Jaune Arc

**Jaune Arc** is a Huntsman and former student at Beacon Academy. He is the leader and one of the remaining members of Team JNPR and a member of Team

RNJR. His weapon of choice is Crocea Mors, which consists of 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 Vale Airship. There, he earned the nickname "Vomit Boy" from Ruby Rose.

In "The Final Word", he was unable to escape the Central Location as it dissolved, leading him to fall into the void and find himself in the Ever After.

After picking a stopwatch fruit in "Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds", Jaune was sent back in time and aged many years, becoming known as the **Rusted Knight** from the fairy tale *The Girl Who Fell Through the World* and taming a Jackalope he named Juniper.

In “Of Solitude and Self”, he was reverted to his original age by the spirit of Alyx as a final gift to her old friend. Afterwards, he and Team RWBY return to Remnant where they arrive at the Kingdom of Vacuo.

## History

Not much is stated about Jaune's background. It is known that he comes from a lineage of Huntsmen and mentions that his great-great-grandfather, from whom he inherited Crocea Mors, fought in the Great War. He also mentions that he grew up with seven sisters and he was the only boy in his family.

He also took several camping trips on Anima with his family during his childhood. One of his sisters, Saphron Cotta-Arc, had moved away from the rest of her family and married and started a family of her own in Argus.

While the new students of Beacon Academy are in the Vale Airship, Jaune is on the verge of vomiting because of his motion sickness. While Yang Xiao Long wonders whom they will meet at Beacon, Ruby Rose comments that she hopes they are better than Vomit Boy, referring to Jaune. Ruby freaks out at Yang, noting that Jaune's vomit is on her shoes before frantically telling her to get away and Yang repeatedly saying how gross it is.

Shortly after landing, Jaune is the first off the ship and quickly finds a place to throw up. Later he helps Ruby up from the ground and Ruby bluntly reminds him of his drama on the airship (*"Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"*). He accompanies her on a brief walk through the school grounds, where the duo awkwardly tries to start a conversation and end up warming up to each other.

They show each other their weapons, Crescent Rose and Crocea Mors, but end up getting lost because each one thought the other knew where they were going. Ruby and Jaune somehow find their way into the welcoming ceremony room with the rest of the students, where Ruby leaves Jaune to return to Yang, offering a brief apology.

Jaune comments on where to find "another nice, quirky girl to talk to." Pyrrha Nikos is seen in the background, looking at him while he walks on. He reappears briefly after the welcoming speech when Weiss Schnee mockingly points to him in her conversation with Ruby and Yang. Later that night when all the students are preparing to sleep, Jaune walks into the room in his onesie pajamas, earning a somewhat repulsed response from Yang.

Jaune wanders through the locker room, exclaiming that his locker number was too high and hinting that he may have forgotten where he put his belongings. He soon comes across Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos and starts hitting on Weiss in an attempt to form a team with her, and pointedly ignoring Pyrrha. However, when Pyrrha says that teams are composed of four people, Jaune turns around and tries to flirt with her too.

Weiss interrupts the two and tells Jaune about how renowned Pyrrha is, which means nothing to him until she mentions that Pyrrha is shown on Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes Boxes. Jaune realizes that she is out of his league, but brightens up once more when Pyrrha exclaims that Jaune would actually make a good leader. This brings his confidence back and he asks Weiss if she would like to join Team Jaune.

Weiss becomes nervous and asks Pyrrha to throw Miló at Jaune, pinning him to a wall. The two girls leave, with Pyrrha apologizing, leading Ruby and Yang to approach Jaune, who is slumped on the ground. He complains that he does not know where he went wrong since his dad told him that all girls look for is confidence. Ruby helps him up, supporting him as they walk out of the locker room.

Shortly afterward, all of the new students are seen again on the Beacon Cliff while Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch brief them on their initiation. However, Jaune raises his hand and asks how to land safely, even as the other students are getting catapulted into the air. Ozpin bluntly and coldly responds to his questions until Jaune is launched into the sky mid-sentence.

He is seen flailing in the air alongside the other first-years, who are all gliding gracefully towards the Emerald Forest. Pyrrha spots him using her hunting rifle's scope, pins him to a tree from a distance using her weapon's javelin mode. Jaune can be heard in the distance thanking her for the save.

When Weiss tries to ignore Ruby in the hopes of finding a better option for a teammate, she runs into the still-pinned Jaune. Obviously uninterested in partnering with him, Weiss turns around and decides to go with Ruby instead, leaving him hanging both literally and figuratively. Pyrrha eventually finds him, sarcastically asking Jaune if there is still room on "his" team. Despite the jab, the two become partners.

Pyrrha and Jaune continue into the forest when Jaune hears a gunshot and Pyrrha notes that the others have met the Grimm. She pushes back a branch that flies back and hits Jaune in the face, cutting his cheek. Pyrrha apologizes, but asks why he didn't use his Aura to protect himself.

Jaune does not understand what Aura is, but after Pyrrha explains it to him, he comes to the conclusion that it is like a force field. Pyrrha uses her own Aura to unlock Jaune's. With his Aura activated, Jaune's cheek is healed in swiftly. Pyrrha comments that he has a rather significant amount of it.

Jaune and Pyrrha come across a cave with ancient drawings on it. Jaune believes it to be the temple and the two go in. Jaune makes a torch to light the way, but Pyrrha starts to doubt that the cave is the temple. Jaune trips and drops the torch in the water, plunging them into darkness. Jaune sees a large glowing object and grabs it, thinking it is one of the relics they are supposed to find.

When he does grab it, it lifts him into the air and is revealed to be the stinger of a Death Stalker, causing Jaune to let out a loud yell that Yang mistakes for a girl's scream. The scorpion proceeds to charge out of the cave and swings its tail wildly, with Jaune still holding on and asking Pyrrha for help. Pyrrha tells him to hang on, but he is instantly launched into the air and wide into the forest.

Jaune flies towards the abandoned temple and crashes into Ruby, who was also falling from the sky, causing them both to be stuck in a tree. Later, Jaune notices Weiss falling from the sky. He jumps and catches her, starting to flirt with her, but realized he has not thought of a landing strategy. This causes them both to plummet to the ground, with Jaune being used as Weiss' landing pad. He flees to some ruins with the other initiates, with the Death Stalker chasing them, now accompanied by a Nevermore.

After the Nevermore destroys the bridge, separating the initiates, Jaune notes that those on the other side need help, but can't make the jump. Without warning, Nora Valkyrie decides to use part of the bridge as a catapult to launch Jaune over. Jaune begins fighting the Death Stalker, but has a hard time breaking its exoskeleton.

After Lie Ren launches some attacks, Jaune notices the monster's tail is weakened and orders Pyrrha to sever the stinger, allowing Nora to deliver the finishing blow. He is later appointed the leader of Team JNPR.

Shortly after Team RWBY rushes off for class, Jaune is briefly seen with his team sticking their heads out the door of their room. However, due to lack of balance, he falls along with Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora. He starts running with his team following behind him after realizing they are all late to class.

Jaune is present in Peter Port's class with Team RWBY. He comments on Weiss' attitude shortly after she defeats the Boarbatusk. He is the only member of Team JNPR shown to be in the class.

Jaune fights against Cardin in an exhibition duel to demonstrate how to effectively use aura. Cardin taunts Jaune and easily defeats him. Before he's crushed by Cardin's weapon, Glynda Goodwitch stops the fight. She advises Jaune to train his Aura and use his Scroll in battle in order to gauge his chances in combat. Jaune is left depressed because of the one-sided fight.

Later at the cafeteria, Team JNPR and RWBY are eating lunch together. Jaune is seen to be distracted, causing Pyrrha and Ruby to show concern about him. Pyrrha comments about Jaune being bullied by Cardin since the first week of school, but Jaune waves it off by saying Cardin is only making practical jokes. However, he is reminded of all the times he has been bullied by Cardin, such as opening his shield in a doorway, launching him in a locker, and knocking his books out of his hands.

Pyrrha tries to get him to ask for help before Nora suggests breaking Cardin's legs. Jaune tells them that he's okay and proceeds to leave the table before he notices Velvet Scarlatina being bullied by Cardin. After Jaune leaves the room still depressed, Cardin is seen watching him and smiling as he leaves.

Jaune is seen sleeping in a history class, in which Bartholomew Oobleck is the professor. After Cardin flicks a piece of paper at him, Jaune wakes up in the exact moment when Professor Oobleck made a question. Oobleck asks Jaune in excitement to answer him. Pyrrha tries to help Jaune via mimed cues, but Jaune misreads her clues and answers wrongly. Blake Belladonna and Pyrrha are forced to answer the question, both girls insulting Cardin along with giving the correct answer.

Afterward, Oobleck has the two boys stay a few minutes after class and assigns them readings. On the way out of the classroom, Cardin shoves Jaune to the floor. Pyrrha helps him up and takes him outside, where she offers to help him become a better fighter, but Jaune points out that she is saying he isn't good enough. Jaune eventually confesses to Pyrrha that he lied to get into Beacon by using fake transcripts.

