Jimmy Vanille was Neopolitan (formerly known as Trivia Vanille)'s father and Carmel Vanille's husband, and the former City Manager of Vale.
During a gang war between Spider and the Xiong Family at the Vanille Estate, Jimmy was trapped inside a fortified room with no way out by his daughter. He was later killed when the large stockpile of Dust inside the room detonated, completely destroying the estate.
Appearance[]
Jimmy was a pale-skinned man with brown eyes who wore his dark brown hair in a short cut, complimented by a black suit. After being assaulted by his daughter, he gains a scar through his right eyebrow.
Personality[]
Like his wife, Jimmy presented himself as a high-class socialite. Underneath his businessman-like exterior, however, Jimmy was deeply paranoid and a schemer who, much like his wife, was obsessed with appearances.
The appearance of a normal daughter was more important to Jimmy and Carmel than raising a healthy one. While Carmel seemed more accepting of her daughter's muteness, Jimmy refused to believe that she was incapable of speech and frequently attempted to gaslight Trivia into speaking. Trivia grew to resent Jimmy for this, and he was unable to understand why she became increasingly hostile towards him.
In order to keep the façade of an ordinary family, Jimmy and Carmel kept Trivia largely confined to their private estate and out of public view. When hosting parties or entertaining guests, they ordered Trivia to remain in her bedroom. During one such party Trivia snuck out, and Jimmy did not notice until his daughter had returned home and ruined the party out of her own frustration for being neglected.
Jimmy seems to hate Semblances, or at least the "Overactive Imagination" of his daughter. When Trivia misbehaved while playing with Neopolitan, who was an early manifestation of her Semblance, and attempted to explain her actions, Jimmy interpreted it as Trivia shifting the blame away from herself. After Trivia used her Semblance to ruin a party that Jimmy and Carmel were hosting, they eventually hired a former Combat School Professor as a personal tutor; this was done so that they could keep Trivia out of a public school and right where they could keep a watchful eye on her.
When threatened, Jimmy displays a level of cowardice. After Trivia assaulted him and left a scar through his eyebrow, Jimmy became increasingly afraid of her capabilities and installed gradually more complex locks on his daughter's bedroom door in an attempt to contain her, going so far as to threaten installing a Hard-Light Shield if she refused to stay put. When this resulted in Trivia setting the estate on fire, instead of recognizing how their actions as parents had led her to this, Jimmy blamed her for the situation and allowed Carmel to send her away to Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy for Girls.
While seemingly effective in his duties as Vale's City Manager, Jimmy was a deeply corrupt politician, acting as a benefactor of the Xiong Family and giving them the leverage they needed to effectively monopolize Dust trade within the city. While this partnership proved beneficial to the Vanilles for a time, Jimmy eventually grew to resent the power over him this gave Hei Xiong and sought to dismantle it.
Jimmy proved to be clever, yet short-sighted. In an attempt to create a "nest egg" for his family, Jimmy began stealing Dust from the Xiong Family's shipments. In order to conceal the evidence of this theft should Hei ever catch on, he hid the extremely volatile substance under the floorboards in Trivia's bedroom, without considering the possible consequences should his rather unpredictable and increasingly violent daughter do something dangerous, like setting her room on fire. Despite this, Jimmy proved to be sly enough to conceal this activity not only from Xiong and Trivia, but from Carmel as well.
Despite his best efforts, Jimmy proved to be rather unstable and paranoid at his core. When stressed, Jimmy becomes prone to irrationality and acts without considering obvious yet important factors. During the gang war at the Vanille Estate, Jimmy decided to use his Dust stockpile as a bargaining chip to get the family out of their current predicament, seemingly forgetting that his daughter poses a larger threat to him despite recently paralyzing and confining her to her room.
Powers and Abilities[]
As the City Manager of Vale, Jimmy had notable political influence. When his daughter acted out in ways that could harm the family's reputation, Jimmy knew the right people and the right places to send money so that Trivia's crimes would not become larger problems for him. He was also a noteworthy thief, able to steal Dust from Hei Xiong without anyone noticing and building up a valuable stockpile in his estate.
Physically, Jimmy was very weak due to never unlocking his Aura. He was easily assaulted and scarred by his daughter when she unexpectedly attacked him and became increasingly fearful of her as she grew older.
History[]
At some point in the past, Jimmy married an assassin named Carmel Vanille who planned to use his authority to control the criminal underworld of Vale. At some point, they had a daughter named Trivia Vanille.
Jimmy later got involved with the Xiong Family and helped them illegally smuggle Dust into Vale undetected while also taking parts of these Dust shipments back to his estate and placing it in one of his rooms.
One night when he believes his daughter broke a vase in his estate and she tries to tell him through a written message, Jimmy doesn't want to see her write an excuse and tells her to speak despite her inability to do so.
Following Trivia going on a shoplifting spree, Jimmy pays off all of the things that she stole to avoid legal issues and tells her to speak so he could forgive her. Trivia however decided to hit him with her parasol instead.
When Trivia - now going as Neopolitan - meets with Roman and the two are hunted by the Xiong Family and Spider about a hard drive with information about the latter's plans, Carmel and Jimmy receive the two at the Estate again, the thug's father is distraught at seeing their daughter with a criminal. When Carmel secretly drugs Neo's drink, it is then revealed the two had formed a plan to establish the Vanille family (Neo included) as the criminal syndicate of Vale, and that his actions were partially a result of wanting to protect Neo from the underworld connections of his family.
When a gang war between the Xiong Family and Spider broke out in the Vanille Estate, Jimmy is trapped inside his estate for safety. However, his daughter leads Lil' Miss Malachite to shoot the Dust inside his manor and caused a huge explosion with Jimmy killed in the process.
Trivia[]
Color Naming Rule[]
- “Jimmies” are a slang term for Sprinkles. and "Vanille" is a French name meaning "vanilla" bringing a creamy white color mind. Both connect to the family's ice cream theme.