John

John is a former motivational speaker and creator of The Hunger, while also serving as its avatar at the same time.

John
John has a slim build and looks to be in his early fifties with extremely well kept salt-and-pepper hair. He wears a sharp grey suit, a narrow black tie, and some very nice shoes.

Shadow John
Shadow John resembles a humanoid figure wearing a sharp suit and made up entirely of the Hunger's black opal-like plasma.

Final John
Final John is a nightmarish creature emerging from a black opal pool, where it’s buried up to its thick, jagged torso. It has two long arms ending in razor-sharp, three-fingered claws and skeletal wings made of multicolored light. That same light also makes up a crown sitting on top of its head, and its face is now featureless.

Early Life
In his homeworld, John was a philosopher and motivational speaker who came to realize the limitations of being mortal after pondering eternity, and came to believe that "living is horrible." He shared his dissatisfaction and fury with the people of his home plane, and soon everyone and even every thing came to agree with his worldview. It turned them into The Hunger, a force seeking to transcend existence regardless of the cost by chasing the Light of Creation, which allows the Hunger to exist and consume bonds for power.

The Stolen Century
It is not known how many planes The Hunger consumed before assailing the Red Robes' home plane but for the next 100 years, it would pursue them relentlessly as they sought to keep the Light of Creation from its grasp. Merle would eventually attempt to converse with The Hunger directly and establishes contact with John through the power of Parlay.

John expresses surprise at being pulled into the Parlay space, stating that it's been a long time since he spoke to another person but that this is not the first time someone has approached him. He is surprised to hear that The Hunger has been pursuing Merle and his friends, and even killed them several times. The conversation ends abruptly as he attempts to finish the job by killing Merle. Over numerous following cycles, Merle returns to speak with John who, realizing Merle cannot harm him within the Parlay space, agrees that an exchange of information might be mutually beneficial.

Though he was the instigating force behind its creation, it is unclear how much direct control John wields over The Hunger or to what extent he is even aware of events taking place outside it. Before being told by Merle, he doesn't know what the Starblaster looks like or how the Light was getting away from him every cycle. He also stated that he must look beautiful from Merle's perspective, which would seem to mean that, physically, he doesn't realize that the Hunger is more terrifying than beautiful, and that, metaphorically, his mission to transcend existence, in practice, isn't as magnificent and admirable as he considers it.

Story and Song
After the IPRE crew successfully hid the Light of Creation for a decade, The Hunger supposedly lost its way; rather than trying to overcome the laws of reality, it now simply wants to consume everything. John uses Parlay to warn Merle that he's no longer in control of The Hunger, and gives him a hint to defeating it - breaking the bonds between it and the planes it's consumed - before The Hunger drags him away.

When the boys, along with Lucretia and Davenport, are approaching The Hunger aboard the Starblaster, The Hunger fights back. It launches tendrils of darkness at them and while Davenport dodges most of them, some of the black material lands on the ship. It coalesces into the shape of John, now fully under The Hunger's control. The boys battle Shadow John and Magnus lands the final blow with the Flaming Poisoning Raging Sword Of Doom, impaling him through the chest. For a moment it seems the boys have won as Shadow John looks panicked and desperate but then he smiles and transforms into Final John.

Trivia

 * Even though Griffin chose the name "John", he does not want this to discourage people from drawing him like Jon Arbuckle, creating hilarious parallels between the big bad of the entire campaign and the mysterious Garfield the Deals Warlock.