Characters / Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger: Main Characters

aka: Jaune Arc Lord Of Hunger Jaune Arc

Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger Main Character Index
Main Characters | Supporting Characters | Antagonists (Darth Nihilus) | Remnant | The Galaxy

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Warning! This page contains unmarked spoilers! You Have Been Warned.

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Team JNPR

In General

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Because Jaune and Pyrrha both die during the Fall of Beacon, Nora and Ren are left emotionally devastated and Glynda mentions that the two are showing signs of depression and antisocial behavior as a result of losing half their team.
• Ascended Extra: They get more focus due to Jaune being the primary protagonist his.

Jaune Arc

Jaune Arc

"No, why can't you understand? I am becoming more powerful than any huntsman that has ever existed, and I'm doing it to protect all of you."

Species: Human (Remnantian)

Debut: Chance

"But that's the thing Pyr. I don't know if I want to stop. [Nihilus is] the one that pushed me to embrace my darkness, but I don't need him to tell me anymore to do it. Like I said, the emotions give me power. And channeling all of that...darkness, it changed me. It's more than just power, it's like… can you imagine what it would be like if tomorrow, you lost your aura? How… impotent it would make you feel? Not using anger is like losing my aura. It makes me feel... incomplete.

But I should be able to control it. I should be stronger than this, better than this. I am not the same weakling who vomited on the Bullhead. I want to be able to resist, but at the same time I don't."

The main protagonist of the crossover fanfic Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger. A naïve but well-meaning boy from Ansel who dreams of being a Huntsman despite his lack of training. Growing up, Jaune was inspired by his family's stories about his great-great-grandfather Alixandre Arc, a war hero who led Vale's army to victory during the Great War. Wanting to become a hero like his ancestor and make his family proud, Jaune runs away from home to enroll into Beacon Academy despite his total lack of training.

Following a strange encounter with a white mask, Jaune becomes Force-sensitive and gradually finds himself slipping deeper and deeper into the Dark Side's influence.

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• Adaptational Badass: He's far stronger than in canon as a result of his Force-sensitivity. He even comes close to beating Pyrrha in a sparring match, something that would have been unthinkable for his canon self.
• Adaptational Jerkass: After embracing the Dark Side during the Breach, Jaune becomes belligerent, distant, and ill-tempered to anyone outside his team. A far cry from the Nice Guy he was in canon.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Subverted. He still has his canon Semblance and unconsciously uses it to heal himself in "Fear".
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Nora gives him the nickname "Jaune-Jaune".
  • Ruby and Yang nickname him "vomit boy", which eventually turns into an affectionate nickname.
• Ancestral Weapon: His sword, Crocea Mors, originally belonged to his great-great-grandfather who used it to fight in the Great War.
• The Apprentice: To Glynda Goodwitch, who decides to personally mentor him after seeing how his telekinesis is similar to hers.
• Apocalypse Maiden: Darth Nihilus' essence is in his body, constantly tempting him to grow closer and closer to the Dark Side so he can eventually take over. If Jaune loses the will to fight back against this influence, it's game over.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Becomes one after falling to the Dark Side, bragging about how he's more powerful than anyone else and no longer needs anyone's help.
• Ascended Extra: The title should make it clear who's one of the main character.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Jaune starts as his usual idealistic self, with his newfound force sensitivity giving him a confidence boost. However, the more and more connected to the Dark Side he gets, the more belligerent and jerkish he becomes, culminating in him losing all the friendships he ever made, which makes him cross the Despair Event Horizon and let Nihlus take over.
• Berserk Button: Jaune is extremely protective of his team and seeing them get hurt sends him into an almost blind rage.
• Broken Ace: With Nihilus's powers, Jaune almost becomes something akin to an overpowered self-insert. He goes from being a dorky loser to one of Beacon's top students, gets personally mentored by Goodwitch, and is constantly unlocking new powers. However, his use of the Dark Side soon starts to take a toll on his sanity and morality. He slowly becomes emotionally unhinged and obsessive with protecting his friends. And the worst part is that he's consciously aware of it, but doesn't want to stop because he won't part with Nihilus's mask.
• Broken Smile: At the end of "Destiny", he gives one to Pyrrha before putting on Nihilus's mask and letting him gain control over his body.
• Charm Person: He can use the Jedi mind trick to compel others into following his suggestions. He unknowingly uses this on Cardin to get him to leave him alone and later accidentally uses it to make Weiss fall in love with him.

• Condescending Compassion: This is what Jaune's relationship with his friends turns into under the Dark Side's influence. He wants to "protect" them, but he treats them like naive children who are unable to think for themselves. He secretly looks down on them and acts as though only he knows what's best for them.
• Control Freak: When Jaune falls to the Dark Side, he becomes overly possessive and controlling of the people around him. When his team tried to perform an intervention with him, he used the mind-trick to make them forget. When he sensed that Professor Goodwitch was hiding something from him, he seriously considered using the Force to tear the information out of her head. He casually uses the mind-trick on Ruby simply for making the observation that his eyes are now yellow.