This upsets her, but he angrily goes on to say that he wants to be a hero like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; and that he was tired of always being the "lovable idiot" and the "damsel in distress". Pyrrha insists on helping him but is rejected by an angry and vulnerable Jaune. She leaves, hurt. Cardin, who overheard their conversation from his room, states that Jaune's secret is safe with him as long as Jaune does whatever Cardin says.

Sometime later, Jaune is seen outside of his dorm room, listening in on his team's discussion about him being distant. Ruby startles him, asking where Jaune has been lately. Jaune admits that he messed up, mentioning that Cardin "has him on a leash" and that Pyrrha is not talking to him.

He states that it was a mistake for him to have come to Beacon and that he's a failure. Ruby denies his claim, stating that, while he may have been a failure in the past, he is now a leader and has a responsibility to his team first and foremost and that he is not allowed to be a failure any longer.

The next day, Jaune is seen trailing behind teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL, his arms laden with suitcases and jars. As the students dispersed to gather tree sap, he is pulled aside by Cardin, and forced to gather the sap on his own while team CRDL lounges around. Once done, Cardin reveals his plan to get revenge on Pyrrha for humiliating him in class, by using the sap and the Rapier Wasps that he had Jaune gather the previous night to attack her. He orders Jaune to throw the jar of sap at Pyrrha, but Jaune refuses, instead throwing the jar at Cardin. Cardin angrily grabs Jaune.

Soon after, Jaune is seen being brutally beaten by his tormentor. Cardin threatens to reveal his secret, but Jaune retorts that he does not care because he will not to let anyone hurt his team. Angered by this, Cardin attempts to punch Jaune once more. In that instant, Jaune somehow unleashes his Aura, causing Cardin to hurt his hand upon contact.

Soon, a large Ursa appears and begins to attack Cardin. While Cardin's team runs away, Jaune saves Cardin's life and begins to fight the Ursa alone. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ruby soon arrive to see Jaune in a stalemate against the Ursa before Pyrrha uses her Semblance briefly to help Jaune block an attack from the Ursa, allowing Jaune to decapitate it. Jaune, having become more confident after the fight, helps Cardin to his feet and tells him to never threaten his team or friends again before leaving Cardin, who's shocked and begins to respect Jaune, ashamed for his actions.

After the field trip, Jaune returns to where Pyrrha took him outside, where he's confronted by Pyrrha. He apologizes to her for his attitude and for yelling at her, for which she forgives him. Before they leave the roof, Jaune asks if she will still train him, but he understands if he now doesn't deserve it. However, Pyrrha pushes him and explains he needs to improve his stance, accepting his request and reconciling their relationship.

While in the dining hall, Jaune takes part in a food fight between his team and Team RWBY. He grabs a watermelon and does a front flip in order to make it go farther, but he is quickly taken out when Yang hits him with a pair of turkeys being used as gauntlets. He manages to get up later, but he and his team are quickly finished by Ruby's final attack, covering them in food and soda. However, they all have a good laugh after Glynda enters the room and puts everything back in place.

Sometime later, Jaune is seen alongside his team reading books in the library with the exception of him reading a comic book and Nora sleeping. Noticing, Pyrrha takes Jaune's comic book away and gives him a book to read, much to his displeasure. At that same moment, Team RWBY is playing a board game, and he asks if he can play. Ruby denies him because they already have four players and because Weiss does not trust him to have tactical skills. Jaune states that Pyrrha thinks otherwise.

Jaune tells her that she can trust him with her turn, just like he was trusted to keep Blake's Faunus heritage a secret. Pyrrha stops him before he says "Faunus". As he prepares to return to his team's seating area, Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias arrive. He gets somewhat jealous upon Neptune and Weiss introducing themselves to one another.

Sometime later, Jaune knocks at the door of Team RWBY and stands outside holding a guitar. Weiss opens the door to find Jaune singing to her, and she slams the door on him. When Jaune pleads to Weiss that he is not going to sing again, Weiss opens the door. Jaune asks Weiss out while singing, only to be rejected by Weiss.

Later on, Pyrrha and Jaune are seen sparring on the roof of the dormitory and soon finish their spar. Pyrrha offers to move on to his Aura training, but he rejects it. Pyrrha, noticing that he is feeling down, assumes that he is disheartened by the fact that he has not discovered his Semblance yet. Jaune tells her that it is something stupid, and she asks him what is wrong.

Jaune tells her about how Weiss shot him down when he asked her out. She states that there's plenty of other people Jaune could go with. However, Jaune responds that Pyrrha probably has guys swarming over her. She states that is not the case, and Jaune, not believing her, walks off saying he's probably gonna wear a dress to prom if Pyrrha does not get a date. Back in JNPR's dorm room, Jaune seeks out Ren's advice on girls even after admitting he doesn't know Ren at all. He mentions that though Weiss is cold, she is also incredible, and he is absolutely head over heels for her. At that moment, Pyrrha walks in and tells him to go tell Weiss what he had just said to his team. Spurred on by this, Jaune leaves to go find Weiss. However, before he can speak to her, he witnesses Weiss asking Neptune to the dance. Disheartened, Jaune drops the tulip he brought Weiss on the ground, and leaves.

On the night of the dance, Jaune is seen alongside Ruby sharing a drink. When Jaune brings up to point on Weiss' date, Ruby informs him that she came alone, and in turn, this frustrates Jaune because of how Neptune turned her down, but before he can say anything to him, he heads to a balcony to talk with Pyrrha, whom informs that she does not have a date for the dance and when Jaune asks why, she tells him that because of her status as a celebrity and title at Mistral, it has put her on a pedestal and given her the image of being unattainable, leaving her unable to make friends, and leaving her lonely most of her life.

Pyrrha tells Jaune that the reason she likes him is because of how honest, kind and friendly he has been with her, and because of that, she has made friends. Pyrrha lastly says that she would have liked to been his date and leaves, leaving Jaune alone.

After this, Neptune arrives at the balcony and the two engage in a conversation, where Jaune finds out that Neptune rejected Weiss' invite to the dance because he himself cannot dance, in which disappoints Jaune and remarks on how dumb it is. However, Jaune points out certain things about Neptune, such as being too cool and toying with girls, but informs Jaune that he does like Weiss, despite the fact he does not know her too well.

However, Jaune passes the advice given to him by Pyrrha and tells him to talk with Weiss, which Neptune says he will, and the two share a fist punch. Jaune later reappears at the dance in a dress, much to the laughter of everyone and Pyrrha's shock. After telling her he is a man of his word, Jaune asks Pyrrha to dance, to which she happily agrees. He surprises her with his dancing skills—a result of him having seven sisters. Alongside his team, they engage in a group dance.

The following day, after the dance, Jaune is seen with his team attending Ozpin's speech, and sees off Team RWBY on their mission at Mountain Glenn. Prior to dawn the next morning, Jaune is awakened in bed by an abrupt call from Ruby on his Scroll. When he answered, however, it consisted of only six seconds of screeching static, concerning Jaune from then to when he and his team reached the platform to embark on their own mission later at dawn.

As he shared his concerns with his teammates, to which they try to reassure him Ruby and her team are probably fine, sirens blare across Vale accompanied by a chimney of smoke in the middle of the city. Reacting, Jaune abruptly changed Team JNPR's mission and ordered his team and the pilot of the bullhead carrying them towards the center of the city. As each member arrives at the center of the city to find it overrun by Grimm, with Team RWBY fending at the plaza, Team JNPR engages the Grimm.

Jaune sarcastically remarks on who will be first, only to have an Ursa drop behind him. At first, Jaune slowly distances himself from the Ursa in a panic, but shortly regroups himself and furiously strikes the Ursa, defeating it.

After the Grimm have been vanquished by Teams RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, along with other students and staff of Beacon, Jaune and his team congratulate each other for a successful fight and return to the academy.

Jaune and his team share a meal with Team RWBY at the fairgrounds where Jaune eats more than he could take and ends up with a stomach ache, prompting him to put his head to the table. When Nora indirectly insults his skill, he notes that she is not wrong to say any of that. After finishing their meal, Jaune and his team are called to attend the next match.

Team JNPR's first match in the Vytal Festival tournament is against Team BRNZ of Vacuo's Shade Academy. After a brief melee in the center of the arena, Team JNPR is quickly pinned down by May Zedong, Team BRNZ's sniper, who has taken cover in the trees on the opposite end of the battlefield.

Jaune tells Ren to distract BRNZ's sniper, which he does reluctantly. As Ren distracts the sniper and Nora scales a mountain to harness an incoming electrical storm's energy with her Semblance, Jaune and Pyrrha take on Brawnz Ni and Roy Stallion in hand-to-hand combat. During the battle, he deflects some of Roy's thrown buzzsaw attacks, prompting Team RWBY, who is watching on the sidelines, to comment on how much he has improved. Jaune and Pyrrha later cooperate to block one of May's shots intended for Nora, by launching Pyrrha up into the air with Jaune's shield.

