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The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
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| Janus Sanders | |
|---|---|
| Main information | |
| Name | Janus Sanders |
| Also known as: | See List of nicknames |
| Moniker: | Deceit |
| First Revealed: | 3rd February 2018, Can LYING Be Good?? |
| Name Revealed | 02th May 2020 Putting Others First - Selfishness v. Selflessness Redux (See Trivia) |
| Associated with: | Deception, Snakes, Lying, Belief, Ignorance, Disguises, Secrets |
| Likes: | Deception, Puns, Self-Deceit, Knowledge, Manipulation, Acting |
| Dislikes: | (not stated) |
| Logs |
  (cameo)  (cameo)  Why Do We Get Out of Bed in the Morning? (cameo) |
Janus Sanders, also known under the moniker of Deceit, is Thomas Sanders' fifth side and first known Dark Side. He represents Thomas's deceptive tendencies and self-preservation, under which is lying, even to himself, though this is a rare sighting.
Janus represents Thomas' dishonest and self-serving side. According to Patton, he is a sort of "inner coach" that promotes self-preservation. His appearance (a half-human, half-snake face) represents the term 'two-faced'.
Etymology
Janus' name comes from the Roman God of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. His human/snake face, as well as his sigil, could reflect on how the god is depicted as having two faces. The month January is named after this deity.
Characteristics
Janus is distinctly different in terms of characteristics when compared to the main Four Sides. He does not shun away from impersonating someone in order to get his point across to the others without being hindered by their perceived biases.
He is often sarcastic, a trait that seems to be common among the Dark Sides. He insults the others using backhanded compliments and thinly veiled insults, and often affects false affection in order to manipulate them.
Janus does not enjoy people figuring out his intent, except when he tries to get his point across. He makes great efforts to know things others do not, and to keep them from knowing things about himself.
Similar to Logan, he sometimes employs the use of real-world experts, philosophers, and statistics in his arguments. Given his nature as Deceit, the accuracy of these examples and/or whether they actually prove his claims tends to vary. He is self-aware of his role as Deceit, and as such is annoyed when the others don't see him as valuable to Thomas.
With the exception of his cameo in “Why Do We Get Out of Bed in the Morning?”, Janus has never approached Thomas and the others as himself, instead impersonating another side. In these instances, at least one of the other Sides was able to see through his disguise.
He impersonates different sides for specific reasons. The first time, in "Can LYING Be Good??", he impersonates Patton because Thomas thinks lying is the right thing to do. In "Selfishness v. Selflessness", he impersonates Logan because Thomas thinks it's logical for him to lie.
Janus, like the other Sides, only wants to help Thomas be the best person he can be. However, Janus' concept of that involves self-interest and deception, something which multiple Sides strongly disagree with.
Relationships
Roman
In "Can Lying Be Good??", in order to get Thomas to lie, Janus manipulates Roman after the latter makes a comment comparing lying to acting, saying that Lying is only gonna bring about more trouble Thomas, [and he knows] this, at which Roman asks him how [he] would describe all of the acting and performances he's ever done in his life.
Janus then encourages Roman to set the stage and act out lying to Joan. He directs the production, probably as a method of control over the situation, and further influences Roman to continue the play by complimenting his performance after each scene, playing on his egoism. When Roman makes a comment that the scene-play is making [him] feel a little icky and is trying to preserve "Patton's" feelings, Janus dismisses his comment. After the theatrical performance is over and the sides are back at Thomas' apartment, Janus calls upon Roman to back up his claim that Thomas won't feel bad about lying if it's done correctly, referring to Roman's previous comments about lying being no more than acting.
When Janus is revealed, Roman expresses dislike for him, despite his comment about Janus being very kind . Roman also expresses that he feels used by him after Janus leaves the scene, for playing into [his] love of theater and getting what [he] want[s]. Roman doesn't know when he is being lied to by Janus and is highly influenced by his manipulation - which is why he describes him like that.
In "Putting Others First - Selfishness v. Selflessness Redux", Roman and Janus were clearly aggressive towards each other, with Janus fighting his claims that [Janus] is evil and that [Thomas is] ethically compromised if [they] give [Janus] a seat at the table! with several passive aggressive comments. As the video progresses and Janus becomes more accepted, Roman seems to begrudgingly accept this, with Janus no longer making use of his passive-aggressive or hurtful comments, implying that this could mostly be a defence mechanism on Janus' part.
Virgil
Virgil has been suspicious throughout the video "Can LYING Be Good??", displaying small side glances or confused faces. Throughout the introduction, Virgil calls upon "Patton" for his input on the matter and becomes more and more skeptical about his responses. (IE: that 'impressed' isn't the word [he]'d use after Logan comments on his quoting of famous philosophers.) After the production, Janus tries to recruit Virgil to help back his claim that he should still lie to Joan, using his fear of losing Thomas' friends to manipulate him. Once Janus drops his act, Virgil is the first to point out the side in front of them is not Patton, closely followed by Logan, and then Roman. After Janus silences Logan, Virgil and Roman explain why they have not been able to tell Thomas that Janus exists. It is also to be noted that when Janus reveals himself, Virgil glares angrily but does not say anything. In "Selflessness v. Selfishness", Virgil is antagonistic towards Janus the entire trial, and Janus enjoys teasing him about his then unrevealed former nature.
Patton
Patton acknowledges that Janus is an inner coach of self-preservation.
After Janus opened up to Thomas and the core Sides in "Putting Others First - Selfishness v. Selflessness Redux", Patton and Janus have a rather cautious, yet somewhat supportive relationship. Both Sides seemed to be willing to listen to each other and give each other a chance, while still remaining somewhat cautious of each other.
