members have been protecting Chuck in Stockton prison. He is wanted by the Triads because he stole money from them, then informed on a number of their members when he was arrested. When Clay and Jax went to visit Otto in prison, he told them that if they protected Chuck when he was released, he would inform them on where the Triads keep their money. They agreed and picked him up from prison and brought him to the clubhouse. SAMCRO intended on waiting until the restaurant, where the money is stored, was closed until they raided it, but Chuck's frequent unconscious masturbating was unbearable for them and they decided to raid the restaurant straight away. At the restaurant, Jax used his knife to cut open a newly-plastered patch on the ceiling where the bag of money was. However, just after they stole the money and some counterfeiting plates, the Triads turned up. Instead of starting a war, Clay decided to make a deal; SAMCRO handed over Chuck and the plates, and the Triads let them keep the stolen money. Meanwhile, Kyle Hobart, a disgraced former SAMCRO member, went to Jax and asked him if they Sons wanted in on his deal selling stolen car parts. Jax accepted and invited him to the clubhouse that night. This was a set-up, however, to punish him for not having his SOA tattoo removed after being disowned by the club. At the clubhouse, they tied him up and Tig used a blowtorch to burn off the tattoo.

Jax and Piney sold five AK-47s to Nate Meineke and his right-wing state militia. They then used these guns to ambush a prison convoy and free one of their members, Frank Cison. Three police officers were killed during the assault. Meineke dropped his cell phone at the scene, and his last calls had been to Clay Morrow. When the ATF found the phone, they arrested Clay and raided the clubhouse. Clay was later released because no evidence was found, meaning he could no longer be kept in custody. Meanwhile Jax, Piney and Opie decided to kill Meineke and his gang to stop them "snitching" if they were apprehended by the authorities. They pretended to sell them more weapons. The boxes of guns were actually filled with explosives, however, and the militia loaded their trucks with them. All of the militia were killed when the bombs were detonated.

When Tara told Jax that ATF agent Josh Kohn had been stalking her, he threatened to kill him if he went near Tara again. He also reported him to David Hale, who in turn informed the ATF. Upon learning that the authorities have not yet apprehended Kohn, he went and hunted for him himself. He found him at the local barber shop, and a brawl ensued with Jax emerging the victor. Kohn was then arrested for breaching his restraining order on Tara.

While riding his motorcycle on the highway, he came across a truck driver badly beaten on the hood of his truck. The trucker said that the Nordics has beaten him because he owed money to them. They also later took his truck and tanker full of diesel. He and Opie then hijacked the truck back from the Nords and sold it it to Wayne Unser, who runs a trucking company. This then gave SAMCRO enough money to buy weapons from the True IRA. Later that night, he went to Tara's house after she called him and asked him to come over. Kohn had broken in and tried to rape her, but she grabbed his gun and shot him in the stomach. Jax then killed him and had sex with Tara.

Cameron Hayes, a member of the True IRA, offered SAMCRO a free shipment of guns if they carry out a hit on Brenan Hefner, the man who killed his cousin Michael McKeavey. Jax, Bobby and Opie then went to the hotel room where he sees his African American mistress. Opie was supposed to shoot him when he left the room, but froze and Bobby stepped in and shot him at close range with a silenced pistol.

The ATF arrested Luann Delaney and Cherry, the women of Otto and Half-Sack, and threatened them with prison if they did not give information on SAMCRO. Bobby, Piney and Tig started a brawl at a local bar and most of the town's small police force had to go to the scene to break it up. This gave Jax and Opie an opportunity to break into the police station, with the help of Unser, and free Cherry. Luann stayed behind because the ATF had given her and Otto a deal.

When Bobby was arrested for the murder of Brenan Hefner, it seemed that Opie was the one who identified him. Jax defended him, however, and convinced most of the club that the ATF had set him up. Clay and Tig still suspected, though, and decided to kill him.

Jax began living at Tara's house, or at least sleeping with her on a regular basis. When he and Tara were kissing at the hospital, Wendy saw them and later confronted Tara. The next day, Jax went with Clay, Tig and Opie to make an arms deal with the Mayans in Oakland. The One-Niners attacked the deal, however, and they escaped while the Mayans and Niners fought it out. Clay and Tig had made a deal with the Niners, but didn't inform Jax or the others; the Niners were supposed to eliminate the Mayans after the SOA left, but they decided to take them out also. Later that night, Abel was released from the hospital and a party was held in celebration. Tara again kissed Jax at the party, purposely in plain view for Wendy to see. When Jax asked Tara why she did it, she slapped him and left. When Opie left the party, he took his wife's car to take his children home in, and his wife took his pick-up truck. Tig thought it was Opie driving the car and shot Donna.