After Nora unleashes a devastating attack on Team BRNZ, destroying May's cover and landing an explosive hammer blow to the other three, Jaune attempts to finish the match by calling out team attacks, with "Flower Power" for Ren and Nora and "Arkos" for himself and Pyrrha. However, his team does not understand his instructions, to his great frustration. Ren is especially confused as to how he is expected to bring "a flower", and how this constitutes a combat tactic. Nora suggests that he bring "flour, like in baking".

Jaune attempts to explain to Pyrrha that "Arkos" is "that thing, where we take our shields", but she is still unsure. Jaune becomes increasingly dejected when she expresses doubt and hesitation, construing this as her not liking his work. Exasperated, Jaune simply has Nora hit Team BRNZ with her hammer, which she does, knocking them clear out of the arena and winning the match.

Later he is present as a spectator at the matches between Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black vs. Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi, then Weiss and Yang vs. Neon Katt and Flynt Coal and Yang vs. Mercury.

Before Pyrrha's singles round fight, Jaune senses her distraught nature and suggests the team go outside instead of offer Pyrrha a way to train for the fight. He later finds Pyrrha sitting against the exterior wall of the school library. He offers her cotton candy as an offering of goodwill. He sits next to her and opens her to more of his personal life, saying Pyrrha puts more trust and faith in him than even his parents did. As Pyrrha aims to encourage him, he catches her off guard by putting his hand on top of hers. Jaune tells Pyrrha he knows how she is feeling, and he asks how he can help. Pyrrha says he need not do anything more, and she rests her head on his shoulder.

She is still troubled by a thought, however, and asks for Jaune's advice on her and her destiny. She elaborates that she knows her destiny is to become as strong of a Huntress as possible, and Jaune believes she should choose to take the challenge of immediate powers as one. Pyrrha reacts by gasping at his bold statement and telling him to keep his distance. Unaware of what Jaune insinuated, he approaches Pyrrha. She pushes him away and accidentally activates her Semblance, slamming him against the cafeteria's wall. Pyrrha runs away, leaving Jaune to contemplate what he said.

That evening, he is present at Amity Colosseum to watch Pyrrha's match against Penny Polendina, where he witnesses Pyrrha accidentally rip her opponent apart. He is also present when Cinder Fall gives her speech to the world.

Jaune is among the group of students present at Amity Colosseum at the beginning of this Grimm attack on Vale. As a Giant Nevermore breaks into the stadium, he drops into the fighting area to help Pyrrha. His weapon is among those that fly to the floating arena in rocket-propelled lockers. After the lockers damage the Nevermore and it is eventually defeated, he tells Pyrrha that the person who hijacked the broadcast and spoke is responsible for Penny's destruction. He and many other Huntsmen and Huntresses in training run to the exit of the Colosseum where they encounter General Ironwood. He tells the group that they could either fight the horde of Grimm or flee to safety. Ironwood leaves in a dropship, and Jaune suggests they take an airship to Beacon to fight the Grimm. Upon arrival, Pyrrha sees Ozpin at the base of the CCT and heads towards him. Jaune follows her.

Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ozpin go to the vault below Beacon. Jaune asks what the place is, and Pyrrha tells him. He wonders how she could know. When they get to the life support machines at the opposite ends, Ozpin tells Jaune to stand guard. Pyrrha chooses to enter a pod so that Amber's Aura can be transferred to her, and Ozpin apologizes to Jaune for the latter's potential loss of a friend. The Aura transfer begins, and Jaune and Ozpin look up at the tubes through which the Aura travels to Pyrrha. In the middle of the transfer, Cinder shoots an arrow that pierces Amber's heart. This kills the former Maiden, and Cinder receives Amber's remaining half of the powers. Ozpin tells Pyrrha and Jaune to leave, for they cannot fight a Maiden by themselves. He tells Pyrrha to get Ironwood, Qrow and Glynda to come to the vault, and she leaves to do so with Jaune.

After fleeing the CCT, Jaune attempts to call Glynda on his Scroll before he asks Pyrrha what is going on. Once he realizes that Cinder is still on the tower, he attempts to stop Pyrrha from going there. Pyrrha kisses him and shoves him into a locker which she programs to head to Vale, forcing him to let her fight Cinder.

Jaune later desperately calls Weiss and Ruby, appealing to them to save Pyrrha. After that, he smashes his Scroll and breaks down in despair.

After the incident, Jaune, Nora and Ren visit Ruby in Patch as the four of them begin an unexpected journey to Haven Academy in Mistral, investigating the conspiracy behind the fall of Vale. Along the way, they stop at Summer's Gravestone for Ruby to pay her respects to Summer Rose.

Months later, while still on the road to Haven, a nearby village comes under attack by Grimm. Ruby is the first to respond, but Jaune, Nora and Ren quickly rush to assist her. Sometime later Jaune and the others make their way to Anima and help a village with killing a Geist in exchange for new armor for Jaune, a modified Crocea Mors, and some supplies.

They move on to Shion in the hopes of booking an airship ride to Haven. When they arrive at Shion, they are all shocked to find it destroyed. In search of survivors, they find a severely wounded Huntsman, who tells them that bandits attacked the village, and the panic attracted the Grimm. Jaune and Ruby try to think of the best way to save the Huntsman, but he quickly succumbs to his wounds. Jaune becomes distraught from losing yet another life. Later, while the others sleep, Jaune stays up to practice using a training video created by Pyrrha, unaware that Ruby was briefly watching him.

Later he and the group travel to a village named Higanbana in order to stay at the village inn. Jaune has low hopes of the town still standing, but he is assured by Ruby and Ren that it is very large and well defended. He ponders why they haven't encountered any Grimm yet, not knowing that Ruby's uncle, Qrow Branwen, has been protecting them from Grimm attacks.

After their stay in Higanbana, Jaune and the group continue on their journey to Haven and discover the abandoned village of Oniyuri. It is there that Tyrian Callows, who has been assigned to capture Ruby, attacks them. Along with the others, Jaune attempts to defend Ruby, and somehow manages to capture Tyrian's interest. The group is quickly overwhelmed by Tyrian, but just as Tyrian is about to land a critical strike on Ruby, Qrow appears and defends her from the attack. After some small talk, Tyrian and Qrow begin to battle. Jaune tries to join the battle after Ruby joins it, but is held back by Ren. Tyrian is forced to flee after Ruby cuts off his tail seconds after he slashes Qrow with his stinger. After the fight, Jaune asks Qrow why someone would be after Ruby.

Jaune and the others are informed about the existence of the Maidens, the story of the two brother gods and the situation at Haven Academy. The next morning he is there to witness that Tyrian managed to poison Qrow with his stinger. He helps Ruby carry him on a makeshift stretcher while they continue on, hoping to find help. A fork in the road leads to a difficult choice and Team RNJR splits. While Ren and Nora continue the mountainous path to Mistral that would be far too difficult for carrying Qrow, Jaune and Ruby continue on a flatter path that leads to the reportedly destroyed town of Kuroyuri.

Jaune and Ruby are unable to locate medical supplies for Qrow in Kuroyuri, and Ruby apologizes to Jaune for having him, Ren and Nora her journey. Jaune encourages her, saying she gave them the courage to follow her. When their companions return to them, Jaune hears the footsteps of the Nuckelavee and asks his friends if they heard the noise.

Soon after, they engage the Nuckelavee in battle, during which Jaune reveals Crocea Mors' upgrade and assists in pinning down the Nuckelavee so that Ren can slay it. The smoke that results from the Nuckelavee's disintegration draws the attention of pilots from Mistral who were on patrol, and the group is transported to the city of Mistral, where Qrow receives medical care and they find a place to stay. Ren and Nora join Jaune in sitting in quiet remembrance of lost loved ones in his room.

Jaune, along with Qrow and the rest of Team RNJR, meets Leonardo Lionheart, headmaster of Haven Academy. He learns of the connection between the Maidens and the Relics through the subsequent conversation. He is also keen to learn more information about Cinder, Mercury and Emerald, who supposedly came from Haven, and is angrily disappointed at there being nothing. Later, he opens the door to Oscar Pine, who introduces himself as also being Professor Ozpin.

Jaune is present as Oscar gives Ozpin control of his body and the former headmaster reveals the true nature of his being as a soul and memories transferred into Oscar after a long line of succession. Ozpin plans to train Jaune and the rest of his team, citing Jaune's locked Semblance, so they can best ensure the safety of the Relic of Knowledge.

Jaune, Oscar, and the rest of Team RNJR train outside. After Ozpin finishes teaching Oscar and Ruby as they spar, Jaune grows concerned about his still-locked Semblance. Ozpin comforts him and his team, saying their journeys are far from over.