In Have I Grown?, the 5 year anniversary episode of Sanders Sides, Patton mentions that even Janus and [him] are getting along. The other day, he gave [him] half his sandwich, to which Janus replies that he mistook [Patton] for a garbage can.
Logan
In "Can Lying Be Good??", Janus manipulates Logan (as Patton) by complimenting him when he joins the other sides. Additionally, one of the first things he says to Logan is Oh good, Logan, everyone's favorite character!. This could be a reference to when Virgil tells Logan in "A New Year of Lying to Myself... In Song!!" You're the least popular character and you know it.
Janus attempts to impress Logan by showing how much knowledge he has about deception. Also, when in the 'Mind Palace Theater', Janus plays on Logan's love for giving information and continues to ask for details about the scenarios Thomas and Roman are portraying. When Logan realizes who Janus really was, Janus chose to clasp his mouth shut. Once given permission by Thomas, Logan was able to reveal that Janus disguised himself as Patton. Janus unveiled his true form upon being found out.
Logan also seems to know about his influence on Roman. When Roman is given a compliment by Janus, Logan, knowing Janus' reputation for lying, can be seen biting back a 'no'.
Remus
Janus mentions Remus in Putting Others First, saying to Roman that he thank[s] god [he] do[es]n't have a mustache. Otherwise between [him] and Remus, [he] wouldn't know who the evil twin is. We see the two interact twice in Have I Grown?, when he sprays Remus with spoiler juice and plays on Patton's DDR with him in the mind palace. At this point in time, it is established that the two are good friends.
Physical Appearance
Normal
In his true appearance, he wears a black bowler hat with a black ribbon. His face is half snake-like, with a yellow, slit eye ringed with pink and snake-like skin. This side of his face also has a line/scar that starts from his mouth and extends all the way through the side of his serpentine face, akin to that of the kuchisake-onna, possibly representing a snake's jaw. He also wears bright yellow gloves, which Virgil compared to dish-washing gloves. His black and yellow coat with a collar sports a black capelet, further showing the mystery in lies.
Other Outfits
As Patton
When Janus was impersonating Patton, he did so with a slightly different appearance. He wore Patton's former cardigan and his hair was slightly straighter. He also wore light eyeshadow while in this form. Joan has confirmed this difference was completely intentional.
As Logan
When Janus was impersonating Logan, he wore the tie Logan wore before his wardrobe change.
As a lawyer/prosecutor
Janus wears a different outfit as a lawyer. Though still donning his black bowler hat and yellow gloves, he wears a black suit jacket with a yellow button-down shirt underneath. He also dons a black bowtie.
As Logan (Logan's Lowdown)
Much of Janus' outfit is identical to Logan's own video game form, however, he does not have the bridge between the two glasses.
Gallery
List of nicknames
Note: These quotes may be wrongly attributed. If you see one that is wrongly attributed, please make note of it at the talk page.
- Patton Sanders (disguise)
- Jack the Fibber
- Snakey McSnakerson
- Slimy Snakey Boi
- Harvey Dense
- Logan Sanders (disguise)
- Dr. Trickle and Mr. Lies
- Evil Snake Boy
- Snake Boy
- Lord of the Lies
- Bananaconda
- Reptilian Rapscallion
- Reptilian With Scallions
- Slimy Snake
- Snake On The Plane
- Faux-gan
- Snake
Trivia
- Polycephaly (the having of more heads than one) is more common in snakes than it is in other animals. This may be one of the reasons why he is named after the god of duality and his sigil is a snake with two heads. (This particular case is called dicephaly)
- It has been confirmed by Joan that part of Janus' inspiration was the mangrove snake. This is visible in Janus' color scheme (mostly black with hints of yellow), behavior and his snake eye being slit in the same manner as the mangrove snake.
- Janus' theme is actually a song called "Mysterious Paths" by Marco Belloni.
- In fiction, snakes are known to be deceptive and cunning to fulfill their own needs due to the snake in the garden of Eden.
- He is the first side to have heterochromia.
- Janus' appearance was based on multiple works of fiction such as Jekyll & Hyde.
- While Janus was first impersonating Logan (in "Selfishness v. Selflessness"), after Roman reveals Logan's impersonation, Janus (as Logan) screamed, LIES. This only confirmed Thomas' suspicion that Janus was impersonating him, since Logan always screams FALSEHOOD in these scenarios. Logan did do this later in the video when he rejoined the group in Thomas' apartment.
- It is unknown if the scales on Janus' face are supposed to be slimy or not. Thomas calls them slimy; but if this is true, it is not verified.
- However, it is unlikely that his scales are slimy because snake scales are smooth, leading many to believe they are slimy, as this could link back to what he represents for Thomas.
- Logan says that to the best of [his] knowledge, [Janus] does not excrete slime.
- On an early VidCon, he is asked for his name multiple times before it was revealed, but just constantly spits out random names.
- One of the names Janus says is "Madonna". One of Madonna's songs "Material Girl" is reminiscent of Janus' nature of lying to get what he wants.
- He is the character with the largest gap between their date of reveal and their date of name reveal. He sits at a total amount of 819 days, a little over two years. He is followed albeit with a large gap by Virgil (208 days), Patton (194 days), Roman (153 days), Logan (132 days) and finally, Remus (0 days).
- Although the exact machinations of birthdays pertaining to the Sides are unknown since they are not human and cannot be literally born, Thomas confirmed Janus's as being February 3rd, as it is the date that he firstly appeared.
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