• The Corruptible: Jaune's naïveté, desire to be a hero, and inexperience with the Force made him the perfect pawn for Nihilus to turn to the Dark Side.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: This is pretty much what happens to poor Jaune over the course of the story. He starts out as a well-meaning, if genre-blind, Idiot Hero. All his efforts to grow stronger through the Dark Side is fueled by one desire: to be strong enough to protect his teammates. Unfortunately, the Dark Side's corrupting influence twists this desire and slowly warps Jaune into something unrecognizable to his friends. By the end, he's turned into an overly possessive sociopath who's bought into a paranoid fantasy where everyone that disagrees with him is out to destroy him.
• Deadly Upgrade: "Legends" reveals that this is where Jaune's new Force powers actually came from. Rather than grant Jaune Force-sensitivity, Jaune was always Force-sensitive and Nihilus merely enhanced it through a Sith ritual that artificially jacked up Jaune's midi-chlorian count. While this made Jaune extremely powerful in the Force, it also transformed him into a Force Wound and gradually causes a Horror Hunger that slowly drives him insane.
• Death of Personality: This ultimately happens to Jaune after he goes past the Despair Event Horizon and puts Nihilus's mask on. As Nihilus's soul subsumes Jaune's mind, Jaune's body physically changes into Darth Nihilus. When this is over, the POV changes from Jaune to Darth Nihilus, symbolizing that Jaune is "gone" and Darth Nihilus is all that remains.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: He deconstructs the "anti-heroic Marty Stu who uses evil powers for good" by showing what that would look like to someone In-Universe. Rather than seeming cool or impressive, he instead comes across as a sociopathic jerkass whose morality is no different from a power-hungry sadist like Cinder. Subsequently, his overpowered abilities unnerve his teachers, who are worried about the very real possibility that he's going to Jump Off The Slippery Slope one day.
• Decoy Protagonist: He's set up as the main protagonist and provides the central POV for the fic. About two-thirds into the story, Nihilus hijacks his body and he undergoes a Death of Personality, whereupon Pyrrha becomes the fic's new protagonist.
• Demonic Possession: His body is taken over by Darth Nihilus's spirit at the end of "Destiny".
• Detect Evil: Jaune develops the ability to detect Grimm, he's able to sense the darkness in them while meditating.
• Doomed Protagonist: As of "Hunger", the reveal that Nihilus's mask has somehow transformed Jaune into a "wound in the Force" similar to Nihilus means that it's only a matter of time before Jaune's hunger overrides his mind and he drains the Life Energy out of everything around him.
• Emotional Powers: Jaune discovers that his Force powers work this way, being directly fueled by how much negative emotions he is channeling.
• The Empath: He's able to sense the emotions of others through the Force. He later starts using this ability to tell whenever someone is lying by reading their emotions.
• Energy Absorption: In "Breach", he discovers that he can drain the Grimm of their Dark Side energy and uses it to power his Force lightning.
• Evil Costume Switch: Around the time that he starts to be corrupted by the Dark Side, Jaune changes his outfit and starts to wear the black garb of the Sith Assassin.
• Evil Counterpart: Several in Ozpin's group lampshade the similarities that Jaune's situation has with Ozpin's. Both are possessed by an ancient spirit who grant them their powers and are slowly overwriting their personalities. However, while Ozpin is driven to help others, Jaune becomes sociopathic and unstable under Nihilus's influence. Qrow even gives Jaune the nickname "nega-Ozpin".
• Evil Feels Good: Comes to this conclusion after using his negative emotions to fuel his power and admitting that he likes the feeling.