On another day, Team RNJR prepares dinner for the Huntsmen Qrow is supposed to gather, with Jaune setting the table. Later, he watches with Ren and Nora as Ruby unexpectedly reunites with Yang and Weiss. The six students then enjoy a ramen dinner together, with Jaune lamenting about losing the map during the journey to Haven. Afterward, the students catch up with Ozpin and Qrow on what Weiss and Yang learned from Raven Branwen. Upon finding out that Ozpin gave the Branwens the ability to turn into birds, Jaune is clearly angry that the Headmaster is keeping more secrets. Yet when Ozpin offers the students a chance to leave the battle against Salem, Jaune shows no desire of leaving and even asks what their next move is.

On the night of the full moon, Jaune travels with Qrow, Oscar and his classmates to Haven to meet with Lionheart. However, the headmaster leads an ambush with Raven Branwen and Salem's Inner Circle. As Cinder proclaims the accomplishments of her faction, Jaune angry yells at her as to why she can smile after murdering many people and says he will make her pay for the Fall of Beacon. When Cinder mockingly asks him who he is, Jaune loses control and attacks her, starting the battle between the heroes and villains.

Cinder continually outplays him, and he yells for her to stop messing with his head. When they charge at each other, Ruby momentarily unleashes the powers of her silver eyes, causing Cinder to drop to her knees in pain. Jaune thrusts his sword at Cinder, managing only to chip a piece of her mask. After Cinder pins him to the ground, Jaune says his death will be worth it if he can buy his allies time, for they are the ones who matter. However, he can only watch as Cinder tries to prove him wrong by impaling Weiss.

Jaune quickly rushes to Weiss side with Ren, but they are unable to help Weiss as she is slowly dying. As Jaune tearfully begs for Weiss not to die, he subconsciously unlocks his Semblance, quickly regenerating Weiss' Aura and amplifying its healing ability. When Ruby later wakes up, she has Jaune continue to treat Weiss while Nora covers for him. As the battle continues, Jaune discusses with Nora about his Semblance. He concludes that he is not healing Weiss, but using his own Aura to amplify hers. He is also not worried about running out of Aura, as Pyrrha once told him that he has a lot of it. Upon seeing Ren overpowered by Hazel Rainart, Jaune urges Nora to go and help their teammate while he resumes tending to Weiss. Eventually, Weiss makes a full recovery and rejoins the battle, much to Jaune's relief.

Jaune rejoins the battle by protecting Ren and Nora from enemy fire as they have become completely exhausted. Later, he watches happily with his friends as Team RWBY share a hug of reunion.

As they recover back at the house, Jaune sharpens his sword as they prepare to leave and begin their journey to Atlas. When Ozpin awakens and joins them, Jaune asks the Headmaster about what the Relic does. The students and Qrow learn that the artifact can answer three questions every one hundred years.

Two weeks following the Battle of Haven, Jaune travels with his friends on a train to Argus, a stepping stone to get the Relic of Knowledge to Atlas. Manticore and Sphinx Grimm attack, and Jaune and his teammates join Team RWBY in fighting the monsters on the roof. When the train reaches a tunnel, Jaune uses his Semblance to heal Dudley's broken arm. When Ruby devises a plan for her team, Jaune makes her promise everyone will make it safely to Argus. After he and his team get the passengers to the front cars, he amplifies Ren's Aura so Ren can mask the emotions of everyone on the train, and they continue presumably uninterrupted to Argus.

Upon arriving in Argus, Jaune, Ren and Nora stay with Jaune's elder sister, Saphron Cotta-Arc and her wife Terra Cotta-Arc. The next day, Jaune calls Ruby once he realizes her Scroll's signal can reach him. They meet outside the town, and he and Ren tell their everyone Argus' history. Saphron meets up with them and takes them to her home, where the heroes get fully reacquainted. Saphron teases Jaune as her "baby brother", and his embarrassment prompts them to playfully bat hands, further teasingly. He says he is not a baby and that Saphron's son, Adrian Cotta-Arc, is a baby. When Ruby brings up their mission for the Argus military base, Jaune laments that himself, Ren and Nora's attempt did not go well

The following day, Jaune goes back to the base and meets Caroline Cordovin again. In the end, Weiss is the only one who is able to go to Atlas. When the gate shuts, Jaune is confused at Qrow's sullen behavior and Ruby and Oscar's sad faces. Back at the house, Jaune's group learns about Ozpin and Salem, leaving them frustrated. Jaune punches the wall in anger as all of their efforts have been for nothing. When Oscar states that they are not the enemy, Jaune pins him to the wall in paranoia, angrily yelling that the Oscar right now might really be Ozpin pretending to be the farm boy. Jaune only stops when Ruby yells his name, and he finds that Oscar is scared of him. He then storms up the stairs to his room to be by himself. When the group later finds Oscar missing, Jaune is shocked and seemingly regrets his earlier outburst.

That night, Jaune searches for Oscar with Nora, Ren and Saphron, blaming himself for making the farm boy run away. Throughout their search, he and his teammates withhold information about their mission, only saying it will be a lot harder than they initially thought. When Saphron leaves, Jaune sits by himself as Nora and Ren go to get some hot drinks. He sees a maple leaf blow about and follows it into a park where he finds a statue of Pyrrha, dedicated in her honor following the Fall of Beacon. Just as he is about to walk away in grief, he comes across a woman with red hair and green eyes. She tells Jaune the statue was placed in Argus because Sanctum, the school where Pyrrha trained, is there. As he laments that Pyrrha should be there, the woman mourns along with him, but she gives reassuring statements about Pyrrha's life and her ownership of a Huntress' responsibilities. Jaune then tells the woman that even though Pyrrha never graduated, she was a true Huntress, which earned him the woman's gratitude. When Nora and Ren call out to him, Jaune finds the woman gone, with only her bouquet of red lilies left near the statue.

As his teammates catch up to him, Jaune apologizes for being a terrible leader and friend. Ren interrupts, pleading for him to stop beating himself up, and Nora adds that they love him just as they loved Pyrrha. Jaune says Pyrrha must have known she may not win against Cinder, but she had to try nonetheless. Inspired by her actions, the three of them decide to follow her example and try themselves. Jaune then gives his thanks to Pyrrha and then leaves with Nora and Ren.

Returning to the house with Saphron and her family, Jaune reassures that the group is not going to Atlas without Oscar. Oscar surprises them, having been at the house with a new outfit and cooking a hot meal for them. Jaune then apologizes for his outburst, with Oscar easily forgiving him. As the farm boy states his desire to help the group for as long as he can, Jaune accepts and states that the team is not the same without him. When Qrow points out that they still have no way to get to Atlas, Jaune offers an idea of stealing an Atlas airship. As he is about to elaborate, Qrow stops him, reasoning that they would be facing the military. Jaune and the group are left disheartened before Ruby steps up to hear him out and say they should do things their way.

The group puts Jaune's plan into action, with Weiss smuggling Maria Calavera onto an airship to pilot it, and Blake disabling the radar at the communications tower so that they can proceed to Atlas undetected. While he, his teammates, Ruby, Qrow and Oscar wait along the cliffside, Jaune gets excited when Weiss manages to sneak Maria on board the ship. But the plan starts to fall apart when Blake fails to disable the radar and the group is caught by Cordovin, who pilots the Colossus to attack the airship. As the robot approaches the cliffside, Jaune notes that it is designed to combat large Grimm, not smaller targets. With this information, the group decides to use their size and numbers to their advantage: to distract Cordovin with smaller targets while searching for a weakness in the Colossus' structure. Jaune's group becomes the decoys, and he and Nora later attack the Colossus when it is pushed onto the cliffside. But as Cordovin retaliates with a counterattack, Jaune rushes to Nora to try and protect her. However, they are thrown back by the slam of the attack, with their Auras broken in the process.

Jaune is then carried over to the group by Nora, and they all learn from Oscar about the missiles coming out of the cannon and become exposed. Jaune catches on and realizes that they can destroy the cannon by detonating the missiles. Ruby jumps on the airship to carry out the plan, but to the entire group's shock, the plan fails and is hit with lightning Dust. The group barely evades the blast themselves, and the ship crashes into the trees. Later, after Ruby tries to negotiate with Cordovin and jumps into the cannon, Jaune realizes that she is aiming at the raw Dust that is locked inside. The group then watches as the cannon is destroyed, and Jaune's team rushes to Weiss after she uses her Glyphs to slow Ruby's fall. However, their victory is cut short as a Leviathan comes from the ocean to Argus.

After Blake and Yang rejoin the group, they board the airship and leave Cordovin behind. As they reach Argus to fight the Leviathan, Jaune helps Ren by augmenting his Aura to mask their emotions as they fly past the Manticores to reach the giant Grimm. But as they have to pull back as the Leviathan destroys the last city shield, Jaune and Ren's Auras break. But all is well in the end as Ruby petrifies the Leviathan and Cordovin finishes it off. The group then continues on to Atlas as the military fight off the Manticores.

