Janne Balestra

Janne Balestra, also known as Janne Angard, is a character in Bravely Second: End Layer. Nicknamed "The Blazing Wolf", he is a swordsman serving as one of the Three Cavaliers tasked to protect Agnès Oblige. He carries the Fencer asterisk.

Appearance
Janne is a sixteen-year-old boy with long black hair and green eyes. He wears a long blue jacket with a white lion symbol in the center, white cuffs and collar. The jacket has a gold back and trim on the cuffs and collar. He wears white pants with a black belt, brown boots and brown gloves.

Janne's Imperial outfit consists of a long black jacket with the Glanz Empire symbol in the center, red cuffs and collar. The jacket has a red back and silver trim on the cuffs and the collar. He wears black pants with a black belt and black boots. His hair becomes dark grey with white tips and he wears dark red/purple gloves.

Story
Having come from the Balestra family in Gathelatio, Janne was orphaned at a young age and forced to fend for himself on the streets. Later he studied fencing in Al-Khampis, where he originally met Yew Geneolgia. When he returned to his home country he joined the Crystalguard, as it offered him a chance to raise up the ranks without prejudice from his humble background.

After Kaiser Oblivion kidnaps the pope, Agnès Oblige, Janne and his fellow cavalier Nikolai Nikolanikov appear in Gathelatio's sanctum, telling Yew about the Crystalguard's forces being wiped out by the kaiser's attack. He was shocked when Yew decides to head to the Skyhold to rescue Agnès, and decides to join him, along with Nikolai.

In Pilgrim's Grove, Janne reveals that he is actually a spy for the kaiser, and betrays Yew, killing several of the Crystalguard Knights. He offers Yew a place by his side but knew that Yew would refuse, and shows no hesitation in trying to kill him. After Yew escapes he is known to have reported back to Anne, having only accomplished one of his two tasks; to kill Yew and to kill his fellow companions.

After chasing Janne to Ancheim after he obtains the Compass of Space and Time in the Harena Sea Caves, he reveals his true origins, as the son of a wealthy and honorable family, of equal status to the House of Geneolgia. 16 years before current events when the Orthodoxy was forced to withdraw, his family had opposed and sought to continue their righteous activities of protecting the vestals. The Crystalguard then murdered his family in cold blood in order to gain their riches and pillage their house, to remain safe. This involved the cooperation of the House of Geneolgia. Janne was then adopted by his father's squire, who would look after him until his dying day. He mentions that as his foster parents lay in their deathbed, they had told him the truth and told him to keep it a secret to the grave, something he admits he has failed after he tells Yew. Janne had joined Kaiser Oblivion in search of vengeance.

When the party visits the Fire Crystal, Janne appears once again to battle them and learn the kaiser's true objective, to recreate the world with the Compass of Space and Time. After the battle, he falls, seemingly to his death.

Later, he is revealed to have survived and reached the Skyhold. When Yew's party approaches, Janne volunteers to stop them from reaching the kaiser and Anne.

Gameplay
In battle, Janne utilizes his skills as the bearer of the Fencer asterisk. He will start the battle by going into the Blazing Wolf stance, then uses the Wolf Fang and Goring Aurochs special moves in succession to deal damage and boost his offence and defence stats at the same time.

In later fights, Janne will also begin using Stampede to deal high-damage counters to those who physically attack him while he is in the Stalwart Aurochs stance. It is thus important to either save physical attacks for the periods he is in another stance, or to use a magic-based attack plan.

In his final battle, Janne will use the Soaring Falcon stance to boost his speed, and unleash Falcon Claw attacks for massive damage on random targets.

Voice
Janne is voiced by Yasuyuki Kase in the Japanese version. He shares his Japanese voice actor with Johnny from Final Fantasy VII, Rasler Heios Nabradia from Final Fantasy XII, and Rygdea from Final Fantasy XIII.

He is voiced by Tony Azzolino in the English version.

Etymology
"Angard", Janne's fake surname, is a play on the fencing term en garde, which is French for "on guard."

"Balestra", his real surname, is a type of forward step in fencing.

Trivia

 * Janne is fought the most times out of any asterisk holder in Bravely Second, with a total of four battles against him (twice with Nikolai, and twice by himself).
 * At the age of 16, Janne is currently the second youngest asterisk holder in the entire Bravely series, a record still held by Artemia Venus (in Japan) He is also tied with Jackal (in all other countries).