Life story:
John Sheppard was born Jean-Luc Shepard in 1484. He was the youngest of six sons born to improvised and minor nobles. Being the youngest son in a time when only the oldest son would inherit, John and his four brothers had only two choices: the church or the military. It was a toss-up between the two for most of John's life but eventually he decided on joining the military and headed off to Paris to join The Musketeers, Louis XII's elite guard.

Along the way he met, and rescued from a spooked horse, Constance Bouvier, one of Queen Anne of Brittany's ladies-in-waiting. John was instantly smitten but Constance, not so much. In fact, she refused to thank him for saving her, saying she had it under control and doesn't need 'a man' to come to her rescue.

Once in Paris, John meets Nick Stokes (Nicolas Levy), Tim Speedle (Timothy Smith) and Tony DiNozzo (Antoine Chateauneuf). John didn't make a very good first impression on the three men; they all wanted to fight him within minutes of meeting him.

After John took on all three at once, he won their respect and the four eventually became not only fast friends but the inspiration for Alexander Dumas' book The Three Musketeers with Nick as Athos, Tim as Porthos, Tony as Aramis and John as D'Artagnan.

John did his best to put Constance from his mind but after being rewarded by the King for saving his life, he saw her again and couldn't stop thinking about her. She began to feel the same and the two started an affair despite there being a law stating that The Musketeers and the Queen's ladies-in-waiting were not allowed to socialize.

When they were caught they're given several choices: John could return to his childhood home and Constance could retain her position as a lady-in-waiting, both could lose their positions and return to their childhood homes, they could retain their positions but be married to other people or they could marry each other.

They chose the last option.

The King didn't inform them that along with the last option Constance was only allowed to stay in Paris until she was visibly pregnant and then she'd have to retire to John's parents' house in the country for the duration of her confinement.

Once the King informed them of this condition, at their wedding reception no less, John was afraid Constance would get pregnant right away but she didn't. She didn't get pregnant for nearly five years.

Once Constance was moved to the country John split his time between Paris and his childhood home. Because of this he was at home when Constance gave birth to their boy-girl twins, Amiee and Michele.

By the time John was forty, Constance had grown tired of only having her husband for half the time. She convinced him to retire. Nick talked him into one more mission saying that since John has come home, mostly, unscathed for the previous twenty years, what could go wrong?

As it turns out, a lot could go wrong. Very wrong.

Cardinal Richelieu's men were lying in wait for John's unit and most of the men lost their lives. As John lay dying, Nick asked him if he wanted to live. John of course said yes and Nick Turned him.

Ten years before the unit got a new man, Dean Bourgeois (Dean Bendis). Nick sends him to tell Constance that John is not dead and to not believe anyone who said otherwise. What Nick didn't know was that Cardinal Richelieu had dispatched his men to tell the families that the men were dead while the ambush was occurring.

Dean arrived at the chateaux at the same time as Cardinal Richelieu's men. Unfortunately Constance was informed of John's death before Dean could tell her that he was alive, just injured.

Dean makes the decision to not tell Constance that John survived the attack; much to John's dismay. John had always felt that Constance was his Soul Mate but Nick refused to let John return to her side and so it wasn't until she died in 1573 that he had his suspicions confirmed.

The news that Constance was indeed his Soul Mate was hard for John to take. He came to resent Nick for not allowing him to go to her before she became too old to be Turned.

John then began to not so patiently wait for Constance to be reborn. Every time he met a woman he'd stare into her eyes, hoping to see the love of his life staring back. Not surprisingly, he ended up getting slapped quite often.

John stayed with Nick until 1600 when he and Dean went to spend time with Ardeth Bay and learn what they needed to know to become Hunters. While there, John was told that Nick had found his Soul Mate and then lost him when it was discovered he was associating with Vampires.

In 1670 word came from King Arthur, asking John and Dean to keep an eye on Nick because despite rumors being spread that Nick, Tim and Tony went to Camelot and that Merlin used his considerable magic to restore Nick's sanity after losing his Soul Mate, Arthur feared that Nick was just pretending to be better so that he could leave and continue his search for his Mate.

In 1673, the five men stopped in a small village in the English countryside. While exploring the village one day, John literally ran into Joseph McKay. The instant he looked into Joseph's eyes, John knew he had found Constance again. Only problem was that Constance was now in a man's body and John was adamant that he was not attracted to other men.

When John returned to the hostel where they were staying, he confronted Nick about not telling him that souls can come back as the opposite gender. Nick tried to explain that he knew that John would not accept that knowledge but John was done listening. Tim, Tony and Dean managed to keep John from attacking Nick, thus saving him from a major beating.

The three men then took John upstairs and showed him that sex with another man is just as enjoyable as sex with a woman.

Over the next several months, John and Joseph became good friends. John was tempted to Turn Joseph; only the fact that Joseph was married with children kept him from doing so.

Several weeks before Christmas, the mayor of the village had Joseph convicted of witchcraft in order to get him out of the way so that he could marry Joseph's wife, AnnaMaria. The night before Joseph was to be burned at the stake, John revealed his true nature to them. AnnaMaria begged John to Turn Joseph but John refused, citing the children as the reason.

Before Joseph was even dead, John smuggled AnnaMaria and her children out of England. He settled them in the Massachusetts Bay Colony where he stayed close for several years; even going so far as to make sure that AnnaMaria married a man who was extremely wealthy as well as from a very long line of Chosen Ones.

Then in April 1775, John joined Nick and his followers in fighting the British military for control of the American colonies. By the end of the war John was serving directly under George Washington and was present when he took the oath of office as the very first American President.

By 1861, John was living in New Orleans along with Nick and his newly formed Sylum Clan. When the southern states ceded from the Union, most members of the Clan followed Nick up north to join the Union Army. John was one of a handful that joined the Confederate Army.