That night, the students are impressed by Ruby's feats, and Jaune states that it is impressive that Oscar managed to save the ship from a crash land. But to everyone's shock, they learn that the farm boy was guided by Ozpin. They then reach the kingdom of Atlas, only for them to find the floating city surrounded by the Atlas fleet.

Cautiously, Ruby and the group decide to fly to Mantle instead of trying to meet Ironwood directly. Along the way they leave the Manta behind and Maria leads them through Mantle to what turns out to be Pietro Polendina's pharmacy. The heroes talk to him and try to ask him to meet Ironwood.

Suddenly, however, an alarm sounds, and Ruby and the group are forced to fight an onslaught of Sabyrs. Penny interrupts the fight and finishes off the last of the Grimm before sharing an oddly heartwarming reunion with the heroes. After Penny leaves to fight more Grimm, the Ace Operatives arrest the heroes for unauthorized weapon use, seizing their weapons and the Relic, and putting them in a transport bound for Atlas.

On the airship they meet Forest, a supporter of Robyn Hill. They talk with him about Robyn for a short while before they are delivered to Ironwood and released from their restraints. Shortly after that, Ironwood reveals his plans to the group while Ruby decides to withhold information about what happened on their way to Atlas from Ironwood.

Later the group, minus Qrow, is lead to Atlas Academy where they can rest.

After completing a mission to secure the launch site for the Amity Communication Tower, Ironwood grants Jaune and his friends their Huntsmen licenses. As now official Huntsmen, Jaune and his friends go through several training exercises with the Ace Operatives to improve their skills and Huntsmen missions to assist the construction of Amity Tower as well as defend Mantle from any Grimm attacks and hunt any loose Grimm.

Jaune spends his time training the use of his Aura, particularly its recovery and applications.

After several weeks of rigorous training and missions, Ironwood grants Jaune and his friends a night off during election night. Jaune decides to spend his night with Weiss and Oscar at the movies.

Following the elections, Ironwood and his subordinates are invited by Jacques to a private dinner party at his mansion to defend his council position. Nora and her friends are invited along too as a precaution in case the council needs more witnesses. Before leaving, Team RWBY and Oscar discuss their suspicions of Jacques and his suspicious election victory and possible ties to the hacker in the security network. They decide for Weiss to sneak off in the mansion and search his office for clues. Jaune and his team help Weiss get away from the party by distracting Whitley Schnee for the former heiress. Weiss successfully sneaks to his office during the party and, with some help from her mother, obtains a recording of her father and Arthur Watts striking a deal for Watts to rig the election in exchange for humiliating Ironwood. Weiss shows the footage to the council resulting in Jacques being stripped of his rank and arrested.

Meanwhile Watts, using Jacques' council credentials, hacks into the Mantle heating grid and deactivates the heat throughout the city, freezing the citizens. The public assume Atlas to be freezing them out and cause a huge riot and fire in the streets, attracting a massive Grimm invasion. With the panic Ironwood was afraid of already happening, Ruby and Oscar convince him to tell the council and Robyn of Salem, which he agrees and complies with. Before the Ace Operatives, Team RWBY and Team JNR deploy to Mantle to protect the citizens and repel the Grimm, Ruby and Oscar agree to reveal the truth of Ozpin's disappearance and Salem's immortality to Ironwood, which Oscar stays behind to do.

The Huntsmen fly into Mantle on an airship but are shot down by Teryx Grimm. They split up into teams of 3 to help as many civilians as possible, with Jaune being on a team with Ren and Vine Zeki to fight a pack of Sabyrs. As they battle the Grimm, Ironwood releases a broadcast to Mantle and Atlas revealing the existence of Salem, her associates and their responsibility with their attacks on Beacon, Mistral and Mantle much to Jaune's joy.

During the evacuations, Jaune and the other Huntsmen suddenly receive a message from Ironwood to be recalled with zero explanation. Confused, Jaune and his team return to Atlas Academy to find Oscar. Soon, Oscar finds himself hunted by Neopolitan in the Academy's halls, under the orders of Cinder to obtain the Relic. She succeeds but fails to kills Oscar, who has gone missing. Meanwhile, Team JNPR returns to the Academy to find him, seeing only the aftermath of their battle as they hear from Ruby about Ironwood's plan to raise Atlas and of Salem's impending arrival.

While searching for him, JNR finds Neo, who is posing as Oscar, having stolen the Relic of Knowledge. Nora is almost fooled by the disguise, but the real Oscar arrives, striking a blow to her face and taking back the Relic. Neo continues trying to steal the Relic of Knowledge from them. Their fight is interrupted when Atlas Soldiers begin chasing Team JNR and Oscar, who are still on a wanted list. Oscar is exhausted from his previous encounter with Neo from before Team JNPR found him, and due to his exhaustion, he is unable to keep up with JNPR and becomes lost. Neo, having disguised herself as Nora, hides Oscar from the Atlas soldiers and steals the Lamp. She then flees, making it past Oscar and Jaune with her agility and then Ren by playing with his feelings for Nora. Due to more interference from Atlas soldiers, she manages to escape.

While Team JNR and Oscar hide from the soldiers, Ren frustratedly talks about how they have lost the Relic, leading Oscar to start quietly thinking. Before an argument can break out, Pietro Polendina and Maria Calavera contact them through their formerly blocked communications. Maria informs the group that they have an escape vehicle and will be coming to get them. While this happens, Oscar sneaks away and soon after tells them that he must do something alone. Team JNPR is unable to pursue him due to being found by more soldiers.

Maria, Pietro, Blake, and Yang pick up Team JNPR in the Manta serving as their escape vehicle, and Yang questions where Oscar and the Relic are. The group leaves to pick up Weiss, Ruby, and Penny after a battle with Cinder. On the airship, the group intercepts a broadcast from the military; Salem has arrived.

After Ruby, Weiss, Oscar, Maria, and Penny reconvene with the rest of the group in one of the Happy Huntresses' shelters in Mantle, a schism begins to form amongst them. Some want to help the citizens of Mantle while others are in favor of launching Amity Colosseum and revealing Salem's existence to the world. Jaune suggests a temporary split-up in order to achieve both objectives. The task of evacuating the population of Mantle into the crater beneath Atlas falls to him, Yang, Ren, and Oscar.

Later, Jaune helps his team to fend off the Atlesian Knights investigating Pietro Polendina's pharmacy, and uses the hoverbikes inside to combat the Grimm threatening some Mantle civilians. He also uses the Disc Grenade for the first time to help Ren take down a pair of Sabyrs. While amplifying Ren's Semblance to mask the group of civilians en route to the crater, Jaune attempts to share some encouraging words with Ren, but is coldly shut down. At the crater, his group volunteers to clear out some Grimm in East Mantle in order to reduce Fiona Thyme's workload. After The Hound launches its ambush and takes Oscar hostage, Jaune is prevented from attacking due to the Grimm using Oscar as a human shield. As the Hound takes to the skies with Oscar, Jaune and his group give chase on their hoverbikes.

The group follows the Hound into the tundra outside Mantle. Ren manages to latch onto the Hound and slow him down somewhat, but is forced to let go in order to save Jaune and Yang from tumbling off a cliff. As the hoverbikes were either lost or damaged during the fight, the group is forced to head back to Mantle on foot. Ren has an angry outburst concerning the group's recent spate of bad luck, and while Jaune tries to calm him down, his own past of using deception to enter Beacon Academy is brought up. Jaune acknowledges his poor decisions, and tells Ren that he only moved beyond that mistake because of the friends and allies around him. His group later picks up on Ruby's broadcast from Amity Colosseum, after which they discover a river of Grimm Liquid heading toward Mantle.

Jaune's distress call is received by the Ace Ops, and when they come to take his group into custody, they witness the destruction of Atlas' hard-light shields and Monstra making landfall. On board the Ace Ops' Manta, he successfully convinces Winter Schnee to let his group infiltrate Monstra and recover Oscar before the Atlesian military makes its attempt to destroy the gargantuan Grimm with a bomb.

The group successfully infiltrate the creature, stopping to catch their breath as they stop in a hallway. As the group tries to collect themselves and figure out their next step, Lie Ren points out that he can feel some people's emotions deep within, to Jaune and Yang's surprise. The group decides to follow Ren's lead as Jaune boosts Ren's Aura as he masks their emotions while searching for Oscar. Jaune's Aura starts to deplete, so he suggests Ren focus simply on locating Oscar and give Jaune directions so he can scout ahead for Grimm. After Jaune leaves, Yang jokingly comments that the two of them seem to have mended fences. Ren replies that she doesn't have to always hide her fear with humor, and both acknowledge that they are afraid, though Ren notes that Jaune doesn't seem to share it. Jaune suddenly rushes back, forcing the three of them to hide as a Seer floats down the passage. However, Ren's Aura finally gives out and the Seer sends out an alert of their presence.