• Evil Makes You Ugly: After falling to the Dark Side, Jaune's eyes turn sickly-yellow in color and his skin becomes unnaturally pale.
• Eye Color Change: His eyes change color between his natural blue and Sith yellow after "Breach". Their color changes to black when Nihilus takes over his body.
• Face–Heel Turn: He falls to the Dark Side during the Breach. After that, he loses all his moral inhibitions and becomes increasingly sociopathic, merciless, power-obsessed, and casually uses his Jedi Mind Trick on his friends whereas previously he was horrified at himself for accidentally brainwashing Weiss.
• Fatal Flaw: Similarly to canon, Jaune's desire to be a hero manifests into a martyr complex where he sacrifices parts of his free will in order to become strong enough to protect his friends. Nihilus is able to manipulate Jaune into embracing the Dark Side by framing the act as a form of heroic sacrifice.
• Foil: After falling to the Dark Side, Jaune develops into a foil for Cinder. Both went From Nobody to Nightmare, both are pawns to a greater Ancient Evil, both seek to become "strong", and both are identified as sociopaths. However, Jaune is driven by his desire to protect the ones he loves and sees himself as a Protectorate to his team. Cinder, meanwhile, is driven solely by her lust for power and is an egomaniac who only cares about herself. While Jaune catches everyone's attention from day one at Beacon, Cinder manages to stay under the radar.
• Ghost Memory: He starts to receive Darth Nihilus's memories of his past life and witnesses flashbacks to Nihilus's past through his dreams.
• The Gift: Jaune is one of the very few on Remnant who are naturally born with Force-sensitivity. In his case, his Force abilities were mostly latent and manifested as a powerful Aura and being incredibly lucky. Once Darth Nihilus unlocked his Force powers for him and increased the midi-chlorians in his body, Jaune's proficiency in wielding the Force grew exponentially and at a much faster rate than most Jedi or Sith apprentices.
• Go Out with a Smile: Gives Pyrrha one last tearful smile before he puts the Mask on and is possessed by Nihilus.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: At the beginning, Jaune tends to avoid using swear words and uses "darn it" as a substitute for "damn it". Once he falls under the Dark Side's influence, he stops doing this and uses actual swears.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: After falling to the Dark Side, Jaune develops a temper and is prone to entering a rage over minor slights. When Glynda gave Jaune some advice about not being too overconfident in a fight, Jaune struggled to control his anger at what he perceived as disapproval towards his strength. When he learns that Pyrrha told Ozpin about his condition out of concern for his well-being, a little needling from Nihilus is all it takes to make him enter a blind rage and nearly drain Pyrrha of her life.
• Hand Behind Head: While learning how to control his powers with Glynda's help, Jaune tends to rub his hand behind his head when he's nervous.
• Healing Factor: In "Fear", he uses Dark Heal (a Dark Side variant of Force-healing) to heal himself from the fatal wounds inflicted by the Terentatek.
• Heroic Lineage: Jaune is the descendant of Alixandre Arc, a Valean general who fought in the Great War and was the one responsible for defeating the Temple of Shadows.
• Heroic Second Wind: After he's disemboweled by the terentatek and knocked out of the fight in "Fear", Jaune finds the strength to continue fighting after tapping into the Dark Side and Force-healing his injuries.
• Heroic Wannabe: Jaune's Goal in Life is to be a hero despite his complete lack of training. This is used against him by Nihilus, who feeds Jaune the idea that the mask's powers are what Jaune needs to accomplish his dream. Jaune's last words before surrendering his body to Nihilus were stating that he just wanted to be a hero.
• Hidden Depths: He turns out to be a phenomenal dancer to the point where Weiss struggles to keep up with his movements during the Beacon Dance.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Almost all of his struggles and problems stem from his growing mental instability, dependence on the Dark Side, and refusal to tell his friends the truth about his powers. Qrow outright points this out to him in "Destiny".
  Jaune: You! You turned [Pyrrha] against me!
  Qrow: Kid… Believe me when I say, you have done that yourself.
• Horror Hunger: As of "Hunger", it's revealed that as a side effect of receiving Nihilus's powers, Jaune has also developed the same insatiable hunger that drove Nihilus insane. No matter how much cafeteria food Jaune eats, the feeling of starvation doesn't go away. The only thing that makes the feeling stop is draining the life out of living things.
• How Do I Shot Web?: At first, Jaune struggles to control his Force-sensitivity. Glynda, thinking Jaune has a Semblance similar to hers, takes him on as an apprentice to help him control it.
• Humanoid Abomination: In "Legends", it turns out that Nihilus transformed Jaune into a Force Wound similar to himself.
• Hypocrite: He criticizes Yang for being too Hot-Blooded and having little control over her emotions when he himself is a Mood-Swinger who enters a rage whenever someone so much as questions him.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: His criticism of Yang for having no control over her emotions is ultimately correct, even if Jaune is guilty of the exact same thing.
• Ignored Epiphany: In "Gnawing", he comes to the realization that Nihilus is just manipulating him so he can take over his body. However, he's so far gone at that point that he refuses to give up Nihilus's mask and instead just promises that he will become even stronger.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: Deconstructed with Jaune. All Jaune has ever wanted was to be strong. To have the strength to protect his loved ones and stand up for himself. Naturally, when the Mask of Nihilus gives Jaune the kind of power he's desired all his life, he becomes fixated on his Force abilities and refuses to give them up for any reason. Under the Dark Side's influence, Jaune's desire for more power becomes no different than Cinder's obsession with the Maidens.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: At the start of the story, Jaune is introduced as being dorky and naïve, which is only further highlighted by his light blue eyes. As he becomes more and more corrupted by the Dark Side, his eyes start changing their color to yellow.
• The Insomniac: Played with. While he does still sleep, Jaune gradually spends more and more nights staying awake and meditating with the Mask of Nihilus to try and figure out its secrets.
• Instant Expert: Along with his Force-sensitivity, he suddenly gains proficiency in several lightsaber forms, which he uses in combat while wielding his sword. In just a few months, he goes from being a unskilled nobody to one of Beacon's most promising students. Lampshaded by Ironwood who notes that his type of development isn't normal. This was likely a side effect of being implanted with Nihilus's memories.
• It Was with You All Along: An incredibly dark example. Throughout the story, Jaune becomes more and more dependent and obsessed with his Force powers which he believes was given to him by Nihilus's mask. The chapter "Legends" reveals that Jaune was always Force-sensitive and all Nihilus did was unlock and strengthen it for him. Nearly everything that Jaune did while falling deeper and deeper into the Dark Side's influence was done of his own volition.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: After falling to the Dark Side, he loses his naïveté and becomes much more cynical than before.
• Jerkass at Your Discretion: After falling to the Dark Side, he only keeps his Nice Guy act up when he's in the presence of JNPR or RWBY. To anyone else, he is hostile, uncaring, and in some cases sadistic.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Even as Jaune becomes more aggressive and abrasive under the Dark Side's influence, some of what he says isn't without merit.
  • He harshly criticizes Team RWBY for not trusting his team to help them fight Torchwick and calls them arrogant for thinking that four teenagers alone could take down a terrorist organization like the White Fang. When Ruby responds that she didn't want Team JNPR involved because she was worried they could get hurt, Jaune tells her that a Huntsman should use all the tools they have at their disposal and warns her that not asking for help could eventually get her killed. He also notes how risky it is for Blake to fight the White Fang since she's a former member.
  • He tells Blake and Yang to abandon their efforts to rescue civilians during the Breach and considers their desire to help "random strangers" foolish. However, he wasn't entirely wrong to want the duo to pull back since Blake and Yang were both clearly exhausted and were in no state to continue fighting.
  • As callous as Jaune's reaction to Yang breaking Mercury's leg was, he wasn't wrong when he told his team that there's nothing they can about Yang's Frame-Up by Mercury. He also criticizes Yang for being Hot-Blooded.

