Jaune Arc

Jaune Arc is a former student at Beacon Academy, the leader and one of the remaining members of team of Team JNPR, and a member of Team RNJR. His weapon of choice is Crocea Mors, which is a sword and a sheath that can expand into a shield. The weapon was handed down in his family from his great-great-grandfather, who used it to fight in the Great War.

He makes his first appearance towards the end of the first episode, "Ruby Rose"; throwing up in the airship and earning his temporary nickname, "Vomit Boy", from Ruby Rose.

Original (Volumes 1-3)
Jaune is a tall teenage boy with dark-blue eyes that are emphasized by his short blonde hair messily layered on his head with the right side of his hair nearing his right eye and the left side swept back. He is quite toned, having strong muscles in his arms, shoulders and upper chest. He wears a white diamond-shaped chestplate cut off above his lower abdomen and white spaulders with rerebraces set under them. Underneath the armor, he wears a black short-sleeved hoodie with detached reddish-orange sleeves and a dark brown image of the bunny rabbit Pumpkin Pete trimmed in white with cute black round eyes hidden underneath the chestplate. He also wears blue pants with a white patch on the left knee, as well as black sneakers with "left" and "right" written in black on the respective shoes' soles. In Volume 1, Jaune has elbow guards with cords strung through them and he wears black high tops.

He has two belts crisscrossing his waist, both different shades of brown, with a pair of small pouches on them. Jaune wears brown wrist-length gloves with exposed fingertips and small metal plates over the back. His sword is strapped to his left hip in a sheath that doubles as a collapsible shield.

Pajamas
He sleeps in blue full-body pajamas with blue bunny slippers and a white bunny face on its chest.

Post-Timeskip (Volume 4 - Current)
After the timeskip following the Fall of Beacon, his attire has been changed and updated. He retains his black hoodie, but he now wears a modified pure white chestplate covering a bit more of his upper abdomen trimmed with gold lining and similarly-colored bracers. Additionally, he wears black gloves with gold-colored metal armor plates over his fingers, and he appears to wear a red sash around his waist, similar in design to the late Pyrrha Nikos. He also now wears dark brown laced boots and a new brown belt with a pouch included worn around his waist.

Personality
Jaune is not exactly the most suave individual in Beacon Academy, though he does try to portray himself as such. He is a kindhearted, amiable person and means well, as shown when he helps Ruby stand up after her initial confrontation with Weiss. When asked why, he simply notes that it seemed like a good opportunity to make a new friend.

He maintains his unselfish manner regardless of the situation, going as far as to defend Cardin Winchester, who had been blackmailing him and forcing him to do his work. A strong sense of integrity makes him willing to deliberately put himself in awkward situations, such as wearing a dress in public without a hint of embarrassment in order to keep his word. According to him, it is part of his family motto of not going back on one's word.

Jaune is an outgoing, goofy, and all around friendly person. He treats people equally and has no problems expressing himself to strangers and bonds with them easily, showing a lot of confidence. However, his confidence can get out of hand and backfire during his pursuit of romance: something that his voice actor, Miles Luna, admitted himself, saying that Jaune tries too hard which causes him to be misunderstood. Following his father's advice, Jaune usually comes up with silly schemes and pick-up lines in his attempts to get a girl's attention. Despite having confessed to having feelings for Weiss Schnee, Jaune has tried to win over Pyrrha Nikos and Yang in the past as well.



Jaune has shown to care for his friends and the people around him, being protective of them and having a sense of responsibility as a team leader. He focuses only on his teammates' well-being to the point of disregarding his own to ensure theirs. He would put himself on the spot if someone were threatening his friends, and he has proven to be unable to do something that may hurt the people he cares about. Jaune has also shown to prioritize other people's feelings above his own, and is even willing to offer advice to help potential romantic rivals if it's for the well-being of the people he cares about.

Because of his family line, Jaune is obsessed with being a hero. However, he was never formally trained like the rest of his family; this causes him to lack self-esteem and assign a lot of importance to his image as a fighter. He values this image so much that he is willing to commit dishonest acts, such as using fake transcripts to gain acceptance into Beacon, to achieve it. He also does not seem to be very proud of having a weapon given to him, rather than earning or crafting it on his own, referring to his weapon as a simple "hand-me-down" instead of a "family heirloom".

Despite usually being easily intimidated and scared; once the battle starts, Jaune's fears are replaced by his brash attitude; causing him to jump in headfirst without considering the risks. This causes him to be predictable when fighting, foregoing defense in favor of offense. Jaune's will remains strong even when outmatched by his opponents, especially when he is trying to protect someone or aid them in battle.

During his fights, despite taking several highly-damaging attacks, Jaune keeps pressing on his opponents, refusing to let their assault intimidate him. This trait persists even during conversations with others, as Jaune never contradicts himself and, while sometimes harsh, is always honest with answers.