Yang, Jaune and Ren race through the tunnels until they run into Emerald and Hazel: as they prepare to attack, "Hazel" holds his hands in surrender, as Emerald's Semblance disguise disappears to reveal it is actually Oscar. Despite Yang's hostility toward Emerald, Ren acknowledges, without his Semblance, that they can trust her because she's just as afraid as they are. Emerald adds that she knows a way out of Monstra.

Just as Jaune, Oscar, Yang, Ren and Ren Emerald an exit in Monstra's side, they hear a rumbling sound, which Emerald recognizes in horror to be Salem; seconds later, she bursts through the wall in a blast of magic. Seizing Emerald, she coldly acknowledges that the latter has improved her Semblance, then after a brief struggle easily restrains the group with Shadow Hands.

Salem threateningly asks a terrified Emerald what she did with the Lamp, which has been taken. When Emerald insists she didn't do anything with it, Salem turns to Oscar, asking why he (Ozma) keeps coming back. Yang throws the question back at her, asking why Salem keeps bringing death and destruction on everyone else just because she didn't get "a fairy-tale ending". She adds that everything and everyone she's lost was due to Salem. When Salem asks who she took from Yang, she replies "Summer Rose... my mom', much to Salem's amusement.

Hazel suddenly arrives. Salem orders him to return Oscar to his cell, saying she has "work to do" on Emerald for her betrayal. After glancing at each of the captives, Hazel approaches and grabs Oscar, and mutters "No more Gretchens, boy" in his ear, and slips him his cane. Hazel sucker punches Salem, telling the group to flee as he attacks her.

As Yang, Ren and Emerald escape from Monstra, Jaune urges Oscar to follow them, but Oscar points out that Salem will just come after them again. The woman turns and to see Oscar attempting to activate The Long Memory. She lunges toward him but Hazel restrains her her from behind. Salem summons more Shadow Hands to strangle him, but Hazel activates a Fire Dust crystal concealed in his mouth, immolating himself and Salem in a pyre of flames. As Salem thrashes and screams in rage, Hazel urges Oscar to "do it". Oscar activates the cane, which releases a green forcefield followed by a blast of light that engulfs all three of them.

Near Monstra's corpse, Jaune heals Oscar, and Yang receives a call from Blake who wants to know if Yang's Group is alright. Oscar and Ren look over at Emerald who is on her knees in the ash, mourning Hazel. Through the Scroll, Weiss sends Yang a map of where to access a subway tunnel and what route to take from there.

As Yang's Group walks through a subway tunnel, they discuss what to do with Emerald. Oscar wants to work with her, while Yang opposes. Emerald wants to leave, but Jaune does not want her to go free because of how she helped Cinder. Ren agrees with Oscar, stating that their actions should not come from fear. Through this conversation, Oscar ends up revealing to the group that Ozpin has returned and wants to help them. He tells them that Ozpin took the torture Hazel dished out. He then explains that the explosion he created inside Monstra came from him utilizing most of the kinetic energy that was stored in his cane over the course of lifetimes. In the distance, they hear a baby crying and rush toward the sound to find the City of Atlas' citizens taking shelter in a subway station.

At the Schnee Manor, Jaune, Yang, Ren and Oscar reunite with Ruby, Weiss and Blake. Ren asks where Nora is, and Weiss goes to talk to him while Ruby turns to meet Oscar. It is then that Ruby notices Emerald and takes an aggressive stance. Just as Oscar attempts to explain, Ruby receives a call from May Marigold. May begins to explain that the SDC cargo ships they sent to Mantle are not alone, but soon after, she has to call out for everyone to run to the mines. There is an explosion, and the call cuts out.

An alarm sounds from everyone's Scrolls, signifying an emergency broadcast. Ruby uses her Scroll to project a screen for everyone to watch the broadcast on. The screen shows the SDC ships being shot down by Atlas military ships, and the broadcast then switches to Ironwood standing in a spotlight in a dark room. He claims that Penny alone is standing in the way of Atlas' salvation. He then gives Penny a choice - either she opens the Vault for him and Mantle is left to fend for itself, or he will destroy Mantle with the bomb that was originally intended to kill Monstra.

With seemingly no options, Ruby concludes that it is impossible, and the tension and distrust toward Emerald momentarily rises. Ruby becomes frustrated, stating that they are still where they started, and she runs from the room, Yang chasing after. While this is happening, Jaune tries to use his Semblance to heal Nora's scars, but says that he can't heal them. Once Ren and Nora begin to talk about their personal issues with each other, Jaune decides to leave the room they were in so he wouldn't get in their way.

Soon, tension returns as the group finds Penny once again struggling against the virus. Blake and Ren use their weapons to keep Penny from flying away. Using Jaune's Semblance to boost Penny's Aura to combat the virus, Penny calms down temporarily. In her attempt to give everyone encouragement, Emerald admits that she has switched sides. With the mood lightened, Ozpin tells everyone through Oscar that he realizes he should have trusted them with the truth and should not have run away when they discovered it for themselves. Yang, Blake and Weiss state that they understand that trust is a risk. The virus continues trying to force Penny to go to the vault, and Ruby gets an idea.

Soon after, Penny arrives alone to meet Ironwood, and Winter places a Gravity Bolas on her wrists. Once Ironwood lets his guard down, "Penny" reveals that she is actually Emerald, who used her Semblance to disguise herself and hide Oscar, Jaune, Nora, and Ren, who leap off the airship they arrived on. Emerald takes advantage of Ironwood's surprise and disarms him before the others engage him in combat. During the fight, Winter assists Jaune's group and eventually breaks Ironwood's Aura, knocking him unconscious. After they restrain him, Jaune's group attempts to warn the people of Atlas and Mantle about Atlas beginning to fall, but are cut off due to interference from Arthur Watts. Due to this, Jaune is forced to use the portal to warn the citizens himself. The group later makes their way to the Vault, where Team RWBY has since created the Evacuation Central Location with the help of Ambrosius to save the citizens of Mantle and Atlas.

Shortly after, inside the pocket location, Cinder unleashes an explosive blast, sending refugees flying off of a platform. This draws Team RWBY's attention, and they begin to fight Cinder.

While Team RWBY is distracted fighting Cinder, Neo sneaks up on them, using her Semblance to disguise herself. When Yang notices Neo moving in to attack Ruby, she activates her Semblance, launches herself forward and pushes Ruby out of the way, taking the hit. Yang loses consciousness, her Aura breaks and she is sent tumbling over the edge of the platform. Blake desperately tries and fails to catch her with Gambol Shroud, and Yang falls into the void below. Penny, alerted by Blake's emotional cry, flies over to the platform and engages Cinder in a fight, while Blake furiously teams up with Ruby against Neo. Weiss, who was already fighting Cinder, attempts to lend support to Penny but is soon exhausted.

The fighting in the Evacuation Central Location continues, and Jaune stresses to Nora that their top priority is finishing the evacuation. Weiss uses her Queen Lancer summon to narrowly rescue Penny from Cinder's Grimm hand. Penny tells Weiss to let her sacrifice herself, to protect everyone. Cinder destroys the summon while Weiss is distracted, dropping them onto the main platform and damaging their Auras. Penny offers herself as a target to Cinder, trying to distract her from Weiss and the Staff, but Cinder sneers, saying she wants it all. Blake jumps into the fight, and Weiss flees with the Staff while Blake and Penny face Cinder.

As her enemies advance, Cinder uses fire to separate Penny from Weiss and Jaune, then impales Penny with her Grimm claws. Before she can siphon Penny's Maiden powers, however, she is attacked by Weiss. Jaune tries to heal Penny with his Semblance, but Penny tells him there is no time. Determined not to let Cinder claim both Relics and the Maiden's power, she tells Jaune to finish her off, letting her finally choose something on her own: who to pass her power on to. As she speaks, Weiss loses Gambol Shroud to the void, and in the Vault, Ironwood breaks Winter’s Aura. Jaune finally grants Penny's request, stabbing her with his sword, killing Penny.

After Penny's death, Winter Schnee becomes the next Winter Maiden and uses her new powers to defeat Ironwood. She later attempts to help the group in the Evacuation Central Location, but fails to save Team RWBY and Jaune from falling into the void. After this, Winter decided to use her new powers to defend the refugees in Vacuo.

As Jaune fell into the void, he saw Crescent Rose falling just ahead of him so he tracks towards it. He later finds himself on a beach wondering where he is. After wandering in the jungle as the suns were setting, he comes across a tree with fruit that bears clock faces. Curious, he picks one off but then the hands stars to spin counterclockwise and the suns and the clouds go in reverse. Looking up he sees light streaks that corresponds to Team RWBY and Neopolitan in reverse order of how they will arrive in the Ever After. Jaune panics in trying to make the Stopwatch Fruit stop until he finally smashes it with the sheathed Crocea Mors. Time then resumes it's normal progression but Jaune doesn't know how far back he traveled and decides to wait at the beach for when his friends eventually come. During his wait he built himself a hut, gained additional armor and his equipment gets worn and rusted as he aged.