• Lack of Empathy: When Yang is framed for breaking Mercury's leg during the Vytal Festival, Jaune reacts by calling her pathetic and doesn't show any sympathy despite sensing through the Force that she was framed.
• Living Lie Detector: After falling to the Dark Side, he develops the ability to use the Force to sense whether a person is lying.
• Madness Mantra: He mentally devolves into repeating the same phrase inside his head after lashing out and attacking Pyrrha in "Destiny".
  But Jaune didn't hear her as he continued to break down. All Jaune could focus on was the one phrase repeating in his head. He didn't mean to. He didn't mean to. He would never hurt Pyrrha. Never her.
• Magic Enhancement: One of the ways he applies the Force in combat is telekinetically enhancing his arm so that his attacks hit harder.
• Magic Knight: He fights using his sword and shield in conjunction with his Force powers.
• Mask of Sanity: After falling to the Dark Side, Jaune becomes an emotionally unbalanced sociopath with a Hair-Trigger Temper. However, he hides this under a stoic and focused mask.
• Mind over Matter: One of the first powers he develops is the ability to use telekinesis.
• More than Mind Control: As the story goes on, it eventually becomes clear that a part of Jaune cares more about his new powers than himself or his friends. Although the Dark Side is influencing his decisions, Jaune is aware that it's happening and slowly embraces it.
• My God, What Have I Done?
  • In "Dance", Jaune has this reaction after discovering that he accidentally mind-tricked Weiss into falling in love with him. He's so horrified by what he's done that he runs away while crying Tears of Remorse.
  • Again in "Destiny", after attacking Pyrrha in a fit of rage, bruising her arm, and almost draining her of her life.
• Near-Death Experience: In "Fear", he almost dies from extreme blood loss when a strike from a terentatek's claws nearly disembowels him and causes him to lose several internal organs. Although he's able to use Dark Heal to mend his wounds, he still ends up needing to spend a week in emergency care at the hospital.

• One-Man Army: After falling to the Dark Side, Jaune becomes so powerful that he slaughters countless Grimm at the Breach with ease.
• The Paranoiac: Under the Dark Side's influence, Jaune meets a lot of the criteria needed to qualify as a paranoid sociopath. He shows Cynicism (only seeing the worst in everyone else to the point where he doesn't think Yang breaking Mercury's leg unprovoked is out of character for her); he becomes a Control Freak (using the Jedi Mind Trick on his friends for disagreeing with him, and easily losing his temper whenever Pyrrha does something he doesn't approve of) and a Jerkass (being belligerent and condescending to everyone outside his close circle of friends); he's unwilling to take responsibility for his wrongdoings (after attacking Pyrrha and bruising her arm, he tries to shift the blame onto Qrow); and he eventually turns into a Conspiracy Theorist (believing that Ozpin and Ironwood are conspiring against him, and later accusing his friends of wanting to steal his powers).
• The Power of Hate: Jaune uses his negative emotions like anger and hate to fuel his powers and he draws strength from them. Deconstructed as it turns that becoming dependent on constantly feeling negative emotions really messes with his mental and emotional stability.
• Power-Strain Blackout: After generating Force lightning for the first time in order to save Nora during the Breach, Jaune becomes so exhausted that he collapses to the ground and his body temporarily loses the ability to move.
• Powerful, but Incompetent: He has an absurdly strong connections to the Force, unlocking abilities that typically take Force-users years of practice to master. However, his lack of training, knowledge of the Force, and discipline frequently creates more problems than solutions. He nearly chokes Cardin to death during a sparring match and can't stop because he doesn't know how. He accidentally uses the Jedi mind trick to make Weiss fall in love with him, completely wrecking his friendship with most of team RWBY.
• Powers via Possession: Being possessed by Nihilus's spirit has granted Jaune all of Darth Nihilus's abilities. Subverted later on when it turns out that Jaune was always Force-sensitive and Nihilus just made him think that his powers came from him in order to trick Jaune into being a Willing Channeler for Nihilus's soul. It works.
• Protectorate: To his team. Deconstructed as this makes him overprotective and eventually turns him into an outright Control Freak towards his friends. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora also object to this on some level, pointing out that as student Huntsmen, it's their job to put themselves in danger and they don't need Jaune to protect them.
• Psychic Powers: After finding Nihilus's mask, Jaune becomes Force-sensitive and unlocks various Force powers such as telekinesis, mind manipulation, Force-choking, Combat Clairvoyance, and sensing the emotions of others.
• Psychic Radar: During the Breach, Jaune extends his Force senses and is able to feel the presences of the Atlas military and Valean Huntsmen who were arriving to provide back-up for the students holding off the Grimm.
• Psychoactive Powers: His Force abilities are tied directly to his emotional stability. When he loses control of his emotions, he loses control of his powers which then lash out at everything around him.
• Rage Against the Mentor: Completely drunk with power, Jaune rails against Glynda when she tries to pull an intervention on him in "Vytal".
  Jaune: How many times do I have to say it!? I don't need help! You underestimate my power! I am strong now. Stronger than any of the students! Hell, I'm probably even stronger than you and Ozpin! I don't need your help, and I don't need you.
• Redemption Equals Death: After Ruby uses her Silver Eyes to exorcise the Dark Side from his body and break Nihilus' control over him, Jaune spends the last moments of his life atoning for his actions while under Nihilus' influence by stabbing himself in the stomach with his sword, killing himself and Nihilus.
• The Runaway: He ran away from home without telling his parents in order to enroll in Beacon.
• Sanity Slippage: Undergoes this due to a combination of Sleep Deprivation, mood swings, the influence of Nihilus's mask, and falling to the Dark Side. By "Aftermath", he becomes paranoid, extremely temperamental, prone to violence, and fixated on Nihilus's mask to the point where he carries it around like a Companion Cube. Glynda and Pyrrha are both disturbed by it and can tell that something is seriously wrong with him.
• Sensor Character: Jaune eventually develops the ability to sense the presence of others as well as their emotions. During the Breach, he's able to sense the Atlas military and veteran Huntsmen coming in to reinforce him and senses the soldiers' emotions of hardened discipline.
• Shock and Awe: He unlocks the ability to shoot Sith lightning from his fingers after falling to the Dark Side during the Breach.
• Sleep Deprivation: As a result of not sleeping regularly, Jaune starts to sport Exhausted Eye Bags and becomes more moody and erratic.

