Jeanne

Jeanne, the Hellfire Witch is a major protagonist of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas. A vampire born during the War, Jeanne was once a Bourreau, an enslaved vampire tasked with executing their kin. She killed over a thousand other vampires before entering a century-long coma induced by her master, Lord August Ruthven. Upon waking, the War was over, and she was made the Chevalier of Ruthven's nephew, Lucius Oriflamme, serving as his bodyguard. She suffers from a mysterious illness that caused her to obsessively seek blood, similar to blood addiction or Malnomen, but the actual cause of her condition is unknown. Jeanne is a thin, voluptuous young woman with pale skin. She has a smooth, round face with an angular chin, and large, round, yellow eyes. Her eyelashes were thick and long, and she had thin eyebrows, a small nose, and full lips. Vanitas notes that she makes wonderful expressions, and she was quick to blush. After awakening from her slumber, she kept straight, white hair that fell to her mid-neck and mid-length bangs. She was described as astonishingly beautiful. Like all vampires, her eyes occasionally turn red. Jeanne regularly dons a double-breasted, high-collared white coat with red trim. She wears a long, red-trimmed, white wrap skirt, the buckles of which can break apart to allow easier movement. Beneath her skirt, she wore pink thigh-high socks and silver armored boots. Occasionally, she wears a white, red-lined capelet with a hood. When wearing her gauntlet, Carpe Diem, her entire right arm is concealed by the crimson armor of the weapon. She wears fingerless gloves on both hands. Prior to her reawakening, Jeanne had long hair which flowed about halfway down her back and twin braids adorning each side of her scalp. She wore a long black dress with a lace collar and a black cape. As a child, Jeanne had long hair and would usually wear a long, lacy dress. Jeanne is initially presented as a ruthless fighter, though one fiercely protective of her young charge, Luca. Insults to Luca enrage her, and Vanitas remarks she had no intention of taking him alive after he had offended him. Despite her lack of restraint in combat, Jeanne is weak to threats to those she wants to protect. After Vanitas tricked her into believing he'd taken Luca hostage, she refused to fight him further. Her fear of harm coming to Luca allowed Vanitas to touch her against her consent, to Jeanne's disgust, and after realizing Luca was not in danger she grew to hate him. Though violent and determined over even small matters (such as insults to the art of pastry making), Jeanne's life of enslavement left her naive and with the heart of a maiden. She does not know much about Paris, and Dominique's attempts to flirt with her caused her concern regarding their difference in class. She also tends to have opinions on people that are either one extreme or the other, either love or hate. Dominique's affection for her causes Jeanne to give her a perhaps undue amount of admiration. Conversely, she initially states she would rather commit suicide than pretend to like Vanitas. Early in childhood, Jeanne had been convinced that she served the role of a "doll," and deviating from her orders would result in punishment. She saw this conviction realized when her parents were executed, as when Chloé had been slated for death. As such, she is easily moved by acts of perceived kindness. After Vanitas began to blackmail her using her affliction, she confessed a fear of eventually hurting Luca. His promise to kill her when she would eventually harm her love ones struck Jeanne as deeply sympathetic. As she believes she should not be allowed her own wants or needs, she fears intimate relationships, and attempts to warn Vanitas that he will die if he stays with her. His refusal to leave further endeared her to him. She eventually initiates acts of intimacy with him on her own, sometimes without or even against his consent, causing Jeanne to suspect she is a bit of a pervert. Though Dominique and Luca continued to tell Jeanne that Vanitas had treated her horribly, his promise had intimately affected her. Narration states that once she believes in someone, she never doubts. After warming up to Vanitas, Jeanne affects a much more joyful disposition, and frequently talks about her love for him. She did not believe she'd ever experience romance due to her position as a Bourreau, so Vanitas's romantic affections for her seemed something of a miracle. Her affection for him cause her to regard him as fragile, and she stated a desire to dominate him, as well as fantasizing about making him play the role of a princess in a tower. Though Vanitas was less enthusiastic about their relationship, and others advised her against pursuing him, Jeanne continues to insist that Vanitas is a good person with her best interests at heart.