One night, he saw two streaks of light fall alongside each other. It turns out that the two of them were siblings from Remnant named Alyx and Lewis. Jaune introduced himself also from Remnant who was waiting for his friends and travels with them alongside the Curious Cat to help them get home. It didn't take long for Jaune to realize he was with Alyx from the story of *The Girl Who Fell Through the World* and that he was the Rusted Knight of the tale. Throughout the journey though, Jaune sees that Alyx had a nastier personality than what was depicted in the story and that Lewis exhibit the positive aspects the story Alyx was depicted with. As they continue to trek through the Ever After, they went to places and met people who were not mentioned in the story such as the Herbalist. After meeting him though Alyx seemed to grow distrustful of her friends and accused them of things and the more Jaune tried to keep the story on track the more distrustful she became of him. This threw Jaune for a loop which made him wonder if he did something to change the story. During a rest for food as he was filled with self doubt, Alyx gave him a bowl which he partook with a smile but then was debilitated from it being poisoned which corresponds to a scene from the the story.

Alyx tells him that she wouldn't let anyone get in the way of her leaving and would do whatever it takes, leaving Jaune to die as she continued the journey with her brother and the Cat.

Sometime later, the Cat came for Jaune which led him to hypothesize that the Cat's purpose in part of Ascension is to feed others to the Great Tree, that Alyx had sacrificed her brother for a way home and she fabricated her retelling of her adventure that became the story *The Girl Who Fell Through the World*.

Jaune would be taken to the Paper Pleasers' village in the Origami Acre by a jackalope which he would name Juniper. There he would be taken care of and where he would wait for Team RWBY as he took it upon himself to protect the Paper Pleasers from Ascension (which he now views as death) while also traveling and mapping out the Ever After for anything or anyone other than the Great Tree for a way back to Remnant. Some indeterminate years later he would find Crescent Rose and knew that the time drew near that his friends would arrive.

In the Garden, as the Rusted Knight, he rode on Juniper to save Team RWBY from the Jabberwalker and kept it distracted long enough for the three shrunken members to consume the fallen Growgurt Parfait to return to normal size. After the fight, it was revealed that the Jabberwalker was a clone made from Neo's Semblance. Then more Jabberwalker clones appear, which he would exclaim that there should only be one of that being, cutting off their path down the Garden. The Rusted Knight tells Team RWBY to run and they followed him to the top of the Garden to a hidden passage that would lead down and out to another acre. In the passage, the Rusted Knight reveals himself to be a much older Jaune much to the shock of the team.

Jaune tell team RWBY of his fall into the Ever After, his travel to the past and that he waited for them to eventually fall. He paused his recollection to ask them if they were actually them, being unsure if what he sees is real. They assure him that they are and gives him a group hug which put him at ease. They then proceed to ask him questions such as how did he find them, how is he the Rusted Knight, when did he get so mature and especially what happened to Atlas. He proceeds to catch them up the best he could as they travel to the next acre.

In the next acre, he surveys an upcoming storm as team RWBY try to process what they learned from him. As he starts taking them to his village, he admits how surprised he was that they were able to make it from the King's Acre on their own, but when Blake mentions the Curious Cat, Jaune grimaces just as the Cat arrives. Jaune pulls his broken sword on them but is held back by Blake as she tells him that the Cat can guide them out of the Ever After. Jaune, however, says they don't need a guide. When the Cat tells him that they were taking the girls to the Great Tree, Jaune tells Team RWBY what he thinks about the tree, and when the Cat says that humans can't ascend, Jaune asks them what happened to Lewis. However, the storm finally reaches them.

Jaune finds himself with Juniper, Ruby, and Weiss and explains that they are in a "punderstorm"; a weather pattern that creates a physical manifestation of a mental or emotional problem, and because the Cat said that they were at a "crossroad" regarding who was telling the truth, the group now found themselves at a metaphorical and physical crossroad. He says that they can either wait for the storm to pass or resolve the problem, with him choosing to keep moving. When Ruby asks where Yang and Blake are, he says they have something bigger to work out, which is why they are elsewhere.

As they walk around, Jaune tells Ruby and Weiss that *The Girl Who Fell Through the World* was a real story and recounts his experience with it, as well as why he doesn't trust the Curious Cat because he believes they only exist to feed the Great Tree. After they reunite with the Cat, they tell Ruby that she should stick with Jaune after being seemingly hurt by her and Weiss's accusations towards them; the decision cause the punderstorm to end, and Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune witness Blake and Yang sharing a kiss, with Jaune commenting that he waited forever to see it.

By nightfall, Jaune brings Team RWBY to his hut in the Origami Acre, where he presents Ruby with Crescent Rose, which she thanks him for. After that, they go to sleep.

In the morning, Jaune wakes from his sleep after he hears a noise and says he's late, reasoning he overslept because of the events from yesterday. Team RWBY joins him as he tells them to get to the village while he puts out the fire that was started. After arriving at the village and stopping the fire, Jaune explains to the girls about the Paper Pleasers and how they took care of him after Alyx poisoned him. He also reveals that he named the villagers after people he had come in contact with, which somewhat disturbs the girls.

While having brunch, Jaune shows Team RWBY his map of the Ever After, but when Yang asks if this is his only plan to find a way out of the Ever After, Jaune reveals that he spends most of his time keeping the Paper Pleasers from ascending by preventing catastrophes in the village. But now that Team RWBY has arrived, he tells them that they can do his job for him while he continues to look for an exit. When the team doesn't respond, he tries to assure them that this "plan" will work, even though at one point he tries to reassure everyone (including himself) that he isn't crazy. He decides to show everyone around before the pebble tower falls and goes off to saddle up Juniper. When he returns though, he overhears the girls talking about convincing him to let the Paper Pleasers ascend and how mentally unwell he really is, which causes him to walk off angrily.

Yang tells Jaune that they should consider that the Great Tree isn't as bad as he thinks it is, but he tells the girls that he considers Afterans either too clever, too stupid, or too crazy to trust, which is why he can't take their word about the Great Tree. Weiss asks him why he cares so much about the Paper Pleasers and Jaune tells her it is because he can actually "protect" them. Just then, a horde of Jabberwalker clones arrive and attack the village, prompting Jaune and Team RWBY (except for Ruby) to fight back. After all of them are destroyed, an annoyed Jaune tries to give Ruby Crescent Rose, which she dropped during the fight, but when she recoils from it, he realizes something is wrong with her. Unfortunately, he doesn't focus on it too long because the Paper Pleasers manage to topple the pebble tower, breaking the koi pond dam and flooding the village, allowing them all to ascend.

Jaune collapses in anguish over failing to protect the villagers, and when Ruby has her mental breakdown and calls the Paper Pleasers his "make-believe friends," Jaune angrily blames her for the Paper Pleasers' destruction and for getting them all stuck in the Ever After, telling her her plan to save both Atlas and Mantle didn't work, which causes Ruby to start tearing up. Weiss pulls him out of his rage and he admits he isn't well because of how long he's been in the Ever After dealing with his trauma of killing Penny. He is shocked when Ruby tells Blake to shut up when she tries to assure everyone.

The group later reconciled and left the Ever After.

## Personality

Jaune begins as 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. When faced with entirely new social situations, Jaune's confidence leads to bold behavior. This can become out of hand and backfire especially when pursuing romance. His voice actor, Miles Luna, admitted this by saying when Jaune tries too hard it can cause a misunderstanding. At heart, Jaune is a kind, amiable person and means well. Additionally, Jaune is prone to get airsick, as seen in "Ruby Rose" and "As Above, So Below".

Jaune 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 to uphold his family motto of not going back on one's word. During conversations, Jaune never contradicts himself and, while sometimes harsh, is always honest with answers.

Jaune is shown to care for his friends and the people around him, being protective of them and having a sense of responsibility as team leader. He focuses only on his teammates' well-being physically, mentally, and emotionally, disregarding his own to ensure theirs. He steps forward when others threaten his friends, and he has proven himself unwilling to do something that may hurt those he cares about.

At first, Jaune's family lineage leads to an obsession with being a hero. However, he was never formally trained like others in his family, causing 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 act dishonestly to achieve it- even using fake transcripts to be admitted to Beacon. The obsession had made him brash and headstrong in battle, jumping in without considering the risks and behaving predictably offensively.

However, following the Fall of Beacon, his personality had 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 would also get angry at Qrow Branwen for his involvement in Pyrrha's death, openly accusing him of using Ruby as bait. This was a completely different reaction from a year earlier when he tried to justify Cardin's bullying. Jaune initially tried to keep his grief to himself, as he had continued to train on his own as a way to cope with the death of Pyrrha, listening to her recordings on his scroll, which had shown a deep-seated sense of regret and guilt at not being able to save her from Cinder Fall. Jaune's good nature renders him almost incapable of comprehending the actions and personalities of people like Cinder, unable to fathom how someone can be so cold and cruel. This expression of disbelief at the sheer sadism of others serves to show how idealistic and noble Jaune remains despite his trials and losses, ultimately proving him to be a fundamentally humane and caring individual.

While Jaune is a good person, he has shown that he is not above loosing his cool, as seen when he punched a hole in the wall of his sister's house and when he took his anger out on Oscar Pine over Ozpin keeping so many secrets. In spite of this, he isn't above keeping secrets himself. In "A New Approach", he went along with Ruby's decision to lie to James Ironwood and keep Ozpin's disappearance, how many questions left in the Relic of Knowledge, and Salem's immortality a secret from him.

It is only when he found Pyrrha's memorial statue in Argus that he finally came to terms with her death, understanding that she had to try and make a difference despite the overwhelming odds against her, and became inspired to follow her example. This is best seen where in "Fault", where instead of getting mad at Ren who insulted him for faking his transcripts, he chooses not to argue and focus on getting to shelter. It is also during this period that he also becomes a lot more patient and wise, mediating the argument between Ruby and Yang as well as giving advice to Ren in order for him to open up on how he was feeling.

Despite his optimistic and ideal attitude, Jaune has been shown to be a remarkably strong-willed individual by doing things that most characters would not be easily willing to do. One such example of this is when he forced himself to go through with taking Penny's life in order to fulfill her desire to pass the Maiden powers on to Winter Schnee and, in the process, prevent Cinder from acquiring even more power. Despite having the will to commit to such a decision, Jaune was still distraught by the act of killing his friend, screaming and crying while he did so.

After the destruction of Atlas and Mantle, being forced to spend decades alone trapped in the Ever After, as well as being poisoned by Alyx and left for dead, Jaune's overall mental state was severely affected. Because of this, he was more prone to fits of anger, such as when he met the Curious Cat again, and when he would lament at the fact that he couldn't even be the "make-believe hero" when he tried to get Alyx and Lewis on the same path as the fairy tale in order to get home. His mental state was so severely affected, he wasn't initially sure Team RWBY was real and not a hallucination until they hugged him and reaffirmed that they were, in fact, real.

Alongside his deteriorating mental state, Jaune also showed strong signs of depression from the severe isolation and loneliness within the Ever After. This is shown in “The Perils of Paper Houses”, where Jaune's deteriorated mental state was exemplified in how he treated the Paper Pleasers. He named them after the people that he had once known and cared about back on Remnant as a way to still feel connected to them, which prevented him from letting them ascend since he viewed ascension as death, which reminded him of his past failures and his inability to save others. He also developed a deep hatred and prejudice against Afterans, believing them all to be either too clever, too stupid, or too crazy to trust. However, his attachment to the Paper Pleasers was demonstrated when they were finally able to ascend after the village was flooded due to a break in the dam, where he collapsed to the ground in sorrow, lamenting the fact that he had once again failed to save something close to him. He would later show open hostility towards Ruby for trivializing their "deaths" when she had called them his "make-believe friends", only calming down and apologizing after Weiss approached him.

However, in “A Tale Involving a Tree”, Jaune’s mentality would begin to improve for the better. After initially being confused at what the Ever After "wanted" from him and being tormented at being unable to save Ruby, Jaune was brought back to the Paper Acre alongside Weiss, Blake and Yang, where he would then meet the new incarnation of the Paper Pleasers, the Genial Gems. Jaune would watch as the Gems began rebuilding and remaking the flooded town of the Pleasers, causing him to realize that the errors of his actions as their "hero" through overprotecting them had prevented them from becoming what they needed to be due to a desire to be a hero and get the rush from successfully saving someone. After being comforted by Weiss and assured that he wasn't a failure by her, Blake, and Yang, Jaune's emotional and psychological state had been considerably restored as he accepted himself alongside his flaws and failures. This moment made Jaune realize that just because he had failed and made mistakes, it didn't mean that he was a failure as a person or a Huntsman.

## Powers and Abilities

Despite not having it unlocked prior to the Beacon initiation, Pyrrha had 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. Overtime, Jaune would use his shield and his durability to his advantage, taking or deflecting hits from opponents in order to force them within striking range of his sword.

During the initiation, Jaune demonstrated 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.

Although he initially didn't have much skill in fighting, he did have considerable physical strength than would be expected out of him. While not at the level of his teammate Nora Valkyrie, he is strong enough to deflect an attack from a giant Death Stalker with his shield as well as decapitate an Ursa Major with a one-handed swing of his sword. During his fight with the Nuckelavee Grimm, he was able to hold back its charge for a few seconds. In his brief bout with Tyrian Callows, he was strong enough to hold him up on his shield. During his brief battle with Cinder, he was able to lock swords with her and not budge. He has also shown at various points in the series that he is capable of launching his teammates into the air from his shield with one arm. His attacks are also shown to be incredibly strong. He is capable of cutting through the flesh of large Grimm with ease and the great force behind his attacks is made evident when the impact of his blade clashing with Cinder's caused a chain behind her to move despite being several meters away.

Jaune's weapon of choice is **Crocea Mors**. 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. It 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 weapons, Miló and Akoúo̱. 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.

During his stay in Atlas, the weapon has received further upgrades. The sword now has Hard Light Dust built into the sides, allowing Jaune to cover more of his body when using the shield in defense and give his weapon a sharper edge. The Hard Light also allows Jaune to use the shield as an improvised paraglider. Jaune has also had his emblem on the shield modified to store Gravity Dust, allowing him to blast targets away or break long falls by using the shield as a bounce pad.

In "The Final Word", Crocea Mors was broken by Cinder Fall after she attacked Jaune in a fit of rage due to him killing Penny Polendina in order to deny Cinder the Winter Maiden's powers.

While in Atlas he also acquired a **Disc Grenade**, which can project a Hard Light Dust shield and be pulled back to Crocea Mors through the use of Gravity Dust. The Disc Grenade was shown to be durable enough to withstand attacks from multiple Sabyr Grimm as well as a large fireball created by Cinder Fall.

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.

Jaune's Semblance, **Aura Amp**, allows him to amplify his own Aura and that of others, effectively increasing the effects of Aura. He first accidentally uses it in "Forever Fall, Pt.2" when his Aura shield is intensified to the point of Cardin hurting his hand after punching him. Jaune can also use his Semblance to accelerate the healing effects of Aura and intensify another person's Semblance, as well as helping Penny Polendina resist the effects of a virus meant to control her actions. He can also amplify his own aura, shown when training with the Ace-Ops his aura went from 65% to 95%. However, it cannot remove severe scar tissue from a person's body as shown when he tried to heal Nora in "Risk".

He does not fully discover his Semblance until "Vault of the Spring Maiden" when he desperately tries to save Weiss Schnee's life and helps her recover from severe injury by amplifying her Aura.

Jaune's lack of experience had 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 three volumes, Jaune would always be the person on Team JNPR that contributed the least in terms of physical feats, much to his frustration. Additionally, while his physical strength is notable, he would rarely show it unless enraged by someone like Cinder, and would fly off the handle when doing so.

Starting out, Jaune would be prompt to recklessly charge enemies when engaging them in single combat, which led him to be defeated in a spar with Cardin, and nearly got Jaune to lose all his Aura against an Ursa during the events of "Forever Fall". In his first encounter with Cinder during the events of "The More the Merrier", Jaune once again charged against a stronger enemy without a plan, fully intending to subdue her with brute force, and was easily defeated. Although Jaune usually keeps his emotions in check during a fight, the previously mentioned cases had shown that Jaune would be easily angered at even the slightest provocation, which caused him to make mistakes. Jaune implied during his confrontation with Cinder that he had developed a martyr complex, justifying himself dying as long as it bought his allies time to accomplish an objective. Cinder bluntly dismissed him as "a failure with a death wish," and Ren and Nora would later confront Jaune about his complex during their stay in Argus.

Jaune has since taken efforts to improve upon his weaknesses in the months after the Fall of Beacon, as evidenced in "Remembrance" where he trained 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. The independent training he underwent has since allowed him to become a more competent combatant that can confidently fight alongside his peers.

During his time in Atlas, Jaune showed drastic improvement in both his fighting skill and keeping his emotions in check during battle. He was able to use his upgraded shield as a glider, allowing him to fly around and propel both himself and his opponent in battle, providing better mobility in the air. His competency in combat has improved to such an extent that he was able to defeat Flynt Coal in one of his team's sparring sessions by himself. He has also shown to no longer rush into danger, as after he was forced to kill Penny Polendina and saw all of Team RWBY fall to their presumed deaths, he did not rush and attack Cinder Fall, instead deciding to retreat. He even ordered Winter Schnee to do so as well to prevent the risk of the Maiden powers falling to Cinder.