• Smarter Than You Look: Despite his total inexperience and being easy prey for Nihilus' manipulations, there are a few moments in the story that show Jaune is capable of both being strategic and thinking outside the box. After being incapacitated during his fight with the terentatek, he quickly comes up with the idea to have Nora use her grenade launcher as a flare gun to signal for help. Later, his strategic insight and leadership skills were what kept his team in formation during the Breach. The moment he is taken out of the fight, his team's cohesion quickly falls apart.
• Sociopathic Hero: What he becomes under the Dark Side's influence. He lacks any empathy for others, treats his friends like possessions rather than people, keeps up a facade of normalcy, and becomes both short-sighted and self-centered. All this despite being on the good guys' side. Cinder outright identifies him as a sociopath and finds him comparable to Tyrian.
• Spider-Sense: Through the Force, he has a "danger sense" which psychically alerts him whenever he or any of his friends are in danger.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: His last name is Arc and he eventually develops the ability to shoot lightning from his fingertips.
• Strong, but Unskilled: He starts out having incredibly potent Force abilities, but having no training, experience, or knowledge on how to control his powers. Under Professor Goodwitch's tutelage, he gets better.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: His eyes become yellow after he falls to the Dark Side in "Breach".
• Super Weapon, Average Joe: All of his power comes straight from Nihilus's mask and he's utterly useless without it. Subverted later on when it's revealed that Jaune's Force-sensitivity doesn't come from Nihilus's mask, Nihilus simply made Jaune believe this in order to manipulate him.
• Superpowerful Genetics: Jaune receives his strong Aura from his ancestor Alix. In addition, Force-sensitivity is something that runs in the Arc family, though it's mostly latent since they've never really had a chance to develop it.

• Tears of Remorse: He cries these in "Dance" after discovering that he had unknowingly mind tricked Weiss into being his date. He later cries some more in "Destiny" after hurting Pyrrha in a fit of rage.
• That Man Is Dead: After falling to the Dark Side, Jaune considers himself a different person from his former "weak-willed" self.
• Took a Level in Badass: As Jaune's connection to the Force grows stronger, he goes through this at several different points in the story.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: After falling to the Dark Side, his previous "lovable dork" persona is replaced by that of an abrasive, domineering, arrogant, and cold-hearted jerk.
• Touched by Vorlons: In the prologue, he becomes Force-sensitive after touching the Mask of Nihilus, which was the Soul Jar of an alien Eldritch Abomination. This gets zigzagged later on as it turns out that while Jaune has always been a latent Force-sensitive, his actual midi-chlorian count was below average and Nihilus's spirit was responsible for increasing the number of midi-chlorians in his body.
• Tragic Hero: All Jaune ever wanted was to become a hero, but this desire makes him easy prey for Nihilus's soul. In order to protect his teammates during the Breach, he willingly falls to the Dark Side. By the time he realizes that Nihilus is trying to take over, he's become addicted to the Dark Side and bases his every decision around it. His final words before putting on Nihilus's mask and allowing the Sith Lord to take over is to tearfully say that all he just wanted to be a hero.
• The Unfettered: In order to protect his friends during the Breach, Jaune willingly falls to the Dark Side, and casts aside all his moral restraints in the process. This gets deconstructed as his lack of morals makes him a liability and a danger to his friends.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Darth Nihilus, who's just manipulating Jaune so he can possess him.
• With Great Power Comes Great Opposition: Much like how Anakin believed the Jedi Council distrusted him because of his power in Revenge of the Sith, Jaune eventually comes to believe that Ozpin and his group are out to get him because of his powers.
• Wrong Context Magic: His Force powers are unlike any Semblance and the closest comparison anyone can make to it is that of a Maiden's.
• Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: Whenever Jaune uses the Force to drain the lifeforce from others, he shoots out black-and-red lightning from his hands.

Pyrrha Nikos

Pyrrha Nikos

Species: Human (Remnantian)

Debut: Initiation

"I used to think it was my destiny to become a Huntress. To protect the world. But for a little while now, I haven't cared about that goal. I have a new goal. To save you..."

A Huntress-in-training known around the world for her fighting prowess. She becomes Jaune's partner at Beacon.

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• 11th-Hour Superpower: She becomes the Fall Maiden during the third act right before the heroes are going to fight Darth Nihilus.

• Adaptational Badass: Unlike in canon, she successfully becomes the Fall Maiden.
• Battle Couple: With Jaune.
• Blow You Away: While using the Fall Maiden's powers for the first time, she generates a gust of wind from beneath her feet to lift herself off the ground.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Just like in canon, she develops a romantic interest in Jaune and struggles to tell him how she truly feels about him. Unlike in the show, she never gets the chance to before she is tragically killed by Nihilus.
• The Confidant: Pyrrha is the only person that Jaune feels comfortable being completely open with and confiding in. When she decides to tell Ozpin the truth about Nihilus, it's only done out of total desperation to help Jaune.
• Dies Wide Open: After being killed by Darth Nihilus, her corpse is shown to have her eyes wide open as tears drip down her face.
• Draw Aggro: While fighting the terentatek, she engages it in close quarters and distracts it while Nora pelts the creature's backside with her grenade launcher.
• Famed In-Story: Pyrrha is famous in-universe for winning the Mistral Region Tournament four years in a row. Deconstructed as she can't go out in public without being harassed by her numerous fans. When she went out to buy clothes for the Beacon Dance with her team, she dressed in an all-black hoodie with a large pair of aviator sunglasses and a medical mask over her face. When Jaune asked if the disguise was really necessary, Pyrrha explains how she was stopped nearly a dozen times by her fans on her way to Beacon prior to initiation and almost missed the last Bullhead because of them.
• Fireballs: As the Fall Maiden, Pyrrha demonstrates the ability to shoot a barrage of fireballs, which she uses to keep Darth Nihilus pinned down during their battle in "Sorry".
• Flaming Sword: While fighting a weakened Darth Nihilus one-on-one in "Sorry", Pyrrha uses her Maiden powers to coat her blade Miló in flames before using it to attack Nihilus.
• For Want Of A Nail: Here, Cinder commits suicide before being to fully kill Amber. As such, not only is Pyrrha alive, but also gains all of the Fall Maiden's abilities.
• Heavy Sleeper: She's a heavy sleeper, which Nora teases her about.
• Hot Wings: While testing out the Fall Maiden's powers, Pyrrha creates two wings made of pure flames from her back, giving her the appearance of an "angel of battle".
• In-Series Nickname: Jaune and Nora addresses her by the nickname "Pyr".
• Instant Expert: Upon becoming the new Fall Maiden, it only takes a few seconds before Pyrrha has gotten used to her new powers and she's shown to have already mastered them when she faces Darth Nihilus. This gets justified because Pyrrha had her mind merged with Amber, the previous Fall Maiden who passed on all her memories and skills to her.

