Jonah Whitman is one of the primary protagonists of Angel Hare, acting as the main narrator of the series.
Background[]
Despite being the main character, Jonah's full physical appearance is never seen in the series, and he is regularly represented in real-life through his hands. Hints of his appearance appeared throughout the series, showing him to be Caucasian, wearing glasses, and sporting a beard and facial hair. Supplementary artwork from the creators support the description.
Throughout the series, Jonah communicates through messages that appear on-screen, with Tape 6 being the only time he speaks on-camera. The messages initially reveals Jonah's thoughts and analysis about a situation, but future seasons also used the messages to show his conversations with the other characters. Either way, the style and format the messages appear in often represent what Jonah was feeling at that time.
Jonah is shown to be a friendly yet determined individual. This determination is shown throughout the series, from rediscovering her past and searching for his guardian angel, to his desire to help those that he does not know or remember. In addition, he is shown to be adept with both old and modern technology, which allows him to grant advice and knowledge beyond the scope of what the angels know. As such, Jonah is able to form a close bond with the angel hares. This bond, however, also creates conflict within Jonah, as he questions his true motives for being with them, especially as he believes his presence only serves to cause more trouble for them. This conflict is one of the core themes that runs throughout the later seasons.
History[]
Art from Jonah's Adulthood
Jonah is the son of Dr. Eulalia Whitman and an unnamed male figure, referred to by Jonah as just "He". It is implied throughout the first season that Jonah grew up in a troubled home, as both of his parents were somewhat neglectful of him, with "He" especially being implied to being an abuser. As a result, Jonah regularly found solace and comfort in Angel Hare, befriending the show's sentient titular character who often made efforts to keep Jonah safe or give him agency. In addition, Jonah "befriended" his neighbor Segen, and would regularly come over to Segen's house as an excuse for not returning to his own home, with Segen's angel Cammy later saying that Jonah "[wasn't] the nicest kid". This, in turn, left him without any meaningful real-life relationship throughout his early years.
Sometime during his early years, "He" disappears from Jonah's life, presumably killed by Gabby's decree. Dr. Whitman also became suspicious of Angel Hare and investigated its origins and contents, eventually confiscating the VHS tapes and any art or merchandise that revolved around the cartoon. As such, Jonah slowly forgot about Angel Hare, "He", and Segen, eventually growing up into a functional member of society.
In the present, Jonah stumbles across a VHS home release copy in a thrift store, reigniting his lost memories. As he played through the home release copy, he realized the differences between the copy he just found and the VHS tapes he had as a child. As he regularly compared the two VHS tapes, his memories began slowly returning. Instead of feeling fear and despair, he becomes determined to search for his lost "guardian angel", eventually re-establishing contact with Angel Gabby after streaming the home release copy on Twitch. Unbeknownst to Jonah, Segen was viewing the stream during this time.
However soon after, Gabby mysteriously disappears from her show and is replaced with a new angel named Zaggy. Initially suspicious of each other's motives, both eventually form an uneasy alliance in order to search for what happened to Gabby, eventually traveling to Zaggy's home cartoon and piecing together past episodes to reveal that due to the internet, Gabby had stretched herself thin, both figuratively and literally. Jonah feels immense guilt for causing Gabby's suffering and requests to forget about her again, however Zaggy calls Jonah out on his guilt, questioning why he bothered helping them in the first place if he was going to end up forgetting about Gabby, and after agreeing that they needed to rely on each other, Jonah was able to rescue Gabby out of her suffering.
A short time later, Jonah received a package from Segen which included an old computer, the video game Hyrax in the Rocks, and a video from Segen, who reminded Jonah who he was before explaining his situation with the video game. Despite not remembering Segen and being unfamiliar with and wary of Cammy, the angel who resided in the video game, Jonah was determined to assist Segen and Cammy with their issues. As he went through the game with Gabby and Zaggy, it soon became apparent that Cammy was manipulating the game into a "quest" for Jonah in order for Jonah to confront his own worries on his friendships, both past and present. The endgame especially saw Cammy directly confront Jonah on his friendships, especially questioning Jonah's purpose for keeping them, once again revealing Jonah's insecurities. However, Jonah eventually was able to convince Cammy that his relationship with Gabby and Zaggy were meaningful, allowing Jonah to complete the game. After Gabby pulled Cammy out of the game, Jonah was able to convince them to try and focus on helping themself rather than others. With Cammy's issue resolved for the time being, he began working towards mending his relationship with Segen, meeting him in-person for the first time in years.
Relationships[]
Angel Gabby[]
Despite having forgotten her, Jonah's relationship remained strong with his guardian angel, with the two regularly helping each other with their issues. As a result, their relationship forms a core part of the entire web series, as their trust in each other advances their character development. Despite their close bond, their friendship is also a source of conflict within Jonah; on one hand, he wants to maintain this relationship especially after having lost it for many years, but on the other hand, he fears he and his actions are a burden to Gabby.
Dr. Whitman[]
Jonah seems to have a good relationship with his mother based on her reception of him in Tape 5. Despite her deception and secrecy about elements of their shared past, Jonah seems to care about her and not want to put her through any emotional duress by bringing up the show in the present day.
Trivia[]
- As a child, his favorite book is Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith.