Jean Pierre Polnareff

Jean Pierre Polnareff (ジャン＝ピエール・ポルナレフ) is one of the major characters in Part III: Stardust Crusaders, and makes a further appearance later on in Part V: Vento Aureo. He went with Jotaro and Joseph to get revenge for his sister, who was raped and murdered by a man with two right hands.

Personality
Polnareff is the stereotypical "good-natured klutz". He is heroic and protective of those he loves, but is not very bright (although he has shown lots of cunning and strategy throughout the series). He is very impulsive and loud, and is quick to jump into action without considering the risk, character traits that have landed him in lots of trouble. However, he is sincerely dedicated to doing good, and is a good man who can watch his friends' backs. He also fancies himself as a ladies man, but his personality implies that he overestimates his actual prowess.

Out of all the characters in the series, Polnareff is the one who has the least problems showing his feelings, and he adds a lot of humor and warmth to what would otherwise be a pretty cold team (Kakyoin and Jotaro in particular are very cold characters). Indeed, while he may sometimes be seen as the comic relief of the series, Polnareff's companions appreciate his good nature and trust him to help them win when a tough battle arrives.

Interestingly, Polnareff's best friends during the course of the series are Avdol and Iggy, neither of whom he could stand when they first met. In fact, no character mourns the deaths of his companions like Polnareff does, and no other character is as dedicated to avenging them.

History
Polnareff was born with his stand, though does not realize it until some time later. His mother died when he was still young, leaving him a very lonely kid. This aggravated when, three years before events of Part 3, his sister was ambushed, raped, and murdered by J. Gail, sparking Polnareff's desire for revenge. Subsequently, Polnareff trains constantly with his stand to avenge his sister and kill J. Gail. His Stand powers attracted Dio, who lured him with Jonathan's Stand and brainwashed him afterward.

Stardust Crusaders (1986-1988)
Under Dio's influence, Polnareff attacked the Joestar party in Hong Kong. He was confronted by Avdol and defeated after some difficulty. While Polnareff conceded his defeat, Jotaro sensed Dio's cells in the man's forehead and removed the implant. Afterwards, Polnareff joined the Joestar group in their quest to destroy Dio, with his ultimate goal being to find his sister's murderer.

During the journey Polnareff careless, falling victim to his enemies multiple times. In one of these moments he was attacked by Devo, but managed to take care of the enemy.

He got his shot at J. Gail, his sister's murderer, and successfully avenged her death. Unfortunately, during the battle with J. Gail and his partner Hol Horse, Avdol was seemingly killed, saving Polnareff's life. Avdol's death weighed very heavily on him. At one point, Polnareff became attracted to Nena, believing her to be a woman tricked by Hol Horse, until Joseph managed to defeat her stand. Polnareff almost crashed his car because of a trick pulled by ZZ and became friends of Enya Gail, unaware that she was pretending to be friendly to avenge her son J. Gail, until she attacked him with Justice.

Polnareff was of great help against Steely Dan, helping Kakyoin into freeing Joseph of The Lovers control. Polnareff was later almost killed by Mannish Boy's Death 13, but was saved by Kakyoin at the last moment.

He also was tricked by Cameo's stand Judgment into wishing for his sister Sherry and Avdol back to life. These clones attacked Polnareff as clay golems, but the real Avdol reappeared and saved him, having survived Hol Horse's attack after all. After the defeat of Midler he, like the womanizer that he is, decided to take a look at her, but lamented after seeing her teeth got all knocked out.

The Genesis of Universe: One-Way Trip from Desert To Hell
(The italicized information below derives from a Light Novel not written by Araki. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.) ''Polnareff was the one to defeat Michal, the weilder of the mirage-creator stand Dark Mirage. When he finally discovered her location he was afraid of hurting the woman because of his policy of not hurting women, even if it's an enemy. To not hurt Michal, Polnareff ended the battle with a single blow with the back of Silver Chariot's sword, knocking her out.''

Polnareff unnitentionally helped the group against Oingo's orange-shaped bomb plan. He kept asking Boingo to do things only Jotaro knew, making the enemy nervous with the possibility of them finding out his real identity. Polnareff once again fell victim of Hol Horse, who held him at gun-point and followed Thoth's weird predictions before they backfired at him.