• Love Interest: For Jaune.
• Magnetism Manipulation: Like in canon, her Semblance is Polarity, which allows her to control magnets.

• Morality Chain: Even after Jaune embraces the Dark Side and transitions into Sociopathic Hero, his attachment to Pyrrha is what keeps him from fully going off the deep end.
• Playing with Fire: Cinder's affinity for fire seems to have passed on to Pyrrha when she became the Fall Maiden. She seems to prefer using her new powers for fire-based attacks like flinging fireballs, cresting a pair of flaming wings on her back, and creating a wave of molten metal.
• Power at a Price: She successfully becomes the Fall Maiden at the cost of undergoing a Split-Personality Merge with Amber that leaves her mind in a dissociative state where at times it's unclear whether Pyrrha or Amber is the one talking.
• Power Gives You Wings: As the Fall Maiden, Pyrrha forms a pair of fiery wings on her back while using her powers.
• Pre-Mortem Catchphrase: In the show, "I'm sorry" was one of her most repeated phrases. After getting fatally stabbed in the stomach by Nihilus, she whispers out "I'm.. sorry" before her eyes glaze over dead.
• Red Is Heroic: A redheaded heroine who wears red on her outfit and has a crimson Aura.
• Secret-Keeper: She's one of the few who Jaune has confided in about the source of his powers.
• Sharing a Body: With Amber after Ozpin merges their souls together in "Death".
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Her whole character arc ends on one. Late in the story, she realizes just how much Nihilus has corrupted Jaune and becomes desperate to save him. After Nihilus takes over Jaune's body and goes on a rampage, she agrees to fuse her Aura with Amber's, making her the new Fall Maiden at the cost of her own individuality. However, she is ultimately no match for Nihilus and ends up being killed without ever seen Jaune break free of his control. And when Jaune does retake control of his body moments later, he kills himself, making all of Pyrrha's efforts to save him moot. To further pout salt in the wound, she fails to keep Beacon from being destroyed or Vale from being overrun by the Grimm.
• Story-Breaker Power: Due to the unique circumstances under which she became the new Fall Maiden, Pyrrha doesn't need years of training to master her new abilities and is pretty much an Instant Expert from day one. This is because Ozpin merged her Aura with Amber's (who herself is given the Adaptational Badass treatment), giving her access to all of Amber's skills and memories. While this makes her just strong enough to fight Darth Nihilus, it becomes an issue when she's involved in any future battles since the vast majority will likely be against opponents that aren't Nihilus-level threats. This is likely part of the reason why she was killed off.
• Sword Beam: While using the Fall Maiden's power, she can send out a wave of flames by swinging her sword.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: When Jaune is Gutted Like a Fish by the terentatek in "Fear", Pyrrha enters a Tranquil Fury and attacks the creature in an unrelenting fury of strikes from her xiphos.
• The Worf Effect:
  • She's one of the strongest students at Beacon and a champion gladiator, so you know it's serious when the terentatek is able to overpower her and nearly deal a killing blow.
  • Darth Nihilus makes easy work of her during their first battle in "Nihilus".
  • Despite having the full powers of the Fall Maiden, Pyrrha is still outmatched by Nihilus, who dominates most of the final battle with her.

Nora Valkyrie

Nora Valkyrie

Species: Human (Remnantian)

Debut: Initiation

A very hyper and energetic girl who wields a warhammer capable of transforming into a grenade launcher. She's partnered with her childhood friend Ren.

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• The Berserker: Under the Dark Side's influence, she turns into this.
• Blood Knight: She's the only member of the team to be elated and happy at seeing Jaune's unrestrained frenzy during his spar with Mercury.
• Broken Bird: She and Ren were hit especially hard by Jaune and Pyrrha's deaths, becoming increasingly withdrawn and showing signs of depression and antisocial behavior.
• Chewing the Scenery: She's prone to doing this while being supercharged by Jaune's Force lightning.

• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: All of her predictions about the source of Jaune's powers were right.

• Deus Exit Machina: Downplayed. Her Semblance makes her a very useful counter for Nihilus' Force lightning, but it isn't a Game Changer since Nihilus is smart enough to avoid using his lightning on her during their fight in "Nihilus". Nevertheless, she is put into a coma for the remainder of the third act, denying the heroes the advantage of her electrical absorption.
• Does Not Like Spam: She really doesn't like applesauce for some reason.
• Elemental Absorption: Her Semblance allows her to absorb electricity and use it to strengthen herself.
• The Gadfly: She enjoys teasing Pyrrha for her crush on Jaune.