However, following the fall of Beacon, his personality has somewhat changed. After witnessing the aftermath of the attack on Shion, he is shown to be somewhat cynical, saying that they would arrive at Higanbana "if it's still there". He is also angry at Qrow Branwen for his involvement in Pyrrha's death, openly accusing him of using Ruby as bait. This is a completely different reaction from a year earlier when he tried to justify Cardin's bullying.

Powers and Abilities
Despite not having it unlocked prior to the Beacon initiation, Pyrrha Nikos has noted in "The Emerald Forest" that Jaune possessed a lot of Aura. This has proved useful over the course of the series as his lack of experience caused him to be hit frequently.

During the initiation, Jaune demonstrates the skills to be an adaptable leader, being willing and able to coordinate with allies while under pressure, such as when a Death Stalker attempts to knock down the bridge his future team stands on.

Weapon
In contrast to Ruby, Jaune's weapon was not designed or made by him. It is instead a family heirloom that was passed down from his great-great-grandfather, who used it in the Great War, called Crocea Mors. Crocea Mors is composed of a simple arming sword whose sheath unfolds into a heater shield for protection.

Post-timeskip, it adopts the same style of his armor and has the symbol of Pyrrha's headpiece. Jaune can combine the sword and shield of his modified Crocea Mors to form a more powerful blade whose edge is lined with metal from Pyrrha's weapon, Milo and Akouo. Crocea Mors upgrades by having its sword placed into the sheath as the sheath folds inward, forming a second, stronger blade around the sword. It was used against the Nuckelavee and was noticeably more effective than Jaune's lone sword.

Leadership
Jaune's most remarkable feature is his natural leadership. He shows these skills, quickly grasping the tactical situation, forming plans to work according to their advantages and counter possible threats. He's very aware of the capabilities of his team and is able to properly coordinate them into achieving feats that can give them the upper hand during an encounter.

Semblance
Jaune's Semblance was first seen in "Forever Fall, Pt.2". When Cardin attempted to punch him, he visibly winces while Jaune remains unscathed and surprised by the turn of events. As of now Jaune and others around him are still unsure on the specifics of his Semblance, and Jaune has shown a reluctance to work on developing his Aura because of that.

Weaknesses
Jaune's lack of experience has remained an ongoing problem for him throughout the volumes. Despite his noticeable improvement, evidenced by the speed with which he slays an Ursa in each of the first 3 volumes, Jaune is always the person on Team JNPR that contributes the least in terms of physical feats, much to his frustration.

His frustration has lead him to recklessly charge enemies when engaging them in single combat, which has gotten him defeated in a spar with Cardin, and nearly got Jaune to lose all his Aura against an Ursa during the events of "Forever Fall".

Jaune appears to have taken efforts to improve upon these weaknesses in the months since the fall of Beacon, as evidenced in "Remembrance" when he trains using an instruction video sent to him by the late Pyrrha Nikos. His fighting stance is more composed and his sword swings are shown to be so strong that their force causes gusts of wind to blow through the air several meters in front of him. He's also shown to be strong enough to hold up Tyrian Callows as he clung onto his shield, and later block a Nuckelavee's front legs and hold his ground for a few seconds.

Trivia

 * Jaune alludes to Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc), a medieval French war heroine and martyr. It is pronounced similar to Jean, the French form of John.
 * Monty stated that each member of JNPR alludes to someone who cross-dressed in their story. Joan of Arc dressed as a man while in the French army.
 * Jaune Arc gets constantly harassed and bullied by Cardin Winchester. Joan of Arc was sentenced to being burned at stake by Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester, who was also a Cardinal.
 * "Jaune" is the French word for yellow.
 * The emblem on Jaune's possessions was referred to as a rainbow. However, Miles and Kerry joked about his true symbol being located on his shirt under his breastplate. This was revealed to be the Pumpkin Pete mascot in "The Next Step".
 * As of Volume 2, the soles of Jaune's shoes have completely changed. In place of the rainbow emblem, he has "left" and "right" written on them. Miles once joked that Jaune might be worried that something may happen to him that makes him confuse left and right, such as a concussion.
 * During "The Stray", it is shown that, before he modified it, Jaune's sword is nearly identical to the one wielded by the man on the statue in front of Beacon Academy.
 * Foreshadowing his skills as an adept dancer, before Volume 2 started, Monty uploaded a video of Jaune dancing to his Facebook.
 * At the RTX Australia 2016 RWBY Panel, Jaune's Skype username was "I <3YellowSnow".
 * Jaune was originally going to be named "Jean", after Blue Jeans. It was changed to Jaune after Burnie Burns had suggested the name take after the word "Jaundice".