Characters / 24 - Starkwood

BEWARE OF SPOILERS. Due to the nature of the show, with its many Walking Spoiler characters, twists, and turns, the only spoilers whited out are those for the current season "24: Live Another Day". Proceed with caution!

Starkwood

Jonas Hodges

Jonas Hodges

"Now we're having some fun."

Played By: Jon Voight

"There, ya see? Stress. Stress is the fertilizer of creativity. Now let's play some darts."

The chief executive officer of the private military company Starkwood, who supplied the African warlord General Benjamin Juma, a rebel in Sangala, with weapons for his military coup. During Day 7, he provided Juma with intelligence, equipment, and other support for a raid on the White House in exchange for a testing ground for a biological weapon developed by Starkwood. The weapon would be used to force the United States to give responsibility of the national security of the country to Starkwood and other private military companies.

Tropes

• Affably Evil: Hodges is charismatic, funny, charming, quick with a smile and respectful of his enemies. He'll also smash your head in with whatever object is nearest if he thinks it'll advance his agenda.
• Alas, Poor Villain: In his last moments, Hodges looks at a picture of his beloved family, knowing he probably won't see them again.
• Big Bad: Of Day 7. While Wilson theoretically outranks him, all what happens goes forth because of Hodges and Starkwood.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Benjamin Juma. Was also a part of Wilson's Omniscient Council of Vagueness.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Blackmail is one of his more frequent tools in his Manipulative Bastard toolbox.
  Taylor: Jonas, I agreed to this meeting because I wanted to hear what you had to say. But what you're proposing is blackmail.
  Hodges: Well that's putting it in the worst possible light.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's the Chief Executive Officer of Starkwood, the most powerful private army in the world, with a sideline in blackmail, murder, treason and biological warfare. However, he's not corrupt for the sake of personal gain, he's a genuine Well-Intentioned Extremist.
• Deadpan Snarker: As opposed to the uber-serious villains the show sometimes has, Hodges is one of the funniest, wittiest characters.
  "Starkwood is not in the business of political assassination, Doug. But maybe we should look into it, I hear it's a growth market."
• Disc-One Final Boss: He's killed just prior to the climax of the season, when Alan Wilson and Tony Almeida take over Big Bad duties.
• Dragon-in-Chief: For the whole Prion cabal. Most of the operation goes forth through him, and he is the highest ranking member after Wilson. He has enough power to go forth by himself (and his actions almost derail the entire plan).
• Dragon with an Agenda: He "rebels" against the cabal and decides to do things as he sees fit.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Despite being a major villain for much of the seventh season and still playing a prominent role even after he's upstaged, he gets abruptly killed late in the season by a bomb planted by the assassin Olivia Taylor was negotiating with.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Jonas does love his family dearly and is perfectly willing to die for them.
  • While it does not stop him from killing him, he truly seemed to regard Doug as a surrogate son, and feels deeply hurt by his betrayal.
• Evil Old Folks: Hodges is elderly but extremely dangerous.
• Fiction 500: As the founder of Starkwood, Hodges is obscenely rich.
• Foil: To Alan Wilson. He is on it because he believes all he is doing is in the best interests of the country. Wilson is on it for profit and power.
• It Has Only Just Begun: He paraphrases this just as he's arrested.
• It's All About Me: his pride, particularly while in federal custody, makes it hard to sympathize with him. While Olivia Taylor plots his murder, on grounds that a traitorous sociopath should pay for his crimes instead of disappearing into Witness Protection — an analysis that is completely reasonable, if ethically murky — Hodges gripes about the inconvenience of being allowed to live under an assumed name. When the Federal marshal refuses to agree, Hodges resorts to Tantrum Throwing. From behind a closed door.
• Knight Templar: Jonas firmly believes that he's helping his country.
  "Mr. Seaton, I get no pleasure from the knowledge that people will die at our hands. One single soul, the loss of one soul is tragic to me, let alone the numbers we're talking about. But do not forget that every war worth fighting involves collateral damage. And what we're doing is fundamentally and absolutely necessary."
• Large Ham: Jon Voight is having a great time, that much is clear.
• The Man Behind the Man: For Juma's regime, and the various groups helping them. He also managed to infiltrate his people inside the US government.
• Manipulative Bastard: His various manipulations practically bring the country to it's knees.
• Necessarily Evil: He does not derive pleasure from his evil. He just things it is what it needs to be done in order to save the country from itself.
• "Not So Different" Remark: He tries this with Jack, but Jack is having none of it. Jack realizes he broke the law and nobly accepts blame, while Hodges is furious with his own arrest.
  Hodges: I watched the Senate Hearing yesterday. And I was disgusted with how you were treated. You should be regarded as a hero, not a criminal.
  Jack: I broke the law.
  Hodges: You were following your instinct to protect your country. Just like me!
• Private Military Contractors: His business.
• The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: He's a member of Wilson's cabal.
  "You think this ends with me?! I'm just a small cog in a very big machine."
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Averted; it might initially appear that he's just trying to secure more contracts for his company, but the reality is that money isn't really on Hodges' mind. He truly believes he's doing the right thing.
• Smug Snake: He gets so overly confident about his seemingly imminent victory that he actually demands that President Taylor invite him to the White House so that he can personally brief her on his proposal and witness her sign it into law. Needless to say, this makes it very easy for him to be arrested as soon as Tony destroys his launch site.
• Tempting Fate: His last words are that he doesn't intend to be "Mr. Tippett" — the identity he's given in exchange for testifying against Alan Wilson and his associates — forever. Thanks to the bomb planted in his car, he only ends up being Mr. Tippett for another 45 seconds before being blown to kingdom come.
• Villainous Breakdown: He was going through one the entire time and it just got worse over time.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: He has one.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: All the evil he does and the deaths he causes are to 'save' the country, in his view. He's no hypocrite either: Hodges is genuine in his intent. The lengths he goes to, however, make him a monster.
• While Rome Burns: He plays a friendly game of darts with Greg Seaton while Juma invades the Whitehouse.
• Worthy Opponent: Hodges expresses some begrudging admiration for President Taylor, and outright admires Jack.
  "Well, you gotta admire the damn bitch. She doesn't give up easily."

