Mark Jefferson

"Seriously, though, I could frame any one of you in a dark corner and capture you in a moment of desperation, and any of you could do the same to me. Isn't that too easy? Too obvious?"

- Mark Jefferson

Mark Jefferson is the main antagonist of the 2015 video game Life is Strange. He is the one responsible for the drugging, kidnapping and indecent exposure of several female students at Blackwell Academy. It seems that he also murders any of his victims who recover from their drugged state enough to identify him, such as Rachel Amber.

He is voiced by Derek Philips.

Biography
Mark is a very well-known and even famous portrait photographer that is respected and regarded all across Oregon and in Blackwell Academy. He specializes in black and white photography. All of his work is shown around the Blackwell campus, depicting provocative images of women in very obscene sexual positions. Mark and Max both seem to enjoy elegant and mainly innocent things among other subjects in photography. Max thinks of him as someone admirable in her journal and even refers to him as "her favorite teacher".

Chrysalis
Whilst in the middle of one of Mr. Jefferson's speeches in photography class, Max suddenly snaps out of her vision, only to be called on by him to answer a question. Max answers incorrectly, to which Victoria Chase then proceeds to correctly answer it. Max can rewind and use Victoria's answer as her own, impressing Jefferson and displeasing Victoria. Jefferson then announces that he wants each of his students to submit a photo for his "Everyday Hero" contest. Class is dismissed, where after he is seen talking to Victoria. Max tries to evade him due to her avoiding the assignment, but he calls her over and tells her that she needs to have the courage to share her work. After his lecture, he quotes John Lennon. Max can rewind several times in order to prevent his disappointment in her, even quoting John Lennon, impressing Jefferson.

Out of Time
Jefferson is seen talking to a depressed Kate Marsh about a recent video of her drunkenly making out with several boys at a Vortex Club party being leaked to which he insensitively remains ignorant of her emotions, saying that she brought bad treatment upon herself in some light. This leaves her in tears, possibly causing her suicidal thoughts. He later conducts a lecture about Ying and Yang photography in class before he is interrupted by Zachary with news that Kate Marsh is attempting to commit suicide.

After the incident, Jefferson is seen at the Principal's office alongside Max, Nathan Prescott, David Madsen and Principal Wells himself. Max has the option to blame him for initially being ignorant of Kate's feelings about the situation, which causes his suspension from appearing at the "Everyday Hero" contest. If Max chooses to blame Jefferson for Kate's death, he and Principal Wells are seen arguing heatedly in the credits, ending with Jefferson storming off angered.

Chaos Theory
Max and Chloe, while sneaking around past curfew at Blackwell, hide and overhear a conversation between Mr. Jefferson and Victoria regarding the "Everyday Hero" contest. Victoria tries to convince him to make her the winner through subtle flirting, but after refusing her request, she resorts to blackmail, threatening to tell everyone at Blackwell that he made a deal to make her the winner in exchange for sexual favors. This only angers Jefferson more into refusal, thus cutting the conversation off and frustrating Victoria.

Dark Room
During this episode, he can be seen talking to Principal Wells. Jefferson spots Max and Chloe at the Blackwell Campus in their hunt for evidence against Nathan. He is introduced to Chloe and asks her why someone as cool as her doesn't attend Blackwell any more. He then tells Max that he's announcing the winner of the "Everyday Hero" contest at the End of the World party.

Jefferson later sees Max and Chloe at the party discussing the whereabouts of Nathan and suspiciously comes over with news that he's just about to announce the "Everyday Hero" winner. After going up on stage and calming everyone down, he reveals that Victoria is the winner of the contest. Max expresses her disgust over Victoria's cheating, but Chloe doesn't care and takes Max to the dormitories to look for Nathan.

After their unsuccessful search, Chloe receives a text from Nathan Prescott telling her that he will dispose of Rachel Amber's remains. In a state of panic, Max and Chloe drive to the junkyard to check on Rachel's remains. As Chloe looks at them again, Jefferson quietly stabs a distracted Max with a drugged syringe, preventing Max from rewinding time and warning Chloe. Jefferson then proceeds to shoot an unprepared Chloe in the head, but it is still unknown as to whether she is truly dead or not. He is last seen standing over Max, glaring ominously down at her, thus unveiling his true evil intentions and his involvement in Rachel Amber's death.

'Polarized
The episode opens with Max being tortured in the Dark Room, along with Victoria if the player successfully warned her. Jefferson reveals that he was onto Max and Chloe due to the surveillance of the Dark Room and later reveals he killed Nathan to frame him for his crimes, using Nathan's phone to lure Max and Chloe. Max is able to use a photograph to travel back to the beginning of the game, during which she uses her knowledge of the future to expose Jefferson's crimes to David Madsen, getting Jefferson and Nathan arrested.

In the alternate week, Max discovers the coming storm is still a threat and ends up back in the original timeline, where she wakes up in the Dark Room, discovering Jefferson has also killed Victoria and intends to do the same to Max. David Madsen, having investigated the Dark Room on his own arrives but Jefferson kills him in the ensuing fight. Max uses her time travel abilities to distract Jefferson and even help Madsen in the fight, before subduing him. Should Max reveal what happened to Chloe, Madsen will shoot Jefferson in retaliation. Eventually Max uses a selfie to go back to the Vortex club party and warn Chloe about Jefferson in advance. In that timeline, they go to Madsen who gets the police to discover the Dark Room and arrest Jefferson, but Nathan has already been killed.

The altered timeline takes Max back to the storm with Chloe. Max is given the choice to go back to the begining and sacrifice Chloe to stop the storm or allow the storm to pass and save Chloe for good. Should the player allow Chloe to die, Nathan's crimes are discovered as well as Jefferson's involvement, leading to their arrest. Should the player save Chloe, the storm passes through Arcadia Bay, Jefferson's fate being unknown but presumably being among those who died in the storm.

Personality
Mark Jefferson is a calm, mild-mannered, charismatic man, but can be pretentious. He tries to inspire his students as he claims his photos are works of art and is almost always quoting famous people. He mainly specializes in dark photos of sexualized young women and domination, replicating his work through his photography of the young women he kidnaps.

Trivia

 * It's hinted by Stella that he and Rachel Amber had a sexual relationship
 * His predominant colors through out the game are black and white. They're seen on his clothing and photographs and even gives a lecture on it.