Jaune Arc

"Well the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

- Jaune, introducing himself to Ruby.

Jaune Arc is a character and deuteragonist in the world of RWBY and leader of Team JNPR. His weapon is a sword handed down in his family from his great-great-grandfather, who fought in The War, with a sheath that is a collapsible shield. He first appears in the first episode, throwing up in the airship and earning his temporary nickname, "Vomit Boy," from Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose.

Appearance
Jaune is a teenage boy with messy blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He wears a white chestplate and shoulder armor. Under the armor, he wears a black hoodie with reddish-orange sleeves. He also wears blue pants with a white patch on the left knee, and black shoes. He has two belts crisscrossing his waist, both different shades of brown, and one has a small pouch on it. Jaune wears brown wrist-length gloves with white fingertips and a small metal plate on the back. His sword is strapped on his left waist in a sheath that also doubles as a collapsible shield. He sleeps in blue full-body pajamas with blue bunny slippers.

Personality
Jaune is not exactly the most suave individual in Beacon, though he does try very hard to portray himself as such. He is fairly a kindhearted person and means well, as shown when he helps Ruby up after the students’ arrival at Beacon. When asked why, he simply noted that it seemed like a good opportunity to make a new friend. He is not a spiteful person and instead has great honor as shown when he defended Cardin Winchester from a massive Grimm despite being bullied and blackmailed by Cardin himself. Jaune also develops a sense of responsibility for his team after his conversation with Ruby during "Forever Fall" which lead him to confront Cardin after he ordered him to attack one of his teammates despite the possibility that he could be expelled from Beacon for disobeying.

Jaune can be seen as an outgoing person; however, his outgoing nature can get a little out of hand and backfire. He tends to come off as a bit of a womanizer in his attempts to get Weiss' attention based on a small, sarcastic remark that she made about him in the amphitheater on the first day. In addition to Weiss, he also goes after Pyrrha and eventually his advances become troubling enough to Weiss that she asks Pyrrha to help her out of the situation.

Because of his family line, Jaune is obsessed with being a hero but was never formally trained as the others have, this causes him to lack self-esteem which reflects in his willingness to do dishonest actions such as using fake transcripts to get his acceptance into Beacon. He also does not seem to be very proud of having a weapon given to him rather than earning it on his own when he refers to his weapons as a simple "hand-me-down" instead of a "family heirloom." However, Jaune is shown to have a strong will even when out-matched against stronger enemies, especially when he is trying to protect someone or aid them in battle. During his fights, despite taking several highly-damaging attacks, Jaune refuses to give up.

Abilities
It is stated by Pyrrha in "The Emerald Forest" that Jaune has a lot of Aura. He has so far been shown to use this unlocked ability to quickly heal a small cut on his cheek, an ability which may not be common, as Weiss wasn't able to use it in the White Trailer. Besides this, Jaune had yet to show any other particular skill. Instead, he is shown to be rather clumsy, stumbling in comparison to the agile movement of other students. However, Glynda Goodwitch did imply that Jaune had an impressive transcript in "The Emerald Forest, Pt.2 ".

In "Players and Pieces", Jaune shows remarkable leadership skills, quickly grasping the tactical situation, forming the plan and coordinating its implementation, thus bringing down the Deathstalker. He was also capable enough with his shield to block the Deathstalker's strikes together with Pyrrha.

Despite his other abilities, Jaune seems to lack offensive abilities, as he was easily beaten by Cardin Winchester in their match. He was unable to defend himself from the Ursa at the same time he tried to attack it, resulting in Jaune receiving strong blows from the Grimm and forcing Pyrrha to help him in the last second, demonstrating his inability to respond correctly to attacks. He can occasionally use his strength to unleash powerful attacks, as he was strong enough to behead a large Ursa with a single strike.

In his studies, Jaune has been shown to be unable to pay attention in class, to the point that he falls asleep and gives ridiculous answers when caught off guard by questions.

Trivia

 * Jaune's name is a reference to Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc), a medieval French war heroine and martyr.
 * "Jaune" is the French word for yellow.
 * His name's meaning may be a reference to his apparently weak and timid behavior since "yellow" and "yellow belly" are slang terms for coward.
 * This is particularly apparent in its connection to the French and the stereotypical and discriminatory association between France and cowardice.
 * His symbol, a yellow, double crescent moon, could be a reference to his voice actor and RWBY writer Miles Luna, whose last name is Latin for "Moon."
 * This could also have some relation to the unusual moon in the RWBY world, though how so is currently unknown.
 * At the same time, it alludes to his surname, Arc.
 * It's possible that the statue that Jaune stares at in the opening sequence may be his great-great grandfather, or another one of his relatives.
 * When frightened, Jaune has a very high pitched scream. It was enough for Yang to mistake it for a girl's scream.
 * Jaune appears to have a somewhat weak stomach, and often suffers air sickness. When he first meets Ruby he tries to explain to her that air sickness is "a much bigger problem than most people let on."
 * Jaune has currently appeared in more episodes than any other character in the series and is also the only character who has appeared in every episode.
 * Jaune Arc gets constantly harassed and bullied by Cardin Winchester. Joan of Arc was sentenced to being burned at stake by Henry Beaufort, AKA the Bishop of Winchester, who was also a Cardinal.
 * Jaune was the first member of team JNPR to be introduced in the series.
 * Jaune may be allergic to the tree sap of the Forever Fall forest, as his face was swollen and he was speaking in a nassaly voice after he gathered a large amount of it.
 * Foreshadowing his skills as an adept dancer, before Volume 2 started, Monty created a rig of Jaune dancing and put it on his Facebook.
 * In "Dance Dance Infiltration," Jaune mentioned that he has seven sisters, where he was born among the sisters is unknown, but it can be assumed it was towards the younger end. *He may possibly be the youngest or one of the youngest children in his family.
 * This makes him the only known character with multiple siblings and the only one to be a different gender than said siblings.
 * He appears to be a fan of X-Ray and Vav comics.

Similar Heroes

 * Vector The Crocodile (Sonic the Hedgehog)
 * Joan of Arc