Jack and the Three Blind Archers
Episode numeral: VII
Original air date: 8/20/01
Jack is informed about a wishing well located in a tower on an island by a Viking warrior who saw it firsthand. However, as the Viking warns him, the well tower is guarded by a trio of sightless master archers. If he is to reach the tower, Jack will have to master fighting against and as a blind warrior.
This episode contains examples of:
- And I Must Scream: The archers are implied to have been fully aware of the curse that the well had put on them and that it had been controlling their sight and minds for several years.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The well grants wishes, but the wishers pay a steep price. Years ago, three men wished on the well to be the most powerful of warriors. The well granted their wish... and stole their sight and free will to and make them its eternal guardians.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: After noticing that the archers are blind and rely on their hearing to detect intruders, Jack blindfolds himself so he can defeat them in the same manner.
- Blind Weaponmaster: The titular archers, and Jack himself when he realizes he can only defeat them if he battles them on their own terms.
- Clothing Damage: The archers manage to shoot Jack’s sleeves to pin him to a tree, and when he manages to avert their killing shot, he tears his sleeves off to escape. Averted afterwards, though- Jack takes off his robe entirely off screen to meditate and doesn’t put it back on for the remainder of the episode.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: To establish how deadly the Three Blind Archers are, the episode opens with them utterly destroying an army of robots as if they were made of tissue paper.
- Deadly Dodging: How Jack finally takes out the archers—he stands between them and dodges, so their own arrows hit each other.
- Deal with the Devil: The wishing well is powered by an evil force (implied to be Aku) which grants its visitors' wish while also taking something away from them: the archers wished to become great warriors, but were enslaved to protect the tower as a result. Season 5 confirmed that it was Aku behind the well.
- Exposed to the Elements: The second time Jack goes up against the archers, he's wearing nothing but his fundoshi, even though it's winter on the island. It doesn't seem to bother him at all.
- Foreshadowing: One clue that the archers rely on sound to attack comes during the opening sequence, where an axe head hitting the ground is riddled with arrows even though there would be no reason for the archers to shoot it.
- Horny Vikings: The episode opens with a whole army of robot Vikings (with horns, of course) assaulting the tower, only to be destroyed by the archers. The human warlord leading the army eventually ends up as a janitor on a ferry, telling passengers stories of his past glory. After Jack overhears his story and expresses his desire to use the well, the former warlord warns Jack of how dangerous the archers are, but Jack chooses to go anyway.
- In the Style of: The designs of the forest animals, especially the birds, are based on Charles Harper illustrations.
- Meditating Under a Waterfall: Jack does this after his first attempt to get to the well fails, and he's trying to think of a way to beat the three archers.
- Not So Stoic: This is the first time Jack shows any visible signs of anger, here out of frustration for how many times his chain has been yanked.
- Rage Breaking Point: Being a samurai, Jack rarely displays emotion, but he visibly trembles with rage when he learns that the wishing well is yet another way home that he can't use.
- Selfless Wish: When he learns that the wishing well is deceitful, Jack plunges his blade into it, so the well can never claim anyone ever again, declaring while doing so:Jack: Evil spirit of the well! You will not claim another innocent! I wish thee... DESTROYED!
- Sense-Impaired Monster: The Archers are completely blind, but have incredibly acute hearing; they don't reaction to Jack waving his straw hat at them, yet are able to perfectly pinpoint his location just from the rustling of his clothing. He's able to defeat them by blindfolding himself to hone his own hearing to their level, evening the playing field.
- Shout-Out: The three archers resemble stylized mice, referencing the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice".
- Silence Is Golden: The show itself is already pretty light on dialogue, but in this case it's actually relevant to the plot. Jack has to rely on his acute sense of hearing in order to better understand how the archers plan on fighting him. Indeed, from the point between when Jack departs the ferry and the point where he has a flashback to his time training in blind fighting, there is no dialogue whatsoever.
- Wishing Well: A very malevolent one that can warp the wishes addressed to it in various nefarious ways. The archers wished to be great warriors, and the well corrupted them into its guards.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Going back to the past is just in Jack's reach, but before he can make his wish he's told that whatever wish he makes will come at a heavy price.
