Jaune Arc is a character who at least in my perception gets criticised more than anyone else on the show. The hate he gets by the fandom is something I noticed last year during Volume 4 and again during Volume 5. I think I know where a lot of his criticism comes from and want to explain why I love him anyway.
People often point out that Jaune is stealing screen time from the “actual” main characters of the show and that women get hurt to further his character development. While it is true that he got a rather long arc during Volume 1 that spread over several episodes, at least that point isn’t true at all when it comes to Volume 4 and Volume 5. And while it is true that Weiss got hurt to further his development (why that isn’t really a problem is a topic for another post) and in regards of Pyrrha that just isn’t true (also a topic for another post).
The reason why people still voice this criticism is not because the RWBY writers screwed up, but because countless other writers did. It’s not like Jaune actually stole screentime from our female main characters, but we expect him to do exactly that. It’s not that Pyrrha actually got fridged only to further his development, but we expect exactly that to happen.
Jaune is the type of character stories like RWBY are usually about. He is the underdog, the hero no one expects to be heroic, the boy who had less training and less chances than anyone else and still exceeds everyone’s expectations. The well-known Hero’s Journey is familiar to all of us and uses characters like Jaune all the time, just think about Luke Skywalker. They all start off less skilled than everyone around them and still save the day.
Jaune Arc sneaks his way into Beacon. He didn’t have the training everyone else had and he feels like he doesn’t belong there (because he doesn’t). We would expect him to get better and rise above everyone else, to become the strongest character on the show, because that’s what always happens. It’s clear that this is what Jaune expected too.
What makes Jaune interesting is that this doesn’t happen. Jaune has to realise that he is the weakest link of his team and he continuously struggles with that and is afraid of putting his team at danger. If Pyrrha hadn’t encouraged him and trained with him he probably would have left Beacon during his first semester. The writers aren’t just aware of how unrealistic those expectations are, they also let Jaune become aware of it, and that is a very interesting twist to that trope.
Throughout the story Jaune has to learn he isn’t the strongest fighter of his team, and he will probably never be the hero he wanted to be. He isn’t completely useless – he’s still a good strategist and leader, on top of that a good friend who gives Ruby the emotional support she needs in Volume 4. But he realises that he is nothing without his team, and later even puts their life over his when he confronts Cinder, inspired by Pyrrha’s sacrifice.
His semblance is the ultimate representation of that. It’s extremely useful as he’s able to amplify other people’s auras, saving Weiss in Volume 5 and probably being able to strengthen someone else’s semblance. But he didn’t heal Weiss, he helped her heal herself. His semblance is utterly useless when he’s on his own, only of help in combination with someone else.
I always felt like Jaune was a very interesting representation of toxic masculinity. To me it always seemed like he had internalised a lot of stereotypes of what men have to be – brave and strong heroes. And then he has to realise that he is the weakest link of his team, that he is the damsel in distress, a trope usually reserved for women. He can only grow beyond that because he realises he isn’t as strong as he wants to be, because he realises he has flaws and accepts the help of a woman who is more skilled than him.
Jaune Arc is an interesting and realistic turn on the trope of the underdog hero who exceeds everyone else – because he has to realise that he can’t. That’s what kept me watching during Volume 1 and it’s why I love Jaune Arc so much.
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