After fighting the controlled Chaka and Khan, Polnareff was possessed by Anubis, once again falling under Dio's control, but was freed by Jotaro a second time. In Luxor, he is turned into his younger days by Alessi and his Stand Sethan but still manages to outshine him. Polnareff challenges Daniel J. D'Arby to a guessing game and bets his soul, but loses thanks to Daniel's cat and is saved by Jotaro once again.

The Genesis of Universe: The Gravestone of Red-Hot Sand
(The italicized information below derives from a Light Novel not written by Araki. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.) ''Polnareff is defeated by The Scribe Ani, who belives him to be dead and leaves his body alone. Polnareff returns to help his friends against the enemy, succesfully damaging his stand Ptah by cooperating with Joseph.''

During the invasion of Dio's mansion, Polnareff was warned by Avdol that he would need to be careful, because his friends couldn't save him again. Polnareff agrees, but is almost killed by Vanilla Ice and saved at the price of two friends' lives. Both Avdol and Iggy died in the battle against Cream, the latter protecting Polnareff until the end. To avenge them, Polnareff finally defeated Vanilla Ice and helped in the battle against Dio. After Dio's ultimate defeat, Polnareff tearfully parted with Jotaro and Joseph, remembering the three friends who had died on their journey.

Vento Aureo (2001)
Before the events of Vento Aureo, Polnareff attempted and failed to assassinate Diavolo. He was tossed off a cliff and sustained critical injuries, including the loss of one of his eyes and the use of his lower legs. Due to his survival, Polnareff was considered to be the biggest threat to Diavolo. A confident Polnareff, crippled and in a wheelchair, encountered Buccellati's gang via the internet telling him to visit him in Rome.

Somewhere near the end of Vento Aureo, he encountered Doppio accompaning the dying Buccellati, however not knowing the boy was secretly Diavolo. Polnareff was taken by surprise and tried to get the arrow away from Diavolo. Polnareff was severely injured by King Crimson, but not before using the arrow on his own stand.

When his body died, it left Silver Chariot Requiem as an insane stand without direction. The resulting body switch put his soul inside of Coco Jumbo. After all souls were put in the proper body, Polnareff maintained his place inside of Coco Jumbo. He claimed he could do this because of how powerful Coco Jumbo's stand was, as it allowed his spirit to linger. He spends the rest of his days in Passione under the new boss Giorno Giovanna, as a high-ranked operative.

Stand
Polnareff's stand Silver Chariot presents itself as a warrior in a silver armor, just like a true knight. Polnareff's knighthood shows itself by the way he treats his friends: honor and loyalty. His stand represents the Tarot Card "The Chariot', which symbolizes invasion and victory, and is entirelly based in close-combat terms. When Polnareff first appears he invades the Joestar group's space, challenging them in the middle of their conversation. Even though Polnareff is usually careless, he was shown capable of obtaining victory on his own, proving his worth by defeating his enemies alone in multiple occasions. The Chariot also can be interpreted as resolving a conflict within yourself and finding the necessary balance to accomplish your ambitions, represented by Polnareff's lack of balance with his emotions while trying to avenge his sister.

Famicom Jump II: Saikyo no Shichinin (NES Game)
Polnareff appears as a support character during the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part of the game. He does not fight, instead he can guide the player to the conditions that need to be done in order to finish that part.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (SNES Game)
Polnareff appears on the SNES title as one of the main 6 playable characters along with the other 5 stardust crusaders characters. Most of Polnareff attacks includes him using Silver Chariot to attack the enemy.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future (PS1/DC/Arcade Game)
Befitting a charge character, Polnareff can string up offensive attacks to form a somewhat unstoppable pattern. His Million Spits has good strength. He also has good Stand combos that can be used to set up attacks for an execution of Special or Super moves. He's a good character for a juggle game. Armor Takeoff is highly damaging and, used with juggle tactics, he can inflict damage easily in comparison to the other characters. However, his combos like most charge characters require a different execution, and his mostly at times might need to start his combos with jump in midair attacks. Get past his difficult execution and with mastery of the Negative Edge technique in most Capcom fighters, and Polnareff's offense can be a force to be reckoned with if he gets the opportunity. He is also one of the few characters able to remote control his Stand.

Black Polnareff: This version of Polnareff is Polnareff possessed by the Anubis Stand after accidentally unsheathing Anubis' blade. This version of Polnareff is more aggressive as a result.

