Jano

Jano
Other names	{{{other names}}}
Alignment	Neutral
Appears in	R2, RR, R3 (GBA)
Location	{{{location}}}
Portrayed by	{{{portrayed by}}}
Sex	Male
Species	Unknown
Status	Guardian
Relatives	{{{relatives}}}
Unlock criteria	{{{Unlock criteria}}}

Jano (commonly known as the Guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams) is a character from Rayman 2: The Great Escape and its remakes, as well as the Game Boy Advance version of Rayman 3, where he was involved with the Pirates. He is the Guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams, and it is his job to make sure that the nightmares of Polokus are kept locked away in the subterranean grotto. Jano also guards precious treasure, which, until found by Rayman, was only rumoured to exist.

Appearance

Jano is a larger version of the one-eyed, fire-breathing monsters that dwell in the Cave of Bad Dreams and the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire, only that he carries a staff with a skull on its top, and that he wears a magician's hat identical to the one worn by Polokus. The skull at the top of his staff contains the Elixir of Life, which Rayman must gain to save his friend Clark, who munches on a rusty Robo-Pirate in the Menhir Hills.

Character

Jano is a fierce but wise creature, with the ability to read one's mind, breathe fire, conjure floating skulls, and change his own size, becoming huge during his battle with Rayman. As a guardian, he will ward off anyone that doesn't know the name of the Cave of Bad Dreams. Although he's an ally of Rayman in general, he challenges Rayman to find the treasure that is hidden deep in the cave in Rayman 2, and offers it to him upon his defeat (even though Jano attempts to kill Rayman a number of times throughout the level).

Glitch with shrinked Jano

He can tell whether or not one is greedy, so he rewards Rayman with the Elixir of Life for refusing to take the tempting treasure. In all versions of Rayman 2 (excluding the Playstation version), the player gets to choose whether (s)he wants the treasure or not, and in choosing it, Rayman is cast to a deserted island surrounded by the Gold, noticeably obese, resulting in 'the end of the game'. Jano appears again in the GameBoy Advance version of Rayman 3, where he is the boss of the Haunted Dreams world.

Trivia

• Jano's name is possibly derived from that of Janus, the two-faced Roman god of gates. This may be an allusion to Jano's two-faced nature: sometimes he helps Rayman; other times he tries to kill him.
• There is one interesting glitch involving Jano, which has been known to occur in the PC and N64 versions of Rayman 2. If the player goes back again to the Marshes of Awakening after beating the Cave of Bad Dreams, then they can see a little Jano over water, just on left side from the cave, where Rayman appears after choosing this level.
• Jano's name was not confirmed until the GBA version of Rayman 3. In Rayman 2 he is simply referred to as "The guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams". Interestingly, the minor character of Eig is named in Rayman 2, but it is never made clear immediately who the name belongs to. Therefore, many mistakenly assumed Jano to be Eig. (Eig is in fact a large but unimportant fish found in The Marshes of Awakening on most versions of the game.
• Like almost every other boss, Jano is absent from the GBC version of Rayman 2, along with the entire subplot involving the elixer. The Cave of Bad Dreams here appears to be simply another world Rayman must pass through.
• Jano's role is smaller in the Playstation 1 version of Rayman 2, due to the Cave of Bad Dreams being accessed through just another portal in the Hall of Doors, the entire event in the Marshes of Awakening does not occur. Therefore, Jano does not actually appear in the game until the begining of the battle against him.