Jackson Nathaniel "Jax" Teller is a fictional character and the protagonist on the FXtelevision seriesSons of Anarchy, played by English actorCharlie Hunnam. A member of the titular motorcycle club, he spends the majority of the series as the Vice President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club's Redwood Original mother charter based in Charming, California; following season four, he assumes the Presidency for the remainder of the series. The son of one of the club's founding members, his conflict between wanting to maintain the longevity of the organization and his desire to become a law-abiding family man while still living up to his father's legacy forms the central conflict of the series. Unlike the other members of the club who wear boots and biker clothing, Jax wears more stylish clothing and white Nike Air Force One sneakers throughout the run of the series.
Biography
Jackson "Jax" Teller is the son of Gemma and John Teller; born in 1978, he was raised in the rural fictional Northern California town of Charming. His father, founder and first President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, died in a roadaccident in 1993; his mother Gemma marries club member Clay Morrow, who then became President of the club's "Redwood Original" charter. As the show begins, Jax serves as his charter's Vice President, and works as a mechanic at the family automotive repair shop. He has served time in prison for smuggling and gun-running related to the club's activities, and is estranged from his pregnant wife Wendy; as the series begins, she overdoses and endangers the life of their unborn son Abel, who is born addicted to methamphetamine. Jax has also discovered a manuscript by his late father, in which John describes his disillusionment with the club. In the first season, Jax renews a relationship with his high-school sweetheart, Tara Knowles; they have a son, Thomas, and raise both sons together, eventually marrying. Over the course of the series, Jax tries to fulfill his father's wish to move the Sons out of gun-running. He also learns that Clay killed his father, with Gemma's acquiescence, and becomes consumed with the need for revenge. By season 4, he has forced Clay out of the presidency, and taken that office himself. However, Jax becomes increasingly aware that he has become the very thing his father feared. Towards the end of the series, Jax becomes focused on preventing his own sons from following the same path.
Origins and critical response
Teller was named as one of TV's best dads by Dadcentric.com, and they described him as a "brutal anti-hero" and "rebel who never lives by society's rules". However, they also highlight how the birth of Abel and the discovery of his father's memoirs transformed him as a person. The Chicago Tribune remarked that Jax is "the heir apparent to the gang", but "has a great deal of nostalgia for his father’s more hippie-ish early hopes for the motorcycle club".