• Shipper on Deck: She ships Jaune and Pyrrha and takes any opportunity to give them time alone in hopes that they get together.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: She's the resident Cloudcuckoolander of the main characters and a frequent source of comic relief. She's taken out of commission during the Battle of Beacon when the story is at its most serious.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Nora loves pancakes to the point where she suggests that Jaune mind tricks Ren into making more pancakes for her whenever he refuses and likes to sneak into the kitchen late at night to bake herself more pancakes to eat.
• Tuck and Cover: When Nihilus uses his telekinesis to throw an airship at the heroes, Nora wraps herself around Ren to shield him from the explosion caused by all the Dust on the ship igniting simultaneously upon the airship's crash. The chapter following this reveals that while she protected Ren from serious injury, she was put into a coma as a result of taking the brunt of the damage.

Lie Ren

Lie Ren

Species: Human (Remnantian)

Debut: Initiation

Nora's partner on Team JNPR.

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• Adaptational Comic Relief: Downplayed. This version is more of a Butt-Monkey than in canon and him being injured by Nora's Cloudcuckoolander antics is all played for laughs. That being said, he can be serious when the situation calls for it.
• Aura Vision: His Semblance also allows him to see other people's Aura.
• Butt-Monkey: He often finds himself on the receiving end of Nora's antics. During initiation, while Nora rides on top of the Death Stalker, he winds up hanging onto its stinger for dear life. Later, in order to give Jaune and Pyrrha some alone time, Nora elbows him in the ribs so hard that he is knocked unconscious, which is completely Played for Laughs.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: For Nora.
• Guns Akimbo: He dual-wields a pair of SMGs with blades attached to them.
• Had to Be Sharp: He's a light sleeper because it was necessary while growing up with Nora, whose violent pranks forced him to constantly be vigilant.
• In-Series Nickname: Nora occasionally calls him Renny.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: He is amongst the students that evacuate from Beacon in preparation for the trap Ozpin sets up for Nihilus. Ren knows he is completely outmatched by Nihilus and would only be a hindrance to his allies if he tried to join in on the upcoming Final Battle.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: Gender-inverted. He's the Male Finesse, using his agility and graceful movements in battle, while Nora is the Female Might preferring to use her raw strength and hammer.

• Single-Target Sexuality: He's only attracted to his partner Nora.

• Unbroken Vigil: After Nora is put into a coma during the Battle of Beacon, Ren refuses to leave her side and spends the entire battle watching over his partner's unconscious body.

Team RWBY

In General

• Demoted to Extra: Go from being the main protagonists to supporting characters.
• Four-Girl Ensemble: Ruby is the sweet one, Weiss is the smart one, Blake is the snarky one, and Yang is the sexy one.
• Hero of Another Story: Get treated with this.
• Locked Out of the Loop: They're completely in the dark about the source of Jaune's powers.

Ruby Rose

Ruby Rose

Species: Human (Remnantian)

Debut: Dreams

The leader of Team RWBY.

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• 11th-Hour Superpower: In addition to unlocking her Silver Eyes during the final battle, Ruby also becomes the new Fall Maiden after Nihilus kills Pyrrha.
• Ability Mixing: How she takes down Nihilus in the penultimate chapter. She combines her Silver Eyes with the power of the Fall Maiden, releasing a blast of amber-tinted Light Side energy from her eyes that tears away the darkness surrounding Jaune's body and disrupts Nihilus' control over Jaune long enough for him to regain control of his body and deal the finishing blow to himself.
• Adaptational Badass: During the Fall of Beacon, Ruby becomes the next Fall Maiden upon Pyrrha's death, resulting in her being able to use both the Maiden's powers and her Silver Eyes.
• All-Loving Heroine: Even after learning that Jaune attacked Pyrrha, when Jaune undergoes a Painful Transformation into Nihilus and screams in pain, Ruby's the only person that tries to run in and help Jaune.

• Break the Cutie: The events of the third act are shown to gradually wear her down and strips away whatever innocence she may have once had. Having your uncle and two closest friends die will do that to a person.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In the end, she's the one who defeats Nihilus by using her Silver Eyes and Maiden powers to purge his essence from Jaune's body.
• First Friend: She's the first real friend that Jaune made during his time at Beacon. Jaune, in turn, is the first person at Beacon that Ruby considers a friend.
• Heroic BSoD: She briefly loses hope and gives in to despair after Nihilus defeats her and personally destroys Crescent Rose.
• Innocent Grey Eyes: She's introduced as being very cheerful and innocent with her silver eyes only accentuating this.
• It's Personal: She becomes fixated on defeating Nihilus after he possesses her First Friend at Beacon, kills her uncle and two of her closest friends in front of her, crushed her scythe while she's Forced to Watch, and indirectly breaks up her team by destroying Beacon Academy. Nihilus has single-handedly caused more pain and loss in Ruby's life than any of RWBY's other villains, be it in this fic or in canon.
• Nasal Trauma: Her nose gets broken when Nihilus throws her using the Force, near the fic's end.
• Sinister Scythe: Her weapon is a giant scythe called Crescent Rose. She later inherits Qrow's war-scythe Harbinger.
• Tragic Keepsake: Qrow's weapon Harbinger becomes one for Ruby after his death as it is all she has left of her late uncle.
• Trauma Conga Line: The Fall of Beacon is an escalating series of Break the Cutie moments for her. She has Jaune, the first friend she ever made at Beacon, seemingly go insane and transform into a humanoid Grimm monster. Then she watches as he goes on a killing spree before being forced to fight him herself. She loses... badly and sees all of Team ABRN get subjected to a Cruel and Unusual Death. After this, she is helpless as Nihilus uses the Force to crush Crescent Rose into a ball of scrap and use the scythe's remains to splatter Bolin's head — covering Ruby in the latter's blood. After Ruby is knocked out, she wakes up to find Beacon in flames, the school grounds being overrun with Grimm, and the White Fang picking off any surviving students. The following chapter sees Ruby try to find her friends while walking past dozens of dead bodies. When she does make her way to a secure area, she still has to deal with her entire team being MIA and seeing Nora in a coma. In the very next chapter, she learns of her uncle's death, which reduces her to Broken Tears and Inelegant Blubbering. The chapter "Sorry" then tops it all off by having her witness Penny get crushed by Nihilus, Beacon Academy reduced to rubble by Ozpin's Desperation Attack against Nihilus, Pyrrha get murdered by Nihilus, and finally Jaune take back control of his body, only to commit suicide to prevent Nihilus from regaining control.
• Unknown Rival: She becomes this to Darth Nihilus around the third act. He is easily Ruby's most personal enemy and effectively replaces Cinder as her nemesis by causing the deaths of Qrow, Penny, Pyrrha, and Jaune, as well as destroying Crescent Rose simply to hurt her more. By the time the final battle rolls around, Ruby has come to view Nihilus as her Arch-Enemy and chooses to stay behind with Ozpin's group to fight him rather than evacuate with her friends. However, Nihilus couldn't care less about her and considers her so insignificant that he can't even be bothered to talk to her when he delivers his speech to Ozpin and Pyrrha, which cost him dearly when she unleashed her Silver Eyes against him.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Despite being the youngest of the protagonists, Ruby turns out to be rather insightful about leadership and even lectures Jaune (who's two years her senior) about what it truly means to be a leader.
• Wrecked Weapon: Her Crescent Rose is destroyed by Nihilus, who uses the Force to crumple it into a ball of scrap.