Doug Knowles

Douglas 'Doug' Knowles

Played By: Chris Mulkey

The chairman of the board of directors for Starkwood during Day 7.

Tropes

• Honest Corporate Executive: He's mostly honest, in contrast to the rest of Starkwood.
• Token Good Teammate: Of the Starkwood directors.

Greg Seaton

Gregory 'Greg' Seaton

Played By: Rory Cochrane

A business executive and right-hand man of Jonas Hodges at Starkwood during Day 7.

Tropes

• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's a high-ranking executive at Starkwood.
• The Dragon: To Jonas Hodges.
• Fake Defector: He pretends to be a Defector from Decadence, but is really just buying Hodges more time by decieving the FBI.
• Perpetual Frowner: Seaton never cracks a smile, remaining terminally serious and off-setting Hodges' more jovial demeanour.
• The Stoic: Appears to go through a case of Not So Stoic when he helps Tony, but it turns out to have been an act.
• Undying Loyalty: To Hodges and Starkwood.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He gets arrested along with Hodges in the middle of the Oval Office, and is never seen or mentioned again. Presumably as the highest-ranking Starkwood employee still alive after the deaths of Hodges and Knowles, he bore the brunt of any criminal proceedings that resulted out of their plot (assuming he was too small-fry for Alan Wilson and his cabal to pull a He Knows Too Much on him).

John Quinn

John Quinn

Played By: Sebastian Roché

A hitman in Washington, D.C. during Day 7, working for Jonas Hodges.

Tropes

• Character Death: Jack bests him in combat, stabbing him in the chest with a screwdriver.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: By Jack with a screwdriver.
• Kick the Dog: He murders an elderly person in the hospital merely to create a diversion.
• Oh, Crap!: A rather spectacular one when he realizes Jack's going to flip the trailer he's in with the backhoe of a bulldozer.
• Professional Killer: He's a coldly professional hitman for Starkwood.
• Psycho for Hire: And he's been hired by Hodges.
• The Stoic: Quinn remains unnervingly calm and placid.
• The Quiet One: Barely utters a word.
• Vorpal Pillow: How he kills an elderly patient in the hospital.

Stokes

Stokes

Played By: Michael Rodrick

A high ranking mercenary soldier for Starkwood during Day 7.

Tropes

• Jerkass: In addition to being a psychotic mercenary, he's generally an unpleasant person.
• Private Military Contractors: He's a mercenary in the employ of Starkwood.
• Torture Technician: He takes part in the brutal interrogation of Tony Almeida.