This decision caused a major rift between John and Nick with Nick seeing it as a major betrayal. John tried to explain that he felt the southern states had every right to the demands they were making of the Federal government. Nick agreed but felt their demand to maintain slaves wasn't something he could defend especially since his Mate is a black man.

By the end of the war, John was in a Union prisoner of war camp trying to survive off blood from the rodents that shared his cell. When he was released, Nick agreed to accept him back on the condition he join the Union Army and take a major demotion from Colonel to Captain. Never one to go it alone, John agreed.

Nick then had John transferred to the post in Colorado Springs knowing that John would not thrive in the near isolation of the western frontier state.

John managed to prove Nick wrong by confiding in several of the townspeople thus making sure he had a steady supply of fresh blood.

In 1873 a doctor from Boston arrived on the stage coach. John, once again, found himself literally running into his Soul Mate. Only difference this time was that he was prepared to see Constance staring back at him from a man's eyes.

Andrew McKay convinced the Colonel of the garrison to let John help him survey the plot of land he had bought on the outskirts of town. Over the course of several months, the two men became extremely close and started a steamy love affair.

Until September when Andrew received word from his mother that his father was dying and begging Andrew to return to Boston. John asked him not to go but Andrew felt a familial duty to his father along with being a doctor. John was sure he'd never see him again and so once again began the wait for Constance to be reborn.

In October, Nick wrote, demanding John come to The Manor in New Orleans for Christmas. He even went so far as to make sure John could have the leave time he needed to spend Thanksgiving through New Year's with The Clan. Deciding that this must be Fate giving him another chance with Andrew, John wrote inviting him to join him for the Christmas holiday.

Within days of arriving at The Manor, Andrew discovers John's true nature and freaks out. He runs from the house and into the woods where he experiences several flashbacks about his previous lives. Upon returning to the house, he tells John that he is okay with his being a Vampire and the two begin discussing how Andrew will be Turned.

Having decided it will take place on New Year's Day, John gives in and feeds from Andrew during a moment of passion, figuring it won't hurt anything since Andrew is where John can keep an eye on him. But as Fate would have it, it was a very bad idea.

Two days before Christmas, Andrew took several of the Chosen children into New Orleans to see Santa one last time. On the way back the horses got spooked and Andrew was crushed under the wagon while saving several children. Through the minor Bond John created when he fed from Andrew, John felt him die and lost a tiny piece of his sanity at the same time.

Reeling from the loss, once again, of his Soul Mate, John leaves America and returns to France; never staying in one place for more than a few years and ignoring every effort Nick makes to contact him.

Tim finally tracks him down in a tiny little village deep in the French countryside in late 1933. Tim tries to talk him into returning to America, explaining that the current President needs to know about the rise of Hitler and how America should join with England and other European countries to bring him down. John refuses and Tim leaves but not before promising to return should the situation change.

In late December 1941 Tim finds John in the village where he grew up. He tells him that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and that America had been drawn kicking and screaming into a war that now spans the globe and it is John's duty as an American citizen to help defend his new country. Tim manages to convince John to return and join the fight by telling him about the new fighter planes the United States military had developed knowing that John had developed a love of flying over the years.

In late 1944 John's plane was shot down over the village where he grew up. He was rescued by Evan Argent who knows of John's nature because he's a Chosen from a long line of Chosen.

Three months later a unit of German soldiers arrived to take supplies from Evan's farm. In the ensuing fight, Evan is fatally shot. John, knowing that Evan has the soul of his son, Michele, asks if Evan would like to live. Upon getting an affirmative answer, John Turns Evan and the two travel to Allied occupied territory to assist in freeing those held in concentration camps.

John and Evan then spend several decades with Ardeth Bay before going their separate ways. John went back to America and Sylum while Evan travelled the world, seeing and doing all the things he had always wanted to do.

Just after Vietnam, John joined the United States Air Force. This time around he rose through the ranks slowly, preferring to not be noticed. By the time the war in the Persian Gulf in 1991 started he was a Captain. He flew mostly search and rescue missions. When the war 'ended', John bounced around from base to base because he had developed something of a reputation for being insubordinate.

During The Second Gulf War, John was promoted to Major then almost lost his commission when he disobeyed a direct order to return to base instead of rescuing three men whose helicopter had been shot down behind enemy lines. Despite saving the three men, John received a black mark in his record and only the influence of Nick kept him from being court martialed. Nick called John 'home' and then ordered him to accept whatever posting he is offered next and to keep his head down.

John almost refuses when he is ordered to McMurdo Air Force Base in Antarctica. He becomes grateful that he didn't go against orders, again, when he is tasked to fly Jack O'Neill to a secret research base deep in the tundra. During the flight, Jack fills John in on Clan gossip. John in turn teases Jack about not telling Daniel that they're Mates.

Once at the research base, Jack tells John to not touch anything but John is drawn to the Ancient control chair and sits down, activating it.

When John looks up he finds himself once more staring at Constance's Soul gazing at him out of a pair of bright blue eyes.

The eyes just so happen to belong to one Rodney McKay, one of the scientists working on unlocking the gate address to another galaxy. Rodney's presence on the expedition team is the impetus for John agreeing to join as well.

Once in the Pegasus Galaxy John inadvertently wakes a powerful race called The Wraith by killing a Queen who had just killed Colonel Sumner, the ranking military officer.

As the second highest ranking officer in the city, John is thrust into a command he doesn't really want. He recruits Rodney to be the geek on his gate team and begins slowly 'courting' the prickly scientist determined to finally Turn his Soul Mate.

In 2005 after rescuing Rodney from a jumper that crashed into the ocean, Carson urges John to Turn him now. John takes him to the mainland where the two Bond after John Turns him.