Wendy told Jax that she wants to give their relationship another chance now that they have a child, but he refused, saying that things will be no different than before. When he later went to visit Tara, she told him that she was afraid of being caught for killing Kohn and that she is moving back to Chicago. He admitted that she is the only woman that he has ever loved and that he only married Wendy because he was lonely. At Church, Piney said he wanted to kill Laroy as revenge for killing Donna, so Jax told Half-Sack to follow him and make sure that he doesn't do anything unnecessary. Half-Sack then called and said that Piney had gone into a bar in Oakland and was holding a Niner hostage. When Jax and Chibs got there, they managed to get Piney out and had a talk with Laroy, who said it wasn't his gang who killed Donna. When he visited the police station to ask Unser if he had any leads on Donna's killing, David Hale approached him. He told him about Stahl setting up Opie, and Jax then realised that it was SAMCRO who killed Donna. He confronted Clay about this at the clubhouse and asked him if he had anything to do with Donna's death. Clay denied it. As Jax left the clubhouse, Juice told him that the witness to Hefner's killing is a 17-year-old girl and that Chibs, Happy and Tig are on their way to kill her. Jax then drove out to San Joaquin on his motorcycle and stopped Tig from killing her at gunpoint. He told Chibs and Happy to leave and threatened the witness into leaving the state. He then beat Tig up because he killed Donna. Jax spent the night in the graveyard drinking vodka. The next morning, he went to Donna's funeral, which was attended by Sons of Anarchy from all across the country. He and Tara shared one last kiss, and the Season ended as he stood and looked at his father's and brother's gravestones.

Season Two
In the first episode of Season 2, Jax and Clay are going head to head over the death of Donna and the reason that Jax doesn't tell Opie the truth is because he loves Opie too much. He insists on coming with Opie, Chibs, and Tig to murder a Mayan member who has been framed for Donna's murder. After the Mayan was killed and Opie carved the Anarchy symbol in his stomach (so the Mayans would know why the man was killed), Jax removed the symbol and disposed of the body in Mayan territory, putting up 9 fingers to make it look like the Niners. He has gotten a new tattoo: his son Abel's name on his left pec. He was seen saving Tigs from bounty hunters with Chibs, Happy, Half Sack, and Piney. He assumes that Ethan Zobelle and the L.O.A.N. will fight an under-handed war against SAMCRO and he is against Clay's plans to strike at the Aryans head on.

After L.O.A.N. burned down CaraCara Jax suspected it was Clay, since Clay didn't want it around after Luann died, so Jax decided to go Nomad. The vote was unanamous and Jax went Nomad but after learning of his mothers rape at the hands of L.O.A.N. he came back in as the Vice President of SAMCRO wanting revenge on L.O.A.N. After finding out that Tig told Opie the truth about Donna's death, Opie leaves the clubhouse looking for Stahl. Knowing this, Jax assumes that Opie will be after Zoebelle and his crew. While following Zoebelle, Jax learns that Zoebelle is dealing with the Mayans for their heroin behind Weston's back.

In the Season 2 finale "Na Trioblóidí" he finally gets revenge on A.J. Weston by killing him in a tattoo parlor bathroom but at the end of the episode Cameron Hayes, who mistakenly thought Gemma killed his son, kidnapped Jax's son Abel and fled on his motorboat to an unknown location. Jax is last seen distraught and crying on the the docks with Clay and the other Son's consoling him, watching Hayes speed off with his son.

Season Three
In the first episode we see Jax is still distraught over the loss of Abel. As the Sons go out to look for Cameron, he remains neutral. He attempts to break up with Tara because he believes that he is ruining her life, but she remains loyal to him and refuses to leave. At Half-Sack's wake, Clay tells Jax that he has to be strong to inspire his SAMCRO brothers. When a woman's son is shot in the drive-by after the wake, Jax finally loses it and continually bashes the gunman's head into the pavement until his fellow Sons pull him away. Also in more episodes he increasingly tries to push Tara out of his life.