As if Polnareff isn't good enough for offense, Black Polnareff is even better. His increased speed gives him a good confusion game. Despite the loss of an active Stand, his moves more than make up for it - all of his special and most super attacks can be chained from basic attacks. While this makes him a close-quarters character, the damage he deals pays off the effort. Also, he gains the properties of any Anubis Sword-wielder: the ability to remember attacks. Like Shadow Dio's Incomplete The World, his Stand Button now summons Dark Silver Chariot to attack briefly, enabling him to create amazing combos out of delayed pokes.

Techniques (Polnareff)

 * Million Split: Sliver Chariot stabs forward multiple times. During Stand On, the player can tap the button used to increase hits. Can perform a dark version of this move as Anubis Polnareff.
 * Raydarts: Silver Chariot rushes forward with a stab. Polnareff dashes alongside in unison if the Stand is on.
 * Shooting Star: Silver Chariot flies up to the wall to cling onto it, then dive stabs at the foe. Polnareff flies alongside in unison if the Stand is on.
 * Piercing Needles Sentence: Silver Chariot slashes forward, then after connecting, stabs the foe three times and then finishes with an upward flick slash. Can delay the attack, and can only use if the Stand is active.
 * Armor Takeoff: Silver Chariot slashes upward, then after launching the foe with the initial blow, sheds its armor and assaults it in multiple directions in midair as they fall back down.
 * Last Shot: Fires a dart that bounces around the screen at high speeds. Button combo used depends on the trajectory at which the dart flies and bounces from.
 * Silver Requiem: Silver Chariot gets shot in the head by an arrow, and briefly transforms into its Requiem version. After the light emitted from the Stand fully engulfs the screen without interruption, the opponent is instantly put to sleep. Level 3 Super.

Techniques (Black Polnareff)

 * Chariot's Split: A dark version of Million Split that does a set amount of hits but enables Polnareff to move around freely after calling Silver Chariot out.
 * Kirenzan (Demon Chain Slash): One of Chaca's original techniques. Also known as Anubis Rush. Polnareff reaps forward with the Anubis sword, and is able to follow up with Silver Chariot stabbing downward.
 * Tatsujin no Nitouryuu (Expert's Two-Sword Style): Silver Chariot is called out to attack forward with a sword twirl. Twirls either its rapier, the Anubis Sword, or both in succession.
 * Oboe TA! (MEMORIZED!): Reversal/counter attack, and one of Chaca's original techniques. Polnareff holds the sword downward in a reverse grip, and if hit while doing so, Silver Chariot appears and launch-slashes the foe upward and away. For every move countered, Polnareff will memorize the attack, and can counter it automatically should he normally block said memorized move(s).
 * Dame Oshi Iu Yatsuda! (No Hard Feelings, My Friend!): Silver Chariot performs the starting slash for Armor Takeoff. Should it connect, Silver Chariot will rapidly stab the foe forward as they fall back down, then does a final thrust with the Anubis Sword. The sword then flies back into Polnareff's hands after the attack.
 * Zettai ni Maken no Da! (Your Loss of Absolution!): After a brief pause of activating the attack, Silver Chariot rushes forward with a Raydarts. Should that connect, Polnareff will then follow up with a rush forward through the foe with sword in hand, and will split the screen apart horizontally. The startup of this move has great invincibility.

GioGio's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Whrilwind (PS2 Game)
Polnareff make his third playable debut on the PS2 game. Based on his PART V appareance, Polnareff is playable on the chapter 19 of SUPER STORY, facing Diavolo. This time Polnareff is using a wheelchair and can freely move around the stage faster than the other characters. If Silver Chariot is activated Polnareff will always move around the target enemy. Most of his moves conssistis of Silver Chariot using it's sword to attack, such as Silver Chariot shooting it's blade and his "HORA HORA" war cry as a charged move.

If Polnareff falls due to an enemy attack and does not have his Stand gague full he won't be able to get up until the bar is fully recharged, due to the fact he needs Silver Chariot to get up now. Polnareff is also avaible to play on some battles from EXTRA STORY such as Ghiaccio and "The Boss" battles. His theme is also an orchestrated version of his previous theme from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future.

Jump Super Stars (DS Game)
Polnareff appears as part of Jotaro's 5-Koma Special Move. Where both Star Platinum and Silver Chariot keeps punching and cutting anything that gets on the way shouting with their battle cry "ORA ORA" and "HORA HORA" (Similiar to how Jotaro and Polnareff did together against Seth).