Weiss Schnee

Weiss Schnee

Species: Human (Remnantian)

Debut: Dreams (cameo), Initation (appearance)

The heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and Ruby's partner.

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• Abusive Parents: Her father Jacques was an emotionally abusive Control Freak who attempted to strip away her independence.
• Brainwashed: Jaune unknowingly and accidentally uses the Force to brainwash her into falling in love with him and being his date for the Beacon Dance. When she snaps out of it and he confesses what he did, she reacts about as well as you'd expect.
• Death Glare: She and Blake give one to Jaune in "Destiny" after learning that he harmed Pyrrha.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: Downplayed as of the fic's ending. Adam Taurus cuts out her eyes, although "Epilogue" reveals that she's set to receive prosthetics from Pietro.
• Eye Scream: Adam cuts out her eyes during the Fall of Beacon.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Her unusual submissiveness and agreeable nature is what clues Jaune in that he's accidentally mind-controlled her.
• Royal Rapier: Her weapon of choice is a rapier which she uses to channel her glyphs.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Her reaction upon Jaune admitting that he accidentally brainwashed her into being his date for the Beacon Dance. She slaps him and makes it clear that she never wants him to speak to her again. Even weeks later during the Vytal Festival, she continues to give Jaune the Silent Treatment.
• Trauma Button: Jaune accidentally brainwashing Weiss into being his date for the Beacon Dance reminds her of her emotionally abusive father's attempts to take away her freedom and control every aspect of her life.

Blake Belladonna

Blake Belladonna

Species: Faunus

Debut: Initiation

A member of Team RWBY. She used to be a part of the White Fang terrorist organization before getting cold feet and leaving.

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• Cat Girl: She's a Faunus with feline ears.
• Cat Ninja: A cat Faunus who uses stealth, acrobatics, and Ninja Logs in battle.
• Cult Defector: She is explicitly described as a former cult member. When she learns about Jaune accidentally mind-controlling Weiss, it reminds her of how the White Fang tried to brainwash her.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Blake was once a member of the White Fang, a Faunus terrorist cult that nearly indoctrinated her into their extreme ideology. She was also a victim of Domestic Abuse by her Psycho Ex-Boyfriend Adam, who regularly gaslit her and tried to control her every thought.
• Death Glare: In "Destiny", she and Weiss give one to Jaune after learning that he attacked Pyrrha.
• Determinator: Even when she was pushed to the breaking point during the Breach, she refused to retreat until all the civilians were safely evacuated.
• Out of Focus: For most of the fic, she's relegated to a minor role and tends to not play as much of a prominent role in the story as her friends.
• Token Non-Human: She's the only Faunus among the main characters.
• Trauma Button: She is still affected by the abuse that Adam put her through during their time together. When Jaune confesses to her team about how he accidentally brainwashed Weiss into being his date for the Beacon Dance in a moment of Power Incontinence, Blake is haunted by memories of Adam's attempts at controlling her. When Ruby tries to defend Jaune, Blake cuts her off and coldly tells her that she doesn't know what it's like to have someone else trying to control her life.

Yang Xiao Long

Yang Xiao Long

Species: Human (Remnantian)

Debut: Dreams

A member of Team RWBY and Ruby's older sister.

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• Abled in the Adaptation: Unlike in canon, she avoids losing her arm to Adam during the Fall of Beacon.
• Benched Hero: After Mercury frames her during the Vytal Tournament, she's arrested by the Atlesian military and isn't present when Nihilus takes over Jaune's body or when the Battle of Beacon starts.
• The Big Gal: She's the most physically powerful member of RWBY and relies on brute strength in battle.
• Detrimental Determination: She doesn't Know When to Fold 'Em and will continue to fight even in situations where it's better to retreat. During the Breach, she insisted on still fighting the Grimm even when it became clear that she was exhausted and in no condition to do so.
• Fighting from the Inside: When Jaune used the Jedi mind trick to make Yang and Blake retreat during the Breach, Yang briefly attempts to resist Jaune's mind control before giving in and retreating.
• Frame-Up: Like in canon, she's framed for breaking Mercury's leg during the Vytal Festival Tournament.
• Hot-Blooded: Jaune notes how her inability to control her passion is one of her greatest weaknesses.
• The Worf Effect: The terentatek is able to smash through both her Semblance and Aura in just one hit.

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