When Jax finds out that Abel is in Belfast (despite Jimmy O'Phellan's diversions), he puts into motion a deal with Agent Stahl to give her Jimmy and the True IRA in Northern California in exchange for her dropping the charges against his mother Gemma and reducing the federal gun charges that SAMCRO has against itself. Jax knows all too well that this deal is very dangerous for himself because he will be going behind Clay and SAMCRO's backs. In the episode "The Push", Jax asks Tara for help moving black market meds and she agrees. The San Joaquin Sheriffs Department raids the SAMCRO clubhouse based on a tip from Ernest Darby (who saw the deal go down) and Jax feels that Tara is risking too much by being involved with him and the club. He breaks up with her and ends up having sex with Ima, one of the former Cara Cara pornstars. The next morning Tara walked in on him and Ima. When he sees her later in the day he apologizes for what happened earlier, but she is not interested in listening, because she believed he meant for it to happen in order to hurt her. She thinks he blames her for Abel's kidnapping. He continues to say it is to protect her, but she doesn't believe him. He, Clay, and Tig later picks up Gemma from the hospital to take her To Belfast with them. When they arrive Jax and the club are stopped by the police and are in danger of being deported back to America. After interrogating the officers it discovered that someone not only called them, but paid them to deport SAMCRO. Once they reach the clubhouse belonging to the Belfast chapter, Jax meets Maureen and Trinity Ashby. Trinity is Jax's half sister, which is not known to neither of them yet. There are subtle hints that Jax and Trinity may be attracted to each other, but it is unknown right now. Jax later meets with father Kellan Ashby. Father Kellan explains to Jax that the Real IRA wants to get rid of Jimmy O'Phellan and that they want SAMCRO to do it, because the Real IRA doesn't want to resort to killing one of their own leaders. Father Kellan promised Jax that he will give Abel back if he killed Jimmy.

In the episode "Turas", when SAMCRO are nearly killed by a bomb hidden in a gun shipment put there by the SAMBEL Sgt. at Arms, Jax has a shell-shocked vision of his biological father speaking to him but it turns out to actually be his stepfather, Clay Morrow. The next day SAMCRO, with the help of Sean Casey, interrogates Liam O'Neill about his connection to Jimmy. O'Neill confesses that blew up the truck that killed members of the Real IRA and SAMBEL. He also admits that McGee was working for Jimmy. After a shoot out with Jimmy and his crew, Jax chased Jimmy but couldn't get to him in time. He made it back just in time to watch Clay kill McGee for betraying the club. Later that night Jax and the club met with the IRA council to present the evidence that Jimmy has flipped and learns that it will not be him who kills Jimmy. Back at the clubhouse Jax and Trinity comes close to having sex, but Gemma and Maureen walks in on them. Jax learns from his mother that Trinity is his half-sister. He took it very well, even joking that two more minutes he would have been in Tig's territory. After talking to his mother he met with Father Ashby to find out where Abel is. Father Ashby admitted that he never planned to give Abel back, because he knew of John Teller's desire to keep Jax out of the life and decided if he couldn't help Jax he could try to help Abel by giving him to a better family to raise him. Jax became furious and attacked Ashby only to be thrown over a table. After Jax threatened to kill Sean Casey at gun point, Ashby then finally told him where he could find Abel. However, Ashby told Jax that if he loved Abel he would let him go. When Jax finally finds Abel, his emotions and Ashby's advice don't allow him decide whether to rescue Abel or leave him with his new adoptive family. Gemma is furious that Jax might give up her grandson, and she tells him that Tara is pregnant with a sibling for Abel. The Irish adoptive parents are killed by Jimmy O'Phelan and Abel is taken hostage. After this happens Jax decides that he is done taking his father's manuscript to heart and feels that if he never listened to Ashby his son wouldn't be that situation. Jax and the Real IRA make a deal with Jimmy to trade Abel for a new hostage, Father Kellan Ashby. Right before leaving Belfast, Jax receives an undisclosed phone call from Tig, which might have been about Tara's abduction.

Once Jax and SAMCRO return from Belfast, they begin looking for Tara. The Mayans help in the search because Salazar is a threat to their new heroin operation in Stockton Prison. They find two women dead in the road. One is Salazar's girlfriend and the other is a woman Salazar killed for her car. Jax is worried about Tara's safety and Bobby promises him that they will bring her back safely. They discover that Salazar not only has Tara, but has taken Hale hostage as well. When Salazar reveals that he will trade Tara for Jax, he is ready and willing. Jax proceeds to get in a fight with Salazar. Salazar runs, only to end up cornered in the hall where Jax stabs him to death and makes it look like self-defense. Later, he goes with Tara to an ultrasound to make sure the baby is healthy. Jax later meets with Stahl who is still determined to see the deal through. In the finale it is revealed that his dealing with Stahl was set up by the club, when they were let in on his plans is not clear at this point. When she inevitably reneges on her promise of secrecy he acts the part knowing that she will soon be dead and they will serve light time. In a letter to Gemma, Jax assures her that he is not his father and would never rat on the club. However, in a letter from his father to his mistress Maureen Ashby read by Tara after the club is arrested, it is intensely suggested that Gemma and Clay were responsible for his death, knowledge of which may prove to change him.

Continuing the tradition started in season 2, Jax's appearance again differs slightly than in previous seasons. At the start of season 3, Jax's facial hair is grown out even more and his appearance is generally more disheveled.