Jump Ultimate Stars (DS Game)
Polnareff returns as Jotaro's 5-Koma Special Attack. This time Polnareff also appears on the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure World Intro along with the others Stardust Crusaders heroes.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle (PS3 Game)
Polnareff is one of the 9 characters representing the PART III saga, he was one of the second characters confirmed along with Kakyoin, Giorno and Mista. Overall most of Polnareff attacks returns from his previous game appareance (Hiretage for the Future) but he execute some of them on different ways, stances and speed. His most notable new move it's Silver Chariot roating it's sword in order to return any projectile attack.

His HHA is “Can’t catch me when I take off the armor!”, which removes Silver Chariot’s armor, making it faster and allowing it to do multiple strikes in one attack similar to a Custom Combo but lowering defense (exacty like he did against Avdol on his fighting debut). His GHA is “Gives you chills, doesn't it?”, a very fast attack with Silver Chariot’s afterimages attacks (also similiar to the only time he did this, against Avdol).

Besides the entire cast of PART III, Polnareff also has special dialogues before the fight with the entire PART V cast (except Fugo). Most of them it's about the PART V characters asking if he is "Polnareff the Turtle" and Polnareff does not recognize any of them (since the PART V cast knows Polnareff appareance and PART III Polnareff haven't meet them at his arc debut saga) and against Diavolo they recreate the lines said on the flashback around Polnareff' saying Diavolo's secret (assuming it didnt take too much long before he was attacked by Diavolo, after the events from PART III).

Polnareff also posses two alternate costumes, the first being the atire he was using on his story debut and the second one being an attire inspired by his look on Hiretage for the Future cover.

Trivia

 * Polnareff became the biggest inspiration towards the character design of KOF's Benimaru Nikaido. SNK developers continue referring to Benimaru as Polnareff even today. It is also ironic that Benimaru dislikes otaku and anime, even though several of his moves are based off of anime in the Tokusatsu genre.
 * Youmu Konpaku from Touhou Project is similar to Jean Pierre Polnareff in the same vein as well, such as a white colored companion (her ghost half), afterimage capabilities, super speed, as well as swordsmanship.
 * Coincidentally, the seiyuu from her Koumajou Densetsu II (Fangame) incarnation, Ryou Hirohashi, voices Reimi Sugimoto in All Star Battle.
 * He is often quoted saying "Buttsubusu!" ("I'll beat you up!") or "Buttagitte yaru!" ("I'll slice you to pieces!").
 * In Part 3 Polnareff is victim of a recurring gag involving bathrooms: Every time he goes to one he gets into trouble, be it an attack from the enemy or the bathrom itself. He also is victim of attacks every time he separates from the group, even if for a short time. This is noted by Avdol after he has trouble in finding Mariah in a bathroom, as he comments that Polnareff is the expert with incidents on them.
 * There are strong parallels between Polnareff and Inigo Montoya from the movie and novel The Princess Bride: both are at first foes and then allies, both are master swordsmen and both sworn to vengeance against a man with a deformed hand. For Inigo, it was the count with six fingers, for Polnareff, J. Geil with two right hands. Finally when both meet their villain, they have a dramatic but concise presentation of their reason and intent for vengeance.
 * In GioGio no Kimyō na Bōken: Ōgon no Kaze He shares the same Seiyuu with La Squadra di Esecuzione members Illuso & their leader Risotto Nero.
 * He is one of the few character who holds on to two stands at the same time. This would otherwise break the rule of only one stand per person, but he was possessed by Anubis, who was nothing more than a sword that combined with Silver Chariot to dual wield.
 * Polnareff is the fourth character to have died (i.e. physical body perishing) and have his stand continue existing, the other stands being Stray Cat, Cheap Trick and Notorious B.I.G.. However, while these stands had that power, Polnareff's Silver Chariot went insane without a user. Thus Polnareff was not dead but fully separated from his stand, while his spirit existed inside Coco Jumbo.
 * His hair is possibly the inspiration for the Tekken character Paul Phoenix.
 * Both Polnareff and Ermes Costello have a similar reason to fight, both wants to avenge their sisters. They appear together as rivals in one of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star trailers, with their battle named as "AVENGER AND AVENGER".
 * Interestingly, Polnareff is shown having clearly lost two finger on his left hand after his battle with Vanilla Ice, but by Vento Aureo he's shown to have all his fingers.